#646 8 - 14 March 2013 20 pages Rs 50 NOW WITH

ANY LUCK?: Young boys search for coins in the Bagmati at Pashupati Aryaghat on Saturday afternoon.

BIKRAM RAI Fishing in muddy waters hatever the outcome but ‘when’. June is out of the place, the rules laid out and have local elections in June or of the Supreme Court question, even November is agreed, and the laws passed. November, preceding general Wverdict on the writ looking iffy given the hemming This is a formidable task elections. petition challenging the legality and hawing from party leaders, and renewing voter lists, The next general elections is of the UCPN (M) proposal to so May 2014 may be a safe bet. demarcating constituencies up for grabs to anyone who can make Chief Justice Khil Raj Whenever they decide to that reflect new population guarantee integrity, vision, and Regmi the head of an election face voters, all parties will be densities, and requiring photo good governance. government, the question is desperate for a win, which IDs for voters are questions with not ‘if’ there will be elections, makes it all the more important deep political ramifications. to have the mechanisms in There is also a strong case to Editorial page 2

Spread across 777 hectares So you want with the Maya Devi Temple on the southern end and the to be a Nepali? Peace Pagoda on the northern In Nepal’s gender and dozens of international apartheid, the very monasteries on either side, existence of women can Lumbini today is an international be only certifi ed by men: hub that brings together people father, brother, husband, of diff erent beliefs, colour, father-in-law, brother-in- ethnicity, and nationality under law, uncles. The real day one garden. for women is still a long Trishna Rana way in Nepal. Deepti Gurung Lumbini special: page 3 DESTINATION PEACE page 15-17 2 EDITORIAL 8 - 14 MARCH 2013 #646 FRESH FACES

t last it looks like the top leaders of the main Election Commission and the easiest thing to do would parties have agreed to agree. In public, they be to re-commission commissioners who retired earlier Aall say they all want elections, but who knows this year. Voter registration efforts need to go into top what they really want? All this week, while a task gear as well. Not only does it have to keep pace with force was meeting in Kathmandu to iron out the population growth to include those who have grown details of the constitutional and logistical provisions up to voting age since 2008, women voters as well as for elections, the top leaders fanned out across the those from excluded communities need to be given country addressing supporters and accusing each IDs. For this, all those eligible for citizenship should other of trying to sabotage elections. In a sense, the have citizenship papers. It is a gross violation of human speeches were campaign-style tirades. The parties are rights to disenfranchise Nepalis currently stateless just already in campaign mode. because their Nepali fathers are missing (see page 3). Whatever the outcome of the Supreme Court Provisions have to be made for absentee voting by the verdict on the writ petition challenging the legality nearly three million Nepalis outside Nepal. of the UCPN(M) proposal to make Chief Justice Khil The integrity of the voting process itself needs to be Raj Regmi the head of an election government, the ensured: minimising cheating, booth-capturing, vote- question is not ‘if’ there will be elections, but ‘when’. buying, intimidation, and violations of the election June is out of the question, even November is looking code that were rampant in 2008. In their hurry to get the iffy given the hemming and hawing from party leaders, elections over and done with, international observers so May 2014 may be a safe bet. prematurely declared those polls free and fair. The But none of the parties want Regmi to be at the Maoists would probably have won anyway, but by a helm for too long. The Maoist-Madhesi coalition led much smaller margin had the voting been cleaner. the most corrupt government in Nepal’s democratic We can’t afford a flawed election this time, when the history and it has amassed a commendable war- conditions are, if anything, more difficult. The Annual chest to finance an election win, but this ill-gotten Himalmedia Public Opinion Poll that is conducted hoard will deplete the longer it is out of power. The annually sampling more than 4,000 respondents all opposition is underfunded for polls, especially if it over the country shows this year that there is huge gets really dirty. disillusionment with the political parties. This year’s Whenever they decide to face voters, all parties will opinion poll results which will be carried on Sunday’s be desperate for a win, which makes it all the more edition of Himal Khabarpatrika and next Friday’s issue important to have the mechanisms in place, the rules of this newspaper indicate the popularity ratings of all laid out and agreed, and the laws passed. This is a political leaders have fallen to the single digits and are formidable task and renewing voter lists, demarcating too close to call. The proportion of those who either constituencies that reflect new population densities, The next general election didn’t know or hadn’t decided has exceeded 40 per and requiring photo IDs for voters are questions with cent. deep political ramifications. There is also a strong case is up for grabs to anyone The next general elections is up for grabs to any to have local elections in June or November, preceding who can guarantee integrity, political party that can show it has integrity, vision, general elections. and the managerial skills to guarantee good governance But the first order of business is to have a whole vision, and good governance - even a completely new party with fresh faces.

