A very special Valentine's Day episode dedicated to our lovely listeners who have been with us for the last eight years! Thank you so much for being part of our laugh and guff gaff. It feels like we’ve actually become boju and bajai in podcast years. So your grannies next door are a bit tired, and desperately in need of some aaram, and will be goin…

Boju Bajai in conversation with journalist Bidhya Rai. We talk about her experience being a woman inside and outside the newsroom, her journey from Bhojpur to Kathmandu, and why her relationship with social media has deteriorated over the years. Bidhya is an award-winning journalist who has consistently reported on stories about the most marginalis…

Boju Bajai in conversation with Dr. Dovan Rai, a researcher, writer, and educator. In this episode, we talk about Dovan's experiences as a woman working in STEM and education, her writings about Nepal's long history of failed political leadership, and the role and effectiveness of civil society in Nepal. Dovan Rai is passionate about making quality…

Boju Bajai in conversation with writer and lawyer Durga Karki. In this episode, we talk about her writing journey as a young बुद्धिजीवि in Nepal, her grad school experience at Harvard, and her recent decision to stay off social media as much as possible. Durga Karki is a lawyer by training, a journalist by interest, and a writer by passion. She wri…

This is the third installment of Boju Bajai Reads where we get our favorite writers to read their writings. And this time, we are thrilled to have writer Durga Karki reading her short story ‘साथे’ from her book “कुमारी प्रश्नहरू”. We are releasing our episode ‘Guff Gaff with Durga Karki’ on December 2. So please mark your calendar hai.Boju Bajai re…

In this episode, journalist Manju Telor explores the working conditions of overworked and underpaid nurses in Nepal. How does that affect the quality of care in Nepal’s hospitals, and what can the institutions within which these care professionals work do better? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter Cold Takes by Boju Bajai for a roundup of news and …

Boju Bajai in conversation with Dr. Amina Singh. In this episode, we talk about various aspects of Nepal’s education system by exploring issues like how students in Nepali classrooms are taught history and civic studies, and why there is an urgent need for Nepali classrooms to equip students with the skills to think critically, question and reason.…

Resharing this episode from 2020 where our guests Shailee and Pallavi challenge the boundaries and definitions of what it means to be a Nepali. Happy Constitution Day!In this episode, @shaileeism and @PayalPallavi take over Boju Bajai and talk about what it means to be a Madhesi, a Nepali, and a Madhesi woman in Nepal.Disclaimer - This episode cont…

In this episode, we talk to wildlife researcher turned social entrepreneur Priya Joshi about her professional and personal journey, her complicated relationship with motherhood, and her attempt at creating a nurturing, kind online community for young Nepali mothers like her. Priya Joshi started her career as a wildlife researcher and later switched…

Boju Bajai in conversation with writer Shivani Singh Tharu. In this episode, we talk about Shivani’s journey from tv to writing and her relationship with Kathmandu and Kathmandu’s elite institutions as a Tharu woman from Nepalgunj. She also speaks candidly about the struggles of being a full-time writer in Nepal, her creative process, and dabbling …

This is the second installment of Boju Bajai Reads where we get our favorite writers to read their writings. And this time, we are thrilled to have writer Shivani Singh Tharu read her piece ‘महुवा’ published in Naya Patrika.Oh, and mark your calendar cos our episode ‘Guff Gaff with Shivani Singh Tharu’ is releasing on August 2.Read the full piece p…

Boju Bajai in conversation with Akanchha Karki, who is a theatre director, performer and educator. She runs Katha Ghera, a theatre collective in Kathmandu, and has directed several plays including the Nepali version of The Vagina Monologues, Private is Political, Line, The Giving Tree, Harek Babal Kura, and Animal Farm. She is also an aspiring film…

Welcome to Episode 6 of Care at the Centre: Voices from the Majority World. At the heart of this series is care - the life-affirming, life-sustaining practice which honours our interconnected relationships and our commitment to the wellbeing of ourselves, our environments, and each other.As the world becomes increasingly hostile towards feminist ac…

Welcome to Episode 5 of Care at the Centre: Voices from the Majority World. At the heart of this series is care - the life-affirming, life-sustaining practice honouring our interconnected relationships and our commitment to the wellbeing of ourselves, our environments, and each other.As the world becomes increasingly hostile towards feminist activi…

