For decades, water scarcity, subsistence farming and debt had been driving farmers away from the village of Aathrai in this district of eastern Nepal. The elderly here tell the true story of one lot of people who decades ago were on their seasonal migration down to Jhapa in the plains. In their four-day trek south, they were spending the first night under a tree by the banks of the Tamor River. As night fell, they heard a crowd of people with their livestock, coming down the path. They held flaming torches, talked loudly and their laughter carried across the river. The travellers thought they were seeing ghosts, and watched warily. The people on the opposite side filled their brass jars with water, the cows drank their fill, then they climbed slowly back up the steep path along which they had descended. &nbsp; The migrants watched the torches until they reached the top of the ridge and disappeared into Terathum district. The next morning they found out those were villagers who came down every night with their cattle to collect water because springs up the mountain had gone dry. That is when the people from Terathum realised that their home villages had it much better because the villagers of their district did not have to make nightly water ferry trips up and down the mountain.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240412100444_18f42bb370b81af9e0d8b06c433b77e7e4986dd1aabb3fc8403ff42570051668.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="20240412100444_18f42bb370b81af9e0d8b06c433b77e7e4986dd1aabb3fc8403ff42570051668" data-rendition-name="original" width="1200" height="795" loading="lazy" alt="people and mountains are thirsty in eastern Nepal"> <figcaption>Photos: GIRIRAJ BANSKOTA</figcaption> </figure>  More, but still not enough Till recently, wards in Chhathar village in Terathum used to have such a severe water shortage that families had to borrow water like they borrowed money. The nearest spring was two hours walk away, and there would already be up to 60 jars in the queue. It was the job of women to fetch water, and they would trudge home with two jars in baskets on their backs and two plastic containers in their hands. “This added to the drudgery of women, would delay the preparation of meals for the family and sending children to school, there was no time to clean the house, the livestock were always thirsty and would give less milk,” explains Tara Kharel Dhakal, deputy chair of Chhathar Rural Municipality.&nbsp; She adds: “There are settlements where water shortage is still acute, but we have managed to pipe drinking water to 90% of the households.” Ward 3 Chair Deuman Limbu agrees that drinking water is less of an issue now, but says lack of water is still affecting dairy and vegetable farming which would have improved nutrition and increased cash income of villagers. Chhathar’s water shortage was alleviated by building a channel from a stream 14km away. There are cliffs along the way where pipes have been laid, but these are often damaged by landslides, wildfires, and maintenance is difficult. In large parts of Nepal, including here in the east, the main reason people &nbsp;migrate out is because of the lack of drinking water. And although most people here remember the water crisis being much more serious in the past, there is still not enough in the dry season. There used to be a tradition in Nepal’s mountains that travellers could get free food and lodging for the night from villagers along the way, and this would be reciprocated when they themselves needed to stop for the night. It was the same with water: those walking along foot trails would be offered water for free since people believed it would earn them merit in heaven.&nbsp; But not in villages like Thoklung today, where travellers know how precious water is, and offer to pay for a drink. Springs are going dry across Nepal’s mid-mountains from east to west, partly due to erratic rainfall caused by the climate crisis but also because of over-extraction. Spring water used to be mainly for household use and the extra water would flow down the mountain, seep into the soil and recharge groundwater. These days, farmers pipe water to their homes from nearby springs to irrigate cash crops like cardamom or vegetables.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240412100444_d9353b6fc297e5b547ac683814801bd57d460f2481be475c60c4f6d7e8f5c8d9.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20240412100444_d9353b6fc297e5b547ac683814801bd57d460f2481be475c60c4f6d7e8f5c8d9" data-rendition-name="original" width="1200" height="900" loading="lazy" alt="people and mountains are thirsty in eastern Nepal"> </figure>  “New roads drain water away, preventing recharge,” explains watershed expert Madhukar Upadhyay. “Paddy terraces used to store water that slowly seeped into the slopes, but with outmigration there is less rice being planted which in turn has affected the water table.” Read Also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/climate-crisis-drought-food-deficit-migration">Climate crisis → drought → food deficit → migration</a>, Mohan Mainali Power to pump water Necessity is the mother of invention, so desperate villages in eastern Nepal have adopted innovative new ways to ensure water supply. Thirsty families in the parched Kummayak village of Panchthar used to look down longingly at the blue-green waters of the glacier-fed Tamor River. They decided that instead of migrating to the Tarai, they might as well try to pump the water to their village. Nine years ago, they launched a project to dig a well near the river and pump the water up the mountain and distribute drinking water to 2,000 of the 3,200 households in Kummayak. &nbsp; But chronic drought has reduced the dry season flow in the Tamor, and villagers had to divert the river’s channel closer to the well to maintain water supply. The Tamor Drinking Water Pumping Project is now digging another well at a cost of Rs10 million to augment supply.