While the rest of Nepal has gone cynical about federalism, it has <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/Federalism-in-the-capital-of-Tarai,3449">opened doors here in Janakpur</a>, the seat of Madhes Province. Its Mithila culture has got new national and global exposure, footfalls have increased and there is a new visible presence of development agencies. Some of this has come at a cost to <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/20-years-ago-this-week/birganj-is-the-prize">Birganj 70km away</a>, which was always the commercial hub of the central Tarai and a gateway to Nepal via the land route. In fact Birganj and Janakpur were rivals in the contention of which city would be the capital of Madhes Province. But Birganj also has a new vibrancy in culture, the arts and cuisine. Abhishek Jha is a lawyer and researcher from Madhes Province. JANAKPUR There used to be a time when <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/the-sita-ram-corridor">Janakpur was synonymous with the Janaki Temple</a>, dedicated to the birthplace of Sita. The temple is still a draw, but Janakpur now has a new set of footfalls, and there is a certain order to the chaos of this border city. As the capital of Madhes Province, there are government agencies, new institutions and a heavy presence of the development sector. There are now at least a dozen flights to and from Kathmandu every day, propelling the city’s socio-cultural dynamic. There is a pursuit for ‘uniqueness’ and at the heart of this is an active effort to make <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/vibrant-mithila-art-thrives-in-nepal">Mithila art</a> more palatable to the pan-Nepali public: with paintings, merchandise, cutlery, apparel, stationery items and other paraphernalia. A pioneer in this revival are the artists of Janakpur Women’s Development Center. The 800 year old Maithali folk-dance form called Jhijhiya has found new platforms and audiences at cultural events like the annual literature and theatre festivals held here. There is an attempt to make it more contemporary and address progressive issues like gender empowerment.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240727060728_ffcab59231faaf3a0ce4e68e7f97e6cb6ed1e76a185e91db1d5d6253136123f3.jpg" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="20240727060728_ffcab59231faaf3a0ce4e68e7f97e6cb6ed1e76a185e91db1d5d6253136123f3" data-rendition-name="original" width="2480" height="1647" loading="lazy" alt="Janakpur"> </figure>  The Mithila Thali has found fans, largely due to the culinary curation of Master Chef Santosh Shah and his popular new restaurant at Ramananda Chok. A trip to Janakpur nowadays is perceived as incomplete without a stop here. The choreographed spectacle of offering evening prayers at Gangasagar may not be as impressive as the one in Banaras, but it is quaint with ‘Yah chhai hamar Janakpur…Janak k gaam Janakpur…Sita k Janakpur…’ playing in the background. Janak has rebranded itself as a cultural hub that transcends Mithila and aims to encompass a new, inclusive Nepal. The local media and social media play an important role in disseminating this identity. There are six other federal provinces in Nepal, but only Madhes is a broadly ethnic enclave, and Janakpur stands only second to Kathmandu in the national discourse. Part of the reason for this could be Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi making it a point in 2018 to make a <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/janakpur-to-janakpur">special visit to Janakpur</a>.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240727060728_867e16a8ec8f9d9cf8116e6854c1c3a3fe67f7287b2af4d90b15f6f30e4e5df9.jpg" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="20240727060728_867e16a8ec8f9d9cf8116e6854c1c3a3fe67f7287b2af4d90b15f6f30e4e5df9" data-rendition-name="original" width="4288" height="2848" loading="lazy" alt="Janakpur"> </figure>  Janakpur’s geopolitical status is now higher and many Kathmandu-based ambassadors make it a point to visit, adding to its reputation and importance. Madhes Province can showcase its development since the first federal elections in 2017 with greater women’s empowerment in a traditional patriarchal society. Government offices now have more women faces, there are more women shopkeepers in the market and banks, female participation in schools and colleges are higher. Some of this could be due to male outmigration, but there is no denying that the women of Madhes now have a stronger voice. Janakpur has become more liberal in accepting other languages of the province besides Maithali, like Bhojpuri, Bajjika, Tharu, Urdu and Nepali. Unlike during the Madhes Movement of 2015, there is a new acceptance and assimilation of other communities. There is now a proclivity in the public and government to demonstrate inclusion, both in principle and practice.