Welcome to Episode 4 of Care at the Centre: Voices from the Majority World. At the heart of this series is care - the life-affirming, life-sustaining practice honouring our interconnected relationships and our commitment to the wellbeing of ourselves, our environments, and each other.As the world becomes increasingly hostile towards feminist activi…

Welcome to Episode 3 of Care At the Centre: Voices from the Majority World. At the heart of this series is care - the life-affirming, life-sustaining practice honouring our interconnected relationships and our commitment to the wellbeing of ourselves, our environments, and each other.As the world becomes increasingly hostile towards feminist activi…

Welcome to the second episode of Care at the Centre: Voices from the Majority World. At the heart of this series is care - the life-affirming, life-sustaining practice which honours our interconnected relationships and our commitment to the wellbeing of ourselves, our environments, and each other.In this episode, we bring you the voice of Rukshana …

Care at the Centre: Voices from the Majority WorldAt the heart of this series is care - the life-affirming, life-sustaining practice of honouring our interconnected relationships and our commitment to the wellbeing of ourselves, our environments, and each other.But in an increasingly hostile world, how do women, trans, and non-binary activists in t…

Boju Bajai in conversation with the fantastically talented writer Kunsang. Her deeply personal essays and stories about her family, community and the way of life in the mountains of Humla are a window to a region of Nepal that doesn't get written about as much in Nepali literature or in our op-ed pages. Kunsang’s op-eds, memoirs and short stories h…

This is the first installment of Boju Bajai Reads where we get our favorite writers to read their writings. And we are thrilled to have writer Kunsang read her piece आगो केवल आगो होइन for this new series. Oh, and mark your calendar cos our episode ‘Guff Gaff with Kunsang’ is releasing on June 2. Read आगो केवल आगो होइन by Kunsang here: https://ekant…

Boju Bajai turns SEVEN!! Thank you to everyone, who’s been part of our laugh and guff gaff since we started Boju Bajai in 2016. We are so grateful to have a community of Boju Bajai listeners, readers and supporters, and we hope we will be able to continue our laugh and guff gaff until we actually become boju bajai irl also, re kya ;pAnd this time o…

We hosted a fun live podcast with writers Anbika Giri and Babita Rai talking about mother's day memes, their portrayal in popular media and literature. And now it’s here for you to listen and watch. आमाहरुबारे रचिएका गीत सङ्गीत, हाम्रा प्रिय भावुक kavizz, र साहित्यमा आमाको चित्रण कसरी हुन्छ/ हुँदै आएको छ बारे 'चीरफार' गर्न बोजु बजैलाई साथ दिनु हुँद…

It’s that time of the year again! What are we marching for this year? Re-releasing this episode from a few years ago because, well… we are so tired of telling people to stop telling us “everyday is women’s day” when clearly it’s not, especially not in Nepal! Just look at how the Nepali state treats women - Nepali women are unequal by law because of…

Researcher Sangita Thebe Limbu joins Boju Bajai to talk about the importance of creating critical spaces in the public sphere that can challenge the dominant narratives and discourses shaping people’s minds and op-ed pages around issues of inclusion, reservation, and that Nepal is “४ जात ३६ वर्णको साझा happy फूलबारी।”Sangita Thebe Limbu is a PhD ca…

As news stories of rape-accused Sandeep Lamichhane taking wickets take over our timelines, the erasure of the legal proceedings against him has begun. And, what is clear is that for the Cricket Association of Nepal, wickets come before women. Here is our unplanned and unscheduled cold takes on CAN's continuing attempts to reinstate Lamichhane's pla…

Boju Bajai in conversation with पूर्व सम्पादक बिनु सुवेदी। Binu is one of the few women in Nepali media, who has led newsrooms and has extensively reported on national politics, as well as social justice. In this episode, we talk to Binu about her journalism career, the role of independent journalism in democracy, सम्पादक ब्रोस and how Nepali newsr…

The newest episode of 2023 is here! Kicking off the new year with our conversation with Mahima Vashisht, the very talented and funny womaniya behind ‘Womaning in India’ newsletter. We talk about everything from subtle sexism, gender blindspots, raja betas, and everything in between. Mahima’s weekly newsletter weaves in deeply personal and shockingl…

