<figure><img width="640" height="399" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110161144/636d1d229c7e80680e0af397jpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption></figcaption></figure>The latest edition of Nepal’s <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/how-many-tigers-in-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">tiger census</a> began on Sunday in which 300 enumerators will span out across Parsa, Bardia, Banke, Chitwan and Shuklaphanta National Parks to record <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/tigers-move-up-the-himalaya/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the big cat population</a> in the country.
The Tiger census begins just after Nepal finished counting its human population. The Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation (DNPWC) will release the figure on World Tiger Day on 29 July. In 2018, the total number of <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-tigers-now-number-235/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">wild tigers in the country was 235</a>.
For the census, Chitwan-Parsa region has been considered as one area, which is divided into three blocks. Banke-Bardia as the second area has been divided into four blocks. Shuklaphanta and Laljandi have been categorised as the third.
A grid of two kilometres in length and one in width will be constructed in the divided block. The three blocks of Chitwan Parsa have been divided into 1,924 grids. These grids are equipped with automatic cameras to capture tiger activity.
“We’ve made such arrangements that the tigers for certain will cross the path with our camera traps,” says Director General of DNPWC Ram Chandra Kandel. “We will then calculate the figure by analysing all the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepals-highest-ever-tiger-sighting/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">tigers captured by the camera</a>.”
Some 3,000 camera trap pictures will be taken throughout the survey, which will then be analysed by trained technicians. While there is a possibility of the same tiger being photographed repeatedly, two big cats can be told apart by the length of their fur, which is different for each individual. Before the year 2000, tigers used to be counted as per their steps.
Nepal is an international model for tiger conservation and the first country to double the population of its big cats following the Tiger Conference in Petersburg, Russia in 2009. It is expected to record the highest numbers of tigers in the country yet.
The Nepal government first started the census in 1995, back when there were only 98 of them. In 2018, the country recorded 235 tigers, up from 121 in 2009. Chitwan National Park has the most number of mammals at 93, closely followed by 87 in Bardia. There are 21 more in Banke, 18 in Parsa and 16 in Shuklaphanta, according to the last survey.
Of late, there have been <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/tiger-selfie-is-highest-ever-sighting-in-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">more frequent sightings of big cats</a> also at higher elevations. In April 2020, a Royal Bengal Tiger was sighted at 2,500m in Dadeldhura. This was followed up by another sighting, this time at 3,165m, in the forest of Ilam.
But conservation successes have also brought about challenges. Protected areas are now overcrowded with predators compared to their prey density. This is driving tigers and other mammals outside forests in search of food, in turn leading to an increase in human-animal conflicts. 
Increased human-animal conflict threatens social harmony and endangers hard achieved past gains in conservation. 
But wildlife-friendly infrastructure such as overpass and underpass have shown to significantly reduce human-animal conflicts in Nepal, so has better management of protected areas including transplantation of animals taking into consideration predator-prey ratio and plant species of the location. 
Read also:
<a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=16820#.Ya16_cFBzOS">Back to jungle</a>, Nirmal Ghosh
<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/sun-striped-shadows/">Sun striped shadows</a>, Lisa Choegyal

