In an English city, my aunt had learned to call home, it was the pursuit of familiarity that really gave her the purpose to stay. One weekend, she sat on the stairs, making frantic calls. My uncle punched numbers on his Nokia cell phone. Where? What time? Are tickets available? They echoed one another. Both were trying to book tickets for the only screening of Bollywood’s <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0420332/">Veer Zara</a>, in a city near us.
My cousins and me, we waited with bated breath. This would be an opportunity to watch a Bollywood film on the big screen. In the early-2000s, screening of Bollywood in the cinemas had not yet become a thing in England, so South Asians would organise their own screenings.
Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/suburban-tales/light-of-the-absurd">Light of the absurd</a>, Pratibha Tuladhar
Tickets were finally booked and we rushed out, thrusting our arms through our coats as we hastily locked the door behind us. “This is as far as Nagarkot is from Kathmandu,” my uncle said aloud, as he drove. Would we have covered the same distance to go watch a “Hindi” film in Kathmandu? Probably not. But in the UK, we did, racing towards a collective, South Asian sentiment.
When we arrived, the theatre premise was packed with Indians, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis and Nepalis. Immediately, there was the relaxing of the muscles you experience in the presence of the familiar.
Probably among the last people to buy the tickets, ours weren’t the best seats. We were on the very first row, and for the rest of the show, we would tilt our head up towards the screen, as though clamouring for some love, while the actors would virtually breathe down our necks.
Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/suburban-tales/memory-of-a-conversation">Memory of as conversation</a>, Pratibha Tuladhar
We weren’t the only ones with bad seats. Some in the audience had been accommodated on make-shift chairs. The auditorium was packed all the way to the exit.
As <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0451321/?ref_=tt_ov_st">Shah Rukh Khan</a> rescued <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0006689/?ref_=tt_ov_st">Priety Zinta</a> by slinging on a chopper, I remember flinching in my seat, as though they would fall on my face. A Nepali family friend, Mahesh Mahaseth, who happened to be sitting next to me, nudged and laughed at me when tears ran down my face as the India-Pakistan romance transpired. I remember thinking at that time how cruel-South-Asian-male that behaviour was-- teasing a girl in tears.
Even as my dislike for Shah Rukh Khan (SRK) continued to build-up, I joined other women and girls in the audience and cried during all the sad scenes. The men cleared their throat. And although it seemed like SRK was demonstrating that it is okay for men to weep, to be vulnerable and heartbroken, that precedent wasn’t quite set off screen.
Regardless, we all went home purged. Post-catharsis.
…
For many South Asian women, SRK is religion, said my friend Ayub, and sent me a snapshot of the book, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Desperately-Seeking-Shah-Rukh-Independence/dp/9354891934">Desperately Seeking Shah Rukh by Shrayana Bhattacharya</a>. Ayub described SRK as “the resilient embodiment of liberalism.” I asked him to elaborate and we ended up hate-watching <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt15354916/">Jawan</a>. (Was he a convert by the end of the film? He might answer that in a separate article.)
Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/suburban-tales/the-light-of-feet">The light of feet</a>, Pratibha Tuladhar
I cannot remember the last time I watched a Bollywood movie in the theatre. So, when the audience cheered and clapped every time SRK dismantled a bad guy, I was surprised. And while the audience responded in euphoria, I found that I was quickly disassociating: what was this film beyond a family drama steeped in violence, a revenge tragedy interlude, and family reunion with the Robin Hood of a son, all woven into the narrative of vindication of geopolitics? But the show was house-full and parents had their toddlers in tow.
There are no sanitised versions of the world here, for children.
“I was not expecting so much crowd for a Bollywood masala movie. I was surprised to be honest,” Hashim Ahmad Hakeem, video producer from India, who went to the film’s screening in Kathmandu with friends from South Asia, told me. “It was amazing bonding over the movie and realising most of us have grown up in the same Bollywood cinema.”
Hakeem was participating in the Adenauer Media Leaders Academy in Kathmandu. On the sidelines of the event, one of the things the fellows did together was watch Jawan.
Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/suburban-tales/of-anger-and-love">Of anger and love</a>, Pratibha Tuladhar
“I watched it because Bollywood movies are banned in Pakistani cinemas. Secondly, I wanted to watch with fellows from other countries, specifically India as they are very much enthusiastic about Shah Rukh Khan. So, I enjoyed their cheering more than the movie,” says Abbass Raza, an aspiring journalist from Pakistan.
For many South Asians, Bollywood movies are about coming home to culture and language they can relate to.
“Honestly, this will always be memorable,” says Navneeta Nandan, journalist with The Economic Times. “It signifies the strength of art. We can be geographically apart but this can always be something that will keep us connected- cinema, music from different countries.”
…
On a certain terrace restaurant in the heart of Kathmandu, a friend from Pakistan and I get talking about architecture and end up discussing Pakistani teleserials. In the 80s, Nepal Television used to broadcast Pakistani series as an endorsement of its friendly relations with Pakistan. Some viewers at the time, even named their children after their favourite characters.
My aunt who lives in an English city, which has become her home, still binges on Pakistani series and records Indian serials. In the solitude of a foreign land, content in languages she can speak have always been her friends.
Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/suburban-tales/a-letter-to-a-sister">A letter to a sister</a>, Pratibha Tuladhar
Soap operas were created for housewives, who would watch them after putting their day’s work to rest, as though visiting old friends in the emptiness of their days. While on weekends husband and children filled the hours, on weekdays, they would go back to conversing with their virtual friends: women who sometimes did not represent their reality, and sometimes, offered them the comfort of heroism.
At my request, my friend from Pakistan shared a very long list of recommended Pakistani dramas. I forwarded it to my aunt. And here’s what she wrote back: Thank you, chhori. I have watched ALL of them! :)

Pratibha Tuladhar

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Navigating invisible borders

On a usual bustling March morning in Karachi, roads choked with traffic and the air thick with trumpeting horns, the clock is ticking for Ramu Kharel’s <a href="https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=529015909314191" target="_blank">morning show appearance</a> on Geo TV. A physician of Nepali origin who teaches <a href="https://vivo.brown.edu/display/rkharel" target="_blank">emergency medicine at Brown University</a> in the United States, Kharel was on his way back from Nepal after training staff in hospitals. Karachi is only two-and-half hours flying time away, but since there are no direct flights from Kathmandu, he had to overfly Pakistan all the way to Dubai and fly back after a long layover. Kharel was in Pakistan for the first time and it was at the invitation of <a href="https://www.aku.edu/mcpk/cete/Pages/directors-message.aspx" target="_blank">Dr Junaid Razzak</a> of <a href="https://plsp.org.pk/Pages/home.aspx" target="_blank">Pakistan Life Savers Programme</a> (PLSP) at Aga Khan University. It aims to educate 10 million lay persons over the next decade on cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and bleeding control. Cardiac arrests <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1649189" target="_blank">claim up to 47 lives per hour</a> in Pakistan. <div class="embed-block"><div><div style="left: 0; width: 100%; height: 0; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%;"><iframe src="//cdn.iframe.ly/api/iframe?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fembed%2FbCxUc71CqTo&key=87ca3314a9fa775b5c3a7726100694b0" style="top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute; border: 0;" allowfullscreen scrolling="no" allow="accelerometer *; clipboard-write *; encrypted-media *; gyroscope *; picture-in-picture *; web-share *;"></iframe></div></div></div> “The possibility of resuscitation increases if a person is trained in CPR and choking prevention,” says Kharel. “It typically takes 45 minutes for an ambulance to arrive, but by then the brain suffers irreversible damage.”&nbsp; Kharel was in Nepal to introduce a similar program, training frontline providers, police officers and bystanders who are often first responders. Kharel was born in Gulmi district, and experienced first hand the devastating consequences of poverty and poor health infrastructure. He lost his mother when he was just eight because she could not be taken to a hospital in time, and this fuelled Kharel’s determination to improve healthcare access to underserved communities. His uncle was a <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/my-uncle-died-in-qatar" target="_blank">migrant worker in Qatar who died</a> while making infrastructure for the FIFA World Cup. His employers in Qatar only listed his death as ‘cardiac arrest’ as the cause, since they did not have to pay compensation for&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2023061205064_e0ebc99527e1c9e16aacb0e4da2ac6808398634b2179c7c4d294abff0da5b636.png" data-media-id="editor_7" data-image-id="2023061205064_e0ebc99527e1c9e16aacb0e4da2ac6808398634b2179c7c4d294abff0da5b636" data-rendition-name="original" width="1184" height="1493" loading="lazy" alt="Ramu Kharel on screens"> <figcaption>Ramu Kharel on screens at the Geo TV studio as he talks about the Pakistan Life Savers Programme and recites Urdu poetry.</figcaption> </figure>  A member of the <a href="https://southasiapeace.com/category/sapan-news-network/" target="_blank">Southasia Peace Action Network (Sapan)</a> that works for cooperation in the region, Kharel says Nepal can learn a lot from Pakistan’s experience with trauma care. “Our mountains unite us and we even look alike,” he says. “Sadly, it’s the petty egos of those in power that keep us divided.” Highway crashes claim some <a href="https://extranet.who.int/roadsafety/death-on-the-roads/#deaths" target="_blank">half a million lives</a> a year in South Asia, and as a member of <a href="https://youtu.be/bCxUc71CqTo" target="_blank">Sapan’s road-safety</a> group, Kharel has been trying to find region wide solutions.&nbsp; When cataclysmic floods swept one-third of Pakistan last year, the government of <a href="https://reliefweb.int/report/pakistan/press-release-nepals-humanitarian-assistance-pakistan" target="_blank">Nepal promptly donated</a> relief goods, including tons of food, shelter, and medical assistance for the victims.&nbsp; And in 2015, when a deadly <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zgkksrd/revision/5" target="_blank">earthquake</a> killed over 8,500 people in Nepal, <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1178334" target="_blank">Pakistan helped</a>, sending four aircrafts with a 30-bed hospital, special search and rescue teams including Army doctors and food items. <div class="embed-block"><div><div style="left: 0; width: 100%; height: 0; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%;"><iframe src="//cdn.iframe.ly/api/iframe?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fembed%2FUGLikHax0OQ&key=87ca3314a9fa775b5c3a7726100694b0" style="top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute; border: 0;" allowfullscreen scrolling="no" allow="accelerometer *; clipboard-write *; encrypted-media *; gyroscope *; picture-in-picture *; web-share *;"></iframe></div></div></div> It was in the aftermath of the Nepal earthquake that Kharel established a health advancement committee in Nepal in collaboration with local communities to provide more decision-making power over their healthcare systems. Working with local governments, he led a program to overhaul local healthcare systems. &nbsp; In coming years, Nepal and Pakistan are likely to face more flood disasters due to accelerating climate change. “Since local communities will be first to react in an emergency, preparing them for disaster response and developing their healthcare systems is crucial,” he says. When he is not working on ways to improve healthcare, Kharel is actively creating content on social media as @namestedoc on <a href="https://www.instagram.com/namastedoc/?hl=en" target="_blank">Instagram</a> and <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@namastedoctor" target="_blank">TikTok</a>. While his target audience is largely Nepali, Kharel has a TikTok following of nearly 100,000 with over 3.8 million likes on his videos. It was during the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/news/a-little-help-goes-a-long-way-in-home-isolation" target="_blank">Covid-19 pandemic</a> in 2020 that he began <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtV5j7DdJT0" target="_blank">using social media </a>to spread health awareness, starting with <a href="https://vt.tiktok.com/ZS8om7XeM/" target="_blank">a TikTok video</a> from Nepal appealing for vaccines.&nbsp; Kharel also loves basketball and Urdu poetry. Guided by his mentor <a href="https://liberalarts.utexas.edu/mes/faculty/hydersa" target="_blank">Syed Akbar Hyder</a>, an associate professor of Asian Studies and Islamic Studies at the University of Texas at Austin, he is a fluent Urdu speaker.&nbsp; <div class="embed-block"><div><div style="left: 0; width: 100%; height: 0; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%;"><iframe src="//cdn.iframe.ly/api/iframe?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fembed%2FvtV5j7DdJT0&key=87ca3314a9fa775b5c3a7726100694b0" style="top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute; border: 0;" allowfullscreen scrolling="no" allow="accelerometer *; clipboard-write *; encrypted-media *; gyroscope *; picture-in-picture *; web-share *;"></iframe></div></div></div> The Nepali doctor’s love for Urdu poetry started when Hyde shared a couplet by Ghalib at an introductory class. “We spent the entire class discussing one couplet. I was hooked by the ‘ibham’ (ambiguity), the beauty and the depth of the lines, and I knew I had to learn this language,” he recalls. Under UT Austin’s <a href="https://liberalarts.utexas.edu/asianstudies/news/hindi-urdu-flagship-student-wins-two-prestigious-awards" target="_blank">Hindi-Urdu Flagship programme</a>, he along with six other students lived for a year in India in 2009, travelling and immersing themselves in Urdu language and culture. Kharel interned with an organisation in Lucknow working to raise the standard of living and education for Muslim women in India.&nbsp; He believes that poetry has the power to heal and inspire, and often turns to Urdu verses to make sense of life’s mysteries.&nbsp; In the car, he recites lines from Faiz Ahmed Faiz by heart: “Chale chalo ke woh manzil abhi nahi aayi.” (Let’s keep going, we have yet to reach the destination.) Abdullah Zahid is a student of mass communication at the University of Karachi.<a href="https://twitter.com/abdullahhzahid?s=21&amp;t=Yib5Dr6ZPTJCb9WElKcEJQ" target="_blank">@AbdullahZahid</a>. This article was first published in <a href="https://southasiapeace.com/category/sapan-news-network/">Sapan News</a>.

