<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111413118/637230129c7e80680e0c2549jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="2250" height="1501"/><figcaption>Retired General Gaurav Rana went on the 50km Kathmandu Kora Cycle Jatra despite being on chemotherapy . Photo: KTMKora</figcaption></figure>As former Chief of Army Staff of Nepal Army, Gen Gaurav Rana is more used to riding 4WDs and helicopters to remote parts of the country. No one expected to see him at Patan Darbar Square last week being flagged off in this year’s #KoraCycleJatra.Rana, age 66, is a bicycling aficionado, but what makes his participation in the gruelling 50km Kathmandu Kora even more remarkable is that he is being treated for a malignancy, and had his latest chemotherapy treatment just a week before the ride.The general defied expectations and illness at the 16 July event, even beating his own mileage from past years.“I want to keep a positive frame of mind, so I set Kora as my goal and worked toward it,” Rana told us. “My doctor said it was okay to exercise, and told me to lead a normal life.”<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111413118/637230159c7e80680e0c254ajpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1283" height="611"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Rana comes from an illustrious family of military officers, and began cycling in his childhood. He found similarities between his love of adventure sports, like mountain biking, and his military career.Rana served as Chief of Army Staff from 2012-2015, when he instituted a policy that all officers should avoid using vehicles on Fridays — and to bike or walk instead both to maintain physical training and reduce reliance on fuel.While some people may look down on cycling as a lesser form of transport, Rana wanted to be an example, riding a Nepali-assembled bicycle to work.“When I started cycling to work, people were saying, ‘Oh, if the chief can ride, why can’t we?’ It slowly picked up in popularity,” Rana recalls.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111413118/637230189c7e80680e0c254bjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1848" height="1233"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>The general was impressed by the turnout at this year’s #KoraCycleJatra as thousands of cyclists gathered at Patan Darbar Square for the 50, 75, and 100km routes. As he pushed through the race’s challenges in spite of his cancer diagnosis, Rana noticed the community-focused atmosphere of this year’s Kora.The Kathmandu Kora bicycling event is the brainchild of ethical tourism entrepreneur Raj Gyawali and a young British volunteer to raise money for Samata School. The first ride was organised in 2011 with just 35 cyclists.This year’s event saw over 3,000 registered riders with parallel Kora events being held in different parts of Nepal, as well as abroad. Gyawali hopes that the Kora can be a message for others facing illness to fight back against depression.Throughout the race, Gaurav Rana and fellow cyclists supported and encouraged each other. He says, “It was tough — the sun was out all day and the weather was scorching. It was very challenging but also extremely rewarding. I had such a sense of achievement.”<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111413118/6372301c9c7e80680e0c254cjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="750" height="1000"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Beyond the sense of meeting a shared challenge, Rana was struck by the number of young cycling enthusiasts and how the sport has developed in Nepal in recent years. Whereas five years ago, many participants used worn down bicycles with patched up tyres, this year’s ride featured more brand new bikes of all makes than ever before, even electric bikes.“I was very impressed looking at the variety of bikes,” says Rana. “Today, cyclists are more professional and understand their equipment better than in previous years.”Pre-Covid Koras have also seen the participation of organisations supporting cancer survivors. In 2019, the Richa Bajimaya Memorial Foundation took part to raise money for breast cancer screening for patients through the rally.Says Rana: “I had put the Kora as my target. Everyone knew about my treatment, but I wanted to show that having cancer need not change your quest for adventure. You have to go on with your life and enjoy every moment.”<h3>Circumambulating Kathmandu</h3>When Raj Gyawali organised the very first Kathmandu Kora in 2011 with a young British volunteer, there were only 35 cyclists who raised money  for charity.In the past decade, the Kora has never abandoned its dedication to help the under-served in society while instilling a spirit of adventure in young Nepalis.It is a measure of how much the sport has grown in popularity that there were more than 3,000 registered riders on 16 July.Unlike a traditional race, cyclists push themselves to complete whichever challenge is best for them.“It’s not a rally, it’s a ride,” says Gyawali, explaining the Kora challenge’s goal of bringing Kathmandu’s cycling community together.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111413118/6372301f9c7e80680e0c254djpeg.jpg" alt="" width="750" height="563"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Not only are the bicycle varieties growing in number, but the Kora challenge itself is spreading. There are now 50 or 60 locations in Nepal, including Pokhara, Biratnagar, Birgunj, Nepalganj, Surkhet, Hetuada and even Jumla. This year over 300 cyclists joined Bhaktapur’s first official Kora challenge, compared to only 30 last year.The Kora Jatra was also held on the same day this year in Singapore and in Geneva, and enthusiasts are picking up the challenge next year in cities in Australia and Europe.Each year, Kathmandu’s Kora  grows in popularity and numbers of cyclists. Now, the ride fills Kathmandu's streets each year with thousands of bicycle-lovers, including inspirational figures and celebrities.Gyawali’s goal is to make it a community event, and keep the cycle challenge accessible to all, whether they are athletes, actors, students, children, or former army chiefs.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111413118/637230219c7e80680e0c254ejpeg.jpg" alt="" width="4032" height="3024"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>“This is a fun ride. There is no other agenda. The pure agenda is building community and being festive,” says Gyawali. He explains that to cyclists, the Kora challenge acts as its own jatra, with entire communities coming together in a wider festival. By now, locals know the route, which is the same each year, and offer special discounts.The Kathmandu Kora follows a clockwise route that circumnavigates some of the city’s most renowned religious sites, including the Boudha and Swayambhu stupas and Pashupati temple.While initially sponsored through Gyawali’s company, socialtours, the annual gathering is now co-organised through Pangro Outdoor Events and Cycle City Network Nepal. Turkish Airlines is the official airlines partner and conducts CLICK2WIN contest where this year both professional and amateur photographers have a chance to win a trip to Istanbul if their Kora picture receives the most views.  Read more: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/re-cycling-kathmandu-is-not-so-easy/">‘Re-cycling’ Kathmandu is not so easy</a>, Sarah Watson

