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Q.    What is your favorite travel destination?
A.    I’m quite the wanderer. I don’t have a specific place that is my favorite.

Q.    What is your guilty pleasure?
A.    Binge buying camera accessories.

Q.    If you could have coffee with a person, living or dead, who would it be?
A.    Definitely Alan Watts.

Q.    What is your go-to outfit?
A.    Anything that’s comfortable.

Q.    What work do you most enjoy doing?
A.    I enjoy anything to do with cameras.

Q.    What do you want to be remembered for?
A.    I’d like to be remembered for the things that I will one day say that will make the most sense to a lot of people.

Q.    If you could change something in the world, what would you first change?
A.    It’s more of a ‘growth’ thing than a change to be honest. I’d love to let people understand that we’re slowly being consumed a little too much by ‘social media’ than what’s healthy, which in return is causing people to lose their sense of empathy.

APEX CELEB QUIZ  #15

Q.    What is Ayushman DS Joshi's biggest pet peeve?
    a) Body odor    b) Dirty nails

Send us your answer on our Facebook page. One winner selected by lucky draw will get a Rs 2,000 coupon from Dallé.  

Nepal made sweeping regulatory changes in the new ‘National Policy on Regulation and Control of Alcohol 2017’. The Ministry of Health had taken the initiative with the backing of other ministries, child right activists and public health promoters. Ranging from a total ban on alcohol advertisements to more stringent licensing requirements for liquor dispensaries, the goal was to restrict access to alcohol and reduce consumption in the long run. Later, in November 2018, the Home Ministry brought more restrictions and pledged to enforce the existing liquor policy more effectively.

An interesting facet of this policy was the ban on selling liquor by grocery and department stores and the requirement of a specific license to operate liquor shops. This effectively separated the liquor business from general retail shops. But it has created an unexpected scenario, one where the number of liquor stores in some locales has grown exponentially. Pepsicola of Kathmandu (on the way to Bhaktapur) is one such area, where many booze businesses targeting a rapidly increasing population have opened up.

Soni Paudel has run Soni Liquor Store in Pepsicola for over five years. While she is ambivalent about new regulations, she has strong opinion on the opening of new liquor shops. “Many new ones have opened up over the past few years. Five years ago, this area had only two or three. Now they are everywhere,” says Paudel, whose business has slowed down in recent years. She believes this is not because people are drinking less, but are going to the stores closest to them. Paudel has a high number of regulars, so her business hasn’t taken a big hit. But she is certain that not all liquor shop owners have it equally easy.

S.N.G. Dealers is one of the newly-opened stores in the area, just opposite Paudel’s shop. Bishal Khatiwoda started the business three years ago with high expectations, which have not been met. He blames the policy of easy licensing for liquor stores. Says Khatiwoda, “The number of stores has increased—maybe by 50 percent—in the past year, but many have also gone out of business as profit margins have dropped.” Khatiwoda says he currently makes half of what he used to when he opened his store; he believes similar is the case with every other retailer in the area. Business seems to have fallen even though the number of people drinking alcohol has probably increased.

Sun, sin and soakers

Manju Magar has been living in this area for over seven years. She does not mind the increase in the number of liquor stores around her. “I don’t see a problem, maybe because I don’t drink much. This is a pretty affluent area, so you don’t see loafers drinking in the streets and creating a scene,” says Magar. Real-estate prices rose significantly after 2012 when Sun City apartments were built, bringing in well-off families into the previously sparsely inhabited area. As for alcohol-related domestic violence, Magar says she’s unaware of any significant case.

Apart from sales restrictions, Khatiwoda and Paudel, the two retailers, find it difficult to follow some rules. With the minimum drinking age now raised to 21 (from the previous 18), retailers struggle to correctly identify someone’s age without a valid ID card. “It’s not practical to ask for identification if a customer’s age is not clear from their face,” says Paudel. She believes it will hurt her business and will not prevent underage drinking, as people under 21 can easily go to some other shop that does not ask for identification.

Says Khatiwoda, “When those under 21 come here to buy alcohol, you can’t be sure if they’re getting it for their parents or for themselves.” Both he and Paudel think people sending their children to buy liquor is a problem and wish parents were more aware. “Whenever kids come to buy drinks or cigarettes, I always ask them to send their parents,” adds Khatiwoda.

