<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20230112100136/63bfd4bc9c7e80680e0d30b9jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="3745" height="2303"/><figcaption>Wazir Khan Mosque in Lahore, Pakistan. Photo: HOMOCOSMICOS</figcaption></figure>Saba Karim Khan’s debut novel Skyfall begins like the book of Genesis: with a god. Like the Biblical All-father, Sherji too has put his words and intent to action – or, at least he thinks so – and out steps Rania. He is determined in his plot, inflated and Machiavellian. Yet, for the first six months, he is disappointed. Rania is a ‘misfortune’, his ‘grand trial’. Has her mother, Jahaan-e-Rumi, anything to do with it?Jahaan-e-Rumi too has her own scheme. In a kind of balancing act, she picks up a pen and paper in the hospital, and writes for Rania: ‘She will be no stubborn, malevolent lunatic, but the fiercest girl in all the galaxies – a tempest, but never unkind.’The scene shifts and we are whisked from Lahore to the Metropolitan Correctional Facility in Manhattan, where we find Rania is an inmate. The reason for this could be anything, but Khan does not dwell on them yet. All will be revealed in good time. For now, in the cold, solitary, and sleepy pace of the prison, Rania thinks back to her past, growing up in Lahore’s famous Heera Mandi, the shadows of Kashmir, and falling in love. Thus begins Skyfall.There is an uncanny mix of hope and dread from the very first page, which goes on to characterise much of Khan’s novel. Here, Henry David Thoreau’s quote 'The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation' from Walden, and its famously misquoted addendum 'and go to the grave with the song still in them' is central.Set in two seemingly disparate worlds, the novel moves fluidly across the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/review/the-women-left-behind/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">walled city of Lahore</a>, through the streets that switch identities every 12 hours, and later in starkly different New York. The times are desperate and dangerous, and the book raises questions on freedom and autonomy, while, under the lights, music and memories become the bridge between the past and the present, East and West.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20230112100136/63bfd4c09c7e80680e0d30bajpeg.jpg" alt="" width="233" height="300"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Rania herself grows up in two different worlds. Sherji, her father, a resolute fundamentalist, sends out her mother and sister every night to dance and sing for, and sleep with, rich customers to make money for his madrasa. By day, she works as a tourist guide. The past is wonderful while the present cursed, and it is in music and a young Indian Hindu boy Asher that Rania finds refuge while she loathes her abusive father and her own incapacity to help her mother and sister.At the outset, the novel seems like a classic retelling of doomed romance. It checks all the boxes: violent families, star-crossed lovers, a historic and beautiful setting, mujra, India and Pakistan, Pakistan and America. But under the surface runs a searing fire. Skyfall is indeed a love story, with even higher stakes. The self struggles not just for its own independence but for an entire country’s, against injustice and violence.When Sherji finally sends Rania into the underworld because he is running out of money, it is strangely reminiscent of when God tells Abraham to sacrifice his prized son Isaac on Moriah. Things go well for Isaac, naturally, and Abraham is rewarded.But as Rania fights the men who throw her around the room, slapping her and trying to kiss her, no angel appears, no Ram. Between the two thousand years that separate Sherji from Abraham, faith is no longer a leap into the unknown but calculated and capitalist, sentenced by men, and women, in blindfolds, the innocents always under the yoke.Then later in detention, Khan pulls back the curtains on the delusions of the land of so-called freedom, as officers hurl questions at the racially profiled Rania that are leading to a conclusion drawn well before the interrogation. “Do you know the Quran by heart? Do you believe in jihad? Love jihad?” they ask. “Who forced you to fall in love with an Indian? Don’t you believe Hindus are non-Muslims?”For <a href="https://sabakarimkhan.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Khan</a>, who teaches at New York University in Abu Dhabi, Skyfall is the soul of a Sufi love song and an attempt to imagine a world where coexistence is the currency. In the pages, the victory of light over darkness is in fact be possible, and we can outdo our starting points."Literature becomes even more important in an increasingly polarising milieu," she says, "not least of all because it allows us to address uncomfortable issues without pedaling or peddling an agenda or reducing things to a headline ticker." In fact, it is rather an act of co-creation between reader and writer, an invitation to go for a walk or dance or recite a piece together.As such, Skyfall is an entirely enthralling book. It weaves the reality of brutal violence with love and hope: engaging and beautifully written, interspersed with Urdu verses, following the journey of a young singer from the mohalla half-way around the world. As one delves deeper, the reader reckons with injustices fuelled by cults and mobs, by governments and families. Adds Khan: "I didn't want to downsize the problems but also didn't want to craft a world without the glimmer of hope and possibility."Skyfallby Saba Karim KhanBloomsbury, 2021290 pagesPaperback: INR599<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20230112100136/63bfd4c29c7e80680e0d30bbjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="666" height="1024">Read also:<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/look-back-deal-with-our-past-and-learn/">“Look back, deal with our past and learn”</a>, Ashish Dhakal<a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/Kathmandu-wont-let-go-of-me-samrat-upadhyay,3649">“Kathmandu won’t let go of me”</a><a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/novelist-returns-to-non-fiction/">Novelist returns to non-fiction</a>, Sewa Bhattarai

