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When my father announced that those over 70 years old in the UK were required to self-quarantine for three months, I was horrified. “Three months! That’s ridiculous!” was my reaction. Oh, if only I had known!

Now that those over 70 have reached their 12-week mark, my mother is looking forward to visiting friends and sitting in each other’s gardens for coffee. The Scottish government may have other ideas but, basically, my parents have ‘done’ their three months.

Meantime, over in Nepal we are now entering our 12^th week of lockdown. But unlike in Scotland, there is no end in sight. Neither are we updated daily (not updated at all) on what the future plans are, nor are we encouraged to ‘keep up the good work’. And good work we have done. Certainly in Kathmandu we have pretty much behaved ourselves and stayed at home as directed. We, citizens and others, who live in the country, did our part. But where are the authorities? Aren’t they supposed to do their part too?

As mentioned, unlike in Scotland, we are not updated on what is happening around the country, what the current plan of action is, or what future plans are. We were not even told the lockdown could be expected to go on for some time. Treated like children, we were give a few hours overnight to prepare for lockdown (well how could we?) and told it was for a week. Repeatedly told ‘for another week’ and then ‘for another two weeks’. Treat people like children and you are likely to get childlike behavior I would say. Thankfully those in Kathmandu did not revert to their early years, but who would blame them if they did? 

The past week or so I have been following someone based in the Karnali Region who has her finger on the pulse of what’s going on in the west of the country with regards to returning migrant workers. Interestingly although she gives much credit to local volunteers, village grassroots committees, and local level government bodies, the driving force behind galvanizing people to come together and telling us what is really happening is not a Nepali.  No, she is American.    

I don’t really have more to say. We know many gaps exist, which are hurriedly being filled by civil society. We are being put in front of smoke screens to keep our focus away from the main issues. Nepali citizens are not children! They are mature adults with a desire and ability to understand the real picture, given the chance. Now, and next time—and there is always a ‘next time’ catastrophe in Nepal—there should be honesty and accountability.

This affects your life and the lives of those you love. So, raise your voice. But do it while staying home

So how are you all doing? Now in week 10 of lockdown, are you suffering from cabin fever yet? The phrase “cabin fever” was probably coined in the past when people would be literally snowed in their cabins for weeks or months on end. Well we know how that feels: restless, irritable, lethargic, and just plain fed-up.

Whether we are isolating alone or with family some days we just feel plain yuck! But according to ‘experts’ we can do things to relieve this cabin fever. Structuring the day is pretty important as is taking time out for exercise (get those endorphins going)—and for yourself. Taking time out for yourself might seem a bit odd right now, particularly if you are at home alone. But some days we just need to relax, chill, and not try too hard at keeping sane. It’s perfectly fine to take time out even from doing nothing. A bit harder if you are in a family setting with children who demand attention.

So what am I doing these days? My days are loosely structured and oddly they pass very quickly. No need to get up early, my day starts around 8am three times a week when I have live on-line Zumba and Pilates classes with Priti Rai. Other days I tend to get up a bit later.  Regardless of the day it starts with a drink of moringa powder, which has all sorts of magical properties. Seemingly. That is followed by tea and fruit on the balcony.

The past two weeks the local crows seem to have gained enough confidence to hop on by for their daily breakfast muesli. Rarely more than one crow at a time and they seem to rotate. I’ve been locked down so long I recognize individual crows. I’ll be painting faces on and talking to volleyballs next, right Wilson? By now it’s around 11am or noon. Time to hit the kitchen.

I’ve suddenly become the Soup Queen. There are currently around 12 individual containers of different soups in my fridge. Make ‘em, freeze ‘em, eat ‘em, defrost the fridge, and repeat! I have found two great delivery services to keep me supplied. One being Kathmandu Organics and the other being Salesberry. There are plenty more, as I’m sure you know. As for actually going out—I like to keep trips to the shops down to once a week. 

