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 In the autumn of 1612, in the courts of Lancaster (a county town of Lancashire) in England, 12 people were tried for witchcraft and hav­ing familiar spirits—a demon that appears to obey a witch, usually in the form of an animal. This was perhaps the most notorious witch trial of the 17th century where only one was found not guilty. One died in custody, and the rest were hung. What went on to become the legend of the Pendle witches is a dark tale of execution that only makes up just two percent of all the people, mostly women, executed over three centu­ries in England.

Set against the backdrop of this Pendle witch trials, ‘The Famil­iars’ is Stacey Hall’s debut novel in which many characters are based on real people. Fleetwood Shut­tleworth, mistress of Gawthorpe Hall, has had three miscarriages and she’s pregnant for the fourth time. She has inadvertently read a letter from her doctor, addressed to her husband, Richard, which says she might not survive childbirth. And so she hires a midwife, Alice Gray, to ensure she and her baby both live.

Alice, though having a “low social status”, is a gifted midwife who has learnt from her mother all about delivering a baby. She believes she can safely deliver the child and keep the mother out of harm’s way as well. But her use of different herbs and potions to do so is seen as malev­olent magic and Alice is accused of practicing witchcraft and taken into custody. By then, Fleetwood and Alice have formed a bond and are like sisters and Fleetwood vows to save Alice from the fate that awaits her.

Though many of the characters in The Familiars are historical figures, Halls goes beyond a fictional retelling of the legend of the Pendle witches. Through Fleetwood and Alice, she explores what it means to be women and how they are capable of the impossible when their love and limits are tested. Historical fiction can be tricky to get right especially as you have to make sure the facts aren’t distorted while keeping things exciting, and this is where Halls shines. She manages to provide an engaging viewpoint through her protagonist Fleetwood and keeps you intrigued and at the edge of your seat till the very end.

Book: The Familiars

Genre: Historical Fiction

Author: Stacey Hall

Publisher: Zaffre

Published: February 2019

Language: English

Pages: 420, Paperback

 It is incredible to see the all-pow­erful federal government of KP Oli stumble so badly—and on so many fronts. The government’s reluctance to devolve powers to the provincial and local levels has resulted in a lot of bad blood between the three tiers of government, not a healthy sign for an infant federal state. Even the chief ministers from the PM’s own party are rebelling against what they see as Singhadurbar’s attempts to increase its powers at their expense.

The Oli government had to beat a shameful retreat from the Guthi bill, prepared without consulting key stakeholders. The prime minister’s recent Europe trip also proved to be a disastrous folly, a perfect example of how not to ‘diversify’ away from India and China: unlike what the prime minister seems to believe, the number of countries he visits cannot be the yardstick of a successful diver­sification policy.

Economically, too, the country is in a shambles. There is a lopsided concentration of resourc­es, including the annual budget, at the center. The expected economic growth has failed to materialize. The partial health of the economy is owing to the good monsoon of the past few years, and to the continuous inflow of remittances. Otherwise, the banks are over-leveraged and short of cash; a real estate bubble is building; the foreign account deficit is reaching a troubling level; and the Nepali rupee is vulnerable to the unpredictable global economy.

There are many other shortcom­ings of the Oli government. But he has also done some good. The land­mark trade and transit protocol has been signed with China; relations with India have been normalized; countless regulations to implement federalism have been passed; and the separatist group of CK Raut has been brought into the national main­stream.

Yet the strong federal government could have done so much more. It is hobbled by corruption, intra-par­ty feuds, and the prime minister’s self-serving working style. What’s more, this government with an over­whelming public mandate is a threat to liberal values. The eroding legit­imacy of the two-third Oli govern­ment bodes ill for the health of the Nepali democracy.

 ‘Aladdin’ is a live-action musi­cal fantasy adaptation of the popular 1992 Disney produc­tion of the same name. The film follows Aladdin (Mena Massoud), a street urchin, as he falls in love with Princess Jasmine (Naomi Scott), befriends a wish-granting Genie (Will Smith), and must save the kingdom from the conspiring Jafar (Marwan Kenzari).

When the first pictures of the movie were released back in December, it received a mountain of criticism for the film’s portrayal of Genie, as the character was labelled “too humanoid”, resulting in upset fans. Then they released the trailer in March. The trailer got the fans a little less upset than they were back in December. And now, in May, with the movie out, many fans, including this reviewer, have found themselves wronged for judging the movie so quick.

Aladdin, as much as it was a fantastic cinematic experience, was also a major reminiscence of my childhood. From jumping through roofs on Agrabah in the 1993 video game ‘Aladdin’ in its compact 2D gameplay to rubbing puja lamps hoping to find a genie as a child, the movie brought back many elements of my childhood.

The opening ‘Arabian Nights’ sequence gave me massive goosebumps for two straight minutes. It was dealt beautifully, conserving the mystery, horror and scale from the original.

