There is no denying that Twin­kle Khanna is smart and witty. Her fortnightly column in The Times of India is fun and the senti­ments hit home. It almost feels like she is in your head and is voicing out the very things you could never put into words and doing so quite eloquently to boot. Her first book, Mrs Funnybones, which came out in 2015 and was modeled on her wildly popular aforementioned col­umn of the same name, made her India’s highest-selling female writer of 2015. Her confession—that she is a way better writer than she was an actor—seems to be quite true indeed. Khanna’s third published work and her first fiction book, Pyjamas are Forgiving, is a drama that revolves around love, loss and longing, with marriage and infidelity thrown in the mix. It’s entertaining while it lasts, though it does have a few boring bits and pieces where Khanna goes off on some preachy rant of sorts. It’s definitely not Khanna at her best but it’s the same unpretentious writing that is her trademark that makes you want to keep reading.

The story is set in Kerala’s Shan­thamaaya Sthalam, a spa where peo­ple are supposed to live a simple life (clad in white cotton kurta and trou­sers) and consume copious amount of ghee to purge their systems of all the toxins they have accumulated in their day-to-day lives. The protago­nist is a middle-aged woman named Anshu who comes to the spa when­ever she’s feeling a bit unsettled. This time around, Anshu runs into her ex-husband, Jay, and his dim-witted young wife, Shalini, and it is this premise that makes most of the sto­ry. The backdrop—Dr Menon curing people of their doshas or imbalanced energies at the spa—makes for an interesting read as you watch Ans­hu’s life unfurl before you.

There are also other amusing char­acters that add an element of spunk to what could have otherwise been a monotonous narrative. The set­ting and mood are just right. You can almost smell the incense and hear the rustle of the leaves. It’s the metaphors, the forced clichés, and all the advice you have heard before and don’t want to hear anymore that weigh you down. Also, with her sharp comebacks, Anshu comes off as Mrs Funnybones and that’s not necessarily a good thing.

Khanna, in one of her interviews, admitted that she doesn’t want to be a dreary writer but, in her quest to be witty and entertaining, she runs the risk of being repetitive and crafting characters that will never feel wholly new. What Khanna lacks in insight and literary expertise, she makes up with her cynical tone and humor but that can only stretch a narrative so much. Pyjamas are Forgiving would have been a rather tedious read had it been any longer.

Book: Pyjamas are forgiving

Genre: Fiction

Author: Twinkle Khanna

Publisher: Juggernaut

Published: September 7, 2018

Language: English

Pages: 256, paperback

Rickshaws and motorbikes, temples and ultra-modern buildings, ancient statues and mod­ern graffiti, all come together in a collective display of pop-art at the Bikalpa Art Centre (BAC), Pulcho­wk. Digital images of collapsing houses supported by beams, mixed-media installation of children smiling on the back of a rickshaw, a panoramic collage of the chaotic life in Makhan Tole with the Taleju Bhawani temple in the backdrop reflect the voices of the people who live in the city.

“Kathmandu, My Fascination” by artist Prabod Shrestha is the result of his post-earthquake wan­derings around the city. The exhibition displays the lifestyle of modern Kathmandu, often con­necting the old and the new: the juxtaposition of ultra-modern buildings and pottery shops around Asan; the emerging coffee culture compared to the local tea shops; the chaotic life around Maru Ganesh in contrast to a woman sitting calmly in a corner smoking and selling vegetables.

The photos were a way to work through the earthquake trauma, and to reconnect with his childhood. After losing his gallery in the 2015 earthquake, Shrestha started wandering the streets of Kathmandu, taking pictures from his phone. “Despite the big changes I still recognized the old city that shaped me when I grew up. Sometimes we are overwhelmed by the pollution and the busy life of Kathmandu but sooner or later we recon­nect with its core and its vibrancy,” says Shrestha. “Earthquake was the main inspiration behind these pictures. I wanted to capture people’s lives after such a big disaster.”