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Pedalling for life

<figure><img width="1400" height="933" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111412118/637221a29c7e80680e0c02c8jpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Photo: GOPEN RAI/NEPALI TIMES ARCHIVE</figcaption></figure>By 7:30AM on 5 June, hundreds of cycling enthusiasts had gathered at Patan Darbar Square. Pedestrians, activists, politicians, and cyclists were marking World Bicycle Day and call for green, bicycle-friendly infrastructure in Kathmandu.It was the first rally in more than two years because of the pandemic. The new and re-elected mayors of Lalitpur, Kathmandu, and Kirtipur were all present to show their commitment to supporting dedicated cycling lanes for a more environmentally friendly Kathmandu Valley. Participants were promoting cycling as a sustainable mode of transportation, an alternative to private vehicles including motorbikes, emissions from which are among the major contributors to Kathmandu’s dangerous levels of air pollution.Read  also: <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/The-road-to-safety,873">The  road to safety</a>, Bhrikuti RaiKathmandu is one of the most polluted cities in the world with PM2.5 concentration <a href="https://www.iqair.com/nepal/central-region/kathmandu">over eight times the WHO recommended guidelines</a>. Long-term exposure to these pollutants means that the life expectancy of residents is reduced by nearly four years.Pushkar Shah, an international cyclist and activist who has pedalled across 150 countries hopes that a cycling culture in Kathmandu can help reduce pollution. “We know Kathmandu is polluted, we are always talking about dust and pollution. But we have to do more, we have to educate ourselves to clean up the city,” he says. Advocates maintain that promoting cycling and creating dedicated bike lanes could significantly reduce vehicle emissions, especially from the nearly 1.5 million two-wheelers in the streets of Kathmandu. “If we promote a bicycle day just once a week, we can reduce 1.5 million litres of fuel every year,” adds Shah. “We can save money as well as clean up the air." <figure><img width="1400" height="788" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111412118/637221a59c7e80680e0c02c9jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption>Photo: ASIF AMINUR RAHSID</figcaption></figure>Kathmandu Valley is naturally bicycle-friendly with relatively short distances between areas, moderate temperature, and few steep inclines in urban areas. But roads in the capital are unsafe, since bicycles must navigate around cars, buses, and motorbikes that might not respect a cyclist’s right of way.In 2011, renowned conservationist and cycling activist <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=18683#.YqBwlxNBz9F">Pralad Yonzon was killed when a vehicle hit him on his bicycle</a>. Seven years later, cyclist Shyam Shrestha <a href="https://kathmandupost.com/national/2018/11/04/forum-pays-tribute-to-cyclist-killed-due-to-civic-negligence">drowned when his bicycle fell into an open drain</a> in Kirtipur. In 2019, Lalitpur <a href="https://kathmandupost.com/lalitpur/2019/11/30/lalitpur-metropolitan-city-inaugurates-first-bike-lane-in-the-valley">introduced its first 4.7km cycle lane</a> between Kupondole and Mangal Bazar. Mayor Chiribabu Maharjan promised to cycle to work and encouraged his staff to do the same. The city also planned to build 110 cycle stands. <figure><img width="1452" height="1094" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111412118/637221a99c7e80680e0c02cajpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption>Credit: Cycle Culture Movement 2022/Facebook</figcaption></figure>A year later, Mayor Maharjan <a href="https://kathmandupost.com/lalitpur/2020/01/23/nepal-cycle-society-awaits-approval-and-implementation-of-new-cycle-law-in-lalitpur">introduced the Cycle Act 2076</a> in collaboration with the Nepal Cycle Society. He said: “Neither the central nor the federal government has talked about a cycle lane or safety for cyclists to date. By enforcing this law, we want to assure our citizens that cycling is safe in Lalitpur and to encourage everyone to cycle.”The proposed act increased safety for cyclists and those in wheelchairs and suggested fines for drivers and motorists who violated cycle lanes. But in the lack of national cycling legislation, efforts to establish a bicycle law have met obstacles. Lalitpur’s municipal government has in fact clashed with the central government’s Department of Roads over cycle lane management. “The main reason the Act has not come into effect is because the central and provincial governments do not have a Cycle Act,” says Tara Lal Shrestha, a professor at Tribhuvan University and a coordinator for Cycle Culture Movement Nepal. “The central government needs to make a bicycle Act or policy.” <figure><img width="1500" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111412118/637221ac9c7e80680e0c02cbjpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption>Photo: FLAWSONE PICTURES</figcaption></figure>A primary challenge is space. In areas like Patan’s historic old town, many streets are only wide enough to accommodate a single car, let alone separated lanes for cyclists. But environmental engineer Bhushan Tuladhar explains that effective bike lanes are possible if properly planned.Compared to 3.5m needed for private vehicles, bicycle lanes only take up 1.5m. For some of Kathmandu’s wider roads, there is room for more than one bike lane. “We can prioritise bike lanes and plan for what is most appropriate for every type of street,” adds Tuladhar.  There are now plans for an additional cycle lane to act as a 9km ring road between Balkhu, Bagmati and Balkumari bridges. The future of Kathmandu Valley’s bicycle lanes is not just a question of building infrastructure, however, but attitude. Bias against cycling as a lesser means of transportation can damage efforts to establish the lanes. “Bicycles are usually seen as for the poor, not something to aspire for, so people do not prioritise bike lanes,” adds Tuladhar. But having bicycle lanes alone will not protect cyclists. The traffic, buses and the motorcycles need to follow rules and prioritise pedestrians and cyclists. Existing cycle lanes are only demarcated by green-painted paths and there is no national cycling law motorists must abide by. Adds Shah: “One day, I hope, Kathmandu will be a bicycle-friendly city. One day, I hope our dreams will come true.”Read more: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/no-city-for-cyclists/">No city for cyclists</a>, Sewa Bhattarai

'Re-cycling' Kathmandu is not so easy

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108131148/636a502c9c7e80680e04fd46jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1000" height="1333"/><figcaption>FLAG OFF: The Kathmandu Kora 2019 being flagged off at Patan Darbar Square by Lalitpur Mayor Chiri Babu Maharjan. Pic: KUNDA DIXIT</figcaption></figure>More than 3,000 riders took part in the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/kathmandu-kora-2019/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Kathmandu Kora Cycling Challenge</a> on Saturday 20 July, riding 50km, 75km or 100km routes around the Valley.  The rally raised money for various education, reconstruction and youth training causes, with participants earning a suggested Rs100 per km from family and friends. In conjunction with the rides, airline partner Turkish Airlines organised the Click2Win contest for photo enthusiasts, with the winner getting a return ticket to any destination in Europe.The shortest of the three rides was designed for amateurs but offered challenges including brisk climbs and narrow alleys. The Good to Expert 75km circuit involved more adventurous cycling, with steeper climbs and mountain en route to Boudhanath and Chobhar.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/no-city-for-cyclists/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">No city for cyclists</a>, Sewa Bhattarai<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108131148/636a502f9c7e80680e04fd47jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1200" height="1279"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>The most challenging Expert To Pro 100-km circuit occupied an entire day of cycling along hills on the Valley rim.Participants in the Click2Win contest have till 28 July to submit their photos. A set of finalists will be selected and the one whose photo earns the most likes on social media will win a free roundtrip ticket to a destination in Europe.Reeti KCEmail photo submissions to:click2win@kathmandukora.net