I have had quite a lot of work to do over the past couple of months. At the beginning I deliberately spread it out. Now I find two hours a day is the maximum I can concentrate. So after completing any work it’s around 4pm. Twice a week I have other on-line live classes, this time Yogalates and Restorative Yoga with Helen, who lived in Kathmandu until earlier this year. Listening to her voice I could be in the yoga studio in Lazimpat! 

On days when there are no scheduled classes, I do Zumba via YouTube. After which, time to Skype mum. A daily event. Then perhaps a fix of anything interesting that’s being shown online. For example the Kathmandu International Mountain Film Festival is showing free movies. As is the Dharamshala International Film Festival. There might be some interesting gigs from local or international musicians, as well as other events from around the world. I watched a live talk from the North Pole earlier this week! 

**Breaking News** a chapter or two of J.K. Rowling’s new book, The Ickabog are available online each day now until 10 July, for kids, old and young!

By now the sun is going down and it’s time for what I call “Demented Dog”—or a walk round my very small roof! Then a glass of something on the veranda and check in if there is any other music online. Suddenly its 8pm—where did the day go?  A few calls or Skype’s to friends, a look at Netflix (‘Tiger King’ is worth a watch) and turn on American Idol (still running on Star World). Thankfully The Walking Dead series I watched on TV has now finished. Phew, because that marathon ran from 11.15pm till 2.15am every night. Roll into bed around midnight.  And tomorrow do it all again.

And yes, there are days when cabin fever takes over and there is nothing much happening in my house except reading (currently ‘Love in the Time of Cholera’) and coffee. So my original question: how are you and what are you doing? Comment below! 

This week we saw Dibesh Pokharel come runner-up in American Idol. So hands up who had heard of him before Monday, May 18?

I’ve been following American Idol this season but I forget the first time I saw Pokharel, or Arthur Gunn as he calls himself. I think I saw something on YouTube before the event aired here. That was a video of his first audition with the judges. They were blown away! I was also so blown away I made damn sure my TV was tuned to Star World at 9.15 pm every night. Meantime, I widely advertised Arthur Gunn on my FB page but no one responded really. I was quite surprised that none of my Nepali musician friends seemed interested or aware that there was a Nepali guy taking part in American Idol. 

I got replies like “I don’t watch reality shows” and “must be a cover singer”. Actually he is a singer songwriter but at the age of 22, how many songs could he have written? Anyway, only one friend, Abhishek S Mishra, of ASM and Spirit X fame, had anything to say. Mishra is also host of a radio show that features musicians from all genres. He had interviewed Arthur Gunn long before American Idol got hold of him. So yes, he knew him. Later I learned I had ‘missed’ gigs in past years when Pokharel returned to Nepal for a visit. I’m usually up to date with the music scene here, so obviously, no one had ‘talked’ about this amazing artist to alert me at that time either.

Meantime, Star World, in its—several times a night—promotion of American Idol was using over and over again the clip of Arthur Gunn walking into his first audition where he Namastes the judges. Was India more excited then than we were? I could not turn on the TV without seeing his face. And yet no one I knew was interested. With Covid-19 the format for the show changed and there was a lack of episodes to fill the time slots. So the same episodes were repeated maybe for three weeks. Still only one local friend, currently stranded in India, showed any interest. She is now a firm fan.

Then, according to much of what I’m reading this week, Arthur Gunn came from nowhere and reached runner up position in American Idol. Suddenly every Nepali media is writing about him. Where were they when he was beginning his journey?

I have seen this before. Take Prabal Gurung. This, now American, fashion designer, attended St Xavier’s School and other institutes here before moving to New York, via Delhi.  Today we know him as fashion designer to those such as Michelle Obama and Kate Middleton. I attended an event a couple of years ago where Gurung was a guest speaker.  He acknowledged his Nepali roots, but did Nepal ever acknowledge him before he became successful?

