<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110912114/636b89b79c7e80680e06b1fejpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1016" height="970"/>I have been home alone in my apartment in Shanghai ever since lock-down was announced in China on 27 January. At first, it was a roller coaster of emotions: fear, panic, anger, gratitude, anxiety, loneliness. But now there is peace and calm as I understand myself better and deepened my relationships with others. I have gained clarity on what matters most to me, and found the courage to live the life I had always meant to.Friends around the world have themselves entered self-quarantine since, and many are struggling with how to manage their thoughts and emotions. What I have learned from my two months in lockdown could help.<a style="font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/covid-19-both-danger-and-opportunity/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">COVID-19: Both danger and opportunity</a>, Marcia Chen<ol><li>Give yourself permission to be a human being.</li></ol>When the coronavirus first struck China and the counts of infected and dead rose alarmingly, I entered a deep panic. Afraid of drowning in my emotions, I forced myself to stay calm.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110912114/636b89ba9c7e80680e06b1ffjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="568">On my tenth day of quarantine on 7 February, I read about the death of whistle blower Dr Li Wenliang. This unlocked the floodgates and I cried for a long time, feeling the fears within me and the loss to the world from all the deaths. I finally allowed myself to embrace my feelings and to let them follow their natural course. The next day, I felt much lighter and, when I met with a group of friends online, I found that I had not been alone in these experiences.You do not need to force yourself to be calm or unaffected. We are all human. When you experience sadness, frustration, anxiety, or pain, tell yourself that what you are feeling is okay. This difficult time has taught me that when I acknowledge my own fears, I give others the courage to acknowledge their own. When we all allow ourselves to be human beings, then we also open the way for authentic communication between us.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110912114/636b89bc9c7e80680e06b200jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="752"><ol start="2"><li>Focus on what you can do and let go of what you cannot</li></ol>At first I felt helpless. Medical workers were risking their lives fighting the coronavirus and I felt guilty for being safe and sound indoors and not contributing like they were. I blamed myself for not doing enough and drove myself into a worse state of health both mentally and physically.I later came to the realise that by self-quarantining and keeping myself safe, I was doing my part to prevent further spread of the virus and to spare medical resources that could save other lives. Give yourself credit for self-quarantining: the curve of infection flattened in China after the country started quarantining and this is strong evidence that the measure works.Instead of thinking about what you cannot do, shift your attention to what you can do. I can have a healthy schedule that includes enough sleep, eating healthily and exercising regularly. I can call my mother and give her virtual company and I can check in on family and friends on the phone. I can support a colleague in need. I can give extra tips to the people who deliver food to me, and can leave thank-you notes for security guards who keep my building safe.I can also help people beyond my immediate circle, donate to charities that are fighting the coronavirus. I can join volunteer groups to offer help online to people struggling with their emotions at this time. I can write this article to share my learning and to do what I can to spread positivity.<ol start="3"><li>Practice social-media distancing to maintain mental well-being.</li></ol>At first, I spent hours reading news and updates on social media. This made me very anxious and I would later blame myself for my miserable state. When I became more aware of what I was doing, I started ‘social-media distancing’, checking my phone only at certain times during the day and focusing instead on being present in the moment. The shift brought me so much peace and it did the same for friends of mine who also made this choice.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110912114/636b89be9c7e80680e06b201jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="491">You are the information you consume. You cannot expect to consume a large portion of anxious news and still feel at peace at the end of the day. Be conscious of what you are feeding yourself mentally and emotionally.