May 12, 2015: When I first heard (immediately after the mega-quake on Baishak 12) that the tallest monument (tower) in our Kathmandu is no more, I hardly believed my friends word and asked not to make fun in this traumatic situation. Actually I had no idea of the level of devastation that time as I was out of Kathmandu city, though I had felt the tremor inside a vehicle and even had a narrow escape as big rocks fell in the highway near to the point where we got out. When the devastation was confirmed from online news portals after half an hour, I was very worried for the city I was born and raised, similarly repeated aftershocks made me more fearful for the additional loss of life, buildings and popular heritage sites.
It was only within 2070 and 2071 B.S (Nepali year) that I had climbed the nine storeyed tower to have a spectacular view of the city from there. Both the time I had taken my camera with me. Every time I pass through the Sahidgate (Martyrs Gate) or go inside Sundhara NT office for work, I used to take a picture of Dharhara. Sometimes I had even spent hours watching the sunset between NT tower and Dharhara. I was really fascinated the way Dharahara stands there.
Most of my friends who are from Kathmandu have not climbed up the tower, proving the Nepali proverb "Najik ko tirtha hela" meaning: No care for nearby pilgrimage. Reaching Kathmandu when I had first sight from Sahidgate, it gave me a big chills through my body for not seeing the much loved landmark tower there. Not only every Kathmandutians but whole Nepalese are proud of the Dharahara, (which was already shattered twice by mega quakes in 1834 and 1934, then reestablished later) and want to visit at least once. As it was built by First Prime Minister of Nepal: Bhimsen Thapa, it is also known as Bhimsen Sthamba (Tower).
I have seen such tower in different parts of the world, among which I have visited some of them, be it in Europe or in Asia. It seems now that the purpose of tower is to let people have a view of the city but it also marks the history, our ancestors have witnessed. Their importance is not only limited to the tourists coming around, but also to the denizens that makes them proud for the history, culture and tradition. Kathmandu lives with such heritage sites and we do not want to miss every single of them.
Now that the iconic site is no more, few private organizations and international donors have asked for permission to built on their own, but it is known that Government of Nepal and Department of Archaeology won't be letting any private or international organization to rebuild Dharahara. Yes it should be built on our own but we should not be so rigid in taking any help (technology, design wise) from international organizations too. And I am of the view that Dharahara should be built on a separate fund (crowd sourced by Nepali living all over the world), with the same design but using technology that can make it withstand upcoming mega Earthquakes for a century.
Here are some pictures that I have taken from some years till the pieces.
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| Photo sphere with Dharahara tower, taken six months before. |
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| Dharahara with cloud |
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| Dharahara and unplanned urbanization in Kathmandu |
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| Dharahara from the top |
And lastly the photo of Dharahara after devastated by the earthquake.
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| Devastated Dharahara after the earthquake. |
All pictures are taken by me either using DSLR or point&shoot or even mobile camera, and are under my copyrights. If you want to use it for any means,do contact me.
