#nepali

Young Sherpa girls chewing bubble gum. Photographed by Robb Kendrick, 1992.

I find it interesting how certain place names are pronounced with retroflex consonants in Marathi, even if they aren’t in the languages it borrowed them from, or the languages spoken in those regions:

Hindi भोपाल (Bhōpāl) → Marathi भोपाळ (Bhōpāḷ)

Hindi लद्दाख़ (Laddāx) → Marathi लडाख (Laḍākh)*

Nepali नेपाल (Nēpāl) → Marathi नेपाळ (Nēpāḷ)

Nepali तिब्बत (Tibbat) → Marathi तिबेट (Tibēṭ)*

Persian اتران (Irân) → Marathi इराण (Irāṇ)

Persian افغانستان (Afǧânestân) → Marathi अफगाणिस्तान (Afgāṇistān)

Contrastingly, Bhutan is called भुटान (Bhuṭān) in Nepali (and འབྲུག་རྒྱལ་ཁབ་ ('Druk Gyal Khab) in Dzongkha), but भूतान (Bhūtān) in Marathi.

Lost to his family and lost to the world, a man dies.

His death quiet, unheralded.

He's not found for six days. Unnoticed even as thousands walk by.

This is no remote outpost. It's central Sydney, and as winter settles in, support services are warning that more deaths like this will happen.

Some are mothers who have fled arranged marriages and international students who would rather die of shame than tell their families.

They are homeless, like Bikram Lama, who The Guardian reported to be a former international student from Nepal. His death outside St James train station has shone a light on an invisible situation taking place on Australia's streets.

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