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Nepal counting its tigers

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110111156/636cd92a9c7e80680e092e85jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="835"/><figcaption>The new bridge over the Mahakali River currently under construction will join Far West Nepal with the North Indian status of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Haryana and New Delhi.</figcaption></figure>The <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/epicentre-of-two-disasters-in-west-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">far-west has been neglected</a> by the rest of Nepal for centuries, but it is brimming with potential for socio-economic transformation.The reason it has always been seen as a periphery by Kathmandu has been its remoteness. It is a five hour drive to New Delhi from Dhangadi, but it takes at least 12 hours to get to Kathmandu.The devolution of political power under Nepal’s federal Constitution, and new connectivity are rapidly changing the face of the <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/book-review/review-nepal-wild-west,486" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Far-Western Province</a> and opened up possibilities for the province to not just catch up with the rest of the country, but even overtake it.The region is filled with natural and human resources. Federalism has enabled local municipalities and provincial government of these nine district to use their own resources for self-determined development priorities.A new bridge over the Mahakali River is under construction and will soon replace the old single lane Tanakpur Barrage as the economic lifeline for the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepals-superwomen-beat-superstition/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Far-Western Province</a> by joining it with the north Indian states of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Haryana and New Delhi. There is a new dry port under construction.The bridge will not just help transform far-west Nepal, but the rest of the country as well when it is finished in two years. Perhaps then, this region cannot be referred to as ‘backward’ or ‘under-developed’ anymore.“In terms of connectivity, this bridge will be a game-changer,” journalist Surendra Phuyal tells the Saglo Samajtv magazine. He points to how the inauguration of the Karnali Bridge also similarly joined the far-west to the rest of the Nepal 27 years ago. Before that, people from far-western Nepal had to travel through India to go to other parts of Nepal.https://youtu.be/UC-Al3hwthUWhile the Karnali Bridge immediately brought the far-west closer to the rest of Nepal, the new Mahakali Bridge will bring the increasingly affluent industrial and agricultural regions of north India closer to Nepal, allowing the easier flow of people and trade.This means Nepal will now be much more accessible to the 200 million people in India who live within a 5 hour driving distance from Dhangadi or Mahendranagar. Many of them are young Indians looking for new <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/on-the-road-in-west-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">unspoilt destinations</a> to go on holidays or pilgrimage. Many are tired of the overcrowded hill stations of Nanital, Ranikhet, Mussourie in India.Better connectivity can therefore have an immediate impact on tourism if the facilities and infrastructure on the Nepal side can be improved. This in turn, will bring tourism income to the rural far-west reducing the push-factor driving its people to migrate out.Many of the destinations in the far-west and adjacent Karnali are pristine wilderness areas: <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/The-Holy-Link,3153" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Khaptad</a> and <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/raras-rare-beauty/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Rara</a> National Parks, Badimalika, Api Saipal Conservation Area. These are all scenic unspoilt wilderness areas with their own religious significance that can be a draw for Indian as well as domestic Nepali tourists.In addition, there are the Sukla Phanta Wildlife Reserve and the Bardia and Banke National Park in Karnali Province. Says nature guide Kum Thakur at Sukla Phanta: “This area is famous the world over for the Barasingheswamp deer, tiger, rhino and rich birdlife. Despite Sukla Phanta’s smaller size compared to other national parks in Nepal, the reserve’s mix of wetland, jungle and vast grasslands give it a higher density of wildlife.”