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A. Definitely wearing the heels I can’t walk in. Lol.

Q. If you could wish for anything…

A. To be able to read any living being’s mind.

Q. What would be your fancy dress costume?

A. Egyptian Queen Cleopatra

Q. How would you describe yourself in a sentence?

A. An ambitious young girl who thrives on challenges, so I always have something to strive towards.

Q. Your makeup (style) icon?

A. Rihanna! Forever and always.

Q. The best advice you’ve been given?

A. This advice came from my mother and it has changed my life: “Your moods are contagious, always share positive energy”

Q. Who inspires you the most?

A. Ellen Degeneres

Q. What are you proud of but never have an excuse to talk about?

A. I’m literally so proud of being an amazing daughter to my mother and taking good care of her.

Q. If you had only one day left to live, what would you do?

    A. I would spend the whole day with my family and my closest friends at home, having mo:mo party and barbeque and getting drunk.

A follower of Nepali music, film and tele­vision will surely have come across Asif Shah’s name, one way or the other. From singing the popular “Pahilo Maya” and half a dozen other songs with The Unity band in the 2000s, to acting in music videos like Kali Prasad’s “Insta Ko Photo”. To directing music videos, shaking a leg in the famous “Kutu Ma Kutu” song, to starring in the movie “Dui Rupaiyan” and another called “Karkash,” Shah has had a dis­tinguishable presence every­where. His popularity on tele­vision has only increased as a two-time host of the popular reality show “Nepal Idol”.

But when you ask the 39-year-old what he does for living, “I’m an ad director” comes the prompt reply. “That comes from the top of my head when someone asks me about my profession,” he adds. “Although I don’t share much on social platform about my ad films, this is what I’ve mainly been doing of late.” Shah co-owns G21 Produc­tions with his brother Asim Shah and has made hundreds of television commercials for brands including Ncell, Coke, Sprite, and Himalaya Herbals.

Shah’s TV career started in 2001 when he got selected as a presenter for a local chan­nel. “It was by fluke,” he says. “A couple of my friends were trying out and I was giving them pointers. They asked me to come along with them just for fun, and I was the one who landed the job, not them.” That interview would kickstart Shah’s almost two-decade-long career in media. “I guess my destiny pulled me in,” he says.

Within two weeks of start­ing as a presenter, Shah was also producing his own shows and directing them, while also honing his presentation skills. He went on to work with some of the biggest television channels in the country and at the same time started the G21 pro­duction house. With G21 Digital and G21 Productions—sepa­rate entities—Shah began making music videos and films as well as TVCs.

A presenter and producer inter­ested in music directing music videos is only nat­ural. But Shah’s ad-making inter­ests came from the inspiration he drew from TVCs when young. “I remember watch­ing a TVC of an Indian product called Savlon. It was simple, subtle, and brought home the point, and at the same time I knew it was not a high bud­get production. I real­ized creativity matters more than big budget in TVCs.” Shah’s love for TVCs over actual programs inspired him to start a career in ad-filmmaking.

As for his Nepal Idol stint, Shah says that it was an offer he could not resist. He was offered a chance to host the second sea­son of the interna­tional franchise when he was on a hiatus from the screen, and he decided to take it. Asked if the time dedicated to Nepal Idol hampered his other pro­fessions, he replies in the negative. “It helped me, in fact,” Shah says. “It was about time I made it back to the small screen, and with Nepal Idol’s popularity, peo­ple started recognizing me more. My clients, agencies and even the celebrities I endorsed for my ads started recog­nizing me more.”

Shah is all praise for the Nepal Idol franchise, and claims AP1 televi­sion’s endeavors brought about a revolution in Nepali television. “Nepal Idol came at a time when the TV audience was dwindling and people watched Nepali channels just for news,” he says. “It proved that if TVs had good content, people would still watch it. This had a positive impact on the whole indus­try and locally produced shows started scaling up.”

Although he doesn’t want to call himself a singer, Shah’s love for music has also resulted him in continuing his passion. He has recently released “Bato Biraye”, which is already a hit, with a million views on YouTube. “I will continue with Nepal Idol as long as it remains my passion and for now, we are also plan­ning to expand G21 Digital’s scope,” he says. “We will start operating like an inter­national record label and give artists and musicians more platforms to showcase their music.”

A sculpture or a curio piece, or a fine art masterpiece, makes for a muse­um of art or history. By this logic, you need a real aircraft to build a good aviation museum. For proof, visit the Aviation Museum at Sinamangal in Kath­mandu.The frame of a dead aircraft and its dead engine come to life at this museum, the first of its kind in Nepal. The dead frame of a Turkish Airlines Airbus that skidded off the runway in Kathmandu in 2015 was dismantled, reassembled and fashioned into an aviation museum, right next to the country’s only international airport. When you visit this unique museum, you will feel like being inside a real airplane.

Launched in November 2017, the muse­um was established by Bed Upreti Trust—a non-profit jointly founded by Captain Bed Uprety—and the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal. A pilot and an aviation instructor in Indonesia, Uprety wanted to interest the Nepali youth in the field of aviation, and he reckoned an aviation museum would be the perfect way to do so.

The museum’s exhibits include the air­craft’s original cockpit setting, various aircraft models, and items documenting the history of Nepali aviation.

The Turkish Airlines plane, Airbus 330-300, had flown for about eight months before meeting a mishap at Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu in March 2015. It cost Rs 70 million to convert the useless outer-frame into a museum.

The museum has a lot to offer to visitors. It is the perfect place to educate yourself on Nepali aviation or to take your child who is fascinated about flying. The main attraction are probably the miniature air­planes and model helicopters displayed inside. Recently, a fun park for children has been built right outside the museum.

