Pratibha Tuladhar

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Articles

The tenderness in men

Jan 19, 2025 | nepalitimes.com | Pratibha Tuladhar

The characters we meet on screen go a long way in shaping our ideals and perspectives. 19 January 2025If you grew up under the influence of Bollywood films, it is likely they shaped your idea of masculinity. One, fuelled by the portrayal of the man as the protector, the creator and the embodiment of strength, and fury. Growing up in a middle-class South Asian family, the media access I was given was chosen by the men in the family--they were the ones in charge of the VCR and the remote control.
Meet the cello girl

Nov 17, 2024 | nepalitimes.com | Pratibha Tuladhar

Thinking about Iva in the midst of an orchestra brought a simple and real comfort17 November 2024Rain pelleted the windshield furiously. Iva Maharjan dashed down the footpath and slid into the backseat of the taxi, next to me. We were about to be stuck in Kathmandu traffic for exactly two hours and I would ask her a question on which our time would pivot. Iva goes by the name “the cello girl” on her WhatsApp ID. I had always wondered if the title had more to reveal.
A tale of resistance

Oct 6, 2024 | nepalitimes.com | Pratibha Tuladhar

Kanchhi, Weena Pun’s debut novel, was delivered to me by a rider on a very rainy afternoon, as Kathmandu Valley and the nation was pummeled by violent rainfall. The book revealed itself in big bold letters: KANCHHI, like someone hollering the name. The letters flank the cover bearing an illustration in shades of grey, showing a hamlet in the mountains. The cover sets the tone for the novel, as Kanchhi’s disappearance is revealed to the readers in the prologue.
Passing the baton on

Sep 1, 2024 | nepalitimes.com | Pratibha Tuladhar

It was the first time I was seeing books for children on female figures from Nepal. 01 September 2024On a certain February morning earlier this year, we gathered in the drawing room of a friend, reading through the drafts of a set of four books for children, by Luja Mathema. The books, “Unstoppable Women Series” features four Nepali women who are icons of courage, intelligence and perseverance. It was the first time I was seeing books for children on female figures from Nepal.
One more to remember

Aug 4, 2024 | nepalitimes.com | Pratibha Tuladhar

But miracles are liars that elude us when we need them the most. 04 August 2024On a very still wintry morning in Kathmandu, a black and white puppy bobbed about the pavement along Jamal. The municipality workers had just started sweeping the streets. Timorous rays of the sun lit the section where the pup had been tied to the railing. The pup, with long dangling ears and the droopiest eyes I’ve ever seen, tripped over my feet and tugged at my shoelace. I giggled. Tried to pick him up.
As we perimenopause

Jul 7, 2024 | nepalitimes.com | Pratibha Tuladhar

It is a lonely journey, this. No one tells you you will experience a hundred things. 07 July 2024P’s bag is stuffed with packets of sanitary napkins. They’re colourful, orange, blue, green, with neat imprints of napkins, flowers and petite girls. The packets peep from between her clothes, straddling an overnight kit and a bag of medicines. She’s staying at the hospital. The sight of sanitary napkins borders on a sense of familiarity.
Taking the longcut

Jun 2, 2024 | nepalitimes.com | Pratibha Tuladhar

Trying to understand the female body is like staring into an abyss02 June 2024On a certain evening last month, four women ambled up the winding road on the foothills of Shivapuri. Four women, three in their thirties, the fourth in her forties. They chatted, laughed, stopped once as one of them kneeled down to tie her shoelace that had come undone. Stopped again to see if the gelato place was still offering to sell. But it was 10:30PM and lights were out in the windows.
Trees, trees

May 5, 2024 | nepalitimes.com | Pratibha Tuladhar

Most importantly, trees are the outstanding stories of survival05 May 2024The sound of the wind rushing through the trees as they brush and slide against the foliage, swooshing like a mountain river gently flowing downstream. Not one of those deep gorges but the shallow kinds, where the water hurries over the rocks, shaping them with millions of years of washing. That’s the white noise I discovered recently on Youtube: The wind in the trees.
What’s not to say about rosacea?

Mar 31, 2024 | nepalitimes.com | Pratibha Tuladhar

I’m thrilled any day I wake up and it’s cloudy. A gloomy day is gentler on my face and rain is bliss31 March 2024The tingling sensation hits my cheeks, then it gradually begins to burn. It’s a little bit like the time I was a teenager and someone said something embarrassing and my face responded in a blush. Only, it isn’t. It’s much more complex. The tingling spreads to my forehead, it starts to itch a little, as though a stray strand of hair was irritating it. I touch it, there’s nothing.
Mother, who creates

Feb 4, 2024 | nepalitimes.com | Pratibha Tuladhar

We must find joy in serving. That’s what my parents taught me. 04 February 2024It was that day in January, when my heart felt the weight of everything around me that I first met Bhargavi Adhikari Mua, and something shifted about the way I had been feeling. As she walked into the premises of the Tapasthali old age home, her walking stick leading her, she became the presence-- the rest of us, audience.