Happy Budday Mamu

"Happy budday mamu, happy budday mamu," 5-year-old Saralata cried out loud. "It is not my budday," her mamu responded in a low voice. Her attention was occupied by the stove. She was keeping a close eye at it for she did not want the milk to overflow. As an additional precaution, she had already snatched …

Postmodern Surrealism

"I am surreal," she said. Let me backtrack a little. I was on my way back to my studio apartment. I had gone to New Road to get my laptop that I had left for repair. I had spilled a cup of lukewarm tea over it a few months ago, and I had not bothered …

supercalifragilisticexpialidocious toxic positivity

When I saw the word, I did not feel supercalifragilisticexpialidocious at all. It immediately shifted me into a pensive state and therefore I started wondering - do big words and phrases even matter? Sometimes they do. For example - toxic positivity. The phrase seems like an oxymoron for a person not familiar with the concept. …

Shyambahadur

Shyambahadur would describe himself as a man of modest means. His family had toiled with difficulty throughout their entire lives; his dad had some ropanis of land in Patan, Jawalakhel, Bhaisepati, and Baluwatar, and he had spent all his life holding the land, waiting for the real estate market to boom, and sell bits and …

Kentuki Fried Chicken

When KFC had first come to Nepal, I believed that it had a revolutionary potential. The elites were confused when they had to stand in a 1-hour long line. The concept was alien for them. Their uncles in the government bureaucracy had made their citizenships in two minutes and whenever they visited Roadhouse Cafe, the …

Mr. Kattel and His Cattle

During my statistics class in high school, I used to sit at the back of the class. Not because I was not interested in learning, but my teacher was not interested in teaching. Please do not feel pity for me. This is a pretty normal circumstance in schools that were and are similar to mine. …

The what-ness of heartbreaks

What else could she be feeling other than a heartbreak? I did not know. She had only told me about her heartbreak. Nothing else. But that was reasonable. Heartbreak is its own set of feelings. A complex concoction of a particular kind of anxiety mixed with a seemingly unsurmountable melancholy. I did not ask her …

Moralitiih

"What is good?" he asked. "Good is not bad," came the response to his own question. How was one to interpret this exchange with the self? It could be a satire. Or an existential statement. A bite-sized treatise on the nature of morality. The key to the biggest metaphysical question till date. I think the …

He is making a house

He is making a house. No not a lego house. But an actual house. Let me be politically correct here. He is not making a house, neither is he building it. He is the landowner and a soon-to-be homeowner. But he, using his own labor, is not making the house. He intrigues me. Every time …

Those Lovely Hands

When the teacher's hand touched his face, all that remained was a mark. At first it was soft and subtle. Eventually, it became puffy and prominent. It was as if someone had dipped their hand in a plate of crimson red paint and gently placed it on another's person face. The only twist was that …