<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114131116/637232639c7e80680e0c4891jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="998"/><figcaption>APasang Lama Sherpa with his donation box on the Everest Trail. All photos: DUSTYNEP</figcaption></figure>The name Sherpa has become synonymous all over the world with mountaineering guides, but here in the villages below Mt Everest Pasang Lama Sherpa is better known as someone who has <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qYOUIhLFe0">dedicated his life</a> not for fixing ropes on Mt Everest, but for maintaining the walking trails.The 78-year-old Khumjung native is no engineer, but his lifelong work has made the Everest trail safer for thousands of trekkers and villagers below the world’s highest mountain.Pasang Lama is a familiar face as he sits by the trail every day with a blue box for <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RN9eIgssRcQ">donations from trekkers</a>, and a register to note down names and amounts. It is like a voluntary toll booth, and the money goes to the trail’s upkeep.People here affectionately call him Lama Seru, and the man with the wizened face and glasses, began his career in the trekking industry at age 18. He was appalled by the dismal condition of the trails, and was determined to make them less dangerous for porters like himself.He quit portering and in the 1960s started maintaining trails with his wife Lakpa Yangji around Dingboche village which is situated at an altitude of 4,410m. Eventually, he rallied a team to widen other paths along the steep slopes to connect villages in Upper Khumbu for the benefit of locals.As trekking and mountaineering took off, footfalls on the trails grew, and with it the need to maintain the and repair the dangerous sections. For Pasang Lama and his wife, the only reward is a sense of personal fulfillment that comes from providing a public service.“I have revived trails in two wards here,” says Pasang Lama with pride. “Everyone is happy to walk along these paths because we have cleared all the bushes and thorns.”After the Sagarmatha National Park was established in 1976, Pasang Lama worked with it to streamline the paths. Finally in 2012, the Himalayan Trust set up by Edmund Hillary, recognised the couple for their years of service to the community.The trail from Namche to Tengboche is now a wide two-way path easily navigable for trekkers and yak trains, despite dangerous cliff drops. <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/everest-trail-repaired-during-pandemic/">During the pandemic lockdown</a>, locals also laid down steps and railings along the steeper sections.For now, Pasang Lama sits by the trail with his donation box and a sign (right) that reads: ‘Dear visitors, this man Pasang Lama Sherpa has been doing social work to build, mend and maintain the main trail to Everest Base Camp with high spirit and solemn determination. Visitors are requested to make a small donation to support and encourage this devoted man to continue his sacred work, so that all the inhabitants and visitors in this area will be befitted on the days ahead.'<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114131116/637232679c7e80680e0c4892jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1125">North of the airfield at Lukla, most supplies reach the higher villages by porters carrying heavy loads, or on mule and yak trains. Namche is the largest town on the trekking route, but above the popular tourist hub there are only smaller seasonal settlements.There are plans to <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-building-a-highway-to-everest/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">extend the roadway</a> from Phaplu to Lukla, which is currently only accessible through the Tenzing-Hillary Airport or on foot. While there is some support for the road, others have argued that the road might disrupt the local environment if it connects the national park.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114131116/6372326b9c7e80680e0c4893jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000">The lack of a motorable road means that local people have to pay more for basic items. A Rs1,800 cooking gas cylinder in Kathmandu may <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-building-a-highway-to-everest/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">cost up to Rs15,000</a> in Upper Khumbu due to the additional transport cost. Helicopters can reach the higher villages above Namche, but that makes the items even costlier.In 2017, the construction of a new bridge over the Dudh Kosi River at Orlang Ghat raised hopes for easier vehicle access to the Solu Khumbu.The road is being extended to Chaurikharka, a village at 2,800m in altitude, near Lukla, and a day’s walk down from Namche. For now, most locals including Pasang Lama Sherpa are in favour of the better connectivity that the motorable road will bring, and he sometimes walks down to watch the excavators in action.He says, “With the new road, my family members from the city can visit me whenever they want.”

