<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114131128/637234c49c7e80680e0c4950jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="960" height="640"/><figcaption>Illustration: RABINDRA</figcaption></figure>In the 1760s, Prithvi Narayan Shah raised one rupee from each household and travelled down to Banaras to buy weapons for his military conquests. While there, he saw that the Hinduism practiced even in the holiest place in India was different from what he was used to in the mountains of Gorkha.He felt that 250 years of Mughal rule and two centuries of British colonialism had ‘contaminated’ the faith. It was nowhere like the ‘Sanatan Dharma’ way of life that he was used to back home, and said as much in his Dibyopadesh text in which he called Nepal ‘Asal Hindustana’ (The Real Hindustan).Moghul invaders tried to uproot Hinduism and Buddhism by razing temples, shrines and monasteries in the subcontinent. They burnt religious texts, and forced priests, monks and sages to flee. Most of them escaped into the remote Himalayan fastness of what is now Nepal.They brought with them their scriptures and religious books, and passed down the holy mantra and chants from one generation to the next, thus preserving them in their pure form for posterity.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/secularism-and-sectarianism/">Secularism and sectarianism</a>, Indra AdhikariBut that was not the only reason this land was deemed to be the ‘genuine Hindustan’. Most sacred sites of Hinduism and Buddhism, the holiest pilgrimage places were located in the original Gorkha Empire. Even after 1816, many of these shrines like Pashupati, Muktinath, Gosainkunda, Damodar Kunda and Lumbini were within modern day Nepal’s boundaries.Even among Hindus in India, there was a feeling that perhaps Hinduism in its untainted form existed in Nepal, the dwelling of Lord Shiva and the place of meditation for the sages, explains cultural historian Govinda Tandon, the former head of the Pashupati Area Development Trust.“When I myself go to India on pilgrimage and meet holy personages, they ask me why I travel to India when Nepal is such a special place where the real Hinduism has been preserved,” Tandon adds.The other aspect of Hinduism in Nepal is its Tantric element. A thousand years ago the Pal and Sen dynasties of Bengal fled to what is now Nepal to escape invaders together with their priests, holy texts and their esoteric Hindu and Buddhist traditions. The assimilation of these practices evolved into the  syncretic blend of Hinduism and Buddhism in Nepal, and especially Kathmandu Valley, giving the culture its unique character.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/opium-of-the-masters/">Opium of the masters</a>, EditorialIn fact, the same Hindu gods and goddesses in India and Nepal are worshipped differently. In Maharastra, there are no sacrifices to Lord Ganesh as there are in Nepal. Similarly, animals are sacrificed to goddess Kali in Nepal, but not in Bengal during the Navaratri festival. Dasain and Dushhera are not similar. Tihar and Diwali are observed differently. Janai Purnima and Raksha Bandhan are unlike each other in Nepal and India. Nepali and Hindi may use the Devnagari script, but the languages are distinct.  Hinduism as practiced in Nepal and India are therefore different, despite what many like to think.The Hindu nationalist Vinayak Damodar Savarkar while being imprisoned by the British in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands in 1922 wrote a declaration titled ‘Essentials of Hindutva’ in which he defined Hindutva as a political ideology, and different from the Hindu religion. If Hindutva was the trunk of a tree, Hinduism was its branch. India was not a nation but a race. He wrote: ‘We are all Hindus of one nation because it is the blood of Indian heritage that flows in our veins.’Savarkar’s Hindutva has now been adopted by the RSS and its political wing, the BJP, in India. And with the wind of this ideology blowing across India, Nepal is also feeling the breeze. It is tempting for some political parties to try to also cash in on this wave in a majority Hindu country that used to have the world’s only Hindu monarch.But Hinduism in Nepal has a relatively more tolerant tradition, and whether Nepal should revert to being a Hindu state or not should depend entirely on Nepalis themselves, and not on who is in power in New Delhi. In fact, Nepal should be a country where there is a freedom of religion and followers of all faiths are free to practice their culture and tradition. And that is the essence of what Prithvi Narayan Shah understood as ‘Asal Hindustan’.Either during the Malla period or later under Shah rule, there were no strictures against conversion, but forced proselytisation was banned. Through the centuries, Nepal’s Muslims were accepted into the fold. Why import the seeds of intolerance now? India itself is a vast nation with a rich diversity of cultures and faiths, all protected under its Constitution.The New Delhi establishment looks at Nepal not through a religious lens, but a security one. It is therefore unlikely that, although some Nepali politicians may be tempted to whip up a religious vote bank, it will happen just because some entities in India back them. The Hindutva ideology is quite different from the liberal Sanatan way of life and tradition that exists in Nepal.Read also:<a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/saffron-surge-politics,3619"> Saffron surge</a>, Om Astha RaiTranslated from the <a href="https://www.himalkhabar.com/news/127653">original</a> in Nepali in Himal, Poush 2078

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Tolerating Nepal’s religious tolerance