You know what was better than the opening sequence? The acting. Don’t get me started on that. Will Smith is funny, and will keep the tone light-hearted right through with his wit and humor. While his portrayal doesn’t compare to Robin Williams’ in the original, it is unfair to criticize Smith for trying things a little differently.

Fans were skeptical about Mena Massoud as Aladdin but he’s proved everyone wrong with his phenomenal performance. Starting with his perfect chemistry with the beautiful Naomi Scott, everything feels smooth. Scott looks gorgeous as a middle-eastern princess and delivers a strong performance as the strong-minded patriarchy-breaking Princess Jasmine. They couldn’t have put together a better Aladdin-Jasmine duo. Marwan Kenzari as the antagonist Jafar is also fantastic, radiating a cunning dark persona with every dialogue.

The problems with the movie are few but important. First, the set feels superbly small. The characters revolve around the same places and the audience is treated with the monotony of the same building over and over again. Disney should have had no problem shelling out enough budget to accommodate more exploration within the city of Agrabah. Second, the CGI does not do justice for a Disney movie. At times, visual effects feel bland—a major flaw for a fantasy movie like Aladdin.

Third, the ‘musical’ part of the movie fails where the original delivered big-time. Most of the musicals feel ill-timed and forgettable. ‘Speechless’ will probably be the only song from the movie I’ll remember.

Even with its downsides, Aladdin is still an amazing movie you will enjoy watching. The only way it will disappoint you is if you’re a purist and want everything recreated exactly like the original. Take your kids, or/and your kid-self and sit back for 2h 8m of pure Arabian magic.

Who should watch it?

The kids will absolutely love it. So will the fans of Will Smith. Visual effects and some songs are disappointing. But, overall, a fun film for the whole family.

Movie: Aladdin

Genre: Fantasy

Csst: Will Smith, Mena Massoud, Naomi Scott, Marwan Kenzari, Navid Negahban

Direction: Guy Ritchie

As part of the Rs 4.87-bil­lion Mid-hill optical fiber project that was signed on 29 June 2016, Nepal Tele­com, the government-owned telecom operator, has started laying optical fiber cables along the proposed routes. On May 20, work started simulta­neously at three places. The project will be imple­mented across 32 districts in Provinces 1, 2 and 3. Prime Minister KP Oli inaugurated the optical fiber information highway in Galchi rural munic­ipality in Dhading district (Province 3). Similarly, events were organized to mark the start of the optical fiber works in Sindhuli’s Khurkot (Prov­ince 3) and Dhankuta’s Hile (Province 1).

Prime Minister Oli labelled the project a big step in Nepal’s development, and an expression of his govern­ment’s commitment to tech­nological advancement. Min­ister for Information and Com­munications Gokul Baskota said that more than half of the population of Nepal do not have internet access and that this project aims to change that dismal fact. Better infor­mation technology leads to better living standards, he added.

NT Managing Director Dilli Adhikari said the goal was to complete the project in two years, so that high-speed broadband internet can be within the reach of all Nepalis.

 After the project, internet speed in the districts along the Mid-hill highway will be 100 Gbps

The total length of the opti­cal fiber network is 2,376 kilo­meters, which includes the main and spur links. The fiber cable along the Mid-hill high­way from Chiyo Bhanjyang to Arughat will be 804 km-long and the length of the north-south spur link will be 1,572 km. The spur link will con­nect district headquarters, village bodies and municipal­ities to the main information highway.

NT has signed agreements with five different companies for this project.

These companies tasked with laying the optical fiber cables and equipment instal­lation are: Korea’s LS Cables (responsible for 596 km of optical fiber in Province 1), the joint venture of Nepal’s Aro­gya Construction and China Railway and China Fuel (1,028 km in Province 2), and Hong Kong’s CCSI (555 km in Prov­ince 3).

Arogya Construction Director Roshendra Khadka informed that after the proj­ect is completed, internet speed in the 32 districts along the Mid-hill highway will be 100 Gbps. 

 Bipin Karki is a good actor, no doubt. The roles he picks remind this reviewer of Nawazuddin Siddique, that versatile Bollywood actor who nails nearly everything he does. Yet there is also a definite difference between the two. Siddique is so good because everything he does feels effortless, as if there is no difference between the actor and the persona he portrays. But rather than relying on his natural talent to impress the audience, Karki sometimes pushes it too far. This is amply manifest in ‘Jatrai Jatra’, the sequel to the highly-successful 2016 heist comedy ‘Jatra’. For some reason, in the second edition, Director Pradeep Bhattarai saw it fit to make Karki’s character of Phadindra Timilsina repeatedly cry. Not just cry. He cries and drools and spits and speaks, all at the same time. The spittle-flecked scenes are obnoxious, made worse because you can barely make out what Timilsina, with his weird accent, is saying. It is sad that when you come out of the theater this is what you remember, rather than Timilsina’s otherwise great acting, amply supported by his two partners-in-crime —Jayas (Rabindra Singh Baniya) and Munna (Rabindra Jha)—in what is a twisted gold heist.