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Nepali doctor's love for Urdu poetry

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114101124/637209bc9c7e80680e0b555djpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"/><figcaption>Photos: AMIT MACHAMASI</figcaption></figure>Everyone in Kathmandu knows we <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/air-pollution-is-more-dangerous-than-smoking/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">breathe some of the dirtiest air</a> in the world. As if we needed any more proof, a new study uses technology developed during the Cold War to analyse radioactive particles to pinpoint where the pollution is coming from.In the first week of November in 2020, the concentration of PM2.5 in Kathmandu’s air doubled in a matter of a few days. A Nepali Times pollution monitoring project measured an Air Quality Index (AQI) as bad as 430 at its peak.Satellite images showed blue smoke from Pakistan and India’s Punjab and Haryana blanketing the Indo-Gangetic plains and Nepal’s Tarai and moving up the Himalayan valleys. Farmers were burning post-harvest biomass, and the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/how-transboundary-haze-affects-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">link between the two was obvious</a>.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114101124/637209be9c7e80680e0b555ejpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1876" height="1018"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Now, international researchers have used a technology originally developed by the US military to locate Soviet atomic tests by analysing tiny particles in the air blown across the Pacific by prevailing winds.The model is now used widely for real-time wildfire smoke detection and forecasting, and to study stationary sources of anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases.Satellite-based sensors showed that the smoke was from more than 3,000 active fires in Punjab and Haryana, its plume <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/how-weather-elevates-air-pollution-in-kathmandu/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">transported by prevailing winds</a> to the foothills of the Himalaya and up to Kathmandu Valley.“It was not just the open burning in Haryana and Punjab but also weather conditions that allowed for aerosols concentrated in the southern plains to be transported to Kathmandu and higher elevations,” says climate scientist Binod Pokharel, one of the authors of <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1309104221003329?via%3Dihub" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the recent paper</a> in the journal Atmospheric Pollution Research.The team consisting mainly of Nepali scientists deployed the tongue-twistingly named Hybrid Single-Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory (HYSPLIT), a computer model that computes air parcel trajectories to determine how far and in what direction pollutants will travel.“Our main objective was to start a multilateral dialogue between countries in the region because while local solutions are important, air pollution is also a transboundary problem and needs committed leaders working together to develop and implement policies prioritising air pollution and mitigate its impact on public health,” adds Pokharel, who is Associate Professor at Tribhuvan University in Kathmandu.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114101124/637209c29c7e80680e0b555fjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Lack of real-time data at ground level and different elevations due to a limited number of functioning air monitoring stations has been a major hurdle for scientists who have had to rely only on modelling. For example, air pollution in Kathmandu peaked again in March 2021 <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/wildfires-in-nepal-cause-air-quality-to-plummet/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">reaching AQI over 600</a> after <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/nepal-is-going-up-in-smoke/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">unprecedented wildfires</a> raged across Nepal following winter drought.Another recently-published research confirmed that <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/breathing-can-kill-you/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">vehicular emissions are a major source</a> of air pollution in Kathmandu Valley, and old buses and poorly maintained vehicles make it worse.Researchers conducted composite measurements of particulate matter, carbon monoxide, sulphur, nitrogen dioxide and ozone and built a comprehensive diesel vehicle emission inventory of Nepal from 1989 to 2018.Published in the journal Science of the Total Environment the researchers found diesel consumption in Nepal increased 13-fold during the study period, and concluded that fuel quality and poor engine maintenance were the <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0048969721076178?dgcid=author&amp;fbclid=IwAR3sMSNAiVv0NUa6xcRhZPNOnWVxM2LZXrYHrPzdjmaOqm08s8EMuV44uTc" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">main culprits for pollution</a>.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114101124/637209c59c7e80680e0b5560jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="2048" height="1366"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>“We found that regular servicing and maintenance of vehicles can reduce pollution by up to 60% and this figure is even higher at 90% for petrol-run automobiles,” says <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-must-scrap-old-diesel-vehicles/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Bhupendra Das</a>, lead author and researcher at the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies in Potsdam, Germany.“But the real solution lies in finding the political will to replace fossil fuel vehicles with electric ones, and introducing Euro 6 vehicles, most of all we need to revise and update our transport policies,” says Das, who is also associated with Tribhuvan University.All this is not just bad news for public health and the global climate, but the soot particles called <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=19368" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">‘black carbon’</a> are also carried up to the mountains where they are deposited on the ice and snow, making them absorb more sunlight and melt faster.Nepal has pledged that at least 25% of all private passenger car sales and 20% of public transport vehicles will be battery-powered by 2025, but government policy does not reflect this. Presently, while private electric SUVs get a tax rebate, it is diesel buses that are subsidised, while <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-goes-electric-but-conditions-apply/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">electric ones cost five times more</a> because of high customs duty and other taxes.Both India and China have committed to only manufacturing battery-operated vehicles from 2030. The world has now moved on to the possibility of zero-emission with hydrogen fuel, but Nepal’s policies do not reflect its Glasgow goals.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114101124/637209c89c7e80680e0b5561jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="517" height="540"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>As a result, air pollution in Nepal’s cities is getting worse and is a leading cause of asthma, high blood pressure, lung inflammation, congenital disabilities, mental disorders, various cancers and allergic hypersensitivity. Air pollution was the direct cause of 42,100 deaths across the country in 2019, and is <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/air-pollution-decreases-life-span,3999" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">reducing the average lifespan</a> of people by at least four years.A United Nations report this week stated that pollution and toxic substances <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/pollution-causing-more-deaths-than-covid-action-needed-says-un-expert-2022-02-15/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">cause 9 million premature deaths annually</a>, much more than the Covid-19 pandemic that has claimed 5.8 million lives in the last two years.‘Current approaches to managing the risks posed by pollution and toxic substances are clearly failing, resulting in widespread violations of the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment,’ states the report to be presented at a forthcoming meeting of the UN Human Rights Council.Worldwide and in Nepal, state priorities in favour of <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/nepal-struggles-to-balance-nature-and-industry/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">revenue and industry over the health</a> of citizens is the main reason for worsening pollution. Only urgent policy level interventions can set things right, and for that there needs to be <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/happy-new-air/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">public pressure on candidates</a> for local and national governments during this year’s elections in Nepal.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114101124/637209ca9c7e80680e0b5562jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="677" height="380"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>A <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/page/political-power-of-the-ballot-local-elections-nepal" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">survey in this paper ahead of the 2017 elections</a> showed ‘air pollution’ topping the list of concerns of Kathmandu citizens — even ahead of water supply, health, education and inflation (see graph above). Air pollution in Kathmandu has gotten much worse since then.Says researcher Bhupendra Das: “Air pollution is no more a mere environmental and health crisis, it is a political issue and must be treated as such.”