The artist uses silk screen to transfer the pictures to the paper. Silk screen painting is an ancient tech­nique that is these days mainly used for printing images and designs on t-shirts, tote bags and other materials. It is rarely used for photographs.

He has worked as a freelancer with different advertising agencies and film producers to create award-winning (motion) graphics and designs. He plays with different graphic styles but mainly wants to show what makes the city so timeless and vibrant. Curator Saroj Mahato from the BAC calls the work “subtle and contemporary”.

The exhibition at the BAC runs from Dec 8 to Jan 15.

Disclosure: This review is being written by someone who has seen not one of the previous five ‘Transformers’ movies. This, he is finding out, can be a double-edged sword. On the one hand, he can judge the sixth movie of the series, ‘Bumble­bee’, based solely on its cinematic merits. On the other, the review risks coming out as a little (or a lot) short-sighted.Anyway, let us jump right into it. First, it’s a storyline of a typical sci-fi movie: a tale of ‘good’ and weak­er creations of science triumphing over ‘bad’ and superior ones. On the planet of Cybertron, the good guys are the ‘Autobots’ who are in a civil war against the evil ‘Decep­ticons’. If the Autobots lose, the planet is doomed. But then they are losing the war.

They need time to regroup. Opti­mus Prime, the leader of the Auto­bots, sends B-127 to planet Earth where he will prospect the land for an Autobot base. If B-127 fails, that will be the end of the Auto­bots. Once on Earth, B-127, which can take the shape of any car in its view, opts for the body of a yellow Volkswagen Beetle.

Who should watch it?

If you are a die-hard fan of sci-fi action movies, and have loved previous Transformers flicks, you may like this one too. If you are not, you can skip it.

To cut a long story short, one day, teenager Charlie Watson (Hail­ee Steinfeld) finds this car in an old garage. She repairs the car and makes it come to life.

Watson finds that instead of an old car she has invited into her garage a good-hearted human­oid robot. Since the robot cannot speak, she names him Bumblebee. Unbeknown to Watson, when she starts the car, Watson also inad­vertently signals the Decepticons in Cybertron. They now know the Autobots are trying to regroup on planet Earth and resolve to destroy both the Autobots and the planet that could be their potential refuge. Without giving away the plot, what happens next should be familiar to any fan of a superhero movie.

 On planet Cybertron, the good guys are the ‘Autobots’ who are in a civil war against the evil ‘Decepticons’

Steinfeld’s performance as a fatherless 18-year-old rebel living with a stepfather she does not con­nect with is nearly faultless. She is that all-important human touch in a movie packed with metallic char­acters. There then is John Cena, the wrestler who plays an agent of Sector 7, a government agen­cy that monitors extra-terrestrial activities on Earth. He is a hard-noised former US Army Ranger who finds himself embroiled in the fight on Earth between the Autobots and Decepticons. Cena is perhaps the only wrestler in the WWE history who has been consistently projected as a ‘good guy’—an image that ‘Bumblebee’ amply exploits.

Based in 1987, ‘Bumblebee’ might offer those who grew up in the US at the time a sense of nostalgia. But for the rest the nei­ther-here-nor-there timeline can be hard to relate to. Moreover, the instant bonding between Watson and Bumblebee appears forced, as does the depiction of Watson’s love for her deceased father.

There are great action sequenc­es, especially the ones showing physical combat between the ‘good’ and ‘evil’ robots. And there are some hilarious moments when Watson is teaching the bungling Bumblebee disguise technics. Yet the film feels far too metallic and far too less humane. Not a bad movie at all. But it may not be to the taste of everyone.

Movie:  Bumblebee

Genre:  ACTION, SCI-FI

CAST:  Hailee Steinfeld, Jorge Lendeborg Jr., John Cena

DIRECTION: Travis Knight

Broader lessons

Lack of homework adds doubt to new alcohol rules

Although the cabinet is yet to pass Home Ministry’s pro­posed executive order that regulates alcohol “production, sales and consumption,” the government has already stepped up its anti-al­cohol game. Police are monitoring outdoor events that sell liquor, and the proposed “two liquor stores per ward” rule is being enforced. Ram Krishna Subedi, the Home Ministry spokesperson, says the goal is to control unchecked sale of liquor and curtail injurious drink­ing. He has a point.

