From Nepali Times, ISSUE #849 (10 March 2017 -16 March 2017) Every day of delayed reconstruction of built heritage is another blow against Kathmandu Valley’s living culture When the earthquake hit on 25 April 2015, besides people’s homesteads, many temples, stupas and other ‘built heritage’ fell or were weakened. This was the result of poor …
From Nepali Times, ISSUE #847 (24 February 2017 – 2 March 2017) The most dangerous possibility of Nepal’s modern era is that of eruption of inter-community conflict. Fortunately, the people on all sides have refused to jump off the precipice despite having been dragged to the edge. There is of course a spectrum of disaffection …
From Nepali Times, ISSUE #845 (10 February 2017 -16 February 2017) A rushed trip to Kerala provides a treasure trove of ideas and updates Here in Kathmandu, we are so fixated on New Delhi that we forget what Nepal can learn, not from the coddled, self-important demographics of Raisina Hill, but from the constituent states …
From Nepali Times, ISSUE #843 (27 January 2017 -2 February 2017) We have become hardened and automated when confronting death. Madhav Ghimire would have been able to contextualise. On social media, it comes very easily for people to write ‘RIP’ as throwaway acronym when a post is put up of someone’s death. It is a …
From Nepali Times, ISSUE #841 (13 January 2017– 19 January 2017) Nepal’s disastrous international positioning is the result of decayed domestic politics Not since the precarious days following the departure of the British from India has Nepal been as internationally vulnerable as it is today. Its outreach is scraping rock-bottom, with foreign policy as much …
From Himal Southasian, Volume 24, Number 12 (JAN 2011) PESHAWAR, 16 November: We hopped into the sky-blue Volkswagen Beetle on 4 November in Kathmandu, being seen off by Nepal President Ram Baran Yadav, and have now arrived here in the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwah. We have completed all of 1100 miles for the sake of …
From Himal Southasian, Volume 24, Number 10/11 (OCT/NOV 2011) Looking back at a children’s travel-adventure tale, featuring a Kathmandu frog, is one way to see how Nepal has changed as a country and society, and how it hasn’t. The young frog Bhaktaprasad Bhyaguto started out from his home terrace in one corner of the Kathmandu …
From Himal Southasian, Volume 24, Number 9 (SEP 2011) Gokarna Das took a long breath – in fact, it was more like a deep sigh if not a heartfelt gasp – as he gazed across the expanse of water at the funeral pyre. As a long-time aspirant seeking to infiltrate the charmed circle of Southasian …
From Himal Southasian, Volume 24, Number 8 (AUG 2011) When we import alien contraptions, we lose our bearings. Southasians, particularly those in the monsoonal Subcontinent where water is abundant, like the idea of wet bathrooms. Wholesome water, from the well, step-well, pond or rivulet, is used copiously for bathing and ablutions. Enter the dry bathroom …
From Himal Southasian, Volume 24, Number 7 (JUL 2011) If Southasian-ness is a sensibility, then anyone can be a Southasian. The requirement is having respect for the history of the Subcontinent and empathy for its people. You can be a native or a non-native. Of course it helps to be born in any one of …