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“We are supposed to begin as the apple of our mother’s eyes. But I was more the maggot in the apple.”

Some opening sentences like the one from ‘A Tale of Two Cities’ by Charles Dickens (It was the best of times, it was the worst of times), and Lolita by Vladamir Nabokov (Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins) have become the most famous lines in literature. Opening sentences hold a lot of promise. It’s also perhaps the most important words of the book as it sets the tone of the plot. It’s what hooks the readers and starts the book with a bang, and that’s a lot to ask from the first few words. Most authors, if not all, feel the pressure to start off with a brilliant sentence. Not all get it right. For me, Joanne Glen definitely does in her novel ‘All My Mothers’.

The opening sentence is the reason I picked up the book despite it being the wrong size. The copy I have doesn’t have the regular book dimensions. The length to breadth ratio is off, making it difficult to hold when the book is open. I don’t know about other readers but I have to enjoy the shape and feel of a book while reading it. All My Mothers is one of those rare books that I didn’t like holding in my hands but I got sucked into the story and loved every word. And my love affair with the book started with the first line.

Eva Martinez-Green is an only child. It wouldn’t be a problem if her parents were involved in her life. But her mother has mental health issues and her father leaves, unable to cope with a volatile wife. Eva feels unwanted, like she doesn’t belong. She’s also unsure about where she comes from and wants answers. Her longing for a motherly figure is so strong that it becomes the guiding factor of her life’s trajectory. She meets women who challenge her idea of how a mother should be, forcing her to confront her demons.

The book is heavy with themes such as generational trauma, displacement, loss, and longing. But despite an overall melancholy vibe, the book won’t upset you. There’s a sense of hope that’s heartwarming. The chapters are short so it feels like the story is moving fast and you’re not bored at any point. Eva is a fully fleshed out character. There’s no aspect of hers that isn’t explored. She’s naïve, jealous, smart, forgiving, and even horrible at times—she’s you and me. You can relate to Eva even if you haven’t had a complex childhood as she has had. If you have, reading All My Mothers will give you some closure for sure. It will make you look at people as humans and accept that there are and always will be flaws in all of us.

Fiction

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57207910-all-my-mothers 

All My Mothers

Joanna Glen

Published: 2021

Publisher: The Borough Press

Pages: 471, Paperback

Menopause, a phenomenon observed in humans and a select few mammal species, including some toothed whales, has now been identified in chimpanzees as well. Wood et al. conducted a study on chimpanzees in Uganda, revealing conclusive evidence of menopause in females aged over 50. Interestingly, unlike humans and toothed whales, post-reproductive female chimps in this population do not partake in raising offspring, hinting at unique evolutionary drivers behind this biological process. This discovery sheds new light on our understanding of menopause across species.

Why does evolution favor menopause or the survival of individuals who can no longer reproduce? This perplexing question has intrigued scientists for years. While post-reproductive females are rare among mammals in the wild, they exist in humans and a select few whale species, making them a fascinating yet elusive subject of study. To shed light on this mystery, scientists turn to our closest primate relatives, chimpanzees. By analyzing demographic and hormonal data, scientists aim to unravel the secrets of post-reproductive life spans and their physiological mechanisms in these fascinating creatures. 

Scientists conducted a fascinating study on 185 female chimpanzees living in Uganda’s Kibale National Park. Over 21 years, they closely observed these wild chimpanzees to understand their mortality and fertility rates. One key measure they looked at was PrR (post-reproductive representation), which indicates how much of their adult life the chimpanzees spend in a post-reproductive state. To explore if these chimps experience something similar to human menopause, the scientists analyzed hormone levels in 560 urine samples from 66 females of different ages and reproductive statuses. This research sheds light on the fascinating world of chimpanzee reproductive biology and its potential similarities to our own experiences.

Researchers discovered that, similar to humans, female chimpanzees in the Ngogo population experienced a decline in fertility after age 30, with no births recorded after age 50. Surprisingly, unlike other chimpanzee groups, many Ngogo females lived beyond 50 years old. This longevity meant that approximately one-fifth of their adult lives were spent in a post-reproductive state, a phenomenon resembling human patterns but occurring for a shorter duration. Hormonal analyses revealed parallels between Ngogo females and humans during reproductive transitions, highlighting the intriguing similarities between our species.