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024072704078_c960c809d218d58600b35803f5fbe4fd58a42165d8373aa55e01454404fd98c8.jpg" data-media-id="editor_7" data-image-id="2024072704078_c960c809d218d58600b35803f5fbe4fd58a42165d8373aa55e01454404fd98c8" data-rendition-name="original" width="2000" height="868" loading="lazy" alt="Siwalik"> <figcaption>White lines show the width of the Siwalik range.</figcaption> </figure>  BIRGANJ As a <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/12-full-opinion/birganj-waits-for-the-boom">commercial hub and the road gateway to Nepal, Birganj</a> is brash. Its people seem to be in a perpetual hurry to get somewhere, and as a city through which 80% of Nepal ’s exports and imports pass through, it also has a strategic importance. Proof of that were the many road blockages during the 2015 Madhes Movement here.&nbsp; Unlike Janakpur, <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/Birganj-mero-saharko-katha,2920">Birganj</a> seems quite content not to have too much to do with politics. In fact, some of the statues of Bhanubhakta and G P Koirala have been reinstated, along with the Maithili poet Vidyapati. Along with Bhojpuri, the city is equally fluent in Nepali, Maithili, Nepal Bhasa, Bajjika, Bangla, Punjabi, Marwari and Hindi. Inclusion, it seems, is good for business. But it also means by trying to be everything for everyone, it lacks a cultural identity of its own. Birganj is astride the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/borderlines/nepal-s-soft-power-is-its-heritage">ancient kingdom of Simraungad</a> which one time ruled over Kathmandu Valley before it was razed and pillaged by the Tughlaq ruler of Delhi in 1326. Today it is better known as the ‘Land of Astavakra’ and ‘Gateway to Nepal’. The faux-Newari Sankracharya Pravesh Dwar gate at the border across from Raxaul marks this attempt to straddle both cultures.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240727060728_b292c88080303b1a56efada9fe07c1096e90bb8867b91189501530a2045aeb8a.jpg" data-media-id="editor_11" data-image-id="20240727060728_b292c88080303b1a56efada9fe07c1096e90bb8867b91189501530a2045aeb8a" data-rendition-name="original" width="2480" height="1660" loading="lazy" alt="Birganj"> </figure>  Birganj was a hub of political dissidence during the Rana regime and late in the pro-democracy movement because of the culture of questioning in public and private discussions.&nbsp; As befitting a city that serves as a connector and the gateway to the industrial corridor to the north, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/holi-in-birganj">Birganj</a> has a new cosmopolitan ambience. The people of Birganj are now better travelled, and interested in eating out with family and are in search for diverse cuisines.&nbsp; Although the city has a variety of restaurants, new age cafes, pizza and burger eateries offer a variety in Adarshnagar, Gawaha Mai and Ranighat. Mouth-watering chaats, bhuja-pakora, dahi-chiura, sattu, lassi, kachori-tarkari-jilebi can be found here. Chiya pasal are the public sphere, with vibrant places for socio-political discussions and hangout spots for college goers.&nbsp; Try the Bhojpuria Thali. Starters (Mahi, bel sarbat, anandi-chawal bhuja, litti-chokha, pakora), Main Course (Manshuli/basmati bhaat, rahri daal, danauri-tilauri, sukhwat, chokha, tarkari, papad, machhari, dahi, mitha), Desserts (Dudh-puwa, bagiya, haluwa).  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240727060728_9691e252b5ce723b6922f88418caa3eda43e02fba1a65c19043b1fd6ea10c7e9.jpg" data-media-id="editor_13" data-image-id="20240727060728_9691e252b5ce723b6922f88418caa3eda43e02fba1a65c19043b1fd6ea10c7e9" data-rendition-name="original" width="2480" height="1715" loading="lazy" alt="Birganj"> </figure>  The art scene has been made vibrant by the likes of local artists like Azmat Ali and Mukesh Mahato. Bhojpuri art is at a stage where Mithila art was probably five-six years ago. Further there is lack of synchrony in blaring horns, whistles and DJs. There is no single sound to identify with the city.&nbsp; ‘Lollipop laagelu’ has transcended national boundaries and seeped into Nepali pop-culture. But this has created a limited understanding of Bhojpuri music. A large music space, besides few good attempts, awaits virtuous artists to build a different image of Nepali Bhojpuri Music. The music and art has to struggle and evolve in its ideation, identity and commerce. The Maha Aarati at Sano Pashupatinath Temple in Pipara tries to do what Janakpur has done with Gangasagar Arati. Indian Bhojpuri music still dominates over Chaiti, Sohar and Purbi of literary giants like Bhikhari Thakur and Mahendar Misir.