Katrin Hagen was poring through photographs that her father <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/regular-columns/So-far-so-good/a-serious-swiss-toni-hagen-nepal,888">Toni Hagen</a> had taken of western Nepal for geological research, when she was astounded by how much of this remote region had changed – and how much remained the same 70 years later. She dug deeper into the photo archives with some of the earliest colour prints and slides of Nepal to find some gems. Some were later published in 1960 in his classic hardcover book, <a href="https://himalbooks.com/product/toni-hagens-nepal-the-kingdom-in-the-himalaya/">Toni Hagen’s Nepal</a>, that introduced the country to the world.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240228120252_6d7921f767904775a139b059fa3efcab0772548b1cb9e4b8aa5ad710906fdb52.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20240228120252_6d7921f767904775a139b059fa3efcab0772548b1cb9e4b8aa5ad710906fdb52" data-rendition-name="original" width="884" height="431" loading="lazy" alt="Toni Hagen's western Nepal routes"> </figure>  Toni Hagen first came to Nepal in 1950 as a United Nations adviser to carry out a geological survey to find mineral potential, and <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/tony-hagen-kathmandu-exhibition,3946">crisscrossed Nepal on foot over 12 years</a>, traversing 15,000km. Along the way, he became less and less interested in geology and more in finding ways to enhance the living standards of Nepalis, especially in the more remote parts of the mountains. “I found people more important than rocks,” he once said.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240228120248_b567c07836388e6af9602f7af1a8e2f557afda1b6a157ffc14fd14b6536b7e71.jpg" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="20240228120248_b567c07836388e6af9602f7af1a8e2f557afda1b6a157ffc14fd14b6536b7e71" data-rendition-name="original" width="1000" height="1500" loading="lazy" alt="Toni Hagen western Nepal"> <figcaption>Young woman in Simkot, where the dress style has not changed much.</figcaption> </figure>  Nepal’s average lifespan then was 40 years, and it was even less in the Karnali and far west. Nearly four in every ten babies did not survive to age five in the 1950s. Malnutrition was widespread. Karnali and Sudur Paschim Province are now doing much better, but still lag behind the national average in all <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/not-rising-nepal">development parameters</a>.&nbsp; There are now roads even to the remotest valleys that Hagen trekked weeks to get to. Even the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/time-catching-up-with-timeless-dolpo">trans-Himalayan district of Dolpo</a> is now connected to the Chinese border by road, and will soon have roads to Mustang and Rukum West.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240228120248_32b730a1d8549f79db753a252077f4e109625382b03e14f31fdeebb980b90468.jpg" data-media-id="editor_7" data-image-id="20240228120248_32b730a1d8549f79db753a252077f4e109625382b03e14f31fdeebb980b90468" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Toni Hagen western Nepal"> <figcaption>Upper Kuwadi Valley towards Sankha La in nothern Humla.</figcaption> </figure>  The other urgent need he saw for Nepal was connectivity. Walking across the country, he found the lack of bridges to be a major obstacle to getting around. Nepal seemed to be an archipelago of islands separated not by sea, but by rivers. This presaged the decades long Swiss involvement in <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/10-000-bridges">building thousands of suspension trail bridges all over Nepal</a>. Hagen proposed a series of tunnels on a highway to connect Kathmandu to the Tarai across another one of his survey ideas, to build a reservoir on the Kulekhani River. The Kulekhani dam was built in 1984, but the Kathmandu-Fast Track is on the slow track and still only a dream. &nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240228120248_7963aa60e4a63a7f2e4d51a0e7aae211c174ba0c9f2bb0587ebe06a9ccdc555e.jpg" data-media-id="editor_9" data-image-id="20240228120248_7963aa60e4a63a7f2e4d51a0e7aae211c174ba0c9f2bb0587ebe06a9ccdc555e" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Toni Hagen western Nepal"> <figcaption>Men paddling across the Karnali River in inflated buffalo skins.