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Antee Gurung didn’t know fashion would be her calling. Sure, she always found comfort in drawing croquis and dresses of her own. But Gurung was a shy, introverted kid. Never did she imagine becoming one of the most celebrated fashion designers in the country.

“I always knew my way around clothes,” Gurung tells ApEx. “Garment colors pulled me and made me more interested in their forms and functions whereas the construction and fluidity of apparels fascinated me.” But even with an instinct for design and a passion for clothing, she didn’t know fashion designing was a career option.

Instead, she initially opted for fashion blogging. At a time it was still an alien concept in Nepal, Gurung enjoyed creating content about fashion online while she was still a high school student. Upon graduating from school, she became convinced fashion designing was a passion worth pursuing.

That was more than a decade ago. Today, Inspire Studio, Gurung’s clothing brand, is one of the biggest Nepali brands selling bridal and traditional wear and boasting over 23,000 followers on Instagram. Her designs have made it to countless stages and special ceremonies. Launched in 2014, the label took off after consumers started noticing her attention to detail.

With the brand’s growth Gurung also developed as a person. She feels like she’s learned more while working on her brand than she did in design school. “A lot has changed in the past decade,” she says. “As a young designer, I was more interested in media coverage and audience appreciation. But once I got that, I realized personal and artistic growth was way more valuable than momentary gains.” This understanding also made Gurung focus on details.

Inspire Studio has become a go-to brand for those seeking formidable stage presence. Many celebrities have reached out to the brand for clothing items, including winners of the Miss Nepal beauty pageant. Gurung designed the gown that won Asmi Shrestha—Miss Nepal 2016—the best evening-wear award, in what is among Gurung’s most memorable accomplishments. Her designs have also been showcased in London, Hong Kong, and Bangladesh.

But Gurung isn’t the only one that demands perfectionism at every turn. Her clients expect quality clothing that fulfill their needs, and much of Gurung’s working days are spent catering to them. “Most of my clients say the brand’s essence, the feminine and elegant touch my collections exude, is what makes it stand out,” she says.

While much of the label’s focus has been on women’s ethnic and cultural clothing, as the designer wanted to cater more to occasion and bridal wear, Gurung can design any kind of attire as long as it makes people happy. This is why she’s also officially launching Antee Gurung. Co, an everyday fashion brand that focuses on modern wear for contemporary women. “The idea came to fruition during the Covid-19 pandemic,” she says. “It was a saving grace to be able to work on new things during these otherwise trying times.”

As all of her products are made from scratch in Nepal—something she takes a lot of pride in—and her responsibilities go beyond making designs. Aside from meeting her clients, she is also busy managing her business.

“The biggest misconception is that designing is an easy, fancy job, but there is much more to it than what they see on the runway and ads. Beyond the glossy images, you need to put in both physical and creative effort to run a fashion business,” she says. “As a self-made designer, I have struggled to make a name for myself. But my struggles have made me stronger and more perceptive too.”

Birth: 18 May, 1943, Bangemudha
Death: 20 July, 2021, Tokha

When Professor Dr Yog Ratna Sthapit’s children were growing up, they often saw their house filled with students reaching out to him for letters of recommendation or asking for revision classes.

Sthapit happily helped students who came. Their success brought him great joy. His children often heard him say that being able to do his job well was his biggest source of happiness.

Born in 1943, Sthapit got his school-level education at Juddho Daya School and studied in Nepal until he earned his Master’s degree. He was decorated with the Mahendra Vidya Bhusan award after he topped his class in MSc. He then completed his PhD in Mathematics from Lucknow, India.

After returning home, he authored a handful of books with his colleagues and students. Some of the more popular ones are ‘Basic Mathematics’ (Vol I and Vol II), included in grades XI and XII syllabi, ‘Algebra and Geometry’ for Proficiency Certificate Level, and ‘Three Dimensional Geometry’ for BSc and BA courses.

At the age of 25, he tied the knot with Roopsova Sthapit, and together they had three children. They remember him as a loving father and a strict disciplinarian, but empathetic to their feelings. Sthapit supported his children’s choices, especially over their careers.

At the Central Department of Mathematics, Tribhuvan University, where he worked, he was loved for his devotion to teaching. To this day, he is known for his patience and hard work as he was always willing to go the distance to help his students. Sthapit’s consistency and dedication didn’t go unnoticed; he was soon named the department head.

Sthapit’s other source of joy was reading. A morning person and a bookworm, he also loved good food. His friends say that he could never say no to momos, fish, and mangoes.

