30 Minutes of Traveling: Stories from the Streets of Kathmandu

I was returning home from a program. I was grateful that a friend of mine dropped me midway, after that I took a bus to airport. Most of the seats were vacant. I was happy that I got a seat but equally frightened that I would get late-because the more the vacant seats, the more stops the bus takes to squeeze in people.  Surprisingly, the bus did not stop a lot. I called a friend to check if he was OK, since he had fever. I thought of stopping near by his house and meeting him but it was already 7. I knew I would be late and did not drop by his place.

When I put the phone down I watched the road. It was not dark yet but the vehicles had begun turning their lights on and this got me worried since it would be dark soon. I wondered if I would be able to reach home on time. I also realized if only I had my own scooter I would have been able to meet my friend and reach home on time. But I don’t have one yet.

-Aarju Joshi

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Away from the faces I know, I somehow find peace within the chaos among strangers.

-Prajita Gupta

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I was in a tempo from Jawalakhel to Kharibot, when I noticed a little girl not agreeing to get in with her mother. We wondered why as we waited for them to get it. Somehow they got in. She was crying but her mother managed to sway her. She pulled out her little orange pin and started playing.

‘Ma aafai lagauchu, yo mero ho,’ she said while the pin always fell off her hand every single time until they got off.

Well, little one really did give quite a stress free ride until she got off. We could not stop ourselves from giving her all the attention. Had a good laugh. Stole my heart.

-Neha Jatiya

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A big thank you from the depth of my heart to everyone who wrote, shared, talked about their version of 30 Minutes of Traveling. These days whenever we meet a little portion of our time is spent in talking about our travel stories inside public buses. I didn’t know that a project that struck me (while I was bored and stuck inside a micro bus during a hot humid day sweating badly) would take such fascinating turns. Gratitude! I hope hope hope that this helps to start off writing! (Honestly we all suck at some point or the other! Persistence!) 

More to come! 

This May is all about the stories from the streets of Kathmandu. 

Alfa