&nbsp; Cities have a persona of their own, they have character, visual traits, distinct taste buds and utility. They get embroiled in symbolism derived from primary activities or major significance it holds. There is also history in Birganj with <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/from-nalapani-to-kalapani">Sugauli</a>, where the 1815 treaty with the East India Company was signed, 30km from here. Today, most people from north India, west and east Nepal have been travelling by train to pass Sugauli station. The route became so prominent that India constructed the Raxaul Junction adjacent to Birganj border. On our side, we had Raxaul-Amlekhganj railway, Nepal's first, as early as 1927. Birganj was where Nepal’s first university, Nepal Rashtriya Vidyapeeth, was established with Ganesh Man Singh as Chancellor and Laxmi Prasad Devkota as Vice-Chancellor at one point. Furthermore, Thakur Ram Multiple Campus in Adarshnagar is a six decade old college and alma mater of many of Nepal’s who’s who. Littérateurs like Pandit Deep Narayan Mishra, Gopal Ask, Uma Shankar Dwiwedi, Dinesh Gupta, Mukund Acharya, Purshottam Sharma and Anita Shah are Birganj's literary torch-bearers.&nbsp;

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Tales of 2 cities

The two by-elections in Ilam-2 and Bajhang were in effect public opinion polls on the people’s political preferences. Of the people who cast their ballots in the two districts, 40% voted for the UML, while over 30% voted for the Nepali Congress (NC). The Maoist-Centre was nowhere in the picture. The RSP's bubble seems to have burst. The Hindu monarchist RPP was wiped out. If this was a mini-referendum, the results were clear: the legacy parties are still strong, voters rejected both identity politics as well as a return to monarchy and a Hindu state. But it is the sad fate of the Maoists in Bajhang, whose leader is the current Prime Minister, that is most remarkable. Voter turnout was almost 60% in Ilam and 49% in Bajhang, probably more a reflection of anti-establishment absentee voters than a lack of interest in the elections. Traditional vote banks, electoral alliances and ethnic-caste identity played a part. In Ilam-2, UML candidate Suhang Nembang won the seat held by his father Subhas Chandra Nembang, who died last September. He received 27,772 votes, while Dambar Bahadur Khadka of the NC got 21, 942. Independent candidate Dakendra Singh Limbu, who ran an identity-based campaign representing Ilam’s indigenous communities, came third with 11,457 votes. The fact that a candidate with no party affiliation championing the Kirat cause got so many votes shows identity politics is a potent force in Kosi Province. The RSP, which branded itself as an anti-legacy party, fell short of its own expectations. Candidate Milan Limbu received only 5,050 votes to finish fourth in Ilam-2. RSP’s popularity seems to be focused on a few of its personalities, but scandals involving Home Minister Rabi Lamichhane undermined support. Both by-elections showed negligible support for a return to Hindu monarchy. The RPP’s Laxmi Gurung received just 404 votes in Ilam-2, and the party’s candidate in Bajhang got only 242. In the Bajhang 1(A) provincial assembly by-election, UML candidate Daman Bahadur Bhandari defeated his closest rival Abhishek Bahadur Singh of the NC by less than 300 votes. Abhishek Bahadur Singh is the son of Prithvi Bahadur Singh, Sudurpaschim Province’s Home Minister who died in a car accident last June. Bhandari received 11,613 votes, while Singh obtained 11,346. Meanwhile, Maoist Centre candidate Janak Bahadur Budha got just 3,831 votes and Dil Bahadur Singh of the Unified Socialist got 2,514 votes.  <figure><img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240502090544_ed8785bc8dbfa3641e072653962143172e58aff17afb8cc9cbb43a6d94b5d1c6.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="20240502090544_ed8785bc8dbfa3641e072653962143172e58aff17afb8cc9cbb43a6d94b5d1c6" data-rendition-name="original" width="1284" height="657" loading="lazy" alt="Nepal by-election 2024"></figure>  Bhandari’s win has increased the number of UML MPs in the Sudurpaschim parliament by one but has not made a fundamental difference in the provincial government, where the NC still has a majority. In early March, the Maoist Centre broke from its alliance with the NC to once again join hands with the UML in a new coalition. Krishna Pokharel, a professor of political science, says that the new coalition was crucial to the election. “Nepali Congress lost a seat in Bajhang that it had won by a margin of more than 3,000 votes in 2022,” notes Pokharel, “This makes it clear that the NC’s win in 2022 was due to its alliance with the Maoists and the Unified Socialists, and that it is otherwise not the preferred party in the constituency.” In Ilam, Khadka of the NC had previously also run against Subhas Nembang during the 2022 elections in alliance with the Maoists and other parties. He lost that time by just 114 votes. This time, since the NC contested the election alone, the difference of votes was more than five thousand. Alliance with the Maoists has turned out to be crucial to both NC and UML during the election. “The UML must understand that the performance of the party during the election depends upon whether or not it is part of a coalition,” says Pokharel. There