<img width="800" height="1067" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110813114/636a466b9c7e80680e04d3d8jpeg.jpg" alt=""/>During her recent two-week road trip from Kathmandu to Delhi and back, people who had heard of Pushpa Lata Acharya’s journey through YouTube lined up by the highway to greet her as she roared past on her Royal Enfield Bullet motorcycle.At every stop along the East-West Highway there were long queues of youngsters who wanted to take selfies with the easy-riding grandmother astride her powerful 350cc Bullet.The 61-year-old is an <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/sportsmen-nepal-mountain-climbing-bike-racing,1655" target="_blank" rel="noopener">avid biker</a> and has travelled to 70 districts across the country on her preferred mode of transport. On this journey, she rode the 700km Delhi-Agra-Lucknow circuit on a single day, averaging 400km every other day. She travelled the 3,200km roundtrip with her son Andip and his friends, but met them only at the end of each day, preferring to ride on her own.Read also:<a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/page/i-just-ride-pokhara-to-tansen" target="_blank" rel="noopener">I just ride</a>, Meghna Bai<a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/biking-to-muktinath-mustang,3341" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Vroom Vroom</a>, Samriddhi Rai“There is just something about travelling alone, being independent  and carefree,” says Acharya, who is now busy planning a Mechi-Mahakali motorcycle traverse of the country from east to west.Acharya first learned to drive two and four wheelers in 1988. By 1997, she was riding a Yamaha RX on the streets of Kathmandu, and since then has changed her ‘ride’ three times.  She bought her latest, the Bullet, in 2017 for Rs600,000.Acharya says she never liked being a pillion rider, but used to ride on the back when her husband Atma Ram Acharya was still alive. When he died five years ago, she defied custom by not wearing traditional white. Many bad-mouthed Pushpa Lata, but she is the type who doesn’t care what others say about her.  <img width="800" height="1067" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110813114/636a466e9c7e80680e04d3d9jpeg.jpg" alt="">Read also:<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/hop-over-the-gender-gap/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Hop over the gender gap</a>, Reeti K.C.<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/anita-and-the-art-of-motorcycle-maintenance/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Anita and the art of motorcycle maintenance</a>, Taylor MasonThis sense of independence and empowerment is her personality, and through motorcycle trips she has become an inspiration for other, much younger, Nepali women. Acharya is also demonstrating to Nepali widows that life does not stop after the death of their partners, and they should live life to the fullest.Pushpa Lata has been undertaking ever more adventurous trips on her Bullet, and is showing no signs of slowing down. Besides cross-country and cross-border journeys, she also uses her two-wheeler to distribute books to schools in rural areas whenever she is free.Preparing to drive off from Kathmandu to her parental home in Ramgha of Lamjung recently, she told us: “Every time I ride, it is with the message that each and every woman should take a step up to rise above their station in life.”

