Boju Bajai

Welcome to the second episode of Care at the Centre: Voices from the Majority World.

At the heart of this series is care - the life-affirming, life-sustaining practice which honours our interconnected relationships and our commitment to the wellbeing of ourselves, our environments, and each other.

In this episode, we bring you the voice of Rukshana Kapali. As a trans woman activist from the Newa Indigenous group, Rukshana’s work and her experiences are specific to Nepal’s socio-political and cultural context. She has been working at the intersection of law and language, and her work is centered on challenging and changing policies through legal activism.

In this conversation, Rukshana shares the specific challenges faced by Nepal’s trans community while reflecting on her own personal journey of navigating and accessing the educational system in Nepal as a trans woman.

This episode was recorded in November, 2022.

If you want to know more about Rukshana’s work, you can visit her website. www.minchyaameyju.wordpress.com/

This series has been informed and guided by the Urgent Action Fund Report “How Can We Ground Ourselves in Care and Dance Our Revolution”. You can read the full report at rootingcare.org where you can also listen to episodes from the Urgent Action Funds.

Listen to all the episodes of the series Care At the Centre: Voices from the Majority World here:

Episode 1

https://on.soundcloud.com/4jgJb

Episode 3

https://on.soundcloud.com/qBLEK

Episode 4

https://on.soundcloud.com/XPCYa

Episode 5

https://on.soundcloud.com/oL8kW

Episode 6

https://on.soundcloud.com/rnazk

Credits:

Production: Boju Bajai

Hosts: Bhrikuti Rai and Itisha Giri

Music and Sound Design: Rajan Shrestha and Irina Giri

Care at the Centre: Voices from the Majority World

At the heart of this series is care - the life-affirming, life-sustaining practice of honouring our interconnected relationships and our commitment to the wellbeing of ourselves, our environments, and each other.

But in an increasingly hostile world, how do women, trans, and non-binary activists in the world visualize care and protection today at both the individual and organizational level?

What are the specific risks to the lives and works of activists, human rights defenders and advocates from the majority world, and how do activists imagine and practice care in their unique contexts and locations?

These are some of the questions we will explore in this six-part series on care produced by Urgent Action Fund Asia & Pacific.

In the first episode of the series, we will talk about what it is that makes activists continue relentlessly on their paths, despite the risks, the challenges, and the threats they encounter on a daily basis by reflecting on their personal experiences and their socio-political and cultural locations and contexts that shaped their personhood and their activisms.

Our gratitude to artists and activists from Nepal who lend their voices to bring to life the experiences and testimonies of activists featured in the Urgent Action Fund report - “How Can We Ground Ourselves in Care and Dance Our Revolution”.

Please visit, rootingcare.org where you can read the full report and also listen to episodes from the Urgent Action Funds.

You can listen to all the episodes of Care at the Centre: Voices from the Majority World here:

Episode 2

https://on.soundcloud.com/7AWVp

Episode 3

https://on.soundcloud.com/qBLEK

Episode 4

https://on.soundcloud.com/XPCYa

Episode 5

https://on.soundcloud.com/oL8kW

Episode 6

https://on.soundcloud.com/rnazk

Credits:

Production: Boju Bajai

Hosts: Bhrikuti Rai and Itisha Giri

Music and Sound Design: Rajan Shrestha and Irina Giri

Boju Bajai in conversation with the fantastically talented writer Kunsang. Her deeply personal essays and stories about her family, community and the way of life in the mountains of Humla are a window to a region of Nepal that doesn't get written about as much in Nepali literature or in our op-ed pages. Kunsang’s op-eds, memoirs and short stories have been published in several national dailies, including Kantipur, Naya Patrika.

Listen to Boju Bajai Reads featuring Kunsang’s piece आगो केवल आगो होइन published in Kantipur https://link.chtbl.com/bbreadsftkunsang

Here’s a list of Kunsang’s writings published in the last five years.