</figcaption> </figure>  A selection of Hagen’s photographs from western Nepal are being shown in a series of exhibitions in Patan, Surkhet, Mahendranagar and Jumla in the coming months. What is most striking about the images is the stark contrast between the scenic beauty of the region and its underdevelopment. Toni Hagen took almost as many portraits of people as of the landscape, and in the faces of the people of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/a-karnali-portrait">Karnali</a> we do not see poverty, but frugality. The wrinkles indicate the hardships of everyday life, but they are also smile lines. The clothing is all made from local wool, the houses are stone, thatch or slate surrounded by terrace farms of ripening buckwheat.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240228120248_b5e2deedb3a599880b69b37efc2fdec4377aadb948d081629e11759c0082f8b4.jpg" data-media-id="editor_11" data-image-id="20240228120248_b5e2deedb3a599880b69b37efc2fdec4377aadb948d081629e11759c0082f8b4" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Toni Hagen western Nepal"> <figcaption>Toni Hagen's porters below Murma Top overlooking Rara Lake, the shores of which are today covered in thick forest.</figcaption> </figure>  Surkhet Valley which today is all urbanised, was a patchwork of paddy fields then. <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/rara-s-rare-beauty">Rara Lake</a> is resplendent in turquoise, and to think that it took Toni Hagen a month’s trek from the Indian border to get there. Today, there is a road connecting it to Jumla and Surkhet. The lake’s shores, barren 70 years ago, is today thickly draped in pine forests after the villages were evacuated to create a national park. &nbsp; <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=19173">Toni Hagen</a> died in 2003 in Switzerland after many visits to Nepal during which he saw the changes, both good and bad, sweeping the country. Katrin Hagen accompanied her father in many of the trips, and still conducts orthopaedic surgical camps in remote parts of Nepal where her father once walked.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240228120248_bcd3d8fcefb27909641e0f0688c3daaccdfb05f99557a30516721226fcd5f574.jpg" data-media-id="editor_14" data-image-id="20240228120248_bcd3d8fcefb27909641e0f0688c3daaccdfb05f99557a30516721226fcd5f574" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Toni Hagen western Nepal"> <figcaption>Village in Humla.</figcaption> </figure>  And through books, special exhibitions and collaborations with organisations such as the Nepal Geological Society and the Nepal Heritage Society, Katrin ensures that her father's work continues to be celebrated and shared with audiences in Nepal and around the world. The <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=11274">significance of Toni Hagen's work</a> extends beyond its aesthetic appeal. His research and documentation have played a crucial role in advancing our understanding of Nepal's geology, particularly in Western Nepal. The Nepal Geological Society now uses Hagen's photographs in its research.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024022905020_b8cda063d9ca15932567cbd491d4b5725b22bf31074b07ae63f6189b0dc84cc8.jpg" data-media-id="editor_16" data-image-id="2024022905020_b8cda063d9ca15932567cbd491d4b5725b22bf31074b07ae63f6189b0dc84cc8" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="981" loading="lazy" alt="Toni Hagen western Nepal"> <figcaption>Toni Hagen in his tent with curious onlookers, somewhere in western Nepal in 1952, flying the United Nations and Nepal flags.</figcaption> </figure>  ”My father’s work helps bridge the gap between the past and the present,” Katrin Hagen said at the inauguration of the first exhibition of Western Nepal in the 1950s at Yala Maya Kendra on Tuesday. “The pictures allow Nepalis to see Nepal through his eyes and appreciate the changes that have occurred over time.”&nbsp; Western Nepal in the 1950s, an exhibition of Photos by Toni Hagen&nbsp; Yalamaya Kendra, Patan 27 February - 2 March Patan Museum, 4-13 March&nbsp; Surkhet, Mahendranagar, Jumla (to be announced)  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024022813020_3bcea5e7bc2ba14a584e6fda40a556167804d599ea5bad5f4df044748396acfc.jpg" data-media-id="editor_17" data-image-id="2024022813020_3bcea5e7bc2ba14a584e6fda40a556167804d599ea5bad5f4df044748396acfc" data-rendition-name="original" width="1263" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Toni Hagen's Nepal"> </figure>

