While much of the discourse about &nbsp;<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/winds-of-change-sweep-mustang">Mustang district concern</a>s its people leaving for better opportunities overseas, what is less well known is that Nepalis from other parts of the country are moving in. Mustang's population is the second smallest among 77 districts, and it is falling due to out-migration. The resident population in the 2021 census was 14,452, with 5,882 people from other parts of Nepal. &nbsp;&nbsp; One of them is Nima Lama, 24. He was born and raised in Kathmandu, and migrated to Mustang to work in the service industry three years ago. He had been searching for a job in Kathmandu for months, but finally found an opening at a hotel in Mustang through a placement agency.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2023062309060_4e4405cf10e6f127f90a1cd40feda0b9d8d69efd13093a2563530ca31489ba9f.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="2023062309060_4e4405cf10e6f127f90a1cd40feda0b9d8d69efd13093a2563530ca31489ba9f" data-rendition-name="original" width="2000" height="509" loading="lazy" alt="Upper Mustang"> <figcaption>Lo Manthang is located amidst rolling arid hills of the trans-Himalayan Plateau, Tilicho Peak and Nilgiri in the far distance on the southern horizon.</figcaption> </figure>  “I was skeptical at first, but the job felt appealing and unique, so I decided to come here,” says Lama, pointing that the region with its unique topography and weather offers good opportunities. &nbsp;&nbsp; Mustang is the part of Nepal that juts out into China and is geologically and culturally a part of the Tibetan Plateau. In the past five months, about 60,000 foreign tourists visited Mustang mainly for trekking and pilgrimage to Muktinath. There are many thousands more Nepali visitors.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230623100648_dc336f11c6099d1642aeae6e6dc0027d86aabb5328367c8663b30f04187491a8.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20230623100648_dc336f11c6099d1642aeae6e6dc0027d86aabb5328367c8663b30f04187491a8" data-rendition-name="original" width="1200" height="800" loading="lazy" alt="Mustang 2"> <figcaption>Many of the shops in Lo Manthang are shuttered because locals moved out, and tourism collapsed for two years due to Covid.</figcaption> </figure>  Some 2,000 foreign tourists also travelled to the restricted region of Upper Mustang by buying a special permit that costs $500 per person for 15 days. Mustang has a range of hotels that cater to high-end and budget tourists, and everything in between. Most homeowners have migrated, and have rented their lodges and hotels to new migrants from other parts of Nepal. Bikram BK, 27, who is from Baglung has been a horse guide for Muktinath pilgrims for the last six years. Local Mustang residents own the horses, but employ people from &nbsp;outside to tend to their horses.&nbsp; “It was difficult finding a job in Baglung, and this was a good offer,” BK says. “The work is easy and I like taking care of horses.”&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230623100648_7a69c06dc99e4793716ada2308efa73157b7276fdd165e0dcbad77de93b97ce9.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="20230623100648_7a69c06dc99e4793716ada2308efa73157b7276fdd165e0dcbad77de93b97ce9" data-rendition-name="original" width="1200" height="800" loading="lazy" alt="Mustang 3"> </figure>  At Paradise Trekker’s Home in Kagbeni another worker from Kathmandu says he likes working here because it “is a unique experience”. His colleague is from Udaypur and does everything from cooking to ploughing the apple fields with a tractor. “Locals own the majority of land and hotels but they do not work here,” explains Karma Namguyal Gurung, a 28-year-old local who has been running his family-owned hotel for the past four years, and is one of few who have remained behind. (See profile below)&nbsp; "Few Mustang people remain. Most of my friends are overseas, and lease out their hotels to people from other districts,” he adds.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230623090612_7229ee7ca69667507696c943ff521daf570fd1312b1467a97d7f2e6df3c228e9.jpg" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="20230623090612_7229ee7ca69667507696c943ff521daf570fd1312b1467a97d7f2e6df3c228e9" data-rendition-name="original" width="500" height="750" loading="lazy" alt="Mustang 4"> </figure>  Mustang's Crown Prince Jigme Bista is also worried about the brain drain from his kingdom, and says this is the reason he opened his up-market Royal Mustang Resort in Lo Manthang.&nbsp; "Since our young are rapidly leaving Mustang, I wanted to create opportunities here,” explains Bista, who aims to retain them by giving them jobs, equipping them with skills in hotel management, and training them to be baristas and chefs. &nbsp; <h2>Return of a native</h2>  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2023062309068_603f8d4d5d089496a1e1bbaf40fff565b22dda8c8cce402e45685e86b31f1ad4.jpg" data-media-id="editor_5" data-image-id="2023062309068_603f8d4d5d089496a1e1bbaf40fff565b22dda8c8cce402e45685e86b31f1ad4" data-rendition-name="original" width="5184" height="3456" loading="lazy" alt="Karma Namguyal Gurung"> <figcaption>PHOTO: SHRIJAN PANDEY</figcaption> </figure>  Karma Namguyal Gurung exemplifies the resilient spirit of a young Mustang entrepreneur committed to preserving his family’s legacy and contributing to the development of tourism in his home district.&nbsp; But Gurung is unique because unlike most local youth, he has not migrated overseas. He moved to Kathmandu as a boy to go to school at a time when he had to walk for a week to get to Pokhara. After getting a hotel management degree, he interned in Dubai for eight months and in Malaysia for three months. Gurung got job offers to stay abroad, but decided to return not just to Nepal, but to go back to Mustang. &nbsp; Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/mixed-blessings-in-mustang">Mixed blessings in Mustang</a>, Mukesh Pokhrel “I felt homesick during that whole time abroad,” recalls Gurung, who missed the cool mountain breeze of Mustang while sweating in the tropical heat of Malaysia and the Gulf. &nbsp; Gurung’s family has been running the Four Seasons Hotel in Muktinath Valley for the past 25 years. But they moved to Kathmandu, and it was getting difficult to run the hotel remotely. &nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230623100648_c29d8feb51716a08ae31ef051a5fa5c1ab13fb54034bed9bd9809b9625d84bea.jpg" data-media-id="editor_7" data-image-id="20230623100648_c29d8feb51716a08ae31ef051a5fa5c1ab13fb54034bed9bd9809b9625d84bea" data-rendition-name="original" width="1200" height="800" loading="lazy" alt="Mustang 4"> </figure>  So, he came back four years ago and now manages the family hotel, providing food and lodging especially for pilgrims to Muktinath.&nbsp; “The natives don't run things here, they have mostly left,” Gurung says, admitting that he has also thought of going to a bigger place to earn more. What encourages him to stay is feedback from visitors about his hospitality. “It is really encouraging when guests acknowledge our effort,” he says. ",Mustang is no longer a village, as it was during my childhood. It is becoming cosmopolitan. &nbsp;This place will never be the same again.”&nbsp; The pace of change is evident even in Lo Manthang, where Mustang's Crown Prince Jigme Bista runs the high-end Royal Mustang Resort which fuses traditional and modern architecture. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; “We’ve seen tourists leave on the very first day of a seven-day program due to a lack of facilities,” Bista says. “Our goal is to give tourists who come here for our culture, traditions, and location a fascinating experience.” The hotel sees 4,000 international and local visitors every year, and Bista says the hotel can accommodate many more if the restricted area designation for Mustang is lifted.&nbsp; Read Also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/mustang-forced-to-adapt-to-climate-crisis">Mustang forced to adapt to climate c</a><a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/mustang-forced-to-adapt-to-climate-crisis">risis</a>, Ronan Wallace and Yungdrung Tsewang Gurung <h2>Better connected</h2>  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2023062309068_dfe1037005a750b92601a23297e6b7fe900a88858adcc892a2d4baf4ef3f5873.png" data-media-id="editor_10" data-image-id="2023062309068_dfe1037005a750b92601a23297e6b7fe900a88858adcc892a2d4baf4ef3f5873" data-rendition-name="original" width="1683" height="591" loading="lazy" alt="Mustang map"> </figure>  Once Nepal’s most isolated region, new road connectivity has made Mustang much more accessible. What used to be a 11-day trek from Pokhara is <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/11-day-trek-is-now-a-day-s-drive-in-nepal">now an eight hour jeep ride</a>, and this may come down to five hours once the highway along the Kali Gandaki is upgraded. The river slices through the mountains between Annapurna and Dhaulagiri and is regarded as the deepest gorge in the world. Besides the unstable geology, it also gets heavy rainfall. &nbsp;&nbsp; “This is very difficult terrain to build and maintain roads,” explains Lokendra Adhikari of the Annapurna Conservation Area project. “The road from Ghasa to Lo Manthang is smooth and intact because there is less rain, and the terrain is gentler.” Despite the rough road, Mustang is changing rapidly, and accelerating out-migration of locals. But it has also brought people from Pokhara and Kathmandu to set up businesses here.&nbsp; There is a building spree, and fancy new hotels are coming up to cater to an expected tourism boom. The road has made it easier for children from Upper Mustang now to join boarding schools in Pokhara or Kathmandu.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230623090624_f2997aa8458b1f3e5cdc7900c87ea7d474337b7a90a6bc5c0dfe0cf6d3f23251.jpg" data-media-id="editor_12" data-image-id="20230623090624_f2997aa8458b1f3e5cdc7900c87ea7d474337b7a90a6bc5c0dfe0cf6d3f23251" data-rendition-name="original" width="1200" height="800" loading="lazy" alt="Mustang"> </figure>  Hoteliers in Jomsom say there would have been more tourists if the road condition was better and flights safer and more regular. Two crashes of flights from Pokhara in 2016 and 2022 deterred many trekkers and pilgrims. “The Tara Air crashes led to a sharp drop in foreign tourists, so if the road were better we would have seen a rebound,” says Tripple P Gurung, owner of Redhouse in Kagbeni. He adds that most of his guests prefer to brave the road.&nbsp; The monsoon is the lean tourist season in most of Nepal, but it is peak period here in trans-Himalayan districts like Mustang and Dolpo because the weather is milder and drier during June-September. Mustang is becoming especially popular with Nepali tourists who come here to explore the scenic trails on mountain bikes or motorcycles. Now that there is a motorable road right up to the Chinese border at Korala, many hoteliers say it does not make sense to keep Mustang restricted. The hefty fees and the bureaucratic hassles in Kathmandu to get permits are keeping many potential tourists away.&nbsp; “The policy about the restricted area and fees was made 30 years ago taking into account Mustang’s fragile ecology and culture to keep visitor numbers low, but that is not an issue anymore with better connectivity,” says Gurung.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230623090624_edcc2a5a02ca63bb8681fd2eaa404a924cf8fdfeb3d8fb78878ac59151cac6d8.jpg" data-media-id="editor_13" data-image-id="20230623090624_edcc2a5a02ca63bb8681fd2eaa404a924cf8fdfeb3d8fb78878ac59151cac6d8" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Mustang"> </figure>  Getting there Now an eight-hour drive from Kathmandu to Pokhara because of highway widening and traffic. Overland: Pokhara to Jomsom 6 hours Jomsom to Lo Manthang &nbsp;6 hours Flight: Kathmandu-Pokhara (overnight)-Jomsom Upper Mustang beyond Kagbeni is still restricted, and foreign tourists have to pay $500 per person for the first 10 days and an additional $50 each day of their visit to the region. Of the nearly 60,000 foreign tourists so far in Mustang, only 2,000 or so continued to Upper Mustang. The fee was reduced in 2005 when Mustang became more accessible, and the restriction on the number of visitors has also been lifted.&nbsp;