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Motorcycle Grandma

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=087QDbzzKCMMost residents of Kathmandu are aware of the <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/editorial/polluted-politics-cartels,3533" target="_blank" rel="noopener">dust and smoke</a> in the air, but few know that their masks do not protect them from the poisonous gas emissions from the capital’s ubiquitous motorcycles.Because of the nature of their engines, two-wheeler exhausts give off carbon monoxide, nitrous oxides, and elevate the concentration of street-level ozone. Doctors say these poisonous gases have led to a worrying increase in respiratory ailments, cancers, Alzheimer’s Disease, diabetes and heart attacks.“A few motorcycles would not be so dangerous, but there are now nearly 1 million of them on the city streets and their emission is a great public health hazard,” warns respiratory health expert Raju Pangeni at HAMS Hospital in Dhumbarahi.Although motorcycles burn much <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/page/every-breath-you-take-air-pollution" target="_blank" rel="noopener">less petrol than four-wheelers</a>, they are up to ten times more polluting per passenger- kilometre than buses and cars. The internal combustion engine of motorcycles is also less efficient, and their exhaust systems lack catalytic converters.Because there are fewer two-wheelers on the roads in the West, emission standards for them are more lax than for four-wheelers. However, in places like Nepal, Vietnam or Indonesia, where motorcycles outnumber cars, their cumulative emissions poison the city's air with noxious gases.Also Read: <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/Highway-robbery,3539" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Highway Robbery</a>, Shreejana Shrestha<a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/regular-columns/Comment/air-quality-data-to-figire-out-what-to-do,841" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Figuring out what to do</a>, Arnico Pande <img width="1400" height="933" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107121144/6368eff39c7e80680e0359a9jpeg.jpg" alt=""/>A recent study showed that up to 2% of<a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=5115#.W0hkqtUzbIU" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> poorly-maintained</a> motorcycles contributed to close to half the total pollution from two-wheelers on Kathmandu’s streets.“The recent spike in cardio-vascular diseases in Kathmandu hospitals is partly a result of slow carbon monoxide poisoning, mainly from motorcycles,” confirms cardiologist Prakash Regmi at Bir Hospital. Residents near congested intersections in Kathmandu with thousands of motorcycles emitting gaseous pollutants are the most at risk (see map).Ozone is the other toxic gas formed when carbon monoxide and nitrous oxides in motorcycle exhaust react in the presence of sunlight with volatile organic carbons. Large parts of Nepal have ground-level ozone in much higher concentrations than the WHO standard in the spring, as per several studies published last year in the journal Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics.Arnico Panday, atmospheric scientist at the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) who co-authored the papers, explains that incomplete combustion of fuel in motorcycles engines gives off carbon monoxide, volatile organic compounds like benzene, and oxides of nitrogen (NOx) which are precursor gases to ground-level ozone -- itself a highly reactive gas that can aggravate chronic respiratory diseases like asthma, bronchitis and emphysema.Also read: <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/increasing-concentration-of-carbon-dioxide-in-atmosphere,1409" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Not business as usual</a>, Nessim J Ahmad and Kaveh Zahedi <img width="900" height="812" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107121144/6368eff79c7e80680e0359aajpeg.jpg" alt="">The studies showed that minor servicing of two-wheelers did not reduce gaseous pollutants much, and motorcycles were a major source of carbon monoxide in <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/air-pollution-decreases-life-span,3999" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Kathmandu Valley air</a>.Public awareness about air pollution has grown in the past two years after suspended dust particles from road-widening and water mains laying work <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/Sick-city,108" target="_blank" rel="noopener">worsened air quality</a> that was already thick with soot particles from diesel exhaust and garbage burning.But only a few commuters interviewed for this article in the past week knew of invisible and odourless gases like carbon monoxide, ozone and nitrous oxides. Nine of ten motorcyclists had no idea about the poisonous gases, and blamed only dust and diesel smoke for poor air quality.