The human cost of Nepal’s yarsa gold rush
Climate change and overharvesting reduce earnings of villagers from a lucrative Himalayan fungus
Writings
Published Articles
Education in limbo: Sudanese students suffer the impacts of civil war - Africa Uncensored
By Shrijan Raj Pandey
On April 15, 2023, Azza Abdul-Rehman, a 22-year-old medical student at the University of Medical Science and Technology in Khartoum, Sudan, was sleeping after preparing the whole night for her seventh-semester final examination when a phone call woke her up. The civil war between the Sudanese Armed Forces and Rapid Support Forces had broken out in the capital, and she had to pack and evacuate within hours.
“When the war broke out, they destroyed the airport,” Abdul-Rehman s...
On April 15, 2023, Azza Abdul-Rehman, a 22-year-old medical student at the University of Medical Science and Technology in Khartoum, Sudan, was sleeping after preparing the whole night for her seventh-semester final examination when a phone call woke her up. The civil war between the Sudanese Armed Forces and Rapid Support Forces had broken out in the capital, and she had to pack and evacuate within hours.
“When the war broke out, they destroyed the airport,” Abdul-Rehman s...
Beyond the headlines: Laila Al-Arian’s passion for powerful storytelling
Being truthful for the sake of justice is the need of the hour rather than being neutral, award-winning American broadcast journalist Laila Al-Arian said at a Community Talk held recently at Northwestern University in Qatar.
Al-Arian’s career path, her documentary “The Killing of Shireen Abu Akleh,” and a discussion of journalists’ social responsibilities were the focus of the session, facilitated by NU-Q Professor Zeina Awad on Oct. 4.
Growing up in a family with a deep interest in Palestinia...
Al-Arian’s career path, her documentary “The Killing of Shireen Abu Akleh,” and a discussion of journalists’ social responsibilities were the focus of the session, facilitated by NU-Q Professor Zeina Awad on Oct. 4.
Growing up in a family with a deep interest in Palestinia...
India’s faith in politics
As the most populous country in the world, India’s democracy is tangled up in politics, religion, and the economy ahead of next year’s elections. India’s mainstream media has equated Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) with prosperity, and a majority of the public in north India seems to buy that line. Indeed, India’s GDP has grown by 6.3% over the past nine years since Modi took office, its annual economic growth rate is the envy of the world. Bu...
Playing to learn
Classrooms in Nepal still follow orthodox instruction methods where teachers spoon-feeds information, encourage memorisation for exams and discourage questioning. Students then become docile and are not motivated to think out of the box. A Kathmandu-based organisation is set to change that. Fun Play Learn works with schools in Kathmandu Valley to make learning especially science and maths fun and accessible through interactive sessions. The non-profit has 580 volunteers who visit 65 poorly-resou...
Love thy neighbours
When landslides struck a pilgrimage route to the Kedarnath shrine in the Indian Himalaya last week, 13 of the 19 people killed were Nepalis. All of them were migrant workers from Jumla in western Nepal.
Largely ignored in Nepal’s migration statistics are the estimated 4 million Nepalis who are studying, working and living in India. They are undocumented as Nepalis do not need visas or passports for India, just as Indians do not need those travel documents to travel to Nepal.
Nepal has an 1,808km...
Largely ignored in Nepal’s migration statistics are the estimated 4 million Nepalis who are studying, working and living in India. They are undocumented as Nepalis do not need visas or passports for India, just as Indians do not need those travel documents to travel to Nepal.
Nepal has an 1,808km...
Comings and goings in Mustang
While much of the discourse about Mustang district concerns its people leaving for better opportunities overseas, what is less well known is that Nepalis from other parts of the country are moving in. Mustang's population is the second smallest among 77 districts, and it is falling due to out-migration. The resident population in the 2021 census was 14,452, with 5,882 people from other parts of Nepal. One of them is Nima Lama, 24. He was born and raised in Kathmandu, and migrated to Mustang...
The road less traveled byMilan’s teaching journey to the Himalayas
Milan’s teaching journey to the Himalayas
In the land of Gross National Happiness
As one of the last countries in the world to introduce television in 1998, and internet a year later, Bhutan has a whole new generation of young adults who have grown up with access to movies, football matches, and Facebook. The Buddhist-majority country holds its culture and traditions dear, and parents expect to pass these values down to their children who are having difficulty adjusting to the two worlds. The Next Guardian (2017) is a new documentary that explores this contrast between tradit...
Nepalis rock in the desert
When Nepalis in the Gulf make it into conversation, the last thing that comes up may be about a pair of head-banging rock artists. Nepalis are better known for being hardworking construction workers, long-distance lorry drivers, or serving as security guards in the Gulf nation. But in Qatar’s underground rock and metal scene, you will find Ameet Kunwar rocking the drums and Satish Thapa Magar grooving the crowd with his bass and vocals, defying the stereotype of a Nepali in the Arabian desert....
In Nepal, East meets West musically
A year ago in the hilltop town of Kirtipur overlooking Kathmandu, musicians started to experiment with a blend of Appalachian Bluegrass with the mewl of the sarangi from the Himalaya. Zoe Levitt, a Bluegrass mandolinist and songwriter from the US, and Prince Nepali, a fourth-generation sarangi player and educator, bonded well and established their Nepali-American folk fusion band, Manaslu Blue. One year later, Manaslu Blue debuted in KatGrass: Bluegrass & Nepali Folk Fusion Concert to a diverse...
