The issue of "free pass for a non-Sherpa guest" has been wrecking my brain for the last three years.
I am a Sherpa, living in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Although I believe it is quite expensive to pay $18 on toll, $16 on patrol (or "gas") and another $60 at the entrance (unless that is reduced to a more reasonable number) to come to the Losar Party, I would still dig deeeeeeep into my pocket and shell it out that night. Now the question is, if $60 buys me another "free guest pass", can I bring along my wife too, I mean for free? Or, more importantly, is my wife a "Sherpa", or a "non-Sherpa"? She is not a Sherpa by birth, but fortunately, or unfortunately, she got married to me, a Sherpa. Now back to the most important question of the century that has huge repercursions on hard-earned sixty bucks - "During the Losar Party, is a non-Sherpa woman who is married to a Sherpa, a "Sherpa" or a "non-Sherpa"?
To bring further confusion, is my aunt a "Sherpa" or a "non-Sherpa"? Well, she is by birth a Sherpa, but then got married to a non-Sherpa. So on the Losar Party night, again with huge repurcussions on the hard-earned sixty bucks, is my aunt a "Sherpa", or a "non-Sherpa"?
Now this brings even deeper question to her daughter's identity, i.e. my cousin who is by birth only half-Sherpa. Now on that auspicious Losar Night, is my cousin who is by birth only half-Sherpa a complete "Sherpa", or an "non-Sherpa"?
What about my adopted niece, who was born a non-sherpa but has been raised all her life as a Sherpa in a Sherpa family?!!
And what about the woman who had married a Sherpa guy and thus was considered a "Sherpa" at the last Losar Party but now they are separated. Is she still a Sherpa?
And what about....hehe..i could go on!
I don't even know the story behind the 'one-free guest' policy. Earlier when there were fewer Sherpas, it made sense to raise the ticket price and issue 'one-free guest' ticket, thus in turn ensuring sale of two tickets. Also, the need to attract guests was important. Now, our own community is quite big and people will bring guests anyways. I think just charging per ticket would make life simpler! Maybe next Losar we can go back to basics!!
I agree that the question(who is a non-sherpa guest?)can be quite confusing at the beginning. When we went to sell the Losar tickets, we clarified the questions to the few people who had the same confusion. And I will clarify here again,
Non-sherpa=anybody who is not married to a sherpa member.
Sherpa member= every sherpa including all others married to a sherpa and their children.
Thanks a lot for the defination of "Sherpa". Wow, that is indeed a pretty wide net, and it seems to cover virtually anyone even remotely associated with Sherpas. My hope of sneaking my wife into the party as a "non-Sherpa" is out of the window now.
On a more serious note, I think there should be a study done this year on the number of "Sherpas" and "non-Sherpa guests" who come to the party. The study can for once and all, clarify if the "non-Sherpa guest" makes any financial sense and even help us to determine if this "non-Sherpa guest free" system should be continued in future. Since so many students are interested in helping the Sherpa cause, and also getting a free ticket, perhaps we could ask someone to do this study.
I didn't realize til' this time tht there would be a big confussion on this matter
"SHERPA OR NON SHERPA"
Good thing to start on....
Chhotin U'r reply clearly verified the confussion's....
NK dai U'r comin to the party rite!!
I'll give u a call...
Til' thn bye
Reading all the entries above makes me yearn for the good old days. Rules were simple then. No questions of Non Sherpas ever arose.
Did I mention earlier, that I was one of the organiser of the very first Losar Party? This was how we had planned.
Non Sherpas are people not of Sherpa birth, and not connected in anyways to Sherpas, either by marriage, adoption etc. Anyone married to or adopted by a Sherpa is automatically considered Sherpa. Jindaks are not considered a Sherpa. What difference did it make anyway? After all, each Sherpa member received 3 free guest passes with each ticket they purchased.
Finally, all Sherpas not from NY or NJ were automatically considered guests from other states or other countries, and were always granted free admission to the Losar party. What with all the expenses they go through just to get here, we did not have the heart to ask more from them. In fact, we tried to find accommodations for them too, if I can remember correctly.
So, just remembering those good old days makes it harder for me to understand what is causing all the hassles mentioned above.