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110912114/636b89c19c7e80680e06b202jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="438"><ol start="4"><li>Be here now</li></ol>The most important lesson I learned during my ten-day Vipassana meditation course in Nepal was that the only thing that is guaranteed in life is change. Everything is ever-changing, so if we want to be at peace, we must make friends with change.This means being willing to be in the present moment. Instead of pining for the days when we could go out freely, hug friends and travel, instead of getting lost in thoughts of the past or the future, what would it be like if we could be completely present in this moment that is happening right now, and be open to what it brings?Mindfulness teaches that the most important time is now and the most important thing to do is to be in the present moment. We can nurture this ability by practicing meditation.We meditate not to become good meditators, but to become more present and aware in life. In these moments of uncertainty, it is important to cultivate our awareness so that we can create a space to be aware of events without reacting. It is this space that makes us able to respond to whatever happens in our lives as our best selves. As David Foster Wallace wrote in his book This is Water, true freedom comes from knowing that you always have options. If I could give you only one piece of advice right now, it would be to start meditating. There are plenty of resources online to get you started.<ol start="5"><li>Nurture your relationship with whoever you are with now</li></ol>During quarantine, you may be ‘stuck’ with only a few people, be they parents, grandparents,  children, partner, housemate or, as in my case, yourself. This is a time to connect deeply and nurture your relationship with those people.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110912114/636b89c49c7e80680e06b203jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="436">In the busy modern lives we have lived, each of us has always had our own agenda to follow, our own bucket list of things to do, our own personal ambitions to fulfill. Spending time with our families does not tend to be a priority. The coronavirus has cleared that obstacle for us. It has brought us the unexpected gift of precious time with people dear to us.Nurture your relationship with the people you are in quarantine with. Use this time to get to know each other better. Do things together that you each enjoy. You may be surprised by the depth of connection that you find. And whether or not you are in quarantine alone, know that the most important relationship in your life is your relationship with yourself. As with others, in this relationship as well, learn new ways of being, learn to listen more deeply, and learn to connect more authentically and to show more vulnerability. It is the relationships that enrich our lives.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110912114/636b89c79c7e80680e06b204jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="447"><ol start="6"><li>Stay connected</li></ol>Modern life has trained us to live in isolation, encouraged us to compete rather than collaborate, to be independent rather than interdependent, to be individualistic rather than community-minded. The coronavirus has taught us the opposite. We have learned from our time in isolation that human beings crave deep, authentic connection much more than we crave material gain. Staying connected will be indispensable for you during your time in quarantine.You may be alone in quarantine, but it is an opportunity to stay in touch with loved ones normally beyond your daily reach. You are limited in your location, but not in your connections. While I normally spend time with the people closest at hand, the quarantine had me deepening my connections with dear friends in Singapore, Colombia, Mexico, the US, and the UK. And with these and other friends I organised online music sharing, poetry reading, a peer cooking class, a 7am meditation class, and a weekly humanity sharing talk.<ol start="7"><li>Slow down and reflect</li></ol>We operate in hyper mode: get up, get dressed, commute, grab a coffee, work all day and come back home tired, having had little time to connect with ourselves and with our families. The coronavirus made us stop and see how we had lost ourselves in the busy-ness. With everything at a standstill, people stopped being cogs in a machine and returned to being human beings. No longer on autopilot, I too was able to step outside of my programming and to live more consciously, to make more deliberate choices.Slowing down has meant making time to do things I had always wanted to do. Whereas before I had made the excuse of not having enough time, now it was very hard for me to do that. And so, I have started to write a personal blog, I have read books that I have always wanted to read, I am learning to play the ukulele, I am learning yoga chanting, and I am doing 1-2 hours of yoga and meditation every day.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110912114/636b89ca9c7e80680e06b205jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="582" height="960">I have realised that there is no knowing when our lives will come to an end. I decided I must lead the life I had always longed for instead of putting it off for another time.<ol start="8"><li>Exercise regularly</li></ol><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110912114/636b89cc9c7e80680e06b206jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1372" height="402">Staying physically active is important to maintaining mental and emotional health. My daily yoga routine grounds me, gives me clarity, and keeps me happy. If you do not already have an exercise or yoga practice, there are many free resources online to get you started.Marcia Chen is a business professional based in Shanghai.llustrations by Kaman Louie<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110912114/636b89ce9c7e80680e06b207jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="89" height="103">

