A deep dive into traditions, festivals, and the art of surviving a Gorkhali feast.
21 articles
Welcome to Kathmandu Durbar Square. Known to us locals as Basantapur, it’s a UNESCO World Heritage site, which basically means it’s too old and beautiful for the government to accidentally bulldoze (though they’ve certainly tried to "renovate" it with questionable cement).
Today is that one day of the year when every Nepali suddenly remembers they are "from the land of Buddha" and starts acting suspiciously pea…
While the rest of the world is worrying about global warming, our Kirat brothers and sisters—the Rai, Limbu, Sunuwar, and Yakkha folks—are busy thanking Mother Nature (Laxmi/Parbati in her local forms) for the rain and the soil. It’s a festival of migration, movement, and the kind of leg workout that makes CrossFit look like a nap.
The battle cry that once echoed through the jagged peaks of the Himalayas must now be shouted over the sound of a rhesus macaque trying to p…
While the rest of the world debates high-octane feminism in air-conditioned rooms, we Gorkhalis have been looking up to the OG trailblazer f…
Ayo Gorkhali! The battle cry that once echoed through the jagged peaks of the Himalayas must now be whispered—mostly because if you yell too…
When this beast starts rolling through the narrow streets of Patan, the buildings don't just look on; they lean back in terror. Pulling this chariot is a full-contact sport. You’ve got hundreds of people on the ropes, yelling "Haisey! Haise!" while the wheels—massive wooden discs—threaten to flatten anything in their path.
To the sons and daughters of the soil, the ones who spent their childhoods dodging a flying chappal only to realize it was actually a heat-s…
This isn't your average street festival; this is a high-octane, soul-shaking, bone-rattling display of Gorkhali grit and Newari heritage. It’s where history doesn’t just sit in a museum—it rolls through the streets on a massive wooden chariot that looks like it could crush a mountain if it felt like it.