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Your personality in three words.

Extrovert, sarcastic, straight-forward

A common misconception about you.

That I am a very difficult person.

What one thing annoys you the most?

‘Tomorrowism’ (Procrastination). I will do it tomorrow. I will send it tomorrow. Your payment will be deposited tomorrow.

Do you have a song that reminds you of a relationship?

“Bol Do Naa Jaraa” from the movie ‘Azhar’. And it’d have been even more suitable if it had a female version. My husband Rajiv is the quiet type and I sing this to him. And he has to sing, “Nita jaile risaune, Nita jaile risaune,” time and again.

Have you ever tried something you knew you were really bad at?

Singing!

One fashion trend you just don’t get.

Those ‘extremely grunge’ jeans.

What’s the coolest thing you remember learning, and how did you learn it?

Whistling. I used to volunteer at a school and a kid from the fifth grade taught me. 

What’s the first trend you remember loving?

I remember I was in the seventh grade and the latest trend was wearing box pants with tight t-shirts. I still love wearing box pants.

What job would you least want to have?

A chef’s job because I am a good eater, and not a cook.

If you could only watch one movie for the rest of your life, what would it be, and why?

“51st date.” I just love how Adam Sandler tries so hard to make Drew Barrymore fall for him everyday. I want my Rajiv to try to do just 1 percent of that.

If you are a regular reader of this paper you will know I used to live in Bardia National Park many moons ago. If you are a Facebook friend of mine you will know I have been struggling to make banana bread without an oven. You might ask, how are the two related?

When in Bardia we also had no oven, no supermarket, and no western food. But over time the cook and I put together a good selection of western menu items and he created an improvised oven. 

During the lockdown period I have been busy cooking using recipes I have searched on the internet. But in the Bardia days we didn’t even have a telephone for the first couple of years and the internet was only found in certain places in Thamel. But I did have a wonderful reference—an old Peace Corps recipe book, which I have just found again this week, under years of accumulated dust! The front cover has long since departed so I do not have a date of print. The back cover states it was printed in Varanasi and distributed by Ratna Book Distributors, Kathmandu, for the princely sum of Rs 50.

The introduction, some of the recipes and presumably the collation of recipes from other Peace Corps Volunteers was done by Walter Martin, Nepal V, based in Salyan. I have tried Googling but have failed to come up with anything on Walter. If you knew him, please get in touch.  

Here is part of what Walter says in his long, and extremely humorous intro:

“Nepali khana doesn’t rank with the world’s great cuisines… Badly prepared it can be revolting… Well done, it can easily be as good as pizza pies, hot dogs and Coke… A bland Volunteer may very well be what he/she eats. Granting the usefulness at times and in certain places, of Kool Aid, powdered milk and Cadburys, when they come to be a steady diet and a substitute for necessities, then all the massala has gone out of your experience in Nepal.  You’ll go back to the Safeway (USA supermarket chain) a little wealthier, but no healthier or wiser than when you came.” Well said, Walter!

I’m not sure when this book was written but I obtained it—and from where I have no idea—in the mid 90’s. With its reference to goat meat worth Rs 10 filling a big pot, I imagine this was probably written during the 80s. Inside, it shows how to make an ‘oven’, how to create local food, and how to recreate Western favorites including sauces, jams, pies and cookies using ingredients found locally. Invaluable, I would say to new volunteers to village Nepal. And to me at that time. And perhaps now if lockdown continues longer.

For those who were following my banana bread fiasco, you might want to know that Lissa Barker’s (of which PCV batch it doesn’t say) oven consists of a dekshi into which a bread or cake pan is placed on top of a tin can. The lid of the dekshi is then weighted down with a stone. Place in a fire—bonfire or kerosene stove—and voila! I know my cook recreated such a thing which was set in the fire which heated water in an old oil drum. Later I bought a cake tin which was manufactured for volunteers and certainly until the mid 2000s you could still buy in Patan. That cake tin was a large donut shape (in German style) creating great cakes on the kerosene or gas burner.

