Kathmandu Out Of The MIst

My Photo scholarship 2010 entry

Nepal | Saturday, October 16, 2010 | 5 photos

Children In the Mist
Look at any child worldwide pull a funny face and they may smile. When the sun sets on the Western child the child of Nepal awakens to a different reality, a day of work.
The tarmac runs out and so does the shale, I make may way up the steep winding roads north of Kathmandu.There are still eagles catching the thermals as they break threw layers of cloud to reveal the white river. At the beginning of the journey I think 'the children must be very unhappy in-comparison to the children of England - where I grew up.' Breaking through the mist I see small faces with tin hoops in one hand and an improvised chisel in the other. I grasp that what they earn isn't sufficient to buy rice for the day, rather something inferior called 'dhido'. So why do you smile little Nepali boy? What happens if: the world isn't a crazy mess, the world is small, a smile isn't etiquette, a day isn't one of seven. I can't help feeling these children live for the day, not thinking of tomorrow, they have a simple happiness and life without the pressure of exams. After once again entering the madness of KTM, in your mind the 15 hours of bumps and nears misses drifts away as quickly as the clouds. In your mind the 15 hours of excatic smiles lingers, the worn hands and faces, the dust from the workers stone. Look at any child here and pull a funny face and; they definitely smile...

R Skerratt