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 Classic Mo:Mo is not just your regular mo:mo joint. Its serves delicious varieties of scrump­tious momos with no MSG, no added fats, no preservatives, no artificial coloring and no flavor enhancers.

Located on the north-west side of Narayan chaur, Naxal (RR Building), at Classic Mo:Mo customers can choose their own unique fillings and style of cooking. Besides the regular chicken and veggie options, Clas­sic offers fish, ostrich, banana and spinach fillings, to name a few, which the customers can have steamed, fried, in soup or even as “MoBurgers.”

Affordable and hygienic (all the momos are made with employees wearing gloves and with exclusive use of olive oil), Classic Mo:Mo also offers frozen takeaways so that you also have a stock of tasty momos handy for just about any occasion.

Photo by Pritam Chhetri

Singing bowls, dating back to China’s Shang dynasty (16th–11th centu­ries BCE), have been used for healing and meditation pur­poses since ancient times. The use of metallic objects to produce healing sounds is now gaining in popularity in the West. Nepalis are practic­ing it too. Sajan Thapaliya, the owner of the Om Singing Bowls and Healing Hub in Thamel, has been involved with singing bowls for 26 years. He recalls his father selling these bowls, as antique pieces. It was much later that Thapaliya heard about their healing prop­erties, and it has been only seven years since he started practicing singing bowl ther­apy. “I am not a trained thera­pist, and my clients know that. Yet they choose to come to me for help,” he says.

The price of a therapy at Om Singing Bowls starts at Rs 3,500. The sessions may involve meditation with sing­ing bowls, self-healing tech­niques, and massage with singing bowls.

The bowls are made up of seven different metals: mer­cury, iron, tin, gold, silver, copper, and lead. There is a variation in the proportion of these metals depending on the kind of singing bowl, each with its unique heal­ing properties, that is being designed. Singing bowl ther­apy is based on the belief that energy vibrates at different rates in the body, and by alter­ing the rate of vibration we can change the state of the body itself.

Singing bowls produce sounds which evoke a deep state of relaxation, helping you meditate. According to therapy practitioners, they help restore the normal vibra­tory frequencies of your mind, body, and soul.

The sound vibrations directly impact the nervous system, releasing stress. Other benefits include deep relax­ation, balance in the chakra system, purification of emo­tions, cleansing of negative feelings, and release of emo­tional blockage.

Thapaliya says currently only foreigners come for therapy at this center. Even though the technique was introduced in Nepal around half a century ago, it is yet to gain in popularity among locals. “The therapy is becoming popular in the West and in other Asian countries, but not here surprisingly,” says Thapaliya.

Practitioners say this therapy could be employed as an alternative to the use of medications for var­ious disorders—and unlike medications that only boost your physical health the sing­ing bowl therapy also helps with your spiritual and emo­tion wellbeing. 

 Q. Three most attractive qualities in a person?

A. A sparkling conversationalist, followed by the non-judgmental listening ability and lastly, anyone who can respond to a sarcasm with a higher level of sarcasm are the best kind of beings to walk on the face of this planet.

Q. The best piece of advice that you’ve received?

A. ‘Don't look back at things that remind you of grief. Don’t listen to judgements people have of you. Don’t bother talking to people you don’t like.’ A self-shaped advice I remind myself, every day.

Q. The weirdest compliment that you’ve received?

A. ‘You speak like Sushmita Sen.’ Well, I didn’t buy it but I won’t deny, it felt nice.

Q. A question you wish people would stop asking?

A. ‘Don’t you get nervous before going LIVE on TV?’ Trust me, it’s sometimes more annoying than people asking single people when they plan to get married.

Q. If you could go on a coffee date with a famous person, who would it be?

A. Vladimir Putin. Being in the media indus­try myself, I feel this leader has been scripted completely on the basis of per­sonal opinions. There’s more to Putin, I think! One cup of coffee wouldn’t be enough, for sure, to decipher this man.

Q. If you could have your three of your wishes granted what would they be?

A. Firstly, two-day weekends. A well-rested mind is likely to be happier and more productive. Second wish would be to be able to travel without the tedious process of applying for visa(s). And thirdly, better public toilets in this city. Perhaps, then I will not hesitate to drink enough water throughout the day. Just saying.

Q. Ideal vacation destination?

A. I’ve always wished to live with the Mentawi tribes (Indonesia) for a month or two. As constantly evolving humans, I believe we have forgotten our natural ability to connect with the things around us.

In a complicated world that we live in, living with the tribes shall be a lifetime experience (for me).

 Guillermo del Toro’s fantasy drama, ‘The Shape of Water’, emerged as the ultimate win­ner at the 2018 Academy Awards. It had been nominated for 13 Oscars and won four, including best director and best picture. Starring Sally Hawkins, Michael Shannon, Octavia Spenser, and Richard Jenkins, the movie was a visual marvel, one that tugged at your heartstrings. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said of its novel coun­terpart, the pace of which is a little sluggish and thus makes you want to skim through the pages halfway through. You already know the ending anyway.

For those of you who haven’t watched the movie yet, the basic premise is this: Set in America of the 1960s, Elisa, a mute janitor working at a government research center in Baltimore, falls in love with an imprisoned amphibi­ous man who is being tortured at the lab. The military responsi­ble for its capture then decide to kill the creature to dissect him for further research and Elisa, with a little help from her friends, plans a rescue operation.

The filmmaker Toro collabo­rated with author Daniel Kraus to bring the cinematic experience unto paper and the book was published a little less than two months after the movie’s release. The book was supposed to expand and enrich the story but what it does instead is make you feel like you are reading the first draft of the movie script.

The filmmaker and author both no doubt felt that a movie, at two hours, could only scratch the sur­face of human emotions and strug­gles. The novel thus takes its time to dra

w out the characters and delve deep into their minds. The result is a bit tedious. This is per­haps because you feel you know the characters and what they are thinking, having met them in the movie already.

That being said, The Shape of Water isn’t a bad book. Not by any means. It’s just that you have already watched (and loved) the movie, and seen the char­acters through their trails and tribulations that there’s no shaking off the feeling of déjà vu you inev­itably get. That is what takes away from the reading experience and makes the narrative seem long and stretched. You already know where it’s going yet you have to bear through pages of introspection and (oftentimes) pointless drama to get there. If you haven’t watched the movie, we recommend you read the book. If you have, you might be better off finding something else to read