S.N.G. Dealers and Soni Liquor Store fall under the jurisdiction of Inspector Sudhir Rai at the Kadhaghari Police Department. He admits a large number of liquor stores have opened up under his watch in recent years. “Demand for alcohol is rising and liquor stores and bhattis (local bars) are opening up at an alarming pace. Our culture’s perception of alcohol is twisted; we consider it essential for celebrations. But in the past few years, it has become a problem.”

Plethora of problems

Excessive alcohol consumption can lead to disorderly conduct and even societal ills; it is considered one of the main culprits of domestic violence. According to a report by Women and Children Service Center (WCSC) of the Nepal Police, one third of all domestic violence cases reported last year in Kathmandu were alcohol related. “Obviously, crime has increased in line with alcohol consumption. Domestic abuse, child abuse, petty crimes, gang violence and particularly vehicular accidents are increasing and alcohol is often involved,” Rai adds. He believes alcohol’s cultural acceptance makes it a gateway to harder drugs.

Apart from social ills, excessive and regular consumption of alcohol can have adverse health effects. Apart from liver disease, pancreatitis, ulcers and gastrointestinal problems, excessive drinking can even lead to brain damage, especially in people who begin drinking before 24. Dr. Santosh Pokhrel works as a general physician at Saadhak Polyclinic, Pepsicola. He says the number of locals seeking treatment for alcohol-related ailments is rapidly increasing. “I’ve noticed people, mostly those between 25 and 40, increasingly affected by ailments like Alcohol Liver Disease,” says Pokhrel. As if to lend credence to the doctor’s claim, an obviously drunk middle-aged man reeking of local rakshi staggers into the clinic and starts pestering the receptionist to measure his blood sugar level.

Although the government is taking steps to curb excessive drinking, its policies seem short-sighted and have ironically given people even easier access to alcohol. And the rules are also being flouted openly. Though the policy caps the number of liquor stores in a ward at five, there are a lot more in some locales. In a kilometer-long stretch in Suncity, Pepsicola, there are nine liquor stores, six of which opened within the past three years.

In the same stretch, nearly a third of kirana pasals, none of whose owners were willing to be identified, admitted to stocking liquor in low quantities. Says Inspector Rai, “Although there is a cap on the number of liquor stores in an area, we have not been asked to enforce it by higher authorities.” He also blames lack of coordination between the license distributors and the local police for the gap between policy and implementation.

For now, new liquor stores keep sprouting up largely because licenses are easy to get and the government does not enforce its capping policy. How long these businesses can stay afloat amid cut-throat competition is another matter altogether. As far as their impact on the society is concerned, it is subtle but perhaps grievously harmful in the long term.

Mountaineers seeking climbing permission for the first time in Nepal are getting attracted to small mountains. According to the Department of Tourism, there has been an unprecedented increase in the interest to climb mountains between 6,000-8,000 meters. Altogether 1,118 people have applied for the same this autumn. 

According to the department, 1,001 climbers sought permissions for 45 different mountains between September and November. The department director Mira Acharya informs that the number could further increase as the department will be handing out permits for a couple more weeks. 

Compared to the past, this year climbers are attracted towards more new mountains. There are 414 mountains that Nepal has opened for mountaineering. Of them, 86 have never been scaled before. This autumn, the mountaineers have thus far sought permits for six new mountains—Amphu 1 (6,740m), Hanku Chuli (6,433m), Hangu Sarupic (6,764m), Linchu Chuli (6,659 m), Panpoche 1 (6,620m), Panpoche 2 (6,504m). In the case of successful ascents of these six, there will now be only 80 virgin above-6,500 mountains that are open for mountaineering in Nepal.  

Climbers need to seek trekking permit for above 6,500m. As trekking permits are mandatory, only actual mountaineers are known to climb these mountains. 

Every year, climbers attempt to scale new mountains to set new records. They want to list their name as the first on mountain-top. Mountaineers often go through the virgin list and try to climb those that have not been attempted before. 

