When city sleeps!

Constructing good road network is one of the human’s utmost vision. Connecting people from places, making travel convenient either for holiday purpose, for business, for health services or any other day to day life purpose.

Today, I would like to shed some lights on the improvisation in the road network by installing solar powered lights to better the road transportation for public.

This beautiful street with amazing street lights is what we all desire for when hitting the road in the dark. Living in an overly crowded city, we only get to travel without traffic congestion when city sleeps in the early morning and at the night.

Traffic management is the current issue right at the moment. This is how it looks when city is awake.

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTnnOwo26ao)

Long before, the installation of solar powered street lights, we all dreamed of kathmandu city to get lighten up in every nook and corner of the streets. With daily load shedding for more than 12 hours and poorly managed electrical street lights, it was even out of our imagination for lighting up the roads.

>If there is a good will, there is a great way.

It has been few years, the public-private partnership of B. K traders and Kathmandu Metro Politan City made it possible to light the city with solar powered lights in major areas where light was much needed when travelled in the dark. They had the capabilities which they envisioned and initiated this project. B. K traders invested and somehow they put up the idea of adding advertisement box along with the poles of solar powered street lamps where companies can advertise their brands and that way they could get back their investment.

*Success is never achieved without any obstacles and risks through out the way.*

It was not easy to make more out of each and every day, do more productive works in a short time. Construction is a very stressful work when there is unmanaged electrical lines all over the poles, not wide enough and not suitable streets to carry out construction; meanwhile leaving ample space for pedestrians to pass. Amidst all the disturbances, they have successfully light up the city streets with solar street lamps.

If we team up and try then we can make the optimal use of the available resources in a very wise way.

>Alone we can do so much then together we can do great things.

Nepali cuisine; Thakali Khana and dhindo

Food is not only a commodity, but it is a way of people’s life and their existence.

It is food that makes you feel home. Home is where your heart satisfies your appetite psychologically making you feel at home. Having said that Nepali food holds more meaning to it than to its literal meaning. It holds the cultural and traditional values.

Nepal is a home for different ethnic groups. Each and every groups have their own distinctive language, dress, traditional values and cuisines. Foods are influenced by the place where they reside. In city areas, we can find all the types of foods from Western to Eastern. If you travel to higher altitudes, people eat what they grow with not much of a choice. Mainly corn, wheat, buckwheat, millet etc. In everyday lunch and dinner, most people eat dhindo, which is thick mush or porridge of millet or buckwheat or corn. It is the staple food of people living in dry areas and it is eaten dipping into soup of lentil or chicken/goat soup along with ghee/butter and side dishes as per taste or availability. It is swallowed without chewing because it is served hot and is sticky; if chewed it sticks all over the teeth.

Dhindo

Source

In lowlands, we can find rice, lentils, potatoes, maize, fruits according to the seasons. Wherever you go in Nepal, we can find dal(lentil), bhat(rice), tarkari(vegetables as preferred or found) which is an essential part of diet. It is the staple food of Nepal. Nepalese recipes consists of many spices and herbs used as per its requirements in dishes. And, the most popular condiments are achaar or chutney(relishes or pickles) both used interchangeably.The popular achaar among us is both white radish preserved in a jar and tomatoes either mashed in a silauta(hand grinder;flat grinding stone with pestle) or electronic grinder. Achaar is prepared several months ahead before consuming it, it is marinated with spices as per taste and is preserved in a jar. Whereas, chutney also chataney is prepared just before a meal and served fresh.

Chutney

Source

Silauta;hand grinder-stone grinder with pestle

Source

Mula ko achaar;radish pickle

Source

Among all the cuisines, undeniable cuisine for me is “thakali khana”. Thakali khana is a staple food of thakali people residing at thak khola region of Mustang. It is getting popular among Nepalese people. Thakali khana found in a city may not have the authenticity of typical thakali food but few restaurants here in Kathmandu do provide authentic thakali food to some extent.

