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It was Karki’s love of litera­ture that inspired him to act. A hard-worker who never compromises with his work, Karki has a special way of preparing for his roles. He rereads the scripts countless times to get under the skin of his characters. He then end­lessly discusses his roles with his directors in order to work how and when to improvise, and tweak the script.

“I work to make my charac­ter interesting for audiences of all age groups,” he says. But first, he wants to convince his directors and producers. “Sometimes they are pleased to see that the character they had in mind is someone com­pletely different.” That is how Karki adds versatility to his roles. “Bhasmey don” was one such outcome of this creative process. Perhaps because he puts in so much he is mentally exhausted at the end of his shoots.

Although celebrated as a versatile actor, Karki is still critical of his work. “I still find little mistakes. Although I have been praised for the characters I have played, I want to keep improving on what I do,” Karki says.

“Acting mimics human life,” is a mantra Karki received from one of his gurus, which he still abides by. Karki says it took time for him to under­stand what it meant. “There are millions of people in this world but no two people are the same,” says Karki. “This is why I want to do different characters. I prefer not to play the same role twice.”

Karki considers Saugat Malla his inspiration and someone who prompted him to take a broader per­spective on acting. “He taught me a lot. He put in so much effort even into small roles,” he says. “I was fortu­nate to be his room­mate in Gurukul. He is my big brother, my friend and also my guru.”

Bipin Karki is now one of the highest paid actors in the Nepali film industry, on the back of a string of hits like “Hari”, “Nakaa,” and “Jatra”. But things were not always easy for him and he has had his share of struggles to reach this point in his career. It was a lot of hard work, mixed with some luck, which turned a Nepali literature and sociol­ogy student into an actor of the finest finesse.

As a college student, Karki had once visited Gurukul to watch a play and immediately got fascinated by the world of theater. “I found dramas the most powerful form of litera­ture, where one could express one’s true feelings with ease,” says Karki. “That first show captivated me and from that point visiting Gurukul became a routine.”

With the passage of time he became more and more interested in acting. Gurukul cast him for a street play when they were short of an actor and thereafter Karki started getting small roles in theater. But he was not satisfied. “The human heart is hard to please. I hungered for something big­ger and better,” he recalls.

Again a stroke of luck had him replace an actor in a major production. His peers and seniors at Gurukul were quick to recognize his dedica­tion and offered him work as a set assistant. He spent almost 10 years in Gurukul before it closed down. Not a sad ending for him though as it motivated him to look for work in the film industry and the rise of the character actor began. Karki debuted alongside his friend Saugat Malla in “Acha­rya,” playing a small role as his sidekick.

From being a sidekick to acting in a lead role in ‘Hari’, Karki has indeed had a rollercoaster ride. “Some­one said, if you want some­thing with your whole heart, the world will somehow get it for you,” says Karki. “All I had was a dream and the will to make it happen, and now it’s a reality”.

The fifth edition of The Anna­purna Post International Cor­porate Badminton (ICB) held between July 23 and 28 was widely held as a big success. There were a total of 85 games, with 422 national and international players compet­ing in 10 categories: men’s singles, women’s singles, men’s doubles, women’s doubles, under-19 junior men and junior women singles, men’s executive singles and dou­bles, and finally men’s corporate singles and doubles. Besides the players from Nepal there were also participants from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and East Timor. In term of prize money, this is the biggest badminton tourna­ment in Nepal, with more than Rs 2 million worth of prizes.

In the case of the Nepali players, for the final competition in Kathmandu the organizers had conducted six state-level selec­tion events, with only the winners and the runner-ups progressing. The covered hall of the Nation­al Sports Council, Tripureshwor hosted the finals.

“There is no doubt that this com­petition has raised the level of the game in Nepal. It will be of great benefit for our national and regional players in the long run,” says Sudam Sijapati, Head of Human Resources, Annapurna Media Network. “With players coming from different coun­tries, it has also helped boost sports tourism in Nepal,” he adds.

In this context, APEX talked to the winners of men’s singles and women’s singles, Dipesh Dhami and Mahoor Shahzed respectively, each of whom won 23.33 grams of gold.

Mahoor Shahzed

The 21-year-old Mahoor Shahzed from Pakistan first held the badmin­ton racket when she was only 12. Her father, who played in National Junior level, is her biggest influence. “He trained me and made me play with other kids,” says Shahzed. “Later, he even hired a coach.”

