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Anyone who lived in Kathman­du in the late 80s or the early 2000s has most probably rid­den, or at least seen, the black Bajaj auto-rickshaws, famously known as kaalo tempo (‘black tempo’). Small but loud, the diesel-engine three-wheelers chugged out smoke like Fidel Castro smoking a fat Cuban cigar. These little things with a han­dle-bar for a steering rattled and shook as the drivers maneuvered them through Kathmandu's nooks and crannies, their mechanical meters cackling with a ring, showing the cost of the ride as they moved. And the sound they made, like a half-horsepower water pump over­driven to go deep boring—they didn’t even need horns to shoo the pedes­trians away.

These are from the memories I have. Otherwise, not much can be found on them. At least not in the written form. But there are people who have fond memories of the kaa­lo tempos of Kathmandu. I remem­ber riding them from my bus stop at Gyaneshwor to my hangout at Bhatbhateni during my school days (circa 2000). My friend Bardan and I—He refuses to use his last name because he's given up the “thug life”. And so have I—paid Rs 15 for the ride every day and without the risk of being seen loitering about in school uniforms; we didn’t mind paying the money. The kaalo tem­pos were cheaper than taxis and with the leather curtains attached to the soft-top leather bodies, they were completely opaque when put down, and gave us that obscurity we desired.

 Poster of Nepali Babu

“Rs 11 is what I paid for my ride from Saraswatithan, Lazimpat to the Radisson Hotel,” Jackie Tay­lor, APEX’s own expat columnist recalls. “I totally miss them. They were fastish, cheap and easy,” she adds. “Not great in the rain though. But then the roads were better back then.” When asked if she had any photos of these tempos, she replies, “I doubt as a normal person anyone would be taking pictures with a tempo. Do you take photos of taxies?”

If only I knew they’d soon be gone. If only we had phone cameras and Instagram back then. I might have a few photos with the iconic Tuk Tuks in Bangkok though. Now I realize that the kaalo tempos were for Kathman­du what the Tuks Tuks are for pres­ent-day Bangkok. A means of trans­port that Thailand has been able to commercialize and merchandize.

Another expat Glenice Tulip, who has lived in Kathmandu for 18 years over a period of 30 years starting in 1986, shares her own memories of the black tempos. “When I first came to live in Nepal, the black tempos were my preferred mode of travel,” she says. “The down-side of course was that they were uncomfortable, under-powered and smelt of the fuel they used. Many times I had to get out and help the driver push the tempo up a hill. Trav-elling in them at night was also haz-ardous, as they had very dim lights, and were open to the elements. Still, they were cheap and always available.”

 She narrates a few incidents with black tempos during her stay here. One of them is from between 1986- 1990. “One cold and windy day, I was huddled in a tempo while the driver went to pay for fuel. Sud-denly a dirty hand appeared at the front, not realizing I was there, and attempted to open the ‘glove box’ where the driver kept his money,” she recalls. “I wasn't having that so I slapped the hand hard; the owner screamed like a stuck pig just as the driver appeared.

The driver thanked me and tried to give me money which I wouldn't take, and he wouldn’t take any mon-ey from me. I left the fare on the seat when I got out.” Tulip also has a story of watching a speeding tempo disappear into a large hole in the middle of the road, and then found lying upside down like a dying bee-tle, stuck in mud. But the story is too long to narrate in one go.

Singer, actor and filmmaker Asif Shah remembers the kaalo tempos as the “Nepali Babu” tempo—made famous by a film of the same name released in 1999 with Nepal’s own superstar Bhuvan KC playing a tem-po driver. “It was Tootle for us back then in terms of the price,” he says. “I still ride them whenever I am in Mumbai. Reminds me of the old days in Kathmandu.”

There also was a clever hack that Shah says worked for him every time he took the tempo. “If you pressed the wire leading to the meter pretty hard, the numbers on it changed slower and thus the fare came cheap-er,” he says. (Wish I could turn back time). I tried getting in touch with super-star KC to talk to him about his expe-riences on kaalo tempos. “I’m in an important meeting, I’ll call you back raja,” he told me. Thrice. He never returned the call and then stopped answering me altogether. Well, the superstar life ain’t easy it seems.