Alisha Sijapati

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West is West

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110141128/636cfcba9c7e80680e0a0ba6jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1600" height="1067"/><figcaption>All photos: AMIT MACHAMASI</figcaption></figure>Every few minutes, traders with goods on motorcycles line up on one bank of Kendra River in Tikapur to cross over to the other side. There is a shed nearby made up of wood and a tarpaulin that shelters them as they wait to be ferried across.There was a rickety bridge nearby, but it was washed away by the monsoon, and the government has not kept its promise of building a new one. So, locals depend on a ferry service between Lalbojhi and Bhajani municipalities in Kailali Province in the western Tarai.Manish Chaudhary, 26, has been operating the ferry that bridges the two villages for the past three years from 6AM to 8PM every day.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJWsFSokOt8On a normal day, Chaudhary gets at least 150 passengers a day and earns up to Rs2,000. It is Rs10 per ride for passengers on foot, Rs30 for bikes and cycles and Rs50 for four-wheelers. This small business in turn has to pay an annual fee of Rs150,000 to the municipality.“I make a good earning here, when there is a lot of traffic, I even make up to Rs5,000 a day,” says Chaudhary. “This place is close to my house so during the monsoon I get to spend more time with my family as well as help them on the farm.”<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110141128/636cfcbd9c7e80680e0a0ba7jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1600" height="1067">But in a month, as the monsoon season tapers off, the river will soon shrink, and the water will be low enough to allow locals to ride or wade across. The ferry will then close till next year.This is Chaudhary’s last year working as a human bridge, having decided that his four other business partners would rotate their turns operating the boat. So, his next turn will come after 12 years, when he will be 38 years old. Besides, by then the government may finally build the bridge, and there will be no need for the ferry.Till then, Chaudhary says he will have to roam neighbouring districts in search of a job, or even go abroad, taking him away from his family.Says Chaudhary, “I was in Dhangadi doing odd jobs before this, but the earning was minimal, it wasn’t enough to support my children and old parents, so I have to keep moving.”<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110141128/636cfcc19c7e80680e0a0ba8jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1600" height="1067"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110141128/636cfcc59c7e80680e0a0ba9jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1600" height="1067"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110141128/636cfcc99c7e80680e0a0baajpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1600" height="1067"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110141128/636cfccd9c7e80680e0a0babjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1600" height="1067"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110141128/636cfcd29c7e80680e0a0bacjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1600" height="1067"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110141128/636cfcd59c7e80680e0a0badjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1600" height="1067"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110141128/636cfcd89c7e80680e0a0baejpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1600" height="1067"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110141128/636cfcdb9c7e80680e0a0bafjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1600" height="1067"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110141128/636cfcdf9c7e80680e0a0bb0jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1600" height="1067"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110141128/636cfce39c7e80680e0a0bb1jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1600" height="1067"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110141128/636cfce59c7e80680e0a0bb2jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1600" height="1067">Read Also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/kathmandus-flash-floods-are-4-decades-in-the-making/">Kathmandu's 'flash floods' are 4 decades in the making,</a> Tom Robertson

