Kathmandu is an abstraction from Vikram Seth’s book ‘Heaven Lake’ that mentions his experience about his visit to Kathmandu, the capital city of Nepal. This short epitome of the book provides an intuition about his trip and how he feels about his visit. During his stay, he visited two sacred temples of Hindus and Buddhists. The first temple he visited was a pilgrimage of Hindus- The Pashupatinath Temple where only Hindu devotees are allowed. Apart from pilgrims, there was a huge crowd inside the temple premises amongst the priests, tourists and animals. He notices that the people were polluting the Holy river Bagmati by bathing in it, washing clothes, and dumping flowers in it.
After the temple, the author pays his visit to Baudhnath Temple. It was different from what he witnessed in the Pashupatinath Temple. The shrine had a huge white dome which had a sense of calmness and composure. Outside the shrine, there was a Tibetan Market where vendors sell clothes, ornaments, bags, etc. The author states that he found Kathmandu a city full of vivid and religious culture which attracts several tourists to pay a visit at least once in life. Moreover, the city is accomplished with enormous shops selling a variety of attires, cosmetics, bags, etc. The author also talks about the noisy surroundings where the songs were played in vendor’s shops in radios. He buys himself a spicy masala corn-on-the-cob and some cold drink. He also roams around the market to read books, especially love stories and comics. After his stay, the author looks forward to returning to Delhi and books a Nepal Airlines return ticket to Delhi, India.
Near his hotel, he notices a flute seller with several flutes attached to a pole. The melodious sound of flute played by the seller fascinates him. He found it different and unique from flute players of other cultures. He was amazed by the fact that the flute is such a popular instrument everywhere. Thus, he compares the flute tune to a human voice and thinks how he has started noticing even the little things now.