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Have you ever noticed lemons and chili peppers hanging at the doors of Hindu homes? While you might be familiar with the ‘scientific’ explanation that they help ward off flies, mosquitoes, and moths due to their aromas, there’s a deeper cultural and mythological significance to this practice.

Hindu mythology speaks of Laxmi, the goddess of prosperity, having a twin sister named Alakshmi or Jesthadevi, who is considered the goddess of poverty and deprivation. Laxmi prefers sweet dishes, while Alakshmi favors sour and spicy flavors. To attract the blessings of Laxmi while keeping Alakshmi at bay, people hang lemons and chilies outside their homes.

Beyond the mythological aspect, Nepalis share a profound love for chili peppers, which plays a significant role in their culinary traditions. Chili peppers are indeed a distant cousin to the local varieties like jyanmara, dalle, aakase, and jire. Despite its fiery reputation, chili peppers are adored for their ability to enhance the taste of dishes, striking the perfect balance of flavors in Nepali gastronomy.

Chili peppers have a captivating history that spans continents and cultures. Originally from America, these small, vibrant fruits found their way to India, where they became an integral part of the country’s diverse culinary landscape. The pungent and fiery flavor of chilies infused Indian dishes with new dimensions, enriching the complexity and depth of flavors. Over time, chili peppers spread globally, transforming regional cuisines across Europe, Africa, Southeast Asia, and beyond.

In Nepal, chili peppers are cherished for their exceptional taste, and the demand for them is on the rise. One family in Palpa sold akabare (cherry chili) worth four million Nepali rupees last year. It’s expected to reach six million Nepali rupees this year. This surge in demand reflects the unwavering popularity of these spicy delights in the country.

Nepal’s culinary landscape is a reflection of its multi-ethnic, multicultural, and multi-religious fabric. The country embraces a rich tapestry of diverse eating traditions, and chili peppers play a pivotal role in many Nepali dishes. From the sweet and sour flavors of sel-roti prepared during Tihar to attract the blessings of Laxmi, to the fiery delights like ‘choyela’ and ‘nibuwa sadheko’, Nepalis have a deep-rooted love for chili-infused cuisine.

In the world of gastronomy, balancing flavors is an art, and chili peppers are an essential component of achieving that balance. The five fundamental tastes—sweet, sour, bitter, hot, and umami—come together harmoniously in Nepali dishes. Chili peppers provide the fiery element that complements the other tastes, making them a vital supporting ingredient in Nepali kitchens.

Chili peppers have long been known for their medicinal properties, particularly in Ayurveda—the ancient Indian system of medicine. Their use in traditional medicine across India and Nepal is a testament to their cultural significance beyond the realm of culinary arts.

As chili peppers made their way to different parts of the world, they seamlessly integrated into various regional cuisines, leading to culinary adaptations and the creation of unique dishes. Each culture infused its culinary traditions with chili peppers, resulting in a vibrant array of flavors and heat levels. From the smoky chipotle peppers of Mexico to the explosive Thai bird’s eye chilies, the versatility of chili peppers shines through in their adaptability to diverse culinary contexts.

While chili peppers have become an essential ingredient in cuisines worldwide, their presence in traditional European dishes may not be as prevalent compared to other regions like Asia, Africa, or Latin America. Historical factors, such as chili peppers’ introduction to Europe after Christopher Columbus’s voyages in the late 15th century, contributed to their slower integration into European cuisine.

The allure of chili peppers lies not only in the heat they bring to dishes but also in their ability to trigger the body’s natural cooling mechanisms. Despite the temporary heat sensation they create, chili peppers induce the release of endorphins, which contribute to a sense of pleasure and well-being, often referred to as a ‘spice high’ or a ‘chili rush.’

The history of chili peppers is a testament to their remarkable journey from America to becoming an integral part of cuisines worldwide. Their introduction to India and subsequent global spread transformed culinary traditions across continents. As we relish the diverse flavors and fiery sensations that chili peppers offer, let us celebrate their rich history and the culinary experiences they continue to inspire.

The author is a UK-based R&D chef

Kuber Adhikari, a well-known internet personality, is an Intellectual Quotient (IQ) tutor for the Public Service Commission’s examination. He has been working as a teacher for approximately ten years. His expertise in teaching material related to the intellectual quotient has earned him the title of ‘IQ King’ in the online community.

