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

Sonia Awale

original

674x448

610x380

500x500

400x266

400x240

400x203

301x200

1250x600

1084x550

thumbnail

viewImage

The pizzaz of Fire and Ice

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110811118/636a2b1e9c7e80680e045958jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1400" height="930"/><figcaption>GRAZIE: Annamaria Forgione (far left) with her staff when Fire and Ice first opened in 1995 in Thamel, and this week serving the popular Pizza Margherita at her restaurant that will soon mark its 25th anniversary.</figcaption></figure>Ever since her father emigrated from Italy to Venezuela, and later living in London, Annamaria Forgione (pictured below) had always yearned to belong to some place she could really call home. Now, at 68, the founder of Fire and Ice Pizzeria in <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/thamel-tales-review,3661" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Thamel</a> has decided that she belongs more to Nepal than Naples.This week, as the Nepal Investment Summit gets underway, it may be a good time to remember one of the first investors in Nepal’s hospitality sector after the Foreign Investment Act was passed in 1992. Fire and Ice will soon mark 25 years in Kathmandu, and is a model business that has stuck with Nepal through thick and thin.“As an immigrant child, I missed the sense of home, but it gives me great happiness to know that I belong to Nepal,” says Forgione, raising her voice to be heard above the background noise of her busy Kathmandu pizzeria one recent evening.Forgione was working at the Italian Embassy in London when she fell ill and became wheelchair-bound for more than a year. Her British husband, a teacher, started looking for a job so she could have a change of scenery to recover, and fortuitously landed a job at Lincoln School in Kathmandu.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110811118/636a2b219c7e80680e045959jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="800" height="1161"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>“It was an act of god that I came to Kathmandu,” says Foregione, smiling. “Otherwise, who knows, Fire and Ice may have opened up in Ulan Bataar.”It was her obsession with cleanliness that made Forgione plan “a clean, simple place with no pretences”, where people in Kathmandu could eat without falling sick. She even put a microscope in the kitchen to show waiters the germs lurking about if they did not wash their hands.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/northeast-indian-cuisine-is-a-hot-new-sensation-in-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Northeast Indian cuisine is a hot new sensation in Nepal</a>, Sewa BhattaraiThe timing was perfect. The new business-friendly Foreign Investment Act made it easy to register Fire and Ice, and with the boom in trekking tourism, and growth in Kathmandu’s expat community in the mid-90s, the restaurant immediately took off as a place not just to eat, but to meet and greet.One regular was Crown Prince Dipendra, who came for his favourite salami pizza with his friend Devyani Rana a fortnight before the <a href="https://nepalitimes.atavist.com/three-kings-in-four-days-nepal-massacre" target="_blank" rel="noopener">massacre</a> at the nearby royal palace in June 2001. There have been many celebrity visitors since, including Sting, Richard Gere and Bollywood stars.Nepal has now moved on from monarchy to republic, from war to peace, and survived many political upheavals, but Fire and Ice is exactly where it was on Tridevi Marg next to the three temples dedicated to the goddesses, Dakshinkali, Manakamana and Jawalamai. Kathmandu-based expats return to Fire and Ice when they visit Nepal just to relive the time they were here.“Some young men come and hug me and say, ‘Annamaria, remember me?’ They were children when they used to come here 20 years ago, and now they are all bearded and grown-up,” Forgione remembers. “They feel the restaurant is a link to their childhood, it is a constant. We need these anchors to give our lives continuity.”Forgione’s main challenge in the past 25 years has been to ensure quality, so she personally supervises the kitchen, training and sourcing ingredients. The other challenges over the years have been dealing with shutdowns and extortion.Despite conflicts, <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/blogs/thebrief/2015/04/25/massive-earthquake-rattles-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">earthquakes</a> and the <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/regular-columns/As-It-Happens/blockade-that-benefitted-no-one,660" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Blockade</a>, Annamaria Forgione says she has never been fed up with Nepal, and will never leave. She helps Jay Nepal Action Volunteers work with  earthquake survivors, and is full of admiration of the inner strength of Nepalis.“Nepal gives me such happiness, it has been my life,” she adds, “when I go to the Big Pizzeria in the sky, I want to look down and see that this place is still going strong.”

