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Or ‘chada lok’ if you like. Call it what you may—it is dirty, it is sleazy, it is vulgar and from the looks of it, it is here to stay. Nepali lok-dohori is probably the most popular ethnic Nepali music, from the east to west, and religiously heard by those living abroad. With ethnic instruments like the maadal, dhime, panche baaja and sarangi in the background, couplets about love, village life, its struggle and even politics formed the lyrics of the Nepali lok music. Men singing about leaving their wife and children to find work in a foreign country, women singing about how they miss their husbands gone in search of work, the socially oppressed expressing their woes through their songs and daughters-in-law lamenting about the hardships at their husbands’ were woven into stories which formed the base of the Nepali lok music genre.

It was basically our version of ‘the blues’. In a country with deep-rooted cultural biasness and basically indoctrinated by religious mistranslations, ‘lok-dohori’ for our previous generations was also a medium of entertainment and courtship as mild flirtations and teasing from both gender was considered normal.
Things change, always, and they have changed drastically for the lok music industry. Well, with the digitization of music production, the ethnic instruments are losing their value to computer generated samples, drum and bass loops and heavily synthesized background (un)blended with high-pitched, auto-tuned vocals mouthing distorted and double-meaning lyrics.

All this accompanied by badly choreographed music videos with models and dancers wearing gaudy and skimpy clothes, and keener on exposing their body parts than on actual dance moves, give an idea of what a typical lok-dohori song of today is like. From a pure form of music, a voice for expression and opinion, the paradigm has shifted to Nepali lok-dohori music becoming a ubiquitous display of vulgarism and social perversions.

The meaningful and elegantly poetic compositions of Master Mitrasen Thapa, Jhalak Man Gandarbha, Janakavi Keshari Dharmaraj Thapa, Hira Devi Waiba, Daizee Barailee and the likes of that era have been replaced by cheap, commercial excuses for songs that basically circle around lust, sex, physical attraction and the many perversions of the ‘modern’ Nepali society.

Video has literally killed the radio star here as music listeners on Radio Nepal, the original promoter of Nepali folk music, have become obscure with YouTube replacing most radio stations and television channels. The need to make a music video for popularity has given the lok-dohori scene an ugly identity because of the misguided effort of some notorious names in the industry. Search “New Nepali Lok Dohori’’ on YouTube and out of the top 20 results, most will have a skimpily clad woman on the display photo with double meaning song titles. Keep skimming through the searches and you will most probably be led to a point where all the results you see are categorized as “Hot Nepali Lok Dohori” or “Sexy Nepali Lok Dohori”. And to add to this farce is the fact that these songs have hundreds of thousand views on YouTube.
So who is watching them? Surely not someone who loves Nepali music or any other type of music. These music videos are ‘click baits’ created by pretentious
marketers selling women’s body images in guise of music. The business now is completely based on exploiting the sexuality of women (our feminist friends should pay special attention to this) while fulfilling the obstinate desires of men and in due process, creating an uncouth image of the whole Nepali folk music industry.

The whole idea of sexualizing a traditional genre of Nepali in the name of modernization is infuriating. But then again, we have democracy so there’s probably no stopping the assaulters in this case. The best we can do now is separate their genre from our Nepali lok-dohori and segregate them as “cringe folk’’ or “chadaa lok.’’

The ‘throne’ is the best seat in the house. What more would one want if that throne can be adorned with a warm, water­proof and durable cushion? ‘Toilet Chakati’ is a unique product for Nepal, a concept already in exis­tence in Western countries but newly introduced in Nepal by two young entrepreneurs. Ratish Basnyat (26) and Suresh Maharjan (29), producers and distributors of Toilet Chakati in Nepal, jointly own the Knit Nepa Handicraft. Their product is simple and cheap but very useful considering factors like hygiene, convenience and portability. Made of waterproof material with a cushion inside, Toilet Chakati can be easily installed in—and detached from— most toilet seats. “It is particularly useful for women, children, elderly and people who have to share toi­lets,’’ says Maharjan. “The idea behind it is that you can personal­ize your toilet seat to make it more comfortable and cleaner.”

