<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109111140/636b83959c7e80680e067745jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="960" height="640"/><figcaption>All photos: AMIT MACHAMASI</figcaption></figure>As Covid-19 cases continue their record-breaking rise every day, the three district chiefs of Kathmandu Valley agreed on Tuesday to extend the lockdown announced on 29 April for two weeks till 12 May.The decision was taken with further restrictions on movement, and people not allowed to be on the roads unless for funerals or hospital treatment. Market-times have also been shortened to 7-9AM only.All domestic flights in Nepal have been suspended, although helicopter rescues and some charter flights were allowed to operate on Tuesday.From Wednesday midnight, the government has also suspended all international flights till 14 May, allowing only two flights a week between Kathmandu and Delhi.This last decision has come under intense criticism on Nepal's cybersphere, with many ridiculing the rationale for continuing flights to the world's biggest coronavirus hotspot while stopping flights to the rest of the world.Others have railed against the decision to stop outbound flights, even before other countries have banned flights from Nepal. So far, only Hong Kong and Singapore have stopped direct flights from Kathmandu. Airlines have pleaded with the government to at least allow them to bring planes in empty to fly out passengers booked on flights out of Kathmandu.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109111140/636b83989c7e80680e067746jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="960" height="598"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109111140/636b839b9c7e80680e067747jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="960" height="640"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109111140/636b839e9c7e80680e067748jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="960" height="641"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109111140/636b83a19c7e80680e067749jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="748" height="499"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109111140/636b83a39c7e80680e06774ajpeg.jpg" alt="" width="960" height="640"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109111140/636b83a69c7e80680e06774bjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="960" height="640">Nepal recorded 7,587 new Covid-19 cases-- the highest so far in the pandemic--from 16,702PCR tests on Tuesday. There were 55 fatalities in the past 24 hours, bringing the total tally for Covid-19 deaths to 3417. Altogether 1775 people recovered from the disease on Tuesday, with the number of active cases reaching almost 60,000 nationwide.Meanwhile, in Kathmandu the city's only electric crematorium at Pashupati that had been designated for Covid-19 patients could not handle bodies even while running round the clock. It has had to arrange pyres for coronavirus dead on the banks of the Bagmati.The crematorium can only take 16 funerals a day, and the number of daily fatalities in Kathmandu have been 20 every day for the past week. In addition, one of the two incinerators at the crematory has broken down.Families of the dead are not allowed inside, and have to watch the group cremation from the other side of the Bagmati River, and often cannot tell which one is the body of their loved ones.

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Kathmandu Valley lockdown till 12 May

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110131116/636cebb99c7e80680e09ad22jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="960" height="640"/><figcaption>All photos: AMIT MACHAMASI</figcaption></figure>As Covid-19 cases continue their record-breaking rise every day, the three district chiefs of Kathmandu Valley agreed on Tuesday to extend the lockdown announced on 29 April for two weeks till 12 May.The decision was taken with further restrictions on movement, and people not allowed to be on the roads unless for funerals or hospital treatment. Market-times have also been shortened to 7-9AM only.All domestic flights in Nepal have been suspended, although helicopter rescues and some charter flights were allowed to operate on Tuesday.From Wednesday midnight, the government has also suspended all international flights till 14 May, allowing only two flights a week between Kathmandu and Delhi.This last decision has come under intense criticism on Nepal's cybersphere, with many ridiculing the rationale for continuing flights to the world's biggest coronavirus hotspot while stopping flights to the rest of the world.Others have railed against the decision to stop outbound flights, even before other countries have banned flights from Nepal. So far, only Hong Kong and Singapore have stopped direct flights from Kathmandu. Airlines have pleaded with the government to at least allow them to bring planes in empty to fly out passengers booked on flights out of Kathmandu.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110131116/636cebbb9c7e80680e09ad23jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="960" height="598"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110131116/636cebbf9c7e80680e09ad24jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="960" height="640"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110131116/636cebc19c7e80680e09ad25jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="960" height="641"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110131116/636cebc39c7e80680e09ad26jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="748" height="499"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110131116/636cebc69c7e80680e09ad27jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="960" height="640"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110131116/636cebc89c7e80680e09ad28jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="960" height="640">Nepal recorded 7,587 new Covid-19 cases-- the highest so far in the pandemic--from 16,702PCR tests on Tuesday. There were 55 fatalities in the past 24 hours, bringing the total tally for Covid-19 deaths to 3417. Altogether 1775 people recovered from the disease on Tuesday, with the number of active cases reaching almost 60,000 nationwide.Meanwhile, in Kathmandu the city's only electric crematorium at Pashupati that had been designated for Covid-19 patients could not handle bodies even while running round the clock. It has had to arrange pyres for coronavirus dead on the banks of the Bagmati.The crematorium can only take 16 funerals a day, and the number of daily fatalities in Kathmandu have been 20 every day for the past week. In addition, one of the two incinerators at the crematory has broken down.Families of the dead are not allowed inside, and have to watch the group cremation from the other side of the Bagmati River, and often cannot tell which one is the body of their loved ones.