<a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/air-pollution-in-Kathmandu,2737" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Kathmandu air pollution levels on most winter mornings</a> are the worst in the world. The hourly Air Quality Index (AQI) from the U.S. Embassy and Phora Darbar stations which feed live into the Nepali Times website is a composite of the concentration of ozone and particles finer than 2.5 microns in the air. The daily averages in this paper (page 10) show AQI is high even during the monsoon, proving that the rains are not enough to clean the air of pollutants. <img width="1400" height="680" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107121144/6368eff99c7e80680e0359abjpeg.jpg" alt="">“Given that 80% of total vehicles today in Nepal are motorcycles and scooters, there should be a mechanism to monitor and control their emissions, like issuing green stickers," says BhusanTuladhar of UN-HABITAT. In the longer term, however, only an <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/regular-columns/guest-editorial/public-transport-is-equal-to-public-health,844" target="_blank" rel="noopener">efficient public transportation service</a> can reduce the number of motorcycles and cars on the roads.Besides Nepal, Vietnam and Indonesia also grapple with two-wheeler congestion and poor air quality. Hanoi is banning scooters by 2030, and China now only allows electric two-wheelers.Energy expert Manjeet Dhakal says there is no sense banning motorcycles in Kathmandu without first offering a convenient alternative: “Two wheelers are polluting and unsafe, but environment-friendly public transport policy should be implementated first.”Moving to electric mass transit, a battery-operated Bus Rapid Transit, and offering tax incentives for electric scooters and motorcycles would be the first step. Experts say the cause of Kathmandu's air pollution is government policy that allowed unlimited vehicle imports so as to generate greater tax revenue. <img width="1400" height="1197" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107121144/6368effd9c7e80680e0359acjpeg.jpg" alt="">“Lack of regulation on motorcycle numbers undermines the government’s own effort to promote zero-emission safa tempos and electric vehicles,” says communications officer Mona Sharma at ICIMOD. With local governments in place after 20 years, priority should also be on ending the monopoly of transportion syndicates so the existing public transport system is streamlined.An already-available alternative could be electric scooters, the prices of which have dropped to Rs138,000 for some models like the Japanese Terra Echo. Chinese-made Niu M1 scooters are costlier, but are stylish and convenient.Both have showrooms in Kathmandu. Tax rebates can bring prices down more.Says cariolodist Prakash Regmi: “The government has to decrease the number of petrol two wheelers, provide better public transport and promote electric vehicles to ensure a healthy future for us all.”Also read: <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=17035#.W0hkptUzbIV" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Lost in the smog,</a> Dewan Rai and Suvayu Dev Pant <h4>SILENT KILLERS</h4> <img width="500" height="401" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107121144/6368f0009c7e80680e0359adjpeg.jpg" alt="">Carbon monoxideCarbon monoxide (CO), a colourless, odourless and tasteless gas found in vehicular exhaust, is so poisonous it is one of the commoner methods of suicide.It is produced from incomplete combustion of fuel, and should not be mistaken for carbon dioxide (CO2) which is a gas essential for plant life while being the primary greenhouse gas warming the Earth.Motorcycles are particularly notorious for producing CO because of the incomplete combustion in their engines. A few recreational motorcycles on the roads may not pose a danger, but when there are 800,000 motorcycles in a city like Kathmandu, it poisons the air we breathe.“Prolonged exposure to carbon monoxide acts as a slow poison, causing various diseases of the heart,” explains cardiologist Prakash Regmi at Bir Hospital.Human blood is red because it contains the iron-rich protein haemoglobin (Hb) in the red corpuscles which has an affinity for oxygen and carries it to various organs and tissues in the body. But haemoglobin has a 240 times greater affinity for carbon monoxide than oxygen. When Hb binds with CO, the blood cannot absorb oxygen, leading to suffocation and eventually death.Kathmandu’s streets normally record 0.0012% CO, which will not kill people outright but can lead to cardiac and lung complications. Says respiratory expert Raju Pangeni at HAMS Hospital: “Carbon monoxide reduces the oxygen carrying capacity of the body, and can have lethal consequences.” <img width="500" height="373" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107121144/6368f0019c7e80680e0359aejpeg.jpg" alt="">OzoneCarbon monoxide, volatile organic compounds and nitrous oxides in motorcycle exhaust go through complex chemical reactions in the presence of sunlight to form ground-level ozone. This is ‘bad’ ozone, and different from ‘good’ stratospheric ozone that blocks harmful solar radiation. The ozone molecule is composed of three atoms of oxygen, unlike the oxygen we breathe which contains two atoms.As traffic increases, bad ozone builds up during warm sunny days, harming lung functions. Kathmandu hospitals have recorded a sharp increase in patients with chronic respiratory diseases, and higher concentration of surface ozone is one of the factors.A 2017 study published in the journal Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics measured ground-level ozone at various points in Kathmandu and found that it was highest in the day, during pre-monsoon months, and at higher altitudes on the Valley rim, exceeding the WHO standard.Says ICIMOD atmospheric scientist Arnico Panday, who co-authored the paper: “Ozone is a growing problem in northern South Asia, and is a threat to both agriculture and human health.”