Cycle challenge and click to win

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107171132/6369339f9c7e80680e03dfacjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1125"/><figcaption>A ghost bicycle is tied to a tree near where Shyam Sundar Shrestha died on 27 October. The open drain is now covered. On the night before the 13th day remembrance at the site, this ambulance swerved to avoid another pothole and hit a tree nearby. All photos: KUNDA DIXIT</figcaption></figure>Hundreds of children had been walking past the gaping open drain outside the gates of Laboratory School in Kirtipur every day for the past six months. Teachers had repeatedly asked the Kathmandu Valley water supply utility to cover the ditch. A parent who complained recently was told by workers: “Mind your own business.” A shopkeeper across road has lost count of the number of motorcyclists injured trying to avoid the gutter at night.On 27 October, yoga instructor Shyam Sundar Shrestha was spending the Saturday evening at his home in Chagal with his mother, Sabitri and sister, Shoba. He told them not to let his little nephews waste time playing with mobile phones.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107171132/636933a39c7e80680e03dfadjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1125" height="1500"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Shyam Sundar had dinner, checked his laptop, washed his face, and said he was bicycling out to Chobhar. His mother wondered why he had to go out into the dark streets, but did not say anything because her 41-year-old son had criss-crossed Nepal on his bicycle.Shyam Sundar was an introvert since childhood, his mother remembers. He lived frugally, ate little, dressed simply and had a passion for spiritualism and bicycling. He loved the great outdoors, and had followed his guru on a walking pilgrimage from Kathmandu to Kanya Kumari on the southern tip of India, a distance of 4,000km.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107171132/636933a69c7e80680e03dfaejpeg.jpg" alt="" width="762" height="540"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>When he did not return till late that night, Sabitri Shrestha tried unsuccessfully to call her son on his mobile. Even though she was not unduly worried, she called around to relatives who reported a missing person to the Police.The call from the Police came early on Sunday morning: a pedestrian had found Shyam Sundar’s body inside an open drain on the road to Chobhar. The family was in complete shock, as weeping neighbours gathered around. At the site, Police extricated Shyam Sundar’s red bicycle and shoes, and sent his body to hospital for an autopsy.It was just the latest tragedy that brought into sharp focus the <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=19147#.W-e3dqcQ0Wo" target="_blank" rel="noopener">death trap</a> that Kathmandu’s road have become, with open manholes and drains, gaping ditches on dark streets without pedestrian sidewalks, and the lack of warning signs.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107171132/636933a89c7e80680e03dfafjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="880"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Shyam Sundar’s death occurred down the road from where renowned conservationist <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/blogs/thebrief/2012/03/25/killer-on-the-run/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Pralhad Yonzon</a> was killed almost exactly six years ago. Both were avid bicyclists, and their deaths have exposed criminal state negligence about road safety and the lack of <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=18714#.W-e3h6cQ0Wo" target="_blank" rel="noopener">bicycle lanes</a> that the city promised.Friends, relatives, colleagues and bicycle enthusiasts gathered on 10 November at the spot where Shyam Sundar Shrestha died for his 13th day remembrance. They paid tribute to a quiet, spiritual man dedicated to helping others. Away from crowd, weeping silently was Sabitri Shrestha.“I cannot describe to you what a decent man and devoted son he is,” she sobbed, still speaking in the present tense about her son. “He never says an unkind word to anyone, never raises his voice. He does not take sugar or white rice, eating only fruit and buckwheat, and has few cravings.”After his two sisters got married, Shyam Sundar was taking care of his mother in their Chagal home, his father having died when he was young. He worked as an English tutor and a yoga instructor, but never felt the need to make much money.Shyam Sundar’s five-year-old nephew points at a photo of him and says, “Pau.” Carrying him on her arms, Shobha Shrestha says tearfully: “He had just started recognising his uncle, and has been asking where he is. What do I tell him?”The ditch where Shyam Sundar died has now been covered with concrete slabs. But the night before the commemoration, an ambulance that had tried to avoid another pothole had rammed into the side of the road, just next to the white ghost bicycle chained to a tree that serves as a memorial to Shyam Sundar.As the small gathering observed a two-minute silence, Nepal Sambat revellers on pickups roared past, there was the sound of fire crackers going off nearby. An ambulance rushed past siren blazing.Advocate Sunil Ranjan Singh’s son goes to Laboratory School, and he had complained many times to the authorities about the dangerous open drain. He said: “This is a failure at all three levels of government. They are all guilty, and the responsibility goes right up to the Prime Minister.”Singh wants to set a legal precedent by taking the matter to the courts so it will set a landmark decision on responsibility and compensation for such negligence in future.On Sunday after Shyam Sundar’s body was found, the Kathmandu Valley water utility (KUKL) covered up the open drain in half-an- hour. “If it was so simple to cover it and make it safe, why didn’t they do it earlier? Did someone have to be killed?” advocate Sunil Ranjan Singh asked.The police released the autopsy report over Tihar, it was as everyone had suspected: Shyam Sundar was knocked unconscious after falling off his bicycle and drowned in sewage half-a-metre deep.Despite the people consoling her, Sabitri Shrestha looked alone and forlorn. She joined her hands in prayer, and said softly: “I used to tell him don’t go where there are no roads, but he died on a road, right here in the capital. I hope no more Nepalis have to die like my son.”<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107171132/636933ac9c7e80680e03dfb0jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="591" height="1024"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>