Speaking of cakes—stuffed inside that recipe book I found an old letter from my mother dated October 1997 containing a recipe for yogurt cake. This turned out to be a year-round favorite as yogurt replaces eggs. Eggs, which had an off-season in the Bardia summer heat.  

Recipes from Peace Corp Volunteers around the world can now be found online, including at https://peacecorpslifehacks.tumblr.com/post/129458810961/peace-corps-cookbooks

Bon appetite!

In the wake of repeated incidents of caste-based violence around the country, APEX asks 12 Nepali musicians if (and how) music can be an effective tool to fight racism/casteism. 

Adrian Pradhan, 1974 AD

I think music is far more heavenly, spiritual, and universal compared to racism. Music unites people globally while racism divides. Music evolved from infinite powers while racism came from the minds of people. With this in mind, I’m sure music can really heal the corrupt hearts of this world. Being a responsible artist, I would definitely try to carry on with songs and music to help change negative minds, with songs like 1974 AD’s “Yo Mann ta Mero Nepali Ho”.

Samriddhi Rai

Racism, ‘colorism,’ casteism—they’re all intertwined and are a stubborn fragment of our society. And all of this will never be cleared in one fell swoop; it’s a gradual change through generations. However, I do believe there’s power in conversations, debates, dialogues and especially music that works as catalysts to undo these stigmas. Nepal is a caste-based society and casteism its inevitable by-product. Therefore, it is even more important to keep talking about the topic. I have personally raised the caste issues through my song “Ma Chahi Nepali” and ‘colorism’ in my song “Ma Dami Chhu.” While the idea of music completely ending racism/casteism is far-fetched, it sure speeds up the process.

Kiran Nepali, Project Sarangi/Kutumba

Music definitely helps fight racism and bridge casteist divides in our society. I’ll give you an example. Let’s look back 5-7 years when sarangi was regarded as a “gandharva instrument”. Now it has become a proud representation of Nepali music. People of all castes have started playing it. It has overcome the caste barrier.

Roshan Sharma, Urjaa

Anything that is universal or truthful has the power to end communal, religious and racial differences. Music is one (and probably the best) universal factor that has the power to evoke positive emotions and change egoistic minds. I recently had a chance to collaborate for a song with the Limbu community of eastern Nepal and the response has been amazing. I am getting so much love from all the communities. Discrimination seems to be disappearing.

Ashesh Dangol, Ashesh and Nekhvam

Societies and communities around the world have used music to fight racism. There are many artists and songs you listen to globally. I believe in ‘art with activism’. Blues, the genre I play, originated in the Black community and it has always fought racism. Even a ‘brown’ person like me touring with my music worldwide has helped change perspectives. Music has no language or boundary. I have always thought of my art as contributing to the development of my society. Most of my lyrics and music these days are thus based on social issues.

Nikesh “Kallie” Bhujel, Screaming Marionette

Music can influence minds. As musicians, we are carriers of the influence, whether or not we are aware of it and whether or not we intend to be. The sound and messages we release through our art impacts listeners in powerful ways. As humans, we are influenced by how we feel. And good music can definitely play a role in helping people distinguish between right and wrong. Music has the power to culturally, morally, and emotionally influence society. Thus, the more intentional we become with the sounds, messages, and moods we create and release through our music, the more powerful we will be in creating a deep positive impact.

Bishal Pradhan, Foseal/Nude Terror

Racism is global and having lived only in my home country I can say casteism exists here too. Even between friends, we don’t talk about it openly but there is definitely a tension between different castes. How we have preconceived notions about certain people who belong to a particular caste reflects how we consciously or subconsciously practice casteism.

I think for musicians, it is imperative to believe in the message they want to give. At least that’s what I try to do with my music. Music is a great medium of expression to talk about racism and casteism, but for this the musicians have to first believe in their own message.

