Three people who had gone yarsagumba picking in Darchula were <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/abnormal-rise-in-monsoon-lightning-in-nepal">struck by lightning</a> on Saturday evening. The injured were airlifted to hospital by the Army. On Monday, a family of four was injured when lightning struck them as they slept in their home in Dailekh. Lightning mostly occurs high above the earth’s surface and is harmless, but cloud-to-ground strikes— which make for around 10% of all lightning— can be lethal. According to the National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Authority (NDRRMA), there have been 45 lightning strikes just in the last 30 days which killed five and injured 42, and also killed 142 livestock. Lightning strikes are more frequent during the current pre-monsoon season in Nepal and also spark forest fires. Nine people have died from lightning strikes in 2023, four in March, three in April, and so far two in May. 80 people have been injured. “Lightning strikes are becoming more frequent and violent,” says climate expert Ngamindra Dahal, adding that there are more casualties because of greater human mobility. &nbsp; In the last 10 years, lightning accounted for the third-highest number of deaths due to disasters with 905 fatalities, ranking after the 2015 earthquakes and landslides. And yet, there is little awareness or preparedness. Now, studies have linked the increase in intensity and frequency of thunderstorms to climate change induced convection systems. Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/lightning-kills-more-people-than-floods-in-nepal/" target="_blank">Lightning kills more people than floods in Nepal</a>, Sonia Awale  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230519040516_59c980a8f0df43561046c4fd631daaac623d3f1d973f2f3acb12cc366fe842a0.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20230519040516_59c980a8f0df43561046c4fd631daaac623d3f1d973f2f3acb12cc366fe842a0" data-rendition-name="original" width="1750" height="1355" loading="lazy" alt="Lightning map"> </figure>  “These changes in climate and weather dynamics make a case for the change in frequency and intensity of lightning strikes being climate change-driven,” adds Dahal. Nepal’s mountains have always been vulnerable to cloudbursts and lightning strikes, with districts like Makwanpur and Tanahu being the most vulnerable. But lightning is a natural disaster that can be prevented in cost-effective manner, at least its impacts, says Dahal. It can be as simple as local governments marking off areas with frequent cloudbursts and putting out information about when the <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/Buzz-if-it-roars-go-indoors,529">public needs to avoid the areas</a>. Another option is to set up public shelters made up of lightning arresters, especially near picnic zones, or areas where farmers take their<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/lightning-kills-500-sheep-in-western-nepal"> livestock</a> to graze. For its part, the NDRRMA on its website allows people to parse which lightning strikes are dangerous by counting from 1 to 30. If thunder sounds within 30 seconds of a lightning flash, seek shelter immediately for at least half an hour as those are closer to the ground, and thus more dangerous. “Our research has so far mostly been limited to keeping records of death and injuries, and not so much looking into evolving climate and weather dynamics or the increasing intensity and coverage of lightning strikes,” says Dahal. “But we can give early warning based on Doppler radar mapping for location of possible lightning storms.” &nbsp;&nbsp; Read also: <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/lightning-strikes-killing-people-in-Nepal,2940" target="_blank">Forecast: more thunderstorms</a>, Om Astha Rai

Shristi Karki

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Thunderstruck in Nepal

<figure><img width="800" height="400" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109141112/636ba7939c7e80680e07378fjpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>File photo: RADIO NEPAL</figcaption></figure>A massive thunderbolt in Nepal’s remote Jumla district on Sunday killed at least 500 sheep grazing in pastures high in the mountains, according to belated reports from the remote mountain region of northwestern Nepal.
The lightning struck during a monsoon storm on 23 August in Masimarema grazing land of Patrasi Rural Municipality and the sheep belonged to Bishnu Buda and Jaya Bahadur Buda of the Bagjalem Community Forest.
Because of the remoteness of the area, villagers have not been able to reach the site yet, said Ward Chair Kali Bahadur Rawat. The high pasture is the traditional grazing ground for the region’s livestock and dairy farmers during the monsoon months. 
Jumla’s chief district administrator Tek Bahadur Budathapa said the lightning strike was a major blow to the villagers of Patrasi whose main source of income is their livestock, and the sheep were being readied for sale during the Dasain festival in October. 
