BEHIND BRICK INDUSTRY

 I have been doing “Behind Brick Industry” photo essay since 2012. It is my sixth year in a row photographing people and their life in brick industry. This year, I have focused their hard work as a theme. So, how their hard work has influenced the making of our country? This is quite interesting question for everyone of us.

People are not aware of their hard work and I decided to capture their painstaking work in the camera. As a travel photographer, I travel and visit the brick industries of my area most of the time. Visiting the brick industry always makes me sad. The situation is not good as we think of. There is no proper sanitation as people do toilet around the bushes, no proper water distribution and other facilities. But this year, I found distribution of electricity in all temporary huts. Now, children can read under the light.

Handicapped man carrying bricks

                                                 

Brick industry is million dollar business place where everyone gets a job for living. People from around the country come here for work. Brick makers, other workers, truck drivers, land owners, industry share holders etc get benefits from here. Not only them, there are many people who make benefits from brick industry.

Usually, brick makers come here in early winter and live here for almost six months. During this time period, they make the copious number of bricks. The brick industry where I go and photograph has the best quality of bricks. They are very expensive too. The technique which they make brick is mechanical. They make by themselves. It takes so much hard work to make a single brick. As technology is around the country, it has been little easy for making clay now. They use JCB dozer for making clay and it is distributed to everyone and they make bricks from it.

Beside how they make bricks! I focused how they live in brick industry this year? How children from brick industry spend their everyday? What I have noticed that some children do not attend the school. I do not know why……? Probably their parents do not know where is the public school?
Well, I have informed some of the parents (brick makers) that public governmental school is few blocks away from there where children can attend the school for free. They just need school uniform…………..Later after few weeks what I have noticed that some children are going to school. How happy they are attending the school!

Sadly, some children do not attend the school. They spend most of the time in brick industry playing around and looking after young ones. Some underage children are working there. It is against law that underage children are not forced or allowed to work. We have to give them education as per with their right. But what should we do?

Everyone has to take a meal twice a day. They are working for their daily bread and butter. Without any proper clothes, they are working so hard.  They don't have socks to get warm but they have sunlight to get warm and cozy. I have no idea how they spend their nights in small temporary huts! Seeing them with their slippers made me totally sad and their runny noses made me even more heart breaking. They all have flu.

They work hard to fill the stomach of their children. No matter what! They have to work, either working at brick industry or working somewhere else, they have to be good mom or dad for their children. They work almost 6 months to collect money for a year. It includes all the children's expenses and household expenses.

How much important is your work? It is important to get things for living. It is important to make better future.  Without work, nobody can survive in Kathmandu Valley. Kathmandu is one of the expensive cities in Nepal if you talk about in Rupee. Although, some International magazines like Rough Guides, have taken Nepal is one of the cheapest countries but for all Nepalese it is wrong.

People work so hard in Nepal to get paid. As you can see here, as the sun rises people start working no matter what the weather is; cold or freezy cold. As the temperature drops down, their hands have become swollen and bruised.

I have much to tell regarding their life in brick industry. Hopefully in my next blog, I will say!

Thinking them with compassion, they also play an important role in making big cities, transforming our country in a good way. I appreciate them and their hard work, devotion. They are one of my inspirations and motivations.

Every brick which we make our house has a story.

Monkey Temple Or Swayambhu

Perched atop a hill on the western edge of the Kathmandu Valley, the ancient Swayambunath Stupa (known to tourists as the Monkey Temple) is Kathmandu's most important Buddhist shrine. The sleepy, all-seeing Buddha eyes that stare out from the top have become the quintessential symbol of Nepal.

Swayambhu (Devanagari: स्वयम्भू स्तूप; Newar: स्वयंभू; sometimes Swoyambhu) is an ancient religious architecture atop a hill in the Kathmandu Valley, west of Kathamndu city. The Tibetan name for the site means 'Sublime Trees' (Wylie: Phags.pa Shing.kun), for the many varieties of trees found on the hill. However, Shing.kun may be a corruption of the local Nepal Bhasa name for the complex, Singgu, meaning 'self-sprung'. For the Buddhist Newars in whose mythological history and origin myth as well as day-to-day religious practice, Swayambhu occupies a central position, it is probably the most sacred among Buddhist pilgrimage sites. For Tibetans and followers of Tibetan Buddhism, it is second only to Boudha.