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Let the sky fall

<figure><img width="2000" height="1333" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110161148/636d1dc29c7e80680e0af3d5jpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Ang Gelu Lama, 50 and his two-year-old son Lobsang who drowned in their basement apartment on 1 September in New York City. Photos: FACEBOOK</figcaption></figure>The rain started falling in the evening of 31 August in New York City and in the next 24 hours, the city and its surroundings got record rainfall from the remnants of Hurricane Ida. It only took a few hours for the streets to be flooded, and the water to enter subway stations.In a basement apartment of a house at the bottom of a dead-end street in the Flushing neighbourhood of Queens, water rushed in through the only window at street level. The apartment was occupied by Mingma Sherpa, her husband Ang Gelu Lama, and their 2-year-old son Lobsang.Mingma called an upstairs neighbour to say that water was starting to pour into the basement, and the family was unable to open their door to get out. The water rose rapidly, drowning the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/under-biden-hope-for-nepali-migrants-in-us/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">immigrant family from Nepal</a> before help could arrive.  “I cannot even describe how horrible the hurricane was for our community,” said Urgen Sherpa, a long-time resident of Queens and a close friend of Mingma and Ang Gelu. “The funeral was one of the most heartbreaking events in my life… I don’t have words to describe how bad it was, how sad it was.”On the day of the funeral, Ang Gelu’s older brother, who was already in the US, was in attendance. Cars drove slowly down the street in procession, the three caskets lined in a row inside the hearse.The funerals had been delayed in the hope that Mingma Sherpa’s mother and younger sister, and Ang Gelu Lama’s older sister could travel to New York from Nepal for the funeral. They could not get their US visas. The funeral was held without them, the community mourning while family members grieved on the other side of the world.  <figure><img width="532" height="560" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110161148/636d1dc69c7e80680e0af3d6jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption>Mingma Sherpa with her husband and young son, all of whom perished in the flood.</figcaption></figure>Nepal is one of the countries listed as being most at risk from <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/climate-change-is-a-disaster-in-the-nepal-himalaya/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the impact of the climate crisis</a>. The Himalayan villages where Mingma and Ang Gelu come from are exposed to increased risk of flashfloods from melting glaciers, erratic and extreme weather. The Himalaya is warming 0.3-0.78oC faster than the global average, and Nepal’s subsistence farmers have been hit hardest.   The cruel irony is that having left Nepal for economic opportunity in the United States, the family became the casualties of the effect of climate change that is unleashing more frequent and intense storms across the Americas.On 11 December, the state of Kentucky was hit by what has been described as the worst tornado in recorded history, killing more than 100 people. Meteorologists say the disaster was caused by record-high December temperatures in the state, with warm, moist air from the Gulf colliding with colder air from the north.   On 1 September, the day of the tragedy in Queens, New York City experienced record high rainfall from the trailing edge of Hurricane Ida. Central Park in Manhattan got 181mm of rain in 24 hours, nearly double the previous record of 97mm 90 years ago. In Newark across the Hudson, the total precipitation on that day was 213mm – four times higher than the previous daily rainfall record in 1959. Four months after the New York tragedy in which a family that left Nepal fell victim to the kind of disaster that are now affects the whole world, the Kentucky tornado once more underlined that no one is safe anywhere from the impact of the climate emergency.It also came in a year when surges in the pandemic caused job losses that affected the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/the-promise-of-an-american-dream/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">immigrant community in the United States</a> the hardest. It was a stinging reminder of the challenges faced by lower income families in the United States regarding affordable and safe housing. Besides the Nepali family, the floods in New York claimed 7 other lives that day.Like many other immigrant families who are drawn to New York City for its opportunities, Mingma and Ang Gelu had rented the basement apartment because of the lower cost. The two had married a few years ago, and their Green Card application had been denied just before the storm hit.While flooding is not an imminent concern for New Yorkers living in high rises, the tragedy proved how dangerous it is for people dwelling below street level. Basement apartments are an increasingly common option for those looking for affordable housing in a tightly packed, dense urban landscape. <figure><img width="969" height="619" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110161148/636d1dc89c7e80680e0af3d7jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption>Police and rescuers had to bring in divers to retrieve the bodies of the Nepali family in Queens. </figcaption></figure>Most basement living spaces do not pass New York state regulations for acceptable living conditions. They often have few or no windows, limited ventilation, and typically only one entry and exit, all of which disqualify nearly all basements in the city from being legally livable. However, in one of the most expensive cities in the world, landlords often choose to rent out these spaces anyway to individuals or families who are unable to afford anything else. New York City mayor Bill de Blasio had <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/14/nyregion/legalize-basement-apartments-nyc.html">promised</a> to begin addressing the growing issue in statements back in 2019, but all efforts have since been cut in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, and in 2020 Queens became the epicentre of the coronavirus surge. As global temperatures rise, heavier rainfall is <a href="https://theconversation.com/hurricane-ida-2-reasons-for-its-record-shattering-rainfall-in-nyc-and-the-northeast-long-after-the-winds-weakened-167252">inevitable</a>, even in places that have historically been spared from the worst of seasonal storms like New York, or in seasons when tornados are not supposed to happen like in Kentucky in December. This is not a distant prediction, but a new normal. Hurricane season in the eastern United States is a predictable annual phenomenon. Stretching from early summer into the last weeks of autumn, hurricanes thrust gale-force winds and torrential rain across the coast. Severe, and sometimes deadly, flooding is increasingly common. As the 2020 hurricane season came to a close, examining its aftermath revealed dozens of tragic stories of loss and devastation, of which none were more heartbreaking than the drowning of the Nepali family in New York.   While storms are nothing new for New York City residents, the severe flooding brought by Hurricane Ida was more intense than any storm in recent history. Hurricane Sandy in 2012 brought flooding due to storm surges, but the precipitation from Ida was off the charts.   This gave the storm a markedly different character compared to those that preceded it. It was faster and far more unexpected. There was simply not enough runoff to manage the enormous amount of water rushing into the streets, enveloping cars, and pouring into any below-ground space in the city.Cities across the United States and Germany this summer looked like any other part of the developing world that used to be called 'the most vulnerable' to weather extremes. Climate change, it seems, spares no one, no matter where they live.

