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The Republic Monument, being built on the eastern side of Narayanhiti Palace in Kathmandu, was supposed to be up and running by December 2016. Yet the project initiated in December 2012 by the then Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai is still in limbo.

The Republic Monument is a circular metal structure supported by four stone pillars, each 4.7 meters in height. At the center of the circular structure atop the pillars is a map of Nepal. The four stone pillars are dedicated to those who sacrificed their lives, or sustained injuries, during the 2006 ‘people’s movement’ that ultimately removed monarchy and heralded a republic. Accompanying the monument is a mega hall to accommodate up to 300 people and which will be used during various commemorative functions.

Being built by the Department of Urban Development and Building Construction under the Ministry of Physical Planning and Works, construction had first come to a halt in 2015 due to the shortage of building material during the earthquake and the subsequent blockade. After that, construction resumed and the department promised everything would be ready by the Republic Day on May 28, 2017. Yet it is still incomplete.

In 2015, the department had reported that “80 percent work” had been done. By 2017, “85 percent” had been completed. Now, says handra Shekhar Mahto, an engineer with the department, “95 percent” is complete. “We are in the final phase. Work on the main building and garden landscaping is finished. We are now giving final touches,” he says. 

Macha Kaji Maharjan, senior division engineer at the department, says, “Now we are in the process of handing over the monument to the government. As we have to work with different government bodies, we cannot say for certain when it will be open for the public.”

 Mahto reveals that the monument is spread over 191,660 square feet of land and till now Rs 420 million has already been spent on it. “We need another five million to complete the whole thing,” he says.

Maharjan says that after the monument is complete the government is thinking about revising the fee structure for entering the

 Narayanhiti Palace. The joint entry ticket would then allow visitors a tour of both the Narayanhiti Palace as well as the Republic Monument. Mahto informs that as the Republic Monument was conceived of as a quiet place, there will be no eateries or curio shops around.

What happens when the monument is handed over to the government? “We are still in the process of deciding who will look after it after the handover,” Maharjan informs.

Mha pooja, literally translated as self-wor­ship in Newari, marks the beginning of the Newari calendar (Nepal Sambat). Praying for an auspicious year ahead, mem­bers of the Newari community worship differ­ent parts of their own bodies on this day. This annual ritual, marked to celebrate one’s existence, is believed to ‘cleanse and empower the soul’. Mha pooja is performed when the moon rises on the fourth night of Tihar. Moti Raj Bajra­charya, Chakreshwor (high priest) of Raj Kriti Mahabihar and a guruju (one with great knowledge on Newari poo­jas), informs that it is done at night because “this is when the Newari New Year begins”.

Mandala, a sand-painting with powdered limestone, is an important part of Mha pooja. To make the mandala, a small circle is drawn with mus­tard oil at the center of the floor. This is surrounded by concentric rings marked with red rice, black lentils, black soybean, unhusked rice, puffed rice and mari­gold flowers. Bajracharya says that as our body is made of pancha-tatwa (‘five elements’), the man­dala also has five rings to rep­resent the self. The items used to make the mandala might differ according to differing family traditions and castes. The total number of mandalas depends on the number of family members. Plus there are three extra mandalas. The extra one at the top of the line is for the ‘House-God’. Then comes one each for the family members while the two at the end are for Jamaraj and Yamaraj, the envoys of death.

Bajracharya informs that the pooja and rituals are performed by the eldest woman in the family. A variety of nuts, fruits and sweets are offered to every person, with a wish for a fruitful and resourceful year. Tahsi (citron) and walnut are a must for the pooja. They are kept in front of the mandalas. ‘Shagun’—consisting of fish, eggs, meat, curd, and aila (homemade alcohol)—should be consumed before the wicks burned at the start of the pooja go out. Even children as young as a year old need to drink a little aila for the ritual to be complete. Once you sit at the mandala, you are not allowed to get up until the rituals are complete.

