<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110161156/636d1f569c7e80680e0af45djpeg.jpg" alt="" width="2046" height="1377"/><figcaption>Lambe. All photos: BHARAT RAI.</figcaption></figure>Bharat Rai's ongoing exhibition ‘Whistle Blower’ at Ekantakuna's <a href="https://windhorseartgallery.com">Wind Horse Gallery</a> is a quasi-surreal take on the world of tourism and mountaineering. His first solo show of 35 paintings do not show Himalayan peaks but the often-overlooked state of tourism, modernism and consumerism.You will find few mountains here. The white background in the canvases is the closest thing to snow and clouds. The real protagonists are the <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/Equus-in-brick-kilns-kathmandu,4085">mules, donkeys and the burden on their backs</a>. We can almost hear their rusty bells punctuating the silence of their unsung endurance.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110161156/636d1f599c7e80680e0af45ejpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1420" height="1437"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>One of the first paintings that comes into view as visitors climb the staircase to the vast gallery is called Lale: a brown mule leaping with its tail up in the air. Its dark, melancholic eyes gaze ahead as the blue sacks on its back weigh it down. A long rope attaches the mule to a sealed Coca Cola bottle with crystallised rocks inside.The artwork is striking, and whimsical — a leaping animal tied to the ground by an empty bottle of soda. The bells around the neck and shoulders in the colourful harness look harmless at first, and we instantly recognise that these are the beasts of burden that make trekking and mountaineering possible, allowing those selfies on Kala Patar and summit certificates.But what of Lale, frozen as it tries to jump and break free, despite being held fast to the ground? Another mule, Dhurbe, is leaping off the back of a blue pick-up truck. Yet another looks dolefully at a miniature version of itself lying on its back with legs flailing upwards.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110161156/636d1f5d9c7e80680e0af45fjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1786" height="1482"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>It may not be immediately noticeable, but the atmosphere of the paintings is indeed that of a false levity, draped in a foreboding silence of suffering.Silence pervades Rai's art: silence not volunteered but forced, and silence caught in motion. Rai's muses are mules and donkeys — always in the act of moving, whether away, towards, or in circles. They are flying, rolling and dancing even. Their desired destination is up the trail, but they appear to be protesting through their contortions — and their silence.Rai grew up around these equine heroes, spending over a decade in their company. His family profession was moving cargo on mule trains up and down the Solu Khumbu trail before motor cars and jeeps took over. He has shared his feelings and worries more with mules than humans, and this very empathy influences his art.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110161156/636d1f609c7e80680e0af460jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1863" height="1536"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>'Most visitors and strangers would tell me about the creatures', writes Rai in his statement, 'saying that they would cry if they did not get heavy loads!' But, as evidenced by his paintings, the mules do not look happy to be carrying all those sacks and cylinders.On the contrary, they are tired, beaten and eager to break free of their tethers. The animals have names, distinct characters and personalities. In a way these downtrodden animals are symbolic of the silent disenfranchised citizens of our country. Abused, exploited, excluded, collectively derided.The effect is twofold. While the animals are taken as symbols of simplicity and foolishness (and thus abused), by using them as metaphors Rai draws our attention also to the cruelty and micro-aggression directed towards the people living on the margins.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110161156/636d1f649c7e80680e0af461jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1484" height="2048"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110161156/636d1f689c7e80680e0af462jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1484" height="2048">Melody of Shovel (left) and Hero (right)Some paintings depict items scattered around mountaineering camps: steel plates, cylinders, rusty wheelbarrows, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-building-a-highway-to-everest/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">a yellow excavator</a> and a sewing machine practically falling apart. One canvas has a rolled-up roti held together by a safety pin. There is a larger statement here against the recklessness, entitlement and egotism of mountain visitors.Despite these undercurrents, ‘Whistle Blowers’ is not a pessimistic show. It is more a call to action to be more mindful, more conscious. Our four-legged mountain friends are not indentured servants, but beings with dreams and hopes of their own.We are conditioned to imagine nobility in horses and ridicule donkeys. Rai subverts these notions by inviting us to look into the eyes of mules as muses.‘Whistle Blowers’ by Bharat RaiWind Horse Gallery, Bhanimandal-Ekantakuna Road, Lalitpur10am-6pm (closed on Mondays)Limited visitors in the hall. Masks mandatory.Till 17 January 2022.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/review/on-screen-mountains/">On-screen mountains</a>, Sahina Shrestha<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/what-next-for-reinhold-messner/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">What next for Reinhald Messner?</a>, Kunda Dixit

