Children from the Nursery class
Children from the Nursery class
Balaju, Kathmandu, September 5th, 2018
Friends in the doorway of a beauty shop
Friends in the doorway of a beauty shop
Manamaiju, Kathmandu, October 28th, 2015
Perhaps one-hundred-and-fifty meters past Manamajiju Temple, the main street thins as it enters an area of older buildings built closer together.
On your right, as the road thins, there is a small two-doorway’ed beauty shop where I met these friends enjoying each others company.
Pantee (in purple),
Sujina (in the background) and
Kashari (in the red head scarf).
I believe it is Kashari’s shop.
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Doma
Doma
Balaju, Kathmandu, 2002
I forget how exactly I met Doma, but probably from walking by her house. Doma was such a sweetheart, so friendly, and I always made sure to stop by her house if I was walking to or from Balaju Bypass.
On my next visit three years later, I stopped by to see her family, but they had moved and the neighbors didn't know where to.
I am sure that wherever sweet Doma is today, she is making people’s days brighter just by being there. How I would love to see her again.
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Bua
Bua
Manamaiju, Kathmandu, Saturday, October 3rd, 2015
The house where I first met the Maharjans was a beautiful three-story home. The front entry, like many in Manamaiju, was two wooden doors set like a cabinet. The doorway itself was small, so I'd learned to duck a bit as I entered. Inside, stairs carved from thick pieces of wood lead to the second floor, and then on to the third.
The family room was on the second floor, and had at least two windows with ornate wooden frames that looked out onto the courtyard below. It was up to these windows I would jokingly call "Oh, fupu!" [Are you there sister-of-father?] when I wanted to see if anyone was home.
I believe* that the building’s walls were brick—a little over a foot thick—with large pieces of bamboo used for the floors; the walls may have been insulated with straw. When you were inside, you felt both warm and in a place of quiet. The exterior walls of the house sealed with layers of clay-mud which sunbaked to a smooth, warm caramel.
This is the house where ama [mother] and bua [father] raised their six beautiful children—four daughters and two sons.
The house was destroyed in the April 25th earthquake, and now the family resides about ten meters away in a new house that is gradually being built from red brick and concrete. Only five months since, I am happy to hear so much laughter and see again their smiling faces. The three grandchildren play with each other, the two elder boys taking care of the youngest, Arpita, who is just three.
The shell of the old house remains, some of the walls still holding fast to contain the mass of rubble inside. [Edit: I looked at the house again today, and I think it is actually a neighboring house. I now think that their old house is totally gone. –Jack, 10.08.2015]
I'm not sure that houses like this will ever be built again here, but in the end it did the best job possible—it kept this wonderful family safe, and I am so grateful it did.
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* the exact structure of the house is a bit of supposition on my part.
The remains of a house that stood right next to their old house.
Kiran and Arati
Kiran and Arati
Balaju, Kathmandu, 2004
On a cool winters day, I was coming out of my friends building and caught friends Kiran and Arati in the sunlight just outside.
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Ayusa and her mother
Ayusa and her mother
Balaju, Kathmandu, Tuesday, September 22nd, 2015
I was in the barbershop of Ayusa’s parents this afternoon getting my hair cut.
Ayusa, was playing on the weathered wooden chair by the door.
Her mother was close at hand, talking to her and lovingly tussling her hair.
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or UNICEF’s Nepal Earthquake fund here.
Quartet in a doorway
Quartet in a doorway
Balaju Bypass, Kathmandu, 2002
To enter my friends apartment building, one goes through a long dark tunnel. On this wintery day, these four children were just inside the doorway, watching the world outside. One of them is eating chow-chow [ramen] straight from the bag—a popular snack.
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Children in a doorway
Children in a doorway
Kathmandu, 2002
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Sisti
Sisti
Betrawati, 2000 or 2002
Sitting on a bag of rice on top of a full TATA bus, I passed a building where Sisti bahini was looking out the second-story doorway.
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Sisti with her brother and mother.
I believe that Sisti’s family runs a fabric shop in town, just south of the bridge.
2000
Boy in a tea shop
Boy in a tea shop
Kathmandu, January 2003
I believe I was looking for the Shree Ganesh Himal Boarding School, when I stopped in this tea shop to ask for directions. This young boy worked there, the proprietor’s son I think.
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