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110161152/636d1e999c7e80680e0af41cjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1750" height="919"/><figcaption>Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, Ramdev and Pushpa Kamal Dahal inaugurating an unlicensed tv network on 18 November 2021. All photos: HIMAL.</figcaption></figure>The word ‘secularism’ is mis-translated into the Sanskritised Nepali as ‘धर्मनिरपेक्ष’, and has been taken by many to mean anti- or non-religion. This has created a misunderstanding about the concept among Nepal’s deeply religious people.All secularism means is <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/editorial/separation-of-state-and-temple-in-nepal,1444">separation of state and religion</a>, and in practical terms it connotes freedom of religion. An individual’s belief, faith or lack thereof are inherently personal. It is when a dominant religion is mixed with politics that <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/When-Banke-burned,1807">divisions between ‘us’ and ‘them’</a> come up.As scholars have pointed out, the Sanskrit word ‘धर्म’ also does not have an exact translation in English. When the British were in Bengal that they loosely translated ‘dharma’ to mean ‘religion’, whereas institutionalised religion has other Sanskrit synonyms like ‘पन्थ’ or ‘मार्ग’. Hinduism, as Gauri N Rimal points out in Himal, is a ‘dharma’ not just a religion.World history is replete with wars fought in the name of one god or another, where propagation of religion has driven conquests, and faith-based fissures have plunged countries into internecine conflict.The concept of ‘secularism’ was imported into Nepal from the post-independence Indian constitution after communal pogroms of partition in the Subcontinent cost millions of lives. India inherited secularism from its colonial ruler, Britain, which itself had a long history of mixing church and state, and of sectarian violence between Catholics and Protestants.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110161152/636d1e9c9c7e80680e0af41djpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1050" height="724"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>In a country with such a <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=1469#.YcBC1slBypo">diversity of dharma</a> as Nepal, it is strange for one religion to be dominant. In fact, B P Koirala mentioned in 1980: ‘Nepal is not a Hindu state, it was never a Hindu state, and it will never be a Hindu state.’ Much before in 1962, he stated that 'declaring Nepal as a Hindu State is a fraud.’Even when Prithvi Narayan Shah and his progeny unified the country that would later be called Nepal, it spread far beyond just his hilltop principality of Gorkha and its patron deities. Nepal’s later rulers found it advantageous to define the new country as a Hindu state because top-down hierarchy <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=11913#.YcBC38lBypo">made it easier to govern</a>. Perpetuating the caste system, and confining each group in its place and profession, made it easier to divide and rule.Even though the concept of ‘Sanatan Dharma’ denotes ordained collection of practices and duties regardless of caste, sect or class, in actual practice most festivals and rituals in Nepal today are derived from Hinduism. They have continued in Nepal’s so-called ‘secular’ state where the traditional caste and sect divisions are perpetuated in the name of tradition and heritage.This means that although Nepal is now supposed to be a secular republic, decisions of the state including the observance of religious holidays of dominant groups, participation of politicians in rituals, and the fall-back on populism, are anything but secular.Religion is a matter between an individual and their god, but rulers use it as a strategy to come to power and retain it. Marx called it ‘the opium of the masses’. The big historical wars of the Subcontinent were usually about territorial conquest, not based on religion. The colonial period used divide-and-rule tactics, and thereby laid the seeds of communal violence.Some of these same methods are being used by India’s rulers today. After partition, the religious extremism in the Subcontinent within India, between India and Pakistan over Kashmir, and the AfPak-Iran region, now also have geo-strategic ramifications.It is because religion is so personal that it <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/opium-of-the-masters/">should not be mixed with politics</a>. We see where this can lead to in India today, where people have been killed because of disputes over what is deemed sacred by some. Nepal should learn lessons from this, since certain ethnic groups eat animals that others regard as holy, while some do not eat other animals.The way to peacefully resolve these issues is by not allowing one religion or dominant group to direct what is lawful and what is not. One indicator of a truly democratic state is how well it <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/editorial/Southerly-wind,3610">protects the rights of its minorities</a>. When a country’s leader is seen as the protector of only the majority group or faith, it can invite conflict. Leaders who create <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=15246#.YcBCv8lBypo">divisions based on religion</a> among citizens, and incite them to violence against each other, may call themselves ‘nationalists’ but they are anti-national.When Nepal became secular, we thought it would finally liberate women from entrenched patriarchy. Most of the burden of rituals and festivals still fall on the shoulders of women, and many are still treated as non-citizens.Nepal is not yet secular. We still have a long way to go.Indra Adhikari is a political analyst specialising in international relations and security issues. This opinion is extracted from a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yv8gf53m2cM">Himal Sambad</a> discussion on 16 December.

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Secularism and sectarianism

<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109101140/636b75829c7e80680e0623f2jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="2048" height="1365"/>Nepal’s Communist Party leaders must take note of two events that unfolded in India this week: <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-south-asia-51638345" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the roaring welcome to US President Donald Trump</a> and the ongoing communal riots in Delhi’s northeastern suburb.That the Narendra Modi government was able to put up a great two-day show to woo Trump, who repeatedly praised Modi and said “America loves India” has been somewhat overshadowed by the violence that has claimed over 20 lives in Delhi.The two events depict contrasting pictures: one of a new emerging India eager to engage with superpowers, even taking lead in issues of international concern. And the other of an India engulfed in violence between some Hindus and Muslims. The ruling BJP and Modi, supported by the right-wing groups like RSS and VHP, find themselves in the vortex of this violence.Trump reached India on Monday and along with Modi addressed the ‘Namaste Trump’ rally in Ahmedabad’s Motera Stadium, the largest cricket stadium in the world, attended by over 100,000 people. The two presented their visions for the next phase of Indo-US strategic partnership.Although the much-awaited trade deal did not happen, the two sides pulled together a $3billion military deal, sought commitments to fight terrorism, narco-terrorism and organised crime and signed three MoUs in the health and oil sectors. Trump even discussed the importance of a secure 5G network in India, ahead of trials involving China’s Huawei which he said must be “a tool for freedom, progress, prosperity, not a conduit for suppression and censorship”.Important for Nepal to note is their dialogue in security cooperation. Besides reiterating that the two countries will work to combat “radical Islamic terrorism” which will dearly affect the functioning of SAARC, Trump praised the military cooperation and said that the US and India, along with Japan and Australia, should work together for security of the Indo-Pacific region as the Quad (Quadrilateral Security Dialogue) grouping.The diplomatic and military arrangements of the Quad are widely viewed as a response to the rapidly increasing economic and military power of China in the region. Sandwiched and landlocked between India and China, Nepal will have to <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-now-has-to-balance-not-just-india-and-china-but-also-the-west/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">balance its relations between China and a US-backed India</a>.As it is, a $500 million US-funded <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/mcc-row-damages-nepals-credibility/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Millennium Challenge Corporation</a> (MCC) deal to improve Nepal’s connectivity <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/a-millennium-challenge/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">is in limbo</a> because of opposition from a faction of the ruling Communist Party that sees it as a part of the American Indo-Pacific Strategy. Parliamentary ratification of the project has been delayed.The MCC is viewed with much interest by India’s civil society and academia lately, and is seen as a direct counter to China’s Belt Road Initiative (BRI). Sections of the Nepali establishment views India as an obstructionist power, and are trying to develop closer ties with China.But India is finding more grounds of convergence with the US, which now views South Asia as a vital part of its <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/between-two-oceans/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Indo-Pacific Strategy</a>. Smaller countries in India’s periphery are bound to be trapped in this rivalry. With pressing domestic concerns at home over opposition to <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/indian-nepalis-alarmed-by-citizenship-amendment-bill/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the Constitution Amendment Act (CAA) India </a>may play silent and quiet diplomacy leaving the US and China to compete for influence in India’s neighborhood.Trump and Modi are said to have discussed developments in South Asia at length during this visit, meaning they will collaborate and closely consult each other on regional matters. Nepal must gear up to deal with a more forceful America in the near future even when it is already grappling with <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/what-is-xi-jinpings-big-surprise/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a dominant China</a>.It is in India’s advantage if the US temporarily fills the vacuum in Nepal, which New Delhi feels is its traditional sphere of influence. So, the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/a-yam-between-3-boulders/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">foreign policy challenge for Nepal</a> will not be to balance between India and China so much anymore, but getting into meaningful dialogue with China and the US to protect its national interest.India considers the US as its ‘natural ally’. The Modi-Trump equation seen in Gujarat and Delhi this week speaks volumes of their friendship and desire to foster closer ties between the world’s oldest and largest democracies. Even in midst of communal riots in Delhi, Trump stated at a press conference “it is up to India” to deal with the CAA matter, quickly adding that Modi is committed to “religious freedom in India.”Most analysts conclude that if Trump is re-elected in November elections, India’s relations with the United States could be further strengthened.The author is a Nepali journalist and researcher based in New Delhi.