Basnyat, an MBA graduate from the UK, brought the idea home and shared it with Maharjan, who was already involved in manufacturing hand-knit products. “I saw similar products in the UK and thought we could introduce something like those in the Nepali market,” Basnyat says. “And given the price and the quality we offered, we got a great response from the market, includ­ing bulk orders from the US and the UK.”

Priced between Rs 300 and Rs 400 and with a nominal addi­tional charge for home delivery, the Toilet Chakati is one product that is poised to become ‘hot cakes’ in the Nepali market. Despite hum­ble beginnings, the entrepreneurs see a bright future for their product as they look to bring more innova­tive products to Nepal and increase their investments.

A half-hour early morning drive from the city center to Danda Gaun in the Shivapuri Hills—the northern fringe of Kathmandu—followed by a 15-minute flight 4,380 meters above sea level takes you to Gosainkunda, a heavenly abode of Hindu Gods and one of the most visited tourist destinations in Nepal. Located in the lap of the Himala­yas, the pristine lake of Gosainkunda in Rasuwa district is a Ramsar site. It takes a round-trip of 7 to 8 days to trek up to the lake. But walking 7-8 hours every day in high altitude is not for everyone, especially not for the elderly, the physically-chal­lenged and pilgrims who value the site more than the journey.

But private airline companies have cut short the Gosainkunda trip and made the exhilarating experience of a helicopter ride affordable for many Nepalis. For just Rs 20,000 ($200) per person, one can take a half-day leave and travel to one of the highest lakes in the world, which remains frozen for nearly six months every year.

With the chopper service, the sacred lake has been made accessible to children, retired government employees, working professionals, tourists on short visits and people from all walks of lives—you meet them all up there.

Following the 15-minute flight, visitors get half an hour to marvel at the beauty of the place. They are accompanied by a crew of profes­sionals, including a doctor, who ensure that the whole trip is both safe and comfortable. They also give pilgrims a rare opportunity to be close to the Gods.

A decade ago, the idea of a sarangi player as an inte­gral part of a contempo­rary pop, blues or jazz band would perhaps have sound­ed absurd. But come today, the ethnic Nepali sarangi has become a leading instrument in all genres of modern Nepali music. Sarangi players are defying the age-old position of the wooden sarangi as a vocal accompaniment to using it as a distinct instrument that blends seamlessly into a West­ern ensemble—and Project Sarangi is one reason behind this positive change. Initiated in December 2012, Project Sarangi has been work­ing to revive and preserve the sarangi and other ethnic Nepali instruments. “The idea was to create a bridge between a traditional instrument and modern Nepali music,” says Kiran Nepali, the Founder/ Director of Project Sarangi and a professional musician touring with artists like Bipul Chhetri, Kutumba and Suman & the Blue Frets. “We noticed that sarangi, as an instrument, was limited to folk groups and with that it risked extinction as the new generation of musi­cians were not interested in learning it.” So he took the initiative to bring together the old and young generations of Nepali musicians and contin­ue the legacy of ethnic Nepali instruments.

Project Sarangi began with the standardization of the instrument. The traditional Nepali sarangi is similar to stringed instruments from the Middle East and South East Asia. But it is also unique. It is carved out of a single piece of wood and played with a bow. The strings on both the instrument and bows were initially made of animal hair. “We started by standardizing the instrument,” Nepali says. “Previously, sarangis did not have a set size. It all depended on available wood and tools, which resulted in inconsisten­cy in how they sounded. We started making standard sizes of these instruments to give them professional quality.”

On the verge

Besides standardizing size, Project Sarangi also ‘upgrad­ed’ the instrument. Animal hair was replaced by nylon strings and different gaug­es (string thickness) were explored. Also, the sarangi by its nature is an acoustic instru­ment. With time, musicians started miking it for recording and live stage performances. “Even with microphones, we noticed that our volume lev­els were low. We then start­ed experimenting with pick­ups, which helped with the sound,” says Nepali who also uses electronic gadgets and signal processors on sarangi to create distinct notes.