I’ve also seen this ‘leg pulling’ throughout society.  Let’s clarify: leg pulling in the UK means you are playing a joke on someone—such as saying they have a ink mark on their face, where there is none. In Nepal, it seems to mean pulling someone down, holding them back, or ridiculing them in their attempt to achieve something positive. I’m not entirely sure why this is so—jealousy? 

So, anyway, yes celebrate the fact that a Nepali is runner up in American Idol and will probably go on to be rich and famous. But do not pretend you wished him well earlier.

Last week as Europe commemorated VE Day (Victory in Europe, the end of WWII) there were comparisons made between then and now. The one we have all read being: parents and grandparents were asked to go to war to save the country, whereas we are asked to stay at home to achieve the same.

This has turned my mind back to the days of the conflict in Nepal and how folks coped everyday. I spent the first half of the conflict years in Bardia. I first met Maoists while on a shopping trip to Nepalganj in 1998. At that time they were posing as police and collecting money, supposedly for police widows and orphans. I saw them again a few days later when they came door-to-door for collections and revealed who they were. I know tourist groups rafting the Karnali also came into contact with Maoists and no doubt had to make a donation also. But really, at that point, the conflict didn’t interfere with day-to-day life in Bardia too much.

I moved to Kathmandu in 2000 and fell into a crowd of folk well known in their fields and who knew much more about what was happening in the hinterland than I did. And so I personally became more aware, but still there was little impact in Kathmandu. The June 1 massacre was the turning point for many. It was after then that Kathmandu saw curfews and more tension. I remember in those days I had an old-fashioned large black umbrella and was conscious walking past army checkpoints that they might mistake it for a rifle!  

But overall, those of us in Kathmandu took everything in our stride. Curfew?  No problem. Long load-shedding? No problem. Maoists bussing in cadets from outside the Valley? An interesting turn of events, but no problem. Yes, things were tense but we didn’t complain too much. In those days we did not have Facebook or other social media. We had Nepal Television and Nepal Radio!

News travelled more slowly, or not at all. We just kind of got on with it, yet were aware that when we opened the newspaper there would be news of battles and death between the two sides in the conflict.   

So why is it so hard for us to stay at home during this pandemic? Is it because the virus is something we cannot see? But then we in Kathmandu did not see fighting in the streets during the conflict years. Is it because we have access to news and reports and feel ‘this doesn’t apply to me’? Or is it that life has changed so much in the past 15 years that we are no longer as connected as we once were to a more fundamental way of life?

The modern fast-paced life came late to Kathmandu. The advent of cable television and widely available internet have shown just how far behind we were to some other countries. City folks have stepped away from their agricultural past, wanting something more financially fulfilling. I saw a similar phenomena in Singapore. I lived there less than 30 years after its founding and those in their 20s and 30s wanted to put any connection with their parents’ or grandparents’ kampong (village) as far from them as possible. Has that happened in Kathmandu? Do we now want to forget our roots and concentrate on building higher apartment blocks, glamorous nightclubs, more luxurious hotels, etc? And at what price? We saw how during this lockdown air pollution reduced and the mountains rose again.

While other countries are making plans for coming out of the lockdown to include a more environment friendly approach to city life, we saw what happened on Day One of a reduced lockdown in Kathmandu! Are our memories that short? Are we no longer able to take any hardship? Not going to war but simply having to stay home—has this now become a major suffering for us?

Please note I am not talking about daily wage earners here, who are subject to extreme hardship at the moment. I’m talking about us sitting in our comfortable homes, ordering food and drinks online and bitterly complaining that this is going on ‘too long’. WWII went on for six years, the conflict in Nepal for 10.  Surely we can manage a month or three at home. Then build business and towns back up. With priority to the environment and social equity.

Two weeks into the lockdown I was looking around for a reliable produce delivery service.  Sure, one of the larger supermarket chains was delivering but judging by the comments I read online, it was pretty hard to get a delivery slot with them. And this was before some of the other chains started their delivery programs. I stumbled across Kathmandu Organics by accident but when I asked around, a few friends said they had used them pre-lockdown and found them pretty good. Sorted!