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8 ways to keep well during a lockdown

This is the 91st 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. I have still not come to terms with the reality that my daughter Ruby Thakur is now the Deputy Speaker of Nepal’s Parliament. Sometimes, when I am walking, the thought hits me, and I cannot believe it.&nbsp; Things changed for my daughter in a very short time. I had dreamt that the best my daughter could achieve was a good engineering job. Fate had bigger plans for her. She is no longer just my daughter, she is the nation’s daughter. Nepal’s daughter.&nbsp; My children’s education was always my foremost priority. That is the main reason I went overseas for employment. I realised the value of education while working in Saudi Arabia. In my office, colleagues with good education earn $8,000 per month working on computers. Those with low education toil outdoors in the heat for much lower wages. A good education or skills can change everything. I am in Nepal on vacation and will soon return to my job. Ruby is all set now. But I still have to take care of my other children's education. As the eldest son, I myself never got a chance to prioritise my own education. I dropped out in Grade 7 because I had to take care of my ageing parents and younger siblings. I have done all kinds of jobs. I worked in a landlord’s field for a share of the harvest. Even now my wife and I farm for the land owner and have to give away half of what we grow.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20260413120444_051b61e01a5189af538aa1e011acd3e2b38d5f42825116b2afd325d93d0c519b.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="20260413120444_051b61e01a5189af538aa1e011acd3e2b38d5f42825116b2afd325d93d0c519b" data-rendition-name="original" width="4032" height="2268" loading="lazy" alt="DD"> <figcaption>Sogarath Thakur during a break in Nepal with wife tending to his farm.</figcaption> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20260413120448_8a1c3ac3fd559026bc6f981cc8dc82cb8ad09a3a4f55fb9f6f7fd5f49c3d5571.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20260413120448_8a1c3ac3fd559026bc6f981cc8dc82cb8ad09a3a4f55fb9f6f7fd5f49c3d5571" data-rendition-name="original" width="4032" height="2268" loading="lazy" alt="DD"> </figure>  Then I worked as a barber, my family’s line of occupation. I went door to door cutting people’s hair and later worked in a relative’s saloon. Hairstyles were simple back then, and I got to keep half the fee. I also worked in a brick factory where I was paid weekly. &nbsp; I married when I was 16, and my wife was a year younger. As my family and responsibilities grew, I had to migrate leaving behind my three children including Ruby who was just three months old.&nbsp; I went to Qatar where I continued working as a barber. It was a large saloon and the standards for cleanliness and professionalism were higher. I had to hand over 70% of my daily earnings to the employer. I had to rely on my colleague to translate what the customer wanted. But I slowly became fluent in Arabic. I used to jot down words in Nepali and Arabic and memorise them. In Qatar, customers even came at night for haircuts, and people stayed up late. I would work till 3AM.