Apart from developing the instrument, Project Sarangi is also working to provide formal education to school children and youngsters interested in sarangi, as well as profession­al training to new musicians. Traditionally, the sarangi is associated with the “Gand­harba” families of Nepal, who have been using it for centu­ries to pass down folklores, stories and news. Gandharbas have been an integral part of Nepal’s oral tradition of history. With the rapid mod­ernization of Nepali society, this family tradition was on the verge of extinction. This made Nepali, who belongs to one of the most famous Gand­harba families, think of ways to pique the interest of young Nepalis in the instrument.

Holding its own

Project Sarangi, since its inception, has been success­ful in garnering support and interest in the sarangi and oth­er ethnic Nepali instruments. “We have trained around 40 professional sarangi players, all of whom are now involved with the Nepali music indus­try,” says Nepali. Some stu­dents under Project Sarangi are already making waves in contemporary pop music scene as well as in the Nepali film industry. In recordings as well as live music, the saran­gi can now can be seen and heard holding its own besides drums, bass and guitars.

Yukta Poudel, 18, is a stu­dent enrolled under Project Sarangi. “I was learn­ing gui­tar initially but then I thought I should learn an instrument that is my own and that is how I picked up the sarangi,” says Poudel, a college student who is now taking a basic course at Proj­ect Sarangi. Even with her limited exposure to sarangi so far, she has managed to perform in a few shows. This has boosted her confidence and increased her commitment to the instru­ment. “We can make sarangi a ‘cool’ instrument for young­sters and revive a dying art,” she echoes her teacher.

The future holds immense potential for the sarangi, if the success thus far of Project Sarangi is anything to go by. “We want to educate, moti­vate and inspire young players to take up this instrument,” says Nepali, “This can be accomplished if we introduce a ‘cool factor’ to sarangi.”

All notes and scales

Sarangi on its own has never appealed to the youth. Nepali attributes this to the old presentation style of tra­ditional artists. The sarangi was always played sitting down but now Nepali is using specially designed stands to play them on stage. “It is all about presentation,” he says. “We’re trying to give a makeover to the instrument so that the young generation embraces and accepts it and our legacy continuous.” What helps is that almost all the notes and scales used in West­ern music can be played in sarangi, which makes it easy to blend with rock, pop, blues or jazz.

Towards this goal Project Sarangi has been working incessantly both as a platform and a moderator. Besides educating young students, Project Sarangi conducted a free three-month course for female students last Septem­ber. Around 25 students from different walks of life joined to learn about the instrument. For more professional musi­cians, it hosts regular meets and workshops where players of all levels and ages come together to share ideas and tricks of the trade.

The project also organizes regular events as platforms for students to showcase their skills. “Sarangi Month” and “Jamarko” are among the popular events where ethnic Nepali instruments enthrall audiences. “We want to introduce a Nepali instru­ment to every household,” says Nepali. “The best way of doing that is teach­ing children and giving traditional instruments a modern makeover. We are doing both at the moment.”

“We have paid so much in import and other tax­es, as well as in busi­ness registration and capital expen­diture,” says Surendra Manandhar, Managing Director of VMOTO Nepal, an importer of electric two-wheel­ers. “Why would we not register our scooters for a small amount?” He was responding to a recent government decision to slap a fine of Rs 5,000 on unregistered electric scooters and motorcycles plying the roads.

The Department of Transport Management (DoTM) recently announced mandatory registration for electric two-wheelers. It is in a mood for strict action against unreg­istered vehicles. “We had to take this action because we found a huge number of unregistered two-wheel­ers, especially in the Valley,” says Rup Narayan Bhattarai, Director General of DoTM. “We have thus instructed the traffic department to strictly monitor all unregistered electric vehicles”.

There are no hard data on the number of electric two-wheelers in Nepali markets. And although these vehicles have been in Nepal for a few years, their formal registration process started just two years ago. They gained in popularity during the fuel crisis precipitated by the Indian embargo in 2015. Electric two-wheelers have now become vehicles of choice for the increas­ingly environment-conscious Nepali working class for daily commute.

The department complains that importers and marketers of these vehicles are not registering them. This in turn is causing problems in data management and in making of traffic rules and regulations. For one, unregistered vehicles cannot be tracked in case of accidents and thefts.

