I’m unexpectedly back in Kathmandu, but this time around, it’s for more pleasant reasons than sticks and stones. Though I was totally dismayed to discover the children had a two week summer vacation smack in the middle of my three month stay, things fell into place (as they so often seem to do), and I found out that the break would kick off with the multi-day nation-wide Nepali Special Olympics in KTM. I’ve just finished shooting the entire three day extravaganza, and though I plan to spend the majority of the vacation working on the film, I’m taking a shameless 72-hour breather in Kathmandu, re-energizing from the taxing events.
The Olympic games, intended for mentally- and physically-handicapped teenagers, were two parts track & field events (days 1 and 2) and one part song and dance (day 3). Since Banepa was “close by” (sure… relatively speaking), we took the bus in at dawn each morning and returned home at dusk each night. In the photo album I’ve included a few pictures from the wild bus ride on the second day…on top of the bus! It was an incredibly inspiring experience to watch these empowered kids overcoming huge obstacles to participate in these events, but it was emotionally challenging and physically exhausting in ways I didn’t expect. It broke my heart that I didn’t have any way of explaining to the mentally handicapped children that my video camera was different from an instant playback digital still camera, and I had a hard time overcoming my hesitation to film handicapped strangers chatting, spectating, and walking around. Plus, three straight dawn-to-dusk shooting days in an chaotic, unpredictable environment 28 long, long kilometers from the familiarity and control of the deaf school totally wiped me out. During games, it occurred to me how often life seems to spiral back on itself, inevitably ending up exactly where you began. I remember when the Olympics came to my Atlanta hometown in 1996, I splurged my eight-year-old allowance on four tickets to the track & field events at the Special Olympics as a treat to my family. Thirteen summers later (Where has the time gone? And my youth?), I found myself reliving the experience—life’s various twists and turns landed me right back at the Special Olympics track & field events. New time, new place, but so much as I remember it seeing and hearing all those years ago. And this time around, my family splurged on me, generously offering to cover expenses where my grant fell short. Fate, karma, divine providence—call it what you will, but this trip has come together in ways that seem too serendipitious to be mere coincidence.
Take for example, the start of my trip in New York City: I had breakfast on the brain after dropping off my visa application, and randomly remembered a McDonald’s I had bumped into when I had gotten my Indian visa a year before. Now, I’m not one to frequent Mickey Dee’s, and to be totally honest, I was actually craving a New York pretzel. I couldn’t find any pretzel stands (an bizarre occurrence in and of itself), however, so I detoured from my original route to hunt down the fast food joint. When I finally walked in, I passed a familiar-looking man on his way out, did a double take, and lo and behold—it was my cousin, Greg Davis. The odds of being in the same exact place at the same exact time in a place as big as New York City must have been one in a million. If I’d found a pretzel stand, made it to my appointment on time (I was fifteen minutes late), or even stopped to tie my shoe, I would have missed him. Likewise, in Kathmandu after the games, I stopped in a wireless café to check my e-mail, and had the sudden urge to sign onto g-chat depsite the mountain of e-mails I had waiting for me—something I never do traveling abroad because g-chatting is a pretty low priority on a list of high demands. Shubha (a friend from Harvard who I had totally forgotten was visiting Nepal with her family) was signed on with the away message “Nepal!” It turned out to be her last night in Nepal, and at literally the final hour, she invited me to join her, her family, and Johan (another college friend) for dinner. It was an incredible evening and it was so vitalizing to see friends from a world away (instant cure to the isolation I’ve felt here), and it never would have happened if things hadn’t miraculously fallen into place.
Before I sign off, I must warn you that I can’t live up to prior standards in terms of length and frequency of blog posts, but I make no apologies, and here’s why: on the grueling “one or four hour” bus ride back from Kathmandu two weeks ago, I was lost in my own thoughts and the beauty of the impossibly green foothills when all of the sudden, it hit me. I mean, it really, really hit me… The sheer inconceivability of this situation. That someone, anyone (let alone two distinguished filmmakers), would hand over $10,000 in camera equipment, and tell me I can go anywhere in the world and make a film about anything I want. And that people were willing to help me pay for it to make it happen. When I really started to think about it, I realized how crazy it was, and how huge a gift. I pledged right then and there that I wouldn’t let this enormous opportunity go to waste. So far, I’ve been true to my word, and I've dedicated morning, noon, and night to these kids and the film project. When I’m taking pictures, it’s with my video camera; when I’m writing, I’m taking notes in the field or creating logs of what I’ve shot. When I’m not woring with my own footage, I’m watching documentaries, reading anthropological essays, and trying to help classmates with their projects.* In other words, blogging has fallen by the wayside and filming has taken over. It’s hard work, but it’s a labor of love! And it’s also something I can really see myself pursuing as a career—I’ve been loving every minute of this experience, and I could imagine nothing better than doing projects like this for the rest of my life… or at least until my shoes fill with concrete!
* I don’t know if I ever really mentioned this**, but the documentary is being shot through a visual anthropology class called Sensory Ethnography. The class started in the spring with pre-production, “continues” through the summer with production, and will end in the fall with post-production. There are ten students in the class (mostly anthro grad students), and films are currently being shot all over the world—Tokyo, Beirut, France, Italy, Kerala (India), Vietnam, and two in Africa.
** Speaking of not mentioning things, sorry for throwing in characters without proper introduction! Bhupi is the executive director of VIN (Volunteers Initiative Nepal), a hard-working man with a heart of gold. David is one of two volunteers who arrived the day before I did, so we received our orientation together and will probably meet up from time to time in KTM.
Banepa, Nepal
Love you!
Cathy