“I have been doing Mha pooja since I was a child. Now I am the eldest in the family. I try to recreate whatever I remember,” says Shanti Sayami, 72, a resident of Bafal, Kathmandu. As she is now old and as she also knows relatives who have stopped doing Mha pooja, she has also simpli­fied things. “It has been three years that we have done Mha pooja without man­dalas. When I was a child, my parents used to tell me that Jamaraj comes at night to inspect if we have done Mha pooja. So after eating, we left the mandalas and the dishes overnight without cleaning them. Only the next morn­ing, we cleaned everything,” she says.

As Sayami is the oldest in the family, she says she has to do the poojas and manage everything required to make mandalas now. “When I proposed we stop doing it three years back, my daughter suggested we at least do something on this day.” So now the family only does Sukunda (oil lamp) pooja, put rice tika on the forehead, and each person takes shagun. “I really don't know if my grand­children will continue with Mha Pooja in the future”, she says.

Bajracharya says the rituals have to be done in a particular way but different castes of the Newar community do it differently, as per their convenience. Newars who go abroad or move out of their family may not even con­tinue doing Mha pooja.

During Mha Pooja, Newars also wor­ship inanimate objects like broomstick, karuwa (a utensil designed to hold water) and nanglo. Bajracharya says that as these things help us we also need to show our respect towards them.

Sabina Maharjan, 28, is excited over the arrival of her favorite festi­val: Tihar. She says that it’s her favor­ite because Mha pooja is done during this time. “It is a chance for the entire family to get together. The process of making mandalas, its col­ors, the bright lights and the food are the things I look forward to,” she says.

As the poojas are done, start­ing with the eldest member of the family, Maharjan says she, as the youngest member of the family, patiently waits for her turn. “The process of doing pooja is long. My mother does the pooja and I try to learn by looking at her. I make mistakes even when she teaches me personally. The entire family laughs. The vibe of Mha pooja is so warm,” says Maharjan.

Mha Pooja falls on November 8 this year.

It takes a lot for a small business like Kasthamandap Bhandar in Maru Chowk to be continuously in opera­tion for nearly 60 years. This Maari Pasal that sells Nepali and Newari sweets bustles with customers in the morning. The smell of warm sel roti (traditional sweet, ring-shaped bread) greets you as you enter. “This is our fam­ily business, which used to be run by our grandfather,” says Gambir Rajkarnikar, the current proprietor. “Though we sell many kinds of sweets, our focus is on sel and malpuwa.” Their sel is so popular that people from as far as Dakshinkali and Thankot come to get them.

“Usually, we prepare sel using mainly wheat and rice flour, from 6:30 am to 10 am in the morning,” he says. The great­er availability of new products in the market such as cookies and biscuits has hampered the sales of traditional food like sel, malpuwa and gwaramari (round bread). “Not so much though,” informs Rajkarnikar. “Because sel is a cultural food, its value is intact,” he asserts. Especially during the Newari Mha Pooja, sales are high as its use is mandatory for making mandaps. Also, those who visit different homes singing Deusi and Bhailo during Tihar are traditionally greeted with sel, sweets and money.

With Tihar approaching, business is in full swing. “Compared to other times, the sales of sel increases by 60-70 percent during Tihar. We are planning to make sel from around 6 am to 5 pm, every day, during the festival. We want it to be fresh and because we never keep stock, we need to keep making it round the clock,” he informs. Sel costs Rs 10 apiece at the store but during Tihar, they increase its size and sell it at Rs 20-Rs 40. “We can make sel as big as the customers want,” Rajkarnikar says.

Many people used to make sel at home. But they have perhaps realized, he says, that the time and money involved in making it is just not worth it and so they prefer to purchase. “But in some houses, they still make sel at home as they want it to be ‘pure’ for pooja,” he reveals.