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Comings and goings in Mustang

Mustang district has always adapted to socio-cultural and trade influences from the south and north, but this trend has accelerated bringing drastic change to the lives and livelihoods of this region north of the Himalaya.&nbsp; When I first visited <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/mustang-safe-for-trekking-post-quake,2416">Mustang </a>in 1992, we had to walk for a week from Pokhara just to get to Muktinath. Today, this shrine is an 8 hour jeep drive from Pokhara. Nearly all villages in the district are now connected to dirt roads. Horses and mules are still seen, now mainly used to haul goods between villages, or to carry manure to farms.&nbsp; Horse race at this year’s Yartung Festival is a symbolic display of the animal in this rugged and arid region, but it is now more of a tourist attraction displaying a way of life that is on the verge of extinction.&nbsp; In the dining hall of a lodge in Kagbeni, a middle aged woman was threading wool to weave jumpers for her grandchildren. I had stayed in the same lodge 10 years earlier. This time, the woman told me that her children had moved to Kathmandu and overseas, and she has rented the hotel to a businessman from Dhading. Many other lodge-owners here have done the same.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2023041505040_567ff49e881d5587ed0c21e30b66acd43c4c4fe0503ab5cfeba96026a0c301c9.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="2023041505040_567ff49e881d5587ed0c21e30b66acd43c4c4fe0503ab5cfeba96026a0c301c9" data-rendition-name="original" width="1024" height="768" loading="lazy" alt="Mustang 3"> <figcaption>People from Rukum, Rolpa and Dolpa districts have moved here instead.(Photo: Jagannath Adhikari)</figcaption> </figure>  The pace of <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/climate-migration-is-already-happening">outmigration</a> from Mustang has accelerated, as locals move out for better education and jobs. The original Thakali, Loba and Gurung families still own property here, but they hire people from Dolpo, Dhading, Gorkha, Prabat, Maygdi, Rukum and Rolpa to take care of their businesses and farms.&nbsp; In Mustang, highlanders are coming down and lowlanders are moving up. In some cases, down-valley families are simply asked to stay and look after property without paying rent. Some elders still remain, but with the young men and women away, there is a demand for outside caretakers.&nbsp; Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/mixed-blessings-in-mustang">Mixed blessings in Mustang</a>, Mukesh Pokhrel Many of the shops in Jomsom are run by outsiders who have rented the space from the Mustangi. Most jeep drivers are from outside, even though absentee locals own the vehicles. It is in fact difficult to tell a local from an outsider since the migrants have developed good social connections. On this visit, a lodge-owner in Muktinath said he had hired a young manager from Dailekh to look after his place.&nbsp; This could be the reason why despite depopulation of most mountain districts in Nepal, the 2021 census actually recorded an increase in Mustang. In 2001, Mustang’s population was 14,981, it declined to 13,452 in 2011, and bounced back to 14,596 in 2021.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2023041505040_96e49bbed1f44f698fc2a0a45ac2a7c43a6082ce13bbcc350002153112dcb561.jpg" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="2023041505040_96e49bbed1f44f698fc2a0a45ac2a7c43a6082ce13bbcc350002153112dcb561" data-rendition-name="original" width="1024" height="768" loading="lazy" alt="Mustang 4"> <figcaption>There used to be 32 households in Chusang village but there are only a handful now.(Photo: Jagannath Adhikari)</figcaption> </figure>  The <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/nepalis-moving-from-mountains-to-plains">2021 census </a>also showed that 5,907 people (41% of Mustang’s population) were recent migrants, mostly from outside. Another 1,207 Mustang people live overseas -- two-thirds of them in Europe and North America.&nbsp; Along the traditional trekking route from Lete to Muktinath and Lo Manthang, nearly every house has one or two family members working or living in the US, Japan, France, UK, and Australia. Unlike other parts of Nepal, very few are in the Gulf or Malaysia.&nbsp; Most schools in the district have mainly students from migrant families, and the enrollment has shrunk to as low as 4-12 per primary school. This is why the government is trying to merge schools. A few private medium schools in places like Jomsom have children of local families, but most others have sent theirs to Pokhara or Kathmandu. A prominent politician running a hotel here says that the economy could get a boost if people returned and invested in Mustang. But that is not likely to happen, since most moved out at an early age. &nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230415040456_93d5b98f9016fee28d6ea494fa287281ccbed23e53b4f73f214e8b3e139b7a33.jpg" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="20230415040456_93d5b98f9016fee28d6ea494fa287281ccbed23e53b4f73f214e8b3e139b7a33" data-rendition-name="original" width="768" height="1024" loading="lazy" alt="Mustang 2"> </figure>  At this pace of in and out migration, a demographic shift in the district’s ethnic composition may force a redefinition of who a Mustangi is. But migration is not a new phenomenon, in fact even the current inhabitants of Mustang once moved in from Jumla and Tibet.&nbsp; Mustang has a potential to become a trading hub for Chinese commodities, with the upgrading of the road to the border at Korala. Shops in places like Lo Manthang sell mainly goods from north of the border, and the customers are mainly Nepali visitors.&nbsp; Trading opportunities have helped generate income and employment. Mustang’s new ethnic heterogeneity is also enhancing social and cultural capital, and entrepreneurship. But there are also questions as to who is actually benefiting from these changes. Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/climate-migration-is-already-happening">Climate migration is already happenning</a> Mustangis are well known as a resilient people well able to adapt to changes. Some of them who moved out when salt trade with Tibet declined in the late 1950s, sought other economic opportunities elsewhere.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2023041505044_af7b8f36cdef810b782936589610df1f11bb47f1ffbe724f141ca5c0a7facb7e.jpg" data-media-id="editor_8" data-image-id="2023041505044_af7b8f36cdef810b782936589610df1f11bb47f1ffbe724f141ca5c0a7facb7e" data-rendition-name="original" width="6000" height="4000" loading="lazy" alt="Mustang 5"> </figure>  That trend continues to the present day. They are moving out in search of prosperity while still holding onto property back home, hoping one day to return when things are right.&nbsp; Jagannath Adhikari is an independent researcher on socio-economic and environmental issues, and occasionally teaches in Nepal and overseas. He has authored several books and research articles on these issues.

