Girls smiling in black and white photos. Children and young people laughing in front of the camera wearing coats, hats, and scarves. Elderly people basking in the warm sun.

80-year-old Tim Maker is looking through old albums of these dim memories from America. Tim Maker, who has preserved Bajhang 55 years ago not only in his mind but also in photos, sees the civilization of that time alive in his eyes.

His footsteps, who returned to America after collecting the unique lifestyle and organic beauty of the village, did not stop there. Bajhang kept calling him again and again. He kept coming. Tim, who has been writing memoirs for three years, looked back at Bajhang after a long time. He returned to those warm days with Bajhang, which was changing with the wave of modern development. ‘The former students of Satyawadi High School kept coming to mind. I thought, where have they gone,’ he sounded nostalgic in a virtual conversation with Kantipur.

Half a century has passed, the first touch of an American young man on Nepali soil. Tim was born in the US state of Vermont. He was 21 when he graduated with a degree in engineering and physics. Yes, he first came to Nepal in 1968 at the same age. After working as a science teacher in Biratnagar for a year and then working on curriculum development for science education at the Ministry of Education for the next year, his journey turned towards Bajhang. He recalls the late 1970s vividly. At that time, he was there as a Peace Corps volunteer for a science education development program.

Bajhang, which still seems distant from the eyes of the state, was even more backward at that time. That is why Tim has a list of the excitement and painful experiences of the early days.

Tim reached Dhangadhi from Kathmandu by plane. Then he had to walk to Bajhang. ‘I was exhausted by the narrow paths in the deserted and dense forest, the continuous uphill and downhill walks,’ he said, recalling that week-long winter walk, ‘but after seeing the green wheat fields along the banks of the Seti River, houses with stone walls and roofs, large shiny copper and brass utensils placed in front of the houses, and the blooming palanquin trees that turned the village black, my pain disappeared.’

One of the oldest in Nepal, Satyavadi High School, was waiting for the team. When they reached Bannikot (now Chavis Pathivera), they were warmly welcomed by the snow that stopped them before the village. ‘The place where I spent my childhood also used to snow like that. As soon as I saw the snow, my childhood memories started to wander in my mind.’ That scene made me forget the painful weeks of walking in an instant,' he said, turning the pages of his memory. Tim fell in love with Bajhang on the first day. Recalling that hazy moment, he added, 'I felt like Bajhang was a luminous land.'

Now technology has brought the world closer. He watches Bajhang from home from time to time through the internet. He feels his footsteps among the footsteps of visitors stepping into Bajhang. And he says, 'I am also one of those who contribute to the future of Bajhang.' However, the students of the team who came to teach as volunteers were from the same soil, for which the team's role was meaningful. Tim begins to dig deeper into those days hidden in the soil of Bannikot.

Encounter with the king

He spent the first night of Bajhang in Bannikot. The next day, three feet of snow was falling on Bhopur, where Satyawadi High School is located. ‘The view of the Seti River flowing in the English ‘U’ shape from Bannikot, which has 20/25 houses, was very alluring,’ he describes the natural beauty that deeply impressed his eyes. After learning that he was a high school teacher, the landlord had sent a 17-year-old boy to carry the bag. ‘Does a teacher also carry heavy things?’ The landlord scolded Tim affectionately as soon as he saw him. ‘How simple, how honest!’ Tim felt the warmth of the people of the village from that day on.

Tim was surprised to see women bathing in groups in public streams. He was confused when he saw men wearing bhotos and kashmirs, and people with only half their bodies covered in the bitter cold. There was a crowd of people at the Bannimashta temple on the way. When he reached the crowd, he found out that King Ramjung of Bajhang had come there. Although the new law enacted in 2017 abolished the kingdom and the Rajouta, some Rajouta including Bajhang were recognized. But the kingdom was abolished.

‘As soon as he saw me, he recognized me. He called me by saying I think you are Mr. Tim,’ Tim recalls, ‘The headmaster of the school had already told him about me.’ The king, who was in a majestic position, behaved respectfully and said, ‘Bajhang is a small place but its history is long. I will tell you about it some day.’ Those words still ring in Tim’s ears. His next meeting with King Ramjung was at Satyawadi School. Apart from a simple greeting at a formal event, he did not get to talk to the king for long. While he was there, King Ramjung died. He wanted to hear the history of Bajhang from the king. ‘But he passed away without hearing it.’ He still regrets it,’ he says.

Satyawadi High School: The beginning of a new life

The school had a two-story classroom building and a three-story dormitory. The day Tim arrived, Headmaster Ramdutt Awasthi welcomed him with tea and told him that a science class was ready for him. He decided to teach science to classes 6 and 7. On the first day, he was surprised to see the students in the class. Students wearing strange clothes like coats, caps and scarves were walking barefoot. On top of that, children aged 8 to 18 were in the same class. The strangest thing was that out of 250 students, only four were girls. ‘For me, everything was surprising and new, as if I had entered a fantasy world,’ Tim recalls.

But from the second or third day, Tim got used to it. Instead, the local culture of Bajhang started to take over. He still enjoys remembering the game of pulling and holding the lingo (kankar) at the Chaitali fair. One scene that kept recurring during the fairs made the team emotional. ‘The women were dressed in colorful clothes and the men in hats and trousers. But everyone’s feet were bare,’ he says, ‘their intimacy was truly captivating despite their poverty.’

The people of Bajhang had no contact with the outside market. They made a living from their own products. At a time when cash transactions were very rare, they traded for the goods they needed by bartering. That unique era of barter is also alive in the team’s experience. During their stay in Bajhang, the local food of lentils, rice and roti were interesting to them. Tim says that the taste of the bread made with mohi and ghee still lingers on his tongue.

^{All photos: Team Maker}

During his stay in Bajhang, Tim went to Khaptad and met Khaptad Baba. He traveled barefoot to Surma Sarovar. What didn't he do? Letters of memories are turning over in his book. Things that connected his heart to the village, things that exchanged hearts with the villagers. He came to teach in school, but returned after gaining university knowledge from the geography and lifestyle there. He also says, 'Bajhang was the university of my life, where I got to see, experience and learn a unique life.'

Tim returned to America in 1972. After returning, he started a new chapter in his life. He fell in love with a young woman. That love turned into marriage in 1975. In 1978, he was able to come to Nepal again. He came with his wife. At that time, he was appointed as the director of the training program for new American math and science teachers in Peace Corps Nepal. He spent 8 months in Nepal.

In 1981, Tim started a new work in the field of renewable energy in the United States. He spent about 40 years in this field. He retired from this work in 2019. For four decades, he focused on technologies and projects to reduce the use of fossil fuels. In 1985, he started his own company. He spread the technology of using wood chips (waste wood) as fuel to warm the indoor environment of homes in schools, colleges, universities and entire communities. He was called a national leader in this technology in the United States. Even while living in the United States, he did not forget Nepal.