is soul searching within the NC about the line taken by party dissidents including Gagan Thapa to go it alone. The Maoists still command the swing votes. Political scientist Krishna Khanal says that the wins of the UML in both districts show that voters have accepted the latest Maoist-UML coalition: “The results show that the majority of voters are still with old, established parties.” While these polls were important to the parties to gauge their popularity, it will not have any earth-shaking consequences on national politics. There is also little public interest among Nepalis bearing the brunt of unemployment, inflation, and pollution. Dhana Kumari Sunar, formerly of the National Women's Commission Nepal, says that the millions spent on elections have not translated into meaningful impact on the lives of constituents. She adds, “What is more important than who won and who lost is keeping track of what difference it will make on the quality of education, health care and employment in these constituencies.”

Old is still gold in Nepali politics

Nepal’s rulers have been suffering from an affliction called Serial Coalition Syndrome. Symptoms include: inability to see beyond personal greed and ambition, amnesia about the national interest, serious addiction to personal power, OCD about money, and wanton political promiscuity.&nbsp;
Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal once again pulled the rug from under his main coalition partner to go off with a former ally whom he has ditched twice before. With this, Nepal has had eight governments in seven years.
The Maoists and the UML had an electoral alliance ahead of the 2017 election, after which they merged their parties. Then they divorced, and now are once more joined in holy matrimony. The country, meanwhile, is back to square one, not that it was faring all that well anyway.
The Nepali Congress (NC), its patriarch and five-time prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba got blindsided once more by Dahal’s checkmate, just as he had been twice before by King Gyanendra.
Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/catapulting-to-singha-darbar">Catapulting to Singha Darbar</a>, Kunda Dixit
Dahal and Oli now have a new deal of two years each as premier before the 2027 elections. In all likelihood, there will be another coalition shakeup when it is time for Dahal to hand over power to Oli. But this coalition has just 138 votes in Parliament, only enough to win a confidence vote and may not last that long.&nbsp;
However, the crux of the matter is that these coalition reshuffles are of no real concern or significance to ordinary Nepalis, and adds to public disillusionment with the mainstream parties. The RPP and independent mayor Balen Shah have been saying, “Didn’t we tell you there is no hope from these clowns?”
Even the RSP has squandered much of its goodwill because of its leader Rabi Lamichhane's impatience to be Home Minister again so he can launder his tainted image. Dol Prasad Acharya has also been reinstated as Labour Minister despite allegations of conflict of interest over his involvement in a migrant recruiting agency. The only saving grace for the RSP is that MIT-graduate Sumana Shrestha is now Education Minister.
Nepalis will have to continue trying to survive on the brink. Inequity in healthcare will persist, thousands of young Nepalis will migrate overseas every day, only to be fleeced by recruiters and state agencies.
Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/what-just-happened-in-nepali-politics">What just happened in Nepali politics?</a>, Nepali Times
The new alliance just ensures that Dahal will continue to be prime minister a bit longer. He also gets to put the blame for his government’s failures, underperformance, and major corruption scandals on the NC.&nbsp;
There are only four female ministers in the new Cabinet as coalition partners keep powerful portfolios for the men. It is even worse in the provinces: of the 67 chief ministers and ministers in the seven provinces before the coalition reshuffle, only 16% were women, mostly state ministers.&nbsp;
Women and minorities continue to be useful only to fill quotas. Even so, there are no Dalits in the Cabinet. Token women are handy like this week in the run up to International Women’s Day on 8 March.&nbsp;
And why must provincial governments have to mirror what happens at the centre? Just because there is regime change in Kathmandu, there is no reason why it has to change in Dhangadi. Why does the NC have to sack Maoist ministers from provinces it governs?&nbsp;
Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/old-wine-in-old-bottles">Old wine in old bottles</a>, Editorial
The provinces have been given neither the authority nor revenue to govern properly, while corruption has been decentralised. Federalism so far has been a colossal waste of precious resources, where the centre’s inefficiency, incompetence, poor governance is multiplied by seven.
