Love for dogs is somewhat inherited. Humans have probably evolved to develop a special kind of gene that makes them predisposed to love dogs. And as canines evolved, dogs probably have bonding with humans in their DNA too. That could be why I have always felt an instant connection with a dog, I am sure I was born with it. I also feel that instant connection with fellow dog lovers than with anyone else. I was born in a family where dogs were tremendously loved and cared for. My mother’s two biggest gifts to me are a) a kind heart, and b) love for all animals, especially dogs. Read Also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/kathmandu-s-street-smart-dogs">Kathmandu’s street-smart dogs</a>, Sonia Awale I grew up hearing her story of the time when I was 6 and was bitten near my eye by my uncle’s dog. I needed to get stitches. Even today, she says she fails to understand why that never stopped me from loving dogs, and why I was never scared of them even after that traumatic event in my childhood. As a child, my favourite memory is going out for walks with my mother when she fed biscuits to stray pups along the way. We knew the dogs all along the alleys outside the house. It is a practice I have inherited. As soon as we walked out of the house, we would be trailed by neighbourhood dogs wagging their tails wildly in anticipation. They used to follow up right to the little corner store. And what grateful creatures God of Dogs created, the love and loyalty they show in exchange of one small treat or a little rub on their head.  <figure><img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20231112031136_7c8cc7593d5acf3f399ddd31b1cecb2f69b6b13093459444fcc3efe57c415c93.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20231112031136_7c8cc7593d5acf3f399ddd31b1cecb2f69b6b13093459444fcc3efe57c415c93" data-rendition-name="original" width="2048" height="1366" loading="lazy" alt="must love dogs"><figcaption>PHOTO: SUMAN NEPALI</figcaption></figure>  So, when I say I love dogs, I am a bit biased. I have more affection for the strays on the road, the breed now recognised as a distinct species and which Nepalis fondly call bhusyaha kukur. My love for stray mutts and pups has led me to rescue a few, my four-legged girls. Many of these furry friends have since then found their way to my heart. Some are abandoned, others are community canines whom I feed snacks. Read Also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/kukur-biralo-tihar">Kukur Biralo Tihar</a>, Monika Deupala Each of them has a unique personality, each has a unique story to tell. Beyond their limitations of not having a home, they all enjoy and value their life in the streets and between struggling to protect their territory to finding food, they are also surrounded by humans who love them, feed them, give them a belly rub. And it is heart-warming to see them walking around proudly with marigold garlands, foreheads red with vermilion on <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/kukur-biralo-tihar">Kukur Tihar</a> (which this year falls on 12 November). This festival, which is unique to Nepal, is an equaliser because it forces us to embrace purebred pets at home equally with the strays outside. The sad part, of course, is that the dogs we worship in the morning are scared out of their wits in the evening when the firecrackers start going off. Many strays and pets are so spooked they run away and are lost during Tihar. We have to be more mindful of this. Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/microchipping-nepals-dogs/">Microchipping Nepal’s dogs</a>, Aria Shree Parasai From living in the moment to loving selflessly to never complaining to never stopping to being happy, we humans have a lot to learn from dogs. My hope is that we all continue this celebration all year round, that we find ways to rehome stray dogs, that we stop buying and start rescuing. For someone who has rescued dogs myself, I can tell you there is nothing as liberating as this act of humanity. And the rewards that you receive in return is immeasurable. We can all take action by not buying another dog for our home, and who knows, the next rescue you make is the one who will rescue you.

