In 2023, Nepalis made up the third fastest-growing student population in Canada. There were 20,465 Nepali study permit holders, up from 7,680 the year before, an increase of 166% in just one year.
Of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-s-hard-working-students-overseas">Australia</a>’s 26 million population, Nepalis account for over 300,000. Another 51,000 are in Portugal, making Nepalis among the biggest immigrant groups in the south Europe nation.
Every day, 3,000 Nepalis leave the country, and nearly 1 million left last year. Migrant workers in the Gulf, Malaysia and India mostly return. But a majority of Nepali youth leaving for the United States, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/europe-now-favoured-destination-for-nepalis">Europe</a>, Canada or Australia are emigrants.&nbsp;
Successive governments in Nepal have failed to stop this brain (and brawn) drain, treating migration as a convenient social safety valve and relying on <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/high-risk-remittance">remittances as a critical source of support for the economy</a>. &nbsp;&nbsp;
Nearly a quarter of Nepal’s GDP equivalent comes from overseas remittances, higher than most labour-exporting countries. This is an indicator of a stagnant economy. &nbsp;Most of the money goes into paying for basic needs, and property investment. &nbsp;&nbsp;
At the 11th Nepal Literature Festival last week (pictured) economist <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-needs-to-rebrand-itself">Swarnim Wagle</a> and urban planner <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/miss-nepals-mission">Shrinkhala Khatiwada</a>, both Havard-educated returnees, tried to answer the difficult question of how the diaspora can contribute to Nepal.
Nepalis have always migrated. A life of sub-subsistence farming in the mountains was hard, there was exclusion and inequity, and many fled loan sharks. Often, the only alternative was to fight and die in other people’s wars.&nbsp;
The Nepali word ‘lahure’ comes from the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-and-the-taliban-s-second-coming">British cantonments in Lahore</a>, where Nepali fighting men went after being recruited ever since the 1814-16 war. Nepalis have fought in most major wars, and hundreds are currently in the Russian Army. Some are also in the Ukrainian military.
Today, Nepal exports more workers than warriors. The number of migrants is increasing because the economy just cannot produce enough jobs for the 500,000 young men and women joining the workforce every year. &nbsp;
“For most aspirational middle-class Nepalis, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/review/nepal-s-remittance-villages">migration</a> is the only outlet,”acknowledged Wagle. “Frustration adds to this, there are long queues to pay taxes, get a driver’s license…and then there is the huge wage disparity between Nepal and elsewhere.”
Young Nepalis still in high school already think the country’s situation is hopeless and there is peer pressure to leave the first chance they get. Parents themselves want their children to settle abroad, and sell what little property they have or take high-interest loans to pay recruiters to send them off. The push-factors are not just economic.&nbsp;
In reality Nepal has made <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/not-rising-nepal">some dramatic progress</a> in health, education, poverty and development, although improvements are not evenly spread around the country. Young Nepalis are leaving without ever having truly lived and worked here.&nbsp;
In rural Nepal, families are paying up to Rs7 million to human traffickers to take their children to America through the backdoor. &nbsp;
The biggest frustration is the lack of well-paying meaningful jobs, and this is where the private sector could help.&nbsp;
Noted Khatiwada: “It is not the government’s job to create jobs but strengthen the private sector to do so. The private sector is responsible for 80% of jobs in the country and that is still not enough.”
She added that the private sector does not necessarily mean big companies, and they need help to grow and create jobs. She added, “Only when people have economic stability and security will they come back home.”
On return, Wagle joined politics, first the NC then the RSP “to deliver results and make the government accountable”.&nbsp;
The Tanahu MP breaks down the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/50-diaspora-diaries-in-nepali-times">Nepali diaspora</a> into three groups. First, Nepalis now permanent citizens of other countries who need to be engaged culturally to keep their links to Nepal.&nbsp;
Next are global Nepalis, who are abroad but still want to do things in Nepal. They can contribute through digitisation and IT, clean energy, high-value agriculture and tourism.
Third, are migrant returnees who come back with limited savings and skills, and who need help so their entrepreneurial dreams can take root and prosper so they do not have to leave again.&nbsp;
To this we can add that Nepal’s politicians must go another step and reform election laws so that Nepalis abroad also have voting rights. The established parties do not want to risk doing this, since they know the diaspora vote may unseat them.&nbsp;
In this paper, we have frequently profiled role models who have returned to Nepal and done well including a <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/milking-every-opportunity">Korea returnee who started a modern dairy farm in Gulmi</a>. There are others like the aspiring bell pepper farmer in Dang who left a lucrative Wall Street job. A Kavre native who gave up his Canadian PR to run a resort in Pokhara. There are many like them.
And there are people like Swarnim Wagle and Shrinkhala Khatiwada who aspire to give back to Nepal what Nepal gave to them. &nbsp;
Sonia Awale