While menopause typically ends reproductive capabilities around age 50 in both humans and chimpanzees, significant post-reproductive lifespan (PrR) had never been witnessed in wild primate populations, including chimpanzees. This unexpected finding raises intriguing questions about the evolutionary factors at play. One theory suggests that favorable ecological conditions at Ngogo, such as low predation rates and abundant food, may have triggered this unique response. Alternatively, PrR could be an inherent trait in chimpanzees, obscured by recent human impacts like disease epidemics. Theories such as the grandmother hypothesis, which posits that older females survive past reproductive age to support offspring, may not directly apply to chimpanzees due to their social dynamics. Instead, the reproductive conflict hypothesis, focusing on competition among females for breeding opportunities, may offer a more pertinent explanation. These theories, though not mutually exclusive, provide insight into the complexities of PrR and hint at broader implications for understanding human societies’ higher prevalence of post-reproductive lifespan.

Multifaceted efforts have been made toward tiger conservation, and Nepal today boasts over 355 tigers in the wild. In 2010, this number was only a third of it—at 121. However, conservation of this umbrella species seems to have created new challenges in human-animal conflict management across the country’s national parks.

Tiger attacks on humans have more than tripled in the last 10-15 years and Nepal seems to be at a crossroads when it comes to managing human-animal balance. Efforts to control this conflict seem to have even challenged the country’s capacity to define development with nature in the balance. On May 14, I visited the Devnagar Tiger Rescue Center in Chitwan and came out with mixed feelings of the direction conservation was headed in Nepal.

The rescue center is primarily meant to keep and conserve ‘troublemaker tigers.’ At the gate, I was told that some 150-200 people have been visiting the center daily since its opening earlier around the Nepali new year. The plan is to reinvest the money raised from ticketing this conservation-tourism effort back into the operations of the rescue center.

All of this was good news, but when I actually went inside, my heart sank. The center seemed too small and cage-like. According to a report published in a daily on May 14, the center covers an area of around 4000 square feet. Separated into two rooms, with indoor and outdoor spaces, two male tigers are kept in this mini-enclosure. I spoke to some of the guides, who had brought in guests, mostly Indians and Nepalis, and one of them mentioned that those running the center ought to accommodate spaces for the tigers to hunt naturally so that when and if the tigers are considered rehabilitate-able into the wild, they can adapt. According to the Wild Tiger Health Project, tigers in rehabilitation should have an enclosure, which is ideally a large (> 0.5 hectare), natural area with good shade trees, plenty of vegetation providing cover, a varying terrain, a pool for bathing and a natural stream system to ensure a clean water supply.

However, I’m really not sure what a rescue center envisions for the rescued  tigers' future, if not rehabilitation into its natural habitat. There is plenty of space around the rescue center to build a larger enclosed nature-like habitat for tigers. I’m assuming it may lack budget, which is the main reason behind the establishment of a small enclosure.

I was also feeling hopeful that ‘conservation tourism’ could actually be quite a larger than life segment for Nepal's tourism industry. But it must be done correctly rather than conveniently. Imagine a tiger in a much larger ‘natural-looking’ space, not immediately visible, guests on binoculars searching, brochures in their pockets that introduce the tigers story and its journey, etc. 

 I must also acknowledge that the government has tried to manage human-animal conflict quite well because rescue centers are only a part of the larger puzzle to conserve and manage flora and fauna in Nepal. Fifty-nine people have died in tiger attacks across various national parks in Nepal since 2018, according to government sources. In 2021-22, tigers killed 21 people, whereas some 10 years ago (2012-13), five human casualties had occurred in the course of conflicts with tigers.

For comparative analysis, more people die because of mosquito bites than tiger attacks in Nepal. According to the Journal of Travel Medicine, mosquito-borne diseases killed more than 55 people in Nepal in 2022. But tigers, not surprisingly, seem to draw more attention, the feline has magnetic charisma, which we must understand and consider in our analysis of human-animal conflict management.