&nbsp; Communicating with my family was one-way. I would go to Bismillah and ask someone to type out questions to my family about their whereabouts, how the harvest was that season. I would offer very little information about my life in Qatar because it was not easy. What was the point of getting them all worried? What could they do? I never received a letter in return, so throughout my time in Qatar, I never knew how my family was faring. When I appeared in the village after five years without any advance notice, it was a bittersweet reunion, and I had no gifts. I still remember how unfamiliar my village felt when I came home after so many years. I had to ask for directions. When I came home, Ruby was already in school. I had left her in my wife’s arms five years prior. I missed her growing up, and did not even see her pictures. My wife had to introduce her to me as her father. But it took just 15 minutes for her to warm up to me.&nbsp; The Arabic skills I had picked up in Qatar came in handy when I remigrated two years later to Saudi Arabia. I worked as a labourer in the desert heat, but once my company found out I spoke Arabic, I was hired for an indoor job as an office boy. The struggle in Qatar had paid off. I worked in an air conditioned office serving tea or coffee, doing bank runs or getting documents signed and photocopied. I have worked in the same company for the past 20 years, sending money home.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20260413120448_f083fa873a6d77b19c8b0bdde623415c643a151fb550c57ff4e52b3c2431355f.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20260413120448_f083fa873a6d77b19c8b0bdde623415c643a151fb550c57ff4e52b3c2431355f" data-rendition-name="original" width="5712" height="3213" loading="lazy" alt="DD"> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20260413120452_5ccd9a01ee05ce26b71381725108215d0f0d3806508b0cb482aabcfea09bbaef.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="20260413120452_5ccd9a01ee05ce26b71381725108215d0f0d3806508b0cb482aabcfea09bbaef" data-rendition-name="original" width="4032" height="3024" loading="lazy" alt="DD"> </figure>  My wife is not just my children’s guardian, but also mine throughout the two decades I was away. I trust her with all my earnings, and she manages our household finances well. She makes sure that the children’s school fees and other expenses are paid on time. These days, with video calls, things have become much easier for me to stay in touch with home.&nbsp; When Ruby told me she wanted to do an engineering diploma, I was happy. Later, her friends inspired her to join politics so she started getting involved with Shram Sanskriti Party. I first found out she got the proportional representation nomination through social media while on my work duty in Saudi Arabia. I was so excited, but even more so when she was elected Deputy Speaker. I was back home in Dhanusha on my vacation at the time.&nbsp; We are overjoyed and waiting for her to come back to the village for a visit when she gets a chance so we can celebrate properly with everyone. I plan to go back to Saudi Arabia as originally planned, I have a good job and will work for maybe five more years. Ruby has taken 75% of the load off my back. She can help take care of her siblings.&nbsp; I sleep at 8PM every day and wake up at 5AM to exercise before my day in Saudi Arabia begins – I have stuck to the same routine for the last two decades and it has worked well for me and my health. I have a good rapport with my boss who is an Egyptian. My requests to resign have often been met with counter-offers to stay on. My honesty and hard work have won me the company's trust. I will go back and resume working as I have, despite my daughter’s huge achievements. I am still a farmer’s son, a simple man who has to fulfil his family responsibilities. My colleagues in Saudi Arabia are aware that Ruby is Deputy Speaker in Nepal’s Parliament, they are all happy for me and have congratulated me. This time, when I go back, I have promised them that I will throw a bakhri party to celebrate my daughter’s achievement.