“The farmers were already hit by the economic crisis caused by the lockdown, and now this has happened, it is going to be difficult for them to survive and the government will do what it can to provide rehabilitation,” Budathapa said. 
This is the second worst disaster to hit the district’s animal husbandry in recent years. In 2013, more than 700 sheep were killed in winter blizzards.
With nearly <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/lightning-kills-more-people-than-floods-in-nepal/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/lightning-kills-more-people-than-floods-in-nepal/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1598442050550000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHl9gBpLKCjqD-TMmGcoHGyqCoONA">900 human fatalities in the past ten years</a>, lightning accounts for the highest number of deaths in natural disasters – second only to the 2015 earthquake. Nepal in fact tops the list of countries with the most lightning fatalities per unit area. More people die every year in <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/Buzz-if-it-roars-go-indoors,529" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/Buzz-if-it-roars-go-indoors,529&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1598442050550000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFFX7COUVh1LjHmebdOJbW-vcv5xA">electric storms</a> in Nepal than in the whole of North America, according to statistics. 
Every year, an average of 100 people are killed by thunderbolts, and meteorologists say freak electrical storms are also occurring during unusual times, such as early mornings. Studies have linked the increase in intensity and frequency of thunderstorms to <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/the-new-normal-2/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/the-new-normal-2/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1598442050550000&amp;usg=AFQjCNE0AK7Jt2l1xAZ_LEvl9VmY4YUxtw">climate change</a>.    
Nepal is also the most densely populated mountainous country in the world, and lighting in the mountains are also deadlier because the flashes have to travel less distance. Within Nepal, Makwanpur district south of Kathmandu has the highest death rate from lightning strike with 70 deaths in the past seven years. In the same period, Jumla only had three fatalities from lightning. 
Update: District authorities at the Livestock Support Department said on Tuesday that 217 sheep were killed.

Lightning kills 500 sheep in western Nepal

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108111152/636a35859c7e80680e0482b4jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1125"/><figcaption>BOLT FROM THE BLUE: A cloud to ground lightning flash strikes Chobar, illuminating Swayambhu and the Balaju area of Kathmandu in 2011. Photo: SHRI RAM SHARMA</figcaption></figure>The devastating <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/groound-zero-in-pheta/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">tornado that ravaged Bara</a> and Parsa districts last week, killing 28 people and injuring 600, made daily headlines. But lightning strikes kill more people annually in Nepal than floods and storms, yet do not get as much attention.<a style="background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/lightning-strikes-killing-people-in-Nepal,2940" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Lightning</a> is responsible for 24,000 deaths worldwide every year. In Nepal, after the 2015 earthquake, lightning accounted for the highest number of deaths due to disaster in the last eight years, with 840 fatalities. In fact, Nepal tops the list of countries with the most lightning fatalities per unit area. More people die every year in <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/Buzz-if-it-roars-go-indoors,529">electric storms</a> in Nepal than in the whole of North America.Janak Rawal, 14, of Accham lost his life when he was struck by lightning at his house on Monday night. Sixteen others sustained injuries. A similar incident in Mechinagar Rural Municipality on the same day claimed the life of Prakash Raut and left two injured. Recently, three people in Baitadi were struck with lightning as they were using their mobile phones outside their homes.“We ignore lightning because unlike other disasters it rarely leads to mass casualties. The strikes are sporadic and scattered, but it is a major killer nonetheless,” says Shri Ram Sharma, professor at Amrit Science Campus in Kathmandu.Sharma developed a keen interest in lightning after his sister was struck by a thunderbolt when he was a child and survived miraculously. He now researches lightning strike patterns in Nepal.