between a rock and a hard place

pulling rocks out of the river bed

lower caste workers crushing rocks by hand...albeit with a magnificent view

gravel loaded on trucks to be taken to road construction sites

smaller scale crusher

and the people who load it

needless to say, it's all backbreaking work. the lowest caste, who does all of this kind of work, is born into a life of thankless, low paying labor. i love the guy wearing the red cap in the lower photo, though. despite it all, and that i was a considerable distance away, he still gave me a giant sized smile. the rocks are crushed down and used for construction purposes, but namely building new roads. all of this was going on right next to the road in the middle of a small town with traffic and pedestrians moving past. incredible amounts of noise filled the air, not to mention never ending billowing dust. i just read a report from WHO (world health organization) that puts kathmandu at 2nd worst polluted cities in the world...next to beijing. great. i have my face mask and wore it during the bike ride that took me past this site. pretty. such is life in kathmandu...at least i'm not a rock breaker...geesh that would be a tough life. makes your job sound much better, eh?! love, j