Walking the footbridge to Tupche
Walking the footbridge to Tupche
Over the Salakhu river, walking from Manegaun to Tupche,
2000 and September 16th, 2015
2000
Anita crossing with a parasol, September 16th, 2015
Malina and Nabina, bahini and didi
Malina and Nabina, bahini and didi
Manamaiju, Kathmandu, September 6th, 2018
I met Nabina about fifteen years ago; and her sister Malina a couple of years later, when Nabina would often carry her younger sibling around.
A younger Nabina holding a younger Malina.
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Asmi and Ramdevi, bohini and didi
Asmi and Ramdevi, bohini and didi
Kathmandu, June 18th, 2011
I stopped by a house where I had taken a family photo in the past. While Ramdevi (above in red) filled me in on some of the names that I hadn't gotten those many years ago, she herself is not in the older photo (which can be seen below).
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Asmi and Ramdevi’s family, back in 2005 (or 2003). I believe that is Asmi in the pink.
Parvati, now and then
Parvati, now and then
Betrawati, 2011 and 2000
Parvati, who lives next door. Coincidentally, the two photos—taken 11 years apart—were taken in the same exact place.
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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
Sisters, Ambika and Kopila
Sisters, Ambika and Kopila
Kathmandu, 11 June 2011
With an old 2005 photo of Kopila and Ambika in my hand, I asked around the neighborhood and was able to find these two sisters again. Looking now, at first I thought Ambika was laughing in both photos, but it was Kopila in the older photo.
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I ran across another photo taken on the porch of their family's house on the same day.
And another photo of their younger sisters, I believe.
Friends laughing beneath a tree
Friends laughing beneath a tree
Futung, Kathmandu, 2002
I found this group of friends sitting beneath a tree on the top of a Suess-esqe little hill (see panorama below). I asked if I could take their photo and they said yes, but the first photo I snapped, they all looked deadly serious. When I mimed my best impression of their serious faces, they burst into laughter and I took this second shot.
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The tree where I took the photo is on the top of the little hill that, in the photo, is above and a little to the right of the little house-like building on the left. (click to see larger)
And here is a small version of that first photo that I described above.
Three sisters in a sewing shop
Three sisters in a sewing shop
Futung, Kathmanudu, 2005
I took this photo of three sisters while walking through the Futung section of outer Kathmandu. The shop sat on the right side of the road as you walked into the hills that surround the capital.
[text below from a journal entry I wrote six years later, on June 18th, 2011]
"Today I walked my usual hairpin route through Dadagaun, Futung, and Manamaiju. In my backpack I carried a couple of dozen six-year-old photos.
I was looking for a sewing shop where I took two photos of three young women many years ago.
The first photo [seen below], was a staid one of the three;
the second [seen above] was snapped after I cracked a face and got them to laugh.
Having walked the area many times, I know that the small closet-like space the shop used to fill has now been taken over by another business.
I stopped at another nearby sewing shop, where a woman sat behind one of those timeless boat-anchor-heavy sewing machines that will outlive us all. I show her the photo and ask with my voice, face, and hands if she might recognize them. She doesn't.
Another woman, who is either waiting for some sewing, or just hiding from the mid-afternoon sun, takes a look as well. No joy.
From across the road, a man in his thirties ambles over. He looks at the photo for a moment, then looks at me, raises his head a tick, and wordlessly points down the road.
I give him my thanks and head off.
Past the three women filling water jugs at the tap.
Past two baby goats,
one who’s mostly black, but for her ears which look like they're covered with white lace
(or a smattering of snow flakes).
Two students in their schools brown skirts and socks walk ahead of me.
I follow the jog in the road that passes by Nag Pokhari;
its thin statue of nagas (snakes) standing in the middle of a square of murky greenish water.
There is an idle butcher shop up on my left. As I pass it, I look back—I like how it’s patina walls contrast with the red cloth that is draped over the counter and the scale. There are a few small spots on the wall; blood I would guess, but only for the fact that it’s a butcher shop.
Two young girls, curiously the exact same height, pass by holding hands. I smile at them and ask “Teekcha?” (are you well?). They laugh to hear me speak Nepali, and smiling, continue on their way. The one on the right holds an orange twenty-rupee note rolled in her little hand. Sent off to buy something from the shop, I think to myself.
The road completes it’s turn and there is a wide spot that reminds me of a gathering place in Manamaiju. A large tree stands at the far end, and a few ducks are conducting business in it’s shade.
Past the ducks, past the tree.
Past a large metal gate that has been stood up at the side of the road, I assume to dry a fresh coat of paint. The various pieces of iron are arc-welded together. Walk most areas for more than a few minutes and you’ll pass an open-air bamboo shack, blue packets of electric snow-blindness shooting out the side.
The gate has two small bas-reliefs on it—one of the Buddha, one of Ganesh. I wonder if the shop makes the entire gates themselves, save these two decorative pieces which they have to order and weld on at the end.
Up ahead I can see the school with the laundry hung in the playground. I’ve reached the turn-around point quicker than I remembered. Do I want to walk all the way up to the gate of the school? No, it’s enough to just look at the shops by the gate and to see that, no, there are no sewing shops.
I turn around and start walking back towards the ducks.
I hear the quick burp of a motorcycle horn and on the left side of the street, the man from earlier is looking at me. Once he sees I see him, he points down a path that leads from the road.
I give him my thanks again, and he drives off.
I’m not sure who yet, but one of the three sisters in my photo lives down this path.
In a pretty blue colored house, as it turns out.
No one seems to answer when I call “bohini?” (young sister?)
I will try tomorrow, Saturday, when schools are out and people seem more liable to be at home.
(Curiously, I was almost in this exact spot about six weeks ago, but of course would’ve never known it. At the time, I was listening to the parade-like brass and percussion of a hired wedding band. From across a terraced rice field I could see the color of the sarees, and the top of the wedding tent.)
I walk back through Phutung and again see the two girls of identical height heading back my way. Namaste I tell them. The one little girl still has the orange note in her hand.
Perhaps the shop was out of cheenee (sugar) I think to myself."
I returned another day, and was able to find one of the sisters at home.
(I know I wrote down her name, I just don't know where—hopefully I can find it in the future)
She is seen below, in 2011, at her beautiful blue house.
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Cool morning in Manamaiju
Cool morning in Manamaiju
Manamaiju, Kathmandu, 2002
Friends and neighbors share a cool morning in Manamaiju.
Walking through this area nine years later with a copy of this photo in hand, I was directed by neighbors to Alisha (above in the blue shawl), who now runs her own shop.
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Alisha (in yellow) and friends, in front of her shop in 2011
Update: I also recently ran across the photo below. Seems to be taken in 2002 as well, although on a slightly warmer day.
Sita and Sushma, 8 and 10
Sita and Sushma, 8 and 10
Manamaiju, Kathmandu 2005
The red clown nose, one of two I brought with me in 2005, was a great crowd pleaser. Sometimes I would namaste a group of children, holding my hands hand together in front of my face as one does, (but with the foam nose squished between my hands), and then when I would lower my hands I'd have it on my nose—and they'd burst into surprised laughter.
All the children would then want a turn trying it on. Sometimes, to their disappointment, their noses weren't big enough yet for it to stay on.
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2011: I printed up some of my old photos, and walked the routes I remembered. I was able to find Sita and take this photo, six years after the previous one. I asked her if her friend Sushma was nearby, but she told me that she had moved away a few years ago.