The India, US, Nepal, China quadrangle

During the United National General Assembly in New York in September, US President Trump devoted much more time to a conference on his new initiative to set up an International Religious Freedom Alliance than to a <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/climate-summit-leads-packed-un-agenda/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Climate Summit</a>.The alliance is supposed to bring together ‘like-minded countries … to defend the unalienable rights of all human beings to believe, or not to believe, whatever it is that they choose’.The person Trump handpicked to be Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom, former Kansas governor Sam Brownback, was in Kathmandu this weekend to meet government officials, religious leaders, and inspect the US Embassy-funded repairs on the Krishna Mandir damaged in the <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/piece-by-piece-patan-darbar-square-reconstruction,3782/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">2015 earthquake</a>.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108181140/636a953e9c7e80680e05dbf7jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="2048" height="1536"/>Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom Sam Brownback with Foreign Minister Pradeep Gyawali during his visit to Nepal. Photo: SAM BROWNBACK/TWITTERGiven the increasing <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-now-has-to-balance-not-just-india-and-china-but-also-the-west/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">polarisation between the United States and China</a>, Nepali Times asked him in an interview if his trip was more about Tibet and less about Nepal.“This visit is about Nepal. It has Tibet ties, because Nepal is a major transit point for <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/page/earthquake-brings-back-memories-of-camps-for-tibetan-refugees" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tibetan refugees</a>, and Nepal has historically been very good about letting them come and transit,” Brownback replied. “Some of that has slowed under pressure from the Chinese, and I had some discussions with the Foreign Minister and others about it.”Isn’t US criticism of religious persecution in rival powers like China harsher than on geopolitical allies? Brownback makes a distinction between state-sponsored persecution of minorities in some countries like China, and rising communal tensions as in <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/saffron-surge-politics,3619" target="_blank" rel="noopener">India</a>. Besides, he added, the US is critical of religious persecution in Saudi Arabia despite it being a key ally.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108181140/636a95419c7e80680e05dbf8jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="800" height="534"><figcaption>From left, Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom Sam Brownback, US Ambassador to Nepal Randy Berry, Mayor of Patan Chiribabu Maharjan and Director of Kathmandu Valley Preservation Trust Rohit Ranjitkar oversee repairs on Krishna Mandir damaged in the 2015 earthquake. Photo: RANDY BERRY/TWITTER</figcaption></figure>“We are sensitive to the criticism, and we try to make all our calls in this area factually based,” says Brownback, who was on a tour of the region that included Kathmandu, Dharmashala and Bangkok. “That is why we want to get the International Religious Freedom Alliance up because we would like a much larger group internationally that would push and establish some basic standards.”However, is it not a bit awkward for an American official to be going around the world preaching religious tolerance given what is happening back home?“I usually raise it myself,” replied Brownback, who was governor of Kansas when two Indians were shot in his state. “I have had Jewish people killed, or white supremacists come after <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/naples-bound-somalis-find-themselves-in-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Somalis</a>, but in each case I went out of my way to be assure those communities this does not represent American values. Religious freedom is in our DNA, we were founded by successive waves of people fleeing religious persecution.”Brownback admitted that the United States is serious about protecting religious freedom, learning lessons from its own history: “We are an example of how difficult this is to do. We have own tragic past in the way we treated minorities. And if you get it wrong, religious differences are a real rocket fuel to propel angry mobs.”A recent international Pew survey showed that 80% of the world’s population lived in a religiously restricted environment. Religious persecution, intolerance, as well as manipulation of religion is on the rise around the world.“We believe that everybody everywhere is entitled to do with their own soul what they want to do. This is their fundamental right,” Brownback said, “and a government’s role is to protect religious freedom not to manipulate religion.”Brownback was appreciative of Nepal being an open society compared to other countries in the region. “I want to really tip my hat to the Nepali people who have fought to maintain this openness.”However he added: “The erosion of the practice (of <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/four-year-itch/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the constitution</a>) is concerning to us. You want religious freedom, but also social harmony. Religion is a fundamental human right. If you are qualifying it, that is when I start raising questions, this is not a long-term sustainable path given how much integration is taking place in the world.”Brownback does not like the word ‘<a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/blogs/thebrief/2016/02/03/rethinking-secularism/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">secularism</a>’, and being a person of faith, says he is prefers to work for a society where there is the freedom to practice all religions peacefully.He also has no patience with conversion using coercion and inducements, and says he has told officials in India and Nepal bribing people to convert is a no-no. “If you know of groups doing that, I hope you will tell us about it,” he said.But what Brownback said he is most worried about is those in power using religion to fan populism. “Faith can be wonderful, but it can be manipulated, and that can be very dangerous. Religion has not declined as a flashpoint, in fact it has increased. Why should a government protect a faith? Shouldn’t a government protect a right? It is your choice what you decide with your soul.”

