Kathmandu at Rest: A Rare Glimpse During the Lockdown

Captured during the COVID-19 lockdown

It’s strange how silence can say so much. While the world was still grappling with the uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic, I stepped out into a Kathmandu I had never seen before.

The city — always alive with honking horns, packed roads, and hurried footsteps — was suddenly quiet. Not the eerie kind of silence, but one that felt almost healing. The air felt lighter, the sky looked bluer, and the streets… they were clean. Really clean.

Without the usual chaos, the little details stood out. A gentle breeze bent the young trees along the median, birds chirped like they owned the place, and the sun lit up the old brick buildings in a way I’d never noticed before.

And then, there were the Jacaranda trees.

In full bloom, they stood tall — bursting with soft purple flowers as if to remind us that beauty still thrives, even in hard times. For a moment, the pandemic’s weight felt lighter. Nature, it seemed, was quietly celebrating a pause it had long needed.

Looking at these empty roads and quiet neighborhoods, I couldn’t help but think: What if this calm taught us something? What if we remembered this version of Kathmandu — clean, breathing, blooming — and carried some of it forward with us?

Because even in the middle of a crisis, the Valley showed us a glimpse of what it could be — and maybe what it’s meant to be.