🇳🇵Nepali artist who draws 60ft murals in Boston

_{August 6, 2024}

Top Weekly Highlights

🌎 Sansar ma Nepali: Illegal US border crossings by Nepalis - how many?
💪🏼 Nepali ley garcha: Nepali artist who draws 60 foot murals in Boston
🦜 Rajnitik & Samajik Guff: Historic transgender case, 3 parties to go solo
💰 Economy: Domestic tourists outspend visitors, NCell needs to pay up
📆 Events: NASEM Teej Lahar, Sabin Rai, Nepathya

Sansar ma Nepali

US Border Encounters: 10,000 Nepalis and counting

Since 2014, more than 10,000 Nepalis have been caught attempting to illegally enter United States via the Mexican border. Data released by the Department of Homeland Security shows that over 60% of the encounters happened in the past three years alone.

Typically people fly from Kathmandu to Dubai, Moscow, Bogota, or Havana to La Paz (Bolivia), then travel on foot or by jeep through Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala and Mexico. 

Nepalis typically pay between 50-70 lakhs (USD 37K-52K) for the journey. An average migrant crossing using a smuggler typically costs around USD 7,500. However, Nepalis tend to pay much more due to the distance and the large number of middle-men involved.

Go Deeper
Read: Nepalis Take backdoor to the American Dream (Nepali Times)
Watch: I Survived 7 days in Panama Jungle (The Untold_Akathit)

💰 Exchange Limit Badyo: You can now exchange USD 2,500 every time you exit Nepal. Previously, Nepalis could only exchange a maximum of USD 1,000 once every fiscal year. The government is relaxing rules due to record high foreign reserves, which have reached Rs. 1.84 trillion or USD 13.7 billion.

🚔 Fake Canadian Agent: A young man from Jhapa has been arrested on the charge of defrauding millions of rupees by promising to take them to Canada. Puroshotam Bhandari, a resident of Lalitpur, is accused of taking 84 lakh (USD 62K) from his victims.

😣 An Evil Man: Arjun Kandel, a disability worker originally from Nepal, was given a 12-year sentence for raping a woman with intellectual disability in his care. Born in Nepal, Arjun had moved to Australia in 2009, and became a citizen in 2017. He will be eligible for parole in 2031.

Nepali ley garcha!

IMAGINE an Artist from Nepal in the streets of Boston

Meet Sneha Shrestha, a Nepali-born Harvard grad who incorporates sanskrit and devnagari scripts in graffiti art. If you’ve walked around in Boston or Cambridge, you might have come across one of her murals.

The 60-foot mural she did (pictured above) was commissioned by the Central Square Business District in Cambridge, MA.

And a 80-foot mural (pictured below) was completed in Boston for the International Sea Wells Foundation.

In the art world, Sneha is better known by another name - IMAGINE, which is her mother’s name in Nepali (Kalpana).

Sneha was the first Nepali artist whose painting was placed in the permanent collection by the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.

She has also:
✨ Been recognized as one of 25 Millennial Artist of Color in Boston (WBUR)
✨ Won Outstanding Artist of the Year (Center for Arts at the Armory)
✨ Had work commissioned by Reebok, TripAdvisor, and Red Bull

Oh, and did I mention she founded Nepal’s first Children’s Art Museum? 

When she’s not travelling around the world painting murals, she works as an Arts Program Manager at the South Asia Institute in Harvard.

Dive Deeper
Read: Nepali Artist IMAGINE reflects on her work joining MFA collection
Watch: Sneha Shrestha, aka IMAGINE shares inspiration behind her art
Follow: IMAGINE’s journey on Instagram.

👸🏻 Miss Nepal North America: Anna Koirala from North Carolina is Miss Nepal North American 2024. Anna graduated from East Carolina University in Cellular and Microbiology. Actors Anchal Sharma, Anup Bikram Shahi, Barsha Raut and other personalities were present at the event.

