Yetkha-Baha Analysis

From the ethnographic descriptions, the relationship between the resident groups and socio-physical features were interpreted to arrive at different key factors related to prevailing personal feeling, patterns of behavior and attitude to describe the sense of place of residential environment of Yetkha-baha. Out of total 16 ethnic descriptions, only a small sample of interviews in the respondent’s own wording is presented here to show how they were interpreted.

The differences among various caste groups from old resident Newar was described by an old resident; “Yetkha-baha is more like a Buddhist Vihar, a great place for cultural feasts, festivals and for socialization. I like the social environment here as I don’t interfere with others business.
Although we have different way of living, I am okay with the community. I do not interact with others daily but I know people around as this place is made such a way that it is virtually impossible to avoid each-other. We attend each other’s social events like marriages. But there are many religious occasions of certain neighbors which I am not comfortable with and I don't need to attend them. They do not call either. I have friends from the Newar community who are involved in business. This is a safe place because it is enclosed; there is always someone in the courtyard doing one or the other thing. Resident here has even closed a thoroughfare to make it safer because there were problems of security for some time” It is seen that group difference and neighborly relation is associated with same economic class and personal preference across the cultural groups. A sense of accepting each other’s cultural and religious preference is found in the neighborhood. The organization of built environment and safety is seen associated with his sense of neighborly relation. He described the co-operation between neighbors even when they kept a respected distance, "I was doing business of packaging cumin then and once I had left a lot of cumin on the square for sun drying. I was away and it rained and these people
The cause for cultural loss is attributed to the out migration of old resident Newars, decreasing socio-cultural activities in the square, loss of unwritten socio-cultural norms and rules, the vertical extension of the buildings, increasing fragmentation of land ownership and privatization of the inner public courtyards by blocking the access due to security concerns. Such relationship in case of the new resident group is found to be guided by everyday function related to the use of public resources available to them. It is found that the feeling of belonging for the old population groups is limited to their individual dwelling areas and not to the entire neighborhood. They are found reasonably territorial for the spaces in front of their individual dwelling (figure f.1). These spaces are just beyond the raised plinth or platform and marked by power-stones. This sense of territorial feeling was coincided with the on site-observation of using these quarters of spaces for their caste specific socio-cultural rituals as exemplified by Dapan Pooja, a ritual of Maharjan Caste ( picture P.2). In the picture, it can be observed that the area used for the Dapan