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The trail builder of Everest

<figure><img width="926" height="648" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181124/636be26c9c7e80680e083ea7jpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>The Everest Trail has been spruced up during the pandemic for a new influx of visitors expected next year. All photos: ANG RITA SHERPA</figcaption></figure>The communities along the Everest Trail have been using the past nine months of the Covid-19 slump in tourism to clean up and upgrade the trekking routes below the world's highest mountains.The Nepal government had declared 2020 Visit Nepal Year with a target of attracting 2 million tourists, and there was a lot of hope here that the increased footfall would bring more income. But the Khumbu region was sealed off at the height of the spring tourist season in March and remained closed for non-Nepalis <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/everest-trail-reopens-but-cautiously/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">till 17 October</a>.Since then trekkers have trickled back, marvelling at how clean and quiet everything is.The reason it is quiet is that there are hardly any visitors along the trails, and <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/virus-fear-closes-everest-treks-again/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">a coronavirus outbreak</a> in Namche kept even limited visitors away since October. But the reason the Everest region is clean is that local communities have used the crisis to build back better.      <figure><img width="1310" height="529" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181124/636be26f9c7e80680e083ea8jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>To be sure, the global pandemic has been a mixed blessing for the Sherpa people who live below Mt Everest. On the downside, the shutdown meant that the region’s economy suffered a direct hit. Many families lost their seasonal source of income from trekkers, many had taken loans to build lodges in anticipation of more trekkers in 2020. For the thousands of porters, kitchen staff, yak and pony caravan owners, and traders it has been an unimaginable disaster. Lukla airfield, which used to get 60 flights a day, was closed after <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/more-stranded-tourists-evacuated-from-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the last trekkers flew out</a> in March. It only reopened in early October, and <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-open-for-trekking-from-17-october/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">foreign trekkers and mountaineers were allowed back from 17 October</a>.The Sagarmatha National Park got more than 60,000 visitors in 2019 – nearly ten times the local population of the region. So far this year, it has got only 4,000, and most of those <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/everest-trek-closed-open-closed-open-again/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">after October has been Nepali tourists</a>. The National Park’s income has been sharply reduced, affecting its conservation work.Sherpas who usually travel to the other parts of the world for work as mountain guides and other jobs have not been able to go this year. Sixty households in Khunde, for instance, have members that used to <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nepali-times-buzz/nepali-sherpas-making-steps-in-norway,1539" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">travel to Norway every summer</a> to work on hiking trails there. The families have been deprived of that income. <figure><img width="623" height="767" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181124/636be2729c7e80680e083ea9jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><figure><img width="602" height="759" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181124/636be2749c7e80680e083eaajpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Another negative side-effect of the lockdown was an increase in poaching. The National Park saw one of its most serious cases in April when <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/7-musk-deer-killed-by-poachers-during-lockdown/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">six rotting bodies of the endangered Himalayan musk deer and a gold eagle were found</a> caught in wire traps. Altogether 54 other traps set by poachers were found and dismantled. There was also an increase in illegal logging.Despite all this, the pandemic has had silver linings. Carbon emissions dipped, there was almost no carbon monoxide in the air for six months. Particulates, sulphur dioxide and nitrous oxide concentrations dropped. Mt Everest was even visible from Kathmandu for the first time in many years.<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/survive-2020-revive-in-2021-and-thrive-in-2022/">“Survive 2020, revive in 2021 and thrive in 2022”</a>, Alisha SijapatiThe peak itself got a much-needed respite from the traffic jams of previous years after the government cancelled all expeditions to the mountain. <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/saving-gokyo-from-itself/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Popular destinations like Gokyo Lake</a> got a chance to revitalise itself from the pressure of tourism. Nepali mountain guides and porters, who did not get any clients in 2020, were instead engaged by local communities in repairing and upgrading trails and bridges and cleaning up. Complaints by visitors from previous years about the poor state of trails, trash management, lack of signage, etc were addressed.   <figure><img width="892" height="421" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181124/636be2769c7e80680e083eabjpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>An example of work accomplished during the lockdown is the response of Khumjung which made some dangerous sections of the Everest Trail safer, as damaged bridges were maintained. Most volunteered for the work under the principle of ‘for the villagers, by the villagers, to the villagers’, in the firm belief that that ‘every problem provides an opportunity’.Some who have returned from similar work in Norway and elsewhere put their new skills to good use in rehabilitating the trails using local materials.The youth of Khunde, Khumjung, Thame, and Namche were self-motivated to make a great effort to conserve and preserve the cultural heritage of their people and respect the gift of their ancestors. Overgrown mani walls and chaitya along the trails have been repainted and cleaned up. <figure><img width="578" height="742" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181124/636be2789c7e80680e083eacjpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><figure><img width="677" height="740" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181124/636be27a9c7e80680e083eadjpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>For the first time, many Sherpa children who would otherwise have been in school in Kathmandu were at home and could observe important rituals like the Dumji festival in June and Mani Rimdu this month.The women's group in Khumjung had used the lockdown period to clean their neighbourhoods and put in place a waste management system that has set an example for other communities in Nepal.Ang Rita Sherpa is Chair of <a href="https://thepartnersnepal.org/team/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Partners Nepal.</a>

