Memories of a London Nepali hangout
On the street opposite the Gurkha Store in the west London suburb of Feltham are a row of terraced semi-detached houses. Among them is ‘The Garage’, where the local Nepalis used to hang out to produce music, art, videos and to write.
Owner Shirish Gurung remembers a time when The Garage was a vibrant venue, bustling with activity for young Nepalis adjusting to their new country. It hosted indie artists, screened short films, it was where scripts were written for films that were never shot.
Sometimes artists meditated to get their creative juices flowing, or performed collective shamanist dances for cathartic purposes to the rhythmic wild beating of the madal and drums.
They were Nepalis in their mid-teens to early twenties who found themselves in the UK through their parents’ Gurkha connection. It was their common background and culture shock that brought the youth together.
Young people moving to a new country often feel a sense of isolation, long to belong but lack the confidence to assimilate. It was this shared experience that brought them together to this secure place where they could express themselves artistically.
The Garage could accommodate six cars comfortably, but Shirish DIYed it into a homemade band rehearsal studio. Multiple layers of egg crates plastered on the walls and ceiling acted a partial soundproof, electricity was brought in from the main house for the electric guitars and amps. There used to be a second-hand pearl drum kit in the corner.
The conversion of the space into a band rehearsal studio was a necessity rather than a hobby. Back then, Shirish was playing for a band called the Lemon Curse which had regular gigs to perform original content at a jam-packed venue in Camden to covering crowd friendly songs at local Indian weddings in Southall. Converting the garage space into a rehearsal studio was to cut cost.
Word of an available rehearsal space spread across the community, and attracted musicians from the diaspora. Apart from rehearsing musicians, The Garage also brought onlookers who began to congregate to witness the creative process and ensure that beer and tobacco did not run out. Long after Lemon Curse became history, The Garage was still the place to be.
Some of the artist who frequented The Garage during its heydays were Yugal Gurung, Haami, Afuraki, Namlo Band, Falcor Pilot, Jerusha Rai, Shreya Rai, Bijay Gurung, and Ashish Gurung. To name a few.
Junkiri Session, a Youtube channel that captures live performance of UK based Nepali artists, led by Awesh Gurung also began as an idea at The Garage.
The Garage also screened short films, some of which were Shirish’s own creation and others via Passe Pic which included Kesari, Vizarded, Escappare, I Hear the Raven’s Call, Passe Pizza, Shuffle (shot in Nepal) and Mulberry Madness. Feature films included Lato Kosero and Heera Harayo.
The films revolved around the theme of isolation, dislocation and a sense of displacement. Though they sounded gloomy, the content experimented with cross-genre dark comedy to horror.
Shirish has remained loyal, either by choice or circumstance, to the definition of indie films with low budget, autonomous, small-scale, using actors selected from West London Nepali youth on local location.
Today, The Garage is still used as a hangout for occasional drinking, it can no longer boast the youthful energy that it once had. There are still residual reminders of the past: the old leather sofa, a retro lamp and clock, vintage box television, guitars with broken strings, the tattered sleeping bag used when activities went late into the night. People get older, they have responsibilities and commitments, others move on. But The Garage space remains a place that once captured the hopes and aspiration of young Nepalis adjusting to their new home.