The passing of a Nepali legend
To many, Jan Salter was both a marvelous and sensitive artist and the founder of the Kathmandu Animal Treatment Centre (KAT). Her paintings of different ethnic groups and peoples of Nepal, aptly entitled, “Faces of Nepal”, were taken from drawings she did while trekking around the country in the 1970s and ‘80s. For anyone who has been in Fire and Ice, the iconic poster for this set of portraits has been hanging on the notice board for as long as I can remember. The Faces of Nepal book was co-authored by the Late Dr Harka Gurung, geographer, anthropologist, conservationist, and visionary. For this collection of work, Jan received the Gorkha Dashin Bahu medal from Late King Birendra. Her other poignant collection of works is ‘All our Daughters’. For this, Jan worked closely with Maiti Nepal and returnee and rescued trafficked girls to produce touching portraits. The fact these ‘daughters’ trusted Jan to portray them in a sensitive and kind manner says a lot about her ability to connect with people.
Jan was the founder of the Kathmandu Animal Treatment Center, which was the outcome of a long held dream to help the dog population in Kathmandu. Jan abhorred the cruel annual culling of street dogs that took place at that time and was the first person to lobby for animal rights in Nepal; something that brought a lot of negative feedback. But she persevered. In 2010 she was recognized for her efforts in animal welfare when she received the "Extraordinary Commitment and Achievement Award" from the Humane Society International. She was later honored with an MBE from Queen Elizabeth for her work on animal welfare in Nepal.
To those who knew her, Jan was all of the above and much more. She had a dry sense of humor, referring to Nepal as Alice’s “Wonderland”, and a humility despite the honors. And she was always ready with a plate of scrambled eggs and toast for unexpected guests. To me, she was the first British person I met in Nepal when I replied to her advert for an apartment for rent. I never took that apartment but we became firm friends, particularly during the conflict years.
Those who visited her in her small apartment and studio in Gairidhara will remember it was not possible to leave without becoming covered in hair from her dogs, particularly the long-haired blonde one, or without becoming engaged in heated conversations on animal welfare. I knew her at the time when KAT was just an embryo of an idea, and we spent many hours discussing how the culling of street dogs could be brought to an end. I watched her paint many of her ‘All our Daughters’ canvases and also watched sadly when her eye-sight deteriorated so much it made further painting impossible.
Living just around the corner from Jan, I could run over during the curfews around the time of the Royal Massacre. As a Gorkha Dashin Bahu medal holder, she told me she had the right to give her last respects to King Birendra. But being that we were all in a state of shock, she did not do this and it was something she told me later she very much regretted. Instead we stood together at Kamal Pokhari and watched the procession snake its way down to Pashupatinath Temple.
As it often happens, our lives took us in different directions around the second decade of the 2000s. But we often bumped into each other at functions and gatherings. Jan, I truly treasure these years when you were just a phone call away, and my place of refuge in hard times. You will be missed.
As per her family’s wishes, the web launch of Faces of Nepal will still go ahead as planned on May 15 at 3 pm in the Nepal Tourism Board. Everyone is welcome
Why do taxi cabs refuse to go by the meter?
A few days ago, I asked a cab to take me to a certain destination by meter, but the driver declined, even before I could complete my sentence. When I asked him why, he turned his head away, and didn’t even bother to acknowledge my presence. Looking for a taxi in Kathmandu is like searching for a perfect match—one has to go through many hurdles. “If a taxi driver denies a passenger’s request without a plausible explanation, and if he is found overcharging or not using the meter reading, action will be taken against him,” says Mukunda Marasini, the Spokesperson of Metropolitan Traffic Police Division in Kathmandu. “A fine of Rs 3,000 to Rs 5,000 will be charged.”
The division has urged the public to register their complaint on a toll free number—103, Traffic Control—against such acts. These steps by the police have given passengers a voice. So I did confront the driver, but I was in a hurry and had to look for another taxi. Surprisingly, the second driver agreed after some hesitation.
While I was travelling, I kept asking myself: why do taxis shut their doors when requested to go by the meter? Is the money generated by the meter really inadequate, or are they ripping the passengers off?
I knocked the doors of Nepal Bureau of Standards & Metrology (NBSM), which calibrates taxi meters, to satisfy my curiosity.
“The Department of Transport Management (DOTM) sends us the rates—per km charge etc.—with which we calibrate the meter,” says Bishwa Babu Pudasaini, the bureau’s director general. Initially, Rs 14 is charged as soon as the meter is turned on; it’s a one-time charge. And, after every 2 minutes, or for every 200 meters, whichever comes first, there’s a call, Pudasaini further informed. Every call adds an extra Rs 7.2 to the meter reading. So even if the taxis are stuck in a traffic jam, the drivers would be earning Rs 7.2 every two minutes. But from 9 pm to 6 am, the total fare is 1.5 times the normal rate.
“The only reason the drivers refuse to go by the meter is because they have the habit of cheating the passengers,” Pudasaini says.
But the taxi drivers have a different opinion. “The price of every commodity has increased, including the cost of maintaining our vehicles,” says Ganesh Bahadur Chaulagain, a taxi driver, who is also associated with the Akhil Nepal Krantikari Yatayat Majdoor Sangh, a trade union of sorts. “So we have no choice but to charge a bit extra. We have mouths to feed.”
The Metropolitan Police Station, Ranipokhari and Metropolitan Traffic Police Division have started a special operation that has seen over 60 taxis penalized daily for not complying with the rules.
