Sarita holding her brother Sanjiv
Sarita holding her brother Sanjiv
Betrawati, 2002
Sarita holding her brother Sanjiv
Betrawati, 2002
Bua and Ama
Betrawati, October 8th, 2000
[text below from a postcard I wrote on October 8th, 2000]
"...This is the day when all of the amas and buas [mothers and fathers] give their families tikas. Unlike most tikas, these ones are enormous and by the time you've gone to each of the tika-giving people—in my case, eleven—your whole forehead is almost covered.
Woven mats are unrolled in front of the house and all of the amas and buas sit on them—a plate made of metal or of leaves acts as their palette. There is a paint-like substance made from marigolds (I think), a blackish paint applied with a piece of wood, and a mixture of dry rice and red paint. To receive your tika, you hunch down in front of the giver so that your faces are about twelve inches from each other. As they apply the tika with their caring fingers, they softly speak a blessing in Nepali.
They're looking at your forehead as they apply the tika—but it feels like they are looking you straight in the eyes. Reading their faces, I felt like a favorite painting that an old master was putting a final touch on. For the first time I was able to appreciate the incredible beauty of my ama's eyes—her irises a rich brown inlaid with lace, and the outer edge a grayish moonlight blue.
After everyone has their tikas, we all sit on the mats and eat rice, vegetable sauce, goat, and curd from bowls made of leaves sewn together..."
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My bahini [younger sister] Barsha and a boy (whose name I don't know) with their tikas.
As the ceremony was coming to an end, I spied this little girl carrying her mothers much-larger parasol and it was so sweet that I quickly took a photo.
Sisters Sushmita, Manju and Shushila
Betrawati, 2002
Sushmita, Manju and Shushila lived beside the dusty road that snakes through Betrawati. I remember that Manju went to my school, but I don't recall if Sushmita or Sushila did (there were at least two other schools within a 20 minute walk). Their brother Rabindra was one of the first children I met in the village. He saw me buying several Choco-Fun candy bars on one of my first days, and so sometimes when he would see me he would shout "Choco-Fun!" as a way of greeting.
These two color photos were taken in 2002, on a day when the children were preparing their family's field for planting. You can see the wooden plow being helped along by brothers Rajesh and Rabinda below. In the background you can see most of Uttargaya Secondary English Boarding School.
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Below is a photo of siblings Manju and Rabindra taken in late 2000.
Children dancing to the beat of a madal drum
Uttargaya Secondary English Boarding School, Betrawati, 2000
[text below from a postcard I wrote on September 26th, 2000]
"...most of the students were already mentally on the two-week Dashain festival that starts in a couple of days. At lunch, I asked Kove, one of the teachers, if there was school tomorrow—I had so far heard differing accounts. He checked with the office and then told me it was still undecided.
After lunch I stuck around and noticed that of twelve rooms, only one or two had teachers. In the second-level class all of the kids were singing in Nepali while one boy danced at the front. I joined in and they all burst into laughter. From the "nursery" class I heard crying, so I went down there. Danuze, a small boy who speaks no English, was in tears. I squatted down, speaking in soft tones knowing that my words wouldn't help, but perhaps my voice would. He stopped crying and I think I may have gotten a smile once I started acting goofy—"Look at my hand Danuze... it's HUGE! It's the biggest hand I've ever SEEN!
The bell rang and all of the kids started yelling excitedly and running out the door—their little backpacks hopping up and down as they went. I followed them out the door and watched as they all ran across the field. It would seem there was no 7th period today and no school tomorrow. I'm going to miss seeing them all over the next 2–3 weeks..."
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Mother with baby and son on porch
Tupche 2000
In a house above a small shop, a proud mother feeds her youngest son.
Down below people may be sharing news, buying white plastic bags of cooking oil, large bricks of Puja soap. If not helping in the fields, girls may be skipping rope, boys playing Carrom board, small children trailing empty plastic bags behind them like kites.
Although it lies just across a suspension bridge from Betrawati, I didn't get to Tupche more than a few times. It's a spread of terraced rice fields with a few clumps of houses and shops peppered here and there. To get from here to there you zigzag your way on the raised dike/walls that separate the fields. After the rice has been harvested children can play in the dry stubbly fields.
When I revisited Tupche two years later I walked by the house and the father, who I had not met previously, stopped me to thank me for this photo.
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I had been kneeling down on the porch to take the first photo; when I turned around I took this second photo.
A father sews while his son sleeps
Betrawati 2003
Next to the only road passing through Betrawati, a father works sewing clothes.
His son Swayta, fourteen months old, naps nearby atop an unrolled mat.
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Busy mother with baby under her wing
Manamaiju, Kathmandu 2003
Walking home one afternoon, I ran across this woman taking in the family's laundry.
I love the cloth that holds the baby; it’s like she’s wrapped her son up in a piece of star-filled night.
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2011: With a freshly-printed copy of the original photo in hand,
I was able to find the mother and son again to take this photo eight years later.
Update: I recently ran across this photo that I took of them looking at the old photo.
Anjana, Sumina, and Astha going to school in the morning
Betrawati, 2000
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Present day: Astha just helped collect and deliver food and other needed materials to the people of the three villages of Kavresthali, Kathmandu.
(photo by Astha Lamichhane)
("Kavresthali is a village in Kathmandu District in the Bagmati Zone of central Nepal. At the time of the 2011 Nepal census it had a population of 4,774 and had 1007 houses in it." –Wikipedia)
Sisters holding bowls
Betrawati 2000
These two sisters have traveled to Betrawati to be with their relatives during Tihar. In many ways, Tihar is like Thanksgiving in that distant family comes together, transportation (buses) is over-capacity, and much eating takes place. The bowls that the sisters are holding were made by stitching together large leaves.
During Nepal's Tihar festival women give the men in their lives a tika in a special ceremony. After the tika is given, they are given a tray or bowl filled with fried breads, fruits, nuts, and candies. After this, the men usually present the woman with a sari or, in the case of a child, a kurta.
A tika is a blessing in the form of a colored dot or smudge applied to the forehead. Most usually red, during Tihar one may collect tikas of several different colors.
A kurta is the traditional dress for girls. Often made from the same light fabric, it is two pieces: a pair of pants and a long-sleeved v-neck shirt, which hangs down to near the knees. Often a scarf is worn with it, looping down in front like a necklace with the long ends hanging back over each shoulder.
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Suntahli, Somjana and Lakshmi, a mother and her daughters,
Betrawati 2003
One of the reasons I love this this photo is—notice the natural placement of everyones hands—how it wordlessly just tells you so much about their love for each other.
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