Bridging the gap in Nepal

Nepal has shut down dozens of social media platforms in a move that is widely seen as an effort to tax the revenue they generate in the country, and to control content critical of government. The sites were blocked as of midnight on Thursday, 4 September and affects all Meta products including WhatsApp and Messenger, Threads, and others. Although YouTube, Google and X are also on the government’s list, they were still working as of Friday midday.&nbsp; The government says it took the action after repeated warnings to the platforms to open offices in Nepal, a Cabinet decision last month setting a deadline, as well as a 17 August Supreme Court ruling also requiring them to register and pay requisite taxes. However, the Bill cited in the ban, ‘The Operation, Use, and Regulation of Social Media in Nepal’ has not yet been passed by Parliament. Some social media platforms which were already paying taxes in Nepal even though they are not officially registered, have also been blocked. The move is the latest in <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/big-beautiful-bills" target="_blank">a slew of draft legislations</a> designed to undermine Nepal’s open society. A Bill amending the Print and Publications Act would allow district bureaucrats to shut down media. Another draft Bill would allow political appointees to head a new Media Council with the power to revoke the licenses of journalists.&nbsp; A counter-intelligence Bill would let just about anyone in government to arbitrarily tap phones, read emails and trail citizens. On Wednesday the government announced new immigration requirements that would allow it to track the movement of all foreigners in the country. Yet another draft Bill has been set to Parliament to dissolve the <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=10675" target="_blank">Social Welfare Council (SWC)</a> and move registration and monitoring of non-governmental organisations, nonprofits and charities to the Ministry of Social Welfare. Seen in this light, the blockage of social media platforms this week is seen as the latest government attempt to constrict freedom of press. Nepal is one of the few remaining open societies in Asia, and now appears to be drifting towards authoritarianism. The government’s sudden shutdown of social media has been greeted with howls of protest on platforms that still remain open, like Viber and TikTok, as well as in Nepal’s mainstream press. Even senior members of the ruling UML-NC coalition have sharply criticised the move, asking if the government is trying to “turn Nepal into North Korea”.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025090508098_a2ab330e403e8418a7006cd5e915607382628dd6984524332bf7b99c74743656.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="2025090508098_a2ab330e403e8418a7006cd5e915607382628dd6984524332bf7b99c74743656" data-rendition-name="original" width="4280" height="5187" loading="lazy" alt="social media ban in Nepal"> </figure>  The Regional Director of the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) Beh Lih Yi said in a statement: ‘Nepal’s sweeping ban on social media sets a dangerous precedent for press freedom. Blocking online news platforms vital to journalists will undermine reporting and the public’s right to information. The government must immediately rescind this order and restore access to social media platforms, which are essential tools for exercising press freedom.’ Besides undermining press freedom, blocking social media platforms will also hurt commerce and the economy since so many small and medium business trade through Instagram, Facebook and other platforms. Nepal’s vibrant social media has also been a boost or citizens to assert identity, build solidarity against injustice and play an adversarial role when the mainstream media does not do it. Social media platforms have also become the tenuous link for Nepali families scattered across the world to keep in touch with each other — its importance growing with the increasing size of the diaspora. The government wants social media platforms to register, pay taxes and remove posts on their sites that ‘undermine the national interest and Nepal’s territorial integrity, disturb social and religious harmony’.&nbsp; In response, rights activists have said while there is need for the government to regulate extreme content and hate speech, officials appear to be more intent on clamping down on free speech and trying to force platforms to share the revenue. On Friday, the government had allowed WhatsApp back online, but there were reports that it had instructed the Nepal Telecommunication Authority (NTA) to instruct mobile and internet service providers to block by Friday night all platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp, X (Twitter), YouTube, LinkedIn, Reddit, Threads, Snapchat, Pinterest, Signal, Clubhouse, Rumble.&nbsp; Platforms that have registered and are allowed include TikTok, Viber, Nimbuzz, Popo Live, WeTalk, Global Diary and the Nepali portal Hamro Patro. TikTok was banned last year for ‘disturbing social harmony’ and it was lifted after the platform registered its office in Nepal. But even while it was banned, many users simply switched to VPN. Telegram was also banned for ‘financial crimes’ and it has since also been allowed back. NTA officials confirmed that some Asia-Pacific regional offices of platforms, including Meta had been in touch overnight inquiring about the registration process.&nbsp; Nepal is not alone in regulating social media. China bans most Western platforms, Russia and Turkey regulate their and require platforms to locate their data servers in the country. Gulf countries allow social media but keep a tight control on dissent.&nbsp; Experts have said even the government will not dare close down YouTube since so many Nepali individuals and companies make money with posts on that platform, and closing it would also impact on Google and Gmail. Facebook had also just launched a monetisation scheme for videos and reels, and Nepalis uploading content would lose revenue.&nbsp; Blocking the platforms has already hit content creators, influencers and cut small businesses from reaching customers. A survey of social media use in Nepal by Sharecast Initiative showed that 94% of those with smart phones used YouTube, followed by Facebook (92%) while TikTok was in the 50-60% range. X and Instagram were in the single digits. A YouTube ban will also hurt the mainstream media since up to 20% of the revenue of Nepal’s main tv channels came through YouTube. Some 11.1 million Nepalis watch YouTube content every day, the survey showed. ‘For global giants like Meta or Google, Nepal is a small market, and they may not even flinch — but for millions of Nepalis, these platforms are central to daily life, livelihoods, and connections across the world,’ wrote AI consultant Naresh Newar in a LinkedIn post. Some experts said the government’s sweeping ban on social media networks was untenable and the government would be forced to rollback sooner or later. Said editor Shiva Gaunle: “The platforms had given citizens a voice and broken the monopoly of the government, legislators, the courts and journalists over public opinion. This is an effort to reassert that monopoly, but Nepal can never be turned into a North Korea.”