आगो केवल आगो होइन - https://ekantipur.com/koseli/2023/01/21/167426781073021303.html?author=1

सद्‍गुरुलाई कोही किन प्रश्न गर्दैन ? - https://ekantipur.com/koseli/2022/11/05/166761320871649608.html?author=1

तेह्र सौंराइ - https://ekantipur.com/koseli/2022/08/13/166035631515662586.html?author=1

बजाउने हात खोजिरहेछ ‘ङ’ - https://ekantipur.com/koseli/2022/04/16/165007488520992364.html?author=1

हिमाली कथा : हिउँमा हाइभिजन हल - https://ekantipur.com/koseli/2021/10/02/163314223402081319.html?author=1

This is the first installment of Boju Bajai Reads where we get our favorite writers to read their writings. And we are thrilled to have writer Kunsang read her piece आगो केवल आगो होइन for this new series.

Oh, and mark your calendar cos our episode ‘Guff Gaff with Kunsang’ is releasing on June 2.

Read आगो केवल आगो होइन by Kunsang here: https://ekantipur.com/koseli/2023/01/21/167426781073021303.html?author=1

Do you know we also have a weekly newsletter? Subscribe to Cold Takes by Boju Bajai for a weekly roundup of news and feminist views delivered straight to your inbox every Sunday.

Read and subscribe here: https://bojubajai.substack.com/welcome

Boju Bajai regularly works with reporters and researchers to bring compelling audio stories that centre and amplify women’s experiences. If you would like to support our work, please consider being our patron here: www.patreon.com/bojubajai

Follow @Bojubajai on social media for more laughs and guff gaff:

Instagram: www.instagram.com/bojubajai/

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bojubajai/

Twitter: twitter.com/BojuBajai

YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/BojuBajai/

Music by P4LASH Palash Sunvaiya https://pixabay.com/music/ambient-fire-and-ice-epic-ambient-141823/

“AERØHEAD - Fragments" is under a Creative Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0) license

/ aer%c3%98head

Music promoted by BreakingCopyright: https://bit.ly/b-fragments

Boju Bajai turns SEVEN!! Thank you to everyone, who’s been part of our laugh and guff gaff since we started Boju Bajai in 2016. We are so grateful to have a community of Boju Bajai listeners, readers and supporters, and we hope we will be able to continue our laugh and guff gaff until we actually become boju bajai irl also, re kya ;p

And this time our birthday special episode is dedicated to all the wonderful, and sometimes rishuthdo fathers. Thank you for sharing your good and not-so-good dad stories with us. This episode is also double special since we feature a Nepali man and stories of several Nepali men. So next time someone tells you what about the men in Boju Bajai podcast, please share this episode with them.

Happy listening, and subscribe to Boju Bajai podcast wherever you get your podcasts.

Oh, and if you enjoy our laugh and guff gaff and would like to gift us some birthday presents (yes, we are shameless that way) please consider being our patron. More details here www.patreon.com/bojubajai

We also have a newsletter! Subscribe to Cold Takes by Boju Bajai on Substack for a weekly roundup of news and feminist views.

Read and subscribe here: https://bojubajai.substack.com/welcome

Boju Bajai regularly works with reporters and researchers to bring compelling audio stories that centre and amplify women’s experiences. If you would like to support our work, please consider being our patron here: www.patreon.com/bojubajai

Follow @Bojubajai on social media for more laughs and guff gaff:

Instagram: www.instagram.com/bojubajai/

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@bojubajai

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bojubajai/

Twitter: twitter.com/BojuBajai

YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/BojuBajai/

Boju Bajai theme music by Flekke

We hosted a fun live podcast with writers Anbika Giri and Babita Rai talking about mother's day memes, their portrayal in popular media and literature. And now it’s here for you to listen and watch. आमाहरुबारे रचिएका गीत सङ्गीत, हाम्रा प्रिय भावुक kavizz, र साहित्यमा आमाको चित्रण कसरी हुन्छ/ हुँदै आएको छ बारे 'चीरफार' गर्न बोजु बजैलाई साथ दिनु हुँदैछ लेखक द्वय बबिता राई र आन्विका गिरि।

Hope you enjoy this episode!

You can also watch our conversation here.

Boju Bajai Live (Part 1)

Boju Bajai Live (Part 2)

Boju Bajai Live (Part 3)

We also have a newsletter! Subscribe to Cold Takes by Boju Bajai on Substack at bojubajai.substack.com for a weekly roundup of news and feminist views.

