Vignettes of Jan Andolan2

KATHMANDU:

The Kalanki chowk was crowded on May 11 but it was not the usual crowd. People were thronging the tarkari-bajar (vegetable market) there to see a photo exhibition that had been organised commemorating the contribution of the locals of the area to the recent Jan Andolan.

The photographs (25 in total) on display were taken by a photojournalist

of The Himalayan Times, Rajendra Manandhar, du-ring the 19-day agitation. According to him it was his way of saluting the people and the martyrs.

The exhibition took you on a journey that vividly described for you people’s yearning for freedom, the extent that they would go to to achieve that freedom, the strength of people’s power as captured in photos of rallies participated by hundreds of thousands, their pains, their belief in their cause, their unity, their sacrifices. The photographs told you the story of people’s struggle for democracy through the eyes of photographer in the lives of Kalanki locals.

Leaders like Bamdev Gautam, Narhari Acharya among others visited the exhibition, which was organised by the Jan Andolan Samyojak Samiti.

Thousands had thronged to see the exhibition, and Manandhar said that many even asked whether they could come to his home some other time and take a look at the photos all over again.