His tired features covered the face of someone who had seen better days. He could easily have been have been 100 years old or more. When he awakened again he had little to say. He offered a grunt or two and pointed me, possibly his only customer in days, to the door at about the same time Ang Bok returned from seeking out his client. Ang Bok ushered me onto the street and thanked me for watching the place.
Old man is very unhappy.
Maybe you find another place to drink tonight. I asked the Sherpa what had happened to the old man, what had caused him to become, seemingly, so sad, defeated and mean. I told him that I was familiar with the disputed Indian states of Jammu and Kashmere, some 600 miles to the west. These people, they force the old man to pay bribes to them to keep him safe. They take his money and when he cannot pay, they make his customers too scared to stay.