www.nepalitimes.com www.nepalitimes.com #1042 1 - 7 January 2021 16 pages Rs 50 Print is back

MONIKA DEUPALA

companies have resumed their inherent credibility, but Golchha Group which is the hardcopy editions. This paper publications will have to distributor of Bajaj motorcycles. in your hands has restarted reinvent themselves to reinforce Owners of papers that went publication on 1 January 2021 their effectiveness to both paperless in 2020 realised after 10 months. readers and advertisers. that they were missing out on “Print newspapers are “Online is picking up in revenue, as well as a segment not going to die because it is , but it can only gain real of well-heeled readership. he demise of the print something physical that stays momentum when it is integrated Indeed, across the world there media, it seems, was with you, there are things you with print, tv, radio and outdoor is a return to print advertising Texaggerated. can do with design and use of advertising, depending on the by companies turned off by Paper newspapers were in space on the page that is much campaign objectives, target the over-saturation of online, crisis even before Covid-19 more powerful than looking at a audience and product life and people disabling relentless because of loss of advertising, small phone screen,” says Amar cycle,” Shakya adds. algorithm-driven targeted and the migration of eyeballs Gurung, CEO at Himalmedia, The print media as it existed advertising. to the Internet. In Nepal, tv which publishes Nepali Times. 10 years ago is dead. But the This is not to say that the viewership overtook radio Besides the size and content and role of newspapers print medium is not without listeners in 2019 for the flexibility with design, surveys have changed. Ironically, what challenges. Overheads are first time, and commercials have shown that a hardcopy appears to have saved print higher because there are abandoned print for television. publication carries more trust is the proliferation of digital additional paper, printing, Many had predicted that the with readers, especially in the portals, where both news and distribution costs. The content, pandemic would be the final age of fake news. advertisement tend to design and production values nail in the coffin of the print Even though only 7% be drowned out by the have to be of extremely high media. And struggling media in a sample survey Pandemic cacophony. To stand quality to exceed the impact of a companies in Nepal abandoned nationwide said out from the crowd, digital page. Visibility has to be their print editions in March as they read printed of poverty advertisers now prefer high, and distribution reliable the lockdown went into force -- newspapers, these EDITORIAL a printed paper page. so the brand stands out. some temporarily, others more are mostly decision- PAGE 2 “Print media still Advertisers are looking for permanently. makers in positions helps to create certain reach, and to be associated with Newsrooms cut staff and of power. The printed level of credibility the prestige of a print brand. slashed overheads as revenues word, therefore has more in communications. With As a bonus, hardcopy gives plummeted. Advertising in their political and economic clout. excess noise in digital, and advertisers longer shelf-life, online editions did not have the Advertisers seem to agree. its unregulated content, many and readers the convenience yield to sustain the business. Ujaya Shakya of the agency people are not sure how much of pleasurable and leisurely However, as our report on Outreach Nepal and author they can trust it. Print provides reading. page 14 shows, most media of Brandsutra says print has trust,” says Punam Singh of the Alisha Sijapati 2 Editorial 1 - 7 JANUARY 2021 #1042

ONLINE PACKAGES .com Pandemic of poverty WHAT'S TRENDING

esults from a recent nationwide survey with no earnings, or those making less than show that more than half of Nepali Rs10,000 a month. Strikingly, this figure went Rhouseholds are at risk of falling back up to 49% in July, and even climbed to a high into poverty because of loss of jobs and income of 64% in August. during 2020 due to the pandemic. And it is the By October it had fallen to 42%+19% children who are affected the most. with income below Rs10,000 a month, and it This newspaper has been tracking the is likely even lower for December. However, outcomes of these surveys that were conducted 45% of households were still reporting loss PRO PRINT in May, July, August and October. It is a of income, and even those with jobs were Nepali Times is resuming its weekly hardcover edition with the world- sobering reminder that while the national earning less. class design and content that it has been always known for from this Labour recruiter netted in sting raid leadership is engrossed in a fight to the finish The data shows that except for Karnali, issue. On the occasion, we spoke with avid readers of the paper, and by Upasana Khadka in , the state has left Nepalis all six other provinces reported a decrease in asked them what they missed about the printed edition in the past 10 A recruiting agency International that was charging months. Story: pages 1 and 14. (especially the most vulnerable) to fend for job loss from May to October, 2020. Province illegal fees from migrant workers has been caught red- 2 showed a consistently high handed in an undercover operation. Read the story behind the sting operation at nepalitimes.com and watch video of level of those who had lost DOFE offi cers nab the culprits. livelihoods, and there was little improvement from August to Most reached and shared on Facebook October. Bagmati and Lumbini Provinces had the lowest percentage of respondents reporting job losses since August. The coping mechanism for most of those slipping into poverty was to borrow, dig SMELL OF MUSIC into savings, cut household The story of three successful Nepalis (public health expert, US expenditure, migrate, or rely government advis2r and computer engineer) who started a vinyl on remittances. Disaggregated record company with Narayan Gopal's golden collection. Find out data showed that 61% of Dalit how they tracked down the original recordings and painstakingly remastered them to keep the old sound intact. Story: pages 8-9. families were forced to borrow Step back from the brink to survive, while only 48% of UNICEF NEPAL Editorial non-Dalit families had to borrow Prime Minister KP Oli’s brinkmanship has led the country to money to run the household, the edge of the cliff once again with poor governance and themselves in dealing with the Nepal’s children bear revealing that caste differences illegally dissolving the House. When the dust settles, let’s health and economic impact of can also mean a class gap. plan for a free, fair and peaceful elections in 2021. Follow us the brunt of falling on social media for the latest political updates. the Covid-19 crisis. household income Increased indebtedness will The surveys were conducted lead many households to fall Most popular on Twitter by Sharecast Initiative for Unicef during the Covid-19 deeper into poverty. Female-led and the last one in October crisis households tend to borrow less, involved a representative sample depend more on savings and of 6,558 households with children all over the remittances, the findings show. LIFE TIME country. Nepal’s children bore the brunt of falling The most striking finding was that 42% of household incomes by being deprived of With the New Year, we are introducing new columns and new columnists. Mental health counselor and researcher Anjana households in Nepal have no earnings at all, adequate food, health care and education. In Rajbhandary is starting a fortnightly column ‘Life Time’. Watch her vlog and a further 19% have a combined monthly August, 34% of parents cited ‘food’ among where she talks about anxiety while travelling during the time of Covid. family income of less than Rs10,000. This the top three needs of their children, and Her column: page 12. means the official figure for Nepal’s population by October this had dropped to 30%, while living below the poverty line will need to be children’s education rose from 35% to 45%. 'Santosh Shah was born in Nepal' drastically revised. One in five families still say they have to by Alisha Sijapati The National Planning Commission’s struggle to feed their children. This proportion CAUGHT RED-HANDED Despite his achievements, MasterChef Professionals 2020 One of many I am sure who take the money from fi nalist Santosh Shah got entangled in the fault lines in 2014 survey of the Multidimensional Poverty has remained the same since August, and Nepal about ethnic identity, exclusion and the debate about Index showed that the incidence of poverty hunger was more prevalent in Provinces 1, people trying to make a better life for themselves ('Labour recruiter netted,' Upasana Khadka, #1041). the symbols of a unitary state for wearing a Nepali cap. Join had fallen from nearly 60% in 2006 to 28.6% 2 and Lumbini. Inflation, and loss of income So bad as we say "Throw the book at them" (Charge in the online discussion. in 2014 – largely because household incomes were cited as causes. and jail them for everything possible). Most commented rose due to remittances. With the Covid crisis, To a certain extent, educational needs of Roger Ray Nepal’s poverty rate may have climbed back to children appeared to be met in October with the level 15 years ago at the end of the conflict. 81% of households saying that their children Great work, Department of Foreign Employment, The Unicef survey shows that the were involved in some form of studying – we hope to see more such operations taking place. incidence of household poverty during the most of them at home. Less than 15% were Respect to those two Nepali workers who had Covid-19 crisis is spread unevenly throughout attending physical classes, 22% were online. courage to report. Nepal. For instance, the majority of those who However, in Sudurpaschim and Province 2, a Karong Sapna remain in the ‘no earning’ category this year are quarter of families said their children were not from rural parts of Sudurpaschim and Lumbini attending school at all. SANTOSH SHAH Provinces. A quarter of them tend to be female- Survey results tend to be dry and Chef Santosh Shah was one of the best contestants led households and 10% were Dalit families. impersonal. But behind each of these numbing ever. He was fun, kind, interesting, self deprecating Robert G Powell, 1948-2020 The survey shows a clear correlation numbers are untold stories of families and and an amazing cook ('Santosh Shah was born in by Linda Kentro and James Giambrone between the pandemic-induced loss of income children abandoned by an uncaring state. Is it Nepal', Alisha Sijapati, nepalitimes.com). His stories A tribute to Robert Gordon Powell, a visionary artist who across Nepal. For example, the survey in May too much to hope that in 2021, Nepal’s rulers about Nepal were full of love and charm, he should shared his unique perceptions of Asian architecture, art and had shown that there were zero households will take steps to reverse this neglect? be Nepal’s new Ambassador because he defi nitely culture with his meticulous drawings of Nepal’s landscapes sold Nepal to me. And I loved his cap! passed away this month, on our website. Nicky Simpson Most visited online page 20 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK Santosh never said he was cooking a Nepali dish, he always said that it was 'inspired by' Nepal. ‘Hrithik Roshan’ riots an 'ass' to turn laughter into slaughter." How fi ckle He used ingredients many people had never tried is our national pride, how volatile has our society before, elevating the dishes into fi ne dining. I think he QUOTE TWEETS What a start to 2001 it was twenty years ago. After a become, that something like this can light the fuse of did a very genuine and terrifi c job fl ying the fl ag for horrid year in which there was the Maoist attack on Nepali Times@NepaliTimes confl agration. Dunai, strikes that shut down the country and the Nepal, a country that many of the viewers in the UK As 2020 comes to a close, people in #Kathmandu are hijacking of a Kathmandu-Delhi fl ight, anti-India riots probably knew very little about. behaving as if the #pandemic is over. Unknown to most of us, we seem to have Photos by @BikramRai0 that started in Chitwan spread to Kathmandu after Marianne Heredge imported the insecurity and paranoia that we used to Bollywood start Hrithik Roshan purportedly said he observe south of the border. How rumours of Ayodhya Sujeev Shakya@sujeevshakya hated Nepal and its people. set off carnage across India, how Indira Gandhi's COVID AND CROWD A country that can blame politicians for all the problems No one knows whether the actor actually said have no necessity of civic sense. assassination triggered a pogrom against Sikhs in Only 10 days ago a fairly young acquaintance of those words. Long before fake news, trolls and hate Delhi. Last week's violence was also an indication of mine passed away because of Covid-19 (‘Concerts, speech on social media, the rumours spread like what happens when you mix prejudice with politics. rallies and crowded malls’, Bikram Rai, nepalitimes. Nepali Times@NepaliTimes wildlife fanned possibly by the far right and far left What has been done to the Constitution has been done. There is latent bigotry and an undercurrent of racism elements out to create chaos. com). Concerts, bars and movies are just not for me, When the dust settles, let’s plan for a free, fair and peaceful and intolerance in every society, but it is not until There was arson, looting, attacks on Nepalis coronavirus is still around. #elections in 2021. some cold-blooded and calculating politician comes from the plains. Five people were killed, a curfew was Bal K Joshi along that society's hidden vice manifests itself as Ratna Sansar Shrestha@rsansar imposed 26-27 December. The violence showed how volatile Nepal had overt violence. How can "free, fair" election be expected from the current become, all it took was a spark to set the country ablaze. But little did we The real tragedy is not that people are putting The environment was tinder dry, waiting for a spark. And as the incumbent that acted in contravention of the Constitution; know that 2001 had more tragedies and disasters in store for Nepal. themselves at risk but the more vulnerable ones they especially when the Election Commission has been packed fl ames spread, there was no shortage of those who wanted to cash get in contact with. I am ashamed that youth are with their lackeys? in: the Congress factions, the nine leftists, the ultra-right, the Maoists, Excerpt from the Editorial titled ‘Autopsy’ in Nepali Times communal chauvinists. It was never about Hrithik Roshan, it was not putting petty things like party and entertainment on Sujala Pant@SujalaPant #24 from 5-11 January 2001: even about India-Nepal relations, and it threatened to degenerate as priority and completely missing the big picture. That's our problem. We keep accepting these borderline we had warned last week into a hill-plains rupture within Nepal. Who illegal/ unconstitutional moves over and over again and n Indian actor doesn't say something and fi ve people are dead. hope things will get better. And they don't. Our ke garne were the architects of the anarchy? Just ask: who had a motive, who Bsh Shrestha attitude needs to change What would have happened if he had actually said what he is benefi ted? Those who want to roll back parliamentary democracy. And Asupposed to have said? What does it say about the state of our who were the losers? The Nepali people. The improvement in the recovery rate is enticing Purushottam Mudbhary@MudbharyPuru polity, the psychological state of this country that a harmless rumour crowds. Nothing can be done when you have a self- The dissolution of Parliament is unconstitutional and which should have been laughed off as a joke, turns deadly serious From the archives of Nepali Times of the past 20 years, motivated herd like these to tame. was forced by Oli who is clearly in the minority both in and picks up a communal fl avour? As someone said: "All you need is site search: www.nepalitimes.com Parliament and his party. He is a coward who fl ed his Ad Rai constitutional duty to face the vote of no confi dence. The election is unnecessary, untimely and costly. Doesn’t surprise me, even my own Nepali family Nepali Times@NepaliTimes Publisher and Editor: Kunda Dixit in are acting as if nothing is wrong. Hordes A #Nepali recruitment agency taking illegal fees from Digital Products Strategist: Sahina Shrestha, Associate Editor: Sonia Awale, Layout: Sanubabu Tamang of them together, no masks, no social distancing in #migrant workers has been caught red-handed in an Published by Himalmedia Pvt Ltd | Patan Dhoka, Lalitpur | GPO Box 7251 Kathmandu recent social media posts that I came across. undercover operation. Nepali Times on Facebook [email protected] | www.nepalitimes.com | www.himalmedia.com Cathy Grogan Follow @nepalitimes on Twitter Krishna Joshi@krishna_joshi01 Follow @nepalitimes on Instagram Tel: 01-5005601-08 Fax: +977-1-5005518 Good stuff. Hope this is given continuity and the guilty are not able to bribe their way off the hook. 1 - 7 JANUARY 2021 #1042 3 4 Nation 1 - 7 JANUARY 2021 #1042 Journalists reflect on a year of crisis coverage How Asian journalists were forced to make adjustments to cover the pandemic