Kunda Dixit

Napoli Nepali

Robert Redford was an A-list megastar who had dominated Hollywood throughout the 1970s, generally considered the high water mark of American cinema.&nbsp; In those days Nepal was a fashionably remote destination, so it was not unusual for us to be looking after celebrity visitors. But Robert Redford was huge by any standards.&nbsp; “Call me Bob,” was the first thing he said to me, with that wonderful embracing smile that had lit up screens and quickened heartbeats around the world throughout the previous decade.&nbsp; We met over a cosy Mountain Travel dinner in Al Read’s brick and stucco house in Dhobighat. The floors were traditional terracotta tiles, the low beams darkly varnished and a cheerful fire warmed the October chill.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250921110940_32dd66ba4b578a843bbbf6a74bca7d47f9ac7083c3bf50f8213ac3e5322974fd.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="20250921110940_32dd66ba4b578a843bbbf6a74bca7d47f9ac7083c3bf50f8213ac3e5322974fd" data-rendition-name="original" width="1396" height="920" loading="lazy" alt="Robert Redford in Nepal"> <figcaption>Robert Redford in 1982 at Meghauli airfield in Chitwan with young Kirsten Annapurna Read, the daughter of Al Read, managing director of Mountain Travel Nepal.</figcaption> </figure>  Our heroes often seem diminished in real life and Redford was shorter than expected, though taller than his friends and co-stars Paul Newman and Dustin Hoffman. But most striking was his pock-marked skin which must have challenged makeup artists over the years.&nbsp; I was disappointed he was not wearing his trademark cowboy boots, but Bob’s fame infused the room with his gentle politeness and low-key glamour. Next morning I picked him up from the Malla Hotel for some light sightseeing around the Valley. Under strict instruction from ‘his people’ that any fuss from fans was to be minimised, I was surprised to see him wearing a Sundance tee-shirt – just in case no one recognised him.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250921040916_1674398340a9501127e9f8b6b775f41b35703253f772ee05c6ab064819cd0abb.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20250921040916_1674398340a9501127e9f8b6b775f41b35703253f772ee05c6ab064819cd0abb" data-rendition-name="original" width="840" height="1280" loading="lazy" alt="Robert Redford in Nepal"> <figcaption>Robert Redford exploring the Kathmandu Valley in 1982. Photo: GALEN ROWELL </figcaption> </figure>  Unmolested, we walked the ancient streets of Bhaktapur, and Bob was duly entranced by the visual impact of Malla Newar’s enduring culture. Robert Redford’s main purpose in Nepal was to trek in the Khumbu with his friend Galen Rowell, an adventure photographer, conservationist and mountaineer who met a premature death in 2002 in a small plane crash in Bishop, California.&nbsp; There may have been some talk of a film about Everest, but nothing came of it. After the trek, Bob and Galen explored the grasslands and forests of Chitwan, staying with us at Tiger Tops Jungle Lodge to view wildlife from the back of a well-trained elephant.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250921110948_7c2339d73cedfcc9e659169d1d1bc2239d3d9973f6c4b1a945bfeb74b9b74d19.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20250921110948_7c2339d73cedfcc9e659169d1d1bc2239d3d9973f6c4b1a945bfeb74b9b74d19" data-rendition-name="original" width="723" height="958" loading="lazy" alt="Robert Redford in Nepal"> <figcaption>Robert Redford in Chitwan, with Tiger Tops Manager KK Gurung on 9 December 1982. Photo: GALEN ROWELL</figcaption> </figure>  Confiding that he was not much of a traveller, Bob told us Nepal was one of his first trips outside the USA. Bob preferred his homes in Malibu on the Pacific coast and the wide open spaces of Utah, which he named Sundance after his favourite role.&nbsp; SOARING GRANDEUR With his strong affinity for the outdoors, Redford’s horizons must have been significantly expanded by the soaring grandeur of Nepal's sublime mountains, untamed rivers, and tiger and rhino infested lowlands. Galen’s knowledge and enthusiasm for all things Himalayan made him the perfect person to introduce this prominent novice tourist to Nepal’s wild places. Framed photographs of Bob taken by Galen’s skilled camera still grace tourist lodges on the Everest trail, and I confess to having one hanging in our downstairs loo.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250921070932_7bff2986293742e6e97c91c879f2549f2a99095f1f4a98c50e3b74c7f91f7b84.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="20250921070932_7bff2986293742e6e97c91c879f2549f2a99095f1f4a98c50e3b74c7f91f7b84" data-rendition-name="original" width="1076" height="1624" loading="lazy" alt="Rovert Redford in Nepal"> <figcaption>Robert Redford in snowbound Namche Bazar in 1982.</figcaption> </figure>  His movie classics that defined our youth included the iconic Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Sting, All The President’s Men and The Way We Were. With many Oscar nominations, his personal best was Ordinary People, his directing debut which swept the award board in 1980, shortly before his Nepal trip. But Robert Redford was more than just an all American action man actor and successful film director. He chose roles that highlighted his political and social outlook. He was admired as an active environmental campaigner, using his fame to fight for clean air and pure water, serving as a trustee of the Natural Resources Defence Council.&nbsp; Redford once said: “The danger of success is that it forces you into a mould. I prefer independence.” Choosing the wilds of Utah over the jungles of Hollywood, in 1981 he started the Sundance Institute to cultivate controversial and independent movie talent.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250921040916_081aa6b2c1f9f82f3ea6a550c6887d9a991f2983a0a976456d627d711ae8a2e2.jpg" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="20250921040916_081aa6b2c1f9f82f3ea6a550c6887d9a991f2983a0a976456d627d711ae8a2e2" data-rendition-name="original" width="2448" height="3264" loading="lazy" alt="Robert Redford in Nepal"> <figcaption>Robert Redford being shown around Bhaktapur by Lisa Choegyal on 21 Nov 1982. Photo: GALEN ROWELL</figcaption> </figure>  Festival screenings and workshops gave thousands of film people a chance of artistic freedom, nurturing a galaxy of filmmaker greats. At the end of his long life, Redford’s Sundance is widely recognised as having profoundly influenced American cinema.&nbsp; I like to think that Robert Redford’s rare overseas holiday amidst the stunning natural beauty of Nepal’s high mountains, Sherpa villages, living heritage and endangered animals might have opened his eyes and perhaps even sparked his lifelong concern for social and environmental issues.&nbsp;