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Brain drain into brain gain

<img width="1500" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108151124/636a67019c7e80680e0599b6jpeg.jpg" alt=""/>Jamil Jan Kochai is the O Henry Prize-winning author of the novel <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Nights-Logar-Jamil-Jan-Kochai/dp/0525559191" target="_blank" rel="noopener">99 Nights in Logar</a>, which was <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/2019-shortlist-announced-for-dsc-prize/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">shortlisted for the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature</a>. Nepali Times sat down with him at the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-and-international-literature-festival/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nepal Literature Festival</a> in Pokhara on 15 December. Excerpts of interview:Nepali Times: An entire chapter in your English novel is in Pashto. What was your motivation?Jamil Jan Kochai: Initially, it started out as a craft issue more than anything else. I had been trying to write that chapter for a long time. The entire novel leads up to that story within the story, and it is a story that is actually based on real life events: this tragedy that occurred in my own family. It is a very sensitive, tender story and it haunted my whole childhood and my entire family. I knew it was going to be very difficult to write, but I did not anticipate that I would not be able to write it. I tried quite a few times and I would get a few sentences in, maybe a page in and it would just fall apart.Whenever I heard this story, it was always in bits and pieces and it was always in Pashto, because it was only meant for us and it was our story. That chapter ended up being directly from my father. He told the story as he remembered it. It is the story of the murder of his younger brother during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. I recorded him telling it. He was very picky about who could write the story down because he wanted it to be told in a very specific way and he wanted it written in a very specific way. We ended up finding someone who met his standards in his village in Logar.Initially there was some, not necessarily resistance, but certainly questions. My agent had questions about it, my editor had questions about it, other editors had questions about it, but when I discussed the intention of it and how I was having so much trouble telling that story, ultimately, my agent, my editor, my publisher – everyone was very supportive of it.It did take on its own sort of political ideological message. What happens to stories when they are translated? Who is the book meant for? For me, it is a story that is very precious to our family, told to me over and over again in Pashto. Finally I decided, ‘I am going to allow it to remain in this state instead of translating it and risk ruining it.’You also have all these non-English words in the novel. There is this sad thing where our entire second generation of immigrants in America that is coming up right now, we are losing touch with our language, but at the same time it still has a way of almost infecting our English and that is the way we talk. I always wanted to write in a voice that was true to the voice that belongs to my household. I think there are also certain words that are untranslatable.Could we talk a little bit about how you insert oral narratives and traditional stories in the novel?It became a central element of the novel, but just like the chapter in Pashto it initially had just been a craft issue. I had got to a point in the novel where, like 100 pages in, I had been writing a very traditional ‘boy’s adventure’ tale based on Huckleberry Finn and Rudyard Kipling’s Kim and all these novels I grew up reading. I did not know what the characters were going to do next.Up until then, I was watching the characters, seeing what choices they were going to make, seeing how they were interacting with each other, interacting with the land. Then the group split apart. Two of the characters were underneath a tree and they were stuck there and did not know how to leave because they did not know how to get back and they did not want to leave – I was like “What do I do here?”I ended up putting the novel away and going to my bookshelf and picking up a copy of The Arabian Nights, which I had purchased a long time ago, but it had been just sitting on my shelf for years and years. I opened up and I started reading it and I was just blown away by