Protest grows against Nepal’s social media ban

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2fZXyjsE28" target="_blank">Yog Narendra Malla</a> became king at age 18, and ruled Patan from 1684-1705 — his reign marked by a cultural and architectural renaissance of the city state. He put up a statue of himself in the palace square with a little bronze bird sitting on the guardian serpent above his head. It is said he told his subjects that he would look after their welfare till the day the bird flew off. During<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/lessons-not-learned-from-2015-o2etq6zu"> the 2015 earthquake</a>, the pedestal collapsed and the statue was damaged. The bird was lost, only to be located in a pile of debris and reinstated when the <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/piece-by-piece-patan-darbar-square-reconstruction,3782" target="_blank">statue was consecrated</a> two years later. <div class="embed-block"><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/x2fZXyjsE28?si=jYfIb4p6zCLXYQ1T" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></div> History remembers Yog Narendra Malla as a wise king, but like most<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/preserving-king-birendra-s-family-home"> royalty of the day</a>, he had a weakness for women. He is supposed to have consorted with 30 queens and numerous concubines. At least 33 of them self-immolated themselves on the king's funeral pyre when he died, adhering to the prevailing <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/review/Jhola,947">practice of sati</a>. When Yog Narendra Malla’s favourite queen found out that he was carrying on with yet another woman, she got the local community of the Kwelachhi neighbourhood to stage a shadow sex play to quite literally expose his unfaithfulness. Actors enacted the explicit exploits of the king and his mistress, a bright butter lamp projecting the moving shadows of their lovemaking on a thin white drape to entertain those gathered in the square below. The queen made sure that the show was designed to face the home of the king’s paramour to shame them both. She also paid for a group to chant a bhajan with lyrics that ridiculed the king’s extramarital affair. The Jhyalcha Guthi community trust that the queen set up three-and-half century ago is still active to this day, and performs the annual shadow play in the same building in Kwelachhi the day before <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/the-legend-behind-the-myth-of-indra-jatra">Indra Jatra </a>every year. This year’s show is on Friday evening, 5 September. The opening lines of the chants that accompany the play are the same words approved by the queen all those years ago: “Raja Yog Narendra ya aparadh…” (King Yog Narendra’s crime…) The community leader of the Kwelachhi neighbourhood, 62-year-old Baburaja Awale, explains the importance of the event: “This Jhyalcha is our<a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/saving-the-intangible,3303"> intangible heritage</a> and oral history. We do not have a written format, it has been passed down from generation to generation. Every word of the bhajan is the story of King Yog Narendra Malla.”  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250904070952_249e85b32cbd99bb8515151557e0ec1a65d44a34ef1aacabaaeb469622d12664.jpg" data-media-id="editor_8" data-image-id="20250904070952_249e85b32cbd99bb8515151557e0ec1a65d44a34ef1aacabaaeb469622d12664" data-rendition-name="original" width="1750" height="1167" loading="lazy" alt="Sex and the city of Patan"> <figcaption>The statue of Yog Narendra Malla being reinstated after it toppled in the 2015 earthquake. Photo: GOPEN RAI/ NEPALI TIMES ARCHIVE</figcaption> </figure>  Jhyalcha Pyankha, as the ceremony is called, starts with a puja for the Bhimsen — the god of wealth and prosperity, a popular <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/the-homecoming-of-nepal-s-gods">deity in Patan</a> who has a temple dedicated just to him in the palace square. This is immediately followed by a bhajan of Bhairab performed with <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/Buzz-house,670">traditional Newa musical instruments</a>. Community members serve snacks consisting of samay baji beaten rice, water buffalo chunks, soybean, green veggies, lentils, ginger, garlic and aila liquor. “In the first act of the shadow play, the man initiates the lovemaking, and in the third it is the woman,” says Laxmi Lal Awale, also a member of the trust that organises the show. The shadow action is all uncensored, but interspersed with <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/review/between-the-sacred-and-everyday">scenes of everyday life</a>: the woman is spinning a thread, the king is going about his royal chores, and the two sit down to share sanacha fermented pickle that is popular this time of year. <div class="embed-block"><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/qZ3twuG1wNQ?si=yRfkoC3A-X9cIl8r" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></div> “Back then, there was no tv, films or YouTube, and yet we managed to stage the shadow play using our own resourcefulness,” says Baburaja Awale. “It is important to continue the tradition.” The challenge now is to ensure that the<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/the-reign-of-the-god-of-rain"> younger generation takes over</a>, learning the lyrics of the ancient bhajan. The dafa khala group that performs all over Patan during festivals and religious events is now training teenagers to play the musical instruments and act in the shadow play. The Jhyalcha was staged even after the 2015 earthquake when the falcha where the bhajan is performed collapsed and they made-do in a tin shed. The structure was later rebuilt with a grant from the group, Photo Circle. Lalitpur Metropolitan City sets aside a budget of Rs50,000 to organise the Jhyalcha Pyankha every year, but this is not enough and is supplemented by individual donations. The performers including musicians and actors are all volunteers, and take part in it because it is their community duty. The erotic shadow play was way ahead of its time, not just in its graphic content but the use of contemporary local technology as well as improvisation and pure imagination. Says Laxmi Lal: “Whatever its origin in the legend of King Yog Narendra Malla and his queen, Jhyalcha also served as a medium of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/lets-talk-about-it">sex education</a>. In the past, women were discouraged from watching the shadow play, but today everyone is welcome, we all watch it together.” Jhyalcha Pyankha Kwelachhi, Chyasal, Patan 7PM onwards Friday, 5 September