Bhutanese journalist Jigmey Thinley was running up and down the stairs of his condo as the gym was Pratibha Tuladhar closed. He was working for the Asia- Pacific Institute for Broadcasting Development in Malaysia when the he first person infected with pandemic hit, and decided it was SARS-CoV-2 was in Wuhan time to head home. as far back as December 2019, He arrived home in Thimphu T in September, as Bhutan relaxed but it was not until late January that there was international concern, and the lockdown temporarily. But as it was finally declared a pandemic a new national lockdown came into in February. In the thick of it was effect in Bhutan on 23 December in Nepali journalist Bibek Bhandari, response to a second wave, Thinley working at Shanghai-based Sixth and his colleagues found that they Tone as news editor. could no longer go home after work. “My last day in the office was “We stay at the office these days. on 23 January before the weeklong We all brought our own bedding. Lunar New Year holiday,” Bhandari We’ve turned our offices into recalls. “It was cold and drizzling working rooms-cum-bedrooms,” when I left work that evening. We says Thinley, now General Manager had already been writing extensively of News and Current Affairs at about the novel coronavirus, and the Bhutan Broadcasting Service. holidays were grim.” Logistic adjustments have been a Shanghai was not just deserted, universal experience for journalists but there was an air of despair and elsewhere in Asia in 2020. Ruth fear hanging over the city. Bhandari Cabal works for CNN in Manila and and his colleagues covering the Bhawana Gurung interviews a resident of Matatirtha in Kathmandu. had to manage from a temporary holiday shift were told to work from studio at home in the initial days of home. reporting Covid-19. “We were all living in the “I live with my brother so he unknown, trying to figure out what set up the camera with my phone the news the next day would bring,” and all,” says Cabal. “My Viber app says Bhandari, who flew to Nepal served as the teleprompter because in February and was supposed to go the scripts from the producer would back on 31 March. By then, Nepal be posted there.” was in lockdown and all flights Also a professor at the halted. He was stuck in Kathmandu University of Philippines, Cabal till September. says her broadcasts were punctuated In Nepal itself, journalists were by signal hiccups. She also had also forced to adapt. Bhawana to do her own make-up while Gurung and Asha Thapa decided broadcasting from home and the to use the lockdown period to coffees that constantly accompanied start a podcast from their home to her in the live studio, was missing. disseminate health information. Journalists at Bhutan Broadcasting Service taking a break. Ruth Cabal in CNN’s Manila studio. But the media industry has adapted well to the situation, she says, “When there’s a typhoon, a “As soon as we heard about civilian stays away, but the opposite Covid-19, we felt there was a gap in is true for journalists. We go where lifesaving information. We thought the typhoon is supposed to make a podcast would be an effective landfall. These are the kind of medium,” says Gurung who runs events journalists are trained for.” Sankatma Sathi with Thapa, about The ‘infodemic’ and safety during the pandemic. disinformation that accompanied “We recorded our first episode the pandemic have been other major in bed, on the phone,” laughs challenges for the media industry, as Thapa, who spent the first five online time went up globally. months of the lockdown at her “During the lockdown, getting home in Matatirtha, producing access to information is difficult. stories from her neighbourhood. The While we focus on the pandemic, podcast, targeted at a rural Nepali there are many other, equally audience, was soon hooked up by 20 important issues that we could community radio stations. miss out on,” says Bhutan’s Jigmey But working from home comes Thinley. with its own challenges. “In the Which is why the pandemic has beginning it was fun because I could made the job of journalists all the work from bed, but eventually, more important, Ruth Cabal says, you’re always staring at your four adding: “It is up to journalists to walls, especially if you live alone,” properly vet information and be says Gurung. aggressive in trying to interview In India, however, the opposite the right people to give accurate was true for Hashim (who goes information.” by his first name), a journalist While the medium they work in with Data Leads in New Delhi. He may be different, journalists across says, “Everyone is not privileged. Asia have been driving towards the If you’re living in a one-BHK same goal: sharing information that (one bedroom, hall and kitchen) brings relief and hope to the public, apartment in Noida with six family sometimes at the cost of their members, it can be challenging.” own psychological and physical Hashim was also filming wellbeing. tutorials for journalists on reporting “It’s probably one of the biggest from home, which required him stories of our times globally. This to turn his home into a makeshift means that a lot of journalists may studio. “You’re constantly asking have had to work relentlessly and everyone to quiet down during with limited resources. We’ve recordings and online meetings. It heard stories about burnouts and can take a toll on your family,” he then some pretty disheartening says. “And if you’re freelancing, it news about the layoffs,” says Bibek is hard to sell a story without the Bhandari, the Nepali journalist in Covid angle.” Shanghai. In India, 44 journalists died Even with all the challenges, due to the virus, which made those doing crisis coverage have Hashim himself aware of his own tried to find comfort in their mortality. He has not left his Delhi vocation. neighbourhood for six months “We did a lot of learning and as he continues to mine data for creating together with colleagues, journalistic videos from home, who went on to become good while skipping to stay fit. “I’m friends by the end of lockdown,” exercising for the first time in my says podcaster Bhawana Gurung. life,” he says on WhatsApp. “It’s been a year of tracing common Locked away in his apartment grounds to heal — for our audience in Kuala Lumpur for four months, as well as for ourselves.” 1 - 7 JANUARY 2021 #1042 Society 5 Himal-Pahad-Tarai Inspired by the international “If the leaders hear our climate movement such as Fridays appeals and include youth-led for Future, the youths used to priorities, that will be a historical organise ‘Friday’s Strike’ where achievement to all of us fighting young activists sit in front of to preserve a future, we are Parliament and other public spaces hopeful,” she says. every Friday to protest against the The visibility of the youth lack of action on the climate crisis. climate movement on social The team is currently leading media has created a feedback Youth activists a national campaign called loop so that more and more Red Alert Nepal to young Nepalis are lead climate foster climate action getting involved. awareness among While Mingma movement from children and youth Nuru Sherpa is and get them engaged from the high the mountains in shaping their own mountains, future through climate Shreya KC is to the plains of policies. from Kathmandu, Although street Gaurav Thakur, Nepal gatherings had to be also 22, is from suspended because in the of the Covid-19 Tarai – making it a Tulsi Rauniyar pandemic, the climate action group truly lxdfn÷kxf8÷t/fO{ Mingma Nuru Sherpa has watched changes in the mountains from year to year. continued with its campaigns. The initiative. national coordinator for NYCA, Thakur’s interest is in climate Shreya KC says, “In a sense, the resilient agriculture so that momentum we were gaining in farmers in Nepal’s grain basket getting youth involved in climate in the plains are protected from action in Nepal was dissipated by erratic monsoons and extreme the coronavirus crisis. Which is weather events due to global ingma Nuru Sherpa left the why we shifted the movement to warming. He is worried about village he was born in the virtual gatherings.” what could happen to farming Mregion below Mt Everest at KC says it has been a steep communities in the Tarai, who age 18 to study environment science learning curve, and there are pros have to face floods, droughts, in Kathmandu. When he goes home and cons of online activism. “The even tornados and locust for his holidays he has seen the benefit is that we have been able to invasions. mountains change from year to year. connect with people from all over After years of attention He is specialising in climate Nepal and the world. However, only on the north and south science at a college in Boudha and limited bandwidth and an unstable polar regions, the international is determined to help his people internet have been challenging.” community is finally also adapt to the shrinking glaciers and At age 22, KC has been a key focusing on the ‘Third Pole’, as receding snowlines of the Khumbu. member of NYCA for the past the Himalaya is called. Youth “From the house I grew up in, four years, she spends most of activists admit Nepal is suffering I could see the snowlines of the her time learning and advocating disproportionately from the Phari Lapcha peak receding year as a climate activist, and was a effects of the climate crisis, but it by year. It was heartbreaking to delegate at the UN Climate Change also needs to do more to reduce see the change,” says Sherpa. “The Conference, COP25 which was its dependence on petroleum – mountains are impacted by climate moved from Santiago to Madrid not just to help protect the planet change and our livelihoods depend last year because of unrest in Chile. but to also save its own economy. on tourism. Without the mountains, Shreya KC at the Climate Summit in Madrid last year. “Sometimes I get demotivated Nepal’s youth climate we are nothing.” when the leaders turn a deaf ear activists like Sherpa, KC and A study by the Kathmandu-based to us. However, working closely Thakur know that they have International Centre for Integrated with other youth from all over the to step in because it is their Mountain Development (ICIMOD) country, I feel empowered and future that is at stake. They will last year showed that the Himalayan optimistic,” KC adds. now also advise the UN on the mountains are melting faster than Nepal contributes less than 0.3 climate emergency, providing forecast, and more rapidly than tons annually per capita of carbon, perspectives, ideas and solutions. the global average. At this rate, compared to 37 tons for every As a result of the inadequacy one-third of the ice and snow will Qatari. Yet, Nepal is in the list of climate action from present be gone during this century, with of top countries to suffer gravest government and leaders globally catastrophic impact on the people consequences of the climate crisis. as well as nationally, a wave of the Himalaya and millions living “Climate change has not yet of powerful young people downstream. been a priority for Nepal’s leaders, positioning themselves as Sherpa is one of the 400 awareness is limited and there is leaders, are demanding stronger members of a youth-led activist even less action. Old and young, action. A ray of hope is the group called Nepalese Youth everyone should know what is promise that the United States for Climate Action (NYCA), a happening and should also feel will rejoin the Paris Climate network established just for youth responsible,” says KC. Agreement in 2021. engagement to plan adaptation, Nepal is party to the United Climate change activism is activism and awareness about the Nations Framework on Convention not a new development in Nepal, climate crisis. The platform is a of Climate Change (UNFCCC) and but the role of youth at this training ground for climate activism, has ratified the Paris Agreement, scale today, is. Says KC: “The to organise issues-centred campaigns and to help the process NYCA is process of change is slow but our and engage in conversations with pulling together ‘Youth Priorities’ generation is louder experts on climate science and to contribute to Nepal’s climate and demand more action and less policy. action plan. talk.” Gaurav Thakur's focus is on climate-resilient farming in the Tarai.

