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Arun Sainju leads the volunteer group RNA16 that worked closely with the Nepal Army during the height of Covid-19 infections in Nepal. The group handled coronavirus casualties without a moment’s hesitation because ‘someone had to do it’. RNA16 that stands for Rescue and Awareness in 16 Types of Disaster also helped rescue people during the 2015 earthquakes. The team conducted rescue missions in Sindhupalchok during last year’s monsoon as well. Thirty-three-year-old Sainju says the team helps people during emergencies and does so free of cost. Sainju is motivated by empathy and a need to provide help, without any delay and clauses, when it’s required. He says the army and other government rescue teams have to go through many protocols before they are finally able to attend to an emergency. “I’m not bound by red tape and protocols so that saves valuable time,” he says. Sainju also believes money isn’t a priority when lives are at stake. It’s an issue that needs to be worked out before or after an emergency, not during it, he adds. “During an emergency, you just act.” Sainju is a Microsoft-certified system engineer. But he admits he didn’t have a clear direction about what he wanted to do in life. It was during the 2015 earthquake when he started helping out at a hospital that he realized he liked being of service to those in need. Sainju had high fever and was admitted at the Bhaktapur Hospital when the earthquake struck on April 25. People flooded to the hospital as it was a safe space. Many people were gravely injured, some had minor cuts and bruises, and others were just panicking. It was a Saturday so there was only one doctor (his friend) on duty. The few nurses who were there weren’t in any state to help. His friend asked Sainju to step in and that’s how he started volunteering at the hospital. “You could say the incident changed me. I decided to continue helping people in whatever capacity I could,” he says. Currently, he is also the head of a social service unit at Bhaktapur Hospital that helps people with their medical bills. It makes use of government-allotted funds to do so. Work, Sainju says, is definitely taxing. It takes a toll on him mentally and physically. But Sainju is determined to do whatever it takes to alleviate people’s pain and suffering during disasters. His mother died two months after giving birth to him and he lost his father when he was just a boy. The unfortunate events have given him the courage to handle death and dead bodies. The RNA16 team was also active during the Covid-19 pandemic. The team lived in the first base camp (at 6,065m) for over a year and helped transport 5,000 patients. Amazingly, none of them ever tested positive for Covid-19. They were also the first ones to ready vehicles to carry dead bodies. Sainju says people mocked them at first, said they were taking unnecessary measures. But when people started dying, they were the only ones prepared to handle the crisis immediately. “Right before the lockdown, we had even started conducting classes at around 128 places on precautions and safety measures,” says Sainju, adding he believes training is of paramount importance in disaster response. When he started out, he rescued first and trained later. It was the need of the hour. But, in hindsight, he could have done better had he had the necessary know-how on disaster management. He has since then trained himself with the help of the army. Sainju laments Nepal isn’t ready for disasters. It’s not equipped to handle large-scale crises. It’s mostly because of lack of trained manpower as well as facilities, he says. RNA16 provides training for free and has, so far, taught over 6,000 students the basics of disaster management. One of the major issues during any emergency is lack of proper response. Untrained rescue operators can do more harm than good. Sainju aims to change that. He also wants to open a school that specializes in rescue and disaster response. “I want to establish a system that will produce trained manpower and prepare Nepal to face any disaster.”

At the age of 19, Rachit Suwal is a well-known bassist of the band, The Unburnt. The five-member outfit plays alternative music but Suwal's musical journey started playing traditional instruments like Dhime and Bansuri during Newari jatras (festivals) in his neighborhood in Basantapur. “Growing up, I was deeply influenced by eastern music,” he says. “It was during my school days that I became drawn towards western music and instruments.” Suwal used to see his seniors perform on stage and become fascinated by the instruments they played. Like most teenager aspiring to become a musician someday, he picked up the guitar. But for him, learning the instrument was not just a phase. His interest in music was genuine and he took lessons and practiced whenever he could. The Unburnt was formed while he was in college to participate in a musical competition. Suwal handled the bass duty. After that, they decided to continue their collaboration. This year, the band took part in ‘Band Champion Nepal’, a national rock group competition. Suwal also plays for the band, Side Project. “Every member of this band has his main band and this is just a side project,” he says, “So we decided to call ourselves Side Project.” Apart from his music career aside, Suwal is currently studying Bachelor’s in Hotel Management at IST College. He says his family fully supports his musical ambition, but he too would like to one day take over his family business. “My family owns a travel agency and I am also planning to look after the business someday,” he says. “But my main goal is still to become a professional musician.” Besides playing the bass in his two bands, Suwal is also heavily involved in song composition and recording process with his fellow band mates. “All of us in the band sit together and work on our music,” he says. Suwal enjoys being in a recording studio, working on their music, but he loves the feeling of playing on stage in front of the crowd. He says it can get monotonous being in a studio for days on end and doing live event can break that tedium. “The biggest satisfaction of playing live is watching the crowd love your music,” he says. “It is thrilling and exciting at the same time.” Talking about their work, the band made public their first original ‘Bisadu’ in July, and they are currently working on an EP (extended play record). He says the tracks they are bringing out will be both in Nepali and English, and one of them has an eastern music influence. Suwal and his The Unburnt members are also trying to explore other musical genres like the more progressive and experimental math rock, which is characterized by non-standard time signatures, and complex and odd rhythm and melodies. “We are all excited to take the journey,” he says. “The band is still growing and we want to experiment a lot of things.”

