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The quality of air in Pokhara metropolis, long known for its pristine natural beauty, is deteriorating by the day. The major contributors to air pollution in Pokhara are vehicle exhaust, incineration of plastic wastes and wildfire. According to Shankar Prasad Poudel, the information officer of the Department of Environ­ment, smoke rather than dust is the main air-pollutant in Pokhara. Smoke is considered more harmful to human health compared to dust.

“But the level of air pollution we see in Pokhara is still less compared to other urban cen­ters in Nepal like Kathmandu, Lumbini and some cities in Tarai-Madhes,” Poudel said.

According to the govern­ment’s benchmark based on the Environment Protection Rules (1997), ambient air should have no more than 40 g/m³ of particulate mat­ter (PM 2.5). These days the level of PM 2.5 in Pokhara often crosses that level. The level is particularly high (twice as much as recommended) between September-October and December-January peri­ods. Likewise, pollution is also high around March-April, largely due to wildfires.

Most of the country was enthused when KP Sharma Oli became the prime minister of a strong government four and a half months ago. Particularly after the formal merger between the country’s two biggest communist parties, there was hope that the government under the newly-minted Nepal Communist Party would herald an era of stability and prosperity. With the appointment of clean and capable ministers and announcement of a slew of reforms, PM Oli seemed determined to act in the country’s best interest, even by displeasing those close to him.

This was the reason we gave his government the benefit of doubt in its early days. We have also given him credit where it is due. For instance he has done a good job on foreign policy, mostly by reducing the country’s overreliance on India. But there have of late been troubling signs too: Listing of popular protest sites as prohibited areas; the underhand way in which the government tried to roll back medical education reforms; lack of follow through on its commitment to remove all cartels and syndicates; and firing of a Nepal Television anchor who had dared question the information minister on his property details—to name a few.

There is more than a tinge of authoritarianism in these actions. They in turn have raised fears that the communist government, in the name of stability, wants to entrench itself in power and stifle dissent. Of course, not all of its decisions have been bad, even on the domestic front. We for instance support better monitoring of NGOs and proper documentation of foreigners living in Nepal. But even here regulation, not exclusion, should be the aim.

Make no mistake. The Oli government that came to power after a landslide election victory still has considerable public support. And, again, when it is doing something worthwhile, it is the media’s duty to appreciate it. But in a democracy a government cannot expect blind support of the media and the civil society, even if it doing a lot of good. Diversity of opinion and belief are in fact the heart and soul of democracy. As important are the virtues of transparency and account­ability. To start with, government ministers and ruling party MPs should develop a habit of entertaining and listening to diverse views. An insular government is also an ineffective one, or worse.

Addressing the parliament on July 4, Home Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa deemed the fast-unto-death of Dr Govinda KC, who has long been campaigning for cheap and reliable healthcare for all Nepalis, an “authoritarian ten­dency”. In his view, while some of Dr KC’s demands may have merit, the way he has gone about forcing the government to meet those demands most certainly is not. But the home minister was skating on thin ice. Dr KC was forced into the latest round of fasting, his 15th, after the government tried to fast-track a watered down Medical Education Bill through the parliament. The passage of the bill would have undone virtually all the reforms that Dr KC has been campaigning for in the past five years. The bad intent was evident in the way the government suspended due parliamentary process in the haste to pass the bill. The government had removed from the bill some crucial provisions: ban on opening of new medical colleges in Kathmandu valley, capping at five the number of medical college a university can oversee, provision for all medical colleges to set aside 75 percent of their seats for scholarships, and restriction on licensing of medical colleges that don’t have their own hospitals.

Civil society leaders have predictably slammed the government move. Kedar Bhakta Mathema, the coordinator of the team that had proposed the afore­mentioned reforms, said the government was trying to “deceive people” by saying that the new bill was in keeping with the demands of Dr KC. Former Chief Justice Sushila Karki accused the government of “showing authori­tarian bent” and trying to “promote anomalies” in medical education. The refusal of the government to give Dr KC a proper place to protest, a democratic right of all Nepalis, has also raised concerns.

It is clear that the only reason the proposed medical education reforms have not been enacted is that powerful politicians belonging to the ruling Nepal Communist Party have big stakes in private medical education, and any attempt to strengthen public medical education hurts their business interests. Whether or not one supports Dr KC’s method of protest, it is hard to argue against his end goals. As the con­stitution explicitly states, each and every Nepali has the right to affordable and quality healthcare. To try to deny them this basic right is a criminal offense.