&nbsp; Learning from Kummayak, 11 other projects are planned to pump Tamor water up to mountain villages. Some villages that would have benefited, like Aathrai, have just heard the bad news that the federal government does not have the budget to fund their Rs20 million well and pumping station.&nbsp; Part of the reason there is not enough money is because budgets are also being misused. For example, the central and provincial government are working at cross-purposes and duplicating drinking water schemes. The federal government has a Rs3.5 million pump project in the same place where the Kosi Province has set aside Rs2 million also to lift drinking water. &nbsp;&nbsp; The water shortage is even more severe in Dhankuta district, where in Chaubise village Ward 3, a Rs80 million project is underway to pump water up from a spring down the mountain.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240412100444_d0f87ea50060253998ef932e5c6f30f20912d8733c40014cef4cc8c16e8270ae.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="20240412100444_d0f87ea50060253998ef932e5c6f30f20912d8733c40014cef4cc8c16e8270ae" data-rendition-name="original" width="1200" height="795" loading="lazy" alt="people and mountains are thirsty in eastern Nepal"> <figcaption>Before lift pumped water was distributed in Syabrumba of Panchthar district, villages had to wait for their quota of water. Today 60% of the household has piped drinking water. Photo: GIRIRAJ BANSKOTA</figcaption> </figure>  All these districts of eastern Nepal have lost more than a third of their population in the past 20 years, and local governments see improved water supply as a way to bring their people back. The population of Thoklung village of Terathum was 40% less in 2021 than what it was in 2001, so its municipality is working on a pumping scheme to lift water from the Tamor to distribute every household in Ward 7. Ward Chair Rohit Kandengwa, however, is worried that the project’s electricity bill would mean that the household water tariff will be too high.&nbsp; Indeed, spring water can flow down to a village by gravity. But pumping water from a river to a ridgetop village can be expensive. The Kummayak project, for example, has an electricity bill of Rs600,000 per month.&nbsp; “Water has value. We charge 10 paisa per litre of water and that could be expensive to those who are used to free water, but it is better than no water at all, and it is cheaper than water from tankers,” says Nirmal Ghimire, chair of Kummayak Ward 5.&nbsp; But there are other non-monetary benefits from water pumps, like in curbing outmigration. For the past two years, no families have migrated out of Kummayak village since it got regular water supply. To be sure, ensuring water supply alone will not stop people since there are other push factors at play: difficulty to access medical care, low quality of public schools, lack of jobs, the government’s low priority for agriculture driving people away from farming. “Farmers here used to sell milk, but they have not been paid for their milk since nine months,” says Chhathar Ward 4 Chair Pushpa Karki. “They cannot sell their goats, middle men fix the price for cardamom and ginger.” The chhurpi and ghee industries have dried up, and dairy farmers have no place to sell milk. It is also a seller’s market, and farmers have to buy everything, without credit, and cannot determine the price of their produce.&nbsp; Lack of connectivity is another reason people migrate from these remote districts. It has been 12 years since construction began on the bridge at Lumughat across the Tamor River that would have linked Terathum and Panchthar, making it easier to take produce to market towns. &nbsp; Better roads would also improve the quality of instruction – the other reason many families move to Dharan or Kathmandu. Accessibility would motivate teachers to stay in villages. There is also a herd mentality that drives migration. If one household moves out, the entire neighbourhood ups and moves. Ten of former school principal Hari Narayan Bhattarai’s neigbours locked up their homes and moved down to the Tarai partly due to lack of water. Bhattarai lost the support of next door families that he used to rely on, so he also moved to Birtamod of Jhapa in the plains. Households in the mountains need each other to survive. Neighbours help neighbours to plough, plant and harvest.&nbsp; And then there is the litany of woes that all Nepalis face: the delays in getting driving licenses, work permits, and other services. People move to where life is easier. &nbsp; Outmigration also makes pre-existing problems of the mountains worse. Where forests are growing out of fallow terrace fields, with no one to forage for dried undergrowth fire risk has increased, crops are damaged by wildlife, and the decline in livestock has reduced soil fertility. &nbsp; “The main reason for outmigration is lack of water and low productivity,” says Chhathar Deputy Chair Dhakal whose village announced grants of up to Rs500,000 to start up agrobusinesses. Thirty families did return. However, there were no takers for Dhakal’s offer of Rs10,000 to households farming their fallow fields again.