Culture hampered as residents move out of Kathmandu core

Tejindra Shrestha looks at Wotu now and finds it very different from the place he grew up in. The 64-year-old who currently lives in Thapagaun, visits his ancestral home in this core Newar community northeast of Hanumandhoka every week to check on his house.

Kathmandu’s Hippie Days In Diary

Diaries are not usually written for a reader. They are personal notes kept by the writer for his/her own reference, to be revisited some years or decades later and recount the interesting and not-so-interesting events that happened in their life. However, when a diary is written by someone who has lived as intriguing a life as Prakash A Raj, it becomes a de facto account of history and an encapsulation of an era long gone

New mountaineering rules introduced

As the spring mountaineering season draws closer, the Department of Tourism (DoT) has introduced 11 new rules that it claims are aimed at managing mountaineering-related activities.

How To Fact-check

In the era of social media and minute-to-minute bulletins, news is starting to move farther and farther from the truth. Headlines are sensationalised, quotes are edited and photos are used out of context to “motivate” the readers to click. It seems that media around the world are competing with each other to see who can make their news more alarming, who can trigger the most emotional response and whose story goes viral. And in this pursuit of virality, news organisations appear perfectly willing...

Stolen Laxmi-Narayan idol being brought from US

The idol of Basudev-Kamalaja, also known as Laxmi-Narayan, will finally return home, 37 years after being stolen. The stone figure, which had been stolen from its temple in Patko, Patan in 1984, was located by American artist Joy Lynn Davis at the Dallas Museum of Art last year. Since then, conservationists and heritage activists had been lobbying to get it back.

Postal service begins using Google codes for accurate delivery

The postal service has begun using Google Plus codes to effectively deliver postal goods, including letters and parcels, to their proper addresses. The General Post Office (GPO) began using the six-character location codes from Wednesday after the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology approved the operational procedure related to the use of Google Plus codes for postal delivery.

Regulatory Relativity In Social Media

The first week of 2021 witnessed a pivotal moment in US politics. For the first time in its history, the seat of Congress was attacked by its own people. American citizens, egged on by their president, stormed Capitol Hill determined to take their legislators hostage and possibly even murder some of them.

Symbiotic and Mutually Reinforcing

Democracy and free press are almost synonymous with each other. One cannot exist without the other. Democratic frameworks put provisions in place that guarantee that the press can function without any fear of persecution and a free press ensures transparency, builds a well-informed citizenry and keeps the democracy healthy by providing the people with quality, untainted information. Democracy rests on debates and discussions which are, in turn, created or fostered by the press or, in a larger context,...

Embossed number plates to be mandatory

The Department of Transport Management (DoTM) is planning to make the embossed number plate mandatory for all vehicles. All government vehicles have already been asked to obtain embossed plates by March 13. The department is now looking to expand its scope and make the new license plates mandatory for all new motor vehicles, informed Director Ram Chandra Poudel.

Love is in air, but so may be virus

Valentine’s Day is here – but with the coronavirus pandemic still far from over – the usual celebrations are not. Owing to the virus risk, couples have been forced to spend time away from each other or, for those who live together, confine themselves to their houses and avoid going out to crowded places. But, determined not to let the virus rain on the day of love, some people are getting creative with their Valentine’s plans.