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The hand pump in front of the house dried up two years ago. An electricity pole stands adjacent to their house, but they have to rely on a tuki (a traditional oil lamp) at night because their house does not have a power meter. They have been married for 10 years, but their marriage hasn’t been registered. And because they don’t have citizenship cards, their son’s birth hasn’t been registered either, which in turn has hindered his school enrolment. These are just some problems that the family of the 30-year-old Rajwati Musahar from Birta of Gaushala municipality in the central plains district of Mahottari has to face. “I often go to the municipality office, but no one listens,” she says.

Hand-to-mouth existence

Birta’s 60 Musahar families—with a total population of 250—are deprived of even basic rights and state services. “We live hand to mouth,” rues Rajwati. “No one understands our pain.”

There is hardly anyone in Birta’s Musahar community who has completed secondary school. Most children haven’t even been to a school. “My children go to morn­ing school, but they cannot be formally enrolled as they don’t have birth certificates,” says Jitani Devi Musahar, another local resident.

Rambabu Shah, chairman of ward 4, says the process of getting children enrolled in schools has already begun. “We will also ensure that the children have books and uni­forms they need in school,” says Shah.

Toilet woes

Part of why the Musahars have been denied government services is that they don’t have a toilet in their homes. The municipality, under its ‘no open defecation’ campaign, has barred households without a toilet from accessing govern­ment services.

“We don’t even have land to build a house, how can we build a toilet?” wonders Kabita Musahar, a mother of two.

“Our settlement has five hand pumps. Four of them went dry after the 2015 quake. We have to stand in a long line to fill water from the remaining one,” says 70-year-old Sukadev Sada.

Bikhani Sada claims that people from other caste groups even stop them from using the hand pump. “We have to go to the nearby pond to bathe and wash clothes. The pond water makes my body itch,” she says.

Shivanath Mahato, mayor of Gaushala municipality, claims that he will make sure the Musahar community will soon have ample access to drinking water.

BY RAJKARAN MAHATO | GAUSHALA, MAHOTTARI

Executive director of PADT Ramesh Upreti claims that foreigners conducting illegal trade in the Pash­upati region were driven away a few weeks ago. “We have increased sur­veillance in the area and are closely monitoring such foreigners. We have issued instructions to apprehend them on sight.”

A while back, the police had arrested a Chinese tourist selling mala (necklace of wooden beads with religious/spiritual significance) in the guise of a monk in Patan. He was later released after he promised not to do it again.

“Even though the Chinese tourists may appear to be petty traders and monks, they might engage in suspi­cious activities,” said an officer at the Home Ministry. Another top gov­ernment official hinted that the gov­ernment is taking a tough line since some of illegal foreign traders are suspected of spying activities, par­ticularly on the border with India.

According to the tourist police, four Chinese tourists were arrested last month for similar wrongdo­ing, and many more were made aware of Nepali laws on the spot. Tourists, mostly of African and Chinese descent, are also found selling trinkets at Pokhara’s lake side during the evenings.

By  SHAMBHU KATTEL | KATHMANDU

Even at the risk of sounding obsequious, you have to give credit to the government of KP Sharma Oli where it is due. The appointment of clean and efficient ministers, a couple of very wise picks as chiefs of the two police forces, recent exercise in balanced diplomacy and, now, the determi­nation it has shown to wipe out transport cartels are all highly admirable. Particularly the last bit. It could not have been easy for Prime Minister Oli, the chief of CPN-UML, a party that has traditionally provided patronage to transport cartels, to suddenly crack down on them in public interest.

These government actions hint at the prime min­ister’s determination to leave behind a strong legacy, one marked by accountable governance and tangible improvement in people’s daily lives. The country des­perately needed such firm leadership. Nearly every study of the growing incidents of road accidents in Nepal’s blood-soaked highways has pointed to the rickety state of long-distance passenger buses as one of the major culprits. In the fiscal 2016-17, there were an average of 28 road acci­dents, and six deaths, in the country every single day. Yet this brazen crime on the part of the trans­port cartels that refused to allow new vehicles of other private operators on the roads was ignored by successive governments.

These cartels flourished under the protection of top political leaders, despite repeated Supreme Court rulings to ban them, the first of them coming over a decade ago. Only now has the government gathered the spunk to take them on. Better late than never. We can only hope that the government stands firm and does not back down to the cartels’ pressure tactics. But even that is not enough.

There are entrenched cartels and syndicates in other sectors too. For instance one study suggests that the prices of fruits and vegetables increase up to five-fold from what the farmers get for their produce, again thanks to the cartels in this market. There are many formal or informal cartels in health and education sec­tors as well, again adversely affecting people’s well-be­ing. May sound superfluous, but the government has full public support to bust these cartels and to ensure free and fair competition in all goods and services. These are exciting times indeed.

POETRY

Love Her Wild

Atticus

Published: July 2017

Publisher: Headline

Page: 225, hardback

Rupi Kaur made social media poetry popular, but it’s Atti­cus, an anonymous Canadian poet currently living in LA, who didn’t even set out to be a poet, who seems to enjoying its bene­fits too. He has hundreds of thou­sands of followers on Instagram and celebrities like Shay Mitchell and Alicia Keys are reposting his poems, and even Emma Robert’s online book club, Belletrist, often uses them on its feeds. Apparently, Atticus only started writing poetry after a chance meeting with actor Michael Madsen (of ‘Kill Bill’ and Reser­voir Dogs fame), who told him that reading and writing poetry was what saved him from ‘addiction’ and depression. Now, poetry is how he makes sense of the world, writes Atticus on his introduction on his Instagram page. And reading ‘Love Her Wild’, or even occasion­ally dipping into it, will make you realize that his poetry can help you do the same.