This time we talk about bros, who run everything from influential social media platforms to newsrooms and spiritual empires and their highly problematic views on gender among many things. We’ve been saying these things for the last SIX (!!!) years, but like always our daaju bhaais refuse to engage with any of the criticism cos that’s how they #thri…

Abortion is legal in Nepal, but it is still criminalised. What does this mean for reproductive justice and what impact does it have on the reproductive health of women? Why are women still being driven to seek unsafe abortions? Why does our society still view abortion as something shameful and how does that affect the health and mental wellbeing of…

It's been exactly twenty years since Nepal legalized abortion. There's been a lot of talk about abortion and women’s rights over their bodies since Roe v. Wade was overturned in the US. But have we ever had similar discussions over abortion rights in Nepal, accessibility to such services, and the cultural attitudes towards abortion in Nepali societ…

लप पर्नै मात्र लागेको थियो, साला IELTS बीचमा आइदियो !!!This episode is all about online dating in the times of the rapidly increasing number of bideshiney mayalu haru. So how have dating apps made it easy or difficult to look for companionship for young Nepalis, and shifted attitudes towards dating? And how often does bidesh ko visa and bidesh ko d…

Poets Yukta Bajracharya and Ujjwala Maharjan join Boju Bajai to talk about their friendship, their collaborative partnership, and why we need to learn to communicate better with our friends.Ujjwala Maharjan is a poet and educator from Kathmandu, Nepal. She is one of the co-founders of Word Warriors, a poetry group leading the spoken word movement i…

It’s all about Nepali uncle हरुको कान्ड this month, from बजेट चलखेल behind चुकुल लाको doors to सुनको लौरो “flying” to Jhapa bypassing the customs office at TIA. Buddha was born in Nepal wala पावन भूमीमा यति धेरैं चलखेल, जालझेल? Boju Bajai thinks Nepal Tourism Board should rethink their promos and maybe add “All बिचौलियाहरु and also Buddha was born …

कोरोना भाइरसको घातक पहिलो र दोस्रो लहरमा अग्रपङ्क्तिमा काम गर्ने महिला स्वास्थ्यकर्मीको भोगाइबारे हाम्रो नयाँ एपिसोड सुन्नुहोला। आफ्नो पेशाले गर्दा अरुहरुबाट विभेदकारी व्यवहार खेपे, बिरामीहरुले दिनहु ज्यान गुमाएको देखे, अझ त्यसमाथि कामसँगै घरव्यवहार सम्हाल्नु पर्ने दोहोरो बोझ - यी सब कुराहरुले उनीहरुको मानसिक स्वास्थ्यमा कस्तो असर पर्यो ? यहि सेरोफ…

Boju Bajai को बासी बासी takes on everything from देशको खस्कदो अर्थतन्त्र to upcoming local elections, and all the bro candidates, including Keshav Sthapit and his थुतुनो when it comes to addressing the MeToo allegations against him. And जाँदा जाँदै we also talk about the most bro-ey bro, Elon bhai saab, who just bought Twitter! Bro harukai chhha mo…

Boju Bajai is hosting All Ears, Nepal’s first podcast festival on April 9 & 10 (Saturday - Sunday). AllEars is the first podcast festival of its kind in Nepal, curated to celebrate all things audio. And this episode is all about All Ears, the amazing sessions we have planned, and why you should be part of it.All sessions take place online (on Zoom)…

In this episode, we hear from our listeners. And a note from Boju Bajai on male entitlement and consent. Readings:https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2020/08/male-entitlement-hurts-women-manne-writes-new-bookhttps://ekantipur.com/news/2022/02/21/16454456041257987.htmlBoju Bajai

हरेक वर्ष, without fail, male editors’ gaze will always find 'परम्परागत पोसाकमा XYZ जनजाति समुदायकी युवती' when it comes to festivals like उँधेौली, योमरी पुन्ही, ल्होसर and so on. However, issues and voices of the same indigenous community find little space in the Nepali newsroom and media at large, which are often led by Khas Arya men.जनजाति महिला…

TW// This episode contains strong language. What a f**kall year 2021 has been! As this f$%kall year comes to an end, here’s Boju Bajai’s Cold Takes on Nepali politics, economy and our encounters with the numerous humanist bros of ‘Budhhako janmabhumi’.We wish you a very happy new year! Thank you ALL for your love and support for Boju Bajai, whether…