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Must love dogs

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114101128/63720a259c7e80680e0b5587jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1000" height="602"/><figcaption>All photos: ABHYU GHIMIRE</figcaption></figure>Scientists have found <a href="https://academic.oup.com/mbe/article/34/3/775/2967141?login=true">genetic evidence</a> that dogs were first domesticated by early humans on the Tibetan Plateau, and interbreeding with the Himalayan grey wolf gave them the ability to adapt to high altitude living. So, it is no wonder that dogs feel so much at home in the mountains.When a team did the first traverse of <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=19057#.YhnstC2B2CR">the Great Himalayan Trail</a> in 2017, a mastiff they named Setuk joined the group for 300km from Khumbu to Helambu, even climbing over the 5,700m high Tashi Labtsa pass. Setuk once <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=19216#.Yhnsti2B2CR">accompanied mountaineers</a> up the Khumbu Icefall to Camp 2.Another <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=17935#.Yhnsui2B2CR">Tibetan mastiff named Tashi</a> once walked back from a village in Ramechhap to Kathmandu after his Japanese owner, at the end of his job in Nepal, took him back to the place where he adopted the puppy.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114101128/63720a279c7e80680e0b5588jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1000" height="563">Dogs often trail trekkers in Nepal, they bond with them acting as guides and camp watchdogs in return for food and adventure. Some of these dogs stay on in the mountains and are feral, hunting in packs like their evolutionary ancestors. Wild dogs have been known to attack yaks in high pastures in Khumbu.A community dog from Dingboche once accompanied us on the climb up to Nangarshang peak. He was a perfect gentleman (a gentledog if you will), and carried himself with much dignity. Not obtrusive or greedy, he was just there all the time, walking ahead of us on the trail.<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/a-dog-with-altitude/">Tibetan mastiffs</a> look intimidating at first glance, but they seldom quarrel among themselves when resources are plentiful. They however can be loyal and fiercely protective of the yaks, sheep or humans that they watch over, and do not hesitate to attack “outsiders”.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUNCMaIlNB4There is a difference between domestic dogs confined to households, and community canines that watch over the whole village they belong to. As an example, this particular tourist dog was attacked by local dogs at Namche Bazaar. As my patient wouldn't let me suture the lacerations, wounds were cleaned and repaired using staples.Lately, however, I have noticed that with the drop in tourism following the pandemic in the past two years, previously <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/review/a-tibetan-mastiff-pup-who-dares-to-dream/">friendly community mastiffs</a> in the Khumbu have become more aggressive.As a doctor here, I have had to treat an increasing number of dog bite cases. Not only have the incidents of dog-attack increased, but the injuries are also more serious. No longer are they casual fang marks and scratches, but deep wounds as if the predator had the intention of killing and eating its prey.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114101128/63720a2a9c7e80680e0b5589jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="445" height="462">Some people have stopped walking alone along village trails, and children are warned by parents not to go out alone. I had to treat a child who was attacked by a group of dogs in Pangboche and had deep life-threatening injuries on her back. She was lucky, as neighbours chased away the dog pack in the knick of time.There used to be a puppy in Dingboche that used to play with a yak calf which was about his size. He was being raised by the community to be a watchdog to protect the yak herd from wolves and snow leopards.Recently, the pup was killed and eaten — not by a <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-leads-in-snow-leopard-study/">snow leopard</a>, but by other feral dogs. There have been other instances of dog-eat-dog, a phenomenon locals here had never heard of before.The people of the Khumbu rely heavily on trekkers for income, and the collapse of tourism has had a domino effect on families here. The fall in income has also meant that the dogs now do not get enough to eat<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/bhaktapurs-dog-catchers/">Community dogs</a> that used to be well-fed, and sleep all day in the sun, are now showing more aggressiveness. Triggered by hunger, they have fallen back on their primitive wolf instincts.They hunt in packs, and there are frequent territorial gang wars between rival groups. Dog fights have become more common, and dogs do not hesitate to eat their own kind if one is killed in a fight.Khumbu’s langur monkeys, which were wary only of snow leopards and <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/crying-wolf/">wolves</a>, are now being attacked and eaten by dogs. In Dingboche, one unfortunate monkey met such a fate and was left half-eaten by dogs.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114101128/63720a2c9c7e80680e0b558ajpeg.jpg" alt="" width="329" height="462">It is an indication of how much locals are worried about dog attacks that the deeply religious people here, who usually do not harm animals, have started requesting the authorities to poison rampant dogs. This is against what doctors believe in and practice, and hence was denied.Luckily, with the Covid-19 pandemic tapering off, there is a trickle of trekkers. With more food available, the number of <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/dog-bites-man-is-still-news-in-nepal/">dog bite cases</a> at the health posts in the Khumbu is going down noticeably.This behavioral change in Khumbu's dogs should be studied in more detail but what we witnessed first hand was thousands of years of domestication fading away in a matter of months, as a result of food deprivation, an interesting side <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/singha-darbar-dogs-go-hungry-in-lockdown/">effect of the whole Covid-19 pandemic</a>.Abhyu Ghimire is a Medical Officer at The Mountain Medical Institute at Namche Bazar and Dingboche in Solu Khumbu.

