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 “My mom keeps nagging me to go and play outside when she sees me watch­ing television,” says 12-year-old Santosh Gurung of Gairigaun. “She forgets there is construction going on in the open land near our house. Where do I go?” The kid has a point.

In 2007, for the first time in the history of mankind, more than half the world’s population lived in cit­ies. This urban population is expect­ed to rise by 1.5 billion over the next two decades. As the cities grow, preserving open spaces within them becomes an imperative, for a city is more than buildings and people.

Sometimes, an open space can be neatly tied to a city’s culture. The Central Park in New York, the Hyde Park in London, the Stanley Park in Vancouver, the Hibiya Park in Tokyo and the Phoenix Park in Dublin are a few such parks. In oth­er words, these cities have cleverly embedded open spaces. According to WHO, a person needs nine square meters of space. But Kathmandu has only 0.25 meters per person. Why the shortfall?

Bhai Kaji Tiwari, the Development Commissioner at the Kathmandu Valley Development Authority, attri­butes “the perceived lack of open spaces” to centralization of services (See interview here). He says that although only 17 percent of land in the valley is occupied by build­ings, the city is considered congest­ed because of the concentration of population in parts where most ser­vices and amenities are centralized.

Urban planner Suman Maharjan for his part characterizes open areas as “the lungs of a city” as they pro­vide place for people to breathe and relax. He says besides help­ing in times of emergencies like earthquakes, green spaces also help reduce air pollution.

Dust dangers

With an Environment Perfor­mance Index (EPI) of 31.44, Nepal ranks among the countries with worst air quality. “The case of dust pollution is worse than pollution caused by vehicles in Kathmandu,” says Yogendra Chitrakar, an environ­mentalist. “Green spaces in the val­ley will help mitigate the problem of both dust and vehicle-induced pol­lution by filtering the air naturally.”

According to a research by Ana Virtudes of University of Beira Inte­rior in Portugal, not only does veg­etation add to the aesthetic appeal of cities, it also helps reduce urban heat by releasing moisture.

Moreover, there are numerous health benefits associated with pub­lic parks and green spaces. Access to them have been associated with reduced stress and anxiety. A study by researchers at University of Tam­pere, Finland found that spend­ing as little as 10 minutes in a park or urban woodland could tangibly reduce stress.

Additionally, “lack of public parks in Kathmandu is also a major cause of inactive lifestyle as people have no place to jog and exercise,” says Dr Om Murti Anil, senior interven­tional cardiologist at Grande Inter­national Hospital.

He argues improving access to public open space can increase the level of physical activity. “Walking is the cheapest exercise,” he says. “Lack of public parks not only push­es people to spend more money on physical activity, it also makes them more prone to road accidents.” With public parks, physical activity will not weigh heavy on low income families’ pockets, Dr Anil explains, nor do they have to contend with reckless drivers.

Improve parks, improve life

“The lesser the number of open spaces, the more likely we are to remain bound to our gadgets and shun social engagement,” says Chi­trakar, the environmentalist. Parks provide space for neighborhood residents to interact and meet new people. “They are also great spaces for events and recreational activi­ties, allowing people to develop a sense of community”.

In the reckoning of Dr Anil, such increased social engagement is cor­related with psychological health as well. Highlighting the urgent need for the authorities to acknowledge the necessity of green open spaces in the valley, Chitrakar adds, “the government should prioritize devel­opment of open spaces and parks rather than erect concrete towers. Better to plan green pockets at cer­tain distances, and seek the help of locals to manage them.”

But perhaps no one puts it better than Gil Penalosa, an advocate for ‘active cities’: “We need to think of parks more as outdoor community centers where we need to invest in uses and activities so they can fulfill their potential. When we improve parks, we’re really improving qual­ity of life”

“The continued drive for excellence is our philosophy here at Sampurna,” said Rajan Nepal, the editor of Annapurna Sam­purna, at a program at the Annapurna Media Network corporate tower on August 30. The occasion was the first anniversary of Anna­purna Sampurna, the AMN’s weekly Nepali entertainment tabloid. “We continuously seek public feedback so that our content is tailored to the taste of our valued readers,” Nepal added.

Captain Rameshwar Thapa, the AMN chairman, said prod­ucts like Sampurna that con­tinue to do really well in print suggest that “the demise of print media is greatly exagger­ated. Rest assured, the print in Nepal will be going strong even after a decade.”