Climate change drowns the American dream

<figure><img width="1222" height="1796" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111016114/636d13619c7e80680e0a991cjpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Lain Singh Bangdel, Moon over Kathmandu, 1962, oil on canvas, 32 x 22”. Collection of Mervin Stevens.</figcaption></figure>The first posthumous solo exhibition outside Nepal of paintings by <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/lain-singh-bangdels-legacy-lives-on/">Lain Singh Bangdel</a> is being held in New York in January, nearly 20 years after <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=5250#.YZI2WFVByJA">the artist's passing at age 83</a> in Kathmandu.The exhibition is being held at the Yeh Art Gallery of St. John's University, and will bring together more than 25 of the artist’s works, focusing on his abstract style which was influenced by the start of his professional painting career in Paris in the 1960s.Lain Singh Bangdel: Moon over Kathmandu is being curated by Owen Duffy, the Director of the Yeh Gallery, with the support of Bibhakar Shakya, chair of the Bangdel &amp; Shakya Foundation and married to Lain Singh Bangdel’s daughter, Dina. <figure><img width="1676" height="1706" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111016114/636d13659c7e80680e0a991djpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Duffy was a student of <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/regular-columns/On-the-way-up/complete-projects-of-Dina-Bangdel,977">Dina Bangdel</a>, and said that this is a personal project for him. Dina Bangdel died suddenly at age 53 in 2017.“It occurred to me that there hasn’t been a museum exhibition outside Nepal focused on Lain’s work and this seemed like the right moment to look back at his contribution as a foremost modernist in Asia, and his impact on art history,” Duffy told Nepali Times“What we are looking at through the show is how Lain arrived at <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/i-m-a-g-i-n-a-t-i-o-n-by-uttam-nepali/">abstraction</a>, why he decided he needed to paint abstractly, and tracing the development of his interest in the mountain ranges that he encountered growing up in Darjeeling and have now come to strongly signify his homeland Nepal,” he added.For Bibhakar Shakya the show is borne of a sense of even more personal responsibility. He was married to Dina Bangdel until her untimely demise four years ago, and reflected that he and Dina had always talked about organising an exhibition of her father’s works. “It became a matter of urgency once Dina passed away,”  said Bibhakar Shakya from Richmond in Virginia, where he is preparing for the exhibition. “It was almost as if I didn’t do it, it was never going to happen.” <figure><img width="1500" height="1088" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111016114/636d13699c7e80680e0a991ejpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>The urgency is especially relevant now in light of the growing trend towards <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/us-museum-returns-stolen-nepal-god/">repatriation from Europe and North America of stolen holy objects from Nepal</a>. Lain Singh Bangdel produced groundbreaking research on the Nepali art history, documented in Early Sculptures of Nepal (1982), 2500 Years of Nepalese Art (German Edition, 1985), Stolen Images of Nepal (1989), and Inventory of Stone Sculptures of the Kathmandu Valley (1991). “At present, many Nepalis in Nepal and abroad do not know of <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/lain-singh-bangdels-legacy-lives-on/">Lain Singh Bangdel’s legacy</a>, work and his contribution,” Shakya added. “Now seems like the perfect time to <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/lain-singh-bangdels-sigh/">reintroduce him</a> to the world and especially to the younger generation of art enthusiasts, historians and Nepalis.”Read also: <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=10689#.YZI1ZVVByJA">Lain's legacy</a>, Sraddha BasnyatThis is echoed by Owen Duffy, who remarked that the study and development of modernism has been largely limited in Europe and the US, and the exhibition looks to reassess that. “As an art historian with international focus and global interest, I believe that we should reconsider the history of modernism and what we show in our museums and galleries,” he said. “When you look at Lain’s output as a painter, novelist, art historian, preservationist and academician, he becomes a very important figure who has travelled through intellectual circles all around the world.” <figure><img width="200" height="277" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111016114/636d136c9c7e80680e0a991fjpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><figure><img width="1000" height="1424" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111016114/636d136d9c7e80680e0a9920jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><figure><img width="2399" height="3273" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111016114/636d13719c7e80680e0a9921jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>The paintings at the New York exhibition have come from all over the world: the Bangdel residence in Kathmandu, Bibhakar Shakya’s home in Virginia, several have been borrowed from collectors in New Hampshire, Arizona, and from people who knew Lain Singh Bangdel. This is an extensive body of work but not an exhaustive collection of Bangdel’s prolific artwork. A lot of the paintings have not been exhibited before, and certainly not together. The exhibition will take place from 27 January through 9 April 2022, and is primarily an academic and aesthetic exploration of Lain Singh’s œuvre, as opposed to a commercial gallery display.  There will also be a <a href="https://my.matterport.com/show/?m=MkgnRBbVZoA&amp;fbclid=IwAR25rPm1W4rQsXcOhzfxMxTwql8QwdrZ6EShIm4Tp99Q31p1cQ_ChaUTY4s" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">3D walk-through live</a> on the <a href="https://sjuartgallery.org/Lain-Singh-Bangdel-Moon-over-Kathmandu">exhibition website</a> for enthusiasts unable to visit in person. A complete catalogue will also be available at bookshops in Kathmandu.