Sonia Awale

Things are up in the air in Nepal

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110161148/636d1d359c7e80680e0af39ejpeg.jpg" alt="" width="3600" height="2400"/><figcaption>Tilicho Lake in Manang. The SAARC member states are among the countries most at risk from effects of climate change, yet a regional approach to tackle the issue is lacking. Photo: RSS</figcaption></figure>At the <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/editorial/saarc-summit-should-help-us-start-thinking-locally-and-regionally,1809" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">18th SAARC Summit in Kathmandu in 2014</a>, member countries committed to work together against climate change, and raise a collective voice at international fora. That promise has been forgotten as India-Pakistan tensions have nearly derailed the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation.Even though member states like Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal are among the countries most at risk from <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/human-face-of-a-himalayan-climate-crisis/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">effects of climate change</a>, and share river basins, a regional approach has been missing.The next summit was originally planned to be held in Islamabad in 2016, was indefinitely postponed. India alleged that Pakistan was involved in an attack at its military base in Kashmir, and <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/blogs/thebrief/2016/10/13/saarc-minus-x/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">boycotted the conference</a>. Collective dialogue between the member countries on climate have been in limbo ever since.Ahmad Kamruzzaman Majumder, head of the Department of Environmental Sciences at Stamford University in Dhaka, says that the need for South Asian solidarity to combat the effects of climate change is now more urgent than ever.According to<a href="https://germanwatch.org/en/19777" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"> a report published by Germanwatch in 2021</a>, Bangladesh is the seventh, Pakistan the eighth and Nepal the tenth most impacted country by the climate crisis."South Asian countries have not been able to sit together, discuss common issues, and come up with a unified vision," Majumder said. “Doing so would make it easier to pressure developed countries in the international forum."SAARC countries also failed to raise their collective concern at the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/good-cop-bad-cop/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26)</a> and did not even sit together for discussions on the sidelines.However, the Minister for Climate and Forest Environment of India, Bhupendra Yadav, says that the discussions were held at ministerial level: "Informal talks took place between the concerned ministers." No statements were made about what was discussed.Stretching over 3,500km and across eight countries, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/a-terrifying-assessment-of-himalayan-melting/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the Hindu Kush Himalaya</a> region is the source of 10 of Asia’s largest rivers as well as the biggest volume of ice and snow outside of the Arctic and Antarctica. Considered a biodiversity hotspot, the region is also home to about 1.3 billion people.But at present, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/global-heating-melts-mountains/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the mountains are warming</a> between 0.3-0.7°C faster than the global average, snowlines are receding, glaciers are shrinking or their lakes in danger of bursting.Coastal areas of Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and the Maldives are threatened by sea-level rise.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/the-third-pole-is-warming-faster-than-expected/">The Third Pole is warming faster than expected</a>, Kunda DixitHarjeet Singh, a senior advisor to the International Climate Network, said that SAARC, adds, "The entire region of South Asia is at red alert, it is <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/shared-futures/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">imperative that the member states work together</a> in this crisis."However, India has been opposed to the multi-lateral approach involving its neighbours even though they are all at high risk – their oceans, rivers, deserts and mountain systems.According to <a href="https://reliefweb.int/report/india/assessment-climate-change-over-indian-region-report-ministry-earth-sciences-moes" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the 2020 report</a> 'Assessment of Climate Change over the Indian Region' published by the Ministry of Earth Sciences of India, sea levels in India rose by 3.3mm per year between 1993-2017. By the end of this century, the levels are projected to rise by a whoping 300mm.Yet, India has actively <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/climate-denial-in-the-himalaya/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">evaded discussions with neighbouring nations</a>. "Climate issues have been overshadowed by geopolitical issues," says Ahmed Kamruzzaman Majumdar. “Pakistan also does not seem interested in holding talks with India.”Nepal’s former Foreign Minister Pradeep Gyawali also says that SAARC has become a victim of bilateral tensions between India and Pakistan. "SAARC could be more active, but tensions between them have severely hindered regional cooperation,” he says.India's interest seems to be strengthening the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/bimstec-facelift/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC)</a>, essentially overshadowing SAARC. Apart from SAARC countries, Thailand and Myanmar are also members of BIMSTEC, while Pakistan is not.Nepal, however, disagrees about <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/connecting-Bangladesh-China-India-Nepal,2966" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">moving BIMSTEC forward</a> at the detriment of SAARC. Kathmandu had even proposed to hold the 19th SAARC summit in nations other than Pakistan."BIMSTEC is also necessary, but the fact that South Asia is our common identity cannot be overlooked. We actively raised our voice in the government to ensure that SAARC is not overlooked in favour of BIMSTEC," says Gyawali.Former Foreign Secretary Madan Bhattarai says that other common problems have been exacerbated by SAARC’s inactivity. "When issues like climate change are dealt with through a forum like SAARC, our collective bargaining strength increases," he says, "As president, Nepal will have to take initiatives with other member nations.”He adds that besides climate, other issues like health, tourism, aviation and COVID are common burning issues that require cooperation through bodies like SAARC.According to Raju Pandit, a climate expert who has participated in various international forums on climate change from Nepal, the issue of climate change has stark differences in outlook among the members of SAARC."We are talking about reducing carbon emissions. However, India does not like the idea of cutting back on coal use,” he said. "SAARC is now in a complete coma. If there are regional issues like climate change to deal with, we should lobby for the formation of a separate organization of small landlocked countries like Nepal.”Translated from <a href="https://www.himalkhabar.com/news/126993">the original</a> by Aryan Sitaula.

Indo-Pak tension hits SAARC climate action

<figure><img width="1500" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110161128/636d18c69c7e80680e0ac7e2jpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Photo: AMIT MACHAMASI</figcaption></figure>Although the undernutrition<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/food-for-thought-for-nepals-nutrition-planners/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"> </a>rate in Nepal has dropped dramatically in the past two decades, a quarter of its children still go to bed hungry every night.
Yet, food waste makes up 66% of garbage in Kathmandu. The gap between poverty and plenty is even more glaring during Dasain, when bingeing on masu-bhat is the norm.
This week’s <a href="https://www.globalhungerindex.org/ranking.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Global Hunger Index 2021</a> by the UN’s <a href="https://www.fao.org/platform-food-loss-waste/resources/detail/en/c/1378978/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Food and Agriculture Organisation</a> (FAO) ranks Nepal 76th among 116 countries – better than India (101) and Pakistan (92). However, that is no comfort for thousands of Nepali families who are <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/nepals-epidemic-of-hunger/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">struggling to feed themselves</a> due to income loss caused by the pandemic.
On the other hand, with rising living standards, Nepalis are also over-splurging, leading to an increase in food waste. Much of this is processed and packaged food, which adds to the plastic in urban garbage.
The problem has gotten so bad that cooking oil brand Siddha Baba took it upon itself to communicate the seriousness of food waste in Nepal ahead of the festival via tv and social advertorials with comedy duo Madan Krishna Shrestha and Hari Bansa Acharya.
<a href="https://dokorecyclers.com" target="_blank" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" rel="noopener noreferrer">Doko Recyclers</a> that manages and upcycles dry waste in Kathmandu, has seen a significant increase in consumption and wastage during the festival season. 
To be sure, the problem of food waste in Nepal is not specific to festival time. Nearly 4.6 million people are categorised as ‘food insecure’ in Nepal, and 40% of children under five are stunted. Childhood malnutrition has been made worse by pandemic-induced economic fallout.
<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/covid-19-affecting-food-security-in-nepal-wfp/">The pandemic</a> has also disrupted the market with tons of vegetables and fruits left to rot without proper transport during the lockdowns. Which is why despite a favourable monsoon this year, many were discouraged from planting maize and paddy, fearing more wastage.Read also: <a style="background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/ipcc-report-and-nepals-food-security/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">IPCC report and Nepal’s food security</a><a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/the-pandemic-of-hunger/">The pandemic of hunger</a>, Medha GelliIn a recent panel examining the food crisis in Nepal, environmental scientist Uttam Babu Shrestha said that up to 40% of vegetables are wasted daily during their transport and handling.“Although there is plenty of anecdotal evidence pointing to a large degree of food waste in transit and households, there has been no comprehensive study done in Nepal examining food waste post-harvest,” added Shrestha.A study in January of 2014 surveyed wholesalers and retailers to determine the primary cause of food waste in shops. Many of the respondents said it was because they did not have refrigeration facilities to extend the shelf life of farm produce. Others said poor handling and packaging contributed to food waste.Food is generally to be packed in <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/the-covid-19-plastic-pandemic/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">polythene bags</a> which are significantly cheaper than crates, the expensive alternative that is the industry standard for protecting produce. The use of polythene bags, paired with tightly packed produce with minimal airflow in a vehicle on uneven roads, leads to a significant waste of produce even before it reaches market.Food waste at home can easily be minimised, but the extent of the problem is much larger in hotels and restaurants. Nabin Bikash Maharjan of the company <a href="https://bw2v.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Blue Waste to Value</a> has been working with clients like Hotel Yak and Yeti and Hyatt Regency and has seen first-hand the amount of food waste establishments like that generate.“Before the pandemic, we used to get some 1.5 tons of waste from one single 5-star hotel in a day, 60% of which would be food. In large part, this waste is from banquets and events they host,” says Maharjan.Blue Waste to Value turns the food waste into animal feed, and the rest for organic composting. Most larger hotels and restaurants in Kathmandu now have similar tie-ups with pig farms.Actually, an average Nepali household produces much less food waste. Blue Waste to Value found that only about 20% of the waste generated in private homes is food. Even so, a study by the Solid Waste Management Technical Support Centre (SWMTSC) estimated that in Nepal, 65% of household waste is organic which means it can be turned into compost instead of being dumped in landfill sites.Food waste is adding to Kathmandu’s growing problem of solid waste management. The capital's only landfill in Nuwakot’s Sisdole has already reached <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/a-load-of-rubbish/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">its maximum capacity</a>, and every monsoon the rains damage the access road to the site obstructing the movement of garbage trucks.Some 1,000 tons of solid waste is dumped at Sisdole every day, 60% of which is organic. Almost all of the waste remains unsegregated and adds to the pollution, further worsening the health of the people.Says Pankaj Panjiyar of Doko: “Food waste at home can be largely reduced if all of us practice in-house waste segregation and composting, this in time will help with our overflowing landfill.”