The Airbus has four sections. In the welcome hall, visitors are shown a docu­mentary on the museum’s history. It gives information about airport model, cargo compartment, cabin crew, pilot training, and aviation safety. Then there is an air force hall imitating a fighter plane that served in both the world wars. Next is an airlines hall with models of aircraft operat­ed by Nepal Airlines. Lastly, the manufac­ture and refreshment hall displays plane models developed by students of aircraft engineering.

Ticket prices are reasonable. Nepali cit­izens pay Rs 250, handicapped and older citizens Rs 125, SAARC country nationals Rs 250, and foreigners Rs 500. Entry fee is waived for students of grade 9-12 who car­ry a letter from their schools. All students with valid ID cards get 50 percent off. You may also get photographed as an airhost­ess or a pilot by paying nominal fees.

The museum opens 10 am-5 am, Octo­ber to February, and 9:30 am-6:30 pm, March to September.

The place is popular with school chil­dren these days. “It’s astonishing to wit­ness the excitement of the little children who come here. They have so many ques­tions and I feel happy answering them as it reminds me of my own childhood," says Anisha Neupane, an employee at the museum.

“We want to encourage youngsters to pursue careers in aviation and engineer­ing,” said Uprety, who is also the chief executive officer of the museum.

Despite all the hard work with the muse­um, there is always room for improve­ment. One such area is food prices. A dis­appointed visitor was heard saying: “For a place dedicated to children and students, the restaurant here is quite expensive. The prices need to go down.”

The first question I ask him is the question he hates the most, but still keeps getting asked. “I’ve never liked talking about my age,” musician Jyoti Ghimire says, “makes me feel old.” But being nice to me as we go back a long way, he offers a hint: “I retired from government service a couple of years ago, so now you can guess.”

That’s how talking to Jyoti Ghimire is. He doesn’t com­mand respect because of his seniority. He doesn’t seek admiration because he’s a few generations older than many musicians today. With him, everyone is friends and age is just a number in official doc­uments. “The only thing that hints of my age is my balding head. Otherwise, playing gui­tar for 3 to 4 hours a day keeps my youth intact,” Ghimire adds with a laugh.

Ghmire is a singer, song­writer and guitarist who has been playing music for almost four decades, and his musical journey is still finding new ave­nues. With an unaccounted number of concerts around the country and abroad, and almost 200 recordings with various artists, Ghimire still pursues music, learning new things every day and evolving. “From bhajans to the blues, I have played and still play everything,” he says.

Born and brought up in Kathmandu, the sounds of the guitar in Bollywood music is what first drew Ghimire to the instrument. He spent hours listening to music by RD Burman and the likes, trying to figure out the guitar parts. “Then I was introduced to English songs and things took a different turn,” says Ghi­mire while recalling the first English tune he learnt—“El Condor Pasa (If I Could)” by Simon and Garfunkel.

And then, Deep Purple happened! When Ghimire first listened to the iconic rock group, he not only drew inspiration from them, but decided to take up music seri­ously. “You can’t imagine the number of times I rewound and forwarded cassette tapes to learn their music,” he says. In the late 70s when technology was limited and internet unavailable, tape recorders and cassette play­ers were the starting musi­cian’s only friends, adds Ghimire. He says he listened to Deep Purple’s “Highway Star” thousands of times to learn it by ear.

But with no knowledge of the instrument whatsoever, Ghimire resorted to learning guitar by carefully observing other guitarists play live. “I used to go to gigs and watch my seniors play the songs I knew. I picked up a lot that way,” he says.

Basically self-taught, Ghi­mire’s first show was on 10 March 1983. He remembers the exact date from a con­cert flyer he has preserved of his debut performance. Then began his career as a professional guitarist, cover­ing Western music in which­ever small venues that had live music at the time. He worked with multiple bands including Kathmandu Katz, Grandslam, Legend and then Prism, which still exists.

“Then I realized there was more money to be made play­ing with Nepali pop artists and also began working with them in the studio, and as a backing guitarist for live shows,” adds Ghimire. He went to work with the likes of Phatteman and Deep Shrestha to Sanjeep Pradhan and Nima Rumba, recording and playing live with them. His guitar-work can be heard prominently in Pradhan’s “Deurali ko Chau­tari” and Shrestha’s “Ma ta Dur Dekhi Aaye.”

Ghimire’s career as a singer/ songwriter began much later though. “I was not a singer actually but I did some back­ing vocals with the bands and as I progressed, I decide to make some of my own music,” he says. Ghimire’s debut album “Dordee” released in 2001 propelled him as a singer with the songs “Maski Maski” and “Baljhiyo Feri” becom­ing instant hits. He followed the album with “Evolution” in 2004 featuring the songs “Nashalu Timro Ankhaile” and “Anjaan Timi”, both of which are now classics.

Although he comes from a time when the radio and television were the only source of new Nepali music, Ghimire has now adapted to the changing platforms for sharing music and continues to release singles on YouTube and various other internet media. “Timi Aiayinau,” his latest release, is already win­ning praises from fellow musi­cians and listeners alike.

For now, Ghimire wants to play live music and write his own songs. No more studio sessions for other compos­ers, he says. “I plan to re-re­lease some of my old songs that didn’t get much expo­sure and also a few new sin­gles,” he says. “Who knows? I could come up with another album too.”

Ghimire is also the Anna­purna Celebrity for the month of Poush. You can listen to Radio Annapurna 94.0 for pro­grams featuring him.