Winds of change sweep Mustang

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114131128/6372346a9c7e80680e0c4930jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1200" height="675"/><figcaption>Lubra Village is under constant threat from flash floods. All Photo: Ronan Wallace</figcaption></figure>As weather patterns change across the world, many communities impacted by the climate crisis go unnoticed, or are disregarded. Himalayan villages are suffering an increase in <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/preparing-for-the-big-flood,3190" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">flash floods</a> and droughts.One such community is Lubra village in <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/mixed-blessings-in-mustang/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Lower Mustang</a>, one of the few villages in Nepal fully practicing the Bön Po faith.Lubra has over 800 years of cultural and ancestral significance. Established in the 12th century by Lama Yangton Tashi Gyaltsen, who is said to have crossed over from Tibet, made the area suitable for settlement by subduing the land’s unruly local spirits, and ensured the survival of the Bön belief.Situated at 2,950m, the village today is home to over 100 inhabitants, and has a school with 90 children. Farming their own land, they also carry community responsibilities involving one member from each family.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114131128/6372346c9c7e80680e0c4931jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1200" height="763"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>There are a handful of mud buildings, guesthouses and fields at the edge of Lubra River. A school, two monasteries, several chörten, a children’s hostel and water tanks span the rest of the land. Although small, Lubra is an important cultural component of Mustang.Every year during the monsoon, the entire valley faces flash floods as the Lubra River’s trickle expands into a 150m wide debris flow of sediment and boulders, spanning the riverbed to meet the Kali Gandaki downstream.https://youtu.be/9rM1y4n1hxUDigital model showing the current state Lubra Village in relation to LubraRiver. Video: RONAN WALLACEThis turns the valley into a concrete mixer, as the sediment-stone-water turns into a viscous sludge. Higher up the valley, the water may not always be able to find passage through the sludge, causing it to be dammed.  Eventually, the blockage gives way, bringing down a rush of aqueous concrete. These <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/danger-nepals-glacial-lakes-are-filling-up/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">flood bursts</a> repeat without fail over two months and swallow any obstacles in its path.Increasingly frequent floods are directly attributed to climate change. Rising temperatures have been altering the water cycle across the Himalaya, including Mustang.Read Also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/human-face-of-a-himalayan-climate-crisis/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Human face of a Himalayan climate crisis</a>, Rastraraj Bhandari<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114131128/6372346f9c7e80680e0c4932jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1200" height="520"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>The region is in the Himalayan <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=19611#.WrOj2h1ubIU" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">rain shadow,</a> and monsoon clouds are blocked by the Annapurna and Dhaulagiri massifs. However, rain patterns are changing, and what used to be light, seasonal rain has turned to destructive downpours.Glacial runoff has also been increasing over the last five years. Rangelands upriver from Lubra are deteriorating, loose soil is easily carried downriver in sudden floods.For Lubra, this is disastrous. Living on the edge of the riverbank, families are sitting ducks. When the monsoon season concludes, new sediment sets and hardens like concrete, increasing the height of the riverbed, making the village more susceptible to damage. Over the last decade alone, the riverbed has risen by an astounding 12m in elevation, and buried terrace farms.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114131128/637234729c7e80680e0c4933jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1200" height="713"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114131128/637234759c7e80680e0c4934jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1125"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114131128/637234789c7e80680e0c4935jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="960" height="720"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>In the 2021 monsoon, homes were damaged, leaving two families to take shelter in a guesthouse for three months. Jzikmey, 25, saw the flood rush into the lower most room of his home. Having lived his entire life in Lubra, he felt the loss, but said: “It is what it is. If the next monsoon is like the last one, the rest of my house will be gone.”Because the majority of homes are stacked upon each other on the slope, the main village stands as one building, each home depending on the other for structural and foundational strength.Damage to one home threatens the structural integrity of the entire village, putting families in harm's way. The next two monsoon seasons could leave several families without homes. “In next ten years, the entire village could be gone,” Jzikmey says.For over 20 years, families have tried to adapt by building rock walls using gabion boxes and digging trenches to redirect flow. However, these walls are not as effective as they need to be, since floods flow over the barriers.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114131128/6372347a9c7e80680e0c4936jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1138" height="796"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>The community has discussed relocating the entire village to a safer place. However, relocation is no easy task. There are complexities in both civil engineering and the community's opinion.Moving the entire village means considering every aspect of Lubra’s way of life, and asking if it will thrive in the new location. Lubra is having to rethink hundreds of years of cultural and ancestral heritage. Much planning needs to happen, but time is running out.Additionally, families face fears of land security, as allotted plots for personal use might not be guaranteed.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114131128/6372347e9c7e80680e0c4937jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1200" height="678"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114131128/637234809c7e80680e0c4938jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1200" height="677"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>As the riverbed continues to rise, the need for an immediate, community-conscious solution is evident and imperative. Floods threaten not only the livelihoods of the community, but the security of Bön traditions as well.Decades of culturally significant land is being wiped out, and many families fear that their ancestral heritage will go with it.Read Also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/climate-smarter-himalayan-infrastructure/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Climate-smarter Himalayan infrastructure</a>, Sonia Awale

