Rabindra Dai explaining the idea of “Namuna Ghar”

A lot of us call ourselves “Human” but we show exemplary characteristics of a robot. After entering the so called real world, we have a fixed or set schedule where we get up, do our thing, go to work for six or more hours, come back, and do it again everyday just like a robot or a machine on a production line. What happened to the young, energetic spirit? What happened to the feeling that one can accomplish anything, anywhere and anytime.

This past Wednesday, we had an amazing opportunity to Job Shadow Mr. Rabindra Puri. Thanks to Sanam Chitrakar, one of our clients housed at Biruwa, we had a whole day of adventures just by following around Mr. Puri on his daily schedule and learning a lot in doing so. Prior meeting Mr. Puri, I had heard Mr. Chitrakar brag about Mr. Puri about couple of his works but on wednesday we were just taken off our feet. A whole bunch of us from Biruwa got together and headed towards Bhaktapur. Since Aadhar and I reached earlier than the rest of the gang, we got to witness the Dattatreya Temple in Bhaktapur, Nepal.

We witnessed couple groups of international tourists and some elderly folks just chilling and enjoying a sunny morning near the premises of the temple. Once we re-grouped, we headed to Namuma Ghar (example house) which was a walking distance from the temple square. Immediately once we stepped inside the premises of the Namuna Ghar, we got this awesome feeling of seclusion from the rest of the world. Mr. Puri who holds a bachelors degree in Law, Fine Arts, History and Management welcome us to one his early architectural restoration projects.
The Namuna Ghar used to be an old chicken farm with the building slowly dying away. Mr. Puri used his expertise to restore this chicken house to a state of the art Newari traditional house. After the renovation project the entire house felt like it was some sort of an old museum or a palace. The change from an old chicken farm to a “could be Palace” was drastic, the building had so much class, represented ancestral architecture

After visiting the Namuna ghar, Mr. Puri gave us a tour of other interesting stuff going around in Bhaktapur including making duplicate copies of stolen artifacts/sculptures, making traditional style of wooden windows with a lot of designs and a homeopathy clinic. All these projects were trying to utilize local skills, local resources and help preserve local culture. Throughout the day we followed Mr. Puri and got to see some more of his works which included a housing project, multiple school buildings and a resort, all of the buildings were designed with traditional Newari architectural design. Moreover, these projects were aimed towards being self sustainable and having the least environment impact. The most memorable moment from the entire day was when we went to Phulbari, Kavre to see the housing project. Mr. Puri initially helped build a school building for the local school. He had created jobs for the locals because of his housing project. The housing project brought a better road to the village, the entire project was designed in such a way that it was not going to harm or exhaust local resources or the natural environment. We were invited to eat
lunch at a local’s house and the amount of respect and humility we received because we were Mr. Puri’s guest was very emotional and heart warming.

I know at some point or the other each one of us who followed around Mr. Puri were contemplating about our current life and how different circumstances has diverted us from our dreams and goals. Amongst all the reflecting, there day this brush.