One man’s mission to clean Kathmandu’s forsaken heritage

Yaddhab Lal Kayastha started a campaign almost three years ago to restore cultural sites. Today, he’s covered over 100 sites in the Kathmandu valley.

On a recent hot afternoon, Yaddhab Lal Kayastha gathered with a few others at Jagati in Suryabinayak, Bhaktapur. The heat was cruel, sweat dripped down their temples but the small group were assembled for a purpose: to restore and clean an old hiti (a stone sprout) and a falcha (a resting place) that have been left uncared for for a long time.