Mustang forced to adapt to climate crisis

<figure><img width="800" height="438" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111016114/636d133b9c7e80680e0a9911jpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>The avalanche that came off Mt Tukuche in Nepal’s Mustang District on 14 November illustrates the kinds of multi-hazards present in the Himalaya. A dozen students fleeing a school below were injured while escaping, and there were reports of widespread livestock loss. Excessive post-monsoon snowfall could have contributed to the avalanche, which also resulted in flooding on a tributary of the Kali Gandaki.</figcaption></figure>Hazards in the Himalaya do not queue up politely to occur one at a time. More often, they occur together and, when they do, their cumulative effect is greater than the sum of their parts. When floods and landslides happen at once, for instance, the impact of each is intensified by the other. Still, it remains common to approach risk reduction for each hazard individually. In Nepal, and the wider Himalayan region, the coincidence of multiple hazards necessitates a multi-hazard approach to disaster risk reduction.At best, considering one hazard at a time is wishful thinking. At worst, single-hazard approaches reduce the risk of one hazard only to increase the risk from others. To avoid these tradeoffs, a multi-hazard approach manages the connections between hazards to reduce overall risk. Shifting perspective from single- to multi-hazard risk may appear subtle, but our recent research shows the stakes are high. Our team studied three dominant hazards — floods, landslides, and wildfires — and found that many Himalayan residents live in areas highly susceptible to more than one of them. If other hazards (like drought, heat stress, or earthquakes) were added to our study, it is likely that the population exposed to multi-hazards would be even higher. The predictions made by hazard models can vary considerably and their results depend especially on which set of previous hazards they consider, but the message emerging from this research is clear: Since many people in the Himalaya live in multi-hazard environments, managing one hazard at a time could have disastrous consequences. <figure><img width="2501" height="1332" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111016114/636d133e9c7e80680e0a9912jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Importantly, adopting a multi-hazard approach does not mean making things more complicated. Instead, it can identify synergies to address them together, while providing a basis for collaboration for aligning single hazard management and governance practices that could otherwise conflict. A multi-hazard approach is relatively new, but multi-hazards themselves are already here. They can take many forms. Sometimes, one hazard causes another: In 2015, the Mw 7.8 Gorkha earthquake caused thousands of landslides and claimed thousands of lives. Or, in February of this year, a <a href="https://www.icimod.org/article/understanding-the-chamoli-flood-cause-process-impacts-and-context-of-rapid-infrastructure-development/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.icimod.org/article/understanding-the-chamoli-flood-cause-process-impacts-and-context-of-rapid-infrastructure-development/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1637032361315000&amp;usg=AOvVaw1TMfOVKuNvXo6wVNvXAAsm">rockslide triggered massive flooding</a> in the Chamoli district of Uttarakhand, claiming over 70 lives and damaging multiple hydropower projects. Other times, hazards happen together. For example, this year’s monsoon season caused <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/nepal-valley-suffers-quadruple-disaster/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/nepal-valley-suffers-quadruple-disaster/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1637032361315000&amp;usg=AOvVaw0GCEQeMHKILrZSwBGgTR4n">destructive flooding and landslides</a> in many districts in Nepal (the effects of which were exacerbated by the ongoing pandemic). Without causing another hazard directly, one hazard can worsen the effects of another, such as last year’s widespread forest fires in Nepal that denuded hillsides, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/monsoon-hits-nepal-with-a-bang/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/monsoon-hits-nepal-with-a-bang/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1637032361315000&amp;usg=AOvVaw0jHHk_D84gbE7XCdXxb9ld">making the slopes more prone to landslides, mudflows, and flooding</a>. Other threats loom on the horizon. The latest report by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) makes it clear that climate-related multi-hazards will become more common and more intense in the future. Glacial lakes at risk of outburst flooding are growing due to climate change, while changing precipitation patterns could make both seasonal flooding and forest fires more frequent and destructive. These changes interact in complex ways, raising the overall threat from multi-hazards. As climate change intensifies multi-hazards, current patterns of urbanisation will continue to put more people in harm’s way. Our research shows a high level of settlement in areas also prone to multi-hazards; people may be unaware of multi-hazard risk, or immediate concerns for their livelihood overrule potential future risk from catastrophic multi-hazards. In either case, people settle in multi-hazard-prone areas to access economic, healthcare, or educational opportunities. Thus, an important component of reducing risk is in providing sustainable livelihoods in less risky areas. Impoverished people in multi-hazard areas may not have the resources necessary to recover from disaster or to settle in safer areas if those areas have lower levels of access.  <figure><img width="1500" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111016114/636d13419c7e80680e0a9913jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Gender disparities increase risks to women, and religious minorities may not have equal access to disaster preparedness resources in some places. Multi-hazards are natural events with human effects. Thus, beside technical and governance issues, a multi-hazard approach should consider how multi-hazards multiply the risks faced by already vulnerable populations.With a multi-hazard approach, synergies are possible. For instance, <a href="https://www.iucn.org/sites/dev/files/content/documents/bioengineering_brochure_hr.pdf" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.iucn.org/sites/dev/files/content/documents/bioengineering_brochure_hr.pdf&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1637032361315000&amp;usg=AOvVaw2Lq1Jfzk5Xb_CeV6qBLNbk">soil bioengineering</a> is an established set of techniques in Nepal that focuses on conditions — vegetation, drainage, and sediment — that contribute to multiple hazards. By focusing on the conditions where hazards intersect, practices like bioengineering could be more suitable for a multi-hazard environment than those that focus on reducing the risk of a specific hazard alone.Without a multi-hazard approach, reducing the risk from one hazard could increase the risk of another. In the wake of this year’s fire season, for example, unvegetated buffers around developed areas may seem like a good option for preventing fire damage to structures. But these areas more easily erode, potentially contributing to landslides or mudflows. Similarly, slope stabilisation to prevent landslides, especially around road cuts, can increase surface runoff and exacerbate flooding. Engineering approaches are important, but multi-hazard risk reduction is not just a technical problem. Governance issues are at the root of both major opportunities and challenges for mitigating multi-hazard risk. A significant obstacle to adopting a multi-hazard approach is existing mandates for governing bodies to manage single hazards in isolation. For example, federalisation in Nepal gave the Ministry of Home Affairs the mandate to manage forest fire risk, but the mitigation of floods and landslides, which interact with forest fires, often remains at the municipal level. These divisions can lead to conflicts between agencies, while a multi-hazard approach can align mandates otherwise focused on single hazards. Nepal’s Disaster Risk Reduction Strategic Action Plan is already taking steps in this direction.  <figure><img width="4940" height="3965" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022111016114/636d13449c7e80680e0a9914jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>In addition to managing connections between hazards, governance practices aimed at reducing multi-hazard risk can facilitate two other forms of collaboration: across borders, and between people, residents and otherwise, with different forms of expertise.First, current collaboration across borders in the Himalaya should be expanded and strengthened. Both hazards and people cross borders, so multi-hazard mitigation must do the same. This last summer, for instance, a landslide-dammed lake in the Rongxer basin in China <a href="https://www.icimod.org/article/the-melamchi-flood-disaster/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.icimod.org/article/the-melamchi-flood-disaster/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1637032361315000&amp;usg=AOvVaw2EsX51_SbSWuFjpxRyRC6D">threatened Nepali settlements downstream</a> along the Tama Kosi River with flooding. Further along the same river, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/the-kosis-sorrow-and-scope/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/the-kosis-sorrow-and-scope/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1637032361315000&amp;usg=AOvVaw0D5xTZ_9lCZdd17ab60kVm">sedimentation in Nepal is one of many factors</a> contributing to downstream flooding in Bihar, India. The establishment of cross-border early warning agreements is an important way to reduce these risks and is a first step toward connecting upstream and downstream risk reduction through a multi-hazard approach.Second, the collaboration between people with different types of knowledge about hazard risk — including technical, development, and local experts — is essential for ensuring the success of risk reduction programs. An inspiring precedent for this kind of collaboration is the development of <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/Recharging-the-mountains,3465" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/Recharging-the-mountains,3465&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1637032361315000&amp;usg=AOvVaw0m8l5RSFN5WSy2wB1oMXhv">jholmal</a> natural fertiliser and pesticide. The development of jholmal required combining local practices with the work of technical specialists and efforts to reduce chemical runoff and farming costs to create a cost-effective formula easily communicated to and replicated by the region’s residents and other local experts. This collaborative and multi-pronged approach can serve as model for mitigating multi-hazard risk. A focus on multi-hazards does not contradict the need to reduce the risk associated with individual hazards; instead, a multi-hazard approach is an opportunity to align risk reduction measures to avoid tradeoffs and find synergies. Adopting a multi-hazard approach may present technical or governance challenges but the opportunity is clear: in the face of ongoing climate change and urbanisation, effective disaster risk reduction in environments such as Nepal, the Himalaya, and other mountainous regions necessitates a multi-hazard approach.Jack Rusk is a member of the <a href="https://urbanhimalaya.yale.edu/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://urbanhimalaya.yale.edu/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1637032361315000&amp;usg=AOvVaw1cdFH8tcfgFtKCY-vVpPAE">Urban Himalaya</a> research team. Urban Himalaya is an international, interdisciplinary, collaborative research partnership that seeks to understand urbanization and vulnerability in the Himalaya. Our <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969721051147" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969721051147&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1637032361315000&amp;usg=AOvVaw3MqefP8QtVEj91d-Qi1u3b">recent research</a> on multi-hazards was published in the journal Science of the Total Environment.

