Bishnu Lodge, Khahare, Pokhara
My time in Nepal this year is drawing rapidly to a close. The months so easily slip by and now I find myself looking back on what I have achieved as well as what has been going on around me.
PART I - ME
August saw me privileged to explore Upper Mustang with my intrepid shooting partner Sophie - an exciting project she is working on for her company, Horsefly Films' Rare Equine Trust series. What a stunning place to have the opportunity to explore a little, and fascinating to see the horse culture there, that Soph's project is examining. That adventure, not least all the journeys involved in it, was an exacting, high-altitude and often bumpy challenge, from not long after we set off from Pokhara, until the moment we returned.
Mustang was closely followed by our return to Jumla for the final shoot of our documentary project. By now, so familiar to us, we slipped right back into village life, settled into our rooms, and faced the inevitable challenges that came up (power, transport) without batting an eyelid. Shooting itself, with our team, has become like spinning a well oiled wheel. We bounce around the village, up the mountain, knowing exactly what we need and how to do it. We shot the magnificent change in scenery, the lush and green post-monsoon Jumla - a stark contrast to the winter landscape; we shot the apple harvest and apples, apples, apples everywhere; we shot the colouful women's festival Teej - a fitting closing ceremony for our two years. It was a poignant moment when we shot the last shot, and called it a wrap on Sophie and Soraj's last day in Jumla. It was a relief at the same time as a fearful moment. Once again shifting into new territory: post-production, just when we had gotten the production thing down to a tee!
Nisha and I returned to Kathmandu a week after Sophie and Soraj had left Jumla. This autumn I made the decision to relocate for the season, to where it all began, my home in Khahare (north Lakeside) at Bishnu Lodge with my family here. After losing a few weeks to life, a cold, the edge of a typhoon and general acclimatisation in KTM, I gathered the belongings I wanted or needed around me and moved back to Pokhara.
It is from my room downstairs, adjacent to my family's living quarters, that I have set up my life and routine for these past months. It is a nice, relaxed location with the lake a stone's throw away. I have been working on the footage, developing the story, studying Nepali and also doing some work for Empowering Women of Nepal (without whom I would never have gone to Jumla in the first place and none of this would have even begun).
It is from here that I have observed history in the making. And tried to make sense of it.
PART II - NEPAL : Reflections on the Election
I have a limited understanding of the political situation in Nepal in spite of having been affected by it on a regular basis for the last three years. What I do know, is on the 19th November 2013 (or Mangshir 4, 2070 - Nepali calendar) Nepal held its second election for its Constituent Assembly (CA) since the end of the insurgency. The first was in 2008. For five years the multi-party coalition shambles that had been voted in, attempted to draw up the Constitution.
I have mentioned before, the bandh's or strikes, that so often cripple the daily workings of the nation. Any party, union, group, organisation, or so it seems, that has a cause/complaint/issue can call a 'strike' locally or nationally. This does not mean that the people calling the strike are striking from their jobs as we think of it. It means that EVERYONE is supposed to stop whatever it is they do. Transport is banned, shops, businesses, schools are closed. Depending on their cause, region and support, dictates how seriously the strike is adhered to. But essentially it is the threat of potential violence that stops people from spurning the bandh.
In the last five years, there have been multiple 'deadlines' for the Constitution. As a deadline approaches different political, social, ethnic groups have bombarded the country with a frenzy of bandhs. It is a means of making your 'point' known, wanting their issue to be in consideration. Due to the fact that there are so many different parties within the government itself, the process of creating the aforementioned document is seemingly endless. At each deadline, when it had not been completed, another deadline was set, until eventually, after five years, someone said 'enough' and the government was dissolved! Throughout this time, the country has continued to live in political upheaval with the prime ministers changing almost as often as the seasons it seems.
All year, there has been speculation from an understandably sceptical population as to whether this election would actually happen. And this is where I really do start to get confused. There are multiple parties, the three primary being Nepali Congress, CPN-UML and UCPN-M (Maoist). There is also a faction that splintered off from the UCPN-M, the CPN-Maoists. They, along with the so-called '30 party alliance' were opposing the election on grounds that it was not legitimate due to the lack of proper process or something. This is where it gets hazy for me.
Either way, the anti-poll campaign called a bandh in the 10 days leading up to the election. This was strategically only a transport strike which meant businesses and shops could stay open, and goods were still being delivered. But all public and private transportation was halted. This meant that the thousands of people who needed to travel back to their districts to vote, could not travel. In Nepal, you cannot absentee vote. I thought it ridiculous that everyone had to go home, often to far and difficult to get to mountain villages to vote, but I found out later that Nepalis can transfer their registered location. This however, is a whole process of getting a migration notice from your home district to transfer to your current residence. And it seems that most people, unsurprisingly, haven't done this.
