Nepal Now

Send us Fan Mail

The rise in the numbers of Nepalis migrating to Japan in recent decades has been phenomenal — and I think overshadowed by movement to countries like the US, UK and Australia. Today the Asian country is by far the top destination for students going abroad to earn degrees and, in many cases, a path to settlement in the country. 

I doubt that you would ever guess that the origin of today’s migration to Japan is colonial Britain’s presence in Nepal’s neighbour, India. I’ll leave today’s guest, visual anthropologist Dipesh Kharel, to draw out that thread for you. He says that the link has led to a current population of about 230,000 Nepalis in Japan — five times more than the number of Indian migrants. One sign of how fully settled they have become in their new country is that many women no longer return to Nepal to give birth. 

By the way, Dipesh mentions the Japanese currency, the yen, a couple of times. As of today, 1 Nepali rupee was worth 1.07 yen. 

Resources

About Dipesh Kharel

Nepali students’ destinations (2023-24)

Show your love by sending this episode to someone who you think might be interested or by sharing it on social media:

LinkedIn

Instagram

BlueSky

Facebook

Music by audionautix.com.

Nepal Now is produced and hosted by Marty Logan.

Send us Fan Mail

Undoubtedly the Nepal Heritage Recovery Campaign has been a success. In less than five years it has led the identification and return to Nepal of about 160 religious icons — statues, paintings, and more. These were stolen from this country and displayed or stored in public museums and private collections globally since Nepal opened to the world in the 1950s. 

Now what? The aim of the NHRC is to have these gods and goddesses (devi-devta in Nepali) returned to their communities, we learn in today’s chat with Alisha Sijapati, a founding member and former director of the campaign. Some have made that journey, such as the Lakshmi-Narayan statue taken from Patko Tole in Patan in 1984, but most have not. Blocking their way is a lack of resources and underpinning that, an absence of understanding of the importance of heritage to the health of this country, she adds. 

Today’s episode is an update to our conversation in October 2021 with NHRC member Rohan Mishra, titled Recovering Nepal’s Stolen Art and Restoring its Culture. I encourage you to search for it wherever you’re listening now. If you want more of these interviews, sign up to be a supporter wherever you’re listening by clicking on the Support the Show link.

For those of you in Nepal, the NHRC will take another step towards raising the profile of the living heritage of the stolen gods and goddesses in an exhibition at Patan Museum from July 31st to August 4th.  

Resources

Nepal Heritage Recovery Campaign

Previous episode - Recovering Nepal’s Stolen Art and Restoring its Culture 

Lain Singh Bandel 

Juergen Schick

Show your love by sending this episode to someone who you think might be interested or by sharing it on social media:

LinkedIn

Instagram

BlueSky

Facebook

Music by audionautix.com.

Nepal Now is produced and hosted by Marty Logan.

Send us Fan Mail

Talking to Prakash Gurung made me realize that not all migrant workers from Nepal are leaving the country out of necessity. When I interviewed him last year the 26-year-old told me about his failed migration attempts – as both a student and a migrant worker – but I got the sense that he had options in-country as well; he just preferred the idea of leaving. I think there are many people in similar circumstances — they could find a job here at home, but believe that abroad they might be able to save more money, live in better conditions, or have more promising future prospects, for themselves and/or their family. 

One year later Prakash has shelved his migration plans. In their place he has chosen an unusual path—learning classical guitar. A guitar player since his teenage years, Prakash says that playing classical requires much more discipline than playing and singing rock songs, including hours of daily practice. He’s found a teacher to guide him on that journey. 

As you’ll hear, Prakash is now talking about finding satisfaction and inner peace on his musical quest. This is a huge turnaround from the half-hearted pledges he was making when we talked in 2024, and a pleasant surprise to me. 

Want more of these interviews? Sign up to be a supporter wherever you’re listening by clicking on the Support the Show link.

Show your love by sending this episode to someone who you think might be interested or by sharing it on social media:

LinkedIn

Instagram

BlueSky

Facebook

Music by audionautix.com.

Nepal Now is produced and hosted by Marty Logan.

Send us Fan Mail

Gyanu Adhikari is co-founder of The Record, the online news portal that published from 2014 to 2024. With 10 years’ experience running a media outlet that not only innovated in its content – offering long reads, history series, and podcasts, for example – but also experimented with funding—using a subscriber model—Gyanu has lots to share about media in Nepal. 

But surprisingly, he was most eager to talk about the state of the country—and more optimistic than most people I speak to about the future of Nepal. This episode was first published in 2024. I’m re-posting an episode today for the first time, mainly because I’ll be out of town this week and couldn’t finish a new one fast enough. I chose to feature my chat with Gyanu because it’s one of the most popular I’ve published since 2020 and also because it’s evergreen, since it deals with the media and the future, two subjects that many of us never tire speculating about. 