Nepal’s glaring food gap

<figure><img width="1454" height="889" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109121152/636b950a9c7e80680e06f235jpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption></figcaption></figure>About 250 years ago when King Prithivi Narayan Shah made Kathmandu the capital of unified Nepal, he realised that the city had great potential as a business centre, complementing its role as a trading hub. He allowed in businessmen from Rajasthan in India to set up shop and allow entrepreneurship to ferment, a move expanded later by Prime Minister Chandra Shamshere Rana. One reason entrepreneurship did not have deep roots in Nepal was the concept of जागिर, a 10-5 salaried position with job security. That is why the start-up culture took so long to start up and morph in Nepal. The proliferation of, and exposure to the Internet and the recent advent of international private equity firms, accelerators and incubators have paid a pivotal role in making this happen.Since 2017, successive government budgets have mentioned start-ups and allocated money for their establishment, but without clarity and development. This year’s budget was no different: it also set aside Rs1 billion towards building a start-up ecosystem, including concessional loans.  What the previous governments had missed out on, this one seems to have acknowledged: start with defining a start-up. A voluminous document is doing its rounds through the corridors of our bureaucracy for comments from experts. Until they come up with a definition, let us say a start-up is an innovative idea that uses technology to address unmet demand in the market.In the United States, the start-up sector is a $3 trillion business. In South Asia, India leads the pack with over 20,000 Start-ups in operation, of which 100 are unicorns with a combined market cap of $240 billion. Bangladesh, Pakistan and even Afghanistan have understood the importance of this sector to the economy.  Internationally, some 90% of start-ups fail to take off. Nepal has invested in 400 start-ups, all in Kathmandu, and the risk appetite for new investments is limited partly because of the absence of an enabling environment. The cost factor for starting a tech business in Nepal is lower than anywhere else with a constant flow of <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/outdated-laws-limited-ecommerce-hold-back-tech-industry%20,3547" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">eligible young graduates well versed in English</a> who are relatively computer literate. The bandwidth for connectivity is getting better. It is an untapped market, an imitation of international successes for local markets can be implemented, and the population is young, and growing.There are challenges with the lack of legal and policy environment posing the greatest risk. Ideas are the premise of any start-up. Intellectual Property Right (IPR) is the most important legal recourse for safeguarding those ideas, which in Nepal remains a draft and has been in discussion for quite some time.The current law was formulated in 1964, and does not address developments that have occurred worldwide since then. A lawyer recently remarked that when he tried to register a trademark for poultry feed, the application was denied because a tobacco company had already registered it. Thankfully, the Supreme Court gave a verdict on the Kansai Nerolac case a few years ago, which protected trademarks. Still, laws need to reflect international best practices for this sector to operate. Financing start-ups is also a great hurdle. Banks are reluctant and risk averse to lend without collateral. If a loan is secured it is not nearly enough to meet the requirement and equity is difficult to come by. The ones who have demonstrated that they have the ability to serve a niche market and can show potential to scale up have been successful to secure equity financing.  The start-up industry is evolving despite the lack of an enabling environment.  The resilience shown by these entrepreneurs has steadily improved, and the appetite to invest in them is gaining traction. Examples are <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/three-toots-for-tootle/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">ride sharing apps</a> that made the government change its policy, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/nepals-budding-e-commerce-ecosystem/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">e-commerce platforms</a> that have engaged with the government to facilitate the sector, and companies that realigned business plans to accommodate government policies. A cloud service provider had to create a hybrid model because government officials could not comprehend what it was, and that data could be secure. They needed to see actual physical infrastructure.  But <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/regular-columns/Cross-Cutting/Start-ups-need-staying-power,439" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">start-ups are resilient</a>, and they will continue to compel the authorities to accommodate them as they continue to grow. They have adapted to the situation and have introduced internal safeguards to secure their ideas in a lax IPR environment.  Some are ensuring strict non-disclosure agreements, developing in-house products knowing that there will be disrupters in the market six months down the road and, focussing on networks as much as focussing on products. The government’s new regulations will hopefully put it in a facilitating role to create a platform for ideation to grow with the help of mentors from academia and the private sector. Nepal’s start-ups are to stay, and with the right legal and regulatory framework in place, will thrive. One day there will be a Nepali unicorn in the making.<a style="font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/also-keeping-financially-healthy-in-a-lockdown/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Siddhant Pandey</a> is Chairman and CEO of <a style="font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://bo2.com.np" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Business Oxygen Pvt Ltd (BO2).</a><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109121152/636b950d9c7e80680e06f236jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="90" height="109">

Giving start-ups a head start

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109121152/636b95049c7e80680e06f233jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1574" height="1056"/><figcaption></figcaption></figure>As the Delta variant spreads death and disruption across South Asia, prominent public health experts have said Covid-19 cannot be defeated unless there is a region-wide approach.The much more transmissible variant spread out from India, devastating Nepal, and is now hitting Bangladesh hard and the country went into hard lockdown this week.“South Asian countries cannot go it alone, that is irrational,’’ said Zafrullah Chowdhury, renowned public health activist and Ramon Magsaysay awardee from Bangladesh who warned that the lockdown in his country will widen inequality in society.He added, “It is irresponsible to impose lockdowns without providing food. Poverty has increased. There are 25 million more poor without food.”Chowdhury was among physicians and health rights activists from the region who came together on 27 June for a webinar organised by the South Asia Peace Action Network (SAPAN).The third in the series of SAPAN’s monthly public webinars themed ‘Imagine: Neighbours in Peace’, the meeting focused on health as an entry point to talk about South Asian regionalism and ‘Healthcare for all’.Besides Chowdhury, participants included Anup Subedee, Vandana Prasad and Hamid Jafari of Pakistan. Speakers included Salima Hashmi, Khushi Kabir, Kanak Dixit, Lalita Ramdas, besides journalists Beena Sarwar, Mandira Nayar and others.They discussed how the pandemic is affecting rural areas of South Asia, hurdles in its treatment, and access (or lack thereof) to vaccinations. They also discussed how Covid-19 has affected mental health, women and particularly in all the countries of the region.The meeting took place as the region is battered by a devastating second wave of Covid-19, especially in India. With Delta plus virus mutation now detected in parts of the region, the possibility of another wave looms large even as vaccination rates are still low in all countries in the region.Journalist Mandira Nayar in Delhi moderated the physicians’ panel with Zafrullah Chowdhury in Dhaka, infectious diseases specialist Anup Subedee in Kathmandu and public health activist Vandana Prasad also in Delhi. Hamid Jafari of Pakistan, who led the WHO team that eradicated polio, joined from his current posting in Jordan.Chowdhury advocated challenging vaccine-producing countries and pushing South Asian governments to invest more in public health.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109121152/636b95079c7e80680e06f234jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="391">Anup Subedee from Kathmandu noted how the pandemic exposed systematic failures in many aspects of life in Nepal, including non-Covid healthcare, child immunisation and maternity care."Medical staff have been working at great personal risk of infection, threats of violence, lack of access to protective gear, and an unaddressed mental health crisis," Subedee said.Participants also noted that the pandemic has particularly hit women hard.“Domestic violence has increased,” noted Prasad. Women often lack control over finances, are primary caregivers and shoulder the responsibility of caring for the ill. The pandemic has pushed women further into the margins, she said, adding that there is also a “gender dimension to the access of vaccines”.She urged doctors to enter the peace activism domain, because the poor all over are at the brink of disaster. She added that the pandemic had disproportionately affected women, Dalits, indigenous people, and other minorities.“Telemedicine is important, but we must not lose focus on the need for ground-based public health to begin with,” she said.Doctors at the meeting endorsed the need for greater cooperation and collaboration across borders. Participants called on the governments to allow free flow of critical equipment and medical personnel across borders. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had floated the idea of a SAARC medical visa for patients and for medical teams to assist during the pandemic – something that must be followed up.The doctors also urged the international fraternity to push for a Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, or TRIPS, waiver so that the Covid-19 vaccine production can be ramped up. “It is the way forward for vaccines for all,’’ asserted Prasad.The South Asia Peace Action Network (SAPAN) is primarily a coalition of individuals and organisations aiming to take forward a peace agenda for the region, building on the work done by mentors and leaders over the last few decades.SAPAN founder and curator Beena Sarwar shared the story of this network and her vision for an inter-generational, multi-sectoral, inter- and intra-regional coalition of individuals and organisations coming together in broad consensus for a one-point agenda.<a style="font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://twitter.com/southasiapeace" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">@southasiapeace</a>

