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As you walk down Nakkhu road, the warm golden fairy lights of Saan’s Espresso Cafe catch your eyes. This cafe has a beautiful rooftop lounge where you can enjoy your meal with the warm-toned vibes and light music in the background. 

Saan’s was opened almost two years ago, and stands out as a rare hang-out cafe in the area. From fresh morning breakfasts to low-key evening dinners, it serves good food at reasonable prices. The friendly staffers and good services add to the welcoming nature of this space. It is the perfect spot for a fun evening hangout with friends or to take your significant other on a peaceful evening date. 

Saan’s Espresso Cafe

Chef’s Special Dishes:

Lasagna (on Fridays)
Grill Chicken 
Cheese Cake 

Opening time: 7 am - 8:30 pm 
Location: Bagdole, Lalitpur 
Phone pay 
No reservations

Subeksha Khadka, the winner of Miss Nepal International 2012 and World Miss University Nepal 2017, has made a comeback by signing up for Prema, an upcoming movie directed by Govind Singh Bhandari.

Khadka started her modeling career as a television presenter at the age of 17 and made her acting debut in the film Ranveer, which was also directed by Bhandari in 2019.

Beauty pageants have become a great platform for aspiring actors to pave their way to the big screen. Many models who have won the main title in competitions such as Miss Nepal have Nepali movie actors.

Khadka has been busy shooting the film in the past two weeks. The film holds a special place in her heart, she said on her Instagram.

Yeti Airlines, one of Nepal’s leading airline companies, has completed 23 years of service. The company, which began operations on 21 September 1998, has been focussing on connecting remote mountainous regions of the country to the urban centres.

Yeti has played an important role of delivering food, medicines and clothing to residents of areas not connected by road.

“The airlines prioritizes appropriate ticket prices, hassle-free travel arrangements and quality services to customers,” says company spokesperson Sudarshan Bartaula.

The airline is also Nepal’s one and only carbon neutral airline. The airline now has five ATR planes which fly to Nepaganj, Bhadrapur, Janakpur, Pokhara, Simara, Bhairahawa and Biratnagar. 

Its sister company Tara Air has four Twin Otter planes that fly to Lukla, Phaplu, Jumla, Rara, Dolpa and Bajura, among others.

Chinese car manufacturer Changan Auto is opening a showroom in Kathmandu. One of the fastest growing auto companies, Changan already has its footprint in over 60 countries. 

The showroom will be located at the heart of the city and will have ample parking space, the company said in a statement. The company claims that the showroom will redefine the customers’ in-store experience. 

Changan is considered to be one of the "Big Four" Chinese automakers. In 2016, it manufactured 3 million units to rank fourth among China's automakers by production volume.

Changan designs, develops, manufactures, and sells passenger cars sold under the Changan brand and commercial vehicles. It operates joint ventures with Ford (Changan Ford), and Mazda (Changan Mazda) which respectively produce Ford and Mazda branded passenger cars for the Chinese market. It also has a joint venture with Jiangling Motors Corporation Group (JMCG) and Aiways, which produces SUVs sold under the Landwind brand.

A complaint has been filed at the Securities Board of Nepal (Sebon) demanding investigation into suspected insider trading of shares of four hydropower companies.

Dhruba Prasad Bhatta, who identified himself as an ‘investor’, filed an application at the regulatory board seeking investigation into alleged insider trading of stocks belonging to Arun Valley, Ridi, Rairang and United Modi hydropower companies.

Bhatta alleges that sensitive information that could affect the share prices of the companies were leaked and those who received the information made profits. Bhatta says that information related to the issuance of right and bonus shares were made available to insiders who bought the shares just before their prices increased and sold them at high prices.

The complaint comes as board chairman Bhisma Raj Dhungana himself is under investigation for abusing his authority to buy shares of Sarbottam Cements, which is preparing an initial public offering using the book building method, at a low rate.

Although insider trading was suspected in other companies in the past, the board has rarely taken action against those involved.

A two-country Himalayan Vegan Festival is being held in April 2022 in Thimpu, Bhutan and Kathmandu, Nepal. The festival organizing committee informed as much during a special vegan buffet held at Utpala Café, Boudha, on September 18.  

The first of the two-part event will be held in Kathmandu from April 15-17, to be followed by the second part in Thimpu from April 18-20.

The goal is to raise awareness about the benefits of a plant-based diet and encourage more people to go vegan. “There are endless reasons one should go vegan,” says Zachary Lovas, general secretary of World Vegan Organization and a member of the organizing team of the Himalayan Vegan Festival. “We want to promote a vegan lifestyle and educate people about the necessity of veganism in today’s world”.

