Eighteen months after they were born joined at the head at Prasuti Griha in Thapathali, twins Ganga and Jamuna are back in Kathmandu. These conjoined sisters, the youngest Nepali duo to hit world headlines, were separated at the Singapore General Hospital in early April. The operation, initially expected to last 30 hours, ended up taking the team of about 20 expert surgeons over 90 hours to complete.

There have been only four instances of twins joined at the head being successfully separated and it was, if nothing else, an extremely expensive undertaking. Neurologist Dr Basant Pant says Nepali doctors did a commendable job, but the operation was impossible in Nepal due to lack of equipment. Even in Singapore, the procedure could only be undertaken because after news of the twins' plight hit the headlines, generous contributions came in from Singaporeans and Nepalis. Bhushan KC and Sandhya Shrestha now have enough money to take care of the medical expenses of their children for the next few years.

The twins are said to be in reasonable health and are now at home in Kathmandu with their parents. Bhushan and Sandhya say Jamuna is the more active of the two, but Ganga is also slowly perking up. However there is one small problem. Because the children had been living in an Anglophone environment for close to a year, they seem to respond more to English than to Nepali. "No matter," says delighted grandad Arjundev Shrestha. "I'll talk to them in English."