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Aditya Goenka, a student from Nepal who topped the Richmond American University at London in BA Economics (Hons), leading to distinguished offers from the prestigious Cambridge and London School of Economics for pursuing his Masters’, has committed himself to helping alleviate poverty at large, reshaping the socio-economic landscape in Nepal with the help of a multi-utility grass called Vetiver. He envisions extending his paradigm of sustainable and inclusive development across the developing world once he sees Nepal’s underprivileged empowered with sustainable and inclusive development in place. 

He believes that comprehending ‘Ecosystem based Adaptation (EBA)’ holds the key to the holistic development of a nation. For us in Nepal, this is very pertinent. It can be understood as interactions that connect several approaches to addressing climate change adaptation, biodiversity and ecosystem conservation, and socioeconomic development with people being at the center of the approach. For the vulnerable communities, it assumes even larger significance.

He has embraced Vetiver, a specific vegetation known for its capability as a sustainable agriculture tool along with being a bioengineering marvel. It impacts all the 17 SDGs in Nepal. The initiative covers diverse need-based arenas as critical as soil and water conservation, disaster mitigation, wasteland reclamation, groundwater recharge, carbon sequestration, phytoremediation of abandoned mines, quarries etc, substitution of fossil fuel with green energy, landfills, leachates, and many more.

The impact of his work has been revolutionary across various applications, with the aforesaid being just a few examples. Vetiver plantations can be seen at several public projects in Nepal having solved bioengineering challenges with elan—such as the under-construction ‘Fast Track’ road project from Nijgadh to Kathmandu, Pokhara International Airport, Mahakali Irrigation Project, Wasteland Reclamation for farmers and several more. 

Goenka is confident that most of the critical issues as challenging as poverty, climate, hunger, unemployment in Nepal (and in extension across the developing world) can be addressed with Vetiver which is not just a grass but, it’s a technology. It is a C4 perennial grass that fits well in ecosystem service models contributing to multifarious environmental applications, and offers sustainable opportunities for carbon sequestration as well.

Vetiver has unique morphological, physiological and ecological characteristics including its massive root system, tolerance to highly adverse growing conditions and to high levels of toxicities. As a fast growing grass, it possesses some features of both grasses and trees by having profusely grown, deep penetrating root systems that can offer both erosion prevention and control of shallow movement of surface earth mass. It is also cost-effective and environmentally-friendly.

On the poverty alleviation narrative, Goenka is working on a model wherein the farmers can bid adieu to the less revenue-accruing traditional crops and plant Vetiver as a livelihood measure which would fetch them several times more of revenue—a buy back arrangement with institutional tie-up is being worked out by him. This will enable a large number of farmers to come out of misery. There are several farmers in the terai whose stretches of lands got swept away by devastating rivers turning those into wastelands. 

Since Vetiver evolves in such lands too, there will still be a restoration of fortune for them which provides a sigh of relief to this young epitome of humanity, Aditya whose mission is driven on the premise of his pledge to bring a smile on the faces of these farmers many of who have been rendered “Sukumbasis”. He is working with his plantations right in a flood-devastated region of the downstream Bagmati river where there is a settlement of ‘Sukumbasis’ whom he provides employment and supports with Vetiver plants to guard whatever little lands some of them could save when a major flood struck the region in 2050.     

Goenka envisions helping usher-in security for the nation across all the following attributes if the wastelands in the country which are absolutely redundant today, could be put to Vetiver plantation. food, jobs, energy, climate, economic rewards, et al, can be available to the nation. 

“The heaventree of stars hung with humid nightblue fruit,” mused James Joyece in his unparalleled Ulysses. In another of his ravishing sentences, he ponders about the vastness of the age of stars when he says, “so-called fixed stars, in reality, evermoving wanderers from immeasurably remote eons to infinitely remote futures in comparison with which the years, threescore and ten, of allotted human life, formed a parenthesis of infinitesimal brevity.” Joyce had an almost unmatched mastery with words. In another of his classics, ‘Finnegan’s Wake,’ which is a reversal of Ulysses, he wrote a sentence that was later to be immortalized in the world of physics: “Three quarks for Muster Mark.”

‘Quarks,’ as is now known in the world of physics, is the elementary stuff, i.e., something without any underlying substructure out of which protons and neutrons are made. Democritus, the great Greek philosopher, thought atoms to be uncuttable—the building blocks of matter. But it is these elementary particles—Quarks—that, in the truest sense, are uncuttable. 