Multipronged response to Nepal’s multi-hazards

<figure><img width="1334" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181148/636be8929c7e80680e08786ajpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Rob Powell in his Koh Samui studio.</figcaption></figure>Last Wednesday, 16 December 2020, marked the passing of a visionary artist who shared his unique perceptions of Asian architecture, art and culture with the world. With an eye beguiled by beauty and a heart attuned to the strange and ineffable qualities of physical heritage, Robert Gordon Powell was a magician with pen, pencil and brush.Born in Australia in 1948, Rob was teaching art and studying architecture when the Baul clan from just divided state of Bengal in India, came to perform songs, dance and rituals in his university town. This initial introduction to the human-spirit world deeply intrigued him, and the Bauls, who stayed at his home, recognised in him a kindred soul. Laxman Das Baul invited Rob to visit their Bengali village. Arriving at the teeming Howrah train station, riding the branch line through idyllic rice paddies and ending with an hour-long rickshaw ride deeper into mud-walled thatch-roofed villages, the young man from ‘down under’ was transported into an utterly different reality.While sketching and experiencing life in Bengal, Rob heard that Ladakh had recently opened to foreigners, and determined to visit there as well. His camera disappeared en route, being fate’s way of telling him that hand drawings were to be his primary means of documenting what he encountered. This foray immersed him in Himalayan culture which became his most famous subject matter. He first documented Ladakhi buildings painstakingly with dots, the lightest possible method of rendition, well-suited to a patient artist and perfectly suited to the high mountain light, soft palette of colours and often eroded surfaces of Ladakhi architecture. Rob recorded architecture in Swat and Kalash Valleys of Pakistan, evolving a still detailed but faster illustration of light and shadow through cross-hatching in ink.  <figure><img width="1786" height="1255" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181148/636be8959c7e80680e08786bjpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>He documented the shamanistic culture of Western Nepal, portraying the initiation of a female shaman who meditated all night on a makeshift perch of perilously few small branches lashed high on a pole above her village. He drew drums, amulets and drumsticks - ritual implements that shamans used to mesmerise the world and captivate those journeying with them.These ethnographically rich locales were sparse in material comforts, and Rob found his way to Kathmandu to more comfortably complete and develop paintings from his sketches. Here he became familiar with the Newa brick, wood and plaster architecture of the Kathmandu Valley. He recognised that temples and residences follow traditional shapes, incorporate sacred proportions, and create a feeling that resonates with community, professional, and visitor. He turned to red pigment watercolours to depict the रातो माटो brick and tile work, and used browns, creams and greys to show how time tempers wood, plaster and stone. He was commissioned to design the Green Pastures Hospital in Pokhara, a comely complex resembling monastic quarters in layout, with the warm detailing of a traditional, welcoming inn.Early in Rob’s three decades in Kathmandu, he encountered the German government’s largest development project in the world at the time – the restoration and conservation of the traditional city of Bhaktapur. Fortuitously meeting its leader, the Austrian conservation architect Götz Hagenmüller and his wife Ludmilla before they departed on holiday, they commissioned Rob to produce eleven drawings of Bhaktapur, including the Kuthu Math priest’s house that they would later renovate as their exquisite residence. These drawings were exhibited at the Vajra Hotel art gallery. The most challenging piece was a small Kuthu Math room which had been used for years for distilling छ्याङ beer. The first sketch showed it cluttered and with blackened walls. After careful cleaning, Rob painted it as the three-century old puja room it originally was — every inch of wall richly decorated with sacred Krishna-Lila murals.Rob’s Bhaktapur work generated a lifelong friendship with Götz, and professional recognition that brought further work in cultural heritage. His skills had arrived at a moment when the world was athirst for all things Himalayan, including the Kathmandu Valley’s ten World Heritage sites. Rob deeply appreciated the works of the great traditional Newar Malla artisans and honed what he saw into radiant compositions that elicited ancient memories and enticed new perceptions. Before long, Rob was engaged by the Nepal government’s Department of Archaeology to accompany their team to Mustang. He travelled on foot and horseback to Lo Manthang, sketching the luminous, mineral-laden mountain-scape.  <figure><img width="640" height="883" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181148/636be8989c7e80680e08786cjpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><figure><img width="1000" height="570" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181148/636be89b9c7e80680e08786djpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>At the town of Lo, he spent hours on site, absorbing the forms and feelings of the buildings. He celebrated the rich red, white and black colours painted and poured down walls, to call forth the protection of the gods, Manjushri, Avalokitesvara, and Vajrapani on vulnerable building corners and doorways. He vividly highlighted the ram skulls and horns that are positioned above an opening to protect the inhabitants against malicious spirits.When Rob met Mary Slusser, cultural researcher and author of Nepal Mandala, she was impressed with his virtuoso artwork and arranged for him to show at the Sackler Gallery, part of the Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC.  <figure><img width="634" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181148/636be89d9c7e80680e08786ejpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><figure><img width="634" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181148/636be89f9c7e80680e08786fjpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>That exhibition, ‘<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Earth-Door-Sky-Paintings-Mustang/dp/0906026539" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.amazon.com/Earth-Door-Sky-Paintings-Mustang/dp/0906026539&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1608384932546000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGHfnIrkqsbLWIUtsX4spUYkN_ICQ">Earth Door, Sky Door, Paintings of Mustang</a>’ in 1999 introduced the global art world to Robert Powell. His works embraced and slipped beyond the boundaries of ethnography into <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=5455" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id%3D5455&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1608384932546000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGfwWsIIqTmokZ4-CsuhYIvAyK5ag">apparitional forms that reflect the essence of the Himalaya</a>. Michael O’Sullivan of The Washington Post said it well, 'Robert draws buildings in an animistic way that reveals something that lies beyond what can be seen.' <figure><img width="1926" height="1244" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181148/636be8a29c7e80680e087870jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>In 1992, Rob married Lieve Aerts, a Belgian woman and teacher of yoga and chi qong, who became his partner for life. After three decades happily settled in the centre of the culture that he portrayed so well, Rob contracted a lung infection that left his health vulnerable. Rehabilitating at length in Europe, he was advised not to return to the poor air quality of Kathmandu. Rob and Lieve moved to Koh Samui, Thailand, where he designed the Kamalaya spa and an exquisite home for themselves that encompassed huge hillside boulders, lush trees and a sublime view over the Gulf of Thailand. As the inside trees grew, so did the building, with some roof sections rebuilt several times to accommodate the surging foliage.  <img width="597" height="824" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181148/636be8a59c7e80680e087871jpeg.jpg" alt="">In Thailand, Rob expanded upon the Himalayan themes that had fascinated him. Rams’ horns that protected the doors of Lo Manthang grew to a full, fantastical wall of hornery. Mountainsides that had housed the awesome Bamyan Buddhas in northern Afghanistan were re-depicted with dakinis, looming, sensual female figures with small fangs to ward off treacherous foes. He discovered new media, moving into acrylics to capture the brilliant, evanescent skies and water around them, and to explore singularly potent spiritual symbols.In 2019 Andrei Jewell made the documentary, Enchanted Matter, capturing Rob’s life, art and philosophy. Sadly his health gradually deteriorated. He passed away with Lieve at his side, in a room brightened by a view to a brilliant, orange-flowered tree, with music and candles to accompany his final journey.Robert will not be forgotten. He will live on in our memories as a beloved, gentle being and a prodigious creator of wondrous works of art, who encouraged us to let the strange and beautiful lift us into enchantment. Linda Kentro and James Giambrone are founders of the Indigo Art Gallery in Kathmandu.