Read and subscribe here: https://bojubajai.substack.com/welcome

Boju Bajai regularly works with reporters and researchers to bring compelling audio stories that centre and amplify women’s experiences. If you would like to support our work, please consider being our patron here: www.patreon.com/bojubajai

Follow @Bojubajai on social media for more laughs and guff gaff:

Instagram: www.instagram.com/bojubajai/

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bojubajai/

Twitter: twitter.com/BojuBajai

YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/BojuBajai/

Boju Bajai theme music by Flekke

Boju Bajai Live Credits:

Research: Puspa Paudel

Video: Elite Joshi & Deepak KC

Venue: Shilpee Theatre, Battisputali, Kathmandu

Volunteers (Bidhya Maharjan, Bhawana Jain & Shristi Shakya)

It’s that time of the year again! What are we marching for this year? Re-releasing this episode from a few years ago because, well… we are so tired of telling people to stop telling us “everyday is women’s day” when clearly it’s not, especially not in Nepal! Just look at how the Nepali state treats women - Nepali women are unequal by law because of the discriminatory citizenship provision in the constitution, the judiciary mostly takes side of male perpetrators in cases of sexual violence against women, and Nepali women’s mobility for better job opportunities abroad is severely restricted. So here’s our “tyaaau tyaaau” once again reminding everyone that giving women’s day discounts and a public holiday on March 8th will not make the world a better place for us womaniyas!

Hope you enjoy this episode!

Reading list

Nepali women are unequal by law, The Kathmandu Post, http://bit.ly/3aGXuaR

Deprived of an Individual Identity: Citizenship and Women in Nepal https://www.jstor.org/stable/4030563

Women have no nationality, The Record https://www.recordnepal.com/women-have-no-nationality

Nepalis protest 'ridiculous' proposed ban on women travelling abroad, The Guardian https://bit.ly/3Jfapou

We also have a newsletter! Subscribe to Cold Takes by Boju Bajai on Substack at bojubajai.substack.com. We will bring to you a weekly roundup of news and feminist views.

Read and subscribe here: bojubajai.substack.com

Boju Bajai regularly works with reporters and researchers to bring compelling audio stories that centre and amplify women’s experiences. If you would like to support our work, please consider being our patron here: www.patreon.com/bojubajai

Follow @Bojubajai on social media for more laughs and guff gaff:

Instagram: www.instagram.com/bojubajai/

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bojubajai/

Twitter: twitter.com/BojuBajai

YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/BojuBajai/

Boju Bajai theme music by Flekke

Researcher Sangita Thebe Limbu joins Boju Bajai to talk about the importance of creating critical spaces in the public sphere that can challenge the dominant narratives and discourses shaping people’s minds and op-ed pages around issues of inclusion, reservation, and that Nepal is “४ जात ३६ वर्णको साझा happy फूलबारी।”

Sangita Thebe Limbu is a PhD candidate at University College London (UCL). She holds an MSc in Social Anthropology from the University of Oxford, and another MSc in Gender, Development and Globalization from the London School of Economics and Political Science. She is currently researching on the interrelations of gender, climate change and indigenous knowledge in Nepal. You can follow her work on Twitter @Sangita_Thebe

Read Sangita’s articles

“National property” of just a The Record Nepal. 14 August few.https://www.recordnepal.com/perspective/national-property-of-just-a-few/

Surveillance state and minorities. The Kathmandu Post. 26 October http://kathmandupost.ekantipur.com/news/2018-10-26/surveillance-state-and-minorities.html

Reimagining inclusion. The Kathmandu Post http://kathmandupost.ekantipur.com/news/2018-06-01/reimagining-inclusion.html

Nepal’s house of cards: are women included or co-opted in politics?. http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/southasia/2018/02/02/nepals-house-of-cards-are-women-included-or-co-opted-in-politics-gender-female-representation-caste/ SouthAsia@LSE

On Books and Arts. Think Pieces Series No. 2. Oxford: Education.SouthAsia. https://educationsouthasia.web.ox.ac.uk/article/thinkpiece2

On Manifestos and Promises. Think Pieces Series No. 4. Oxford: Education.SouthAsia https://educationsouthasia.web.ox.ac.uk/article/thinkpiece4

On Children’s literature. Think Pieces Series No. 4. Oxford: Education.SouthAsia

https://educationsouthasia.web.ox.ac.uk/article/thinkpiece6

The making of the "English-speaking Nepali citizens": intersectionality of class, caste, ethnicity and gender in private schools

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/353451673_The_making_of_the_Englishspeaking_Nepali_citizens_intersectionality_of_class_caste_ethnicity_and_gender_in_private_schools

We also have a newsletter! Subscribe to Cold Takes by Boju Bajai on Substack at bojubajai.substack.com. We will bring to you a weekly roundup of news and feminist views.