The nation’s daughter

At 6 feet and one inch, Hira Bahadur Ghalan was exceptionally tall for a Nepali. In 1936, when people came to his Tamang village near Tistung looking for porters, they recruited him on the spot. This was no ordinary job, Hira Bahadur would lead gangs of 30 or more porters to carry cars bought by Rana rulers from Bhimphedi to Kathmandu.&nbsp; Those were the days when the only motorable roads in Nepal were in Kathmandu, but the capital was not connected to anywhere else by road. So, before cars could carry people, people had to carry cars. More Nepalis had carried cars than ridden in one. The porters were paid Rs5 for the job, and sometimes the Rana owners gave Hira Bahadur a Rs25 baksheesh. One of the cars his community helped carry was a 1939 Daimler Benz gifted by Adolf Hitler to King Tribhuvan to woo Nepal away from the British. The rusted dusty vehicle is now in the Narayanhiti Palace Museum.&nbsp; Hira Bahadur hauled cars for 25 years until his knees gave way, he died at age 90 eight years ago — the last surviving car porters of Nepal from Chitlang Valley.&nbsp; Hira Bahadur Ghalan had three sons and three daughters, one of them is Maila Kaji Lama, who at age 68, is a chauffeur in Kathmandu. His son, Manjil Lama is a pilot with Summit Air, flying to remote Himalayan airstrips. Three generations of one family worked in professions that followed a century of transportation history in Nepal. &nbsp; After the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/the-long-and-winding-road-to-india">Tribhuvan Rajpath was finished in 1957</a> and the ropeway upgraded, Hira Bahadur was out of a job. He tilled the family farm, watching trucks and buses headed to and from Kathmandu on the hairpins.&nbsp; As a child, Maila Kaji was fascinated by cars and wished one day to be able to drive one. After he failed Grade 8, he came to Kathmandu in 1975 and got a Rs20/month job at a petrol station in Maiti Devi. “I watched King Birendra’s coronation and was impressed by the glamour of Kathmandu, and decided to stay here,” Maila Kaji says.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2026041816040_a1a41e47dec8500727702f700e43af625f059043cbcd283f13b247344b3a20aa.png" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="2026041816040_a1a41e47dec8500727702f700e43af625f059043cbcd283f13b247344b3a20aa" data-rendition-name="original" width="1974" height="1608" loading="lazy" alt="car carriers"> <figcaption>Maila Kaji</figcaption> </figure>  Former minister Ramesh Nath Pandey used to bring his Volkswagen Beetle to the station, and Maila Kaji started taking care of his car. Later, he drove a Russian Jeep for former minister and geographer Harka Gurung. Along the way, he fell in love with the daughter of a Brahmin colleague, and married her. “My father back in Tistung did not approve of our inter-ethnic marriage, and not speak to me for five years,” Maila Kaji recalls. Manjil Lama grew up in Kathmandu, and did well in science in school. He had wanted to go the US to become a pilot like his friends, but was denied a visa.&nbsp; “The visa officer told him I did not earn enough,” says Maila Kaji, “so I sold some property and sent Manjil to flying school in the Philippines.”  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2026041816040_e9091162840baa6d182de2d7cc6f09e43ec9cfd9a9b6e71e7e7b14bc72da3537.png" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="2026041816040_e9091162840baa6d182de2d7cc6f09e43ec9cfd9a9b6e71e7e7b14bc72da3537" data-rendition-name="original" width="1434" height="1754" loading="lazy" alt="car carriers"> <figcaption>Manjil Lama</figcaption> </figure>  After returning to Nepal, Manjil Lama now flies Let 410s of Summit Air to difficult air strips like Lukla and Simkot, and has logged over 2,000 hours. He has to go to the Czech Republic regularly for simulator training. Says Maila Kaji Lama: “My father worked hard carrying cars to raise us, I started from scratch to become a driver to support my family, and my son is now a pilot with experience in flying in the world’s toughest terrain.” &nbsp; Watch <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvT3iTi8yw4" target="_blank">video clip from S Dillon Ripley here</a>.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20260419020448_40f8b1bdaace08106ca5c24819b6e7a34fb2109a9a3ec5c6ac179b3309e686ed.png" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="20260419020448_40f8b1bdaace08106ca5c24819b6e7a34fb2109a9a3ec5c6ac179b3309e686ed" data-rendition-name="original" width="900" height="1582" loading="lazy" alt="car carriers"> </figure>

