Jeanne Noonan for News

Nepalese actor and current community activist Shoilesh K. Shrestha at Himalayan Yak restaurant in Queens.

Little Nepal may be Queens' next cultural enclave.

Waves of immigrants from the small South Asian nation, which is home to Mount Everest and the birthplace of Buddha, have flocked to the borough over the past two decades. Many Nepali natives live and work in Astoria, Jackson Heights, Ridgewood, Sunnyside and Woodside, operating restaurants and shops that seem on the cusp of going mainstream.

"They are part and parcel of life in New York City," said Amrit Rai, a diplomat at the Permanent Mission of Nepal to the United Nations, which also serves as the Nepali Consulate.

Some predict Nepali culture, now spread diffusely across Queens, could someday spawn a distinct neighborhood like Little India in Jackson Heights.

It's hard to pinpoint how many Nepalis live in Queens since the 2010 Census did not ask for country of origin, only race.

Instead, experts rely on the American Community Survey, which asks comprehensive questions and is sent by census workers each year to randomly selected households across the nation.

Survey figures estimate that 3,461 Nepalis were living in Queens during any given year between 2005 and 2009. Statistics from the 2010 survey won't be out until late this summer, said Census Bureau spokeswoman Briana Kaya.

But Nepali leaders contend the numbers exclude perhaps thousands of immigrants who didn't fill out survey forms or identified themselves as Asian, not Nepali.

Tara Niraula, a New School professor who is considered an expert on Nepalis in New York City, estimates that more than 20,000 Nepalis live in Queens.

Many Nepalis fled to Queens between the mid-1990s and 2005 amid turmoil that led to the abolition of the landlocked country's monarchy, Niraula said.

Nepali leaders are crafting a democratic constitution, but Nepalis living in Queens say they are reluctant to go back home due to high unemployment rates and gang violence.

They are also growing more at ease in New York.

Shailesh Shrestha, 45, who left Nepal for Queens in 1998, said he overcame the cultural shock of being in the Big Apple when he noticed other Nepalis moving near him in Sunnyside.

"I feel really great," Shrestha said. "We have created here comfort within these 20 years rapidly."

For now, the Nepali community in Queens seems to be flying under the radar because it exists in pockets throughout the borough, unlike other cultures clustered within one neighborhood.

But the lack of awareness doesn't bother Keshab Ram Rai, 46, who co-owns a Nepali grocery store in Jackson Heights.

"This is the good life here," he said. "It should be like this all across the world."
 

They can read all about it

Blue-and-purple headlines were splashed across a recent front page of Vishwa Sandesh, a biweekly Nepali newspaper based in Jackson Heights.

The July 1 issue had the hallmarks that vaulted the free publication to a circulation of about 20,000: photos and articles about Nepal and the growing Nepali community in New York.

It's among several news media outlets to rise in Queens, including two newspapers, a magazine and an Internet radio station, geared specifically to Nepali residents.

Experts point to the rise of the Nepali press as a sign that the country's culture is permeating the borough.

"It's becoming a lot more visible," said Tara Niraula, a Nepali expert at the New School.

Vishwa Sandesh editor Kishor Panthi said the newspaper earned readers by reporting investigative stories and exclusives. Among its favorite targets are fake asylum seekers who lie about being persecuted in Nepal to gain entry to China, Mexico and Nicaragua.

"It's a kind of social service," said Panthi, 27. "It's not only reporting. It's not only journalism. It's our duty to inform the Nepalese."

But Vishwa Sandesh, started four years ago, now faces competition from a Woodside-based Nepali newspaper, the Everest Times, that began publishing in 2009.

Everest Times editor Bishnu Poudel, who lives in Sunnyside, said readers await every issue because the newspaper breaks down complicated American stories in Nepali.

"They are waiting for our newspaper," he said. "They are very interested." Vishwa Sandesh and the Everest Times can be found at almost every Nepali eatery and store in Queens.

Vishwa Sandesh's chief editor, Bijaya Poudel, is currently in Nepal trying to secure investors for the newspaper.

A monthly magazine, Nepal Chautari, also recently debuted in Jackson Heights.

And about 1,000 Nepalis tune in regularly to an Internet radio station, Himali Sworharu ( nepaliradio.org), which offers music and interviews with local Nepali newsmakers.

Its creator, Sahadev Poudel, started the station in 2007. "I wanted to do something for the community," said Poudel, 33, of Ridgewood.