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Aman Karna, 31, guitarist and producer for the Nepali band ‘Phosphenes’, got into music at a young age and since then he has been passionate about using his talents to create impactful music. Though he has been a part of the Nepali music industry for over a decade, Karna says he is constantly seeking new ways to connect with his audience. Bollywood music has had the biggest influence on him since his childhood. Born and raised in Bhairahawa, he says that Indian music, especially songs of the 90s, was what he heard everywhere, at home and the stores nearby. He says he was fascinated by the diverse genre, catchy melodies, and emotional lyrics. His musical journey when he was 14 when he first started playing instruments and was a part of his school band. He says he taught himself to make his own sounds using a computer, and preferred performing in front of a live audience. When he was growing up, Karna spent a lot of time working for a production company, before coming  across Phosphenes. He was approached to join the band in 2016, and immediately fell in love with the music they created. “I joined the band because I believed we could accomplish a lot if we worked together,” he says. Rather than vocals, Karna is more into making music. He loves eastern instruments and has always wanted to work with them to create western styled music. Listening to the songs Phosphenes has released so far you can tell it has worked out well. Most of their songs fall under the indie genre. It took a while for the band to gain some recognition, he says, because of the limited resources they had for promotions. “But we slowly started having a full house during our live shows,” he adds. Despite the fact that the band had and has been doing well, Karna wanted to work on his own career on the side. He believes having a successful individual career is equally important. With that thought, Karna produced and launched his first Extended Play (EP)—a record that contains fewer songs than in an album—‘Mixed Bag’ in 2021. But he says that was an experimental work he dabbled in during the Covid-19 lockdown. “I wasn’t satisfied with my first EP. I knew I could do better,” says Karna. But he apparently got a lot of ideas from that EP to get started on the next one called ‘Bollymood’ that was launched in Dec 2022. This one, he adds, largely came from the influence Bollywood music had on him as a child. The songs have elements of the 90s Bollywood music. It even begins with an intro that features a dialogue from a vintage Bollywood film. “I believe that to become a good musician it’s necessary to work on challenging tasks,” he says. So, he constantly pushes himself to do things that seem impossible. For instance, he once challenged himself to write five songs in four days. “It took a lot of hard-work and dedication, but I succeeded. I’m very proud of those songs,” he adds. As an artist, he says, performing live has always been a thrilling experience. “There is nothing better than the energy and excitement I get to witness during a live performance,” he says. One of the best experiences he has had so far is while performing in London, UK. The number of people that came to see him perform was mind blowing. “I never thought I would have such a huge fan following outside Nepal,” he says. Karna believes family support plays a major role when it comes to creating music. “You need someone to have your back,” he says. It was because of his family that he felt motivated to work through the hard times and not give up. “They told me to trust myself and that affirmation was everything I needed to remain calm sometimes,” he says. Besides music, Karna is interested in fashion. He claims he is always looking for new ways to express himself through his appearance. It’s important for him to dress in a way that reflects his personality. Whether it’s dressing up for a special occasion or simply putting together a casual look, he enjoys the process of creating unique and fashionable ensembles. The 31-year-old feels content knowing that indie music has an increasing fan base in South Asia. However, he adds that it’s not so easy for Nepalis to have that level of recognition on an international platform. “I wish to have international recognition for my work, but we lack proper resources for promotions,” he says. “The majority of my audience are Nepalis,” he says, adding that he will be continuing the work he has been doing as a solo artist and as a band member, and hopes that one day he will get the opportunity to collaborate with South Asian artists. “I believe that would be the first step towards getting a larger audience. I know it might be difficult for a Nepali musician to reach that height of success but I will try my best.”

