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Nepal, landlocked between the two giant neighbors—China, the world’s second largest economy, to the north across the Himalayas and India, the fourth largest economy, wrapping around its eastern, western and southern borders—is still struggling with inadequate physical infrastructure, limited connectivity and remains starved of sustained economic prosperity, despite the glorious history and epochs of rich and vibrant civilization of its own.

Since gaining independence from the 104-year autocratic Rana regime in 1951, Nepal has attained almost all the major political achievements it needs to accomplish up to the present day. Although the implementation of these achievements has often remained weak, Nepali citizens have, through constitution, already secured a broad range of rights, freedoms and access to the state. Today, no Nepali citizen, regardless of any race, religion, language, gender or region, has to be marginalized by the state system. In this context, continuing to advocate for various political issues and keeping the nation entangled in a prolonged state of transition even at present no longer appears to be relevant. Instead, the Nepali people are increasingly demanding development and prosperity. They aspire to become prosperous citizens of a prosperous nation and seek a decisive breakthrough in physical infrastructure, internal and external connectivity and economic transformation comparable to that achieved by other developed and emerging economies of the world. They wish to see Nepal moving fast on a development and growth trajectory.

On the same note, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on the construction of the Trans-Himalayan Railway, also known as China-Nepal cross border Railway, the planned extension of the very famous 1956 kilometer Qinghai-Tibet Railway, was signed by the President of the People’s Republic of China, Xi Jinping, and then Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli in June 2018 under the overarching framework of the Trans-Himalayan Multidimensional Connectivity Network, a component of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). As per the underscored plan, the Trans-Himalayan Railway is designed to link Kathmandu, the capital city of Nepal, with China’s vast rail network via the 527.2-km Jilong/Keyrung-Xigaze/Shigatse rail corridor, which subsequently connects with the Qinghai-Tibet Railway network, operational since 2006.

The Trans-Himalayan Railway corridor isn’t just a railway, it’s a 600-km engineering marvel designed to pierce straight through the world’s tallest mountain range, connecting Nepal directly with China. Beyond its monumental scale, the railway will confront one of the most geologically volatile and environmentally hostile regions on Earth, where the Indian plate continues its inexorable collision with the Eurasian plate, making the region a hotspot of intense seismic activity. This ongoing tectonic activity causes frequent earthquakes, from minor tremors to catastrophic events capable of reshaping the landscape. Adding to this extraordinary challenge is the railway's dramatic vertical journey, descending from approximately 4,500 meters on the Tibetan Plateau, cutting through the Himalayan massif, and arriving in Kathmandu at around 1,400 meters. This represents an elevation differential of nearly 3,000 meters, an engineering feat of exceptional rarity in the history of railway construction. Reflecting the extreme terrain, the 2018 pre-feasibility study reveals that about 98.8 percent of the 72.2-km Nepal section of the railway would consist of tunnels and bridges.

Although discussion about linking China’s railway network to Nepal first came up in the year 1973 during a meeting between the President of the People's Republic of China, Mao Zedong, and Nepal’s King Birendra, it failed to gain meaningful momentum for decades until Nepal faced the unofficial Indian Blockade in 2015, which compelled Kathmandu to seek alternative corridors to the outside world. In this context, China’s railway emerged as an economic lifeline, offering Nepal a pathway to reduce its long-standing dependence on India as the sole gateway for trade and transit.

Since ancient times, Kathmandu has been a commercial bridge and logistical base, playing a key role in regional commerce between South Asia and China under the historic Silk Road connectivity, long before the advancement of modern way of road and water transportation. The city’s prosperity during this era was, to some extent, underpinned by its position as an intermediary between South Asian markets and Lhasa. By effectively utilizing the revitalized historic route through the Trans-Himalayan Railway, Nepal once again could position itself as a vital bridge between China, with 1.4bn people, and South Asia including India, the largest population on Earth, emerging as a regional trade hub and accelerating its economic advancement.