Covid's regional threat needs regional response

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109121144/636b92f69c7e80680e06f17cjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"/><figcaption>Photo: MONIKA DEUPALA</figcaption></figure>This op-ed is being simultaneously published in the Indian Express (India), The Daily Star (Bangladesh), Nepali Times (Nepal) and DAWN (Pakistan).In February 2021, Covid-19 numbers started increasing again in South Asia with official daily case counts rising beyond 400,000 in India, 6,000 in Pakistan and 7,500 in Bangladesh, straining health systems.The massive surge in India soon <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/we-knew-the-tsunami-was-approaching/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">spilled over across the border into Nepal</a>, leading to ‘apocalyptic’ scenes of overwhelmed hospitals.This virus knows no borders. Containing it has necessitated global cooperation among scientists, policy makers and society. Despite a wide variation in how nations have responded to the pandemic, the most successful strategies adhere to science, and attention to local context.The <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/this-is-war/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">deadly surge in 2021</a> makes a regionally-coordinated, evidence-driven strategy even more critical. The virus continues to challenge us with its mutations and new lines of attack. If we are to move at the speed of the virus, it is necessary to construct multi-stakeholder regional coalitions to devise new solutions and frugal innovations that can be applied across South Asia.Given our shared and mostly similar social, economic and cultural contexts, local successes must find means to be amplified across the region.Is that even possible, given the troubled history South Asian countries share? The mutual mistrust appears to have hit a new low, as <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/shared-futures/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">SAARC</a> has not even managed to hold its summit since 2014.But today we write a positive, hopeful story about a new consortium we are involved in, with core team members from India, Pakistan, Nepal, and Bangladesh jointly developing Covid prevention strategies. The emerging consortium provides an example of how neighbours can work together for mutual benefit, despite political differences.Every country in South Asia has struggled to ensure consistent <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/the-economics-of-masks/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">mask-wearing</a> to stem the spread of Covid. Beliefs, priorities, traditions, and aversions to behaviour change are more similar across South Asia than we care to admit. These commonalities mean that interventions that are successful in changing behaviour in one place are likely applicable in other parts of the Subcontinent.We have experienced this with Community-Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) campaigns to solve the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nature-calls/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">problem of open defecation</a> -- originally developed by Bangladeshi NGOs in partnership with an Indian consultant --- and now broadly applied across South Asia and beyond.The Grameen Bank microcredit model was an indigenous South Asian innovation that spread rapidly. BRAC’s recent ‘Graduation’ program targeting the ultra-poor in Bangladesh was replicated with success in India and Pakistan. India’s digitised social protection ecosystem with Aadhar IDs and Jan Dhan accounts serves as a model (albeit with cautionary notes) for other countries in the region. E-governance programs in Pakistan, like eVaccs and Citizen Feedback Model have been replicated and provide strong models ready to be deployed regionally and globally.The new pan-South Asian consortium in response to Covid-19 evolved out of an experiment conducted in Bangladesh, that successfully changes social norms around mask-wearing in rural communities. We observed that a combination of No-cost distribution, Offering information, Reinforcing the message in markets, mosques and other public spaces, and Modelling and endorsement by community leaders (NORM) leads to large, sustained increases in mask usage that persisted beyond the period of active intervention.This <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/3-pronged-strategy-to-save-nepal-from-covid-19/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">four-part NORM intervention</a> was originally examined in a cohort of 350,000 individuals across 600 villages. BRAC is implementing the model to reach 81 million people across Bangladesh.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109121144/636b92f99c7e80680e06f17djpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1600" height="876">The team is now partnering with several organisations across Pakistan, India, Nepal, and Bangladesh to start adapting the model to fit each country’s context, and set up partnerships to pilot, implement, tinker, and learn.The Self Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) quickly implemented the model to reach over one million members in Gujarat. An additional 1.5 million masks were shipped from Bangladesh to support SEWA’s outreach to other states. Lahore’s Commissioner worked with our research team to adapt the NORM model to an urban setting, and devised new creative ideas to improve effectiveness.For example, it has prepared to deliver <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/masks-and-vaccines-to-stop-nepals-2nd-wave/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">masks</a> at doorsteps using Pakistan’s postal service, and is targeting beneficiaries on the basis of billing information from utility companies. Philanthropists and private corporations are sponsoring the masks. We are re-importing some of these innovations back to Dhaka, inspiring further scale-ups in Dhaka, Chittagong, Rajshahi and Kathmandu.Effective mask promotion requires visits to thousands of remote villages, and those same visits can be used to prepare for more effective community-based healthcare responses. To that end, a host of physicians, scientists and community based organisations created the Swasth Community Science Alliance, committing to pragmatic, science-based protocols to manage mild and moderate cases of Covid-19 in rural India, where institutional health care access is limited.These guidelines (available at https://science.swasth.app) were translated to training tools for healthcare workers by digital health innovators like Noora Health, making them widely available across the region.NORM implementation teams based in Lahore, Ahmedabad, Peshawar, Hyderabad, Dhaka, Kathmandu, and Delhi are learning from each other’s successes and failures. The process usually starts with the original research team sharing evidence-based insights with implementing agencies, as the implementers adapt the design, co-create localised implementation protocols, and are threaded together in a collaborative environment across countries where each implementing team iterates while learning from others’ prior iterations, and all our sub-teams are connected in an active learning system that allows us to course-correct in real time. This coalition is poised to change mask-wearing norms amongst hundreds of millions of people across all of South Asia.The CSA is working with partners across rural, tribal belts around India. A team of physicians from India and the Indian diaspora work with local implementing partners to support design, implementation and monitoring of home-based programs and Covid-19 centres providing rigorously protocolised treatment for moderate cases, with oxygen, proning and steroids.Combining the NORM and CSA interventions, our Masking-Treatment-Vaccine Preparation (MTV) approach offers a sensible strategy to mitigate the pandemic until universal vaccination is achieved. These are regional solutions that thoughtfully apply scientifically sound interventions to the local context.The <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/nepals-humanitarian-emergency/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Covid-19 crisis</a> has increased policymakers’ appetite for evidence-informed policy measures that can be quickly implemented to stem transmission. This drive for quick action has created some unprecedented opportunities for enhanced cross-country collaborations that are normally hampered by politics and mistrust.We hope that the consortium that first formed around <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/how-nepal-can-survive-2nd-covid-wave/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">mask-promotion</a>, and now around science-based treatment approaches, and that developed quickly and organically without regard to national boundaries, can serve as a model for a broader and deeper collaborative ecosystem that endures.We need to come together to solve problems that affect us all. Let the lasting legacy of this pandemic be a new era of partnership in social innovations that can benefit all South Asians.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0hpuXRByic&amp;t=9sMushfiq Mobarak is Professor of Economics, Yale University, and Director of the Yale Research Initiative on Innovation and Scale. Twitter: @mushfiq_econ Maha Rehman is director of policy at the Mahbub-ul-Haq Research Centre at the Lahore University of Management Sciences. Twitter @MahaRehman1Satchit Balsari is assistant professor of emergency medicine, and of global health and population, at Harvard University. Twitter: @satchit_balsari

What can we do till vaccines arrive?

<figure><img width="800" height="457" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110121140/636ce3a09c7e80680e096664jpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption></figcaption></figure>It was a hazy December morning in 1971 at the strategic Chicken Neck frontline between India and what was then East Pakistan. Dhan Bahadur Rai had been watching a squadron of five Pakistan Air Force F-6s circle above his position.  Suddenly, one of the planes peeled off and dropped a bomb that landed close to his bunker. The sleek jet then looped back and started strafing the Indian Army positions.Dhan Bahadur was at his 7.62mm LMG (light machine gun) position, and took aim at the plane as it swooped low for another pass.“I fired at it in bursts, and I saw it pull away trailing smoke. Soon, it caught fire and crashed. We saw the pilot parachute out, and the plane was buried in a crater about 1km way,” Dhan Bahadur recalls.The pilot was captured, and became a prisoner of war. Within a week on 16 December 1971, Pakistan had surrendered, and Bangladesh was born.Read also: <a style="font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/atom-bomb-saved-his-life-covid-killed-him/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Atom bomb saved his life, Covid killed him</a>https://youtu.be/e3Z2SOYYVuoDhan Bahadur, now 77, grows cardamom in his ancestral village of Nundhiki in Sankhuwasabha high in the mountains of eastern Nepal where as a child he herded the family’s livestock.  At age 19 and never being in school, he walked across the border to Darjeeling with other boys from his village to be recruited into the Indian Army’s <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/diary-of-a-nepali-soldier-in-france/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Gorkha regiment</a>. He was shortlisted, and assigned a number for 11 months of military training.Dhan Bahadur is actually a Tamang, but the Indian Army recruitment officers presumed he was a Rai like other Nepalis who had joined up. So, when he went to Delhi with his wife and grandfather to receive the Vir Chakra medal (below) from Indian President V V Giri in 1972 his name was given as Dhan Bahadur Rai.    <figure><img width="468" height="319" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110121140/636ce3a29c7e80680e096665png.png" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Like many of his compatriots, Dhan Bahadur is a modest man, and underplays his role in downing the plane. When other units of the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/gorkhas-on-the-frontline-between-india-and-china/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Indian Army</a> also claimed to have shot down the Pakistani plane, he did not press his role.In the end, it was the Pakistani pilot Flt Lt Wajid Ali Khan who as prisoner of war provided the evidence to prove that it was indeed Dhan Bahadur’s bunker from where the shots were fired that brought down the plane.This is considered one of the rare occasions in which a supersonic fighter jet has been brought down by small arms fire. The F-6 was the Chinese-made version of the Soviet Mig-19 fighter jet.Dhan Bahadur was with an advancing column of the 7/11 Gorkha Rifles which on 6 December, 1971 had entered 80km into what was then East Pakistan. The Chicken Neck is a narrow strip of Indian territory between Nepal and Bangladesh that connects India with its northeast. It was strategically important for the Indian military to defend this ‘Siliguri Corridor’. <figure><img width="465" height="426" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110121140/636ce3a49c7e80680e096666jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>“We had dug a bunker, expecting a counter attack from Pakistan,” Dhan Bahadur recalls. “They did not retaliate, but they kept sending planes on reconnaissance.”A cheer went up from the Indian troops when the Pakistani plane went down. And till today, the 7/11 Gorkha Rifles of the Indian Army carries the cockpit of the F-6 and Dhan Bahadur’s Vir Chakra medal as souvenirs wherever it is deployed.Dhan Bahadur was congratulated by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, and was promoted to Lance Corporal. He wanted to retire, but a decorated soldier was not allowed to. So he went on to serve in Jammu and Kashmir, Darjeeling and Ladakh.When he did retire in 1980, Dhan Bahadur returned to his village in Nepal where he lives to this day. He tried to change his name to Dhan Bahadur Rai so that his sons could also join the Indian or British armies, but he could not do it.Regardless, his seven sons and a daughter have gone on to build their careers and now have their own businesses in Dharan, that they have named after their famous father. father.Dhan Bahadur now uses a cane as walks in his <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/page/the-kingdom-of-cardamom-nepal" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">cardamom field</a>, and says he is enjoying retirement in the village where he was born. “I like village life. I grow cardamom, and I want to live here for the rest of my life,” he says.  <figure><img width="959" height="698" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110121140/636ce3a69c7e80680e096667jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>He does travel down to Dharan once in a while to check up on his sons and daughter, and to collect his pension which has grown from IRs 50 in 1980 to IRs48,000 today.Of the Nepali men who were awarded by the Indian government for their bravery, only Dhan Bahadur Tamang still lives in Nepal. Some stayed back in India and some have died.He is invited back to his battalion in India for events, and that is when for old times’ sake, he checks up on his medal, the wreckage of the plane he shot down and looks through framed photographs of that fateful day at the Chicken Neck that propelled him to fame.