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Poisoning the air we breathe

Syakar Trading Company the authorized distributor of Honda bikes and scooter in Nepal has launched new packs of Honda Genuine Engine Oil manufactured by Idemitsu Lube India for Nepal. The new packs ensure better lubricity, wear protection, longer engine life and clutch performance for bikes and scooters.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110710110/6368c92d9c7e80680e02f299jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1280" height="960"/>The new engine oil is categorised into two types: for scooter and motorcycle. Honda 4-stroke engine oil SAE 10W-30 JASO MB is used in scooter while, the Honda 4-stroke engine oil SAE 10W-30 JASO MA is used in motorcycle.The Japanese 4-stroke engine oil is superior in quality and environment friendly.

Honda lubrication

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

Turkish Basketball

In the black and white photograph, General Wangdu smiles broadly in front of the dusty cactus garden in Kathmandu’s Annapurna Hotel. With an ill-fitting jacket and shaggy hair he looks benign enough, but this was the last leader of the Tibetan freedom fighters who led the resistance against the Chinese from their remote mountain hideouts in <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/comings-and-goings-in-mustang">Mustang</a>. Five months later, Wangdu was dead. Snapped in March 1974, I had only recently arrived in Nepal. How did I meet this legendary fighter? Possibly with his devoted camp follower, Lynne Klapecki, and probably in the Om Restaurant near Freak Street which was the preferred <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/hippie-trail-nostalgia-in-kathmandu">hippie hang-out</a>. Om Lobsang and his brother Yeshe were <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/page/earthquake-brings-back-memories-of-camps-for-tibetan-refugees">refugees from East Tibet </a>whose cafe offered a friendly welcome and<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/momo-loco"> the best momos</a> - they became my in-laws after I married their eldest brother Tenzin, but that was a decade later.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025052403054_4573b34282b0f5395c007243d6bef12c7ba76bfd520419e994cdcea048d795a1.jpg" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="2025052403054_4573b34282b0f5395c007243d6bef12c7ba76bfd520419e994cdcea048d795a1" data-rendition-name="original" width="1000" height="1583" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> <figcaption>Photo: LISA CHOEGYAL</figcaption> </figure>  Wangdu’s English was enthusiastically rudimentary, but even riding around town with him on the back of an aging <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/kathmandu-s-new-motorbike-museum">motorbike</a>, he was a commanding presence. Always flanked by armed outriders, impressive scars marked his forearms and a pistol hung from the cord around his neck. A charismatic guerrilla leader, Wangdu was celebrated by his followers for his tough commitment and respected for his measured pragmatism. He seemed so young to have shouldered such a responsibility of command, leading hundreds of hardened <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/50-years-after-the%20raid-into-Tibet,1012#google_vignette">Khampa combatants </a>through what had been a particularly <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/heavy-snowfall-over-nepal-himalaya">brutal winter in Mustang</a>, the last bastion to hold out against the Chinese invasion of their Tibetan homeland.&nbsp; The freedom fighters of Tibet, known as the Chushi-Gangdruk, had emerged to resist the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/territorialism">Chinese takeover</a> of Tibet during the 1950s. Estimated to be 80,000-strong at the time of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/what-or-who-after-the-dalai-lama">the Dalai Lama</a>’s final escape to India in 1959, the sheer number of Chinese deployed into Tibet eventually forced the Chushi-Gangdruk to retreat to Mustang, From this high Himalayan stronghold, they continued cross-border raids on the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) throughout the 1960s.