Everest Trail repaired during pandemic

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nvOL_MJ2KI&amp;feature=youtu.beFlying from <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/more-than-luck-in-lukla/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Kathmandu to Lukla</a> today is almost like taking an international flight. Passengers need a negative RT PCR report not older than 72 hours, have to wear masks, visors and latex gloves on the 45-minute Twin Otter flight.  The <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/on-thin-ice-in-the-khumbu/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Khumbu Valley</a> below Mt Everest is so far coronavirus-free, and residents here want to keep it that way.Which is why they have enforced strict rules on outsiders. Since flights restarted on 17 September, Nepalis who had been cooped up for months by the lockdown are making up for the absence of <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/trekkers-welcome-in-nepal-but-conditions-apply/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">foreign trekkers</a>. Non-Nepali tourists are going to be allowed to fly to Kathmandu after 30 October, although many trek reservations have been cancelled. <img width="640" height="359" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109171152/636bdb179c7e80680e0802a3jpeg.jpg" alt=""/>Ang Jangmu Sherpa (pictured left) owns Rivendell Lodge in Debuche which has a stunning view of <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/nepal-china-re-measure-height-of-mt-everest/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Everest</a>, Lhotse and Ama Dablam. She is happy several groups of Nepalis arrived after the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-allows-royal-himalayan-expedition/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Bahrain Royal Guard expedition</a> members came last month to acclimatise and train in the area. “It’s not just our Khumbu region where businesses are suffering. The entire world is affected by Covid,” she said. “We have invested a lot of money to build this place, and suddenly we are in the midst of this crisis.”Aside from the economic difficulties, Ang Jangmu is also worried about visitors bringing the coronavirus to the Khumbu. But she adds: “As long as people take precautions, get PCR tests, Nepalis are welcome and that would be good enough for now.”Records show nearly 60,000 visitors entered the Sagarmatha National Park last year, contributing more than Rs180 million in fees and permits. That does not include another levy charged by the municipality, and also what tourists spend on food, lodgings and paying porters.  <figure><img width="960" height="720" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109171152/636bdb199c7e80680e0802a4jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>The spring season had just started in March when the Covid-19 pandemic hit, the government cancelled all <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/hiking-in-the-himalaya-during-covid-19/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">trekking and mountaineering</a>, and tourists had to rush back to Kathmandu to catch flights out before Nepal went into lockdown on 24 March.There had been zero tourists since then. In September, Nepali trekkers started trickling in and the only foreign mountaineering expedition this autumn climbing Mt Manalsu in central Nepal had acclimatised on nearby Mt Lobuje last month. <figure><img width="640" height="480" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109171152/636bdb1b9c7e80680e0802a5jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Many lodge-owners are happy that at least Nepali visitors are finally arriving in the Khumbu after a quiet spring and monsoon, and they see no reason why foreigners should be kept away, as long as they take health precautions. “Either the government should look after tourism-sector workers like us, or it should end restrictions on movements of tourists and allow them to travel to the Himalaya with necessary safety measures,” says mountain guide Dawa Nuru Sherpa (left) in the village of