An Unexpected Pleasure

It was a slow day at work today since it was right after the 4 day holiday, yet another similarity Tihar has with Christmas, so today's subject matter is something totally un-Nepali but still related to my time here in Nepal.

Some of you might recognize the gentleman in this grainy screen shot of the TV at the guest house I'm staying at, taken with my work phone (to explain the graininess). Yes, it is Tony Soprano. Turns out that one of the HBO channels that we get here is showing an episode of The Sopranos every weeknight at 5:45 pm, right around the time I get home from work each day, just in time for dinner. They've just started showing Season 3, which included Tony's mother's death, Meadow going to college, Dr. Melfi's rape (which was tonight's episode), the introduction of Ralphie Cifaretto, Christoper becoming a made man, and the now famous episode where Christopher and Paulie pursue a Russian hit man through the back woods of New Jersey.

OK, any of you who never watched The Sopranos probably don't know what I'm talking about, and even if you do you may be wondering why I'm even bothering to mention this on a blog presumably about my trip to Nepal. I'm mentioning it because a) The Sopranos is my all time favorite TV show (and one day I'll convince someone to buy me the DVDs for Christmas ;) and b) it's perhaps the last thing I expected to see on TV in Nepal. I expected the cricket matches, the NBA games in the morning, the Bollywood movies, and the occasional American sitcom, but not my all time favorite TV show and certainly not every weeknight.

I was once asked by a co-worker whether or not I, as an American of Italian heritage (thanks to Mom), whether or not I was offended by the show. Far from it, I told him, it is a show that I loved and that he should too. Seeing these episodes again remind me just how much I loved this show. It is an unexpected pleasure.

I did mention that it was a slow day today...