Ambassador of France to Nepal Francois-Xavier Léger said how world of challenges & opportunities, ideas & projects are emerging across various themes in this world. Delivering in his opening speech, He stressed how human being is able to celebrate this string of ideas is what Being Alive is all about.

In a series of debates designed to stimulate thinking and get the ideas and knowledge flowing, the French Embassy, the Alliance Française and the Beed Management came together again for a new edition of “Night of Ideas” panel discussion focusing on BeingAlive.

Panellists for this year’s edition included Alok Tuladhar, a documentary filmmaker with special interest in the documentation of Nepal's heritage, Bindu Bhandari, a climate change campaigner and policy analyst, Jagannath Lamichhane, an activist and columnist turned life coach and blogger and Swosti R Kayastha, a lecturer at Lumbini Buddhist University, Nepal and a scholar of Nepali Cultural Heritage took part in the debate.

In his presentation, Tuladhar said that ,“if you look at our history, sustainably was a key part of our civilization. Now, even the western world is looking into it. Thus, we need to realize our roots and believe in our indigenous technologies”.

Bindu Bhandari focused on “adding value to the society while making choices and that we should not forget our past when moving forward with them”.

Similarly, Jagannath Lamichhane focused on mental health, viewed that although the social media platforms help us interact directly with the audience, it is also a threat to the psychological & physical well-being of the individuals.

He considers personal, professional and social problems to be the traits of weak mental health and “while our society believes that mental health problems are incurable, being honest to oneself & the society about one’s suffering is what #BeingAlive actually means”.

Swosti R Kayastha strongly believed in preserving the cultural, traditional, heritage and ethical values while the changes occur in our lives and in society.

She questioned, “how much of our culture do we really know?” and advised all “to appreciate one own’s culture and delve a bit deeper to truly identify ourselves and hence the need to #BeingAlive at such transitions”.

For Leena Dahal, the youth should be taking meaningful and tangible initiatives to make an in impact in one’s community.

About the Night of Ideas: The goal of the Night of ideas ('La Nuit des idées') is to celebrate the stream of ideas between countries, cultures, topics and generations. Every year, the Night of ideas gives the opportunity to discover the latest discoveries in knowledge and arts, to listen to the ones who contribute to bring more ideas to their field, and to take part in the discussion about the main issues of our times.