The movie starts with the release of these three ‘criminals’ jailed for stealing Rs 3 million. They have no intent of going back to a life of crime after their release. But as luck would have it, Timilsina, a taxi driver, in another freak incidence, finds himself in possession of 10kg of gold. The plot revolves around how the three try to safeguard their chance wealth and how the real owners of the gold, a gang of hardened criminals, is intent on getting it back. Oh, and in this gang is Don (Dayahang Rai), who belts out another low-key but masterful performance.

Barsha Raut in her role as Timilsina’s estranged wife is effective too, even if she can be a little hard to understand: at one point she is a moralizing wife trying to convince her husband not to take the ‘wrong path’ again, in the other she is an active partner in the gold heist.

Packed with such good actors, some situational comedy scenes are hilarious. But overall, the film disappoints: it is too loud, and trite, and emotional in all the wrong places. Someone who has recently watched Hari Bansha Acharya-starrer ‘Dal Bhat Tarkari’ and was put off by Acharya’s puerile acting and Niruta Singh’s constant shouting will find similar jarring echoes in ‘Jatrai Jatra’. And there is far too much grime and shit and dirty toilets on display, which, again, are a big put-off for the audiences savoring their popcorn and nachos.

Not that it is a bad movie. There is suspense, drama, comedy, some nice dance numbers too. Yet given the anticipation it had generated, Jatrai Jatra disappoints. If you have nothing better to do in the weekend, you may still want to watch it. But keep your expectations low.

Who should watch it?

Die-hard Bipin Adhikari and Dayahang Rai fans should have enough to keep them hooked for 2h17m of runtime. If you have the stomach to ignore all the (literal) filth on display, the other bits of the package are—how do we put it?—digestible.

Movie: Jatrai jatra

Genre:  Heist Comedy

Cast: Bipin Karki, Dayahang Rai, Rabindra Singh Baniya, Rabindra Jha, Barsha Rau, Rajaram Poudel

Direction: Pradeep Bhattarai

Rating: 3.5/5

 “The crazy quilt of a writer’s life: warm enough, though it never quite covers the toes,” writes Andrew Sean Greer in his latest novel ‘Less’ that won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 2018. And it is a writer’s fascinating and often filled-with-self-doubt life that Greer shows us in ‘Less’ through Arthur Less. We are told that Pulitzer is pronounced “Pull-it-sir” not “Pew-lit-sir” and that the protagonist, Arthur Less, will never win a Pull-it-sir Prize. For Arthur, who is about to turn 50 and thinks he is possibly the “only gay man to have ever grown old,” this makes him consider himself “mediocre”. His first book was a moderate success but publishers have rejected his latest work. To make matters worse, Freddy, his younger ex-boyfriend, is getting married and Less doesn’t have an excuse not to attend the wedding. So he runs away, hopping from one literary event to another; events to which he had been invited to, but once had no plans of attending.

As Arthur travels the world, from New York, Paris and Berlin to Morocco, India and Kyoto, in a style reminiscent of Elizabeth Gilbert’s ‘Eat, Pray, Love’, you see him deal with a lot of emotional baggage and he is also forever getting pulled into his past as random events force Arthur to reminisce on life. Apart from the memories, there are also a lot of mishaps and misunderstandings that make Arthur’s life far less “mediocre” than he believes it to be.

With ‘Less’, you go on a journey around the world while rediscovering what it means to love and be loved

The travelogue bit of the narrative that runs parallel to Less’s reflections on love and relationships make for compelling storytelling. During the various stages of Arthur’s soul-searching journey we also get to meet fascinating new characters. It’s all neatly tied together by a narrator who we know is someone in Arthur’s life but whose identity Greer has you guessing until the very end. With ‘Less’, you go on a journey around the world while rediscovering what it means to love and be loved.

‘Less’ isn’t laugh-out-loud funny but it’s one of the wittiest and smartest novels you will ever read. That we guarantee. Arthur, in his self-deprecating and insecure ways, is a charming character. Greer is a fine writer, a master of words, who is able to keep it fun and poignant at the same time. In an interview, Greer said he had written a book he wanted to, and by doing so has given us a book we have always wanted to read.