Ashish Dhakal

Lain Singh Bangdel in New York

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110141152/636d02be9c7e80680e0a3699jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="427"/><figcaption>Photo: UNITED NATIONS</figcaption></figure>The United Nations General Assembly has started its 76th annual session, as 100 world leaders gather in-person after last year’s virtual meeting of the world body. This is an opportunity for the international community to act as a community for once to tackle the two big global crises of our times: Covid-19 and climate, both of which are <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/un-climate-report-declares-planetary-emergency/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">impacting Nepal</a>.For the General Assembly this year, the UN flew in the Korean boy band sensation, BTS. It was an effort to make sure that the annual sessions in New York, which are known mostly for their long boring speeches, go viral. And it is vital that the message this year needs to get out.<blockquote>The <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/GlobalGoals?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#GlobalGoals</a> are the world’s roadmap to create a better future for all.See how world leaders &amp; influencers joined <a href="https://twitter.com/antonioguterres?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@antonioguterres</a> on Monday to inspire action for the future of our planet, and all its people. <a href="https://t.co/9JItAr3Xp3">https://t.co/9JItAr3Xp3</a>— United Nations (@UN) <a href="https://twitter.com/UN/status/1440141984132370432?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 21, 2021</a></blockquote>Even as the international media focuses on the ‘vaccine gap’ between vaccinated and unvaccinated world leaders turning the General Assembly into a super-spreader event, the real issue is <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/covid-19-and-human-freedom/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the global vaccine gap</a>. The emphasis should have been not on vaccine deniers, like Brazilian President Jair Bolsanaro, but on a summit of world leaders happening at the right place at the right time to discuss global vaccine inequity.The global gap between the jabbed and jab-nots is not just unjust, but there is increased risk of the emergence of <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/delta-variants-wake-up-call-for-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">deadlier variants like Delta</a> since such a large section of the world’s population is not yet vaccinated. It also means that more people in poorer countries are at risk of losing their livelihoods as the pandemic surges there.The attempt to promote <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/hope-hyperbole-and-hypocrisy-of-covax/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the COVAX facility</a> to distribute vaccines to the developing world was a noble gesture, but it ended up being largely just that: a gesture. Rich countries circled their wagons, fighting tooth and nail among themselves to stockpile several times more vaccines than was needed by their populations. Team Europe tried to pick up the slack, but this just ended up putting brakes on individual members trying to pass on surplus doses to countries most in need.We now know that vaccines are the most effective tool we have to defeat this scourge. But like all disasters, Covid-19 has also exposed structural inequality in the world. So far, 73% of the 5.7 million vaccine doses administered so far have been in just 10 of the better off countries.The World Health Organisation (WHO) wants to vaccinate at least 40% of the population of every country by the end of this year, and will need the pledges made at the UN this week to reach 70% by next year. It has called on richer countries to <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/to-boost-or-not-to-boost/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">postpone third dose boosters</a> to their populations and ship those doses to people around the world who are not yet vaccinated. But going by the vaccine nationalism we have seen so far, that is unlikely to happen.Nearer home, Nepal was <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/too-early-for-nepal-to-let-its-guard-down/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">one of the first countries in the region to start its vaccination</a> drive in March – thanks to us being next door to India which gifted 1 million doses right away and had just started supplying more Astra Zeneca Covishield vaccines indirectly via COVAX when the Delta struck with brutal force. Because of our open border, the strain swept through Nepal as well, but by then India had stopped the export of Covishield.On Wednesday, US President Joe Biden hosts a virtual summit to discuss concrete steps the world can take collectively to combat the contagion. He is calling for 1 billion more vaccines to be shipped out so that 70% of the world population can be inoculated by 2022, this in addition to the 2 billion already pledged.