Banned because of the ‘pollution’ they caused, and displaced by EVs called ‘safa tempos,’ the lively lit-tle three-wheelers vanished from Kathmandu’s streets. But the mem-ory of them will probably remain in the minds of the Kathmanduites and expats who took them to go around the city. We still get to see the auto-rickshaws in Delhi, Mumbai and other cities of neighboring India, but the ride is never as joyful as it was riding them through the streets of Kathmandu.

If you’ve ever seen a six-foot-tall figure hovering above other musicians with untamed energy on the stage in concerts, you don’t need to guess who he is. It has been more than two decades of rocking out in the Nepali music industry for singer/songwriter and actor Robin Tamang who is all set to release his new album “Muglan” on July 24 with his band Robin and the New Revolution. Tamang, born in Singapore, has come a long way from his starting days in Nepali music with the band Looza. He now shapes the rock scene of Nepal with his instantaneous lyrics-writing, captivating stage performance and the ability to gather some of the best musicians around to back him up. He now holds a posi­tion of no less than a legend in the Nepali music scene and watching him perform live is the dream of every Nepali concert-goer, be it in Nepal or abroad.

All this he maintains with­out the loss of any humble­ness and getting to know Robin dai is getting a chance to discover new perspectives in music and life in general for every young musician. An eloquent conversational­ist, Tamang talks to Sunny Mahat of APEX about his upcoming album and shares his thoughts on Nepal’s con­temporary music industry.

Please tell us more about your upcoming album.

“Muglan” is an album Robin and the New Revolution is releasing after a hiatus of almost seven years. The rea­son I wrote “Muglan” is to bring the plight of our migrant workers to the forefront. Of the 28 million people in our country, 10 percent are migrant workers and they generate 30 percent of our annual revenue. Only last year, about 800 people died while working abroad. A year before that, it was 700. When you add that up with deaths from previous years, you’ll see that the number is huge.

It is not an easy life for migrant workers. We have seen and met them on our tours to various countries. There is no regulation, no protection. So this album, we dedicate to these workers. Through it we want to bring their problems to the main­stream.

We see that there has been another line-up change in the band. How does this affect your overall sound? How has the sound evolved?

Our band has changed in terms of the members and also how we sound. We are getting more technical and heavier. In the present line-up, we have Bijay Baral who is a very young and talented drummer. We have also included gui­tar maestro Hari Maharjan, who is a technically proficient player and adds much value to the band. We then have Pra­bin Das Shrestha, an original member of RNR from 2006, who returns on bass duties.

This is our fourth album and it is mostly about what has been happening around us in the past seven years when we didn’t make new music. The album has eight tracks—four English and four Nepali. We’re also redoing “Jawaf” and “Swatantra Jivan” from the Looza days because I think these songs did not get enough exposure back then.

An actor, a musician and a family man. How do you juggle between your demanding professions and your family which is living abroad?

You see, I am now in a posi­tion where I can call the shots (laughs). With me it is easy; whoever books me first gets first priority. People are con­siderate enough to adjust their timetable for me. They will shift the dates for concerts so I can play. They will shift the dates of shoots so I can act. I am booked till October and it started from January this year.

That’s a tough one (When reminded about the family). Every time I get off between my busy schedules, I go to France to my girls. In fact, I am leaving next month for 10 days to be with them. The younger one, Jade, is 10 and the older, Tara, is 19 and going to university.

Does the trending music and genres of today affect established bands like RNR?

We were the pioneers of rock music in Nepal. We were the inspiration and people still look up to us. Luckily, I am still here after 22 years in the music business. I think the audience pretty much know when they hear good music and when they see a good per­formance. They always look forward to that. We have a reputation as a live band. Our stage performance is so inter­active. I don’t think our crowd will ever let us go.

But still, with the influx of so many different genres in Nepal, would you call rock music a dying genre?

I don’t think so. I think we just need a boost. If we see lately, a lot of rock bands have come out with new stuff this year. I think 2019 is going to be a good year for rock music. Having said that, there are now so many genres of music compared to the time we started. The level of music is 100 times better now. Not only that, the musicianship has improved. I like to think artists like 1974 AD, Nepathya, Mukti dai and ourselves have a hand in it.