<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110111156/636cd92d9c7e80680e092e86jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1618" height="1000"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>North India’s most prosperous areas near Delhi is within a few hours driving distance. Can benefit from tourism from these areas. Increasingly affluent. They are looking for new unspoint destinations. “Chalo Sudur Paschim Pradesh”.Bed Upreti, an airline captain with Air India, who has set up the Mahendranagar Museum says:  “I see huge untapped potential for tourism if the far-west is promoted adequately as a destination. For this, we have to reduce the distance by improving connectivity to the destinations like Khaptad. Whenever I fly over Far-Western Nepal I feel like it is a gold mine for tourism.”Meanwhile, federalism has brought new hope that the <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=18055#.YFlzKy2B0b0" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Far-Western Province</a> can benefit from devolution, and not have to depend on faraway Kathmandu for everything.“We used to have to go to Kathmandu for the movement, now with the province, we can solve our own problems,” says Yagyaraj Chaudhari, a Tharu social activist.Chaudhari says there is residual tension in Far-Western Province between the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/5-myths-about-the-tharu/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">indigenous Tharu community</a> of the plains and the mountain settlers. It goes back to the history of trans-location of villagers from the mountain districts to the Tarai during the reign of King Mahendra in the 1960s. This has been exacerbated by instance of violence like the massacre of policemen in Tikapur six years ago, and the continued imprisonment of Tharu leader and MP, Resham Chaudhari.“There is simmering anger among the Tharu because of this, and it is also fed by their under-representation in proportion to the population in government jobs,” says Chaudhari. “Inclusion will address the discrimination, but also help uplift living standards of the Tharu people. Road are important, but even more important is affordable health care and education for our people.”<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110111156/636cd9309c7e80680e092e87jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>With Province 2, the Far-West is possibly the only other province with a distinct identity. For the people of this far-flung region that identity stems from the common sense of neglect by the rest of the country.“What unites the people of Far-Western Province both in the mountains and the plains is that there has been no development here,” says businessman and media entrepreneur Gopal Hamal. “It is our economic weakness that united us, it fostered a sense of solidarity.”He says the priority is to address the i<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/displacement-and-defiance/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">njustice that the Tharu have suffered</a> and to address their grievances. He says, “Earlier, it was the settlers from the mountains who mistreated the Tharu, and took their land. Now, despite the Constitution, it is the state that is the oppressor. We have to solve this before it takes a explosive turn.”Although this is not the kind of ethnic identity that the <a href="https://www.google.com/url?client=internal-element-cse&amp;cx=011870630917993763279:opm7uqsat-4&amp;q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/mr-province-2/&amp;sa=U&amp;ved=2ahUKEwjk-qyvz8XvAhV3umMGHU1gDaMQFjABegQIBxAC&amp;usg=AOvVaw3E_Or9W8x0qHg_9ezNado2" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Madhesi community of Province 2</a> feel, the people of the Far-West feel they share the feeling of being abandoned by the central government for so long.Says Hemraj Panta, who was chief of Kailali Campus and a rector at Sudur Paschim University: “Culturally, the Khas identity and the Tharu identity in the plains give us a distinctness, but perhaps the Far-West has more of a cohesiveness compared to other provinces.”Most interviewees in Mahendranagar and Dhangadi agree that domestic tourism and visitors from India can be a catalyst for economic growth for the Far-Western Province. Just as the neighbouring Indian state of Uttarakhand has the Char Dham Yatra pilgrimage tourism, the province can also promote its shrines and pilgrimage spots that are common to Hindus in Nepal and India.One attraction could be sight-seeing flights from Dhangadi airport for Indian tourists to see <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/faith-to-reality/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Mansarovar and Mt Kailash</a> from the air, or even Dhaulagiri, Annapurna and Mt Everest.“If one local government promotes one destination, one district identifies one attraction, and the province promotes itself as Sundar Sudur Paschim, we can lift the rural economy,” says Hamal. “The youth will then have jobs and this will reverse outmigration.”