So far I have had three deliveries of organic vegetables, fruits, and some other hard-to-get things such as flaxseed oil, Moringa powder, chuk amilo, and real strawberry jam. More recently Kathmandu Organics have gone into cooperation with Bro Bakery so have added croissants and multigrain bread to their product list. And did I mention they also sell Himalayan cow and yak cheese? And of course a great selection of rice, pulses, seeds and nuts from around the country. So impressed have I been with their organic-based product list and quick services I decided to find out a bit more.

Kathmandu Organics was established by Bhuwan and Nisha KC in early 2017 as a trendsetting online food store. Providing a marketplace for local, organic, and handmade products from Nepal, they collaborate with cooperatives, farmers, and entrepreneurs in 30 districts to create a sustainable value-change for their products. So successful is their online store that in February 2020 they opened a shop in front of the Police Headquarters in Naxal. 

Naturally, when lockdown came into force Kathmandu Organics was well placed with its online system to start delivering. “We stared delivering from the third day of the lockdown,” says Bhuwan, “but it wasn’t easy.”  Between the opening of their shop in February and the lockdown they were selling fresh vegetables on a trial basis. With the lockdown came unprecedented demand for these fresh, organic veggies. “Lockdown has been a learning curve. Perishable items were new for us but now we understand these items and our preparation system is much better than it was a few weeks ago,” says Bhuwan. New items added since the lockdown have been bakery items, and herbs and plants. And the list keeps growing.

What I like most are the apples from different mountain districts, always a bit tricky to get at the best of times. Beetroot and carrots are another favorite of mine! Along with their range of dried items—dal, rice, pulses, millet etc, there is Himalayan pink salt, different types of honey, including Cliff Honey (which they also export to Dubai), homemade achaars, ghee, Rainbow Trout, free range (frozen) chicken, and the basic vegetables such as tomatoes, cabbage, onions, and so on. 

You just have to take a look at their list of products! Naturally the list changes week by week since it is now harder to get products from further afield, but they also work with farmers around the Kathmandu Valley, so there is always something fresh in stock. I asked what was the most popular item and was told Ilam cow ghee, which is from their own dairy in Illam. Also very popular, particularly at the moment, is homemade frozen momos made from atta flour with a special recipe of Nepali spice.

Do remember that organic fruit and vegetables may not have the glossy, symmetrical appearance of non-organic produce. But neither do they have the chemicals that keep those apples rosy looking for weeks. In actual fact, now in supermarkets in the UK they offer a range of ‘wonky’ fruit and vegetables. These fruits and veggies are normally tossed aside because they don’t conform to our standards of beauty. The ‘wonky’ (and yes they are given that name) produce looks exactly as fruit and vegetables looked when I was young, and how it looks coming from Nepali farms. And if you find an insect or two in your Nepali produce, its proof it really is organic. 

Visit the Kathmandu Organic website at https://www.kathmanduorganics.com/ to see what is available.  For prompt services, order on Messenger.  Deliveries 24 to 48 hours later.

We have seen a lot of thunderstorms and wind these past two days or so, and it’s become a bit of the norm. But on the whole Nepal is not really a windy country. Sure there are places where the winds are high; parts of the Karnali Region and Mustang come to mind. I can only go on my personal experience of course. And I suppose it depends where you come from when you think Nepal is a windy country or not. Coming from Scotland I can categorically say Nepal is not windy!

Recently I was reminiscing with my mother about summer days at the beach in Scotland. We lived in two seaside towns so I spent most of my childhood and teenage years by the sea. In my childhood, going overseas for holidays was something only for the rich. We were more likely to spend a week in a cottage in the Lakes Districts (England) or in places like the Isle of Skye (Scotland).  Other days during the long school holidays were spent on the beach. Huddled behind a windbreaker!   