<iframe id="datawrapper-chart-qbO1M" style="width: 0; min-width: 100% !important;" title="Lightning Fatalities in Nepal" src="//datawrapper.dwcdn.net/qbO1M/2/" height="600" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" aria-label="Nepal districts (2018) choropleth map"></iframe>Since 2011, lightning fatalities have exceeded 100 every year except in 2015/16 and 2018/19. In 2015, the <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/blogs/kundadixit/2015/05/27/a-month-that-felt-like-a-year/">Nepal earthquake</a> struck during the pre-monsoon and lead to miscalculations on total deaths caused by lightning. The sharp decline in human fatalities this year is mostly due to under-reporting. Lightning strikes are also occurring more often at unusual times, such as early mornings and late nights, when people are safe in their homes.However, the decreases in these two years are anomalies in the overall trend of fatalities, which are much higher. This could be due to better reporting after the National Emergency Operation Centre was set up at the Home Ministry five years ago, but studies have also linked the increase in intensity and frequency of thunderstorms to <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/the-new-normal-2/">climate change</a>.A 2014 report in the journal Science stated that for every 1 degree Celsius of warming, there is a 12% increase in lightning activity, meaning that the number of strikes in the United States could increase 50% by the end of the century.Nepal has just experienced an unusual winter with heavy precipitation, and rare thunderstorms. Such storms are uncommon in winter in the Himalayas, occuring primarily in the pre-monsoon season between March-June as a result of convection systems created when hot air from the Indian plains rises along the mountains.“Extreme weather events caused by <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/on-thin-ice-in-the-khumbu/">climate change</a> have a role in increasing the electric charge inside clouds and occur at times when they traditionally would not,” explained Sharma. “This has added to Nepal’s pre-existing vulnerability as one of the countries most susceptible to lightning fatalities.”Globally, up to 95% of all lightning is negatively charged, but it is the 5% of positively charged lightning strikes that are more lethal. In Nepal 34% of all cloud-to-ground strikes are positively charged.Nepal’s topography, and the proximity of eastern mountains to moisture from the Bay of Bengal, make the country more prone to thunderstorms. The other reasons for the country's high fatality rate is that lightning from storm clouds travels much shorter distances to reach the ground in the high mountains. Nepal is also the most densely populated mountainous country in the world.Within Nepal itself, a districtwise breakdown of fatalities (see charts)  shows that Makwanpur is the most dangerous, with 54 deaths and 245 injuries due to lightning in the last five years.<iframe id="datawrapper-chart-x9bFD" style="width: 0; min-width: 100% !important;" title="Annual Lightning Fatalities in Nepal" src="//datawrapper.dwcdn.net/x9bFD/1/" height="375" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" aria-label="Column Chart"></iframe>Lightning is particularly destructive in an agriculture-dependent country. Thunderbolts deposit a significant amount of nitrate in the soil every time they strike, and an excess of nitrate is detrimental to crops. The fatality rate from lightning strikes for livestock is higher than that for humans. Cattle are five times more likely than people to get killed in an electric storm.In industrialised countries, there are only 0.3 deaths per 1 million population caused by lightning. The fatality rate is much higher in the developing world, with up to 6 deaths per million. Lack of knowledge about lightning and insufficient safeguards in buildings are the main reasons.In Nepal the latter factors compound the topographical and meteorological reasons for fatal strikes. Added up, Nepal’s vulnerability is further increased by the rise in frequency and intensity of storms caused by <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/climate-for-change/the-great-himalayan-thaw/">global warming</a>.“We have to get used to more potent lightning and its increased frequency. We need better protection, preparedness and public awareness,” said climate scientist Ngamindra Dahal, who says lightning risk should be prominently incorporated into school curricula.Public buildings such as schools, hospitals and government offices should be equipped with lightning rods. Telecommunication and transmission towers are at high risk because they are located on mountain tops, and need special safety measures integrated into their design. As more people use mobile phones, they must remember that it could be dangerous to use electronic devices during thunderstorms.Experts lament that despite the high fatality rate, lightning does not command the same priority as <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/past-disasters-foretold/">earthquakes</a> and other disasters. They want the government to focus on policies that require the public to take lightning into consideration before building new structures.The best strategy moving ahead should be to invest in forecasting equipment and better <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/disastrous-management-in-nepal/">preparedness</a>. The good news is that the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology has set up nine lightning detection stations across Nepal (Dhangadi, Surkhet, Nepalganj, Pokhara, Bhairawa, Kathmandu, Simara, Tumlingtar and Biratnagar) to study thunderstorm activity and provide more accurate forecasts.