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The sun rises in Nepal’s Far West

While the streets of Kathmandu were erupting violent GenZ protests that brought down the government, Nepal’s athletes were achieving different kinds of breakthroughs on Spain’s mountain trails and in the cricket qualifiers in the UAE.&nbsp; On 27 September, two weeks after the uprising back home, Nepal's cricket team stunned the sporting world with their first-ever victory against a full member nation — defeating two-time World Cup champions West Indies by 19 runs, then crushing them by 90 runs two days later to seal a historic 2-0 series victory. On that very day, 5,000km away in the Spanish Pyrenees Sunmaya Budha stood on a podium alongside American and European champions, clutching a silver medal from the 3rd World Mountain and Trail Running Championships. No Asian athlete had ever finished this high in the Long Trail competition at the World Championships. While youth back home showed they would not tolerate injustice and could carve their own future, young Nepalis were securing it on the global sports stage even in moments of national crisis.&nbsp; The Long Trail event at the 2025 World Championships was designed to break even the strongest athletes. Stretching 82km through the Spanish Pyrenees, the course features an unrelenting 5,413m of elevation gain and descent.&nbsp; Athletes faced everything from steep scree slopes to narrow ridge lines, from boulder fields requiring scrambling to precipitous descents demanding total concentration. One misstep could mean injury, one lapse in focus could cost precious minutes.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025101909108_81152b4754331c4858ed2d0d28204e6a92559faf089fea9ebc84156766ff228a.png" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="2025101909108_81152b4754331c4858ed2d0d28204e6a92559faf089fea9ebc84156766ff228a" data-rendition-name="original" width="977" height="731" loading="lazy" alt="World Mountain and Trail Running Championships"> <figcaption>The Nepal team at the World Championships 2025 with the final four: Sangge Sherpa, Sunmaya Budha, Suman Kulung, Man Kumar Roka Magar. Photo: PREETI KHATTRI</figcaption> </figure>  WOMEN'S COMPETITION Katie Schide (USA) - Winner • Time: 9:57:59 • Average pace: 7:18 per km&nbsp; &nbsp; <a href="https://www.facebook.com/sunmaya.budha.942">Sunmaya Budha </a>(Nepal) - Silver Medal • Time: 10:23:03 • Gap behind winner: 25 minutes and 4 seconds • Average pace: 7:36 per km Most recreational trail runners need 18-24 hours to complete this course, if they can finish it at all. Budha's pace means she was running at a speed that most casual runners could not maintain on a flat course, let alone while constantly climbing and descending mountains. MEN'S COMPETITION Jim Walmsley (USA) - Winner • Time: 8:35:11 • Average pace: 6:17 per kilometer (10:07 per mile) &nbsp; <a href="https://www.facebook.com/runnersumankulung">Suman Kulung (Nepal)</a> - 32nd Place • Time: 10:06:25 • Average pace: 7:24 per km • Finished 1 hour 31 minutes behind the winner • Best performance by an Asian male athlete &nbsp; <a href="https://www.facebook.com/rokamagarmankumar764">Man Kumar Roka Magar (Nepal)</a> - 37th Place • Time: 10:10:53 • Average pace: 7:27 per km • Finished just 4.5 minutes behind Kulung <a href="https://www.facebook.com/Yetimannnnn">Sangge Sherpa (Nepal)</a> - 116th Place • Time: 12:33:09 • Average pace: 9:11 per km  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025101909108_2255845b43e68b14d3b111099124f9c98898bbe9016299b9af278aca8b4377f7.png" data-media-id="editor_5" data-image-id="2025101909108_2255845b43e68b14d3b111099124f9c98898bbe9016299b9af278aca8b4377f7" data-rendition-name="original" width="977" height="904" loading="lazy" alt="World Mountain and Trail Running Championships"> <figcaption>Sangge Sherpa organising himself post gear check in Can-Franc.