Tashi Tewa

        It has always been my father, Gyaltsen and what he always inspired to do. Without him, it would not have been possible for me to be an artist. He used to be a very good skilled artist including a painter and also a good craftsman. Without any support, he learned many skills. Still he was known as a ‘Gyaltsen Khewa’ (skilled Gyaltsen). Though he was a breadwinner for the family, he never gave up his art. Early as a child, I learnt a lot from him. My young eyes met in depth with those colors painted beautifully by my ‘aaki’ (father).                                                     Image 1: A Gaze by Tsering Samdup. Sherab Jhyama, my mother always patiently waited for his arrival every time when he left the village for his work in other neighboring Dolpo villages. Distance with my father was filled with the love of my dearest mother. She still takes the best care of me.      During my time as a herder running after those livestocks including Yaks, Hima

Before few months back, I got a chance to interact with one of my brothers who came back from Dolpo. He was especially jubilant over the fact that he succeeded to assist in a village level budget preparation which also finalized a budget for the construction of a road connecting his remote and marginalized village, one of many villages within Dolpo. It was over two hours of discussion and in this I will try to summarize how we interacted the development during the conversation.  The ongoing road construction in Dolpo connecting especially Dho and Tingyu VDCs (the present Dolpo Buddha Rural Municipality. Photo copyright belongs to: Phurwa Tashi Dolpo (Dralung Futado) There are several points to reconsider in his interaction. Basically, he argued that with road construction connecting many still to be connected villages within Dolpo will allow many villagers of Dolpo to get many goods cheaply. Till date, he believed that many Dolpo faced a lot of difficulties in that regard. Dur

Yangzom Tsering’s Life Story As transcribed and translated by Tashi Tewa Dolpo Published in: Dolpo, Tashi Tewa (2017, May) ‘Yangzom Tsering’s Life Story’. Manjushree Thapa (ed.) (2017). LA.LIT: A Literary Magazine, Volume 8. May 2017.                                                            Photo by: Phurwa Tashi (Translator’s notes are in italics throughout the interview.) It had already been more than two months since I’d tried to interview 79-year-old Yangzom Tsering about her life story. I was a student of gender studies, which emphasizes the significance of the experience of diverse women, speaking to the complexities of the socio-cultural, religious, economic and political domains of society that affect social agency. The story of how the life of an elderly woman from Dolpo is shaped by her surroundings is yet to be written about in academia. That the exercise would be empowering for Yangzom Tsering was reason enough for me to interview her, but her ol

A senior person, who has nearly two decades of experience in a mainstream journalism came and suggested me to write more n more. Neither I drink alcohol nor I eat meat (so I'm not really good in rapport building if the person enjoys drinking n eating meat) but then in such atmosphere, if certain person comes out of his comfort zone to suggest you to continue what you love to do, then it can only be considered as a bliss. Though I somewhat already decided never to write again for any mainstream newspaper even in Nepali, his generosity and modesty forced me to reflect upon my choices.

         You need to start your journey from scratch. Life is all about struggles n more you learn n try to understand n act accordingly, you'd be a better man/woman. Just a glimpse of yesterday's show of my documentary, 'MiTse: Struggles of Dolpo Women', where I was about to screen it.                                                                    Photo by: Sonam Choekyi  Many friends and seniors came together for this but I'd never forget all those Dolpo people who came in together for this project. I still remember that I only had my camera, not a huge fancy camera. B ut looking back, what really worked in my favor is I trusted myself and my folks trusted me. Undoubtedly, that particular bestowed trust has its historical and cultural roots and our several encounters and journey back and forth into their lives. That's why I think I was nervous yesterday, especially over how our narratives from Dolpo, the remotest Himalayan indigenous margins wo