Bina and sisters

Bina and sisters
Manamaiju, Kathmandu, June 2011

On December 9th, 2002, I took a photo of Bina and her three siblings Rina, Rabi, and Nisha (see below).

In 2011, with a copy of the photo in my hand, I tried to find them again so that I might take a follow-up photo nine years later.

(In the above photo, I believe that's Nisha in the middle;
she was eight-years-old and at the bottom in the photo below)

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I have this photo scanned somewhere, but I can't find it at the moment.
Instead, here is the 2002 photo as it appears on my contact sheet of the negatives.

In this photo, starting clockwise from the top, they are Rina, Rabi, Nisha, and Bina.

Update: Found the actual photo and added it below

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Women enjoying each other’s company

Women enjoying each other’s company
Dadagaun, Kathmandu 2005

The road named Manamiju Marg follows a long slope. There is a bit of a crest, then a hammock-like dip, before it starts to rise again. Some of these friends and neighbors live in that “hammock” area. Between and behind their houses there are a terraced fields.

The day I took this photo, the woman in purple was visiting; one of their mother’s, I believe.

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Afterwards (or perhaps before) I got my photo taken as well. 

Apsara and a friend

Apsara and a friend
Kathmandu, 2011

In one of the two school-rooms of a school that my friend Mana started for rural children—about a 6km walk west of Manamaiju Marg—Apsara (in the turquoise sari), a teacher there, shares a laugh with a friend.

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Bonus: a 16-second video from 2011 of Leena, one of Mana’s students (who you can see in the background of the above photo), doing a chicken impression.

Trio of friends

Trio of friends
Dadagaun, Kathmandu, 2006

There is a path that runs behind Sunita's house; so thin, that as you walk it, you can hold out your left hand and run your palm along the back wall of her house.

Near the start of the path there is a communal spigot, where pots are washed—the crumbs and water streaming away between rounded pebbles. The path continues back to a few doors leading to small rectangular rooms of an apartment block.

The young woman in turquoise was my friends neighbor. I believe her two friends were over visiting the day of the photo. When I returned five years later, I asked after her, but she had since moved.

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Sunita’s family's house.

Family on the porch

Family on the porch
Manamaiju, Kathmandu, May 2011

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Mother, daughter—today, tomorrow

Mother, daughter—today, tomorrow
Kathmandu, 2005

There is a point at which, the daily path I take is shaped like a hairpin. If I wish to take a short-cut, I merely turn down a wide beaten-dirt path, past a few small houses, then down a small hill and across a narrow terraced valley of small fields. 

Passing this way one afternoon, I happened to see this young girl and her mother taking a well-deserved rest. We had seen each other a great deal in our comings and goings, but I believe this was the first photo I took of them together.

I see the strength in the youth of Nepal, and it makes me look forward to the Nepal that they will choose to create for themselves.

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Laughter on the front step

Laughter on the front step
Balaju, Kathmandu, 2005

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Guests at Sunita’s wedding

Guests at Sunita’s wedding
Dadagaun, Kathmandu, February 2005

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Hiding a laugh behind a hand

Hiding a laugh behind a hand
Dadagaun, Kathmandu, Nepal

Near my friend Sunita's house, I met this young girl.

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Five farmers

Five farmers
Kathmandu, February 2005

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