The back view of a girl standing at a counter in a variety store, seriously debating which sweets to choose

Girl buying candies in small shop — Girl at the stand

I was wandering aimlessly through the historic alleyways of Kathmandu’s old city when I stumbled upon a timeworn little shop. It was a pasal, as they are known in Nepali—a far cry from the modern retail spaces where customers casually stroll down aisles to browse. Instead, it was a dim, weathered kiosk steeped in the local atmosphere. It was a relic of traditional commerce, the kind of place where you stand at a street-facing counter and deal directly with the elderly shopkeeper. As I paused to take in the scene, a little girl marched up to the storefront.

With undeniable presence, she planted herself front and center at the counter, her eyes locked intently on the treasures housed within the glass display case. I imagined her small hand tightly clutching a few meager coins. There was something profoundly endearing about the sight of her back as she stood lost in serious hesitation, agonizing over her momentous decision. Beyond the smudged glass lay a chaotic assortment of decidedly unhealthy delights—potato chips and candies of unnervingly vibrant colors, crammed together in a dazzling display.

To a child like her, this parade of junk food was nothing short of an enchanting paradise. Yet, tucked away in the dim recesses of the shop sat a stack of Coca-Cola bottles—a stark testament to the relentless, creeping reach of global capitalism, striking even here. The elderly shopkeeper, meanwhile, made no move to rush his indecisive little patron; he simply gazed off into the middle distance with an air of absolute boredom. Watching this quiet, unhurried tableau unfold, I felt a sudden pang of nostalgia, my mind drifting back to my own childhood days when the heaviest burden in the world was deciding exactly how to spend a handful of pocket change.

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