DIWAKAR CHETTRI ON THE WEB www.nepalitimes.com

LIGHT AT THE END Justice Khil Raj Regmi heading the Associations is a decisive move HIGH COSTS, LOW FARES condemned by people across the OF THE TUNNEL? election government are unclear. towards a fully professional approach This is in reference to your world. What they probably don’t So uplifting 2 look up & over the Does he remain the CJ and to mountaineering in Nepal (‘Because article (‘High costs, low fares’, know is that killing stray dogs is very horizon! @nepalitimes new ‘buzz’ concurrently lead the judiciary as well they are there’, Kanak Mani Dixit, #645). Sunir Pandey, #642) where you common in Nepal. section looks ahead a mere 10 or will he relinquish his position? If he I hope this achievement will translate mentioned our current discussions years @ what is possible. relinquishes, then will a new CJ be into improved all round training, less with the United Nations regarding The incident in Baluwatar proves that Robert Piper @UN_Piper appointed to replace him or does the accidents and deaths, and better its safety categorisation of Yeti Nepal needs to take animal welfare CJ position remain vacant and Regmi salaries and opportunities for our guides. Airlines. We are pleased to inform seriously. Authorities must fi nd Your article Nepal in 2022 really will be reinstated after the election? This recognition will also serve as a you that the UN agreed to review humane solutions to animal problems made me reconfi rm that it’s not April If he is not reinstated, does he retire guarantee for insurance companies -a our zero accident record in the and animal welfare legislation is the 1 today. Is everything said in it really from public service thereafter? If these very important step for operators. trunk route sector and has offi cially need of the hour. Only when these possible? issues are made clearer to the public, MR graded Yeti Airlines as the safest things are in place can we convince Dipika Shrestha @ShresthaSmiley then only will we know whether the domestic airlines in Nepal, besides the world that no other Nepali dog principle of separation of powers will This news feels much better than also placing us in its ‘B’ category. will be tortured in a similar manner. I have been reading articles like be violated in the event CJ heads the others appreciating Nepali loyalty, Our subsidiary Tara Air has also We urge the authorities to investigate this for the last 15 years but nothing election government. valour, and honesty 2 be fi t 4 working as been upgraded to Category ‘C’. the brutal (and illegal) killing, take seems to change. C Thapa security guards. We would also like to clarify action against the offi cers involved, Smitkoirala Sabita Thapa @sobst that we are in the process of and train the police about humane ASHES TO ASHES clearing the UN World Food dog management. STABILITY AT WHAT COST? I don’t think smoking is a public health BACK TO BLACK Program’s (WFP) audit for Pramada Shah and Lucia de Why are you mincing words in this concern for Nepal right now. (‘Ashes to Will the 300 improved stoves really help qualifi cation for its global Vries (Volunteer Directors, editorial (‘Stability at what cost?’, ashes’, Hari Devi Rokaya, #645). It is a curb emission coming out of the ‘highly passenger charters. The audit Animal Nepal) #645)? Call a spade a spade. The personal choice and even uneducated effi cient’ engines of Skoda (‘Back to clearance process has not www.animalnepal.org CJ as PM project is an Indo-US idea people know what a pack a day can do black’, Bhrikuti Rai, #645)? Wouldn’t it been completed yet, but we are that Europeans have been duped to their lungs. Women still die during be far more helpful if petrol and diesel confi dent of obtaining clearance into thinking is about elections. This delivery in the absence of proper run vehicles go hybrid and companies within the next couple of months is about removing all the checks health care in rural Nepal and here like Skoda stopped lobbying against which will make us the fi rst Nepali and balances so that whoever rules in Kathmandu people are thinking of electric vehicles? airlines to qualify for the WFP’s Weekly Internet Poll #646 how to stop others from smoking. This Subhash Singh global passenger charter tenders. Nepal in the future will not be an Q. Is it acceptable for the police to apprehend people based obstacle to future energy projects happens only in Nepal. Umesh Chandra Rai (General on how they look? and regulation of Nepal’s rivers Shreeman CAN RAHUL? Manager, Yeti Airlines/Tara Air) that feed the Ganges. There is also The title of this article should be Total votes: 1,576 a long-term geo-strategic goal of [If a lot of Nepali women smoke changed to: Can Rahul survive? (‘Can ANIMAL BEHAVIOUR encircling China. Your editorial is does it mean] … emancipation and Rahul revive the Congress?’, Ajaz Animal Nepal is deeply shocked right about one thing though: the CJ modernisation or should we be Ashraf, #645). Once in the front-line you and distraught over brutal killing of option will make it more diffi cult for ashamed of this? survive either on your charisma or on a dog by policemen in Baluwatar outsiders to achieve those results shivani basnet @ShivaniBasnet your wit, you cannot go on and on with last week. Offi cers fi rst injured because Nepal will become more excuses. So far this scion of Nehru- the dog by shooting it and then unstable in the long run. BECAUSE THEY ARE THERE Gandhi dynasty has failed miserably on bludgeoned it to death with Ganga Being certifi ed by the International both fronts to be taken seriously. bamboo sticks. The images of Weekly Internet Poll # 647. To vote go to: www.nepalitimes.com Q. Should there be local elections in June even if general Certain elements of Chief Federation of Mountain Guide Bishu Nepal the killing are being watched and elections can't take place?

