In this world where darkness rules And wherein dances fright One does want a source of light That may burn with might So that no thorn pricks one’s soul

Every day in the evening a group of children come out to play in my colony. They scream, they laugh, they jump, and are all really, really happy. I often sit in my balcony, sipping tea, and look at them. I find myself smiling and there’s a sense of calm that takes over.

A lifestyle change that people seem to be adopting the world over in the recent days is sustainable living and minimalism. And although a lot of people expect it to slowly fade away as most trends do, Samikshya Rai believes that sustainable living might not meet the same fate if we go about it the right way.

Close the window, lock up the door And feel the tremor of the floor Tell me, how it feels to sit under the sword of Damocles

What is fear? I ask, is fear a stimulus of our body? Fear stimulates our brain to initiate an action. But, fear is associated with the mentality of a person and cannot be generalized. Rather, it should be individualized. Every individual carries a different perception, with varying mental status leading to a contrasting definition of fear from one person to another.

July 11: Living at higher latitudes, where there is also less sunlight, could result in a higher prevalence rate of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), according to new research from Binghamton University, State University of New York.

KATHMANDU, June 12: Roshan Das Katbaniya, 17, from Sarlahi sells balloons at and around Basantapur area. Leaving traditional family occupation of selling Sindoor (vermillion), he has adopted this occupation for one and half year.

At 99 years old, Tao Porchon-Lynch is the world's oldest yoga teacher, and she's proving that age doesn't limit us from doing what we love.

JUMLA, May 23: Twenty four students of Jumla were sent to an orphanage in Rukum for free education and accommodation as per the recommendation of chiefs of ward no 1 and 2 of Patarasi Rural Municipality of Jumla.

Great Indian irony is that when Nepal seeks to diversify trade with China and attract Chinese FDI, they take it as an intrusion on their area of influence

The dreams that he beheld forbade him to seek for greener pastures abroad. Scholar, academician and Sitar maestro Dhrubesh Chandra Regmi has been living a legacy of his predecessors. Starting to play sitar under the guidance of his father, he became the first Nepali musician to hold a PhD degree in music. He received the degree from Delhi University in 2004 for his dissertation entitled ‘History of music in Nepal with special reference to classical music during the Rana period.’ Although he graduated in law in 1985, he dedicated most of his time contributing to Nepali classical music. He is one of the founder members of renowned Nepali classical and folk musical group Sukarma.

When people talk about Kumari, the unique tradition of living goddess in Nepal, they immediately think of a little girl who shows up at the window of Kumari Palace in Kathmandu Durbar Square.

“I have spent more than half of my life here. I am 55 years old now,” said Shankar Shah, a fruit seller from Bihar, India, currently living in Kathmandu.

MOSCOW, Mar 1: President Vladimir Putin set a slew of ambitious economic goals, vowing to boost living standards, improve health care and education and build modern infrastructure in a state-of-the-nation address Thursday.

Nihira Bajracharya, the Kumari, or living goddess, at Ratnakar Mahabihar in Patan on Saturday. On that day, she was installed as the new Kumari of Patan following necessary rituals. Five-year-old Nihira Bajracharya was chosen among five candidates.

SIRAHA, Feb 13: A huge number of Nepali population residing in the border areas are obliged to live a wretched life deprived of various state facilities and privileges. The people here don't have access to secondary level education and health facilities.

SIRAHA, Feb 13: The Nepali people living in areas near the country's borders are deprived of various state services and privileges. The people living here don't have access to secondary level education and health facilities.

DANG, Feb 5: “The floods eroded all our land. My house still stands, but for how long?” asked Rajbaji Chaudhary of Kanchi village, Gadawa Rural Municipality of Dang district.

DANG, Feb 3: “The floods eroded all our land. My house still stands, but for how long?” asked Rajbaji Chaudhary of Kanchi village, Gadawa Rural Municipality of Dang district.

CHITWAN, Jan 22: A two-day assembly of the National Association of People Living with HIV/AIDS in Nepal (NAP +N) concluded here on Sunday, issuing an 11-point Chitwan Declaration.

SYANGJA, Jan 18: Asmita Budha is 16-months-old. Riverbank has been her home since she opened her eyes to earth. She is kept in the sandy corner of her parent’s small hut that hardly blocks wind or sun.

Family business.  What can I say about it?  I ponder for words to describe the situation as my entire life has intertwined with it just like those tangled up necklaces at the bottom drawer of my sister’s closet. How does it feel to grow up around business? I guess the word “differently bittersweet” would do justice. Most of my teen years, I juggled with this lifestyle. I felt misplaced, lost and alienated.

KATHMANDU, Dec 28: ‘Living with Parkinson’s disease’, a documentary video is scheduled to screen at the auditorium hall of Nepal Tourism Board in Pradarshani Marg, Kathmandu on Thursday.

RASUWA, Dec 21: When the devastating earthquake of April 2015 rendered them homeless, dozens of Uttargaya rural municipality residents fled to safer locations. In the immediate aftermath, they erected makeshift house in rented property and started living there. Months passed by, but life did not change.

Purnakali Rai is a 33-year-old weaver at Kapan. She is originally from Dang. Despite having a prosthetic leg after her legs were burnt when she was a child, Purnakali has been weaving to earn a living since three years now.

POKHARA, Dec 3: It’s just 4 o’clock in the morning. Others in this part of the world might be in a deep slumber, but Tanka Prasad Gautam is a habitual early riser.