“Data generated at these stations can indicate long-term lightning trends, their frequency and concentration, which in turn can help with better 'now-casting' of electric storms so people can seek safety,” said senior meteorologist Archana Shrestha at the Deaprtment of Hydrology and Meteorology.Nepal is hosting the annual South Asian Seasonal Forecasting Summit this month, at which international climate scientists will work to provide a collective monsoon forecast for South Asia so that governments in the region can plan for better agricultural productivity and be prepared for extreme weather events.Said Shri Ram Sharma: “With Nepal’s diverse climate and weather systems, we are the best lab in the world for scientists. Nowhere else will you find terrain rising from 70m to nearly 9,000m in the span of 150km. This is what makes Nepal more vulnerable to extreme weather, and why we need more research for better disaster preparedness.”<h2>Thunderbolt physics</h2><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108111152/636a35889c7e80680e0482b5jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="512" height="383"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Simply put, lightning flashes are a flow of electric charge, but they are created via a complex mechanism.Through ionisation and movements within a cumulonimbus cloud, two distinct clusters of positive and negative charge form at opposite ends of the cloud. Negatively charged particles accumulate at the bottom while positively charged particles gather at the top.This creates an electric potential difference, or voltage. When the voltage is strong enough, the negative particles move towards the positive side for balance. This can occur within a cloud or between two clouds.The particles, mostly the negatively-charged ones, can also travel down to the ground. This creates the lightning flashes. Extremely high energy is also released in the process, producing heat with temperatures that are five times hotter than the surface of the sun. Because of this heat, air surrounding the lightning flashes heats up and expands quickly, generating loud bursts of thunder.

Sonia Awale

Lightning kills more people than floods in Nepal

Violations of Nepal’s airspace during WWII

The American military action in Venezuela and the abduction of President Nicolás Maduro Moros may redefine Nepal’s geopolitics as it juggles between three world powers, India, China and the United States.&nbsp;
Nepal’s interim government is busy preparing for elections on 5 March, and it was late issuing a statement on the American intervention in Venezuela, but the country may have to re-evaluate how it deals with its immediate neighbours and the global power.
“How does Nepal avoid being the next Ukraine or Venezuela? Small countries shouldn’t go around irritating big neighbours. And when big neighbours really get upset, they usually put up a moral fig leaf justifying their miltary action,” says energy economist Dipak Gyawali. “What we see with Venezuela today is bereft of such moral content, essentially banditry which in today’s day and age is unacceptable. Neither the rising new powers nor much of the Global South will take this lying down.”
International relations experts have said that there is now a new world order in which rules-based diplomacy has been thrown out of the window, and the world has been carved into America leading the western hemisphere, Russia is allowed to do what it wants in Ukraine and Europe, and China’s sphere of influence is now the Indo-Pacific.
Foreign affairs expert Nischal Pandey says there is a lesson for smaller nations like Nepal: “We have to be aware of the sensitivities of the major powers in the vicinity.”
There is also a lesson for smaller resource-rich countries not to give an excuse for intervention with poor governance and political instability due to inequity. In Venezuela’s case it was throttling democracy and not using its immense oil-wealth to uplift its people.
Nevertheless, the Trump administration’s abduction of a sitting president of a foreign government regardless of the dictatorial nature of his regime and Venezuela’s volatile internal politics, is illegal and breaches the international order that has been in place since after World War II and its devastation on humanity.
While Trump’s intervention in Venezuela, and threats against Colombia, Cuba and Greenland have brought international condemnation, here in Nepal it has not been taken as seriously as it should.
Says Amish Mulmi, author of the book All Roads Lead North: Nepal's Turn to China: “Some of the reaction on social media has been that of glee over the fall of a dictatorial Communist government on the other side of the world. However, the government statement about fully respecting the principles of sovereignty and the Charter of the United Nations is a strong statement that makes clear Nepal's position on the matter.”
“The abduction of Maduro is a clear sign of Trump's America ensuring its sphere of influence through might and a warning to toe the line,” Mulmi adds. “It also infringes on the sanctity of borders and the preservation of sovereignty. Trump's actions reek strongly of a bygone era of imperialistic control and resource capture.”
Venezuela has 17% of the world’s reserves of crude oil, even though refining this heavy tar-like oil will be costly, and is possible in only a few places including Texas.
