Bittersweet..

I took this photograph today at Pashupatinath - most important Hindu temple in Nepal, while working on one of my stories about Laxmi and her four children (on the right).

On their day off they decided to come to this crematorium site to see monkeys and enjoy the up hill walk with variety of views.

Before we left the place, we watched kids playing in the sacred (and heavily polluted) Bagmati river while dead bodies were burned on cremation ghats in the background.

Many of these kids spend their time not just playing in the water but also mostly searching for gold and coins that fall of from the cloths that are wrapped around the dead bodies before the cremation.

While editing, I realized that this image sums it all up for me.

The way I feel about Nepal..

Kopan Monastery

When I left Boudha (see earlier post) I continued on my monastery hunt to the next stop - Kopan. When I entered its gate I saw couple boys, monks, playing with plastic guns and few others seated close by, drinking tea. Some tourists and students who stay at the site were mingling around but over all, the entire place was very quiet.

Kopan felt very isolated, almost unfriendly and till today I wonder why.. Interesting fact I read afterwards, supposedly Lama Tenzin Osel Rinpoche, Spanish boy, who was declared the reincarnation of the founder of Kopan who died in 84’, was inspiration for Bernardo Bertolucci’s film Little Buddha.

Musicians

I photographed this portrait series of young musicians at the Kathmandu University’s Department of Music. They are undergraduate students, all portrayed with a traditional nepali music instrument they chose as a focus of their studies.

Panauti Festival

Another festival out of the many that happened in just one week, this “water friendly” one, took a place in Panauti. Three chariots, lead by young men were pushed around the town, stopping occasionally. I was well prepared for crowds this time, however, not so much for the generous amounts of water that locals poured out of their windows to refresh the sweaty chariot pushers.

Camera survived though and I watched all the festivities from a high up window it was lot more enjoyable then being smashed in the middle of the crowd as it happened to me last time..