the beauty of these tales, the magic and also the radical form, almost experimental by today’s standards. I read the stories within the stories and I was looking at the way that the book was handling time and was able to play with tension and danger through the storytelling itself: it just felt so true to the way that we tell stories in our own house ... often lead into other stories, end halfway through, for whatever reason.So, I went back to that spot where I was stuck and instead of making the characters do something, I just let them tell stories and then the stories ended up leading to other events and other stories and it just completely changed the way I was writing the novel itself. Before, I was looking at action, choice, movement and event. Then I was searching out narratives – I was looking at who needs to tell the next story, who wanted to tell the next story.You have a lot of religious elements, almost underlying the novel – how intentional is it?I do not know how intentional it is. What I was trying to capture with the novel was how this boy from America in Afghanistan experienced the world. In a way, a central aspect of how he experienced the world was through Islam and specifically how it functioned in a small village in Logar province in Afghanistan, where you wake up to the sound of the adhan for prayer and then you work until the adhan for afternoon prayer and then you take a break. Time there is organised according to the Islamic prayers and then the narratives there circulate around the Quran, the hadith, and so in a way it felt very natural to the way I wanted to tell the story. It felt very natural to my own experience as a Muslim.I was conscious of the ways Islam was represented in America and how Muslims are represented in America. In particularly, this whole idea of the good Muslim versus the bad Muslim, which is a rhetoric I find really troubling where certain populations of Muslims become bomb-able and destroy-able because of how they are portrayed in the media. But then you have these good peaceful Muslims who need to be saved, need to be protected from their own people. I was very conscious of that, certainly. You even put one, or a mixture, of stories from the Quran. Was that deliberate?That took a lot of deliberation because I was actually worried about like, if my imam read that book and read that section, what he would think about it. Or if my father – he has not read the book, I have explained the book to him – but if he somehow heard that, “Oh, your son went and retold a story from the Quran.” I was a little nervous about it.Your book is semi-autobiographical – how real is the story?I would say a lot of elements are heavily autobiographical. When I was 12 years old, I went back to my parents’ home village in Logar and I had adventures with my cousins and so, certainly, it begins with my memories. People that I knew, people that I loved. What I ended up doing with the novel was that I allowed these memories to go off in their own directions and become what they wanted to become within the narrative.Budabash is a real dog. He was our guard dog in our compound in Afghanistan. He absolutely hated me, that was true, but he never did bite off the tip of my finger. He did get loose out onto the village and we had to go after him, but I did not actually take part in the chase. My cousins did and it was something I would often think about. So the first time it really started with this idea, “What if I hadn’t been afraid of going on this chase with my cousins, what would have happened?”Are there any Afghan Americans you are excited about?Aria Aber. Her poetry collection came out recently and she had a poem published in The New Yorker as well. Very talented, I want to give her a shout out.<a href="https://aaawa.net/aaawa-launches-fragmented-futures-afghanistan-100-years-later-in-glendale-ca/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://aaawa.net/aaawa-launches-fragmented-futures-afghanistan-100-years-later-in-glendale-ca/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1576928521873000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHrb58czF9kkW_UwDKZuWo3834Usw">Fragmented Futures.</a> It was set up by an Afghan American art organisation in California and they put together this incredible magazine of just Afghan artists and it was photography, paintings, poetry and fiction as well. Incredible work. I was overwhelmed by how talented they were -- it got me very emotional. I’m very excited about this next generation of writers who are coming out of these communities in the States.

