Submit your Article

Mithai shops are a dime-a-dozen today but the Shree Nanda Mithai Bhandar stands out with its timeless recipes. It’s popular with people lining up for their daily dose of Nepali sweets on a daily basis.

“The shop first opened its doors 165 years ago and has been passed down for five to six generations,” says Radha Krishna Rajkarnikar who currently manages the store. The shop is located at the heart of Patan Durbar Square right behind the Krishna mandir. It’s famous for its amazing traditional Newari sweets which carry many cultural values and emotions. Newari sweets are used in almost all of their festivals and marriage ceremonies.

This store prepares more than 35 varieties of sweets. The ‘khuwa ko barfi’, ‘lakhamari’, and ‘jeri swari’ are some of the bestselling items. Despite good business, they haven’t expanded and still make all their items at the store premises itself. Rajkarnikar says this is intentional as they believe their popularity is because of the quality of their products and they don’t want to compromise with it.

“We didn’t open a cafe despite the demands for one because we want to maintain strict discipline regarding cleanliness and quality. We have a lot of regular customers that we don’t want to let down at any cost,” he says.

Behind the shop is a little space where the workers make all the mouth-watering sweets. The Nepali month of Mangsir sees a lot of weddings and the store gets inundated with orders. “Sometimes we make sweets till one in the morning, sleep for four hours, and wake up to complete the orders,” says Rajkarnikar.

Interestingly, the shop isn’t just a place that sells sweets and occasionally allows its workers to take long naps. It’s also where an important part of the Kartik naach takes place. On the second last day of the festival—when Narasingha, the fourth avatar of the Hindu god Vishnu, kills the evil power Hiranyakashyap, an asura king of the daityas in the Puranic scriptures of Hinduism. The ceremony is held inside the shop on that day. They empty the cooking room for the ritual.

I cry over the littlest of things especially when I’m criticized by my family. I don’t mean to but I get hurt easily. I know this isn’t the right response and I want to work on it. I know this will also affect my relationship with my family members and I don’t want that. What can I do?

Answered by Rishav Koirala, researcher and physiatrist

It’s not uncommon for individuals to experience strong emotional reactions, such as crying, when faced with criticism, particularly from family members. These emotional responses can be influenced by a combination of personal sensitivities and the deep emotional connections inherent in familial relationships. The impact of persistent emotional distress, especially when rooted in familial criticism, can extend beyond the immediate moment, potentially contributing to the development or exacerbation of mental health issues like anxiety or depression.

To effectively address these emotional challenges, it’s crucial to engage in a multifaceted approach. Firstly, acknowledging and accepting these emotions without self-blame is essential. Emotions are complex, and allowing oneself to feel without judgment is the starting point for understanding and managing them.

Taking time to reflect on the specific triggers within the criticism can provide valuable insights. Understanding what aspects of the criticism evoke such strong emotional responses can help uncover underlying concerns or insecurities. This self-awareness can then serve as a foundation for developing strategies to cope with and navigate these triggers.

Building effective communication skills is another key aspect of managing emotional responses within the family dynamic. Expressing one’s feelings and needs openly and honestly can foster a deeper understanding among family members, potentially reducing the likelihood of misunderstandings and conflicts.

Exploring and adopting coping strategies tailored to individual preferences is crucial. This might involve activities such as mindfulness, journaling, or engaging in hobbies that provide a sense of joy and relaxation. Building a personalized toolbox of coping mechanisms enhances one’s ability to manage emotions effectively.

In cases where emotional responses persist and significantly impact well-being, seeking professional support is highly advisable. Therapy or counseling provides a safe and supportive environment for individuals to delve deeper into their emotions, understand underlying issues, and develop practical strategies for improved mental health. Prioritizing emotional well-being is a fundamental aspect of self-care, and with the right support, individuals can work towards building resilience and navigating family dynamics more effectively.

Last week, India organized the second edition of Voice of Global South Summit to share key outcomes achieved in various G20 meetings over the course of India’s Presidency this year. The summit discussed the common challenges faced by the countries of the Global South.

Nepal’s Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal was also invited at the concluding session of the summit attended by more than 125 countries from the Global South . Addressing the session, Dahal said that the world is facing an unprecedented crisis generated by the Covid-19 pandemic, climate change, and deepening geo-political complexities. They have impacts on food and nutrition, health and education, economy and environment, and peace and security, he said.

“Developing countries, especially the LDCs, are the most affected by these crises. Rising food and energy prices, tightening financial conditions, and persistent cycles of vulnerabilities continue to add to their worries,” Dahal said.

In order to address the challenges facing the world, Dahal urged the international community to focus on common goals of peace, progress and prosperity. For this, building of trust, promoting partnership and collaboration and working in solidarity remain crucial, the prime minister emphasized.  

Dahal also called for the need to champion inclusive and sustainable global growth, in which the Global South receives a fair share to eradicate poverty and give their people a decent life. He also said tha Nepal remains steadfast in its commitment to multilateralism with the United Nations at the center.