US pushes international religious freedom alliance

Nepal was hermetically sealed for centuries before it finally opened to the outside world only 80 years ago. Prior to that, starting in the 1830s, only a handful of British Residents and a scientists had ever visited the country.&nbsp; Among those select few was <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/republic-of-nepal-s-animal-kingdom">J D Hooker</a> who travelled through the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/saving-kangchenjunga">Kanchenjunga region</a> in 1849. A century later, Nepal’s doors were finally opened and saw a flood of mountaineers, academics and researchers. Foreign academics, from both the physical and social sciences, were anxious to make their mark in the poorly studied, but unusually rich and diverse, cultural and environmental geographies of Nepal. Many of Nepal’s own early scientists and conservationists in the 1950s began their careers as the young assistants of foreign researchers. Many went on to become internationally noted academics, field practitioners, and heads of government agencies.&nbsp; Sadly, this generation of Nepal’s scholars has now largely passed on, and many of their contributions to scientific research and conservation successes are in danger of being forgotten by present and future generations. Here is a (by no means exhaustive) selection of five pioneer scholars from Nepal who contributed unusually meaningful research some 60 years ago that advanced Nepal’s development. Today there are few scholars, conservationists, government officials, or writers in Nepal who were not influenced one way or the other by these five individuals.&nbsp; Likewise, scores of senior western scholars and practitioners continue to tell stories of their days in the field with Dor Bahadur Bista, Tirtha Bahadur Shrestha, Kazi Nepali, Upendra Man Malla, or Harka Gurung from Mustang, Dolpo, Kanchenjunga, to Chitwan.&nbsp; Their legacies are alive through contributions to Himalayan botany, social science, ornithology, and geography. DOR BAHADUR BISTA (1926-1995)  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241009081012_b039566f893c7ae0c0f58d0c89442c11d568406cc7bd2c0753f8602cd27f13b4.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20241009081012_b039566f893c7ae0c0f58d0c89442c11d568406cc7bd2c0753f8602cd27f13b4" data-rendition-name="original" width="442" height="470" loading="lazy" alt="Remembering Nepal’s 5 best minds NT"> <figcaption>Dor Bahadur Bista in the 1970s. Photo courtesy: K DIXIT</figcaption> </figure>  Dor Bahadur Bista was a young headmaster of a girl’s high school when he was recruited in 1955 by the Austrian anthropologist <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/the-salt-of-the-earth">Christoph von Fürer-Haimendorf</a> to work as a research assistant in Khumbu for his study of the Sherpa people. Fürer-Haimendorf discouraged him from pursuing higher degrees, Bista went on to become one of Nepal’s best-known and influential anthropologists. His book People of Nepal (1967) was the first comprehensive survey of Nepal’s remarkably diverse ethnicities. In 1991, he published the controversial <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=11101">Fatalism and Development in Nepal</a> which, in addition to fame, was to also earn him enemies from the Royal Palace to his own family and friends because of its strong criticism of the caste system. Controversy seems to have been in his blood: Bista once told fellow anthropologist James F Fisher that he had written Fatalism to “shake things up”. He served three years as Nepal’s Consul General in Lhasa (1972-1975), was a Fulbright Senior Scholar at Columbia University (1977), Chair of the Centre for Nepal and Asian Studies (CNAS) (1978), and was one of the founders and Chairs of Tribhuvan University’s newly-formed Department of Anthropology (1979).&nbsp; Always one to lead by example, in 1991 he established the Karnali Institute in Jumla with the goal of creating a caste-free, model village. This also led to criticism and even slander from powerful, high caste figures in Karnali. Bista vanished mysteriously in 1995, and his life and disappearance became the subject of <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/Kesang-Tseten-documentary-on-Dor-Bahadur-Bista,2176">Kesang Tsetsen’s 2015 documentary ‘Castaway Man’.</a> TIRTHA BAHADUR SHRESTHA (1937) During a career spanning more than six decades, <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=19150">Tirtha Bahadur Shrestha</a> traveled and worked extensively throughout Nepal with noted international botanists such as J D A Stainton (western Nepal, 1965-1966), L H J Williams of the British Museum (Arun and Tamor valleys Nepal,1969), J F Dobremez in Jumla and Saipal (1975), from Langtang to Gauri Shankar with Hirro Kanai, M L Banerjee, and Daniel Nicolson of the Smithsonian Institution (1970s). He also collaborated with The Mountain Institute in what was to become the Makalu-Barun National Park and Buffer Zone in 1992. Shrestha received intensive field-based training in Himalayan botany from the British Museum of Natural History, the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew and Edinburgh, and with some of the best of the world’s botanists.&nbsp; Tirtha B Shrestha received a doctorate in botany from the University of Grenoble, France in 1977. Between 1961 and 1991, he worked for HMG’s Department of Plant Resources, then known as the Department of Medicinal Plants. His collections are now housed in the Kathmandu Herbarium at Godavari, the British Museum of Natural History, the University of Tokyo, University of Grenoble, and the National Herbarium at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241009081012_28e114def6b2a8c6be50092a2956388c80926c24ca81566d4b9a14603db17aaa.jpg" data-media-id="editor_7" data-image-id="20241009081012_28e114def6b2a8c6be50092a2956388c80926c24ca81566d4b9a14603db17aaa" data-rendition-name="original" width="437" height="635" loading="lazy" alt="Remembering Nepal’s 5 best minds NT"> <figcaption>Tirtha Bahadur Shrestha in the early 1990s at what was to become the Makalu-Barun National Park. Photo: DAVID IDE</figcaption> </figure>  Among Shrestha’s many notable awards are the National Award on Botany (2011), World Wildlife Fund Nepal Abraham Conservation Award (2005), Balipara Foundation Lifetime Service Award (2016), and Jagadamba Sri Award (2006). In fact, he has received national awards and medals from four different heads of state of Nepal: King Mahendra (1969), King Birendra (1975 and 1986) President Ram Baran Yadav (2012), and President Bidya Devi Bhandari (2020). Since 2000, Shrestha has devoted himself to the advancement of science, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/between-existence-and-extinction-in-nepal">biodiversity, and conservation</a> in Nepal through <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=4345">frequent publications in magazines and newspapers like this one</a>. He lives in Sanepa with his wife Timila Shrestha, a plant chemist who earned her doctorate from the University of London.&nbsp; HARI SHARAN NEPALI ‘KAZI’ (1934-2021) Perhaps one of the most fondly remembered of Nepali’s early scientists was the self-trained <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/remembering-nepal-s-bird-man-kazi-dai">ornithologist ‘Kazi’ Nepali</a>. He spent his early years in the 1940s studying the birds of Shivapuri, Pulchoki, and within Kathmandu when the city still had trees, green space, and fields. He started collecting and preserving bird specimens in 1952, and even organized a small exhibit for King Mahendra’s Coronation in 1955. Although the British resident to Nepal in 1833, Brian Houghton Hodgson, is reported to have collected nearly 10,000 bird specimens representing 672 different bird species during his time in Nepal, these were all sent back to the UK.