It is the interactions of these quarks, along with the forces that bind them, that are gluons, that give rise to the mass of the matter in the entire universe, ranging from the heaventree of stars to the unfathomable depths of black holes and everything in between. But how does mass come about in the first place?  All of the universe is permeated with something known as the Higgs field, much as the life of a fish in an ocean is surrounded by water. It is the interaction of the particles with this field that gives rise to mass. If you imagine that there is a shoal of fish in a pond—all of whom we could think of as the Higgs field. 

Now suppose three different kinds of fish come across the shoal, one of which is the kind of the shoal itself. This fish might not interact with the shoal and pass without perturbing the Higgs field and therefore have no mass. Another kind, a larger one that is a smaller predator, might scare or disturb the shoal and interact with the Higgs field and acquire some mass. A super predator like a whale, for example, scares and interacts greatly with the shoal—the Higgs field—and acquires greater mass. In the real universe, photons that make up light do not interact with the Higgs field at all. Different types of quarks interact differently with the Higgs field and have different masses.

When the universe came to life out of nothing, as some theorists proposed, it was an incredibly tense object and unbelievably hot too. Only after it cooled due to expansion did it have the right conditions to give rise to quarks. After a millionth of a second after its formation, quarks aggregated to give rise to protons, neutrons and electrons. Only after 380 thousand years did the universe cool enough for the electrons to be trapped around stable orbits outside the nucleus and form the first-ever atoms: hydrogen and helium.

About 200m years later, the first stars were formed. Right now, there are about 100bn stars in every galaxy, and the number of these galaxies is thought to be a trillion. Given that a star like the sun can hold about a million Earth-like planets, is it even sensible to ask whether the universe is light enough to float on water? Well, every question is a shout-out to know the universe. Given that “The universe is not simply stranger than we imagined but stranger than we can imagine,” as Heisenberg brilliantly put it, it’s well worth asking the question.

We also know that Saturn, despite having 100 times the mass of the Earth, can float on water due to the gigantic volume that makes it incredibly light. But measuring the volume of the universe is a different ball game altogether. This is because we don't quite know the boundary of the universe, and for all practical purposes, we shall never do. This is because of the boundary problem in the universe.

Well, the universe is only 13.7bn years old, which means that the light in the universe has only so much time to travel, and so has information because there's nothing that travels at a speed greater than the speed of light. But our observable universe is about 93.5bn light-year across, and the large-scale structures of the universe reveal to us that the matter in the universe has spread out evenly, meaning that they must have interacted with each other at some time in the past.

But inflation is given that light has had only 13.6bn years to travel. How has information traveled at a distance much, much more to make the universe homogeneous? An answer to this conundrum was posed by Alan Guth, who put forward the theory of inflation. He theorized that soon after the Big Bang, the universe expanded by a factor of more than a billion of a billion of a billion in a matter of a fraction of a billionth of a billionth of a billionth of a second. In other words, the universe has expanded as much as that tiniest fraction of a second during inflation as much as it has ever done since. This gives the matter in the farthest creatures of the universe time to interact just before inflation kicks in. And how much has the universe expanded ever since?

Well, we don’t really know, and we shall never really know. 

This is because the most distant galaxies are being pulled apart from each other due to the rapid expansion of space. The galaxies that are nearer to each other, such as Andromeda and the Milky Way, have a greater gravitational force of attraction than the energy of empty spaces between them. Other galaxies that are further away have a greater energy of the empty space than the gravitational pull, and as a result, the distance between them is ever-increasing. As the expansion of the empty space continues, the galaxies will be so far apart that there will be no traces of other galaxies as they will recede from each other at speeds greater than the speed of light.

So, given that the universe is expanding so much, we can never truly know the density of the universe. We can only see the density of the observable universe, and this, too, is varying. During its origin, the universe was infinitely dense. Then, with inflation, this changed. After inflation, 13.6bn years since, its density is a mere 9.9 times 10 to the power minus 27 kilograms per meter cubed. This is as low as taking all the mass of molecules in a cubic meter of air that we breathe and expanding the volume as much as the space between the Earth and the Moon.

So, yes, the observable universe would float on water, given you could go outside the universe and find as much water as possible. But space and time and matter and water, all of these things exist only inside the universe. There is no outside, and since the edges of the universe are flying apart from us at speeds greater than that of light, we shall never know what is the boundary of the universe. Are there other universes, too, in a grand multiverse with a different density? We can only speculate. “Such are the ever-changing tracks of never-changing space,” James Joyce so memorably put it.

“Good morning Nani!” A high-pitched voice behind her door can always be heard during the early mornings of Spring. The morning wishes to feel like a reminder to her every day. This a reminder about how she can seize the day with optimum energy to accelerate productivity. 

A day where she is encouraged to quench her thirst for knowledge by plunging into the world of books and learning resources. Some days she is occupied with the wonders of the outside world and a few days she emerges to reflect her inner self. 