“This has to do with a larger political economy of oil, the unravelling of pax Americana and the post-World war II order. This is USA’s heavy-handed response to remain on the top as well as to partly solve its debt of $39 trillion,” explains Gyawali. “But this is not going to help: China is far ahead, Russia has recovered from its 1990s low point, and manufacturing capital has moved away from America. So controlling only financial capital - and using military power so brazenly - is not going to work.”
The might also be specific lessons for Nepal as a smaller country with vast water resources. While water, unlike oil, is renewable, India’s interest in Nepal’s hydro resources cannot be ignored. Ironically, America’s capture of Venezuelan oil reserves could exacerbate climate breakdown and the melting of Himalayan glaciers, which will put Nepal’s water resources in jeopardy in the coming decades.
The only way to deal with this for Nepal and downstream India will be to build reservoirs on rivers to store monsoon precipitation, and that makes water a strategic commodity for the future.&nbsp;
“If we continue in the current mode of hydropower-biased water resources development ignoring irrigation, flood control, navigation, fisheries, tourism and other benefits, India will get the free benefit of regulated water while we pay the upstream environmental and social costs. History will blame our elected leaders for having undersold our resources,” adds Gyawali, who served as water resource minister in the early 2000s.
As for a larger geopolitical lesson: “We in Nepal are fortunate in having not one threatening hegemon but two superpowers India and China: they don’t agree with each other, but do agree on a peaceful Nepal for their own security. However, our current political leaders are irritating both the neighbours, unlike since the centuries past when our rulers looked solely after Nepal’s core interests and our neighbours knew that.”
American intervention in Venezuela also calls for strengthening of our institutions and diplomatic outreach. Nepal has been a non-aligned state, and for all its history has tried to follow a policy of equidistance between India and China. The difference with Venezuela is that Nepal has to deal with two giant neighbours, and not just one.
Says Mulmi: “It is no more only about balancing great power relations but also about benefiting from them. But that will be increasingly difficult as international law and the principles of sovereignty are encroached upon.”

Might might be right, after all

At Budhanilkantha School Ujwal Thapa was a few years my senior. He was a quiet person who kept to himself; I didn’t know him very well despite being related to him because of that introversion and natural shyness. What we did have in common, coming of age in the 1990s, is our generation, GenX, which became weary, inured for the most part, to Nepal’s famously unstable politics.&nbsp; Counting the events of this past September, GenX has, astonishingly, lived through three people’s revolutions, one armed conflict, a flawed but hard won constitution, and a major earthquake. Ujwal Thapa, one of Nepal’s most cherished Gen Xers, despite his previous, youthful reticence, did not long remain a complaisant bystander against the backdrop of these extreme upheavals.&nbsp; By the mid 2000s he had become deeply political, but without the equivocation that so often accompanies politics. Thanks to his lived experience, he came to believe that the youth of Nepal are the key to our future. He believed in discerning wisdom (bibeksheelta), innovation, and nurture. He inspired entire generations, young and old, including GenZ, before his untimely death due to Covid in 2021. He was only 44.&nbsp; By the time of his passing he had started a tech company, and employed and mentored scores of youth. It is important to note that only after he had made a significant contribution to civil society did he turn towards politics, founding and then stepping back from the Bibeksheel Nepali party, which has now, after several complicated mergers and splits, been integrated into the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP). When the Ujwal Thapa Foundation set out to make a documentary on his life three years ago, no one could have known that it would premiere at such a crucial point in Nepal’s social and political history.&nbsp; Everything that Ujwal Thapa believed in still holds true. I think he would have been proud to see the youth of our country, GenZ, stand up for themselves, peacefully. He would have been grieved at the state condoned bloodshed, and, believing in non-violent protest himself, been deeply shocked by the savage revolution that followed.&nbsp; Most of all, I wonder how he would have reacted to the publishing of the blatantly elitist RSP proportional representation list - the party that many had pinned their hopes on, and that Bibeksheel Nepali has ultimately been absorbed into. That party now seems like it may be a chip off the rotten old block, ruled by men endorsing rampant nepotism, and outnumbered by people without scruples.