Publisher and Editor: Kunda Dixit Published by Himalmedia Pvt Ltd | Patan Dhoka, Lalitpur | GPO Box 7251 Kathmandu | Desk Editor: Trishna Rana | Design: Kiran Maharjan [email protected] | www.nepalitimes.com | www.himalmedia.com | Tel: 01-5005601-08 Fax: +977-1-5005518 Director of Corporate Events: Anup Prakash | Marketing: Arjun Karki, Surendra Sharma [email protected] | Advertorial/features: Ram Krishna Banjara | Subscription: Santosh Aryal [email protected] Nepali Times on Facebook Printed at Jagadamba Press | 01-5250017-19 | www.jagadambapr.com Follow @nepalitimes on Twitter 8 - 14 MARCH 2013 #646 OPINION 3 father of my daughters, I could become Nepalis is misplaced: get them citizenship over the why would a Bihari want to be counter. a citizen of Nepal when there The Supreme Court made a are no jobs and we have such very important decision on the primitive laws on citizenship? Sabina Damai case and ruled that Is our national sovereignty so children can get citizenship in fickle that it sees its own women the name of their mother if the as a security threat? child is conceived because of Gender activists and multiple physical relationships lawyers have been fighting a by the mother and the mother lonely battle against a political, cannot pinpoint the real father. bureaucratic and legal system But what if the children are born that is weighted against women. from the mother’s relationship My suggestion is that if a with a husband who has husband and wife are living abandoned her? We punish separately and the child has the offspring who are already been brought up solely by the punished. mother without any financial When I started a Facebook help from the father, the law page ‘Citizenship in the Name of must give the mother the right Mother’ I realised there are tens to pass on her name to her child of thousands of Nepali mothers and grant her citizenship. like me. In Nepal’s gender Nepal’s gender apartheid apartheid, the very existence of Got to Facebook page women can be only certified by ‘Citizenship in the Name of men: father, brother, husband, Mother’ to comment. The real day for women is still a long way away in Nepal father-in-law, brother-in-law, uncles. and doesn’t want to have that any unclaimed Children without citizenship anything to do with us. children can’t give SLC exams, can’t apply GUEST COLUMN The CDO looked sceptical. found within for a driving licence, they have Deepti Gurung He agreed that we live in a the country’s no bank account, no right to vote, patriarchal society, but he territorial no passport. The fear of Indians said emotions had no place boundary will be swarming across the border to have lost count of the number in law. My children could considered Nepali of times I have visited the get citizenship if the father until the time CDO and Ward offices to is identified and in case the their biological parents are SO YOU WANT TO BE A NEPALI?

I DIWAKAR CHETTRI try to register the birth of my father denies paternity, a DNA identified. So if I deliberately daughters so they can become test could resolve it. But if the abandon my children on the Nepali father + Foreign mother = Nepali child citizens of Nepal. Men sitting children’s father is not Nepali streets they will get citizenship, Nepali mother + Foreign father = Stateless child behind desks have reminded me they can’t be given citizenship but not if I follow procedures and Raped mother + Fatherless child = Stateless child that my husband’s identity is because otherwise “bhanja go to the CDO office? Disgraced mother + Unknown father = Stateless child a must if my children are to be bhanjis” (his words, meaning Nepal has one of the most Unmarried mother + Unclaimed father = Stateless child citizens of my country. nieces and nephews) from across progressive gay, lesbian, and Divorced mother + Stepfather not in mood to own up = Stateless child Out of sheer exasperation, last the border may swamp us and transgender rights in the region. Working mother + Drunkard, criminal father = Nepali father’s Nepali child week I wrote to Prime Minister threaten our national security. Theoretically, if I went to Congress mother + German father = Nepali daughter Baburam Bhattarai about the So unless there is an amendment Thailand and got a sex change Congress ama + German father + Nepali daughter + Bangladeshi son-in-law = Nepali citizen gross violation of the human to the constitutional provisions operation and came back as the right of my children to for citizens he can’t do anything. citizenship. I told him about Prime Minister Bhattarai’s Nepali children being prisoners intention of creating a just and in their own motherland. I wrote egalitarian Nepal is noble, but about my own case: a woman he has no chance if these are the gets married at a young officials who have to implement age, a child is born, and the man his policies. I have come to abandons the family. The mother the sad conclusion that if a works hard to bring up her revolutionary can’t change the children, but they are deemed laws to make them more just, stateless and forced to grow up then no one can. It seems laws in a land that doesn’t even accept are only made to force citizens their existence. to pay their way out of the I couldn’t believe my eyes problem. when I opened my email the next Nepali women are day. There was a message from discriminated against at all the PM’s personal assistant: ‘The levels, but they face a further prime minster wishes to meet ostracisation on the issue of you and your family regarding citizenship. The most inclusive your citizenship issue and he has elected national assembly in taken it with priority.’ I was our nation’s history, before it speechless with anticipation. was dissolved last year, had a A new horizon of hope had draft provision on citizenship opened up. that was even more regressive Next morning, I went with than the interim constitution. my family to meet the prime Under it, only children of Nepali minister in Singha Darbar (pic, mothers and a Nepali fathers above). Below an imposing will be eligible to citizenship picture of Mt Everest, Prime which means a Nepali mother Minister Bhattarai greeted us who can’t prove the father with a smile and heard us out. is Nepali (because he is not, He had summoned the chief because he left her, because she secretary and men from the doesn’t have one, because she ministries. The PM agreed that was raped) can’t have children citizenship must be granted who are Nepali. in the name of the mother, The CDO said the following and asked the officials: “If we documents are needed for have endorsed laws on gender children to get citizenship in the equality, why does this problem name of the mother: persist?” He directed the officials to ‘use common sense’ and look 1 Father’s citizenship into our case. 2 Father and mother’s marriage Things moved fast, the very certificate next day we were summoned 3 Recommendation from District to the Home Ministry. The CDO Development Officer or Village was also there and we told our Development Officer (confirming story all over again: that my the child has been conceived by daughters are born from a Nepali the parents). father who left us 15 years ago Nepal’s citizenship act says 4 NATION 8 - 14 MARCH 2013 #646