Covid and climate at the UN

<figure><img width="1500" height="1062" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110915118/636bb5129c7e80680e07bbe0jpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Ted and Bruce in Deopatan in July 3, 1983. Photo: DAVID SASSOON</figcaption></figure><a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=11692" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id%3D11692&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1600528481773000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHd1Ez2Yig2Qvc4dLCfYkKCP82wuQ">Ted Riccardi</a> often recounted the story of turning his attention to Nepal, and pursuing the career that followed as a series of fortunate accidents. Disappointed with his chosen field of study in law, a chance encounter with a teacher from his high school ultimately led him to become the prominent scholar of Nepal that he was. Though it was my first trip to Nepal that shifted my attention from Latin America to the Kathmandu Valley, I am somewhat embarrassed to acknowledge that it was by accident that I happened to meet Ted, who ultimately made my studies there and so much more possible. I received the letter informing me of my acceptance into the graduate program in anthropology at Columbia University while visiting Kathmandu as a backpacking tourist. Presumably I was accepted, at least in part, on the basis of my proposal to pursue applied anthropology in Latin America. But by the time I accepted their offer to join the program, my heart and mind were set on conducting research in Nepal. It was only through a chance perusal through the ‘Ns’ in the course catalogue after arriving at Columbia that I discovered Nepali was being offered there by one Professor Riccardi, who was oddly ensconced in the Department of Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures. I immediately went to his office in Kent Hall and asked if I could study with him. He seemed a bit surprised and inquired about the basis of my interest, and, perhaps detecting that I was afflicted with a nascent love of Nepal that he thought would grow with proper feeding, he allowed me to join Bill Fisher in the one Nepali class he was teaching at the time, even though Bill had started the year before.  <figure><img width="1500" height="1189" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110915118/636bb5169c7e80680e07bbe1jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption>Ted Riccardi, March 1987. Photo: DAVID SASSOON</figcaption></figure>I am sure Bill was a bit dismayed at my joining the class as a neophyte, but he seems to have gotten over it, and has become one of my dearest friends: another of the countless gifts Ted has bestowed upon me.To teach me Nepali was an enormous gift, all the more so because of Ted’s stunning proficiency in it. While doing my doctoral research in the early ’80s, I once returned to my apartment in Patan to be greeted by the son of my landlord with a note. When I discovered that it was from Ted, I excitedly told him that it was from my guru, and he asked, “Is he Nepali?”Clearly the young boy was experiencing cognitive dissonance, Ted’s appearance not being consistent with his speech, but his speech being without accent, and so fluent that only his being Nepali could account for it. I often think of how torturous it must have been for someone so gifted as he to attempt to impart his knowledge to the likes of me. Even though his Nepali was better than that of many Nepalis, partly due to a series of fortuitous events in his own life (see Don Messerschmidts’ <a href="http://ecs.com.np/features/ted-riccardi-a-scholar-among-us" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://ecs.com.np/features/ted-riccardi-a-scholar-among-us&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1600528481773000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFRQVntyrRiLgtJg6e7_RB8R5hCxg">article in ECS</a> from July of 2010), Ted insisted that his students also work with a native speaker from Nepal. And so it was that Kanak Mani Dixit came into my life, as he was at Columbia studying journalism at the time: another gift beyond measure.The point of these stories, which may seem to focus overly on me, is that Ted was extraordinarily generous with his knowledge, patience, and time. He was also generous in sharing his many friendships and connections with people in Nepal. It was through him that I also came to know Mohan Khanal, Prayag Raj Sharma, and Dor Bahadur Bista before I ever went to Nepal to do my research, all of whom came to New York through his efforts. Once in Nepal, the mention of his name inevitably brought smiles, inquiries about his welfare, and generous hospitality. <img width="300" height="353" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110915118/636bb5199c7e80680e07bbe2jpeg.jpg" alt="">It was from Ted’s house in New Delhi, where he was cultural attaché at the time, that I launched my doctoral research in Nepal. It was only with his support that I was able to pursue my research in Nepal for nearly three years, and only with his patient encouragement that I was able to complete my dissertation four years later. The most generous among us do not draw attention to their generosity, but rather somehow allow one to come to expect it without realising it, and do not seek thanks for it. Though I have tried over the years to express my gratitude to Ted, in putting these words to paper I realise how futile a task that was and is.<a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/A-chariot-through-time-rato-machhindranath,3354" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/A-chariot-through-time-rato-machhindranath,3354&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1600528481773000&amp;usg=AFQjCNH8BSPpRT6o_QhLOYi0nkIwsd1J4A">Bruce McCoy Owens</a> is Associate Professor of Anthropology at Wheaton College in the United States, and has studied and documented the <a href="http://nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/Red-rain-god,3141" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/Red-rain-god,3141&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1600528481773000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGcsAXK-5sCF3b_sIHugmEf68PA1g">Rāto Matsyendranāth</a> tradition of Kathmandu Valley.