Whether in energy or innovation, space science or biology, human cognition or artificial intelligence, China’s trajectory of advancement is nothing short of astonishing. On a global scale, regardless of the benchmark cost at which any product is manufactured, if there is any country capable of producing the same goods at lower cost, with greater speed, on a far larger scale, or across a wide range of varieties, that country today is China alone—and achieving direct connectivity with such a nation, by significantly reducing transport time and trade costs, the Trans-Himalayan Railway would unlock a new horizon of possibilities for Nepal, transforming it from a landlocked into a land-linked one. Enhanced connectivity with China would open access to one of the world’s largest consumer markets, enabling Nepal to expand exports of high value goods such as medicinal herbs, agro products, handicrafts and niche manufactured items.

Beyond trade, the railway could attract substantial foreign direct investment across key sectors like logistics, manufacturing, agriculture, tourism, hydroelectricity and infrastructure, while improved rail connectivity would simultaneously boost tourism by making Nepal more accessible to Chinese and international travelers, thereby strengthening hospitality, transport and service industries. 

From the prehistoric epoch, our land has been home to some of the great minds, including sages and hermits with tremendous philosophical depth and ideology, sources of wisdom and knowledge throughout the world. Nepal has had personalities, who had attained dimensions beyond physical, in the genres of ‘tantra’, ‘mantra’ and ‘yantra’. 

While the half hemisphere of this living planet was living in the stone age, knowledge based on profound experience of the cosmos was flowing in Nepal. 

This is the land of the Vedas, of the Buddhas including Shakyamuni Buddha, this is where Kapilmuni propounded the Sankhya philosophy and Falgunanda instituted Kirant religion. While this rich and vibrant culture and tradition is still going on, the rulers of this country have failed to recognize and tap Nepal’s tremendous human potential.

During the Rana regime, Gehendra Shamsher Rana, considered the first scientist of modern Nepal, developed Nepal's first mini-hydropower plant, water-powered rice pounding mill, wind-powered water pump and leather refinery, among others. 

Gehendra Shamsher also made guns, cannons and a car. Despite these contributions toward the country, the then ruler Chandra Sumsher Rana demotivated this scientist and had him exiled. Finally he died in mysterious circumstances at a young age of 35.

There was another innovator in Nepal, Achyutananda,  also known as Viman Pandit. He built a steam-powered car that could carry up to two people after 20 years of efforts, playwright Balkrishna Sama mentions in his book titled ‘Mero Kabitako Aaradhana’.

Achyutananda is also said to have built a model aircraft with features including a kerosene-powered engine and a bamboo frame covered with waterproof wax cloth. He took off at Pachali Ghat and landed at Kalmochan Ghat. But the aeroplane project ‘crashed’ as soon as the news of the successful test flight fell on Chandra Sumsher’s ears.

These projects were no mean feat in an era when Nepal was largely isolated from the rest of the world. 

Almost 25 years after Achyutananda’s passing, another researcher-cum-innovator-cum-social entrepreneur, Mahavir Pun, was born in Nepal. Pun built a local communication network using wireless technology to connect people in the Himalayan communities. 

But this innovator, a Ramon Magsaysay awardee, has also been suffering the Nepali state’s neglect toward his noble cause. Despite promises to fund his brainchild, National Innovation Center, no help is forthcoming from the state, forcing Pun to auction his international awards to keep the center afloat.

The Takila mountain in Bhutan features a 155-feet-tall statue of Guru Padmasambhava, the first of its kind in the world. The place is expected to become a hugely popular tourist destination, bringing prosperity to local communities. 

Who is behind this magnificent project? A Nepali team under Rajkumar Shakya, a prominent sculptor, who has taken the traditional Newari repousse metalwork to the next level. His works can also be found in Japan, South Korea, France, Italy and the United States. 

After six years of hard work, a team of six sculptors under Manjul Miteri, a sculptor from east Nepal, have carved out a 65-feet-tall sculpture of Gautam Buddha on a cliff in Kyushu (Japan), considered the biggest sculpture of the century on a single solid rock mountain. 

Laxman Shrestha, a self-taught expressive artist from Nepalgunj, participated in the 17th and 18th Asian Art Biennale in Bangladesh, with his abstract paintings entitled ‘Quake’ and ‘Starving Moon’. The Mumbai-based Gallery 7 has bought his works. 

Shrestha is the creator of ‘Khoj’, a series of graffiti that used to be on display in Kathmandu with social messages. Instead of getting support from the state, he got arrested twice. 