Pangboche. “Porters have no work, hotels are facing problems. We should welcome Nepalis, at least people like us can work and earn our living.”Dawa Nuru was happy that his sons and daughter could work for the Bahrain Royal Guard expedition team on Lobuje, and is glad to see several groups of Nepali trekkers have spent night here on their <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/too-many-mules-on-the-everest-trail/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">way to Everest Base Camp</a>.Nepali tourists are taking advantage of attractive packages offered by airlines, helicopter companies and lodges in the Khumbu. Tara Air, for example, is discounting roundtrip Kathmandu-Lukla flights with four days to Namche and back for only Rs14,000. <figure><img width="640" height="359" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109171152/636bdb1d9c7e80680e0802a6jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>“We wanted to use the opportunity to get to see Nepal," said Bishnu Parajuli from Butwal, who works in Abu Dhabi, and has been stuck in Nepal because of the lockdowns. "We followed all the travel safety protocols to visit Gokyo. It was worth every paisa we spent and every step we took. It was amazing and unforgettable.”Pasang Yangji Sherpa who runs Sherpa Guide Lodge in Phakding was happy to greet visitors after months. As 27 Nepalis arived from Lukla, she had a busy morning last week preparing food and rooms for them. Her neighbor Indra Maya Magar, also a lodge owner, came to help. Pasang Yangji said, “It’s a crisis time but now I’m happy to welcome Nepali tourists. We are following health guidelines, although sometimes in the kitchen or restaurant it is difficult." <figure><img width="640" height="480" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109171152/636bdb1f9c7e80680e0802a7jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>In Khumjung, lodge owner Lhakpa Dorje Sherpa, who has climbed <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/measuring-mt-everest-because-it-is-there/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Mt Everest</a> and Ama Dablam twice each, looks worried. Khumjung is slightly off the beaten track on the trail between Namche and Tengboche, and few villagers wear masks. Last week, he talked to visitors from two metres away, wore a mask, and encouraged them to use his sanitiser.“The PCR tests you do in Kathmandu may not be reliable because you move a lot after that test: you were in a plane, met people after that, you may have caught the virus along the way. We have also heard there are fake PCR reports,” he says. Pasang Lhamu Rural Municipality in Namche, has set up health check posts along key trails that require PCR negative reports from all visitors. The municipality is trying to set up PCR testing facilities in Lukla and Namche, not just for trekkers, but also for the porters they hire who are mainly from further down the Valley in Okhaldhunga or Khotang. <figure><img width="640" height="480" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109171152/636bdb219c7e80680e0802a8jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>“We don’t have the right health infrastructure at present for PCR tests,” says Lhakpa Tsheri Sherpa of the municipality, “for the moment we have no choice but to rely on PCR reports from Kathmandu.”<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109171152/636bdb239c7e80680e0802a9jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="359">It is not just the tourist lodges that are suffering, Sagarmatha National Park also depends on revenue from trekker fees to finance its conservation work, and has been hurting from the loss of income.  The Park’s Chief Conservation Officer Bhumiraj Upadhyay (pictured left) has this piece of advice to <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/declare-a-health-emergency/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">prospective visitors over the Dasain holidays</a>:  “Please make sure that you get a proper PCR test before coming here. If you do so, you will know that you are safe and you will help people of Khumbu remain safe from the virus.”