Debut novelist lets Afghans speak for themselves

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108151120/636a66419c7e80680e05996fjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1046"/><figcaption>Photo: NEPAL LITERATURE FESTIVAL</figcaption></figure>The <a href="http://nepalliteraturefestival.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nepal Literature Festival</a> (NLF) has expanded in scope and content since it started eight years ago, and the 2019 edition this weekend will bring even more <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/blogs/kundadixit/2016/02/02/getting-to-the-heart-of-the-story/comment-page-1/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">international authors</a> to Pokhara.Over 35 sessions feature more than 70 writers and public personalities, who will discuss a host of issues, from writing and regional literature to conservation and gender. Since 2011 the festival has hosted international writers like Muhamed Haneef and Shobhaa De along with the entire spectrum of literature in Nepali and indigenous languages.As the space for literary and artistic expression and critical commentary shrinks across South Asia, Nepal remains a bastion of free speech. This year, civil society activist Devendra Raj Pandey will deliver a keynote on Democratic Development and Public Accountability.The <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/2019-shortlist-announced-for-dsc-prize/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">prestigious DSC Prize</a>, awarded for fiction from South Asia, will be announced at NLF this year. (See box) Some of the shortlisted authors and jury members of the DSC will also participate in panel discussions, at a time of growing regional tensions and intolerance towards free expression."This year we were particular about giving space to new and unheard of voices. We are excited about the diverse topics and list of people that we were able to line up," says <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/Nepal-literature-festival-pokhara,2819">festival director Ajit Baral</a>.NLF also offers plenty of commentaries on current social issues. Sportswomen <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/homemaker-and-bodybuilder,3445" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nanita Maharjan</a> and <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/mira-rai-racing-to-help-other-runners/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Mira Rai</a> will be reflecting on Nepal's recent successes at the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/south-asian-games-recap-10-december/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">South Asian Games</a>, in the context of the rise of women in sports. Dalit activist Aahuti will present a commentary on Nepal's social structure, while <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/miss-nepals-mission/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Miss Nepal Shrinkhala Khatiwada</a> will portray her vision of a dream Nepal in a discussion on menstrual taboos with journalist Menuka Dhungana from Achham and Mohna Ansari.Besides social issues, the festival also features literary topics, including the essay, the poem, the short story, jail literature and children's literature. Populism versus art in folk songs is also in the spotlight.The festival also includes lighthearted entertainment with a session of ghazal recitations, and ends with a spiritual and philosophical lecture by Saurabh about Nepal's rich civilisations.IME Nepal Literature FestivalTal Barahi Chok, Lakeside, Pokhara13-16 December<h2>DSC Prize Announcement</h2><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108151120/636a66449c7e80680e059970jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="3762" height="2700">The $25,000 <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/dsc-prize-in-pokhara-on-16-december/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">DSC Prize for South Asian Literature</a> is awarded to one novel about South Asia, and is presented in a different city every year. This year, six writers are on the shortlist, four of Indian and one each of Pakistani and Afghan origin. The prize announcement will conclude the festival.5-6PM, 16 Dec<h2>Notable sessions for international audiences</h2><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108151120/636a66469c7e80680e059971jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1796" height="887">Gunpowder in the airWith Manoranjan ByapariThe pioneer Bengali writer Manoranjan Byapari became a sensation because of his working-class background and lack of formal education. Scholar Dinesh Kafle will talk to the dalit activist and former rickshaw puller about caste and privilege, and how these inform writing in South Asia.Kabi Shiromani Lekhnathh Hall3-4PM, 14 DecWriting home and the homelandWith Jamil Jan KochaiJamil Jan Kochai, an American of Afghan origin, was born in a refugee camp. He writes about the turbulent times that Afghanistan has gone through. Poet Itisha Giri will chat with Kochai about using the homeland in a novel.Ali Miya Hall4-5PM, 14 DecPowering sustainablyWith Kulman Ghising, Soma Dutta, Priyantha WijayatungaAs Nepal’s energy needs grow and the climate crisis deepens, how do we balance the two? Journalist Rupak Sharma will engage panellists Kulman Ghising of the Nepal Electricity Authority and energy experts Soma Dutta and Priyantha Wijayatunga.Kabi Shiromani Lekhnathh Hall11-12AM, 15 DecTranslating South AsiaWith Arunava Sinha, Rifat Munim, Carmen WickramagamageMost South Asian authors still write in regional languages, but awards, recognition and sales happen in English. Writer Amish Mulmi will discuss these issues with translators Arunava Sinha, Rifat Munim and Carmen Wickramagamage.Ali Miya Hall2-3PM, 15 DecWriting in the age of populismIs literary writing getting lost in the age of click-bait? Writer Anagha Neelkantan will discuss with writers Jeremy Tambling, Harish Nambiar and Jamil Jan Kochai how to keep the literary spirit up, against market demands of saleable content.Kabi Shiromani Lekhnathh Hall4-5PM, 15 DecNepal in the international mediaWith Sumnina Udas, Deepak Adhikari, Rajneesh BhandariWith the rise of Nepali journalists in international media, Nepal is no longer seen only through the western lens. How does this define Nepal today? AFP journalist Paavan Mathema talks to former CNN journalist Sumnima Udas and freelance reporters Deepak Adhikari and Rajneesh Bhandari.Paavan MathemaKabi Shiromani Lekhnathh hall12-1PM, 16 DecEnglish and vernacular literatures in South AsiaThough writing in English brings more worldwide recognition to South Asian writers, it also comes at the expense of vernacular literatures. Writer and literature teacher Sanjeev Uprety discusses this dilemma with teacher and literature theorist Harish Trivedi, also a jury member of DSC this year.Kabi Shiromani Lekhnathh hall1-2PM, 16 DecWriting the pastThe themes of Amitabha Bagchi's novels about India's recent past echo around South Asia. Writer Ajapa Sharma talks to Bagchi about the common heritage of South Asians and how to go about excavating the past in literature.Ali Miya hall2-3PM, 16 Dec

