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The election season is nigh and as in any elections political parties and independent candidates are expected to unveil their election manifestos to the public. Election manifestos help voters make informed choices about which candidates to pick. In this context, Anushka Nepal from ApEx asked 10 voters what they would like to see in the manifestos. Syed Aman Ahmed, 21 One thing that Nepal really needs right now is specialists and experts working with the government, be it on environmental issues, road safety, health sector, or managing stray street animals, particularly in the context of a city like Kathmandu.  Political parties as well as independent candidates should collaborate with people specializing in different areas of work to fix the problems concerning governance, to make the public service smooth. Imagine, our leaders taking suggestions from the experts to move forward with their development plan and vision for Nepal. Now that would be a real good progress.  Sarita Dev, 35 There are three things I really want the manifestos to include: resolving the problem of water scarcity, job opportunities, and youth participation in development works.  I would like to vote for the side that has a clear plan about dealing with these issues.   We all know that water supply is a big issue in Kathmandu and many households are struggling because of it.  Secondly, there should be job opportunities at home so that our youths will not have to move out of the country. How will the country develop if the entire working force is leaving the country?  We need more job opportunities to keep our youth population, engage them in development works.  Muna Uprety, 48 What I would really like to see is candidates willing to make our society women friendly. Everyday, we come across a lot of cases where women are still discriminated against in our society. We as a society are to blame for treating women unfairly.  We need leaders who actually are serious about making our society women friendly. We have had enough lip service.  I know a gender-equal society cannot be achieved overnight, but we need to at least start somewhere.  I also want to see the inclusion of animal rights and their preservation in election manifestos. No one should tolerate animal cruelty and mistreatment. So it would be nice to see the parties and candidates who intend to create an animal-friendly society.  Pradip Dahal, 37 Since I come from a legal background, one thing I would really like to see is a candidate willing to make amendments to some of our laws that are vague. I feel like these laws issued in the name of protecting people’s rights are instead meant for controlling human behavior.  We lag far behind when it comes to progressive laws, rules and regulations, from cyber to environmental protection laws.  What I am mainly looking for in a manifesto for the upcoming election is the promise to enact more progressive laws. I also expect the manifesto to include ways to improve the current economy of Nepal. One way to do that is by promoting local production and export.  Shraddha Verma, 26 I have seen that many leaders and candidates talk about infrastructure development. But there is hardly anyone who has focused on human development.  We really need someone who is willing to work to improve the life of women and children. There have been some parties and candidates who have promised to work for the betterment of women in the past. But in the case of children, there are none.  There are many cases that need urgent attention. You can see children in a pathetic state in city streets and child labor is rampant everywhere..  Having a candidate or a party willing to work in that sector is something I am looking forward to in this election.   Sita Ghimire, 45 I am hoping to see candidates who are willing to increase women’s participation in state agencies.  What I personally feel is that corruption is way less in places where there are more women working. There may not have been any research on this matter, but this is my opinion based on many years of observation.  Increasing women participation is also a way to empower them. We really need that right now.  The other problem I see in Nepal currently is the practice of vague laws that have nothing to do with law and order. It is high time such laws were amended.  Ranbir Poddar, 37 Historically, election manifestos have been mainly about promises of road and bridges networks and water pipelines. But I believe there are other aspects that parties and candidates need to look into as well.  For instance, we need a manifesto outlining the ways to create a safer business environment. Right now, every businessperson in Nepal is hanging by a thread. This is the result of the current taxation system and constrained export opportunities.  We need someone who is willing to make necessary tax and customs adjustments, so that the businesses in Nepal can flourish.  We also need ways to increase our export capacity to support our failing economy. Sneha Pandey, 21 I am a voter from Gulmi and one of the major issues in my district is the underdeveloped health sector and lack of employment opportunity.  We need someone who is willing to improve the health sector. There are very few health posts in Gulmi and people are suffering. I want to see at least one candidate mention about improving the health sector in my district. Lack of job opportunities is another big issue. Many people are moving to urban areas for employment. We need the elected representatives to work on creating local job opportunities. Doing so will help the economy of the district as well.  We need a candidate who really knows and cares for Gulmi.  Bhadra Kumari Bastakoti, 53 One thing that hurts me the most is the children and beggars I see on the street. I work in a restaurant in Boudha and outside I can see many people just asking for money from passersby so that they can buy food. This is because they are unemployed and need to survive one way or the other.  We need someone who sees this as an issue and creates job opportunities for them. Yes, some of them are people with disabilities and might not be able to do certain types of work. But it is the responsibility of the state to help them.  Jaya Pratap Ale Magar, 45 There are a lot of promises we hear from political parties and candidates during election time. We vote for them but they rarely deliver on those promises. This election, I want to see the parties and candidates including only those promises in their manifestos that can actually be achieved.  The candidates need to know what their area needs. For this, they have to know about their communities and neighborhoods to get a transparent picture of the place of their candidacy.  They need to put their efforts into creating a manifesto with issues that can actually be built or fixed. People are fed up with false assurances from their candidates. Maybe this time, only mention those works that they can execute. 