According to a study of the Insti­tute for Health Matrices and Evalua­tion in the US, mortality by alcohol in Nepal increased by 376 percent between 1990 and 2016. It pointed out that 21 percent males and 1.5 percent females in Nepal are habit­ual drinkers. Liver diseases, cancers and other ailments caused by excess use of alcohol, it said, had claimed 3,972 Nepali lives in 2016.

The government also believes that domestic violence, mainly violence against women, is largely the result of alcohol consumption. “In over 50 percent of these cases, the males get violent against their female partners after consuming alcohol,” says Narayan Prasad Sharma Bidari, says joint Home secretary.

Critics retort that while some pro­posed regulations make sense, in totality, it is bound to fail. Econ­omist Biswo Poudel calls them “nonsensical” and brought without home¬work. If anything, smugglers and bootleggers will now be encour­aged, he says. Sarad Pradhan, a con­sultant for Nepal Tourism Board, predicts that if alcohol is made a social taboo, many foreigners might not come to Nepal. “Countless jobs will be lost. The government tax receipt will dwindle,” he cautions.

Diwas Raja KC, a researcher who has closely studied the temperance movement in the US, is also against such moral policing. “Alcohol alone does not result in domestic violence. Alcohol consumption plus intense patriarchy can,” he says. He points out how the American temperance movement had the bootleggers laughing all their way to the bank.

The “populist” move, say the crit­ics, is intended to draw attention away the government’s signature failures. “With the government seemingly incapable of solving high-profile cases like the rape-and-murder of 13-year-old Nirmala Pant of Kanchanpur, and the resulting public backlash, the government had to show that it was not sitting idle,” a Home Ministry source said.

Many are still unaware of the exec­utive order. Even those who are have little idea how it is going to affect their lives. Alcohol is also culturally important for indigenous communi­ties like Newars and Tamangs.

“These regulations might be suitable for parts of our country. But in those areas where alcohol is considered an integral part of local communities, the government has to think carefully,” says Kashinath Tamot, a historian.

While tough anti-alcohol rules may seem like the perfect solution to many social evils, they are hard to implement. Nor may it be desirable in all cases. Globally, with or without more restrictive alcohol rules, there will be fewer regular drinkers in 2019 than there were in 2018. But perhaps the most troubling aspect about the new regulations in Nepal is lack of homework. This risks not only a backlash. It could also pro­mote hooch. In the Indian state of Bihar the number of those killed by consuming spurious alcohol has shot up following the state’s blanket ban in 2016.

APEX supports sensible measures like stopping teens from buying alco­hol and forbidding kirana pasals from stocking alcohol. It would also be a lot more amenable to new reg­ulations had the government first taken the time to closely study and debate this complex issue. This is not something that can be settled behind closed doors.

Different strokes for different folks

Afghanistan, Brunei Darus­salam, Iran, Libya, Mauritania, the Maldives, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen have totally banned alcoholic bever­ages. As alcohol is forbidden in Islam, there are prohibition on production, sale and consumption of alcohol beverages in some Mus­lim-majority countries.

In India, manufacture, sale or consumption of alcohol is prohibited in Bihar, Gujarat, Mani­pur, Nagaland and the union ter­ritory of Lakshadweep. Indian states observe dry days when alcohol sale is banned, although consumption is permitted. Dry days are usually observed on vot­ing days and national holidays throughout India.