Weekly Editorial Cartoon

Short Stories

A DAY IN THE LIFE

Anjum Hasan

Publisher: PenguinHamish Hamilton

Published: March 2018

Pages: 256, Hardback

Short stories can either leave you feeling like you have read multiple incomplete pieces of work or there will be, at most, one or two stories to save the anthology from joining the ranks of forgotten works on your bookshelf. But Anjum Hasan’s ‘A Day In The Life’, a collec­tion of stories recently published by Penguin, is a class apart. The 14 stories that Hasan tells of seemingly ordinary people leading ordinary lives are anything but ordinary. Though essentially about belonging and personal peculiarities, A Day In The Life draws many parallels from everyday life that make the stories relevant and relatable. In ‘Sisters’, a woman shrunk by sickness starts to see healthy peo­ple as ogres. ‘The Legend of Lutfan Mian’ is narrated over a two-day walk to Banaras in 19th century India. ‘I Am Very Angry’ sees the arrival of loud, always fighting neigh­bors disrupting the life of an older Brahmin man who has lost his wife. ‘Bird Love’ revolves around a newly married couple discovering new things about each other and thus reinventing their life together and in ‘Godsend’ you meet two women with completely different parenting styles trying to compare and outdo each other. As varied as these stories are, dissonance, often inwardly, is the theme that ties them together. There always seems to be an internal conflict that underlines the lives of these contrasting characters.

That Hasan is skilled in analyzing the lives of different kinds of peo­ple and telling stories that resonate was evident in her first collection of stories, Difficult Pleasures, pub­lished in 2012. And she carries that legacy forward in her most recent collection as well. Hasan is also the author of the novels ‘The Cosmopol­itans’, ‘Neti, Neti’, and ‘Lunatic In My Head’, and though all her books have a finesse that just isn’t there in works of other Indian writers, it’s evident that her expertise lies in telling short stories.

It’s very difficult to tell a good story in just a few pages but Hasan pulls it off with ease. Though A Day In The Life has stories set in differ­ent worlds, be it in terms of class or place, each story is so richly crafted that you feel like you know these characters. They could very well be you or someone you know. Hasan’s writing is elegant and nuanced, ensuring nothing is over the top or dramatic and the fact that she writes with such striking confidence makes reading the stories a pleasure. This is a book you would want to keep at your bedside, to revisit the neatly crafted worlds whenever you can.

You know you’re in for a rocking treat when the venue you’re entering has the legendary The Rolling Stones band’s iconic insignia fashioned as the entrance door. And once you set foot inside, the Rolling Stones Rock Bar doesn’t disappoint. True to its name, the rock bar in the heart of Lakeside, Pokhara is probably the biggest and loudest live music venue in the tourist hotspot. A full-fledged stage, complete sound system and light­ning, the very best performing artists, along with a wide selection of food and drinks, make every evening at Roll­ing Stones musically enriching. The bar is popular among locals as well as tourists from around the world and from right across the country too. There are many Kathman­duites who never miss a chance to go to the Rolling Stones whenever they are in the Lakeside. The venue is also a favorite spot for musicians from Kathmandu to perform for the Pokhara audience.

THE MENU

Chef’s Special:

- Jhol mo:mo

- Mustang Aalu

- Dragon Wings

Opening hours: 12 noon - 12 am

Meal for 2: Rs 2,500 

Cards: Accepted

Reservations:061467496

Location: Lakeside, Pokhara

The World Cup fever has taken over the touristic lake town too and as the round-of-sixteen tie-sheet is filled, the excitement for the knock-out games has left the fans in a dilemma of where to watch the matches with their friends. Visiting tourists in the beautiful city of Pokhara may also want to watch their favorite teams in action on the big screen and not on the little TV sets in their hotel rooms. APEX brings you the best venues to do so in Pokhara.

Paradiso Sports Bar & Grill

The Paradiso Sports Bar & Grill is among the best venues to watch live football in Pokhara. Conveniently located at the center of the Lakeside area, the bar has both indoor and outdoor seating with a lakefront gar­den. The indoor has huge projectors and television sets to broadcast live matches.

Location: Lakeside, Pokhara

Reservation: 061-461675

TËN 11 Lounge & Sports Bar

Located in the commercial area of New Road, Pokha­ra, the TËN 11 Lounge & Sports bar is an all-year venue for watching sports events and for this World Cup, the venue has taken on a festive atmosphere. Adorned with posters of footballing giants all over, the sports bar offers food, drinks, live music and the most important offering of the hour—live World Cup matches on huge screens.

Reservation: 980-6554260

Location: Newroad-9

Busy Bee Café

The Busy Bee Café is actually very busy in the week­ends and finding a table might be tricky if you don’t have prior reservation but if do manage to get yourself a seat there in the World Cup season, you’ll probably meet football fans from all around the country and the world. The very popular Busy Bee at Lakeside, Pokhara has multiple screens showing live football and houseful audiences watching every game.

