By Renuka Dhakal

Kathmandu, Mar. 30: Barsha Siwakoti is one of the popular actresses in the Nepali film fraternity. Within a short time, she has established herself in this industry as one of the talented and successful actress.
Siwakoti started her acting journey six years ago with “Nai Nabhannula 2" sequel and till now she has done more than 10 films, including "Pashupati Prasad", "Lappan Chhappan” and "Karkhana".
Barsha is currently utilizing the lockdown time by practising yoga and doing exercise at home. In addition to yoga and exercise, she enjoys reading books. She has already completed reading “Becoming” by Michelle Obama and currently she is reading two books “Siddharth” (a spiritual book about Gautam Buddha) and Nepali fictional novel “Karnali Blues” by Buddhi Sagar simultaneously.
She seems to be posting her exercise and reading activities on social media. This shows that she is not only a beautiful actress but also studious.
She further said, “I love reading books and I have a long list of books that need to be read. Reading has been one of the best pastimes for me these days because reading gives me inner peace and happiness.
"We always complain that we don't have enough time to do the things we want to do. Due to the pandemic, we have a lot of free time now and we have to use it wisely. It is the time for us to be physically, mentally, emotionally healthy and we should take this pandemic as an opportunity to do yoga and engage in creative works,” she said. Though many people are spending their time watching their favorite TV series, films and using mobile, Barsha doesn’t always like to indulge in mobile and internet to kill time. She believes that mobile and technology make people impatient and they are not good for our eyes too.
Aside from technology, this is the best time to develop our good habits and set a proper routine to balance our life, said Siwakoti.
Barsha said, "We have to learn cooking a variety of food items, clean the house and do other artistic work that will improve our skills and creative knowledge."
Barsha was a gym freak, but now when she starts doing yoga while living in quarantine, she says yoga is the best exercise that gives pleasure to the heart and peace to the mind.
She remembers that she was always in tension while doing the gym because she couldn't manage proper time for exercise and food. But now while doing yoga in an empty stomach, she feels fresh and fit.
Talking about the food, she loves homemade food and during this quarantine time she understands the importance of homemade food more. She said that she is also learning to cook different foods that she can later make a habit of taking homemade food while going to work outdoors as well.
Barsha was born in 1993 in Baratnagar. However, she has been in the capital from her childhood. She did her schooling from Asian Public School, Kathmandu. She was an introvert by nature from her childhood. Nevertheless, she was one of the brilliant students while in school. At school she always came in the first or second place and was always eager to dance.
She did her Bachelor’s degree in BBA from Apex College, Kathmandu. But now, she doesn’t have any plan soon to join Masters degree because she has already been associated with many other film projects.
Like other actress, she too has been a target of trolls. She is often trolled with another contemporary, Barsha Raut, for their cold war though both have made it clear through various media that they are not in any rivalry. She has been following some yoga aasans by Baba Ramdev and Adriene (a youtuber). She advises everyone to give some time to themselves. “Not all exercises require heavy equipment; simple yoga poses and stretching also help us stay fit and fresh,” she said.
“This crisis period is certainly not good, but everything happens for good, and so is the lockdown. To make the environment clean I think there should be a lockdown at least once a week.”
Recently, she was busy shooting “Pardeshi 2” in Pokhara. However, due to nationwide lockdown imposed by the government the shooting has been postponed for an indefinite period.
Meanwhile, actress Siwakoti has decided to provide Rs, 100,000 to the Coronavirus Infection Prevention, Control and Treatment Fund.
She announced this through social media. She added that she wanted to distribute the food by herself, but for safety reasons and due to nationwide lockdown imposed by the government she decided to donate the money to the Fund.