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110121156/636ce76f9c7e80680e0967c2jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="750" height="500"/><figcaption>All photos: AMIT MACHAMASI</figcaption></figure>With a deadlier <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/the-covid-tsunami/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">second wave</a> taking root, Kathmandu Valley has enforced a <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/kathmandu-locks-down-again/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">a two-week long lockdown</a> effective today. The city, slowly returning to <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/preparing-for-a-no-normal/">pre-Covid</a> levels of activity and <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/biska-celebrations-begin-in-bhaktapur/">festivity</a>, has once again ground to a halt with empty streets and centers in scenes similar to those of last year’s shutdown.All public and private cars will be off the roads for a week. Exceptions will be vehicles for food, water supply, ambulances and other essential services, medical personnel, journalists with press passes.  Everyone entering Kathmandu by air or road will have to go into mandatory quarantine.Restaurants, bars, pubs and public functions are suspended. Marriage ceremonies cannot have more than 15 guests. Food shops will be allowed to open till 10AM and 5-7pm only.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110121156/636ce7729c7e80680e0967c3jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="960" height="640"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110121156/636ce7759c7e80680e0967c4jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="960" height="638"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110121156/636ce7779c7e80680e0967c5jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="960" height="640"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110121156/636ce77a9c7e80680e0967c6jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="726" height="484"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110121156/636ce77d9c7e80680e0967c7jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="960" height="640"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110121156/636ce77f9c7e80680e0967c8jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="750" height="500"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110121156/636ce7829c7e80680e0967c9jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="750" height="500"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110121156/636ce7849c7e80680e0967cajpeg.jpg" alt="" width="960" height="640"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110121156/636ce7879c7e80680e0967cbjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="960" height="640">Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/new-nepal-lockdown-may-cancel-gains/">New Nepal lockdown may cancel gains</a>, Nepali Times

Lockdown 3.0

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110121156/636ce7109c7e80680e09679fjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="960" height="641"/><figcaption>All photos: AMIT MACHAMASI</figcaption></figure>In a scene reminiscent of last year, tens of thousands of people thronged Kathmandu's main bus terminals to get out of the capital ahead of<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/kathmandu-locks-down-again/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"> Thursday's Covid-19 lockdown</a>.Most are leaving for their home districts in whatever trasport they can find: riding on top of buses, on the back of pickups or in taxis. The three district administrations in Kathmandu Valley announced a two week-long prohibitory order from 29 April as the country confronts a rising trajectory of Covid-19 cases and deaths. However, domestic flights will not be affected by the restrictions.A similar <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/nepal-goes-into-lockdown-for-a-week/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">announcement of a lockdown on 24 March 2020</a> saw an exodus of an estimated one-third of Kathmandu Valley's population. Many who could not find transport walked for weeks from Kathmandu to remote districts.Nepal recorded 4,364 new Covid-19 cases from 14,672 PCR tests on Tuesday, of which 1966 were in Kathmandu Valley--with 1,602 in Kathmandu, 240 in Lalitpur, and 124 in Bhaktapur. There were 18 additional deaths, bringing the official total to 3,194. Meanwhile, the positivity rate has risen more steeply in the second wave to more than 30%, compared to less than 4% in February, while there are more than 25,000 active cases.These photos taken at the Bus Park in Gongabu on Tuesday afternoon show people not caring about keeping physical distance to crowd around ticket counters, potentially risking a community spread of the virus. In the past month, hundreds of thousands of Nepalis have also returned from India, and tests at the border have shown that up to 10-15% of those tested were positive, or had been infected with Covid-19.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110121156/636ce7139c7e80680e0967a0jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="912" height="610"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110121156/636ce7159c7e80680e0967a1jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="960" height="640"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110121156/636ce7189c7e80680e0967a2jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="721" height="481"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110121156/636ce71a9c7e80680e0967a3jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="960" height="640"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110121156/636ce71c9c7e80680e0967a4jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="960" height="640"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110121156/636ce71f9c7e80680e0967a5jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="960" height="641"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110121156/636ce7219c7e80680e0967a6jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="960" height="640"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110121156/636ce7249c7e80680e0967a7jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="720" height="480"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110121156/636ce7279c7e80680e0967a8jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="960" height="640"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110121156/636ce7299c7e80680e0967a9jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="960" height="640">Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/the-covid-tsunami/">The Covid tsunami</a>, Editorial

