My World

The city of Kirtipur, while very close to Kathmandu, also seems like entering another dimension. What’s so special about Kirtipur? You will need more than all the fingers on your hand to count that. “Kirti” stands for glory, and this city definitely justifies the name it has been given. Besides being home to the first and the oldest university in Nepal, and its famous Newari khaja places, Kirtipur is so much more. What makes it different from other parts of Kathmandu is that this city stands atop a hill with houses that seem as if placed one on top of another from afar. Here is how you can plan one day in Kirtipur Take a bike ride The road that leads to Kirtpur and to TU, past the balkhu chowk of course is one of the best roads in Kathmandu. So go biking around to your heart’s content! Photo at rectangle Artist Amrit Karki created this art perfectly visible as a rectangle from the Kiritpur ground. A great place for pictures and a perfect start of the day. Nag...

                                                    When We Broke Up - Part 1 I followed them for a couple of blocks: barely conscious of what was happening around me or who I was bumping into or pushing out of my way. All this while, they were laughing. She was laughing over something he had said. She threw back her head and laughed. He squeezed her hand a little tighter. Yeah, I could see it. And who was she kidding? He’s not even that funny! She was acting her way into this! I dialed my best friend. “I’m following them,” I blurted out breathlessly. “What?” My best friend said confused. I told him the situation. “What on earth is wrong with you? Turn around this instant!” He urged. And I could not thank him enough for that screaming on the phone that day that made me stop and turn around. Although that screaming made m...

I want to give you a heads up: this might sound like the start of one of those Chetan Bhagat books, but trust me; I had no intention of this being so. It just happened to be in this instance and just, you know, went with the flow. So here it goes:  I was just casually sipping on my latte and writing on my journal.   I was so caught up in finding out the exact words to spill my feelings on that journal that I barely noticed the lady on the table next to me glance at me. I gave her a smile. She sat with a half closed book in her hand and an untouched Americano next to her. She smiled back. She had one of those cute smiles that shone light after a heavy rainfall; that could melt your anger in seconds; that instantly made you feel at home. “You a writer?” She started. “Me?” I laughed. “No. I aspire to be one though.” And that’s how we got to talking. One thing led to another and soon we are laughing like maniacs on the most random things in that coffee shop....

We lived on farms, then we lived in cities, and now we’re going to live on the internet. Although the statement speaks for itself, we cannot emphasize enough on how much change the world has endured in a short passage of time. The world has seen more advancement in the last 30 years than in the whole of the 20 th century. Perhaps the new millennium has really outdone itself and the cliché saying: “this is the 21 st century!” has really worked. Growing up, I have loved listening to the stories of my grandparents and how the valley was back then. The typical Newari houses, some of which we can still see going strong, having to walk everywhere, the durbar squares having the tallest monuments in the valley, the unbelievable prices of basic goods, you just really cannot hear the end of it. Some of this lived on onto the generation of our parents. Our occupations were decided on basis of family backgrounds and businesses. A thousand rupee note was a lot of money back then an...

I think we’ve all heard the song of Rajamati growing up. It is so popular that many people in Nepal claim this is the only Newari song that they have heard. The song was written some 200 years back. The first few lines go like this, which I’m sure you must have heard of, unless you’ve been living under a rock: Rājamati kumati, jike wasā pirati Hāya bābā Rājamati-chā Rājamati mabila dhāsā Kāshi wane tela bubā Hayā biu Rājamati-chā. San dhāsā kuli kuli, mikhā dhāsā bālā bālā Sakumi yā mhyāy machā lā Khwā dhāsā tuyu khwā, khwālay niga tee du Tāhā Nani yā Rājamati-chā. It is said to be written by or rather from the perspective of a man who was infatuated and in awe of the beauty of Rajamati. He describes with great admiration: her hair, her eyes, her complexion and the little moles on her face. However it is unknown who the writer of this beautiful song is. The song rushed into popularity after it was played in England in 1850 when Prime Minister Jung Bahadur Rana vi...