&nbsp; Even if rural municipalities find the money to install well and pumps for water supply, paying for maintenance or repairs of broken pipes or pumps can be a problem due to lack of budget. Watershed expert Madhukar Upadhyay concedes that pumping water from a river to villages in the mountains is only a short-term fix, but not a sustainable solution. “Over the long-term we must think of reviving traditional system of ponds near springs where water can collect and re-charge groundwater,” he explains. “That way we address the thirst of both the people and the mountains.” &nbsp; This is the second of a 3-part series supported by Barbara Foundation.The third and last instalment will appear on the 26 April edition.&nbsp;

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People and mountains are thirsty in eastern Nepal

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111016114/636d12e09c7e80680e0a98f8jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"/><figcaption>All photos: DAVID POKORNY</figcaption></figure>I was initially preparing to run the 2021 <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/everest-trail-repaired-during-pandemic/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Everest Trail</a> Race following the 2019 Annapurna Marathon and another trip in 2016. The race was canceled because of the pandemic, but when Nepal re-opened to vaccinated tourists I immediately grabbed the opportunity to trek, since there would be <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/hiking-in-the-himalaya-during-covid-19/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">only few other travellers</a> on the otherwise usually over-crowded trekking trails. I had to move fast to get all the shots, tests, visas and Covid forms to get to Nepal on 7 October.I have kept returning to Nepal, true to the country’s former tourism slogan: ‘Once Is Not Enough’. What draws me here is the hospitality and kindness of the people, the rich cultural heritage, and of course the superb scenery.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111016114/636d12e59c7e80680e0a98f9jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1920" height="1080"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111016114/636d12e99c7e80680e0a98fajpeg.jpg" alt="" width="842" height="508">The <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/tracing-past-glacial-floods-in-kangchenjunga/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">glaciers and high mountain ecosystem</a> are feeling the threat of global warming, but the isolation of being in Nepal‘s Himalayas is unparalleled. And it is even more isolated because of the slump in tourism internationally.Trekking in Nepal, you get to challenge yourself on the best (and some of the hardest) hiking trails in the world. No wonder Nepal is repeatedly listed by the Lonely Planet as a top destination, as it did also for 2022.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111016114/636d12ed9c7e80680e0a98fbjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>This time around, I wanted to go solo, fast, high and far. I wanted to be where few other trekkers go. So with the trek company that took care of me on my previous trips, we created a customised itinerary and on 11 October set forth with three guides and porters.We headed east to the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/remembering-nepals-conservation-heroes/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Kangchenjunga Conservation Area</a> on Nepal’s northeastern tip, and below the world’s third-highest mountain.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111016114/636d12f19c7e80680e0a98fcjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="5087" height="2861"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111016114/636d12f59c7e80680e0a98fdjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="4000" height="3000"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Lodgings on <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/page/go-eat-to-kanchenjunga" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the Kangchenjunga trail</a> are more basic than those on the Annapurna Circuit, but it is more authentic. Rooms and food are simple, there are no printed menus. The dal bhat is the staple, with at least one meal a day. We ate by the warm kitchen fire, often sitting on the floor.We trekked higher along a rumbling, roaring river and passed waterfalls, streams and other glacier-fed rivers. At Kambachen, a wide-open view showed evidence of receding glaciers all around. Near Lhonak, a lake with icebergs marked the point where the Kanchenjunga Glacier was calving.