I reached out to Gyanu a couple of days ago to ask if he wanted to add anything to his thoughts three years later. He told me, quote, “I still believe we are on a good path provided we can keep the constitution and rule of law — a secular federal republic will take us far. To speed up the progress, Nepal should be inspired by China and Scandinavian countries’ green transition. Democratizing the energy industry, for example, with feed-in tariffs, and replacing dirty with clean energy in every domain. That’d allow us to leapfrog ahead instead of merely play catchup with developed countries. We are also still badly under-investing in human capital, including in the arts.”

Show your love by sending this episode to someone who you think might be interested or by sharing it on social media:

LinkedIn

Instagram

BlueSky

Facebook

Music by audionautix.com.

Nepal Now is produced and hosted by Marty Logan.

Send us Fan Mail

If I told you about a 30-year study that has already resulted in 261 research publications, you’d be impressed right?

And if I added that the study is based in Chitwan, and co-led by a Nepali, Prof. Dirgha Ghimire? I think you’d be even more enthusiastic. At least I was when I learned about the Chitwan Valley Family Study just a month ago. I’m not sure how I missed it over the past two decades that I’ve lived here but I’m a firm believer in the adage ‘better late than never’.

Before we get to today’s episode, did you know that we now have an e-newsletter? If you’re curious about what we’re working on for future shows, the latest news about migration and Nepal, or you want to share feedback and ideas, I encourage you to sign up now. 

Researchers at the Chitwan Valley study, based at the University of Michigan in the US, have been contacting members of the same 152 communities for the past three decades to collect key details of their lives: births, deaths, how they’re aging, how their children are growing and much, much more. Especially key for our purposes is what happens to them—and their family members—when they migrate. 

Resources

Chitwan Valley Family Study

Show your love by sending this episode to someone who you think might be interested or by sharing it on social media:

LinkedIn

Instagram

BlueSky

Facebook

Music by audionautix.com.

Nepal Now is produced and hosted by Marty Logan.

Send us Fan Mail

I’ve said it to you listeners more than once: it seems that almost every young person I've met in Nepal in the last couple years was planning to go overseas, or knows someone who's doing so. 

Now I have proof, kind of. Yesterday I spoke to a researcher whose team surveyed a high school graduating class. 40% of the students said they want to go study abroad after graduation; another 40% said they hope to go work overseas. That's 80% — a huge number, but I'm not surprised. 

So when I meet someone in their 20s who graduated high school in Nepal, then did a bachelor’s degree, and then a master’s degree, and is now working in this country, I get curious. 

Today’s guest, Paribesh Bidari, tells me that the youngest people he’s working with in his various offices are in their 40s. And while he’s juggling many gigs to advance his career, he’s also making it a point to motivate his juniors to stay in Nepal.

Show your love by sending this episode to someone who you think might be interested or by sharing it on social media:

LinkedIn

Instagram

BlueSky

Facebook

Music by audionautix.com.

Nepal Now is produced and hosted by Marty Logan.

Send us Fan Mail

Just like coffee shops, it seems that education consultancies are multiplying faster than rabbits in Kathmandu. 

I’ve always wondered why prospective students spend tens or even hundreds of thousands of rupees to have someone fill out their overseas college and university applications for them. After all, if they've made it to Grade 12 or beyond, surely they must be able to do it themselves. 

So I was very happy to have nursing expert Radha Adhikari on the show to explain some of the reasons why it's not quite as simple as I thought. I think you'll agree that her information and insights are fascinating.

Also, I am happy, and proud, to announce that Nepal Now is 100 episodes old! 

Thank you to everyone who’s listened since 2020. That’s when I started the show as a way to broaden the conversation about ‘development’ and Nepal, and to share more of the kinds of interviews that I was already doing, instead of having them reduced to just a couple of paragraphs in an article.

For those of you still listening, I have just one request: Feedback please! I know you’re out there, but I really want to know what you’re thinking. Love the show – fantastic; hate it – not so good, but tell me anyway. Even better if you have suggestions. 

It’s extremely easy to get in touch. Send a text by clicking on the link at the top of the notes to this episode, or message us on social media. We’re @nepalnowpod.

Questions or comments: email me at nepalnowpod(at)gmail.com. 

Show your love by sending this episode to someone who you think might be interested or by sharing it on social media:

LinkedIn

Instagram

BlueSky

Facebook

Music by audionautix.com.

Nepal Now is produced and hosted by Marty Logan.

