did a self-portrait yesterday and being the good friend that yusuf is, he has suggested the picture below as the inspiration, or retrospection.

speaking of inspiration, i bought a collection of really great ad photography from basheer bookstore at bras basah. i highly recommend the shop for its selection and friendly service. new things are nice to photograph.

from my trek in langtang –

from my shoot with scott mason, founder of parahawking –

from the streets –

*not medically documented.

see more of my photography while in nepal here.

went to the last resort on the 17th and 18th of april for the sundance music festival. the festival was ok. being on the road there and back was far more interesting.

buses outside the valley are often filled to the brim and beyond. space on the bus is only limited by the number of handholds and one’s imagination.

loud and brightly-coloured vehicles such as these are the rule, breaking up the monotonous earth tones of the landscape.

sanjog getting antsy from waiting for the show to start.

view of the bhote kosi river from a suspension bridge over it.

kids running across said bridge, much to the annoyance of the rest on it.

artist catherine biyoka kicks off an abstract art performance to improvised music. this item got the otherwise bored audience to their feet around the performers.

milan rai, with the nearly completed work, behind.

this gentleman was watching the performance intently. i was distracted by his bald head.

nirakar yakthumba, bassist of nepali band 1974 a.d., improvises on the bass.

milan rai in action.

just about 40-50km from the last resort on the way back to kathmandu, we hit a landslide on the arniko highway. it had been raining persistently since morning and the landscape was transformed into a mess. traffic was brought to a standstill, and unwilling to sit it out, a few of us decided to leave the bus and cross the landslide on foot. on the other side, we would then seek transport back. following photos from yusuf’s camera.

on the road.

after about 15-20 minutes of walking, we hitchhiked a pickup truck with an open back. it was bad enough that the drizzle was slowly drenching us without needing the driver, who is road maniac first class, cornering as if he was driving a maserati. i can’t say we didn’t have fun though.

just like a mexican illegal immigrant, i was rocking a faux poncho. just need a sombrero to complete the get-up.

i call this look “purepleasurepain”.

more posts direct from nepal here.

above are my entries for the 2010 singapore young photographer award. missed the deadline last time round and since this is my last opportunity to enter this bi-annual competition, i thought i’d give it a go. much love and thanks to my dear sarah for helping me with the process given my absence from singapore.

from top – champagne glasses and petals (abstract), sinatra (portrait), sepia arcadia #1 (nature), tattoo artist (people at work), saivite sadhu (portrait), flight of the light (night scene).

view the competition website here.

see more posts on photography here.

3 weeks ago, i visited badarjhula, a remote village located in chitwan, to illustrate an article about the work of a local ngo (samari utthan sewa) in improving the lives of the villagers, most notably in the construction of a new, multi-storey school. the ride to the village was a long and arduous one – about 11 hours in a 4-wheel drive that had to traverse rough, rocky terrain and even small rivers.

the people of badarjhula were victims of floods and landslides in their place of origin before they decided to move to their current location, when they heard that land had been released by the government for agriculture. till today, they are merely squatters on the land and at the mercy of the government.

without land to their name, the villagers are continually trapped in a vicious cycle of poverty, since they are unable to procure loans from banks for business and development purposes without any collateral.

children play cricket in front of the newly-constructed rastriya primary school, the only multi-storey, concrete structure in the entire village. the government is partly funding and supplying the school with teachers, and villagers are hopeful that this is a sign that they will soon be officially recognised as the legitimate owners of the land.

l-r: community leaders jagaran praja, also a pastor, and karna bahadur b.k. chat with farmer bhim bahadur gurung inside an empty classroom. schools such as this cater to pre-primary education, before students move on to schools like rastriya.

jagaran praja, other than catering to the spiritual life of the villagers, 90% of whom are christians, is also a member of the school board and part of a micro-loans and savings cooperative as well.

indu nepal, the writer of the badarjhula story, also the online editor at nepali times, listens intently as she gathers material for her story.

ganesh k.c., founder of the first school in the village. he used to teach in return for rice and eggs from families.

a villager washes up at a manual pump. groundwater provides a major portion of the village’s water needs. water tapped this way is unsafe for drinking and has to be boiled and/or filtered beforehand.

a local girl stands amidst wheat fields in the height of harvest season. when school is out, the children will usually assist their parents in the day-to-day chores.

