Shaurab Lohani

After hearing a lot on social media and seeing pity videos of “Bhaktapur after earthquake” I decided to go take a short motorbike trip, with my friend and look around to check its authenticity. I wouldn't like to go on the contrary, as the videos were shot concurrently at the time for quake but would like to request the owners of the video should try and visit Bhaktapur and update the recent status of the periphery. Let me tell you my findings after walking and talking to the local authorities, locals and the vendors. First thing the entrance of the Durbar square still has a huge pile of rubble left from the prehistoric mud and brick gate but once we enter the durbar square periphery you will see it clean and ready to welcome guests. Not to forget that this vicinity I am writing about at the moment dates back to over 300 years and making hypotheses about not seeing the distress is completely a hypothesis itself. The museum suffered a major hit which is why only one of...

Nothing rocked this nation in centuries than the relentless tweets and status updates after the earthquake of 25 th April, 2015. Being persistent in either convincing or conveying the world of either “we are fine” or “how hard mother nature is hammering Nepal with unremitting aftershocks” has created such a huge buzz in the social media and news media that the consequences of our own actions are seeming to be looming in the Nepalese skies. I was shocked, dazed and in chaos as well with every possible mixed feeling after looking one of my tweets still being re-tweeted, the tweets posted at the initial days of the quake. Really! I took a moment of my own and thought of million Nepalese people who tweeted emotionally and let me think even my friends who never updated their facebook status were updating every seconds. It’s just my perception but what I believe there is still someone somewhere reading stale tweets or the links that we shared on the early days of the quake and cancell...

The #GoHome movement was phenomenal that even I couldn't sway my hands away from making twitter posts, people rose from every corner of the country and world to show the rest of the world that Nepalese will not remain hushed for every misrepresentation Indian media imposed. This was on the very initial days of the earthquake and as an after earthquake social activist I had a hunch that it wouldn't be long before Nepalese get back on their feet and continue doing their chores.  #Stillnepal #Stillsmining is amongst the campaigns with a positive lead to my hunch. These campaigns invite travelers who have been stationed or landed in Nepal post quake, intended to boost post Earthquake confidence for travellers willing to trot in this beautiful country. These are the signs that we are up, moving and are not frowning for what we had no control of. The request to the entire world is to “Participate in the Recovery of Tourism in Nepal” and there are many ways to do so. As an owne...

I was a spoken English teacher, I had 2 startups in the form of traveler’s hostel and a trekking agency and I was a public speaking trainer on Saturday’s until 25 th of April, 2015. It was a Saturday and one of my friends was giving her speech on “why everyone should volunteer” and everything started shaking. It was a session of around 25 people and most of them ran out, some were crawling and most of them were petrified and expressing their grief. Immediately my senses kicked in and started working for relief with my friends from Dormitory Nepal and Wonderful Everest view treks and expedition. I was astound with the fact that such a tiny project like ours which was successful to receive $7000-$8000 started receiving calls from big dogs in the field of charity organization. The names of the organizations have already faded but I do remember Bibeksheel Nepali, Rotary club, Rotract, Lions club and teach for Nepal knocking our doors for carrying out relief operations in their respe...

Everyone has their own favorites when it comes to seeing places and doing things and so do I. I am a big time foodie and a travel junkie and nothing stops me from munching around and nothing forbids me from the places I like to visit time and again, not even a 7.8 magnitude earthquake. 1.       The first on my list is mountain flights and it reserves a top spot on my list for the reason that it is an absolute stunner. The first time I had a seat right behind the pilot and copilot on a small aircraft which offered me a wide angle view of Himalayas stretched as far as India was awe-inspiring. It was 2010 that I had decided I would do mountain flight every once in a while if I had the shekels and luckily I have done is thrice since then. 2.       Walking around Durbar squares is another favorite Saturday fixation. I have had best times around these monument as a kid and visited them in field visits from schools very recurrently ...

There was a lot of crying and agony for the people whose family members survived and there was the same for the ones who lost their beloved ones. I and my mother as well for the entire sleepless night of aftershocks held hands and tried staying strong by providing each other motivation. The power was out so it wa dark and we could hear the entire communities phones and mobiles on the high. Me and my mom and along with the entire community of at least 500 household spent the first day under the tents tarpaulins, under the open sky. It was one chaotic night and we could hear a huge noise under the ground, people chanting prayers, children crying, during and after every aftershocks. The night passed by with eyes wide open. Early in the morning the first thing that I did was sent my mom to my closest relative; my father's elder sister. I told my mom I am going to be in the community to assess the damage but I and Sabin; one of my friend had already made the plans for the day. The ...

Well I survived the earthquake of the century that hit Nepal on 25th of April, 2015! Its been a while since I have written anything and as I never had an edge in writing articles, I have a strong belief that I have lost whatever I had as a writer. It was 11:00am on a gloomy Saturday morning; amazing and unfamiliar day for a Spring season. We were at Tripureshwor in kathmandu School of Speaking, a platform for public speakers. The session started at 11:30 and we were done by impromptu session and were conducting members session. Nibedita Shrestha, a young lady and an employee of FNCCI. At that time I hadnt looked at the clock exactly but it was vaguely around 12 and I had just come back from the restroom when everything started moving and everyone started running. We all screamed "Earthquake" on our way out and tried to run but that was the only thing we could do! I remember being said when earthquake hits do not run but I believe me along with my friends senses were clog...