Ashish Dhakal

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Muses of the mountains

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108101132/636a22cc9c7e80680e0417aajpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1250" height="938"/><figcaption>Photo: CHITWAN PARK VILLAGE</figcaption></figure>As a Wild Ass, I can vouch for the fact that Nepal is one of the most biodiverse countries on Earth. And the incredible thing is that this wealth of flora and fauna is now living cheek-to-jowl with the country’s human population without eating each other up.Humans with herd mentality are leaving en masse along crossborder migration corridors, whereas wildlife species conduct themselves responsibly to defecate only in designated spots.In fact, as Nepal rises in the UN’s Human Development Index (HDI) to meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) by 2030, we can safely say that the country’s rankings in the Animal Development Index (ADI) has risen even faster. This means members of our erstwhile animal kingdom who are now protected citizens of the Federal Democratic Republic enjoy living standards and social welfare safeguards that would be enviable in any other country.Proof of this was the news last week that a female endangered One-horned Rhinoceros heeded the call of the Ministry of Wild Life and Animal Husbandry to further improve the rate of institutional delivery in Nepal by giving birth to a healthy male calf in a maternity Ward in Bharatpur. This is a heart-warming example of how wildlife and humans have learnt to coexist in a country whose patron deity is the Lord of the Animals.It will be harder to convince expecting Royal Bengal Tigresses to get themselves admitted into the hospital, but the Chief Warden of the Chitwan National Park is working on it.On the other hand, villagers in the buffer zone are making frequent forays into the National Park to collect thatch and fodder, setting fire to the grasslands. The number of tourists on elephant back and jeeps entering the Park has shot up this winter.As humans move into the Park and the wildlife moves out, we may as well declare Bharatpur a National Park and encourage tigers, rhinos and sloth bears to pay a fee to enter the city to watch humans in their natural habitat.The country has also shown its commitment to nature conservation by allowing all kinds wild animules to enrich the biodiversity of the grasslands within the perimeter of Kathmandu Airport. Rhesus monkeys have a free run of the departure concourse, rodents find their way into planes, and the runway is regularly patrolled by leopards and wild boar. We are even allowing the smuggling mafia to induct trafficked chimps. This country is turning into a zoo in preparation for Visit Nepal Year 2020.

The Ass

The country is a zoo

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107171116/636930239c7e80680e03c0e1jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1200" height="900"/><figcaption>BENADDICT / KECHHA</figcaption></figure>Because of the holidays, many vitally important items of news had to be consigned to the dustbin of history because we skipped an issue last week. We repost below one story that fell between the cracks:Kathmandu Voted Top 10 CityATLANTA – Lonely Planet and CNN have voted Kathmandu Number 5 among Top 10 cities to visit in 2019. (I am not making this up. Google it.) Finally a piece of good news to warm our cockles as winter sets in.But, as long-term residents of Kathmandu, we were surprised to be ranked fifth. We should have been Numero Uno. Look at all our achievements:<ul><li>Nepal posted a 4.6% growth rate in the last fiscal year. Everything grew: the deficit, the concentration of particles below 2.5 microns at Phora, the size of potholes on the Jorpati Road, and according to a news item this week in a prestigious national daily ‘The Illegal Flesh Trade Mushroomed’. (Or was it ‘The Illegal Mushroom Trade Fleshed Out”.) Whatever. Either way there was a 4.6% growth.</li> 	<li>We made it to the Lonely Planet list because Kathmandu offers free mud baths. Just stand on the road divider in Balkhu and wait for a 20 ton truck to rumble over the puddles, and as a premium spa customer, you will be covered from nose to toe in therapeutic clay that used to be a part of Kathmandu Valley’s prehistoric lake bed.</li> 	<li>Government officials in Nepal’s capital are the most relaxed in the world. They never do today what can be done the day after tomorrow.</li> 	<li>Nepal Telecom has some of the lowest tariffs in the world. My bill last month was zero. I couldn’t actually make any calls because the network was always busy.</li> 	<li>The word “no” doesn’t exist in the Nepali vocabulary. We will not refuse anything, even if we do not need it. As long as it is free.</li> 	<li>Visit Nepal: We Have No Secrets. In fact, it is no secret that secret talks are going on in secret at a secret venue to topple the government.</li> 	<li>Nepal is also the most transparent nation on Earth. We don’t even try to hide bribery any more.</li> 	<li>Kathmandu people are the most hygienic in the world because they keep all their orifices squeaky clean by spitting, and picking their ears and noses in public. Our friendly neighbourhood taxi driver has an ear canal that is spotless. However, the same cannot be said of the inside of his cab which has mushrooms growing out of the dashboard.</li></ul>

