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Chinese Ambassador to Nepal Chen Song paid a farewell call on President Ram Chandra Paudel today.

During the meeting held at Sheetal Niwas, they discussed the matters of Nepal-China relations and mutual welfare and interest, according to the Office of the President. 

President Paudel thanked Ambassador Chen for successfully completing his term.

The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) gained 3. 27 points to close at 2, 584. 49 points on Tuesday. 

Similarly, the sensitive index surged by 1. 57 points to close at 447. 58 points.

A total of 7,668,915-unit shares of 328 companies were traded for Rs 1. 47 billion.

Meanwhile, SY Panel Nepal Limited (SYPNL) was the top gainer today, with its price surging by 7. 01 percent. 

Likewise, Citizen Life Insurance Company Limited (CLI) was the top loser as its price fell by 5. 97 percent.

At the end of the day, total market capitalization stood at Rs 4. 33 trillion.

Temperature has started decreasing day by day across the country in recent days. 

Schools in some of the districts in Tarai have started closing their teaching learning activities due to fog and mist and the increasing cold. Snowfall is taking place in the mountainous region. There is fluctuation of temperature and weather in districts including in Kathmandu Valley. 

Kathmandu Valley recorded the coldest day today this year. 

According to the Meteorologist at the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology, Hari Prasad Dahal, the minimum temperature of Kathmandu Valley has dropped by around two degrees Celsius today as compared to Monday. 

Today's minimum temperature of Kathmandu Valley has been recorded at 4.9 degrees Celsius which was 6.8 degrees Celsius on Monday.

Most of the areas in Tarai of the country have been witnessing thick fog today. However, the weather in the mountain region is fair. 

Dahal added, "No weather system causing rain has developed. The Westerly wind has not been active. Areas of Tarai have been witnessing thick fog in lack of rainfall."

Jumla has recorded the lowest temperature today, which is minus 3 degrees Celsius.

Elif Shafak is well known for ‘The Bastard of Istanbul’ and ‘The Forty Rules of Love’. These books catapulted the author to fame. She has written other books like ‘The Architect’s Apprentice’, ‘Honour’ and ‘Three Daughters of Eve’, all of which I found to be more interesting than the popular titles. ‘The Island of Missing Trees’, published in 2021, is my favorite out of all her works. Set in Cyprus and London, the story is narrated by a little girl and a fig tree that has seen generations of the girl’s family and knows their story intimately. It was fascinating and I have, since finishing the book, given out copies to many relatives and friends.  

I came across ‘Black Milk’ when I was just browsing through the bookstore looking for a short read. It’s a non-fiction work about postpartum depression and Shafak shares how she struggled with it. I will read anything Shafak writes because she does so gorgeously. But the blurb of Black Milk was intriguing. Since I was also going through motherhood, I thought this would be a good book to pick up. I wasn’t wrong. I have perhaps never felt as seen and validated as I have while I was reading the book. 

Postpartum depression affects many new mothers worldwide but it’s something that’s seldom talked about. In Nepal too, you’d be hard pressed to find women who are vocal about their struggles. It’s almost like you have failed as a mother if you are sad and unable to cope when there’s a baby who needs you. Our society puts so much pressure on women being ‘good mothers’ that they turn a blind eye to the myriad of conflicting emotions that women find themselves struggling with mostly because of fluctuating hormones.  

To be honest, the book addresses the question put forth to Shafak by another Turkish writer Adalet Agaoglu: Do you think a woman can manage motherhood and career at the same time and equally well? Shafak seeks to answer this question by dissecting the lives of other women writers and their careers and contemplating over her own experiences of juggling motherhood and writing. There is actually little about postpartum depression. Most of it comes at the end of the book. But it’s still an immersive and insightful read. I just found the blurb to be a bit misleading. 

The Turkish-British novelist, essayist, and activist, who writes in both Turkish and English, recounts how ‘words wouldn’t speak to her’ after the birth of her first child in 2006. She writes candidly about her inner voices urging her to focus on her writing and flourishing career and not be blindsided by the desire to have a baby. She introduces us to a harem of finger sized women who live inside her mind. These are all just different facets of her personality. 

It’s not just her own experiences that she shares in the memoir. She also writes about other writers’ experiences of juggling (or choosing not to juggle) motherhood and writing. She talks about Silvia Plath, Alice Walker, Simone de Beauvoir, and Virginia Woolf and their take on babies and why they chose to have or not have one. She also writes about the wives of famous writers like F. Scott Fitzgerald and Leo Tolstoy and how their talents were overshadowed by their husband’s popularity and analyzes how a patriarchal society reinforces that system. 

There’s a lot to unpack in Black Milk with Shafak questioning what it means to be a working woman and a mother and sometimes being compelled to choose one over the other. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and though it’s not a thick book, I took almost three weeks to read it because I found myself going back to many phrases and pages. My only issue with the book is that there’s a certain lightness while talking about something as serious as postpartum depression with Shafak wrapping up the book in a preachy tone. But I would still recommend it and I’m even thinking of giving it to some of my friends. 

Black Milk 

Elif Shafak

Translated by Hande Zapsu

Published: 2007

Publisher: Penguin Random House, UK

Pages: 267, Paperback