Khumbu dogs go wild after tourism decline

Kathmandu’s <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/woof-of-fresh-air-for-street-dogs-in-kathmandu,4132" target="_blank">community canines</a> already seem to sense that their special day is coming soon on 14 November, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/mexico-adopts-kukur-tihar/" target="_blank">Kukur Tihar</a>. That is when they are ritually garlanded &nbsp;and offered treats as the messengers of Yamaraj, the god of death. But for Rashmi Tuladhar, every day is dog day. Ever since she was a child, she took care of <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/kukur-biralo-tihar/" target="_blank">the dogs and cats</a> in her tole – these were not abandoned strays but community pets. No one owns them, but everyone does. <div class="embed-block"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181116/636be0f89c7e80680e083e21jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1502" height="1000">Rashmi at home with one of her dozen resident dogs. All photos: SHRISTI SHERCHAN</div> Over the years, Rashmi’s bond with dogs in her neighbourhood grew, and today at age 46 she has been taking care of several generations of dogs, while keeping some of the more needy ones in her own house in Asan. The pandemic has been <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/singha-darbar-dogs-go-hungry-in-lockdown/" target="_blank">tough on Kathmandu’s community dogs</a> &nbsp;there is less food to rummage through and many butcher and food shops are closed. And, ironically, while dogs will be worshipped on Saturday morning by being fed and feted, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/in-an-animal-farm/" target="_blank">Tihar fire crackers will scare the wits out of them in the evening</a>. Rashmi Didi, as she is affectionately known in her neighbourhood, gets up before dawn every morning. Not to visit the temples as some of her neighbours, but to prepare the morning meal for the 100 <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/bhaktapurs-dog-catchers/" target="_blank">community canines</a> that she cares for: from Asan to Ratna Park, and as far as Ghanta Ghar. Rashmi keeps another dozen or so seniors and injured dogs in her cramped ancestral home. “Many people just see them as filthy animals who are always breeding endlessly, so they either do not take care of them or mistreat them,” says Rashmi while on her daily rounds to check up on the dogs in her neighbourhood. <div class="embed-block"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181116/636be0fc9c7e80680e083e22jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="956">Rashmi Tuladhar's simple ancestral home in Asan at the heart of old Kathmandu.</div> The dogs recognise her from afar, and run towards Rashmi, tails wagging furiously. For Rashmi, there is less of a religious motivation to appease the gods in this work. She is driven more by <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=19767#.X6yhfS17GCQ" target="_blank">compassion for fellow sentient beings</a>. She gets help from animal welfare organisations Animal Nepal and Catmandu Lovers to sterilise and vaccinate the dogs and cats, and also treat those who are sick or injured. “Their help has made me realise that there are good people in this world too,” she says. <div class="embed-block"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181116/636be0fe9c7e80680e083e23jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1506" height="1000">Rashmi Tuladhar feeding community dogs in her neighbourhood in Asan during her morning feeding round.</div> Rashmi herself is handicapped, her right hand is partly paralysed. From a young age, she faced discrimination and bullying for being a ‘cripple’. She says she still cannot understand how people can be so cruel, adding that her special bond with dogs probably comes from identifying with the way the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/dog-bites-man-is-still-news-in-nepal/" target="_blank">animals are also mistreated by humankind</a>. “For me, humans are the ones more difficult to deal with in this world,” she explains matter-of-factly. “I have seen people abandoning their own pets on the streets, some leave them to suffer in cages. I cannot understand why they bring home a dog or a cat only to leave them on the streets.” While on her morning rounds, Rashmi's neighbours stop by to chat with her. Strangers sometimes ask her why she is feeding the dogs, and they cannot understand why she does it. “These animals cannot express themselves in a way we humans understand, they cannot ask for help. People are mean to them, they throw hot water or rocks, beat them with sticks,” she says. “Some people even say hurtful things even while I am feeding them. But at least these <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/a-dog-with-altitude/" target="_blank">dogs</a> know not all humans are nasty in this life that we are living together.” Although she may sound despondent, Rashmi see hope in young people in her neighbourhood who stop by to pet the dogs she is feeding. Many say they do not have dogs are home, but would like to have one. Rashmi recognises every dog on the streets by their names, and introduces them to the children. <div class="embed-block"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181116/636be1019c7e80680e083e24jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1002">One of Rashmi’s resident senior dog looks out of the window awaiting her return from her feeding round.</div> After completing her daily round, Rashmi heads home to feed and care for her own resident <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/saving-nepals-last-wild-dogs/" target="_blank">dogs</a>, who yelp happily to see her return. She says: “This is what makes me happy. My disability does not affect me so why should it affect others? I just hope people were kinder.”

