Dasain is a time of generosity, sacrifice, puja, and family gatherings. It is also the time when children enjoy swinging on the ping, celebrations take place in homes and around temples. But not everybody might be in a festive mood.
On Ghatasthapana, the first day of Dasain, 12-year-old Prisanta Thapa Magar spent the entire day working on the garbage recycling site by the banks of the Bagmati in Teku. She cannot remember how many Dasains she has spent there. Elsewhere in Kathmandu’s underbelly, life goes on amidst the rubbish that the city has thrown away.