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111016114/636d12f99c7e80680e0a98fejpeg.jpg" alt="" width="2880" height="2160"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111016114/636d12fd9c7e80680e0a98ffjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1620" height="1080"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111016114/636d13019c7e80680e0a9900jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1620" height="1080"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111016114/636d13049c7e80680e0a9901jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1620" height="1080"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>The glaciers flowing down from Kanchenjunga and Jhinsang merge here, and it is an awe-inspiring place to be with its primal, unspoilt beauty. We were the only people there.Next, the high passes of Nango La and <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/the-lumba-sumba-passage/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Lumba Sumba</a> were the hardest part of the trek. Very few people had used the Nango La trail in the recent past. At the Yangma River a crew from Olangchun Gola was replacing a washed out bridge to reopen the route. They tied four logs roughly together and then walked over the Yangma. This sure makes Nepal an adventure destination in the true sense of the word.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111016114/636d13089c7e80680e0a9902jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1620" height="1080"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>On 19 October were pelted by heavy post-monsoon rain in Olanchung Gola, the snow was deep at  higher elevations so we added two porters with tents and kitchen for the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/review/a-personal-encyclopaedia-of-the-himalaya/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Lumba Sumba traverse</a>. We camped on new snow at Pass Camp and then began a hard 10 hour push breaking trail up to the pass.As daylight faded, we dug a snow shelf at 5,159 meters and made camp. The next morning’s sunrise view of <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/crystal-clear-air-makes-the-peaks-of-the-eastern-himalaya-visible-from-the-nepal-tarai/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Kanchenjunga</a> to the east and Mt Everest to the west was other-worldly. The trek team’s determination and confidence made the Lumba Sumba crossing possible.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111016114/636d130c9c7e80680e0a9903jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="920" height="613"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111016114/636d130f9c7e80680e0a9904jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1620" height="1080"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>It felt like a family dinner the next evening on the other side of the pass, when six of us snuggled into sleeping bags on the kitchen floor and benches of our Thudam home-stay.Trekking has highs and lows, and the next day was the worst. It is impossible to enjoy a long day on a muddy slippery trail with leeches clinging to your pants. You just have to keep on walking with the prospect of a cold beer at our Chyamtang lodge beckoning us.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111016114/636d13129c7e80680e0a9905jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1620" height="1080"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>The final challenge was crossing the Arun, up to Shipton La to <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=190#.YZDY2WBByUk" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Makalu Base Camp</a>. At Num, I said thanks and goodbye to the porters and camping equipment. Only three of us would carry on. There were more trekkers on the Makalu Trail, and several were Nepali families who spoke English. More and more Nepalis are trekking now, and making up for the absence of international tourists.There are two things about Makalu that were remarkable: the trail steps from Tashigaon to Dobato. Nepali engineers build the best and safest trail steps. Both uphill and down I try to hold a quick pace. My heart is racing, and I literally yip and shout with joy at the challenge.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111016114/636d13169c7e80680e0a9906jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1620" height="1080"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111016114/636d13199c7e80680e0a9907jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1620" height="1080"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Pemba Ringin Sherpa and Lakpa Kipa Sherpa own the Langmale Kharka and Base Camp lodges on Makalu who kept the lodges open despite the deep snow just for us. Lakpa welcomed us with a warm stove, delicious dal bat and a can of Tuborg. Their kindness gave me more joy than photographing the Milky Way over Makalu, or seeing a bright, crisp sunrise the next morning.Nepal, I will keep coming back. Next year, it will be Manaslu and <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/building-back-a-beyul-in-tsum/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Tsum Valley</a>.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111016114/636d131d9c7e80680e0a9908jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="2000" height="1500"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111016114/636d13229c7e80680e0a9909jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="3289" height="1850"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>David Pokorny is a 54-year-old American traveller. His nickname in Nepal, ‘Poko’, means ‘pack’.