Top leaders are loath to decentralise, and as this week demonstrated, are more power-hungry than ever before. This is against the spirit of federalism and devolution.
Fortunately, many local governments of municipalities have shown accountability and are trying to improve services. If provinces are just going to be rubber stamps of the centre, then we might as well have a two-tier government with the federal government and local municipalities.&nbsp;
Anything goes in Nepali politics, and in power struggles, all is fair. Governance, transparency and accountability are of no consequence. The lives of ordinary Nepalis do not matter. Prime Minister Dahal and his comrades, new and old, could not have made it clearer with the coalition reshuffle.&nbsp;
Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/whose-country-is-it-anyway">Whose country is it anyway?</a>, Editorial
Sonia Awale

What difference does it make?

The Royal Belum State Park in Perak is the last remaining and largest continuous rainforest in Peninsular Malaysia, and these jungles were also where Nepali soldiers helped the British Army fight Maoist guerrillas from 1948-1960. With some 185,000 species of fauna and 12,500 species of flowering plants, Malaysia is one of the 12 megadiverse countries in the world, and a biodiversity hotspot. The jungle of Royal Belum has existed for over 130 million years, making the park the world’s oldest rainforest. It has a high concentration of large mammals including Asian elephants and Malayan tigers. The park also hosts the endangered helmeted hornbill and all 10 Malaysian hornbill species. &nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230820130820_63cc2881d7b7fc88a7cc5e4a055d6acd7f7ea8b73a3471cf9652113c989b667c.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="20230820130820_63cc2881d7b7fc88a7cc5e4a055d6acd7f7ea8b73a3471cf9652113c989b667c" data-rendition-name="original" width="4000" height="1800" loading="lazy" alt="Royal Belum State Park"> <figcaption>Royal Belum State Park near the Malaysia-Thailand border is the largest and oldest rainforest in the world that has existed continuously for 135 million years.</figcaption> </figure>  What protected the forest was also the insurgent activity when Malaya was under British colonial rule. The armed wing of Chin Peng’s Mao-inspired Communist Party Of Malaya (CPM) had launched a guerrilla campaign to end British rule. The British Army fought back, and on the frontlines were its Gurkha commandos recruited from the mountains of Nepal, battle-hardened during World War II <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/the-atom-bomb-saved-my-life">against the Japanese</a> in these same forests.&nbsp; <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/review/former-gurkha-soldier-turns-author">Tim I Gurung</a> in his book The Gurkhas: A True Story writes, ‘In order to protect those British interests of the early fifties in Southeast Asia (Malaya, Singapore, Sarawak, Sabah and Brunei in Borneo), the first battle the Gurkhas had to fight was the Malayan Emergency and it was a long, nasty and costly guerrilla war that lasted from 1948 until 1960’. Although the insurgency was crushed with a scorched earth policy as well as the spraying of Agent Orange herbicides on the jungles, the guerrilla presence persisted till 1989 and was under tight security. Even today, security posts stop travellers for inspection along the East-West Highway which traverses the jungle. The <a href="https://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/6176/">Royal Belum State Park</a> was set up in 2007 with a 300,000-hectare forest complex near the Malaysia-<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/lost-village-of-nepalis-in-thailand">Thailand</a> border, and is now a hub for research and eco-tourism. The Park is home to Rafflesia, the world's largest flower, and one of the world’s rarest and most threatened species. A <a href="https://parasiticplants.siu.edu/Rafflesiaceae/Raff.azlanii.page.html">Rafflesia azlanii </a>blossom is featured on the Malaysian 10 Ringgit banknote and was named after the British founder of Singapore, Stamford Raffles.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230820130824_2bbc7f3e935bcc4790484d76c7b65edcb03e7b91c02b34b1d629478791775c47.jpg" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="20230820130824_2bbc7f3e935bcc4790484d76c7b65edcb03e7b91c02b34b1d629478791775c47" data-rendition-name="original" width="4000" height="1800" loading="lazy" alt="Rafflesia flower"> <figcaption>The author with a rare sighting of the Rafflesia flower in the Royal Belum State Park in Malaysia recently.