Outside the emergency at Prasuti Griha, the only government maternity and women’s hospital, there is always a long line of patients, mostly pregnant women, in urgent need of attention. They will have to wait a couple of hours till someone eventually attends to them. Sadly, this is not the  worst of the problems there.  On any given day, women line the corridors and sit on the staircases as they wait their turn for an ultrasound or for their test results. Dr Abhishek Shah, consultant radiologist at the hospital, says about 300 patients get ultrasounds every day. “The average wait-time is three to four hours,” he says. According to the 59th Auditor General’s report for the fiscal year 2021/22, 4,200 patients were referred to Bir Hospital for Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). The facility isn’t available at the hospital. The report states there is only one ultrasound machine at the hospital.. It also lacks a 24 hours x-ray service in the neonatal department. Reports routinely get exchanged. This causes issues with people’s treatments, states the auditor’s report. The hospital lacks IVF services. It’s been 10 years since they stopped it citing budget constraints. Couples dealing with infertility have nowhere to go for low-cost treatment. Prof Dr Amir Babu Shrestha, Prasuti Griha’s director, denies there’s a problem. He claims the hospital has multiple ultrasound machines. He adds they don’t need an MRI machine, that there are hardly two or three cases every month in need of MRI scanning. The number of referrals to Bir Hospital, however, paints a different picture.   The auditor’s report clearly states the hospital needs more equipment. It also suggests working on providing better services to its patients. The management is quick to brush off the recommendations and insists it is doing its best. But it’s clearly not enough.

At the age of 19, Rachit Suwal is a well-known bassist of the band, The Unburnt. The five-member outfit plays alternative music but Suwal's musical journey started playing traditional instruments like Dhime and Bansuri during Newari jatras (festivals) in his neighborhood in Basantapur. “Growing up, I was deeply influenced by eastern music,” he says. “It was during my school days that I became drawn towards western music and instruments.” Suwal used to see his seniors perform on stage and become fascinated by the instruments they played. Like most teenager aspiring to become a musician someday, he picked up the guitar. But for him, learning the instrument was not just a phase. His interest in music was genuine and he took lessons and practiced whenever he could. The Unburnt was formed while he was in college to participate in a musical competition. Suwal handled the bass duty. After that, they decided to continue their collaboration. This year, the band took part in ‘Band Champion Nepal’, a national rock group competition. Suwal also plays for the band, Side Project. “Every member of this band has his main band and this is just a side project,” he says, “So we decided to call ourselves Side Project.” Apart from his music career aside, Suwal is currently studying Bachelor’s in Hotel Management at IST College. He says his family fully supports his musical ambition, but he too would like to one day take over his family business. “My family owns a travel agency and I am also planning to look after the business someday,” he says. “But my main goal is still to become a professional musician.” Besides playing the bass in his two bands, Suwal is also heavily involved in song composition and recording process with his fellow band mates. “All of us in the band sit together and work on our music,” he says. Suwal enjoys being in a recording studio, working on their music, but he loves the feeling of playing on stage in front of the crowd. He says it can get monotonous being in a studio for days on end and doing live event can break that tedium. “The biggest satisfaction of playing live is watching the crowd love your music,” he says. “It is thrilling and exciting at the same time.” Talking about their work, the band made public their first original ‘Bisadu’ in July, and they are currently working on an EP (extended play record). He says the tracks they are bringing out will be both in Nepali and English, and one of them has an eastern music influence. Suwal and his The Unburnt members are also trying to explore other musical genres like the more progressive and experimental math rock, which is characterized by non-standard time signatures, and complex and odd rhythm and melodies. “We are all excited to take the journey,” he says. “The band is still growing and we want to experiment a lot of things.”