My personal favourite so far is Tukuche at Baluwatar and Paleti Bhanchhaghar at JP marg, Thamel. Although they may not have all the varieties of side dishes available in typical thakali, they do serve basic thakali food keeping its authentic value.

Tukuche;Thakali Khana

Paleti Bhanchhaghar

Non-vegetarian can option for either Chicken Thakali Khana or Goat Thakali Khana. Vegetarian can also get veg thakali khana; all the side dishes are same except vegetables are served instead of meat like cauliflower, carrots, peas and green beans(differed as per restaurant).

Basic thakali khana consists of dal(lentil), bhat(rice), chicken/goat meat, spinach, achaar, chutney(radish and tomato relish), fried bitter gourd, gundruk achaar(leafy vegetable fermented, dried and preserved) and vegetables. Few restaurants provide yoghurt as a dessert. Thakali khana is incomplete without ghee/butter.

What I love most about thakali food is its lentil(dal) which is pure black or locally grown beans in Mustang. Flavour of yam and ginger in lentil satisfies my taste palette. For me garlic-ginger taste in meat and lentil is what makes this thakali food finger licking. This aromatic flavorful thakali food is a must-try food in Nepal.

Whenever I eat thakali food I cannot stop myself from refilling my plate. It gives me feeling of fullness. Inevitable love for food is what keeps me going happy in life.

There are people in the world so hungry, that God cannot appear to them except in the form of bread.

Source

When city sleeps!

Constructing good road network is one of the human’s utmost vision. Connecting people from places, making travel convenient either for holiday purpose, for business, for health services or any other day to day life purpose.

Today, I would like to shed some lights on the improvisation in the road network by installing solar powered lights to better the road transportation for public.

This beautiful street with amazing street lights is what we all desire for when hitting the road in the dark. Living in an overly crowded city, we only get to travel without traffic congestion when city sleeps in the early morning and at the night.

Traffic management is the current issue right at the moment. This is how it looks when city is awake.

Source

Long before, the installation of solar powered street lights, we all dreamed of kathmandu city to get lighten up in every nook and corner of the streets. With daily load shedding for more than 12 hours and poorly managed electrical street lights, it was even out of our imagination for lighting up the roads.

If there is a good will, there is a great way.

It has been few years, the public-private partnership of B. K traders and Kathmandu Metropolitan City made it possible to light the city with solar powered lights in major areas where light was much needed while travelling in the dark. They had the capabilities which they envisioned and initiated this project. B. K traders invested and somehow they put up the idea of adding advertisement box along with the poles of solar powered street lamps where companies can advertise their brands and that way they can get back their investment.

Success is never achieved without any obstacles and risks through out the way.

It was not easy to make more out of each and every day, do more productive works in a short time. Construction is a very stressful work when there is unmanaged electrical lines all over the poles, not wide enough and not suitable streets to carry out construction; meanwhile leaving ample space for pedestrians to pass. Amidst all the disturbances, they have successfully light up the city streets with solar street lamps.

If we team up and try then we can make the optimal use of the available resources in a very wise way.

Alone we can do so much then together we can do great things.

 

Cascade

There is no greater joy than being able to travel. I love taking short trip every now and then. It is such an immense pleasure to step out of the personal inner circle and be comfortable enjoying while we still can.

We were planning to go to Bhotechaur which is famous for tea Garden and fishing of which we did not know earlier. Although we did not make it to the Bhotechaur, we found this beautiful cascade in Lapsiphedi amidst the urban city. It takes around 15 minutes ride from Sankhu to get there.

It felt heavenly to step into the cold flowing water in a sunny day.

Due to the growing urbanisation, few river and stream flowing inside the city have already been polluted and managements are looking into the problems to restore the polluted water in their previous form. Hence, it is such a privileged to see fresh and natural cascade amidst the bustling city.

Trying to enjoy nature at its best form.