INTERVIEW WITH SUVADRA, a girl aged 24 and working in the guesthouse where I stayed for 2 months.

With who are you living now?

I am living with my mother and my 2 brothers, 1 younger and 1 older. The older brother is married and his wife also lives with us.

Is it normal that his wife lives with you?

Yes the wife should always live with her husbands family after they get married. 

At what age is it normal to get married?

Around 26 years old for a girl.

What do you want to do if you could do anything?

See everything in the world

If you meet up with your friends where do you meet?

Sometimes we meet at eachothers house and sometimes we meet in a cafe.

Do you drink alcohol then?

For girls it's not really allowed to drink, one beer is the maximum. 

Is it allowed for boys to drink?

Yes for boys it's normal to drink more

Aren't you curious how it is to be drunk?

Yes I am. (but she's not going to try because it's not allowed, after 1 beer she's a little tipsy)

INTERVIEW WITH KIRAN, a boy aged 26 who is the nephew of my boss and now a really good friend

Can you marry anybody you want to?

No I can't marry a woman from a different caste then the one I was born in.

What happens if you do?

Then my family disowns me and I have to live in the lower caste.

What happens if you marry someone from a different religion?

That's even worse than a different caste. We are also disowned by family then but we are also not socially accepted anymore.

And how about homosexual people then?

Then the same happens as when you marry someone from a different religion. 

INTERVIEW WITH PRAMESH, a boy aged 20 years old and works as a guide (and a lot of guides think a like about marriage and alcohol/smokes, they are not that traditional anymore because they talk to a lot of tourists)

He had a lot of tattoo's so I asked him when he took does tattoo's:

He told me he started getting tattoo's since he was 8 years old because he was standing up against his parents (little young I think to start doing that but okay), his parents were mad at first but then accepted it because he told them you can yell whatever you want but I can't remove this tattoo anymore. After this he told me he also started smoking at an age of 8 because he was always making sigarets with tobacco for his grandfather and then tried to smoke himself. When he was 9 he started smoking continual. 

How do you think about marriage?

I want to make a european girl my wife around the age of 28-30. 

When do you want to have children?

Between the age of 32 and 35 and only one child.

Why only one?

Because of the financial situation I rather give one kid a good life then take five and can't really take good care of them. 

If you marry an european girl, do you want to live in Nepal or Europe?

I want to live in a different country every year but I want to die in Nepal. 

INTERVIEW WITH NARESH, a boy aged 21 years old and physically disabled (missing one arm and burn wounds in his face) who lives in the children's home I worked in.

What kind of family do you have?

A mother (his father died 10 years ago), 2 younger brothers and 2 married sisters and one unmarried sister. 

Can they make a living?

No it's very hard, my mother has no job and my brothers and sisters are unschooled. I want to study and get a good job to take care of them. My mother her mother lives by herself and takes care of my 5 nieces and nephews because my aunt and uncle died, so she is also not able to support my mother because she already has a hard time taking care of them.

What do you want to study?

That's a difficult choice because I can't become everything with my physically condition. 

What would you really like to do?

I would like to study hotelmanagment 

Now he's studying Travel and tourism (3 months after this interview)

My opinion: The boys have big dreams for theirselfs wich is very good I think, that's whats keeping them motivated. I think there is a big difference between youth in Bhaktapur/Nepal; some are still very traditional but I also saw girls drinking alcohol like it was water and like the boy Pramesh who fancies to marry a European girl is more modern. In the capital city Kathmandu there is already less tradition left.