He shot down a fighter, then shot to fame

<figure><img width="1279" height="959" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110111128/636cd2b39c7e80680e08f92bjpeg.jpg" alt="Nepali mountaineer at the K2 summit"/><figcaption>First photo of the Nepalis on the summit of K2 at 5pm on 16 January. Sona Sherpa on the top with the conical shadow of the mountain behind him. Photo: SEVEN SUMMIT TREKS</figcaption></figure>Nepali high altitude guides used to assist mountaineers from other countries make record-breaking climbs of the world’s highest peaks, but on 16 January an all-Nepali team set its own record with the first ever winter ascent of K2.Altogether ten Nepali mountaineers from three different expeditions made it to the summit of the world’s second highest mountain located in Pakistan — the last of the 14 peaks in the world above 8,000m high that was yet to be climbed in winter.The Nepalis had decided not to take individual credit for the climb, but claim the achievement on behalf of Nepal. The group stopped 10m below the top, and took the final steps together to be on the top simultaneously. <figure><img width="1080" height="810" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110111128/636cd2b69c7e80680e08f92cjpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption>Photo posted by Mingma Gelje Sherpa of the Bottleneck, the last serious obstacle before the summit. Photo: Mingma G Sherpa</figcaption></figure>The climbers on top on Saturday were Nirmal Purja, Gelje Sherpa, Mingma David Sherpa, Mingma G, Sona Sherpa, Mingma Tenzi Sherpa, Pem Chhiri Sherpa, Dawa Temba Sherpa, Kili Pemba Sherpa, and Dawa Tenjing Sherpa. They were originally from three different teams, but came together to share the glory for Nepal, singing the national anthem as they took the final steps to the summit together."A very special moment. We are proud to have been a part of history for humankind and to show that collaboration, teamwork and positive mental attitude can push limits to what we feel might be possible," wrote Purja, on Facebook.Mingma Gyalje Sherpa wrote on social media just before the final push: “We have made Nepal and Nepal’s climbing community proud,”   <figure><img width="640" height="727" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110111128/636cd2b89c7e80680e08f92djpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption>Nims Purja and Seven Summit Treks announce via Twitter of their successful ascent. It's the first ever ascent of the world's second highest peak K2. At 8,611m, K2 is regarded as being more difficult than Mt Everest because of the highly technical nature of the climbing required near the summit.</figcaption></figure><img width="629" height="1024" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110111128/636cd2bb9c7e80680e08f92ejpeg.jpg" alt="">The Nepali climbers on K2 are from an all-Nepali expedition led by Mingma Gyalje Sherpa, Nims Purja’s team, and a Seven Summit Treks group.Ten climbers from Nepal left Camp 4 at 1AM on Saturday, and negotiated the dangerous Bottleneck couloir, and made the traverse, fixing ropes as they went and got to the top before 5PM on Saturday. However, because of the late hour that they got to the summit, the descent down ice slopes in the dark, cold and wind has been challenging for the exhausted climbers."Unfortunately, we lost Sergi. Best climber and very good friend of us," wrote Chhang Dawa Sherpa on social media. Spanish Climber, Sergi Mingote, fell into a crevasse suddenly while descending from C1 to Basecamp, which is supposed to be a relatively less dangerous strip. He had been attempting to climb all 14 highest peaks without supplementary oxygen within 1000 days, when he had been forced to abandon expeditions due to Covid outbreak, last year. At 8,611m, K2 is regarded as being more difficult than Mt Everest because of the highly technical nature of the climbing required near the summit. In winter, with temperature plunging to below -40 Celsius and the 200km/h jet stream blowing full blast near the summit, the ascent was regarded as impossible.  <figure><img width="1166" height="1362" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110111128/636cd2be9c7e80680e08f92fjpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption>K2 at 8,611 is lower than Mt Everest, but much more difficult to climb, especially in winter. It was the last of the 14 eight-thousand metre peaks that have not been climbed in winter. Photo: Pakistan Tourism</figcaption></figure>The expeditions this year have been battling extreme cold and high winds that last week blew away tents and equipment stored at Camp 2 for the summit push. After that, the Nepali expeditions decided to work together and claim the success collectively for their country. The climbers were all trying to use Saturday’s weather window with relatively less wind and sunny skies before a westerly front moves in and the winds pick up again from Sunday. K2 is so dangerous that one in every four who have attempted to climb it have died in the attempt. Ever since its first ascent in 1954 by an Italian team, 367 mountaineers have reached the summit before today, with 87 fatalities.  The Icelandic climber <a href="https://www.facebook.com/johnsnorri/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.facebook.com/johnsnorri/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1610885744118000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFPTPY3j2FnRufj_8KpbgZaHGhrgw">John Snorri Sigurjonsson</a> is also on the mountain with Pakistani climber <a href="https://www.facebook.com/muhammadalisadpara/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.facebook.com/muhammadalisadpara/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1610885744118000&amp;usg=AFQjCNG32y0whOeFh30tNPcxunxrpW51nA">Muhammad Ali Sadpara</a> and his son. <figure><img width="1918" height="1088" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110111128/636cd2c09c7e80680e08f930jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption>Nims Purja at the summit of K2 in 2019 when he climbed all the world's 14 highest peaks in six months. He went back on the mountain to make the winter ascent. Photo: Nims Purja / Facebook</figcaption></figure>The ex-Gurkha commando, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nims-purja-does-it/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nims-purja-does-it/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1610885744118000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHAppL_kP59lv5KU-4KTLj1HwgePg">Nims Purja,</a> smashed the previous world mountaineering record by climbing the world’s 14 highest mountains in 6 months and 6 days when the previous record was 7 years 10 months 6 days. He was on K2 last summer, but returned to the mountain to make the same ascent in winter and reportedly planned to fly down from the summit in a paraglider.  In his book, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/review/alpine-style-in-the-himalaya/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/review/alpine-style-in-the-himalaya/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1610885744118000&amp;usg=AFQjCNF8Xcu-i9HmiWtM0pyFI94tTBACzg">Beyond Possible,</a> Purja has written that he wanted to prove that Nepali climbers were as good as Western ones, and wondered if his feat would have got more publicity if he had been a European. He wrote: ‘Even though I was technically a British citizen, my nationality had positioned me under the radar of almost everyone. It is highly likely that if I’d been a climber from America, Great Britain or France, then every outlet in the world would have noticed the effort.’

All-Nepali winter first on K2

Born in Khandbari in eastern Nepal, Parashuram Pathak helped his family around the farm, sold what they grew in the market and lent a hand in the kitchen.&nbsp; After working as a chef in Dubai, San Francisco, Denmark, Australia, and on cruise ships, Pathak has now brought back what he has learnt to the Tusa Restaurant in Bhaktapur that opened on Nepali New Year on 13 April. Tusa uses fresh indigenous ingredients from various parts of Nepal, and fuses them with international methods to produce unique dishes. Pathak is a global Nepali, and is introducing global Nepali cuisine to his homeland. Pathak left an executive chef job to intern at three-Michelin-starred Noma in Denmark, named the best restaurant in the world five times. Noma runs on a philosophy of foraging to rediscover wild local ingredients, and Tusa’s mission is similarly noble: preparing dishes with Nepali ingredients using modern techniques and equipment. “We are taking Nepali food beyond dal-bhat and momo, we are taking it international,” Pathak said on the phone from Sydney. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepali-baker-rises-to-the-top-in-denmark">Denmark’s best baker is a Nepali</a>, Vishad Onta  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240419180424_1312bc016cbb2fe59c6d4a78d1f8b463af4a10b3f79559a2405fd54ea5b3197a.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20240419180424_1312bc016cbb2fe59c6d4a78d1f8b463af4a10b3f79559a2405fd54ea5b3197a" data-rendition-name="original" width="801" height="802" loading="lazy" alt="The return of the natives Page 12 NT #1208"> <figcaption>Photo: PARASHURAM PATHAK/FACEBOOK</figcaption> </figure>  Pathak’s team in Nepal includes chefs Rupesh Bohara and Sagar Shrestha who have also worked extensively in Dubai and Australia, and share his vision. The three realised they shared the same dream, and over the past five years have travelled across Nepal to research their menu, collecting ingredients and ideas from homestays, food carts, and nature. The team then scouted for Nepal’s best architect, and zeroed in on Bhaktapur-based heritage conservationist Rabindra Puri who designed the Malla-era house for Tusa in the Nag Pokhari neighbourhood. Bohara and Shrestha have moved back to Nepal for good, and Pathak arrives in September. “I made dishes from all over the world, but when someone asked what Nepali food was like, I had no answer,” says Bohara, “I came back to find out.” &nbsp;“You can get citizenship, a green card, big houses and cars, but where is the self-satisfaction?” asks Shrestha, who has a red-and-blue chef’s knife with the sun and moon of the Nepali flag tattooed on his right forearm.&nbsp; Read also:<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/diaspora-diaries/the-return-of-a-master-baker"> The return of a master baker</a>, Raju Pakhrin  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240419180424_c601264463e5a28d4e71a46781f340a53619a08d00949a7aaebfef84e75a319d.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="20240419180424_c601264463e5a28d4e71a46781f340a53619a08d00949a7aaebfef84e75a319d" data-rendition-name="original" width="6000" height="4000" loading="lazy" alt="The return of the natives Page 12 NT #1208"> <figcaption>Photos: TUSA</figcaption> </figure>  Bohara and Shrestha passionately recount stories of their trips across Nepal, speaking of generous lodge owners who introduced them to local ingredients. Tusa can seat 28, and dining here is a sensory experience with a live kitchen. The chefs cook and place dishes on a large granite countertop with induction sections built in. Behind the counter is a grill on an indoor fire with pulley control to adjust the fire. Everything that can be made in Nepal — chairs and tables, ceramic dishes, the grill — is locally sourced. The executive kitchen/laboratory is downstairs. It is spacious, spotless, and contains appliances rarely seen in restaurants here: a sous vide machine that cooks vacuum-sealed packets at consistent temperatures, and a dehydrator for sisnu nettles. A fresh batch of deep purple kimbu (mulberry) muffins has just come out of the oven. Fridges have dry-aged fish and marigold kombucha. Fermentation seems to be the theme at Tusa, and Pathak explained: “Fermentation takes away the natural sugars in food, leaving behind a true, umami taste.”&nbsp; Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/vikings-khukri-passion">Viking's khukri passion</a>, Alisha Sijapati  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240419180424_c59e2b4230864f646bc36108adb951e95ec85da6156740294b1ec715b86acf89.jpg" data-media-id="editor_5" data-image-id="20240419180424_c59e2b4230864f646bc36108adb951e95ec85da6156740294b1ec715b86acf89" data-rendition-name="original" width="5895" height="3930" loading="lazy" alt="The return of the natives Page 12 NT #1208"> </figure>  Tusa itself means ‘shoot’ in Nepali, and can be a dish of fermented bamboo shoots. The restaurant serves a tasting menu with six courses, plus surprises. It starts with a fermented potato and millet roti with charred green garlic and tomato chutney. The bread tastes like a mix of alu paratha and kodoko roti with a satisfying, mild flavour. The chefs do not show off, and overdo it. Dishes are tastefully simple and faithful, a theme that runs through the meal. The second course is a filet of fish charred on one side and placed in a broth. It is delicate and smokey, and does not mask the character of the fish.&nbsp; The next is Batuk Chukauni, a Magar dish with a lentil snack and a yoghurt-based potato achar. The batuk, made of lentil batter, is light and the chukauni has potatoes and peas. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/money-is-not-everything-but-you-need-money-for-everything">"Money is not everything, but you need money for everything"</a>, Rohit Shrestha  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240419180424_e3f51228ff792e8d4297f81f8e67d138584e922ae035d131977494219e5e85c5.jpg" data-media-id="editor_7" data-image-id="20240419180424_e3f51228ff792e8d4297f81f8e67d138584e922ae035d131977494219e5e85c5" data-rendition-name="original" width="1333" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="The return of the natives Page 12 NT #1208"> <figcaption>Batuk Chukauni. Photo: VISHAD ONTA</figcaption> </figure>  Next is a skewer of jackfruit with a tamarind and mustard glaze that has the texture of a slice of sausage and melts in the mouth. Then comes the first off-menu item: a steak of watermelon, glazed and grilled, tasting sweet, sour and smokey. After that a palate cleanser sorbet made with laligurans syrup adorned with a frozen candied rhododendron petal. Finally the main course: barbeque chicken and chyakla coarse corn grits. The chicken has been brined, marinated, cooked sous-vide and seared on the grill. The delicate consistency of the chicken stands out. Desert is a smooth, creamy cheesecake that uses the local juju-dhau yoghurt. And the last course is a moist, moss-green sisnu cake laced with mulberry jam and cream.&nbsp; There is nothing gimmicky about Tusa. It is the coming together of skilled Nepalis with international exposure who have mixed what they have learnt abroad with the flavours of home.&nbsp; The tasting menu is Rs3,500, and it may take some time before Nepalis develop a predilection for some of its items. The chefs are excited, vindicated, and relieved. Coming back to Nepal, uprooting successful careers abroad to take a chance on Nepal must not have been easy.&nbsp; Tusa had a soft launch on New Year’s day with Kathmandu-based diplomats. Australian Ambassador Felicity Volk was one of them, and wrote on a Facebook post: ‘Chefs who honed their skills in Australia and returned to Nepal to give back. We call it fine dining, they call it #cominghome.’ Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/the-baker-of-barpak">The baker of Barpak</a>, Tara Aryal Pandey