Nepal economy 2021 overseas is robust despite the pandemic. redistributed electricity to the public. Paaila wins ICT Award After a year of stagnation due to the However, prolonged political uncertainty will Electricity demand reached 1,434MW Paaila Emergency Resuscitator has been Covid-19 crisis, Nepal’s economy had hurt investment and infrastructure. on Monday, which is about 500MW more awarded with 'Ncell Innovation Driven just started getting back on track and the than the dry season generation capacity. But Crisis Response ICT Award 2020' for macro-economic numbers were picking up, Power cuts back the NEA’s head of Customer Service said the providing life saving ventilators to the when new political uncertainty once more A combination of low river flow, high reason for power cuts this week was because hospitals to battle Covid-19 crisis. threatens to derail it. If snap elections go winter power demand and old-fashioned of a weak distribution system, and not ahead in April-May next year it will eat a mismanagement have meant that Nepalis undersupply. Whatever the truth, the Nepali public seems to have made up its mind that QR grocery big hole in the budget. There is no lack of are once more suffering power cuts. This Naxal Tarkari Bazar with Nepal Rastra money in Nepal, what the country lacks is follows NEA chief Kulman Ghising stepping the ‘power mafia’ is again working in cahoots with the government, and there is outrage Bank and Sanima Bank has launched the capacity to spend. Foreign exchange down in September, and the current political year is the airlines partner for the Nepal on social media. digital payment system at the grocery reserves are at a record 14 months of crisis which led to the resignation of Energy Sports Journalist Forum’s Pulsar Sports Award. market as per which any purchase imports, the balance of payments has Minister Barsha Man Pun. After Ghising Both male and female category winners will can now be made via scanning QR improved, the trade deficit has narrowed took over the NEA, he curbed corruption, Turkish sports tie-up receive one round trip air ticket each to a code on the packet of the and remittances from Nepali workers cut off dedicated feeds to industries and Turkish Airlines for the second consecutive European destination of their choice. produce. 6 Saglo Samaj 1 - 7 JANUARY 2021 #1042 Tales of courage and suffering reputation for bravery is mixed with memories of untold pain and sacrifi ce