There are more than 1,300 mountains in Nepal. However, according to Nepal Mountaineering Association, the country has not been able to successfully promote them and thus only a fraction of them are open for climbing. The association has asked for the private sector to be given the responsibility of mountain promotion for the coming tourism year. Currently, the association gives permissions for 27 above-6,500 mountains. Every year, it collects more than Rs 100 million in royalty. 

According to the Department of Tourism, this autumn season 10 members of two climbing teams came seeking permission to climb Mount Everest. As only spring season is suitable to climb the Everest, both the teams were unsuccessful. The Department further informs that no team has in this season attempted Nuptse and Lhotse that involves passing through a treacherous route to Everest. Acharya says ascent efforts fail in this season because of falling ice, snow accumulation and unpredictable winds. 

This autumn, climbers have been most attracted to Manaslu (8,163m) and Ama Dablam (6,814m). Until 31 October, 264 members from 27 teams have gone to climb Manaslu after getting permission. Similarly, 301 members from 26 teams have taken permits for Ama Dablam, according to the department. Among the 1,118 climbers from 62 different countries, 880 are men and 238 women. These climbers come from 62 different countries, and the department has collected Rs 63.6 million in royalty from them.

Last week saw ghostly figures walking the streets of Kathmandu. Not the demons and gods you might expect to be wandering the Kathmandu Valley of old, whose images are seen still on every temple and sacred site. No, most of these figures dressed in ghoulish attires were headed to bars and clubs to celebrate Halloween.

Festivals more normally found in Western countries such as Halloween, Valentine’s Day and Christmas are now celebrated widely across Kathmandu. This is a relatively new phenomena. In my opinion this has come about because Nepal now has access to cable TV and internet and can see what the rest of the world is doing. What will maintain these new traditions, however, is the fact that bars, clubs, restaurants, hotels and the like are making oodles of money out of these festivals.

But do you actually know where these traditions come from? Perhaps you think Halloween and Valentine’s Day come from America. Certainly Hollywood films and American TV are full of images of children ‘trick and treating’ and of young adults giving Valentine’s gifts. Well, what are new traditions in Kathmandu were once new traditions in the West also. Did you know these festivals have their origins in the distant past?

For example, Halloween goes back around 2,000 years to an ancient Celtic festival called Samhain which marked the end of summer and the harvest. It was believed that on this night the line between the world of the living and the world of the dead was very thin, allowing ghosts to come to earth. I should add here that the Celts were tribes which inhabited Ireland, Scotland, and some of Spain and France (and which includes this writer!)

By the time the Roman Empire conquered most of Celtic lands (except Scotland where the Romans even built a wall to keep us out as we were so wild) the festival of Samhain was incorporated into a Roman festival which also commemorated the dead. Later still a Catholic Pope incorporated All Saints Day (again commemorating the dead) into these traditions. And the evening became known as All Hallows Eve. You can see where the word Halloween came from. So next year when you are dressing your children up and handing out candy, remember, this is a not so sweet ancient pagan tradition.

And some of you reading this might be surprised to know that Christmas, the biggest holiday in the Christian calendar, was not originally a Christian festival at all. Early Christians simply adopted a Roman festival which celebrated the coming new year on 25 December. This, together with rituals (known as Yule) from Nordic countries were rolled into one celebration. 

Perhaps as people converted to Christianity they still wanted to appease old gods and neighbors who were non-Christian by celebrating with them.  Okay so this is a very simplified version of how Christmas came about and I suggest you research more yourself if you are interested!  And, you might even come across the fact Jesus was not born on 25 December—his birth date was conveniently moved as well to fit into these older festivals!

Valentine’s Day—yes, you know where this is going—is not in fact a modern celebration of love. It has its roots in a Roman festival celebrating spring and which included fertility rites. In the 5th century another Catholic Pope replaced this festival (known as Lupercalia) with St. Valentine’s Day. But it was not until about 900 years later that the day was celebrated as a day of romance. Gosh, these ancient Romans have had a lot of influence on our modern calendar!

So, while Nepal is celebrating these ‘modern and Western’ festivals, it’s good to remember they are based on rituals of ancient warrior peoples, from way before American was discovered. Indeed many are dark rites which have developed over the centuries into the innocuous festivals we celebrate with so much joy today. Blood curdling or what?