The market of sweets in Kathmandu is changing. A lot of people have entered this business and sel is now even sold commercially in department stores such as Bhat-Bhateni. “We are not competing against other similar businesses though,” Rajkarnikar adds. “We focus on our own product. People know they can have freshly prepared sel here so sales remain robust.”

 Conversations about sexual and reproductive health is still awkward between Nepali parents and children even, in Kath­mandu. There have been tradition­al methods of information dissem­ination through television, radio, flyers, booklets and pamphlets. However, with the advent of mobile phones and social media, one of the modern ways to get correct information about sex and repro­ductive health could be through mobile applications. “Mero Lagi”, translated as “For Me” in English, is one such android mobile app that aims to provide a platform to receive and share information anonymously on sexual and repro­ductive health.

 One of the app developers Anuroop Manandhar says that apps are a better way for such informa­tion dissemination as information can be regularly updated and new information added easily. Though there already are health-related apps for physical activities and on menstrual calendars, apps on sexual and reproductive health are limited on a global level. Manand­har reasons that new technology has not been fully utilized because of “lack of understanding among health professionals and health policy makers about the tech­nology. Only IT engineers can­not make health related apps as they will not have enough knowledge on health issues.” Another reason is “slow accep­tance of technology by health professionals”.

Such apps are more required now since youth population in Nepal are having more ‘unsafe sex,’ sex without condoms and drinking before sex according to the study named “Premarital Sex Behaviors among College Youths of Kathmandu, Nepal” done in 2013. This study also found that one-fifth of college youth had premarital sex. So, information about correct sexual and reproductive health and consent while engaging in sex is paramount.

The developers wanted to create an app which provided information to youth and adolescents. So, with the support from the department of health services, this app was devel­oped by a team of medical and public health experts from Public Health Concern Trust- Nepal (phect-NEPAL). The developers also worked closely with team of John Hopkins University and NHEICC (Nepal Heath Education Information and Communication Center)

.

Though this app was initial­ly intended for people between 15-24, Manandhar reveals they have received queries from married and old people too, making them real­ize that such an app is actually required for people of all ages. Launched in March 2017, this app is available in both English and Nepali. It features quizzes, myth-busters, stories corner, health center information, scientific links and informa­tion about relationships, contraceptives and sexu­ally-transmitted diseases among others.

Even though updates have been made to the app many times since its launch, there are still things that developers think would help make the app better. Rolina Dhital, who had worked as a consultant for app development on behalf of phect-NEPAL and is one of the architects of the app, says that the contents of the app can be accessed online only and sugges­tions to have access to them offline have been made by users. They have also not been able to answer the questions in the app recently due to limited human resources. But they plan to upgrade the app and keep addressing questions despite the challenges. Manandhar adds that to address these prob­lems, support from government, donors, health policy makers and health professionals is required.

He notes that not only people from urban centers but also from rural areas should be able to access services from such apps. Dhital acknowledges that more quizzes, myth-busters and updated infor­mation is required as suggested by many of its users. “We have not been able to keep up with the new updates so that needs to be improved,” she says. She also reveals that when the app was being developed, other organiza­tions such as United Nations Popu­lation Fund and GIZ had developed an app called “Khulduli” address­ing the same issue. She hopes that more such apps come up the com­ing days.

As this app had been developed through a grant and thus, could not be commercialized, she hopes that “up-coming entrepreneurs devel­op similar apps with the option of monetization so that the app is self-sustainable.” She emphasizes that the target population must be kept in mind while developing such apps.

Bangladesh is a Muslim-majority country of 163 million people with only small pockets of Hin­du communities, comprising around 14 percent of the population. Hin­du-Muslim relations are generally good in Bangladesh and during my five years there, I felt right at home, even during Dashain. Planting jamara in my Asian Uni­versity for Women (AUW) hostel, getting tika from my professors and seniors instead of my grandmother, playing cards with my friends instead of my cousins, and eating Nepali food cooked with friends instead of with my family—there were some variations, but we tried to celebrate the festival pretty much as we would back in Nepal.