Kunda Dixit

Don’t go quietly into the night

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4MI6WXEHvU&amp;feature=youtu.beWith its gentle inclines, convenient distances and scenery, Kathmandu had always been an ideal cycling city. Tourists to Nepal in the 1970s wrote ecstatically about pedalling past emerald green terraces to hilltop towns with ancient monuments.But that was before cars drove bicycles <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=18714#.Wu_AcO-FO70" target="_blank" rel="noopener">off the roads</a>. Bicycles made a <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/cycle-to-work-every-friday,1395" target="_blank" rel="noopener">comeback</a> during the fuel crisis during the 2015 Blockade, but soon things went back to roads choked with cars and exhaust fumes.There has been new interest in trail biking around the Valley rim and in the <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/Nepal-mountain-bike-champs,1234" target="_blank" rel="noopener">high mountains</a> as an <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/Yak,278" target="_blank" rel="noopener">adventure sport</a>, but commuting by bicycles is in steep decline because of pollution and the unkept promise of bicycle lanes.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107101152/6368d61c9c7e80680e031465jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1400" height="933"/><figcaption>DUSTMANDU: A bicycle commuter on Tuesday on a road in Khumaltar that is being widened without making space for a bicycle lane. Gopen Rai</figcaption></figure>Abhishek Shrestha, who runs Cycle Chain, a bicycle shop in Jhamsikhel was selling up to four bicycles every week till two years ago. Now, he hardly sells one a month.“Without separate bicycle lanes, motor vehicles pose a great hazard for cyclists,” says Shrestha. Ironically, however, the sale of face masks have shot up, indicating that pollution is a factor putting off cyclists.The death of conservationist Dr. <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/The-road-to-safety,873#." target="_blank" rel="noopener">Pralad Yonzon</a> is still fresh in the minds of people, through it happened in 2011. An avid environmentalist, Dr. Yonzon practised what he preached and commuted on a bicycle. A truck rammed into his bicycle at Balkhu, leading to his death, and the roads continue to be as dangerous for cyclists.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107101152/6368d61f9c7e80680e031466jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1400" height="933"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>True cycle enthusiasts like Girish Giri (below) however, have a reverse logic about bicycling around town: “I am glad I am not contributing to the air pollution,” grins Girish, a journalist who cycles to work every day, and last month bicycled 120km to Birganj from Kathmandu.The tax on bicycles (25%) is far less than on motor vehicles, so the price is about the same as in the country of manufacture.Read Also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/?p=5681&amp;preview=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Riding above the haze</a>, Tyler McmahonHowever, since bicycles are still associated with the lower middle class, it hasn’t gained popularity among middle class commuters in Kathmandu.Bicycle seller Keshav Bahadur Mahat in Patan agrees, saying affordable scooters have cut into his market: “Only children’s bicycles are still selling well.”<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107101152/6368d6239c7e80680e031467jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1400" height="787"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>With events like Mountain Bike Championships and Kora Cycling, the awareness about the recreational benefits of bicycling has grown. But sports cycling still has a long way to go.“There is no velodrome in Nepal for indoor track cycling, and cross-country cycling, para-cycling, BMX, haven’t really taken off and although Nepal’s terrain is suitable for mountain biking, even that discipline has not grown to its full potential,” explains Gopal Sundar Lal Kakshapati of the Nepal Cycling Association.Activists lobbied for years to make Kathmandu more cycle-friendly, and Kathmandu Mayor Bidya Sundar Shakya had a plan for a ‘Cycle City’ with bicycle lanes and parking areas in his famous list of 100 Things To Do Within the First 100 Days in office.“The 100 days have long passed, and we are disappointed the new Ring Road also does not have bicycle lanes,” says Shailendra Dangol of <a href="http://kcc2020.blogspot.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Cycle City Network</a> Nepal advocacy group.Nepal’s terrain is ideal for all kinds of <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=19700#.Wu_BkO-FO70" target="_blank" rel="noopener">cycling</a>, but policies and plans actively discourage bicycles at a time when cities around the world are returning to this mode of transport.Read Also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/?p=5675&amp;preview=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Make sure bicycling is not injurious to health</a>,  Amir Neupane

No city for cyclists

While physical activity is one of the keys to a healthy lifestyle, air pollution and exercise can be a harmful combination. This is especially true if you have asthma, diabetes, and heart or lung conditions. Young children, older people, and people who work or exercise outdoors can be especially susceptible to the effects of outdoor air pollution. Street level suspended particulates and toxic emissions in Kathmandu are several times higher than the WHO’s safe threshold.Lately, many patients have been coming to my physiotherapy clinic complaining of pain in the elbow joint, neck, knee, back, tendinitis and nerve impinchment. Most are bicycle enthusiasts who took up the sport to improve their health.Indeed, bicycling can have many health benefits: increasing cardiovascular fitness, improving muscle strength and flexibility, greater joint mobility, reducing stress, better posture and coordination, and decreased body fat levels.We need to understand the interface between the human musculoskeletal system and the mechanical laws of the bicycle to use it properly. The idea is to prevent common injuries while using bicycles for commuting, mountain biking, or in triathalons and extreme racing.		
		<img width="500" height="1020" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107101152/6368d6269c7e80680e031468jpeg.jpg" alt=""/>Cycling incorporates all main leg muscle groups during various phases of pedaling. This movement is ideal for strengthening muscles, but overuse may cause repetitive stress injury and pain . A physiotherapist can pinpoint the problem and locate any strength deficits.Health problems increase while exercising in polluted areas. During increased physical activity you usually inhale more air and breathe it more deeply into your lungs.The air also passes through the mouth, bypassing the nasal passages which normally filter airborne particles. What is not clear with air pollution and exercise is which types of air pollution are most harmful over time. It is prudent to avoid cycling along Kathmandu’s main roads, especially in the mornings and evenings.However, research has shown that the long-term benefits of regular exercise outweigh the risks associated with exposure to air pollution.Amir Neupane is an evidence based physio-practitioner, and manages Aashas Health Care in Jawalakhel.<a href="http://aashas.com.np/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">http://aashas.com.np/ </a>Read Also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/?p=5674&amp;preview=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">No city for cyclists</a>, Sewa Bhattarai		
			<h3>Healthy Exercise</h3>		
		Monitor air pollution. Consult Nepali Times on mobile for live air pollution levels in Kathmandu to check if it is safe.Timing workouts. Avoid outdoor physical activity and reduce exercising when pollution levels are highest in mornings and evenings, or rush hours.Avoid high-pollution areas. Pollution levels are highest within 400m of busy roads. Take bike up to ridge (see accompanying article)Exercise indoors. Exercise indoors when air quality is bad. Check out a local gym or run laps on an indoor track.Read Also: Riding above the haze, Tyler Mcmahon		
			<h2>Posture</h2>		
		Your bike must be adjusted to suit your body size and shape so you are more relaxed and can ride longer distances with less effort. However much you enjoy bicycling, don’t overdo it. If you get pains, visit a physiotherapist with a special interest in bike setup or a cycling store professional.Pick your bike: Do you want a bicycle to commute or for trail biking? Pick the right type and size.Posture: Avoid excessive movement of the upper body. Maintain neutral spine by bending forward at the hips. Do not hunch, do not sway.Reach: Have a comfortable reach with the handlebar, not too far away and not too near. Your arms should be 90 degrees to your torso.Pedal: The ball of your foot should be centred over the pedal axle.Saddle: Saddle should not be tilted and its height should be adjusted so that when the pedals are horizontal your knee is directly over the spindle.