</figcaption> </figure>  What makes Rafflesia so unique is that it takes nine months to blossom into a flower up to 1.2m in diameter with the smell of rotting meat, but dies within a week after pollination which makes it difficult for anyone to see it. David Attenborough <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxIpl38rsMo">featured the flower for a BBC Earth telecast</a> and called it a “corpse flower” because of its extraordinarily foul odour. Given that the Gurkhas were deployed extensively in these jungles, one cannot help but wonder if the Nepalis saw and marvelled at this enormous flower with a stench strong enough to put off all enemies. Gau Lal Gurung, 96, is a Gurkha veteran of the Malayan campaign and a composer of the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/review/ghatu-dance-of-lamjung">traditional Ghatu folk songs</a> of his people. He spent much of his youth in Malaya, travelling for months through the remoter parts of the jungle hunting for insurgents.&nbsp; “We found plenty of guerrillas, but never came across a Rafflesia flower,” Gurung says. Since the Rafflesia flower blooms for a day or two, it is a rare sight indeed. One has to be lucky, and be at the right place at the right time.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230820130824_0104573292797c9df0725a99231c976497677eee22684d9cee399f4a2da3cf6e.jpg" data-media-id="editor_9" data-image-id="20230820130824_0104573292797c9df0725a99231c976497677eee22684d9cee399f4a2da3cf6e" data-rendition-name="original" width="4000" height="1800" loading="lazy" alt="Gurkha veteran"> <figcaption>The author with Gau Lal Gurung, 96, is a Gurkha veteran of the Malayan campaign who traversed the rainforest hunting for insurgents but never once saw the rare Rafflesia bloom.</figcaption> </figure>  The Malaysian Nature Society set up over eight decades ago has been collaborating with the government for biodiversity conservation and environmental education. Programs including the BirdLife-led forest governance project and forest condition are under operation with the engagement of indigenous people Orang Asli. The Royal Belum State Park itself was recognised as an Important Bird and Biodiversity Area in 2004 by BirdLife International. It is also the first to receive CA TS (Conservation Assured Tiger Standards) in Southeast Asia. In 2019, it was also shortlisted on the UNESCO World Heritage Site list. But Malaysia is also one of the world’s largest producers and exporters of palm oil. The multi-billion dollar industry has cost the country much of its rainforest to make way for palm plantations. A win-win plan is needed to safeguard the ecology and green economy — &nbsp;much like in Nepal where planners want to clear 80 sq km of native hardwood forest in the eastern Tarai to build <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/guest-editorial/fight-or-flight">Nijgad airport</a>. Hum Gurung is the Asia Partnership Manager and Former Regional Project Manager of Asia Pacific Forest Governance Project, BirdLife International.

The Malayan rainforest and its rare flower

<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221104141132/636515029c7e80680e02c187jpeg.jpg" alt=""/>The publication in 1962 of Rachel Carson’s book <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Silent-Spring-Rachel-Carson/dp/0618249060" target="blank">Silent Spring</a> drew public attention to how pesticides had killed much of North America’s songbirds. The book launched an international environmental movement.A similar silence has descended upon Kathmandu Valley, as once ubiquitous birds like sparrows and mynahs decline. And ornithologists who have studied this trend say that in Nepal, too, it is the <a href="http://nepalitimes.com/article/nation/pesticide-laced-vegetables-continue-to-poison,1555" target="blank">rampant use of pesticides</a> that is mainly to blame.“There is a direct correlation between the increase in pesticide use and the decrease in the number of <a href="http://nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=4568#.Wo6JEINubIU" target="blank">birds</a> in a neighbourhood,” explains Jyotendra Thakuri of Bird Conservation Nepal (BCN).Pesticides kill insects on which urban birds depend on for food. But there are also other factors at play: traditional brick houses in which sparrows found holes to nest are giving way to concrete façades. Air is being replaced by exhaust fumes. There are few open spaces and vegetation left for the birds.BCN has been conducting urban bird monitoring in Kathmandu Valley and has counted ever-lower numbers of birds each time. Other common birds like drongo, <a href="http://nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=7004#.Wo6JB4NubIU" target="blank">egrets</a>, red-vented bulbul, owls and even fruit bats are equally hard to find.