Everest Trail reopens, but cautiously

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdJPUVWW9U4&amp;feature=youtu.beMt Everest has been called the ‘The World’s Highest Garbage Dump’ or ‘The Toilet Paper Trail’, but the international media has missed the good news: that Sagarmatha National Park is cleanest it has been since tourism started in the 1960s. And it is about to become even more garbage free as every visitor will be asked to volunteer to take down 1kg of trash back for collection by recyclers at Kathmandu airport.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108141120/636a58379c7e80680e05481fjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="938" height="1005"/>Photo: TOMMY GUSTAFSSON<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108141120/636a583a9c7e80680e054820jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1191" height="1257">Photo: ALTON C BYERSA ‘Carry Me Back’ bag that will contain 1kg of pre-processed solid waste that tourists will carry back to recycling facilities in Kathmandu.The spring 2019 climbing season saw another surge of international media coverage with daily stories of <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/most-days-its-not-so-crowded-on-mt-everest/">‘traffic jams’</a>, newly exposed garbage, bodies and helicopter parts that surfaced as the mountain thawed due to climate change.Some 400 tons of plastic, metals, glass and other refuse is generated each year by lodges catering to the tourist industry, the bulk of it burned and buried in some 75 community landfills located near villages along the Everest Trail. Burnable garbage includes plastics that poison the air, contaminate the water, and create new health hazards for humans and livestock alike.Read Also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/living-below-nepals-melting-mountains/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Living below Nepal's melting mountains,</a> Alton C Byers<a style="background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://nepalitimes.atavist.com/high-water" target="_blank" rel="noopener">High Water,</a> Alton C Byers in the Barun Valley<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108141120/636a583c9c7e80680e054821jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1016" height="762"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108141120/636a583f9c7e80680e054822jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1016" height="762">Typical garbage pit outside of a village, usually out of sight of the main trekking trail. Landfills are particularly problematic in the alpine zone above 4,000m, where decomposition processes are much slower than those at lower, warmer and more humid environments. Photos: ALTON C BYERS<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108141120/636a58419c7e80680e054823jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1218" height="1642"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>It hasn’t always been this way. When I first visited the <a style="background-color: #ffffff; letter-spacing: 0.15px;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/more-trekkers-more-trees/">Khumbu in 1973</a>, there were no lodges, the total number of tourists per year was under 2,000 and virtually no solid waste was produced. Food came in reusable packaging (doko baskets, cloth bags) and meals consisted of rice, lentils, potatoes and some vegetables.By the 1980s and 1990s a few lodges started being built, and trekking groups camped in village potato fields rented out by landowners. By the early 2000s the rush to build lodges to feed and shelter the growing numbers of tourists took off, transforming the cultural landscape. With lodges came both greater tourist numbers as well as an increased demand for consumables like beer, whiskey, wine, bottled water, fruit cocktail, sunscreen, TVs and batteries, with their non-biodegradable packaging. It all ended up in refuse pits to be routinely burned.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108141120/636a58449c7e80680e054824jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="328"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108141120/636a58469c7e80680e054825jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="328"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Going by the international press narrative, the problem is bad and getting worse. Are the Sherpa people, Sagarmatha National Park and government doing nothing about it? <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/everest-garbage-caravan/">Far from it.</a> More than 20 years ago, the <a href="http://www.spcc.org.np">Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee (SPCC) </a>was launched as a local initiative to manage waste. Since then, the SPCC and its partners have installed 106 waste collection centres throughout the park, banned glass beer bottles, organised <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/expeditions-brings-down-11-tons-of-mt-everest-trash/">annual Base Camp clean ups</a>, conducted compost trainings, and continually look for new and innovative solutions to the challenges of managing the waste generated. Not much of this is reported by the international media.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108141120/636a58489c7e80680e054826jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="961" height="647"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>During two solid-waste workshops facilitated by the University of Colorado and Arizona State University in Namche Bazaar and Kathmandu last month, local stakeholders were looking for innovative new ways to manage the waste of 60,000 trekkers and climbers, plus their support staff, who are in the park every year. The SPCC is now working with <a href="https://sagarmathanext.com/about-us/">Sagarmatha Next</a>, which is setting up segregation stations for a ‘carry me back’ program, where every tourist agrees to take back 1kg of waste to recycling centres in Kathmandu.The trek from Lukla to Everest Base Camp has long been referred to as the ‘toilet paper trail’ -- today it is anything but. In spite of the growing numbers of visitors, support staff and pack animals, it is one of the cleanest and most beautiful treks in the high mountain world.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108141120/636a584a9c7e80680e054827jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="633" height="475"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Of course, a lot more needs to be done. Participants at the Namche and Kathmandu workshops stressed the need for innovation to deal with solid waste in a location-specific way, while being sensitive to local culture and values. The first step is establishment of waste separation centres, pre-processing facilities (shredding, compacting, baling) and finding way to transport the material to recycling centres in Kathmandu and elsewhere. Some of the aluminium and plastic waste is already being turned into ‘Everest Art’ to be sold for fund-raising. Aluminium cans are also converted into utilitarian objects like frying pans and other utensils. Human waste can be addressed through new solar technology, and more efficient septic tanks can prevent leakage.As a first step, Colorado and Arizona will be working with the local government ahead of the autumn trekking season to follow up the recommendations of the workshops. A landfill-free and waste-free Sagarmatha National Park, where garbage is not burnt, can be a reality in a few years. It could provide a much needed model for other mountain areas where the problems of tourist-related solid and human waste management exist.The difference is, things get done in the Khumbu.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108141120/636a584c9c7e80680e054828jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="633" height="475"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108141120/636a584e9c7e80680e054829jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="240" height="320"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108141120/636a584f9c7e80680e05482ajpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1280" height="960">Photo: TOMMY GUSTAFSSON<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108141120/636a58529c7e80680e05482bjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1280" height="960">Photo: ALTON C BYERSSagarmatha Next's Interpretation Centre in Syangboche.Alton C Byers, PhD, is a mountain geographer, conservationist and mountaineer specialising in applied research, high altitude ecosystems, climate change and glacier hazards. Field work for this project was supported by a grant from the National Geographic Society.