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Himalayan highs

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111011110/636ccc6e9c7e80680e08bc21jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1071" height="735"/><figcaption>Hans Pokhari at 3,000m surrounded by rhododendron forests near Maiyung Peak on the way to Khotang and Bhojpur. Photo: SAMSHOSANG RAI</figcaption></figure>There is no better way to understand the Mundum cultural belief system of the Kirat people than to walk across the mountains of eastern Nepal and let the spirits take over.The Mundum Trail traverses the important landmarks of the Rai, Limbu, Sunuwar and Kulung ethnic groups of the mountains of eastern Nepal, and their way of life that blends shamanism, animism and Shiva worship.First introduced in January 2018 to trekkers, the trail passes through important sites of these indigenous Kirat groups from Chakhewa Bhanjyang on the Khotang-Bhojpur border across Mehrung, Maiyung, Lauri, Shilichung peaks, then on to the holy Shalpa Pokhari to Bhojpur and ends at Maiyung and Suntale peaks.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111011110/636ccc719c7e80680e08bc22jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1125"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>The trail is of moderate difficulty, with the highest point at 4,165m, and being off the beaten track there are not many tea houses, so camping is necessary in the wilderness. There are some lodges in Diktel, Bhojpur and basic amenities at Shalpa Pokhari, but trekkers are advised to carry tents.The trail commands a sweeping panorama of the eastern Himalaya with views of most major eight-thousanders, including Mt Everest (8,848.86m) Lhotse (8,516m) Lhotse Shar (8,382m) Makalu (8,463m), Ch Oyu (8,188m) and Kangchenjunga (8,586m).There are lesser peaks that are more prominent because they are nearer: Karyolung, Number, Ama Dablam, Thamserku, Kangtega, Chamlang, Baruntse, Jannu, and even Gauri Shankar and Langtang far off on the western horizon.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111011110/636ccc749c7e80680e08bc23jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1501" height="1000"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111011110/636ccc779c7e80680e08bc24jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1430" height="953"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Besides the views, the trek is also a deep dive into Mundum culture, its rituals, belief system and way of life. The Kirati group here speak 10 different languages, with new dialects in every next village. Besides them, there are a sprinkling of Sherpa and Tamang communities with their own culture and language.Shalpa Pokhari and Shilichung Peak are two of the most important sites in Mundum culture, and a pilgrimage destination for the Rai and Limbu people. Legends speak of Salpa Pokhari being the inhabited place of the creator goddess. Sumnima and the Sky God, Paruhang from Kirat mythology.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111011110/636ccc7a9c7e80680e08bc25jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="564" height="319"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Because of the heavy rainfall the Mundum trail also has great eco-biological diversity, with wildlife, birds and plants found in great abundance in its verdant slopes, watershed and wetlands. The rhododendron, conifer and bamboo cloud forests teem with red panda, ghoral, danfe pheasant, deer, leopard, Himalayan black bears, and strands of rhododendron, bamboo.The transition from temperate to alpine landscape yields to high altitude meadows where villagers bring livestock to graze in the monsoon. This is an important part of life in Mundum culture, and the trail passes many sheds housing yak, sheep, cows and water buffaloes.Hiking through the settlements, it is clear that the Kirati people have living in harmony with the nature that they revere, and their way of life is closely tied with the biological diversity of their surroundings.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111011110/636ccc7c9c7e80680e08bc26jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1349" height="900"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>The Mundum Trail is a perfect post-Covid-19 trek, where visitors reconnect with nature,  rediscover the importance of maintaining an ecological balance and developing sustainably. This eastern Nepal trek is also a walk back in time, as we see a part of Nepal that has not been over-developed by tourism, and the trails remind us of a time before trekking ‘discovered’ Nepal.In its 70 years of history of tourism development, Nepal has never witnessed a catastrophe at the level of the Covid-19 pandemic. Tourism entrepreneurs say that things were not as bad even during the Maoist insurgency from 1996 to 2006 or in the aftermath of the 2015 earthquakes in Nepal.While it may take time