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..

Rice Fields

Holy Man

Bhisho Nath is a Holy Man (Baba) from Panauti Tribe Ni Ghat. He lives in a small room inside Dharmasala, where he has just few of his belongings.

When I first saw him, he was lying along a window with his eyes closed, chanting quietly. Sun was striking through, lighting his face and I couldn’t stop looking at him and observing the peace he was naturally surrounded by. Since he seemed to be very engaged in his own world I asked some of his friends if I can take his photograph, I didn’t want to disturb him but also was too shy to photograph him without any permission.

After I took few images, he noticed the shutter clicking and opened his eyes. He starred at me for a moment and then closed his eyes again. It was intimidating and I could tell he wasn’t comfortable about neither my camera nor my presence, so I left him alone for the moment. I sat in a circle with other men from Ni Ghat who invited me in to document their hash making activity.

Later on, Bhisho Nath came to join us; he spoke with his eyes only. He sat close by and smiled at me, I could tell he was curious about the reason of my presence. In few minutes later he sat in a lotus pose and suggested I take his portrait. His gesture changed the dynamic of our interaction and I could tell he no longer felt hesitant about neither my camera nor me being around.

Our entire interaction and any kind of conversation happened without words, thinking back, beside his quiet chanting, I do not recall hearing him speak anything.. His loneliness was striking. No matter by how many people he was constantly surrounded by, he was alone, apart from others, the whole time.

After couple of days being around him, I realized how moved I was by him. I can’t describe what was it exactly that caught so much of my attention but I felt there is something very pure and clean about Bhisho Nath that felt very comforting to be around.

When I was leaving Ni Ghat, he smiled and waved at me, then put his hands in prayer and nodded his head to gesture “Namaste.” To hug a holy man seemed a bit inappropriate, so I smiled back at him and walked down the stairs of Dharmasala.

Stream

Panauti Town

My next hiking adventure took me to the town of Panauti. After several hours on the bus, entertained by never-ending nepali songs (one song can easily keep repeating for more than 10minuts) I arrived to this small town with invisible river. Filled with ancient temples and curious kids, I found a group of Hindu men called Panauti Tribe Ni Ghat.

Very hospitable, they invited me to join them for a tea. No nepali spoken on my side and no English on theirs, however our conversation somehow flew anyway.. The men represented all generations and enjoyed the afternoon by making hashish, smoking it, drinking tea, playing music, dancing and chanting. One member didn’t hesitate to perform some yoga posters for me, and yes, I was quite impressed..

Impressed and inspired at the same time so I decided to make in depth story about this Ni Ghat Tribe. I will share a link to the photo story once it is completed. For now, just some random photographs of random kids and things I saw at this place that will forever remain stored in my memories in a shape of marihuana leaf.

East Meets West