Real refugees want to go back to Bhutan
For the past month, Nepal has been rocked by a scandal involving former ministers and officials who swindled hundreds of people offering to take them to the US posing as refugees from Bhutan. But real refugees who have lived in camps in eastern Nepal for over three decades say they are still pining to return to their homeland. More than 100,000 Nepali-speaking Bhutanese were evicted from the land of their birth by the Thimpu regime 1990-92, transported across India and dumped in eastern Nepal. M...
The pinnacle of determination and courage
Double amputee Everest summiteer Hari Budha Magar becomes an inspiration for people in Nepal and globally.
Opinion | This is why they do it
Videos of students cheating in the National Examination Board exams are going viral all over social media again, just like they did last year. Multiple videos have emerged on the first day of the Grade 12 Board Examination, in which students and teachers can be seen engaging in all kinds of cheating tactics. One video shows students in a classroom cheating openly, either by passing notes or copying answers from their mobile phones, while the teacher is either absent or immobile. Another video sh...
The winning addiction - The Record
The Dashain-Tihar festival season in Nepal is marked as much by card games such as marriage, dhumbal, and flush as eating meat. Gambling, whether in the form of cards, kauda, or langur burja, are a common facet of socializing during the festivals of Dashain and Tihar. But while a casual game between friends and family can be fun and harmless, gambling can easily turn into a serious problem. Nepali law treats gambling as a criminal activity. The Gambling Act of 1963 has defined gambling as “any g...
Other Writings
Legal, fiction, blogs, and everything in-between.
Equity Policy – Debate Network Nepal
The equity committee comprising Ameesha Rayamajhi, Shrijan Pandey, and Simrika Manandhar with the guidance of Advisors Shudipto Ahmed, Dixit Awasthi, and Swastika Pradhan prepared the first Official Equity Policy for DNN.
This policy is to ensure a safe and inclusive space within the debating community.
This policy is to ensure a safe and inclusive space within the debating community.
In100years: Badal ko Sahar
A group of emerging Nepali writers crafted this anthology through the in100years project. The result is a diverse collection of stories, ranging from the fantastical far future to worlds that are disturbingly close to our everyday reality. Read more about the anthology here: https://www.recordnepal.com/writing-climate-change
A group of emerging Nepali writers crafted this anthology through the in100years project. The result is a diverse collection of stories, ranging from the fantastical far f...
A group of emerging Nepali writers crafted this anthology through the in100years project. The result is a diverse collection of stories, ranging from the fantastical far f...
A critique on the 'Not Caring About The World' trope
The inception of COVID-19 blocked not only the borders around me but also my unfettered inquisitiveness to know about the world. As every news regarding the rise in infections and death toiled my brain, I started to find myself more overwhelmed with any tragedy or updates in the world. I stopped reading news, articles, and podcasts as I used to and I rarely cared about what was happening with anything.
My rationale was simple, and I believe it still holds true for me. At this point, the world w...
My rationale was simple, and I believe it still holds true for me. At this point, the world w...
Moms, Unsung Heroes, and The hole of Capitalism
My house was resonating loud with the speeches of Ravi Lamichhane as usual. My mom, a big stan, cannot help but nod her head with peace to his words while she cooks breakfast for us. This is a daily routine — my mom wakes up at 5 AM, listens to Ravi speak, and patiently waits till I wake up to tell me that I should be as great as the Majestic Ravi. But this morning, something different happened and it told a lot of hidden stories. I heard my mom whisper to herself, ‘Oh, I see people or should I...
Mehendis and Stereotypes
Aesthetic designs, rusty brown hue, and earthly fragrance you cannot stop sniffing every 10 seconds — decorating your hands with Mehendis(hennas) is one of the best traditions in South East Asia. However, it has been only traditionally exclusive to women.
Grade 2 Shrijan didn’t care much about it though when he let his three sisters experiment with Mehendi art on his chest. They made a small heart-shaped design with a few doodles on the borders. The next day in school, one of my male teachers...
Grade 2 Shrijan didn’t care much about it though when he let his three sisters experiment with Mehendi art on his chest. They made a small heart-shaped design with a few doodles on the borders. The next day in school, one of my male teachers...
Yin and Yang and Carl Jung
There are nights when just can’t sleep with the thought that life is a constant transformation of reality and thoughts. There are days when I am at my darkest stage from the evilest to the kindest to the happiest — all of them have happened, and when they did so, they felt like the only existing and non-ending reality. Then, what does this transformation mean and why is it there? Well, maybe because life is an unending cycle of accidental ups and rejuvenating downs. We have those cycles within o...
Peer Tutor at the Writing Center @NUQ
I have been working at Northwestern University in Qatar's Writing Center as a peer tutor for a year. My team and I provide one-on-one feedback, workshops, and class presentations on a variety of assignments (mostly in journalism, film, and liberal arts) at every stage of the writing process, including generating ideas, structure, organization, research practices, citation formatting, and general guidance on English grammar and punctuation.
My work in the past semesters have revolved around generating ideas for documentaries, articles, stories, research, and films from initial, abstract ideas into full feature final products.