&nbsp; Many of the names on the list and the rankings, in particular, disrespect the very spirit of a provision that was created for those competent individuals who would not otherwise be able to contest elections, due to lack of monetary and social capital, but whose marginalised voices are vital for inclusive policy making. There is still time for real inclusion, to embrace a more bibeksheel path, before the March elections.&nbsp; Ujwal Thapa’s own, firm, ethical stances are clear in the The Man Who Shook Our Minds, translated loosely from the Nepali title Dimaag Ghhochne Manchhe. While long, at almost two hours, it is filled with thought-provoking and sage counsel. The film also offers very real insight into how Ujwal Thapa evolved into the icon he is today.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2026011111018_eb596eb063dcaf0f67840bfa4ffa39eb27df2bf9ec1a3f9a1f531824c1b7a569.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="2026011111018_eb596eb063dcaf0f67840bfa4ffa39eb27df2bf9ec1a3f9a1f531824c1b7a569" data-rendition-name="original" width="1600" height="670" loading="lazy" alt="Ujwal Thapa"> <figcaption>Stills from the documentary.</figcaption> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2026011111018_65d9625d3a4865ca228425b7ce7b7b186ae5009313bbfab0ee65eada276aebd6.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="2026011111018_65d9625d3a4865ca228425b7ce7b7b186ae5009313bbfab0ee65eada276aebd6" data-rendition-name="original" width="1600" height="670" loading="lazy" alt="Ujwal Thapa"> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2026011111018_2ff455c55722d153cafbd2d650e19584e38d7c098b109271bd106a55201f4fa0.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="2026011111018_2ff455c55722d153cafbd2d650e19584e38d7c098b109271bd106a55201f4fa0" data-rendition-name="original" width="1600" height="670" loading="lazy" alt="Ujwal Thapa"> </figure>  It isn’t easy making a documentary after the passing of the primary subject. While there are many talking heads, the people featured, friends, family, fellow activists and senior politicians are all eloquent in their descriptions of Ujwal Thapa and his transformation from an engaged, civic minded entrepreneur into a committed political leader who among many other commendable things, believed in putting women first, and understood the crucial necessity for a welfare state that would serve its people. The main man is not deified, he is humanised.&nbsp; The feature is punctuated, and leavened, with moments of real humour as his infamous bluntness and occasional domestic haplessness are gently exposed. Another strength of the film is the profound love story between Ujwal Thapa and his brave, brilliant, incredibly resilient wife, Erica Adhikary, the heroine to a real life hero, and a major force behind the making of this film, alongside many of his stalwart wellwishers and friends, old and new.&nbsp; Sushila Karki, the Prime Minister, was present at the premiere of the film with members of her Cabinet. Candid and sincere in her opening remarks, she said she had wanted to attend the moment she heard about the film. She had known Ujwal Thapa, and she had mourned his loss, praying for him during his illness. She wished that leaders like him were here today to show us the way forward in a time of need. The film opened in theatres on the 9th of January, and is an essential viewing experience for anyone who cares about Nepal’s future and wants some insight into how they might make a difference.&nbsp; Ujwal Thapa was not perfect, but he was remarkable. He realised that being a civic minded citizen just isn’t enough. To make a real difference, one also needs to be principled, insightful, entrepreneurial, creative, self motivated, able to speak truth to power, uncorruptible, practical, well prepared, and, perhaps, most importantly, able to step back from holding power even after attaining it.&nbsp; The saying by Plato that goes “He who does not desire power is fit to hold it” was surely meant for people like Ujwal Thapa. One can only hope that in the near future more people embodying this description will, however reluctantly, come forward to lead Nepal. Ujwal Thapa worked hard to enable this, they must be out there. <div class="embed-block"><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/veO1yVM4pS4?si=f0Lcbs1wasyqfnK1" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></div> The Man Who Shook Our Minds is being screened at QFX cinemas across town. Sophia L Pandé is on the Ujwal Thapa Foundation Advisory Board. She is a writer, art-historian and filmmaker, advising on the economic and social potential of the Cultural and Creative Industries. She is Director of Development at the Kathmandu Valley Preservation Trust, and Founding Director of The Kalā Salon, a non-profit space for the arts.

