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The year was 2011 and Hemanta Bhandari was a 11th grade student. For school assignment, his English teacher had asked the class to write an essay about Visit Nepal Year 2011. 

In his piece, Bhandari extolled Nepal's mighty mountains, pristine lakes and awe-inspiring nature. Little did he know that one day he would be traveling to the places he had mentioned in his essay.

Bhandari, now 28, is a full-time video content creator and travel vlogger. He visits different parts of Nepal with his team, making informational and entertaining content about places and their journey. The videos are then uploaded on the YouTube channel, ‘Nepal’ 8th wonder of the world. 

“The channel is dedicated to promoting popular as well as hidden beauty spots of Nepal,” says Bhandari.  

Bhandari was born in Pathari Shanischare of Morang district. He grew up watching nature and travel documentaries on the Discovery channel. Though he always had an interest in nature, he says he never thought of becoming a video creator one day. 

In his high school years, he was active on social media. He used to run various Facebook pages that mainly created and posted memes. It was around this time Bhandari also had an idea of starting a page solely dedicated to posting pictures of places of Nepal, clicked by different travelers under the #Nepal8thwonderoftheworld. The page was also called ‘Nepal’ 8th wonder of the world. 

"I remember going to cyber cafes just to upload the pictures of Nepal on the page,” says Bhandari.  “At home, I used a small Nokia phone to post the photos.”

Bhandari was 18 when he moved to Kathmandu. He had no clue what he would do in the capital city. But since he had a deep interest in nature and traveling, he got a job at a travel agency. After working there for a couple of years, he was hired by an advertising agency.  

“At the ad agency, I learned a lot about advertising and sponsorship,” says Bhandari.

In 2018, Bhandari decided to quit his full-time job at the agency and start producing travel videos and post them on YouTube. The project, in a way, was an extension of his Facebook page where he used to post images of Nepal. So he decided to give the same name to his YouTube channel as his Facebook page.  

“I was 24 at the time and I decided to take my chances,” says Bhandari. 

Through Instagram, he reached out to the individuals who could help him create high-quality videos for his channel. He also roped in some sponsors.

“The Nepal Tourism Board and Honda Nepal were my sponsors from day one,” says Bhandari. "I also had connections with different media who agreed to collaborate with my first expedition."

‘Mad honey hunters of Himalayas’ was the first project that Bhandari brought out in collaboration with ‘4 am Productions’. 

The video was a hit and got more than 50,000 views. 

“It was the biggest encouragement I could imagine,” he says. “I realized that what I was doing at the time was completely new. There weren’t many travel vloggers that created high-quality content at the time.”

Buoyed by the response, Bhandari formed a permanent team to create content for his channel. They would bring out a new video every month. At present, there are seven full-time workers working for the channel, which has more than 100,000 subscribers. 

‘Winter in Manang’ is the most viewed video on the channel with almost 1.4m views. The video shows the lifestyle of the people of Manang during the biting winter cold.

“This has become my life, showing people around the world how beautiful Nepal is and how our people live,” says Bhandari. 

It normally takes us 8 to 10 days for the team to shoot one episode. 

Besides posting travel videos on YouTube, Bhandari has also set up a website where he and his team post travel blogs and articles. 

With his travel videos and documentaries, Bhandari says he wants to promote tourism in Nepal. 

“Our plan is to explore unknown places of Nepal and show them to the world,” he says. “I have this deep need for exploration, learning about new places, their people and their culture.”

Dimpal Kumari Jha, former state minister for physical and infrastructure development of Madhes province and provincial assembly member of Loktantrik Samajbadi Party (LSP), passed away on 24 April. She was 42.

Born in Rautahat district, Jha finished her schooling in 1995 from Project Indu Balika High School in Sitamarhi of Bihar, India. She got married to Anil Kumar Jha, a member of the federal parliament of Nepal and prominent LSP leader, the same year. She was 16 at the time.

Jha was interested in social service from a young age, and aspired to bring a positive impact to people’s lives.  After completing her high school, she moved to Kathmandu to pursue an arts degree at Padma Kanya Multiple Campus. She later applied for a course in pharmacy at the Tribhuvan University’s Institute of Medicine (IoM) and got selected. 

That was just the start of her journey into medicine. After graduating from the Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital in 2004, Jha went to Gwalior, India, to study ayurvedic medicine and surgery (Ayurvedacharya) at Jiwaki University. She completed her studies and started practicing at an ayurvedic hospital in Delhi, India. 

