Kathmandu was a stronghold of the national government during the civil war of the late 90's and early 2000's. Because the Valley was significantly safer than outlying areas many people moved for security reasons. The population of the Kathmandu Valley has, according to some estimates, doubled in the past 20 years (from 2 to 4 million). A consequence of this population growth is an ongoing boom in residential construction. Many of the buildings in urban and semi-urban Nepal are built predominantly of brick. Much of the Valley's bricks come from Lalitpur district, which lies just south of Kathmandu proper, and happens to be where I live with my family.
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| The fields surrounding my village are strewn with brick factory smoke stacks such as this one. |
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| Bricks are made by mixing water with the top couple meters of soil and clay from fields. |
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| A close up of the bricks in a stack as they dry. Notice the swastika imprinted on the bricks. In Hindu culture, the swastika is an auspicious symbol (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swastika). |
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| After bricks are formed they are piled up to dry. |
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| People carry amazingly heavy loads of bricks on their backs. |
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| Stacking bricks in a truck for transport. |
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| Bricks are moved to construction sites. |
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| A view of Kathmandu proper over a pile of drying bricks. The brick structure on the left is a temporary home constructed by migrant workers. |
Another Fulbright grantee, Taylor Weidman, has some
outstanding shots (click here) from a nearby brick kiln.
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