Feb 16BECOMING LOUISA KAMAL‘Pen names are masks which allow us to unmask ourselves’ — Terri Guillemets The decision to assume a pen name was not easy for me. Nor was it something that I did willingly. I wanted my book — the first of many, I hoped — to make its way into…Pen Names9 min readPen Names9 min read
Dec 17, 2022MESOKANTO: AN AVOIDABLE TRAGEDYAn Extreme Trekking Case-Study In mid-November 2022, a group of twelve trekkers, including their de facto leader, landed in Kathmandu at mid-day after a short flight from a tropical Southeast Asian country. There was only one man in the group, the leader also being a woman, and they were all previously acquainted with each…Nepal16 min readNepal16 min read
Nov 29, 2021Puppy LoveTen o’clock on a crisp mid-November morning in Kuri Village, Dolakha, eastern Nepal, about 3,500m up in the mountains. Unexpectedly, Arjun, my Nepali partner, gets a mobile call from our landlady back in Kathmandu. The nine-month old sleek-coated black dog we had befriended, is seriously ill: what should she do? …Street Dogs5 min readStreet Dogs5 min read
Aug 13, 2021IN SEARCH OF SAMBHU MAGARAfter over a year of being with my Nepali partner, Arjun Magar, I knew that I had been totally accepted by his immediate family, who loved and cherished me dearly. And as Arjun himself voluntarily shared more and more about his past with me, I was finally able to gently…Sambhu Magar6 min readSambhu Magar6 min read
Jun 29, 2021A YEAR IN NEPAL:A KALEIDOSCOPE OF COLOUR & CULTURE After having lived for long periods of time in both Japan, where the inauguration of the reign of a new emperor triggers a new cycle of years (currently Reiwa 3), and Thailand, which uses a Buddhist Era date (now B.E.2564), it did not totally…Nepal15 min readNepal15 min read
Jun 15, 2021THE YETI, EVEREST & COVID-19: A TALE OF THE NEPAL VARIANTI awoke to yet another Kathmandu lockdown morning on 3 June 2021 to find the headline ‘”Nepal Variant” Threat to Our Holidays” and links to the online version of the UK tabloid, Daily Mail, which had carried the story popping up like mushrooms all over my social media accounts and…Covid-1914 min readCovid-1914 min read
Jun 13, 2021A DAY IN THE LIFE OF THE ROOFTOPS OF KATHMANDUThe city of Kathmandu, which covers an area of almost 50sq.km., lies at the literal and cultural heart of the Kathmandu Valley, once, according to geophysicists, an enormous lake which Buddhists believe was drained by the bodhisattva Manjushri. …Kathmandu Valley7 min readKathmandu Valley7 min read
May 29, 2021ONE LEGEND, TWO FACES, THREE NAMES:AN EVEREST DAY CHRONICLE At 4:30am one late February morning in 1996, I emerged from Darjeeling’s Bellevue Hotel onto the high street and immediately looked up to the pre-dawn sky. I had provisionally arranged to go on the Tiger Hill excursion to see sun rise over Kanchenjunga but other travellers…Everest12 min readEverest12 min read
May 28, 2021BUDDHA JAYANTI 2021: A PERSONAL MEDITATION“Every experience, no matter how bad it seems, holds within it a blessing of some kind. The goal is to find it.” Shakyamuni Buddha On 26 May 2021, the Buddhist world celebrated Vesak Day, commemorating the birth, enlightenment and death of Shakyamuni Buddha. ‘Buddha was born in Nepal’ proudly proclaim…Buddha Jayanti11 min readBuddha Jayanti11 min read
May 22, 2021WHEN CULTURE CLASHES WITH COVID:Thamel, Budhanilkantha & Rato Macchindranath On Thursday 3 September 2020 in Pulchowk Ward, Lalitpur, one of the three metropolitan districts of the Kathmandu Valley, a small group of rebellious individuals took a decisive step. At the very moment that the authorities were discussing how to continue with their famed and…Culture10 min readCulture10 min read
