From Nepali Times, (7 Nov, 2020) Imperious ambassadors, eager princelings and invasive spy-masters — Kathmandu has seen, and survived, them all When Kathmandu Valley was still known as Swoniga (three cities), back in the medieval Lichhavi-Malla era, the Ganga plains did not send diplomats or spies here, they sent rulers. The Lichhavi arrived from nearby Vaishali, and
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From Nepali Times, (11 April, 2020) Bhushan Shilpakar deoldifies old black-and-white prints of Nepal and its people Passing time scouring the web in search of inspiration, graphic designer Bhushan Shilpakar stumbled across an open source software called ‘Deoldify’. True to its name, the software rendered old black and white photos into colour. The steps were
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From Nepali Times, (19 December, 2019) Ram Sharan Mahat, former foreign and finance minister of the Nepali Congress, has published an important book that serves as an explainer and update on Nepal’s political transition and state restructuring exercise. It is an encyclopaedic dive into the political economy of present-day Nepal, useful not only for non-Nepali readers, but
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From Nepali Times, ISSUE #938 (12 December 2018 – 18 December 2018) The Met ends its exhibition of five ancient Vajracharya crowns from Kathmandu Valley The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York presents ‘over 5,000 years of art spanning all cultures and time periods’ in its galleries, and for a year until the exhibition
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From The Nepali Times (17 September, 2018) If you can find time, do go to Jorpati to visit Goma Dulal who has just got an electric trolley to help her move about. I first met Goma 16 years ago, when the Spinal Injury Rehabilitation Centre was being established at the Khagendra Nabajiban Kendra precincts in
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From Nepali Times, ISSUE #901 (16 March 2018 – 22 March 2018) Confusion over the two ends of the runway also reflects a separate tragedy of the mismanagement of Kathmandu airport Dramatic mobile video emerged on Wednesday showing that BS211 had earlier nearly hit the mountain and crashed at Gagalphedi before turning back south towards
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From Nepali Times, ISSUE #901 (16 March 2018 – 22 March 2018) Tribhuvan is Nepal’s only international air portal, and it is in disarray — representing the state of a country wracked by ineptness and inefficiencies caused by political sharing of the spoils. When the US-Bangla Dash 8 turboprop fell from the sky on Monday
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From The Nepali Times (12 March, 2018) The last four minutes of conversations between the US-Bangla Flight 211 pilot at the TIA Air Traffic Control indicates a possible confusion in the mind of the pilot about the Runway 02 (the southern end) and Runway 20 (the northern end). Even as the Bombardier aircraft is on
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From Nepali Times, ISSUE #887 (8 December 2017 – 14 December 2017) Brace yourselves for a ride into uncharted constitutional territory Nepal’s descent into Hades in the democratic era began in 1995 when the fringe party that was the CPN-Maoist lifted arms against a democratic system that was barely five years old. This downward spiralling
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From Nepali Times, ISSUE #885 ( (24 November 2017 – 30 November 2017) Incoming ambassadors and donor agency heads have an opportunity to learn from the past To repeat an anecdote from an earlier column, in a southern African country some years ago, a friend was told excitedly by a Danish diplomat: “I am applying
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