🌶️ Akbare le jityo: Nepal Foods, a UK based company producing Nepali food products, has received four awards at the Great Taste 2024 Awards. They received star ratings for their hot momo sauce, chilli oil with shrimp, Chicken Momo and flaming akbare sticks.

🎖️America ma samman: The Girija Prasad Koirala Foundation (America) honoured Senior photographer Kiran Man Chitrakar in a function held in Queens, New York. Chitrakar’s family have been photographers and painters of the royal household, going back two centuries.

Know any stories/news about Nepalis abroad? Reply to feature them!

Rajnitik & Samajik Guff

Weekly Briefing: What You Need To Know

✋Hami pani Nepali Ho In a historic ruling, Nepal’s Supreme Court has decided that Rukshana Kapali, a trans woman, can finally be recognized legally as a woman. Kapali, a trans rights activist, won after suing the government over 50 times. Even though Kapali won, other trans people must file their own cases to be recognized, as the ruling only applies to her.

⛔️ Aba Ekklai ladne All three major parties will be contesting the upcoming elections on their own. The Maoists declared this announcement following in the footsteps of Nepali Congress and UML. The Maoists had contested elections with UML in 2017 and the Nepali Congress in 2022.

👸🏻🇳🇵Naya Miss Nepal: Ashma Kumari KC won the title of Miss Nepal World 2024. Karuna Rawat and Sumana KC were titled Miss Nepal International and Miss Nepal Earth, respectively. The event marked the 30th anniversary of the Miss Nepal pageant, featuring notable figures from Nepali fashion, film, and music.

Aarthik Guff

😁 Who needs foreigners? Domestic tourists contributed almost 70% of tourism revenues collected in the country in 2023. In 2019, that figure was just 62%. 83% was spent in leisure activities, with the remainder spent for business purposes. Spending is expected to rise in 2024 as well.

🤑 Paisa Uthau Time Mai The Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA) has told Ncell to cough up Rs 19 billion (USD 141 million) to renew its license. Since Ncell missed its initial payment deadline, that total could climb to Rs 23 billion. They've only paid Rs 4 billion so far and if they don't settle their bill, they risk losing their license on September 1.

👑 Aamai Kati Mahango Bhako Soon. Like we wrote two weeks ago, Gold prices in Nepal reached a record high (again) on Monday, with the price of fine gold climbing to Rs 150,900 per tola. A day earlier it was Rs 149,700. The rise in gold prices is linked to global investors seeking safe investments amidst geopolitical tensions. JP Morgan expects prices to rise till end of year.

Sachi ho?

In 2014, a Nepali man set a record for Most Kicks to the head in one minute. He kicked himself 134 times in 60 seconds. Watch the full video here.

Teta Janu Bhayo?

Nepali Events Roundup Around The World

Aune Karyakram

Mark Your Calendars: Next Week

August 10: Nepathya live [🇺🇸 San Francisco, CA]
August 10: Himalayan Mela 2024 [🇨🇦 Toronto, ON]
August 10: Sabin Rai [🇨🇦 London, ON]
August 10: Sushant KC live [🇺🇸 Dallas, TX]

Mark Your Calendars: Next Month

August 15: Vek, Yabesh & Bizen [🇦🇺 Perth, WA]
August 17: Nepathya [🇺🇸 Columbus, OH]
August 18: Sabin Rai [🇨🇦 Vancouver, BC]
August 23: The Edge Band & John and the Locals [🇩🇰 Copenhagen]
August 23: Sabin Rai [🇨🇦 Toronto, ON]
August 24: Nepthya [🇺🇸 Dallas, Texas]
August 25: Vek, Yabesh & Bizen [🇦🇺 Sydney, NSW]
August 30: NASEM Teej Lahar [🇦🇺 Hampton Park, VIC]

👋 Feel free to send in events by replying to this email

yo hapta lai eti nai! Next tuesday, pheri bhetaula hai! ✌️

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— 5MinsNepal Team