Thursday, March 31, 2011

Portrait.

Was taking some pictures of some street scenes on our way back from the LC when it started raining and this kid walked up and had a look at what I was doing. I took a portrait of him and showed it to him on the back of my camera, and he ran off happily.

Hostel Rooftop.

Some pictures from wandering around the rooftop of our hostel.

Water tanks that supply my (common) bathroom.

View of the bar next doors' storage area.

Water purifiers.

MoNEY EXCHN G.

Two portraits of Josh, in front and in the middle of stuff.


Tuesday, March 29, 2011

The Learning Center.

Some images from our first class at the Early Learning Center.

Sandeep attentive during the afternoon lessons.

Me disrupting class with my camera.

Sumitra who runs the Learning Center. Many of the children who come here are from very low income families. Often their parents are day laborers or porters. After one year of 'life skill training' at the Learning Center the children move into mainstream education.

Me drawing a zebra crossing during a lesson. I spelled it 'crosing' much to the amusement of Josh.


Giving a class demonstration on how to use the cameras with Eckbal and Ameer.


We divided the class into 5 groups of 5 - Josh working with one of the groups.




The kids worked great together during the session, the older kids really took leadership and ensured everyone had a go.

We took each group to the temple grounds around the corner from the Learning Center.


Fighting poses were popular among the boys for portraits.

A passerby showing interest.

Being hoisted up for a better angle.

Friday, March 25, 2011

Shiviarati: The Sadus' and thier baying crowd.

While drifting with the currents of the people surrounding us we could hear above the buzzing conversation the telltale screams and yelps of an overly excited crowd of young men.
Making our way to the source of the commotion, we found what the young men were whipping themselves into a frenzy over.
A group of Sadu's were driving them wild by stripping of and performing penis tricks. Every now and then a Sadu would stand and discarding his clothing, perform a eye watering cringe-worthy trick, much to the pleasure of the crowd, who responded with a resounding cheer. Men were pushing and shoving thier way to get a better view, much to the chagrin of the Sadu's who's camps were being encroached upon. There was one Sadu in particular who responded with wild swings of his cane, sometimes finishing his threatening display with a good natured kung fu flourish.
The crowd would run out of reach of the cane in hysterical laughter before returning. The whole cycle repeated itself over and over, before eventually in a fit of rage and insanity the Sadu picked up a still smoldering log from his fire and threw it into the crowd. Someone picked it up and threw it back, striking a seated Sadu and knocking him out.
That's when the Police intervened. 
Storming up the stairs and bellowing the trill of their whistles, they whipped anyone to slow in the laughing and fleeing crowd smartly on the bum.
The Sadu was ok, and as far as I could see there was no one injured in the crowd.
It was one of the strangest things I have ever seen.







Shiviarati: The River.

A river cuts through Pashupatinath, and though largely dried up, it still represented a significant challenge for those wanting to cross it.

The  slow choice was the bridges, where packed with people inching slowly across the river. Crowds where stopped every few minutes to a standstill.

Some simply removed their shoes and walked across, but the the more adventurous choice  hopscotching or simply taking a wild running jump. The spectacle drew quite a crowd, everyone laughing and enjoying the challenge of the crossing.



I waited for 15 minutes while this guy negotiated with the police to let him jump and then psyched himself up for it. Then just as he made the jump this guy walked up and stood in front of me.







Shiviarati: Around the Temple.

Some images from Shivarati at the Pashupatinath temple.

Out on a Field Visit with Saroj on the day before the festival. The place was tranquil, quite a contrast to the heady bustle in the day to come.

Sadus (Holy Men) taking lunch.

The exit ramp to the main road where markets stalls took up every available space. Here there were afew hoop games, where a successful throw could win you anything from a juice box to a packet of smokes.

Delicious frozen pineapple sellers roamed the temple grounds. 

Running repairs on a carousel.

Friday, March 4, 2011

Out in the field.

We went out into the field with Saroj today to try and visit some kids that we might be able to work with in the MLMV program. We went to a market where the kids collect any discarded vegetables that are still sell-able to re-sell at a different market. It was the largest 'vegetarian' market in kathmandu.

The butcher

A buffalo pen across the river from the learning center




Storage at the vegetarian market.


The daily newspaper is pasted up on the wall each day.

Paper recycling center