We did not get long holidays for Dashain but on the night of Dashami Nepali students gathered and played the Mangal Dhun, sang Nepali songs, and danced and played cards. Some even cried as they missed Nepal. There were students who felt lonely during Dashain, especially those celebrating it for the first time away from their families.

Hundreds of Nepali students will celebrate their Dashain in Bangla­desh this year as well. Currently, around 400 Nepali students are studying medicine in Bangladesh. The number of Nepali students in other technical subjects has been increasing as well. Besides them, there are around 10,000 permanent­ly settled Nepalis in the country.

“This is going to be my first Dashain away from family”, says Archana Suwal, 20, a current stu­dent in AUW Chittagong. “But I am not sad as I have found many senior Nepali sisters to celebrate Dashain with.” Sanjay Karki, 25, who studied MBBS in Bangladesh and is now working in Maldives, says that he gets excited when he remembers Dashain celebrations in Bangladesh.

“During Dashain, we used to gaze out at the flock of Hindus going for Durga Puja at a nearby temple from our rented apartment in Zam Zam building [in Chittagong]. We Nepalis too formed a group to go visit local temples,” Karki says. Reminisc­ing the moments spent celebrat­ing Dashain with his Bangladeshi friends, he says, “Despite being a Muslim country, Bangladesh knows how to respect and value other reli­gions. I am thankful to my Bengali friends for being there for us.”

There are also working profes­sionals who feel right at home in Bangladesh. One of them is Biswas Kafle, 32, a tour operator who has been staying in Bangladeshi capital of Dhaka for the past one decade. “I visit Shakti Peeths and go to Durga Pujas organized by Hindus in Ban­gladesh. In my view, the Hindus here feel a little dominated by Muslims so when we foreigners visit the temples and meet the local Hindus, they feel good and proud to be a part of the bigger Hindu community.”

When asked if he misses Dashain celebrations in Nepal, he answers “Not really!” as he frequently visits Nepal. “For last Dashain celebra­tions, I along with some other Nepali students in Dhaka had reserved a whole ship for a DJ party.”

But alcohol was not a part of the party. The absurdly high tax, as high as 605 per cent, and Islam’s ban on alcohol makes it hard to get in Ban­gladesh, even for foreigners. Howev­er, most Nepalis in Bangladesh that APEX talked to seemed to have no problem celebrating without it.

You cannot experience in Ban­gladesh the kind of Dashain vibe that sweeps Nepal this time of the year. There are no swings or kites in the sky. But Nepalis, who have been staying in Bangladesh for some time, have found a way to connect with their Nepali roots during this festival: dancing to the rhythm of Sugam Pokharel’s “Dashain Tihar” and cooking masu bhat and tarkari.

How did you become a Nepal Idol judge? And how has the experience been so far?

To be able to do this show at this point of my career is a huge opportunity for me. It’s fun and tough at the same time. But if the thing you do is not challenging, you can­not grow as a person. When I was first offered this posi­tion, I was surprised and doubted myself. But with a little encouragement from the Nepal Idol team, I was able to pull it off.

I also like being in the show because I know the life of a reality show participant. I was myself a participant in ‘Nepali Tara’, which had a similar format. I try to encourage the partici­pants because I have been in their shoes.

Talking about my fellow judges, the kind of com­patibility we have contrib­utes to our success. We meet almost every day and have become the best of friends.

Do you think you’ve changed as a person after constantly being in the public eye?

I am an introvert. This fraternity has groomed me as a singer and also as a person. I was the kind of person who was okay with being dominated by others. I used to walk with my head bowed. Now I can address thousands of people at a time. The larger the crowd, the higher my energy.

How is the Nepali music industry treat­ing you?

Can’t complain! I have got more than I asked for. I am friendly and easy to work with. I have seen many peo­ple who are talented but are not compati­ble with other people. They have their own issues. I think I am an average singer but I still have many shows and singing opportunities lined up. Attitude matters a lot in this industry.