Singer Smita Ghimire was born in Kathmandu but spent most of her childhood in Biratnagar. She grew up surrounded by family members from a mix of backgrounds, from politics to literature to music. Her maternal grandfather was former Prime Minister Matrika Prasad Koirala and both her parents were accomplished musicians. Her father played harmonium and her mother sitar. So, naturally, Ghimire was exposed to music early. She had started singing and dancing at the age of three. Growing up, Ghimire was particularly close to her mother. She once said in an interview that she learned from her mother to always remain positive in life and see the good in people. Ghimire abundantly showed her positive attitude when she was stricken by cancer, which eventually took her life. She appeared in lots of TV shows and interviews to talk about her health and life in general. Ghimire’s primary influence in her singing career was her family. Her parents always wanted her to be a singer. But her career as a singer nearly did not happen after her marriage. She was married to Navin Ghimire, a civil engineer, in 1992. Her new role as a wife and then a mother kept her busy and she had no time to pursue her singing career. Though she had a family to look after, she would alway find free time to practice music. Ghimire launched her debut album ‘Smi’ in 2014. 'Ae Bhanchan,' 'Ankha ko Nani Hau,' 'Bhagya Bhannu,' 'Kati Mitho Maya,' 'Gahiro Taalko,' and 'K Bho Aaja Voli,’ are some of her popular songs. Besides being a singer, Ghimire was also interested in painting and literature. She also wrote a Nepali novel, ‘Harayeko Muskaan,’ which was published on 15 March this year. Painting was more of a hobby for her. She once told an interviewer that painting made her happy—good or bad, it did not matter. What mattered the most to Ghimire was creating and showcasing art of any kind, be it singing, dancing, painting or writing. Ghimire had a happy life with a loving family while also enjoying her career as a singer and a budding novelist. This was also the case when she was diagnosed with cancer of the bone marrow three years ago. Despite the grim diagnosis, she kept her chin up. Ghimire continued to make music while undergoing treatment. Her cancer was in remission after a series of chemo- and radiation therapy. But then she was diagnosed with breast cancer. She was still positive and hopeful though. She wrote her novel while she was gravely ill. Ghimire breathed her last in the course of treatment at the Harisiddhi Cancer Hospital in Lalitpur. She is survived by her husband and their daughter. Birth: Kathmandu Death: 15 August 2022, Lalitpur

On 22 June, Nikki Gautam visited Chicken Station, a popular restaurant franchise, at Radhe Radhe in Bhaktapur, with her friends. The group ordered some food and drinks. Gautam decided to have Caffe Mocha. The waiter arrived presently bearing the hot chocolate beverage. What happened next—even just the thought of it— still triggers a gag reflex in the 22-year-old law student. She felt something solid in her mouth upon taking a sip of her drink. No, they were not chocolate shavings. “They turned out to be two baby roaches,” says Gautam. “I was disgusted.” Still, Gautam was considerate enough not to make a fuss about the incident and ask for another one. But to her dismay and disgust, it happened again. She felt the same sensation in her mouth. “There were more of them drowning in my drink.” One of her friends had ordered an Iced Mocha and she too found dead cockroaches in her drink. And this time, Gautam and her friends voiced their complaint to the restaurant staff. “Not only were the Chicken Station staff unapologetic,” says Gautam, “they had the audacity to charge us for the roach-infested drinks.” One of the restaurant staff members told Gautam and her friends that the cockroaches might have crawled into the chocolate powder container that they kept open for the sake of convenience. But when ApEx inquired with Dilip Kutu, the restaurant manager, about the incident, he said that they never keep their recipe containers uncovered. He went on to claim that the sealed chocolate powder box had those insects, which is why they have stopped buying from the concerned supplier. Gautam and her friends walked out without paying the Rs 1,300 bill. “This incident speaks volumes about customer service and health standards in Nepal’s food and restaurant industry,” she says. I