Same Rooftop Different Sky

I took both of these from my own rooftop.

Same spot.

Same tower.

Same neighborhood. I wasn't trying to make a point.

I just looked up on a bad day, took a photo, then looked up again on a good one.

When I put them side by side I didn't say anything for a while. The first day the needle was in the red.

My eyes were irritated by afternoon and I kept blaming the screen.

It wasn't the screen.

The Himalayas which are supposed to be right there behind that tower, massive and permanent simply weren't visible.

The sky had just taken them. The second day I could breathe.

And I know that sounds like a strange thing to notice but if you've lived in Kathmandu long enough you'll understand.

There are days when breathing feels like quiet work and you don't even register it because it's become normal.

Then a clear day comes and your chest just opens and you think oh.

This is what it's supposed to feel like. I'm not a scientist.

I don't have data.

I just have these two photos and a body that knows the difference between them. The mountains are either there or they aren't.

The air is either breathable or it isn't.

Both of these skies are Kathmandu.

Both happened right here, above my own rooftop. One felt like home. The other felt like we were slowly losing it.