Swayambhunath, Monkey Temple is a melting pot of Nepal since ages. Thousands of devotees visit this historical  and spiritual  place every day.

History of Swayambhunath Stupa

When this temple was founded about 2,000 years ago, Kathmandu Valley was filled with a great lake. According to Buddhist legend, a single perfect lotus grew in the center of the lake. When the bodhisattva Manjusri drained the lake with a slash of his sword, the lotus flower settled on top of the hill and magically transformed into the stupa. Thus it is known as the Self-Created (swayambhu) Stupa.

The earliest written record of the Swayambunath Stupa's existence is a 5th-century stone inscription, but scholars believe there was probably a shrine here as early as the 1st century. Even before that, it is likely that animist rites took place on this hill. Swayambunath is one of Nepal's oldest Buddhist temples and it has an ancient atmosphere, especially when one approaches on foot with the pilgrims.

What to See at Swayambhunath Stupa

The primary approach to the temple is from the eastern side, where 365 ancient steps lead up the steep forested hillside. The base is about a 20-minute walk from the center of Kathmandu. This staircase is the only route pilgrims would consider and is the most memorable way for any visitor to experience the stupa. However, an alternative is to drive or take a taxi to the west side, where there are only a few steps to climb to the top.

At the bottom of the eastern stairway is a brightly painted gate containing a huge Tibetan prayer wheel nearly 12 feet tall. It takes two people to turn it and a bell sounds during each revolution. Around the gate are dozens more smaller wheels. Devotees spin prayer wheels to release prayers and mantras to heaven - visitors are welcomed to do so as well.

The staircase is presided over by three painted Buddha statues from the 17th century near the base (women perform prostrations before them in the early morning); another group further up are from the early 20th century.

Strewn along the staircase are numerous mani stones, inscribed with the Tibetan mantra Om mani padme hum ("Hail to the jewel in the lotus"). Merchants sell smaller versions of the stones to tourists. The stairs run through a beautiful forest, which is populated with the hundreds of monkeys that give the temple its nickname.

The central buildings and decorations of Swayambhunath are rich with Buddhist symbolism. The whitewashed dome of the main stupa represents the womb of creation, with a phallic complement in the square tower. Rising from the tower is a spire made of 13 golden disks, representing the steps to enlightenment. The umbrella on top symbolizing enlightenment itself; some say it contains a bowl of precious stones.

The famous Buddha eyes gazing out sleepily from each side of the tower (oriented to the four cardinal directions) are those of the all-seeing Primordial Buddha. Between each of the pairs of eyes is a symbol that looks like a question mark - this is the Nepali number "1" and represents the unity of all things. Gold plaques rising above the eyes like a crown depict the Five Dhyani Buddhas, celestial buddhas who are associated with the five senses, the four cardinal directions plus the center, and many other symbolic groups of five.

The Five Dhyani Buddhas are further honored with special shrines at the base of the stupa. They face the four cardinal directions, plus one slightly left of east to represent the center direction. Between them are shrines to four of the Buddhas' consorts. Linking all nine shrines together is a chain of prayer wheels and butter lamps. The five main shrines are enclosed in beautiful gilded copper repoussé work, for which the Kathmandu Valley is renowned.

Filling the platform around the main stupa are numerous other shrines and votive structures, most of which have been donated by kings and lamas in the last four centuries. Five of them are associated with the five elements: earth, air, fire, water and sky.

Notable among these is the Harati Devi Temple, dedicated to the Hindu goddess of smallpox and other epidemics, as well as a protectress of children. The small brick pagoda is very popular among both Hindus and Buddhists, especially mothers seeking blessings for their children.

Petitioners toss flower petals, rice, colored powder and holy water over the Harati image, then receive a tika from the resident priest. Monkeys, stray dogs, and pigeons fight over the rice and the food offerings, contributing to the chaotic atmosphere. The image of the goddess dates only from the 19th century; it replaces the original that was smashed by King Rana Bahadur Shah after his wife died of smallpox.

Food offerings for Harati (typically stew, rice and bread) are cooked in a kitchen on the bottom floor of a gompa (monastery prayer room) on the west side of the complex. Visitors can climb stairs to the gompa roof, which is level with the Buddha eyes. From here there are fine views over the stupa and Kathmandu valley.