The Sundance Kid in Nepal

This text has been updated. Ten days after being nominated caretaker, Prime Minister Sushila Karki has added four more members to her Council of Ministers: Magsaysay winner Mahabir Pun, tv anchor Jagadish Kharel, former Justice Anil Kumar Sinha and Samata Foundation chair Madan Pariyar. Karki was under pressure to complete her compact Cabinet quickly. But it appears that her attempt to find professionals with non-political background, integrity, a record of professionalism while making the selection inclusive has not been easy.&nbsp; Several candidates that Prime Minister Karki had approached is said to have refused to join the interim government. Some have political ambitions and were worried that they would not be able to campaign ahead of early elections called for 5 March 2026.&nbsp; Among those who opted out for various reasons include famed ophthalmologist Sanduk Ruit who said his main responsibility was running his Tilganga Institute of Ophthalmology. Also considered for the role of the Health Minister was cardiologist Bhagwan Koirala who is thought to have declined because of his association with Min Bahadur Gurung, owner of Bhat-Bhateni supermarket chain who had pledged Rs410 million to his Kathmandu Institute of Child Health. Twelve Bhat-Bhateni stores across the country were looted and set on fire during the GenZ protests on 9 September.&nbsp; The Prime Minister had finalised public health expert Sangita Kaushal Mishra for Health Minister, sending her name to the President's office along with the other Cabinet picks on Sunday evening. But the PM withdrew Mishra's name from the list on Monday after it emerged she was under a corruption investigation.&nbsp; Mahabir Pun of the National Innovation Center is the new Minister of Education, Science and Technology. Tv talk show host Jagadish Kharel who runs a popular current affairs program will lead the Ministry of Communication, while Anil Kumar Sinha seems set to be named Minister of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs. Sinha and Mishra are from the Madhes. The new ministers will be sworn in on Monday. The names of the new ministers were finalised in consultation with the representatives of the GenZ protesters. Appointments of new ministers last week, especially of advocate Om Prakash Aryal as Home Minister, was rejected by Sudan Gurung of Hami Nepal, one of the GenZ campaigners, who even demanded resignation of the newly appointed Prime Minister Sushila Karki because his group was not consulted. Last week, advocate Om Prakash Aryal was appointed Home Minister as well as Minister of Law, while former CEO of NEA Kulman Ghising as Energy Minister Urban Development Minister and Minister of Physical Infrastructure, and former finance Secretary Rameshwore Khanal as Finance Minister last week and were sworn in on 15 September. The new ministers have their work cut out as Prime Minister Sushila Karki has set elections for the House of Representatives for 5 March 2026. Electoral reform such that Nepalis outside the country could vote remains a challenge due to time limitation and because of the dissolution of Parliament. The interim government could ask for two more months beyond the initial six to prepare for voting.&nbsp; KNOW THE MINISTERS Names of possible ministers and their portfolios: Mahabir Pun, Minister of Education, Science and Technology  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250921150956_5e04418c4d79e283ac66932fbe9cffa8bfdccb8973c7ba867b3a241d0a5c19a4.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="20250921150956_5e04418c4d79e283ac66932fbe9cffa8bfdccb8973c7ba867b3a241d0a5c19a4" data-rendition-name="original" width="2365" height="3143" loading="lazy" alt="Mahabir Pun"> </figure>  He is the founding chair of the National Innovation Center which was set up in 2012 and most recently restored 484 medical devices including ventilators, dialysis machines, X-rays and autoclaves worth Rs243 million in government hospitals.&nbsp; Pun, 70, is the recipient of the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Award for community leadership in 2007 for his effort in connecting rural Nepal with wireless internet. Jagadish Kharel, Minister of Communications and Information Technology  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250921150956_25b90f5febc65782a3e74a288212175d075b4078802cdd1c0fe16767cf9dd95c.