hay brought in are stored as bales, as seen above, on an elevated wooden platform.

a stall selling women’s garments and accessories.

some village children lazing around on a particularly hot day.

hari chepang, who stays in a tiny hut because she cannot move her legs and she needs essential items to be near her. her husband, who had 13 wives, left her and some of her stepchildren are supporting her now.

dwellings and other structures in badarjhula are mostly constructed of wood, dried hay and whatever other materials available in the proximity. during the dry season, these structures are extremely susceptible to fire, a phenomenon which has become an annual affair. due to the poverty and the distance of the village to major towns and cities, development is slow.

fire rages on the hills bordering india. the entire area faces the risk of widespread destruction by fire. a day after we left, flames swept through badarjhula, leaving in its wake houses reduced to ashes. photos below courtesy of samari utthan sewa.

it’s tough to consider myself blessed and fortunate to have escaped the inferno when placed in the context of the villagers’ hardships, but i am thankful. i hope that having their story told will inspire others to help.

read indu nepal’s article on badarjhula here.

for more posts direct from nepal, click here.

i accompanied suvayu, a colleague of mine, to a garment factory in balkumari to take some photos for his story on us-nepal trade relations with a focus on the garment industry. the industry, with exports to the states peaking at $50 million in 2005, has seen a dramatic fall to just $5 million last year. the slump is caused in part by the collapse of an agreement to give nepal-made garments “preferential access” to the us and also domestic infrastructural and labour woes. read his article here.

a story like that is tough to illustrate, so i was looking around to see if the environment would provide something i could incorporate that would add another layer of meaning to the photo. the photo above was the one i ultimately chose and captioned ‘pressing issues’. perhaps a little too wise-ass for my own good but hey, i had to get a picture!

cutting – no prim little scissors here. bulk and efficiency is paramount.

a cloth cake.

sewing – i was struck by how much the scene looks like something out of a movie. hollywood doesn’t always tell lies.

close-up.

at least he was happy to have his picture taken. can’t ditto for the guy the above.

quality control.

for more posts direct from nepal, look here.

was covering chain inc.’s mountain bike festival at gyanodaya school, bhainsepati, when i decided to take a break from shooting the action and focus on the expressions of the participants. nothing too serious, just a departure from the standard stuff.

the event, mainly targeted at kids, is one in a series that chain inc. hopes to organise to promote mountain biking in the country for health and environmental benefits. kathmandu for instance, with its ever-increasing motor traffic, is one of the most congested and polluted cities in the world.

for more posts direct from nepal, click here.

this project was inspired by a little road accident i had earlier in the day. i was on my bike, heading off to interview the deputy inspector-general of the traffic police (poetry in motion, if you ask me) when some nepali chap stepped right into my path. he did check traffic before crossing the road alright – he was looking for oncoming vehicles on the other side of the road.

i swerved to my right but still struck him a glancing blow (my left shoulder connected with his jaw). because i was going downhill i did not hit my brakes immediately, as that would mean a 10/10 somersault, possibly straight to heaven, on my part. after the impact, i fell over the handlebar, rolled and landed on my behind. damage? not a single scratch or bruise on me, only that my lens filter (as seen in the first picture above), which was on my lens and loaded facing down in my backpack, cracked. 100 bucks gone but considering that the damage could have been a lot more extensive – peanuts, i say.

this incident is one in a whole spate that illustrates a recklessness that permeates the psyche of road users here in nepal. you can follow the rules of traffic down to the tiniest jot and tittle and still get into an accident. i thought about the episode a lot today, and as much as i’d like to say that i have to accept some of the responsibility, i can’t.

after the collision the fellow walked away, rubbing his jaw and quietly mumbling to himself, knowing full well that what happened was his fault. i had a field day screaming at him in the middle of the road, amidst the hee-haws and disbelieving gasps of a few nepali aunties. i got back on my bike, thinking that this incident will wake jawbroker up and that he’ll take more care.

at least until he starts getting complacent again.

thanks to my buddies and fellow ‘kings of kathmandu’ for helping and participating in my fool’s scheme.

for more posts direct from nepal, click here.

INK COMMUNION: Mohan Gurung, of Mohan’s Tattoo Inn, works on a design of Akash Bhairab (Sky Shiva) on the arm of his friend, pilot Vijay Lama.

as published in nepali times #496 –

for more posts direct from nepal, click here.