Nepal (and international) Literature Festival

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4g5rSiWEhMShe was just 19 when she starred in her first movie in Bollywood. As a fresh face from the mountains and with her enormous talent, <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0463539/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Manisha Koirala</a> shone in the Indian film industry in the 1990s, winning many prestigious awards.At one point in her busy career, she was doing a dozen movies a year, working exhausting 18-hour days. Fast forward to 2012 through a string of unsuccessful romances and films, a failed marriage, and alcoholism, Manisha came face to face with death.In 2012, she was diagnosed with last-stage ovarian cancer. How she dealt with the crisis and how she came out a survivor, extricating herself not just out of the clutches of the disease, but also the rut that her life had fallen into, is the dominant theme in her new book Healed.Always a headstrong girl with a passion for details and love of nature, Manisha was raised under the loving care of her grandmother <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=6808#.XBtl5FUzbIU" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sushila Ama</a>, <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=3099#.XBtlwVUzbIU" target="_blank" rel="noopener">B P Koirala’s</a> wife.Growing up with the egalitarian outlook of the Koirala household moulded her.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107171148/6369378a9c7e80680e03fe42jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="174"/>Reaching out to those in need was instilled into her young mind, and it has stayed with her: lending a helping hand, including for cancer patients, or rooting for women’s health and wellbeing as <a style="background-color: #ffffff; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="http://(UNFPA) http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=7019#.XBtim1UzbIU" target="_blank" rel="noopener">goodwill ambassador for the UN Population Fund</a>.And now, with <a style="background-color: #ffffff; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.amazon.in/Healed-How-Cancer-Gave-Life/dp/0670091979" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Healed</a>, she decided to open up her life and its learnings to benefit the public at large. “Now that I am healed, I wish to help others,” Manisha Koirala told Nepali Times in an interview this week ahead of the Nepal Literature Festival in Pokhara, where her parents will unveil the book on 22 December.Read also: <a style="background-color: #ffffff; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/think-pink-breast%20cancer-diagnosis-treatment,3877" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Think Pink</a>, Sonia AwaleManisha was among the lucky quintile of women who have been diagnosed with stage four ovarian cancer but beaten the disease. She has now been cancer free for six years, and now follows a ‘reformed” regimen of meditation, prayer, yoga, pranayama and vegetarian diet, with a huge dollop of mindfulness. She went back to Bollywood after a five year break, and is now focused on taking on fewer, yet more meaningful films.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107171148/6369378b9c7e80680e03fe43jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Manisha considers herself lucky for the unflinching support of her family (especially her parents and brother) and friends, as well as the resources and connections to battle cancer. Cancer treatment is expensive, she says, and wants the Nepal Government to do more on prevention by checking toxic contamination of air, water and food, promote healthier lifestyles, and to  provide world class affordable cancer treatment for the needy. And the rest is up to individuals.“Cancer is not a death sentence, so one should not lose hope,” she says.Read also: <a style="background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=9322#.XBtn01UzbIU" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Cancer refuge </a>Healed is co-authored with Neelam Kumar, also a cancer survivor, in which we join Manisha in a roller-coaster ride as she struggles against the disease. Through the highs and lows of her emotions as she learns about the diagnosis in Kathmandu, the confirmation in Mumbai, the final verdict and treatment in New York, and then her slow and bumpy recovery towards being cancer free.In the process, Manisha’s tale meanders through the darkness of her feelings of fear, panic and pain and oscillates between glimmers of hope and shadows of hopelessness.  It is a book of self-discovery, where the author honestly and minutely analyses her own life, her decisions, her ‘toxic relationships’ and  mistakes. It combs through events and people that shaped her, and allowed her to overcome the disease.The fluid narrative borrows on memories of an actress who has starred in over 80 Bollywood movies, and lays bare the ordinary human being behind the trappings of the spotlight and glamour. Nothing is spared, the raw emotions are laid out in agonising detail: her post surgery ‘ruthlessly stapled’ abdomen, the time she lets out a ‘guttural cry’ in the privacy of her shower, or when she likens the agony of the first chemotherapy session to ‘…dark, wild wolves, their mouths open, fangs bared, seeking out each vein of my body, tearing forward at great speed, hell-bent on destruction.’Read also: <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/Communicati-about-non-communicable-diseases,1153" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Communicating about non-communicable diseases</a>, Elina Pradhan and Bigyan R BistaIt is a frank book, where the movie star has not hesitated to share even not-so-flattering photos of her post-chemo self, sans hair, eyebrows or eyelashes. And all the time as the narrative moves forward, she intersperses it with reflections from the past, detailed description of sights, sounds and smells in the world around her – the sea, sunlight, birds, flowers, forests and mountains, the scent of incense. The book even has descriptions of what her doctors in Kathmandu, Mumbai or New York were wearing.There are tales within tales that make the reader keep turning the pages, whether it is the roles of the magic mala, the Maori healers and the redhot ovaries, the Cherokee parable, the trapped butterfly, or the references to words of wisdom and spiritualism, the mantras, and even quantum physics, that helped her in the path to being healed.We travel along with Manisha as she turns from a ‘weak tree’ to a ‘deep-rooted banyan’ in this journey of self-discovery. We learn from the abundant tips and tricks she shares about self-healing, whether it is ‘visualisations, affirmations, and talking to the body’ or the auto-suggestion of repeating ‘I’m cured, I’m strong, I’m healthy, I’m fine.’<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107171148/6369378e9c7e80680e03fe44jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="960">Manisha admits that cancer came into her life ‘as a gift, that left her with many learnings, just like a flooded river that leaves behind rich deposits of silt’. And she shares these learnings with her readers, more so her female readers.She dissects her life choices, her habits, and directs us to pay attention to everyone’s ‘inner compass’, to embrace life and live in the moment just as she learnt to.Healed: How cancer gave me a new lifeManisha Koirala with Neelam KumarPenguin Random House India, 2018INR: 499219 pagesBuy Healed on <a href="https://amzn.to/2rOTmAV" target="_blank" rel="noopener">amazon</a><a href="https://amzn.to/2rOTmAV"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107171148/636937919c7e80680e03fe45jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="307"></a>Read also: <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=19634#.XBtovVUzbIV" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A win-win battle</a>, Buddha Basnyat<a style="background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=12756#.XBtn7VUzbIU" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Peaceful end</a>, Jemima Sherpa

