I was excited beyond measure when I heard Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni was coming up with a book that was a retelling of the epic Ramayana. Her book ‘Palace of Illusions’, the retelling of the Mahabharat through the eyes of Draupadi, made for an interesting read and I wanted to see how she would present Sita now.

On any ordinary day you will find Laxmi Magar cruising through the streets of Kathmandu on her bicycle. And on the no-so-ordinary days you will see her racing down the most difficult trails at high altitudes clad in biking gear and on her professional bike, usually on the frontlines. Laxmi is one of Nepal’s top mountain bikers and as one of the only female cyclists regularly competing in international races she is a big name in the cycling community.

Shuvam Shrestha loves potatoes and he has even written a song about it. “Millions of veggies in this world but darling you’ll always be my potato,” he croons in his song “Potato”. A 23-year-old UI/UX designer Shuvam loves music but the music he makes is unlike anything you have heard till now. Quirky lyrics, atypical subject themes and layering his songs in a blend of sounds, Shuvam’s music dabbles in many genres, is often humorous, introspective, and always charming.

Rishav Adhikari, better known as ‘Shutter Psycho’ lives to travel. Last year alone he spent 185 days on the road and this year too the numbers are nearing the same. A travel content creator based in Pokhara, Rishav travels all around Nepal for various photo video projects. He is also associated with the travel group ‘Ghumante’, a community of likeminded people who focus on traveling to less frequented places around Nepal to make videos and take photos to bring spotlight to these often ignored locations. To sum it up, he is living the proverbial dream.

Events in Nepal are incomplete without food, long speeches, and banners. Think huge flex prints and painted cloth banners. No event goes without declaring itself and banners serve that purpose. But the thing is, more often than not, the minute the event is over the banners are the first thing to go. Inevitably they end up being dumped as garbage. This was something Rushka Sthapit could not come to terms with.

Way before he learnt to walk Rasik Regmi’s family tell him he would crawl towards animals. And in his household there were many. Rasik’s family loved animals. When he was growing up, they had cows, chickens and lots of dogs. Among them, Rasik particularly loved dogs. Before he finished high school, he had a dog farm of sorts of his own. He would pick up dogs from the streets and bring them home. In the last three decades, Rasik says he has had over a hundred of them.

Ishan Raj Onta doesn’t believe in doing just one thing. Life’s too short and special for that. As a musician and full time lawyer, Ishan divides his hours between music and his work as a corporate lawyer, and does so with much finesse. Hard as it may seem, he is thriving and enjoying being at the heart of what he loves and what he is passionate about. “I’m at a great position in life and while dealing with two professions is a challenge, it’s a challenge I’m very much willing to take up,” he says.

The Made in Nepal movement has spurred an interest in Nepal made goods. A majority of people no longer subscribes to the belief that anything home produced is of inferior quality and functionality as compared to imported goods.

Growing up in Nepal, fascination with the mountains is a given. Most of us dream about making it to a base camp at least, if not actually climbing a peak. But we seldom act on the thought. However, inspired by the numerous records Nepali mountain climbers have set till date, there are many youngsters who are well on their way of becoming expert climbers.

The Chocolate Room in Jawalakhel, Lalitpur is Charlie and the Chocolate Factory come alive. With its ceilings modeled like chocolate dripping and blocks of chocolate and their enormous display of chocolates, it is a marvelous place to visit if you have dreamt of seeing a chocolate castle at least once in your life.

Meena Gurung is the friend who, you could say for certain, will give you a handmade card for your birthday. Always the artistic kind, Meena believed in making her own crafts and rarely bought off the shelf products for either gifting or personal use.

Everyone around me always tends to dissect the ethics of characters (or rather gods) from our Hindu mythologies and question their actions. These people, often my age, express their indignation at a god as selfish and obnoxious as Indra being a highly respected deity and the king of gods.

Sisters Keepa and Dristi Manandhar confess that, growing up, they never really got along well. While Dristi was an extrovert and the life of the party, Keepa preferred to keep to herself and enjoyed the company of a few people. Not only were they different terms of personalities, both had different preferences, interests, and opinions. However, today they come together to create art that has you chuckling in delight and feeling like they are somehow in your head, listening to your thoughts.

Have you ever considered seriously trying out Japanese food? We aren’t just talking about takoyaki and sushi but a cuisine that is authentically Japanese and that doesn’t cost you a fortune. There are many restaurants opening around town and bringing you real Japanese food these days. But if you want to try some without sending your budget out of whack, Subas Malla’s Mount Sakura Japanese Cuisine in Jhamsikhel, Lalitpur, is the place you should go to.

There are many things Rohit Giri is passionate about: Photography, traveling and animals are a few areas of interest. But it is his fascination with snakes that takes center stage. Giri has rescued many snakes and spends all his free time trying to learn everything there is to know about these often-feared creatures. He says he wishes people would show them a little kindness.

If you’re bored of the regular stuff and want to gift items that are sure to raise eyebrows or parade around with punch lines that are bound to elicit a chuckle or two, we have just the list of items for you. Here are three businesses that are creating things you never thought you needed but now that they are out there, you wouldn’t really mind getting your hands on one.

So many eateries and just as many food choices! But sometimes too many options can be puzzling and difficult to work through. So it definitely helps narrowing down your picks. For those who have visited Triangle Lounge and Bar, the restaurant would definitely be among the select few that they would visit again and it really isn’t difficult to see why. It’s where good food meets good ambience and there’s something else that, you can’t pinpoint, just feels right about this place.

Sushovan Aryal has been involved in the tourism industry for a good number of years now. As a travel guide and avid trekker, he leads groups of travelers and trekkers all over Nepal. Today he is more involved in the internal affairs of tour operations and travels less frequently than he used to. But that doesn’t change the fact that traveling is what makes him happy and what he is passionate about.

As kids, we saw anthills as menacing mountain peaks, puddles as oceans, rain as the gods weeping with grief (although the latter was just adults fooling us). We were crazy with our imaginations. Picasso likes to remind us that we are all born artists and as kids that really seemed to be true. And it helped that we were supplied with enough fantastical images to help us build our mountains and oceans—thanks to animation.

“Thang” meaning cotton and “ka” meaning images together make up the Tibetan word “thangka” which literally translates to images made on cotton. Thangka paintings’ origin can be traced back to nearly 2500 years ago. A visual representation of Buddha’s teachings, thangka paintings originally served as personal meditation tools for monastics and students