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20250921150956_25b90f5febc65782a3e74a288212175d075b4078802cdd1c0fe16767cf9dd95c" data-rendition-name="original" width="1920" height="1080" loading="lazy" alt="Jagadish Kharel"> </figure>  He is a tv journalist with nearly 20 years of experience. He is currently the news head of Image Channel as well as the host of the show Hot Seat, and is known for in-depth political and government policy analysis and commentary. Kharel was previously thought to have been invited to join Rabi Lamichhane’s Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) after it emerged as the fourth biggest party in Parliament after the last elections. Anil Kumar Sinha, Minister of Industry, Commerce and Supply; Minister of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs; Minister of Land Reforms, Cooperatives and Poverty Alleviation  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250921150956_ba224a8c2d4c4434ed6e08e858d798b382a06c8606583841c935f927acb5d2f4.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20250921150956_ba224a8c2d4c4434ed6e08e858d798b382a06c8606583841c935f927acb5d2f4" data-rendition-name="original" width="1200" height="710" loading="lazy" alt="Anil Kumar Sinha"> </figure>  Anil Kumar Sinha was appointed as a Supreme Court Justice in 2016, and retired in 2023, after reaching the age limit of 65. Home Minister Om Prakash Aryal was formerly also given the responsibility of leading the Ministry of Law. Sinha specialises in tax and corporate law. Most recently, Sinha was a member of the Supreme Court bench that issued a verdict allowing an investigation into misappropriation of government land at Lalita Niwas in Baluwatar. Sinha played a significant role in the eventual impeachment of the then chief of the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) Lokman Singh Karki ion 2016 over legality of his appointment. He also resolved the dispute concerning the first dissolution of the House of Representatives by then-Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli on 20 December 2020. Madan Pariyar, Minister of Agriculture&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250921180928_83a9a885704826f04b439cf5096063a0596544a750f78b5ff02ee82df43ca0cf.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="20250921180928_83a9a885704826f04b439cf5096063a0596544a750f78b5ff02ee82df43ca0cf" data-rendition-name="original" width="640" height="640" loading="lazy" alt="Madan Pariyar"> </figure>  Madan Pariyar is a scholar with notable research contribution in several fields including poverty alleviation, inclusion, good governance, agriculture, industry resource management. He obtained his doctorate and master'sin enginerring from the Asian Institute of Technology in Bangkok and Bachelors of Science in Agricultural Engineering from the Allahabad Agricultural Institute in India. Bcck in 2011, the government appointed Pariyar the chair of the State Restructuring Commission (SRC) which was tasked with advising the Constitutional Assembly on the best possible model of federalism to be adopted for Nepal. Pariyar is also the chair of Samata Foundation that advocates for the rights of the Dalit people and their capacity building.&nbsp; OTHER NAMES Ajaya Bhadra Khanal, research director of the thinktank Center for Social Innovation and Foreign Policy (CESIF Nepal) is likely to be appointed the chief adviser to the Prime Minister. GenZ campaigners have also suggested the name of veteran Nepal Airlines aptain Vijay Lama for the Minister of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation. Rights activist Mohna Ansari, heritage conservationist Ganapati Lal Shrestha and Mansi Bhattarai, daughter of former Maoist prime minister Babauram Bhattarai have also been floated for various ministries. PM Karki has said she will limit her cabinet to 11 members for 22 ministries. Karki is likely to handle two or more ministries herself. At present, Kulman Ghising is leading three ministries while Om Prakash Aryal has two.&nbsp;