Do you like being referred to as the ‘Nepali Shakira’?

I used to do a lot of dancing, especially with undulated, accessorized hips, early in my career. The audience got excited and so did I. But then, people started calling me “Nepali Shakira” which made me question my identity as an original singer. I felt it was overshadowing my image for which I had worked so hard. I am now more aware of hav­ing my own signature moves when I’m performing.

What would you say to those who can sing well but are scared to audition for a show like Nepal Idol?

Maybe they are good sing­ers but do not want to pursue singing as a career. Because I believe that if you are pas­sionate enough, nothing is going to stop you. So if someone is skeptical about winning, losing or not confident enough for even trying, they may be lacking passion.

See, singing is for everybody. But if you want to pursue it as a career, you have to fight for it. You can release an album, but there is no certainty that it will be a hit. If you do not want to audition in competitions, you can examine yourself in other ways too. The platforms might be dif­ferent but you have to find your comfort zone and work on your dreams.

It is a free country!

Did you fear failure when you were taking part in competitions?

I never did. I just wanted to give it a shot. When I was selected for Nepali Tara in 2005, I was elated. There were around 250 partici­pants in the hall when I auditioned. When I looked around, some were playing guitar, some were warming up to sing. It was intimidating. But I was selected as the top female singer of that show. It was quite an achievement for me at that age.

You must have many fans. Any fan-moment that you’d like to share with us?

There is a truck that runs in Biratnagar route and I am painted all over it. Every time I got to eastern Nepal for my shows, I see that truck parked around the venue. My heart brims with joy to get such love. 

Kathmandu is clean again—till the time it is not. After yet another agreement with the locals of Sisdol in Nuwakot district, the old dumping site on the outskirts of the valley, garbage that had been piling by the roadsides is being picked up again. But for how long? Sisdol landfill site is nearly full. But its alternative, Banchare Danda, also in Nuwakot, is not ready yet. Besides, the locals of Banchare Danda, just like those of Sisdol, are loath to voluntarily turn their village into a stinking waste dump.

When Banchare Danda is finally deemed ready, expect more of the never-ending series of protests and agreements, often broken, with the government. So some weeks, garbage will be collected from our homes and communities and some weeks they won’t.

But is there no sustainable and reliable solution to Kathmandu’s waste problem? There are a few hopeful options (See main story, Page 7). If the waste can be segregated at the source, at least some of it can be recycled. The rest can be hygienically incinerated or pulverized before being taken to the landfill, a waste-reduction method the Japanese capital of Tokyo has long employed. A Nepali company is now pioneering the use of waste plastic to pave roads. Others are making handicrafts from waste material.

If garbage can be seen more as a resource, as some suggest, then perhaps the public can even be paid to segregate the recyclable bits. Only such radical departures from our current ways will solve the valley’s waste problem once and for all. 

‘Where do they transfer the entire city’s garbage?’ ‘How is there not a speck of dust anywhere?’ This corre­spondent repeatedly caught her­self wondering on a recent visit to Tokyo. Public bathrooms there were spotless, roads super-clean, and it seemed even the gardens did not have any dust or dirt. For someone from Kathmandu, the level of clean­liness was surreal.

While there, I started becoming conscious of the waste that I was throwing away. After eating chips or chocolates, I would keep the wrappers in my pocket so that I could toss them into the nearest dustbin. The clean environment also got me thinking. Above all, I wanted to know how Tokyo dis­posed of its garbage.

I later found out that just like Kath­mandu, the Japanese capital too relies on landfill sites. But there is a crucial difference. For instance, in Tokyo, untreated waste is not direct­ly dumped at the landfill. In the first step, every household is required by law to segregate the material that can be recycled (around 21 per­cent). After this, the waste material that can be safely burned is turned into ash, what cannot be burned is pulverized. The mixture of the two is then taken to the landfill and covered by soil, causing minimal ecological damage.