The return of the natives

For a year or two after the 25 April 2015 earthquake, the residents of Kathmandu were too terrified to return to their high-rise apartments. None of them collapsed in the 7.8 disaster, but many sustained serious structural damage. &nbsp;
Fast forward nine years, and they have all but forgotten that frightful day. Kathmandu is back to building substandard structures, even as land prices drive developers to build taller.&nbsp;
With no more space to spread horizontally, Kathmandu is going vertical. But structural engineers say most of the high rises do not take into account seismicity, soil condition, construction methods, quality of raw materials, fire hazard, and search and rescue in collapsed concrete structures.
“Much of our focus since the 2015 earthquake has been on building and construction, but not as much on where we are building,” warns Sangeeta Singh, Professor of Urban Planning and Deputy Director of Centre for Disaster Studies at the Institute of Engineering.
Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/in-a-disastrous-state">In a disastrous state</a>, Sonia Awale
She adds: “Kathmandu is not really suited for high-rises. We have to first test the condition of the soil, but building permits are being issued without this fundamental step.”
Kathmandu Valley is a former lakebed with soft topsoil prone to liquefaction and excessive shaking, as seen during the 1934 megaquake. Many ruptures tore up the surface in 2015. &nbsp;
During an earthquake, the rock layers below Kathmandu ring like a bell and the vibrations on the surface take between 0.5 to 2 seconds for one oscillation. Buildings also vibrate, but at different frequencies depending on their height, construction material, and arrangement of their structural components.
At five floors, the vibration period of a building is 0.5 seconds, which is the same as that for Kathmandu Valley, and this could cause more damage, says structural engineer Surya Narayan Shrestha at the National Society for Earthquake Technology - Nepal (NSET).
“Building anything that is five storeys or higher in Kathmandu needs special design and structural considerations,” says Shrestha.
Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/shaking-things-up">Shaking things up</a>, Editorial
Technologies exist to reduce seismic risk in high-rises, and these are used in earthquake-prone cities like Tokyo, Los Angeles, Jakarta or Mexico City.&nbsp;
Base isolation, for example, separates the vibration of the land and the building, reducing damage from soil-building resonance. Base isolators move and stretch under pressure, absorbing much of an earthquake's impact by reducing swaying and shaking. &nbsp;
Seismic dampers change the pattern of vibration altogether, dissipating energy as vibrations move across a structure. But these are all expensive technologies, and none of the high-rises in Kathmandu use them.
However, Nepali engineers who can help with technology transfer are working in the field in Nepal and overseas. Kathmandu’s high-rises are already very expensive, and making them seismic-resistant would be an incremental cost.
Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/comment/learning-from-jajarkot-what-we-didnt-after-2015-695vpzle">Learning from Jajarkot what we didn't after 2015</a>, Sushil Gyewali
The shape of high-rises also matters. Reinforced concrete buildings with asymmetric designs of the kind that are seen in newer structures in Kathmandu experience more torsion and shear during quakes. High-rises with regular geometry are stronger. &nbsp;&nbsp;
An even bigger concern is that of emergency evacuation and rescue in case of fire or earthquake. Kathmandu fire services do not have ladders that reach the higher floors of most new structures.
“High-rises mean more people and potentially higher casualties,” explains Shrestha. “We need immediate evacuation routes, fire escapes, emergency ladders, and fire trucks that can reach higher. Right now, safety features are voluntary and not mandatory.”
The street access, shelters, open spaces, and evacuation routes are integral to disaster preparedness and the safety of neighbourhoods and not just buildings. Most new high-rises in Kathmandu have narrow access roads.
Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/rebuilding-resilience-7-years-later">Rebuilding resilience 7 years later</a>, Anil Pokhrel
Since most of the buildings that survived the 2015 disaster were reinforced concrete structures, it fed the misconception that they are safer. But Himalayan seismologists say that if the intensity and duration of the shaking had been just a little higher, many substandard concrete structures would have collapsed.&nbsp;
And that is the final gap: Nepal’s limited expertise and equipment for search and rescue inside collapsed concrete structures. Kathmandu’s high-rises need to be better prepared for the next Big One.
“Structural safety and design were at the front and the centre after the 2015 earthquake, we also revised some building codes but we are back to square one with contractor-driven construction, especially in peri-urban areas,” says Sangeeta Singh, who is also with the National Planning Commission. “We need to monitor construction as much as design.”&nbsp;
Shrestha at NSET agrees there have been improvements in building practices in the past nine years, but adds, “We have both learnt and unlearnt lessons from 2015. The awareness hasn’t yet translated into action on safety.”
Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/lessons-not-learned-from-2015-o2etq6zu">Lessons not learned from 2015</a>, Sonia Awale

