Two girls in kurtas along the road
Two girls in kurtas along the road
Betrawati, 2000
Prabin
Prabin
Betrawati, November 2002
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A girl washes at a spigot
A girl washes at a spigot
Betrawati 2000
A young girl cools off under a spigot near my school.
Out of the frame on the left, a large electrical tower was being built to bring more power from Trishuli Bazar's hydroelectric plant down river.
Out of frame on the right stands a house, half of which collapsed during my first visit to the school. Dozens of us worked for an hour or so to save the family cow that was pregnant and trapped inside. The cow, once rescued was hot and exhausted but I believe both the cow and the unborn calf survived.
Nepal, being Hindu, holds the cow as sacred.
The cow was also one of the family's most important assets.
"What about the bull," I asked my brother Binod, "…sacred?"
"No."
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Here is a shot of the partially-collpased house a few days after it happened. The aforementioned electrical tower was still being assembled, so it cannot be seen yet.
Here is a shot of the house taken about two months later.
You can see the now-completed electrical tower in the background.
The tower can also be seen (from the vantage point of the school up on the hill) behind the children playing in this photo.
Students play
Students playing
Uttargaya Secondary English Board School, Betrawati, autumn of 2000
A few of my students play a dancing game of their own creation.
The game is played by standing in a circle, with each child putting one foot out behind them, and resting it behind the knee of the child next to them.
(Serika, the tallest in the photo, described it as "making a web just by putting in one leg")
They then would then sing a song and clap along, hopping and turning-as-a-group on their remaining feet.
I just messaged Serika to see if the game had a name, but she said it didn't—so I think we’re going to call it “The Serika”.
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Now fifteen years later, Serika is a talented photographer and sent me some portraits that she has taken recently.
I have included them below:
(images copyright Serika Thapa)
Baklu, Serika’s nephew
"His real name is Subhan but everyone calls him Baklu."
Anubhav and a friend
"That guy with guitar is my brother Anubhav."
Sapana
Serika’s friend Sapana playing a card game called Judh Patti during the festival season.
Sapana’s name means dream in Nepali.