Devi Maya Karki, 25, has been working as a maid in Kathmandu for the past eight years. “This is not the life I had hoped for,” she says. She always wanted to be a teacher. She was fascinated by them. But she got married when she was just 17 years old and couldn’t pursue her dreams. “I didn’t want to get married. But saying no wasn’t an option. I didn’t want to burden my parents,” she adds. Born in Champadevi, Okhaldhunga, Karki has always had a difficult life. Her family of seven wasn’t financially stable. She says it was difficult for them to make ends meet with only one breadwinner—her elder brother. Her mother was frequently falling ill and most of the family’s income would get used up in her treatments. “My four siblings and I didn’t get to complete our schooling,” she says. After passing the 10th grade, Karki was married off. She then came to Kathmandu with her husband and they rented a small room in Minbhawan. She thought it would be a new beginning, and was filled with hope. She would work hard in this city of dreams and take good care of her family back home, she thought. But working as a maid in Kathmandu, she quickly found out, was rife with problems. The hours were too long, the work strenuous, and the pay wasn’t even halfway decent. The mother of two works four shifts daily. Yet, she’s always strapped for cash. She earns just Rs 15,000 and Rs 5,000 goes towards rent. What’s left barely covers their utilities and meals. Her husband, Rajendra, has kidney failure and is unable to work. So, Karki is the only earning member in her family. “My husband came back from the United Arab Emirates in 2015. He used to work in construction. In Kathmandu too, he continued in the same line of work and handled the children’s school fees. But now he’s unable to work,” she says. Her younger child, who is four, goes to a government school, where thankfully, she says, the fees aren’t so high. Her husband, on the other hand, needs medical treatment that amounts to Rs 19,000 every month at Bhaktapur Cancer Hospital. They have until now been able to manage the money by selling her husband’s only parental property. “I don’t know what we will do when that money runs out,” she says. With daily expenses and rent amounting to more than what she earns, Karki had to stop sending her eldest child, who is only six, to school. What adds to her pain is the fact that she is unable to spend time with her children. Her first shift starts as early as 4:30 in the morning. She rushes to her next shift around 7:00 am. Her husband readies their youngest for school. She comes home for lunch before heading out to work two back-to-back shifts that start at noon and end at six in the evening. “After coming back, I have to cook for my family too,” she says, “Although my children help me, they are still very young.” She gets some respite on Saturdays, which is her only day off. But even then, her workload remains the same. There are just so many things that need to be done at home. She says she does a week of chores from cleaning to washing clothes on Saturday. She cannot afford to take a break that, she says, she badly needs. She is tired and her muscles ache. But she has to carry on, for the sake of her family who depend on her. With the days getting colder, she is worried that work is going to be even more difficult. The water, she says, will be freezing cold, making doing the dishes an ordeal. To make things worse, many of her employers will crib and complain that she isn’t doing her job well. “There are some people who treat me badly as they consider me to be beneath them,” she says. Karki wishes she could fulfill her dream of becoming a teacher. It would earn her the respect she desperately craves. She often wonders how life would have turned out had she gone to school and gotten a degree. Would she be living in her own house? Would her children be going to good schools? “I think my children definitely wouldn’t have to suffer as much as they do right now,” she says. She wants her children to be able to pursue anything they want. Not being able to send her six-year-old to school breaks her, she says, and she’s willing to do whatever it takes to turn her family’s fortune around. “Every mother wants the best for their children. I’m failing in my duties as a parent. I know I must try harder, work more shifts perhaps. I’ll do anything to give my children a good life,” she says.

Gajendra Budhathoki, who has been involved in Nepali media for almost three decades, says journalism is an addiction. The winner of the National Journalism Award is wheelchair-bound but that hasn’t stopped him from writing some of the best news articles and investigative pieces. And he is still striving to do more in Nepali journalism. “My disability doesn’t have to be an inability,” he says.    The 47-year-old started his journey as a reporter from Udayapur in Province 1 where he was born and raised. He was just 18 years old back then. He was associated with the town’s local newspaper, which was basically articles written by him and a few of his colleagues, he says. But, for him, education was also one of the priorities. At that time, not every district offered a bachelor’s degree. Udayapur didn’t have a bachelor’s program either. Fortunately, he was offered a job in Kathmandu at Nepal Samacharpatra. Additionally, the city also had a great bachelor’s program in communication.  Budhathoki loves reporting and his write ups are evidence of his extensive travels. He was a part of many field trips organized by various NGOs, and that helped him bring out stories from the rural parts of Nepal. Although his trips were funded by different organizations, he says he always did his best to write without bias and tell the truth. He wasn’t trying to curry any favors from the NGOs or be on their good books. “Eventually, they stopped inviting me since I wasn’t writing what they wanted me to,” he says.  