Another Kathmandu exodus

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110121148/636ce5329c7e80680e0966f1jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"/><figcaption>Photos: AMIT MACHAMASI</figcaption></figure>In a sparse rented room with pink walls, six-year-old Sonish Awal is preparing for his online Nepali class (pictured above) on a smartphone, leaning on a table propped up with a paint bucket.His sister Sonia is coaching the first grader, the baby made famous as <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/bhaktapurs-miracle-boy-at-3/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Nepal’s ‘Miracle Boy’</a> for having survived 22 hours under the rubble of the family’s home in Bhaktapur that was destroyed in the 2015 earthquake.“He is playful and inquisitive, he keeps asking me when we will rebuild our house,” says Rashmila about her son, whom she describes as a happy child who likes to play with other neighbourhood children and watch tv.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3gZtBiMbP0The family’s single room has a sewing machine in which Rashmila, sews clothes for additional income. She has no answer for her son’s persistent questions about rebuilding their house.Her husband Shyam is a truck driver, but the pandemic and lockdowns have reduced his income.When <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/blogs/kundadixit/2015/05/27/a-month-that-felt-like-a-year/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the earthquake struck at 11:56AM on 25 April 2015</a>, Rashmila was out shopping, she rushed back as the ground shook. At their home, Sonia picked up her four-month-old brother, and tried to rush out of the room. A cupboard fell on top of them, and the house came down on top of them.Sonia was unconscious when she was rescued a few hours later, and was rushed to hospital. But <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/awal-family-still-homeless-but-happy-the-children-survived,2349" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Sonish could not be found</a>. Nepal Army rescuers had given up, but were called back in the morning when Rashmila heard a faint wail from under the rubble.They found Sonish covered in dust, with just a scratch in his leg. The photograph of soldier Dipak Rai and other rescuers holding the baby got widespread play in the national and international media. In Nepal, the rescue brought a ray of hope to a nation in shock after the disaster that left nearly 9,000 dead and 22,000 injured.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110121148/636ce5359c7e80680e0966f2jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="559" height="278"><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110121148/636ce5379c7e80680e0966f3jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="481"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Shyam Awal was driving his pickup at Jadibuti, when he felt like he was losing control of the vehicle. He turned around and drove back to <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/bhaktapur-shows-the-way-by-rebuilding-itself/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Bhaktapur</a>, and seeing all the destroyed buildings, he feared the worst.There was a heap of rubble where his home used to be, and his son buried somewhere inside. He rushed to the hospital to find his daughter Sonia was still unconscious. His wife Rashmila was inconsolable."The whole neighbourhood came together for the rescue but each time, it was another corpse that we pulled out, we had given up hope of Sonish surviving so long after the earthquake,” recalls 39-year-old Shyam.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110121148/636ce5399c7e80680e0966f4jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1966" height="1224"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>When they heard the faint cry from the ruin of their four-storey home late into the night, Shyam at first thought it was a dog. But as it became clear that it Sonish whimpering.“We could hear the baby but pulling him out was another story altogether, I was panicking the whole time, knowing he was down there but we couldn’t do much,” recalls Rashmila. “When they finally pulled him out, he was covered in dust. Today, he just has a scar on his left thigh to remind him of the miraculous survival.”After his online exam this week, Rashmila walked Sonish to the ruin of their house that collapsed six years ago. The debris has been cleared, but the space is empty.After his ancestral home was divided between the brothers, Shyam Awal ended up without a land title, his portion of the property is likely to be acquired by the municipality for a road-widening project. The family is planning to build a one-storey house for now, and save on rent.Amul Thapa, who took <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/blogs/thebrief/2015/06/23/the-baby-who-lived/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the now-iconic image</a> of Nepal Army rescuer Dipak Rai lifting Sonish from the rubble, visits the Awals regularly, but is frustrated by the state’s apathy towards the survivors.“The rescue bought the family international fame, even the Prime Minister visited them but they remain where they are, their house is the only one left to be rebuilt in that lane,” says Thapa.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110121148/636ce53c9c7e80680e0966f5jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1000" height="1500"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Nepal Army that played a crucial role in the rescue of Sonish has been paying for the education of both the Awal children through <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/blogs/thebrief/2016/04/24/scholarship-for-miracle-baby/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">a scholarship they set up for until they graduate from high school</a>. After finishing his primary school, Sonish will attend the Army’s high school in Sallaghari.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110121148/636ce53e9c7e80680e0966f6jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Sonish, who celebrated his sixth birthday in October, does not remember that fateful day, but he has grown up looking at the images of himself. Pointing at a cut-out of his picture from a newspaper from six years ago, he says he wants to become a solider when he grows up.At the site of the rescue, Rashmila asks her son where he was trapped. Sonish has been told the story so often that he points to the spot above a half-buried door, and replies cheerfully: “Right here, I was underneath here.”

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Miracle Boy, six years after Nepal quake

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110121144/636ce49e9c7e80680e0966bejpeg.jpg" alt="" width="934" height="623"/><figcaption>All photos: AMIT MACHAMASI</figcaption></figure>Celebrations around Bhaktapur’s Biska Jatra began Saturday afternoon after public outrage over its suspension for a second year led to a Supreme Court intervention.The Bhaktapur District Administration last week had decided to put off the annual celebrations as Nepal sees the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/first-signs-of-the-second-wave/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">first signs of a second Covid wave</a>.  However, the Supreme Court issued an interim order on Friday allowing the festival to be observed, following demands from the Bhaktapur residents that they be allowed to observe the jatra.Nepal recorded 337 new coronavirus cases— 116 among those in Kathmandu, 20 in Lalitpur, and five in Bhaktapur— and one Covid fatality on Friday, while 3,532 tests had been conducted in the last 24 hours.Celebrated for nine days and eight nights, Biska begins with the pulling of the three-storied chariot of Bhaila Kha: from Taumadhi on the first day.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110121144/636ce4a19c7e80680e0966bfjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="822" height="548"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110121144/636ce4a39c7e80680e0966c0jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="768" height="513"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110121144/636ce4a59c7e80680e0966c1jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="747" height="498"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110121144/636ce4a89c7e80680e0966c2jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="933" height="622"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110121144/636ce4aa9c7e80680e0966c3jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="930" height="620"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110121144/636ce4ad9c7e80680e0966c4jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="729" height="486"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110121144/636ce4af9c7e80680e0966c5jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="768" height="513"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110121144/636ce4b29c7e80680e0966c6jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="768" height="512"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110121144/636ce4b49c7e80680e0966c7jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="768" height="512"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110121144/636ce4b79c7e80680e0966c8jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="954" height="636">Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-braces-for-its-2nd-covid-wave/">Nepal braces for its 2nd Covid wave</a>, Sonia Awale