Dhanyavād, Subhāy, Guruju

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110914110/636ba4b39c7e80680e07367fjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"/><figcaption>Children in Gai Jatra procession in Kathmandu on Tuesday even as the risk of COVID-19 looms over the capital. Participants have however taken to wearing masks as mandated by the government while partaking in festivals. Photo: MONIKA DEUPALA</figcaption></figure>Prime Minister K P Oli held a meeting with 20 public health experts on Tuesday to discuss steps to deal with COVID-19, especially in <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/heightened-covid-19-risk-at-india-nepal-border/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">cities bordering India</a> – a sign that his government is taking a recent surge in cases seriously.The meeting came as Nepal reported 259 new cases on Tuesday, taking the total number so far to 21,009 and the number of fatalities up by one to 58. Kathmandu Valley detected 62 new cases and now has 727 confirmed cases (481 active) with 5 deaths.The government this week put six districts with over 200 cases (Kathmandu, Rautahat, Kailali, Mahottari, Parsa and Doti) in the Red Zone. (see map) In Kathmandu, 72 staff at Nepal Police Headquarters have tested positive and the premises are sealed off.<a style="font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/lockdown-may-be-over-but-pandemic-is-not/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Lockdown may</a>be over, but pandemic is not, Editorial<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110914110/636ba4b69c7e80680e073680jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1275" height="1650"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Speaking at the interaction, Prime Minister Oli said: “We must lower the infection rate to zero, and treat those who are sick. But as long as we keep the border open, there will be more cases ... so we have to test them before allowing them to travel to home districts.”Experts present noted that although the numbers are rising, the World Health Organisation (WHO) still puts Nepal in the ‘cluster spread’ stage, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/lockdown-may-be-over-but-pandemic-is-not/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">where the virus is not showing community transmission</a>. They advise the government against re-imposing a lockdown, saying it was not a long-term solution.Most public health experts favour a ‘smart lockdown’ where localities with cluster outbreaks are sealed off, and tested – while strictly enforcing masks in public places and preventing crowds.Since the lockdown was lifted on 21 July, the rate of infection has increased to 3.37%, indicating rapid spread in districts bordering India where all major cities like Birganj, Bitartnagar, Dhandagi, Nepalganj, Janakpur and Rajbiraj are under curfew.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110914110/636ba4b99c7e80680e073681jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1265" height="822"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Officials in Kathmandu Valley are also said to be considering lockdown, but experts say it is more advisable to seal off neighbourhoods rather than a strict blanket closure.Medical experts fear that another shutdown is likely to kill more people than the disease it seeks to control, as people with non-coronavirus ailments cannot get to hospital for treatment, and the economy suffers even more, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/covid-19-leaves-millions-of-south-asian-children-hungry/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">lowering nutrition levels</a> of people.Government figures show that there were <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/children-are-collateral-damage-in-nepal-lockdown/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">30% more child deaths in April-May</a> this year compared to last year. <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/birth-and-death-during-a-pandemic/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Maternal mortality has also gone up</a> because many more mothers gave birth at home instead of going to hospital. There has been a <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/meanwhile-a-measles-outbreak-in-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">spike in measles</a> and other infections because of delays in vaccination campaigns.“A lockdown is not the solution to the coronavirus crisis. We must first analyse why we did not do the previous four months to take measures to control the spread,” says Sher Bahadur Pun of the Ministry of Health, “another lockdown will not make a difference.”Pun adds that uncontrolled movement of people across districts during the lockdown with thousands crossing the Indian border to reach their homes, led to the flare-up in the infection.“It is only going to get worse from here, especially as winter approaches,” predicts Buddha Basnyat of Patan Academy of Health Sciences. “We have to accept this and prepare for it, but another lockdown is only the last resort.”Basnyat says the government has to get on a war-footing to <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/open-and-shut-case/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">increase testing in the Tarai districts</a> enforce mask-wearing and physical distancing, and as the number of severe cases rise, develop a treatment taskforce.Hospitals should be better equipped to handle the increase in symptomatic and severe coronavirus cases being seen now, with clear treatment guidelines identifying the most effective drugs and therapies for Nepalis, so there is no expensive over-prescription.As the ICUs get filled up, there is an urgent need for ventilators and oxygen concentrators, Basnyat adds. There are now 36 patients with COVID-19 across the country, with 23 in Bagmati Province, which includes Kathmandu Valley. Birganj is said to have reached saturation in ICU capacity, and hospitals in other Tarai cities are also filling up.Health experts say that while Nepal may not be able to build hospitals in a week like Wuhan did, the government can start mass testing in the high-risk zones, set up tents and ICU beds and stockpile life-saving drugs and medical equipment.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110914110/636ba4bd9c7e80680e073682jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="858" height="671"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Experts are also advocating for regular mass testing in cities with more movement of people. And if there is indeed another lockdown, they say testing in densely populated urban centres is a must.A recent surveillance based on swab samples of 10,000 of the people who entered Kathmandu Valley last week found that 0.7% of them tested positive for SARS-CoV-2. Despite this seemingly low positivity rate, health officials say that the finding is significant because those individuals would have been carriers in their families and communities.More worryingly, there is now a rise in cases with serious symptoms across Tarai districts, unlike in the past when most were asymptomatic or had co-morbidity. Hospitals in the Tarai are seeing a surge of typical COVID-19 symptoms with advanced pneumonia.“Most hospitals and doctors in Nepal are now starting to feel the devastation this virus can cause, as it did in Lombardy, New York and parts of India,” says Buddha Basnyat. “Which is why despite low fatality rate in this part of the world and the concept of herd immunity, there is no time to be complacent.”A rise in influenza in the rainy season could also be a reason for misdiagnosis because flu and COVID-19 have similar symptoms. Experts suggest flu to be tested with COVID-19, especially as winter approaches.But even with all the planning in the world, strategies, drugs and medical infrastructure, the most effective tools against the virus are the three <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/prevention-while-searching-for-a-cure/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">simple safety measures</a>: physical distance, masks and hand hygiene.Says Sher Bahadur Pun: “Testing, tracing and treating are important. Government action is crucial. But how strictly Nepalis follow safety guidelines and adapt it into their everyday lives will make the most difference.”

Sonia Awale

Experts caution against extending Nepal lockdown

<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109121112/636b8b5a9c7e80680e06b293jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1830" height="1190"/>In my back yard is an aging apple tree. Moss cloaked and bare, unlikely again to bear its seasonal crop of the green succulents. The last time my children and I picked a juicy ripe one was before my youngest got married under its shade.In its time, it has blessed three unions under the sunshine of different summers, accommodated countless encroachments on its branches during birthday barbecues and withstood the assault of harsh winters and the insult of our benign neglect.Of course, it has grown older and resigned to its fate in the 26 years since we first set eyes on it. The past two weeks, I have looked at it more and more, during my evening ambles around the perimeter of our garden. I have stretched my fingers to touch and pause over its weather beaten bark, for I find something soothing and wise in its silence -- an ancient assurance in its stoop of solitude. I need a lot of that, these days.<a style="font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/diary-of-a-soul-in-semi-isolation/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Diary of a soul in semi-lockdown</a>, Tashi T SherpaOf recent, much as I want to look at the glass as half full, the grim reality of our worsening pandemic forces a damning realisation that we are literally living in the worst of times. There is nowhere to escape to, no Shangrila of safety. The only possible path to our emancipation lies in a retreat to our own corner. And staying there.In the ensuing weeks since the first numbers trickled in, we have seen our mighty nation state buckling fatally, hopelessly out of sync, and woefully under prepared. With the onslaught in full vicious mode, words like apocalypse and end-of-days have entered our daily discourse. The once vaunted trope of our civic supremacy is being battered by our inability to stem the spread or beat the scourge into submission. Massive death tolls are recorded in most cities across the US. We do not need to believe it because the evidence is being hammered into our consciousness from New York’s daily tally of tragedy.Meanwhile, hope for better days comes, not from some miracle cure or a <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/countries-cooperating-to-find-covid-19-cure/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">vaccine</a> but from examples of wise crisis governance, proactive and efficient response systems elsewhere. The rapid ability to group together in a singular mission, the agile harnessing of technology for the hour and a cohesive unity in approach for solutions come from the tiny Asian country of Taiwan and its neighbours of South Korea and Singapore.Lessons in saving lives and the strictures implemented, that we could have learnt from and adopted were ignored in the hubris of wilful ignorance and know it all narcissism. We missed our chance and how dearly we are all paying for this. It is intolerable that we missed the signs, but even more galling is that the chaos and self-serving tactics still prevail within the highest levels. But more on that for another day.The increasing immediacy and painful spike of daily deaths is now numbing our collective minds to read them as statistical blips. The US has already crossed the benchmark of having the highest number of cases and it is growing exponentially by the day. Each day’s announcement portends more ominous days ahead. When will it end? And even more poignantly, how will it end for all of us?If there are any heroes in this infernal scenario, it has to be the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/protecting-those-who-protect-us-from-the-epidemic/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">battered health care workers</a>  Without exception, we are filled with unabashed, unbiased admiration and sympathy for all those unsung sentinels of health, the ones in the fearful frontline against the venomous assault of the virus.While we remain safely but grudgingly ensconced in our self-imposed isolation, someone’s sister, daughter, friend, brother, son, father, mother is in the hospitals and makeshift triages, in a never ending mortal combat against an omnipotent invisible enemy. How do you fight a legion that swoops in like unseen mist?But enough of morbid talk and more about the new normal. Our three weeks of self-quarantine have now segued into Day 27. Weekdays have lost their primacy, work no longer seems demandingly urgent, and lazy PJ mornings are no longer just the purview of our weekend. My work outfit is the same as my walking gear which is the same as the heather knit sleepwear on which I spilt my breakfast tchampa. For me, sweat pant grey is the new black.<a style="font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/home-work-during-the-lockdown/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Home work during the lockdown</a>, Saniaa ShahTime is of the essence they say. And by the way, who is ‘they’? Regardless, I have plenty of that essence now and then some to spare. For someone who once blew a gasket when the office didn’t get populated at the stroke of 8.55am, I’ve become pretty zen about <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/home-work-during-the-lockdown/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Zoom meetings</a> at 11.30am. It’s must be a revelation to my youthful team of digital diligents that the old man has to be reminded twice via texts that the meeting is to start.So without further ado, I zoom in. Sorry, that pun was just waiting.<a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/The-winter-of-our-spring,1331" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/The-winter-of-our-spring,1331&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1586673008642000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGxTJMBy-u0uOiTcEI1WXy6o2QB-w">Tashi T Sherpa</a> is Creative Director and CEO of Khangri Sourcing based in Seattle.