We have crossed gener­ations of listeners. I am on my third generation now. We are also getting new audi­ence. I don’t think the ele­ment of rock will ever die in Nepal. This year has been rare with so many rock musi­cians releasing their music. It was dormant for a while. Once in a while we need that interjection of rock music into the system to let people know we’re still alive, we’re still kicking.

The government has introduced a provision of mandatory Permanent Account Number (PAN) bill for every transaction over Rs 1,000 made by a firm or a company. All workers will now have to get a PAN to withdraw their salary and perks from the new fiscal 2019-20. Mandatory PAN has been introduced by amending the Income Tax Act in order to control revenue leakages, according to Yagya Dhungel, spokesman for the Inland Revenue Department (IRD). “In the absence of PAN bills, small expenses as well as salary expenses of firms and companies appear unbelievably high,” he adds.

Mandatory PAN will allow the tax administration office to easily trace/cross-verify every transaction of business entities that are being shown as expenses. The goal is to bring more firms, companies and people into the income tax net. Dhungel hopes the new provision will allow the IRD to get a real sense of the business efficiency of different companies. This will happen, he says, because companies will no longer be able to cheat on income tax by inflating their expenses in general (and often invalid) bills.

But the private sector, the major stakeholder to implement this provision, has labelled it ‘impractical’. “In my office, two staffs come early in the morning for cleaning. They work for around an hour a day,” says Rajesh Kazi Shrestha, President of Nepal Chamber of Commerce (NCC). “Their wage is low compared to other full-time staffs. I now have to ask them to bring PAN to get their wage. Without it, I cannot pay them because I cannot show that expense in my books.” Shrestha says this is impractical and contradictory to the income tax law, which provides for no income tax for low income groups. The fiscal budget has offered income tax exemption for those who earn less than Rs 400,000 individually and Rs 450,000 as a couple. Before that, on earnings of under Rs 200,000, there was a provision of a lump-tax Rs 7,500. Shrestha says the new Rs 1,000 PAN threshold is astonishing. “If I asked a vendor to serve tea in a board meeting, he has to give me a PAN bill,” he said. “How is it possible? We have suggested the minimum amount be raised to Rs 5,000.”

Unintended consequences
After the formation of the incumbent government led by Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, the private sector feels left in the dark on vital policymaking. “When the government is preparing laws for us, they must listen to our perspective too,” says an office-bearer at the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) requesting anonymity. With the private sector kept out of the loop, there could be unintended consequences: the June 5, 2018 stock market crash following the enforcement of the new measure to calculate capital gain being the prime example.

How about foreigners working in Nepal? How will the new PAN regime affect them? Many Indian nationals work in industrial corridors of the Tarai, and it will be difficult to pay them now. “Our industrial production will plunge if we cannot pay our Indian workers,” one industrialist in Bhairahawa says. However, the IRD says that PANs can be provided even to Indian nationals in coordination with the Indian Embassy in Kathmandu. “We do not intend to create difficulties for businesses. We only want their transactions to be transparent,” says Dhungel of the IRD.

Another worry of the private sector is high ‘compliance cost’ of the new initiative, which will erode their competitiveness, especially the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). These vulnerable enterprises require government protection and many countries provide special treatment to sustain them. “Not so in Nepal,” says Shrestha of the NCC. “In front of my office, an old-women runs a tea shop. We ask her to supply tea with the pious objective of supporting her. But from the new fiscal, either the old women has to have a PAN or we have to find other tea-vendor,” he says.
The low-income groups are typically levied little or no tax as they are less-educated and low-skilled. But with PAN, the MSMEs, tea shops, handicraft vendors, and pickle vendors will face difficulties. “How does the government think they will keep books?” Shrestha questions.

VAT, PAN, TAX
Almost two and half decades ago, the government of the day was preparing to enforce the Value Added Tax. Businessmen requested the then opposition leader Manmohan Adhikari to strongly oppose VAT enforcement. Adhikari invited experts and academicians for their feedback, including the current finance minister Yubaraj Khatiwada. Back then Khatiwada had argued that VAT’s implementation was mandatory in order to collect enough taxes, without which the government cannot function.

The IRD says the PAN requirement is nothing and the program has in fact been running for the past few years under the title ‘PAN for All’. “We have established many centers to distribute PAN numbers and are also arranging for online submissions if the applicants have all the required documents,” says Dhungel of the IRD. “The private sector and salary earners should not take it as an additional compliance measure or a hassle. We should remember that for a country like Nepal, taxation is easily the most effective means of income redistribution.”
Till date, a total of 1.2 million business entities have obtained PANs while 900,000 personal PANs have also been issued thus far.