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221104141132/636515049c7e80680e02c188jpeg.jpg" alt="">The house sparrow, once a bird common in every continent except Antarctica, had to be included in the IUCN list of threatened species in 2002 in the UK after a sudden decline in its population.In India, there has been as much as 90% decline in sparrow populations in several states. There, bird experts have conducted research to find that sparrows are scarcer near mobile phone towers. They believe the electromagnetic radiation repels sparrows and other urban birdlife.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221104141132/636515079c7e80680e02c189jpeg.jpg" alt="">“As in India, mobile phone towers could also be one of the reasons sparrows are disappearing in Kathmandu,” says Vimal Thapa of BCN.Crows are the other reason for disappearing sparrows as ravens dominate urban ecology and attack young ones of other bird species. Additionally, crows have proliferated because of the Valley’s open garbage and improper management of wastewater.Since 2010, World Sparrow Day is being observed on 20 March, and this year BCN will be marking the day by urging people to take part in an hour-long sparrow-spotting event in their neighbourhoods in order to spread awareness about their declining numbers.Ornithologist Hem Sagar Baral explains that while sparrows are a worry, there are hundreds of other common urban birds whose populations have declined in recent years, including the drongo, shrike, owls, mynahs and magpie robins.“Birds deserting our towns and urban areas don’t only indicate their dwindling population,” added Thakuri. “It also means the environment we live in isn’t conducive for human beings either.”<hr/>Predator protector<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221104141132/636515089c7e80680e02c18ajpeg.jpg" alt="">Sanjay MitraWhen the boys found <a href="http://www.nepalitimes.com/blogs/thebrief/2018/02/16/mongolian-raptor-in-nepal/" target="blank">an eagle stranded</a> in a field in Rautahat district one night last week, they thought they would take the bird home as a pet. But they noticed that it had an electronic device strapped to its back with wires sticking out, and notified the police.The bird was taken to the District Forest Office where officials found it had been fitted with a satellite tracking device and a ring tag. Nepal’s foremost ornithologist Hem Sagar Baral did some investigation, and found out that the eagle had been ringed as a part of a research project involving Korean and Mongolian conservationists studying the migratory routes of raptors between Central Asia and Africa.Steppe Eagles usually migrate from Mongolia across the Himalaya to Nepal and the Subcontinent and the Arabian Peninsula every winter, flying back in summer to breed in Siberia, Korea and Mongolia. It doesn't fly at night and travels individually. In fact, the species was first described to science from Nepal itself by British resident Brian Houghton Hodgson in 1833 and given its scientific name Aquila nipalensis.This particular eagle was chosen while it was a fledgling in the summer of 2016 and strapped with equipment including a Korean SIM card with battery and solar panel, and an aluminum alloy ring with the inscription: oxnith.lab, nst.biol,mongolia 271. After few days it was set free and it was tracked by satellite telemetry as it flew south across China, over Tibet and the Nepal Himalaya to spend the winter in the Bangladesh and returned to Mongolia in spring last year.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221104141132/6365150a9c7e80680e02c18bjpeg.jpg" alt="">This year, the eagle seemed to have made the same trip along the same route and was on its way back to Mongolia when it landed in Rautahat district in southern Nepal last week. Baral said the bird looked sick, and explained that it could have been incapacitated by fatigue, bad weather or could have fed on carrion containing the banned anti-inflammatory veterinary drug, diclofenac, which is lethal to raptors.“The eagle is recovering at the Central Zoo and once it is ready, we will let it continue its journey to Mongolia,” Baral told Nepali Times.The most plausible explanation for the grounding of the Mongolian Steppe Eagle in Nepal is that it could have fed on diclofenac-laced carcass.<a href="http://nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=17991#.Wo6JOINubIU" target="blank"> Over 90% of the vultures and eagles in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh</a> and Nepal were killed by the drug in the last 20 years. Although the drug <a href="http://nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=13131#.Wo6JQoNubIU" target="blank">was subsequently banned</a> throughout the region in 2006, Baral says there are other nonsteroidal drugs still being used on livestock that harm vultures and eagles.Bird Conservation Nepal (BCN) has set up a chain of seven ‘<a href="http://nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/vulture-restaurant,1163" target="blank">vulture restaurants</a>’ across the Tarai and mid-hills in an effort to provide the birds of prey with uncontaminated meat.Jyotendra Thakuri of BCN says that areas with strong community conservation programs in Nepal have seen vulture and eagle populations either stabilising or rising in numbers.