Many faces pop up from the crowd and many faces die out amongst all the others but something that strikes out indifferently in all of these faces is that they conceal a skill, a hobby. [break]
A thrift young man in faded blue jeans adorned with sprinkles of paint, an artist; a hunched young-man with thick spectacles, a computer programmer; a preppy young girl with an eye for perfect moments, a photographer, there lies budding talent in these young people that frequent the narrow, fading streets of Kathmandu.
And among the chaos of screaming street vendors and bargaining housewives, trying to wriggle and find a way is Amrisha Vaidya, a 19 year-old who finds comfort in art, on bringing out to canvas images alive only in her mind.
Amrisha Vaidya
Her love for Japanese Anime lead her to join art classes, where it all began.
She currently illustrates for Himal South Asia, but likes nothing better than to work on something just for herself.
Amrisha feels that art is a part of her, something that she can never let go of and sees herself working as an illustrator in the future.
A few feet away, trying to flag down a taxi is another hip youngster, weighted down by a solid back guitar case.
This is Nikesh Shakya, a 19 year-old lost to the sound of the strings. It has been six years since Nikesh started his musical journey and is now adept at the guitar.
Also a self-taught drummer, he uses program drums for his compositions.
Nikesh Shakya
Currently employed at KatJazz Studios , Nikesh is also furthering his musical training by taking vocal and bass lessons at the Kathmandu Jazz Conservatory.
“Music is more than a hobby for me,” Shakya says and plans on attending a music college in Boston.
Another young girl with a small digital camera stands dazed in between the chaos of the evening crowd.
She seems to be looking for the perfect moment, the perfect angle to point her camera at. Snigdha Bhatt is the name of this 18 year old.
The President of her school photography club, Snighda thinks in moments, in visually appealing ideas that she can only capture through the view-finder of her Sony DSC-W170.
She believes that good pictures don’t need expensive DSL cameras; it’s finding the right moment that brings brilliance onto the pictures.
Currently taking part at various photography workshops and volunteering regularly at photo.circle, photography enthusiasts group, Singdha has been training to create conceptual pictures.
Snigdha Bhatt
“Anyone can take a photograph but I want to make an art out of a photograph,” says she.
There is yet another person in the crowd, a young boy, right out of high-school, involved in the production team of Deepak Rauniyar’s latest film, Highway.
He is Alok Adhikari, 19, in love with motion pictures. He worked as an Assistant Director for Highway along with other documentary films, the most recent one being ‘Hong Kong’s Nepalis’, a documentary on the lives of the 35,000 Nepalis residing in Hong Kong.
Adhikari has launched a new Nepali online news portal providing only good news called ‘Good News Nepal’.
He is a visual artist whose love for art started with videos and had always wanted to be a filmmaker but with age, he discovered other forms of art such as graphic designing to quench his eager soul.
His father , also a documentary film makes, is his primary influence.
“What influenced me was probably the environment at home. My father and I used to watch a lot of films and talk about them,” he says.
Adhikari wants to follow his dreams and study visual a rts, “I want to become a visual storyteller because I truly enjoy working with this medium of art,” he opines.
Alok Adhikari
Mankind has come a long way, from using stone tools to crafted metal, all due to man’s desire to strive, learn and to uncover the complexities of their surroundings.
That drive to learn can be seen amongst the youth of today.
Sharp, able-minded youngsters trying to solve the complexities of music making, photography, art or filmmaking, interests and careers often left to the adults of society.
Amrisha, Nikesh, Snigdha and Alok are few examples of young Nepalis who reflect that learning and knowledge have taken a different turn today which involves finding your own way, and encountering mistakes that lead to learning new things. It’s a new, creative generation to come.
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