For both melophiles and dabblers in music, picking up the right instrument is pivotal to their musical journey. With quite a few music stores in the valley, it can be tough to pick the place to get the right instrument. No one wants their choice to be compromised, either in quality or affordability. We pick a few stores with a wide range of options, to suit both your tastes and pocket-sizes.

Harmonium Musicals

Location: Khichapokhari, Contact: 01-4244364

At Harmonium Musicals, you can find a multitude of instruments. Various kinds of acoustic and electric guitars, amplifiers, drum sets (both electronic and acoustic), cymbals, effects and keyboards are available. A basic Indian guitar will cost you between Rs 4,500 and Rs 6,000 while Chinese ones fetch for between Rs 7,000 and Rs 20,000. Likewise, serious guitarists can also choose from international brands. The store is an authorized dealer for LTD Guitars from ESP Guitars. If you want an amplifier too, you can pick one from the popular UK brand, Orange Amps (of which the store also is an authorized dealer). For cool effects, get pedals from Boss.

Besides this, the store has you covered with drum kits from Sabian and Pearl. If fiddling with keys is your thing, you can try out keyboards from Roland. And if you’re planning to hop on the ukulele train, the store has ukuleles from brands such as Deviser starting from Rs 3,500.

Bass & Treble

Location: Naxal, Contact: 01-4425932

This Naxal-based store is an official dealer for the global behemoth Yamaha and houses its widely-loved pianos, keyboards, and guitars. The price range of the keys starts at Rs 15,000 and goes all the way up to Rs 300,000. In addition, the store has instruments from brands like Ortega, Bang & Olufsen and D’Addario. Acoustic guitars are available starting from Rs 15,000 to Rs 90,000. In terms of electric guitars, the high end models range around Rs 100,000. Moreover, here you can find products that cater to your production needs. Professional mixing consoles from Yamaha range from Rs 25,500 to Rs 65,000.

Treasure Music Store

Location: Shantinagar, Contact: 9803155980

Treasure Music Store sells guitars from popular brands such as Fender and Ibanez. If you’re looking to start out in guitar you can buy beginner guitars from Rs 5,000 onwards. Or if you want niche brands, this is also the place to go. You get pedals from Mono and Line 6 for around Rs 90,000. Another rare find here is the 7-string guitar, which will cost you over Rs 100,000. You can also find accessories for your instruments. The store has many international brands, but you might want to check out their own, “Manaslu Guitars”, which is soon being launched. This is designed here in Nepal and assembled in China.

Guitar Shop

Location: Chhetrapati, Contact: 01-4215687

The perfect place for international brands, Nepali brands and locally sourced instruments. The shop is the authorized seller of international brands such as Ernie Ball, Samick, Blackstar, and Aria, which are imported from the US and Indonesia. Also sold are guitars from its own brand called “Mantra Guitars”, with its price ranging from Rs 5,500 to Rs 80,000. If you’re also looking for amplifiers, you have plenty of options from the UK brand Blackstar.

Or what if you have a penchant for Nepali music and are looking to purchase a local instrument? Guitar Shop has various Nepali instruments made by families who have been in the business for generations. You can choose between madals, sarangis and ghungroos that are priced around Rs 4,500, Rs 6,000 and Rs 1,200 respectively.

Planet Music Store

Location: Shankhamul, Contact: 01-4780242

For musicians looking for guitars from brands like Epiphone, Ibanez, Fender and Gibson, Planet Music Store has acoustic and electric options in both genuine and copy models. Acoustic guitars start at Rs 5,000 while electric guitars start at Rs 28,000.

For drummers, you can choose between acoustic and electric kits. Genuine acoustic kits from Tama, Premier and Ludwig are available from Rs 75,000 onwards, whereas copies will cost you upwards of Rs 35,000. If you opt for electronic kits, you have models from Roland that will set you back by at least Rs 72,000. Higher end models will cost you about Rs 100,000.

You also have a wide range of amplifiers from Peavey and Vox and home studio arrangements from Scarlet Focusrite whose 2i2 bundle will cost you Rs 31,000.