Notes from Art for Nepal

Art for Nepal is a fundraiser I initiated in May 2015, to help my Nepali colleagues/friends at Sustainable Mountain Architecture Studio in post disaster reconstruction work. I decided to make scans and reprints of my 2014 travel drawings from Nepal as limited edition art prints and postcards. In August 2015, the project grew to become a collaboration with architects Lakshmi Nair and Sarojini Dantapalli as they developed the Art for Nepal notebooks with original drawings on their covers. The money raised (INR 1.8 Lakh = USD 2650) was used for constructing three transitional homes using local materials and labour in rural Nepal. 

This project would have not been possible without the unending support from Co.Lab Design and Turmeric Design and the generous help from Aarna & Anmol Gupta, Anne Feenstra, Bhavika Aggarwal, Broti Bhattacharya, Deepak Patankar, Jasjyot Singh Hans, Jyoti Patankar, Kriti Monga, Monika Agarwal, Rahul Patankar, Raunaq Kapoor, Reshu Singh, Saurabh Jain, Sneha Punjabi and Varun Bajaj. Rohan is very grateful to Thomson Press and Sona Signature Papers for their contribution towards the printing and paper as well as to instamojo for facilitating the payment gateway at zero percent processing fees.

The project featured was in Platform Magazine, Deccan Herald, Times of India, The Better India, The Scribbler, Bindass Republic, Unbind Magazine

Instagram diaries from when Sarojini and I travelled to Nepal in December 2015, to help build the final two transitional homes from the Art for Nepal funds:

Brush pens flew Air India again. @sarojinidantapalli and I are spending this week in Nepal.

A photo posted by rohan (@rohpatanka) on Dec 21, 2015 at 6:05pm PST

'YES!' We spent our first cold cold night in Nepal at Sujan's place in Bhaktapur with his warm warm folks. We played antakshari with his cousins, ate Daal Bhaat and probably the best fried egg we've had in a long time and the ever familiar tulsi infused water that his grandparents drink during the winter. #ArtForNepal

A photo posted by rohan (@rohpatanka) on Dec 24, 2015 at 3:42am PST

Our Day 1. Panchkhal, Kavre district. Work for both the shelters  has been on since the weekend. We are here with structural engineer @bij_stha and our favourite upcoming starchitect #swoozanshilpakar from the #SMA #kathmandu team. The stone and timber for the shelters is salvaged on their respective sites from the rubble of the damaged homes on the plot.

A photo posted by rohan (@rohpatanka) on Dec 24, 2015 at 4:56am PST

(Pretty) Early Day 2. @bij_stha, #swoozanshilpakar and I hiked to the other side of the hill in the morning to buy fresh bamboo for the roof frame and wall panelling. After having the bamboo cut from the cluster and cleaned up, we helped our workers lug these 8-10 m long pieces to the nearest motorable road from where we dragged them to the sites. #diedmorethanafewtimesontheway

A photo posted by rohan (@rohpatanka) on Dec 24, 2015 at 5:16am PST

'To get your hands dirty with your gloves on.' It's so bizarrely conflicting to imagine that what is a slice of mundane everyday life for a whole lot of people in South Asia could even be a check box on the exotic adventure tourism itinerary for a few of us. But at the same time, I realize it's so critical for many more of us to have these experiences and share them with the people around us back in our cities. These exchanges are so real and so relevant for seeing our actual big picture trajectory. #artfornepal #nofilter

A photo posted by rohan (@rohpatanka) on Dec 24, 2015 at 8:16pm PST

'If this was any other country, you guys wouldn't  even be here right now.' The blockade and the consequent fuel crisis in Nepal is something that I had briefly read about before we came, but  only this week did we realize how deeply it has disrupted several aspects of everyday life in rural and urban Nepal. Over the past four months, the stocks from India for basic to specialised medicines, LPG cylinders manufactured clothing, petrol and even Indian made packaging for Nepali products have only been sparingly available. The buses and micros are all running wayy beyond their capacity, taxis are super expensive to take, several basic things are being sold in black, tools and supplies have gotten more expensive, transporting the materials to site has gotten more expensive. Our project here is already running over our estimated budget and it's almost funny to realize we have much to do with it. Even though it almost feels like bullying, the constraints have been pushing our team to keep going more and more local with everything.