“Make the rules and stick to them” Russian ambassador to Nepal Sergey Vasilievich Velichkin has been in the country since 2010, holds a PhD in Indology, and speaks Urdu and Bengali. He spoke to Nepali Times this week about the history of Russia-Nepal relations, the current political deadlock, and even about how road-widening will affect his embassy. CINDREY LIU

Nepali Times: Do Russians but is still only about 8,000 80s from Soviet universities back to serve their country. among leaders here. Even if know enough about Nepal? annually. There are also many I’m quite impressed. They’re they criticise each other, they SV Velichkin: Basically, more opportunities for trade extremely motivated. They see What’s your opinion of the are ready to sit down and talk. there’s the universal and investment that haven’t personal fulfilment incomplete current situation in Nepal? Are Some people underestimate understanding that Nepal is been explored yet. unless they have some ideas of you optimistic about the future? the importance of that. I a friendly country and that changing their own country, Not all the solutions and believe Nepal is on the path we should get to know it Most Nepalis who studied in not necessarily ideological scenarios are necessarily brought of gradual reconciliation, the better. But Nepal is far away the Soviet Union returned to ideas. Many of them are at the from outside. There is enough peace process is not just words, and we need to resume direct Nepal, what is your impression top in their chosen professions: imagination among Nepal’s and I would not dismiss the flights between Kathmandu of them? medicine, engineering, politicians to find their own achievements so far. It’s going and Moscow. The number of Whenever I meet those people journalism. This is what Nepal solutions. I am not pessimistic, to be difficult, but you have to Russian tourists is growing, who graduated in the 70s and needs, more people coming there is a remarkable spirit be patient.

from our Panchayat classes in Nepal.” There is a popular Russian joke about education in Russia. Two Third World leaders met in the lobby of the UN. One The Russia returns complained that it was getting impossible to govern his country with the communists Nepali alumni of Russian universities are calling strikes and bandas all the time. The other said he had the same problem but he high-achievers in their chosen professions solved it. How? He sent all the ring leaders off to Moscow to study and they came back SUNIR PANDEY total free marketers, that is black marketers. After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1990, many universities were privatised and t was the Cold War and Nepal was trying the scholarships for Nepali students were to steer an equidistance path between the dropped. Nepalis still go to study in Russia, Isuperpowers. So when the Soviet Union but most pay their own way now. The offered free technical education for Nepali numbers are not as many as before, says students, King Mahendra saw it as a cheap and Dil Ratna Shakya of the Russian Cultural effective opportunity to develop the country’s Centre, but strong technical education and human resources. news of Nepali billionaires in Russia still lure The Soviet Union was competing with Nepalis to Russia. the West for infl uence and reach in the Third The most successful,and best-known, World and even if Mahendra harboured Nepali who studied in the former Soviet misgivings about Nepalis returning from Russia Union is Upendra Mahato who made his brainwashed into communism, it doesn’t seem fortune because as a Nepali he adapted to have deterred him. better and faster to capitalism and the Hundreds of Nepali students who studied free market when communism collapsed. engineering, medicine or journalism in Moscow, Today, Mahato commands a multinational Leningrad, Kiev or Odessa did not come back business empire that straddles Belarus, as communist zealots. In fact, the opposite Russia, and Nepal. Among the Nepalis who happened: many went on to become successful studied in Russia and didn’t come back to businessmen and cut their teeth trading in Nepal, many like Mahato, invested in their jeans and chewing gum between Finland and BACK IN THE DAY: Nepali students along with their international classmates pose for photos at the homeland in hydropower, banking, media, the Soviet Union. Red Square in Moscow in 1988. and tourism. But more importantly, most Soviet- Russia returns have their own educated students came home to work in ex-ministers Ganesh Shah and Dipak Gyawali, and geologists explored the country for minerals. organisation called Mitra Kunj to keep track Nepal. “The USSR did not have a policy of cardiologist Awanibhusan Upadhyaya, psychiatrist “There was a time when you could go to any of the more than 5,000 alumni of Russian bringing in highly-skilled migrants and rightly Bishwa Bandhu Sharma, journalism trainer Manju of the 75 districts in Nepal and probably fi nd at universities even hosting a meeting of so because their economy could not support Mishra, solar-energy pioneer Jagannath Shrestha, least a doctor or an engineer who studied in the graduates last year in Moscow. But as the it,” recalls Hemant Dabadi, Director General and engineer Bijaya Man Shrechan. USSR,” says Dipak Gyawali, former Minister for Soviet-era graduates now reach retirement of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers “Most Nepali graduates from Russia Water Resources. “None of us knew much about age, it is becoming less and less likely that of Commerce, who studied in Russia in the have returned to work in their country, I have communism when we went there as 18-year olds. today’s Nepalis who go abroad to study will 1970s. “A lot of us saw through the ideology been impressed with their passion and patriotism, It was just another strange land with its own rules. want to come back. and there was no charm for Nepali students to they are extremely motivated and are at the But living together with our Russian batch mates, stay back and live there.” top of their professions today,” says Russian studying obligatory Marxism while participating Back home, despite graduates from the ambassador, Sergey Vasilievich Velichkin (see in the ubiquitous black market, we did see two nepalitimes.com West getting preferential treatment, the Russia Interview). Russian-trained doctors were generally sides of the coin. We developed a critical eye Nepal’s ‘Russian mafi a’, #20 returns worked hard and rose to prominence in more willing to work with the rural poor, civil towards capitalist consumerism, but also saw the From Russia with love, #225 many fi elds. Among the more notable ones are engineers went to remote areas to build highways, corruption of that ideology which was no different 8 - 14 MARCH 2013 #646 NATION 5