for international tourists to return to Nepal, the Mundum Trail is waiting for Nepali travellers who want to experience the real, raw Nepal and discover their country’s rich ethnic diversity and natural splendour.Achyut Tiwari, PhD, is a lecturer at Tribhuvan University and Ramesh Kumar Rai is a tourism entrepreneur. <img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111011110/636ccc7f9c7e80680e08bc27jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="691" height="449">Contemporary relevance of Mundum oral wisdomBairagi KainlaDespite my ethnic background, it was only later in life that I delved beyond the literary importance of my Mundum culture to discover that it as the original philosophy of life of my people.The more I learnt about my Limbu heritage, the more I was forced to look beyond just the social science and anthropology of Mundum culture to its fragile beauty and its cultural completeness.Since then, I have spent the most important years of my life to collect, edit and translate into Nepali language, facets of Mundum culture before it is obliterated by the relentless march of modern education, science and technology, migration and the process of globalisation.My introduction to Mundum began after meeting the linguist, Prof R K Sprigg of the School of African and Oriental Studies, who showed me photocopies of handwritten Limbu manuscripts stored at the India Office Library by Brian H Hodgson in 1864.Sprigg and his wife stayed with us in Sankhuwasabha for a month back then, but the importance of preserving Mundum culture still did not grab me. It was only after I read Iman Singh Chemjong’s Kirat Mundum that I really became aware of the importance of researching and preserving Limbu script, literature, culture and history.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111011110/636ccc829c7e80680e08bc28jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="472">Mundum is an oral tradition that has been passed down from one generation to the next in song, verse, fables and chants with its own creation myth, explaining the importance of human co-existence with nature and all living things. Mundum may have animistic, shamanistic and Shaivite influences, but it transcends religion.Mundum culture still forms the substrate of society in eastern Nepal, Sikkim, Darjeeling and beyond wherever there are Kirat settlers. The rituals and recitals lay down the rules for everything from planting to harvest, community relations, birth, death, marriage, dealing with the cycle of seasons, appeasing malevolent spirits and appealing to benevolent ones.When a pig or chicken raised in the farm needs to be eaten, a Fedangma priest recites the proper prayers before they can be killed. There are rituals when women become pregnant, prayers are offered to ancestors and patron deities every three years. The Fedangma’s recitations are from memory, and are passed down from the priest before, and I have marvelled at the knowledge, vocabulary, symbolism, and literary richness contained in them.These recitations describe the creation of life, how humans came to be, their migrations, the rise and fall of civilisations, evolution and extinction, and our place in this ancient unwritten history of the world. There are different styles, metres, and tonal variations in communicating these messages through humour, drama, stories and poetry that make Mundum a well-developed form of literature.Mundum also emphasises affinity for nature and the importance of its protection: why we need to strike a balance with the web of life. It contains a wealth of lessons from past human experience in ensuring its own survival.The emergence of human beings is regarded as the pinnacle of evolution, but after being let down, the Creator was forced to become invisible. This left human beings helpless in their ignorance, and thus began their suffering. They were consumed by greed, envy, ambition, anger and cruelty.However, Mundum offers a solution to this tragic outcome, and the riddle of existence. This is a human-made dilemma, and humans can find a way out of it. There is still hope if humanity can strive for freedom from the cycle of birth and death through good karma. Death can be defeated by decent living, and a realisation of man’s place amidst the completeness and beauty of creation.It is not enough to believe in goodness, Mundum teaches us to be good in our actions towards other people and to nature as well. The Earth is not just for human beings, we have to share it with other living things. Their survival will determine our survival.This collective wisdom of the ages is an important message to us today as we strive to save life the Planet from human short-sightedness and avarice.Bairagi Kainla is the pen name of Til Bikram Nembang Limbu. He is an author and researcher, and served as Chancellor of the Nepal Academy. This piece is adapted from his acceptance speech at the 2019 Jagadamba Sri Award.