What resulted during the fraught days leading up to the election, was a combination of things. Young people in Kathmandu took to the streets to protest the anti-vote campaign saying they had a right to vote. But in some regions, there was support for the shutdown, vehicles where torched, bombs were found in places. There was a general fear at not knowing what this slightly more renegade political group might do. Negotiations floundered. The 33 party alliance slowly diminished in size and reduced, I was told to 13 parties. Everyone was confused. Would there be an election? Would there be bombs on polling day? Would it be fair considering how many people weren't going to be able to vote? And would the results be accepted by everyone?
The election day arrived, and it is customary that there is a bandh on that day too. People have to walk to their local polling station - apparently this is to avoid people trying to cheat and vote in multiple locations. When you vote in Nepal, you get a black streak made across your thumb, but I am told there are techniques of getting rid of it.
My family set off early in the morning in the hope of avoiding the crowds, but they had still had to wait hours to vote. I heard somewhere, there was a 70% turnout. I'm not quite sure how accurate that is considering how many people don't live in their home districts and how many would have been prevented from returning to their home districts to vote due to the bandh. Nonetheless, there was a discernible air of excitement and trepidation as the day unfolded.
The days following the election were all about the numbers coming in. Televisions around the place had the 'First Past the Post' (FPTP) figures as different districts results came through. And now the dust has settled with Nepali Congress and UML coming in first and second and the Maoists significantly trailing in third. They are saying that this was likely caused by their party split, which I'm sure had a bearing. But nonetheless, it seems people were quite surprised at how much the Maoists (UCPN-M) popularity has waned. In 2008 they won the majority of seats.
In the week following the election while the votes were still being counted, the Maoists claimed voter fraud and said they wouldn't join the CA until an independent probe had been done. I think negotiations have simmered that... although it is hard to keep up.
I guess years of upheaval and a growing perception that no matter what party people are from, the whole government system and process is massively flawed has left many people in Nepal disillusioned and disinterested in the political situation. There is also, unsurprisingly, no trust in officials as corruption is rife. Some young people told me they didn't 'like' politics as their reason not to vote.
So what now? The new CA is potentially meeting in December, and with the two major parties having the most control, people are hoping that they will finally be able to draw up the long-awaited constitution. We'll have to wait and see if this election was the first step towards a new future for Nepal or if it was just a continuation of the tribulations this country faces.
Almost two weeks after polling day, you can still see traces of the mark of someone who voted. It is as though these people are symbolically marked by their participation in this historic election. The club of people whose voice was heard.
My time in Nepal this year is drawing rapidly to a close. The months so easily slip by and now I find myself looking back on what I have achieved as well as what has been going on around me.
PART I - ME
August saw me privileged to explore Upper Mustang with my intrepid shooting partner Sophie - an exciting project she is working on for her company, Horsefly Films' Rare Equine Trust series. What a stunning place to have the opportunity to explore a little, and fascinating to see the horse culture there, that Soph's project is examining. That adventure, not least all the journeys involved in it, was an exacting, high-altitude and often bumpy challenge, from not long after we set off from Pokhara, until the moment we returned.
Mustang was closely followed by our return to Jumla for the final shoot of our documentary project. By now, so familiar to us, we slipped right back into village life, settled into our rooms, and faced the inevitable challenges that came up (power, transport) without batting an eyelid. Shooting itself, with our team, has become like spinning a well oiled wheel. We bounce around the village, up the mountain, knowing exactly what we need and how to do it. We shot the magnificent change in scenery, the lush and green post-monsoon Jumla - a stark contrast to the winter landscape; we shot the apple harvest and apples, apples, apples everywhere; we shot the colouful women's festival Teej - a fitting closing ceremony for our two years. It was a poignant moment when we shot the last shot, and called it a wrap on Sophie and Soraj's last day in Jumla. It was a relief at the same time as a fearful moment. Once again shifting into new territory: post-production, just when we had gotten the production thing down to a tee!
Nisha and I returned to Kathmandu a week after Sophie and Soraj had left Jumla. This autumn I made the decision to relocate for the season, to where it all began, my home in Khahare (north Lakeside) at Bishnu Lodge with my family here. After losing a few weeks to life, a cold, the edge of a typhoon and general acclimatisation in KTM, I gathered the belongings I wanted or needed around me and moved back to Pokhara.
It is from my room downstairs, adjacent to my family's living quarters, that I have set up my life and routine for these past months. It is a nice, relaxed location with the lake a stone's throw away. I have been working on the footage, developing the story, studying Nepali and also doing some work for Empowering Women of Nepal (without whom I would never have gone to Jumla in the first place and none of this would have even begun).
It is from here that I have observed history in the making. And tried to make sense of it.