A photo posted by rohan (@rohpatanka) on Dec 24, 2015 at 9:22pm PST

pa-pa-para-pa Bamboo number five. #artfornepal #bamboo

A video posted by rohan (@rohpatanka) on Dec 28, 2015 at 7:10am PST

Different from our cities, water is a free resource here but Kamala and her friend make about fifteen trips through the day to the nearby spring to fetch water in containers to be used for making the mud mortar and plaster. The spring is about a fifteen minute hike from the  sites and they rest for about five minutes between trips. No one wastes water at site. #artfornepal

A video posted by rohan (@rohpatanka) on Dec 28, 2015 at 8:00pm PST

Guna Laxmi and Ambar Bahadur Shrestha spoke only Nepali and I barely knew any Nepali. Even despite this, we had long conversations almost everyday about everyday life, poverty and wealth, food and bagoti (grapefruit). We realized only midway that we had begun calling their site the grandparents' site. #artfornepal #nofilter

A photo posted by rohan (@rohpatanka) on Dec 31, 2015 at 10:14pm PST

The tree in their yard bore the most flavourful and tangy raw bagoti (grapefruit) that we had during our stay in Panchkhal. Mrs. Shrestha would serve it to us with this mind blasting freshly ground chillies and salt chutney. #artfornepal #nofilter

A photo posted by rohan (@rohpatanka) on Dec 31, 2015 at 10:25pm PST

Three members from Chameli and Tirtha Bahadur B.K.'s family of six also worked on the construction of the two transitional homes built in Panchkhal as unskilled and unskilled labourers. The project gave them not just better shelter but also employment for a week. It also gave them the technical and strategic skills to help any other villager to build such a transitional structure for themselves. #artfornepal

A photo posted by rohan (@rohpatanka) on Jan 1, 2016 at 4:41am PST

Red Mud (from the site) and cow dung plaster on the edge wall made with salvaged stone. The salvaged window tells you about the family's lineage as ironsmiths. The bamboo sourced from a kilometre away. #artfornepal

A photo posted by rohan (@rohpatanka) on Jan 1, 2016 at 4:59am PST

We spent our Christmas in Panchkhal, distributing blankets and thermal inner wear to families and children from the leftover #artfornepal funds. Everyone from this hamlet on the highway in Northern Nepal thanks all of you wonderful people who contributed to the project!

A photo posted by rohan (@rohpatanka) on Jan 1, 2016 at 6:07am PST

To meet and to work with such passionate and driven people has probably been the most enriching part of the project. The inspiring #SMA team, Bikash Dai, Rumi Rumi, @Bij_stha and our favourite upcoming starchitect #Swoozanshilpakar; the ladies #LakshmiNair and @sarojinidantapalli, it's been wonderful having each one of you as collabotors and friends. #DreamTeam #ArtForNepal #nofilter

A photo posted by rohan (@rohpatanka) on Jan 1, 2016 at 9:54pm PST

Back in Kathmandu, spent a pensive Saturday morning at the Patan Durbar Square listening to @nicholsontunes, coping with the realisation that the Nepal earthquake of 2015 took away the big temple that features in the middle of my drawing. However, it was reassuring to see the square just as populated as I had remembered it last; full with tourists, travelers and residents who were sunning themselves and basically having a good time. Until the time that it is reconstructed, the memory of the temple lives through its high plinth and the shrine that sits in a room with walls made of fabric. #artfornepal

A photo posted by rohan (@rohpatanka) on Jan 1, 2016 at 10:55pm PST

I accompanied Bikash Dai and his friends to Kirtipur for an incredible Newari meal at what they call an Open Museum, run by a co-operative of Newar women (only) from the town. Together they were prepping, cutting, grinding, mixing, cooking, steaming, frying and serving these handmade traditional recipes of snacks and beverages in brass utensils and cutlery in a space next to their open kitchen. We finished our meal with some divine yomari, steamed rice flour dumplings with a gooey jaggery and coconut filling.

A photo posted by rohan (@rohpatanka) on Jan 2, 2016 at 5:24am PST

And then, in the evening, this happened. After a 20 minute amazing-race-esque expedition through the town of Kirtipur that involved showing copies of drawings on postcards to startled locals as we asked for 'Kirtina- David- Sujan- Dilsan?!', I was back on the little street where my Kirtipur journey had begun in July, 2014. Reunited with Kirtina and David, I told them and their parents and grandparents about #ArtforNepal and how their drawings had contributed significantly to the fundraiser. To me and to my sporting comrades on this Boxing Day Adventure, Daphne and her friends at VSO international, this was probably the most exhilarating moment of 2015.

A photo posted by rohan (@rohpatanka) on Jan 2, 2016 at 6:59am PST

David Maharjan with his version of the Bagh Bhairab temple drawing in Kirtipur #artfornepal

A photo posted by rohan (@rohpatanka) on Jan 2, 2016 at 7:42am PST

In Jan 2016, the #SMA team visited #Panchkhal to check on the completion of the two transitional homes. The Bahadur family had bought more bamboo to finish their walls and the Shrestha family had settled into their shelter #artfornepal #nepal

A photo posted by rohan (@rohpatanka) on Mar 4, 2016 at 9:54pm PST

Back again to where it all started, this  time with @sarojinidantapalli, #lakshminair, #SMA and #artfornepal. It's been quite a journey. We are very grateful to each one of you who supported the project and helped us see the process through. #kathmandu #nepal #latergram

A photo posted by rohan (@rohpatanka) on Mar 4, 2016 at 9:06pm PST