“Nonetheless, we believe that the existing global governance architecture needs a timely reform to make it relevant and reflective of today’s realities. Reform of the international financial architecture should be a top priority with full consideration to the voice of the countries in special situations, including LDCs, LLDCs and SIDS,” Dahal said.

He added: “Climate change remains a grave threat to humanity. Climate-vulnerable countries like Nepal have been bearing the burden of climate change. The effect of climate change on the Himalayas has posed a severe threat to the lives and livelihoods of millions of people living in our region. We all must commit ourselves to achieving the set ambitions in a time-bound manner.”

The prime minister further said that Nepal is graduating from the LDC status by 2026 and the nation is committed to making this process smooth, sustainable, and irreversible. 

“Sustainable Development Goals remain at the center of our development vision and priorities with integration into national policies and plans. But even the progress that we achieved so far has been threatened by the multitude of global crises,” he said.  “Hence, we have been calling for an enhanced level of international support from our partners such as development assistance, FDI, trade facilitation, technology transfer and technical assistance. South-South cooperation should also be forthcoming to lifting the neediest countries.”

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the Global South wants its autonomy and it is ready to take up greater responsibility in global matters. 

“Geographically, the Global South has always existed, but it is getting a voice for the first time, and this is because of joint efforts. We are more than 100 countries but our priorities are similar,” he said. 

Modi also spoke of the 5 ‘Cs’, a commitment to which would power the growth of these countries. The 5 ‘Cs’ are “consultation, cooperation, communication, creativity and capacity building.

The foreign ministers’ session deliberated on major global agendas, including climate change, energy transition, technological transformation, and restoring trust in multilateralism. 

Minister for External Affairs of India S Jaishankar said India took over its G20 Presidency in the backdrop of a very challenging global, and in its presidency, India’s anchor was the Global South.  

“Its voices inspired our priorities, fueled our efforts, and galvanized a path-breaking consensus,” he said. “Recognizing our shared past, the Global South will continue to make efforts for One Earth and to strengthen the voices of the developing countries, the Indian minister said, as one family, the Global South will continue to act with everyone’s interests in mind and drive transformation and building synergies.”  

In the summit, India also announced some initiatives. One of them is the Global South Centre of Excellence which will work as a think tank and will also work as a repository of knowledge and development initiatives in order to interface with the Global South and seek ways to forge collaboration with countries in this region. 

On Nov 22, India organized a G20 leader’s Summit to review the progress in the implementation of outcomes and action points from the New Delhi Summit. India has said that during the G20 presidency it articulated the voice of the Global South. 

Ahead of COP28, in the G20 summit, Indian Prime Minister Modi urged the countries to take concrete actions on Global South’s priorities in the Global South.  

Foreign policy observers say Nepal can take the benefit from the initiatives but Nepal has not made any preparations on it. Climate change is one of the areas on which Nepal can get benefits.

Box

The proposal made by Modi:

• Climate action and climate justice with greater focus on adaptation
• Easy and affordable climate finance for vulnerable countries
• Raising climate finance from billions to trillions
• Just, inclusive and affordable energy transition
• Focus on alternative fuels
• G20 high-level principles on Hydrogen
• Tripling renewable energy capacity by 2030

India’s initiative for Global South

• Global South Center of excellence for research on development issues
• Arogya Maitri Initiative for supplying essential medicines and supplies for humanitarian assistance to global south
• India’s digital health service delivery stack to be made available to Global South
• Global South and Science and Technology initiative for the capacity building
• G20 satellite mission for environment and climate observation to share climate and weather data with Global South
• Global South Partnership Program for the students of global south in India
• Global-South young diplomat forum

The G20 Summit in September spoke at length about the voices of developing countries in the global decision-making process.

• Better integrate the perspectives of developing countries, including LDCs, LLDCs, and SIDS, into future G20 agenda and strengthen the voice of developing countries in global decision making.
• Recognize the importance of WTO’s ‘Aid for Trade’ initiative to enable developing countries, notably LDCs, to effectively participate in global trade, including through enhanced local value creation.
• Facilitate equitable access to safe, effective, quality-assured, and affordable vaccines, therapeutics, diagnostics, and other medical countermeasures, especially in Low-and Middle-income Countries (LMICs), LDCs and SIDS.
• Accelerate actions to address environmental crises and challenges including climate change being experienced worldwide, particularly by the poorest and the most vulnerable, including in LDCs and SIDS.
• Continue to support augmentation of capabilities of all countries, including emerging economies, in particular developing countries, LDCs and SIDS, for promoting disaster and climate resilience of infrastructure systems.
• Extend strong support to Africa, including through the G20 Compact with Africa and G20 Initiative on supporting industrialization in Africa and LDCs. Hold further discussions to deepen cooperation between the G20 and other regional partners.
• Increase resource needs of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and FATF Style Regional Bodies and encourage others to do the same, including for the next round of mutual evaluations. Timely and global implementation of the revised FATF Standards on the transparency of beneficial ownership of legal persons and legal arrangements to make it more difficult for criminals to hide and launder ill-gotten gains.