<hr/>Frequent fliers<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221104141132/6365150c9c7e80680e02c18cjpeg.jpg" alt="">Jyotendra Thakuri<a href="http://nepalitimes.com/article/nation/proposed-change-to-lumbini-masterplan-threat-to-Sarus,4090" target="blank">Loss of wetlands</a>, pesticide use and hunting along migratory routes have led to a sharp drop in the number of <a href="http://nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=2341#.Wo6PUoNubIU" target="blank">birds wintering in Nepal</a>, an avian census last month has confirmed.The census was carried out 6-22 January in Kosi Tappu, Chitwan, Bardia and 50 other protected water bodies and lakes across Nepal. <a href="http://nepalitimes.com/article/from-nepali-press/bird-census,4194" target="blank">Preliminary data shows a decline</a> in both the number of water birds as well as the variety species spotted (see graph below).“Each one of the water dependent bird species, both indigenous and migratory, is declining steadily in Nepal,” ornithologist Hem Sagar Baral said. “In fact, one in every five birds in Nepal is listed as a threatened species, compared to one in every eight globally.”<a href="https://imgur.com/o4WkRpW" target="blank"><img title="source: imgur.com" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221104141132/6365150e9c7e80680e02c18djpeg.jpg" align="middle"></a>Nepal is home to 888 species of birds, of which some 212 are migratory and 168 of them are on nationally threatened list.  <a href="http://nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/birds-of-passage-Nepal,2921" target="blank">Migratory birds</a> use Nepal’s lakes and rivers as stopovers on their traditional migratory routes.“Nepal is an important stopover for many species, some birds stay on, while others fly on to India, Sri Lanka and Africa,” said Vimal Rimal of Bird Conservation Nepal (BCN). “Numerous migratory species also stop in Nepal when returning north.”The Steppe Eagles that was found in Saptari last week was on its flight back to Mongolia probably after wintering in Bangladesh. The Himalaya is not a barrier for the raptors, water fowls and cranes as they navigate with inbuilt magnetic sensors along traditional migratory routes. Their lungs and muscles have adapted to flying up to 7,000m.<a href="https://imgur.com/Wg3vdLa" target="blank"><img title="source: imgur.com" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221104141132/636515119c7e80680e02c18ejpeg.jpg"></a>Scientists are now using satellite telemetry to collect information on migration timing, speed of flight, route and stopovers along the Central Asian Flyway which traverses the Himalayan mountains. Data show that waterfowls use three main corridors across Nepal to migrate between Mongolia through Tibet to India: across western Nepal, over Chitwan and through the Kosi Valley.Bar-headed geese, for instance, have been tracked by satellite on overnight flights lasting more than 18 hours from Rajasthan over western Nepal to lakes in Tibet. They stay close to the terrain to take advantage of updrafts, and then when they need to go over mountains ride the jet stream to push them more rapidly to their destination. They undertake return journeys in autumn before the jet stream resumes so they don't have headwind. Ruddy shelducks also migrate to and from the Kosi Tappu sanctuary up the river to the Tibetan plateau and further northward towards Siberia.However, all major birding sites like Kosi Tappu, Chitwan, Pokhara, Taudaha, Shuklaphanta, Bardia and Ghodaghodi have recorded fewer sightings in the recent years, both in winter and summer. Migratory bird species common to Nepal until early 2000s like Eurasian curlew, Pallas’s fish eagle, Caspian tern, Baer’s pochard, Eurasian spoonbill and Hodgson's bushchat (left) have not been sighted here since the turn of the century, whereas some residents birds have now become visitors.   Until a decade ago, Taudaha used to see up to 2,000 birds in a year, many of them migratory water birds. But this winter the bird count showed less than 150 individuals. Locals lining the perimeter of the lake with concrete to make it a picnic spot could be one reason for the decline.Said Jyotendra Thakuri of BCN: “Habitat loss, use of agro-chemicals, pollution, climate change and haphazard urbanisation are the contributing factors for the decline and loss of many bird species in Nepal.”

Kathmandu's silent spring

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;

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