or over two centuries now, IMPERIAL WAR MUSEUM Nepal’s real 'frontline Nepali soldiers and porters assemble at Tundikhel in 1915 before marching down to India to join the Allied forces in Europe, Turkey and West Asia. Of the 200,000 Nepalis conscripted, about 20,000 were killed. Fworkers’ have been its soldiers who fought and sacrificed their the British POWs spoke so many lives in foreign soil for countries languages, they took this as an other than their own. opportunity for linguistic research. The tradition continues, and is They recorded the experiences of upheld by the Gurkha reputation the Gurkha prisoners through their for courage and ability to survive songs and folklore. any hardship that is promoted in Nepali researcher Alka Atreya literature and art. Chudal at Vienna University has Till the Malla period, it was been given access to some of this unheard of for Nepalis to fight in material that includes early sound foreign armies. In fact, it was the recordings of the Gurkha prisoners other way around: Kathmandu’s in Germany. Going through the kings 300 years ago used to recruit archives at Berlin’s Humboldt soldiers from Telangana in South Museum, Chudal found songs by India and Afghanistan. Gurkha POW Jas Bahadur Rai that It was only during the Anglo- NEUVE-CHAPPELLE MEMORIAL Names of Gurkha soldiers killed in France among 4,700 soldiers from the British Indian Army commemorated in the Neuve-Chappelle Memorial. were recorded in 1915. Nepal war (1814-1816) that Rai died seven months later, Nepalis started fighting beyond day on 30 October 1914 in La we were able to capture the German of our letters are opened and are and his grave stone in a cemetery the country’s borders. Balbhadra Bassée. trench. Because I was shot in my censored. If we write anything outside Berlin (pictured left, below) Kunwar, who famously thwarted Many of the censored letters and right elbow, I couldn’t move ahead against the orders given, the one preserves the date: 3 January 1917. the siege of Nalapani Fort, joined diaries of Gurkha soldiers at the with my company. By god’s grace who has written the letter will be Although this was a model prison the army of the Sikh maharaja British Library and Museum give us the bullet didn’t pierce my bones. I punished severely. Dear brother, that the Germans used to show Ranjit Singh. an indication of their suffering in am now in London and recovering. you must be going through a international inspectors, many Even before the Sugauli Treaty the battlefield. Because they did not I will soon return to France difficult time in your battlefield, Nepali prisoners succumbed to ended the war, the British were fit the narrative of Gurkha ‘bravery’ and fight a good war with those but I understand. We are also tuberculosis in winter. already recruiting Nepali soldiers and would have affected morale, Germans and kill them, because suffering the same anguish. Brother, “Jas Bahadur missed home, his for the ‘Nasiri Paltan’ to fight the letters were censored and never they aren’t human. They use poison it rains a lot here and it is muddy. It songs and writings are a testimony against defending fellow-Nepalis. received by their families in Nepal. gas to win a war. is extremely cold, too. to that, and more than 100 years This went on to become the first These testimonies were a part of later they have inspired me to do ever Gurkha brigade. Then on, the dissertation of Nepali historian • • • • • • further research on the and ‘Gurkha’ soldiers have been fighting Pratyoush Onta, who painstakingly You have been asking me about I took part in an attack on a German their never-told tales of suffering,” in many wars in different parts of transcribed the letters in the 1990s. this place. This is like the fire and trench in August. I was injured Chudal says. the world to this day. They describe the incredible the frying pan. When I return home, and had little sense of what was There is a possibility that the Gurkha valour has always been courage, but also the pain, we can talk about this. I will give happening. I was taken prisoner writings and items belonging to interwoven with pain and death. homesickness, and the insufferable you all the details, but I cannot by the Germans and sent off to Nepal’s soldiers recovered from But we do not hear much of that wet cold of the trenches during the promise you if that day will ever their country. They cut my leg in Europe’s battlefields will finally because most Nepali soldiers in European winter. come. the prisoners’ camp. I was then be returned to their homeland. those days could not write, and I could have written about the hospitalised for two months in With them, we will learn about the there are few testimonies of what Selected excerpts: conditions here, but we are not Germany and later sent to Britain. other side of the Gurkha saga — the they went through. allowed to share details. Many They have now received orders to stories of yearning, pain beyond It is only recently that censored Worry about me.This war is fierce. send me to India. measure, of loves and lives lost. letters by Nepali soldiers archived Five of my friends from the Fourth in Europe have thrown light on the Double Company have been killed. • • • Based on the fi rst episode of Saglo Samaj, a tv magazine pain and suffering in the trench From the Second Company, one- This is your brother Bahadur Pun, program produced by Himalmedia which is broadcast every warfare of France and Belgium, and third of the soldiers have lost sending you my greetings. If you Monday, at 8:30 pm on Dish Home Channel 130. prisoner of war camps in Germany, their lives. The Gurkha Regiment have three or four rupees, please during World War I. has suffered a huge loss. And for send it to me. Along with that, if A diary written by a Gurkha those of us who are still alive, the possible, please send some food, sergeant during the battle of La chances of survival look slim. something to drink and some Bassée in northern France in 1914, clothes. Dhaniram Pun and I are and retrieved from his body by • • • now prisoners of war in Germany. German officer, , has recently come On 19 May 1914 at five in the to light. morning, our Fourth Double • • • Just within the first five Company was attacked. We were My mother often said, ‘Leave your days of the start of World War I 400 feet away from the German job, son, and come back home. in July 1914, more than 15,000 trench. We loaded our rifles with Work in your own country, or you British soldiers had been killed. SIPAHIKO PIDA bullets, and stuck khukris in our will suffer’. I wish I had listened Reinforcements arrived from British mouths and went over the top. Of to her. Now when I think of it, my India, and among them were about Watch the first episode of Saglo Samaj: Sipahi all the wars that I have ever fought heart fills with regret. ko pida on YouTube. The pilot explores the 20,000 Gurkhas. Six hundred in, this is the most ferocious. Many Gurkha legend that has always been interwoven Nepali men were killed on a single from my company were killed, but When the Germans realised that with pain and death, and not just their bravery that they are known for. 1 - 7 JANUARY 2021 #1042 Covid-19 7 Nepalis overseas get first vaccinations campaign for health workers, those Nepalis in Nepal over 60 and at high risk. Nepali caregivers are considered frontline will have to wait workers. Nischal Shrestha (pictured, far till mid-2021 for left) has been living in Israel for the their Covid-19 last 11 years, and takes care of a 91-year-old woman who she took to inoculations the hospital to vaccinate last week. “I was not expecting the shot Upasana Khadka because we were told that the priority would be health workers and the elderly. But my employer got the hospital to also get me ong before Nepalis in Nepal immunised,” says Shrestha, who will be vaccinated against the says her arm and body ached for a Lcoronavirus, Nepali frontline day or two, but she is fine now. workers around the world are Deepika Bhusal also works as already receiving their first jabs. Nischal Shrestha, a caregiver in Israel, getting vaccinated last week. She has been in Israel for 11 Binaya Raman Dahal, a hospitalist in North Carolina, getting his vaccination. He says it is a “big relief” a live-in caregiver for an elderly The globalisation of the Nepali years, and looking after a senior citizen who was also vaccinated. for health workers like him as the pandemic rages across the US. couple in Israel. Her employers got workforce became even more their first doses of the vaccine on apparent during the pandemic: 25 December, and there was much a Nepali doctor in the UK could “There is a big sense of relief that Covid-19 spared no one. “I had a celebration in the house. be using medical gloves made by the vaccines are here,” Dahal said 20-year-old patient who suffered “I trust the health system here. Nepali workers in a Malaysian glove over the phone, adding that he will the worst outcomes, including Even the Prime Minister went on factory while vaccinating a Nepali still have to be careful because of the heart failure and anoxic brain live television to take his first shot nurse. risk to family. injury. Then, I had a 100-year-old publicly,” says Bhusal, who is “We always knew healthcare Srijana Panta Rokka (pictured, who was positive but completely getting her own shot on new year’s workers would be in the priority right) has been a nurse in the UK asymptomatic,” said Bhattarai, who day. group, but the general understanding since 2004, and considers herself self-isolated in a room throughout The UAE is another popular was it would still be a few months fortunate for being one of the first the period to keep his family safe. destination for Nepali workers, into 2021 that the vaccines would recipients of the vaccine. “It was like Across the United States in and the first country to approve the reach us,” said Binaya Raman Dahal taking a flu-shot. Others report sore Nebraska, cardiologist Khagendra Chinese Sinopharm vaccine which (pictured above, right), a Nepali arms, temperature and headache Dahal recalls long periods of is said to be 86% effective after Srijana Panta Rokka has been a nurse in the UK for 15 years, hospitalist in North Carolina who as side effects, but for me I just felt self-isolation and the difficulty trials around the world. The UAE got his first injection last week, and and says she is fortunate as a frontline worker to be one of the tired and my eyes ached that day,” fi rst in the UK to be vaccinated against Covid-19. explaining to his young children is providing the vaccines free to said it was like taking any other flu she recalls. why he was staying separately. residents and citizens. shot. Her general practice has “Even after being vaccinated, we Kisan Magar works in a car Dahal recalls how his colleagues largely avoided in-contact patients my practice who got vaccinated so will still need to continue to wear showroom whose employer got would fall ill, and hospital staff since March, and has moved to we could vaccinate others,” Rokka our protective gear because it is not him and his European and Filipino had to step in even during off days. tele-medicine, while only taking said in a phone interview. Most known whether we are transmitters colleagues vaccinated recently. The first couple of months into emergency in-person patients. But patients eligible for vaccination will of the virus even if we ourselves are He says he has been getting lots of the pandemic, personal protective from 1 January, she will be serving be above 80 years. safe,” Dahal says. congratulatory messages from family equipment ran out, and there was a as a vaccinator, after being trained in Another Nepali clinician in the Another country with a sizeable in Nepal, while compatriots in the rush of patients following the July 4 administering the Pfizer vaccine. United States, Yagya Raj Bhattarai, Nepali caregiver population is Israel, UAE have been querying him about and Labour Day weekends. “I was one of the nine nurses in says the past year has shown that and it has started a massive vaccine how to enrol for the vaccine. 8 Art 1 - 7 JANUARY 202

