Nepal

By Kartikaya, Shiv Kiran and Sachindra Rajbansi

To me, Nepal has always been a place that I could go to anytime. And that’s what I thought for a long time before I actually went there a couple of months after the devastating earthquake of April 25th.

Post the earthquake, my colleague Shiv and I decided to make a trip to Nepal, like many others to “see” the place. Disaster tourists – partially; we wanted to see the extent of the damage; the rubble on the street; people sleeping on the pavements et al. I was personally done with all the sad stories of Nepal and wanted to see if some “happy stories” could be brought out.

Growing up, I knew umpteen numbers of people who would go to Nepal – either for the casinos or shopping or prayers in Kathmandu. I had not heard of Pokhara, nor of the architecture and neither of the beauty that lies hidden in the nook and corner of this wonderful mountain laden land. Nobody told me about the beautiful early sun rise and the golden sunsets and I was yet to see the content in the smile of the passerby who uses a rope – dinghy daily to cross the river to get to work.

Leaving Nepal, I felt like a kid going back to school after a vacation full of vocations and happiness. The land takes you in, the stories cradle you to sleep, food is benign and people are warm. The bustle of daily life in Kathmandu mixed with pollution amidst the history of the city makes for an eclectic mix of emotions. You get this all encompassing sense of all is good and will get better. In Pokhara, the mountains and Fewa Lake come together to seduce the traveller’s senses. Happiness seeps in the heart with the blues and greens of the land and it becomes just so important to walk to the nearest village to strike a conversation with the locals.

– Kartikaya Nagar

Nepal, Documentary, Personal Work