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Every day is Dog Day

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

The Last Days of the Khampa

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

Turkish to Seville

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

Digital protection for Nepal’s art

<a href="https://www.instagram.com/prabalgurung/" target="_blank">Prabal Gurung</a> left Nepal for New York in 1999 to escape years of bullying, sexism and homophobia, and to pursue his dream of becoming a fashion designer. He <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqN0VaoAI5w" target="_blank">realised his dream</a>, but did not escape discrimination and racism in the new world. Propelled by passion for fashion, Gurung overcame everything America threw at him. He has attained <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/style/story/prabal-gurung-recalls-his-first-met-gala-when-zoe-saldana-was-at-his-side?srsltid=AfmBOooy-H0oGgxMit864FnW_Pmw8mUnV8rYrh-co-f6OyYK6m2ip5hP" target="_blank">fame and recognition</a> for his haute couture dress designs while remaining true to his Nepali roots, and is even more resolute in <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSmNauyzACk" target="_blank">fighting prejudice</a> in all its forms. Prabal Gurung’s newly-released memoir <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Audible-Walk-Like-Girl-Memoir/dp/B0DG11HCDQ?fbclid=IwY2xjawKZfpxleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHuZcIJO2OXyXcRm1oq1iG6wzeoF7VJFrQ7GXOFI0YxuZZ4id_CNvSZSZZIna_aem_pG_mOKG73RTnYvN8JaC4fA">Walk Like a Girl</a> is a saga of harrowing abuse in boarding schools in Nepal and India, only finding himself facing a different kind of bullying in the US. He prevails over it all to be where he is today: an award-winning American fashion designer with his own label. Walk Like a Girl was launched last week in New York at a time when everything Gurung fought for — tolerance, inclusion and diversity — are in retreat in his adopted country because of a president who has espoused a culture of bullying. The book is a searing, raw exposé of how cruel and abusive people can be even at a young age in school. On the other hand, it also shows that there are generous, compassionate and open-minded souls out there. In his book, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4le_uWX7YE">Prabal Gurung</a> calls out those who tormented and tried to hold him back (some of their names have been altered). The moral of his story is: resist, never stop believing in yourself, do not let others define you, never lose sight of your dream, and help those who have been kept out. “Walk like a girl” was a slur used by bullies back in school in Nepal and India for Gurung’s effeminate ways. He fought back then, and he is still resisting by turning those words into something to be proud of.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250519170544_4ffc9c3f565dd2cfa754d10b224816897b82bb31ebaee91b6d79d469fc96f14e.jpg" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="20250519170544_4ffc9c3f565dd2cfa754d10b224816897b82bb31ebaee91b6d79d469fc96f14e" data-rendition-name="original" width="1000" height="1253" loading="lazy" alt="Prabal Gurung NT"> <figcaption>Prabal Gurung at home in Kathmandu in the 1990s.</figcaption> </figure>  “Living through it all was one thing, but writing about it is one of the hardest things I have done in my life,” admitted Gurung during the launch. “I broke down constantly during the six-year writing process.” He continues: “I did not want this to be a victim’s book. I did not want to burden my readers with my emotions. I wanted my struggle to be an inspiration for others facing what I faced. I am grateful to those who bullied me in school, they made me a stronger person ready to face the world.” Indeed, this book is a departure from his earlier one titled simply, Prabal Gurung (Abrams, 2019), which