Biska celebrations begin in Bhaktapur

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111012110/636cd9e39c7e80680e092ecajpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="844"/><figcaption>For the third straight day, air quality over Nepal has been at hazardous levels. In Pokhara, the smoke obliterated a view of the other side of the lake. Photo: BHUSHAN TULADHAR</figcaption></figure>There were already indications in December that the wildfire season in the Himalaya was starting early. There had been no rain for three months, and the forests were already burning from Piuthan to Pathivara. One forest blaze in Manang started in November and was still raging two months later.During the Nepal Literature Festival in Pokhara in January, guests noticed the summit of Mt Machapuchre devoid of snow and the base of the mountain covered in smoke from a vast forest fire.The blazes then spread to Lamjung and Rasuwa, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/dirty-politics-dirty-air/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/dirty-politics-dirty-air/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1616998051227000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEPru_Q8PRGnvZpCeIL2stw9u2mjQ">blowing the smoke to Kathmandu</a> where the Air Quality Index (AQI) crossed 500 on the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/kathmandu-air-pollution-hits-record-high/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/kathmandu-air-pollution-hits-record-high/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1616998051227000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHn4azWNbMze_6T7pF3JunQg_drkA">afternoon of 5 January</a>, raising calls for the government to declare a health emergency.It only got worse in February and March, and by last week there are hundreds of wildfires spreading right across the Tarai and mid-mountains of Nepal, shrouding the whole country in smoke. People complained of stinging eyes, headaches and breathing difficulties.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111012110/636cd9e69c7e80680e092ecbjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="480">The Air Quality Index that measures the concentration of harmful particles below 2.5 microns <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/kathmandu-air-pollution-hits-record-high/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/kathmandu-air-pollution-hits-record-high/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1616998051227000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHn4azWNbMze_6T7pF3JunQg_drkA">rose to 632 in Kathmandu on Friday, 26 March</a> as a brisk southwesterly breeze blew in smoke from fires in Chitwan, Makwanpur and Parsa.On Sunday, the AQI had stayed above 400 for the third straight day – ten times higher than air quality that the World Health Organization deems safe to breathe, with peaks of 550-600. The smoke was thick enough to blot out the sun and the full moon.<a href="https://firms2.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov/map/#t:adv;d:2021-03-27..2021-03-28;l:noaa20-viirs,nrt_noaa20-viirs,nrt_modis_a;@85.0,28.1,8z" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://firms2.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov/map/%23t:adv;d:2021-03-27..2021-03-28;l:noaa20-viirs,nrt_noaa20-viirs,nrt_modis_a;@85.0,28.1,8z&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1616998051227000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFyj2rqx2QMCbzMRR0SV4U1Xd6yOw">NASA satellite images</a> taken on Sunday, 28 March showed extensive fires still sending plumes of smoke across the foothills of the eastern Himalaya and up the river valleys, sometimes right up into Tibet.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-lLDTIYP-Us“As required by the Cabinet decision last year on the Air Quality Action Plan, the government should have declared an emergency after the AQI crossed 300,” says environmental activist Bhushan Tuladhar. “This would mean closing schools and factories, reducing traffic and strict controls on open burning.”However, except for a statement by the Ministry of Health warning citizens about <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/breathing-is-hazardous-to-health/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">high air pollution levels</a> that left it up to them to take care of their own health, a government consumed by political infighting has not been bothered by a crisis that adds to the threat of a Covid-19 surge.Most environmentalists agree that this year’s fire has been unprecedented. Previous wildfires in 2008 and 2012 in Rasuwa and Nuwakot had also turned the sky dark over Kathmandu, but only briefly. What worries them is the extended nature of the current spate of fires that has now lasted five months, and continues to get worse.They say the main reason for this year’s disaster is the extended winter drought, with precipitation over Central Nepal at only 10% of normal, and the dry spell continuing into spring. Scientists are reluctant to make a direct correlation between climate crisis and individual weather events, but studies have shown that climate-related droughts did contribute to last year’s devastating fires in California and Australia."Spring rainfall varies year to year. Last year we had a relatively wet spring. This year is exceptionally dry with forest fires already in January," says Arnico Panday, an atmospheric scientist and senior research fellow at the Institute for Integrated Development Studies (IIDS). "While it is difficult to immediately connect specific events to climate change, which considers average change over decades, there is an expectation that climate change will bring more extreme dry and wet events even if total precipitation stays the same.”There could be other factors at play like accumulated brush in the undergrowth because of the movement restrictions last year that added  flammable material to the forest floor. Spring is a season when many farmers deliberately light fires to encourage new shoots for their livestock to graze on, or before maize planting. These practices could have allowed fires to spread faster this year because the underbrush was already tinder dry.Depopulation of Nepal’s hinterland due to out-migration also means there are fewer people to make and maintain firebreaks in community forests, and also to extinguish local fires when they ignite. Forest management has historically also tended to be less responsive during periods of instability, especially when there is uncertainty over control over natural resources at the local level.https://youtu.be/tcbA-epQ6UoForest fires burning out of control in the mountains of Achham district on 10 March. Video: KUNDA DIXITIndeed, even the federal government’s response seem to be to let the fires burn themselves out. Despite the unprecedented scale of the blazes the Home Ministry has not mobilised the security forces and local authorities to take action. National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority has so far only been counting the number of fires, and expressing concern.Besides addressing the immediate health concerns for millions of Nepalis who are <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/dirty-politics-dirty-air/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">exposed to hazardous air</a> for days on end, the government also has to start looking at minimising the damage during the annual fire season in future.<a style="font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/wildfires-ravage-nepal-mountains/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">This year’s wildfires</a> have received a lot of attention because Kathmandu and other cities were badly affected, but air quality experts say the cumulative impact of vehicular emission and industrial pollution throughout the year is much more harmful to health. There is also cross-border industrial pollution, smoke from crop residue burning, as well as wind-blown desert sand dust, which have been particularly acute in the past months.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111012110/636cd9e89c7e80680e092eccjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="745"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111012110/636cd9ec9c7e80680e092ecdjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="743"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>“This week’s forest fires just made the existing air pollution in Kathmandu worse, we should be doing a lot more to reduce vehicular exhaust, brick kilns and open garbage burning,” says Bhushan Tuladhar, a board member of Sajha Yatayat which last week opened a tender for 40 electric buses to upgrade Kathmandu’s urban transport system.And although Kathmandu got a bad name this weekend for topping the list of the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/polluted-politics/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">world’s most polluted cities</a>, experts say such rankings are misleading because they ignore other urban centres like Bharatpur or Simra where the air quality has been even worse for longer periods.“In the past couple of years, we have learnt that the absolute worst air quality in cities like Delhi, San Francisco, Sydney or Kathmandu is found when they are importing smoke from large nearby biomass fires,” explains Arnico Panday, who is also CEO of the Ullens Education Foundation. “Actually it is the vehicles and industries that have larger year-around emissions.”Meanwhile, meteorologists say there is no change in wind direction or rain forecast this week to blow away smoke, or douse the fires. Without any ground or aerial firefighting ability on the scale needed, it may just be that Nepal will have to wait for the fires to burn themselves out.