Groomed by her father and her coach, Shahzed found success at a very young age. At 13, she won her first title—the under-19 National Level Badminton Competition held in Pakistan. “It encouraged me and my family. From then, my family motivated me to be more passion­ate about the game,” says Shahzed. “They wanted me to be a world-class badminton player.” Training then became a habit for her and Shahzed is now one of the top ranked players in Pakistan.

She enjoys engaging in long rallies, as she believes stamina is her real strength. Even though she has an attacking mindset, she rarely likes to unleash a smash. “I only smash if I can kill a point,” says Shahzed.

Shahzed’s first visit to Nepal in 2016 wasn’t fruitful. She had failed to win the International Badmin­ton Series organized by Nepal Bad­minton Association. As she aims to represent Pakistan in the 2020 Olympics, she has shifted all her focus to badminton. Recently, after completing her Bachelors degree, she decided to leave her studies for a while. “I need to prepare for the Olympics. For this I need to play many games and in many tourna­ments,” says Shahzed.

In the ICB this time, only one opponent managed to score 15 points against her in a set. Shahzed says she didn’t feel any pressure in any of the matches she played.

Dipesh Dhami

Born in 1997, Nepal APF Club shut­tler Dipesh Dhami was committed to badminton at a very young age. Currently in his early 20s, Dhami already has incredible credentials. As of now, many regard him as an experienced player who has firmly established himself in the Nepali national team.

In 2017, Dhami teamed up with Shova Gauchan, and the duo won the mixed doubles title at the Yonex Sunrise Pakistan Interna­tional Series in Islamabad. In the same year, Dhami became the lone Nepali player to reach the men’s singles quarter-finals of the Nepal International Series. For his achieve­ments, Nepal Sports Journalists Forum nominated Dhami in the male category for the Pulsar Sports Award in 2018.

Dhami is a regular at international and national Badminton competi­tions. In the ICB men’s singles finals, he defeated his opponent with an astonishing score line of 21-11, 21-10.

“I felt very comfortable because the opponent was making many mistakes,” says Dhami. “When I saw him repeat his mistakes, I took full advantage.” The win brought Dhami his second men’s singles title in ICB, the first being in the tournament’s first edition.

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DJ ZENNY

Soon after debuting in 2013 with the Naughty Naughty Pool Party, Jenny Tamang started getting popular and doing various gigs. She has since established herself as one of the most popu­lar female DJs in the coun­try. Having taken part in various national and interna­tional events, Zenny is now selective. “After reaching a certain height, it’s not pos­sible for me to accept every offer I get. I have been in this industry long enough and I think it’s time for me to con­sider other opportunities. DJ-ing is my passion and I’m never leaving it but I need to think about my future as well,” she says.

Currently living in Mu m b a i , Jenny says being a female DJ has its own positives and neg­atives. “It’s a glam­orous job but at one point you get tired of being sexualized. We’re generally appointed as attractions rather than as DJs.” She says she wants to be appreciated for her work rather than her face or her body. To all the newcomers in the field, DJ Zenny suggests that they should just go for it. “What you think about yourself is more important than what other people think about you,” she says.

DJ NANI

One of the new and emerg­ing names is DJ Nani. Shy and rather introvert Sushmita Maharjan generally prefers to keep to herself but when it comes to her work, she turns into a whole new person: rather extrovert, energetic and driven. Sushmita, a high-school graduate, has been in this field for three years. Asked why she chose this as her career, she replies it was because “I’ve always been passionate about music.”

Starting out at 19, DJ Nani had to initially face a lot of criticism. “People didn’t sup­port me initially, not even my family, but but I didn’t give up. I continued and now they are now more supportive,” she says. Like DJ Zenny, DJ Nani wants to take up some other job besides DJ-ing. “I plan to go abroad for my stud­ies but right now I am happy with how things are working out here.” DJ Nani performs at Victory Lounge throughout the week and does freelanc­ing as well. “I like the glamor and the glitz of the profession. It’s fascinating,” she says. “You have to struggle a lot as a female DJ but ultimately it’s worth it. That is what I say to all the upcoming artists: don’t give up.”