Grandfather carried cars, son drives cars, grandson flies planes

Nepalis are insured but not covered

The series Nepal Made profiles Nepali products and the people who make them possible. Named after the mythical bird-like creature, GarudX is Nepal’s first precision manufacturer of UAV platforms. They offer a wide range of drone products and services. Last month, GarudX won first place at the US-Nepal Startup Weekend Challenge, a three-day accelerator-style program that gathered 25 of Nepal’s most promising early-stage companies. These include custom drones, cinematography, virtual tours, first-person-view (FPV), drone racing, 3D reconstruction, ground control software, and drone light shows. “I think they liked that we pitched the company as a Drone Enterprise System, as a company providing large-scale, integrated drone services,” says Dipawoli Malla, an AI software engineer with GarudX. The company sees a lot of potential in AI-based aerial computer vision, which is already used for infrastructure planning and land surveys, and could be vital in tracking wildlife poachers and assisting search and rescue during disasters. “Our vision for the company has always been to be the one stop solution for every drone problem,” says GarudX CEO Avash Thapa, who also oversees video production. Drones have gained high profile in the past five years due to their widespread adoption in war. While they do work with the Nepali army, GarudX wants to focus on the idea of drone for good. For Nepal, the potential is great for civilian applications especially because of the country’s terrain. Past efforts have been experimental, like a project to deliver tuberculosis treatment in Piuthan in 2019, and for wildlife censuses in Chitwan. Journalists now regularly use drone footage to get a bird’s-eye view for investigative stories on illegal sand-mining or delays in infrastructure projects. Drones were vital during the GenZ protests last September, in which aerial videos provided clues about what actually happened when the crowd surged towards Parliament. They also captured the dramatic aftermath of the destruction of government buildings featured in this paper. “A lot of people do not know or appreciate that drones are also made in Nepal,” notes Malla. “We export a lot of technology as software. It is a big achievement that we can also export hardware.” GarudX was informally started and active on social media since 2018, and officially registered as GarudX Multipurpose in 2024. Founder and Managing Director Adarsha Raj Bhusal had experience working with robotics and FPV drones when he launched the company, as an engineering group interested in custom-built high-performance aerial robotics. “I design our products,” says Bhusal. “We send designs to China where they are manufactured as individual parts. Costs are low when importing from China. Then we assemble and sell them here. It's a system that works well for us.” Among the UAVs GarudX makes include the Skyreaper, which is a long-range drone with advanced obstacle sensing; the GX8 Pyro which is Nepal’s first cinema-grade cinelifter; and the Aether Zoom which is a 4K UAV camera designed for tactical, industrial, or reconnaissance missions.  <figure><img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20260417150440_d9f36b32e0b4d65dedded3e705aa7bf8769fd72417fc53669e77ce7a32f8ccd1.webp" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="20260417150440_d9f36b32e0b4d65dedded3e705aa7bf8769fd72417fc53669e77ce7a32f8ccd1" data-rendition-name="original" width="960" height="1280" loading="lazy" alt="garudx"></figure>  NO CERTIFICATION The main obstacle to GarudX's growth has been the lack of a national certification system. Permits to use drones are convoluted and require applications to various government agencies. “We miss out on so many international projects, for national park footage for example, since there is no way to get our drones registered — even after the army thoroughly checks our craft,” says Adarsha Raj Bhusal. GarudX says it now has the capacity to export its drones overseas at competitive prices, but Nepal does not have a registration system in place. “We can’t legally ship them,” says Avaya Pokharel, Chief Operating Officer who oversees service and repairs. With a new RSP government in place with an ambitious blueprint for digitisation, things could soon change. Relevant bodies are the Home Ministry, the Civil Aviation Authority and the Ministry of Defence because of privacy, aviation safety and national security issues. “There are meetings going on, and there is hope that progress will be made. Of course we want certification to be easy, but it is hard for the government as they have to understand the technology and what is coming in future,” says Bhusal. Legislation could look like a Remote ID system to register every drone. It could also specify pilot verification, placing limitations on what a pilot can do based on their skill level. It could also look at revising drone policies in the capital. Most of Kathmandu Valley is technically a no-fly zone for drones at present because of the concentration of government buildings, army bases and the international airport flight path. To comply with current regulations, GarudX has focused on lightweight FPV drones: small, nimble craft that can be maneuvered at high speed in tight spaces, operated by a pilot wearing immersive goggles. This results in exciting fast-paced footage, particularly useful for clients like Redbull or vehicle companies. “It feels like you are flying,” testifies Bhusal, who has flown FPV for commercials and movies, and ranks way ahead of runner ups in drone races. His work can be seen @adars_fpv on Instagram. The company has built a community of FPV drone racers, and is working with the government to certify it as a sports competition. It holds race events at colleges in Kathmandu and also consults for FPV events in in India.  <figure><img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20260417150440_43b27b1b6890e47028c5e780c2ed0147a057f625d9d551221ddbd504dc03a356.png" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20260417150440_43b27b1b6890e47028c5e780c2ed0147a057f625d9d551221ddbd504dc03a356" data-rendition-name="original" width="923" height="619" loading="lazy" alt="garudx"></figure>  MULTIPURPOSE Drones can be versatile tools, but they are particularly helpful in Nepal and the Himalaya. Powerful drones have been used for the last two years to transport ropes and ladders up Mt Everest to reduce the dangers on the Khumbu Icefall, and to bring trash down. If scaled with many pilots and drones, this could be a complete solution to the Everest trash problem while massively reducing risk to human lives. GarudX has also tested its products in the mountains. A recent blog entry on their website is titled, ‘Flying at 6,120m: What We Learned Testing Drones on Lobuche Peak’. They document the process of using different battery tricks and propellers to see what combination allows for more flight time in the thin, cold air. It is refreshing to see a Nepali company making such progress in a unique industry while also documenting advances.

lockdownlife

8 ways to keep well during a lockdown

The nation’s daughter

Grandfather carried cars, son drives cars, grandson flies planes

Nepalis are insured but not covered

Nepal drone startup takes off