Narayan Gopal and Me - Sun Hari’s Jwain
- PETER J KARTHAK (Nepalnews.com)

This is an incident that belongs to late 1978. Narayan dai and I used to meet regularly at Narayan Sahu’s tharra pasal at Masa Galli.

One night, Narayan Gopal and I were the last customers to leave the oasis. It was around eleven. The autumn night was balmy and crispy. In the moonlight, I could see the steeple of the Taleju Bhawani at Hanuman Dhoka. We were standing in the middle of the junction facing the gate of the Rato Macchendra Nath Temple.

Suddenly we heard the bhajan mandali of the temple singing their ears off in the night. I knew the insomniac old men of the Bahal gathered for their nightly choir. I knew this because this was my Sasurali area! My father-in-law Sundar Hari was a principal member of this sleepless group because he was the master ganja mixer for the bhajan singers who smoked it for euphoric concentration in their bid to be one with their Maker.

"Let’s go there!" Narayan Dai said suddenly and moved towards the gate. I followed. Inside we saw the singers on the high platform behind the iron bar enclosure. In the public side were white and Japanese tourists, listening and clicking their cameras. This was a major nocturnal sightseeing destination in Kathmandu during those days.

I saw my Sasura and his colleagues. There was a recess, and my father-in-law was preparing the next chilim of ganja, which he eventually lighted and passed around. The cave-like conclave was once again engulfed in a tinted whitish blue smoke that we all had to inhale.

It was then Narayan Dai threw his shoes to one side. Muttering "Ka-ka-ka" in Newari, he climbed up to the podium and grabbed the harmonium, sat down and crossed his legs. The chilim was passed on to him, which he enflamed with a long and deep pull and exuded a voluminous smoke like a fire dragon.

Then he started singing the popular bhajans, his eyes closed in sombre contemplation. He sang six of them, in rapid succession. The elderly gentlemen all knew him as an ex-bhajan singer and their immediate neighbour. They were happy, and accompanied him enthusiastically on the acoustic organ, tabla, dholak, "tringle", jhyamta and ektare. The night was awake and the choir shook the entire area. There was much chatter and cheers when Narayan finished his last spiritual. Then we left....