Street food aus Deutschland
ShaVi’s Berlin’s Street Food or ShaVi's Berliner Fritten more authentically, is a small joint with a big name in the heart of Thamel. The German restaurant has become a popular eatery for both tourists and locals in a short time since its establishment.
ShaVi’s serves authentic German cuisine that is unique in Kathmandu. The small menu lists the best of fast-food, something that Germans would eat on the streets of Berlin. No points for guessing why it’s named so. Currywurst, boulette and homemade fries are the go-to for ShaVi’s food patrons, and the sweet-tooth connoisseurs get to between churros and cookie dough balls with various options.
THE MENU
Chef’s Special:
- Berlin Currywurst with Fries and Mayo
- Pulled Wild Boar on Fries
- Jaeger-Boulette with Fries and Mayo
Opening hours:11 am – 11 pm
Location: Thamel, Kathmandu
Cards: Not accepted
Meal for 2: Rs 2,000
For reservation: Call 980-2096555
A critique of India’s ‘new national narrative’
Non-fiction
INDIA NOW AND IN TRANSITION ED. BY ATUL K THAKUR
Daulat Jha
Publisher: Niyogi Books
Language: English
Pages: 448,
Rs 595 (Hardback)
‘India Now and In Transition’ is a sharp and scholarly collection of essays edited by the journalist and prominent commentator on the South Asian affairs, Atul K Thakur.
The book packs in 37 insightful essays from prominent writers and opinion-makers like Ramachandra Guha, Shashi Tharoor, Tabish Khair, Manu Joseph, Chandrahas Choudhury, Atul K Thakur, Robin Jeffrey, Vinod Rai, TSR Subramanian and Wajahat Habibullah. The names will be familiar to those who follow Indian opinion writing.
Covered are politics and governance, economics and development, security and foreign policy, society and culture, and language and literature. Moreover, it has an incisive introduction by the editor, Thakur, and a special foreword by eminent Historian Sunil Khilnani.
‘India Now and in Transition’ is based on how India is being shaped by contemporary political events and other key determinants. At the outset, it is made clear that this book intends to be not a prognosis (which is often confused with prediction), but rather an inquiry into futures based on current happenings. This necessarily entails deconstruction of the past.
Essentially, the book signals, India’s present is not exactly linked with the democratic idealism of past, and its immediate future is unlikely to create a greater basis of harmony, either at home or abroad.
The remarkable piece by the editor deals with the alienation of “the ‘Real Other’ of the world’s largest democracy” and consistent failure of the state to come to terms with it. It discusses ‘radical dissent’ and the challenges surrounding it. Written with a broad canvas, this piece will be of keen interest to readers in Nepal as well.
On strategy side, Dhruva Jaishankar’s piece is certainly important for strategic thinkers and practitioners of Nepal, who have to everyday live with the fallout of India’s strategic choices. The long piece on foreign affairs by Rajeev Ranjan Chaturvedy covers Nepal amply. In fact, Nepal gets ample space in other parts of the book as well, which was perhaps expected from an editor who has frequently written on India-Nepal relations.
India Now And in Transition offers fresh insights into several crucial areas, elements that have shaped modern-day India, be it the complex set of state-center relations under the country’s federal system, the challenges of territorial/cultural diversity, or the contradictory outcomes of economic reforms.
This book looks diligently at the successes and failures of India’s tryst with democracy. There is consideration for truth-seeking rather on striving to secure a politically correct side. It should be of interest to anyone who has an interest in policy matters and the fast-changing politics, society, governance and economic processes in India and to a large extent, in South Asia.
By Daulat Jha
The author is a Kathmandu-based journalist
Lessons on love, sloppily conveyed
Fiction
THE FORTYRULES OF LOVE
Elif Shafak
Publisher: Penguin Books; Reprint edition (April 26, 2011)
Language: English
Pages: 368, paperback
“Every true love and friendship is a story of unexpected transformation. If we are the same person before and after we loved, that means we haven’t loved enough.”“The real challenge is to love the good and the bad together, not because you need to take the rough with the smooth but because you need to go beyond such descriptions and accept love in its entirety.”
********
Elif Shafak’s characters stay in your subconscious mind long after you have turned the final page of her book. They are hard to forget. That’s how well she develops her characters and brings them to life. You only wish the same could be said of her storytelling. You would expect it from an author who claims, time and again, that her homeland is none other than storyland.
Inspired by Rumi’s messages on love, ‘The Forty Rules of Love’, like most of Shafak’s works, manages to confuse you no end. This often-poetic novel within a novel story unfolds in two parallel narratives. The first one takes place in the 21st century and is about an unhappily married Jewish housewife named Ella living in Northampton, Massachusetts. Ella works for a literary agency and is given the task of writing a report on a book titled ‘Sweet Blasphemy’ by Aziz Zahara. The sweet blasphemy is the second narrative of this novel that is set in the 13th century. It’s about Rumi and the infamous wandering dervish known as Shams of Tabriz.
The story of Ella finding love with a bohemian Sufi mystic while in the process of evaluating his book that is set in a time period we are familiar with is a lot less believable than the one where Rumi and Shams of Tabriz find comfort in each other’s company. And it’s the story that takes place in an era that you can’t really relate to that the readers find themselves increasing drawn to as the narrative progresses.
There is also an overdose of clichés that distract from the storytelling. Phrases like ‘shivers go down the spine’, ‘bowled over’, ‘far off the beaten track’, and, ‘make a mountain out of a molehill’, make the narrative somewhat annoying and lame. Shafak, who has previously written both in English and Turkish, seems to have made a mistake by writing the novel first in English, having it translated into Turkish, and then rewriting it in English. The experiment, albeit interesting, doesn’t quite work.
Despite having been quite harshly critical of her work, we would still like to recommend Shafak’s The Forty Rules of Love to our readers. If not for Shafak, then you might want to read it for Rumi or as an introduction to Sufi thoughts and ideologies. Also, the lessons Shafak shares through Rumi’s story encourage you to make some changes in your life and fill it with love and even if that were the only reason to read this book, it’s reason enough.
Craft your own delights
THE MENU
Chef’s Special:
Grilled Aubergine Sandwich
Red Velvet Cupid
Crinkle Cut Fries
Hurricane Fries
Dark Intense
Opening hours: 11 am to 10 pm
Cards Accepted
Meal for 2: Rs 1,200
Summer’s here and there’s nothing better to beat the heat than a tasty ice-cream treat. And when you have the option of crafting your own ice-cream sundae order, to your unique preferences, you’re in sweet-tooth heaven. At Icekraft-Nepal, you can do just that with your sugary delights.
Located at Kamaladi (Between Royal Singi Hotel and Bank of Kathmandu), Icekraft is a popular joint for desserts along with its exotic options for fries, waffles, pancakes, salads and sandwiches. Tasty offerings with the options of the best of coffee drinks and ‘thick shakes’ as well as ‘freaks shakes’ is what Icekraft offers. With the summer reaching its peak and ice-cream lovers thronging ice-cream bars, Icekraft might need to expand to a bigger property soon though.
