Nepal, Feb. 11 -- The beginning of spring is the best time to be at any place in Madhesh. The debilitating chill of the sheet lahar-the foggy haze that envelopes everything during the winter in the Ganga Plains-begins to clear. The warmth of the sun is pleasant in the morning, but one needs to look for shade when the atmosphere heats up around midday.

When stars begin to glow in the night sky, the air outdoors becomes wintry as if to remind aimless strollers that even though Vasant Panchami has heralded the spring, only Fagua-the festival of fire, earth, water and colour-would bid farewell to the cold season.

The Sixth Janakpur Literature Festival couldn't have been timed better to bring some literary luminaries, articulate entrepreneur...