Each time I arrive in Kathmandu, Nepal, I am awed by the kaleidoscope of silk saris that enliven its dusty streets, the canted brick buildings with old wooden doors painted in rainbow colors, and the stoic women vendors who patiently squat next to paltry piles of produce amidst the squalor. But I can only take … Read more
It is 4:45 a.m. and I have been awake for an hour. I tossed and turned for a while, unable to get back to sleep. A few minutes ago the birds began twittering with a vengeance and I finally gave up any attempt at sleep. Though I am normally a sound sleeper, I am sometimes … Read more
Today is the day Nepal’s new constitution is finally supposed to be promulgated. It has been four long years in the making and over the past several weeks I have ping-ponged from despair that it would be impossible to meet the deadline once again this year, to riding a wave of optimism as I joined … Read more
Fourteen people, including an 8-month old baby, were hospitalized yesterday as a result of injuries sustained during clashes between ethnic groups in Pokhara, Nepal, just a few miles from where I am staying. Yesterday was the second day of a three day bandh (general strike), called by the Nepal Federation of Indigenous Nationalities (NEFIN) to … Read more
I’ve stood at the edge of molten lava flowing from the world’s largest volcanic crater (Mauna Loa, Hawaii), touched the Equator in the Amazon Jungles of Ecuador, descended to the bottom of the deepest canyon in North America (Copper Canyon, Mexico), and stood on the shores of the largest freshwater lake in the world (Superior). … Read more