Make sure bicycling is not injurious to health

In the black and white photograph, General Wangdu smiles broadly in front of the dusty cactus garden in Kathmandu’s Annapurna Hotel. With an ill-fitting jacket and shaggy hair he looks benign enough, but this was the last leader of the Tibetan freedom fighters who led the resistance against the Chinese from their remote mountain hideouts in <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/comings-and-goings-in-mustang">Mustang</a>. Five months later, Wangdu was dead. Snapped in March 1974, I had only recently arrived in Nepal. How did I meet this legendary fighter? Possibly with his devoted camp follower, Lynne Klapecki, and probably in the Om Restaurant near Freak Street which was the preferred <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/hippie-trail-nostalgia-in-kathmandu">hippie hang-out</a>. Om Lobsang and his brother Yeshe were <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/page/earthquake-brings-back-memories-of-camps-for-tibetan-refugees">refugees from East Tibet </a>whose cafe offered a friendly welcome and<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/momo-loco"> the best momos</a> - they became my in-laws after I married their eldest brother Tenzin, but that was a decade later.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025052403054_4573b34282b0f5395c007243d6bef12c7ba76bfd520419e994cdcea048d795a1.jpg" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="2025052403054_4573b34282b0f5395c007243d6bef12c7ba76bfd520419e994cdcea048d795a1" data-rendition-name="original" width="1000" height="1583" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> <figcaption>Photo: LISA CHOEGYAL</figcaption> </figure>  Wangdu’s English was enthusiastically rudimentary, but even riding around town with him on the back of an aging <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/kathmandu-s-new-motorbike-museum">motorbike</a>, he was a commanding presence. Always flanked by armed outriders, impressive scars marked his forearms and a pistol hung from the cord around his neck. A charismatic guerrilla leader, Wangdu was celebrated by his followers for his tough commitment and respected for his measured pragmatism. He seemed so young to have shouldered such a responsibility of command, leading hundreds of hardened <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/50-years-after-the%20raid-into-Tibet,1012#google_vignette">Khampa combatants </a>through what had been a particularly <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/heavy-snowfall-over-nepal-himalaya">brutal winter in Mustang</a>, the last bastion to hold out against the Chinese invasion of their Tibetan homeland.&nbsp; The freedom fighters of Tibet, known as the Chushi-Gangdruk, had emerged to resist the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/territorialism">Chinese takeover</a> of Tibet during the 1950s. Estimated to be 80,000-strong at the time of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/what-or-who-after-the-dalai-lama">the Dalai Lama</a>’s final escape to India in 1959, the sheer number of Chinese deployed into Tibet eventually forced the Chushi-Gangdruk to retreat to Mustang, From this high Himalayan stronghold, they continued cross-border raids on the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) throughout the 1960s.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025052403054_8a4a935ba25ae79dc3a63bb5c14626927020e5ec098093c45ccb9a5982e009fd.jpg" data-media-id="editor_10" data-image-id="2025052403054_8a4a935ba25ae79dc3a63bb5c14626927020e5ec098093c45ccb9a5982e009fd" data-rendition-name="original" width="1114" height="676" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> <figcaption>Guerrillas known as the Chushi-Gangdruk emerged to resist the Chinese annexation of Tibet during the 1950s. Photo courtesy: MIKEL DUNHAM</figcaption> </figure>  Their Kathmandu base was a small discreet lodge in a back lane near Rani Pokhari. Sipping sweet tea from a blue mug with a chipped lid, I sat bemused in a corner of the Mustang Hotel room whilst Wangdu and his cohorts received a battered brown suitcase from their CIA connection, a tousle-haired American in a leather jacket. Heaved onto the dingy bedspread that covered the thin mattress, it was clicked open to reveal piles of neatly stacked dollar bills.&nbsp; I cannot think why Wangdu allowed me to witness this handover but I was clearly no threat, a newly arrived world traveller with no understanding of the stakes nor any Nepali or <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/tibetan-music-in-nepals-sacred-valley">Tibetan language</a>. Despite armed guards in the corridor,Wangdu radiated confidence and bravado, and there was a practiced familiarity to the tense transaction. This deadly dance for many years had been funded by the Americans, tolerated by <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/the-kingdom-within-a-republic">Mustang’s residents</a>, and permitted by King Mahendra and the Nepali authorities who it suited to turn a blind eye.&nbsp; But Mahendra died in 1972, and times were changing. Richard Nixon’s ping-pong diplomacy thawed the cold war and signalled a fresh entente with China. Nepal’s yet-to-be-crowned <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/if-birendra-was-alive-nepal-could-still-be-a-monarchy">King Birendra </a>was under pressure to curb the irritating incursions against the PLA launched from the Nepali territory of Mustang. Keen to appease his northern neighbour, on several occasions the King summoned Wangdu for peace talks but, despite increasingly overwhelming odds, Wangdu refused to surrender.