Ode to the 300

No this is not a post about muscular Spartans running around in cloaks and fur underwear. Today my D300 with attached 70-200mm lens was nicked right under my nose. Even Edwin, the friend I was having ice cream with, didn't see anything going on at all. It was so clinical I swear it was the finger smith from Roald Dahl's short stories. 

So here's a toast to you, brave DSLR and lens who braved the trials of Nepal with me. Your lives were tragically terminated prematurely, but my only comfort was you saw and experienced much more than what others do in an entire lifetime. 

Your last images of the Maoist torch rallies following Prachanda's resignation will always be remembered. It was good while it lasted. 

The Dark Night in Kathmandu

Part of an ongoing series of shots I am doing for a number of reasons. When I first started taking pictures of Kathmandu at night, it was for a change of pace from the political/protest coverage I have been covering. 

Secondly, it was a good chance to take a look at the city at after dark. When I first arrived - as with any new place I first encounter I guess - I really feared being out alone at night. Now it's easy to strike up a rudimentary conversation with Nepalis hanging around. 

In less than three weeks, I say goodbye to Nepal. Guess these are the memories I will take with me. 

Water Crisis

I never knew Kathmandu had a water shortage problem, despite living here for the past three months. Shame on me and my privileged lifestyle. 

For the average person living here, water only comes through the taps one day out of five. Other times, they queue at wherever water is still flowing. 

No one used to buy drinking water (except foreigners like me) but now apparently it's big business. 

I tried recalling the last time I had water rationing in Singapore. I must have been five then and my Mom and I went downstairs with buckets to get water from the SCDF dude. Only thing is, that wasn't even a necessary rationing, it was only a drill just in case we really needed to do it. I remembered having fun watching everyone queue up to get water. 

This time I didn't have any fun at all. 

The Rustic Cantonment

Was in Surkhet for a week to see the Maoist camps over there. That place is really deep inside the rural regions and I had no communications with the outside world. Nothing is going on in the camps now that the big Maoist parade last month is over and after waging a bloody 10-year civil war in the hills of Nepal, these ex-guerillas are now fighting boredom.

Weirdly enough I even bummed into these bunch of teenagers who were here for PLA recruitment but had to go home empty handed because the Supreme Court blocked the move to enlist more fighters.

Guard duty is perhaps the only time the soldiers don their military fatigues nowadays.

Cooking is now the biggest activity going on in the camp. Everyday 5 hours is spent preparing Daal Bhat and one platoon of 30 men can consume 10kg of rice per meal!

Carom is the weapon of choice to kill time but occasionally enough energy is mustered up to play a game of volleyball.

Now that the Maoists are in government, their army lies neglected in the wilderness. Sometimes I wonder if these fighters have been taken for a ride. Have they been sold a communist dream in a world where the Soviet Union fell about 20 years ago? Have they destroyed the monarchy only for their sold called communist leader Pranchanda to live like a king in the capital?

Who said monks were zen?

Two days ago was the 50th anniversary of the uprising in Tibet against Chinese rule and there being a rather large Tibetan population in Kathmandu, obviously there was going to be some action taking place. It all began with a prayer session to mark the occasion and a speech by the Dalai Lama was read out in Tibetan. The session ended with the monks throwing something like flour, closing the ceremony with a flourish.

Then the march began and the monks, so serene in prayer, turned so angry in protest.

This was the first time I've seen the armed police force behave so aggressively. Usually all they do is clear the way for the protestors but this time they were out in full force to prevent them from leaving the monastery area. 

They even arrested a few people, including a monk, and shoved them up a truck. I thought they were going to the slammers but the truck had driven less then 10m before stopping and all of them were freed!

Anyway, I fell after I was tripped by a metal chain. Some really ugly scratches on my camera and lenses. I have a few bruises too but thankfully no broken bones. The hazards of hanging out with holy men. 

Saving Nepal's Future

Visited Children Nepal, an NGO based in Pokhara, a few days back. They have a unique policy of not spoon feeding aid to the needy. Instead, the family and school of poor children are made responsible for the problem and take ownership by giving whatever little they have to put the child through education. 

They must be doing something right because right there in their building is a room of 13 one-year-old computers with flat screen monitors. The computers are used for very basic computer literacy training for the children and I know it doesn't look like much, but this is probably the best computer room I've seen in Nepal. 

Wacth your tongue

At the huge rally, communist leaders from around the world were speaking in all languages (found the Chinese speech quite comical but it felt strangely good to hear something I understood). Things were going well until this Nepali decided he had to speak in Hindi instead of Nepali. 

That got the crowd really pissed off.

I was really lucky to be near the crowd when this happened. Don't think any other photographer had a close shot. Had been tracking the guy with the red scarf for some time and rushed to his position when the crowd started getting riled up. But then the fellow behind him jumped up for even more drama.  

Branding rivalry

For all you capitalists out there, it will warm your hearts to know that even in the land where Karl Marx lives, product sponsorship is rampant. 

Witness here the PLA football team donning Adidas gear during their march pass on PLA day.

And here the rival party UML is decked out in Nike.

Wonder how these giant companies will feel when they know communists are supplying cheap knock-offs of their products to party cadres.

Commie Punk

Headed to this place called Butwal (had to suppress a snigger when I first heard the name of the place) next for the national congress of the Communist Party of Nepal - Unified Marxist-Lenist (CPN UML). They were picking their new leadership and leaders of communist parties from around the world, including China, Vietnam and North Korea, attended the mass rally. 

Looks like the punk culture is everywhere.

The party tries to do a Mount Rushmore with their leaders of the past.