But she always wanted to return to Nepal, and she did after a while, whereupon she began practicing at Naradevi Ayurvedic Hospital in Kathmandu. She found happiness in treating the infirm. It was her way of giving back to society. Yet she wanted to do more. As Jha’s parents as well as her husband’s family were involved in politics, she too was interested in politics from a young age. 

In 2013, Jha was appointed a member of the Constituent Assembly member under the proportional representation category, thus becoming part of the constitutional congress that drafted and promulgated the new constitution of Nepal.   

The support system built by her family had encouraged and pushed her into politics, Jha used to say. For her, politics was no more than a larger form of social service.

Jha went on to serve as the state minister of physical planning and infrastructure development of Madhes province from the Rashtriya Janata Party.

As a politician and state minister, she worked for equal representation of women in politics and other sectors. Her friends and relatives say she worked tirelessly to empower women. “Women are gentle, but not weak,” Jha used to say. 

Unfortunately, her political career came to a halt after she was diagnosed with cancer two years ago. She passed away early morning on April 24 at her home in Ranibari, Kathmandu. Her body was taken to her family home in Rautahat for cremation.

Born: 12 July 1979, Rautahat 

Death: 24 April 2022, Kathmandu

Nepal is still largely a cash-based country. But this is gradually changing with the advent of technology and several digital payment platforms. More than 14mn Nepalis use mobile banking platforms, according to a report published by the Nepal Rastra Bank in June of 2021. It was a 26 percent increase within one year. 

Digipay is one of the emerging digital wallet and an e-commerce application that aims to gain a large and wide client base in the coming years. The app allows you to do everything a mobile banking app does, from online transactions to utility bill payment, while also allowing you to shop online. But it has one unique and innovative feature that other digital payment apps do not. It also allows cash payments while giving amazing cashback offers, and it is the first in the world to do so. Priyanjali Karn of ApEx talked to Diwakar Pandey, chairman of Digipay, to learn about the Digipay ecosystem and the Digipay franchise. 

How is Digipay transaction process different from other digital wallets? 

Digipay includes three mediums of pricing. The first one is the Nepal Rastra Bank cash, which we already use. Then there is ‘gold cash’, also known as loyalty points. Once you download the app, it automatically rewards you with a 100 gold cash, or loyalty points. The value of loyalty points vary with every merchant. 

As a Digipay client, you can purchase items from stores that accept digipay in normal cash, gold cash, and even a combination of the two cash, that is also the third medium of pricing. The application shows all the stores that accept Digipay in the Digipay map.

In the market, a seller is looking for profit in every sale, and a buyer is looking for a benefit in every purchase. This app gives them just that.

For example, let's say Arjun wants to make a purchase using digipay. Once he downloads the application, he gets a 100 gold cash reward. Once he loads normal cash in the digital wallet, now he can purchase an item using either or both types of cash. Digipay merchants put out their products and their price in both types of cash, for instance, a purse being sold by a particular merchant may cost Rs 250 or 25 gold cash or it may cost Rs 150 and 10 gold cash. For this merchant’s product, the value of one gold cash is equivalent to Rs 10.

Now Arjun has a nice offer that helps him save a certain amount and benefit from the gold cash. With the products, merchants also offer a certain number of gold cash as cash back when you make a purchase. For instance, with the purse, Arjun receives two gold cash as cashback.

Where does the gold cash come from, for a digipay merchant and also for a client?

In case of a Digipay merchant, once you sign up to sell your products through the app, you have to give a certain percentage of service charge to the Digipay system, from where the gold cash is acquired. Therefore, the system is mining gold cash everytime there's a transaction between a client and a merchant.

Being a digital payment platform, how does it accept cash? 

Stores that accept Digipay also accept cash. Arjun can make a payment either by paying online through the amount he has in his digital wallet. Or, he can simply pay cash and ask the cashier to put it into his account records. Now even if he paid physical cash, he still gets the gold cash as a reward, that he can utilize in future payments in the Digipay network. Thus, creating a Digipay ecosystem.

How does this help digital payment?

It is designed in such a way that even clients who aren’t familiar with digital transactions can make Digipay payments and benefit from the loyalty points. It is a gradual process of educating the remaining population with the growing technology in a way that they understand. 

Anyone can use Digipay, even someone who doesn't own a phone can make a Digipay cash purchase from a family member's account, and they gain loyalty points. 

What are the aims of Digipay?

Nepal is a third-world country, but technology-wise, we aren’t less than the first-world countries. True, we are still dependent on cash and cards, even when almost every Nepalis have a smart phone in their hands. 

With the Digipay franchise, also called local business partnership, we are trying to reach every phone and access more clients and merchants who can benefit from the application. It is one of the most offer-oriented digital payment platforms that cater for that benefit. 