taking his employees out to heavy metal concerts as an annual bonus. And this is how Wild Yak Records started: three friends, spread across the globe, spend countless hours chatting about records on the internet and decide to start a strictly-vinyl Nepali record label. There was never a question about where to begin. “There is no other singer who is as beloved in

vintage stereo equipment in Bangkok. Wild Yak Records When not fighting HIV/AIDS across Asia, Sushil was spending brings back his late-night hours on the internet, searching for antique Nepali records. During an ultimately crisp and crackly unsuccessful pursuit of a rare Japanese pressing of a Narayan Narayan Gopal in Gopal record, he met Neeraj Gorkhaly. vinyl Neeraj, in keeping with our story, is a public policy expert who advises the US Ben Ayers Government on physics and astronomy. Based n a time when everything from medicine in Washington DC, he to marriage has shifted into a digital describes his 15 years with medium, there is something almost the National Academies spiritual about a vinyl record: the weight of Sciences as a means of the thing, the way it sits in both hands, to an end. And that end Ithe ample real estate on the cardboard cover for is collecting records and actual artwork, lyrics, and the occasional essay. philanthropy. He received The music sounds crisp and crackled, so the aforementioned warm and wholesome that any imperfections Narayan Gopal record as a or skips only add to the authenticity of the wedding present, and said experience. The thing about old records is he will “carry it with me to that they actually smell good: that sweet, lost, my grave”. analogue smell of dust and time and all of the Kiran Byanjankar hands that have held it before. rounds out the trio. Kiran’s introduction to vinyl was Vinyl pushes one into hyperbole, and 7'nf] bfO modern collectors of old records tend to be listening to his play privileged enough to entertain deliberate Pink Floyd and Deep Purple and impractical passions, to be hopeless on an ancient wind-up connoisseurs of the senses – which, in this age gramophone at their home in the of digital hyper-convenience, can be a beautiful Chyasal neighbourhood of Patan. thing. He first met Neeraj at a cassette This is a story about three fellow dreamers, shop in New Road where Neeraj three dedicated friends who have never worked, dubbing bootleg mixtapes actually all met in person, three successful and manning the counter. entrepreneurs and professionals who, By this point, Kiran had inexplicably, decided to start a vinyl record found punk and heavy metal, and company targeting a country where you still was in pursuit of Megadeth. After cannot buy a record player. an unsuccessful attempt to fail his In researching this article, I struggled to interview for a study visa to America, understand whose idea it was to start a record Kiran reluctantly ended up in Chicago. He label in the first place. So I will start with Sushil completed his computer engineering degree Koirala, a public health expert who advises and promptly started up a series of successful international policy makers on pandemics Nepali restaurants. As his businesses grew, from a small room stacked floor to ceiling with Kiran started collecting vinyl records and

Nepal as Narayan Gopal,” says Sushil. Narayan Gopal – the :j/ ;d|f6 himself – in many ways helped invent Nepali popular music. His voice, smooth as scotch, silky as the Queen’s sari, was on heavy rotation across Nepal and for nearly four decades, and came to define the fundamentals of Nepali film soundtracks and pop. There are few Nepalis in popular culture, and even fewer outside of the monarchy or the Maoists, that achieve a level of fame and ubiquity that allows them to shed their last name. Narayan Gopal Gurucharya, born to a Newa Neeraj Gorkhaly Kiran Byanjankar family in the very heart of old Kathmandu, Y 2021 #1042 Art 9

waswas one. HisHis art was also inseparable from his they originally did.” Before long, 300 copies lelegend,gend, whichwhich invited plentiful speculation and of Swor Samrat Narayan Gopal – Golden rurumour:mour: the prodigiousprod drinking and smoking, Collection were pressed into metallic gold thethhe whisperedwhispered affections for (and from) vinyl records, and began their slow journey to QueenQueen Aishwarya,Aish partnerships eager collectors across the Planet. withwiw th poetspoet and writers that all Was the effort worth it? It seems so. Kiran somehowsomeho crumbled – and told me: “The record left me spellbound.” cumulatingccumul in an early Sushil adds: “When I first listened to it I could deathdeeata h in 1990 from make out Narayan Gopal’s Newa accent.” hishiis excessese at 51. Kashish Das Shrestha, a former radio DJ It was as and editor of Wave magazine spent a few of if thisth life his own more productive years searching couldcou not fruitlessly for Narayan Gopal’s original keepkee recordings. He was thrilled to receive his himhih m copy of the new record: “It’s phenomenal. Something I’ve wanted for over a decade.” Of the 300 records, only 50 remain available for purchase. With these strong, albeit modest, sales of the Narayan Gopal collection, I couldn’t help but ask again: Was all this effort worth it? SushilSushil KoiKoiralar “This was never started to be a profitable business,” Neeraj replied. “We roll all of our income into paying for the next project.” elusive as the yeti.) With this in mind, Wild Yak has nearly These records all made their way completed its next album. With the hope back to Nepal and were played of tapping into a younger generation of on the radio or listened to on enthusiasts, a Hanuman-esque bright orange the scratchy gramophones that pressing of Bipul Chhetri’s Sketches of now gather dust in the attics, Darjeeling will be ready for distribution in or hold cocktail glasses in the January. well-appointed living rooms “Bipul is like the new Narayan Gopal. of Kathmandu’s gentry. This Everyone loves him,” says Kiran. lasted for about two decades, After this, the label has plans for until it was thoroughly compilations of Kumar Basnet, Aruna Lama and permanently made and a selection of popular Nepali rock and roll irrelevant with the from the 70’s and 80’s – bringing back bands introduction of affordable like The Influence, Cross Roads, and 1974 AD. cassette tapes in the mid But first, they need to locate the original 1980s. tapes. Narayan Gopal would When I first received my own copy of have been 81 this year. Swar Samrat in September, I had just returned Nobody really knows to the United States. Awash in the Covid how many recordings sterility of America, I was quickly nostalgic of his songs actually for Kathmandu. As I pulled the record out of exist. His legend, the dust jacket, I was struck by the gold color, now amplified on shining like a storefront on New Road during the internet, claims the week before Dasain. something in the I put the record carefully on the turntable neighbourhood of 500, and set the needle. Out of my speakers crept but all estimates point to a flute and loping bass, lightly dusted with something closer to 130- reverb. A few seconds in, The Emperor’s voice 150 recordings. emerged crisp and rich, sweet as h]/L and lrof. I As Ratna Recording was transported. shut down, the original d]/f] uLt eGg] clwsf/ 5}g tapes were moved to Nepal uLtsf] kf] d x +' d]/f] uLt x}g Television. After that, it’s I have no right to call this my song. murky. But thankfully, The song doesn’t belong to me, I belong to the Music Nepal has carefully song. saved copies of the analogue recordings of many of the Ben Ayers is a humanitarian, documentary fi lmmaker, and original recordings from that National Geographic Explorer based in Kathmandu. era. In 2018, Sushil tracked down the original recordings at Music Nepal and had them copied directly onto vintage reel-to-reel tapes, imported from France. It was clear to everyone at Wild Yak that this would be a completely analogue process from start to finish. The master copies were then sent to Ohio where they were SMELL OF MUSIC painstakingly remastered. “We made every attempt to keep the old The story of three successful Nepalis who started a vinyl record company with Narayan Gopal's golden sound intact,” recalls Sushil. “In some cases collection. Find out how they tracked down the original this even meant sacrificing cleanness or quality, recordings and painstakingly remastered them to keep but we wanted the records to sound like the old sound intact.

around,around, andana d his songssongs aboutab loveloove andand loss wewwerere real,rea lived exexperiences.perien He tapped inintoto the ssublime melancholy of the sousoull -- the kind of thing tththatat led his contemporaries in the AmAmericanerican SSouthou to coin the blues. In 1961, underund the tutelage of King Mahendra, HisH Majesty’s Government founded Ratna RecordingRe Sansthan which paired with RadioRadi Nepal to press records of Nepali national music.m Most of the recording was done in Nepal or India on old reel-to-reel tapes, then shipped off to Calcutta or Japan for pressing onto vinyl. (There are rumours of records made in the former Soviet Union but these remain as 10 UPTOWN 1 - 7 JANUARY 2021 #1042

