Adventures in Patan Durbar Square

note: pictures link to high-res downloads

Familiarity, that state in which one is comfortable with their surroundings, situation, etc., is perhaps one of the most sought after human emotions. What individual doesn't dream of walking into their local grocery store or barber shop, or restaurant, and feeling as if they were in the right place at the right time? I am in no way resistant to this way of thinking, in case you were wondering!

Today's selection of photos comes from a spot nary a 15 minute walk from my uncle and aunt's house in Patan, Patan Durbar Square. There are three Durbar (palace) Squares in Kathmandu Valley, one in Kathmandu, one in Patan and one in Bhaktapur. The reason there are three stems from the fact that before Nepal was a unified nation, at one point in time the Kathmandu valley contained three separate kingdoms. The rulers were brothers, who were bequeathed each of his respective kingdoms from their father after he had passed away. Patan durbar square is known as one of the most beautiful, for it's classical Newari style architecture, and it's high concentration of mandirs. The square is thought to have acquired many of it's monuments during the Malla dynasty, in which competition between the three kingdoms was at it's height.

By now many of you are calling

me a hypocrite and somewhat of a simpleton, because if I am in fact looking for farmiliarity, then I've completely eaten my own words. What am I doing in the complete opposite situation? The short and simple answer is that I wanted an unfamiliar situation; I felt that I had become too familiar with my familiarity, in a sense, of the U.S. and my way of living, etc. There are many reasons I wanted to come to Nepal, too numerous to itemize them all in a single blog post. But one of them was the urge to live and breathe and work in a place I was unfamiliar with. Up to the day I took these pictures, my second full day in Kathmandu, no feelings of unfamiliarity had fully entered my personal space. I would chalk this general ignorance of my situation up to the fact that I had only been here two days, more or less under the watchful eyes of my hosts. Of course, this is greatly appreciated and needed, but slowly I hope to become more independent, as I'm sure they do as well haha!

Uncertainty finally reared it's ugly face when I happened upon Durbar Square, much of which looks like the scenes depicted to the right and above. Finally in my element as a photographer, I quickly became fully overwhelmed with feelings of vulnerability, uncertainty, and chaos in general. To any local this little stunt would seem elementary at best; but for myself, it took a good deal of audacity. At this point I must give credit to Sita didi, my guide for the afternoon, for at least leading me to the general area.

'What a relief!' I thought to myself; I had finally made it to my gold mine of photographs. Not only was I paralyzed for a good ten minutes after my arrival, unable to take pictures, I

also found my usual photographic senses mucked up from the feelings described above. The heat magnified itself off of the red bricks of the square, which were seemingly as hot as the sun itself. Tourist bounded to and fro, looking for all the same shots I was looking for. What to do? I quickly evaluated my situation and decided to suck it up! I as well fully assumed my touristy nature and bounded to and fro, snapping pictures of all the familiar stupas and mandirs.

You may think that I regret my touristy actions, but this could not be further from the truth. Keeping my entire ordeal in mind, the collection of photographs you see here are not only special to me in the sense of what they are of, but also the emotions they represent to me. As a photographer, familiarity of a place is usually indispensable in capturing a great photograph; knowing a place leads to discovering the angles, subjects, and timing for the unique shot every photographer dreams of.

Perhaps I overreacted, but that's not something to worry about now. After much time, I began to realize that these historic spots around Nepal, Kathmandu especially, are exactly that: Tourist hot spots. The table full of figurines and statues was more or less a dead give away of that. In a way, this situation saddens me. Tourism is one of, if not the, biggest industries in Nepal today, therefore this shouldn't have surprised me. Without spots like this, the country would be in an even more shabby state than it already is. Perhaps I just wish I could have seen these mystical places at the height of their time. Although, I would not have been able to capture these pictures if that were the case!

So maybe I didn't have my usual photo-skills on my side that day, but the "best" shot was not my objective; the goal for the day was to put myself out there, when I knew I would feel vulnerable, and become more familiar with the places, people, and situations that are now occurring around me. I think I've at least gained some confidence and familiarity from my exploits; I hardly think I could've gone backwards. Every day brings with it new challenges, which I'm sure will increase in frequency as I become more independent. Hopefully this way of thinking will aid me and help me overcome the many obstacles I've yet to meet. Until the next post, I bid you adieu!