Around 10 percent of the US, by area, forbids sale of alcoholic beverages, especially in the South. Even “moist” counties permit drinking in certain areas, or limit drinking in other ways. Around 18 million Americans live in places where the selling alcohol is illegal. The law restricts import, sale and consumption of alcoholic bev­erages in Bangladesh. No Bangla­deshi Muslim person is given the permit to drink liquor without the written prescription of an associ­ate professor of a medical college or a civil surgeon. It is legal to sell and drink alco­hol in Australia. However, con­sumption of alcohol in designated alcohol-free zones is illegal.

With the exception of some minor local regulations, there are no liquor laws in China. The German and Brazilian laws reg­ulating alcohol use and sale are some of the least restrictive. Anyone aged 18 years or over and who shows approved ID can enter licensed premises and buy alcohol in New Zealand. 

Lithuania’s new liquor law increased the legal drinking age from 18 to 20, significantly cur­tailed opening hours for liquor stores and banned alcohol adver­tising.In the UK, those over 18 can drink in public, except in areas of towns where Public Space Protec­tion Orders are in place. Lebanon, Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia have no restrictions and alcohol is freely available in restaurants, bars and shops. Argentina, Peru, Colom­bia and Paraguay have set minimum legal drinking age. But apart from that, there are no restrictions. Agencies

Nepali Congress, the main opposition party, started its long-delayed Mahasamiti meeting on Dec 14. The four-day event was supposed to end on Dec 17. Yet after acri­monious exchanges among top leaders and pressure from the grassroots for a change after the party’s humiliating defeat in the 2017 elections, the jamboree of 1,600 delegates from all over Nepal concluded only on Dec 23. While top leaders tried to present a united face at the end of the gathering of the party’s second most powerful decision-making body, Congress is anything but united as rival factions constantly search for a leg-up ahead of the 2020 general convention, the most powerful body.First, some positives. From now the party will elect 13 of its 14 office-bearers, with the party president getting to pick only a treasurer. Until now the all-powerful president could pick more than half the number of office-bearers at his discretion. This alone would go a long way towards establishing internal democracy in the Grand Old Party.

In another positive, among the 14 office-bearers, seven will be elected from seven ethnic clusters as provided in the national charter, while one will be from the marginalized community. This should help the party shed its image of being an ‘exclusive bastion’ of Khas-Arya.

Yet even more meaningful are the vital things left out of the final memorandum. For instance, the debate between whether the party should have only one kind of membership, instead of the current ‘active’ and ‘general’ members, remains undecided. Interestingly, around 43 percent of the 1,600 delegates at the Mahasamiti were in favor of reinstating the country’s Hindu status. The memorandum is silent on this too. The memorandum expressed concern over the government’s ‘indifference’ to implementing federalism, its ‘authoritarian’ ways and its ‘institutionalization’ of corruption. Yet there is nothing to suggest that Congress, itself packed with leaders of dubious probity, can mount a strong challenge against the govern­ment on these fronts.

That, in any case, may not be the focus of its top leaders as they jockey for advantage ahead of the 2020 general convention. It was partly to accommodate all the competing interest groups that the number of office-bear­ers, as well as the size of the central working committee, had to be more than doubled. With many delegates at the Mahasamiti meeting wanting to turn the clock back to the pre-2006 dispensation, the party’s commitment to ‘socialism’ and ‘democracy’ also appears increasingly dubious. The ills that afflicted the party during the 2017 elections are far from healed.

The Top 5 finalists of ‘Integrity Idol’ have been announced, as the fifth national campaign to identify and celebrate Nepal’s most hon­est government officials enters its final stretch.

The finalists were selected by a panel of esteemed judges from over 1,062 nominations, and the public is now invited to vote for their favorite idol, following a special TV broad­cast on AP1 television detailing the finalists’ commendable works.

Lack of integrity of public offi­cials remains a big challenge in Nepal, and citizens often feel they are helpless to do anything about it. But through Integrity Idol, citizens are able to engage in a positive discussion about these issues and vote for the person they believe has set a good example as a public servant.