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025052403054_8a4a935ba25ae79dc3a63bb5c14626927020e5ec098093c45ccb9a5982e009fd.jpg" data-media-id="editor_10" data-image-id="2025052403054_8a4a935ba25ae79dc3a63bb5c14626927020e5ec098093c45ccb9a5982e009fd" data-rendition-name="original" width="1114" height="676" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> <figcaption>Guerrillas known as the Chushi-Gangdruk emerged to resist the Chinese annexation of Tibet during the 1950s. Photo courtesy: MIKEL DUNHAM</figcaption> </figure>  Their Kathmandu base was a small discreet lodge in a back lane near Rani Pokhari. Sipping sweet tea from a blue mug with a chipped lid, I sat bemused in a corner of the Mustang Hotel room whilst Wangdu and his cohorts received a battered brown suitcase from their CIA connection, a tousle-haired American in a leather jacket. Heaved onto the dingy bedspread that covered the thin mattress, it was clicked open to reveal piles of neatly stacked dollar bills.&nbsp; I cannot think why Wangdu allowed me to witness this handover but I was clearly no threat, a newly arrived world traveller with no understanding of the stakes nor any Nepali or <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/tibetan-music-in-nepals-sacred-valley">Tibetan language</a>. Despite armed guards in the corridor,Wangdu radiated confidence and bravado, and there was a practiced familiarity to the tense transaction. This deadly dance for many years had been funded by the Americans, tolerated by <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/the-kingdom-within-a-republic">Mustang’s residents</a>, and permitted by King Mahendra and the Nepali authorities who it suited to turn a blind eye.&nbsp; But Mahendra died in 1972, and times were changing. Richard Nixon’s ping-pong diplomacy thawed the cold war and signalled a fresh entente with China. Nepal’s yet-to-be-crowned <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/if-birendra-was-alive-nepal-could-still-be-a-monarchy">King Birendra </a>was under pressure to curb the irritating incursions against the PLA launched from the Nepali territory of Mustang. Keen to appease his northern neighbour, on several occasions the King summoned Wangdu for peace talks but, despite increasingly overwhelming odds, Wangdu refused to surrender.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025052403054_a8efd5cfb92cd997bd7cb74296a936fef46e2f7428f9cd642b03f1ac4ea11ecb.jpg" data-media-id="editor_14" data-image-id="2025052403054_a8efd5cfb92cd997bd7cb74296a936fef46e2f7428f9cd642b03f1ac4ea11ecb" data-rendition-name="original" width="1055" height="885" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> <figcaption>General Wangdu flanked by two Tibetan resistance fighters in Mustang in the 1970s. Photo courtesy: MIKEL DUNHAM</figcaption> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025052403054_75969125a745847a2ef82b6fe8b9106c0b21a116d85b8efdf5d2ee89a347bb31.jpg" data-media-id="editor_15" data-image-id="2025052403054_75969125a745847a2ef82b6fe8b9106c0b21a116d85b8efdf5d2ee89a347bb31" data-rendition-name="original" width="1044" height="792" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> <figcaption>King Birendra with General Wangdu (right in dark glasses) taken in 1974 possibly in Mustang after one of their few attempts at negotiation. Photo courtesy: RAJRNDRA KUNWAR</figcaption> </figure>  While I naively rode pillion around Kathmandu in the spring sunshine, Wangdu was in the midst of what turned out to be his final round of negotiations with the Nepal government. Refusing to cease hostilities with the Chinese, Wangdu must have suspected the cost of his decision, making his cheerful smile in the photograph all the more poignant and brave. It was only much later that I appreciated the significance of the moment. Wangdu had been sent to replace the first resistance leader in Mustang, Baba Gen Yeshe, a much derided corrupt character who stole money meant for his troops and exploited fleeing refugees by seizing their treasures. Baba Gen Yeshe never forgave Wangdu,and sought revenge in May 1974 by betraying him and his commanders to the Nepal authorities. Renewed Chinese incursions from the north, active PLA collusion with the Nepali forces under the new King, and treachery from within the Chushi-Gangdrukranks combined to seal their fate.