Nepal PM expands her Cabinet

Last week’s GenZ protest in Nepal was one of the shortest violent movements to topple a government in modern times. Social media played a crucial and unprecedented role in it. It was the digital space that documented, fuelled, rallied and magnified the protests on 8-9 September, as well as the negotiations to form an interim government afterwards. Even a week after, netizens are posting memes, real and AI-generated videos and jokes. This has been a powerful display of the power of ridicule and free speech that also reflects the resilience of the Nepali people and their ability to bounce back. Last week, as the Nepal Army held negotiations with wannabe leaders, the joke going around was about people being worried to venture out into the streets because they might be caught and made interim prime minister of the country.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025092004094_5cdfca4511a64facbf6a95c62a5abfb367a60e658d68ad502213516c7943f7dc.png" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="2025092004094_5cdfca4511a64facbf6a95c62a5abfb367a60e658d68ad502213516c7943f7dc" data-rendition-name="original" width="617" height="487" loading="lazy" alt="Nepal's meme revolution NT"> </figure>  Another video showed protesters making pretend calls on landline phones outside the burning Parliament. A British tourist’s clip about why his country could not defeat Nepal in 1814 went viral.&nbsp; Public disillusionment with the corrupt political parties was at an all time high, and the ban on 26 social media platforms on 5 September was the last straw. This did not just infringe on freedom of expression, but was important for business and trade, and it cut off the Genz’s vital communication channels.&nbsp; Everybody perceived the ban which apparently was not popular within K P Oli’s CPN-UML as the prime minister’s authoritarian ways. The government failed to understand that social media was also distracting the public with entertainment, and it was an effective way to let off steam.&nbsp; When apps like Instagram, Messenger, YouTube, X, and Reddit were blocked, youth banded together calling for an anti-corruption rally via TikTok which was functioning. &nbsp;&nbsp; TikTok exploded with users sharing #NepoBaby clips of the children and relatives of politicians showing off their extravagant lifestyles funded by corruption. It was there for ordinary Nepalis to see: the vacations, fancy restaurants, designer bags, and opulent villas.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250920030952_f8d7a287c3c472c67ac45089e5588a4ba6e615e19119222a130710f7ef660a65.png" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20250920030952_f8d7a287c3c472c67ac45089e5588a4ba6e615e19119222a130710f7ef660a65" data-rendition-name="original" width="1570" height="1446" loading="lazy" alt="Nepal's meme revolution NT"> </figure>  Put to Nepali music, these clips were edited to be juxtaposed with the lives of impoverished Nepalis leaving as migrant workers. Some tried to defend the children of politicians, but most were enraged. In response, one Instagram handle called genz.nepal was set up. Its bio says: ’Fu*k this system!! Let’s slay and stay woke!!’ and made its first post on 6 September. It was an AI generated poster featuring a raised fist calling for a national protest two days later under the banner ‘Youth Against Corruption.’ Despite the ban on social media, they were still semi-functional with workarounds such as VPNs. News of the time and venue of the protest spread rapidly through cybersphere. ‘Let it be clear, our fight is not against one party or another, it is against the system itself,’ said one of the posts. ‘We mean the government, the opposition, the bureaucracy, the judiciary, and every structure that has betrayed the people.’ Other posts called on all to keep the protests peaceful, with no party flags or symbols, no leader, and no damage to property.