Gypsies in Kathmandu

With an incredible resilience Gypsies have travelled all over the world. In Nepal they are known as firantes. They have exquisite stone carving skills. They also work as magicians among other things. They are very versatile and adaptive nomads, no wonder you see from Greece to Kathmandu. Here is an example of a gypsie tent. [...]

Bajra

Here is a dome the Nepali way. The mortar and plaster is rendered with bajra which includes pozzolanic  material like burnt brick pigments mixed with  sand and lime in 1:3:1 ratio. Bajra was very wide spread in the earlier times and it was probably brought to Nepal by Rana’s when they were building big palaces [...]

Sukumbasi Livelihood

The majority of Sukumbasis (Internally Displaced People) who live along the Manohara river make their living by collecting sand for the construction companies. I think the ramifications of people taking so much sand out of the river has to be properly studied. Among many, one of the studies says, the depletion of sand is causing [...]

Internally Displaced People

 

We are doing a series on the Sukumbasis (Internally Displaced People), who are living on a below poverty level along Monohara River, the river which divides Kathmandu from Bhaktapur. In this shelter lives a young mom, who is in her thirties with her 4 year old son. She makes her living by collecting sand from [...]

A glimpse into the homelessness

Here is an example of housing along Monohara river where poverty level is below satisfactory. People from this house earn from 30 to 150 Rs. (.45 cents to 2$ ) a day. Even bamboo and mud is out of reach for many of them. A bamboo costs about 150 Rs. per piece and mud costs [...]

Adobe Interior

Smoked Bamboo Treatment

These traditional bamboo beams have overcome the test of time. They have been there for ever. In the traditional houses, people still use wood or dried cow dung for cooking. These traditional stoves produce lots of smoke, which then accumulate on the bamboo beams. These unintended accumulation of smoke on the beams act as a [...]

Bamboo Connection

Bamboo is a pretty versatile and a dynamic material, which works pretty well with most of the modern and traditional materials; whether it is mud, cement, steel or even plastic. Here is an example of a homeless shelter situated on the Bagmati riverbank in the eastern kathmandu.
 

Adobe Interior

Bamboo Connection

 

Here is a simple yet elegant bamboo connection as seen in Sukumbasi area. Bamboo strips are weaved together; the tension within hold them together. There is no need of nails or screws. 
 

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