But there has been a backlash from the taxi drivers. “There have been many instances where we are penalized unfairly. For example, even when we’re returning home after a hard day’s work and refuse to take a passenger who is not going our way, the traffic slaps a fine on us,” says Chaulagain.
“Once, my friend had an ‘undercover traffic cop’ in his taxi who tricked him into not going by the meter and then fined him,” he adds. The taxi drivers’ woes are exacerbated by complainers failing to arrive at the police station on time to file a formal complaint. The drivers are made to wait for hours and when the complainer does show up, they have wasted a day’s time already.
Chaulagain doesn’t complain about the traffic police punishing the drivers for not running their meters. But he doesn’t think the punishment would deter many cab drivers. He thinks that even a fine of Rs 5,000 is a risk worth taking. “The only way to end this is by adjusting the fare by taking into account the price of goods and services,” says Chaulagain.
By contrast, Chun Bahadur Tamang, who has been working as a taxi driver for around 35 years, is happy about the decision of the traffic police department. “The taxi drivers are running riot, many are frauds. I have been driving by the meter for years and never have I had an issue,” says Tamang. “It’s a competitive world. Instead of charging a reasonable fare, taxis here are asking for the maximum,” he says, laughingly. Tamang is a popular figure among customers in the Baluwatar area where he is well known for his honesty and wit.
The DOTM has plans to revise the taxi fares which were last updated in February 2016. A committee led by Prem Kumar Singh, Technical Director at DOTM, has been formed to look into the issue. “We have collected data on market price to assess the fares,” says Singh. “Once we complete our analysis, we will forward it to the government.” But DOTM is not sure when the changes will happen. Hopefully, when the changes do come, all the concerned parties will be satisfied.
Unsafe, even indoors
The national capital’s air pollution is so bad we have come to firmly believe that it is, after New Delhi and Beijing, the most polluted city in the world. But according to a revised database of the WHO, which uses data from the Nepal Health Research Council, Kathmandu has actually fallen from the #108 most polluted city in the world in 2008 to #261 most polluted city in 2015. Nevertheless, Kathmandu’s air pollution level is undeniably high, with our air quality nearly five times worse than the WHO recommended levels. Globally, air pollution causes nearly 5.5 million deaths every year, and not all of them are due to respiratory diseases. Eighty percent of air pollution deaths are due to ischemic heart diseases and strokes, i.e. cardiovascular ailments. The other 20 percent are respiratory (COPD, ALRI, and lung cancer).
We have been hearing a lot about the harmful effect of pollution on grown-ups, but how does it affect children and infants who do not leave their homes for the most part?
According to paediatrician Dr Nikhil Agarwal of Vayodha Hospital, children are equally, if not more, at risk of contracting respiratory and communicable diseases. “In recent years,” he shares, “there has been a sharp increase in the number of children suffering from air pollution-related illnesses, and it is getting harder to treat them.”
Since we live in a valley, the warm air that the pollutants would normally escape with stays trapped and grows dense with time, says Hemu Kafle, a scientist at the Kathmandu Institute of Applied Sciences. “Because of this, the same air travels everywhere, and there is no place free of pollution,” she says. In other words, even if you live deep in a residential area with plenty of greenery, you are still being exposed to a dangerous level of air pollution. Locking up your family is thus no solution.
What makes children more vulnerable is their already weak immune system. Compared to adults, kids, especially infants, have low tolerance for harmful bacteria and viruses. The pollutants (which are matters smaller than a strand of hair) first damage their already delicate immune system. Then they attack it, causing bronchitis, asthma, flu and common cold.
Due to their constant exposure to pollutants—the dust that you can see is the least of your problems— treatment takes longer than it should, and they have to be prescribed stronger medicines. “Simple medicines that would have cured them in the past aren’t effective anymore,” says Dr Agarwal. Stronger and more frequent doses of antibiotics and other medicines add to the children’s health woes.
There is no easy way out. Children, infants, and even the old suffer disproportionately from air pollution. What would actually help is robust implementation of emission regulations and environmental policies.
But that is a tall order. The Ministry of Population and Environment has always had plans to tackle air pollution. Yet implementation has been painfully slow. For instance the government recently announced a complete ban on vehicles that are older than 20 years. But this policy recommendation, proposed by ‘His Majesty’s Government’, was supposed to be implemented by 2001.
The gripping tale of palace intrigues now in English
The English translation of ‘Maile Dekheko Durbar’, a bestselling book by Vivek Kumar Shah, former military secretary to the late king Birendra Shah, has hit the bookstores. ‘Maile Dekheko Durbar’ had created ripples in Nepal’s political circle when it was published in 2010. The English version is entitled ‘Witnessing Palace, Power and Politics’.
The book takes its readers deep into the intrigues of the Narayanhiti Royal Palace and provides an inside view into the momentous events of our times: the Royal Palace Massacre, king Gyanendra’s wresting of executive powers, the Maoist armed rebellion, its genesis and the forces backing it, the Comprehensive Peace Agreement between the mainstream political parties and the Maoists, the end of monarchy and the advent of republicanism in Nepal.
Written with valor and at great personal risk, the book is a must-read for anyone who wants to understand Nepal’s contemporary history.
At the launch of ‘Witnessing Palace, Power and Politics’ this week in Kathmandu, author Shah said that many friends had requested him to translate ‘Maile Dekheko Durbar’ as soon as it was out. “Now that the translation has come out,” he says, “many people who didn’t have access to Nepali can enjoy the book.”
“The book is a living history,” he adds.
The book is published by FinePrint in hardcover and is priced at Rs 1,012.