Annapurna Sampurna has been able to establish itself as a market leader in the segment right from the start of its publication a year ago. The 51 issues published in this time has offered people of all age groups something to read about: it does social issues, crimes and celebrity news as much as it covers glamor and sex. “It’s a complete package and I assure everyone that we will get better and better,” Nepal said. APEX BUREAU

Teach For Nepal (TFN), a move­ment to address education inequality in Nepal, hosted a dinner event this week to acknowl­edge the banks and corporations supporting the cause. Anil Keshary Shah, TFN's Leadership council member and Nabil Bank's CEO, host­ed the event. In attendance were over 100 CEOs and executives. Also present were TFN leadership council members Rameshwor Khanal, Jagdish Bhatta­rai, Rajan Shrestha and Chairperson Reshu Aryal Dhungana. Chairing the event was Education Minister Giriraj Mani Pokharel.

TFN fellows are outstanding uni­versity graduates and young profes­sionals chosen through a highly com­petitive process. They go through an intensive residential training fol­lowed by two years of teaching fel­lowship in rural public schools. “The support of various banks and cor­porations is not only helping Teach For Nepal support students in rural Nepal. It is also helping create great citizens who will take a human-cen­tered approach to the challenges we face as a country,” said Shah.

 Over in Scotland we have these things called warehouses. You know, where they keep goods before they put them on the super­market shelves. In Nepal they are called ‘aisles’ or sometimes, ‘the top shelf’. A few weeks ago I serendipitously photographed four ladies cleaning up something spilt on the floor of a well-known supermarket in Kath­mandu. Three of them managed to pull over those little plastic stools to sit on while one moped the offend­ing gunk off the floor.

This is a common occurrence, even on a Saturday (the busiest shopping day of the week). Custom­ers have learnt to jump over boxes, avoid stepping on slippery, plastic covered goods, and negotiate round the staff. And god help us if we dare to ask a question about the location of a particular good.

Interrupting conversations will be met with blank stares and in any case, they never know where anything is. And how could they? How can anyone remember where anything is in the over-stocked aisles and avalanche threatening ‘top shelves’?

Meantime we the customers are desperately searching for that par­ticular item that is always in the same location. But not this week. We get lulled into a false sense of consumerism when for many months the items we love have been available. And at several supermar­kets. And then, suddenly, it is out of stock, seemingly overnight, in every single outlet!

We search all likely shops, some­times getting lucky and sometimes not. I am in a soya milk chain. We report back, often with concrete evidence such as photographs, when we see the particularly brand that we like. Sometimes this backfires. Once I had heard that precious soya milk was available in Lalitpur.

Rushing over there (okay so I was going anyway) I discovered they only had the little individual car­tons in stock. So I bought about 25 of those. Hand on heart, about 30 minutes later my phone pinged and there was a picture of the full-sized cartons back on the shelves, right near my house!

So having climbed over the ‘ware­house’ goods, avoided annoying the staff, discovered your favorites are not there… now what? After filling the basket… ah yes… the basket. Do not get me started on those extreme­ly stupid baskets on wheels! Who the heck invented those? And are they supposed to be pushed or pulled? I have never seen anyone push them— whereby they could see approaching fellow shoppers. No, I have only seen people pulling them behind them, and others have to do a quick step to either pass or because the owner of the pull-along basket has stopped suddenly.

So, having climbed over the ‘ware­house’ goods, avoided annoying the staff, discovered your favorites are not there, stumbled over pulled bas­kets, is there anything else we can do in the supermarket? Of course there is! Aside from food shopping, one can go up the escalator—and sometimes it even works—to the Aladdin’s cave of crockery, clothes, electrical goods and, my favorite, those table top lamps cum water features.

Venture into the far aisles at your own risk! You may never be seen again among the plethora of stainless steel utensils or children’s toys. And if you take a child with you, remember buying a doll or teddy bear at twice the normal price might not have been on your shopping list.

So, you know it… having climbed over the ‘warehouse’ goods, avoid­ed annoying the staff, discovered your favorites are not there, stum­bled over pulled baskets, bought the much sought after water feature for your lounge, found your child chew­ing on a toxic toy, and having actu­ally managed to pay for everything, what next? Why not enjoy a plate of momos or kathi rolls al fresco? Don’t forget to eat while blocking the entrance to the supermarket because that is all part of the fun of shopping in Kathmand