Kunda Dixit

Nepal is going up in smoke

<figure><img width="1334" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109191120/636bef864b0ad905ca02efb3jpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Rob Powell in his Koh Samui studio.</figcaption></figure>Last Wednesday, 16 December 2020, marked the passing of a visionary artist who shared his unique perceptions of Asian architecture, art and culture with the world. With an eye beguiled by beauty and a heart attuned to the strange and ineffable qualities of physical heritage, Robert Gordon Powell was a magician with pen, pencil and brush.Born in Australia in 1948, Rob was teaching art and studying architecture when the Baul clan from just divided state of Bengal in India, came to perform songs, dance and rituals in his university town. This initial introduction to the human-spirit world deeply intrigued him, and the Bauls, who stayed at his home, recognised in him a kindred soul. Laxman Das Baul invited Rob to visit their Bengali village. Arriving at the teeming Howrah train station, riding the branch line through idyllic rice paddies and ending with an hour-long rickshaw ride deeper into mud-walled thatch-roofed villages, the young man from ‘down under’ was transported into an utterly different reality.While sketching and experiencing life in Bengal, Rob heard that Ladakh had recently opened to foreigners, and determined to visit there as well. His camera disappeared en route, being fate’s way of telling him that hand drawings were to be his primary means of documenting what he encountered. This foray immersed him in Himalayan culture which became his most famous subject matter. He first documented Ladakhi buildings painstakingly with dots, the lightest possible method of rendition, well-suited to a patient artist and perfectly suited to the high mountain light, soft palette of colours and often eroded surfaces of Ladakhi architecture. Rob recorded architecture in Swat and Kalash Valleys of Pakistan, evolving a still detailed but faster illustration of light and shadow through cross-hatching in ink.  <figure><img width="1786" height="1255" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109191120/636bef894b0ad905ca02efb4jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>He documented the shamanistic culture of Western Nepal, portraying the initiation of a female shaman who meditated all night on a makeshift perch of perilously few small branches lashed high on a pole above her village. He drew drums, amulets and drumsticks - ritual implements that shamans used to mesmerise the world and captivate those journeying with them.These ethnographically rich locales were sparse in material comforts, and Rob found his way to Kathmandu to more comfortably complete and develop paintings from his sketches. Here he became familiar with the Newa brick, wood and plaster architecture of the Kathmandu Valley. He recognised that temples and residences follow traditional shapes, incorporate sacred proportions, and create a feeling that resonates with community, professional, and visitor. He turned to red pigment watercolours to depict the रातो माटो brick and tile work, and used browns, creams and greys to show how time tempers wood, plaster and stone. He was commissioned to design the Green Pastures Hospital in Pokhara, a comely complex resembling monastic quarters in layout, with the warm detailing of a traditional, welcoming inn.Early in Rob’s three decades in Kathmandu, he encountered the German government’s largest development project in the world at the time – the restoration and conservation of the traditional city of Bhaktapur. Fortuitously meeting its leader, the Austrian conservation architect Götz Hagenmüller and his wife Ludmilla before they departed on holiday, they commissioned Rob to produce eleven drawings of Bhaktapur, including the Kuthu Math priest’s house that they would later renovate as their exquisite residence. These drawings were exhibited at the Vajra Hotel art gallery. The most challenging piece was a small Kuthu Math room which had been used for years for distilling छ्याङ beer. The first sketch showed it cluttered and with blackened walls. After careful cleaning, Rob painted it as the three-century old puja room it originally was — every inch of wall richly decorated with sacred Krishna-Lila murals.Rob’s Bhaktapur work generated a lifelong friendship with Götz, and professional recognition that brought further work in cultural heritage. His skills had arrived at a moment when the world was athirst for all things Himalayan, including the Kathmandu Valley’s ten World Heritage sites. Rob deeply appreciated the works of the great traditional Newar Malla artisans and honed what he saw into radiant compositions that elicited ancient memories and enticed new perceptions. Before long, Rob was engaged by the Nepal government’s Department of Archaeology to accompany their team to Mustang. He travelled on foot and horseback to Lo Manthang, sketching the luminous, mineral-laden mountain-scape.  <figure><img width="640" height="883" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109191120/636bef8c4b0ad905ca02efb5jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><figure><img width="1000" height="570" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109191120/636bef8e4b0ad905ca02efb6jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>At the town of Lo, he spent hours on site, absorbing the forms and feelings of the buildings. He celebrated the rich red, white and black colours painted and poured down walls, to call forth the protection of the gods, Manjushri, Avalokitesvara, and Vajrapani on vulnerable building corners and doorways. He vividly highlighted the ram skulls and horns that are positioned above an opening to protect the inhabitants against malicious spirits.When Rob met Mary Slusser, cultural researcher and author of Nepal Mandala, she was impressed with his virtuoso artwork and arranged for him to show at the Sackler Gallery, part of the Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC.  <figure><img width="634" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109191120/636bef914b0ad905ca02efb7jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><figure><img width="634" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109191120/636bef934b0ad905ca02efb8jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>That exhibition, ‘<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Earth-Door-Sky-Paintings-Mustang/dp/0906026539" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.amazon.com/Earth-Door-Sky-Paintings-Mustang/dp/0906026539&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1608384932546000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGHfnIrkqsbLWIUtsX4spUYkN_ICQ">Earth Door, Sky Door, Paintings of Mustang</a>’ in 1999 introduced the global art world to Robert Powell. His works embraced and slipped beyond the boundaries of ethnography into <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=5455" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id%3D5455&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1608384932546000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGfwWsIIqTmokZ4-CsuhYIvAyK5ag">apparitional forms that reflect the essence of the Himalaya</a>. Michael O’Sullivan of The Washington Post said it well, 'Robert draws buildings in an animistic way that reveals something that lies beyond what can be seen.' <figure><img width="1926" height="1244" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109191120/636bef954b0ad905ca02efb9jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>In 1992, Rob married Lieve Aerts, a Belgian woman and teacher of yoga and chi qong, who became his partner for life. After three decades happily settled in the centre of the culture that he portrayed so well, Rob contracted a lung infection that left his health vulnerable. Rehabilitating at length in Europe, he was advised not to return to the poor air quality of Kathmandu. Rob and Lieve moved to Koh Samui, Thailand, where he designed the Kamalaya spa and an exquisite home for themselves that encompassed huge hillside boulders, lush trees and a sublime view over the Gulf of Thailand. As the inside trees grew, so did the building, with some roof sections rebuilt several times to accommodate the surging foliage.  <img width="597" height="824" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109191120/636bef984b0ad905ca02efbajpeg.jpg" alt="">In Thailand, Rob expanded upon the Himalayan themes that had fascinated him. Rams’ horns that protected the doors of Lo Manthang grew to a full, fantastical wall of hornery. Mountainsides that had housed the awesome Bamyan Buddhas in northern Afghanistan were re-depicted with dakinis, looming, sensual female figures with small fangs to ward off treacherous foes. He discovered new media, moving into acrylics to capture the brilliant, evanescent skies and water around them, and to explore singularly potent spiritual symbols.In 2019 Andrei Jewell made the documentary, Enchanted Matter, capturing Rob’s life, art and philosophy. Sadly his health gradually deteriorated. He passed away with Lieve at his side, in a room brightened by a view to a brilliant, orange-flowered tree, with music and candles to accompany his final journey.Robert will not be forgotten. He will live on in our memories as a beloved, gentle being and a prodigious creator of wondrous works of art, who encouraged us to let the strange and beautiful lift us into enchantment. Linda Kentro and James Giambrone are founders of the Indigo Art Gallery in Kathmandu.

