Do you remember the first iPod ads?

Do you remember the first iPod ads, with the people walking down the street, creating their own soundtracks to the world as they went? This was my intention yesterday, walking from Mark’s house to the Ring Road to catch a bus back to Boudha. I was successful until I got on the bus where loud, raucous music was blaring through the speakers. I decided it was futile to try to orchestrate my own soundtrack; so I gave in, removed the ear buds, and hunkered down to tolerate the bus driver’s taste in tunes. Ke garne? [What to do?]

I remember critics wondering about the effect of the iPod on American society: would it further fractionate an already individualistic society? Completely cleave one from another? Drive the final nail into the coffin of ‘community’? I haven’t gotten an update on critics’ perception of American society all these years later, but I know I am a happier traveler in Nepal while taking advantage of these side effects.

You see; so much of life in Nepal is lived in the public eye. And I don’t mean just as the tallest, palest thing walking the streets; I mean as anyone. Poor Nepalis bathe at public waterspouts. Their houses are so close together so as to pass the mustard. The concept of personal space is nonexistent.

I, as an American who was raised in the suburbs, tolerate this poorly. I get cranky and bug-eyed with each additional stimulus. I wander into traffic and potholes.

The music is a form of ambulatory meditation, which helps me tune out the din. Thus I maintain some semblance of personal space and sanity derived therein. I imagine if more people owned such devices here, it could do for Nepal what the suburbs did for America; give us all a little more breathing room. Even if it’s electronic air.