Adhikari was born and brought up in Dailekh, Karnali Province. This was also where he went to school. Due to political disturbance in 2000 during the Maoist insurgency, his entire family had to move to Kathmandu. From a very young age, he was intelligent and studious. He had always intended to become an engineer. But due to financial constraints to sustain in the capital, he chose to become an army officer instead.

For the post, he had to prepare for the commission’s exam. That year, he put his heart and soul towards the preparation. He and his friends were taking the test at the same time. In the middle of the examination, he was stopped by the invigilator for helping out his friend. “My dreams came to an abrupt end,” he says. 

In the Public Service Commission, intellectual quotient subjects are a part of the selection process. But there weren’t many teachers or resources available in the early years because the IQ program was new in Nepal. Keeping that in mind, he and his friends decided to start their own private preparation center in Baneshwor, Kathmandu, in order to put their collective experience to good use. “I wasn’t planning on teaching for a long time,” he says. But the heartfelt praise from his students persuaded him to reconsider. Later, he realized that he enjoyed teaching and chose to continue.

Back in his days, not many people aimed to get into public service. But that changed after 2015, with many people showing interest in it. With that, the number of students looking for coaching classes grew, which fueled Adhikari’s drive to teach. He once traveled to Dhankuta for Public Service’s orientation in 2017 which was organized by Chintang Rural Municipality for the students who can’t afford paid classes. There, he found that students used to travel three hours by foot to get to the coaching center. He says he finally understands peoples’ desire to get into public service.

Additionally, he felt obligated to facilitate the learning process in all parts of Nepal. As a guest instructor, he has visited about 57 districts for orientations. He says that not every district has proper access to needed study materials or information. However, he says that some districts are working on offering free classes to tackle the situation. 

When students have to come to Kathmandu, their expenses become high. They need to pay for services like hostels, food, class and transportation. To ease their situation, he decided to help people collectively by sharing his classes videos on YouTube channels like ‘IQ Kuber Adhikari’ and ‘Teach for Nepali’ (personal account) for which he has also earned YouTube’s Silver Play Button. He has written a number of books for students’ convenience, including ‘All in one IQ’. It’s one of his bestselling books in the market. 

“Youth involvement in the Public Service Commission has grown tremendously,” claims Adhikari. According to him, lack of job opportunities in the private sector could be the main reason behind this popularity. In addition, he says that the deeply ingrained belief in Nepali society that employment stability comes from either government agencies or by going abroad might have contributed to this growth. 

He states that working at governmental agencies guarantees a secure career. Even during the Covid-19 pandemic when private sectors faced severe financial setbacks, government workers were receiving paychecks. 

According to him, in terms of building a career, teachers are like guardians for students and he strongly believes that teachers should create a friendly space where students can ask anything without hesitation. “Teaching is difficult, as it’s not always about teaching for the sake of teaching. Rather it’s about engaging with students to help them understand better,” he adds. He says that his best achievement as a teacher is the fact that he has never once heard his student complain about his classes being boring in his 10 years of teaching career.

Most people nowadays depend on online platforms for studies. So he is working on improving and modernizing teaching methods using digital platforms and social media. “The app ‘Ambition Guru’ was developed by our team with the aim of aiding students in their preparation for various exams, including those for public service, as well as medical and engineering entrance exams, among others,” he says.

Adhikari draws attention to the struggles of people in rural areas as they don’t have proper access to educational materials to prepare for public service’s examination. For such areas, besides physical classes, he and his team are working on developing innovative ideas for simple learning by making significant investments. He emphasizes that the government needs to be responsible enough to ensure proper internet connection and communication all across Nepal. He expects the government to work on budget allocation for e-learning and different free teaching programs.

Health experts have expressed concerns regarding growing  misuse of antibiotics, as it is threatening to outpace the ability of medicines to cure infections. They warn that the misuse of antibiotics could pose a high risk for pandemics of infections. 

Infection with drug resistant microbes increases the morbidity, mortality, length of hospitalization and treatment cost of patients.

The World Health Organization has also warned that if people do not change the way antibiotics are used now, the new antibiotics will suffer the same fate as the current ones and become ineffective. 

What is antimicrobial resistance?

Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) occurs when bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites change over time and no longer respond to medicines making infections harder to treat and increasing the risk of disease spread, severe illness and death. 

As a result of drug resistance, antibiotics and other antimicrobial medicines become ineffective and infections become increasingly difficult or impossible to treat. That means the germs are not killed and continue to grow. Resistant infections can be difficult, and sometimes impossible, to treat.

AMR is an urgent global public health threat, killing at least 1.27m people worldwide and associated with nearly five million deaths in 2019, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of the United States of America.

Antibiotic resistance can affect anyone and will lead to a situation when there are no antibiotics because the antibiotics which we have will not work. It will affect agricultural products and their livestock too as there has been a wide use of antibiotics in livestock as well. 

The WHO has declared AMR among the top 10 global health threats. It can no longer be addressed by single, isolated interventions with limited impact. 

Factors associated with antimicrobial resistance 

Self-medication, unnecessary use, incomplete dose, inadequate awareness, public preferences, economic condition, professional ethics, unavailability of antibiotics prescribers, unclear law/policies, easy accessibility of antibiotics in pharmacies/medical shops and lack of antimicrobial resistance surveillance are some of the factors causing antibiotic resistance in Nepal. 

Similarly, no evidence-based practices for antibiotic prescriptions, unregistered pharmacies, inadequate laboratory facilities for culture and susceptibility, less motivated health workers for service delivery, over-prescription of antibiotics, and patients not finishing the treatment play an important role in causing antibiotic resistance in Nepal. 

“Multiple pregnancies, abortion and unhygienic birthing centers are some of the risk factors for antimicrobial resistance in females as antibiotics are used during pregnancy,” says Dr Bibeka Shrestha, an expert working in antimicrobial resistance. 

A cross-sectional survey with 516 samples of clinicians, private drug dispensers, patients, laboratories, public health centers and livestock and poultry farmers, conducted by KR Rijal and team in 2017, showed that 79 percent of respondents purchased antibiotics directly over the counter.

Section 17 of the Drugs Act states that no person shall sell or distribute such drugs without prescription of a doctor as categorized not to be sold or distributed without such prescription. 

Condition in Nepal 

Nepal experiences an extremely huge burden of infectious diseases such as respiratory tract infections, enteric fever (typhoid, paratyphoid fever), urinary tract infections and other bacterial infections. Researchers have reported a high burden of drug resistant/multidrug resistant bacteria in the country. 

In a research conducted by Dr Anup Bastola and his team in Sukraraj Tropical and Infectious Disease hospital between 2015 and 2019, Salmonella spp and Shigella spp bacteria were mostly resistant to ampicillin/amoxicillin, cotrimoxazole and chloramphenicol. 

In the research Assessment of Antibiotics Use and its Resistance in Nepal conducted by Nepal Health Research Council recently among 1,079 doctors/health workers, only 32 percent of the doctors/health workers have access to laboratory facility for Antibiotic Susceptibility Testing (AST). Among them, only 49 percent recommend antibiotic susceptibility testing before prescribing antibiotics which is a significant reason for influencing rational prescriptions of antibiotics.

Among the 521 pharmacies, the majority of the drug dispensers (43.4 percent) dispense antibiotics without a doctor’s/health worker’s prescription. Azithromycin (24.5 percent), Amoxicillin/Amoxyclav (20.5 percent), Cefixime (14.8 percent), Ciprofloxacin (14.1 percent), and Metronidazole (nine percent) were the most commonly dispensed antibiotics without prescriptions from doctors and health workers.

Of the 2,122 outpatients, 22 percent did not consume a full course of antibiotics. Similarly, about 10 percent and eight percent of the outpatients consume antibiotics as prophylaxis and consume double dose antibiotics for fastest recovery respectively. Around 22 percent of them save residual antibiotics for treating similar symptoms in future. Additionally, around 28 percent of the outpatients mentioned that they buy antibiotics without doctor’s/health worker’s prescriptions.

About 85 percent of health workers/doctors did not prescribe antibiotics by their generic name. Similarly, more than one-third i.e. 37.8 percent of prescribed medicines were antibiotics which is higher than the WHO set standard. 