Harshit Shah is a celebrated DJ and Bollywood music producer famous for electronic dance music and Bollywood dance music. Although Shah started his musical career more than two decades ago, his Bollywood breakthrough came much later with the song ‘Radhe Radhe’ from the 2019 movie ‘Dream Girl’ and chart toppers like ‘Ek Hasina Thi-Remix’ and ‘Roop Tera Mastana-Remix.’ “You just have to believe in what you do and do it will all the passion,” he says about finding success much later in his career. “Don’t give up just because a section of people tell you that it isn’t going to get you anywhere.” Shah’s journey into music began after his mother enrolled him in a harmonium class when he was just a boy. Prior to that, he wasn’t too keen about music. But since he was taking a music lesson, he thought he might as well try to enjoy it. And enjoy he did. “There was no looking back after that.” From harmonium, Shah moved on to the keyboard and started competing in music competition at his school. Music became an integral part of his life and he wanted to get deeper into the subject. His DJing career came much later in his life, right around the turn of the 21st century. Shah had developed a wide range of musical influence by then, mostly western artists from the boy bands of the time such as Backstreet Boys and Boyzone to the past experimental psychedelic rock group like Pink Floyd. In 2003, Shah entered the Times Music War of DJs in Kolkata. The decision, he says, was more out of whim than out of premeditated intention. “I just thought I'll participate after reaching the venue.” Shah showcased his talent with the CDs borrowed from his friends. He got selected for the finals and went on to win the second runner-up prize. This unexpected success encouraged Shah to further hone his DJing skill and experiment with other musical genres. And in this process of music discovery and experimentation, the 90s Bollywood music struck a chord with him. “There was this special connection,” he says. “I found out that I could do justice to the 90s Bollywood songs.” Having dabbled around in many musical genres, Shah finally found his groove. And so he began remixing Bollywood classics that many younger listeners were unaware of. Success followed Shah as he began playing them in clubs and concerts. Currently, Shah is producing some mixes for the music labels SAREGAMA and White Hill. He is also working on an original tech house track. “We are looking to shoot the video for which we are looking for locations,” he says. Shah wants to shoot one of his music videos in Nepal. “I have a very deep attachment with Nepal, as I have played lots of gigs there in the last 15 years,” he says. “Not many people are aware, but I was the DJ who opened for Bryan Adams when he played in Kathmandu.” For young, aspiring musicians, Shah has this to say: “This industry is huge and it has a place for everyone. As long as you have the fire in you, you will definitely make name and recognition.”

The Newar community of Kathmandu valley observed Gai Jatra on Aug 12. It is a festival held every year in the Nepali month of Bhadra to honor (and in memory of) the loved ones who passed away in the past year. On this day, families of the deceased send cows or family members dressed as cows to take part in a procession around town. The procession is accompanied by Newari traditional music, and locals offer milk, fruits, curd, beaten rice and money to the participants. By doing so, it is believed, the dead will find a passage to heaven. This week, I visited Basantapur Durbar Square and Bhaktapur Durbar Square to capture the ‘festival of the dead’. Gai Jatra celebrations in the two cities are starkly different. In Kathmandu, where the festival is said to have been started by King Pratap Malla to console his queen following their son’s death, the participants of the procession largely comprised of children, many of them dressed up, their faces painted and donning a headgear symbolizing a Gai (cow), a sacred animal for Hindus. Some of the participants were dressed as Lord Krishna, who grew up as a cow herder in the Hindu mythology, while others were carrying the pictures of their loved ones. In Bhaktapur, though, there were no children dressed as cows. Here, the festival participants were dragging bamboo chariots (Taha-macha) around the town with the pictures of their loved ones. The chariot procession ended after encircling the Bhairav temple. But the celebrations continued with music, dance and costume parades. All the pomp and ceremony for the departed ones, not to mourn their death but to celebrate the rich life they lived.