Chapter 12 11. Witness of God

September 14th is a one-day trip to Patan. There is nothing to describe the attractions. As usual, there are mountains of people and temples, and pigeons are all over the sky, but Patan Square is more comfortable than Durbar Square yesterday, and the temple is smaller. There is no strange smell, and it is a little cleaner. On Patan Square, there is a very small museum, which is holding an exhibition of art installations. Several paper boats are lined up one by one, some are pasted with gold paper, and some are filled with flowers. They are all gorgeous routes, only the last one, It is pasted with torn newspapers, tattered, about to sink in the air, above the torn paper boat, is the theme of this exhibition - "In the end, we are all on the same boat."

Cooperating with the surrounding temple complexes, I really feel that there is a trace of frustration in this theme. In our happy tour group, except for the stormtroopers, the only male is Wang Can, but the stormtroopers are their own country, they have been together for almost two days, and basically have no communication with Wang Can, because most of the time, their His face was hidden behind the camera, Wang Can couldn't talk to them, and he didn't care about us girls, so most of the time, he showed a state of being alone, pretending not to be embarrassed, and he was alone yesterday All morning, it was obvious that he couldn't hold on anymore, so he kept dragging Racine to talk.

I watched from afar the manic Wang Can gesturing Racine, and Racine's expression became more and more vicissitudes, so I walked not far from the two of them, just in time to hear Wang Can pointing to the hanging hanging on the street. The bunches of colorful flags asked Racine: "Hey, Xiao La, what are these flags used for? Why are they hanging everywhere?" Racine explained carefully: "Oh, these flags are to celebrate the birthday of the gods in the temple. You know, there are many temples in Kathmandu, so there are many gods. To worship the gods..." Wang Can nodded, with a thoughtful expression on his face: "Oh... hey, but you should respect God a little bit, look at the flag you picked, it's gaudy, with strings of underpants hanging on the top of your head Like."

Racine listened in silence, his face froze, he swallowed desperately, calmed down, and then said: "Mr. Wang, let me say it again, you can't do this, we are surrounded by temples and gods, you You don’t have to believe them, but you have to respect them, I am a Nepalese, what you say is very bad, I think it is very bad.” Racine's serious statement was exchanged for a carefree response: "Hey, who doesn't respect your gods, isn't this a suggestion for your urban planning!" Just like that, Racine wanted to slip away from Wang Can countless times, but fate came at any time, and it was unavoidable. No matter where Racine went, Wang Can was determined to treat him as his own. The soul mate in a foreign land, I was too busy looking around afterwards, so I didn't listen to the conversation between the two, but from a distance, Racine's face would darken once every ten minutes.

"Is nothing going to happen?" Just when I was thinking this way, something really happened. The place where the accident happened was in the Goddess Temple. Goddesses are worshiped in Nepal, and there are similar goddess temples in Durbar Square in various places. The goddesses enshrined in the temple are living people, and they are all little girls of a few years old. The little girls gathered together and put them in a big yard. They let the dogs out and killed the chickens at the same time. In short, they wanted to scare them. Whoever was brave enough not to cry would be considered qualified and passed the audition. Competing for the purity of the eyes, the length of the neck, and so on, a little girl was finally selected to be enshrined in the temple for people to worship, and to go out for a tour during the festivals and festivals. When a menstrual period comes, the term of office will end, and she will be given a sum of money to return to the world, get married and have children.

Patan's Goddess Temple is in a square courtyard, surrounded by temples, the eaves are exquisitely carved, and the bells hanging under the eaves jingle with the wind. After we entered, we stood in the middle space surrounded by the temple. On the ground, listen to Racine introduce the history of the goddess. After listening to it, we were all curious: "Where is the goddess?" Rahim said that the goddess is in the main hall facing us, but the goddess is only worshiped by Hindus. Everyone expressed their dissatisfaction, and Wang Can's dissatisfaction was expressed most directly: "I finally came to Nepal, and the goddess didn't see me. How can I brag to my buddies when I go back? Xiaola, you should think of a way."

Despite the fierce public opinion, Racine went to the door and dragged a staff member to talk for a while, and when he came back, he told us: "They said, pay some money, ten dollars, and you can take a look at the goddess." Everyone paid the money and lined up to be summoned by the goddess. The big sister group began to mutter: "Didn't you say that there will be no extra charges when you enter the scenic spot? Didn't they collude with each other for this money?" However, facing Racine's clear gaze, no one was ashamed to ask this question. Although it was a visit to the goddess, I didn't see the whole picture of the goddess, but the room where the goddess was, at the position of her eyes, opened a small window with a length of 20 centimeters and a width of 7 to 8 centimeters. Everyone went to the small window In front of us, the window will be opened from the inside, and then, a pair of small black eyes will be exposed from the door, looking straight at us, while we will look at the goddess with a guilty conscience from the outside, and our eyes will meet for a few seconds. There was a blank in the middle, and then the small window closed with a sharp sound, and the small dark eyes disappeared behind the window. At this point, the worship process is over, and it is difficult to call it a sense of ceremony.