Read and subscribe here: bojubajai.substack.com

Boju Bajai regularly works with reporters and researchers to bring compelling audio stories that centre and amplify women’s experiences. If you would like to support our work, please consider being our patron here: www.patreon.com/bojubajai

Follow @Bojubajai on social media for more laughs and guff gaff:

Instagram: www.instagram.com/bojubajai/

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bojubajai/

Twitter: twitter.com/BojuBajai

YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/BojuBajai/

Boju Bajai theme music by Flekke

As news stories of rape-accused Sandeep Lamichhane taking wickets take over our timelines, the erasure of the legal proceedings against him has begun. And, what is clear is that for the Cricket Association of Nepal, wickets come before women.

Here is our unplanned and unscheduled cold takes on CAN's continuing attempts to reinstate Lamichhane's place in the national team and his public reputation, while he is charged with the rape of a minor, and while the final verdict on the case is still pending.

Sources:

https://english.onlinekhabar.com/sandeep-lamichhane-in-team-pro-anti.html

https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/sandeep-lamichhane-in-nepal-playing-xi-for-tri-series-opener-against-namibia-1358820

https://www.sundaytimes.lk/230115/sports/slc-in-danger-of-being-dissolved-after-investigation-report-508496.html

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/nov/17/sri-lankan-cricketer-accused-of-danushka-gunathilaka-banned-from-tinder-while-on-bail

Boju Bajai in conversation with पूर्व सम्पादक बिनु सुवेदी। Binu is one of the few women in Nepali media, who has led newsrooms and has extensively reported on national politics, as well as social justice. In this episode, we talk to Binu about her journalism career, the role of independent journalism in democracy, सम्पादक ब्रोस and how Nepali newsrooms need to do better when it comes to prioritising stories of women and people from other marginalised communities.

Please follow Binu Subedi on Twitter @subedibinu https://twitter.com/subedibinu

Also, please register for Boju Bajai Live which is all about ‘आमाको मुख’ on Feb 10, Friday at Shilpee Theatre. Join us for a fun evening of guff-gaff with writers Anbika Giri and Babita Rai about the symbolic representation of the “mother” figure in Nepali culture. Featuring mother’s day memes and some bhavuk geets, this is an event you do not want to miss.

We have limited seats, so sign up and book your spot. Register here: https://bit.ly/bojubajaievent

And, if you haven’t subscribed to our weekly newsletter ‘Cold Takes by Boju Bajai’ please do, and we will send you a weekly roundup of news and feminist views straight to your inbox!

Read and subscribe here: https://bojubajai.substack.com/

Stories by Binu Subedi:

नागरिकता नियमावली संशोधन : आमामाथि अंकुश !

https://ekantipur.com/news/2021/06/10/162328517115935130.html

के जन्मसिद्धका सन्तानलाई नागरिकता दिँदा राष्ट्रियता मासिन्छ ? https://ekantipur.com/news/2021/06/04/162277249232675085.html

3. भ्यूटावरको आडमा भूमाफियाको खेलो, ओलीका सुकुम्बासी मतदाता कता जाउन् !

https://www.onlinekhabar.com/2022/09/1193221

You can find rest of her work here https://www.onlinekhabar.com/writer/binusubedi

Boju Bajai regularly works with reporters and researchers to bring compelling audio stories that centre and amplify women’s experiences. If you would like to support our work, please consider being our patron here: www.patreon.com/bojubajai

We also have a newsletter! Subscribe to Cold Takes by Boju Bajai on Substack at bojubajai.substack.com/ We will bring to you a weekly roundup of news and feminist views.

Follow @Bojubajai on social media for more laughs and guff gaff:

Instagram: www.instagram.com/bojubajai/

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bojubajai/

Twitter: twitter.com/BojuBajai

YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/BojuBajai/

Music credit:

Boju Bajai theme music by Flekke