Send us Fan Mail

It’s been more than a dozen years since Maya Sherpa returned from working in Kuwait. Today she devotes herself to helping other returned female migrant workers readjust to life in Nepal. 

One reason why she's so committed to that work is because of the violent reaction she faced, not as a migrant in Kuwait but after she returned to her community in Nepal. 

My three takeaways from today's conversation are: 

• Women continue to be stigmatized as 'fallen' or immoral, and accused of sexual misconduct when they migrate to work; 
• Surprisingly, there is a class aspect to this – those women who can afford to migrate to Europe and America are seen to have fallen less morally than women like Maya who go to traditional labour destinations like Malaysia and Persian Gulf countries; 
• Governments in Nepal prepare great policies and plans, but deliver few of them.

This is episode 99! We want your ideas about how we should mark #100. Text us at the link in the show notes or message us on social. We're (at)nepalnowpod.

We have a newsletter! Check out the first issue and subscribe for the next ones. 

These episodes are linked to Maya's story—check them out: 

• Women migrant workers: Lift the ban and get positive
• Nepal unprepared to reintegrate women migrant workers

Show your love by sending this episode to someone who you think might be interested or by sharing it on social media:

LinkedIn

Instagram

BlueSky

Facebook

Music by audionautix.com.

Nepal Now is produced and hosted by Marty Logan.

Send us Fan Mail

Hi everyone. I have to admit that I had a pretty good idea of what this episode was going to be about, how it was going to unfold, as they say.  I was talking to the father of three daughters, grown daughters, all living overseas, and I thought that he and his wife were planning to go live with them in the US, but I was wrong. 

You're gonna have to listen to find out exactly how I was wrong, but I will say that it was one of the most enjoyable interviews I've done in a long time.  I spent just over an hour with Rajendra, but I think we hit it off pretty quickly and got into some pretty personal areas quite fast and had a lot of fun, some laughs, and I think he also enjoyed it.  I'm really curious to hear what you think. So let me know. 

I want to give a shout out to S.U.,  I only have their initials, who posted online about Nepal Now:  they are "fascinating and insightful interviews and discussions that share so much about lived experience in Nepal. I am listening while on a trip in Nepal." 

Thank you very much for that review, which S.U. posted in May, 2024. I feel bad that I only found it recently.  If you're interested in supporting the show, but, can't do it financially at the moment, one of the next best things you can do is leave us a review. It  might help introduce a newcomer to the show and turn them into a listener, which would be great.

Show your love by sending this episode to someone who you think might be interested or by sharing it on social media:

LinkedIn

Instagram

BlueSky

Facebook

Music by audionautix.com.

Nepal Now is produced and hosted by Marty Logan.

Send us Fan Mail

Khakendra Khatri paid 7 lakh or 700,000 Nepali rupees (about 5,000 USD) for a job in Russia, but soon after arriving he realized that he was being sent to the front line of the Russia-Ukraine war. Desperate, he bribed a commander, and then escaped by walking through a forest overnight with a group of other trafficked Nepalis. 

Needing work to feed her children, Sushma found a recruiter to send her to join her aunt working in Kuwait but got sick and returned to Nepal after three months. The recruiter’s calls began soon after she returned, demanding that she pay him more than 3 lakh. Both Khakendra and Sushma filed reports with police, and they, and their families, are now deep in debt. 

Welcome to Nepal Now: On the Move. My name is Marty Logan. This is the podcast that talks to some of the hundreds of thousands of people migrating from — and sometimes to — this small country surrounded by global giants China and India. Months later we reach out again to find out if reality in their new, temporary, home is meeting expectations. Occasionally we call in an expert to try and better understand all of this movement. 

The stories of Khakendra and Sushma, which you might remember from earlier episodes, make the idea of ‘fee-free’ migration sound like a dream. But it’s not. Today we're speaking with Upasana Khadka, a migration expert who is working on both no-cost and low-cost migration, which do both actually happen. 

This chat opened my eyes to how labour migration from Nepal is intertwined with global events, such as criticism of forced labour in countries including Malaysia. Upasana, who founded Migration Lab in Kathmandu, also highlights what is becoming a theme in this podcast: the positive aspects of migration.  

Thanks again to Upasana Khadka for coming on the show. 

Resources

Tricked into going to Russia, Khakendra fled before reaching the front lines

Three months in Kuwait: The story of migrant worker Sushma

Diaspora Diaries

Other Upasana Khadka articles in Nepali Times

Migration Lab

Show your love for Nepal Now

Show your love by sending this episode to someone who you think might be interested or by sharing it on social media:

LinkedIn

Instagram

BlueSky

Facebook

Music by audionautix.com.

Nepal Now is produced and hosted by Marty Logan.