Eastern Nepal’s Mundum landscape

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108141152/636a5f519c7e80680e056e20jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1400" height="924"/><figcaption>Photo: KEDAR SHARMA</figcaption></figure>It is said that food is eaten first with the eyes. But on our two-month food tour across Nepal recently, we felt that food may be first eaten with the ears. Delicious descriptions drew us to dishes even before we saw them.We heard of many exotic dishes: milk buried underground for six months in Jumla until it fermented into yoghurt, meat marinated for a week before it is eaten in Kalikot, meat belonging to the entire community cooked in a single dish in Gulmi. Cake-like dishes made of rice, millet and other flour that are not known outside the districts they are eaten in.Read also:<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/tharu-escargots/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tharu escargots,</a> Sewa Bhattarai<a style="background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/food-of-the-royals/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Food of the royals</a><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108141152/636a5f549c7e80680e056e21jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="393" height="377">We have always been told that Nepalis don't have names that correspond to breakfast, lunch and dinner, but have only meals and snacks (khana and khaja). However, the Tharu have names for five different meals, according to the time of the day they are served in. Communities that migrated most, especially Brahmins and Chhetris, had lost most of their culinary heritage. Yet in Baitadi, we saw that those who had stayed behind retained their original foods.All of this led us to ask ‘What exactly is Nepal food?’ Is dal bhat tarkari the national dish? Are foods in Nepal original, and is there a commonality between the country’s varied cuisines?Bhat (steamed rice) cannot solely define Nepali food in a country where indigenous grains like wheat, corn, buckwheat, millet, barley and others are grown abundantly, and roasted and steamed into bread, boiled into porridge, or ground for storage. Any one of these can be taken as a staple food. Beyond that, lentils form an essential part of our diet, though their cooking varies according to geography and ethnicity.Read also:<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/?p=33917&amp;preview=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The superfoods of the Andes and the </a><a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/?p=33917&amp;preview=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Himalaya,</a> Sonia Awale<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/?p=33901&amp;preview=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Much more than dal bhat,</a> Anil Chitrakar<a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/vegetables-and-famous-veggie-dishes-this-Dasain,3951" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Vegetables are eaten Nepalwide</a>, mostly fried, and sometimes boiled. Oil to fry them in, and turmeric for its colour and medicinal property, are essential to Nepali cuisine. Green leafy vegetables saag differentiate the Nepali thali from North Indian ones. Gundruk, sinki, tama, kinema, and other foods made by fermenting leaves, bamboo shoots, or beans are common across Nepali kitchens. So are dairy products like milk, yoghurt and buttermilk, and it is a tradition to flavour rice with a bit of ghiu.As for meat, there is no uniformity. Some like pork and others buffalo, both forbidden by other communities. Nepali cuisine is lacking when it comes to dessert, and many communities do not even have the tradition of eating sweets.Nepal’s most exotic dishes are not found in restaurants but eaten only at home. While this preserves their taste, it also limits the dish to a small family group.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/could-nepali-cuisine-go-global/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Could Nepali cuisine go global</a>, Thomas HeatonIn this age of easily available packaged food, we are losing slow-cooked foods that once used to enhance the taste, smell and nutritional value of foods. Not just our recipes and cooking techniques, but our entire agriculture system has fallen prey to commercial agriculture, and many indigenous foods are not grown any more.After our culinary journey across Nepal, our conclusion is that there is no standard ‘Nepali food’. It is our duty to define, and refine, our ethnic dishes and preserve their originality. We need to get these dishes to restaurant tables around the world by cooking, eating and propagating them ourselves. Nepali food deserves to go worldwide.