Robert G Powell, 1948-2020

<figure><img width="1334" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181148/636be8929c7e80680e08786ajpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Rob Powell in his Koh Samui studio.</figcaption></figure>Last Wednesday, 16 December 2020, marked the passing of a visionary artist who shared his unique perceptions of Asian architecture, art and culture with the world. With an eye beguiled by beauty and a heart attuned to the strange and ineffable qualities of physical heritage, Robert Gordon Powell was a magician with pen, pencil and brush.Born in Australia in 1948, Rob was teaching art and studying architecture when the Baul clan from just divided state of Bengal in India, came to perform songs, dance and rituals in his university town. This initial introduction to the human-spirit world deeply intrigued him, and the Bauls, who stayed at his home, recognised in him a kindred soul. Laxman Das Baul invited Rob to visit their Bengali village. Arriving at the teeming Howrah train station, riding the branch line through idyllic rice paddies and ending with an hour-long rickshaw ride deeper into mud-walled thatch-roofed villages, the young man from ‘down under’ was transported into an utterly different reality.While sketching and experiencing life in Bengal, Rob heard that Ladakh had recently opened to foreigners, and determined to visit there as well. His camera disappeared en route, being fate’s way of telling him that hand drawings were to be his primary means of documenting what he encountered. This foray immersed him in Himalayan culture which became his most famous subject matter. He first documented Ladakhi buildings painstakingly with dots, the lightest possible method of rendition, well-suited to a patient artist and perfectly suited to the high mountain light, soft palette of colours and often eroded surfaces of Ladakhi architecture. Rob recorded architecture in Swat and Kalash Valleys of Pakistan, evolving a still detailed but faster illustration of light and shadow through cross-hatching in ink.  <figure><img width="1786" height="1255" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181148/636be8959c7e80680e08786bjpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>He documented the shamanistic culture of Western Nepal, portraying the initiation of a female shaman who meditated all night on a makeshift perch of perilously few small branches lashed high on a pole above her village. He drew drums, amulets and drumsticks - ritual implements that shamans used to mesmerise the world and captivate those journeying with them.These ethnographically rich locales were sparse in material comforts, and Rob found his way to Kathmandu to more comfortably complete and develop paintings from his sketches. Here he became familiar with the Newa brick, wood and plaster architecture of the Kathmandu Valley. He recognised that temples and residences follow traditional shapes, incorporate sacred proportions, and create a feeling that resonates with community, professional, and visitor. He turned to red pigment watercolours to depict the रातो माटो brick and tile work, and used browns, creams and greys to show how time tempers wood, plaster and stone. He was commissioned to design the Green Pastures Hospital in Pokhara, a comely complex resembling monastic quarters in layout, with the warm detailing of a traditional, welcoming inn.Early in Rob’s three decades in Kathmandu, he encountered the German government’s largest development project in the world at the time – the restoration and conservation of the traditional city of Bhaktapur. Fortuitously meeting its leader, the Austrian conservation architect Götz Hagenmüller and his wife Ludmilla before they departed on holiday, they commissioned Rob to produce eleven drawings of Bhaktapur, including the Kuthu Math priest’s house that they would later renovate as their exquisite residence. These drawings were exhibited at the Vajra Hotel art gallery. The most challenging piece was a small Kuthu Math room which had been used for years for distilling छ्याङ beer. The first sketch showed it cluttered and with blackened walls. After careful cleaning, Rob painted it as the three-century old puja room it originally was — every inch of wall richly decorated with sacred Krishna-Lila murals.Rob’s Bhaktapur work generated a lifelong friendship with Götz, and professional recognition that brought further work in cultural heritage. His skills had arrived at a moment when the world was athirst for all things Himalayan, including the Kathmandu Valley’s ten World Heritage sites. Rob deeply appreciated the works of the great traditional Newar Malla artisans and honed what he saw into radiant compositions that elicited ancient memories and enticed new perceptions. Before long, Rob was engaged by the Nepal government’s Department of Archaeology to accompany their team to Mustang. He travelled on foot and horseback to Lo Manthang, sketching the luminous, mineral-laden mountain-scape.  <figure><img width="640" height="883" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181148/636be8989c7e80680e08786cjpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><figure><img width="1000" height="570" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181148/636be89b9c7e80680e08786djpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>At the town of Lo, he spent hours on site, absorbing the forms and feelings of the buildings. He celebrated the rich red, white and black colours painted and poured down walls, to call forth the protection of the gods, Manjushri, Avalokitesvara, and Vajrapani on vulnerable building corners and doorways. He vividly highlighted the ram skulls and horns that are positioned above an opening to protect the inhabitants against malicious spirits.When Rob met Mary Slusser, cultural researcher and author of Nepal Mandala, she was impressed with his virtuoso artwork and arranged for him to show at the Sackler Gallery, part of the Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC.  <figure><img width="634" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181148/636be89d9c7e80680e08786ejpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><figure><img width="634" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181148/636be89f9c7e80680e08786fjpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>That exhibition, ‘<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Earth-Door-Sky-Paintings-Mustang/dp/0906026539" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.amazon.com/Earth-Door-Sky-Paintings-Mustang/dp/0906026539&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1608384932546000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGHfnIrkqsbLWIUtsX4spUYkN_ICQ">Earth Door, Sky Door, Paintings of Mustang</a>’ in 1999 introduced the global art world to Robert Powell. His works embraced and slipped beyond the boundaries of ethnography into <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=5455" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id%3D5455&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1608384932546000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGfwWsIIqTmokZ4-CsuhYIvAyK5ag">apparitional forms that reflect the essence of the Himalaya</a>. Michael O’Sullivan of The Washington Post said it well, 'Robert draws buildings in an animistic way that reveals something that lies beyond what can be seen.' <figure><img width="1926" height="1244" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181148/636be8a29c7e80680e087870jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>In 1992, Rob married Lieve Aerts, a Belgian woman and teacher of yoga and chi qong, who became his partner for life. After three decades happily settled in the centre of the culture that he portrayed so well, Rob contracted a lung infection that left his health vulnerable. Rehabilitating at length in Europe, he was advised not to return to the poor air quality of Kathmandu. Rob and Lieve moved to Koh Samui, Thailand, where he designed the Kamalaya spa and an exquisite home for themselves that encompassed huge hillside boulders, lush trees and a sublime view over the Gulf of Thailand. As the inside trees grew, so did the building, with some roof sections rebuilt several times to accommodate the surging foliage.  <img width="597" height="824" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181148/636be8a59c7e80680e087871jpeg.jpg" alt="">In Thailand, Rob expanded upon the Himalayan themes that had fascinated him. Rams’ horns that protected the doors of Lo Manthang grew to a full, fantastical wall of hornery. Mountainsides that had housed the awesome Bamyan Buddhas in northern Afghanistan were re-depicted with dakinis, looming, sensual female figures with small fangs to ward off treacherous foes. He discovered new media, moving into acrylics to capture the brilliant, evanescent skies and water around them, and to explore singularly potent spiritual symbols.In 2019 Andrei Jewell made the documentary, Enchanted Matter, capturing Rob’s life, art and philosophy. Sadly his health gradually deteriorated. He passed away with Lieve at his side, in a room brightened by a view to a brilliant, orange-flowered tree, with music and candles to accompany his final journey.Robert will not be forgotten. He will live on in our memories as a beloved, gentle being and a prodigious creator of wondrous works of art, who encouraged us to let the strange and beautiful lift us into enchantment. Linda Kentro and James Giambrone are founders of the Indigo Art Gallery in Kathmandu.