At present, one franchise is making a minimum of Rs 400,000 to Rs 500,000 a month with Digipay. We aim to make our service reachable to people from all around the country by acquiring merchants and spreading the business. 

Indumati Kedia, a doting matriarch of the Kedia family, passed away on April 3 aged 82.

Born in Samastipur of India’s Bihar state, Indumati grew up in a large household as its eldest daughter. At just 14, she was married to Shankar Lal Kedia of the Kedia Group, one of Nepal’s oldest and most prominent industrialist families. 

The Kedia family had first come to Birgunj, Nepal, from western India as cloth merchants. 

Indumati and Shankar Lal had three sons and three daughters.

As the eldest daughter-in-law, Indumati took on the responsibility of taking care of the family. And this, she did with utmost love and compassion, according to family members. 

Her son Anil Kedia remembers his mother as a warm and affectionate person who showered unconditional love on him, his siblings and cousins.

The Kedia family moved to Kathmandu in the early 1980s. Over the years, the Kedias became a powerhouse family, expanding their business in a wide range of fields like fabrics, carpets, food grains, metals and minerals. All the while Indumati was an important pillar of the family, even more after her husband Shankar Lal died aged 68 in January 2005. 

Besides starting various business ventures, Shankar Lal was also involved in social works. He founded Nepal’s Vishwa Hindu Mahasangh and DAV School in Lalitpur in 1992, of which his son Anil is the current chairman. 

Like his father, Anil says, his mother also deeply believed in social services. She was full of empathy “with no selfish bone in her”, and did everything in her capacity to help those in need.

Indumati was spry and active despite her old age. She kept herself busy, be it in household work or in social causes. Every day, she used to visit temples and practice meditation.

She was especially fond of knitting and used to make sweaters, socks and gloves for her children and grandchildren.  

Family members say she showed no sign of grave illness and looked hale and hearty just minutes before her sudden demise. 

She is survived by her two sons, three daughters and an extensive family. 

Birth: 28 November 1939, Bihar

Death: 3 April 2022, Kathmandu

Manu Karki was in Taiwan where she discovered her friends leading a zero-waste lifestyle. When she returned home, she too decided to adopt an environmentally sustainable way of living.

“I was inspired by how my friends gave thought to their every step so as not to harm the environment,” she shares, "they were all about minimizing damage to the environment.”

Karki, who is a dentist by profession, wanted to document her journey of eco-conscious lifestyle on her social media and share it with others. But she was surprised when she found out there weren’t many places to shop for eco-friendly products in Nepal.

“I searched on the internet until I finally found a place that sold bamboo toothbrushes. I received my package after a month, and quite ironically, it was wrapped in plastic bubble wrap,” she says. 

How can one be expected to lead an eco-conscious life when you can’t easily find sustainable products in the market Karki thought at the time. That was when she came up with the idea of Eco Sathi Nepal, an online platform selling environmentally-friendly products. 

Karki already had a job as a dentist, but she wanted to do something that contributed to the environment. She started researching the market for eco-friendly products and branding. 

She found a clear gap in the market. The year was 2019 and there weren’t many brands that sold eco-friendly products. The existing ones weren’t a hundred percent sustainable, nor were they easily available.

Karki launched Eco Sathi Nepal as a lifestyle brand that offers eco-friendly alternatives to everyday products, from bamboo toothbrushes, hair combs, and hairbrushes, to tote bags. While making plastic-free options easily available, affordable, and easily accessible, the company also spreads knowledge and awareness about how one can live a zero-waste lifestyle. 

The company sells its products through its website and Instagram page. 

“Our lifestyle is destroying the environment. While we are fortunate enough to see the beauty of nature, our children may not be that fortunate,” Karki says. 

She wants others to realize the importance of eco-conscious living. 

Eco Sathi Nepal is committed to supporting locally-made products and working with local vendors. But some of the products have to be imported. For instance, bamboo toothbrushes and hairbrushes are imported, as they are not manufactured within the country. 

“We wanted bamboo specifically, as they are wonderful sustainable options. They don’t take too long to grow and the use of bamboo products also helps the forest,” says Karki.

The company researches and reviews the products before putting them out for sale to maintain quality. For instance, Karki, as a dentist, knows the specifications of a good toothbrush. She says the toothbrushes sold by her company are also approved by other dentists. 

“Yes, it takes time to approve a new product, but we don’t want to compromise on the quality,” says Karki. “We also make sure that the products are affordable to an average Nepali.”

Eco Sathi was never started with the intention of profit-making. Karki already had a full-time job as a dentist. For her, she says, there was no need to start a business to make money.

