Miscellaneous
Nepalgunj: another day, another struggle
As a photographer, I indulge in the streets. I believe that a city’s pulse is best felt, and the evidence of life best seen, in the living streets where each day thousands converge—each set on their own path. This city is a bewildering, beautiful mess because a hundred thousand stories co-exist here, all at once.As a photographer, I indulge in the streets. I believe that a city’s pulse is best felt, and the evidence of life best seen, in the living streets where each day thousands converge—each set on their own path. This city is a bewildering, beautiful mess because a hundred thousand stories co-exist here, all at once.
Earlier this month, I spent about two days in Nepalgunj with only about four hours (cumulatively) to explore the city. The streets of Nepalgunj come across as an amalgam of rural and urban. Yet, it feels as if the city is waiting to fall off the very edge of capitalist modernity—there is an overriding sense of traditional agrarian values being replaced by ones more suited to the new urban reality, particularly among the youth.
The horses, thelas, unregulated streets and unruly drivers keep the small-town vibe intact but there are also clear signs of change—massive private infrastructure and a recent influx of expensive cars and large mansions are the tell signs of both the growing wealth and the expanding disparity in the city.
In this series, I have tried to capture the city’s perennial ‘hustle’, which to me most characterises the people and culture of Nepalgunj.
Text & Photos: Shashank Shrestha