<h2>Tharu</h2>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3h10eHDoRt4Tharus who live in the plains make use of all the ingredients around them, including aquatic animals like fish, snails, clams, shrimp and crabs. You name it and Tharus make a delicious dish out of it. They are also famous for eating healthy, with their staple grains and vegetables steamed or boiled.It used to be that Tharu food was only available during the Maghi festival at Tundikhel. But Tharu restaurants in Kathmandu now provide the food all the year round. Barghar Restaurant in Kirtipur provides all the traditional Tharu delights, even crabs and clams.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108141152/636a5f569c7e80680e056e22jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1400" height="934"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><h2>Thakali</h2>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SL3kYsqWqsThough Thakalis live in Mustang where rice does not grow, Thakali restaurants have become synonymous with the typical Nepali dal bhat tarkari. That might be because they were historically traders and were exposed to foreign foods. The Thakali thali  use Himalayan spices like jimbu and timur. They have also retained many indigenous dishes like kanchemba (pictured, left), fries made of buckwheat, which grows abundantly in Mustang. Thakali food needs to be branded and standardised so that it doesn't lose its originality, and the production of local ingredients can be promoted.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108141152/636a5f599c7e80680e056e23jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1400" height="933"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Thakali food has come to mean tasty dal-bhat-tarkari, and spic and span Thakali restaurants can be found all over Nepal, and even abroad.<h2>Sherpa</h2>https://youtu.be/6Q_RbKoSQ2kSherpa cuisine is derived from Tibetan, and is designed for the cold harsh climate of the high mountains. Rigikur, a potato and buckwheat bread, is rich in butter and eaten with cheese sauce. Shyakpa, or meat soup, is consumed piping hot any time of the day. And su chiya, a unique salt and milk tea, is also had with dollops of butter. Tasmpa, a popular breakfast, is made by grinding grains like buckwheat, millet, wheat, or a combination of them, and is had with milk and honey.Though Sherpa food is rarely found  in most mainstream restaurants of Kathmandu, they are common in the Bouddha area. Newly opened Sherpa Cafe in Jhamsikhel caters to customers in Patan.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108141152/636a5f5d9c7e80680e056e24jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1400" height="963"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><h2>Newa</h2><a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/review/food-review-Krishnarpan-Dwarikas,2542" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Newa cuisine</a> is rich and varied. Samye-baji is the standard mid-day snack and also a festive delight, where beaten rice is eaten with many vegetables and condiments. Spicy potato salad, bara (lentil flatbread), beans, soybeans and marinated buffalo meat are popular accompaniments.Almost every little alley in Kathmandu contains a Newari restaurant, serving samye-baji, bara, chatamari (rice bread), and other dishes. The choices range from low-end corner shops to high end outlets like Dwarika's Hotel in Battisputali.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108141152/636a5f609c7e80680e056e25jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="446"><h2>Rai/Limbu</h2>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKKIEeGA3AQPork meat is a staple of the Rai and Limbu communities in eastern Nepal. Sargemba (pictured), or blood sausage, is made by stuffing blood and seasonings into pig intestines, and then cut and fried before it is eaten. The pork curry Yangben-Fakso (left) is also unique, flavoured with a lichen called yangben, soaked in warm water and mixed with pork blood. It goes well with chamre  (fried rice) and kinema  (fermented beans).<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108141152/636a5f619c7e80680e056e26jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="342"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108141152/636a5f639c7e80680e056e27jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="342"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Rai/Limbu cuisine is rarely found in Kathmandu, except for a couple of restaurants in Nakhipot and Baluwatar. Raithane Resturant in Lalitpur promotes Nepali dishes and local ingredients, and includes a couple of these dishes in its menu.

Exploring Nepal’s culinary diversity

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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