The Man Who Shook Our Minds

Did <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/1921-rendezvous-mallory-pumori-and-everest">George Mallory</a> and Andrew Irvine of the 1924 British Expedition reach the top of the highest mountain in the world? It has been more than a century after the two climbers were last seen just 300m below the summit. And 26 years ago Mallory’s remains were found on the North Face of Everest, while Irvine’s boot was located at its base.&nbsp; Some doubt that the two could have reached the top with the level of equipment and clothing of the time, but others are convinced that at least one of them made it but had an accident on the way down.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20260108110148_26b4f6883ce3362c6f0c312d35422a57384c04aeb673f578d3ddb660761747fc.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20260108110148_26b4f6883ce3362c6f0c312d35422a57384c04aeb673f578d3ddb660761747fc" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="George Mallory and Everest"> <figcaption>Panuru Sherpa on the top of Mt Everest with a client in 2002. He has climbed the peak 16 times.</figcaption> </figure>  Among those who believe Mallory and Irvine were the first to climb Mt Everest, and not <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/everest-70-years-on">Hillary and Tenzing in 1953</a>, are the Nepali guides who took part in the research expeditions in 1999, 2001 and 2004 to find clues about Mallory and Irvine. Mallory’s body was found 8,125m on the North Face in 1999, and Irvine’s detached foot and sock with his initials inside a leather hob-nailed boot was found in 2024 in the Rongbuk Glacier below the North Face. Various expeditions have recovered a mitten, an oxygen cylinder, and ice axe from that expedition. “I believe they reached the summit, and fell on the way down in the dark and bad weather,” says <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/sherpaland-co-usa">Panuru Sherpa</a>, who has climbed Mt Everest 16 times, including on the northern route taken by four British expeditions in 1921, 1922, 1924 and 1933. “They were making good progress past the Second Step from where it is a much easier hour-and-half to the summit. A climber who reaches that point below the final pyramid does not turn back.”  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20260108110148_bdbdd01c5c12cb5bb022857f7ca871cc4ff95e02c2305f6bbf1a63d1d15de8e4.jpg" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="20260108110148_bdbdd01c5c12cb5bb022857f7ca871cc4ff95e02c2305f6bbf1a63d1d15de8e4" data-rendition-name="original" width="1300" height="864" loading="lazy" alt="George Mallory and Everest"> <figcaption>Mt Everest North Face in China which early expeditions took because Nepal was closed till 1950. The red line is the classic route to the peak, the dotted line is probably what George Mallory and Sandy Irvine took in 1924 to avoid the formidable obstacle of the Second Step.</figcaption> </figure>  Panuru is convinced that the location of Mallory’s body and Irvine’s ice axe shows that the two had not lost their way on their descent. He told Nepali Times in Denver, where he now lives: “Mallory’s body was not decomposed even after 75 years, and his exposed back was white like marble. One of legs was broken, and there was an altimeter and letters written to his wife Ruth in his pocket.” He remembers the search team was happy to locate <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/review/mountains-of-books">Mallory</a>, but it was unable to find one of the three cameras believed to be with the duo that could have held the proof that the two, or at least one of them, had indeed been the first to climb Everest.&nbsp; There was a deep wound around Mallory’s waist, which could have been caused during the fall by the rope which was still found tied around his body. Mallory’s remains were covered in stone slabs at the site after a brief ritual, Panuru recalls. A 1975 Chinese expedition reported seeing the body of a Western climber, which was probably Mallory, near their Camp VI. There are rumours in climbing circles that the Chinese also found a camera, but that the negative could not be developed. Everest summiteers have said the Second Step’s 45m overhanging cliff at 8,610m would have been “essentially insurmountable”, and it is only possible today because the Chinese fixed aluminium ladders to the rock face in 1975.&nbsp; But Panuru agrees with other mountaineering historians who believe Mallory could have decided to take a route below the northeast ridge and bypass the Second Step, following the advice of fellow team member Ed Norton who set the then world record by reaching 8,572m. The other finding that could indicate that Mallory reached the top was that a photograph of his wife Ruth which he intended to place at the summit was not in his pocket.