Everest fights back

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

Protest grows against Nepal’s social media ban

It was 30 years ago this month that investment into ‘Baby Arun’, the 201MW first phase of the run-of-river Arun III project, was brought to a screeching halt when the World Bank officially withdrew its support. This brought about profound and fundamental changes in the way Nepal’s power sector subsequently developed. Nepalis suffered debilitating power outages between 2008-2016 due to shortages attributable to the cancellation. At the same time, the gap left by Baby Arun was filled by private sector investment in ways that were not obvious in 1995. It took 30 years, but in many ways Nepal’s power sector is more healthy today than it has ever been, and likely better than if the project was built as planned. At a projected budget of $1.08 billion, Baby Arun would have cost the equivalent of Nepal’s entire annual government expenditure in 1995. It was to be funded by concessional grants and loans from multilateral and bilateral funders, including the World Bank, Asian Development Bank (ADB), KfW, and investment by the government itself. At the time, Nepal’s total electricity generation capacity was only 230MW, and the trajectory of the power sector changed dramatically following the cancellation. In the past 30 years, $5.4 billion has been invested in the power sector led by private investors, and much of it from domestic banks and pension funds (table, right).  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250829150840_c13d6f9f34d7163832b3089eabdad6f20d2d5cef3a53039e0432add2be6c32f0.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="20250829150840_c13d6f9f34d7163832b3089eabdad6f20d2d5cef3a53039e0432add2be6c32f0" data-rendition-name="original" width="984" height="521" loading="lazy" alt="30 years after Baby Arun"> </figure>  Nearly 70% of the new megawatts generated were by private independent power producers (IPP) in the past 30 years, while the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) and its subsidiary companies added 30% of new capacity. Almost 80% of total debt financing came from domestic banks and employee retirement funds. International assistance for power generation dropped dramatically over this time, accounting for only about 15% of investment. Before 1995 new power projects used to be entirely dependent on foreign aid. Since 1995, 63% of new generation came from 171 small hydropower projects with an average capacity of 12MW, while 4% was from 21 solar photovoltaic and biomass projects developed by local IPPs.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250829150844_5bc299fc78be90b95ce4727b0b3bdaa4542e17e126718cc8725d136630ffc097.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20250829150844_5bc299fc78be90b95ce4727b0b3bdaa4542e17e126718cc8725d136630ffc097" data-rendition-name="original" width="988" height="503" loading="lazy" alt="30 years after Baby Arun"> </figure>  Over three decades, investment in Nepal’s power supply came primarily from new actors that had never before been involved in this sector. The rate of electrification rose from 10% to close to 100% -- sufficient to meet domestic needs during most of the year, and in 2024 made Nepal a net exporter of power to India for the first time in its history. As practically all the new investment in this period went into run-of-river hydro and solar projects, rather than into hydropower reservoirs with seasonal storage, Nepal continues to rely on imports from India during the dry winter months. Surplus electricity generation for export during the monsoon is slated to grow rapidly as another 200 solar and hydro projects are nearing completion of construction, with over 5,000MW of power capacity. Private Power The cancellation of Baby Arun inadvertently accelerated the entry of the private sector into Nepal’s power generation. The government enacted the Electricity Act in 1992 to attract private IPPs and diversify away from total dependence from international aid, but had been struggling for several years to conclude the first agreement with the 60MW Khimti Project. There remained a large gap between the tariff that the government thought was reasonable versus what was demanded by the Norwegian investor Statkraft, and the private sector arms of the World Bank and ADB that were financing the project. The shock of World Bank withdrawal from Baby Arun put tremendous pressure on the government, then led by the UML as it is now. The Bank’s decision to terminate its involvement was ostensibly, at least partially, taken in response to a letter critiquing the project sent by the UML while it was in the opposition.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250829150848_7fb3641d776fe86a09ad60a758f7e16660a409fdb15e541644f13646b0894347.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20250829150848_7fb3641d776fe86a09ad60a758f7e16660a409fdb15e541644f13646b0894347" data-rendition-name="original" width="949" height="446" loading="lazy" alt="30 years after Baby Arun"> <figcaption>BAD NEWS: Newspaper clippings from the early 90s on tender announcement ahead of loan approval (left) and secrecy surrounding environmental assessment (centre) of Arun III before its eventual cancellation in August 1995.