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025052403054_a8efd5cfb92cd997bd7cb74296a936fef46e2f7428f9cd642b03f1ac4ea11ecb.jpg" data-media-id="editor_14" data-image-id="2025052403054_a8efd5cfb92cd997bd7cb74296a936fef46e2f7428f9cd642b03f1ac4ea11ecb" data-rendition-name="original" width="1055" height="885" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> <figcaption>General Wangdu flanked by two Tibetan resistance fighters in Mustang in the 1970s. Photo courtesy: MIKEL DUNHAM</figcaption> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025052403054_75969125a745847a2ef82b6fe8b9106c0b21a116d85b8efdf5d2ee89a347bb31.jpg" data-media-id="editor_15" data-image-id="2025052403054_75969125a745847a2ef82b6fe8b9106c0b21a116d85b8efdf5d2ee89a347bb31" data-rendition-name="original" width="1044" height="792" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> <figcaption>King Birendra with General Wangdu (right in dark glasses) taken in 1974 possibly in Mustang after one of their few attempts at negotiation. Photo courtesy: RAJRNDRA KUNWAR</figcaption> </figure>  While I naively rode pillion around Kathmandu in the spring sunshine, Wangdu was in the midst of what turned out to be his final round of negotiations with the Nepal government. Refusing to cease hostilities with the Chinese, Wangdu must have suspected the cost of his decision, making his cheerful smile in the photograph all the more poignant and brave. It was only much later that I appreciated the significance of the moment. Wangdu had been sent to replace the first resistance leader in Mustang, Baba Gen Yeshe, a much derided corrupt character who stole money meant for his troops and exploited fleeing refugees by seizing their treasures. Baba Gen Yeshe never forgave Wangdu,and sought revenge in May 1974 by betraying him and his commanders to the Nepal authorities. Renewed Chinese incursions from the north, active PLA collusion with the Nepali forces under the new King, and treachery from within the Chushi-Gangdrukranks combined to seal their fate.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025052403054_e0987a7c90d76431b0d7d5e6115ebfe3dbda7ab939e5941e079c18d722e884c0.jpg" data-media-id="editor_16" data-image-id="2025052403054_e0987a7c90d76431b0d7d5e6115ebfe3dbda7ab939e5941e079c18d722e884c0" data-rendition-name="original" width="1400" height="769" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> <figcaption>British television journalists George Patterson and Adrian Cowell embedded themselves with Khampa guerrillas and accompanied them from Tsum Valley on a cross border raid on a Chinese Army convoy in 1964. Photo: ESSAYS ON NEPAL / SAM COWAN</figcaption> </figure>  Mikel Dunham, renowned author of Buddha’s Warriors, writes: ‘It is possible that Wangdu was waiting for some cue from the Dalai Lama’s government-in-exile in Dharamsala, India. It is equally possible – during that last, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/the-human-cost-of-nepal-s-yarsa-gold-rush?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR31-Cqw8oyIwMPzf_35e4Skr0ululJvLf3_vDkzHn-AYG2h8uPw2rqqErg_aem_tGVn5coY1-jA7fze_xqhew">desolate winter </a>– that he made the decision to go out in glory rather than admit defeat. Over the last fifteen years, Wangdu had experienced Tibet’s organized resistance being squeezed and shoved around by every conceivable outside force.&nbsp; First they had been pushed out of their own country by the PLA; then they had been refused sanction while on <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/borderlines/nepal-india-trans-boundary-bonds?fbclid=IwAR0PpJ5zUEbwdug3g_U3ar6FUugngRY0S8Tl2v_7wqzrsHmXWcXsKjvL4t4">Indian soil</a>; then they were abandoned by the Americans because, apparently, Nixon wanted to make friends with Wangdu’s mortal enemies, the communists; then they had been betrayed by the vampiric Baba Gen Yeshe – a Tibetan and, even worse, a fellow Khampa; and now, finally Wangdu’s army was being evicted by the Nepalis. One thing was certain: Wangdu was a warrior. To imagine Wangdu simply giving up and settling down in the pacific squalor of a <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/elderly-left-in-bhutan-refugee-camp">refugee camp </a>was unthinkable.’  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025052403054_8fc1ffef4ae751628b90ae781b66e11e51e4fdde2787207c9042efbee345ce49.jpg" data-media-id="editor_20" data-image-id="2025052403054_8fc1ffef4ae751628b90ae781b66e11e51e4fdde2787207c9042efbee345ce49" data-rendition-name="original" width="500" height="746" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> <figcaption>The much derided Baba Gen Yeshe, the first Tibetan resistance leader in Mustang, who betrayed Wangdu for personal gain. Photo courtesy: MIKEL DUNHAM</figcaption> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025052403054_b1d833cdb00d3ac4416b844d8730475cd88c238caaaf8da69889a584eea229a3.jpg" data-media-id="editor_21" data-image-id="2025052403054_b1d833cdb00d3ac4416b844d8730475cd88c238caaaf8da69889a584eea229a3" data-rendition-name="original" width="500" height="656" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> <figcaption>Aditya SJB Rana of the Royal Nepal Army whose team ambushed Wangdu and his cohorts at the top of Tinker Pass in Darchula, West Nepal. Photo courtesy: GAUTAM SJB RANA</figcaption> </figure>  By August 1974 the game was up. Wangdu and six of his exhausted party were killed on their horses by <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=7270">the Royal Nepal Army</a> on the brink of escape. The officer in charge, Aditya SJB Rana, cleverly predicted their route into India after they failed to silence a police radio in Yari. A carefully laid ambush trapped them near the summit of the Tinker Pass in Darchula,at 5,000 meters the highest military operation of its time. Wangdu’s body was helicoptered to Kathmandu, and a big show made of the royal Nepal victory.&nbsp; The Tibetan armed insurgency against China had reached its end.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250524030520_3ff9c6fc85a65bc9a2c3afe9736d9f5f9413de752e790a5d9dca0981ea94f9b4.jpg" data-media-id="editor_23" data-image-id="20250524030520_3ff9c6fc85a65bc9a2c3afe9736d9f5f9413de752e790a5d9dca0981ea94f9b4" data-rendition-name="original" width="1136" height="702" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> </figure>