have myself been through situations where I had to question the food served to me at restaurants. When I ordered a freshly made watermelon juice at Samsara Garden, a restaurant in Baluwatar, on Aug 13, what I got was a sour, fetid liquid. It was a hot day, so I blamed the state of my drink on the weather. But my next order of meatball spaghetti prepared with the cheese that had gone indelibly off convinced me that it was not the weather but the restaurant’s standards. [caption id="attachment_29684" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Baby roaches found in Caffe Mocha (left) and Iced Mocha served by Chicken Station, Radhe Radhe, Bhaktapur | Photos: Nikki Gautam[/caption] I was vindicated when I walked past the kitchen area on my way to the restroom. To put it mildly, the smell of the bathroom was far more pleasant than fume emanating from the cooking area. And only this past Saturday, I was served a stale doughnut, in a swanky-looking Khasti Bakery in Boudha. The same place had tried to ply me with foul-smelling momos a few months back. A colleague of mine has had a similar off-putting experience. He was given a stale orange cake at Café Imago in Labim Mall, Lalitpur. “We go to the so-called high-end restaurants and popular franchises expecting them to be good,” says Gautam. “But they do not care about their customers health.” While every restaurant claims to offer fresh food, there are many cases where it is the exact opposite, especially when it comes to meat products. Chef Saurav Thapaliya, owner of Cheese Square who had previously worked in a restaurant in Australia, says one cannot expect Nepali restaurants to serve fresh meat products. “Most meat products in the poultry, cold stores, or butcher shops are kept in the open,” he says. “The same meat is bought by restaurants, kept in freezers for days and sold to the customers.” There are high chances of bacterial growth in meat products when kept in open for long. Raw meat products, Thapaliya says, can be used for up to two months if they are vacuum sealed and kept in a frozen state. “Otherwise, they cannot be used after two days, even when they are kept in a freezer.” Similarly, fruits and vegetables need to be kept at a certain temperature to maintain their freshness. When Thapaliya was working in Australia, he says, food items including meat and vegetables were kept frozen based on portion sizes, so that only the needed amount could be taken out of the freezer. “The food will not be in a good condition if it is constantly being removed from a frozen environment,” he says. “I highly doubt restaurants in Nepal are applying this method.” Krishna Dhamel, manager of The Burger House and Crunchy Fried Chicken, in Boudha, claims that they order fresh products every day after analyzing their daily sales. “We keep our meat products in a deep fridge,” he says. “And in the case of cooked meat, we serve them the next day only if they are in good condition.” He adds the restaurant tries its best not to keep leftovers. But not all restaurants have the same set of rules, even though most claim to have strict food-quality standards. Kumari Kharel, deputy secretary of Forum for Protection of Consumer Rights Nepal, says the government is not carrying out proper inspections to ensure the safety of food items in restaurants and bakeries. Nepal still follows the Food Act that was first written in 1970 and last amended in 1998. “The government has not taken the matter of food security seriously,” says Kharel. Of course, the government can invoke the Consumer Protection Act to ensure that restaurants serve only fresh and healthy food items. “But the problem is with the Act’s implementation,” says Kharel. If only the government took the Act’s provisions seriously and conducted regular inspections of hotels and restaurants, Kharel adds, public health issues resulting from eating unsafe food would automatically decrease. “Our organization has constantly pushed the government to work on these issues, but to no avail.” It is also incumbent on consumers to be aware of their rights and report to relevant authorities if they are served or sold food items that could potentially harm their health. But the larger onus, Kharel says, still lies on the government. “Consumers can lodge a complaint with the police or their local governments,” she says. “But that will mean little if the government is not concerned about public safety.”