Kathmandu, meanwhile, dumps all the untreated trash directly onto the dumping sites. “It seems the Kathmandu Metropolitan City is solely focused on dumping the waste without any concern for recycling and other healthy disposal alterna­tives,” says Shobha Manandhar, a veteran environmental journalist.

Axe now falls on Banchare?

Back in 2005 the metropolitan had signed a three-year contract to throw the valley’s waste at Sis­dol of Nuwakot district. It has now been 13 years and the KMC con­tinues to use the same land­fill. Only now is Banchare Danda, also in Nuwakot, being explored as an alternative.

According to Hari Bahadur Kun­war, the chief of the Environmental Management Division of KMC, as people from all across the country flock to Kathmandu and as most of the valley is unplanned, it is only natural that there is a problem with managing the sheer volume of the waste. Since Sisdol landfill is now packed in the immediate future, Kunwar adds, there is no alternative to finding another “suitable venue” like Banchare Danda.

The locals of Banchare Danda are not happy. “The government’s promises of development in the area and job opportunities for the locals do not cut ice with them,” says Manandhar.

Kunwar complains that even though everyone generates waste, no one wants to see it dumped any­where near them. For instance the metropolitan is now thinking of patrolling the road from Kalima­ti to Balkhu at night after receiving repeated complaints that some in the area are sneaking out to dump waste in another neighborhood.

In many countries, people are required to segregate waste, and waste management technology has improved so much that the trash these days is seen more as a resource than a burden. Sweden’s recycling program is so efficient that the country often runs out of trash. They even have to import garbage from abroad to keep their facilities humming. Among other things, the waste, after its controlled burning, is used to heat people’s homes via the National Heating Network.

Manandhar says that rather than thinking about managing waste, a better idea is to reduce it at the source. Kunwar agrees that most important actors in waste manage­ment are the citizens who generate it. “80 percent of the waste does not need to be picked up from house­holds because they are either recy­clable or degradable,” he says. But although the gov­ernment has run several awareness campaigns in this regard, there has not been much headway.

But can’t folks be asked to segregate waste so that at least the recyclable stuff can be reused? Kunwar says the municipality right now does not have the req­uisite technology for recy­cling. “That doesn’t mean it will always be impossi­ble,” he adds.

The sustainable road

There have been some novel approaches as well. Green Road Waste Man­agement, a company working for plastic waste management, has built a model road in Pokhara using plastic waste. Bimal Bastola, the co-founder of the company, says the road will be inspected and ana­lyzed for durability for a year. Meanwhile, plans are afoot to build 1-2 km of road in Kirtipur and Godawari utilizing plas­tic waste from local communities. Bastola says permanent collection centers may soon be set up in Kir­tipur and Godawari. After enough research, this company plans to push for a policy that will make the use of plastic waste mandatory in road-building. Pokhara municipality has already been approached with this idea, he informs.

Other organizations are also employing innovative ideas. CWIN Nepal’s ‘Banners to Bags’ initiative uses the banners—the kind we wit­nessed in abundance during the recent BIMSTEC Summit in Kath­mandu—which would otherwise end up in landfill, to make handy and funky bags. At-risk youth and marginalized women are hired to sew these bags. Taalo is another upcycling firm that makes fabric accessories such as neckties, bow­ties and headbands using wasted textiles from factories.

There are other companies too that sell stuff made of waste but most of these products tend to be expensive. Devashree Niraula, an environmentalist, suspects this may be due to the small-scale production and lack of right technology to mass produce eco-friendly products. She says most people have got it back­wards. “They complain about high prices. But if more people started buying them, they would be pro­duced in larger quantities and the prices would tumble.”

“The public should be given the incentive to segregate waste,” says Pankaj Panjiyar, business head of Doko Recyclers, a waste manage­ment company. “People will be more than happy to do so if they are paid back in cash or kind”. Panjiyar says that if the government cannot do so on its own, it can at least give interested private compa­nies a helping hand.