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109191116/636bef224b0ad905ca02ef8bjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="2405" height="1604"/><figcaption>All photos: MONIKA DEUPALA</figcaption></figure>Traditionally, the average lifespan of a Nepali used to be 40-45. Child mortality rate was high, and very few people lived to a ripe old age.Which meant that living long was a cause for celebration in the family, clan and community. People in Kathmandu Valley's Newa community celebrate 'Janko' or 'Buda Pasni' at milestones of 77, 82, 88, 99 and 105 years.Look at it like a birthday, but is performed every decade or so after a person crosses 77. In case of couples, the Janko is performed according to the husband's age. For a single person, the date of birth and birth charts are consulted.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWfPedYI9Nk&amp;feature=youtu.be&amp;fbclid=IwAR10NOtHZJuTaE5G5KhforoSFRPhTDA6f_-UED6-W5mG8UnXujuDUajACMkThe first Janku known as Bhim Ratharohan is performed when a person is 77 years, 7 months and 7 days old. The grandchildren pull the chariots and the family tours the city and temple amidst much fanfare.The second is Chandra Ratharohan performed at 82 years, 4 months and 4 days. Dev Ratharohan is the third Janko at 88 years, 8 months and 8 days. Divya Ratharohan at 99 years, 9 months and 9 days and the last one when a person reaches 105 years, 8 months and 8 days.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109191116/636bef254b0ad905ca02ef8cjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="4096" height="2730"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109191116/636bef284b0ad905ca02ef8djpeg.jpg" alt="" width="2520" height="1680"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109191116/636bef2b4b0ad905ca02ef8ejpeg.jpg" alt="" width="4096" height="2730"><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109191116/636bef2f4b0ad905ca02ef8fjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="4096" height="2730"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>As people live longer, the processions in which elderly citizens are paraded around town have become more and more common. Photographs from a Jankothis week of Bishnu Bhakta Deupala and Jas Maya Deupala, who are celebrating 77 years, 7 months and 7 days.

bhaktapur

Kathmandu Valley lockdown till 12 May

Kathmandu Valley lockdown till 12 May

Lockdown 3.0

Another Kathmandu exodus

Miracle Boy, six years after Nepal quake

Biska celebrations begin in Bhaktapur

Nepal is going up in smoke

Robert G Powell, 1948-2020

Robert G Powell, 1948-2020

Long live tradition