Once Is Not Enough
Nepali Times ईspecial 30 August - 5 September 2024 #1227
We meet again.
Monsoon is the time when air quality in Kathmandu is at its best because the rain washes down suspended particulates. It is when the monsoon ends that the Air Quality Index will creep back towards maroon, which is 10 times higher than the level deemed safe by WHO, and which in Nepal we call: ‘Good Enough To Breathe Without Dying Mark’.
With all the free international publicity for being the third most polluted country on Earth, GON predicts that in 2024 ‘tourist arrivals will exceed pre-Covid record’. Notice how carefully worded that statement is: they arrive, but may not depart. :-)
And that is why I have come up with more clever slogans for tourism promotion so the grumblement can start considering air pollution as an asset rather than a liability. We can buy space on tripadvisor.com and put these up:
‘Dying To Visit Kathmandu? We Can Help.’
‘Once Is Not Enough: Be Reincarnated in Nepal’
‘Naturally Nepal: Breathe Your Last’.
Looking through the Nepali Times archives, I found that we first wrote about air pollution 24 years ago in the #10 edition of Nepali Times of 20-26 September 2000. (A great way to go down memory lane is to click the drop down menu on www.nepalitimes.com to browse the archives and realise how Nepal’s problems are the same, and we suffer the same governance failure to address them because the politicians are still the same people.)
Editor Sonia Awale reviews the latest Air Quality Life Index in her comprehensive report ‘Bad Air and Polluted Politics’ (page 1, 10-11) with some shocking figures about the average lifespans of Nepali cut by at least 3 years because of suspended particulates in the air we breathe. Cough. Cough.
Shrijan Pandey travels to Upper Dolpo to bring us the page 6-7 foldout ‘The Human Cost of Nepal’s Yarsa Gold Rush’ with a dramatic 11-minute video which you can watch on our YouTube channel.
Also shot on location in Dolpo was Min Bahadur Bham’s movie ‘Shambhala’ which was nominated at the Berlinale in February and recently won Thinley Lhamo the Best Acting Performance Award. Read Pinki Sri Rana’s profile on page 9.
Former Indian Ambassador K V Rajan’s new book ‘Kathmandu Chronicle: Reclaiming India-Nepal Relations’ is reviewed by New Delhi-based Nepali journalist on page 4-5.
Wishing all genders a Happy Tij, which this year falls on 6 September.
Until next time.
Kunda Dixit