Best in People
Disasters, natural or manmade, bring out the best and worst in people. Whether it was the tsunami in Japan, super storms in the USA, floods in India or earthquakes in Nepal, people all over the world get their fare share of disasters. Each one of these occurrences offer many lessons for the future. It is in the process of responding to and recovering from disasters that seems to expose human values and behavior and how they see other people. In this issue of ECS, we feature many amazing individuals who contribute so much each day in our communities. Some work on craft, others on literature, while some travel to the ends of the earth and back.
As the festival season is behind us, Nepalis will be busy harvesting rice that is still out in the fields and then replacing it with winter/spring vegetables and winter crops like wheat. It is really hard work to prepare, plant in and irrigate the land of the Himalaya in winter. With more young people leaving the country this is an enormous challenge. A lot of land is fallow while others have switched to perennial crops and horticulture. I guess the principle is to party really hard during the festivals and then work really hard for next year. The harsh topography definitely helps bring out the best in people.
In this issue of ECS, we bring you stories and images of places close by and far away that you may want to take time to travel to and experience. The valley rim alone has many amazing historical sites like the four Narayan temples, one of which is the Shesh Narayan Temple. The famous one is the Changu Narayan temple, north of Bhaktapur. At the heart of the city is the famous Rani Pokhari (pond) and the Shiva temple in the middle. The pond is flanked by the oldest high school and college.
We also feature food and drinks in every issue of ECS. Coffee is growing in production and popularity in Nepal. We look at one of the growing number of coffee brands and enterprises that are coming up. There are so many brands and getting ever more difficult to separate good and bad coffee. At ECS, the team will do its part to keep you well informed so that you can make the right choices. Tea may still be a staple drink..but coffee is slowing finding its space.
There are many people for whom good paper and stationary is an obsession. It feels good to put pen to a good piece of paper. Nepal’s handmade paper industry is doing better than ever before. The quality and the range of products made from lokta is encouraging. There was a time when all government offices in Nepal used lokta without exception to prepare official documents. When the government stopped the use of this beautiful paper, it seemed the lokta paper industry would disappear. Not so, thanks to entrepreneurs and their creative energy.
Whatever you are doing this month, please make some time for “the Nepali way”.
