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The name says it all. CALM occupies a quiet area inside the Tangalwood premises, near Gahanapokhari Tangal.

With plenty of parking space and both indoors and outdoor seating options, the restaurant offers a variety of multi-cuisine dishes and an assortment of drinks.

From breakfast with a vari­ety of coffee choices, to din­ner, CALM covers it all for you. It is also a popular venue for events like birthday par­ties, corporate parties, talk programs, concerts and art exhibitions.

To add to the charm of CALM, there is a night club called Club 25 Hours almost right next to it where you can party and jive till the wee hours of night.  

THE MENU

Specials:

Chicken Sizzler

Lamb Chops

Mango Chicken

Opening hours

8 am to 11 pm

For reservations

01-4443904

The world of advice is a crowded space. Everyone has an opinion about everything and every­body seems to know what’s best for you. And a quick look down the self-help aisle at your local bookstore proves that for every problem you have many people out there have ‘just the right’ solution. But if there is one person you would enjoy lis­tening to, then it’s probably Mark Manson. He doesn’t just tell you how to live a good life by identifying what’s important and what’s not, but is so brutally honest about his own problems that being able to relate takes away half your worries.Now, while not giving a fuck may seem simple on the surface, it’s a whole new bag of burritos under the hood. I don’t even know what that sen­tence means, but I don’t give a fuck. A bag of burritos sounds awesome, so let’s just go with it.

This is just an example of the kind of lines Manson’s not-so-subtle book on letting go of everything that’s not important in your life is filled with. And that’s what makes reading the book such a delightful experience. But despite the profanity, The Sub­tle Art of Not Giving a F*ck is actu­ally incredibly inspiring and deeply philosophical. Add to that the fact that Manson has a wicked sense of humor and you have a self-help book that feels like a heart-to-heart conversation with a friend where you are forced to reexamine what you really care about in life.

Manson argues that life is essen­tially an endless series of problems and the solution to one problem is merely the creation of another. He says life sucks for those who con­stantly try to get away from prob­lems. So, he suggests, instead of trying to find out how you can get rid of your problems, you just have to find problems that excite you, and those for which you are willing to make some sacrifices.

The Subtle Art of Not Giving A F*ck could very well be the reality check you needed about confront­ing your problems, fears, and expec­tations, and learning when not to give a f*ck about them. Because, if Manson is to be believed, caring less about things is the only way to lead a good life. APEX BUREAU

Naaka

Crime, Drama

CAST: Bipin Karki, Thinley Lhamo, Prakash Gandharva, Robin Tamang

DIRECTION: Amit Shrestha

 Among the new crop of Nepali actors, Bipin Karki is some­one who has made a giant leap in just few years. Starting with minor character roles, he has now established himself as a leading man in Nepali movies. He started off with a blink-and-miss role in ‘Loot’ (2012); the following year we saw him sink his teeth in a meatier role in the colossally disappointing ‘Chhadke’. But his breakout performance came in ‘Pashupati Prasad’ (2016), where he portrayed Bhasmey, a low-life gang leader operating inside the premises of Pashupatinath temple. If we sift through the characters he has played in his ten films so far, apart from Jatra (2016), he’s mostly played goofy delinquents.

In his latest film ‘Naaka’, his char­acter is—no surprises for guessing—a smuggler named Goldie, donning a mohawk. Goldie ticks off every box in a stock Bipin Karki character: a small-time crook with a colorful name, a flamboyant sense of style and a speech impediment. Goldie is a menacing anti-hero in this black-crime comedy featuring Nepali smugglers and Tibetan refugees.

Goldie and his lackey Hanuman (Prakash Gandharva) agree to help two Tibetan refugees (Thin­ley Lhamo and Shiva Mukhiya) cross the Sino-Nepal border into Nepali. Goldie is making the delivery on behalf of Lata Bob (Robin Tamang) and his henchman Ganesh (Ram Bhajan Kamat), who have promised Goldie five lakh rupees in return.

But the seemingly easy task turns into a migraine for Goldie, as he has to “karate chop” his way through revenge seekers, bent cops and double-crossers.

Director Amit Shrestha has plucked the news pages to ground the story in a contemporary context. He takes up the issue of Tibetan refugee influx and the theft of dzi beads (highly prized Tibetan stones) that have led to the murder of many Tibetan refugees. Shrestha with the help of his cinematographer Chintan Raj Bhandari resourcefully captures the world of the protagonists. The film’s grungy and grimy look must not have come easy.

There are number of odd-ball characters here and only a few are good-natured. The bonding scenes between Hanuman and the refu­gee girl Sonam make up the film’s most poignant moments. In an early scene, Hanuman makes a puffed face to make Sonam understand he is named after the Hindu mon­key god, not realizing that Sonam only speaks Tibetan and may not be familiar with any Hindu god.

Naaka largely stands on the broad shoulders of Bipin Karki, who gives the film everything in his acting arsenal. Karki’s blend of humor and menace is so compelling that movie-goers often end up rooting for a morally corrupt character. This is a clear sign that today’s audience is ready for bold, complex and nuanced roles in Nepali films.

But Naaka is also marred by prob­lems. It relies on a plot that is wafer thin and highly inconsistent. The first half is slow while the second is filled with hackneyed plot twists, as if the makers were in a rush to get to the climax. Many viewers may also feel that overreliance on slapstick humor undercuts the film’s other­wise serious plot.

It’s not a perfect film and I must say its characters deserved a better plot. But Naaka is a welcome change amidst the cornucopia of terrible mainstream Nepali films that have come out in recent times.

*** Three stars

In 2014, an investigative article titled ‘The Law School Scam’ was published in ‘The Atlantic’. The story brought under the radar Flor­ida Coastal located in Jacksonville, Florida in the United States while talking about the disturbing trends in the for-profit world of legal edu­cation. Citing the example of the said college, the article mentioned that law schools admit underqualified students who then take millions of dollars in loans annually to fund their course. Since many students will never be able to repay much of the loans due to a dismal job market, it’s the taxpayers that will be stuck with the tab as law schools them­selves continue to reap enormous profits.

Replace Florida Coastal with Foggy Bottom and you have the premise for Grisham’s ‘The Rooster Bar’. In the novel, Mark Frazier, Todd Lucero and Zola Maal are third-year law students in D.C., enrolled in a bottom-of-the-line, for-profit legal institution, who realize they have been duped. Their school is one of a chain owned by a shady New York hedge-fund operator who also owns a bank that provides student loans.

Each of the three students is drowning in debt as they had all borrowed heavily to attend a law school where graduates rarely pass the bar exam. To slip out of the grasp of the law school scam, and escape their debt while exposing the school and bank and making some money in the process, they skip their last semester at Foggy Bottom and, with new identities, pose as lawyers and get to work.

Grisham’s tale is thoroughly engag­ing and does its bit to expose the workings of for-profit law schools, banks that exploit students, and even addresses unfair US immigra­tion policies. You don’t have to be a fan of John Grisham or have read any of his other works to enjoy The Rooster Bar.