Journey to the West, part 4: The Bookshop

When Quixote’s Cove, the bookshop this magazine is affiliated with, was established, it always wanted to wear more than a retailer’s garb. It drew its inspiration from the romanticization of ideas that felt as though they were in demand and had retail space. Strangely similar but proportionately as big as the US is to Nepal, [...]

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In the Skin

After a very long time, I looked at a full-length mirror. A surface that could reflect the length and the breadth, the quirk and cookie, the flaw and full. I stood before a familiar face – a wall of mirrors in a theatre workshop. I saw myself there. A newly acquired scar broke the right brow [...]

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A Journey to the West, part 3: The Library

If the nature of a city and its people are reflected in the public/civic institutions they support, then Kathmandu appears distinctly barbaric. Our libraries are in shambles – they are run like museums, carrying bounded tomes of dust. Our museums are equally neglected for our present is too pressing to allow for anything but a [...]

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A Journey to the West, part 2: Seattle

What is it that writers offer to society? One belief is that they offer a means for understanding our world –  the people and relations that mould much of it. For instance, reading Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice can help one understand how relationships tend to work. The broad picture it gives is of the way [...]

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A Journey to the West, part 1: Travel

There I was, traveling to the pinnacle of civilization from a nation confounded by its own existentialism. Five legs over 36 hours – ordeals were to be expected. My journey was marred from the beginning – unloading and offloading my baggage became an enforced part of the ordeal. Beyond the winding maze of workers, I [...]

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