Storytelling in the age of spectacle

Mountain man Paka’s story is quickly becoming a public drama, and he risks losing his very being.

A year and a half ago, Bidhya Chapagain and her team of Herne Katha (Seeing Stories) visited the distant Chum Valley in Gorkha District to follow the story of Phunjo Lama. But soon they met Prakash, or Paka, a shadow figure living in oblivion for over three decades in the valley after being lost from Kathmandu. He had only hazy memories of his family and home in Jhapa, and his real name—Kale Tamang. The Herne Katha team soon began tracing his footsteps back to Jhapa. Along the journey, Paka’s memories of his childhood, his family and his home came back alive in bits and pieces. Ultimately, he found his family back—in Jhapa, where his sisters lived, and in Bhojpur, where his parents and brothers had resettled.