The effects of poetry are mani­fold. For some, it might work like a mantra that gets them all pepped up, for others it might be able to provide comfort in the most trying of times but what it always does is come to your rescue just when you need it. As Atticus writes, “Poetry’s magic is that it is found when it’s needed”.

In Love Her Wild, a collection of new poems with some of the old ones on Instagram, the young poet writes about romance, the highs of love, and heartbreaking lows of life among many other emotions. And he writes with such finesse that sometimes a single line is enough to get you through a partic­ularly bad day. If you haven’t discov­ered Atticus yet, we’d say it’s about time you did.

“Art is created out of different situations, be they social situa­tions, political situations or personal situations. Situations of utter frustration yet also situations of hope,” says artist Chirag Bangdel. Bangdel’s most recent paint­ing exhibit, ‘Figurative Tran­sitions: Recent Works’, was inaugurated at GG Machan restaurant in Lalitpur on April 6. With 25 solo exhibitions in Nepal alone, Bangdel is one of the country’s finest visual artists, whose figurative com­positions have been loved for their wonderful sense of color and lyrical manifestations.

“Many of my paintings in this exhibition are based on hope and I call this series ‘Sea­son of Hope’. I use the conch or the saankha as a symbol of hope,” says Bangdel, who is also a Kathmandu-based writer, poet and RJ.

“Like all artists, I create for the joy of it. Nothing makes me happier than painting and creating new stuff,” Bangdel told APEX.

“I have also come to real­ize that whatever progress we make, it is only love that will save humanity at the end of the day and that’s something that I want to show in my paintings,” says Bangdel.

The artist’s works this time were all painted on acrylics. “Acrylics is the most used medium around the world. It is a medium that is easy to work on as it is fast-drying. That suits my style.”

A self-taught artist, Bang­del received his early train­ing from his granduncle, the famous artist Lain Singh Bang­del. In the past few years, his works have been exhibited as far afield as The Netherlands, France and Germany.

All the paintings on the exhibit are for sale, with prices ranging from Rs 15,000-Rs 60,000. The exhibition ends April 30. APEX BUREAU

After successfully introducing the international franchise ‘Idol’ in Nepal in the form of Nepal Idol, AP1 HD, the first HD channel of Nepal, has now added another famous franchise to its schedule—Boogie Woogie. Boogie Woogie was an Indian dance competition television series created and directed, in 1996, by Naved Jaffrey and Ravi Behl for Sony Entertainment Television and Sony Entertainment Television Asia.

Boogie Woogie-Nepal will be judged by Dilip Rayamajhi, Pri­yanka karki and Kabiraj Gahatraj. The show airs every Thursday at 8 pm on AP1 HD television. APEX managed to briefly talk to Dilip Rayamajhi, one of the top Nepali actors who is famous for his dance moves, about the show.

How do you feel as a judge of Boogie Woogie-Nepal?

Nepali audiences have long seen me as a dancer and an actor. Maybe this was why the AP1 television choose me. I am thankful for the opportunity but, to be honest, I am scared too. To judge talent is a huge responsibility and a big-big challenge. Since people have different views and perspec­tives, to carefully weigh these to arrive at an integrated judgment is tough. The responsibility is immense, there­fore I have mixed feelings.

What kind of a judge are you?

We have a diverse panel of judges, each with own area of focus. For instance, Kabiraj Gaha­traj judges the technical aspects of dancing. I prefer to be a ‘sweet judge’, who judges the entire dance performance, from beginning to the end, acknowledging every feature of the act and the contestant.

Can you tell a little bit about the show and the contestants?

We have been watching inter­national reality dance shows. We get astonished by their talents and performances. Little did we know those talents could be matched in our own country. Boogie Woogie- Nepal will prove that. The audi­ence will be surprised by the sheer variety of our contestants and their dance acts.

I, for one, didn’t expect such tal­ents. But when we started shooting I was stunned by the dance perfor­mances of the participants. Now I can proudly say the standard the viewers expect—after watching many inter­national dance reality shows—will be matched by Boogie Woogie-Nepal.

How is Boogie Woogie different from other shows?

It’s different in every possible way, from its concept to the shooting stan­dards. The stage, the lights, and the props being used have never been used in Nepal before. This show is big, as the viewers will notice when they see it for themselves. It’s all been set to international guidelines. I feel till date there has never been a dance reality show this big in Nepal.

What would you like to say to pos­sible viewers of the show?

I request the viewers to watch Boogie Woogie and to give us your assessment of the show. Today it’s us who are choosing the contestants but tomorrow, in the following rounds, the responsibility will be passed on to you. Help us to select the first ever winner of Boogie Woogie-Nepal.

Raj Brewery Pvt Ltd, the pro­ducer of Warsteiner Premium Beer in Nepal, officially launched the beer in their ultra-modern factory in Hakui, Nawalparasi this week.

The Warsteiner Group is one of Germany’s leading independent brewers, with a global reputation for brewing excellence spanning more than 260 years.

Warsteiner brand is one of the most successful German brewer­ies. Warsteiner Premium Beer is available in more than 60 export markets.

The launch was attended by Catharina Cramer, owner and president of Board of Warsteiner Group along with other Ger­man delegates, and members of Raj Brewery Pvt. Ltd.

Warsteiner Premium beer will be available for all premium beer lov­ers across the nation. Raj Brewery falls under the Jawalakhel Group of Industries.