"Driving it is all about confidence. Without that it is almost impossible” says Brinda, a 47 year old Nepali, and an electric powered 'Tempo' driver (rickshaw is usually called 'Tempo' in Nepal). Introduced in Nepal in the early 1990s, the electric three-wheel rickshaw is a clean alternative solution to the high polluting diesel powered tempo.
These small vehicles operate as a collective minibus, which can transport up to 12 passengers including the driver. Each tempo uses two big sets of batteries that provide Brinda with enough power for eight round trips on her 16 km circle route from Kathmandu Mall to Galfutar, a nearby town in the Kathmandu valley.
Brinda is a successful mother and business woman, working for almost 14 hours a day from 5.30 am to 7 pm. She manages to have a daily income of 30 USD. Out of that she has to pay expenses for battery recharges, drivers labor union organization fees and parking fees, a total of 7 USD per day.
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Women drivers at the "Tempo" parking terminal at Kathmandu mall. The electric powered rickshaws start service at 7 am.
The parking attendant at the Katmandu Mall rickshaw terminal. He gets paid a daily fee by each driver to deal with the queue of departing rickshaws.
"Driving it is all about confidence, without that it is almost impossible" says Brinda Raut, a 47 year old Nepali and an electric powered Tempo driver. While parking at the garage, she does maintenance on her vehicle. In Nepal, a rickshaw is usually called "Tempo".
Brinda Raut, 47, drives carefully through the chaotic Kathmandu traffic.
"I think a woman drives more carefully than a man. In Nepal, a man is usually a bully on the road. Many have no family and do not care if they have an accident. Women have to take care for their daughters and sons" Brinda recalls.
Brinda (left side) having some fun with another female driver of an electric powered rickshaw during a battery recharge pit stop. Fifty per cent of these vehicles are driven by women.
During rush hours, passengers queue at Ratna park bus stop in downtown Kathmandu to get a ride in a rickshaw.
The small electric tricycle called 'Tempo' can transport only 12 passengers, including the driver.
Brinda guides her "Tempo" through traffic on her 16 kilometer circle route inside Kathmandu valley.
Passengers in an electric powered rickshaw Tempo drivens by Brinda. Many people think it is much safer and cheaper to travel by the slow speed white colored three-wheeled 'Tempo'.
A passenger pays the driver after the ride. Sometimes in a crowd a customer will run off without paying. fortunately with the low cost of a ticket, at the end of the day that is not a big loss for the driver.
Workers of the Nepali Electric Vehicle Company changing the batteries in Brinda's rickshaw.
Brinda waits for her spare battery to be replaced with a fully charged one so she can drive eight 16 kilometer round trips.
Brinda finishes work at 7 pm and heads home to take care of her son Shakti.
A three-wheel rickshaw in Katmandu's Ratna Park, If a driver is caught with more than 10 passengers or a customer leaves the vehicle outside of a designated pick-up or drop-off area, the driver will have to pay a fine.
An electric three-wheeled "Tempo" navigates through evening rush hour traffic in Katmandu.
Around a million devotees visited Pashupatinath temple on Monday March 7, 2016 in the occasion of the Mahashivaratri Festival in Kathmandu. The gate of the temple opened at 3 a.m. allowing people to queue from the early morning. Mahashivaratri literally means the greatest night for devotion to Lord Shiva.
The festival falls on the 13th day in the dark fortnight in Falgun on the Hindu calendar. Pashupatinath Temple is regarded as one of the holiest Shiva shrines in the world. The festival consists of ‘warming’ Shiva in the belief that the lord also feels cold on this day. People start bonfires at public squares, houses, temples and shrines and perform prayers.
According to the authorities, 3,000 personnel from Nepal Police and the Armed Police Force were deployed to provide security. More than 5000 Shadus (holy men) arrived for Nepal and India, camping in the temporary shelters set up by the organization.
Crowd of devotees in the area around Pashupatinath temple in Kathmandu during the Mahashivaratri festival.
Devotees chanting holy songs and prayer in the early morning at Pashupatinath temple.
A Sadhu, holy man, sitting in his shelter during the Mahashivaratri festival in Kathmandu.
Sadhu giving speeches to people along the hill of Pashupatinath temple where he is camping.
A Sadhu, holy man, stands near the Pashupatinath temple during the Mahashivaratri festival in Kathmandu.
Devotees pray on the banks of Bagmati river at the crematory besides Pashupatinath temple during the Mahashivaratri festival.
Female sadhus, known as sadhvis, sitting at Pashupatinath temple during the Mahashivaratri festival.
A Naga (naked) Sadhu sanding on the terrace of a temple facing the crematory inside Pashupatinath temple in Kathmandu.
A foreign tourist is trapped in the crowd during the Mahashivaratri festival in Kathmandu.
Beggers surround a devotee holding some amount of money.
A TV journalist from a local channel broadcasting live from Pashupatinath temple during the Mahashivaratri festival.
Devotees praying to Lord Shiva at the Pashupatinath temple in Kathmandu.
An elder Sadhu woman performing a prayer in front of a small shrine at the gate of the Pashupatinath temple in Kathmandu.
A Nepali devotee coming out from the Pashupatinath temple after his prayer on the occasion of the Mahashivaratri festival.
Sadhu, holy man, touches a devotee as a sign of blessing during the night of Shivaratri at the Pashupatinath temple in Kathmandu.
Devotees walking inside a temple during the night of the Mahashivaratri festival in Kathmandu.
On April 25, 2015 a 7.4 magnitude earthquake struck Nepal, killing thousands and leaving the country struggling to recover. Two weeks later, survivors experienced another two major earthquakes, leaving them in an uncertain situation, where nature seemed to decide their fate without warning. The most dramatic times come at night when the city streets and mountain paths are wrapped in darkness. If the earth starts trembling, sleep can betray you. People sleep outside, stay up to maintain security in their neighborhoods or just suffer from insomnia and stay awake out of habit. Today, Nepal is living a nightmare, even during the day, where continuos aftershocks remind people that their home stands on the seismic hot zone where the Indian plate collided with the Eurasian plate - giving birth to the Himalayas.
People left homeless by the earthquake still sleep in the open air in Nepal's capital Kathmandu. More than a half-million tents are needed for the huge numbers of people forced from their homes by Nepal's devastating earthquake.
A building lies in ruin between the ancient Durbar Square quarter of Kathmandu and the tourist area Thamel. The total numbers of foreigners who fell victim to the earthquake are still unknown.
Gyan Prasad Acharya has tended funeral pyres at Pashupatinath Temple in Kathmandu for 30 years. Since a massive earthquake devastated Nepal, the Ghats, traditional spaces reserved for cremating the dead, at Pashupatinath Temple have been overwhelmed. The Ghats have gone from seeing 30 bodies cremated a day to hundreds. Every open space along the river has been taken up by survivors trying to bid their loved ones a final farewell.
A victim of the earthquake stands outside a tent in the Durbar Square area, the ancient historical city center of Kathmandu. Durbar Square was one of the areas of the capital most damaged in the earthquake.
Groups of citizens in Bhaktapur organize night shifts working as security guards around the city to avoid robberies inside abandoned houses.
A statue of the monkey-god Hanuman stands intact between the ruins of Kasthamandap temple and Durbar square.
Entire areas of the ancient city of Kathmandu remain in danger of collapsing in aftershocks. Many roadblocks are in place to avoid people walking through.