There is no escaping the funny lovelorn lyrics, witty choreography and strikingly modern dace form of the recent hit Nepali music video. With more than 2.5 million views ‘Viral bhaidiyo’ song has become the number one trending video on YouTube in Nepal. The outstanding performance of the entire ‘Viral Bhaidiyo’ team has been able to captivate many Nepalis across the country and abroad. “As soon as I heard the lyrics of the song, I wanted to make a music video for it,” says Sabin Karki, director, choreographer and actor of the song.

KATHMANDU, Nov 28: The idols of goddess Bal Kumari and Rudryani from the Rudrayani Temple in Khokana was stolen on the night of November 25. It is not the first case that the idols at this temple have been stolen. The idol of Bhairav was also robbed some two years ago and it is still missing. Before that, two more attempts of theft had occurred in the temple in the years 2033 BS and 2045 BS, but the locals had caught the thieves and restored the idols.

Natasha told me, “You won’t understand my feelings unless you part with someone who loved you more than everything in his life. And suddenly he asks you to go away without any reason. You are getting punished for the mistakes you have never committed.”

BAGLUNG, Sept 27: Dashain fervor has gripped Hindus across the country but the landslide victims of Nishikhola are untouched by it. While people in other villages are busy preparing for the auspicious festival, the displaced locals of Nishikhola are unable to return to their homes.

KATHMANDU, Sept 11: President Bidya Devi Bhandari on Sunday – the final day of the Indra Jatra festival – received blessings from the living Goddess Kumari.

MELILLA, August 27: In a winding early-morning queue, Jemaa Laalaoua hunches over with 50 kg (110 lb) of kitchenware on her back, waiting to cross back into Morocco from the Spanish enclave of Melilla.

I still prefer being engaged in some productive work instead of spending time lazing about. You will actually find me doing something or the other even when I have some free time from work.

BAJHANG, July 24: It has been more than four years since Surendra Damai,40, a former Maoist combatant, has been struggling with life in a small dilapidated hut, which too is built in someone else's land because he doesn't have his own land.

Everybody we spoke to for ‘Life lessons’ at one point or the other said we needed to save for the rainy days. And it’s not just them who are saying that. When it comes to financial advice, everybody, from your parents to your cousins, seems to tell you that. But, for most of us, choosing to scrimp and save means compromising on our lifestyles and desires. Well, it needn’t be that way say some savvy savers. There are ways you can live large and still have plenty of cash leftover.

When I say I was raised shy, nervous, and narrow-minded, many people within my circle don’t believe me. My friends currently know me as someone who asks a lot of questions and debates over unconventional issues. I have a focused approach to life that translates to everything that I am and aspire to be. A major part of what I am today is because of my two years in the UK that introduced me to a dynamic educational environment, a multicultural community and a few moments of cultural shock.

Breaking the stereotype of a typical ‘Nepali Beauty’ and becoming the first Miss Nepal from the Marwari community, Nikita has been successful in charming many Nepalis hearts.

DHULIKHEL, April 19: The locals of Jhinganpur at Paanchkhal Municipality – 4 have been relying on water fetched on a traditional vessel for years.

I don’t know if it’s just me or not but of late, every time I pull up the newspaper we happen to be a part of some ranking or the other. Ok, that was slightly exaggerated but whenever these listings come up (and they do rather frequently), invariably it’s our capital city that crops up in the top tier of these often, undesirable listings. For instance, in February, Kathmandu was ranked as the seventh worst polluted city in the world among 290 cities and now we are at it again.

TRIPURAKOT, March 25: The locals of Tripurakot of Sundari Municipality – 1 have been drinking water from an open well.

Democracies can also produce enlightened type of populism, such as that offered by US Senator Bernie Sanders

DHANGADHI (Kailali), Jan 22: Defence Minister Bal Krishna Khand on Saturday said Nepalis living in the bordering area in south and north have defended the border area.

Life, the word itself holds vast meaning. As the saying goes, life is the C between B and D and it’s your choice on what to do during the time period between birth and death. Everybody wants a happy life. We all want everything to be sorted out. But it’s not as easy. Life is meant to be a roller coaster ride but with every up and down, you learn lessons that make you stronger. It is too short to wake up with regrets.

The hectic lifestyle that we lead, knowingly and unknowingly, has a big impact on not just our psyche but our physical and mental wellbeing too. In the drive to do more, do better, and get ahead of the competition, we are often left exhausted and completely burned out.

Children learn from what they see at home and outside. No wonder they believe gender inequality is normal in society

KATHMANDU, Jan 2: Around this time in the previous years, Sanjay Tandulkar of Teku used to have his busiest business days. The reason was that his business thrived on the complete blackouts faced by the general public due to load shedding of up to 14 hours a day. But since the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) made some remarkable changes in power distribution in the past four months, his business has taken an unfavorable u-turn.

Modern slavery is a brutal reality around the world. The 2016 Global Slavery Index published by the Walk Free Foundation estimates that 45.8 million people are in some form of slavery in 167 countries. 58 percent of people in slavery are living in just five countries: India, China, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Uzbekistan. The report estimates that North Korea has the world’s highest prevalence of slavery at 4.4 percent of its population, followed by Uzbekistan (4.0 percent) and Cambodia (1.6 percent).

LOS ANGELES, Dec 4: Rapper Kanye West is reportedly living separately from his wife Kim Kardashian and their children.

JAJARKOT, Nov 24: The dream of more than 300 households of Khagenkot-5 and 6 in the district to illuminate their houses have not been fulfilled yet for lack of budget to buy electric poles.

KATHMANDU, Nov 10: As winter is fast approaching, earthquake victims taking shelter under makeshift tents in Chuchepati of Kathmandu are facing hardships once again.