Call: 061-462640

Location: Lakeside, Pokhara

“I learned how to drive a tempo, a three-wheeler, after I took my SLC (national level exams at the end of Grade 10). I was really scared. I was also confused about turning the vehicle at the corners or bringing it to a stop. But I had to learn it anyhow,” recalls 28-year-old Sushma Dhimal, whom I met in front of the Kathmandu Mall as she was waiting for passengers.“Learning to drive a tempo took me two weeks. At first, I practiced driving one without passengers. It was really hard in the beginning. I bumped into random things. Once, the tempo flipped over and I got injured. Only then did I become a professional driver,” says a confi­dent-looking Sushma.

She’s been driving a tempo in the chaotic streets of Kathmandu for a year now. As a driver, she’s never felt offended or discriminated against. She lives in Sitapaila with her hus­band and two sons. They all support her. In fact it was her husband who encouraged her and taught her driv­ing. Other female drivers and traffic police also helped her in some diffi­cult situations. As a result, Sushma confidently drives a tempo seven days a week.

There was a time when she wanted to go abroad. For that, she needed skills. “But if I have a skill, why not do something in Nepal?” she rea­soned. “When I saw other female drivers, I felt a desire to become one. I failed my first driver’s license test. But I didn’t lose hope,” she muses. Sushma made another attempt and passed the test.

NOT AN EASY LIFE

Also waiting for passengers at another corner of the tempo stand was 32-year old Kumari Sarki. She’s been driving a three-wheeler for eight years. She started by driving somebody else’s tempo, but she didn’t like the deal and decided to buy her own vehicle. “I didn’t have enough money so I took out a bank loan to buy a tempo, which is my source of livelihood now,” she says.

Although Kumari earns enough, it’s far from an easy life. There are times when she doesn’t get enough passengers. Sometimes, the tempo stops working in the middle of a trip. She also gets into an accident once in a while. She takes on a serious look and says, “I haven’t been able to pay off my loan yet.”

Her day starts at 5 am every morn­ing. At noon, she takes a lunch break. Her daughter brings her food, which she eats in a hurry. Unlike most other professionals, she doesn’t take a day off. “Why do I need a day off? It’s my own tempo; I’d rather make some more money,” she says proudly. As soon as her vehicle is filled with pas­sengers, she starts the engine, honks and picks up speed.

POPULAR MISCONCEPTION

There soon arrives another tem­po packed with passengers in front of Kathmandu Mall. The driver is 30-year-old Pramila Bishankhe. She is wearing a mask, but her hair is covered in a layer of dust.

Pramila has a bachelor’s degree. She looks and talks smart. “People generally think of female tempo driv­ers as simple rustics. They also think my line of work does not befit col­lege-educated folks. That’s wrong; there should be dignity of labor,” she says.

Pramila has been married for six years. She started driving a tempo two years before that. She didn’t stop working even when she had an infant to take care of.

TOUGH BUT FUN

Bimala Gautam, 35, is a single mom. She has two kids. “I have to raise them the best I can. I need to give them the love of both a mother and a father,” says an emotional Bimala. She’s in her tempo near the New Road gate waiting for her turn. She has been driving a three-wheeler in Kathmandu for eight years.

It’s scorching hot at two in the afternoon. Bimala’s face is badly burnt by the heat. She looks exhaust­ed and parched, and asks some­one to get her a bottle of water. But “work is fun, I never feel lazy,”she says.

She came to the capital from Sind­huli nine years ago in order to give her children a good education. She has experienced a positive change in her life ever since she became a driver. “Now I don’t need anyone’s help to feed my family. Ultimately, it’s only our skills that support us,” says Bimala as a smile spreads across her weary face.

NOTHING VENTURED, NOTHING GAINED

Another female tempo driver I speak to is Juni Maya Nepali, who has already completed her 10th trip of the day and has made Rs 3,000, which is the amount she has to hand the vehicle-owner every day. What she makes in excess of Rs 3,000 is hers to keep.

She also gets a daily wage of Rs 350. Juni likes the deal, unlike many others who would rather drive their own vehicle. “If it’s my own vehicle, there will always be worry at the back of my mind that it will mal­function. I feel more at ease driv­ing someone else’s vehicle,” says Juni jovially.

She is 25, has completed Grade 12 and has been a tempo driver for a year. Earlier, she used to work in the garment industry. She also faced great difficulty learning to drive; so scared was she that for the first two months after she learned to drive, she didn’t ven­ture out the house. Finally she over­came her fear and started driving. “I’ve realized there is nothing you cannot do if you have courage,” Juni says.

BY SAPANA MAHARJAN