Table of Contents

Issue 92 | July 2009

Chasing the Dream: The Karnali River Challenge

Some of my friends wonder at my angling craze for golden mahseer, the legendary game fish of Himalayan rivers. They point out the futility of it all, when year after...

The Lure and Lore of Incense

The Lure and Lore of Incense

Asan, a tiny street crammed right in the middle of old and proper Kathmandu, seems to be the center of all Nepalese activities from shopping for vegetables and day-to-day utilities...

Gosainkund

Gosainkund

The poison threatened to destroy the entire Universe! Mahadev (the great Lord Shiva) was the only one who could save it. The Gods and other inhabitants of heaven submitted a...

It All Starts with the Yantra

It All Starts with the Yantra

The British emissary Colonel William Kirkpatrick in his An Account of the Kingdom of Nepaul, wrote, There are nearly as many temples as houses, and as many idols as inhabitants.”...

The Eternal Sophisticate

The Eternal Sophisticate

Sun rises Behind tall buildings Silently, a new day So writes Kedar Bhakta Mathema, his eyes coming alight as he explains, “Here in Nepal, there is so much...

Illustrations of Grandeur Thanka Writing

A Newar artist is sprawled in a room that is part-dim, part- bright; in short, a half light. The light comes through the ancient battered wooden windowpane, throwing...

In Memory of Our Fathers

In Memory of Our Fathers

The sad plume of smoke rises from the tent, hanging momentarily and heavily against the cloud-strewn sky, almost reluctant, before being wafted heavenwards by the gentle breeze. Below the morning...