</figcaption> </figure>  The men's winner averaged about 6:17/km on a course where elite mountain runners were struggling. Kulung and Roka Magar maintained a 7:24-7:27/km pace—faster than many recreational runners' easy flat road pace. They were faster than dozens of European athletes who train in the Alps. Even Sherpa's 9:11/km average pace over 12+ hours represents an extraordinary feat of endurance, maintaining forward progress on some of the most challenging mountain terrain in competitive trail running. “What set Budha apart was her exceptional descending ability. She recorded the fastest downhill speed among all women in the competition—a skill honed through years of training on Nepal’s steep mountain trails,” said her team director Ryan S Blair.&nbsp; Sunmaya Budha, ranked world 8th for 100km category events and 17th in the world by the International Trail Running Association (ITRA), entered the race having recently recovered from injuries to both legs.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025101909108_38d8bee04beaa6443480ecf4765e6b34f91d2d105128f292f73702072a820d25.jpg" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="2025101909108_38d8bee04beaa6443480ecf4765e6b34f91d2d105128f292f73702072a820d25" data-rendition-name="original" width="1600" height="1070" loading="lazy" alt="World Mountain and Trail Running Championships"> <figcaption>Sunmaya storming in 2nd position. Photo: WMTRC2025 CANFRAC </figcaption> </figure>  While American Katie Schide dominated from the front, Budha found herself in an intense battle for second place with Italy's Fabiola Conti, a specialised skyrace and mountain marathon runner. The two runners remained locked together through much of the course, running side-by-side at key checkpoints and pushing each other through the mountain wilderness. In ultra-trail racing, where climbs are often win by fractions of minutes, the ability to descend fearlessly and efficiently can make the difference between podium positions. Budha's technical prowess on the descents gave her a advantage over her European competitors. The decisive moment came in the final 20km. At the 65km mark, Budha held a 90-second lead over Conti. By 71.5km she had extended her advantage to eight minutes — a commanding gap she maintained to the finish. In a powerful display of national pride, she approached the finish wrapped in the Nepali flag, showing the world what Himalayan athletes can achieve on the global stage. Said Preeti Khattri, team lead for Nepal: "Standing right beside the USA and European peer. Proud. No Asian athletes have ever made it this far.” MEN, TOO While Budha captured headlines with her silver medal, the performances of Suman Kulung and Man Kumar Roka Magar were equally significant. Both athletes topped Asian athletes and numerous European competitors. Suman Kulung delivered a performance that demonstrated extraordinary mental toughness and racing intelligence. What makes his 32nd place finish even more impressive is that 1.5km he encountered a severe bottleneck on narrow technical trails.&nbsp; This critical delay pushed him back to around 92nd position—a devastating setback in a world championship race where every second counts. Many athletes would have been demoralised by such an early disaster.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025101909108_e2f358723ea8abaa262e749a4c6afb0a179cf9f3e0bb4eab1d973e25b9b00f09.png" data-media-id="editor_7" data-image-id="2025101909108_e2f358723ea8abaa262e749a4c6afb0a179cf9f3e0bb4eab1d973e25b9b00f09" data-rendition-name="original" width="668" height="445" loading="lazy" alt="World Mountain and Trail Running Championships"> <figcaption>Suman Kulung coming through 65km Assisted Checkpoint. Photo: DR SIGRID FOUNDATION</figcaption> </figure>  But Kulung showed why he is Nepal's top-ranked trail runner: he launched a spectacular comeback. By the 30km mark, he had charged through the field to reach approximately 20th position — recovering over 70 places in less than 30km.&nbsp; His final time of 10:06:25 placed him ahead of runners from traditional mountain running powers including Switzerland, Austria, and Germany, and was the highest-finishing Asian male athlete in the competition.