Manisha Koirala’s new life

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

Digital protection for Nepal’s art

India and Pakistan are twins separated at birth. Tensions between them have been at a hair trigger ever since independence and has erupted into full scale conflict at least four times in the past 80 years.
The 22 April terrorist attack in Kashmir that killed 25 Indian tourists and a Nepali citizen, threatens to escalate tension between the two nuclear-armed nations. India has squarely blamed Pakistan for the attacks, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given his military “operational freedom” to respond. Pakistan has said it has credible intelligence of an Indian military strike and its officials have promised a “full spectrum” response — a code for a <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/thinking-the-thinkable">nuclear retaliation</a>.
For Nepal, the killing of its national in the Pahalgam attack comes as another stark reminder that in conflicts from Afghanistan to Iraq, from <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/how-to-agree-an-armistice-in-ukraine">Ukraine</a> to Israel, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/10-nepalis-from-one-town-fighting-in-ukraine">Nepalis are getting caught in the crossfire</a>. The last time full-scale fighting broke out between <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/peacemongers-at-india-pakistan-border">India and Pakistan</a> on Kargil in 1999, at least 22<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/india-s-trial-by-fire-for-soldiers-from-nepal?%27%5C%22="> Nepalis fighting for the Indian Army</a> were killed in action.
Three of Nepal’s immediate neighbours (China, India, Pakistan) have nuclear weapons, and they do not have good relations. With China supplying weapons, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/war-and-warming">missile technology</a> and other support to Pakistan, this triangular friction could set off a regional conflagration.&nbsp;
<a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s43016-022-00573-0" target="_blank">Research at Rutgers University</a> has calculated that even a week-long tactical nuclear exchange between India and Pakistan would throw up so much smoke and debris into the atmosphere that it would block out the sun for years, and lead to a collapse of the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/grow-nourish-sustain-together-world-food-day">global food system</a>. This does not take into account the radioactive fallout that prevailing winds would blow up to <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/lives-on-the-line-in-the-himalaya">the Himalaya</a>, contaminating glaciers that are the sources of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/saving-what-is-left-of-himalayan-rivers">Asia’s main rivers</a>.
The impact of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/climate-breakdown-linked-to-thame-flood">climate breakdown </a>on High Asia was already ringing alarm bells about its <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/himalayan-icecap-melting-faster-than-thought">shrinking ice cap</a> reducing the dry season flow of water downstream. Water was going to be the next strategic commodity, geopolitical experts warned, and the next wars in Asia would be over water.
That water war is already happening. India retaliated to the Kashmir attack by suspending the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/24/world/asia/india-pakistan-indus-waters-treaty.html" target="_blank">Indus Waters Treaty</a> of 1960 mediated by the World Bank that has withstood at least three wars between India and Pakistan. The treaty gives India control over the three eastern tributaries of the Indus (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beas_River" target="_blank">Beas</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ravi_River" target="_blank">Ravi</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sutlej" target="_blank">Sutlej</a>), while Pakistan got water from the Indus and two of its western tributaries (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indus_River" target="_blank">Indus</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chenab_River" target="_blank">Chenab</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jhelum_River" target="_blank">Jhelum</a>.
Pakistan was assured of 70% of the annual flow, and India could use a reasonable amount of water for<a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=15231"> irrigation and hydropower</a>. &nbsp;Within days of its threat, India stopped water flowing down to Pakistan from the Chenab river and is reportedly preparing to do the same on the Jhelum.
The sabre-rattling has reached a crescendo. Besides threats and counter-threats there are also symbolic drills, with the Indian Air Force practicing landing on an expressway in Uttar Pradesh by its Rafale, Su-30 and Jaguar fighter jets to demonstrate ‘operational readiness’. In response Pakistan test-fired its Abdali ballistic missile that can carry a nuclear warhead and has a range of 450km.&nbsp;
The danger is that with ultra-nationalist rhetoric and the beating the war drums by both sides, India’s government and Pakistan’s military may have to ‘do something’ to appease domestic public opinion. But any tactical strike, an artillery exchange, or territorial incursion could quickly escalate out of control.
Expecting an Indian retaliation for the Pahalgam killings, Pakistan is using<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/interfaith-collaboration-for-nuclear-disarmament"> nuclear deterrence </a>and warning of “catastrophic consequences”. The two neighbours came close to a nuclear exchange in 2019 after an attack on the Indian military in Kashmir, and prompt international intervention led by the United States cooled tensions.&nbsp;
This time, the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/trump-shock-wave-hits-nepal">Trump administration</a> is too distracted and not as engaged. Pakistan has denied it was responsible for the terrorist attack and called on Washington to stop a possible Indian retaliation. India and Pakistan have stopped overflights by each other’s airlines, and some international carriers have even stopped flying over Pakistan fearing an air war.
Washington, Beijing, the UN and the EU have all urged restraint. Iran, which has good relations with both India and Pakistan has sent its foreign minister to urge both countries not to go into a tit-for-tat war. Iran has its own nuclear flashpoint to worry about with tensions in Israel, &nbsp;Yemen and Syria.
India and Pakistan both share similar problems of joblessness, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/why-nepal-s-poverty-rate-is-stuck">poverty </a>and <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/climate-change-new-threat-to-nepal-s-rhinos">environmental threats</a>. Neither side needs the threat of a senseless war, and we in the neighbourhood do not need it either.&nbsp;
Kunda Dixit
This Editorial is brought to you by <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/" target="_blank">Nepali Times</a>, in collaboration with <a href="https://inpsjapan.com/en/" target="_blank">INPS Japan</a> and <a href="https://sgi-peace.org/" target="_blank">Soka Gakkai International</a>, in consultative status with UN ECOSOC.