Mum and I laughed at the thought of these, now old-fashioned, but pretty indispensible items for beach life in Scotland. Often made of stripy canvas material, mum recalled hers was beige in color—and might still even be in the garage, these 40 something years on since she moved into that house! What is a windbreaker, you might well ask. A large piece of canvas with poles on each end that were fixed into the sand. We then huddled behind the canvas, out of the wind. Supposedly out of the wind!  

We recalled sand in our sandwiches and sand between my father’s toes. Which he hated and thus was part of the socks with sandals brigade. Not a good look!  Many a summer’s day was spent braced behind the windbreaker, or running screaming into the extremely cold North Sea, and building sand castles in the sand. Mum reminisced that as a newly qualified midwife who worked the night shift, she would go for a swim in the sea after finishing work in the early morning. Now that explains a lot—hardy constitution or what?

As a young adult I moved to Edinburgh—the epitome of a windy city. Coming out of the house in the morning only to have to go back in to put on a more fitting skirt as the wind had just blown the original loose fit one over my head was not unusual. Nor was standing on the Waverly Bridge waiting for the night bus home in a full blow gale. Gale in other countries perhaps, but a just a breeze in Scotland.

Dotted along the horizons in Scotland are wind turbines, or windmills. These generate an incredible amount of power to run Scottish homes. I had always thought it possible to install these windmills in certain part of Nepal. There are companies who are looking on this, along with solar and other sustainable energy, such as Wind Power Nepal. The founder of this company is someone I met many years ago when this was just an idea running in the back of his head. 

Interestingly, founder Kushal Gurung has a Masters in Carbon Management from the University of Edinburgh—so yes, he used to live in that windy city too!  He is working on the exact opposite of what my mother was doing. While she was deflecting the wind with her windbreaker, Gurung is capturing it for a sustainable future. And right now more than ever, we need sustainable and environmental-friendly mindsets and plans.  

Last summer I wrote about an ‘endangered’ species—the plastic straw. I noted that in Kathmandu use of plastic straws was dying out. Indeed, most cafes and restaurants were turning towards either metal straws or paper ones. I also noted that across many countries the plastic bag was also on its way out. We were encouraged to bring our own cloth bags to supermarkets and were likely to get a thick paper bag in clothes shop.

Meantime in Kathmandu many of the small shops continued to give out plastic bags with every purchase of two or three vegetables. Which was, I hate to admit it, fine with me as I use plastic bags to package up my rubbish to set outside for the garbage collection people. And plastic bags are great for putting dirty gym clothes, wet swimsuits, kids’ lunches, etc. In that case, as long as you keep using the same bag time and time again, there is some justification in it.

However, even in Kathmandu the larger supermarkets stopped giving plastic bags at the checkouts. Customers who didn’t have their own bags, or couldn’t find a box (rare themselves these days) to carry their purchases home, were obliged to buy a cloth bag. So when my mother mentioned that in the UK, where she is in lockdown, when she gets her delivery from the supermarket, everything comes, once again, in plastic bags, a light bulb went off.  

I realized that the deliveries I have had here in Kathmandu during lockdown have indeed come in plastic bags. Which hadn’t registered with me until my mother mentioned it. So I carried out a quick survey among friends around the world. Which countries have reverted back to plastic bags and which were maintaining their eco-friendliness through non-plastic bags?

Most countries allow people to go to supermarkets to shop during lockdown.  And in those cases, it was business as usual. People were carrying their own cloth bags as previously. Except supermarkets in Canada, which are telling people NOT to bring cloth bags unless they pack everything themselves. They do not want their staff touching bags coming in from outside. 

But among friends who have goods delivered here is the unofficial, tiny sample sized results of my survey: Canada—plastic bags; Belgium—cardboard cartons; France—thick paper bags; the UK—plastic bags; the US—plastic bags. It seems Europe has come out on top!  

