Beyond the Clouds

Standing in the valley at night, you get a handful of stars if you are lucky.

This photo was taken after rainfall with a two-minute exposure on a phone when conditions were as good as the valley was going offers.

Comparing the night sky of Nagarkot and inside Kathmandu valley, you can see a night and day difference.

The kind of sky where you stop and look up without thinking about it. Inside the valley the haze never fully lifts.

Air pollution and light pollution build on each other, and the city's glow catches the particulates hanging overhead and scatters back down, thickening what already sits above you.

People here still remember what the sky used to look like or have caught it once outside the valley and not forgotten it.

That is enough to keep looking up.

Most nights, this is what looks back.