Sthapit had been diagnosed with hypertension and heart ailments. A few of his students remember him teaching in class with sweat dotting his forehead and him panting. But he would still continue with his class.

As the years went on, his health deteriorated. In 2017, he had an open-heart surgery. He retired thereafter and started spending more time at home.

Soon, he was bound to a wheelchair. Nepal Mathematical Society organized a program to honor Sthapit’s contribution to the field and his efforts to popularize Mathematics in higher education.

A few weeks ago, he was admitted to Grande Hospital following a stroke. He had recovered a little after a few days at the hospital. But then his condition suddenly deteriorated. He passed away on July 20, at the age of 78. He is survived by his wife, two daughters, and one son.

Amita Suman, a Nepal-born British actress, recently gave a critically acclaimed performance in the hit Netflix series ‘Shadow and Bone’. Suman, born in Bedhihari, Parsa, had moved to England at the age of seven. Since graduating from the Academy of Live and Recorded Arts in 2018, she’s starred in popular shows such as ‘The Outpost’ and ‘Doctor Who’.

In ‘Shadow and Bone’—based on a bestselling trilogy with the same title set in a fictional universe called Grishaverse—Suman plays Inej Ghafa, a child acrobat kidnapped and sold into sex slavery but who works as a spy for a gang called The Dregs. She portrays one of the six main protagonists in the book.

The series has already been renewed for a second season and Suman is set to return. Fans of the character have praised Inej’s casting and the actress’s performance. Suman’s role in the show will grow more significant with each season as the story progresses. The 24-year-old actress has been using her Instagram page—with more than 434k followers—to raise global awareness about the effects of Covid-19 in Nepal.

It’s no secret that Buddhi Sagar, a prominent Nepali fiction-writer, poet, and a columnist, is a fan of Brazilian novelist Paulo Coelho. But few know how this love affair started.

One day in 2003, Buddhi Sagar, who back then read every Nepali and Hindi book he could lay his hands on, found Coelho’s ‘The Alchemist’ on a friend’s shelf. Back then, reading books in English was a struggle for him, but this particular copy was translated into Hindi and he thought, why not?

Little did he know he was about to meet his all-time favorite author.

“The Alchemist is one of the most touching books I have read,” shares the 40-year-old writer. In fact, the quote, ‘When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you achieve it’ is one of his favorite lines in literature. “I find that quote to be true even in my personal life.”

Years after he read the bestseller, in Hindi, he heard people talk about how good the book was in English. By now he had started reading English novels and he picked up the book again—this time in English. “There were parts I didn’t understand,” he confesses. “But as I knew the story and had the Hindi copy with me, it was easy to look up things that were unclear.”

After finishing the book, he picked up ‘The Zahir’, another of Coelho’s books. One after another, Buddhi Sagar read all of the bestselling author’s books. The Nepali author finds simple answers to complicated philosophical questions in the Brazilian’s works. Coelho has a style tailored to untangling life’s mysteries, he says, and that’s something he hasn’t found in other authors.

Simplicity in storytelling isn’t something Buddhi Sagar is unfamiliar with. Fans often describe his novels, Firfire and Karnali Blues, as simple but heart-touching reads. But the native of Kailai district clarifies that his works are not influenced by Coelho’s writing.

“I have a passion for books, both reading and writing them,” he shares. “But it’s only when I’m reading stories that are completely different to the kind I write that I enjoy them the most. I find novels that I’m familiar with repetitive and even boring.”

Buddhi Sagar finds Coelho’s versatility, directness as well as his outlandish plots utterly fascinating. “The Zahir is my favorite,” he says. “The main character becomes a whole new person to the one he was at the beginning of the book!” A book about transforming one’s ingrained beliefs and perspectives, the 2005 novel has a special place in his heart.

Buddhi Sagar isn’t shy to flaunt his love. His Twitter bio contains the aforementioned quote from The Alchemist and much of his time on social media is spent retweeting and sharing Coelho-related stuff.

Buddhi Sagar is also an avid reader of the author’s blogs. He has been such a loyal follower that Paulo Coelho himself has taken note. The two follow each other on Twitter and have spoken via direct messages. Buddhi Sagar has received countless books, movies, and TV shows recommendations from his favorite author, further increasing his respect for Coelho.

“Being recognized by someone I’ve looked up to for such a long time is one of the most memorable things to have ever happened in my life,” he shares.

Buddhi Sagar notes that just like him Paulo Coelho also came from a family with no literary history. “Family support for our profession was something that we had to earn,” he says.

The newly quadragenarian finds it endlessly exciting that two people so far apart physically can nonetheless feel so close thanks to their common love for literature.