(from left to right, back to front)
aama Bidhya with yellow scarf, chhori Bibhuti, cousin Shuvani, neighbor Pramisha in pink,
aunt Ganga in green, and Bibhuti’s paternal grandparents Arjun and Januka
Bubhuti’s family
Balaju, Kathmandu, July 16th, 2020
Aunt and her niece, cooking a meal
Janakpur, Nepal, October 21st, 2015
Urmila (in orange) and her niece Ram Kala work to prepare a meal.
Urmila is one of my friend’s maternal aunts, and Ram Kala is a cousin.
With the punitive months-long Indian blockade of fuel and supplies, cooking gas is almost impossible to come by and so meals are cooked over wood fires. Because of the smoke inherent with wood fires, families try to cook outside if possible. Cooking times are lengthened, and with only one stove “burner”, each part of the meal (lentils, rice, tea, et cetera) must wait it’s turn to be cooked.
Though the small rectangular stool in the lower-left is only a couple of inches tall, it can make all the difference comfort-wise when one is squatting by the fire for an hour or more.
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