Is patience one of the things so that an elected Constituent population with enormous we can learn from Russia’s Assembly can write a spread of education, a country BIZ BRIEFS own transition after the constitution to set the rules of which wants to develop itself. collapse of communism? democratic governance. We went through a Are there possibilities for Hola! Qatar Airways has signed a three year tremendous change, How about the controversy Russian investment? agreement with the powerhouse of European the greatest geopolitical about the chief justice being We recently managed to football FC Barcelona. As the club’s main gobal partner, Qatar’s brand catastrophe of the century: named chief executive? get the Nepali and Russian name will feature on jerseys starting from the 2013/14 season. the dissolution of the Soviet You’re building democracy. energy ministries to form a Union. The destabilising You’re in the process of joint working group, they will potential of the largest country construction and you need be meeting in Kathmandu Hot wheels in the world with a nuclear to move some blocks around. soon and this will be just Syakar Trading, the sole authorised distributor of Honda arsenal disintegrating was Sometimes what is going to the beginning. I expect the four-wheeler in Nepal, opened its new showroom at huge. It could have been be at the top is lying in some Nepali side to make a strong Thapathali. The showroom was inaugurated by Shin disastrous, but we managed corner at the construction site. pitch for investment and offer Sakurai, senior staff of customer service operation at to prevent it. There was some For example, out of the three opportunities. If the conditions Honda Motor. bloodshed, the country broke pillars a particular pillar is so offered are attractive, there are apart, there was a tremendous important that you might want possibilities for investment. In Beat the heat down slide in the economy. to temporarily sacrifice another recent years, Russia has invested Triveni Group has launched an exciting Few countries in the world one. Let’s not dismiss this in hydropower in several line of Panasonic FSV air conditioners. have gone through wrenching matter of elections. Elections countries, including India. According to the press statement change like that. are essential. An elected Panasonic’s FSV is a reverse cycle VRF Nepal doesn’t face legislature is as important for What’s your position about system specifi cally designed for offi ces, anything like that, it is one the completeness of democracy the road widening project in shops, and multi-storey apartments. single nation and I’m sure as an independent judiciary. Kathmandu? it will remain so. We have Russia has helped build Kathmandu needs road some experience of transition factories and highways in widening. It will be odd if Joyride CG Automobiles, the sole authorised which could be useful to Nepal in the past, but there someone would oppose this distributor of Suzuki motors for Nepal, share. One of them is to isn’t much aid now. Those process. But in the process not has introduced Alto 800 through its 22 prioritise political dialogue projects were the backbone of only me, but authorities and sales outlets across 17 cities. According to the press release the new Alto is and try to stick to some rules. our cooperation in the 60s. At the general public have come 15 per cent more fuel effi cient than its older cousins. Our constitution was highly that time the most important to know about the difficulties controversial and was adopted thing was to lay down the basis involved. It seems that much of through a referendum in 1993, for industrial development of the problems which we face are Safety first but it has worked well through the country. due to a lack of coordination Yeti Airlines has been upgraded to category all further upheavals. The current situation is between different departments. ‘B’ in the United Nations safety categorisation But now we all stick to the different. The main thing now As a result we have troubles after the UN reviewed its zero accident record in the trunk route sector. Its rules despite the controversy is to address the contemporary with the embassy premises. subsidiary Tara Air has also been upgraded to category ‘C’. in which it was born. This is challenges of Nepal, including There were some suggestions the lesson: make the rules and the economy. The agenda has about moving our wall from Lightening speed stick to them. In our case it changed. Today, it’s about the External Affairs ministry. CAS Techno has introduced Thunderbolt series took several years to adopt the meeting the requirements of There’s not much we can offer from LaCie in Nepal. Thunderbolt is a hardware constitution, it didn’t happen a 30 million strong country by way of helping in that regard. interface that allows for the connection of at one go. In Nepal’s case the of which three million work This happens to be our property, external peripherals to a computer using the priority is to find a proper way abroad. Nepal is a very we have not encroached an inch same connector as mini-display port. to conduct national elections mobile country with a young of municipal territory. 6 REGION 8 - 14 MARCH 2013 #646