Book: Less

Genre: Fiction

Author: Andrew Sean Greer

Published: 2018

Publisher: Le Boudreaux Books

Language: English

Pages: 261, Paperback

 A team of climbers from Nepal, India and China are sched­uled to surmount Mount Everest this climbing season. Their goal will be to plant at the summit the official flag of the ‘Visit Nepal 2020’. The venture is intended to publicize Nepal as a tourism des­tination and entice more tourists from India and China, says industri­alist Suraj Vaidya, the coordinator of Visit Nepal 2020 national campaign. The tri-national team will include Kanchimaya Tamang from Nepal, Kalpana Das from India and Liyamu Ma from China. The campaign for Visit Nepal 2020 officially started on April 14 and the committee under Vaidya has stepped up its marketing and promotion efforts. Working from its office at the old Education Min­istry in Keshar Mahal, the commit­tee will focus on infrastructure and long-term tourism development, Vaidya informs.

Also, targeting the Visit Nepal Year, Nepal is going to sign an aviation agreement with Viet­nam, after which the Gautam Buddha International Airport in Lumbini will be able to receive direct flights from the South East Asian country. The aim is to bring more Buddhist tourists from Vietnam. Efforts are underway to arrange for flights from other countries to fly to the Gautam Buddha Airport as well.

The committee is tying up with Lonely Planet to promote Nepal as a tourist destination

The repair and upgrade of the Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu has been hastened too. Besides, the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal is spending Rs 23 million to upgrade and manage both its termi­nals. CAAN intends to add facilities for the passengers at both arrival and departures, while also adoring the terminals with decorations bearing historic and cultural representations of Nepal.

Tourism investment summit

A tourism investment summit is also on the cards for November 2019, according to Vaidya. In this summit, the organizers will call for invest­ments in the tourism sector. “We will coordinate with all the seven prov­inces to explore the possibility of investments in each province and to develop their tourist destinations,” Vaidya adds.

The committee is tying up with Lonely Planet to promote Nepal as a tourism destination and brand ambassadors for the NTY 2020 have been appointed from differ­ent parts of the world. American body builder Roelly Winklaar, Jap­anese literature Mariko Hayashi, Hong Kong Chef Association founder president Heinz Egli, popular French photographer Eric Vali and climber and activist Johan Ernst Nil­son have been endorsed as brand ambassadors.

Prabal Gurung, one of the most popular fashion designers in the world, has also agreed to hold an international fashion show in Nepal targeting the Visit Nepal 2020.

The Belgian Waffle Co. Nepal 

This international company that has 300 branches worldwide entered Nepal market just a year back. But because of the rich taste of their waffles and affordable price range (Rs 190 to Rs 390), they have already made a name here. Not only do they serve their waffles in Thamel and Durbar Marg in Kathmandu, they also have an outlet in Lakeside, Pokhara. If you want waffles served at your event they will send their catering team, so that you get freshly baked, hot and crispy waffles. If you visit one of their outlets, we recommend you try their signature waffle Rocky Road, which is also their most-loaded waffle with an ice-cream base.

Waffle Love 18

If you are around Basantapur and want a quick bite, go to this place to also satisfy your sweet cravings. Try their King Croffle, Sinful Temptations, Sweetest Revenge or Kitty Katti Crunch which they say taste the best. You can get waffles here for just Rs 200 to Rs 300. Along with a great ambience in the crowded street of Basantapur, you will have friendly staff welcoming you. They also offer wide range of beverages to go with your waffle.

Mike’s Breakfast

This American restaurant in Lazimpat (next to Shankar Hotel) also serves fluffy waffles. The Healthy Waffle here is Rs 425 and served with seasonal fruits and yoghurt on the side. If you are health-conscious and want to have healthy waffles, you might want to try this one. As the name of the place suggests, go for some breakfast there for a good start to your day. The greenery and freshness of this place is sure to energize you.

Chicken Station

Yes, they also serve yummy ‘Great Belgian Waffles’. You can get a variety of mouth-watering waffles for Rs 130 to Rs 320. To cater to the growing demand for waffles, they now serve waffles from their Jhamsikhel, Thamel, Whitehouse, Shankhamul and Chakrapath outlets. If you visit these outlets by May 22, you get a free Belgian waffle for every Hot Wings you buy. So hurry!

World of Waffles

World of Waffles is a quick-service restaurant known among waffle lovers in Nepal and they claim to be the first ones to introduce waffles in Nepal. This dessert outlet has presence in City Center and Labim Mall in Kathmandu, Central Mall in Biratnagar and Mahendrapul in Pokhara. Price here starts from Rs 120, and varies according to the toppings of your choice (They have plenty!). You must try Nutella Nudge when you visit, which is also their best-selling waffle.

Coco Waffle Café

This cozy dessert shop in Bansbari looks straight out of an Instagram feed. The restaurant not only specializes on waffles, they also serve delicious bakery items. Especially their chocolate cupcakes will keep you coming back. Here, you can get waffles, which range from sweet to savory, for Rs 210 to Rs 340. They recommend their Roast Banana waffle with a scoop of ice cream. Give it a shot.