&nbsp; EVEREST CONNECTION Panuru is the son of Nima Tsering Sherpa, who was a part of the 1953 expedition to Mt Everest that made Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay the first climbers on the world’s highest peak. Nima carried loads for that expedition up to the South Col. Nima had eight sons and a daughter, Panuru is the sixth, and<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-s-most-prolific-mountaineering-clan"> most of his siblings are also climbers</a>. After the successful 1953 expedition, Nima spent time grazing yaks, growing potatoes and raising his family in Phortse. He joined expeditions to support the family. The young Panuru would meet mountaineers who stopped by at the family’s tea house in Phortse. He has walked the Jiri route to Kathmandu many times, and his eldest brother who worked for Mountain Travel Nepal got him a job as a trekking guide. Panuru ended up joining expeditions, climbing Everest from both sides multiple times. Panuru Sherpa’s brother Danuru was the youngest member of the 1999 expedition, and a year earlier had first climbed Everest from the Nepal side when he was only 18. The siblings are now chefs at the Sherpa House in Colorado.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20260108110152_9275f617585d33f7324d087455de7c61fd3759fe4d44a7ebe604fa2eefc047df.jpg" data-media-id="editor_7" data-image-id="20260108110152_9275f617585d33f7324d087455de7c61fd3759fe4d44a7ebe604fa2eefc047df" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="523" loading="lazy" alt="George Mallory and Everest"> <figcaption>Brothers Panuru and Danuru Sherpa are now working in Golden, Colorado, and lead occasional climbing trips in the Rockies and Alaska.</figcaption> </figure>  In 2001, both brothers were members of another expedition composed of 20 foreign and 21 Nepali climbers led by David Hahn that tried to find Irvine in the same area of the North Face, guided by the discovery of Irvine’s ice axe in a 1933 expedition as well as sightings of what was believed to be his body near the ridge above. No more clues were found then, or in 2004 when Danuru returned for another search expedition. Remnants of Irvine and Mallory’s Camp VI were found at 8,600m during the 2001 expedition, only about 300m from where Mallory’s body was located.&nbsp; “It was probably dark when Mallory fell because his snow goggles were in his pocket,” says Danuru, who has taken part in the three search expeditions on the north side and is also convinced the two fell on their way down after reaching the summit. Altogether 13 people died on Everest during the three expeditions that Mallory was involved in, of which nine were Nepali porters, cooks and guides who were hired in Darjeeling before the march-in. “Chomolungma and Sherpa are synonymous,” says Danuru. “It was Chomolungma that made the Sherpa people famous globally, and it was Sherpas who made it possible to climb Everest.” Konrad Anker, who led the 1999 team that found Mallory’s body, doubts that one or both the climbers reached the summit in 1924, mainly because of the difficulty of climbing a cliff at 8,600m with the kind of gear they had.&nbsp; “It is possible, but unlikely they climbed the Second Step with 1920s equipment, but even getting to that altitude back then was an incredible accomplishment,” he has said. After the expedition, Anker and Panuru worked together to set up the Khumbu Climbing Center to upgrade the technical skills of Nepali guides. Panuru has also trained hundreds of fellow Nepali guides, and many of them regard him as a mentor. Panuru knew the need for better training because he himself had been badly wounded during a fall into a crevasse in the Khumbu Icefall in one of his early expeditions in 1992 and had to be evacuated by helicopter to Kathmandu.&nbsp; But the very next year, he was back on the mountain. He climbed Everest from the north with a Korean team in 1994, and a year later got to the top again from the north side with an American expedition. He summited again from the Nepal side in 1996, and nearly died in an avalanche on the north side that killed a fellow Sherpa in 1997.&nbsp; So far, Panuru has climbed Everest 16 times, Cho Oyu 14 times from both sides, Xixapangma four times, five other eight-thousanders in Nepal, and Ama Dablam six times. He was the first Nepali to ascend Gurla Mandhata in Tibet. After emigrating to the United States, he has climbed Mt Denali (6,190m) in Alaska three times while also being a part of a volunteer rescue team.&nbsp; Irvine’s boot was found by an expedition led by American climber Jimmy Chin in the Rongbuk Glacier, probably transported there from the base of the face by the movement of ice in the past 100 years. Asked why he climbed Everest 16 times, Panuru echoes George Mallory: “Because I was there.” &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;