provincial elections slated for May, the fears of how the departure of NATO forces will buffet Pakistan, the threat of US sanctions if Islamabad insists on importing desperately needed natural gas from Iran, the debate over the handing over development of Gwadar port to Chinese contractors – all are forgotten momentarily as all eyes are glued on the upper storey of Rabiya Flower that continues to burn. Karachi is a massive city of nearly 20 million and regular preoccupations take over as evening turns to night. Other localities, from the violence-prone Lyari township to the humongous ‘informal settlement’ of Orangi, to the posh and secure colonies of Defence and Clifton, go back to their interrupted lives. The wedding reception of up-and-coming Sindh politician Sharmila Farooqi proceeds as planned. Other than in Abbas Town and the nearby Patel and Agha Khan hospitals, the sound of sirens Irrelevance of innocence indicates not the arriving ambulance but the ubiquitous signal of ‘VIP movement’. A well-regarded journalist had told Karachi has become a microcosm of Pakistan’s politico-ethnic me on Sunday afternoon just before the rivalries which have transmogrified into deeper cross-cutting complexities bomb, “The killings in Karachi are now more targeted. Unlike in the past, there are fewer mob killings or random blasts.” The mass killing of citizens is a KANAK MANI DIXIT in KARACHI to the rescue, while security personnel political parties representing the continuous exercise and the sense of took their time to arrive, probably late Urdu-speaking Mohajir and the Sindhi fatalism is such that instead of demands because the mass-murderers have taken to indigenes, there are now those claiming for accountability and justice, there is abia Flower is an apartment setting off explosions in sequence, killing to represent Punjabi, Baloch, and simply the sad wait for the next mayhem. block in the Abbas Town those who respond to the emergency Pashto interests. In terms of sectarian Last month it was Quetta, next month Rneighbourhood of Karachi, on the – local youth, journalists, firefighters, targeting, the sense of vulnerability now it will be someplace else. Says one IT road named Isphahani after an associate police, and rangers. Or they were late goes beyond the Christians, Hindu or engineer: “Religion should be a warm of Muhammad Ali Jinnah. The twin- because they had to provide security to a Ahmadiya. cloak, but it has become a shining badge blasts on 3 March, just as the evening VIP wedding in the city that day. What has taken Pakistan by deathly of certitude.” prayers were coming to a close in this Karachi has become a microcosm storm is the attacks on the Shia, a Across the breadth of the Shia residential locality, was the result of the bloodletting in Pakistan and somewhat larger minority. There has been subcontinent, in Bangladesh, the of a ‘triggered IED’. earlier politico-ethnic rivalries have Shia-targetting in all parts of the country, perpetrators of 1971 are being brought to More than 150 kg of high explosives transmogrified into deeper cross-cutting from Gilgit-Baltistan, Lahore to Quetta book four decades after their crimes. The were detonated as shoppers filled the complexities. The city today harbours a in the north, east, and west. And now masterminds of the mayhem at Abbas market below and families took in frightening brew of militancy, involving Karachi in the south. Town may at least feel threatened if they the evening sea breeze in the upper drug, arms, and real estate mafiosi placed For a while, other issues are forgotten knew that the sturdy arm of justice will storey balconies. Fifty died and many on top of additional layers of communal as television brings live reports of the follow them years and decades from now times that were maimed. Water from polarisations. Class-based secular hospital emergency intakes, the family and hold them accountable for drawing broken mains mixed with the blood of politics, for which Sindh and its capital members in shock, and excavators the blood of innocents. innocents. were celebrated, has its back to the wall. digging into the debris. The nervous This piece first appeared in The Local youth and ambulances swung Beyond the tension between the wait for the upcoming national and Hindu on 5 March As winter marched right into summer this past week, the Valley saw warmer days while mornings and evenings were just as chilly. Haze in the mid-hills accounted for a temporary suspension in Kathmandu’s sightseeing activities, and with a fresh westerly brewing in full fl ow there should be further cloud cover KATHMANDU over the weekend. Northwest Nepal will see a few showers and some precipitation could even make it into Kathmandu as early as Saturday. FRIDAY SATURDAY SUNDAY Nights will remain chilly and it is 23° 21° 22° advisable you sling a jacket if you go #646 8 - 14 March 2013 out in the late afternoons. 10° 11° 10°

ARUNA KARKI runa was 13 when she first stood on Astage under the spotlight. 19 years later, her love for acting has only grown stronger. A small town girl from Sarlahi, she says she dreamt of being a theatre actress ever since she was old enough to understand. Aruna started her journey as a student of Nachghar and later entered Gurukul where she was an instrumental part of many performances. She says her undying devotion for the art is what has kept her going for almost two decades and gave her the strength to persevere even in the most trying times. Staying true to her art, she works extremely hard to get into the skin of each character she portrays and her colleagues say she transforms into a totally different person everytime on stage. In her latest role in Chhadke , Aruna does an extremely convincing job as a doting wife.

PICS: ACHYUT BHAKTA SHRESTHA

hile the big boys of politics hog the Wheadlines left, right, THE and centre, there is a quiet revolution underway in Nepali theatre. For too long theatre QUEENS remained the sole dominion of Nepali men . There was a time when there were zero female artists and men enacted all their roles. The 'boy's club' mentality still continues to OF some extent even today, where female playwrights, producers, directors, actors, set designers face greater diffi culties trying establish themselves and are paid pennies compared to their male counterparts. Many DRAMA simply pass into oblivion within a few years. This women's day we celebrate female Today, however, we celebrate three women power players from the Nepali theatre. Despite immense trailblazers of Nepali theatre adversities, these trailblazers have made an unwavering commitment to their art and are inspiring other female artists to break free of cultural shackles through their SUMAN RAYMAJHI hard work.

