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“Art is created out of different situations, be they social situa­tions, political situations or personal situations. Situations of utter frustration yet also situations of hope,” says artist Chirag Bangdel. Bangdel’s most recent paint­ing exhibit, ‘Figurative Tran­sitions: Recent Works’, was inaugurated at GG Machan restaurant in Lalitpur on April 6. With 25 solo exhibitions in Nepal alone, Bangdel is one of the country’s finest visual artists, whose figurative com­positions have been loved for their wonderful sense of color and lyrical manifestations.

“Many of my paintings in this exhibition are based on hope and I call this series ‘Sea­son of Hope’. I use the conch or the saankha as a symbol of hope,” says Bangdel, who is also a Kathmandu-based writer, poet and RJ.

“Like all artists, I create for the joy of it. Nothing makes me happier than painting and creating new stuff,” Bangdel told APEX.

“I have also come to real­ize that whatever progress we make, it is only love that will save humanity at the end of the day and that’s something that I want to show in my paintings,” says Bangdel.

The artist’s works this time were all painted on acrylics. “Acrylics is the most used medium around the world. It is a medium that is easy to work on as it is fast-drying. That suits my style.”

A self-taught artist, Bang­del received his early train­ing from his granduncle, the famous artist Lain Singh Bang­del. In the past few years, his works have been exhibited as far afield as The Netherlands, France and Germany.

All the paintings on the exhibit are for sale, with prices ranging from Rs 15,000-Rs 60,000. The exhibition ends April 30. APEX BUREAU

After successfully introducing the international franchise ‘Idol’ in Nepal in the form of Nepal Idol, AP1 HD, the first HD channel of Nepal, has now added another famous franchise to its schedule—Boogie Woogie. Boogie Woogie was an Indian dance competition television series created and directed, in 1996, by Naved Jaffrey and Ravi Behl for Sony Entertainment Television and Sony Entertainment Television Asia.

Boogie Woogie-Nepal will be judged by Dilip Rayamajhi, Pri­yanka karki and Kabiraj Gahatraj. The show airs every Thursday at 8 pm on AP1 HD television. APEX managed to briefly talk to Dilip Rayamajhi, one of the top Nepali actors who is famous for his dance moves, about the show.

How do you feel as a judge of Boogie Woogie-Nepal?

Nepali audiences have long seen me as a dancer and an actor. Maybe this was why the AP1 television choose me. I am thankful for the opportunity but, to be honest, I am scared too. To judge talent is a huge responsibility and a big-big challenge. Since people have different views and perspec­tives, to carefully weigh these to arrive at an integrated judgment is tough. The responsibility is immense, there­fore I have mixed feelings.

What kind of a judge are you?

We have a diverse panel of judges, each with own area of focus. For instance, Kabiraj Gaha­traj judges the technical aspects of dancing. I prefer to be a ‘sweet judge’, who judges the entire dance performance, from beginning to the end, acknowledging every feature of the act and the contestant.

Can you tell a little bit about the show and the contestants?

We have been watching inter­national reality dance shows. We get astonished by their talents and performances. Little did we know those talents could be matched in our own country. Boogie Woogie- Nepal will prove that. The audi­ence will be surprised by the sheer variety of our contestants and their dance acts.

I, for one, didn’t expect such tal­ents. But when we started shooting I was stunned by the dance perfor­mances of the participants. Now I can proudly say the standard the viewers expect—after watching many inter­national dance reality shows—will be matched by Boogie Woogie-Nepal.

How is Boogie Woogie different from other shows?

It’s different in every possible way, from its concept to the shooting stan­dards. The stage, the lights, and the props being used have never been used in Nepal before. This show is big, as the viewers will notice when they see it for themselves. It’s all been set to international guidelines. I feel till date there has never been a dance reality show this big in Nepal.

What would you like to say to pos­sible viewers of the show?

I request the viewers to watch Boogie Woogie and to give us your assessment of the show. Today it’s us who are choosing the contestants but tomorrow, in the following rounds, the responsibility will be passed on to you. Help us to select the first ever winner of Boogie Woogie-Nepal.

The Nepalese Society of Implant Dentistry (NSID) organized a conference ‘International Implantology Congress 2018’ on April 7 and 8, on the theme of ‘Broadening Horizon’ at Hotel Yak and Yeti, Kathmandu. Thirteen acclaimed speakers from Brazil, South Africa, Germany, Serbia, Thailand, India and Malaysia shared their views on the latest science and ways to provide better care to dental patients. Some of the more renowned speakers were Prof. Dr. Mauricio Araujo from Brazil and Prof. Dr. Alesksa Markovic from Serbia.

“The conference was organized with an aim to exchange ideas on the latest technology and developments in implantation,” Dr Neil Pande, president of NSID, told APEX. “Implan­tation is one of the best methods in dentistry. It’s been 13 years since some of us started using it here and it’s time for more Nepali dentists to adopt it”.

The conference was attended by more than 175 dental surgeons and experts from around the world. It was the first conference of its kind in Nepal and it is expected that it’d be of immense benefit to the profession of dentistry. Some of the major actors in implantology par­ticipated in the conference and provided their insight on the technique. APEX BUREAU

“Microwaves are life savers,” says Laxmi Neupane, a young working woman. “I use micro­wave ovens almost daily. My hus­band and I are both busy. Micro­wave ovens give us the flexibility to prepare quick meals or to heat up the leftovers.” While there may be many fans of microwave ovens in urban cit­ies like Kathmandu, few seem to know the threat to health that they pose. They effectively poison your food.

To understand the ‘magic’ microwave ovens work on our food, we need to understand how a microwave oven actu­ally works. Microwaves, as the name suggests, cook food by injecting them with microwaves, a form of energy. Inside the guts of a microwave, a device called magnetron channels electrical energy from a power outlet to a heated filament, creating a flow of electrons that in turn transmits microwaves to the cooking cham­ber through an antenna.

Microwaves bounce around in the chamber and cook food by radiation heating—exciting molecules within an object—by becoming lodged in water, sugars, and fats.

The harm lies not in the device itself, but mainly in the plastic containers used to heat food. These containers contain two components that health experts are most concerned about: phthalates and bisphenol-A (BPA). The compounds are often referred to as endocrine disrup­tors because of their ability to affect estrogen and testosterone levels in humans.

They could also hamper with the development of the brain and reproductive organs in grow­ing foetuses.

Some may argue, ‘it’s the food we eat, not the container’. But according to Bhupal Govinda Shrestha, assistant professor at the Department of Biotechnology at Kathmandu University, you should care about the container, too, because after heating, the molecules holding the container vibrate, and loosen, causing some BPA and phthalates to leak into the food. The same with plastic wrappers: they tend to melt (not physically or in a way obvious to the naked eye) and drip, and contaminate the food.

The signs on the containers that read ‘microwave proof’ or ‘micro­wave safe’ only indicate that they are going to blow up and set you house on fire while cooking. They offer no guarantee whatsoever of being ‘leakage proof’, which is, if you think long term, is the greater evil.

So what should you do? As Shrestha of Kathmandu Universi­ty puts it, “Fire-cooked meals may take a little longer to prepare, but they pose less risk health-wise”.