The esteemed judges who picked the Top 5 are: Suryanath Upadhyaya, former Commissioner of Commis­sion for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority; Jiwan Prabha Lama, former Secretary of Government of Nepal; Kashiraj Dahal, Chairman of the High Level Administrative Reforms Monitoring Committee; and Punya Prasad Neupane, execu­tive director of Nepal Administrative Staff College.

And now, the real heroes of the event. Here is a low-down of the Top 5.

 Dhruba Raj Acharya, Chief Administrative Officer, Tikapur Municipality, Kailali. After help­ing his municipality emerge from the decade-long civil war, he then worked on bringing political parties of different persuasions together on common national issues.

“I have never worked for praise or reward. The trust I have gained from service-seekers by working responsibly is my biggest reward”

 Arun Kafle, Senior Horticulture Development Officer, Khumaltar, Lalitpur, who introduced ‘soil-less’ vegetable farming to Nepal. Kafle is always available to all farmers who need his expertise and he has been tirelessly working to help farmers transition from subsistence to com­mercial farming.

“I feel very happy when I see service-seekers in front of my office. And when they return satisfied and with a big smile, my happiness knows no bounds”

 Mahendra Prasad Poudyal,Under-Secretary, Ministry of Youth and Sport, Singhadurbar, Kathmandu. He is very passionate about ensuring the youth’s right to information and has supported many talented youngsters get gov­ernment support to pursue their dreams.

“The hope that future generations will not inherit negative perceptions of the government is what drives me to work harder”

 Sita Kumari Sharma, Senior A.N.M., Birendranagar Municipal Health Office, Surkhet. She is a healthcare worker and a true friend of women and teenage girls who need any kind of medical help. She has also been involved in providing health education and distributing medicines in rural communities.

“Women from the community often need me more than my family. Prioritizing their health and serving them is my social responsibility”

 Ram Bahadur Kurumbang, Chief District Officer, Bardiya. A retired Nepal Army Officer, Kurumbang leaves the com­fort of his office and goes door to door, ensuring that people, especially those in far-flung places, have a direct access to him.

“By bringing the services to citizen’s doorsteps through our mobile camp, they have felt the presence of ‘Singhadurbar’ in their village”

 The winner will be announced on Dec 7 at a public ceremony at Karki Banquet, Babarmahal. To vote for your favorite contestant or to read more about the finalists as well as the campaign, visit http://www.integrityidol.org/countries/nepal/. Viewers can choose their preferred contestant online or via SMS. To vote through SMS, go to the message box in your mobile phone and type IIN <space> Voting Code and send it to 34001. The codes for the finalists are: Arun Kafle-1, Dhruba Raj Acharya-2, Mahendra Prasad Paudyal-3, Ram Bahadur Kurumbang- 4, and Sita Kumari Sharma-5.

(Follow Integrity Idol Nepal on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to keep up with the campaign).

With the post-quake funds promised by foreign donors not coming, many earthquake victims have been left in a lurch. Most of them have gotten the first installment. But then the Office of the Auditor General stopped the payment of subsequent installments. The funds have not been released even after the National Reconstruction Authority district chapter sent orders for payment to the financial comptroller office, Okhaldhunga.

“There is no money to give out,” informs Rajan Fuyal, the chief of the comptroller office.

Even though 13,000 of the 19,000 households have received all three installments, around 6,000 households have not gotten even the second installment.

The situation has become worrisome for those relying on loans to rebuild their homes. Prativa Nepali, a resident of Chisankhugadhi, complains that without the money coming from the government, she has been forced to borrow at high interests, resulting in “a huge financial burden on the family.”

No employees to approve post-quake funds

PRADIP C. RAI  | Bhojpur

Rabin Tamang says he has not received money even though he applied for it in August

There has been a delay in releasing funds for earthquake victims due to lack  of employees to approve final disbursement.

Even though the data of around 600 earthquake victim families has already been collected and sent to the Department of Urban Development and Building Construction (DUDBC) in Dhankuta, there is no one to release the funds at the department.

Rabin Tamang of Bhojpur municipality complains that he has not received any money even though he filed an application for the third installment of post-quake funds back in August.