DIYA MASKEY iya is perhaps the most well-known Dface of Nepali theatre today. A trained Kathak dancer, she feels she expresses her ideas and emotions best through acting. Before stepping onto the stage, she was part of the popular television series Dalan. A former student of Anup Baral, Diya joined Actor’s Studio after realising that it was possible to earn a living out of the profession. Now she is an instructor at the very studio where she first found her footing. She built her success by showing SUMANA KC immense patience and putting in long umana KC is among the very few Nepali artists who has hours even when things were not going San international degree in drama. After dabbling in the art her way. So it came as no surprise to for a few years, she left for India to get her diploma because those who knew Diya when she won she felt she needed to learn the basic concepts and theories. the love of critics and ordinary Nepalis She says her years in drama school not only helped her get through her stellar performances in a deeper understanding of acting, but also the economics Kagbeni and the recently released and marketing behind that happen behind the curtains. Not Soongava. She says theatre isn’t for one to limit herself, Sumana has experimented with direction the light-hearted or those looking to through plays like Budhhamatanah Dhoncholecha (The Clever become overnight sensations. Her She Goat), Purgatory, and Bodhi. She wants to devote the next mantra for success to young actresses: few years solely to acting and then direct plays, and eventually a single-minded focus on what they are feature films. doing rather than being influenced by what others think and say about them. 8 EVENTS DINING MUSIC

ALICE, the Swiss duo jams with Kiran Nepali, Hari Maharjan, and Rizu Tuladhar. 21 March, 6.30pm, Moksh, Jhamsikhel NEPAL INTERNATIONAL INDIGENOUS FILM FESTIVAL, the seventh NOYOZ, this tiny little joint serves food that tastes like your mother’s home- edition of the annual NIIFF will explore issues related to Nepal’s minority. cooking. Bhatbhateni 25 to 28 April, City Hall, Nepal Tourism Board, Exhibition Road, (01)4102577, [email protected], www.ifanepal.org.np of Phewa Lake off ers is off ering excellent discounts on its opening. Waterfront Resort, Sedi Height, Chakati guff , Dutch art Pokhara, (061)466303/304 promoter Beata Wiggen will give a presentation on how to promote your artwork in the Netherlands and Germany. 8 March, STORMBRINGER COMIN', time 3 to 5pm, Gallery MCube, to glide down to Tripureswor for Chakupat, (01)5260110 an evening with rock legends Deep Purple. Women for children, rally STRAWBERRY DELIGHTS, pop 15 March, 3pm, Dasrath Rangasala PRANAMAYA YOGA, immerse from Patan to Budhanilkantha, and up at The Pastry Shop for a variety of yourself in a whole day of yoga then join Kutumba, Samriddhi Rai, strawberry delights. CHOPSTIX, savoury Asian food activities with Nicky at the wonderful and Manoj KC for live music and lunch Rs 125, Runs till 14 March, Radisson cooked in true Chinese fashion Sri Aurobindo Ashram with Nicky and at Park Village Resort. Hotel, Lajimpat, (01)4411818 (ext. sure to charm and impress. Try the the children. Rs 2,500, 9802045484, 9 March, 7am, Patan, Budhanilkantha, 1370) famous drums of heaven. Kumaripati, [email protected] 9851133378 (01)5551118

Himalayan rush, run, swim, or cycle Hadock, big compound with ample around Begnas Tal and promote parking space, its western and healthy, community-based tourism Thakali dishes are done to perfection. around the lake. Jhamsikhel, (01)5546431 30 March, Pokhara, 9851021852/9851102046

BACKYARD SCREENINGS, watch great cinema while enjoying delicious food. Rs 100, 2 to 28 March, every Thursday, 6.30pm, Backyard Café, BACKYARD BRUISIN', opt out of the Jhamsikhel haze-filled rituals at Pashupatinath and spend the night of potency with Mustang, a spiritual odyssey, an FUJI BAKERY, tucked in Chakupat bands Rai ko Ris and Tank Girl. exhibition that showcases thangkas, this bakery off ers homemade goodies CHEZ CAROLINE, exquisite food, Rs 100, 10 March, 7 to 10pm, photographs, sand mandala, like apple pie, pain du chocolat, and glorious sunshine and more. Backyard, Jhamsikhel, (01)5548968, installations, and dance from banana cake. Chakupat, Lalitpur 9am to 10pm, Baber Mahal Revisited, [email protected] Mustang. (01)4263070/4187 HUMAN RIGHTS FILM SERIES, Runs till 13 March, Siddhartha Art Sarangkot Fordays Restaurant, celebrate Women’s Day with a Gallery have a Sarangkot special breakfast Boudha Stupa Restaurant and Cafe, powerful documentary on the while enjoying spectacular views of bide your time in the cafe's free wi-fi nomad supermodel Waris Dirie, with Rally for rights, join other concerned the mountain ranges. zone as you enjoy wood-fi red pizzas, screenings throughout the month. citizens and raise your voice against Sarangkot, Pokhara, (061)696920, home-made pastas, and the Tibetan 7 to 31 March, 7pm, Attic Bar, Uttar violence against women. 9817136896 gyakok. Boudha, (01)4485585 Dhoka, www.hrff n.org 8 March, 7.45am, Bhadrakali New Tushita Restaurant, relaxing ambience and good food. Don't miss out on its penne with creamy bacon and mushroom sauce. Lajimpat, (01)44432957 SHASTRIYA SANGEET, dabble in the magic of Hindustani classical music every new moon evening. 11 March, 3 to 6pm, Ram Mandir, Battisputali

TIAN RUI, if you’re looking for Sundance music festival, celebrate genuinely good Chinese food the arrival of the summer with great this restaurant is the place to go. musicians from around the world and Thapathali dance the night away. Rs 4000, 16 to 17 March, The Last Kotetsu, authentic Japanese dishes Resort, Sindhupalchok that cater to your needs and taste buds. Lajimpat Live at Cafe 32, live music and MUSTANG TRAIL RACE 2013, be part of a group of athletes and get the BOMBAY MASALA, transcend delicious food every Friday. experience of a lifetime by running through the roof of the world. Taal & Taal, this terrace restaurant the limits of geography with a wide 6pm onwards, Cafe 32, Battisputali, 27 April to 10 May, [email protected] with a panoramic waterfront view variety of cuisine. Pulchok (01)4244231 8 - 14 MARCH 2013 #646 9 GETAWAYS LUMBINI