Rukmani Group has been importing luxury bathroom products in Nepal for the past 30 years. Most of its customers are upscale hotels and a handful of private individuals willing to spend on having a ritzy living experience at their homes.  Anushka Nepal of ApEx talks to Aditya Raj Budhiya, the group’s executive director, to find out what sets apart Rukmani’s products from the rest and what is the company’s future. What are the luxury products that Rukmani Group imports?  Rukmani Group mainly imports high-end bathroom products from tiles to fixtures. For example, we import tiles from Spain and Italy and bathroom items and accessories from internationally acclaimed brands like Armani and Axon. The reason why we associate our products with luxury is because they don’t just serve their basic purpose. The showerheads that we find in most homes and hotels in Kathmandu only serve one primary objective. But the ones we import, though expensive, have multiple functions. They have different water flow, bluetooth for the ones who love to shower with something playing in the background and light settings. We deal in efficiency and experience. What is the goal of your company?  Our main focus has always been customer satisfaction. For the past 30 years, I can proudly say that we have dedicated ourselves to giving our customers what they need, rather than what we want them to buy from us. My father started this business as a way to introduce Nepal to many efficient household necessities. Three decades ago, Nepal had no access to such products. So one of our goals is to make these items available for anyone interested in having a luxurious experience at their homes, offices and businesses. How is the business faring after the Covid-19 pandemic? Covid hit our business like many others, but I think we have bounced back. We always have an emergency fund, which came in handy to cushion the blow dealt by the pandemic. Plus, we never let our loans cross a certain limit. These things helped us a lot to keep our finances stable even during the lockdowns that forced many businesses to close down. After the Covid restrictions were lifted, we did receive a lot of customers willing to spend money on luxury bathroom products. Perhaps, after spending months cooped up in their homes, they wanted to make their home living more comfortable. The resumption of international travel might also have helped because some customers wanted the products they saw in foreign countries installed at their homes. Who are the customers of Rukmani Group?  Most of our customers are currently in the hospitality sector. We supply our products to hotels in Kathmandu that want their customers to have a comfortable experience during their stay. The hotels that demand these products fall slightly on the expensive side. We also have clients who buy our products for their homes, but their numbers are few. We don’t pretend that our products are affordable. It is understandable that most people would rather have a Rs 3,000 showerhead at their homes than a high-end Rs 300,000 one. Nevertheless, the number of people interested in our products for their homes is increasing, especially after Covid-19. What is your future plan for the company? Our main goal at Rukmani Group is to become a one-stop solution for those who are looking to invest in efficient interiors in their houses. From bathroom to kitchen to their bedrooms, we want to provide them with everything they want and need. Currently, we only deal in bathroom tiles, fixtures and accessories, but we are planning to expand towards home automation. We want our customers to have a highly efficient and secure living experience. We are talking about smart homes, where you can control everything with your smartphone, from wherever you are.

