The grassroots journalism project is complete, and ten Jagaran Media Center affiliated Dalit journalists are

Crowds lined one of Pashupati’s bridges over the Bagmati River and opposing viewing gallery, pressing

August 9: Social media’s vindication from a narcissistic, techno-utopian, and impersonal medium to one of

August 8: We had traveled throughout the night, and were in Janakpur in the east

Few people I’ve personally met have left an indelible impression on me for their greatness,

Nepali media tends to focus it’s reporting on the political leadership and its business: meetings,

Our hired jeep (and driver) is late to get the crew at JMC headquarters, so

We had come back to our guesthouse in Tulsipur from dinner around 10pm, staying late

The best, and funniest, description of Nepali bus travel I’ve ever come across, courtesy of

So, foreign aid flaps its altruistic wings on one side of the ocean, and causes a hurricane on the other, with the wreckage only beginning to be cleared. The innocence of eradicating one deadly disease leads to the robbery and enslavement of an indigenous people on their own land. Our grand actions from afar, schooled in our detached and isolated institutions, can often have disastrous unintended local consequences in foreign lands.

Over a dinner of naan and curried vegetables in a small, hole in the wall

A recent U.N. commissioned report ranks Nepal sixth of Least Developing Countries (LDCs) for illicit

You can see it in Kathmandu’s rivers, clogged of garbage and the occasional carcass. Slum

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Co_lCez2B7g (Recorded from my rooftop, June 6) Oh, these wild dogs. Keeping me up, barking

Yesterday’s newspaper is not unique, and most Nepali news outlets follow a similar pattern of allegiance to the political hierarchy and pay little attention to on the ground and behind the scene stories. Understanding ordinary Nepalese struggles, concerns, and views is difficult to find in Nepali news pages, as is a contextual framework from which to analyze the news and compare contrasting views.

The banda is Nepal’s version of a strike, and a uniquely Nepali one at that.

In anticipation of the monsoon, the Rain God Rato Machhendranath‘s chariot is pulled through the

Kathmandu’s madness is in its loudness, speed, smell, and lack of formal coordination. But somehow, synchronicity flourishes in its people, and all is taken in stride – epitomized by the Nepali saying “khe garne?”, or “what is there to do?”. Like a Jackson Pollock painting, there is flow and beauty in the discord. It all works, and is wondrous.

My first day on the mad streets of Kathmandu, with my host Prakash of the

So time to depart the heavy rains of Toronto’s spring, and arrive as monsoon season prepares it’s lashing of Kathmandu. Suitcases are packed, preparations have been made, but my mind and body remain in Toronto. The work of past Peace Fellows at the JMC helps serve me as a mental guide, but it can only be that.