Being zen about Zoom

<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108151116/636a653e9c7e80680e05991cjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="3024" height="4032"/>Singapore-born Nepali American designer Prabal Gurung has brought out a pictorial autobiography of his life and career in a hefty coffee table book that lets us understand his passion.Because it is a book by and of Prabal Gurung, the volume is itself a work of art. Beautifully printed, elegantly designed, and with sparse text that allows us to understand his approach to life: tolerance, compassion, style, originality, activism, and a kinship to the land of his forebears.The very first two-page spread of fold upon fold of Himalayan ridges fading into lighter and lighter shades of blue right up to the horizon has a dedication: ‘To my mother, Durga Rana, who always made sure I had the correct shade of lipstick.’Gurung expresses his innate feminism and feminity with a fresh style that combines the exotic east with the practical couture of the west. It is this iconic blend that has made Prabal Gurung a much sought after luxury brand in the United States. Indeed, Gurung describes his designs as ‘feminity with a bite ... she wants to look feminine but doesn’t want to look over girly’.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108151116/636a65429c7e80680e05991djpeg.jpg" alt="" width="2764" height="3228">Many celebrities have donned Prabal Gurung, including Michelle Obama when she was First Lady, Oprah Winfrey who Prabal says has always been his personal hero, the actress Jennifer Lawrence, and many others.Prabal Gurung’s activism goes beyond feminism. He has spoken against social injustice and exclusion, and has been a campaigner against bullying. He talks about this in a conversation with Hanya Yanagihara, the editor of T Magazine at the beginning of the book.‘In Nepal ... I went to an all-boys’ Catholic school, and that’s where I realised how different I was – because I was constantly told I was different. I was bullied constantly. Sketching became a way to find some peace.’Gurung remembers his American teacher in Kathmandu who wore a beautiful cotton dress. ‘I remember I was completely transfixed, transformed,’ he says.In his twenties, Prabal Gurung went to New York and the freedoms there made him come out about being gay for the first time. He used to go to gay bars, and felt like a misfit because he did not fit into the perception of a muscular white gay. Gurung remembers telling himself: ‘The world hasn’t caught up to my worth ... damn I’m beautiful.’Gurung has set up a foundation that is now helping more than 300 Nepali children, and helping female prisoners. Asked about his future plans, he says he wants to open an art museum in which Nepali artists will get global exposure.In Spring 2015, inspired by a trek in Nepal Prabal Gurung showcased new designed that used Nepali motifs with androgynous American sportswear that was a hit. But then tragedy struck, Nepal was hit by an earthquake that killed 9,000 people. Feeling helpless so far away, Gurung organised a fundraiser show in New York dedicated to the land of his mother. He writes about that show: 'My heritage is my identity, and I want to share a piece of myself with our community... the devastating experience was a rebirth, a shedding of a layer to step into anew role, pacing the way for even greater advocacy, social responsibility and activism.'The book starts with the designs from his 2009 show at the FLAG Art Foundation in New York which launched Prabal Gurung’s career and his ‘real American dream’. Soon, he was being noticed by the fashion industry and designed the contoured red dress that Michelle Obama wore to the White House Correspondents’ dinner.The book has a close up of the floral prints on the fabric of the dress that the duchess of Cambridge Kate Middleton wore in Singapore in 2012. We have blown up images of Kirsten Stewart, Deepika Padukone, Gigi Hadid and many other beautiful people.Gurung designed Kate Perry’s gown at the last Hillary Clinton rally during the 2016 presidential election with sequined letters down the back that read ‘I’m with Madam President’. The designer admits feeling ‘devastated’ following the elections, and adds in the caption: ‘Looking back, I try to believe that it has only made some of us stronger, and more courageous, more active citizens.’One of Prabal Gurung’s avid admirers is the actress Sarah Jessica Parker. She writes in her foreword: ‘Prabal is a social activist. He has used his voice for good in the world – speaking out on diversity, women’s rights, and body positivity—and embedded meaning into each of his pieces. He has created not just any brand, but a luxury brand with a soul.’Kunda DixitPrabal Gurungby Prabal GurungAbrams, New York 2019$75      272 pages<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Prabal-Gurung/dp/1419738100"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108151116/636a65459c7e80680e05991ejpeg.jpg" alt="" width="2703" height="3276"></a>