Trigger warning: This episode contains mentions of rape, murder and suicide.This episode was produced by Boju Bajai in collaboration with Samata Foundation. नेपालमा महिला तथा बालिकाहरु माथि हुने हिंसा, विशेष गरी यौन हिंसाका घटनाबारे दिनानुदिन समाचार आइनै रहन्छ। सडक र सामाजिक सन्जालमा यौन हिंसाबारे निकै बहस हुन्छ र पत्रिकाका पानाहरुमा आक्रोश पोखिन्छ…

*This is a re-release of a 2016 episode, which we seem to have deleted inadvertently. यसपाली गफगाफ आमाहरु,अरुका भान्टाङ् भुन्टुङ्हरु र मातृत्वबारे हो । We talk about our mothers, other people's kids, and our own thoughts on motherhood.If you like our laugh and guff gaff, please do consider supporting our work on Patreon: www.patreon.com/bojubajaiSu…

How do you talk about gender equality, when there is such a limited vocabulary to turn to in the Nepali language? How do people working at the community level communicate and disseminate ideas of gender equality and social justice from the jargon heavy handbooks and policy papers formulated by experts, and often in English?For #UnitedNationsDay, we…

Cuffing season is here and so is the new Boju Bajai episode.In this episode, we talk about dating apps or as we like to call them over at Boju Bajai- 'sutne' apps.The heydays of love letters are long gone and it's the time of swiping and matching, of 'hey you up's and 'wyd?'s. But what hasn't changed is our desire to connect and find companionship.…

We talk to journalist Abha Lal about the citizenship debate in Nepal and how the recurring amendments disproportionately discriminate against women from the Madhes.This conversation was recorded for Guff Gaff with Boju Bajai, a web-series presented by Book Bus Nepal. The series was produced by Satori Center for the Arts, Quixote’s Cove, and Boju Ba…

Hello September, hello world!In this episode, Bhrikuti Rai and Itisha Giri go on their random ramblings and not-so-random rants. They talk about Nepali living, Nepali internet, and our very own Nepali politicians. This episode is an unbeeped/ uncensored version so it might not be suitable for some listeners. Featured music and audio:"Wake me up" by…

Trigger warning: This episode includes mentions of mental health disorders, anxiety, and suicide.This episode is dedicated to mental health — about learning to take care of our mental well-being, initiating difficult conversations with our families about our struggles, and seeking help when we need it. For this episode, reporter Nikita Tripathi spo…

हामीले गतवर्ष बबिता राईसँग 'भाले राष्ट्रवाद' र सामाजिक सञ्जाल आफ्ना विचारहरू राख्दा महिलाहरू सामना गर्नुपर्ने tone policing, ‌moral policing र trolling र नेपाली सामाजिक सञ्जालमा उनीहरूको आवाज र self-expression लाई दबाउन हुने silencing का अनेक गतिविधिबारे गफगाफ गरेका थियौँ। महिलाहरूको राष्ट्रप्रेमको परीक्षा लिइरहने विषाक्त ‘भाले राष्ट्रवाद’, अनलाइनम…

For Pride month, journalist Ankit Khadgi takes over Boju Bajai to bring you two tales, from the same city - tales of liberation and oppression; of love and longing; of personal freedom and collective demands. In the first segment, Ankit talks to Roselyn Thapa Magar, also known as Maya Indrani, about the drag scene in Nepal. In the second segment of…

We spoke to journalist Shusma Barali about journalism, Dalit rights, online and offline conversations around caste-based discrimination, and inclusion in a deeply unequal society like ours. Please read Shusma Barali's story in Nepali Times about the caster-based killing in Rukkum in 2020 https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/caste-aside/ Follow Shusma…

के नयाँ नागरिकता अध्यादेश साँच्चै प्रगतिशील छ? आमाहरूले बाबुको पहिचान नभएको स्वघोषणा गर्ने भनेको के हो? यो कसरी गर्ने ? तपाईको यी सबै प्रश्नका उत्तरहरू पत्रकार Shova Sharma सँगको हाम्रो नयाँ एपिसोडमा।On May 23, President Bidhya Devi Bhandari promulgated Nepal Citizenship (first amendment) Ordinance 2021. The heated debate on the ordinance has slowe…