Gayatri’s son
Betrawati, 2002

[text below from a postcard I wrote on October 2nd, 2000]

"Gayatri and I were going to her office today; it's about an hour away, far up on one of the hills. She works for women's rights in Nepal. My aama (mother) here joined us for about half the way, then turned off onto a separate path to go see about a bi-see-quo (buffalo). Gayatri and I continued on—even though it was still early, only about 9:45am, it still felt like we were carrying the full weight of the sun on our backs.

The office where Gayatri works is tucked into the side of a hill, surrounded by green fields of millet. Inside it was nice and cool, and there was such a good cross-breeze that I was soon shivering in my sweat-soaked shirt. She and her co-worker Sangita prepared some tea for us which helped rid me of the shivers. They went about their work and I took the time to write. A little while later we ate the lunch that they prepared while Sangita softly sang along to a Nepali song on the radio."

(In the background of the above photo, you can see our neighbor seated in front of her house, stripping dried ears of corn of their kernals.)

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Gayatri, with her brother Ishoor, during a festival in 2000.

The make-up around Gayatri’s son's eyes is called kajal. You can see me holding a small tin of it below.