Paint like Vincent Van Gogh EVENTS In this gently guided session, try out some of Saglo Samaj the techniques that iconic artists once used In its second episode,Saglo Samaj takes to defi ne their unique styles. By the end, on the epidemic of cancer in Nepal. The tv magazine produced by Himalmedia participants would replicate one of their provides a complete perspective on classics. Recommended for beginners and Nepali society with solution-oriented improvers. Register to join. coverage. 16 January, 1:15pm New episode: Cancer Katha The Art Market 8:30pm, 4 January, Sarokar TV , The Art Market resumes as we usher into Dish Home Channel #130 2021. The bi-monthly event is a platform for artists to exhibit their creativity, which may No westerly on the horizon, which means a hazy, cloudless come in any form. weekend ahead. The sun will be fi ltered by pollution so the 2 January, 1pm, Timro Concepts Store maximum temperature will stay below 20. However, on Sunday BBQ at Hyatt the wind direction will change to south bringing warmer air and KATHMANDU making it unseasonably warm from Sunday onwards with the Welcome 2021 with an extensive New Year’s minimum temperature creeping up to 7-8 Celsius. Early next week, it will almost be spring-like sunshine in . BBQ dinner at Rox Restaurant. For bookings But Nepal’s farmers are hoping for some winter rain and snow to visit their website. break this two-month drought. 1 January, 6pm, Hyatt Regency Kathmandu FRIDAY SATURDAY SUNDAY 19° 19° 21° Hike for Nepal Kick start 2021 3° 5° 7° with a group of professionals and AIR QUALITY INDEX expert guides specialising in cultural heritage tours, travel, hiking New Years' Bazaar and trekking. This Dhokaima is organising New years’ bazaar time, along the with 11 stalls. Local businesses and brands trails of Bhardev to ranging from TeaFresho to Higher Ground Lele. Registration Crafts will be present. required. 13 January, 2-6pm, Patan Dhoka 2 January, 7am

ONLINE ARCHIVES There is a staggering amount of smog blanketing the Indo-Gangetic plains. As this map from the World Air Quality Index Project (https://aqicn.org/map/india/) shows, the concentration of hazardous particulate matter below 2.5microns is off the charts in the New Delhi suburb of Noida. It is at 999 because the measuring equipment cannot handle more than 3 digits. Kathmandu Valley was only slightly better, with AQI at 192 which is in the 'Very Unhealthy' band. Do not expect things to improve because winter inversion in the plains, as well as Kathmandu Valley, will trap pollutants at ground level.

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La Casita At La Casita, you can enjoy one of the fi nest views of Boudha with the mountains peeking from behind the hills. Visitors love their tapas. 01-4915645 1 - 7 JANUARY 2021 #1042 Review 11 The road ahead for Nepal New fi lm shows how a remote road will change society

majestic mountains and valleys. Millard and Stryker try to document the uncertain and precarious lives Bicram Rijal of people in these isolated and far-flung communities. In doing so, they also show us the humility family embarks on a 300 and improvisations with which km journey from the remote the family relates to emergent, Amountains of northeastern ambiguous, and adverse situations Nepal to Dharan in the plains. — a young family member getting There is no road yet to their village, sick, or the bus stuck half-way into so they trek for five full days before the journey with engine breakdown. getting a jeep, then a bus to reach As the villagers sort out things the market just to sell a few 8f]sf] in those precarious circumstances, baskets full of medicinal herbs that we get a glimpse of perseverance they have collected over months. and toughness amidst the physical, The journey involves physical mental and social challenges they hardship, much walking uphill and experience. Even after five days downhill, through rough and steep of walking carrying heavy loads, terrain (including on a wobbly the family reminds us that life makeshift log bridge over a fierce goes on amidst adversity. They cut river at night) and preparation and jokes and laugh, they smile, and planning for how to get a permit they cherish the little moments of for their herbs at a national park While Baato primarily follows This 82-minute film immerses international assistance as the togetherness. office, and past police officers at one family on their journey to viewers into the reality of roads government promises the economic Viewers can watch af6f] just to checkpoints along the way. market from mountains to the in rural Nepal. It makes us think upliftment to villagers if the road is glimpse the reality of life, or they The feature-length film af6f] plains, it also offers a sneak peek about the distinct meanings and completed. can view it as an anthropological Baato is a rich visual document into the politics of roadbuilding in consequences of roads and road- This observational film is an study of how connectivity and that records the villagers’ rural Nepal showing us, on the one building for the protagonists anthropological gaze into people’s infrastructure, development and ambivalent lives and aspirations of hand, road as an aspirational object involved — villagers, contractors, lives in the marginal hinterlands globalisation, citizens and the ‘development’ as a new motorable of modernity and, on the other, its traders, the government. that are yet to experience the state, perhaps even politics and road cuts through Nepal’s building as a contested process. At the micro level, the infrastructure and amenities geopolitics play a role in Nepal and hinterland. Directed by Lucas While some villagers are villagers anticipate a better life of modernity: road, electricity, beyond. Millard and Kate Stryker, the film concerned about the possible loss with less walking as jeeps arrive television, and market, among More importantly, the film hints follows Mikma (pictured, above) of land and homes as the excavators at their doorstep. The process others. The link between road and at a larger transformation taking and her family and reminds one arrive, the contractors worry about of road building itself involves everyday life is one way of looking place in Nepal’s Himalayan villages ofWe Corner People by Kesang possible disruption and dissent corruption, bribery, pressures from at the film, and the politics of with the advent of roads, and how Tseten, who also happens to be the by local communities. And there vested interest groups, during infrastructure would be another this is affecting every facet of life executive producer of this film. is the government in the form of construction. Zooming out to level of understanding it. for Mikma and families like hers. Baato was screened in the Roads Division that is concerned a macro level, we see the road The film captures everyday recently concluded Kathmandu about the emergent illegal road-side and its construction bring to the life in a still-remote corner of Bicram Rijal is a PhD candidate at the International Film Festival structures and encroachment of fore discourses of development, Nepal, showing us the sorrows and Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Simon (KIMFF). public land. connectivity, globalisation and difficulties hidden underneath the Fraser University, Canada. 12 Happenings 1 - 7 JANUARY 2021 #1042

PMO FELLOW COMRADES: Guo Yezhou of the Chinese Communist Party with China’s Ambassador to Nepal Hou Yanqi in talks with Prime Minister K P Oli in Kathmandu this week.

RSS Flying home in a pandemic

Tackling tests, first need to do my research on the lounge, I toyed with countless new rules and precautions. thoughts that crossed my mind. RSS paperwork When I bought my tickets, The next 36 hours of my life was OUT OF CONTROL: A wildfi re has been raging out of control for the past fi ve days near only Nepali citizens, expats, and going to be a long stretch. the summit of Pathivara in Taplejung district. and confl icting mountaineers were being allowed I was ready with multiple little to fly in. No one else. Everyone had bottles of hand sanitisers and emotions while to submit a negative PCR test result, moisturisers as security provisions fl ying across the done within the last 72 hours before for three flights and two layovers. boarding. The flight from Chicago to Frank- world to Nepal I also had to complete the Co- furt was practically empty. vid-19 Crisis Management Centre Frankfurt airport was busier (CMCC) form, in which I had to ex- than O’Hare, and travelers ap- 020 began well for me. I had plain who I was visiting and where peared confused. There were lines started a new job, got an I was planning on staying during at almost every information coun- 2apartment in Lincoln Park, my visit. The form would have to ter. Also, they did not allow any Chicago and joined a yoga studio. I show a 14-day reservation at the ho- eating or drinking, but it wasn’t made plans to come to Nepal in the tel if one did not present a negative like people were going to listen. spring, and I was ready to start a PCR test. One would not be allowed Fly, eat, failed attempt to sleep, new chapter in life. to meet their family without a nega- and repeat. tive PCR test. On my 29-hour long flight I bought a travel insurance for (excluding the layovers), I was unforeseen emergencies. In life, you asked to keep my mask on always, LIFE TIME never know. I was aware that some except during brief meal times. I DINESH KAFLE Anjana Rajbhandary people would think me irrespon- was nervous and excited. Thanks sible for traveling during this time, to wifi at airports and on board, I MOUNTAIN LITERATURE: Economist Biswo Paudel addresses the IME Nepal Literature and that my action would be met was able to keep myself distracted Festival in Pokhara on Tuesday amidst a backdrop of the . Then Covid-19 took over the with anger and resentment. with social media and podcasts. world. I was prepared for it mentally, I also discovered that since the My yoga studio shut down. My because I really wanted to see my start of the pandemic, my usage of plans to come home was shelved, family. I took every safety measure, social media had gone up by over and I spent many hours staring at because I did not want to risk in- two hours a day. the walls of my apartment, while fecting anyone, including myself. The flight to Istanbul was working from home. Due to the increase in people empty, too, even though Istanbul Every state and city in the testing positive in the US in Oc- airport was busy. It was as if the United States came up with its own tober, results for tests were taking pandemic had never hit. There set of restrictions regarding Co- 24 hours to 7 days. I decided to get were so many people there and vid-19. Chicago went back and forth tested at three different places to all the duty-free shops were filled between closing and re-opening make sure that I would have at least with people buying Turkish de- businesses, depending on the num- one result before my flight. This lights and souvenirs. I got myself ber of people who tested positive. meant that I got my test results a an evil eye pendant. The flight to Kathmandu, in contrast, was packed. It looked like the diaspora was all headed home. Once we landed, the staff from Bir Hospital checked our PCR test reports. At immigration, they col- BIKRAM RAI lected the CMCC form and revised SUPER-SPREADER: Hundreds of mainly maskless people attended Cobweb Christmas it with me. They stamped my indoor concert held at the Lord of Drinks club in Thamel last week. passport and threw it at me, and I knew I was back in Nepal. Anjana Rajbhandary lives and works in Chicago. She is starting this fortnightly Nepali Times column Life Time about mental and physical health and socio-cultural issues.

