Thakali Kitchen: The Authentic Nepali Cuisine

“Food is a central activity of mankind and one of the single most significant trademarks of a culture” ~ Mark Kurlansky

When you think about the authentic Nepali food with typical Nepali taste, one place you certainly should not miss in your New York Visit is the Thakali Kitchen in Jackson Height, NY.

It is very difficult to find the place that serve typical Nepali taste in USA. Most of them are hybrid of Indian and some other south Asian/Asian flavor. Moreover some Nepali restaurant plays Hindi songs instead of Nepali songs. People visit in Nepali restaurant to have Nepali cultural experience besides Nepali food. I felt so blessed that Thakali kitchen offers typical Nepali dishes like; Samay bajee, Bhutan, choyala etc. It’s always pleasing to experiment with different varieties of Nepali cuisines in foreign land.

Feelings of false importance

A young executive with poor self-esteem was promoted but he couldn’t reconcile himself to his new office and position. There was a knock at his door. To show how important and busy he was, he picked up the phone and then asked the visitor to come in. As the man waited for the executive, the executive kept talking on the phone, nodding and saying, “No problem, I can handle that.” After a few minutes he hung up and asked the visitor what he could do for him. The man replied, “Sir, I’m here to connect your phone.”

Message: Don't look for feeling of false importance.

Which Religion to follow?

By-R. Shrestha
I believe being religious is to walk on the path of humanity. It’s the way to become wise, moral and embrace your tradition and culture. I consider ultimate goal of any religion is to believe in one super natural power that has created us and the universe. There would be different ways to reach out the eternal power but the final destination for all of us is to be sanctified and blessed from that super natural power. People may have given different name to their religion but does any religion say something unique to one another? I haven’t read all holy books but I think they all have one universal message: peace, harmony and divinity for mankind.

When you ask someone what religion one should follow to be blessed by god? You would get different answers. If you meet Christian he may suggest you to come to church, Hindu may advise you to go to temple, Muslim may invite you to mosque and Buddhist may ask you to visit monastery. But, we all know god can be felt anywhere with true heart and pure soul. It’s like asking someone what medicine I should take to get relief from body pain. Someone would say Tylenol, other would say Advil, and some would even say Paracetamol. But, a little wise people who have knowledge about drugs may give you little different answer. He/ she would say you can have any medicine that contains acetaminophen or ibuprofen. We should note that Tylenol contains acetaminophen and Advil contains ibuprofen but there ultimate function is to relief your body pain. In same way different religion seems to have different content but the ultimate goal is same for all, to realize that ultimate supernatural power and bestow mankind.

So, I would suggest you can follow any religion which suit you and embrace your culture. Because I feel our culture make us unique from each other, at the same time we should not forget that all religion has ultimate one message. So, we should not bring politics into religion and claim that one religion is better than other. It’s like advertising that Aleve is better than Advil. We should recognize the diversity in human approach towards, and realization of, the one Supreme reality. The essence of religion consists in man’s hold on what is eternal and immanent in all being. Every religion is true, only if its adherents sincerely and honestly follow it.

Why did he change his name???

I have thought of changing my name so many times. Not legally, but only to make it easy for other people to call my name out. But I didn’t, since my name is the sweetest word for me in this world. When someone mispronounce my name, I repeat that over again, even then they couldn’t get that, I spell that out for them; C as Charlie, H as Henry etc...I have to say so many names to make my name meaningful. Some of my friends has changed their name and become Mike, Dave, Jen(Please make sure, these are only informal name, not for official use) etc, and this is not because they like these names or want to be an American, but to avoid the situation I have mentioned earlier in this paragraph. After this you might have to face other questions about your country. Where are you from??? You would say “Nepal”. What…where is that? Again I have to say in between India and China. In this way I have to use other people’s name and other country’s name to introduce myself and my country. Why do I need to use other country’s name to introduce my country? Again to avoid this embarrassment, I would say California, if I am not in California and New York, if I am not in New York and so on. In this way I would avoid unwanted conversation.

Metamorphosis of Friendship (Phase-3)

Life is very mysterious and never knows where it is going to land. Companionship is even more inexplicable and only god knows how, when and where it is going to reveal in the life. Life is just like a video game; only programmer knows every loop, situation, action and event inside the game; whereas player has to play over and over again and spend lots of time to crack the game. However players enjoy each and every moments they spend to reach the final destination. God is the programmer of the earth and its inhabitants. We are playing the real game to reach the final destination and only god knows the end. Being a player of the game, I had played in various locations in Nepal till 20th level. 21st level onward, I have been playing in abroad; in search of my destiny. I was planning to go to India for my higher education but not yet decided. I was just thinking, whether to go or not. All of the sudden I got an unknown call from a maternal uncle, to whom I had never met earlier. He called me to tell about his nephew, who was also planning to go to India. He suggested me to go together as both of us were going abroad first time. On top of that both of us were thinking about the same place and the same subject. That coincidence helped me to determine my thinking. I talked with my family and decided to go to India. This decision gave me a new companion but deprived me of rest of my buddies.

Metamorphosis of Friendship (Phase-2)

Every transition period contains anxiety, frustration and dilemma though we have to choose one path, one direction to move forward in the life. We didn’t have enough career selection and academic choices at that time. Everyone gives preference to science rather than other subjects. If you are not a science student that means you are not a good student. That’s why if you secure 1st division in SLC you must have to go to a Science College. I would like to tell you the public perception behind the science subject. By default, science means either doctor or engineer in Nepal. We don’t bother about scientific research and invention of new things at all. Everybody wants to be a doctor or engineer. If you ask a child about his/her interest to be in the future, he/she will have readymade answer and would say “doctor/engineer”. Our partners didn’t have confidence that we would get success in the future, if we choose other than science. That’s why they compel us to join science, though that is not a subject of our interest. My subject of the interest from the beginning was to be a successful businessman. Might be this interest got develop inside me due to family background. I must have to acknowledge that I am from business oriented family. Because of that they allowed me to join Shankar Dev Campus to pursue my further education. It was one of the good management colleges at that time.