&nbsp; <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/birding-with-jimmy-carter-in-nepal">Kazi had to start from scratch</a>, collecting 750 of Nepal’s 875 bird species that are now housed in the Natural History Museum at Swayambhu. He identified 13 new bird species in Nepal, and helped establish <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/the-great-trans-himalayan-bird-migration">Bird Conservation Nepal (BCN)</a> and the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/protecting-lumbini-s-rare-cranes">Lumbini Crane Center</a>. He worked with world-renowned ornithologists such as Robert Sr and Robert Jr Fleming, authors of Birds of Nepal,1964 to which Kazi made major contributions.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241009081016_ac87680a59072ae6e5ff991c72afc6ab74f8ddcdc3814dd59f1eda2051638c04.jpg" data-media-id="editor_14" data-image-id="20241009081016_ac87680a59072ae6e5ff991c72afc6ab74f8ddcdc3814dd59f1eda2051638c04" data-rendition-name="original" width="800" height="500" loading="lazy" alt="Remembering Nepal’s 5 best minds NT"> <figcaption>Kazi Nepali in the early 1990s (left), checking a mist net for capturing birds in the Makalu-Barun National Park and Buffer Zone. Photo: DAVID IDE.</figcaption> </figure>  Bob Fleming Jr. remembers that in the early 1970s Kazi was the only other ornithologist that he and his father trusted to lead the annual Christmas bird count in Kathmandu with three groups at different elevations on the Valley rim. A total of 186 different species were counted one year. Kazi was project ornithologist during the planning years of the Makalu-Barun National Park in the 1980s and 1990s, spending weeks collecting and identifying birds in the remote region. Although <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=5755">Kazi never received an advanced degree</a>, his awards and extensive publication record on ornithology were impressive. He had an unflagging interest in all things birds, and shared what he knew generously espercially with the younger generation of Nepali birders. It is hard to forget the smile on Kazi’s face early in the morning, as he whispered the name of bird after bird calling from a distance. UPENDRA MAN MALLA (1932-2021)&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241009081020_b3e05163aedb9971ddc8c166e5ea8851d765aa6ea36e2a3e2884e56d7d02d693.jpg" data-media-id="editor_16" data-image-id="20241009081020_b3e05163aedb9971ddc8c166e5ea8851d765aa6ea36e2a3e2884e56d7d02d693" data-rendition-name="original" width="883" height="795" loading="lazy" alt="Remembering Nepal’s 5 best minds NT"> <figcaption>Prof Upendra Malla at work. Photo courtesy: Suresh Man Malla</figcaption> </figure>  One of Nepal’s foremost physical and cultural geographers known for a ‘multi-dimensional personality, Upendra Man Malla was a larger-than-life figure, both in physical appearance as well as in lifetime Having interviewed him in fall of 2019 where he seemed to have known and worked with nearly every notable personality, Nepali and foreign, in the past 70 years.&nbsp; Born in Wotu in Kathmandu in 1932, he received his MA in geography from Patna University in 1953 and was appointment to the early Ministry of Planning and Development in 1954, then to the Ministry of Commerce. He was awarded a British Council scholarship for a B Litt from Oxford University in 1957. On return, he became professor of geography at Trichandra College and Tribhuvan University in 1957. He served in a royal committee that charted the political division of Nepal into 14 administrative zones, and 75 districts, working with <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/time-capsule-of-kathmandu">Swiss geologist Toni Hagen</a>. the first time that the country had been mapped and administered in such a way.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241009081020_2c6ccc887eb5b5e93a79112f1a2b59e2806407ea1027c01622186017197dd470.jpg" data-media-id="editor_18" data-image-id="20241009081020_2c6ccc887eb5b5e93a79112f1a2b59e2806407ea1027c01622186017197dd470" data-rendition-name="original" width="1009" height="549" loading="lazy" alt="Remembering Nepal’s 5 best minds NT"> <figcaption>Members of the 1961 planning team for the division of Nepal into administrative zones and districts. Upendra Malla seated second from the left with Swiss geologist Toni Hagen (bearded) at centre. </figcaption> </figure>  In 1973 he was appointed the first dean of the Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences at Tribhuvan University. Prof Malla was the founder of the Nepal Geographical Society in 1961, serving as chair for nearly three decades. He was also chair of the UN’s Man and the Biosphere Programme (MAB) in the 1980s and this could have influenced Malla becoming the first in Nepal to advocate the integration of the social and environmental sciences into development planning. From 1979-84 Malla served in the National Planning Commission where he looked after the social sectors. He taught at the Central Department of Geography until retirement in 1995, training a range of young Nepali students who went on to work in the academic, governmental, and non-profit sectors. He heavily influenced the development of geography as an interdisciplinary field of study in Nepal and is fondly remembered for his warmth, personal interest in each of his students, and unparalleled contribution to Nepal’s academic and governmental institutions. HARKA GURUNG (1939-2006)&nbsp; Nepal’s first mountain geographer, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/latest/remembering-harka-gurung">Harka Gurung</a> is remembered as a chronicler of Himalayan peaks as well as of early mountaineering 1949-1960, and as a “genius geographer” by others. He travelled extensively across Nepal in the 1960s and 1970s and wrote Vignettes of Nepal (1980) based on his journey. Among his mentors and associates were the famous British climber and explorer, H W Tilman, Swiss German Gunter Dyhrenfurth, and Austrian mountaineer and cartographer Erwin Schneider. Harka Gurung was born in Lamjung under the shadow of Manaslu (8,163m) and Himalchuli (7,893 m). He did his BS from Patna in 1959, and received a scholarship for postgraduate (1961) and PhD (1965) in geography at the University of Edinburgh. He was the first Nepali to receive a PhD from a European university and lectured widely at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, Department of Geography at Tribhuvan University, and at the Population Institute of the East-West Center in Hawaii.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241009081016_abb43c8e6d84ea16aa27c65b7138f7ac55c28c63413cfae4fba19667d89b211c.jpg" data-media-id="editor_20" data-image-id="20241009081016_abb43c8e6d84ea16aa27c65b7138f7ac55c28c63413cfae4fba19667d89b211c" data-rendition-name="original" width="389" height="634" loading="lazy" alt="Remembering Nepal’s 5 best minds NT"> <figcaption>Harka Gurung in his Kathmandu study. Photo courtesy: SIDDHI MANANDHAR</figcaption> </figure>  He served with distinction in the National Planning Commission (1968-1975), as Minister of State for Tourism, Public Works, and Transport (1977-78), and as Director of the Asia and Pacific Development Centre in Malaysia (1993- 1998).&nbsp; He once said: “The landscape with Himalchuli on the horizon and the Marsyangdi River in the gorge below determined my choice of geography as a profession… and my political beliefs were shaped by the multicultural setting of the village.”&nbsp; Gurung was a prolific writer, publishing 15 books, 7 monographs and 675 articles and reports prior to his untimely death in the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/remembering-nepal-s-conservation-heroes">Ghunsa helicopter crash in 2006</a> along with many of Nepal’s most accomplished conservationists, including Chandra Gurung, Mingma Sherpa, Tirtha Man Maskey, and Narayan Poudel. He was a strong advocate of the use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) for development planning. As an astute politician, he was able to move things through government that would otherwise take months or years to be approved.&nbsp; Alton C Byers, PhD, is Faculty Research Scientist at the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research (INSTAAR) University of Colorado at Boulder in the United States and <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/saving-kangchenjunga">a frequent Nepali Times contributor</a>. A longer version of this article appears in the November 2024 issue of ECS-Nepal.