Northwest of the main stupa is another important shrine, associated with a fascinating legend. Shantipur is a small, plain, box-shaped temple said to contain a great treasure - a living holy man who has been meditating in there for 1500 years. Legend has it that Shanti Shri, who lived in the 5th century, locked himself in a vault beneath the temple, vowing to remain there until the Kathmandu Valley needed him. Entering a mystic state, he has achieved immortality and remains there to help the local people when needed.

In 1658, King Pratap Mella descended into the chamber alone to seek Shanti Shri's help with a drought. The king reported making his way through several underground rooms, each more frightening than the last. The first contained large bats and hawks, the second was home to hungry ghosts that clutched at him in agony, and the third was full of snakes that chased him until he pacified them with milk. The king found the saint in the last room, skinny as a skeleton but still alive and meditating. Shanti Shri presented the king with a mandala, which brought the needed rain.

The outer sanctum of the rather ominous temple can be visited. It is decorated with faded frescoes from the Swayambhu Purana, a 17th-century scripture that recounts the creation myths of the Kathmandu Valley. Shantipur is also called Akashpur (Sky Place) and it represents the fifth element.

The two bullet-shape temples (shikra) on each side of the stupa, known as Pratappur and Anantapur, were given by King Pratap Malla to help him earn a victory over Tibet in the 17th century. The story of his success is inscribed on the twin bells in front.

At the northeast corner of the complex is the Shree Karma Raj Mahavihar, an active Tibetan monastery with a big Buddha statue and yak butter candles lit by pilgrims. The resident monks chant around 3 or 4pm daily. The northwest corner is home to Agnipur, a neglected shrine to the ancient Hindu fire god Agni, who relays burnt offerings to heaven. Between these two, north of the main stupa, is Nagpur, a small tank with a snake idol at the bottom. This helps appease the valley's notorious snake spirits.

At the top of the eastern steps is a great bronze vajra (thunderbolt), a Tantric symbol of power, decorated with the signs of the Tibetan zodiac.

 

"Western Side Of  Kathmandu Seen From Swayambhu" © BIKESH DESHAR

"Harati Temple" © BIKESH DESHAR

"Prayer Flags & Kathamndu" © BIKESH DESHAR

"Tourists" © BIKESH DESHAR

"Pursuit Of Equanimity" © BIKESH DESHAR

"Swayambhu" © BIKESH DESHAR

"Tourist Shops" © BIKESH DESHAR

"Stupa" © BIKESH DESHAR

A Boy & Medieval Buddhist Stone Chaityas" © BIKESH DESHAR

"Passing By Hanging Paintings" © BIKESH DESHAR

"Lady Tourist At Swayambhu" © BIKESH DESHAR

"Prayer Wheels"

"Little Buddhas" © BIKESH DESHAR

"Monkey Temple" © BIKESH DESHAR

"Harati Temple" © BIKESH DESHAR

"Distraction" © BIKESH DESHAR

"Buddha On Meditation" © BIKESH DESHAR

"Blur" © BIKESH DESHAR

"Bajra" © BIKESH DESHAR

"Little Arts" © BIKESH DESHAR

"Wisdom Eyes" © BIKESH DESHAR

"Dipankar Buddha" © BIKESH DESHAR

"Visitors" © BIKESH DESHAR

"Shops Around Swayambhu" © BIKESH DESHAR

"Way To Swayambhu" © BIKESH DESHAR

"Illuminated Stupa" © BIKESH DESHAR

"Illumination Of Stupa On Buddha Jayanti" © BIKESH DESHAR

© BIKESH DESHAR

"Spirit Of Swayambhu" © BIKESH DESHAR

"Buddha" © BIKESH DESHAR

"7th Century Dipankar Buddha" © BIKESH DESHAR

"Light Up" © BIKESH DESHAR

When to Go

The weather is most pleasant in Kathmandu in spring and fall. Swayambhunath is most atmospheric in the morning (before 9am), when it hosts more pilgrims than tourists. If possible, visit on a Saturday, the only day Nepalis have off from work. This is the primary day of activity around the Harati and other shrines.

Festivals and Events

The two main festivals celebrated at Swayambhunath are Buddha Jayanti(in April or May) and Losar (in February or March). During these times, many pilgrims visit the temple and the monks create a lotus pattern on the stupa with saffron-colored paint. Also important is the month-long Gunla celebration (August or September) marking the end of the rainy season.