1250x600

Robert G Powell, 1948-2020

<figure><img width="1334" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109191120/636bef864b0ad905ca02efb3jpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Rob Powell in his Koh Samui studio.</figcaption></figure>Last Wednesday, 16 December 2020, marked the passing of a visionary artist who shared his unique perceptions of Asian architecture, art and culture with the world. With an eye beguiled by beauty and a heart attuned to the strange and ineffable qualities of physical heritage, Robert Gordon Powell was a magician with pen, pencil and brush.Born in Australia in 1948, Rob was teaching art and studying architecture when the Baul clan from just divided state of Bengal in India, came to perform songs, dance and rituals in his university town. This initial introduction to the human-spirit world deeply intrigued him, and the Bauls, who stayed at his home, recognised in him a kindred soul. Laxman Das Baul invited Rob to visit their Bengali village. Arriving at the teeming Howrah train station, riding the branch line through idyllic rice paddies and ending with an hour-long rickshaw ride deeper into mud-walled thatch-roofed villages, the young man from ‘down under’ was transported into an utterly different reality.While sketching and experiencing life in Bengal, Rob heard that Ladakh had recently opened to foreigners, and determined to visit there as well. His camera disappeared en route, being fate’s way of telling him that hand drawings were to be his primary means of documenting what he encountered. This foray immersed him in Himalayan culture which became his most famous subject matter. He first documented Ladakhi buildings painstakingly with dots, the lightest possible method of rendition, well-suited to a patient artist and perfectly suited to the high mountain light, soft palette of colours and often eroded surfaces of Ladakhi architecture. Rob recorded architecture in Swat and Kalash Valleys of Pakistan, evolving a still detailed but faster illustration of light and shadow through cross-hatching in ink.  <figure><img width="1786" height="1255" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109191120/636bef894b0ad905ca02efb4jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>He documented the shamanistic culture of Western Nepal, portraying the initiation of a female shaman who meditated all night on a makeshift perch of perilously few small branches lashed high on a pole above her village. He drew drums, amulets and drumsticks - ritual implements that shamans used to mesmerise the world and captivate those journeying with them.These ethnographically rich locales were sparse in material comforts, and Rob found his way to Kathmandu to more comfortably complete and develop paintings from his sketches. Here he became familiar with the Newa brick, wood and plaster architecture of the Kathmandu Valley. He recognised that temples and residences follow traditional shapes, incorporate sacred proportions, and create a feeling that resonates with community, professional, and visitor. He turned to red pigment watercolours to depict the रातो माटो brick and tile work, and used browns, creams and greys to show how time tempers wood, plaster and stone. He was commissioned to design the Green Pastures Hospital in Pokhara, a comely complex resembling monastic quarters in layout, with the warm detailing of a traditional, welcoming inn.Early in Rob’s three decades in Kathmandu, he encountered the German government’s largest development project in the world at the time – the restoration and conservation of the traditional city of Bhaktapur. Fortuitously meeting its leader, the Austrian conservation architect Götz Hagenmüller and his wife Ludmilla before they departed on holiday, they commissioned Rob to produce eleven drawings of Bhaktapur, including the Kuthu Math priest’s house that they would later renovate as their exquisite residence. These drawings were exhibited at the Vajra Hotel art gallery. The most challenging piece was a small Kuthu Math room which had been used for years for distilling छ्याङ beer. The first sketch showed it cluttered and with blackened walls. After careful cleaning, Rob painted it as the three-century old puja room it originally was — every inch of wall richly decorated with sacred Krishna-Lila murals.Rob’s Bhaktapur work generated a lifelong friendship with Götz, and professional recognition that brought further work in cultural heritage. His skills had arrived at a moment when the world was athirst for all things Himalayan, including the Kathmandu Valley’s ten World Heritage sites. Rob deeply appreciated the works of the great traditional Newar Malla artisans and honed what he saw into radiant compositions that elicited ancient memories and enticed new perceptions. Before long, Rob was engaged by the Nepal government’s Department of Archaeology to accompany their team to Mustang. He travelled on foot and horseback to Lo Manthang, sketching the luminous, mineral-laden mountain-scape.  <figure><img width="640" height="883" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109191120/636bef8c4b0ad905ca02efb5jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><figure><img width="1000" height="570" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109191120/636bef8e4b0ad905ca02efb6jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>At the town of Lo, he spent hours on site, absorbing the forms and feelings of the buildings. He celebrated the rich red, white and black colours painted and poured down walls, to call forth the protection of the gods, Manjushri, Avalokitesvara, and Vajrapani on vulnerable building corners and doorways. He vividly highlighted the ram skulls and horns that are positioned above an opening to protect the inhabitants against malicious spirits.When Rob met Mary Slusser, cultural researcher and author of Nepal Mandala, she was impressed with his virtuoso artwork and arranged for him to show at the Sackler Gallery, part of the Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC.  <figure><img width="634" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109191120/636bef914b0ad905ca02efb7jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><figure><img width="634" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109191120/636bef934b0ad905ca02efb8jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>That exhibition, ‘<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Earth-Door-Sky-Paintings-Mustang/dp/0906026539" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.amazon.com/Earth-Door-Sky-Paintings-Mustang/dp/0906026539&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1608384932546000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGHfnIrkqsbLWIUtsX4spUYkN_ICQ">Earth Door, Sky Door, Paintings of Mustang</a>’ in 1999 introduced the global art world to Robert Powell. His works embraced and slipped beyond the boundaries of ethnography into <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=5455" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id%3D5455&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1608384932546000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGfwWsIIqTmokZ4-CsuhYIvAyK5ag">apparitional forms that reflect the essence of the Himalaya</a>. Michael O’Sullivan of The Washington Post said it well, 'Robert draws buildings in an animistic way that reveals something that lies beyond what can be seen.' <figure><img width="1926" height="1244" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109191120/636bef954b0ad905ca02efb9jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>In 1992, Rob married Lieve Aerts, a Belgian woman and teacher of yoga and chi qong, who became his partner for life. After three decades happily settled in the centre of the culture that he portrayed so well, Rob contracted a lung infection that left his health vulnerable. Rehabilitating at length in Europe, he was advised not to return to the poor air quality of Kathmandu. Rob and Lieve moved to Koh Samui, Thailand, where he designed the Kamalaya spa and an exquisite home for themselves that encompassed huge hillside boulders, lush trees and a sublime view over the Gulf of Thailand. As the inside trees grew, so did the building, with some roof sections rebuilt several times to accommodate the surging foliage.  <img width="597" height="824" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109191120/636bef984b0ad905ca02efbajpeg.jpg" alt="">In Thailand, Rob expanded upon the Himalayan themes that had fascinated him. Rams’ horns that protected the doors of Lo Manthang grew to a full, fantastical wall of hornery. Mountainsides that had housed the awesome Bamyan Buddhas in northern Afghanistan were re-depicted with dakinis, looming, sensual female figures with small fangs to ward off treacherous foes. He discovered new media, moving into acrylics to capture the brilliant, evanescent skies and water around them, and to explore singularly potent spiritual symbols.In 2019 Andrei Jewell made the documentary, Enchanted Matter, capturing Rob’s life, art and philosophy. Sadly his health gradually deteriorated. He passed away with Lieve at his side, in a room brightened by a view to a brilliant, orange-flowered tree, with music and candles to accompany his final journey.Robert will not be forgotten. He will live on in our memories as a beloved, gentle being and a prodigious creator of wondrous works of art, who encouraged us to let the strange and beautiful lift us into enchantment. Linda Kentro and James Giambrone are founders of the Indigo Art Gallery in Kathmandu.

<figure><img width="1500" height="900" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109191116/636bee9d4b0ad905ca02ef59jpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Lo Khyi now lives in Haymarket, Virginia in the US (right) with the DeLisi family, on the other side of the Planet from his birthplace in a remote village of Mustang in Nepal (left).</figcaption></figure>The story begins with a tiny <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/a-dog-with-altitude/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/a-dog-with-altitude/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1607763910021000&amp;usg=AFQjCNH9CEZG4bpq66y4XoTU_SIampvcGg">Tibetan Mastiff</a> pup, cold, hungry and alone as an icy wind blows across a mountain trail in Tsarang of <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/blogs/kundadixit/2012/09/07/monsoon-in-the-rainshadow/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://archive.nepalitimes.com/blogs/kundadixit/2012/09/07/monsoon-in-the-rainshadow/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1607763910021000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHUmrOgNZKbL4fGYxruaeWemr63aw">Upper Mustang</a> beyond the Himalaya.A boy named Karchung scoops up the shivering ball of fluff. “Little brother, this won’t do,” says the boy, tucking him inside his fleece jacket and taking him home.The puppy slurps up the tsampa, and as the days go by the little pup gets stronger and dreams of a warm home and family by night, an innocent wish that the high Himalayan winds carry across the land.When he wasn’t chasing after chicken and prancing around the goats, he was restlessly roaming the village, exploring every corner of Saukre. Villagers recognise pretty early that this handsome blue-eyed Tibetan Mastiff pup has a wandering spirit. But Karchung, his family and most of the village had never left the mountains.So, the story goes, the pup waits for his true family, perched on his rock overlooking the trail until one day a man with a white-beard and white shirt comes puffing up the trail.This is not just any other trekker, it is <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=18512#.X9Mx3lUzaUk" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id%3D18512%23.X9Mx3lUzaUk&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1607763910021000&amp;usg=AFQjCNH6VHgrM1MfgVEkc8QcCpaHyedqWA">Scott DeLisi, at the time the American Ambassador to Nepal</a>. He and his team were heading up to the fabled walled town of Lo Manthang. <figure><img width="330" height="381" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109191116/636beea14b0ad905ca02ef5ajpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>The piercing blue eyes and dignified self-confident air immediately drew him to the pup. If it was not for the eyes, His Excellency may have walked on by since the dog’s blue-grey coat was the colour of the land itself, and perfectly camouflaged him in Mustang’s arid terrain.Then, their eyes met, and, for the first time, the puppy spoke… and Scott heard him, and that day, the world changed for them both.The Ambassador’s Dog is a tale of Lo Khyi (Lo for Mustang, and khyi, which fortuitously means both ‘dog’ and ‘happiness’ in Tibetan), a pup that dared to dream big and who went on to become the source of happiness for Scott, who took the dog to America after his tenure in Nepal.‘Scott’ in the book is Scott H. DeLisi himself, who <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=18847" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id%3D18847&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1607763910021000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHwNbBtI9s4hrNMwwqTlYyVqbvZlQ">served as ambassador</a> in Kathmandu from 2010-12. Now retired, DeLisi is a career diplomat who spent 35 years from one embassy to the next roaming the world with multiple postings in Asia and Africa. But it was Nepal and Nepalis that touched his heart like no other place. <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=19388" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id%3D19388&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1607763910021000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFeyBVhxB3sPk81x1ya0vxrPz9CcQ">DeLisi is an avid birder</a>, and made a rare sighting of Spiny Babbler during his tenure in Nepal.DeLisi worked on <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=17850" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id%3D17850&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1607763910021000&amp;usg=AFQjCNG2yKUAA_XLWay95dcTe2tW0f17pQ">preparing Nepal for disaster risk reduction</a> as ambassador, and after retiring had just established <a href="http://www.soarway.org/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.soarway.org/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1607763910021000&amp;usg=AFQjCNH8QFf7_rRLWN7JlSZwIDj_WhRhRA">Soarway Foundation</a> in April 2015, when a major earthquake rocked Nepal.  As an Executive Director of the Foundation and <a href="https://www.engagenepal.org/team" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.engagenepal.org/team&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1607763910021000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEdLY3uo_YYXlzooQSTlPVtOuyixA">Engage Nepal,</a> he continues his effort to help Nepal with child nutrition and education, public health, employment generation and rebuilding. Part of the proceeds from this book will go to his charitable organisation.The Ambassador’s Dog has a dream-like quality to it, but at its heart is a story of optimism and positivity. Lo Khyi is a canine medium for an important message: set goals for yourselves and believe in them. And somehow (stars will align, or you will find avenues) your dreams will come true.Every word in this short tale reveals DeLisi’s attachment to his bhote kukur, a harbinger of hope and happiness. This book will surely grip many young readers and inspire them, and they will be particularly drawn by Jane Lillian Vance’s exquisite illustrations.Vance is an acclaimed American artist, her thangka painting of amchi healer in west Nepal resulted in the award-winning 2010 documentary A Gift for the Village. She has worked as an art therapist for children with special needs for 20 years and is a vice-president at the non-profit Help Save the Next Girl.The illustrations on every page are symbolic, but detailed works of art that are intimate portrayals of the Land of Lo, its Buddhist faith, and its people, animals and birds.Lo Khyi now lives in Haymarket, Virginia with DeLisi’s loving family, on the other side of the Planet from his birthplace in the remote wind-blown village of Tsarang in Nepal.Lo Khyi is the true hero of the The Ambassador’s Dog, a short, uplifting ageless read for this dreary Covid winter, and a perfect magical gift of hope for the upcoming holiday season -- especially for families with children and dogs.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llARsJ8R1DYThe Ambassador’s Dog Scott H. DeLisi Vajra Publications 2020 Pages 40 Rs1,600 Available at Vajra Books, Patan dhoka Bookshop and Architect's Books in Patan. Vajra is offering Christmas discount at Rs1,400 and home delivery. Can also order online through Laibary.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109191116/636beea34b0ad905ca02ef5bjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="791" height="995">