An Oxford University study says adopting a vegan diet can reduce one’s carbon footprint by up to 73 percent. A lot of methane, a gas responsible for climate change and global warming, is produced during the raising of livestock. Then a copious amount of carbon-di-oxide and carbon-mono-oxide, both greenhouse gases, are released in their transport. If we stop eating meat and meat products, a major chunk of food-based air pollutants will be removed from the atmosphere.

Shifting to a plant-based has multiple health benefits and it helps eliminate animal cruelty. “There has always been this debate about whether humans are carnivorous, herbivorous, or omnivorous. Let us put all that aside and just be humans,” Lovas adds. 

Our connection to the wonders of nature is part of who we are, and yet that connection often feels like an uneasy one. While we lived mostly indoors during global COVID-19 lockdowns, many of us realized how much we treasure the awe-kindling beauty of the natural world, whether in our own garden or deep in the forest. We are not separate from nature, as Sebene Selassie says—we are one with it.

Yet, at the same time, these feelings of awe and connection may be tinged with more than a little fear and grief. With record-breaking storms, floods, and heatwaves, not only is this beautiful planet earth sending out an SOS, but humans and other living beings are suffering too. If your heart has been aching for all these impacts of climate change, you’re not alone. 

Mindfulness teachers like Selassie remind us that the lighthouse in this storm of disruption is found in our innate connection to the earth. At any time, we can turn toward these challenging thoughts and emotions and choose to respond with kindness—kindness that extends to ourselves, to other people, to the global home we share.

You might start with these ways you can ease the ache by practicing kindness to yourself, and kindness to the earth.

1. Name your feelings. Are you feeling anxious? Sad? Angry? Betrayed? Recognizing our emotions around climate grief is the first step—it’s what allows us to validate those emotions, without letting them paralyze us. “We never really know what is coming next,” says Carley Hauck, “and sometimes the best and most courageous thing we can do is put one foot in front of the other and keep breathing through all of it.” Try this 10-minute guided meditation to help you name and work with difficult emotions.

2. Unhook from the worry loop. Sebene Selassie writes, “Our minds can have a hard time staying grounded in the present. It’s our meditation practice that can help us connect to our body and our breath, allowing us to build our capacity to be present with what is with kindness and care.” Explore her Four Elements practice to release climate anxiety and reconnect with a joyful sense of belonging to nature. 

3.  Notice where you feel called to take kind action. Start where you are, and do what you can to be kind to the earth. Whatever your activism looks like—whether it’s tending a little patch of green in your backyard, or being part of a global effort—no act of kindness is too small to matter. Joe Flanders offers three tips to channel your kindness toward yourself, those around you, and to the planet.

Mindful.org

Sher Bahadur Deuba has given a poor account of himself in his two months as prime minister. The holder of 17 ministries has even failed to give a full shape to his cabinet. CPN-UML, the main opposition, has been an obstreperous foe, and yet Deuba too has failed to play his part to clear the parliamentary logjam. Devoid of a foreign minister until September 22, his government bungled on key foreign policy issues like the MCC Compact and the drowning of a Nepali national by Indian border forces.

During his four previous tenures as prime minister Deuba was reputed as a consummate wheeler-dealer who could do just about anything, including distributing expensive SUVs, to keep his coalition partners happy. In his latest stint as prime minister, there is nothing to suggest he has learned from his previous mistakes. On the contrary, he seems determined to regain the Nepali Congress presidency by misusing the PMO.

Dozens of bills are pending in the legislature, government spending has come to a halt, and the economy is crying out for a stimulus. No one knows what the prime minister is doing to improve things on these fronts. Having been appointed prime minister by the Supreme Court, things were never going to be easy for him. Even so, it is hard to give a better example of incompetence than his continued failure (reluctance?) to expand his cabinet and get the ministries up and running.

Many are starting to doubt whether Deuba can successfully hold the constitutionally mandated elections by the November 2022 deadline. They also worry about his lack of commitment to federalism as dozens of bills to make it functional continue to languish in parliament. Six years since the promulgation of the new constitution, the implementation of the federal project has been woefully slow, including under this government.  

Even if there are to be elections soon, Deuba, as prime minister, is doing Nepali Congress no favor whatsoever. In its current form, anti-incumbency could weigh heavily against the party. Moreover, his demonstrable incompetence—following hot on the heels of another unsuccessful prime minister from the main opposition—will add to the appeal of the political forces arrayed against the post-2006 progressive changes.