Remembering Nepal’s 5 best minds

“अलि अलि अमिलो&nbsp; अलि अलि पिरो&nbsp; अलि अलि गुलियो&nbsp; अलि अलि टर्रो&nbsp; अलि अलि तितो&nbsp; तेसैले त दालभात यति मिठो ।”&nbsp; (‘A bit sour, a bit spicy, a bit sweet, a bit astringent, a bit bitter, that is what makes dal bhat so tasty.’ Inscription at the entrance of the Old Nepal Tokyo restaurant.) Right in the heart of Tokyo’s shopping district of Gotokuji is Old Nepal, a world away from Kathmandu. With an unassuming entrance lit with a dim lamp to read the restaurant’s name, one is immediately transported to the dark, narrow cobblestone alleys of Patan or Bhaktapur.&nbsp; Inside, it is pitch dark with no windows, evoking a traditional Nepali eatery during load-shedding. A narrow corridor reminiscent of Kathmandu’s backstreets leads visitors to an intimate but spacious dining room.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241011141040_50aa05c951621a704bc2dfadeb7022981782da1539789aae8e7ae8c30581a294.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="20241011141040_50aa05c951621a704bc2dfadeb7022981782da1539789aae8e7ae8c30581a294" data-rendition-name="original" width="750" height="562" loading="lazy" alt="Old Nepal Tokyo NT"> <figcaption>Photos: OLD NEPAL TOKYO</figcaption> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241011141040_02afc769a35cf66b7deded49c6698973eada2d52cc7302394d827c30d661756c.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20241011141040_02afc769a35cf66b7deded49c6698973eada2d52cc7302394d827c30d661756c" data-rendition-name="original" width="750" height="562" loading="lazy" alt="Old Nepal Tokyo NT"> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241011141040_fa5bcfaeee6c7ad7746605c4625d7de6e4312f9d4a0dc40a602a4d273200317b.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20241011141040_fa5bcfaeee6c7ad7746605c4625d7de6e4312f9d4a0dc40a602a4d273200317b" data-rendition-name="original" width="750" height="562" loading="lazy" alt="Old Nepal Tokyo NT"> </figure>  The design is sparse, with earthy tones and enveloped in the scent of धुप incense. There is a घ्याम्पो clay vessel next to a wall filled with खोपा alcoves, just like in the brick and mud houses of old Nepal. The restaurant is the life's work of Ryo Honda, a chef who specialises in authentic but innovative Nepali cuisine with ingredients that he has explored in Nepal.&nbsp; “Each plate is inspired by Nepal’s diverse culture and landscape, even the colours,” explains the Kobe-native in accented Nepali. Each dish in Honda’s Mustang-themed menu is based on the colours of the rugged landscape of the trans-Himalayan region.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241011141044_fb7af4208db9dfc1eda5202c8d1ae01aed59950d4eb5ee70b8c9aa968eb50642.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="20241011141044_fb7af4208db9dfc1eda5202c8d1ae01aed59950d4eb5ee70b8c9aa968eb50642" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Old Nepal Tokyo NT"> <figcaption>Ryo Honda. Photo: SUMAN NEPALI</figcaption> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241011141044_b354f6d850bf262f42199899c2884f03244e2d40924b205499f66910cb0ce097.jpg" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="20241011141044_b354f6d850bf262f42199899c2884f03244e2d40924b205499f66910cb0ce097" data-rendition-name="original" width="750" height="562" loading="lazy" alt="Old Nepal Tokyo NT"> </figure>  The colour-coded dishes include ‘Shyau’ (red, like Mustang’s apples), ‘Alooko Achar’ (grey, like the pebbles on the banks of the Kali Gandaki), sautéed rock trout with green soup called Ghandhau Macha (green), Thukpa (jet black buckwheat noodles, mixed with bamboo charcoal), Bangur Ko Sekuwa (brown, like the rice) and Dal Bhat and Chamalko Kulfi (yellow desert).&nbsp; “I love Nepal because the country does &nbsp;not have only one kind of people and food culture,” explains Honda, 41, during one of his annual visits to Nepal. On this trip, he was exploring Tharu cuisine in Kanchanpur.&nbsp; Honda and his wife Mari also visited Dhankuta, sampling local mushrooms and other ingredients. Old Nepal sources a lot of its ingredients, especially spices like cumin, turmeric, cilantro, jimbu, timur, and pink Tibetan salt direct from Nepal. Some of these items are also sold separately in a spice shop called Sunya one floor above the restaurant.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241011141036_d61a6d6910c357f91398c48633e28cd6f73e52e3202470209b7feccd36cd10b5.jpg" data-media-id="editor_5" data-image-id="20241011141036_d61a6d6910c357f91398c48633e28cd6f73e52e3202470209b7feccd36cd10b5" data-rendition-name="original" width="750" height="562" loading="lazy" alt="Old Nepal Tokyo NT"> <figcaption>Dal Bhat</figcaption> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241011141044_838e083c94b36e8de85ca3532133119d605069d27dddba0a9268202933b27be7.jpg" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="20241011141044_838e083c94b36e8de85ca3532133119d605069d27dddba0a9268202933b27be7" data-rendition-name="original" width="750" height="562" loading="lazy" alt="Old Nepal Tokyo NT"> <figcaption>Alooko Achar</figcaption> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241011141044_929ded9b7be75beec3295351aaee06d976869d950f70c3166eb93224e9f27c5b.jpg" data-media-id="editor_7" data-image-id="20241011141044_929ded9b7be75beec3295351aaee06d976869d950f70c3166eb93224e9f27c5b" data-rendition-name="original" width="750" height="562" loading="lazy" alt="Old Nepal Tokyo NT"> <figcaption>Nepali spices in Old Nepal Tokyo.</figcaption> </figure>  “Nepali food is what it is because of its distinctive aroma,” says Honda, “and much of this has to do with spices unique to Nepal like jimbu and timur.” Honda’s love affair with Nepal began in Kobe in 2007 when he started working at a Nepali restaurant. He got so passionately involved that he wanted to dive deep into the diverse cuisine of this Himalayan nation that he hadn't even visited yet.&nbsp; “If I were to cook Nepali food better, I decided I had to visit the country,” Honda recalls. “I did, and returned to Kobe with new inspiration.”&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241011141048_b30dcf5c610d1c2cd48a21c30501deb65c3a14fabf6ce7d38f97af5d56baf41b.jpg" data-media-id="editor_8" data-image-id="20241011141048_b30dcf5c610d1c2cd48a21c30501deb65c3a14fabf6ce7d38f97af5d56baf41b" data-rendition-name="original" width="750" height="562" loading="lazy" alt="Old Nepal Tokyo NT"> <figcaption>Thukpa</figcaption> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241011141048_a0a11578723afd63f5e0079f7a8124a4ac5b8edd1333b9ab86b8d466119516bf.jpg" data-media-id="editor_9" data-image-id="20241011141048_a0a11578723afd63f5e0079f7a8124a4ac5b8edd1333b9ab86b8d466119516bf" data-rendition-name="original" width="750" height="562" loading="lazy" alt="Old Nepal Tokyo NT"> <figcaption>Chamalko Kulfi</figcaption> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241011141048_35daaa8f7cdaa03837f2250b47865ac74aa8c90efc43982b825dc3487a321abc.jpg" data-media-id="editor_10" data-image-id="20241011141048_35daaa8f7cdaa03837f2250b47865ac74aa8c90efc43982b825dc3487a321abc" data-rendition-name="original" width="750" height="562" loading="lazy" alt="Old Nepal Tokyo NT"> <figcaption>Ghandhau Macha</figcaption> </figure>  Fast forward a few years and he found himself in Osaka, working at a friend’s restaurant called Dal Bhat Shokudo, where most customers were Nepali students. Ryo and Mari continued visiting Nepal often, traversing the mountains and plains from Dolpo to Bardia, in search of special local ingredients and cooking methods.&nbsp; The trips also gave them crucial insight into Nepali society, and how cooks, many of them women and children, are looked down upon.&nbsp; That is how the idea of Old Nepal Tokyo developed – treating Nepali cuisine with dignity and respect by building a fine dining experience around it.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241011141048_89b216a6a67e00ea9ffbe9f9d020637237857afb48548140a2d4a50f3eb100ae.jpg" data-media-id="editor_11" data-image-id="20241011141048_89b216a6a67e00ea9ffbe9f9d020637237857afb48548140a2d4a50f3eb100ae" data-rendition-name="original" width="750" height="562" loading="lazy" alt="Old Nepal Tokyo NT"> <figcaption>Dhok Dhok, Tsampa</figcaption> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241011141048_f69e83781ffbd4f717e54099df18cd453515a942f8d8f6437063c5b93bda3c66.jpg" data-media-id="editor_12" data-image-id="20241011141048_f69e83781ffbd4f717e54099df18cd453515a942f8d8f6437063c5b93bda3c66" data-rendition-name="original" width="750" height="562" loading="lazy" alt="Old Nepal Tokyo NT"> <figcaption>Shyau</figcaption> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241011141048_2ce56f29c8114e57e56ceab115f53ee07c8faea79b27f127445e19d18af52cc7.jpg" data-media-id="editor_13" data-image-id="20241011141048_2ce56f29c8114e57e56ceab115f53ee07c8faea79b27f127445e19d18af52cc7" data-rendition-name="original" width="750" height="562" loading="lazy" alt="Old Nepal Tokyo NT"> <figcaption>Bangur Ko Sekuwa</figcaption> </figure>  &nbsp;“In many ways, Nepal is my business and I was wondering what I could do to give back to the country that has given me so much,” muses Honda, sitting in the Juneli Chiyabari tea room in Patan.&nbsp; “Nepali cooks are not generally considered skilled, and do not make much money. Nepali high-end dining would change that.”&nbsp; Old Nepal Tokyo is a reservation-only, set-menu restaurant, with each course costing upwards of ¥13,000 ($90), and it is listed in the Michelin Guide.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241011141048_71edfab477ff1f5c4ed4878979b6134b6d25674aae0d052d060342583f198560.jpg" data-media-id="editor_14" data-image-id="20241011141048_71edfab477ff1f5c4ed4878979b6134b6d25674aae0d052d060342583f198560" data-rendition-name="original" width="750" height="562" loading="lazy" alt="Old Nepal Tokyo NT"> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241011141052_224a388986379ccc5aac13dabae0f37e67febbf5f4b764cdb1c8c61715a1f084.jpg" data-media-id="editor_15" data-image-id="20241011141052_224a388986379ccc5aac13dabae0f37e67febbf5f4b764cdb1c8c61715a1f084" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Old Nepal Tokyo NT"> <figcaption>Photo: SUMAN NEPALI</figcaption> </figure>  “Most customers here do not know much about Nepal and have never been there,” says Honda, “but after eating here, they cannot wait to visit Nepal.”&nbsp; Ryo and Mari eventually want to open a fine-dining Nepali restaurant in Nepal itself. They have published a Nepali recipe book in Japanese. One of the items in it is of a festival-themed dessert, called Tihar, that uses marigold, juju dhau and methi syrup. &nbsp; Honda also experimented with making timur beer, and is now selling it in cans at the restaurant. The reviews are good. Newari cuisine is Honda’s favourite among Nepal's cuisine. “It has similarities to the food from Kobe. We also use a lot of internal organs,” he laughs. &nbsp;

