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 Your Pokhara trip will be incomplete without at least one Thakali meal. Trust us on this. Our APEX food sleuths have found just the place to fill your soul with the best of the Nepali rice platter. Jetho Budho at Lakeside, Pokhara (first floor of the famous Oxygen Lounge building) is one of the newest eateries in the lake-city which is getting popular for its mouth-watering rice offerings.

Named after a rice called ‘jetho budho’ (the ‘king of rice’ that is locally grown in the Fewa Taal region of Pokhara), Jetho Budho is an upscale ver­sion of the many set-meal restaurants in the area. With a typical Thakali ambience created by its wooden floors and ceilings, Nepali handicrafts and paintings as well as traditional Nepali crockery, the food at Jetho Budho is gorgeously served and a treat to any connoisseur of rice, which, we guess, applies to most Nepalis.

 THE MENU

Chef’s Special:

- Chicken Khana Set

- Mutton Khana Set

- Fish Khana Set

Opening hours: 10 am-10 pm

Location: Lakeside, Pokhara

Cards:  Accepted

Meal for 2: Rs 1,000

Reservations: 9806717273

 Watching this one-and-a-half-hour play about love, drugs and lust in the dimly-lit Kunja Theatre in Thapagaun will make you repeatedly question your fast-paced life. You may also start rethinking your early adulthood.The four actors in ‘Basu-dev’ are nearly flawless. They show you the dark underbelly of Kathmandu, where young adults feel lost in their life, distant from their families, and unaware of the consequences of their actions. They make wrong decisions all the time while follow­ing their “cool” friends.

Although advertised as “kid-friendly” on social media, it is packed with lip-locks, sexual innu­endos, sexually intimate moments and a lot of swearing. All this does not come across as weird and awk­ward as the story calls for it. The actors being cool about it all makes the play even more interesting.

The background music and light complement the set well. Though there is some awkward dancing, and towards the end, you might be look­ing at your watch, this play is still a very good package. There is tension, comedy, love and drama.

Sijal Bajracharya, 23, who had never seen a theatrical play before, says, “I really enjoyed it. It made me realize that the youth of Nepal are very talented and have a lot of potential. I had not expected much to be honest, so this play exceeded my expectations.”

Produced by Four Cube Enter­tainment Pvt. Ltd., Basu-dev is directed by Sandeep Shrestha and Nabin Bhatt. The play is at 5:30 pm every day, till September 16 (except on Wednesdays). On Saturday, there is a matinee show at 1:30 pm.

Photos by Pritam Chhetri

 SADAN ‘the five petals’ group art exhibition at the Classic Art Gallery, Imukhel offers a vibrant art experience, featuring the work of five young female artists: Sabita Dangol, Anamika Gautam, Deepma­la Maharjan, Anisha Maharjan and Namrata Singh. Madan Chitrakar, an artist and art critic, says the paintings are unique because all the artists are young and come from diverse cultural backgrounds.

“The art gallery has always aimed to empower women artists and this is an event that highlights our will­ingness to do so,” says Sarita Dan­gol, the organizer of the exhibition. According to Dangol, some paintings are available for sale as well.

The exhibition provides a fresh and diverse art experience as well as an opportunity to explore some paintings that may adorn your walls.

You can visit any day of the week between 10:00 am to 6:00 pm. The exhibit ends on September 25.

 “My mom keeps nagging me to go and play outside when she sees me watch­ing television,” says 12-year-old Santosh Gurung of Gairigaun. “She forgets there is construction going on in the open land near our house. Where do I go?” The kid has a point.

In 2007, for the first time in the history of mankind, more than half the world’s population lived in cit­ies. This urban population is expect­ed to rise by 1.5 billion over the next two decades. As the cities grow, preserving open spaces within them becomes an imperative, for a city is more than buildings and people.

Sometimes, an open space can be neatly tied to a city’s culture. The Central Park in New York, the Hyde Park in London, the Stanley Park in Vancouver, the Hibiya Park in Tokyo and the Phoenix Park in Dublin are a few such parks. In oth­er words, these cities have cleverly embedded open spaces. According to WHO, a person needs nine square meters of space. But Kathmandu has only 0.25 meters per person. Why the shortfall?

Bhai Kaji Tiwari, the Development Commissioner at the Kathmandu Valley Development Authority, attri­butes “the perceived lack of open spaces” to centralization of services (See interview here). He says that although only 17 percent of land in the valley is occupied by build­ings, the city is considered congest­ed because of the concentration of population in parts where most ser­vices and amenities are centralized.

Urban planner Suman Maharjan for his part characterizes open areas as “the lungs of a city” as they pro­vide place for people to breathe and relax. He says besides help­ing in times of emergencies like earthquakes, green spaces also help reduce air pollution.

Dust dangers

With an Environment Perfor­mance Index (EPI) of 31.44, Nepal ranks among the countries with worst air quality. “The case of dust pollution is worse than pollution caused by vehicles in Kathmandu,” says Yogendra Chitrakar, an environ­mentalist. “Green spaces in the val­ley will help mitigate the problem of both dust and vehicle-induced pol­lution by filtering the air naturally.”

According to a research by Ana Virtudes of University of Beira Inte­rior in Portugal, not only does veg­etation add to the aesthetic appeal of cities, it also helps reduce urban heat by releasing moisture.

Moreover, there are numerous health benefits associated with pub­lic parks and green spaces. Access to them have been associated with reduced stress and anxiety. A study by researchers at University of Tam­pere, Finland found that spend­ing as little as 10 minutes in a park or urban woodland could tangibly reduce stress.

Additionally, “lack of public parks in Kathmandu is also a major cause of inactive lifestyle as people have no place to jog and exercise,” says Dr Om Murti Anil, senior interven­tional cardiologist at Grande Inter­national Hospital.

He argues improving access to public open space can increase the level of physical activity. “Walking is the cheapest exercise,” he says. “Lack of public parks not only push­es people to spend more money on physical activity, it also makes them more prone to road accidents.” With public parks, physical activity will not weigh heavy on low income families’ pockets, Dr Anil explains, nor do they have to contend with reckless drivers.

Improve parks, improve life

“The lesser the number of open spaces, the more likely we are to remain bound to our gadgets and shun social engagement,” says Chi­trakar, the environmentalist. Parks provide space for neighborhood residents to interact and meet new people. “They are also great spaces for events and recreational activi­ties, allowing people to develop a sense of community”.

In the reckoning of Dr Anil, such increased social engagement is cor­related with psychological health as well. Highlighting the urgent need for the authorities to acknowledge the necessity of green open spaces in the valley, Chitrakar adds, “the government should prioritize devel­opment of open spaces and parks rather than erect concrete towers. Better to plan green pockets at cer­tain distances, and seek the help of locals to manage them.”

But perhaps no one puts it better than Gil Penalosa, an advocate for ‘active cities’: “We need to think of parks more as outdoor community centers where we need to invest in uses and activities so they can fulfill their potential. When we improve parks, we’re really improving qual­ity of life”