But for a few short seconds, I was a little lost. The gaze that the goddess casts on us is so clean and open. At the moment of being stared at by her, I want to close my eyes. I am afraid that the complex reflection in my eyes will be discovered by her. A long time ago, I also had such pure eyes. The boyfriend I made in college told me when we broke up that your eyes are too clean, and I am embarrassed to lie to you. Only the qualifications to be cheated can be. Climbing up step by step, I feel that I have been trained to be indestructible, but the places I see are getting darker and darker.

After looking at the eyes of the goddess, we stood not far away, waiting for Wang Can to see the goddess for the last time. The big sister group behind us complained: "I thought we could take a photo together, but I saw the eyes..." "Who knows if it's a real person's eyes? They're too dark to see clearly..." While talking, not far away, Racine suddenly yelled in Nepali, blushing like a steam locomotive. Then, Racine raised his hand and punched Wang Can in the face. Wang Can The face of the goddess was beaten to the ground. The surrounding was quiet for a second, and Wang Can, who reacted first, got up and rushed to pull Laxin's collar: "You are crazy!" Laxin didn't fight back, just wanted to push Wang Can away, and kept talking Shouted: "Don't be here! Get out first!" But the more he pushed Wang Can, the more anxious he became, using his hands and feet, and the two wrestled together in the open space.

The sister of the big sister group couldn't stand anymore, and started to take the sisters up to fight, cursing: "Hey, how can you beat people as a tour guide? Bullying Chinese tourists, right? You cheated us of money and want to attack people personally?" That sister said it all, probably because I watched a lot of legal programs about unscrupulous tour guides. The members of the big sister group went up to talk to Racine, and Wang Can started punching and kicking Racine in time. Racine was besieged miserably. . I stood there without moving, because I always felt that something was wrong. Over the past few days, little Racine felt far more normal than Wang Can. When I was at a loss, there were already three circles of people around me. , most of them are locals, with happy faces. A local uncle was slowly peeling oranges while watching, showing a kind smile from time to time. If their fight was in the monkey temple, I am afraid it would be more appetizing to the onlookers up.

The big sister group was fighting fiercely inside, and our photography group had already gone outside the yard to take photos with nothing to do with themselves—they didn't care much about all human activities. Just when I didn't know where to go, Li Nuoxue squeezed to my side from the crowd, with an anxious expression on his face: "Sister Cheng, don't blame Racine! Really don't blame Racine!..." When meeting the goddess, Li Nuoxue was in front of Wang Can, and when it was Wang Can's turn to see the goddess, Li Nuoxue didn't go far, so he heard Wang Can's words that angered Racine. After listening to what Li Ruoxue told me, and then looking at Racine who was attacked by Wang Can and the big sister group both verbally and physically, I burst into anger. "It's not about Racine at all!" I squeezed into the crowd and stood in front of Racine, "Wang Can, you deserve to be beaten, don't bully Racine because you can't speak Chinese well, just pretend to be innocent here, don't worry about it Say it again, when you saw the goddess just now, what did you ask Racine?" Wang Can was stunned for a moment, then stiffened his neck and yelled: "I'll just say it casually, idiots take it seriously!" The sister stepped in and asked : "What did he ask?" I held back my breath and tried my best to spit out each word: "When he was looking at the goddess, he stared at the goddess and asked Racine: If I look at her for ten dollars, how much can I pay? Go in and feed her something?" The last word rang quietly for a while, no one spoke anymore, and the members of the eldest sister group did not move, all embarrassed by the righteous indignation they just felt. The atmosphere was silent, and no one besieged Racine anymore. Racine straightened his clothes, his eyes were red, but his expression was dignified. He squeezed out of the crowd, walked to the steps of the Goddess Temple, knelt down, and began to kowtow one by one, Slowly and vigorously, Racine seems to be using this method to apologize to the goddess for the noise in the courtyard just now. There are only a few of us left. Racine finally stood up, turned around and looked at us, his forehead was red. Racine looked at Wang Can, then at the eldest sister group, and said slowly, "You Chinese, don't you really believe in anything?" After saying this, Racine walked out of the courtyard. I looked at Wang Can who was standing there. At this moment, he looked very annoying. I endured and endured, but still couldn't hold back, and said to him: "I really think that people like you should not Come to Nepal." I also turned around and walked out of the courtyard, but behind me, Wang Can's voice caught up: "Stop doing this, Cheng Tianshuang, I shouldn't have come to Nepal, you deserved to come to Nepal! Return to Tuscany? Return to Austria? Have you ever been there? Are you not guilty of bragging with a blank passport? " I froze in place, and the members of the eldest sister group looked at me in shock. I looked at those fussing expressions, and there was a smile on my face, as for?As for feeling incomprehensible?It’s not surprising that I did this: escaped from that country and came to a strange place, didn’t I just want to forget my cheapness, depression, and frustration, temporarily escape from the bleak life, and be a self that I can’t usually do? What Racine said is absolutely right. I really don’t believe in anything. I don’t believe in Buddhism, religion, or fate. I only believe in myself. When the real self can’t be trusted, I choose to believe in the fake one. ——also myself.