“This is my passion project, to fill the need of the people for a sustainable future,” she says. 

The main goal of the company is to build a platform for all Nepalis who choose and are encouraging others to choose plastic-free alternatives in their homes. 

“If one person buys a bamboo toothbrush, then at least four of their family members will see and want to switch as well,” Karki says. 

Eco Sathi Nepal also supports other brands that are taking a step to protect the environment. 

“Watching people choose eco-friendly alternatives is our biggest achievement,” says Karki. “Some of our customers share suggestions of how we can upscale our products. It shows that there are people who are taking the step to decrease the harm to nature.”

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ecosathi_nepal/

Nepali peacekeeper Anil Gurung died in a militia raid in the Democratic Republic of Congo on April 5. The 32-year-old Nepal Army private was serving with the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the DR Congo (MONUSCO).

Gurung was born in Gurbhakot Municipality of Surkhet district. When he was 14, he was abducted by the then Maoists and conscripted into the rebel force. When he finally managed to return home, Gurung’s father took him to Kathmandu.

In 2009, Gurung joined the army at the age of 20, and married a year later. 

For several years Gurung served in the army’s Krishna Dal Battalion in Itahari, Sunsari before arriving in Kathmandu in 2021 to participate in peacekeeping training.

He passed the training and was deployed as a UN peacekeeper to the conflict-ridden DR Congo in December 2021.

On April 5, the UN blue helmets came under attack from the militia group Coopérative pour le dévelopement du Congo (CODECO), at Bali of Djugu territory in Ituri province.

Gurung, who was gravely injured in combat, was airlifted to a UN hospital. He died in the course of treatment.  A military ceremony was held at MONUSCO camp to honor Private Gurung, who was remembered as a man “dedicated to the duty, proud to carry the flag of his country”. 

MONUSCO force commander General Marcos De Sá Affonso Da Costa described Gurung as a hero who sacrificed his life for peace in DR Congo.

“With such a heaviest price paid, Private Anil Gurung has honored his country, his family, and the Nepali armed forces,” he said. 

General Johnny N. Luboya, Ituri provincial military governor, said Gurung’s death was not in vain but “a sacrifice for peace to return to Ituri and to Congo.” 

Similarly, Captain Salima Ghale of MONUSCO’s Nepali contingent said Gurung’s death is not only a great loss for Nepal Army but also for the whole peacekeeping force in DR Congo.

“His sacrifice for the noble cause of peace will be ever remembered. The precious life we ​​have lost is a continuation of the glorious history of the United Nations, of the tremendous efforts and sacrifices made for humanity,” added Ghale.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres expressed his condolences to Gurung’s family, as well as to the government and people of Nepal. 

Gurung’s body was brought to Nepal on April 12, and the Nepal Army held a tribute ceremony in Shree Birendra Hospital, Chhauni on April 13.

He is survived by his wife and their nine-year-old son.

Birth: 1990, Gurbhakot, Surkhet
Death: 5 April 2022, Bali, DR Congo

Juggling between signing papers and answering rushed phone calls, Tilak Bahadur Khadka, chief tax officer of the Inland Revenue Department, was already deep in his daily work as I entered his office on a recent morning. 

He set aside the files on his table for the interview, but every now and then our conversation would be interrupted by phone calls. It’s a busy job being a tax officer.   

Khadka has been working in the sector of civil service for more than 20 years now. “All my life, I have taught myself to figure things out as I go along, and I've never looked back and regretted my decisions,” he says. 

Khadka was born and raised in a simple family in western Rukum. He passed the school leaving certificate (SLC) test in 1988, securing the highest percentage in his district. In his heart, he wanted to study science and become an engineer or a doctor. But things didn’t pan out according to his plan.

After passing the SLC exams, Khadka got a job offer to teach Maths, Science, and English at a local secondary school. To his surprise, he found the teaching process enjoyable. He even managed to offer private tuition to the students. He did his Bachelor’s in Education from Rukum, majoring in mathematics. 

“Back then everybody studied for Public Service Commission exams to land a government job. Although I genuinely enjoyed teaching, I also prepared for commission’s exams because everyone around me was doing it,” Khadka says. 

He passed the tests and came to Kathmandu, where he enrolled for a Master's degree in Public Administration. And when the time came to sit for the Staff Selection Commission Combined Graduate Level (SSC CGL) exams, he couldn’t decide whether he wanted to go to the department of administration or revenue. Khadka gave the test for both departments and passed both of them. 

Khadka passed the interview for the revenue department, thus beginning his career. "I did better in revenue exams, and so I felt confident in pursuing in the field," he says. 