The Last Days of the Khampa

Starting 17 September Turkish Airlines will fly daily to Seville, one of Spain’s major tourist draws. This is Turkish’s sixth destination in Spain after Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Malaga, and Bilbao. Seville is in the Andalusia region on Spain’s south coast with a rich Moor history. There are approximately 30,000 Nepalis living in Spain.&nbsp;

Turkish to Seville

The newly-formed Himalayan Art Council is set to launch Nepal’s National Art Protection Platform that seeks to preserve <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/the-history-of-heritage">Nepal’s unique cultural heritage </a>using<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/artificial-censorship"> AI-powered tools</a>. The Council seeks to safeguard <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/nepali-art-going-places">Nepali art works</a> from neglect, theft and counterfeiting as well as preserve existing artwork and celebrate living masters by giving them a cultural space to continue the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/sacred-survival">sacred art traditions</a>. "We are introducing a new digital platform designed to preserve, verify and elevate <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/nepals-new-generation-of-alternative-artists">Nepal’s art for generations to come,</a>” says a statement from the Council, adding that the digital platform will use AI told for authentication and blockchain to keep track of works of art. Artists can now be protected by <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/ayo-ai?fbclid=IwAR1uwmTVq4gUB70ljfRezjzukD9ArWXPuMnUikopeQ8PoiZMjicToPSwhKE&amp;=1">AI tools</a> that detect forgeries, identify their work even when unsigned, and ensure they receive proper recognition and credit. The archives will be searchable with translated inscription and interactive guides. Says curator Meena Lama: “AI and blockchains are tools that give us the power to detect fakes and identify unsigned paintings and track every piece. With these tools we can restore trust, secure authorship and give artists the dignity they deserve.”  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250514170544_2ab58f6313c0458f75114a692b0016bd9efb3b59d5f8f07f0da72e1e37b82f53.jpg" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="20250514170544_2ab58f6313c0458f75114a692b0016bd9efb3b59d5f8f07f0da72e1e37b82f53" data-rendition-name="original" width="1300" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Artwork at the Traditional Art Exhibition at Patan Museum."> <figcaption>Artwork at the Traditional Art Exhibition at Patan Museum.</figcaption> </figure>  The Council is also holding an exhibition of Nepali cultural masterpieces with 50 historical <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/Buzz-the-art,671">thangka and paubha </a>by past masters and <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/review/between-the-sacred-and-everyday">contemporary works by current artists</a>. This curated collection is a living tribute to <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/when-yaks-go-so-does-culture">Himalayan culture</a> with economic depictions of deities, mandala and sacred narratives. The exhibition at <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/a-portal-into-patan-s-past-and-present">Patan Museum</a> also provides an opportunity to meet painters and custodians of art and culture. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/review/golden-deities">Golden deities</a>, Sewa Bhattarai ‘The exhibition is only the first step in a long journey to ensure that Nepali art is no just seen but fully understood, <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/Narratives-of-Faith-and-Memory-Remembering-the-Lost-Sculptures-of-Kathmandu-exhibition,987">protected and remembered</a>,’ the Council says. Artist Kailash K Shrestha of Artudio has spent decades promoting thankha and paubha traditions because of their beauty and devotional meaning. But he also says artists are underpaid, exploited and ignored. He adds, “AI and blockchain are not just buzzwords, they are powerful tools that can protect Nepal’s artists from fraud, verify authenticity and build a permanent record of provenance.” Traditional Art Exhibition Till 17 May Patan Museum

