Vijaya Dashami, the 10th day of Dashain festival
Vijaya Dashami, the 10th day of Dashain festival
Betrawati, Saturday, October 7th, 2000
Indramaya receives a tika from her mother
Indramaya receives a tika from her mother
Manamaiju, Kathmandu, 2002
I met Indramaya and her family when we bumped into each other on a path. They were returning from farming on a piece of their land, and they invited me to their house for tea.
Indraymaya’s family is very sweet and welcoming, and it is they that I most think of when I think of Manamaiju.
Indramaya’s bahini [younger sister] Sushmita is sitting next to her.
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An old photo of Indramaya’s father and mother on the wall of the family home.
Sujal, sitting on the stairs
Sujal, sitting on the stairs
Dadagaun, Kathmandu, 2005
I was visiting friends when I happened to see Sujal, a child of my friend’s neighbors. Sujal sits on the stairs outside of his family’s apartment. When he can manage to get out of the loving arms of his mother, his aunt, or one of the neighbor girls, he’s starting to walk.
I believe Sujal—just 18 months old—had just had his bath. His mother had then lovingly applied a small tika to Sujal’s forehead and kajal around his eyes.
The stairs behind Sujal lead to the roof, which is unfinished but provides a space to dry laundry in the air, or vegetables in the sun. The stairs themselves also provide a space to lean pots to dry after they have been washed at the nearby communal spigot.
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(Sujal’s image above was scanned from a 4x6" that I had had printed with a white border. As such, it's not quite a full-frame image; the image is a little tall for it's width, but I was hesitant to crop it any more)
In this photo showing the same steps, you can see two pots drying. After they have been scrubbed clean inside and out, a thin coat of mud is applied to the outside. I believe that while the mud still allows for the transfer of heat, it keeps the pots from getting black from the fire of the family stove.
Bua and Ama
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.
Sarju
Sarju
Betrawati 2002
The eldest of four daughters, Sarju looks out from her family's covered front porch. The porch, and the ground right in front of a house, is really like the living area. Tasks are done here; it's where you'd drink tea with a daytime visitor. As news comes mostly by bus and foot, doing things out front is a good way to keep up on current events.
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Present day, Sarju is now a beloved primary-school teacher.
(photo by Sarju Thapa)