A taste of old Nepal in Tokyo

The Kosi River that flows down from Nepal into India used to be called ‘The Sorrow of Bihar’ because of the floods that historically inundated large parts of the state during the monsoon. Now, it is the Kosi’s tributary Rosi that has become the ‘The Sorrow of Nepal’. But unlike the Kosi, the floods last week on the Rosi had more to do with unregulated quarrying and sand-mining in its catchment and much less with heavy monsoon rains. The Rosi is a small stream at its source below the eastern slope of Pulchoki, which at 2,763m is the highest peak on the rim of Kathmandu Valley. By the time it reaches<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/review/ancient-panauti-s-french-connection" target="_blank"> Panauti</a>, the mountains flanking the river are mutilated by numerous quarries that crush stones to feed the capital’s construction boom. &nbsp; Read also: <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/Vacuum-in-the-villages,1296?fbclid=IwY2xjawFw0mNleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHVa26RvHf8pdcLQPxzP1wBs2aANS78zzDo7dSTleUTNxrxXIq8io6-ujPw_aem_DwMs9OcYoGReKiWJLVYjlg">Vacuum in the villages</a>, Kunda Dixit in Kavre On the other side of Pulchoki on the west is <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=3743" target="_blank">Lele, quarries</a> have also scarred the mountains in the catchment of the Nakkhu Khola that flows into Lalitpur and joins the Bagmati River near Chobhar (see map).  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241007151040_a99993c5825e7faa8d0648832620d379500b4389987ccc590acce290c4d3784e.png" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="20241007151040_a99993c5825e7faa8d0648832620d379500b4389987ccc590acce290c4d3784e" data-rendition-name="original" width="1114" height="755" loading="lazy" alt="Rosi Khola flood"> <figcaption>NASA satellite image on 29 September showing new snow and swollen rivers.</figcaption> </figure>  The Pulchoki catchment received more than 800mm of rain on 27-28 September – half the annual average for Kathmandu Valley. There was no way the Rosi and the Nakkhu Rivers could handle such record-breaking rain. But whereas after previous heavy monsoons, the water just spread into the floodplain, both the rivers are now constricted into narrow channels with new settlements, warehouses, poultry farms and garages along the banks. Added to this, the quarries, sand and boulder mining in the upstream watershed have increased the velocity of the water, and added a heavy sediment load into the flood waters.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241007111016_09c6e62f9bb53ac993b0216646b0c2bc09f64c8b53420fe3d86a0bf81d58731c.jpg" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="20241007111016_09c6e62f9bb53ac993b0216646b0c2bc09f64c8b53420fe3d86a0bf81d58731c" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1334" loading="lazy" alt="Kosi Khola flood"> <figcaption>There are 22 crusher companies and stone mining operations along the Rosi Khola Valley (top). Panauti and quarries in the Rosi watershed in this Google Map image taken in May 2024 (below). </figcaption> </figure>  The main cause of the massive death and destruction in both the Nakkhu and Rosi valleys last week was because the rivers were forced to flow through narrow channels, and the debris-filled waters swept into the populated floodplains. “After two days of heavy rain, the slopes with the open stone mining were saturated and they just melted,” recalls Purshottam Adhikari, chair of Ward 2 of <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/electing-better-future,3714" target="_blank">Panauti Municipality</a> where 23 people were killed. Panauti is a 13th century Newar town situated in the fertile Rosi Valley, situated 40km east of Kathmandu. The Shiva temple at the tri-junction of the Rosi with Punyamati and the mythical Lilamati is where the Makar Mela is held in January every 12 years.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024100711108_9569f6828fabd2361b12a54c16e4fbcfe10b45e7c7575de7dce85c9df68bd454.jpg" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="2024100711108_9569f6828fabd2361b12a54c16e4fbcfe10b45e7c7575de7dce85c9df68bd454" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="999" loading="lazy" alt="Rosi Khola NT"> <figcaption>Panauti with the Rosi in happier times. Photo: PRASHANT SHRESTHA</figcaption> </figure>  It appears as if the holy rivers took revenge for the desecration of the natural environment. By Saturday morning 28 September, the turbid brown Rosi had ravaged the town, taking away an entire hospital, many homes, schools, temples, bridges, and crops. “We had never such destruction before, we have not even been able to assess all the destruction,” says Dinesh Lama, chair of Panauti Municpality. Shocked residents <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/flood-of-despair" target="_blank">surveying the damage</a> murmur that the gods must have been angered. They say the river has transformed their town’s topography. Said one: “This destruction is much worse than the 2015 earthquake.”  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024100711108_7f8c74ba6e7dd56c29daa57082058646f7822d2dcf2f16f61aa67c308e9c269f.jpg" data-media-id="editor_8" data-image-id="2024100711108_7f8c74ba6e7dd56c29daa57082058646f7822d2dcf2f16f61aa67c308e9c269f" data-rendition-name="original" width="1280" height="960" loading="lazy" alt="Rosi Khola NT"> <figcaption>Tipper trucks owned by crusher companies were swept away along with homes, roads and bridges along the Rosi. Photo: ARCHANA DARJI</figcaption> </figure>  Adapted from the <a href="https://www.himalkhabar.com/news/143083">Nepali original</a> published on <a href="https://www.himalkhabar.com/">himalkhabar.com</a>.

