Hima - A story of a little girl.

HIMA

Hima, now 10, was diagnosed with cerebral palsy at the age of one after her family sensed something was wrong with her. Her condition was termed “developmental delay” which meant she could not develop in the same way as other kids of her age.  She was admitted to many schools as a child but a special school was finally found for her when she was five. She was admitted to SEID Trust, an NGO / school on September 2006.  The NGO works with children similar to Hima, and specifically targets marginalized sectors of society. After joining the school she was diagnosed with multiple disabilities as well as symptoms of autism.

The school also provides physiotherapy sessions and medication to the children. “After a little over five years here, her physical condition is almost normal now”, explains her brother, Johnny, who decided to work in the school a few years after Himas’s admission. That way he could be in contact with his sister and monitor her progress.

The story is about Hima, her struggle and the strong bond the brother and sister have developed over time.

Hima wraps a scarf around her face to scare her brother.

Her home, a rented space, doesn’t have many windows. During a regular power cut Hima lifts the curtain 

of her room to let the light in.

“The first thing that Hima does when I come home is take my mobile to listen to songs,” says Johnny.

The school also provides a rickshaw that is used to transport children back and forth between home and school.

 “If I have to work in life why not work here and help these children,” says Johnny when asked why 

he decided to work in the school. Every child in the school loves Johnny bhai.

Hima at a park. As part of the annual program the school takes the children and their guardians to the zoo for a picnic.

Hima loves watching TV and listening to songs more than anything else. When at home she spends most of her time watching TV.

 Hima falls asleep as Johnny watches TV.

 The story was produced in Dhaka, Bangladesh during an International Reportage Workshop between photo.circle in Nepal, Pathshala Bangladesh and Oslo and Akershus University College of Applied Sciences, Norway.

The story was also published on The Week, Republica, a national daily in Nepal on 30th March 2012. Virtual Newspaper here (center spread).

 

hareRama hareKrishna

I was part of an International Reporting Workshop that was held in Sylhet, Bangladesh. We had daily assignments as part of the workshop. The theme for the day was "Religion".

The majority of the population in Bangladesh are Muslim but there are also a significant number of Hindus. Some of my friends decided to go to a Hindu Temple for the shoot. These are some from the day.

The Cleaner of Nepal - Laxman Singh Khadka

The Cleaner of Nepal

SHIKHAR BHATTARAI

Laxman Singh Khadka styles himself as the Cleaner of Nepal, though many know of him as the Human Banner. “People often think I am a madman,” explains Khadka, who calls himself a social worker. He is to be seen cleaning roads, painting statues of former kings, and giving roadside speeches on the present political situation of the country. He writes political, religious and social slogans on his trademark white kurta, and no national day or major event in Kathmandu would be complete without one of his banners.

It all started for this former truck driver about 18 years ago on the streets of Kathmandu. Being a native of the capital, he has seen the city “develop” right before his eyes. He doesn’t hesitate to share his nostalgia for the glory days of the city. “Kathmandu looked a lot better back then,” he says.

Everyone sees him on the roads but no one knows where and how he really lives. The private life of this father of four is not what many might imagine it to be. This is my attempt to go beyond Laxman Singh Khadka’s life on the streets, into his personal space.

At 63, Laxman Singh Khadka lives a life quite different from what many people would think of living. Although he has a home in Kalanki, he has been living alone in a small hotel room in Sundhara for the last five years.

“My family did not approve of my way of life so I decided to live alone. I don’t blame them for thinking that way, but this is the life that I have chosen for myself.”

Laxman Singh Khadka breaks into an impromptu speech in the middle of directing traffic in front of the Constituent
Assembly in New Baneshwor, as onlookers read the text on his kurta. It is the streets where he has found a place to socialize, share his thoughts, and raise his voice.

Combing his hair, taking a bath, and worshipping the gods are part of a two-hour daily routine before he heads to the streets. He first visits the Martyr’s Gate, then the temple of Bhadrakali, where he feeds the pigeons. He claims to feed the pigeons almost 7 kilos of rice every day.

The white kurta is his trademark, his public face. He says he has 300 such kurtas made for different national and international events. He writes the slogans on a small piece of paper and takes them to a painter to have them transferred to cloth.

Living in a small hotel room doesn’t give him much space. All his belongings are scattered on the other bed in the room.

Once he is out onto the streets, he returns home only by 8 at night. By the time he prepares his dal bhat, washes the dishes, and goes to bed, its already 11. He dreams of becoming a prime minister someday.

The story was part of a 14 week Masterclass with Mads Nissen organized by photo circle in cooperation with Danish School of Media and Journalism (DSMJ). The photos produced during the masterclass by 12 Nepali Photographers also turned into an exhibition and a book titled "The Constant Change".

The book is available at all major bookshops in Kathmandu and online at www.muncha.com/change

Water Crisis in Kathmandu

Water Crisis in Kathmandu.

Water, being one of the basic necessities in human life is one of the many needs that people of Kathmandu are deprived of. This story is a small attempt to show how people of Kathmandu are coping with the crisis.

Water Crisis doesn’t only refer to the crisis of drinking water. Through this body of work I have tried to highlight how in a cultural society like Kathmandu the crisis is having its effect not only in the social but also from the natural context. We have always referred the mighty Bagmati and Vishnumati as one of the holiest river in Kathmandu, yet it has turned out to be one of the most polluted rivers in the country.

People have to wake up at 3 am to fill their buckets, there is always someone fighting in the queue in Dhunge-dharas for a gagri of water. Is this all we live for? Is our life supposed to be this way, fighting for things that are so basic for human survival?

How can the people be creative and move forward in life if they constantly have to think of where their next bottle of water is coming from? Or, what is the load-shedding schedule? Or, where in the valley the petrol pumps are supplying fuel?

With this documentary work I have tried to ask questions, evoke people rather than provide answers and show mere photographs of people struggling for/with water. I want people to think of this story as a metonym of many problems people of the city suffer from and react in some way and hopefully raise a voice.

This is a short documentary piece that I did during a masterclass with photographer  Jodi Bieber. The participants of the workshop were a mix of Finnish and Nepali photographers. The 10-day masterclass was organized by the Finnish Press Photographers Association and Photo Raw Magazine in co-operation with photo.circle.

The Jungle of KTM

The work was part of workshop with photographer Frédéric Lecloux, Agence VU. The workshop was organized by photo circle and was titled "Photographing the Everyday".

We can see many high rise building each year sprouting up like mushrooms in Kathmandu. But what is the real story behind the buildings, the story of the workers and the building itself before it gets turned into some high end commercial hub.

All in all, 10 photographers participated on this workshop. The video below shows the works of all of the participants.