Nukes in the neighbourhood

Most Nepalis thought they had seen the last of it after <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/11-56-25-april-2015-wkc9q2an">the 25 April 7.8 magnitude </a>earthquake ten years ago. But the Himalaya had more surprises in store. On 12 May, another 7.3 magnitude tremor that some said was an aftershock, but was strong enough to itself be a major earthquake, struck Dolakha.&nbsp; Not many people had heard of Singati till then — a cluster of houses by the Tama Kosi River along a narrow gorge that is the roadhead to Rolwaling Valley.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250508110520_57b6e316656851f71eca56ca6f98d9bbcc820c1a00d62af3c990725b4361244d.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20250508110520_57b6e316656851f71eca56ca6f98d9bbcc820c1a00d62af3c990725b4361244d" data-rendition-name="original" width="1000" height="1500" loading="lazy" alt="Climate magnifies earthquake risk in Nepal village NT"> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250508110520_016534fb2b6a79957402281cda768efb83a146786377e39e11df3e251d37159e.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20250508110520_016534fb2b6a79957402281cda768efb83a146786377e39e11df3e251d37159e" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Climate magnifies earthquake risk in Nepal village NT"> </figure>  It was here that dozens were killed on 25 April in the first earthquake. Hundreds of <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/Singati-rising-from-rubble-rebuilding,3703">Singati survivors</a> had lined up for food and relief supplies in the morning of 12 May when the second earthquake triggered a rock slide that buried a nearby camp. At least 50 people were killed. &nbsp; Three hours later, a US Marine Corps UH-1Y Venom helicopter landed in a nearby cornfield to pick up the wounded, and flew off. The aircraft lost contact with air traffic control in Kathmandu and its wreckage was located high on Kalinchok four days later. Six American servicemen, two Nepal Army soldiers, and five wounded civilians from Singati were killed. Today, Singati bears little physical scar of the multiple tragedies that struck the town ten years ago. Most <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/bungamati-builds-back">houses have been rebuilt</a> as urban-style concrete structures, and Singati has become an economic hub on the road leading up to several hydropower plants and a<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/off-the-beaten-trek-in-nepal"> popular trekking destination</a>.&nbsp; The town looks less like a village and more like a suburb of the Dolakha district headquarter of Charikot, 47km away.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250508110520_196f341d1df1403ba133e5dfeb837eec20d7cbcb4c8c56b17cc5598810de5df2.jpg" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="20250508110520_196f341d1df1403ba133e5dfeb837eec20d7cbcb4c8c56b17cc5598810de5df2" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Climate magnifies earthquake risk in Nepal village NT"> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250508110524_ae66c4a92430f67db51b5e11e017059eedfbac4cb18c8e073f2a50cca1fe904e.jpg" data-media-id="editor_7" data-image-id="20250508110524_ae66c4a92430f67db51b5e11e017059eedfbac4cb18c8e073f2a50cca1fe904e" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Climate magnifies earthquake risk in Nepal village NT"> </figure>  “The demand for construction material, cement, iron rods and bricks peaked after the earthquakes,” says Suresh Khadka, who owns a hardware business here and now supplies material to the 456MW Upper Tama Kosi hydropower project that is undergoing repairs after it was damaged by a landslide last year. The demand for cement boomed since most residents believe, not necessarily correctly, that <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/in-a-disastrous-state">cement houses are safer</a>. Although Khadka did well selling construction material after the earthquake, he worries that most new structures do not follow seismic-resistant building codes.&nbsp; The construction boom financed by bank loans has in turn forced many from Singati to <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/making-overseas-migration-better">migrate overseas for work</a> so they can service their debt.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250508110524_50caa4530bd5ff9120cf7ab70a62173846d337ef448ff8bac339f3faa375a9e2.jpg" data-media-id="editor_10" data-image-id="20250508110524_50caa4530bd5ff9120cf7ab70a62173846d337ef448ff8bac339f3faa375a9e2" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Climate magnifies earthquake risk in Nepal village NT"> <figcaption>Suresh Khadka</figcaption> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250508110520_ef8b7d3993fc3b5df852bbf952feb3fbabc96d6883b0d5eb74ee5c60f4123b83.jpg" data-media-id="editor_11" data-image-id="20250508110520_ef8b7d3993fc3b5df852bbf952feb3fbabc96d6883b0d5eb74ee5c60f4123b83" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Climate magnifies earthquake risk in Nepal village NT"> <figcaption>Phu Doma Sherpa (right)</figcaption> </figure>  “My family had no choice but to borrow money to rebuild our home since the government compensation was not enough, and ten years later we are still paying off the loan,” says Phu Doma Sherpa, 60. Because of the shortage of qualified masons and proper seismic engineering, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/structural-problems">many of the buildings are of questionable building standards </a>and the traditional architecture has been abandoned, admits Kul Bahadur Budathoki, deputy chair of the municipality. “But these buildings were more expensive than what the government grants could cover, many people here are heavily in debt and the men have <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/every-day-is-closer-to-pay-day">migrated to the Gulf to pay their loans</a>,” Budathoki says.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250508110520_32f89e97b7e757fc9286c0bbb671f48ea8d4468e9634fa646d7247c650ad8480.jpg" data-media-id="editor_14" data-image-id="20250508110520_32f89e97b7e757fc9286c0bbb671f48ea8d4468e9634fa646d7247c650ad8480" data-rendition-name="original" width="1501" height="1079" loading="lazy" alt="Climate magnifies earthquake risk in Nepal village NT"> <figcaption>Kul Bahadur Budathoki</figcaption> </figure>  Singati is in a multi-hazard zone. The <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/Singati,3091">12 May 2015 earthquake </a>could have led to the collapse of Nepal’s largest glacial lake, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/stairway-to-heaven">Tso Rolpa</a>, upstream. Due to global warming, the glacier has turned into an expanding lake 3.5km long, and its collapse would have unleashed a catastrophic Himalayan tsunami down the Tama Kosi Valley, with Singati directly in its path. Singati has literally risen from the ashes of 2015, with its residents beginning to recover from the trauma and financial toll. But it is not out of danger as <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/climate-breakdown-linked-to-thame-flood">climate breakdown </a>magnifies the risk from future earthquakes.