was a lush pictorial autobiography of his career in fashion. Walk Like a Girl is not a typical fashion book, it is an intimate tale of <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=16997">Gurung’s travails and triumphs</a>, and how he willed himself to succeed. Prabal pays a lavish tribute to his mother Durga Rana. We find out she is a descendant of the first wife of the eldest son of Jang Bahadur Rana who was banished to Palpa in the late 19th century. Prabal’s father served in the Singapore Police and that is where he was born before the family returned to Nepal when he was four. Gurung relates with brutal honesty about the violence his mother endured from his father. Durga raises three children as a single mother in Nepal, and Prabal credits her for his fierce determination to resist patriarchy and injustice, which in time manifests itself in his hyper-feminine and subversive dress designs. Writing the book has been a cathartic experience for Gurung, who says he is now relieved of the burdens of his past. It no longer haunts him, and he does not have to prove anything to anyone anymore. Walk Like a Girl has life lessons not just for the <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/DJmOcSgxdWz/" target="_blank">fashion industry</a>, but for every other profession. How can my job serve a greater cause? Gurung tells us his work is <a href="https://asiasociety.org/blog/asia/why-designer-prabal-gurung-doesnt-want-just-stick-fashion" target="_blank">bigger than just making clothes</a>, it is about making the world a better place because it could do with a lot of improvement.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250519170544_d75296ad8bfdc00d88935f40d23543c6fea3d4d6a10e61a99d6cfc6127f2ee5b.png" data-media-id="editor_10" data-image-id="20250519170544_d75296ad8bfdc00d88935f40d23543c6fea3d4d6a10e61a99d6cfc6127f2ee5b" data-rendition-name="original" width="1516" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Prabal Gurung"> </figure>  This story of chasing the American dream may sound familiar to many immigrants: knocking on doors for jobs, rejections, trying to survive from day to day on expensive rent, and dealing with subtle racism in white America. Gurung finds racism is rife, and he is often mockingly called ‘gaysian’. He writes: ‘There was a strong hypocrisy — this idea of independence felt like a marketting ruse … and for all the talk of feminism in America, these high society women were trapped by the patriarchy just like in Nepal and India.’ After a trek to the Khumbu region in 2013, Gurung is inspired to use the colours, palette and textures of Nepal for his collection exhibited on Manhattan’s 8th Avenue. A major buyer tells him bluntly: “Stick to making pretty dresses … if I need to see a collection like this, I could buy a copy of National Geographic.” The New York Times was equally dismissive: ‘The designer tries to draw connections between blistered techo-fabric used to construct it and the topography of his homeland, Nepal. But, at the moment, he has lost his map.’ One potential investor tells Gurung he cannot design for Americana because “you do not look American”. Gurung wants to use expletives, but restrains himself. After a fundraiser in New York for the Nepal earthquake in 2015, some belittled his effort, saying: “Here comes the saviour."&nbsp; Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/review/prabal-gurung-by-prabal-gurung">Prabal Gurung by Prabal Gurung</a>, Kunda Dixit The Gurkha DNA must be dominant in Prabal Gurung’s genes because he does not take such mistreatment lying down. When asked by a fashion publicist why he was designing clothes for fat people, he snaps back: “Because of people like you.” He joins the Black Lives Matter and #MeToo movements, launches the Shikshya Foundation charity in Nepal, and has powerful allies among celebrities who wear clothes he designed: Michelle Obama, Oprah Winfrey, Sara Jessica Parker, Kamala Harris, Deepika Padukone … it is a long list.