Gopal Magar left his village in Dolakha with his wife and their three children and came to Kathmandu in 1990. He was in his thirties and wanted to give a good life to his children. Magar had a tough childhood. He grew up poor in a large family, where the responsibility of looking after his younger siblings fell on his shoulders. When he moved to Kathmandu with his family, he was determined to make it big. “There comes a time in one’s life when whatever your friends tell you seems right,” he says. “So I followed the advice of my friends and came to Kathmandu with my wife and three children.” Magar landed a job at a hotel after arriving in Kathmandu. He worked there for a year before deciding to become a rickshaw driver. Magar is 67 now and he continues to drive rickshaw to this day. Over the last three decades, he says, his daily routine is more or less the same. He arrives at Thamel at five in the morning with a rickshaw, spends the day driving people around and returns to his rented room at six in the evening. A lot has also changed in Magar’s life in this period. His three children are all grown-up now and leading their own lives. His wife passed away in 2015. She was a life-long epilepsy patient, whom Magar cared for like a doting husband. His life in Kathmandu did not turn out like the one he had imagined when he left his village, but he is proud of what he has achieved. With the earnings he made as a rickshaw driver, he raised his family, sent his children to school, looked after the medical needs of his wife until her last days and even married off his younger siblings. Magar says he decided to become a rickshaw driver because he didn’t have any formal education to have other jobs. “But I have learned a bit of English after riding many foreigners around in my rickshaw,” he beams proudly. Magar earns around Rs 300 daily and Rs 150 of his earnings he has to pay to the rickshaw owner. Not many people ride rickshaws these days, he says, so the business is not good. “My earnings are just enough to pay for my rent and food.” Magar says most of his customers are foreigners, who want to hop on his rickshaw and go on a city sightseeing tour. He says most of his customers are kind and generous while some are mean. “They take a ride and then start bargaining for the fare,” he says. “These days, I have no energy to argue with them.” Magar knows he cannot ride a rickshaw all his life, but he doesn’t know what he will do or where he will go after he leaves the work for good. His health and strength is already failing and he knows he hasn’t got much years ahead or the strength in his body to be pedaling rickshaw all day. He is deeply attached to his work; after all, his rickshaw helped him raise his family, though they are no longer around. Riding the rickshaw gives him purpose—perhaps, an excuse to get out of his rented room, where he lives all by himself. Magar is a proud man. He says he does not want to depend on anybody, ever. Despite everything he has been through in his life, the struggles and the joys, he seems content and cheerful about life. “I will go on with what I am doing right now,” he says. “After that, who knows what happens.”

Bidur Pandey, a renowned cinematographer known for his work in dozens of films and hundreds of music videos, passed away on August 14. He was 53. Born and raised in Om Bahal, Kathmandu, Pandey started his videography career working for a video magazine. Before that, he used to own a cassette store in New Road. Pandey was fond of gadgets and electronics from an early age. He once said in an interview that he used to shoot home movies with a camcorder and that he was a self-taught videographer. But he never gave much thought to being a cinematographer. This changed when he joined the video magazine. The magazine, ‘Swornim’, discontinued after a few episodes, but even during his short stint there, he had found his calling. Pandey branched out to feature filmmaking and even worked in two movies ‘Seemana’ and ‘Pratikshya’. However, he decided to end his budding filmmaking career as he was unhappy with the way the industry functioned. Following a brief hiatus, Pandey returned behind the camera when Image Channel hired him to make a film-based program. Besides shooting the TV show, he also started working in music videos. The first music video Pandey shot was for the song ‘Maryo ni Maryo’ by the rock band Cobweb. He would go on to make more than 1,500 music videos. In between, he also took on the camera duty for some films including ‘Kagbeni’ in 2008. The film directed by Bhusan Dahal was the first in South Asia to be shot digitally. Dahal remembers Pandey as a highly professional cinematographer who always kept himself busy. The two worked in Kantipur TV for over many years. Pandey’s colleagues used to refer to him as ‘Baa’ as a sign of veneration for the veteran videographer. ‘Swor’, ‘Bhuimanche’, and ‘Jung Bahadur ko Coat’ are among other films that Pandey worked in as a cinematographer, but he is best known for his prolific music-video making career. Most recently, he was working for Galaxy 4K TV. Pandey was rushed to the Gangalal Hospital in Kathmandu after complaining of discomfort on the right side of his body on the morning of August 14. He had suffered a cardiac arrest and died in the course of treatment, just four days shy of his 54th birthday. He is survived by his wife and their son. Birth: 14 August 1968, Kathmandu Death: 10 August 2022, Kathmandu