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025092004094_f22baab05910305ea435045824b25b796d5630715e2e17c3f3c0991e8371843c.png" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="2025092004094_f22baab05910305ea435045824b25b796d5630715e2e17c3f3c0991e8371843c" data-rendition-name="original" width="974" height="1156" loading="lazy" alt="Nepal's meme revolution NT"> </figure>  While noble, the decentralised nature of the protest also made infiltration possible, and violence inevitable. Loot and arson followed. With no clear leader, no one person could be held accountable. But perhaps if the protests had not escalated after the massacre on 8 September outside Parliament, the government would not have fallen at all. Past peaceful protests at Mandala never materialised into anything. Even the 8 September protests had started peacefully, with organisers urging participants not to indulge in violence. Outside Parliament, the commando unit of the APF were seen in wide-shared videos kneeling down to take aim at protesters with automatic weapons. With the social media ban lifted, online posts showing the dead with live round bullet wounds on heads and chests, some in college uniform, were shared widely especially through Instagram stories. Anger was boiling over at police brutality and many posts showed PM Oli with blood on his hands. All of this exemplified the brutality of the state against innocent students, and added fuel to the anger against the state. It was only a question when anger turned to revenge, and that came the next day with the targetted arson and looting.&nbsp; Social media took away any possibility of the government denying or censoring the truth as might have happened in the past at Tiananmen Square and other pre-Internet protests. Nepalis saw it all live on their phones, and the reaction was immediate.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025092004098_609488466dd350924f972b3c6bc7004bebe229d21281db2f8ca7468df5cce353.png" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="2025092004098_609488466dd350924f972b3c6bc7004bebe229d21281db2f8ca7468df5cce353" data-rendition-name="original" width="1268" height="772" loading="lazy" alt="Nepal's meme revolution NT"> </figure>  On 9 September, the shocking visuals kept playing on loop. By mid-morning all three branches of the government were burning. Politicians chased and beaten, their houses set ablaze — and all this was also streamed in real-time.&nbsp; Social media was also where relatives and friends mourned the dead, came to terms with the reality, and shared their opinions about the days ahead. Nepal now has an interim government with Sushila Karki as the Prime Minister but in the days up to the announcement and even now, social media is rife with conspiracies from India’s involvement to military-royalist collusion, as well as a potential coup. DISCORD&nbsp; To the surprise of everyone, including the GenZ, the next prime minister of Nepal was being decided on Discord, a social media platform popular among gamers during Covid for its ability to host large groups with stable voice communication.&nbsp; Amidst much chaos, people memed, reacted, and spoke in the server which quickly grew to almost 150,000. Social media, for better or worse, is now a way of life with far reaching implications. Kathmandu Mayor Balen Shah, RSP chair Rabi Lamichanne and others appealed to their voter base using social media in the last election, but the same platform was shown to also build and destroy political careers.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025092005090_a1961c27e714ddb18b916c718724f235eb7ec3380487c7dc555c4395882d0c15.jpg" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="2025092005090_a1961c27e714ddb18b916c718724f235eb7ec3380487c7dc555c4395882d0c15" data-rendition-name="original" width="1333" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Nepal's meme revolution NT"> </figure>  False narratives that are intelligently crafted using deep fake go viral in no time, and can be more damaging than other forms of communication. With high-stake early elections announced for March next year, the campaigning will be more on the digital platforms than door-to-door. There is a strong possibility for it to be used to disinformation and hate speech to incite voters, but equally it can be an interactive medium where citizens can raise their voices. &nbsp; Some candidates with digital-savvy backrooms designing memes and AI-generated visual content will be trying to set false narratives to fan populism. Because of global connectivity, the diaspora will have an unprecedented influence on how folks back home vote.&nbsp; So far, populist candidates have managed to ride on widespread public anger against the main parties and gather protest votes. This time, they may find that you cannot fool all the people all the time.&nbsp; Candidates can no longer hoodwink an unaware, docile populace anymore. People may not be able to read, but they have smartphones. And that gives them a say, an opinion and there must be space for them all as we build back stronger.