Sex and the city of Patan

Unlike many countries, there is not much incentive in Nepal for the private sector to fund charities and non-profits. Donations and grants are not tax-deductible.
Yet there are corporate entities that have Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in their portfolio of activities through foundations that they have set up. Some do it loudly to gain public relations mileage, while others are quiet about their <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/comment/norway-supports-himalayan-climate-research?mdrv=www.nepalitimes.com&amp;=1">generous support</a>.
The CSR outlay of factories and manufacturing companies is regulated by Industrial Enterprise Act (IEA), while the Nepal Rastra Bank oversees grants banks and financial institutions contribute and requires them to set aside 1% of their net profit for CSR activities.
The guideline requires banks and financial institutions to donate to activities covering education, health, environment and financial literacy, among others. Recently, the Supreme Court directed the government to formulate a Bill in the parliament to standardise and regulate the private sector’s CSR activities.
“We receive guidelines from Nepal Rastra Bank and follow them,” says Pranisha Shrestha who heads the CSR Department at NMB Bank. “We have got a notice about updates on those guidelines, and we will adapt accordingly.”
<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/greening-nepal-s-tourism">Environmental sustainability </a>is one of the important components of CSR for Nepali companies, and there have been many initiatives aimed at urban renewal. One of the most visible is of the telecommunication company Ncell, which is among Nepal’s largest taxpayers.
Five years ago, Ncell adopted a 6km stretch of the Ring Road from Ekantakuna to Koteswor-Kalanki, planting 12,000 saplings. They have now grown into<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/seeing-the-forest-and-trees-in-nepal"> a thick forest</a> along the embankment of the road.
Not only is the lush greenery in an overbuilt part of Lalitpur soothing to the eye, it also helps in reducing temperature within <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/in-the-heat-of-the-moment-5xcycyot">the urban heat bubble</a>, and also contributes to reducing air pollution and traffic noise.
“We started a pilot project along 600m of the Ekantakuna section of the Ring Road during the pandemic,” recalls Bishakha Lakshmi Khadka, Director of Corporate Communications and Sustainability at Ncell. “It went really well, and after that we extended the<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/saving-cities-with-trees"> tree planting</a> and upkeep to Kalanki.”
Sustainability also means making younger Nepalis aware of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/natures-fragile-gift-to-nepal">the value of nature </a>and environmental sustainability, which is why Ncell has also undertaken a Green School initiative in and around Kathmandu Valley. Besides its One-Tree-One-Youth and 1 Million Trees campaigns, the initiative also aims at behavior change about littering with its waste hackathon in schools.
“The young students can be catalysts with a multiplier effect beyond their schools to society at large, and it has inter-generational impact into the future,” explains Khadka.
Indeed, while <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/tree-mendous">Nepal has doubled its forest cover </a>in the past 30 years to 46% of the country’s area, urban centres like Kathmandu do not have much open spaces and greenery left. And that is where companies like Ncell, Jawalakhel Group of Industries, and others have focused on CSRs.
NMB Bank also runs financial literacy programs for youth where they can learn more about social media safeguards, digital payment systems, with a focus on safety and security. Such training not only helps build skills for the future but also protects young Nepalis from online crime.
“<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/protecting-children-from-anti-social-media">Threats to young minds through social media</a> use are growing as platforms feed algorithm-driven content,” says Shrestha. “We felt media and digital literacy are important in all seven provinces not just to protect young people, but also give them the confidence to use digital financial systems.”
The bank has a special focus on women in leadership programs, and provides scholarships provided in schools across Nepal on environment and sustainability in higher education. Health is another sector where private companies have worked with donating medical equipment, sponsoring health camps and conducting blood donation drives.
CSR or PR?
Other companies heavily involved in CSR include NIMB Bank which contributes to heritage conservation and education, Buddha Air helps farmers in Morang to increase productivity, VOITH with its motto ‘Little things We Do’ provides scholarships to students and has gifted &nbsp;vehicles to hospitals and nature conservation groups, Dwarika’s Hotel promotes organic farming and zero waste initiatives, heritage conservation and helps revive traditional handicrafts.
Although some CSR activities have been criticised for masquerading as PR and for greenwashing, many Nepali companies are actually contributing to improve the situation for individuals in need and underserved communities.
It also brings a sense of accountability to the corporate sector so they look beyond shareholder profit with greater involvement in the public good. In Nepal, where government delivery mechanisms are not up to speed in the social sector and environmental sustainability, CSR is a vehicle for public-private partnerships.
Collaboration with the government is an important aspect of these initiatives since that allows localised campaigns to be scaled up by showing what is possible. For example, the three Metropolitan Cities of the Valley and other private companies are trying to emulate what Ncell has achieved on the Ring Road.
“The Ring Road plantation project has been massively successful,” says Khadka “We were recognised by the Lalitpur Metropolitan City and the Forestry Department for adding greenery to what would have been just an asphalt strip.”

