Namaste Nepal
I can’t pinpoint why exactly I love Nepal so much. As I ponder the reasons, the most obvious one is that I have found it conducive for taking nice photos - the people have interesting, beautiful faces, and are friendly when I ask to photograph them. The vibrant colors of the clothes that people wear and choose to decorate the spaces they live in are similarly interesting and worthy of photographing.
But my love of Nepal goes beyond photography. I love how spirituality permeates daily life, especially with all the Hindu temples and Buddhist stupas throughout the neighborhoods. And when the clouds aren’t teasing you, I love seeing the majestic mountains, particularly the snow capped ones in the Himalaya and Annapurna mountain ranges. Nepal is also a safe place; I never worry that someone is going to steal my camera. And, I’d be lying if I didn’t say I love the inexpensive cost of living.
I went to Nepal for three weeks primarily to attend my friend Sanjeeb’s daughter’s wedding. Sanj is my childhood friend of 50 years; we were assigned to the same 7th grade public New York City class back in 1973! This was my third trip to Nepal. The first time was in 2012, when I went to bury another 7th grade classmate’s ashes. He died after a long struggle with brain cancer and we buried his ashes in Lumbini, the place where the Historical Buddha, Shakyamuni, was born. I loved Nepal so much that I made the long journey back a mere six months later to go trekking with Sanj (practically against his will, but I eventually convinced him).
The wedding was an extravagant affair. In a week’s time, there were four celebrations - a bride’s reception, a Bollywood style dance party (the Sangeet), the wedding ceremony and finally, a groom’s reception. I’m not a big fashion guy but during that week, I wore two different suits, a tuxedo and the traditional Nepalese outfit, the Daura Suruwal. It was a lot of clothes and matching shoes to pack but I must admit, it was a lot of fun getting dressed up. As much as I love photographing my experiences, I decided to leave my camera at the hotel so I could completely enjoy the festivities.
The wedding events were straight out of a fantasy and stood in stark contrast to the life that most Nepalese live. In Kathmandu, the crowded, dusty, narrow streets appear chaotic as people hustle to make a living. Traffic can be horrible as vehicles and people compete with one another, each weaving in and out at incredibly close distances. I thought I might lose a foot! After my first two trips, I came to the conclusion that the margin between life and death in Nepal is much narrower than back home in the States. We like comfortable safety margins - design it to hold 1000 pounds even though it only needs to hold 200. At one point during my first trip, Sanj was driving in an alley and “sped” past a man holding a child. His side view mirror came within inches of delivering a harmful blow. When I yelled at Sanj to slow down, he was startled, not sure what I was yelling about. When I explained, he replied, “this is Nepal, I was a mile away!” I pondered if Nepalese people valued life differently, perhaps with less regard? And during this trip, I came to the conclusion that’s simply not true. Although the “safety” margin between life and death may be narrower than what I’m accustomed to, in fact, that margin is a veil. If you look behind that veil, you’ll notice that the chaos is well-organized, incredible in its efficiency of motion. And this efficiency is based on trust - trust that each party will do what the other expects, which is the primary reason for the narrow distance between life and death. It’s the struggle to live, to survive when one is so close to the threshold, that creates the illusion that life may not matter as much.
In this struggle to survive, I bluntly saw how difficult life could be. More than once, I witnessed things that left me wondering, “how could some have so much and others have so little?” But, fortunately, I also saw many things that just as bluntly helped me see how beautiful life can be. I hope the photos below give you a small taste of some of the beautiful things that I saw. Thank you Nepal, Namaste!