Climate magnifies earthquake risk in Nepal village

The streets of Patan are alive this month with lavender jacaranda trees under rain-washed skies as <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/the-red-god-rises-again-in-patan">the chariot of Rato Matsyendranath</a> is pulled across town. This is the festival of the rain god, and inevitably the heavens opened up and pre-monsoon showers pelted the chariot as it started being pulled in Pulchok last week. Thousands of devotees, onlookers and the chariot procession organisers thronged the streets on the first day last week. The rhythmic cymbals and drums exuded a vibrant energy as the enormous four wheels turned and the chariot lurched.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025051007050_81df97744db16f732a419dc1f1579d235ce3df37642b078f50b83bd4bd026688.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="2025051007050_81df97744db16f732a419dc1f1579d235ce3df37642b078f50b83bd4bd026688" data-rendition-name="original" width="1000" height="1503" loading="lazy" alt="Divine chariot"> </figure>  The<a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/Red-rain-god,3141"> red rain god</a> has Hindu and Buddhist antecedents, alternatively called Bungadya and<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/kathmandu-s-gravity-defying-chariot-festival"> Karunamaya</a> — reflecting Kathmandu Valley’s syncretic mixture of the two religions.&nbsp; “Bungadya is a profoundly <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/12-full-opinion/marketing-the-intangible">intangible form of heritage</a>,” explains heritage expert Monalisa Maharjan. “It embodies traditional knowledge,<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/reviving-nepal-s-craft"> artisanal skills passed down through generations</a>. Local communities and specific families have specified roles in being custodians of the heritage, ensuring their survival over the centuries.” There are many legends and stories about this annual tradition. Lichhavi king Narendra Dev is supposed to have brought Rato Matsyendranath from Assam to Kathmandu Valley to convince Guru Gorakhnath to lift a spell that created a two-year drought in Kathmandu.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250510050520_347a9a398f8a9abc4a7fb4e2774fde8264cccbdce8bdab23851ab3f0e73c3e8a.jpg" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="20250510050520_347a9a398f8a9abc4a7fb4e2774fde8264cccbdce8bdab23851ab3f0e73c3e8a" data-rendition-name="original" width="1503" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Divine chariot"> </figure>  Matsyendranath was Gorakhnath’s mentor, and upon seeing him, the serpents were released, unleashing the rains. The chariot festival honours the return of this life-giving rain. The deity is seen as an icon for thriving agriculture, t<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/before-the-next-monsoon">he arrival of monsoon</a> showers, and the welfare of the community. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/the-reign-of-the-god-of-rain">The reign of the god of rain</a>, Vidhu Prakash Kayastha Till this day, the Rato Matsyendranath festival is no ordinary celebration. Patan does not sleep for a month as the chariot is pulled through various neighbourhoods. It unfolds at a state level with the president (formerly the king) attending the climax of the Bhoto Jatra in Jawalakhel later this month.&nbsp; The intergenerational transmission of tradition is unique in the world, and the reason the festival is one of the most vibrant cultural expressions that thrives despite inroads of modernity. The other unique aspect is that it is a transnational festival, binding Patan with Guwahati in the Indian state of Assam.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025051005058_8bc685ada13045d863b28e3eed91c931da2b510714586af6fd7eb5d1e298a24a.jpg" data-media-id="editor_9" data-image-id="2025051005058_8bc685ada13045d863b28e3eed91c931da2b510714586af6fd7eb5d1e298a24a" data-rendition-name="original" width="1000" height="1503" loading="lazy" alt="Divine chariot"> </figure>  “Unlike Nepal, where the deity commands grandeur and devotion, many in Assam are unaware of Rato Matsyendranath,” says Khagen Sharma of Gauhati University, which convened <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/nepal-assam-connection-revived">a symposium in February in Guwahati on the rain god</a>. Attending was a delegation led by Lalitpur Mayor Chiribabu Maharjan, organisers of the festival, and builders of the chariot. After the symposium, a committee was formed to explore and revive the tradition in Assam as well. Although the team had planned to visit Nepal this month, logistical challenges delayed the trip. Still, there are plans to build a Guru Matsyendranath statue in Assam to reestablish regular worship practices in the Guwahati shrine.&nbsp; The vines used to build the chariot in Patan are sourced from the jungles of Assam. But Sharma notes that in recent years unclear regulations have blocked the official import of the vines, although they are still brought to Nepal informally. The <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/makers-of-machhindranath,2204">chariot making</a> has also had a taste of modernisation in recent times. In the past, even a single nail or piece of steel was avoided. But over time, the wooden structure, particularly the shaft between the wheels, has been replaced with bronze. When that too proved unstable, metal clamps were introduced, which have become a pragmatic compromise.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250510050524_b2a819a5791612f14c81d30fc393dbd3f99f0c64b90a9110e8b0855d944bfa93.jpg" data-media-id="editor_12" data-image-id="20250510050524_b2a819a5791612f14c81d30fc393dbd3f99f0c64b90a9110e8b0855d944bfa93" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="998" loading="lazy" alt="Divine chariot"> </figure>  Another welcome change is the focus on safety. Builders climbing the chariot’s tower now wear harnesses and there are efforts in crowd control. The most visible change in recent years has been the involvement of Patan’s enthusiastic youth in the festival — the tradition is now passing to a new generation. Says Matsyendranath expert Vidhu Kayastha: “There is more energy, the young people in red t-shirts this year were very organised, these modern touches aren’t diluting our culture, they’re keeping it alive in new forms.” He adds, “We are <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/searching-for-a-homeland-away-from-home">reconnecting with our roots</a>, we have more resources, more awareness than ever before. We must not be swept away by western values that may not serve us, and in some ways, cause more harm than good. We must revive our own culture.”&nbsp;

nepal-literature-festival