</figcaption> </figure>  The government was forced to soften its position and agree to the investors’ terms following the cancellation of Baby Arun. It directed NEA to sign a power purchase agreement (PPA) with Khimti. It was concluded in January 1996, and this was followed by a second PPA in July 1996 with Panda Energy, the American developer of the 45MW Upper Bhotekosi project. The expensive USD-denominated agreements to buy power from two international private producers, with price escalation clauses tied to the New York Consumer Price Index, sent alarm bells ringing. There was worry that the country was heading towards unaffordable tariff rates for the consumer and potential bankruptcy for NEA as a result of inevitable future weakening of the Nepali Rupee. The government had strong-armed NEA into signing these agreements, and realised that concessionary financing terms that Nepal was used to receiving for public sector projects such as Baby Arun and Kali Gandaki A, that included below-market interest rates and 40 years repayment period with a 10 year grace period before starting repayment, were not the norm for private sector investors. Nepal’s status as a less than attractive destination for foreign investment meant that the country had few options but to accept expensive dollar PPAs from international developers with the high commercial interest rates and short repayment periods imposed by their banks because of high investment risks. In the end, the government ended up having to additionally provide a sovereign guarantee in order to close the deal at the insistence of the lenders – committing it to repayment in case NEA defaulted on paying the IPPs. It is reasonable to assume that the extraordinarily high political cost of agreeing to the PPA terms would have meant that no government would have willingly agreed to them in 1995 had it not suffered the trauma of the loss of concessionary-financed public sector projects as large as the Baby Arun. It has taken NEA 25 years to consider offering dollar-denominated PPAs again: to cover the foreign exchange portion of the investment in the 216MW Upper Trisuli-1 and 120MW Rasuwa-Bhotekosi Hydropower projects. It seemed unlikely at the time, but it turned out that the dire situation Nepal found itself in 1995 planted the seed to mobilise investment for affordable power from within the country. Double Whammy After the dual shock of first losing investment in Baby Arun and having to sign expensive power purchase agreements with international IPPs, the first proposal for an alternative strategy to mitigate the risk of foreign currency investment into hydropower projects came from a group of engineers within the Arun III team at NEA. Led by <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=4900">Deputy Director Damber Bahadur Nepali,</a> engineers convinced the leadership that NEA needed to invest in a subsidiary company to build a series of locally-designed and domestically-financed projects that would have lower cost with rupee-denominated PPAs. They registered the Chilime Hydropower Company Limited (CHCL) in October 1995 with 51% shares from NEA, 25% from its employees, and 24% available for the general public, 10% of which was prioritised for local residents at the project site. The 22.1MW project is in Rasuwa on a tributary of the Trisuli, and mobilised debt financing from the Employee Provident Fund, which manages retirement savings for employees of the government, public enterprises, and private sector institutions. CHCL’s experience showed that NEA employees themselves believed that individual hydropower projects with operational independence from NEA could be developed profitably in Nepal by its own engineers -- and they were willing to put their own money on the line. Chilime also demonstrated that there was money in the country, particularly with retirement funds, looking for opportunities for long-term investments. Following completion of Chilime in 2003, CHCL led the formation of three other NEA subsidiary companies that completed construction in 2023 and 2024, producing 168.3MW using fully rupee-tied investment. NEA’s largest subsidiary, the Upper Tamakosi Hydropower Limited, completed construction of its 456MW plant in 2021.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250829160812_ce9ab8b49c598970db3f5bf0a079061ef52f153b28d9f4ead2bb1b26bfd7c2f3.jpg" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="20250829160812_ce9ab8b49c598970db3f5bf0a079061ef52f153b28d9f4ead2bb1b26bfd7c2f3" data-rendition-name="original" width="3000" height="1571" loading="lazy" alt="30 Years after Baby Arun"> <figcaption>DAMNED: The $700 million 456MW Upper Tamakosi built entirely with domestic funds before it was destroyed by the September floods last year. </figcaption> </figure>  There were some delays and cost overruns on this run-of-river project, the largest in the country with a final cost of over $700 million -- all of it sourced domestically. The five subsidiary companies launched by NEA have produced almost two times as much new power as NEA has over the past 30 years. Seven other NEA subsidiaries are currently constructing projects to add another 474MW to the national grid. But even more important than NEA subsidiaries have been local IPPs: Nepali companies which have over the past three decades enthusiastically entered the hydropower sector. From a regulatory perspective, the credit for mobilising domestic private investment to engage in power generation goes to Minister of Water Resources Shailaja Acharya, who in 1998 offered a flat feed-in-tariff of Rs4/kWh for hydropower projects under 10MW. This upfront offer removed a major barrier that early developers had faced of having to spend money to carry out a detailed feasibility study before they could even start tariff negotiations with NEA. She had laid the foundation stone of the Chilime project, and proved to be the champion of opening up the sector for domestic IPPs. The guarantee of a PPA with a fixed tariff, irrespective of project