The rise of high-rises

Midway along the stretch of the ancient trade route between Tibet and India lies the Kel Tol neighbourhood. The name is derived from the original Koligrām, and it is believed the Koli people, who were originally from Rāmagrām in present-day southern Nepal near the Indian border, settled here. The Koli were the maternal ancestors of none other than the Buddha. Kel Tol is famous for the Buddhist monastic complex of Kanak Chaitya Mahāvihar, featuring the majestic two-tiered gilded temple of the white god Karunāmaya.&nbsp; This elaborately decorated courtyard is a bustling centre of the Vajrayāna sect of Buddhism, practised widely by the indigenous Newā people of Kathmandu Valley. Karunāmaya, also known as Ārya Avalokiteshwor, is defined in great detail in the 1st century CE Buddhist text Sadharmapundarikā where he liberates all sentient beings from suffering. He helps rid the eight external fears metaphorically equated with their equivalent internal states of mind: lions (pride), wild elephants (ignorance), fire (anger), snakes (jealousy), floods (attachment), imprisonment (miserliness), thieves (wrong views) and cannibals (doubt).  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240418130432_fe370cbee75003cd3eb5dccc7c3b2671630da193b0744db2aeac1bab3ff4a85c.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="20240418130432_fe370cbee75003cd3eb5dccc7c3b2671630da193b0744db2aeac1bab3ff4a85c" data-rendition-name="original" width="1338" height="2000" loading="lazy" alt="Seto Machhindranath"> </figure>  In the Pancha Rakshyā Sutra, a Buddhist scripture from 200 CE, Ārya Avalokiteshwor was counted among the eight major deities. Followers of the Brāhminical god Shiva worship Ārya Avalokiteshwor as Seto Machhindranāth. For Shaivites, Machhindranāth is the Indian saint who founded the Nāth cult in the 10th century CE. He is the guru of saint Gorakhnāth. During the reign of Yakshya Malla (1428–1482 CE), a beautiful image of Ārya Avalokiteshwor was dug up by a farmer in present-day Jamal, which was then a cultivated area outside the city. The farmer, known as a Jamami (meaning the one from Jamal) took the image home for safekeeping. That night, Ārya Avalokiteshwor appeared in the farmer’s dream and told him that the proper place for him to reside is at the confluence of two rivers. The nearest confluence was at present-day Wongha (Indrachok) and the image was installed in the Kanak Chaitya Mahāvihar complex in Kel Tol near Wongha. This made it easier for city residents to pay homage to Ārya Avalokiteshwor and spread compassion. Soon, the deity came to be revered highly as Jamaleshwor, the one found in Jamal. Eventually, the name got corrupted, as happens often in Nepāl Bhāsā, to Janabahā Dyo. The courtyard where his temple is located is now popularly known as Janabahā.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240418130432_5c9b219530e400445ef4e7f64856b43e7cdb756be26d9ed4565c84044c178a7e.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20240418130432_5c9b219530e400445ef4e7f64856b43e7cdb756be26d9ed4565c84044c178a7e" data-rendition-name="original" width="2500" height="1668" loading="lazy" alt="Seto Machhindranath"> </figure>  The gilded temple of Janabahā Dyo, first built in the early 16th century CE, is adorned with wooden and metal artefacts that symbolise 108 forms of Ārya Avalokiteshwor. It stands out as the most decorated temple of its kind in Kathmandu. Today, Janabahā is a living heritage site where many ancient customs and rituals are widely practised as per Vajrayāna Buddhist tradition. Devotees throng the Janabahā Dyo shrine for daily worship and to receive Karunāmaya’s blessings. Being the compassionate one, Ārya Avalokiteshwor goes around town every year in his tall wooden chariot to allow sick and physically disabled devotees to pay homage to him from the comfort of their homes. One could say it is a door-to-door visit by the Compassionate One.&nbsp; For the pragmatic minded, the chariot festival is an annual renewal of communal harmony, validation of our ancient mathematical supremacy and demonstration of the need to keep practical skills alive, including the craft of building earthquake resilient houses.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240418130432_fc8b234ceca87dee4b99e897a485cef121fb953857fb61492a413fbfcc48360c.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20240418130432_fc8b234ceca87dee4b99e897a485cef121fb953857fb61492a413fbfcc48360c" data-rendition-name="original" width="2500" height="1667" loading="lazy" alt="Seto Machhindranath"> </figure>  The Janabahā Dyo chariot is pulled from Jamal, where his image was found by the farmer, through the historic heart of Kathmandu in a gala parade every year. The procession, accompanied by folk music ensembles and revellers, starts on the eighth day of the bright half of the month of Chaitra, and lasts up to a week (ending on Saturday this year). Hundreds of devotees pull the chariot along the streets as a way of expressing their gratitude to lord Karunāmaya for blessing them with compassion and well-being. Purna Ratna Vajrāchārya is an ordained priest who belongs to the clan responsible for taking care of Janabahā Dyo. He has been studying the design and architecture of the chariot for the past 40 years, and overseeing its construction for the past 15. He has learnt that the engineering principles of building the chariot are based on the mathematical system in which Buddhism is taught. For example, 365 pieces of wood are used in the chariot, each representing a day of the year. Each of the four wheels consist of 25 pieces of wood, totalling 100, representing completeness or fulfilment. The chariot is vertically divided into 13 sections, a parallel to the Buddhist concept of Trayodashi Bhuvana that describes the 13 steps that one must take to achieve the state of Nirvana.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240418130432_36d9964c9845f6d9a074786361fc5ab7d49138503ad162086998b731349b0ec0.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="20240418130432_36d9964c9845f6d9a074786361fc5ab7d49138503ad162086998b731349b0ec0" data-rendition-name="original" width="2500" height="1668" loading="lazy" alt="Seto Machhindranath"> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240418130432_2662753a9514a682ccdfd17bf05e2be3771183a68dc86b717ab67d9aad894563.jpg" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="20240418130432_2662753a9514a682ccdfd17bf05e2be3771183a68dc86b717ab67d9aad894563" data-rendition-name="original" width="1668" height="2500" loading="lazy" alt="Seto Machhindranath"> </figure>  &nbsp;Exactly nine types of wood are used, which is the sum of the four base elements that make up the universe (earth, water, fire and air) and the five human senses. The height and length of the chariot is 32 arm’s length (hāt in Sanskrit), 14.8m. The number 32 represents the maximum number of auspicious and physical qualities one could possess to be considered an outstanding human being.&nbsp; Says Vajrācharya, “Observing how the chariot is built helps one learn the fundamental pillars of the Buddha’s teachings, and find an easier path to Nirvana.” The structural design of the nearly 15m wooden chariot is not only awe-inspiring but also gravity-defying. It leverages the pliancy of the materials used in its construction -- flexible joints tied with cane soaked in water for several days. The precise proportions of the chariot ensure great manoeuverability in the narrow streets along the route of the chariot procession that include some 90° bends, without colliding into houses.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240418130432_9f5c2943f5d6b3f0010d3d5213697549945e87a6f7d3d8cbadd69f0dea6c6e2c.jpg" data-media-id="editor_5" data-image-id="20240418130432_9f5c2943f5d6b3f0010d3d5213697549945e87a6f7d3d8cbadd69f0dea6c6e2c" data-rendition-name="original" width="2500" height="3750" loading="lazy" alt="Seto Machhindranath"> </figure>  Driving and steering the chariot with brute muscle power of the mirthful crowd is a seemingly impossible task. But this has been achieved year after year, despite the fact that the devotees who tug wildly at the ropes lassoed to the two front wheels, are most likely in high-spirits (pun intended). Sanjay Manandhar, a US-based technology entrepreneur, recounts how his high school physics teacher from Canada asked his students to go observe the locals build the chariots of Karunāmaya if they were interested in becoming engineers in the future.&nbsp; “That made no sense to me then, but, after all these decades, I now see clearly how the structural design of the chariot, adopted early on by our ancestors is full of earthquake-resilient properties that need to be applied in building houses in an earthquake-prone zone like Nepal,” says Manandhar. A highlight of the chariot festival is that human goddess Kumari makes an appearance at the final destination in Lagan, usually on the third day. This is only one of the 13 times that people get to see the Kumari outside her temple abode.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240418130432_08aa39f3f004a212b33c60a2840d6013110de15dd34a0288f699dd5fda8957ab.jpg" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="20240418130432_08aa39f3f004a212b33c60a2840d6013110de15dd34a0288f699dd5fda8957ab" data-rendition-name="original" width="2500" height="1667" loading="lazy" alt="Seto Machhindranath"> </figure>  On the last day of the festival (Saturday), the image of lord Karunāmaya is carried on a palanquin by priests from Janabahā in a gala procession and brought back to his permanent residence at the temple in Kel Tol.&nbsp; The chariot festival is thought to have started during the reign of King Pratap Malla of Kantipur in the 17th century CE. For close to four centuries, the construction of the chariot and its operation has proven to be a phenomenal engineering feat, and the people’s faith in divinity means the tradition is alive.&nbsp; The essence of the colourful rituals and the religious beliefs of this ancient chariot festival is now all but lost. The logic, technology and practicality must be brought back to light, as they reflect the high civilisation and wisdom of our ancestors that we can leverage in modern times and into the future. &nbsp; Alok Tuladhar is a culture and heritage documentarian.

Kathmandu’s gravity-defying chariot festival

In the run-up to the third Nepal Investment Summit this weekend, there have been seminars, conferences and workshops where the discourse has revolved around the economy and the investment climate.
The consensus that Nepal needs foreign direct investments (FDI) to grow was repeated, and the familiar litany of reasons about why it has not been able to was discussed.&nbsp;
Policy advocates and regulators have understood that the lack of urgency is compounded by procedural inconsistencies, on top of the already deficient investment environment in the country.
It is a welcome change from what used to be flippantly accepting matters as given. There now seems to be a sense of urgency, with procedural inconsistencies and lack of harmonisation between various Acts and regulations openly discussed.&nbsp;
Government stakeholders also appear more willing to learn and attempt to be part of the solution. Whatever policy changes have been introduced in the past have been piecemeal and address the few rather than the entire industry. This left dual regulatory approaches aimed at similar players.&nbsp;
Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/killing-investment-in-nepal-in-10-easy-steps">Killing investment in Nepal in 10 easy steps</a>, Dibesh Karmacharya
This time, unlike in the past two Summits, the government seems to be committed to amending 9 Acts, a positive step towards showing commitment to change. However, the deadline to do so during the winter session of Parliament is over. The option mooted has been to have it passed through ordinance, a lesser appealing step; albeit, a positive one moving forward.&nbsp;
To attract FDI in a competitive global market means that Nepal has to demonstrate that it is serious about bringing in investments with a more consultative and collaborative approach with investors. A departure from procedural to a result-oriented focus is needed.&nbsp;
To put issues in perspective, Nepal needs US$20 billion in investments to meet the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) targets by 2030. If net-zero decarbonisation targets are to be met by 2045, another US$7 billion will be required annually.&nbsp;
Looking at our investment history and poor government capital expenditure, the gap is long and wide. In fiscal year 2022-23 Nepal booked a lamentable ~$59 million in FDI (equity). Nepal is in fact the lowest market in South Asia for FDI with 0.3% of the regional average.&nbsp;
What is it that we can do to fill the gap?&nbsp;
First, we need to move away from the notion that Nepal only needs large investments. This has proven to be a mistake, and time series data have proven that smaller investments, in aggregate, make a larger impact on economies.&nbsp;
Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/poor-cash-rich-nepal">Poor cash-rich Nepal</a>, Sonia Awale
We talk about an ‘enabling environment’ but without the right tools. We place restrictions on interest on debt ceiling (SOFR +5.5), without risk premium adjustments, we do not have an active secondary market for bond trading, nor do we have a yield curve, an integral part of the bond market, which is inhibiting us from tapping into the trillion dollar green bond market.&nbsp;
In order to attract green financing, Nepal needs to develop its bond market. Sovereign risk rating has been mooted and was expected to be operationalised before the Investment Summit.&nbsp;
However, to be rated in an adverse economic environment could further deteriorate investment potential due to a lesser-than-expected rating.&nbsp;
Hedging is another instrument that needs further research on. A commercial bank last year showcased the first risk-hedging mechanism for an investment of $8 million. This can be the beginning to expand on its modality. &nbsp;
Subordinated debt instruments have been introduced, but on a special nod basis, this now needs to be institutionalised as it is the most applicable form of investment after equity in a market that has volatile forex reserves.&nbsp;
Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/invest-in-investment">Invest in investment</a>, Nepali Times
Viability Gap Funding has been introduced by multilateral development agencies implemented in solar installations. It is a tool to incentivise the private sector to invest in projects that are not financially lucrative initially, but have potential for profitability in the long run. This needs to be scaled up and replicated in sectors like infrastructure, where returns may not be immediate.
Moving forward, to attract FDI, Nepal needs to tap into the funds that are available for the growth of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and climate change. Alternative investments such as Private Equity Venture Capital (PEVC) have been around in a structured manner in Nepal for nearly a decade now.
These funds have blended finance components and have attracted climate funding as well. PEVC is a new asset class and can address the issues of penetrating into SME financing by incorporating environment, social and governance issues into their investment process.&nbsp;
SMEs are the backbone of any economy, PEVC comes with the ability not only to scale up the enterprise with risk capital, but with the ability to bring technical knowhow to enhance not only the enterprise but also the entrepreneur.&nbsp;
Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/success-in-nepal-means-not-having-to-work">Success in Nepal means not having to work</a>, Anil Chitrakar
A differentiator from all other forms of financing available till date in Nepal. Blended finance is a way of de-risking investments, especially in frontier markets. Business Oxygen (BO2) is an example of blended finance with subordinated debt investments of IFC (World Bank Group) taking the lead and Climate Investment Funds along with FCDO as co-investors.&nbsp;
On a larger scale, the 216MW Upper Trisuli 1 is another example of blended finance with IFC, a Korean consortium and local investments. So far, we see that development finance Institutions have been taking the lead in Nepal as their risk appetite is greater than commercial investors and they are eager to help develop the financial markets.&nbsp;
In order to be sustainable, we need to step on this and attract commercial capital from all over the world. To do this there has to be political will to make that pivot.&nbsp;
Instead of being a means to an end, the two previous Investment Summits turned out to be intermittent and cosmetic, providing hardly any results. The third one’s success will depend on how the event will be implemented as a platform for continuous marketing for the country and facilitation for investors in future.&nbsp;
Nepal has outdone many countries in its macro-economic indicators, with sound forex reserves and a stellar history of debt payments to its creditors. This story needs to be propagated along with the drive for change to attract potential investors.
Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/comment/alternative-investments-to-attract-fdi">Alternative investments to attract FDI</a>, Siddhant Raj Pandey

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