No paper, no go

As traffic congestions become rou­tine in our big cities, and import of electric vehicles is on the rise, the department’s decision will affect many electric two-wheeler owners who are using their vehicles without proper documentation.

Manandhar, the importer, on the other hand, blames the department for lack of proper regulations and guidelines for registration of electric two-wheelers. “We have repeatedly tried to get our vehicles registered. It is the department that is apathetic to our request,” says Manandhar.

But NIU Nepal, a relatively new importer of electric two-wheelers, has already received registration approval for the two models it is importing. “We passed all the requirements and now our scooters will get number plates, just like any other two-wheelers operating in Nepal,” says Rakesh Pradhan, Senior Marketing Assistant at NIU Nepal.

If so, NIU Nepal is lucky. While the government has reduced customs (10 percent) on electric vehicles in the past few years, their regulation has not been a priority, discouraging the sales of clean energy vehicles.

The Nepal Electricity Authority for its part is planning to set up charging stations for electric vehicles at dif­ferent places to promote the use of clean energy vehicles. But all such efforts will come to a naught without clear plans and policies to make elec­tric two-wheelers convenient for end users and without supporting busi­nesses importing these vehicles.

I am a Himalayan American,” says Tsechu Dolma when asked about her nationality. At only 25, Dolma’s work and achievements are mountainously high, just like the terrains she loves to work in. A graduate of Columbia Univer­sity School of International and Public Affairs, Dolma has been active in social work from a very early age. She has also co-founded women and girls economic and social empowerment component of ACHA Himalayan Sister­hood in New York and advised UNDP in Colombia on natural resource man­agement and impact on indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities.

She runs indigenous honeybee farms, apple orchards, and greenhouses in the remote areas of the Nepali mountains. Ideally, the mountains are not considered the most lucrative terrains for agriculture and farming.

But with Dolma’s education, knowl­edge and persistence, she has been able to transform the areas she has worked in into profitable hubs of agro business, thus changing the lives of many farmers and their families especially women.

Her work as a social entrepreneur has been recognized by many organizations globally. She is a 2014 Brower Youth Award Winner, a 2013 Udall Scholar from the US Congress and 2017 Fulbright Hillary Clinton Fellow.

This young environmental scientist and anthropologist of Tibetan origin, who was born in Nepal and grew up in Kathmandu and Sindhupalchowk, is also the founder of the Mountain Resilien­cy Project which is working with commu­nities in the rugged high mountains to build climate change resilience. Dolma was recently listed in the ‘Forbes 30 under 30: Social Entrepre­neurs’, an achievement which is the first for a person from this region.

The Annapurna Express man­aged to briefly talk to Dolma who is currently based in Kathmandu. Excerpts from the rendezvous:

The beginning

My work on in remote mountains of Nepal started when I was 16 and study­ing in the US. From early childhood, my religion, culture and family always taught me that whatever you gain in life, you share with others. Because of these values, I felt it unfair to see how my childhood friends were living and how their lives were so different from mine, just because of the resources
avail­able to us. Therefore, when my college provided resources for me to do summer projects, I chose to come back to Nepal do small agricultural projects in remote areas, like Mustang. This is how the concept for the Mountain Resiliency Project was developed.

Managing resources

After my first trip to Nepal’s mountain­ous regions, I started sharing everything I had seen with the people in the US. I started doing presentations and talking about food and water insecurities, climate change and identity politics. By sharing my ideas with people, I found donors and foundations who supported us.

Areas of work

The Mountain Resiliency Project is cur­rently active in Mustang, Baglung, Sind­hupalchowk, Gorkha, Rasuwa, Manang, Dolpa and Solukhumbu. We focus on developing the agriculture sector there. We work with local communities and farmers to connect them to value added market chains, to make farm­ing more lucrative for remote areas.

Changes

In roughly nine years, we have managed to create a network of 15,000 farmers. In this time the average income of the farmers has increased by 800 percent. This has improved their standard of living and the children now have better access to education and health care. In our calculation, we have managed to generate a net benefit of $25 million in past nine years.