Corporates responsible to society

This is the 72nd episode of Diaspora Diaries, a Nepali Times series in collaboration with Migration Lab providing a platform to share experiences of living, working and studying abroad. My father ran a store and that is where I spent all my time till Grade 6. Doing my homework. Serving customers. I then moved to my maternal grandparents’ house because I used to get along with my cousin who was a year older than me. We did everything together, and were best friends. We took turns studying: I was a night owl, and he was an early riser. Before I went to bed after studying all night, I woke him up. My mother was 44 when I was born, the same year my eldest brother got married. My sister-in-law becoming a part of our family was how my mother referenced my age. I liked making money, and was always a hustler. In Grade 7, I learnt to handle a tractor and helped my brother-in-law to plough, earning Rs10 a day. As I got better, he paid me more. By Grade 9, I was already making Rs500 per day, but had to slow down to prepare for my exams. From an early age I knew I did not want a 9-5 job. There just wasn’t enough money in it. I wanted to get into business, and compared my brother who worked in the post office and what businessmen made. It did not help that my brother was honest, and never took bribes. A friend and I made money selling cheap Chinese phones at a premium to our friends. We blasted music on the phones and pretended that we were giving them a discount. After SLC, I started teaching math and other subjects. I was soon a shareholder in the same school and in the evening I was involved in our family’s floriculture business, growing amaranth and marigold for garlands.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250831020844_1b54b999d67122a50c4c7e6204cc737bcc99bf2a68db6499a4566a7f61a880b4.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="20250831020844_1b54b999d67122a50c4c7e6204cc737bcc99bf2a68db6499a4566a7f61a880b4" data-rendition-name="original" width="955" height="1314" loading="lazy" alt="Diaspora Diaries 72"> </figure>  It was then that a friend suggested we learn the Korean language. We could be earning significantly higher in Korea for similar efforts. I had no plans to go abroad but he convinced me. I did not know anything about Korea, and was scolded at the language institute when I asked someone to point Korea on the map.&nbsp; It was only there that I learnt you had to pass an exam for the Korean Employment Permit System (EPS), and pay for language classes. After a week, I decided it was not for me and dropped out. But my friend convinced me to give it one more try. I did not prepare much for the exam, and it was no surprise that I failed. But it was just by one mark, and people would pity me for failing “just by one mark”. It was a brand of failure. It hurt my ego. I had to turn things around by taking the exams seriously, and locked myself up to study hard.&nbsp; Even when we had visitors, my wife told them I was not home. If I was not in my room learning Korean, I would be with a group of ten of us test-takers comparing notes and practicing late into the night. The exam was difficult, but this time I passed, the only one in my group who did.&nbsp; As someone who never liked the idea of doing a job, I still had my doubts about going to Korea. It did not help that one of my acquaintances had returned a month after he had left, and he discouraged me from migrating given that I was already making good money in Nepal.