Her curiosity about life keeps her engaged throughout the day. Once she gets submerged into the depths of her understanding and thoughts, she imagines. An imagination that takes her to a topsy-turvy world. It unhinges her. 

On a calm Spring morning, she woke up to the sound of her father’s morning wish as usual. The sun was setting above the horizon and the Kathmandu valley was getting warmer and the sky clearer. A ray of golden light entered through the big windows into her study table. The table was full of her current readings from Carmine Gallo to Michael J Gelb. There were colorful sticky notes all over her wall which read about affirmations and mantras. 

Her vision board echoed the triumph of achievements she has envisioned for herself in the coming years. A graduation photo of her mother hung right below the flag of her dream country, Germany. As she stood in front of the mirror, a reflection of her teen self-appeared. A girl who is full of dreams and enthusiasm to conquer the world of possibilities. With a smile on her face, she does a big “hi 5”. 

After drinking a cup of water, she ties her hair up and sits down on her study table to write a to-study list for the day. A list that consists of several topics to read, learn, watch, and listen to. The sound of the cuckoo is a call for her to go upstairs on the terrace for some serene time alone. She catches a deep breath of the fresh air and the cool breeze flips her long hair. The hills on the southern side catch her attention and she feels calm and at ease. The hill isn’t as steep as a cliff but steep enough to run out of breath if a trekking trail is there. Many houses and buildings were visible from afar where the Kathmandu valley could be seen in its form.

Once she turns around to see the beautiful landscape of the valley, a glimpse of her childhood memories flashes in the blink of an eye. She saw a shy girl who was afraid of people. People’s faces. Faces that reminded her of an unforgettable incident that crippled her down to angst. Her heart suddenly feels cold and uneasy. She tries to divert her mind by recalling all the greatest lessons she has learned in her life so far. She reminds herself of her potential and worth. 

A reminder that keeps knocking her mind to make a comeback from all those setbacks. There she was already visualizing herself on the stage. The stage where she can share her story. The stage which fulfills her dreams in her mind is just a terrace at the moment. The limelight of the sun which she thinks is the spotlight for her makes her feel euphoric. And there she is. 

Talking to thousands of people. She can hear the audience clapping. The audience which are the houses and buildings at the moment. A moment that she rehearses in her mind to get the feeling of ultimate satisfaction. 

She stays longer than enough in the state of mind which frees her mind from those angst and fear of people. After attaining serendipity, she opens her heart to pour her feelings into the journal. The clarity in her vision of life she is building allows her to become more confident in the process. By writing, she gets to de-clutter her mind and understand herself. She writes: 

“There comes a point,

A point where you want to dream, 

Dream about every possibility,

Possibility of hope.”

In a brief moment, she pens a letter to her future self about how she has to keep going despite the obstacles and hurdles on her way. A letter that she seals with all her promises and dreams of achieving one day. Her style of articulating her thoughts and feelings made the letter sophisticated. There is a file of her letter collection which she has kept safely to open soon. Letters she wrote by collecting all her thoughts together to make sense of the “why” in her life. Long writings where she expressed her gratitude for life. A life that is full of quests and exploration.  

A notebook that was inside a pile of books caught her eye. It was sewed with a white thread on the side to keep the papers intact and brown tape to secure it neatly. She took the notebook in her hand and gently turned on the first page which wrote “1989, Kathmandu Valley” with a familiar-looking signature that caught her attention. The next page of the notebook would change her perception of many things in life. Once she started scanning the writings and the information in the notebook which was written with a type-writer handwriting almost to perfection, it amazed her. With a racing heart and curiosity in her mind, she started searching for more of the notebooks from other years.

There it was. A pile of several notebooks was organized based on the year. All the front pages read, “Curiosità”.

With a willingness to dive deeper into the world of thoughts, she spends an entire afternoon connecting the dots. The dots which is a point for her introspection consisting of her muse and contemplation. A cup of cold coffee keeps her up until evening as she plays Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons” on the Bluetooth speaker. Through her big windows, she can see a bed of clouds covering the honey-dew sky. She gasps for a few seconds and looks outside the window to feel the cozy evening warmth while munching on freshly baked cookies from her cousin. 

“Beep beep…” 

The phone ring catches her attention. It was a call that informed her about a delivery package in a few minutes. The package was wrapped in Lokta paper which had no information about the sender. A unique stamp piqued her attention. With gentle care, she unwraps the package and finds six similar-looking notebooks which were written in the year 2000 in the same handwriting. She assumes it to become a chronological order of writings with the content of a cathartic release of the writer.