Sonia Awale

A Tibetan Mastiff pup who dares to dream

<figure><img width="1500" height="900" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181144/636be79b9c7e80680e087810jpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Lo Khyi now lives in Haymarket, Virginia in the US (right) with the DeLisi family, on the other side of the Planet from his birthplace in a remote village of Mustang in Nepal (left).</figcaption></figure>The story begins with a tiny <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/a-dog-with-altitude/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/a-dog-with-altitude/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1607763910021000&amp;usg=AFQjCNH9CEZG4bpq66y4XoTU_SIampvcGg">Tibetan Mastiff</a> pup, cold, hungry and alone as an icy wind blows across a mountain trail in Tsarang of <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/blogs/kundadixit/2012/09/07/monsoon-in-the-rainshadow/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://archive.nepalitimes.com/blogs/kundadixit/2012/09/07/monsoon-in-the-rainshadow/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1607763910021000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHUmrOgNZKbL4fGYxruaeWemr63aw">Upper Mustang</a> beyond the Himalaya.A boy named Karchung scoops up the shivering ball of fluff. “Little brother, this won’t do,” says the boy, tucking him inside his fleece jacket and taking him home.The puppy slurps up the tsampa, and as the days go by the little pup gets stronger and dreams of a warm home and family by night, an innocent wish that the high Himalayan winds carry across the land.When he wasn’t chasing after chicken and prancing around the goats, he was restlessly roaming the village, exploring every corner of Saukre. Villagers recognise pretty early that this handsome blue-eyed Tibetan Mastiff pup has a wandering spirit. But Karchung, his family and most of the village had never left the mountains.So, the story goes, the pup waits for his true family, perched on his rock overlooking the trail until one day a man with a white-beard and white shirt comes puffing up the trail.This is not just any other trekker, it is <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=18512#.X9Mx3lUzaUk" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id%3D18512%23.X9Mx3lUzaUk&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1607763910021000&amp;usg=AFQjCNH6VHgrM1MfgVEkc8QcCpaHyedqWA">Scott DeLisi, at the time the American Ambassador to Nepal</a>. He and his team were heading up to the fabled walled town of Lo Manthang. <figure><img width="330" height="381" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181144/636be79e9c7e80680e087811jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>The piercing blue eyes and dignified self-confident air immediately drew him to the pup. If it was not for the eyes, His Excellency may have walked on by since the dog’s blue-grey coat was the colour of the land itself, and perfectly camouflaged him in Mustang’s arid terrain.Then, their eyes met, and, for the first time, the puppy spoke… and Scott heard him, and that day, the world changed for them both.The Ambassador’s Dog is a tale of Lo Khyi (Lo for Mustang, and khyi, which fortuitously means both ‘dog’ and ‘happiness’ in Tibetan), a pup that dared to dream big and who went on to become the source of happiness for Scott, who took the dog to America after his tenure in Nepal.‘Scott’ in the book is Scott H. DeLisi himself, who <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=18847" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id%3D18847&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1607763910021000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHwNbBtI9s4hrNMwwqTlYyVqbvZlQ">served as ambassador</a> in Kathmandu from 2010-12. Now retired, DeLisi is a career diplomat who spent 35 years from one embassy to the next roaming the world with multiple postings in Asia and Africa. But it was Nepal and Nepalis that touched his heart like no other place. <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=19388" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id%3D19388&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1607763910021000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFeyBVhxB3sPk81x1ya0vxrPz9CcQ">DeLisi is an avid birder</a>, and made a rare sighting of Spiny Babbler during his tenure in Nepal.DeLisi worked on <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=17850" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id%3D17850&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1607763910021000&amp;usg=AFQjCNG2yKUAA_XLWay95dcTe2tW0f17pQ">preparing Nepal for disaster risk reduction</a> as ambassador, and after retiring had just established <a href="http://www.soarway.org/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.soarway.org/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1607763910021000&amp;usg=AFQjCNH8QFf7_rRLWN7JlSZwIDj_WhRhRA">Soarway Foundation</a> in April 2015, when a major earthquake rocked Nepal.  As an Executive Director of the Foundation and <a href="https://www.engagenepal.org/team" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.engagenepal.org/team&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1607763910021000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEdLY3uo_YYXlzooQSTlPVtOuyixA">Engage Nepal,</a> he continues his effort to help Nepal with child nutrition and education, public health, employment generation and rebuilding. Part of the proceeds from this book will go to his charitable organisation.The Ambassador’s Dog has a dream-like quality to it, but at its heart is a story of optimism and positivity. Lo Khyi is a canine medium for an important message: set goals for yourselves and believe in them. And somehow (stars will align, or you will find avenues) your dreams will come true.Every word in this short tale reveals DeLisi’s attachment to his bhote kukur, a harbinger of hope and happiness. This book will surely grip many young readers and inspire them, and they will be particularly drawn by Jane Lillian Vance’s exquisite illustrations.Vance is an acclaimed American artist, her thangka painting of amchi healer in west Nepal resulted in the award-winning 2010 documentary A Gift for the Village. She has worked as an art therapist for children with special needs for 20 years and is a vice-president at the non-profit Help Save the Next Girl.The illustrations on every page are symbolic, but detailed works of art that are intimate portrayals of the Land of Lo, its Buddhist faith, and its people, animals and birds.Lo Khyi now lives in Haymarket, Virginia with DeLisi’s loving family, on the other side of the Planet from his birthplace in the remote wind-blown village of Tsarang in Nepal.Lo Khyi is the true hero of the The Ambassador’s Dog, a short, uplifting ageless read for this dreary Covid winter, and a perfect magical gift of hope for the upcoming holiday season -- especially for families with children and dogs.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llARsJ8R1DYThe Ambassador’s Dog Scott H. DeLisi Vajra Publications 2020 Pages 40 Rs1,600 Available at Vajra Books, Patan dhoka Bookshop and Architect's Books in Patan. Vajra is offering Christmas discount at Rs1,400 and home delivery. Can also order online through Laibary.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181144/636be79f9c7e80680e087812jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="791" height="995">

