“I am working towards becoming a photo journalist. It is for my mother. They tell me that one reason my mother died was because of my father’s drinking. He didn’t directly kill her. But my sisters tell me that she did go through a lot and that my father would drink and beat her all the time. So you see, I want to expose these social sins against people who have no voice, like my mother who died an unfortunate death and no one will tell her story. It will never become a headline. There is only politics and dance on TV and paper.”
What do you remember of your mother?
“Not much. But when the villagers talk about her, they talk with respect and have a lot of good things to say about her. I was only very young to remember. But I remember the day my mother died the villagers had come to my house and the sound of everyone wailing was deafening. I remember thinking “why is everyone crying?” – Birendra Shrestha, Ramechap. Met him in Chundevi, Kathmandu)