The revenge of the rivers

Lovers of all things pizza must have tried Kathmandu’s very own <a href="https://www.fireandicepizzeria.com">Fire and Ice Pizzeria</a> at least once. They will, now that the restaurant was featured recently in The New York Times’ <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/05/dining/readers-favorite-pizza.html">15 of Our Readers’ Favourite Pizza Places Around the World</a>. It’s their Pepperoni and Mozzarella pizzas that made the cut. A comment in NYT reads: ‘Italian pizza by Italian owner using local ingredients in just about the last place you’d imagine. An expat’s treasure.’ Fire and Ice founder and long-time Kathmandu resident <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/napoli-nepali">Annamaria Forgione</a> disagrees: “It is not just expats. Fire and Ice is what it is today because of our Nepali guests. And tourists are here only for two weeks.”&nbsp; Forgione came to Nepal from Napoli via Venezuela and Britain, and her popular pizzeria has been at the same spot in Thamel for three decades. Nepali five-year-olds who used to accompany their parents to the pizzeria in the 1990s now come with their own children. Loyal customers say the quality and taste of the pizzas have remained consistent for 30 years in the original Thamel spot and at new outlets in Sanepa, Kolkata and Colombo.&nbsp; Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/review/nepal-cook-book">Nepal cook book</a>, Kunda Dixit  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241003091048_66cd7cb1dd79042b3c7aef7b3925c585711417be4362f40c185ae9fa789e9920.jpg" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="20241003091048_66cd7cb1dd79042b3c7aef7b3925c585711417be4362f40c185ae9fa789e9920" data-rendition-name="original" width="1000" height="1778" loading="lazy" alt="Fire and Ice NT 2"> </figure>  Forgione says three-fourths of her guests in Thamel and Sanepa are Nepalis, but one recent evening every table was taken up by trekkers devouring slices.&nbsp; There have been celebrity customers: Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulla Al Thani of Qatar who summited Mt Everest in 2013, Italian climber and helicopter rescue pilot Simone Moro, and Hollywood actor Richard Gere.&nbsp; Even former Crown Prince Dipendra used to walk over from Narayanhiti Palace in the evenings, sit at a corner table, and have his gelato. &nbsp; Forgione’s family is originally from Napoli but migrated to Venezuela when she was young. Her father later took the young Annamaria to her aunt in Milan who ran a hotel and casino. She then worked with the Italian Embassy in London, but soon got bored. Her husband got a job as a teacher in Kathmandu, and asked her to join him. She did not know where Kathmandu was.&nbsp; “I will never forget 16 September 1988, getting off the plane in Kathmandu,” Forgione recalls. “The mountains were all out. I just stood there on the stairs and stared, blocking the other passengers. This country was like heaven, I want that Nepal back.” Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/review/nepali-vegan">Nepali Vegan</a>, Sahina Shrestha  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20241003091048_9e0708966f2fd2ed621b268986652b9aa1e3fd6cbda3f6004dfb73ab3b24a989.jpg" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="20241003091048_9e0708966f2fd2ed621b268986652b9aa1e3fd6cbda3f6004dfb73ab3b24a989" data-rendition-name="original" width="1400" height="930" loading="lazy" alt="Fire and Ice NT 3"> <figcaption>Forgione with the original staff in 1995 in Thamel. </figcaption> </figure>  She started selling Italian tomato sauce at the Summit Hotel Sunday market in Sanepa. That eventually led to Fire and Ice Pizzeria and Ice Cream Parlour where Forgione kneaded the dough for pizzas and worked the Carpigiani herself.&nbsp; Some of the more popular pizzas over the years have been Margarita, Ettore (chicken mushroom topping named after a friend) and the colourfully-anointed Rompipalle (spicy meat sauce).&nbsp; But why are pizzas so popular around the world? “Pizza is such a welcoming, comfort food which you can share and eat in a group,” Forgione explains.&nbsp; Fire and Ice has also been an excellent training ground for Nepali chefs and waiters, many of whom have gone overseas. One chef now earns $1,000 a month in a pizzeria in Saudi Arabia. Forgione’s next project is to open a Fire and Ice outlet in her tiny village in Essex. “My neighbourhood there is quiet, no tall buildings, just people walking their dogs. But it doesn’t have a good pizza place,” she says.&nbsp; And after that? “I can’t see myself not working. Perhaps a Fire and Ice in Pokhara or Khumbu?” &nbsp;&nbsp; Read Also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/flavours-from-nepal">Flavours from Nepal</a>, Prashanta Khanal

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