Most tiger attacks have been happening on the outer edges of jungles where weaker tigers roam. Human habitats, which not surprisingly are closing into jungle spaces, mostly witness these encounters. In Meghauli last year, a young mother not even in her 20s died in a tiger attack while foraging the buffer area early in the morning to pluck wild spinach (‘niuro saag’).

Soon after the news of the attack/death spread, locals rioted and demanded park authorities to take the tiger into captivity and relocate the ‘human-eater’. Locals refused to take the body of the young woman out of the jungle until authorities took the tiger away. Local politicians even gain popularity for getting tigers caught and relocated, making tiger attacks a political affair.

Therefore, let’s understand that it is still not too late to envision better rescue and rehabilitation centers. We should  look at the Devnagar rescue center as an example of what is in progress to not only manage human-animal conflict but also an effort to attract quality tourism into a new sphere of “conservation-wildlife tourism” in Nepal. Hopefully, visitors who come to the center will not only be first and last time visitors but wish to be a part of the animals rescue and rehabilitation journey. Hopefully more visitors come for educational purposes and to be a part of quality conservation efforts in Nepal.

It should even be possible to turn the rescue of tigers into a movement. Well-documented visuals and stories through dedicated national broadcasts for conservation tourism could enrich Nepal’s ongoing engagement with tigers. People from across the world could play a part in raising awareness and money to support our government in its efforts to manage human-animal conflict. As Nepal tries to navigate into quality and modern conservation efforts, possibilities are endless, if the right course is taken.

Better shelters and management will surely contribute to a positive conservation tourism sector and attract not only visitors for wildlife tourism (165,000 visitors were recorded at the Chitwan National Park last year), but also for quality wildlife conservation tourism across Nepal's several national parks and conservation areas. However, for the time being, I am left wondering as to what the future holds for the two tigers I saw.

Nepal has a lot of untapped investment potential especially in the areas of infrastructure development, renewable energy, green hydrogen, hydropower, tourism, agri-business, and information and communication technology. Manufacturing is another area where Nepal could attract projects.

KPMG in India has a track record of supporting government agencies on investment promotion programs, business reforms and investment summits. We will be happy to advise the Government of Nepal on the Nepal Investment Summit. For the success of the investment summit, along with inter-ministerial collaboration, laying the platform with a stronger policy environment, effective promotion and targeting investors across key sectors, it will be essential to showcase investable projects that are ready to execute.

The workshop on ‘Unlocking Nepal’s Investment Potential’ organized by KPMG in India, along with the Investment Board Nepal (IBN) in Kathmandu was a precursor to the proposed summit in April. The focus was on promoting private investments, particularly Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), to unlock the country's full potential. The speakers elaborated on potential strategies which could be adopted to reduce compliance burden for investor fraternity and simplify the business processes for obtaining requisite clearances and approvals by investors. Drawing from its extensive experience, KPMG shared success stories from other similar economies and drew parallels to offer indicative actionable recommendations for Nepal. Nepal is on the cusp of transformation, and the workshop concluded with a commitment to enhance the country’s investment climate through legal, procedural, and regulatory reforms.

To foster economic expansion and enhance investment potential in Nepal, a comprehensive strategy should focus on strengthening the policy environment, infrastructure development, regulatory reforms, ensuring ease of doing business, and targeted sector-specific investment promotion. Strengthening key sectors like tourism, technology, renewable energy, green hydrogen, and manufacturing can also play a pivotal role in attracting investors and fostering sustainable economic growth. Additionally, building a business-friendly environment, easing process friction, and encouraging innovation will further contribute to creating an attractive investment climate in Nepal.

There are several areas where India could increase investment in Nepal, particularly in areas of synergies and leveraging learnings from each other in ease of doing business (EODB), managing large programs, and infrastructural development through public-private partnerships (PPPs). By fostering collaboration in key sectors such as renewable energy, green hydrogen, manufacturing, digital public infrastructure, technology centers, agriculture, and tourism infrastructure, services, both nations could drive mutual growth and development. Several factors could contribute to the gap between promised investments and actual outcomes. Identifying and addressing these issues, improving transparency, and ensuring a stable investment climate could help bridge this gap.

The author is CEO of KPMG, India