The new kid on the hen house block is no more! For the last few days we’ve observed the brash young cockerel try to muscle in and takeover the flock. The old rooster was having none of it, and several times he chased him off from the ladies of his brood! This morning walking back to our room the young pretender was no more! He was laid out on the slab and his feathers were being blowtorched off his carcass! He may well have been our chicken Curry this evening!
I am staying in a small town called Chanauli. Some people may have heard of Chitwan or Bharatpur, but who’s heard of Chanauli! Here’s how the ubiquitous Google reports on this area. “Bharatpur is a city in southern central Nepal. It is the third most populous city of Nepal after Kathmandu and Pokhara with 369,377 inhabitants in 2021. It is also the second largest metropolitan city in Nepal by area. It is the district headquarter of the Chitwan District.” Chanauli doesn’t even get a mention! Yet it’s in the small town in southern central Nepal, in the wider metropolitan district of Bharatpur, that I find myself.
It’s the first time since I have been visiting Nepal that I’ve stayed on the terai (or tarai). This is the region that runs the length of northern India and southern Nepal, running parallel to the Himalayan Ranges in the north. It is former marshland, still rich in forestry and its soil makes this the most fertile productive region of Nepal. Here agriculture dominates. Rice, sugar, mustard, herbs and spices, are a few of its many produce. It is the bread basket (more appropriately the rice basket) of Nepal. For centuries its rich soil has been the source of the twice yearly rice crop and many other vegetables the people of this country rely upon. We are here just before the first rice planting and the fields are just now being planted and flooded. It is an unchanging landscape in which generations have been born, lived, worked and passed on the land to the next generation.
Here the water buffalo is still an important resident. You can happily find them munching in many places and still occasionally see them pulling a plough. A good percentage of land tilled here is still undertaken by subsistent farmers and small holdings. But the larger rice fields are owned by rich landowners or big conglomerates. It is common still to see many hard labourers in the fields, squatting or bent over, working with the mattock as their implement of choice. I am told the going rate for such daily hard labour from dawn to dusk is between £5 to £10 per day. Women are still the main labour source in this rural community, exhibiting a physical endurance that we westerners would find impossible.
As a small town Chanauli owes its modern day “prosperity” in part to the Chitwan National Park, which is only a few miles away. However, after the busy madness of Kathmandu and the tourist activity of Pokhara the area is a sea of tranquility. Not surprisingly the pace of life is visibly slower and the smiles of the locals, if that can be possible in this friendly country, are even more welcoming. Understandably so, one still gets a few inquisitive looks! It’s not every day you see a white face (vadeshi), walking down your street. Being a novelty around here means too that curious young children particularly want to shout out “hello!” And here the motorbike is king. I have never seen such a small town with so many new motorcycle shops on its high street. Think of the takeover of your local high street in the U.K. by coffee and charity shops and you get the idea.
As I write it’s around 11:00 pm. Last night at this time there was a carnival going on outside! A real celebration. The sound of happy people singing and dancing. It’s Holi. Traditionally, a celebration for the start of the spring. Not as enthusiastically as in India, I am told, yet especially amongst the youngsters it’s a time to soak one another with water and cover each others with red coloured dye. However, tonight there’s a very different noise that I am getting used to. It’s the twilight chorus that rings in and rings out again across the terai. The foxes start it up barking and howling and soon every stray dog and domestic one joins in. For the newly initiated it’s quite an experience. It creeps up on your hearing, reaches a crescendo and then fades away as foxes move across the land howling and not to be outdone various local dogs reply. Quite extraordinary!
As I begin to make my way home from Nepal and leave the terai behind the beautiful scenes of this agricultural region provide a metaphor for some reflections on what I have see of the progress of Christianity in Nepal. This rural community with its seasonal sowing and reaping draws one’s thoughts to Jesus description in the parable of The Sower, found in Matthew 13, of how the spread of the Christian message is accomplished.
Jesus begins by describing how it was the season for the sower to go out and sow. The routine of life in this area, more than most, is linked to the seasons of planting and reaping. In terms of opportunities to hear the gospel or respond to the message of Jesus, both individuals and nations know seasons. Times when they are indifferent to it, times when they are intrigued and are drawn to find out more. Seasons when nothing appears to be happens and seasons where clear growth is evident. At present Nepal would seem to know a season of wanting to know and so Nepali Christians believe this is a season of sowing. They find their fellow citizens are ready to listen to the Christian message, they are asking questions about this Jesus Christ, and want to know more about why Nepali Christians show such love and care for their fellow citizens.
I had an interesting insight into this when I attended a church here on Saturday. In true Nepali style, although a complete stranger, I found myself invited to a wedding celebration after the service. A young Christian couple were holding their wedding celebration, an event where a large company of family, friends and villagers are invited to join in rejoicing with the new young couple as part of their betrothal. The couple asked their fellow Christians at the church to sing Christian songs, perform traditional Nepali dances, and the pastor to explain from the scriptures the mean of Christian marriage; as we ate the celebration meal under beautifully coloured awnings. In Nepal such presentations are not deemed offensive but rather part of the celebration and Christians here are quick to use such social opportunity to share their faith with their neighbours in their community.
Jesus spoke of a single sower planting seeds. The land is vast and many places, particularly in the mountains, are pretty inaccessible. Small isolated communities, often tribal, live in remote villages. I met a pastor who lives four hours walk from a road! He has a village church of some sixty members and helps look after four satellite villages churches within an hour’s walk from his home. It is in the rural areas that the exodus of young people from Nepal is felt most keenly. I am told by many Nepalese friends that there is no one left to work in the mountain villages. Whilst even a brief look around the fields of Chanauli reveals that younger labourers are sparse on the ground. What can a few folks past their prime in life accomplish in bringing in such a large harvest? Yet, somehow the work is done. The Christian church is affected by this exodus with many young believers choosing to study or work abroad. Christian workers maybe few but the enthusiasm of those who remain is strong.
Jesus spoke of the sower sowing seed in the way of time immemorial, by scattering it from his hands. Much of the hard work on the land in this rural community is done in the way of time immemorial, with antiquated implements; tools that would appear to be inapt for a modern day agricultural setting. In the same way Christians here use very old but well proven methods in sharing the gospel. They live, witness, show incredible practical love and explain their faith when asked. To many these would seem very inadequate and inefficient ways to spread the Christian message. Undoubtedly many “educated westerners” would ruefully smile at the simplicity of faith of these dear Christian people; many would raise eyebrows at the nativity of their trust, yet evidence shows that the church is growing in Nepal.
Maybe that is why after over two thousand years the unchangeable principles that Jesus annunciated in the parable of the sower are as relevant as ever. Principles built upon unchangeable truths, which are foundational in the spread of Christianity. Truths that Call us Christians to carry on in faith in spreading the good news of Jesus, looking to God to give the increase.
johnsplodblog 
Wonderfully descriptive and thought provoking
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