Why Basantapur alleys still smell of wood

Kathmandu · Itum Bahal lane, Basantapur, Kathmandu, Nepal

“If the wood is quiet, the street is only for walking. If it taps, someone is still making a window.”

Sita's shop sits two turns off Basantapur Durbar Square, past a courtyard most maps skip. She can tell which carpenter is working by the rhythm of the mallet — a knowledge she says you cannot search online because the lanes have no official names, only family ones. Ask for the 'window house' and a neighbor will point you to the workshop that still oils sal wood the way her father did.