He started as a non-gazetted second-class officer in Achham district in November 2002.

Khadka has been working in the Inland Revenue Department, Koteshwor branch, Kathmandu, since 19 October 2020. Before that, he used to work for the then Province 5 Ministry of Economic Affairs and Planning in Butwal, now Lumbini Province.

Khadka says though there are endless ups, downs, and overtimes in his line of work, he has also learned a lot over the years. 

“I honestly have no complaints,” he says. “My favorite part of this job is the thought of how my contributions here add to the economy of the country.” 

Khadka’s work sometimes demands extra working hours, which encroaches upon his private life. But he says he has grown to enjoy his work. “This has become my life at this point,” he laughs stacking files on his desk. 

Khadka and his colleagues are normally swamped with work during the tax season. He says things could be much simpler if people and businesses paid their taxes regularly and on time.  

“Paying taxes on time is one’s responsibility, not something they are forced to do,” he says.

The traditional gender norms never made sense to Himshikha Golchha.

The so-called feminine things like having long hair, dressing up in pink and wearing makeup have always been against the spirit of this aspiring filmmaker.

Growing up, Golchha had a tomboyish personality, had guys for friends and related more to them than girls.

“So coming out was a liberating experience for me,” says the 25-year-old, who identifies as non-binary and prefers the “they” pronoun.  

“Accepting myself for who I am also helped my creativity.”

Golchha was born in Mumbai, India, and grew up in Kathmandu. Growing up, they say, gender dysphoria was very difficult, because the Nepali society at the time was not as accepting of the LGBTQIA+ people as it is now.

“I was looked down upon because I didn’t fit in the traditional gender role. It made me question myself and my sexuality,” they say.

The young Golchha found escape in movies, particularly Bollywood flicks. For them, movies were someone’s imagination brought to life—they were everything real life wasn’t, where one could become anything they wanted.

“I wanted to make a Bollywood film of my own,” they share. “Making films would allow me to shape the world I envisioned. I would have control”

Golchha used to make films with their cousins at home for fun. Despite being born in a family with a business background, they dreamt of becoming a filmmaker.

Golchha’s mother was from Mumbai, home to Bollywood movies, where they would visit often to meet their maternal grandparents. The experience of staying in the Bollywood city also had a significant impact on Golchha.

Actor Preity Zinta was Golchha’s biggest inspiration. Golchha attended St. Xavier’s School in Jawalakhel and The British School in Sanepa before moving to India for higher studies. In India, they studied Business and Film and then moved to London. After a yearlong stay in London, Golchha again moved to the US to study BBA.   

It was while studying in the US where they transitioned to a non-binary gender identity.

“I knew that I didn’t want to fit into any binary gender labels,” says Golchha about their decision to come out at the age of 19. “And it was easier to come out in the US, more than it would have been in Nepal.”

It was a turning point in Golchha’s life. They embraced their true personality, quirks and weirdness. And this offered them the creative freedom they had always longed for. 

Golchha dropped out of college two months shy of graduation, because they had found a purpose in life.

“I knew what I wanted to do in my life, which was to work in films and further the causes of LGBTQIA+ through art form,” they say.

Golchha passed up on the opportunity to settle in the US and decided to return to Nepal. At home, as a sexual minority, they had a battle in the waiting—a battle to win acceptance of the society. They knew very well that they could be tutted and taunted, but that didn’t discourage them the slightest.

Golchha had learned to accept themself and could tune out the criticisms thrown out in their way. They would not be distracted.

“I didn’t want to give myself a chance to get distracted by what people thought of me,” they share. 

Soon after returning home, Golchha kept themself busy. They started working at their father’s company, Neoteric, as the business development manager of Neo store that sells phones and laptops online. They also worked in Neosphere, an e-learning educational institute, for a couple of months. 

But the passion for filmmaking remain undiminished in Golchha’s heart. In 2021, they founded Moonstone Production, a film production company that would allow them to realize their dream of telling stories in music and visual art form. Already, Moonstone has brought out 15 music videos of which Golchha is very proud.

“‘Ma Esto Movie Banauchu’ and ‘Adhuro Rahar’ are two of my works that are closest to my heart,” they say.

At the present, Golchha and their production are trying to experiment in film forms to tell compelling stories. They also plan to make feature length films, possibly under Bollywood’s banner, in the future.

They also want to empower the LGBTQIA+ people and promote their causes through films or any other art forms and activism.

Despite prevalent discrimination and bullying against sexual minorities, Golchha seems headstrong and driven toward their goals.

“It takes so much to not listen to others and focus on my goals,” they say. “I have to be strong.”