&nbsp; But my wife suggested that I give it a shot since I had worked so hard for it. And if it really turned out not to be my cup of tea, I could always return. What did I have to lose, I thought, at least I would get to visit Korea. My job there was in an electrical company that made circuit boards. I worked all day, earned good money. In the evenings, I kept myself busy with my real estate business back in Nepal. I had learnt the tricks of the trade from fellow real estate agents back home, but at the time did not have the capital to invest.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250831020848_941e961e2045058f255ad89884b51faa7d2365c68236e5cbe573d63d769ac6c5.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20250831020848_941e961e2045058f255ad89884b51faa7d2365c68236e5cbe573d63d769ac6c5" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Diaspora Diaries 72"> </figure>  In Korea, it helped that I had salary records that allowed me to get loans from financial institutions both in Korea and in Nepal. Ultimately, I started earning more from my real estate deals in Nepal than from my job in Korea. This was all thanks to my ability to take loans because of the EPS scheme. My wife has been managing the flower business while I was away. My finances grew stronger over the eight years I was in Korea. I paid off the loans that I had borrowed to buy land. But real estate did not satisfy me entirely. I wondered: what is my brand? What will I be known for? What is my contribution to society? Real estate is for wealth, but that is about it. I needed to sell one piece of land and use the revenue to start a venture. I took classes in business, and returned to Nepal six months ago and got back to my family’s ancestral roots in floriculture. In Nepal too, I am continuing the entrepreneurship training I had started in Korea with the Bridge International. Such exposure helps us reflect on our business such as our branding, vision, and proactive aspects like the importance of strong recordkeeping.&nbsp; I am now working to upgrade and expand my floriculture business. With a friend who is still in Korea I am building a cooling room to increase the shelf-life of flowers and other produce and set up a market in my village where others can sell their produce. Floriculture is our primary business, but it is seasonal and earns good money only during festivals like Tihar.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250831020848_a008ffeba13896e6918f68ff6e687c8fe11140d86a96f1ec11690547f2bcd415.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20250831020848_a008ffeba13896e6918f68ff6e687c8fe11140d86a96f1ec11690547f2bcd415" data-rendition-name="original" width="1280" height="720" loading="lazy" alt="Diaspora Diaries 72"> </figure>  So, I grow tomatoes to ensure year-round earnings. I also am engaged in other businesses like real estate and online shopping. I work round the clock in Nepal — a strong work ethic is something I picked up in Korea.&nbsp; My Korean bosses would work alongside us, that motivated us. I work just as hard in Nepal as I did in Korea. People here often ask me why I am pushing myself so hard. But making garlands comes easy to me, it is work my forebears were involved in. My childhood memories are about plucking flowers with my sister. I have a comparative advantage in this work. It comes naturally to me, it is easy and I enjoy it. And sometimes, if there are too many garlands to make, I can multitask while holding meetings. My fingers just fly. I am good at this job, but my wife is even better and faster.&nbsp; When there is too much load, we can also outsource the work. To be known as the flower guy would be great personal branding. The मखमली guy. Or the सयपत्री guy. I decided to come home for just this with a one-way ticket. “अब पासा: जाँदैन ल्हासा!” &nbsp;

bridges

West is West

Bridging the gap in Nepal

Protest grows against Nepal’s social media ban

Sex and the city of Patan

Corporates responsible to society

The flower guy