Toni Hagen needs no introduction, given his huge contribution to Nepal. In the 1950s and '60s, first as a Swiss development officer and later as a United Nations expert, he trekked through a largely uncharted country and introduced it to the world. He was an acute observer and sympathetic critic of the process of modernization and change in Nepal. His legacy is being continued by his daughter Dr Katrin Hagen through the Toni Hagen Foundation and other initiatives. She talks with Kamal Dev Bhattarai of ApEx about Nepal and Nepali society.    

Please tell us about your first visit to Nepal.

When I first came to Nepal, I was very small and it was 1953 so I remember very few things. What I remember is because I have seen the photos and I was told many things by my father.

Kathmandu at that time was totally different. There was no road connection with India, there was a flight three times a week. Soon the airport was built in Pokhara and sometimes we used to go there. At that time, in Pokhara, there were no hotels, nothing, only the old villages.

How many times have you been to Nepal?

The first time I came was in 1953 and the second time I came in 1962 when my father was in charge of Tibetan refugees again I came in 1975 for the trekking and since I have been coming to Nepal regularly, maybe more than 40 times. In the last 20 years, I came to Nepal two times a year except there was the Covid-19 pandemic.

What is your observation about Nepal that was in the 1970s and now?

Obviously, there is a big difference. In this period, Nepal’s forest is growing. At that time, forests used to belong to the government so everybody wanted to chop down trees and they did not care about the forest.  As soon as it was handed to the community forest, then they took care of it and the areas of the forest increased. When you see the photos of Shivapuri taken in 1960 and current photos, you can see more trees.

What is your overall impression about Nepal?

There are many problems here but there are many good things as well. You always compare Nepal with Switzerland and have some similarities as well.  Nepal is four times bigger than Switzerland, its  population is four times bigger, and the percentage of cultivable land and land that is not possible to cultivate is around the same percentage. About politics, I do not speak, it is very unstable but it is not only in Nepal. Politicians around the world look for power and money. There are many non-governmental organizations and many Nepalis who want to do something and there are people who are doing something for Nepal. One thing that I still admire very much is Nepal is unique, you have press freedom and you can say what you want.  There is diversity, different religions go together and do not fight each other. I hope it will not be influenced by India where Hindus have started fighting against Muslims. My father used to talk about Nepal’s multi-ethnicity and religion.

What are the major challenges in Nepal’s mountain area?

This spring, I was in Dailekh and then I visited Jumla.  Of course, the road there was very bad. One thing I said and which my father used to say is that road building is okay because you can bring your products to the big towns, but it is not good if it is only used to bring Chinese and Indian goods in the valleys. There is no development for you.  In the market, I see very nice apples in plastic which are from China and are not good for the environment. There are many projects to bring apples from Jumla to Kathmandu and other markets but people do not buy them because they do not look nice. My father, always, used to say farmers should be provided the proper price of their products so that they can survive.

What is your view on social inclusion and gender equality in Nepal?

We have to invest more on women's projects in farming. In the rural areas, women are working in the fields and men are in the Arab countries. We have to strengthen them even more.

What are the Toni Hagen Foundation’s major areas of work in Nepal?

We have two projects. One is related to a medical project where we support mostly orthopedic medical camps all over the place. For this, I have visited many remote places and villages in Nepal.  Through the Toni Hagen Foundation, we want to provide knowledge to the underprivileged group about democracy and what it means for them. Even now, we are trying to do something in the youth Parliament to ensure that the youths are more involved in politics. Besides these, of course, my father’s main speech was “Now we all have experts but no farmers who can speak about farmers.” Now, the excessive use of fertilizer is damaging the soil and now there is climate change. What I heard already from different projects is that farmers are not getting water at the right time, and there are more landslides.

How do you evaluate Nepal’s democracy?

On paper, it is very good.  You have press freedom which is one of the most important things in Nepal.

Is Nepal’s democracy strong?

I am not a politician. I do not want to be involved in Nepal’s internal politics. Compared to other countries in the region, Nepal is very good at democracy. Compared to democracy in Switzerland, and Germany, Nepal’s democracy is medium.

What were the dreams of Toni Hagen about Nepal?

One of the things that my father adored was that Nepal is a multicultural country. Nepal’s multi-religion, multicultural and multi-ethnicity is one of the unique things in Nepal. He was very much concerned about the Hindu king, the Hindu religion which means one religion is more important. But he was of the view that all religions should be treated equally. We do provide support for the protection and promotion of all religions and ethnicities to create awareness. This is unique in the world and you should keep it, not destroy it like in India now. There should not be domination of a single religion like in India. Of course, there is one language i.e. Nepali but other languages should be protected too.