Kathmandu Top 10 City

<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107171116/63692f9e9c7e80680e03c0b5jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1250" height="1266"/>Since we are squeezed for space here this week, let’s get right down to brasstacks.Statistics show Nepalis consume 75% of their annual intake of animal protein and alcohol during Dassain. Proof is the overpowering aroma emanating from the Bagmati in the immediate aftermath of the holidays.Let’s do Dassain different this year. Refuse to buy new clothes, and get into your old pants if you fit in them. Tell noisy neighbours to “go fly a kite”. Be selective, refuse to visit relatives you don’t like. Go to Goa. Better still, emigrate. Goat sacrifices were for single aisle aircraft, Nepal Airlines’ needs water buffalos to attain martyrdom and regain paradise at the nose landing gears of its two brand new widebodies.The gobblement in its infinite wisdom cut holidays this Dassain. Shame on them. Here is one week in a year that we can wallow in sloth, and the spoilsports have decreed that we have to get this paper out. Woe on the workaholics.It’s not that we are less lazy the rest of the year, but Dassain is when we can really let ourselves go to eat goat, drink gin and indulge in national stupefaction. Even though we know this, we sometimes lapse into exertion and toil. Vigilance, that is what is required. Vigilance against hard work.Just look at all the benefits of laziness. We as a people have underestimated the role indolence plays in eradicating corruption and crime. Making people too lazy to steal or rob others should be the aim of all good governance campaigns. There is nothing like a sense of time having stopped to eradicate malfeasance.The National Institute for Lethargy and Inertia has moved swiftly to ensure adequate supplies of goat guts next week so that there is sufficient lassitude to go around.Vigilance squads have already been deputed under the CBI to carry out spot checks at various departments, corporations, public sector enterprises, and our embassies abroad to make sure that no civil servants are sneaking into their offices to actually get some work done in the run-up to the holidays.Police have been told to nab drivers who do not drink. Aware that the whole country will be comatose, the grabberment has given Comrade “Sore Loser” Leftist God the green light to contest Kathmandu-7.It has just come to my notice that I am now too lazy to complete this column. May you all attain nirvana this Dasain: that state of perfect immobility and bliss.

The Goat Rush

A trek is a highly recommended workout in which you will come face-to-face with the exotic realities of a Turd world country.The word ‘trek’ is derived from an Afrikaan word which means: “Carry your body weight and a backpack weighing a ton up and down vertical mountainsides for 10 days, share sleeping quarters with yaks, while attending to calls of nature in the company of friendly local people.”Why we had to import a South African word for the completely indigenous activity of walking from one Nepali village to the next, I have never quite figured out. But I guess the whole philosophy of trekking is to get unsuspecting visitors to pay $140 a day for the masochistic pleasure of inflicting extreme hardship on themselves so that when they return home to their mundane, soulless materialistic existence, it will seem like paradise.Here are some useful tips on the joys of hiking in Nepal and how to make it fulfilling for mind, body and sole:Am I fit? The main pre-requisite to trekking is that you should train yourself in the art of walking straight up and straight down like a gecko. Practice on a wall at home. One month before trek, stop using the lift. Climb 36 floors to your office every day, and use the stairs down. Now multiply this by 10.What should I eat?Muesli. This is what they give mules to eat for breakfast on the Mustang trail so their after-burners can kick in during the steepest inclines, adding critical thrust to propel them over Chuksang Pass in time for lunch. Just ask your mule to share his muesli.Dal-bhat. Tea-shops along the trail have a wide variety of dal-bhat so you never get tired of Nepal’s national dish: dal-bhat with alu, dal-bhat with moolah, dal-bhat with banda, dal-bhat with bodi, dal-bhat with sag, or even dal-bhat with dal-bhat.To level out a steep uphill there is nothing to beat the locally-brewed high-octane apple brandy. Pour a little of this into your and watch yourself fly like the wind, leaving gasping fellow-trekkers in the valley below. (Statutory Govt Health Warning: Hangovers are a pain in the ass.)Is it safe to drink the water?The first rule of thumb is not to drink anything that doesn’t have the mandatory hologram Seal of Approval of the Nepal Bureau of Standards ISO 90002. Adhering to this rule will mean that you will die of thirst on the first day of your trek, therefore exceptions are allowed in emergencies.

