Day One Location: Lanka Lanka is burning behind me. An entire empire made up of gold is now turning into ashes and a ghost. I try to calm myself, sink deeper into the leather seat of Ram’s Land Rover but fire and war both have a smell that demands attention one cannot avoid. “That was […]

Only Preeti and Sachi had no fears. They sat at the edge of the gorge, the one that divided their neighbourhood from Chundevi, and dangled their feet into its abyss as though nothing could frighten them this morning – not the dark trees below their toes, nor the darker flowers.

आमै प्राय भनी राख्थिन्, “आइतीको जस्तो जिन्दगी त शत्रुले पनि बाँच्नु नपरोस् ।” आइती अर्थात् मेरी क्षामा, क्षामा अर्थात् आमाकी बहिनी । संसारमा मैले राम्ररी नियालेका र चिनेका मान्छे मध्ये पहिलो आमा अनि उनै क्षामा हुन् । हामी क्षामालाई औधी माया गर्छौँ । आमालाई त आइती आफ्नी प्यारी कान्छी बैनी भएकोले माया लागेको होला । […]

Her daughters would be strong, they would do whatever they wanted.
They would not give up their dreams, would not become her.
Perhaps that’s why she would try to steer us away from stereotypes – away from kitchens and brooms, away from frilly dresses and colourful nail polishes.

When Lama Wangchuk shoved his huge feet into my new shoes, I knew they would never be the same again. Both his feet and my shoes. He lifted his maroon monk robe to admire them, turning his feet side to side, pivoting on his toes.

The fact is, the strangest story I ever read in my life was when I was 27. I was living in Kirtipur and I read a story that has forever changed my life.

It would begin as an emptiness that churned and expanded in Hajurama’s stomach, gutting her, carving her from within.

She was Noor Jahan, she was Lakshmi Bai, she was Cleopatra, she was a Queen, a Warrior, a God.

She had never really loved her husband. What she had felt for him was a kind of respectful devotion, the kind her mother had held for her father.