In a cross-sectional study conducted by Karuna Kayastha and team at International Friendship Children’s Hospital Kathmandu from August 2017 to 2018 in among 1,443 samples that included urine, pus, wound swab, endotracheal tip, catheter tip, and blood were collected from pediatric patients below 15 years  extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL) production in Escherichia coli and Klebsiella species E. coli (n = 79), Klebsiella pneumoniae (n = 18), and Klebsiella oxytoca (n = 6) were isolated from different clinical specimens. Of which, 64 (62.1 percent) exhibited multidrug resistance.

Among the total of 103 bacterial isolates, 62.1 percent (64/103) were found to be multi drug resistant; the highest multidrug resistant strains were detected in K. pneumoniae (88.9 percent; 16/18), followed by E. coli (57 percent; 44/79) and K. oxytoca (50 percent; 3/6)

“Nepal is one of the major contributors to the growing burden of antimicrobial resistance due to widespread use of antibiotics,” says Dr Santosh Dulal, health expert working on antimicrobial resistance.  

According to the National Tuberculosis Control Centre 350 to 450 multidrug resistant tuberculosis are notified annually. 

Multidrug-resistant TB is caused by a TB germ that is resistant to at least isoniazid and rifampin, the two most potent TB drugs. These drugs are used to treat all persons with TB disease, the center says. 

“There must be rational use of antibiotics. The government must train the health workers on prescribing the antibiotics,” says Dr Bastola, communicable, infectious and tropical disease health expert. 

Nepal has a high prevalence of infectious and communicable diseases that contribute to higher morbidity and mortality. The infectious disease with the highest contribution to premature mortality in Nepal in 2019 were lower respiratory infections, diarrheal diseases and typhoid fever as per the Nepal Burden of Disease 2019. “When there is antibiotic resistance then it poses risk on the treatment of these diseases,” says Dr Dulal. 

Though the government has made a national action plan for antimicrobial resistance (2021-2026), it has yet not been endorsed by the government. 

Methods of prevention

Irrational use of antibiotics and illegal import of medicines need to be strictly controlled. Immunization and vaccination program to prevent and surveillance initiatives on antimicrobial use as antimicrobial resistance involving government agencies, medical personnel, veterinarians, livestock producers/farmers is needed. 

Unless the infection prevention is done there remains the risk for antimicrobial resistance. This is why the government must work to prevent infections. 

There is also a need for strict monitoring and regulations to prevent dispensing of antibiotics, (Colistin for animals) or reserve group of antibiotics from pharmacies without prescriptions.

Mind it

• Do not distribute antibiotics and consume it 
• Pay attention on cleanliness and maintain distance with patients 
• Take all the necessary vaccines
• Follow medical advice 
• Only prescribe medicines upon laboratory reports 
• Properly manage hospital waste 
• Surveillance, monitoring and research
• Coordinate at different levels
• Keep AMR on curriculum of schools and colleges
• Strict punishment for violating regulations
• Make treatment guidelines available to clinicians and health workers

Weavers are renowned for their remarkable nest-building skills. These small birds create intricate nests, often resembling woven baskets, using grasses, leaves, and various materials. These nests serve as excellent protection from predators and harsh weather conditions.

The tale of a weaver underscores the creativity and ingenuity of nature, inspiring humans to cherish and learn from the world around them. It also highlights how observing animal behavior can spark innovative ideas in human architecture and design.

Within weavers’ colonies, complex social structures exist, with dominance hierarchies among males impacting their access to resources and nesting sites.

Some weaver bird species nest in colonies, resulting in a captivating spectacle of numerous nests in close proximity. This communal nesting behavior offers collective vigilance against predators, ensuring better protection.

Similar to humans, male weavers showcase their nest-building prowess as a courtship display to attract females. The more elaborate the nest, the higher the chances of attracting a mate.

Females evaluate males based on the quality of their nests, as it signifies the male’s genetic fitness and ability to provide a safe environment for their offsprings.

Weavers use various vocalizations to communicate with one another. These sounds convey warnings about predators, signal social interactions, and establish territorial boundaries.

Certain weaver bird species are migratory, embarking on long journeys to find suitable breeding and feeding grounds. Every year, when spring season starts, weavers migrate from the Tarai region of Nepal to the bank of Balkhu river in Kathmandu. They reproduce and return in mid-summer.

Once the eggs hatch, both male and female weavers take care of the newborn. They feed the chicks and protect them from potential threats.