Digital protection for Nepal’s art

<a href="https://www.instagram.com/prabalgurung/" target="_blank">Prabal Gurung</a> left Nepal for New York in 1999 to escape years of bullying, sexism and homophobia, and to pursue his dream of becoming a fashion designer. He <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqN0VaoAI5w" target="_blank">realised his dream</a>, but did not escape discrimination and racism in the new world. Propelled by passion for fashion, Gurung overcame everything America threw at him. He has attained <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/style/story/prabal-gurung-recalls-his-first-met-gala-when-zoe-saldana-was-at-his-side?srsltid=AfmBOooy-H0oGgxMit864FnW_Pmw8mUnV8rYrh-co-f6OyYK6m2ip5hP" target="_blank">fame and recognition</a> for his haute couture dress designs while remaining true to his Nepali roots, and is even more resolute in <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSmNauyzACk" target="_blank">fighting prejudice</a> in all its forms. Prabal Gurung’s newly-released memoir <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Audible-Walk-Like-Girl-Memoir/dp/B0DG11HCDQ?fbclid=IwY2xjawKZfpxleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHuZcIJO2OXyXcRm1oq1iG6wzeoF7VJFrQ7GXOFI0YxuZZ4id_CNvSZSZZIna_aem_pG_mOKG73RTnYvN8JaC4fA">Walk Like a Girl</a> is a saga of harrowing abuse in boarding schools in Nepal and India, only finding himself facing a different kind of bullying in the US. He prevails over it all to be where he is today: an award-winning American fashion designer with his own label. Walk Like a Girl was launched last week in New York at a time when everything Gurung fought for — tolerance, inclusion and diversity — are in retreat in his adopted country because of a president who has espoused a culture of bullying. The book is a searing, raw exposé of how cruel and abusive people can be even at a young age in school. On the other hand, it also shows that there are generous, compassionate and open-minded souls out there. In his book, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4le_uWX7YE">Prabal Gurung</a> calls out those who tormented and tried to hold him back (some of their names have been altered). The moral of his story is: resist, never stop believing in yourself, do not let others define you, never lose sight of your dream, and help those who have been kept out. “Walk like a girl” was a slur used by bullies back in school in Nepal and India for Gurung’s effeminate ways. He fought back then, and he is still resisting by turning those words into something to be proud of.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250519170544_4ffc9c3f565dd2cfa754d10b224816897b82bb31ebaee91b6d79d469fc96f14e.jpg" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="20250519170544_4ffc9c3f565dd2cfa754d10b224816897b82bb31ebaee91b6d79d469fc96f14e" data-rendition-name="original" width="1000" height="1253" loading="lazy" alt="Prabal Gurung NT"> <figcaption>Prabal Gurung at home in Kathmandu in the 1990s.</figcaption> </figure>  “Living through it all was one thing, but writing about it is one of the hardest things I have done in my life,” admitted Gurung during the launch. “I broke down constantly during the six-year writing process.” He continues: “I did not want this to be a victim’s book. I did not want to burden my readers with my emotions. I wanted my struggle to be an inspiration for others facing what I faced. I am grateful to those who bullied me in school, they made me a stronger person ready to face the world.” Indeed, this book is a departure from his earlier one titled simply, Prabal Gurung (Abrams, 2019), which was a lush pictorial autobiography of his career in fashion. Walk Like a Girl is not a typical fashion book, it is an intimate tale of <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=16997">Gurung’s travails and triumphs</a>, and how he willed himself to succeed. Prabal pays a lavish tribute to his mother Durga Rana. We find out she is a descendant of the first wife of the eldest son of Jang Bahadur Rana who was banished to Palpa in the late 19th century. Prabal’s father served in the Singapore Police and that is where he was born before the family returned to Nepal when he was four. Gurung relates with brutal honesty about the violence his mother endured from his father. Durga raises three children as a single mother in Nepal, and Prabal credits her for his fierce determination to resist patriarchy and injustice, which in time manifests itself in his hyper-feminine and subversive dress designs. Writing the book has been a cathartic experience for Gurung, who says he is now relieved of the burdens of his past. It no longer haunts him, and he does not have to prove anything to anyone anymore. Walk Like a Girl has life lessons not just for the <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/DJmOcSgxdWz/" target="_blank">fashion industry</a>, but for every other profession. How can my job serve a greater cause? Gurung tells us his work is <a href="https://asiasociety.org/blog/asia/why-designer-prabal-gurung-doesnt-want-just-stick-fashion" target="_blank">bigger than just making clothes</a>, it is about making the world a better place because it could do with a lot of improvement.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250519170544_d75296ad8bfdc00d88935f40d23543c6fea3d4d6a10e61a99d6cfc6127f2ee5b.png" data-media-id="editor_10" data-image-id="20250519170544_d75296ad8bfdc00d88935f40d23543c6fea3d4d6a10e61a99d6cfc6127f2ee5b" data-rendition-name="original" width="1516" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Prabal Gurung"> </figure>  This story of chasing the American dream may sound familiar to many immigrants: knocking on doors for jobs, rejections, trying to survive from day to day on expensive rent, and dealing with subtle racism in white America. Gurung finds racism is rife, and he is often mockingly called ‘gaysian’. He writes: ‘There was a strong hypocrisy — this idea of independence felt like a marketting ruse … and for all the talk of feminism in America, these high society women were trapped by the patriarchy just like in Nepal and India.’ After a trek to the Khumbu region in 2013, Gurung is inspired to use the colours, palette and textures of Nepal for his collection exhibited on Manhattan’s 8th Avenue. A major buyer tells him bluntly: “Stick to making pretty dresses … if I need to see a collection like this, I could buy a copy of National Geographic.” The New York Times was equally dismissive: ‘The designer tries to draw connections between blistered techo-fabric used to construct it and the topography of his homeland, Nepal. But, at the moment, he has lost his map.’ One potential investor tells Gurung he cannot design for Americana because “you do not look American”. Gurung wants to use expletives, but restrains himself. After a fundraiser in New York for the Nepal earthquake in 2015, some belittled his effort, saying: “Here comes the saviour."&nbsp; Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/review/prabal-gurung-by-prabal-gurung">Prabal Gurung by Prabal Gurung</a>, Kunda Dixit The Gurkha DNA must be dominant in Prabal Gurung’s genes because he does not take such mistreatment lying down. When asked by a fashion publicist why he was designing clothes for fat people, he snaps back: “Because of people like you.” He joins the Black Lives Matter and #MeToo movements, launches the Shikshya Foundation charity in Nepal, and has powerful allies among celebrities who wear clothes he designed: Michelle Obama, Oprah Winfrey, Sara Jessica Parker, Kamala Harris, Deepika Padukone … it is a long list.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250519150556_48a5f4211991a23fa85b64bbd5377575ca7081d97309d7542035591dda5180fe.png" data-media-id="editor_12" data-image-id="20250519150556_48a5f4211991a23fa85b64bbd5377575ca7081d97309d7542035591dda5180fe" data-rendition-name="original" width="1114" height="1534" loading="lazy" alt="Being Prabal Gurung by design"> <figcaption>Nigerian novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie wearing Atelier Prabal Gurung’s design for Met Gala 2025 in which the theme was ‘Superfine: Tailoring Black Style’. </figcaption> </figure>  “I don’t dress women to look beautiful, they already are,” Gurung says. “I try to bring out their innate strength and grace.” <a href="https://www.instagram.com/stories/highlights/17908766880140171/" target="_blank">Admirers</a> tell Gurung he makes it all look so easy, but he used to put up a strong facade to not show his own vulnerabilities in public. “I was closed because of my childhood experiences,” he says. “I was always on guard to defend myself because I never knew where the next punch would come from.” But in <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPVepzPA210" target="_blank">Walk Like a Girl,</a> Gurung comes to terms with his vulnerability, and bares his soul. It has not been easy, it took sustained will power and support from his mother, sister Kumudini and a circle of close friends. “I made unbelonging my power,” he says. “Nepal is where I still have my heart and soul. Nepal grounds you. It is where people go to find themselves. But I escaped.” Recently appointed vice-chair of the <a href="https://cfda.com/about-cfda" target="_blank">Council of American Fashion Designers</a>, Gurung says: “I can’t believe I am here, it feels like it is happening to someone else. Writing this book, the healing has finally begun.” <h2>‘Everything is better in color’</h2> The Met Gala was two weeks later, and my table was an example of everything I’d been fighting for all these years as my guests represented everything I believed in: dynamic, powerful, influential women who were unapologetically original and unabashedly graceful. I was grateful to Anna for inviting me to host and dress a table that reflected my ethos—and for her guidance in doing so. I was also aware of the privilege as one of the first-­ever Asian fashion designers—not just from Nepal, but from the entire continent— to get the opportunity to do so. That fact was not lost on me. I reached out beyond the expected Hollywood celebrities and well-­known socialites to curate a table of exceptional women who inspired me. I invited Deepika Padukone and Alia Bhatt for their first-­ever Met Galas, as well as Michelle Yeoh, Mindy Kaling, Camila Cabello, Ashley Park, Denée Benton, KiKi Layne, Quannah Chasinghorse, and Grace Elizabeth. Together we checked many boxes: Asian, Black, Latinx, and Indigenous, each woman undeniably chic and powerful, a dazzling array of skin tones and experiences that proved my decades‑in‑the-­making hypothesis: everything is better in color. Excerpt from Walk Like a Girl Viking © 2025 by Prabal Gurung  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250519170520_6b91d560e9f072c37d16876901058c073a51ffa05e7ad1b9461d19e1c9c28215.jpg" data-media-id="editor_16" data-image-id="20250519170520_6b91d560e9f072c37d16876901058c073a51ffa05e7ad1b9461d19e1c9c28215" data-rendition-name="original" width="1136" height="702" loading="lazy" alt="Prabal Gurung book details NT"> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250519170520_345240c21be400e2ce2ec629b52bd82bb53890e5bd86fe95b48340d84b5f1748.jpg" data-media-id="editor_17" data-image-id="20250519170520_345240c21be400e2ce2ec629b52bd82bb53890e5bd86fe95b48340d84b5f1748" data-rendition-name="original" width="1136" height="702" loading="lazy" alt="Prabal Gurung book details NT"> </figure>  &nbsp;