“I have been forced to rebuild by taking out loans and the interests continue to mount with every passing day. I have lost hope that I will ever get the third installment.”

The government body responsible for collecting information about earthquake victims sent the details of the 600 families to the DUDBC office in Dhankuta back in September. “We can only wait until the Dhankuta office approves the funds,” says the body’s chief Rajan Raj Reddy.

Says Rajendra Khatiwoda, a DUDBC employee, “The old employees handing reconstruction have been transferred but their replacements have not arrived yet.”

We believe first novels hold a lot of promise. They are the result of dreams and aspirations, of hard work and perseverance, and of the author’s acute day-to-day observance of every thing around her. ‘The Way­ward Daughter’, Shradha Ghale’s debut novel, despite some glaringly obvious mistakes and chapters with abrupt end­ings, reaffirmed this belief because the writing is extremely nuanced, and you get to relive the lifestyle of Kathmandu in the 90s. The blurb is a little misleading though. The Wayward Daughter isn’t just a story about Sumnima Tamule and her discov­ery of self through love and loss and all the mistakes teenagers inevitably make, though she is the titular wayward daughter. Through a myriad of charac­ters from different generations, each with its own distinctive voice, Ghale nar­rates a complex interwoven story that you will be able to relate to depending on which role you find yourself in at the moment.

There’s Gajendra Tamule (aka Gajey or Tamule ji as he is often referred to in the book) and his wife, Premkala Limbu, who try their best to be as accommodating as they can, even under unfavorable circum­stances, and Premkala’s mother, or Boju, who is a permanent guest in the Tamule household, as grandmothers usually seem to be in the city. Boju whines and com­plains, hides food, and scours through garbage and hoards the retrieved items in her room. The familiarities of her ways, especially for those who lived in joint families in Nepal, will remind you of your childhood.

Ganga and Manlahari, Tamule ji’s two nieces, who are sent to live with him as people in villages with family living in Kathmandu often did back in the day (and perhaps still do), also feel very raw and real. Add to this eclectic mix, the extended relatives who seem to land up at the Tamule household every now and then and you have a typical Nepali family that could very well be your own family or that of someone you know.

The novel also addresses (or at least tries to) the class division that’s still prev­alent today (albeit less unabashedly). The installation of a telephone line (with an extension soon after), double door refrig­erator, and new cabinets in the kitchen as the ‘head’ of the family rises up the ranks in the NGO world signify a working class family’s aspirations to bridge the divide.

One would think so many stories would make for a confusing narrative. You do wish some characters were better devel­oped. You would have liked to get to know Numa, Sumnima’s well-adjusted younger sister, but her story, though it mimics Sumnima’s, never makes it to forefront. And Manlahari, in her entitled and pot-banging ways, seems to have been written as an afterthought. But the stories come together beautifully because Ghale’s writing is sharp and focused.

The only time she falters is when she tries to weave in seemingly important socio-political events and happenings in the narrative. There are also a few inci­dents, like (spoiler alert) when the princi­pal of the college Sumnima attends tries to fondle her in his office when she goes to meet him to ask him for grace marks, that seem forced and thus unnecessary.

The Maoist insurgency, a crucial period in Nepal’s recent history, also feels out of place, though Sumnima’s reaction to it (she’s just heard of the Peo­ple’s War and thinks nothing much of it) has you pondering that perhaps that was how youth living in cities reacted to the bloodshed.

Despite a few such jarring and awkward moments, The Wayward Daughter will warm your heart because, at its core, it’s about human relationships, of the connec­tions we forge in order to make humdrum life more bearable, and of moments and decisions that have the power to change your life.

The book is being officially launched on Dec 1, 2018, Saturday and is now available at major bookstores.

THE WAYWARD DAUGHTER

Author: Shradha Ghale

Genere: Fiction

Published: 2018 Publisher: Speaking Tiger

Language: English

Pages: 268, paperback

Price: NRs 560