Many establishments had to shut day before my flight, on the day of down permanently and millions my flight, and the last one a week lost their jobs. after my arrival in Kathmandu. I Most countries around the tested negative in all three. world were under lockdown. Nepal The Chicago O’Hare Interna- LIFE TIME had also suspended most interna- tional Airport was quieter than I tional flights from March 2020. remembered. It took me just 15 With the New Year, we are introducing new columns BIKRAM RAI Fast forward to September when and new columnists. Mental health counselor and minutes to get past security, so I researcher Anjana Rajbhandary is starting a fortnightly BUSINESS AS USUAL: Thousands of cadres join top leaders and flights resumed in Nepal, but with had three hours of wait. Sipping column ‘Life Time’. Watch her vlog where she talks Madhav Kumar Nepal as their faction of Nepal Communist Party protest Prime Minister K the new protocols in place I would a favourite beverage at the airport about anxiety while travelling during the time of Covid. P Oli's decision to dissolve the Lower House. 1 - 7 JANUARY 2021 #1042 Nation 13 Ring in the old in 2021 The Sustainable Summits 2021 will now be The Taragaon Museum, Patan Museum, The Event organisers are held virtually and physically from 31 May to 4 Chhauni Museum, Siddhartha Art Gallery, and cautiously optimistic June at ICIMOD headquarters in Kathmandu, the Bahadur Shah Baithak. The exhibitions just ahead of the Climate Summit COP26 in will be curated by Cosmin Costinas of Para Site as they prepare for Glasgow. The Glasgow Summit was itself post- in Hong Kong, as well as Sheelasha Rajbhan- poned and is a vital step to heal the planet. dari and Hit Man Gurung. rescheduled events “The situation is getting more urgent with “The Triennale format has enabled us to climate change, and the Himalaya is getting link with all the Biennale and Triennale hap- of yesteryear more and more focus because we’re seeing the pening around the world in 2021, and place effects of glacial retreat and permafrost crack- Nepal on the global art map,” says Sangeeta physically in 2021 with virtual options for Shristi Karki ing underneath houses in Khumbu,” says Lisa Thapa of the Siddhartha Art Foundation. viewers who prefer it.” Choegyal, who is part of the organising com- mittee for the four-day summit. Photo Kathmandu s Nepal plunges headfirst into 2021, Tokyo Olympics “COP26 coming up means Sustainable Nepal’s best known photography festival was it is worth reflecting back on a year of Nepali athletes were just gearing up for the Summits has grown to being something that supposed to happen in November, but will cancelled, postponed, or improvised Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics when it was A can make a global statement and achieve last- stretch out its 4th edition right through 2021 as events. Weddings and graduations to cricket rescheduled for 23 July-8 August 2021. Fifteen ing change,” Choegyal says. “In a way, we’ve opposed to previous month-long events. The tournaments and international conferences, all Nepali athletes are training for archery, judo, taken a step up to be global leaders as opposed shows and talks will mostly be virtual, and had to be cancelled or put off. tae kwon do, karate, shooting, weightlifting, to being a voice on the side.” some of them have already begun. There will Visit Nepal 2020 was an early casualty to swimming, and athletics. Of them, ten are in One of the beneficial side-effects of the the pandemic, and the lockdown wrecked the Kathmandu and three are in Pokhara, while global pandemic is that global carbon emis- tourism industry. But there is some cautious two swimmers have been training in London. sions actually decreased in 2020 despite forest optimism about numbers picking up in 2021. destruction that decreased land sinks for CO2. There were advantages to cancelled events, virtual exhibitions and festivals meant geogra- Kathmandu Triennale phy was no longer a barrier. The Siddhartha Art Foundation’s second Kath- Organisers are looking forward to holding mandu Triennale was supposed to be in 2020 these cancelled physical events in 2021: and explore multiple discourses on decoloni-

sation, migration, indigenous knowledge. It Sustainable Summits has been pushed to 27 October 2021, and will During the 4th Sustainable Summits at Chamo- feature works from over 100 artists and col- be physical exhibitions in 2021 if the pandem- nix in France, Nepal won the contract to host laborators from more than 40 countries. ic tapers off. the 5th edition of the international event in The Triennale will run for a month at mul- Kathmandu in 2020. It was slated for June and Film Festivals tiple venues including the Nepal Art Council, had to be postponed. The organisers released a Nepal International Film Festival (NIFF) barely Chaturananda Raj Vaidhya of the Nepal 50-minute video in which leaders and experts managed to be held in February just as the pan- Olympics Committee (NOC) told Nepali Times spoke about the impact of the climate crisis on demic was spreading. But other events such the committee has constantly been in touch the Himalaya. as the Pame Film Festival, the Nepal Human with the athletes virtually to ensure that their Rights International Film Festival (NHRIFF), training and nutrition needs were being met. and KIMFF went virtual during the tail end Although training was scaled-back during of 2020, which meant that a large number of the lockdown, athletes are now back to full- viewers including the Nepali diaspora had ac- fledged schedules. cess to participating Nepali films. “The International Olympics Committee Pokhara Film Society, however, opted to has informed us that all participating Olympi- wait out the pandemic and postponed it from ans will be vaccinated for free in the event that March, well before the Covid lockdown began. any coronavirus vaccine is approved,” Vaidhya Festival Director Santosh Sharma Sapkota explains. “In the meantime, we are following says, “We are hoping to have the 5th edition all safety protocols.” 14 Media 1 - 7 JANUARY 2021 #1042 The death of print is exaggerated

(KU) Department of Language and Media, most students are digital natives who want to have careers as multimedia journalists. Even ad agencies feel that print is a more credible source of informa- tion for the public, but they say that legacy media has to re-invent itself to be more appealing to advertisers and readers. "Print publications have a more loyal readership, and they perceive them as more credible than online," says Ujaya Shakya of Outreach Ne- pal, and author of Brandsutra. He adds that print readers do not It could be that usually multitask when they read a magazine or newspaper, making the obituaries them more receptive to ads in those publications. for printed However, Shakya says the pen- etration of digital media is growing newspapers faster, and it will gain momentum when it is integrated with print, tv and magazines or radio. "The biggest challenge for mar- were somewhat keters now is the attention span of the digital audience," Shakya adds. premature "How many times will they click on the banner ad while browsing social Alisha Sijapati media or a site? That is the key question." It may be a question of time before print is trending again, just as people get tired of digital sound and he Year of Covid hit econo- vinyl record shops are becoming mies hard, and none more fashionable (see page 8-9). Physical so than the media business newspapers are tactile, their influ- T ence is less ephemeral than digital, which depends mainly on advertis- ing. With sales down and many much like e-books never really businesses going belly-up, the me- took off as people preferred to turn dia’s main source of revenue dried physical pages. The sale of printed up as well. books worldwide doubled last year. When the lockdown went into “A newspaper in your hand is effect on 24 March, most legacy much more real than digital words media in Nepal stopped their print on a monitor. There is more trust editions. Nepali Times and Himal and credibility in a physical paper Khabarpatrika were one of the first in this age of fake news,” says Amar to stop printing in early March, and Gurung. “Readers of print also tend went fully digital. National broad- MONIKA DEUPALA to read longer articles and are less sheets like Nagarik, Kantipur, Kath- distracted, whereas online readers mandu Post and The Himalayan visibility in the market and a pres- prompted by competition, and the platform,” says Madhu Acharya prefer shorter items or videos.” Times also halted hardcopies, and ence in the corridors of power in fear of losing a paper’s footprint. of Sharecast. He adds that the real This may be the reason why terminated their other magazines. Singha Darbar, media as a business “It is true digital media has even reason there are not more readers despite the growth of digital read- Among the broadsheets, only has struggled to survive in the past more reach during the lockdown, of print is because publishers have ers, many advertisers in Nepal still Naya Patrika and Post ten months as Nepal’s economy but the publishers seem to have not invested in efficient nationwide prefer ads in print. Indeed, across continued to print much slimmer flatlined during the March-July decided that not having a printed distribution. “Most respondents in the world there is a return to print versions of their papers, mainly lockdown. The prognosis for 2021 is newspaper has reduced their clout,” our survey said they would read advertising by companies who are surviving on government notices. looking only slightly better. Gaunle says. “In that respect, print newspapers if they could buy them turned off by the over-saturation However, within ten days Ne- A handful of digital-only portals is still king.” easily.” of online, and people disabling pal’s largest-circulation newspaper with lower overheads rode out the A survey earlier this year by Journalist Namrata Sharma ads because they feel pursued by Kantipur resumed printing after it crisis, but even they had to cut Sharecast Initiative showed that believes that older people prefer a algorithms. found out that it was losing market costs as new sites diluted online only 7% of a nationwide sample physical newspaper because they “Traditional media's major share. “We panicked prematurely, readership. Print media found it regularly read print media, while are in the habit of reading them with source of revenue has been ads. But and pausing print production was a difficult to get existing companies the proportion of people who got their morning cup of tea. “Newspa- now, we have to think out of the near-fatal decision,” admits Mahesh to switch advertising to their online their information from online media pers are just much easier to read, box to generate revenues from other Swar, Assistant General Manager editions. While page views of their had grown, but only to 16% by the letters and pictures are bigger sources as well,” says Gurung. at Kantipur Media Group. “We did digital editions hit the roof, revenue October. and they do not have to squint into To be sure, there are caveats to lose some confidence of our readers, crashed. “It has been a challenging year phones,” she says. print. The content and production but we have won most of it back. Back in April, Shiva Gaunle of for publishers, but they should keep The Sharecast survey shows values have to be of extremely high Resuming print was the best deci- the Centre for Investigative Jour- in mind that the readership has not that the readership of news por- quality, there has to be visibility and sion we made.” nalism (CIJ) told this paper that decreased. It's just that the news tals is not much higher, and most efficient distribution that makes the Although it was a question of the resumption of hardcopy was sources have shifted to the digital people with smartphones use the in- media brand stand out. In the end it ternet for entertainment, to connect will be the advertisers who have the to family and friends and to watch last word. or share video content. Some 80% Says Prasun Timilsina of Kary- of respondents in the survey are on ala Advertising, “For advertisers, it Facebook, with the total number mostly depends on the audience. of Nepalis with the app at nearly 9 While products for youth are usu- million. YouTube and TikTok are ally on digital media, it still makes spreading rapidly as well. Three sense to advertise in newspapers years ago, only 1% used YouTube, because they are tactile and there that has grown to 57% in 2019. is greater retention of content that Acharya says print readership people see in print. A newspaper is can grow if newspapers and maga- also shared by the entire family, as zines are more readily available opposed to digital media which is to subscribers and in news-stands individual,” because of greater literacy levels. Print’s advantage is its shelf-life, and the size of images, which has an edge over a mobile phone screen. “Print newspapers are not go- ing to die because it is something physical that stays with you, there are things you can do with design and use of space on the page that is much more powerful than look- ing at a small screen,” says Amar PRO-PRINT Gurung, CEO at Himalmedia, which is resuming the print edition of Watch video of Nepali Times readers explain what they have missed the most about the hardcopy editions in Nepali Times every Friday from 1 the past 10 months, and why they are glad the paper is January. resuming its paper edition from At the Kathmandu University 1 January 2021. 1 - 7 JANUARY 2021 #1042 eCommerce 15 Nepal goes online shopping in 2020 Nepal’s fl edging e-commerce fi nds its footing during the pandemic

