THE INVISIBLE ENEMY: At the entrance of Masa: Galli, Kathmandu, a security guard stands with a thermal gun in one hand and a bottle of sanitizer spray in another. Ram Basnet*, 29, is from Jajarkot. He moved to Kathmandu seven years ago to take the civil service exam. After a fourth unsuccessful attempt at passing […]

SCULPTING AND SAVING by Sikuma Rai Keshar Tamang, 33, is cooped up in a small corner in his rented room in Lalitpur hammering away. He nails, cleans, files to make foot-high Bajrapan and Bajrakila Buddha copper sculptures. These statues are exported to Tibet but the last few months of the pandemic have been hard for […]

JUMLA UPDATES: In July when Saru Nepali’s husband Lokesh returned to his village in Bohoragaun, Chandannath Municipality, Jumla from India, the couple quarantined themselves. Saru says being in a quarantine facility was hard, “When I was in quarantine, I was alone in a room with no lock or curtains,” she says, “The toilet was far […]

ESSENTIAL SERVICE: Aarti Mestar, 29, works as a cleaner at the Jaleswar Hospital. She has left her 10-year-old daughter at home to take care of three other children, one of them is an infant daughter. She works in eight-hour shifts every day in and around the emergency room. “I work in contract, and I am […]

THE FRUITS OF THEIR LABOUR: It is 11:30 AM in Martadi and Chandra Khatri has just arrived with 15 kgs of apples. He sets his sack down, “I left home at 4 AM this morning,” he says. Khatri does this at least four times a week but this season has been extremely difficult for Bajura’s […]

THE RECYCLER: Ram Pravesh Prasad’s store in Teku is all crammed with junk metals, plastics, electronics, and furniture. There is no available space, and all corners are stuffed, there are things lying on top of other things. Visitors are met with constant banging and a heavy dust fills the air of the store. Prasad has […]

HUNGER PANGS: Every day 4 PM, Sabita Baniya, 56, gets ready to walk from her home in Chika: Mugu to Kantipath. She sits patiently on the pavement across Bir Hospital and waits with 300 others. This is where various volunteer groups come every day to distribute food. She picks up beaten rice, vegetables and sometimes, […]

CULTURE UNDER A SHADOW: Men were in ‘daura suruwal’ and women were in traditional red with colourful beads and jewellery. This week, Martadi, Bajura locals came together in the middle of Rautada forest to celebrate the local Madu Puja, in honour of the Hindu god Kailash. Women were carrying flowers and ‘jamara’ in big baskets […]

TROUBLES WEIGH A TONNE: In Satungal, Hira Brick Factory is quiet and deserted. On non-lockdown days the area is busy, and the kiln’s big chimney throws out black smoke as far as the eye can see. Around the factory are small one-roomed brick huts where workers live. These paper-like houses are narrow, dim and without […]

FRONTLINE JOURNALIST: My name is Madhuri Mahato and I have been working for Community Radio Narayani FM for 12 years. On 3 August, the station manager of the radio station tested positive with coronavirus. As I got ready to leave for the radio station, my father asked, “Can’t you take a leave from the radio […]