Nepali runners score breakthroughs

In 2004, Poet Durga Lal Shrestha asked me to translate 223 little poems from Newa into English. They were each written as sestet-- terse in their form but heavy in imagery and sentiment. The novice translator in me struggled to find the best way to convey his poetry in English-- but the process became a tour as I discovered my mother tongue anew. The highlight, however, was Shrestha’s handwriting. His calligraphy is immaculate. He had given me photocopies from the notebook he had written the poems in and each page looked as though they were freshly out of the press. The letters bore a consistency, unswayed by the emotions of his poetry. Sometimes, I would just stare at the handwriting in admiration.&nbsp; Someone else had been similarly besotted by his writing: “I met him 25 years ago in the UK when he was the chief guest at a Mha Puja event organised by Pasa Pucha,” recollects Ojesh Singh, writer and engineer. “We were roommates. I noticed he couldn’t stop writing.”&nbsp; Shrestha, an octogenarian now, was a teacher at Kanya Mandir School for many years, where his writing was admired by colleagues and students. Known as Janakavi or People’s Poet, a title bestowed on him by the Nepal Bhasha Parishad, Shrestha is also the recipient of the Jagadamba Shree Puraskar for his contribution to literature.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20251021071052_b109f2ee6dbac911fb8002e8e8bb33a50a8f755d26662f333535d32c8573e782.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="20251021071052_b109f2ee6dbac911fb8002e8e8bb33a50a8f755d26662f333535d32c8573e782" data-rendition-name="original" width="1600" height="900" loading="lazy" alt="Digitising the savant calligrapher NT"> <figcaption>From left to right: Suman Shrestha, Ananda Kumar Maharjan, Durga Lal Shrestha, Ojesh Singh, and Arbindra Man Singh. Photo: SUCHITA SHRESTHA</figcaption> </figure>  “He would write on anything he could lay his hands on. On tissue paper, envelopes, cigarette boxes. It struck me how neat and tidy his writing was,” says Singh. “The structure and size were perfectly in sync-- and as an aspiring graphic designer then, I fell in love with his writing. Later, whenever I read his books, I thought it would be nice to read them in his writing.” After sitting with the notion of turning Shrestha’s writing into a digital font for years, in 2024, he reached out to a small group of people who he thought might be allies.&nbsp; “It was during Ojesh Ji’s book launch that we met and talked about the possibility of turning Durga Lal Shrestha’s writing into font,” recalls Ananda Kumar Maharjan, who has designed the Durga Lal Shrestha font and is affiliated with Callijatra, an organisation promoting Newa calligraphy.&nbsp; For Singh, the desire to immortalise the poet's handwriting wasn’t only coming from personal admiration, it was also about preserving the writing of a language and literature leader and activist. He offered to fund the font project, which meant paying for Maharjan’s time and dedication. He also drew into the conversation Shrestha’s son Suman, who has been an integral part of the process.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20251021071056_372dc34ac3ce3b70445128131a11ade8f321756c6cc7615825c4451e85f56374.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20251021071056_372dc34ac3ce3b70445128131a11ade8f321756c6cc7615825c4451e85f56374" data-rendition-name="original" width="616" height="728" loading="lazy" alt="Digitising the savant calligrapher NT"> </figure>  The others involved in the process were journalist Arbindra Man Singh, who had been scanning Shrestha’s writing for the book Hastakshar, a collection of poems printed in the author’s handwriting. Also an enthusiast of converting Shrestha’s writing to a font, Singh provided help in bringing together the scans, based on which Maharjan picked the best letter for each alphabet to create a complete set.&nbsp; “Doing this was different from other font developments I have done in the past,” explains Maharjan, who has also digitised his own handwriting into a font, called Anand. “To create Durga Lal Shrestha’s writing as font, I had to analyse his writing archive and pick the best.”&nbsp; He adds: “There was a book published in his writing, so there were scans and digital archiving done by Arbindra Ji, which became the foundation for my work.” He had to find a prototype for each alphabet based on the scans. He traced the letters on Illustrator and copied them to a MAC software called Glyphs where he had to enter each letter, using a traditional Devanagari keyboard instead of Unicode.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025102108100_2f6b8c0f3cf91682707ac356e11ad50b342a4198f56490ab68d041e875b15edb.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="2025102108100_2f6b8c0f3cf91682707ac356e11ad50b342a4198f56490ab68d041e875b15edb" data-rendition-name="original" width="818" height="766" loading="lazy" alt="Digitising the savant calligrapher NT"> </figure>  “I had to be very careful to keep it accurate. Conjunctions need attention,” Maharjan says. “There are half letters, saint letters, ligatures and open type features to pay attention to, this is more advanced than the fonts I’ve created in the past.” &nbsp; Maharjan has designed this font in three different variations that users can play with. “Writing changes with age. While young, people write better, but with age, it starts to change. Since Durga Lal Shrestha hasn’t been very well lately, his hand shakes when he writes. So, we had to pick the best of his writing from the records,” he adds. “People also tend to write in different styles depending on their mood so we took the best four of every letter and traced and picked one.”&nbsp; Handwriting is deeply intimate and in this day and age of tech, becoming lost.&nbsp; What bothers me about the day of phones is that I no longer know what the writing of those close to me look like. I no longer know how you press the pen between our fingers or how you tilt it against the paper or how you pause to write periods or how the nib makes a perfect tiny orb before you drag it just so, to turn it into a comma. The familiarity of the nuances of someone’s writing is lost on us.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20251021071056_2c83ab2c3ed4cfa42e6a6a637d88fd879218fb5b7391e086ab5db1a8ec173654.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="20251021071056_2c83ab2c3ed4cfa42e6a6a637d88fd879218fb5b7391e086ab5db1a8ec173654" data-rendition-name="original" width="992" height="1280" loading="lazy" alt="Digitising the savant calligrapher NT"> </figure>  Ojesh Singh agrees with me. He says it’s important to keep handwriting alive as people become more and more tech-dependent. People are likely to interact even less with letters on paper, but at least we can have fonts, he says.&nbsp; A set of six books by poet Durga Lal Shrestha is set to be launched on 31October. One of them, entitled, Kawa, is typeset in the Durga Lal Shrestha Font. The font will be made available to the general public after the books have been released. In July, I had visited Shrestha, who I also call Durga Lal Taaba, as many Newa people in my generation do. Seated in the quiet of his home, he conversed about literature and language with my father and my uncle. Coming out of Taaba, Newa, which has a utilitarian function for me to communicate with my parents, sounded more like a lyric.&nbsp; I asked him what he thinks about his handwriting being archived as a font. He replied: “This body is going to be gone eventually, so I thought maybe my handwriting could live on.” Suburban Tales is a monthly column in Nepali Times based on real people in Pratibha’s life.