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025052403054_e0987a7c90d76431b0d7d5e6115ebfe3dbda7ab939e5941e079c18d722e884c0.jpg" data-media-id="editor_16" data-image-id="2025052403054_e0987a7c90d76431b0d7d5e6115ebfe3dbda7ab939e5941e079c18d722e884c0" data-rendition-name="original" width="1400" height="769" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> <figcaption>British television journalists George Patterson and Adrian Cowell embedded themselves with Khampa guerrillas and accompanied them from Tsum Valley on a cross border raid on a Chinese Army convoy in 1964. Photo: ESSAYS ON NEPAL / SAM COWAN</figcaption> </figure>  Mikel Dunham, renowned author of Buddha’s Warriors, writes: ‘It is possible that Wangdu was waiting for some cue from the Dalai Lama’s government-in-exile in Dharamsala, India. It is equally possible – during that last, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/the-human-cost-of-nepal-s-yarsa-gold-rush?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR31-Cqw8oyIwMPzf_35e4Skr0ululJvLf3_vDkzHn-AYG2h8uPw2rqqErg_aem_tGVn5coY1-jA7fze_xqhew">desolate winter </a>– that he made the decision to go out in glory rather than admit defeat. Over the last fifteen years, Wangdu had experienced Tibet’s organized resistance being squeezed and shoved around by every conceivable outside force.&nbsp; First they had been pushed out of their own country by the PLA; then they had been refused sanction while on <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/borderlines/nepal-india-trans-boundary-bonds?fbclid=IwAR0PpJ5zUEbwdug3g_U3ar6FUugngRY0S8Tl2v_7wqzrsHmXWcXsKjvL4t4">Indian soil</a>; then they were abandoned by the Americans because, apparently, Nixon wanted to make friends with Wangdu’s mortal enemies, the communists; then they had been betrayed by the vampiric Baba Gen Yeshe – a Tibetan and, even worse, a fellow Khampa; and now, finally Wangdu’s army was being evicted by the Nepalis. One thing was certain: Wangdu was a warrior. To imagine Wangdu simply giving up and settling down in the pacific squalor of a <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/elderly-left-in-bhutan-refugee-camp">refugee camp </a>was unthinkable.’  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025052403054_8fc1ffef4ae751628b90ae781b66e11e51e4fdde2787207c9042efbee345ce49.jpg" data-media-id="editor_20" data-image-id="2025052403054_8fc1ffef4ae751628b90ae781b66e11e51e4fdde2787207c9042efbee345ce49" data-rendition-name="original" width="500" height="746" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> <figcaption>The much derided Baba Gen Yeshe, the first Tibetan resistance leader in Mustang, who betrayed Wangdu for personal gain. Photo courtesy: MIKEL DUNHAM</figcaption> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025052403054_b1d833cdb00d3ac4416b844d8730475cd88c238caaaf8da69889a584eea229a3.jpg" data-media-id="editor_21" data-image-id="2025052403054_b1d833cdb00d3ac4416b844d8730475cd88c238caaaf8da69889a584eea229a3" data-rendition-name="original" width="500" height="656" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> <figcaption>Aditya SJB Rana of the Royal Nepal Army whose team ambushed Wangdu and his cohorts at the top of Tinker Pass in Darchula, West Nepal. Photo courtesy: GAUTAM SJB RANA</figcaption> </figure>  By August 1974 the game was up. Wangdu and six of his exhausted party were killed on their horses by <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=7270">the Royal Nepal Army</a> on the brink of escape. The officer in charge, Aditya SJB Rana, cleverly predicted their route into India after they failed to silence a police radio in Yari. A carefully laid ambush trapped them near the summit of the Tinker Pass in Darchula,at 5,000 meters the highest military operation of its time. Wangdu’s body was helicoptered to Kathmandu, and a big show made of the royal Nepal victory.&nbsp; The Tibetan armed insurgency against China had reached its end.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250524030520_3ff9c6fc85a65bc9a2c3afe9736d9f5f9413de752e790a5d9dca0981ea94f9b4.jpg" data-media-id="editor_23" data-image-id="20250524030520_3ff9c6fc85a65bc9a2c3afe9736d9f5f9413de752e790a5d9dca0981ea94f9b4" data-rendition-name="original" width="1136" height="702" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> </figure>