Kunda Dixit

Prabal Gurung by Prabal Gurung

Bajeko Sekuwa, the popular Nepali food chain restaurant serving a variety of authentic traditional dishes, has opened its first international outlet in New York, U.S.A.  The newly established branch is located in Sunnyside, Queens. 		
		<img width="960" height="720" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110710114/6368ca2e9c7e80680e02f2f4jpeg.jpg" alt=""/>The restaurant’s menu includes its signature dish, Sekuwa as well as many other Nepali food items and drinks. The management of the restaurant organised a grand opening which was attended by Nepali artists like Ram Krishna Dhakal, Jagadish Hamal and Gita Burlakoti along with many Nepali residents of New York. “With a target of opening 6 more Bajeko Sekuwa outlets across different parts of United States by 2024, we are confident that we will hit the right notes”, Chetan  Bhandari, Chairman of Bajeko Sekuwa said during the opening. Bajeko Sekuwa currently has 13 national outlets in Nepal. They are soon opening  outlets in Qatar, Doha, Sydney and Finland.

Bajeko Sekuwa in Sunnyside

“I don’t know if I picked jewellery, but jewellery might have picked me.”<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110710110/6368c97b9c7e80680e02f2b6jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1400" height="788"/><figcaption>Ayesha Shakya</figcaption></figure>‘Jill of all trades, master of some’ is how Arpana Rayamajhi might describe herself -- there seems to be nothing the jewellery designer, model and self-made entrepreneur cannot do. The Nepali in New York has been seamlessly juggling hats, while making a name for herself and her jewellery on the world stage.Barely four years since she launched <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/%20East-meets-West%20,3152">her jewellery line</a>, Rayamajhi has been featured in Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, included in The New York Times 30-under-30 list and her jewellery adorned by the likes of supermodel Adriana Lima and Gigi Hadid on the runways of the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show.“I don’t know if I picked <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/Be-jewelled-by-Ayusha-Shresthas-AAMO,3042">jewellery</a>, but jewellery might have picked me,” Rayamajhi tell us in a recent interview. Always creative, Rayamajhi took up painting and sculpting at The Cooper Union School of Art, and the passion to create her own jewellery grew out of necessity after graduation.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVFWlEuy65MShe explains: “I started working with <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/assimilating-generations-of-Newari-muslims,2937">beads</a> because I was broke and I couldn’t afford anything else. I was waiting tables and babysitting to earn money, but I realised if I didn’t do jewellery now, I would never do it.”Rayamajhi started off selling her designs to friends and their friends, but it wasn’t until she began modelling her jewellery herself and posting photos on Instagram that things really took off. Soon, she scored a feature on Vogue and began amassing tens of thousands of loyal followers on Instagram.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110710110/6368c97e9c7e80680e02f2b7jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="800" height="836"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>“If you don’t believe in your work, no one will. Sincerity and producing my own work was important to me,” says Rayamajhi. Indeed, it is her identity as an artist that makes her jewellery so unique and transcendent.“I am really invested in making work that shows the artists' persona and how their mind works,” explains Rayamajhi. Colourful, playful, eclectic, and incorporating quirky elements like synthetic hair, tassels and miniature idols, Rayamajhi’s jewellery defines her.It also defines how she has grown as an artist. Starting with beads, Rayamajhi made a big jump into diamond jewellery for the ‘Diamonds with a Story’ series by Australian Diamonds in January.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110710110/6368c9819c7e80680e02f2b8jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="697"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>This was the first time Rayamajhi became an art director herself, and only designed the jewellery, instead of making them herself. Always socially and environmentally conscious, she only took up the offer because the diamonds were conflict free.Rayamajhi also chooses to remain close to her Nepali roots, but incorporates elements that make her jewellery truly global. Her popularity has not gone unnoticed in Nepal, and that does come to her as a pleasant surprise.“The kind of reaction I got from the Nepali audience on the Victoria’s Secret Fashion show was amazing. Craze dekhera danga thiyei,” says Rayamajhi, breaking into Nepali to explain how she was encouraged by the reaction.Rayamajhi went back to Nepal twice last year after a gap of five years, and remembers re-seeing Kathmandu in all its beauty and chaos. She wants to have a flagship store in Nepal to encourage more artisanal talent and support a comeback for <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/rebuilding-temples-a-chance-to-creat-jobs-and-to-revive-woodcarving-industry%20,2347">Nepali handicraft</a>.She adds: “I will consider myself really successful if I am able to move a generation. In the end, I want people to see me and see themselves in me. I want them to feel that if she can do it, so can I.”Read also:<a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/%20East-meets-West%20,3152  ,  http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/%20East-meets-West%20,3152">East meets West</a>,  Ayesha Shakya<a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/Be-jewelled-by-Ayusha-Shresthas-AAMO,3042">Be jewelled</a>,  Smriti Basnet

new-york