Digitising the savant calligrapher

The winter air pollution season started early this year with emissions, Diwali firecrackers and crop residue burning making the air unbreathable across north India. Much of the pollution was transboundary, with prevailing winds carrying the suspended particulates from Pakistan, across India to Nepal and beyond. All this pollution and domestic emissions killed 41,300 in Nepal in 2023, and 85% of all deaths were because of noncommunicable diseases such as heart and lung disease, lung cancer, diabetes, and dementia, according to the State of Global Air (SoGA) 2025 report released Thursday. With the onset of winter, Kathmandu Valley’s own emissions are trapped in a surface inversion layer and as in previous years will have some of the worst air quality in the world.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20251023131016_7c42a4e8b0dce01dfeeaaf89dbb10dbfa036b41163f3ebada88c7ce17dbded49.png" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="20251023131016_7c42a4e8b0dce01dfeeaaf89dbb10dbfa036b41163f3ebada88c7ce17dbded49" data-rendition-name="original" width="921" height="850" loading="lazy" alt="Air pollution killing season starts early NT"> </figure>  The SoGa report says air pollution has now become the leading risk factor for deaths in Nepal, ahead of tobacco and high blood pressure. Interestingly, while the health impacts due to environmental risk factors such as unsafe water and sanitation have reduced significantly since 2000, the opposite is true for ambient PM2.5 (particles smaller than 2.5 microns). Globally, 7.9 million deaths were attributable to air pollution– about 1 in 8 deaths – in 2023. Of this total, 4.9 million deaths were attributable to PM2.5 exposure, 2.8 million were from household air pollution, and 470,000 were from ozone. Similarly, dementia attributable to air pollution resulted in 626,000 deaths and 40 million healthy years of life lost. And 95% of air pollution attributable deaths in adults over the age of 60 are due to noncommunicable diseases. The burden of noncommunicable diseases in relation to air pollution is rising worldwide and in Nepal. The SoGA report shows that nearly nine of ten global air pollution deaths are from chronic ailments, and half of all respiratory disease deaths are attributable to air pollution.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20251023131020_8577f464b4a73007de5dd018b8ac91dae3a9c732dbb81a44b6aa5a0ced7df3df.png" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20251023131020_8577f464b4a73007de5dd018b8ac91dae3a9c732dbb81a44b6aa5a0ced7df3df" data-rendition-name="original" width="1080" height="1080" loading="lazy" alt="Air pollution killing season starts early NT"> </figure>  In Nepal, air pollution is responsible for three out of four COPD deaths, one out of three heart deaths and one out of five diabetes deaths. More than one third of lower respiratory infection deaths were due to air pollution. “The data presented in the State of Global Air report highlight the significant impacts of poor air quality on the health and well-being of billions of people around the world, especially those living in Asia and Africa,” says Pallavi Pant of the Boston-based Health Effects Institute (HEI) that released the report in collaboration with the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation and the NCD Alliance. She adds: “Growing momentum on air quality management across those hard-hit locations, including expansion of air quality monitoring, adoption of air quality regulations, and sector-specific interventions are yielding improvements for those most impacted.” Low- and middle-income countries stand to gain most by reducing air pollution, with particularly strong impacts on children, older populations, and people with pre-existing health conditions. Indeed, of the 41,300 air pollution deaths in 2023 in Nepal, 31,600 were in adults over the age of 60 years and 3,500 in children below five years. Death rate for air pollution in Nepal, which is 178 per 100,000, is more than 10 times higher than high-income countries, which is at 17 per 100,000.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20251023131020_604e852aed4ffde0dc7d1df72fcd3e73d904136dfb1bb2407e53b7445f3ef72c.png" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20251023131020_604e852aed4ffde0dc7d1df72fcd3e73d904136dfb1bb2407e53b7445f3ef72c" data-rendition-name="original" width="1078" height="423" loading="lazy" alt="Air pollution killing season starts early NT"> </figure>  “Win-win solutions for air pollution and NCDs exist, with added benefits for climate, physical activity, nutrition, and many other global development priorities,” says Alison Cox, Policy and Advocacy Director at the Geneva-based NCD Alliance. “These policies are effective and deliver a strong return on investment - for the sake of our people and the planet we need to implement them faster.” Fine particle pollution (ambient PM2.5) is the largest driver of air pollution’s burden of disease worldwide as kit attributed to 4.9 million deaths and 124 million healthy years of life lost in 2023. Vehicles, power plants, factories, and homes, as well as agricultural and industrial activities, waste burning and wildfires are some of the biggest sources of pollutants. South Asia is among the regions of the world with the highest exposures to ambient PM2.5 , while more than 36% of people around the world live in areas where PM2.5 levels do not meet even the least stringent interim target. As per the report, 78% of Nepal’s 30 million population lives in areas where annual PM2.5 exposure exceeds the least stringent WHO Air Quality Interim Target of 35 µg/m3. Meanwhile, exposure to household air pollution due to the use of solid fuels for cooking remains an important driver for the disease burden in the country. “Ongoing efforts to meet global development goals are not achievable without directly addressing air pollution,” says Maria Neira, Commissioner of Our Common Air. “Countries and cities must focus their efforts toward reducing air pollution emissions, including household air pollution, which has particularly severe impacts on young children and older people across Asia and Africa.”

shuklaphanta

Nepal counting its tigers

The sun rises in Nepal’s Far West

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Digitising the savant calligrapher

Air pollution killing season starts early

Nepal needs to enact and enforce animal law