Challenges faced

As a young woman, whenever I go to district offices here in Nepal, I can never go forward and say I am the founder or CEO of an organization. I have to hide behind another man and pretend he is running the show. The problem of age and gender discrimination still exists in Nepal. There is also a gap between different ethnicities. The people of Tibet­an-Buddhist origins are still treated with a certain amount of foreignness despite us co-existing with our neighbors here for generations. There is a lot of identity politics in Nepal.

The future

We are planning to reach a million farmers in the next three years. We would also like to scale up to 12 more districts in Nepal and expand to northern India, if possible. Also, we want to turn the net benefit of $25 million into $250 million within the next 10 years for the benefit of the communities we are working with.

Recognition

I would never feel comfortable intro­ducing myself as a ‘Forbes 30 under 30’ person. In the past three or four years that I have been living in Nepal full time, I have spent 90 percent of my time up in the mountains instead of Kathmandu. It was never a priority for me to develop a network in Kathmandu. For me, being a part of the communi­ty, being there out on the ground, is so much more important than networking. All the awards, fellowships and recog­nitions I have received are based on the evaluation of my work.

Forbes 30 under 30

It has been such a blessing and priv­ilege to be a part of this cohort. I have spent time with the other 29 participants and each of them has been equally inspir­ing. I think to be the first Nepali-Tibetan person to be on that prestigious list is inspiring to the other people in our community as well. To see someone just like you who comes from the same background reach this posi­tion based on her own hard work is relatable to the youth here.

Message

I truly believe that what I am today is because of the people I met in the past and the lessons I learnt from them. I believe in sharing my knowl­edge and experience with everyone, especially other young women. My message to the youth and people who want to work in this field is— always say yes to everything. You get so many opportunities in life but you can grab them only if you put yourself out there. Also, seek mentors. Getting training and guidance at an early age is very important.

As the country makes the tran­sition to the federal set-up, the financial sector is also trying to come to terms with the new decen­tralized system of government. In this connection, Sunny Mahat talk­ed to Gyanendra P Dhungana, Pres­ident of the Nepal Bankers Associa­tion and CEO of Nepal Bangladesh Bank, on how the country’s com­mercial banks are preparing.

Excerpts:

How are the commercial banks in Nepal adjusting to a federal set-up?

So far there have been no spe­cific directives from the regulator in this matter. Having said that, as the banks already cater to peo­ple from all parts of the country, I think it’s more a question of adjustment than preparation. How­ever, banking sector will have to consolidate its regional capacity to expand business in the states and be ready to cater to customized requirement of each state with their differentiated needs.

Can you talk about specific challenges commercial banks are likely to face?

Nepal has always been a unitary state and federalism is a new con­cept for us. Although the need to implement federalism is fairly evi­dent, its effectiveness and practical­ity is hard to gauge.

Banks have traditionally operated in a national capital centric orien­tation, with our branches reaching some select local markets outside the valley. Now with the ensuing change in governance structure, we will have to change to regional/pro­vincial or statewide setup. This will entail a big expansion of banking manpower to begin with.

Are you taking it as an opportunity for expansion or a liability as your operation costs could increase?

It’s definitely an opportunity in the long run as the local markets might eventually emerge at state level, provided that our state-level political leadership does not waste time again in the name of transition and political development. But in the short run, our costs will surely increase as we expand operations.

Has the Nepal Rastra Bank issued any directives or formulated plans for commercial banks to adapt to federalism? And are they practical?

Like I said, until now there are no such directives from Nepal Rastra Bank. I think they will come when the regulatory authority establishes its decentralized working apparatus in the federal structure. The picture will be clear when the State Lev­el Financial Commissions and the State Level Planning Commissions are formulated and a proper vision and direction for governing financial services then emerges.

Will regional development banks benefit more in a decentralized Nepal?

The efficacy of regional devel­opment banks has already been tested. The consolidation of overall Financial Services Industry has seen many development banks merge with commercial banks or higher level financial institutions. But if there is a network of well-function­ing regional development banks in a given province, say, these regional banks will definitely have an edge as they will be local banks. This can also serve as a platform for the larger commercial banks to move in, by merging with or buying out such development banking networks, thereby increasing banking capacity as well as efficiency.