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250519150556_48a5f4211991a23fa85b64bbd5377575ca7081d97309d7542035591dda5180fe.png" data-media-id="editor_12" data-image-id="20250519150556_48a5f4211991a23fa85b64bbd5377575ca7081d97309d7542035591dda5180fe" data-rendition-name="original" width="1114" height="1534" loading="lazy" alt="Being Prabal Gurung by design"> <figcaption>Nigerian novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie wearing Atelier Prabal Gurung’s design for Met Gala 2025 in which the theme was ‘Superfine: Tailoring Black Style’. </figcaption> </figure>  “I don’t dress women to look beautiful, they already are,” Gurung says. “I try to bring out their innate strength and grace.” <a href="https://www.instagram.com/stories/highlights/17908766880140171/" target="_blank">Admirers</a> tell Gurung he makes it all look so easy, but he used to put up a strong facade to not show his own vulnerabilities in public. “I was closed because of my childhood experiences,” he says. “I was always on guard to defend myself because I never knew where the next punch would come from.” But in <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPVepzPA210" target="_blank">Walk Like a Girl,</a> Gurung comes to terms with his vulnerability, and bares his soul. It has not been easy, it took sustained will power and support from his mother, sister Kumudini and a circle of close friends. “I made unbelonging my power,” he says. “Nepal is where I still have my heart and soul. Nepal grounds you. It is where people go to find themselves. But I escaped.” Recently appointed vice-chair of the <a href="https://cfda.com/about-cfda" target="_blank">Council of American Fashion Designers</a>, Gurung says: “I can’t believe I am here, it feels like it is happening to someone else. Writing this book, the healing has finally begun.” <h2>‘Everything is better in color’</h2> The Met Gala was two weeks later, and my table was an example of everything I’d been fighting for all these years as my guests represented everything I believed in: dynamic, powerful, influential women who were unapologetically original and unabashedly graceful. I was grateful to Anna for inviting me to host and dress a table that reflected my ethos—and for her guidance in doing so. I was also aware of the privilege as one of the first-­ever Asian fashion designers—not just from Nepal, but from the entire continent— to get the opportunity to do so. That fact was not lost on me. I reached out beyond the expected Hollywood celebrities and well-­known socialites to curate a table of exceptional women who inspired me. I invited Deepika Padukone and Alia Bhatt for their first-­ever Met Galas, as well as Michelle Yeoh, Mindy Kaling, Camila Cabello, Ashley Park, Denée Benton, KiKi Layne, Quannah Chasinghorse, and Grace Elizabeth. Together we checked many boxes: Asian, Black, Latinx, and Indigenous, each woman undeniably chic and powerful, a dazzling array of skin tones and experiences that proved my decades‑in‑the-­making hypothesis: everything is better in color. Excerpt from Walk Like a Girl Viking © 2025 by Prabal Gurung  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250519170520_6b91d560e9f072c37d16876901058c073a51ffa05e7ad1b9461d19e1c9c28215.jpg" data-media-id="editor_16" data-image-id="20250519170520_6b91d560e9f072c37d16876901058c073a51ffa05e7ad1b9461d19e1c9c28215" data-rendition-name="original" width="1136" height="702" loading="lazy" alt="Prabal Gurung book details NT"> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250519170520_345240c21be400e2ce2ec629b52bd82bb53890e5bd86fe95b48340d84b5f1748.jpg" data-media-id="editor_17" data-image-id="20250519170520_345240c21be400e2ce2ec629b52bd82bb53890e5bd86fe95b48340d84b5f1748" data-rendition-name="original" width="1136" height="702" loading="lazy" alt="Prabal Gurung book details NT"> </figure>  &nbsp;