Deepak

Deepak
Betrawati, 2002

On a wooden bench near the bridge, Deepak has a rest while he takes in a view of his village around him.

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To his left, here’s a view similar to what he’d see.

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In the above photo from 2000, you can see the bridge that crosses the Falakhu river—tributary to the mighty Trishuli—in the background.

Below is a June 2011 photo taken looking up the Falakhu river from the middle of that bridge.

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A visit from a friend

A visit from a friend
Balaju, Kathmandu, 2005

In 2005 there was more open space in Balaju.

This house was on the edge of a small cluster of two- or three-story buildings. There was some garden area in from of it, and a small corner store a few meters away where one could pick up simple staples and the latest news.

A bit further out—depending on the time of year—you could look across a wide field of yellow mustard, see students cutting across fallow fields on their way home, or see children playing a spirited game of either football or cricket.

I happened to be walking home one afternoon when one friend was visiting another. This photo is the result.

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Sunita and a friend fetching water

Sunita and a friend fetching water
Futung, Kathmandu, June 2011

While fetching water for home, Sunita (in red) and a friend take a brief rest.

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Laughter in the afternoon sun

Laughter in the afternoon sun
Dadagaun, Kathmandu, 2011

My friend Sunita’s neighbors. Standing in the courtyard where Sunita married in 2006, beneath lines festooned with colorful flags. Those stairs in the background? There’s another set when you get to the top—it's where I took this photo of two friends.

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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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