When she opened the first notebook written in 2000, it read “The first wealth is health.” Her prolonged inquisitiveness made her adrenaline rush. She turned into the second notebook of 2001 which had the title “The Art of Being Happy.” While turning the page of the 2002’s notebook, she found a family photo and the title wrote,” Family is the heart of home.” 

While being inundated by the people of the family photo, she noticed the date at the back of the photo which was taken in 1990 by Panavision Panaflex Gold II. This took her to another notebook’s title “No pressure, no diamond.” The sequence of the title’s content was a matter of conjecture. She took a breath of relief before taking a glimpse of the other two notebooks. 

“Knock knock.”

The door is swiftly opened by her notorious brother just to barge in. Her focus diverts into the realm of friendly banter with many giggles and shared eye gaze. With an astonished look, he glances at the notebooks and tells her that the cover pages look familiar. 

On the spur of the moment, he rushes toward the storeroom and picks up a rustic brown wooden box that has metal brackets in the corner. He hands over the box to her and the first thing that she notices is the carving which is similar to the stamp in all the notebooks. 

Once they unlock the box, a photo of an old man sitting on this reading table is captured along with the same notebooks. 

It was a moment of awestruck infinity.  

Animon Rapacha 

BBM VI Semester, United College, Lalitpur

In this 21st century world it is difficult to find someone who has never played any form of video game. With the constantly evolving technology, video games are not limited to consoles or computers but are easily accessible on mobile phones no matter the type. The types of games may vary based on the device you have, but every device has the access to video games which have now slowly been a way for many people to kick back and relax after a long day of work, school, anything.

According to Statista, there are currently more than 2.5bn video game players in the world which means the notion of only children playing video games is long gone. As of now there are 831,000 video games in the world which indicates a wide variety of selection for people. Video games are currently a big source of entertainment in many households.

I first started playing video games at the age of three, and ever since it has been an integral part of my life. Sure, I don’t hop on games for hours on end everyday, but whenever I feel down or have free time, I turn on a game. Video games are not just limited to one person as the option of multiplayer allows the person to connect with friends via the internet or meet up together and enjoy the game.

Along with being a form of entertainment and a means to pass time, video games have also become a major source of income for numerous people. Games like Fortnite and Dota 2 have had tournaments which had prize pools of over $30m. Many games hold tournaments year round with massive prize pools because of which Esports is becoming a serious method of income among gamers in the West.

Not just Esports, online platforms like YouTube, Twitch, Kick and Rumble are filled with streamers who live stream themselves playing games and make a living off of it. Many popular streamers sign multi-million-dollar contracts with said platforms which contribute to their earnings along with sponsorships from many game developers as well.

While video games have risen as a source of income, entertainment, relaxation, just like everything, this coin has another side as well. One of the biggest seen traits in people who are involved with video games is the trait of anger. Playing games means investing real time and energy into the virtual world which at times can bring up frustrations and there are many factors that contribute to it, ranging from something that happens in the game itself or because of some glitches or even because of your own friends and teammates. Being too immersed in video games can also lead to health risks mainly obesity and posture related issues. Playing games for long hours means you stay in a certain position and place for several hours which can lead to people having problems in the spine, their back, hands and necks. 

While made for enjoyment, video games are also subject to rules and regulations and go through various checks. All games are subjected to ESRB (Entertainment Software Rating Board) checks which assign age and content rating to the games before their release.

In Nepal Esports is slowly being taken seriously and it is because of one very specific game, PUBG Mobile. Many Nepali teams have been able to take part in major PUBG Mobile tournaments and make earnings. Not just in a competitive scene, PUBG Mobile has also enabled many content creators to amass a huge audience in Nepal.

This rise in gaming has resulted in internet service providers also upping their game and attracting customers with packages that focus on giving a better gaming experience. Worldlink has a package specifically made for PUBG Mobile which allows the players to experience a smoother connection while gaming. While improvements are being made in various sectors to promote gaming, regulations other than age restriction based on content is not available yet in Nepal, as there is no proper government body to make such adjustments. However, online gambling is something that is punishable by law in Nepal.

Video games unlike the stereotypical notion don’t just spread violence. For a long time, the idea that video games that contain violent content results in the players also being involved in violent activities in the real world as well. But video games don’t just contain violence they also contain enriching stories, great world-building and adrenaline-fueling moments because of which they have become a global phenomenon in recent years gaining more and more popularity. Games like Grand Theft Auto, Call of Duty, Fortnite, FIFA, Dota2, Counter-Strike, Skyrim, Assassins Creed, Far Cry, God of War have gained massive fan bases ranging in millions which show no signs of stopping.

Diwas Lamichhane

Thames International College