He was making quite the mark as a strong-willed journalist when, in 2008, he got into a road accident. His bike collided with a four-wheeler. There had been heavy downpour and almost zero visibility. “There was no external injury as I was driving slowly. But my back hit the concrete and I injured my spine,” he says.  The time after the accident was tough on him and his family. He was given a 10 percent chance to survive the surgery he would have to undergo. His wife decided to risk it and Budhathoki is grateful for the decision she made. He has undergone many surgeries after the initial one but he is alive today and that’s what matters, he says.  Budhathoki spent seven months at the Alka Hospital in Jawalakhel, Lalitpur. He says there was a lot of uncertainty and confusion as to what to do next. He was worried about whether he could continue his work. The doctor, however, pushed him to get back to writing, which, he says, was a reason enough for him to jump start his career again. Four days after the surgery, the doctor had him sit up and handed him a laptop. He then told Budhathoki that he shouldn’t be sleeping all day and should use the time to write instead. Budhathoki confesses things were difficult but what would have been worse was if someone were to claim he was taking advantage of his disability. As soon as he was discharged from the hospital, he went to the office, like any other day before the accident. “My wife would accompany me to work. It would also have been impossible to maintain that routine if my colleagues hadn’t been supportive,” he says.   Budhathoki feared he wouldn’t be able to do investigative reporting, being bound to his desk. But he realized that with access to the telephone and internet, he could still make things work. Today, he travels around when necessary but he is able to accomplish quite a lot from behind a computer too.  Out of all the investigative stories he has worked on so far, he says he is particularly proud of the one that exposed the Coca-Cola company and their tax fraud in the series of articles published in Taksar Magazine, an economic magazine where he is the editor-in-chief. It took Budhathoki 14 months to complete the story. “I worked on it mostly from behind the desk making phone calls and writing emails. It’s not difficult to get things done if you are determined,” he says.  Budhathoki received a lot of threats after the articles were published. Once some goons came to his house with the intention to finish him off, he says. Thankfully, his neighbor, who was a retired army officer, chased them away. But these kinds of horrifying incidents, and there have been a few, haven’t deterred Budhathoki from doing what he does best—reporting on issues that matter.  Despite his love for journalism, he says it isn’t enough to provide his family the life he feels they deserve. So he has taken up a teaching position besides research work. But that is just so he has the liberty to continue his work in journalism without letting his financial situation get in the way. Several political parties have also approached him to get involved in politics. But that’s not what he wants to get into, at least not right now. He feels he has yet to make a mark in journalism and that is where his heart lies. 

Shekhar Chandra Thapa, Minister of Forests and Environment of Province 1 and provincial assembly member candidate of the Nepali Congress from Morang-3 is no longer with us. He was 58. He fell ill soon after his candidacy for the recently concluded election was confirmed, and he passed away just a few days after filing his nomination. Born in Morang, Thapa graduated from Durbar High School in Kathmandu. Since then, he made a name for himself in politics. He first got into politics as the Deputy Secretary of Nepali Congress-Morang. He was also the personal secretary to former prime minister Girija Prasad Koirala. He also contested the Constituent Assembly election in 2013, but he lost to CPN-UML leader Chandi Rai. “We were together in every election as far as I can remember,” says Dila Sangraula of the Nepali Congress. Thapa was previously elected as one of the members of the Provincial Assembly through the proportional system in the 2017’s election, but this time he was up for candidacy through the first-past-the-post system. Sangraula says that Thapa was quite tense about the recently concluded election. He wanted to be among his supporters but he hadn’t been keeping too well and couldn’t be actively involved in the election campaigns. On Oct 9, Thapa complained of uneasiness and was taken to Biratnagar-based Nobel Hospital. He tested positive for dengue, pneumonia, and piles. He was then airlifted to Kathmandu on Oct 13 for further treatment. After almost a month-long treatment at HAMS Hospital in Kathmandu, he returned to Biratnagar. On Nov 7, a day after he filed his nomination for the election, he was again admitted to Nobel Hospital in Biratnagar as he had respiratory problems. It was here that he passed away two days later on Nov 9. Chief Minister Rajendra Kumar Rai of Province 1 expressed his sorrow. PM Deuba also extended his condolences to the family. The Election Commission announced that it would carry on with the provincial election in Morang as planned, with Man Bahadur Limbu replacing Thapa. Sangraula of the Nepali Congress says Thapa had contributed a lot during his time with the party—he was a pillar of strength and support. But Thapa still had a lot to do and his wife is determined to carry out his wishes as one of the members of the party. Besides his wife, he leaves behind a son and a daughter. Birth: 1964  Death: 9 Nov 2022