So you want to trek?

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107161124/6369232a9c7e80680e03a16bjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1400" height="1167"/><figcaption>Diwakar Chettri</figcaption></figure>Nepal may be a small country, but we don’t have small minds. We dream big, mainly because our rulers are day-dreaming a lot. These are vivid hallucinations and extraordinary nightmares which they immediately take to the implementation stage upon waking up.Now that he has met Trump, PM Oli has no time for piddly little things like completing the Melamchi project, fixing the Jorpati-Baudha Swamp, tarmacking the Wring Road at Balkhu, or picking up the garbage in Lagankhel. He is focused on much larger things.Being a country with vibrant crony-Communism, Nepal is poised to take The Greatest Leap Forward So Far into the wild blue yonder with projects Kneejgad International Aeropolis, the Republican Tower, the Trans-Himalayan Bullet Train, East-West MALEV Railway, and the mammoth Gezhouba Dam. The gobblement has decided that Big Is Not Just Beautiful, But Also Rewarding in More Ways Then One.Which is why we do not need any more distractions about Pappu Deconstruction Private Limited not completing the bridge at Tin Kune despite being given an advance of 54 corrodes and 82 lacks. Or, of Lama Erections GMbH not repairing the Nagarkot road for five years. State secret: it is a deliberate government strategy to make Nepal known the world over as challenging proving ground for off-road vehicles and hovercrafts.Being a visionary, the PM gave the Nepal Shipping Corporation the target of sailing a Nepali vessel to Kolkata and back by December. With only two months to go, the Corporation has issued a global tender for a paddle boat.Nepal has also announced plans to send senior comrades from the ruling Communist Party to Mars to plant the hammer and sickle there. Since it is called The Red Planet.

Thinking big

<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107161120/636922b59c7e80680e03a142jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="800" height="485"/>It is befitting for a land where the Lord of the Animals is the patron deity that we have a prime minister who frequently invokes the names of creatures great and small. During the Blockade, the primordial minister alluded to agitators as ‘house flies’ (Musca domestica). He once called those demonstrating outside Singha (Panthera leo) Darbar as ‘monkeys’ (Macaca mulatta).The prime minister calls his home district Super Jhapa because it has a ‘tiger’ (Panthera tigris) economy. And while describing Nepal’s unique tourist attractions, he once said ‘ rhinos’ (Rhinoceros unicornis) were found nowhere else in the world. Then, last week he urged his party leaders to unleash themselves on dissidents like ‘hornets’ (Vespa mandarina). Yesterday he warned foreigners (Firanghi khaire) not to treat Nepalis like guinea pigs (Cavia porcellus).The country’s prime minister so often citing the animal kingdom (even though we are now a republic) helps draw attention to Nepal’s zoological diversity. In case he is running out of animals that deserve special mention, it is our patriotic duty to offer the following suggestions:White ElephantCan be used when describing national pride projects like mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) airports and other edifice complexes that the country cannot afford.Snake PitIf there is an accurate zoological simile to describe the venomous reptiles that populate the government, this could be it.Wild BoreIn an emergency, the prime minister can call on these swines who escaped from the Ministry of Jungles to give speeches from the podium.Mountain GuerrillasEndangered simians who still believe in a pheasant revolution are now the prime minister’s coalition partners.Wolf in Sheep’s ClothingThese carnivores can be invoked when describing party apartchiks.Sloth BearKnown for lazing around in the fourth estate, these animals are often seen licking the behinds of Wild Bores and scratching each other’s backs.The AssThe donkey (Equus asinus) would be more than happy to lend his name for any important purpose in the national interest.<h2>Reader's response</h2>In an article in ekantipur on May 25, 2015, Mr Oli, then just the leader of UML, was quoted as describing those who came from outside to help Nepal in the aftermath of the earthquake, as “Foreign dogs who ate foods worth Rs 100,000 daily and also digested equal amount of allowance, but they did nothing more than sniffing some holes.”- Sam

It's a zoo out there

Fenerbahçe Beko won the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague finals in Abu Dhabi, held 23-25 May, defeating Monaco 81-70 in the final. Olympiacos, who defeated Panathinaikos 97-93, finished the series in third place. The Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the final match, Nigel Hayes-Davis from Fenerbahçe Beko, received a prize of 1,000,000 Miles&amp;Smiles from Turkish Airlines’ Chief Commercial Officer Ahmet Olmuştur. The carrier has been the title sponsor of the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague, a top tier tournament, since 2010.

Turkish Basketball

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

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