DJ ARLIN

Anju Gurung, 19, was born and brought up in Gorkha. She later shifted to the valley to pursue her career. In the field for about a year and half now, she initially took three months of training. “My brother is a DJ and he inspired me. When I attended his show, I felt the music that he played, and that is what inspired me,” says DJ Arlin. Gurung says she had to fight her way to get to where she is now. One of the aspiring and emerging female DJs of the country, Gurung is a strong advocate of wom­en’s empowerment. “Our society always finds a way to undermine women, and the same happened to me as well,” she continues.

“My friends, my family, they criticized my choice and my work but I didn’t give up. This is what I wanted to do and I had to prove them wrong,” says Gurung, adding she is determined to make her name in this field. “I fought my way up when everyone was pulling me down and there is no way that I’m going back,” she says. Being a female DJ you need to fight for yourself, against the people sexualiz­ing the profession and take a stand. For all the newcomers, she says “know your worth and strength, you’re strong enough to remove all obsta­cles in the way” o

“Being born and liv­ing happily isn’t an achievement, but making others happy is,” is a mantra that keeps Juju Kaji Maharjan going. Maharjan, 35, is a social worker who founded ‘Heartbeat’ in 2006 and registered it as an NGO in 2009. The NGO was set up to advocate and campaign for the rights of street children and help them to become capable citizens. Born into a low-income fam­ily, Maharjan learned to live the hard way. He spent his childhood in a small cottage. His parents were uneducated and they earned their living by farming. Growing up, he had many hobbies but he could not continue any of them.

While in high school he started learning web design­ing. Studies never interested Maharjan. He soon dropped out of high school and started working as a web designer in a cyber café in New Road.

“There used to be many political events at Ratna­park those days. I often went there during my break to see the political leaders deliver speeches,” recalls Maharjan. “I was going nowhere with my life at the time. I had no skills and had quit studies. So I decided to join politics.” Maharjan then enrolled in the Lalitkala Campus, “not to study arts but to become a political leader,” he laughs.

But things did not go as planned. In 2006, he was at a social event held on the occa­sion of the International Youth Day, an event to help those in need. That visit proved to be life-changing and gave him a goal. “I then felt the urge to do something for the society,” he says. “As students of arts, we decided to raise money for social causes by exhibiting paintings and sculptures.”

With that intent, ‘Heartbeat’ was formed. Heartbeat’s ‘Art for Social Change’ continued raising money by exhibiting arts in various parts of Nepal. But after three years, many of his friends had to leave. “I was shattered but I kept going and with a few volunteers, I decided to register Heart­beat as an NGO and continue working,” says Maharjan.

Inspired by his father who managed to contribute his share to the society despite coming from a poor back­ground, Maharjan has dedi­cated more than a decade of his life to social work. “When I began, I spent three years on the streets to understand the situation of street children,” he says. “Now that I have aged, I feel I am still child­ish because of so much time spent with these children.”

Heartbeat started the “Tea for Change” campaign in which its volunteers would take to the streets and offer tea, biscuits and other edibles to street children to get up close with them and convince them that they were not total outcasts.

“Talking and treating them as friends made them feel accepted. When we drank tea with them they felt comfort­able and they slowly started sharing their experience with us,” Maharjan says. “Gradu­ally, we studied their phycol­ogy, and also their will and determination to change. With this knowledge, we started providing counselling in order to re-establish them in the society.” Heartbeat also rescued many street children during that period.

Working with streets chil­dren was not easy. There were many risks. Maharjan was once chased by a khuku­ri-wielding street kid who had been told that Maharjan was making money by exploiting street children. He was also taken into police custody once under suspicion of being a gang leader of street children involved in criminal activities. Police had noticed him inter­act with the street children.

Along with these lows, Maharjan has also had his moments of inspirations. “One time, in Hetaunda, a young boy ran up to me and said, ‘Hello motey (fat) sir, you fed me when I was on the streets,’” Maharjan recalls. “The boy was now working and earning well. Moments like these are my true rewards.”

Maharjan says Heartbeat is funded by his own money and aided by volunteers and stu­dents making small contribu­tions from their own pockets. Presently, Maharjan’s Heart­beat works to prevent chil­dren becoming a permanent part of the street.

A ‘Dream Center’ under Heartbeat is now helping more than 100 children who migrated to Kathmandu to fulfill their dreams but somehow ended up in the streets. The center provides for street children’s education and involves them in other activities like counselling, sports and skills training.

“Children are defined by their habits. We work to change their habits to make them capable and productive citizens,” says Maharjan.