Thrill kills

One negative impact of adventurism is that it blurs the line between capability and performativity.

On Monday, as Nepalis sat down to scroll their smartphones after a colourful day of Holi, they were confronted by a bone-chilling video. Seventeen youths jumped, one after another, into the Karnali River from the iconic single-pillared bridge in Chisapani, Western Nepal. As each youth made a splash in the water, the onlookers were either hooting or counting them, eagerly waiting to see each of them emerge from the water and sail to the bank. Their wait turned to worry when 30-year-old Mahendra Shahi, one of the 17 youths, failed to emerge from the water. His dead body was later recovered from Sanakatti Ghat in Tikapur Municipality.