Life Happens
It’s been a tumultuous year for everyone; 2015 surely wasn’t a great year for Nepal. Recently, as I scrolled through my Facebook page, I read a feed that said, “#2015 was a horrible terrible #year for Nepal. I hope 2016 starts with a new hope. Let’s pray for the best. #lookingbackat2015.”
Most people describe this year as a year of ‘helplessness’. For the most part it’s true. However, we are all finding our ways now; we are all accepting the reality on our own different terms, and doing our bit to fix what we have lost and what we can still mend. What matters the most in the end is that, even with whatever has happened this year with us, we are moving on and are persevering, and that is the ultimate lesson of life.
At ECS NEPAL, one the most popular travel magazines in the country, we have had our difficulties in these hard times, but we feel, even as we bring out new issues, we haven’t fully addressed what has happened in our country openly. It could be because we are running a lifestyle magazine that binds us with certain limitations; it also could be because we don’t know where to draw our neutral lines. But the bigger issue is, we all need to accept the truth. Looking back, although the year was overwhelming, it was a year to learn from.
So, this New Year, we bring you ECS NEPAL themed ‘Life’. For our cover story, Rajendra Balami pens down his thoughts about ‘Death’, which is, after all, an integral part of life itself. His shrewd acknowledgement of death will render goose bumps. We also have a feature written by Athena Zeladonii, ‘A tale from Langtang Valley,’ that describes her journey in the lovely region during the most catastrophic month of April, when the earth shook violently and wiped out a magical valley. We also include a story about marriage, ‘Priceless Gifts: Kosah’, as life begins with weddings. There is a lot more to look forward to in this issue.
This New Year 2016, we have much to be hopeful about, but we shouldn’t forget that: life just happens.
Srizu Bajracharya
Sub-editor
