Nepal and India were the first bona fide third-world countries I'd ever visited, and in some ways I felt like I was seeing the reality of the human experience for the first time. People with afflictions I'd only read about, like microcephalia (at a circus sideshow decades ago, this kid would be presented as a “pinhead”) were not put away in institutions, or hidden in bedrooms or backyards; they were out in the street for all to take notice of.

All images ©2002-2003 by Dietrich Neuman