specifications, gave small power developers the confidence to apply for survey licenses and invest in feasibility studies so they could directly approach commercial banks and make a case for their project producing required revenue to repay loans. Domestic IPPs started adding power to the national grid in 2002. Their contribution was initially modest, and first projects were small and commercial lenders who took time to be confident about providing debt financing to a sector which had previously not been considered suitable for private sector investment. While the first 10 years were slow, with less than 10MW being added to the grid each year, this increased twenty fold over the following ten years, resulting in the equivalent of a Baby Arun being added by Nepali IPPs to the grid each year. A total of 84 IPPs added 232MW, 328 MW, 454MW, and 400MW of new generation to the grid in 2021-2024 (graph). There was explosive, exponential growth as domestic developers have surged ahead to account for 76% of the new megawatts added to the grid since 2020, compared to 24% by NEA and its subsidiary companies. The megawatts that IPPs are adding have followed the classic ‘hockey stick curve’ with the ‘breakout point’, signaling the rapid growth phase in 2020. Private producers are expected to accelerate new generation in the coming years with 300 solar and hydropower projects adding 11,000MW. Another 166 hydropower and 96 solar projects are currently in the survey stage, and are in line to add another 11,000MW to the construction pipeline. One major challenge is finding financing required for the projects. Domestic investment will no longer be sufficient to finance this ambitious pipeline of renewable energy projects. Project developers as well as NEA and the Electricity Regulatory Commission will have to leverage their substantial experience accumulated through the construction of over 200 projects to attract regional and international investment and hedge the risks of dollar-denominated PPAs. Following the cancellation of Baby Arun, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/people-power/decentralising-power-in-nepal">Nepal developed a highly distributed power sector</a>. The national electricity grid is currently supplied with power from a remarkably decentralised array of hundreds of hydropower and solar photovoltaic projects spread across 43 districts and all seven provinces.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250829150848_0c3aa66b34bfb08380a624f397bf3ebb4126f4d6b41a26115848b496876f501b.jpg" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="20250829150848_0c3aa66b34bfb08380a624f397bf3ebb4126f4d6b41a26115848b496876f501b" data-rendition-name="original" width="1228" height="867" loading="lazy" alt="30 years after Baby Arun"> </figure>  This presents a sharp contrast to the pathway of a few large public sector hydropower projects with a sprinkling of private sector projects that was envisioned as part of NEA’s investment planning when Baby Arun was being considered the front runner for investment. The strategy then was to allow public sector investment in a few large hydropower projects with thermal plants to fill the gap. Knowing what we know now about acceleration of climate change impacts and increased extreme weather events, following this path would have made Nepal’s power sector highly vulnerable. Decentralised generation greatly improves the resilience of Nepal’s power supply as damage to power plants in one part of the country need not affect other areas that have their own generation. Following the investment plan where over two thirds of the country’s power supply would have come from power plants on the Arun River, would have greatly imperiled Nepal’s energy security. All rivers in Nepal are susceptible to flooding from cloudbursts made more frequent by climate change. The Arun River which is fed by glaciers in Tibet is also at risk to glacial lake outburst floods. Bikash Pandey is Director of Clean Energy and Circular Economy at Winrock International. People Power is his regular column in Nepali Times on global energy issues relevant to Nepal. <h2>Decentralised and Diversified</h2> In the 30 years since the cancellation of ‘Baby Arun’: Hydropower projects constructed cover capacities ranging from less than 1MW to 456MW and developed by IPPs from across the country with strong local involvement in purchasing equity shares. Renewable energy sources contributed to the generation mix through solar IPPs that further contribute to climate resilience, and cover shortfalls during low rainfall. The government is committed to solar contributing 10% of the power on the grid. Increasing solar beyond this target and providing incentives to project developers to invest in utility-scale battery storage would further improve resilience. BIG ARUN: The 900MW Arun III project under construction since 2018 at Num in Sankhuwasabha (pictured, below) is a separate initiative by a different project developer using a different financing modality. The ‘Baby Arun’ version of Arun III was cancelled in 1995.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250829150852_df534df5166eb5a9bb4cbe101627bdec7ac1df2a405a9d3988d1c86fcc8ecdeb.jpg" data-media-id="editor_7" data-image-id="20250829150852_df534df5166eb5a9bb4cbe101627bdec7ac1df2a405a9d3988d1c86fcc8ecdeb" data-rendition-name="original" width="1750" height="1312" loading="lazy" alt="30 Years after Baby Arun"> </figure>

30 years after Baby Arun

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

Sex and the city of Patan

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

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