Isha Bista

If you think Kathmandu is dirty, you should blame yourself. After all, it’s us who are responsible for the filthy streets and stinking alleys. Do you think for a moment before you spit that chewing gum on the road? Do you hold on to that scrap paper looking for a trashcan or stuff it into your jeans...

There are a million things that make me angry. People spitting on the road, children throwing chocolate wrappers on the sidewalk, their parents not saying anything, buses stopping randomly in the middle of the road or driving in the wrong lane, and judgmental people who comment on everything you do...

Anyone who drives a car or rides a bike knows the frustrations of the road. Never mind the perpetual traffic jams and the chaos that ensues, it’s the general sense of indiscipline and lack of respect for one another that makes being out there on the road such a strenuous affair.

My father-in-law smoked for 30 years until one day he decided to quit cold turkey. He hasn’t touched a cigarette for two years now. A friend of mine loves Indian sweets but it’s been six months that she hasn’t had a gulab jamun. She wants to eventually give up sugar and that’s how she has decided to...

I love staying at home on Saturday. This is that one glorious day of the week when I don’t have to meet ten different people and sometimes, if I’m lucky, don’t even have to talk to a single person. I simply love it.

There are many things I want my daughter to know so that she grows up to be a fearless, confident, and grounded woman. But these are especially those things I wish my mother had told me when I was growing up. I want to teach her these important lessons before she is told otherwise.

In the age of social media, nothing is private anymore. Many of us actually can’t seem to do anything without posting a photo on Facebook.

There was a time when I hated going to work. I would get up in the morning, have a relaxing cup of tea and as I flipped through the newspapers that feeling of anticipation and dread would slowly start creeping in. I often found myself wondering what my immediate supervisor would say or do that day t...

I have a friend who seems to be reading all the time. Her husband says that not only will she read if she gets up in the middle of the night and can’t fall back to sleep, but she will read while walking, stirring the milk, and brushing her teeth. Name a book and she will have read it. And there is n...

One of my goals this year is to travel more within Nepal. I have a foreigner colleague who knows more about Nepal than I do and sometimes I feel ashamed at how easily I say I want to go to Greece and Rome and plan for it while having no idea about the beautiful getaways in my own country.