So while the air is fresher with fewer vehicles on the road and less planes in the sky, the land is getting time to breathe without construction, logging, fracking etc, and wildlife is getting a much needed respite from mankind, this might all be undone with the Return of the Plastic Bag. (Cue eerie post-apocalypse music.) 

Peanut butter and oatmeal squares

Your kids will love this tasty, healthy snack, and it’s really easy for them to make!

• 1 cup of peanut butter
• 1/3 of a cup of honey
• 2 table spoons of coconut oil (optional)
• 2.5 to 3 cups of oatmeal (the same kind you make morning porridge from)
• Half to one cup of broken nuts, cranberries, sultanas, seeds  (whatever you have in the cupboard)

Heat peanut butter over a very low heat, add honey and coconut oil. Stir till it melts. Take off the heat and stir in the oatmeal, nuts and dried fruit. Place on greaseproof paper or silver foil (with a touch of oil spread over it so the mixture doesn’t stick). Flatten down in a dish and put in the fridge for around three hours until hard. Cut into squares and keep in an airtight container in the fridge. As an alternative—use muesli instead of oats. If it’s the sweetened variety you might not need so much honey, or any at all. 

Apple donuts

A great alternative to just plain apples and easy and fun for even little kids to make. Get creative!

• 3 apples cut into ½ inch thick ring slices (with the core taken out)
• 2 cups of water
• Juice of one lemon
• Peanut butter
• Chocolate powder (if you have)
• Toppings: Sprinkles, nuts, seeds, muesli, pieces of chocolate (whatever is in the cupboard)

Place apple rings into the water with the lemon juice. Leave for 5 to 10 minutes. Pat dry— make sure they are completely dry. Spread peanut butter (mixed with a little chocolate powder if you have) on the top of the rings. Decorate with the toppings. Yummy!

Cornflake and chocolate clusters

Another great sweet treat that is very easy for children to make and which will disappear in a flash!

• Approx 300 gm of chocolate
• 2 cups of cornflakes (rice crispies work just as well)

Melt the chocolate in a bowl that is set into a pan of simmering water. Stir until the broken bits of chocolate are a smooth liquid. Remove from heat and stir in the cornflakes until they are completely covered in chocolate. With a spoon, put clusters of the mixture on greaseproof or silver foil. If you have paper cases you can use them. Put in the fridge to harden. Alternative: If you don’t have chocolate to hand, you can do the same using honey. Maybe add some small pieces of cut fruit or nuts into the mix to cut through the sweetness. These will remain sticky to the touch even when refrigerated so don’t say I didn’t warn you!

Carrot and orange soup

This delicious soup will attract your kids by its colour as well as taste. Carrots being sweet, with a touch of the tang of orange will appeal to the young palate. They can help you prepare by washing and pealing the carrots and onion and squeezing the oranges.

• 1 kg of carrots cut into small pieces
• 2 oranges, freshly squeezed
• 1 onion chopped into small pieces
• 2 or 3 garlic cloves
• 4 cups of vegetable stock (buy from the supermarket or make your own)
• Salt and pepper

Put all the ingredients in the pressure cooker. Bring to 3 or 4 whistles. Either mash the carrots (if you like chunks) or blend to smooth if you prefer. Add more water if you need it. Season to taste.

Basic vegetable stock

Get your kids to gather up the leftover bits of vegetables such as carrot tops, onion skins, green onion outer skins, potato skins, pea pods etc that you used the day before. Get the kids to wash and dry the vegetable leftovers and store until the next day to make the stock.

Put all the ingredients into a pot with about 8 cups of water. Add salt and pepper. You can use soya sauce instead of salt for a deeper taste and color. Bring to the boil and let simmer for 45 minutes to get all the flavor out of the vegetable ends. (If you like you can use a pressure cooker but the taste will not be as strong.) Strain so all you have left is the liquid. When cool store in the fridge (for up to a week in a sealed jar) for use when making soups.