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109101116/636b6fd49c7e80680e060045jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"/><figcaption>From Korala Pass on the Nepal-China border facing south. Annapurna and Nilgiri in the distance.</figcaption></figure>As the road meanders uphill towards my village of Dhee in <a href="https://nepalitimes.atavist.com/high-and-dry-upper-mustang" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Upper Mustang</a>, I recall my childhood amidst these mountains. Life was hard then, things people take for granted now were privileges only few could afford.I walked 11 days to <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/pokhara-nepals-new-aviation-gateway/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Pokhara</a> for my SLC exams. Seeing cars was magical. We were more likely to see helicopters in Mustang than vehicles.There was only one primary school in whole Kingdom of Lo then. It was a six hour walk away, and the only secondary school was in Jomsom, three days away.Thanks to the secretary of the late King of <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=7328#.XgyEd1UzaUk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Mustang</a>, Chandra Bahadur Thakali, I stayed with his family in Jomsom paying his family a rent of Rs310 a month in 1976. That was a what a full-grown sheep cost then.Mustang was a restricted area, outsiders were rare. Today, there are western trekkers, Nepalis on motorcycles all on the motorable road that joins <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=6251#.XgyDLlUzaUk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Lo Manthang</a> to <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/going-to-jomsom-in-the-off-season,3878" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Jomsom</a>. In fact ‘domestic tourists’ are more visible than non-Nepali visitors.And that is the biggest change in Mustang today: The Road. Accessibility has accelerated change in this kingdom within a republic. The 11-day trek from Pokhara can be done in one day – the highway may be precarious but it is a new lifeline.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109101116/636b6fd79c7e80680e060046jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="400" height="522"><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109101116/636b6fd99c7e80680e060047jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1125"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Subsistence agriculture and pastoralism have been replaced with trade, and now with outmigration and tourism. The road connects <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/bon-voyage/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Mustang’s pristine culture</a>, <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/blogs/kundadixit/2012/09/07/monsoon-in-the-rainshadow/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">stark beauty</a> and fragile ecosystem to the outside world.Accessibility has also helped upgrade health facilities, improve education and brought modern everyday necessities which were nearly non-existent in the past. With no knowledge or access to primary health care, locals mostly depended on traditional amchis healers. With modern medicine and better nutrition, most health indicators have improved.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109101116/636b6fdd9c7e80680e060048jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1125"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Food was always a scarce during my Mustang childhood. Mules, horses, yaks, people and sometimes even goats had to travel for a week days to transport grain to the villages, making it expensive.Although we ate nutritious local produce like buckwheat, beans, wheat, potatoes and barley, the road has brought processed and packaged food. However, the road has also contributed to food security by bringing down the cost of grain and other essentials.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109101116/636b6fe09c7e80680e060049jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1500"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>One big change now is that the few local primary schools that did exist are now all closed. With increased income, locals prefer to send their children to Jomsom, Pokhara or even Kathmandu. Even so, education and exposure to the wider world has given Mustang’s youngsters a deeper understanding of the value of their cultural and natural heritage.Also adding to the exposure is the interaction with tourists, who come to Mustang to admire its unique cultural heritage and stunning scenery. This has allowed locals to realise that they are worth preserving, and has contributed to restoring pride in their way of life.However, development comes at a cost. With the road, there is now pressure on the region’s fragile ecology. Haphazard road construction has triggered landslides, and added sediment to the rivers. Drainage has been disrupted, creating water shortages as springs go dry. <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/nepal-must-prepare-for-climate-migration/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Climate breakdown</a> has exacerbated this crisis.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109101116/636b6fe49c7e80680e06004ajpeg.jpg" alt="" width="2500" height="554"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Traffic will increase once the Kali Gandaki Corridor is upgraded to connect to the China border at Korala. It is essential to urgently carry out an assessment of its impact on the environment and plan for sustainable and green infrastructure.<a style="background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/a-terrifying-assessment-of-himalayan-melting/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Climate change</a> has changed rain and snowfall patterns, but on the flipside, it has also had positive impact: cucumbers, tomatoes and  vegetables never used to grow here because of the cold are now plentiful. Mustang apples <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/mixed-blessings-in-mustang/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">can now grow in areas which were not suitable for the orchards</a>.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109101116/636b6fe69c7e80680e06004bjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="480"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109101116/636b6fea9c7e80680e06004cjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="480"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>On balance, road connectivity has provided a strong boost to the economy through tourism. It has connected produce to markets, workers to jobs, students to schools, and patients to hospitals.The once forbidden kingdom is now connected to the world, and is now at the crossroads, it is vital that decisions to <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/new-high-way-to-dolpo/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">balance development with conservation of nature and cultural heritage</a> be taken now so Mustang’s fragile beauty is preserved for the next generation.Ghana S Gurung is the Country Representative of WWF in Nepal and Snow Leopard Champion for the global WWF network. The views expressed here are personal.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109101116/636b6fed9c7e80680e06004djpeg.jpg" alt="" width="319" height="310">

11-day trek is now a day’s drive in Nepal

<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108151128/636a67809c7e80680e0599dfjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="3000" height="1252"/>Road-trips are not an established genre in Nepali films, like romance, action or comedy even though they may have all these elements. But in the last few years more than a few have made it to commercial cinema as a trend.Road trip movies tend to be mostly romantic and usually feature guy and girl trekking to Jomsom or Mustang with a gaggle of friends to bicker and eventually fall in love. Dollops of crude and convoluted sex jokes spice up the script, and keep the plot moving.There is usually a dead parent, a crazed brother or a failing orphanage in the mix as part of a thinly established back story or a point of conflict. The mountains always glisten in the backdrop as romance blossoms. It is a Nepali movie-goers have to suffer.However, there are a few memorable films within the sub-genre if we look at the last couple of decades. <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/issue/344/Interview/13437#.XgSKDVUzaUk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Caravan</a>, <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=14366#.XgSKIlUzaUk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Kaagbeni</a> and <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=19506#.XgSJ5lUzaUk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Highway</a> come to mind – adventure, horror, and the last a political drama.<a style="background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/631523-ama-khando?language=en-US" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ama Khando</a> is an addition to this list. It is an intimate comedy-drama depicting the journey of two families from Lo Manthang in Mustang to Pokhara, as part of an annual trip. But this year is different, especially for the little boy who is co-lead with his mother in the film.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drOXmPvz2l8The eponymous Khando of the movie’s title is Ama, or mother, to a school-skipping, fight-picking 10-year-old who never seems to listen to her. Even though the film’s central relationship is between Khando and her son Dhondup, the family friends who are travelling with them also ebb and flow inside the story.The elder son Lobsang of the other family wrestles with his fate of having to abandon his studies for a lack of money, and has a terse relationship with his father because of this.Khando, a financially vulnerable single mother is also frustrated with her son as she worries for his future. The elders in the story are concerned for their children’s prospects in the difficult terrain of Mustang as the world closes in. Even though they are conflicted about the idea of the city, its bustle and pollution are a draw.For young adults like Lobsang the idea of remaining farmers is financially and socially unattractive. Much like most of our young migrants overseas, they can only be nostalgic for a homeland they are already moving away from.For children like Dhondup , who does not care for much beyond food, entertainment and his long lost father, these larger themes do not interfere in his small adventures, but will eventually decide his fate.Writer-director Tshering Dhondup is from <a href="https://nepalitimes.atavist.com/high-and-dry-upper-mustang" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Upper Mustang</a>, and drew from personal experiences to create this story. He plays himself in some portions of the film and so does his own mother, and his friends have roles too.The film is made up of little moments, small talk and chance encounters. There are no spectacles here, but much like the colossal mountains that make for the background in this journey, brooding themes of love, loss and identity are quietly visible under the surface.  Here at least, the mountains do stand for something. Here is a road movie where the characters are real and the emotional stakes highly resonant.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108151128/636a67839c7e80680e0599e0jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="990" height="756"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>The film does occasionally falter (musical cues seem needlessly placed and expose a proclivity for forced sentimentality, and some handheld shots feel random) but in the larger scheme of things, Ama Khando works.And one reason it does is the lead actress Pema Dolker Gurung’s performance which is unencumbered by showiness and lends itself so beautifully to the screen. The score by Pushpa-Sangam, and the understated cinematography by Ali Rasheed and Manoj Panta blend well.Made by a skeletal crew and under the painful circumstances that come with filming in far off locations on a shoestring budget, the film nevertheless has heart enough to travel. The film was selected for the prestigious <a href="https://www.biff.kr/eng/html/program/prog_view.asp?idx=42642&amp;c_idx=332&amp;sp_idx=&amp;QueryStep=2">Busan Film Festival</a> and the <a href="http://pibarchive.nic.in/newsite/photoright.aspx?phid=149731">50th International Film Festival of India in Goa</a>, coming home in December to a warm reception at the Kathmandu International Film Festival, where it won the audience award for best film.

mustang

Comings and goings in Mustang

Winds of change sweep Mustang

Mustang forced to adapt to climate crisis

Multipronged response to Nepal’s multi-hazards

Robert G Powell, 1948-2020

Robert G Powell, 1948-2020

A Tibetan Mastiff pup who dares to dream

A Tibetan Mastiff pup who dares to dream

11-day trek is now a day’s drive in Nepal

Ama Khando: a different road trip film from Nepal