For a month, 41 artworks of 13 artists are on display at Drexel’s Pearlstein Gallery in Philadelphia, the first exhibition of contemporary Nepali artists in the United States. 

The exhibition features the works of Shiva Kumar Sharma, an impressionist artist from Dolakha based in Kathmandu, among others. 

His first exhibition was held in Darjeeling in 1982 when he was 14, followed by a solo exhibition in 1991 at Nepali Girls Dioses Center in Darjeeling. Sharma has been spearheading a ‘Save trees movement’ since 2000 and participating in popular group exhibitions. 

These are but some of the representative cases showing the Nepali state not even bothering to give some of its exceptional minds even a pat on the back for doing Nepal and the Nepalis proud.  

There was a time when the internet and smartphones hadn’t invaded lives. It was the time when we couldn’t get everything just by moving our fingertips on the mobile screen. That was an age where people need not to depend on gadgets to kill their loneliness. There were days like that too when our ancestors could spend hours upon hours being completely calm even by doing nothing. All in all, it was an era when humankind lived their life as it was. 

Since the age of cognitive revolution till today, man has invented various technologies aimed to make life more easier and well facilitated. Almost all the discoveries obviously made our life more facilitated and simplified too but we can’t ignore the fact that these discoveries are also pushing our life towards complexity.

The day when the government of Nepal declared to ban TikTok, a short video application, in Nepal, shorts on YouTube, reels on Facebook and Instagram started to become more popular and gain remarkable attention. With the continuous information and entertainment available at our fingertips, it’s easy to become addicted to the instant gratification provided by these short videos. Not only have people’s consumption of time on the internet been increased by the rise of this new media form, it is directly hitting our attention span too. Despite the many benefits offered by these shorts, it also makes us more and more impatient at the same time. In fact, these short form videos are gradually shortening our focus and concentration power. They are weakening our stability day by day.

Our life today is built around a fast paced, technologically dominant society. As a reflection, each morning starts with shorts and reels on the mobile screen, which has developed a need for immediate results in us. Now we have reached a point where we want everything at the click of a button or swipe of a finger. We have become so impatient that we need all the things instantly like instant coffee. We can’t even wait for a couple of seconds without skipping the ad while watching YouTube videos. It is said, Amazon would lose an estimated $1.6bn a year if its home page loaded one second more slowly. If we get stuck in a traffic jam for a minute, our stress level easily reaches its peak. Reading books or listening to a long playlist, or just trying to learn a new skill is comparatively more difficult than it used to be. Even a cup of tea takes ten minutes to be ready but we need a life solution in the snap of a finger. This expectation for instant results has penetrated into our relationships with family, friends and loved ones. 

In China, there is a type of bamboo tree that needs to be watered every single day without fail. When that seed is planted, initially there is no growth and nothing appears to come out of the ground for the first five years. But there are experienced people who have faith and patience on that tree so they keep watering. In the fifth year within six weeks this particular tree grows to around eighty feet tall. This bamboo tree proves that everything has its own pace of time. It's not that we always get immediate results for what we do. Babies are also not born the day parents bond nor does a chick hatch out from the egg in a day. In our daily lives too things like losing weight, professional success or overcoming personal failure need time. Even Thomas Alva Edison could not have invented the electric light bulb if he did not have patience and perseverance. KFC is world famous today only because Colonel Sanders did not lose patience even after his recipe was rejected one thousand and nine times.

According to Yogic science patience is one of the greatest virtues which is directly related to the overall well being of humankind. It is so powerful and capable to totally transform everyone in their best form if practiced properly and consciously. A person with patience can be happy and calm even in suffering or frustration. He can gain the capacity to accept or tolerate delay, trouble without getting angry or upset.

Today is the age of Information and Technology and we too are not far away from this. No matter how hard we try, we cannot remain completely untouched by its influence. But at least we can stay away from the demerits of mobile and the short form contents on it. Or at least we can improve our patience and perseverance power by doing some meditation techniques. For this we can keep staring at abstract painting for hours. We can go through a special method called ‘Tratak’ to develop the concentration power on us. Likewise we can add ‘Pranayam’ to our daily routine. And most importantly adopt the pace of nature and make yourself habitual on it.