PART II - NEPAL : Reflections on the Election
I have a limited understanding of the political situation in Nepal in spite of having been affected by it on a regular basis for the last three years. What I do know, is on the 19th November 2013 (or Mangshir 4, 2070 - Nepali calendar) Nepal held its second election for its Constituent Assembly (CA) since the end of the insurgency. The first was in 2008. For five years the multi-party coalition shambles that had been voted in, attempted to draw up the Constitution.
I have mentioned before, the bandh's or strikes, that so often cripple the daily workings of the nation. Any party, union, group, organisation, or so it seems, that has a cause/complaint/issue can call a 'strike' locally or nationally. This does not mean that the people calling the strike are striking from their jobs as we think of it. It means that EVERYONE is supposed to stop whatever it is they do. Transport is banned, shops, businesses, schools are closed. Depending on their cause, region and support, dictates how seriously the strike is adhered to. But essentially it is the threat of potential violence that stops people from spurning the bandh.
In the last five years, there have been multiple 'deadlines' for the Constitution. As a deadline approaches different political, social, ethnic groups have bombarded the country with a frenzy of bandhs. It is a means of making your 'point' known, wanting their issue to be in consideration. Due to the fact that there are so many different parties within the government itself, the process of creating the aforementioned document is seemingly endless. At each deadline, when it had not been completed, another deadline was set, until eventually, after five years, someone said 'enough' and the government was dissolved! Throughout this time, the country has continued to live in political upheaval with the prime ministers changing almost as often as the seasons it seems.
All year, there has been speculation from an understandably sceptical population as to whether this election would actually happen. And this is where I really do start to get confused. There are multiple parties, the three primary being Nepali Congress, CPN-UML and UCPN-M (Maoist). There is also a faction that splintered off from the UCPN-M, the CPN-Maoists. They, along with the so-called '30 party alliance' were opposing the election on grounds that it was not legitimate due to the lack of proper process or something. This is where it gets hazy for me.
Either way, the anti-poll campaign called a bandh in the 10 days leading up to the election. This was strategically only a transport strike which meant businesses and shops could stay open, and goods were still being delivered. But all public and private transportation was halted. This meant that the thousands of people who needed to travel back to their districts to vote, could not travel. In Nepal, you cannot absentee vote. I thought it ridiculous that everyone had to go home, often to far and difficult to get to mountain villages to vote, but I found out later that Nepalis can transfer their registered location. This however, is a whole process of getting a migration notice from your home district to transfer to your current residence. And it seems that most people, unsurprisingly, haven't done this.
What resulted during the fraught days leading up to the election, was a combination of things. Young people in Kathmandu took to the streets to protest the anti-vote campaign saying they had a right to vote. But in some regions, there was support for the shutdown, vehicles where torched, bombs were found in places. There was a general fear at not knowing what this slightly more renegade political group might do. Negotiations floundered. The 33 party alliance slowly diminished in size and reduced, I was told to 13 parties. Everyone was confused. Would there be an election? Would there be bombs on polling day? Would it be fair considering how many people weren't going to be able to vote? And would the results be accepted by everyone?
The election day arrived, and it is customary that there is a bandh on that day too. People have to walk to their local polling station - apparently this is to avoid people trying to cheat and vote in multiple locations. When you vote in Nepal, you get a black streak made across your thumb, but I am told there are techniques of getting rid of it.
My family set off early in the morning in the hope of avoiding the crowds, but they had still had to wait hours to vote. I heard somewhere, there was a 70% turnout. I'm not quite sure how accurate that is considering how many people don't live in their home districts and how many would have been prevented from returning to their home districts to vote due to the bandh. Nonetheless, there was a discernible air of excitement and trepidation as the day unfolded.
The days following the election were all about the numbers coming in. Televisions around the place had the 'First Past the Post' (FPTP) figures as different districts results came through. And now the dust has settled with Nepali Congress and UML coming in first and second and the Maoists significantly trailing in third. They are saying that this was likely caused by their party split, which I'm sure had a bearing. But nonetheless, it seems people were quite surprised at how much the Maoists (UCPN-M) popularity has waned. In 2008 they won the majority of seats.
In the week following the election while the votes were still being counted, the Maoists claimed voter fraud and said they wouldn't join the CA until an independent probe had been done. I think negotiations have simmered that... although it is hard to keep up.
I guess years of upheaval and a growing perception that no matter what party people are from, the whole government system and process is massively flawed has left many people in Nepal disillusioned and disinterested in the political situation. There is also, unsurprisingly, no trust in officials as corruption is rife. Some young people told me they didn't 'like' politics as their reason not to vote.
So what now? The new CA is potentially meeting in December, and with the two major parties having the most control, people are hoping that they will finally be able to draw up the long-awaited constitution. We'll have to wait and see if this election was the first step towards a new future for Nepal or if it was just a continuation of the tribulations this country faces.
Almost two weeks after polling day, you can still see traces of the mark of someone who voted. It is as though these people are symbolically marked by their participation in this historic election. The club of people whose voice was heard.