authentic and traditional sweets Sonia Awale (such as Gundpak and Pustakari) with modern touch. taff at Maya Handicrafts Jew- Not all businesses have found elry in Thamel, are busy these the trend towards online shopping Sdays managing delivery for as encouraging. Despite demand and handmade silver jewellery ordered overwhelming enquiries, Misumi by customers in Kathmandu, Butwal, Korean cosmetics in Labim Mall has Pokhara, Dharan, as well as from not been able to stock up because outside Nepal. they haven’t been able to import The store has seen its online goods due to lockdowns and restric- sales peak despite the pandemic, tions. The recently launched online making for up to 70% of total handicraft store, Durbar Square, is transactions. Encouraged by their also still waiting for sales to pick up. success, the owners opened Nakkali, Even so, Suresh Shrestha of to sell gold-plated jewellery. Up to Ratna Books says the shift towards 90% sales are currently conducted online shopping has other benefits through digital platforms. besides a growth in sales. “It has also “Nepalis now have an easy MAYA HANDICRAFT JEWELRY GLAMBISQUE INSTAGRAM allowed us to understand the taste of access to online shopping because Actress Shilpa Maskey in Maya Handicrafts Jewelry’s Asarfi mala necklace and Former Miss Nepal Shrinkhala Khatiwada promoting her own line of Glambisque palette. our consumers. This is an invaluable of increased Internet connectivity. information for better future plan- This, coupled with better online ning,” he says. service has translated into healthy Glambisque use social media sites Hamrobazaar online classified Nepal’s proposed Electronic digital sales. The pandemic has only like Instagram and Facebook, to has seen 40% increase in overall Commerce Bill is expected to accelerated the growth,” says Samir market their products. Increasingly, traffic since the pandemic. Catego- standardise online transitions while Shakya of Maya Handicrafts. more companies are also using e- ries like computers and laptops and protecting user data and privacy. It Following the Covid-19 lock- commerce platforms like Daraz and two wheelers — because public also has provisions for easy return, down, Glambisque, an up-and- Sastodeal to advertise their goods. transport is now considered unsafe exchange and refunds, and traders coming Nepali cosmetics brand, Payments are usually made via — have the most enquires in this found violating the rules will be shut down its stores in Lazimpat and e-wallets (e-Sewa, Khalti, IME pay) Nepali version of eBay. fined up to Rs300,000. Labim Mall. Since then, the two- or by cash on delivery. Goods are Covid-19 seems to have made Despite the entry into Nepal’s on- year-old company has been operat- either home delivered or couriered if people health conscious as well as line retail market of China’s Alibaba ing only online. The sales have been clients are outside Kathmandu. tech savvy. through Daraz and India’s Flipkart more or less the same, but 100% “Nepal was already transitioning Bibek Neupane of Juas Health via Sastodeal, e-commerce is still at driven by digital transactions. to e-commerce and digital mar- inclination towards a healthy diet Food Store says, “Before the pan- a nascent stage. But one of the side “At this rate we won’t even need ket, but the pandemic sped up the and fitness caused online grocery demic, people interested in our effects of Covid-19 is that it is set to to have physical stores anymore process and provided much-needed and health stores to thrive. products used to ask for our physical grow in the next few years as more when things get back to normal,” boost,” explains digital marketer, The increasing need to stay stores. Now they call us up for home people find online shopping safe, says Shalini Rana of Glambisque. Saniaa Shah. “Even so, businesses ‘online’ has also had an impact on delivery of ayurvedic items like shi- convenient and time efficient. “People weren’t comfortable with with hybrid presence are ahead of businesses selling electronic items. lajit, and Keto diet ingredients.” “This boom in online shopping is online shopping in the past. Lock- the others." People have been upgrading their Capitalising on the growing driven by pandemic-induced need. downs and safety protocols however Many people turned to organic smartphones and computers for online market, former Miss Nepal It might be challenging to sustain it, forced them to try it out.” produce and super foods during the webinars and online classes, which Anushka Shrestha also recently but not if we improve consumers’ Small and medium businesses pandemic, with the hope of building increased business for gadgets and launched Makkusé, an online des- online shopping experience,” says like Maya Handicrafts Jewelry and immunity against coronavirus. The repair shops. sert store that specialises in Nepal’s Manohar Adhikari of Foodmandu. 16 Backside 2. Nepal’s Olitics (the ‘P’ is silent) did Nepal’sOlitics(the‘P’issilent)did 2. Astherestofworldstruggles 1. anus horibilis: and countourmanyblessingsinan us recallfondlythecertitudesof2020 unpredictable newyear,therefore,let Can't wejustpostpone2021? used tobeingmiserablealloveragain. In thenewyearwewillhavetoget were gettingusedtobeingmiserable. At leastduringtheyeargoneby,we to gothroughanother365daysofthis? juncture intime?Doweactuallywant embark onabrandnewyearatthis crappier than2020. midnight, but2021isgoingtobeeven as youcrackopenabottleofbubblyat what folks,sorrytobreakthisyou to anormalitarianstate.Well,guess year tobeover,andforthingsreturn that manyofyoucannotwaitforthis can’t stopyou.It’sstillafreecountry. this despitethatwarning,TheAss untoward consequences. Management isnotresponsible for disturbing. Viewerdiscretion isadvised. material thatsomereaders may The followingsegmentcontains GovernmentStatutory HealthWarning: Instead of looking ahead at an Instead oflookingaheadatan In fact,isitsuchagoodideato I haveheardthroughthegrapevine All right.Ifyouinsistonreading could not get along and split could notgetalongandsplit In anutshell,Nepal’sCommunists in 2020.Itwasallverypredictable. not throwupanynastysurprises misdemeanours. will everhavetoanswerfortheir our past,presentandfuturerulers attained herdimpunity.Noneof here inNepalwehavealready with thesecondandthirdwave, Anus horibilis fi nd nd 11. The bottomline,FYI, 10. Forget thecoronavirus Weshouldwarnourgiant 9. Iknow,therearemanydefeatist 8. Andforthosewhoarenostalgic 7. Domestictourismgotawholenew 6. Whatashockitwastoseethat 5. ThankgodMelamchiwasnot 4. Thegovernmentthankfullyspared 3. LMFAO. G2G. TTYL. LMFAO. G2G.TTYL. survive 2021isWTFto is thattheonlywayto the entireOligarchy. corruption toinoculate urgently isavaccineagainst vaccine, whatweneedmore doing thattoourselves. Nepal in2021.Wearealready not tobothertryingdestabilise neighbours totheNorthandSouth should allheadoutforarefill. is actuallycompletelyempty.We is notimeforpessimism,theglass as half-emptynomatterwhat.This Nepalis whoalwaysseetheglass (NEA) broughtbackpowercuts. at NepalElectricityAuthoritarians the DarkAges,thoughtfulfolks for Janakpur-boundpassengers. Air’s promostopoverinPokhara meaning in2020withBuddha still feelperfectlyathomethere. and smellyloos,wecanthankfully thanks totheserpentinequeues upgraded duringthepandemic.But Kathmandu Airportwasactually over abombshelllikethat? How wouldweasanationeverget completed byDasainaspromised. would havebeen. Imagine whatanupsettingjoltthat Road widenedandpavedin2020. us theshockofseeingGodavari prosperity forusall. the party,ensuringstabilityand 1 -7JANUARY2021 #1042 The Ass

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