The Last Days of the Khampa

Starting 17 September Turkish Airlines will fly daily to Seville, one of Spain’s major tourist draws. This is Turkish’s sixth destination in Spain after Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Malaga, and Bilbao. Seville is in the Andalusia region on Spain’s south coast with a rich Moor history. There are approximately 30,000 Nepalis living in Spain.&nbsp;

Turkish to Seville

The newly-formed Himalayan Art Council is set to launch Nepal’s National Art Protection Platform that seeks to preserve <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/the-history-of-heritage">Nepal’s unique cultural heritage </a>using<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/artificial-censorship"> AI-powered tools</a>. The Council seeks to safeguard <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/nepali-art-going-places">Nepali art works</a> from neglect, theft and counterfeiting as well as preserve existing artwork and celebrate living masters by giving them a cultural space to continue the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/sacred-survival">sacred art traditions</a>. "We are introducing a new digital platform designed to preserve, verify and elevate <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/nepals-new-generation-of-alternative-artists">Nepal’s art for generations to come,</a>” says a statement from the Council, adding that the digital platform will use AI told for authentication and blockchain to keep track of works of art. Artists can now be protected by <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/ayo-ai?fbclid=IwAR1uwmTVq4gUB70ljfRezjzukD9ArWXPuMnUikopeQ8PoiZMjicToPSwhKE&amp;=1">AI tools</a> that detect forgeries, identify their work even when unsigned, and ensure they receive proper recognition and credit. The archives will be searchable with translated inscription and interactive guides. Says curator Meena Lama: “AI and blockchains are tools that give us the power to detect fakes and identify unsigned paintings and track every piece. With these tools we can restore trust, secure authorship and give artists the dignity they deserve.”  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250514170544_2ab58f6313c0458f75114a692b0016bd9efb3b59d5f8f07f0da72e1e37b82f53.jpg" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="20250514170544_2ab58f6313c0458f75114a692b0016bd9efb3b59d5f8f07f0da72e1e37b82f53" data-rendition-name="original" width="1300" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Artwork at the Traditional Art Exhibition at Patan Museum."> <figcaption>Artwork at the Traditional Art Exhibition at Patan Museum.</figcaption> </figure>  The Council is also holding an exhibition of Nepali cultural masterpieces with 50 historical <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/Buzz-the-art,671">thangka and paubha </a>by past masters and <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/review/between-the-sacred-and-everyday">contemporary works by current artists</a>. This curated collection is a living tribute to <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/when-yaks-go-so-does-culture">Himalayan culture</a> with economic depictions of deities, mandala and sacred narratives. The exhibition at <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/a-portal-into-patan-s-past-and-present">Patan Museum</a> also provides an opportunity to meet painters and custodians of art and culture. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/review/golden-deities">Golden deities</a>, Sewa Bhattarai ‘The exhibition is only the first step in a long journey to ensure that Nepali art is no just seen but fully understood, <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/Narratives-of-Faith-and-Memory-Remembering-the-Lost-Sculptures-of-Kathmandu-exhibition,987">protected and remembered</a>,’ the Council says. Artist Kailash K Shrestha of Artudio has spent decades promoting thankha and paubha traditions because of their beauty and devotional meaning. But he also says artists are underpaid, exploited and ignored. He adds, “AI and blockchain are not just buzzwords, they are powerful tools that can protect Nepal’s artists from fraud, verify authenticity and build a permanent record of provenance.” Traditional Art Exhibition Till 17 May Patan Museum