Nepal’s meme revolution

Among the songs GenZ protesters were chanting at the Mandala on 8 September was Amrit Gurung’s folk-rock rendition of the Panchayat-era patriotic song, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0iXnL31W93c">रातो र चन्द्र-सुर्जे जङ्गी निशान हाम्रो</a>. But amidst waving double pennants that day in Kathmandu were strands of Gopal Yonjan singing <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7D8P-g3Uw4" target="_blank">बनेको छ पहराले</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57SlGf4m7R4" target="_blank">देशले रगत मागे</a>. The irony is that the message of Nepali nationalism the musician was trying to convey 50 years ago with his lyrics carries a new resolute relevance in today's context: I am a son of Nepal who will never kowtow to anyone.&nbsp; You can behead me, but I will never bend the knee. &nbsp; I can withstand fire, but will not stand injustice.&nbsp; If the nation demands blood, I will sacrifice myself. My mother will not weep, for she is the daughter of a Nepali. This was pure patriotic poetry that only someone like Gopal Yonjan could write. They are inter-generational and immortal — speaking as much for the GenZ today, as it was for the early days of nation-building when they were recorded in vinyl and broadcast over Radio Nepal.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025092210094_4d5f65bf3ba2d2823e3da8aff6a77f2b9aa4eff4b1e1b6a8eeed8c0bcb58e47b.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="2025092210094_4d5f65bf3ba2d2823e3da8aff6a77f2b9aa4eff4b1e1b6a8eeed8c0bcb58e47b" data-rendition-name="original" width="2000" height="1600" loading="lazy" alt="Gopal Yonjan NT 1"> <figcaption>Gopal Yonjan was an adept flautist from a young age in Darjeeling.</figcaption> </figure>  Those two songs together have over 20 million views on the Music Nepal YouTube channel, and many of the comments have been posted after the 9 September massacre and the raging conflagration at the epicentre of the Nepali state&nbsp; They attest to the emotional depth of Nepali nationhood and love of motherland in every citizen of every generation no matter how dreadful the circumstances — and especially when the future looks fragile and uncertain.&nbsp; The release of Gopal Yonjan: The Man &amp; His Music by his wife Renchin could not have come at a more momentous time in Nepal’s history to celebrate this iconic legend of modern Nepali music. Yonjan would have been 82 today, and as a poet, lyricist, singer innovated and improvised using Nepal’s folk traditions to infuse modern arrangements, meld melody with harmony, and lend them words that made the songs eternal.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025092308098_76c4e4df756de0c1bea9858e1da0bcb6acb8145f27963e1679f5509a6ac2f078.jpg" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="2025092308098_76c4e4df756de0c1bea9858e1da0bcb6acb8145f27963e1679f5509a6ac2f078" data-rendition-name="original" width="2712" height="3900" loading="lazy" alt="Gopal Yonjan Narayan Gopal"> <figcaption>Narayan Gopal with Gopal Yonjan, the ‘Gopal Duet’ at Swayambhu circa 1963.</figcaption> </figure>  HOMECOMING Renchin Yonjan brings us an intimate family album of historic photographs of Gopal growing up in school in Darjeeling, his arrival in Kathmandu and the decision to make Nepal his home. She quotes Gopal: ‘I was deeply moved by the very glimpse of Nepal. I was enchanted by the greenery of Kathmandu, the gentle nature of the people, their pure thoughts, and their hospitality … how wonderful it would be to spend my live in such a beautiful and serene place.’ It was a kind of homecoming for Gopal Yonjan, the land his ancestors left to migrate to British India. In Kathmandu he found kindred spirits and musicians as passionate about their craft as himself: Narayan Gopal, Nagendra Thapa, Ratna Shumsher Thapa, Shiva Shanker, Pushpa Nepali  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250922100920_99a97f6cd76c130d5df91a38ac236906bcb21ba6fc2d2d693ba51e0a97c045d4.jpg" data-media-id="editor_5" data-image-id="20250922100920_99a97f6cd76c130d5df91a38ac236906bcb21ba6fc2d2d693ba51e0a97c045d4" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1071" loading="lazy" alt="Gopal Yonjan"> <figcaption>Gopal Yonjan arriving at Kathmandu airport in 1963 and greeted by Nepali singers Pushpa Nepali, Dilmaya Khati, Shiv Shanker Shrestha, among others. </figcaption> </figure>  Gopal Yonjan and Narayan Gopal hit it off right away, complementing and inspiring each other with their shared love for meaningful music. They came to be known as the ‘Gopal Duet’, and Yonjan wrote in Nepali in his diary on 21 April 1963 about their first meeting: ‘I was immediately struck by his talent and presence. There was something in both his artistry and demeanour that drew me in. It didn’t take long for us to draw close.’ Towards the end of his life, Gopal Yonjan drifted away from themes of patriotism and unity to celebrate music in its purest form in his Gopalaya Studio in Kathmandu. It became art for art’s sake.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250922100912_f9aeec8d96049c580a4b63789664e1ae80971d3be3c7809acfe51b84e3e31cd1.jpg" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="20250922100912_f9aeec8d96049c580a4b63789664e1ae80971d3be3c7809acfe51b84e3e31cd1" data-rendition-name="original" width="2000" height="1304" loading="lazy" alt="Gopal Yonjan"> <figcaption>Gopal Yonjan at his Gopalaya Studio in Kathmandu in 1992.</figcaption> </figure>  The words of his song <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8ZHg3wkvzw" target="_blank">मेरो गीत मेरै प्रतिविम्ब होइन</a> immortalised by Narayan Gopal has lines that give goosebumps to anyone who listens to them: मेरो गित भन्ने अधिकार छैन, गित को पो म हूँ मेरो गित होइन (I have no right to call this my song. This song does not belong to me. I belong to this song.) &nbsp; In Nepal, Gopal Yonjan also found a more complicated story. There were grand historical narratives of nationalism, bravery and glory, but there was an undercurrent of fear and control. Renchin writes in the chapter, Tell Me Where My Country Lies: ‘[Gopal saw] national pride slowly erode in the face of social exclusion, political silence, and economic disenfranchisement.’  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250922100912_57578ebebc7e405cf6ad3080611366893bee30cfc071567e6509038da866b2f2.jpg" data-media-id="editor_8" data-image-id="20250922100912_57578ebebc7e405cf6ad3080611366893bee30cfc071567e6509038da866b2f2" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1043" loading="lazy" alt="Gopal Yonjan"> <figcaption>Renchin and Gopal Yonjan in their garden in Kathmandu in the late 1980s.</figcaption> </figure>  Gopal Yonjan’s song <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zru8yWSuRCI" target="_blank">भनिदे नेपाली दाइ मेरो देश कहाँ पर्यो</a> is ‘as much an elegy as a manifesto’ with searing lines like ‘Where is the river that ran red with Nepali blood? Where is the battlefield where our defenders wiped their khukri?’ Gopal Yonjan sings this song himself, reminding Nepalis of the sacrifices made to forge this nation, and for us not to squander them.&nbsp; In his song <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pVKpsK6Wy8" target="_blank">लाहुरे</a>, Yonjan celebrates Nepal’s illustrious history written in blood both to keep the nation free and then spilling it to defend other countries. Today, the same song takes on added meaning of Nepali lahure shedding not blood but sweat and tears as they toil abroad to send money to families back home. It evokes the pain of separation, and an anger at an uncaring state that drives them to leave. Gopal Yonjan died aged 53 in 1997 in a New Delhi hospital, leaving a legacy that still defines the Nepali nation in ageless musical compositions. The US-based <a href="https://www.gopalaya.org/" target="_blank">Gopayala</a> and the Gopal Yonjan Foundation have worked to remaster some of the tapes and recordings that are in safekeeping at Cornell University’s Carl A Koch Library.&nbsp; Renchin Yonjan has collected some of that valuable documentation in her book, Gopal Yonjan: The Man &amp; His Music. Her concluding paragraph sounds prescient because of what Nepal has just been through: ‘Gopal’s patriotic compositions remain timeless not because they repeat old slogans, but because they ask new questions, and demand that we answer not with our voices, but with our lives.’  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025092210090_3d0b5ecad2313b09e83e0de91bf510004f1ff836d7e66f0543ccd49432bb6386.jpg" data-media-id="editor_12" data-image-id="2025092210090_3d0b5ecad2313b09e83e0de91bf510004f1ff836d7e66f0543ccd49432bb6386" data-rendition-name="original" width="1136" height="518" loading="lazy" alt="Gopal Yonjan"> </figure>

pizzeria

The pizzaz of Fire and Ice

Napoli Nepali

The Sundance Kid in Nepal

Nepal PM expands her Cabinet

Nepal’s meme revolution

Gopal Yonjan’s immortal songs