Kengal Shrestha, Type III

More than the power to fight racism, I’d prefer to say that music has the power to spread peace. And it definitely does spread peace. But it depends on how people perceive it. That is how I see my own music too.

Rachana Dahal

Speaking from personal experience, music has been the most powerful tool I've ever worked with. Not only against racism, but music also works wonders in the hearts of people on all sorts of issues.

Sarad Shrestha, Shree 3/Tumbleweed

Music in itself is a language and something that’s truly free in terms of expression. From the very beginning, we have been raising social issues through our songs and live performances.

Suzeena Shrestha, The Act

Music has the power to fight anything. Most people might not relate to speeches or even books. But with music, there’s more probability. Our music also deals with the social issues we face.

Ashra Kunwar, Ashra and the Parables

We need to be an intrinsic learner to understand how racism and discriminatory values affect lives on a large scale. Second, there’s always been racism everywhere, wherever people have fought for their right to live as equals. As a musician, I am a believer in art and activism, and perhaps the best means of activism is music. Music as an art is a potent tool to fight not just racism but any social evil.

A discussion arose today based on comments out of a quarantine center in Banke. The fear in the center was of snakes. Now while snakes are numerous in the plains of Nepal and yes, people do get bitten every year, there are not as many ‘sightings’ as you may suppose.

I base that on the fact I lived on the boundary of Bardia National Park for five years and probably saw no more than a dozen snakes in that time. Rat snakes to be exact, often found in the grass roofs. We once had a python on the premises. Goodness knows how it got there because they are really not known to travel far. I remember the first time I visited Bardia, I was warned by people living on the border of Chitwan National Park that the snakes in Bardia were extremely dangerous and would chase innocent people down to bite them!  Needless to say I never saw anyone being chased by a snake. In those days (1991) Bardia was pretty remote and very ‘jungly’ even to the people of Chitwan. In fact, in that first visit there was no road from the highway to the Park HQ. Just a long 15km walk through the fields. 

Far from being chased by snakes, I felt it was us who were chasing the locals. The locals were extremely shy to see us, the majority not even speaking Nepali in those days. There was no accommodation aside from Tiger Tops, so we had taken a tent along. Graciously the Park Warden allowed us to camp in the Park HQ premises. He even invited us to dinner.  Interestingly it was venison (deer meat)!

It was four years later that I went to live in Bardia. And was still not chased by snakes! Scarier however were the wild elephants. Living next door to the then King Mahendra Trust, wild elephants were attracted to the female domesticated elephants there. They were also attracted to the rice growing all around us. That first year we were pretty isolated aside from the trust and not very knowledgeable about elephant behavior.

As a result we spent a lot of time lighting fires around the boundary and chasing elephants away. There were a few sleepless but exciting nights! Over time we learned there was nothing of interest for the elephants in our compound; they were simply walking passed to the fields or female elephants next door. We also learned elephants are extremely silent walkers but loud eaters. So ultimately, after that first year, we tended not to get too excited if we heard munching nearby in the night. 

But one day we did have an incident when our guide and guest came face to face with an elephant on the road outside the park. The guest was told to leap into a ditch and out of harm’s way.  Meantime the guide, a local young man, was gouged by the elephant’s tusk.  The guest was an emergency room nurse back home so took control and we got the guide off to Nepalganj hospital. Although there was a lot of blood thankfully there was no major or lasting damage. 

When the guest returned from the hospital later that evening he completely fell apart. His professionalism had kicked in but when all was safe, his natural fright of the close encounter took over. We kept in touch and sometime later received a letter from him. On his return home, his girlfriend gifted him with an elephant head earring. “How did she know?” he commented.  As in those days of no internet he had not told her the story earlier.

So yeah, although I dislike snakes intensely, I have to say they are not hanging around to chase us. But if we are in their territory, which we are more and more these days, it might just be game on!