Everest Panorama Resort, if you LAHURE LURE can't get enough of the Himalayas very year 10,000 young Nepali in smoggy Kathmandu, a great view men vie for the 200 or so from the top of the Mahabharat Buddha's Maya openings in the British Army is just what you're looking for. E which has been recruiting soldiers Daman, (01)4412864, info@ t’s been a long tiring day. being in the middle of a tropical from Nepal for 200 years, ever since everestpanoramaresort.net You’ve spent five hours island. Travellers with small the end of the Anglo-Nepal Wars of Iexploring the almost five km children can chose to stay in the 1814-16. Lumbini garden stretch and are spacious apartments with private Kesang Tseten’s documentary desperate to leave behind the kitchenettes and balconies. For Who will be a Gurkha looks at the throng of tourists. A 10 minute health enthusiasts there is a selection process where the boys, stroll from the gate at Mahilvar jogging track surrounding the attracted by the myth and glamour road, past yellow mustard fields pond, but those not too inclined of Gurkhas, seek to go for glory in you will find your oasis: Buddha to put on their running shoes spite of the dangers of death in the Maya Garden Hotel. can lounge around the restaurant battlefi elds of Afghanistan and Iraq. next week making it the fi rst Nepali Spread lavishly across eight balcony chatting and sipping tea. The fi lm won the top award at documentary to be screened in acres, the hotel belongs to the KGH The sprawling garden and large Kathmandu International Mountain cinemas. POKHARA GRANDE, a swimming Group owned by environmentalist, parking space make Buddha Maya Film Festival 2012 and also featured pool to escape from the sweltering forester, and best-selling author the perfect host for conferences at the International Film Festival Who will be a Gurkha, director Kesang heat, a massage parlour and spa of self-improvement books, Karna like the Nepal-India Tourism Mart of Amsterdam. It will hit theatres Tseten, in cinemas from 15 March to loosen up, and a gym to release Sakya and has the charm and in January 2013. stress, all in all a great place to unwind. Lakeside, Pokhara, (061)460210

The Yellow House, bed and breakfast for the light traveller. Sanepa, (01)5553869/5522078, www.theyellowhouse.com.np

Dhulikhel Lodge Resort, located on a hilltop, the resort off ers a magnifi cent vista of valleys, foothills, and moutains to the north. TRISHNA RANA Dhulikhel, (011) 490114/494, www. elegance reminiscent of its sister As buses after buses of dhulikhellodgeresort.com in Thamel. And its remarkably Thai, Vietnamese, Chinese, and peaceful surroundings make European pilgrims arrive every it ideal for relaxing the body day, the front desk staff is and cleansing the mind. swamped and they are likely to As one of the top luxury hotels get busier in the coming months in the area, Buddha Maya regularly as Buddha Maya expands to 100 hosts heads of state, diplomats, rooms. The upgraded hotel will and movie stars. Even the Queen also boast of a swimming pool, Mother of Bhutan, Tshering badminton court, a spa to help Dancing Yangdon, made the Garden her you recharge your batteries, and a home for a night when she visited bigger restaurant. in February. So pack your bags and begin Starting at $75 per night, your quest for inner peace right in the Sun guests staying in the main wing here at Buddha Maya. he eighth annual Sundance Music festival is upon us and will wake up to the sight of the stupa Trishna Rana Tonce again bring together music lovers and musicians to the shaped lotus pond while those lush green setting of the Last Resort near the Tibetan border. in the Kotugoda Dhammawasa www.ktmgh.com/buddha-maya- Established eight years ago by Sam Voolstra of The Last Resort HIMALAYAN WELLNESS CENTRE, building are treated to stunning garden.html and Nirakar Yakthumba of Moksh, the Sundance Festival is still the a one-stop centre for a relaxed mind views of brilliant green palm (01)4700632, (01)4700733, only overnight open-air live music event in Nepal. The festival has and a healthy body inside the Park trees giving them the feeling of (01)4700133 been extremely popular with both tourists and locals alike, and Village Hotel. gives Nepali bands a chance to jive with international groups. Budhanilkantha, open all week, This edition of the festival will feature Albatross, Joint Family, 9801066661, Soul Train, and many other artists. DJ BPM will have the crowd on www.himalayanwellness.com.np moving to his beats the whole night. Guests are requested to bring their own sleeping bags. Haatiban Resort, tucked away near a jungle at the side of a hill with a Rs 4000, 16 to17 March, The Last Resort 270 degree view of the Valley, this Tickets at the Last Resort Office, Thamel, and Moksh, Pulchok is the ideal weekend getaway for (01)4701247/4700525, [email protected] Kathmandu residents. Pharping, Kathmandu, (01)4371537/561 10 Think in kink Customers at Kathmandu’s sex shops are mostly men above 35, but that is changing

BHRIKUTI RAI BIKRAM RAI

busy alley in Khichapokhari, in the Sweet Secret, Nepal’s first registered sex often as men, but they do receive a lot of of men going abroad for work. When Nice heart of Kathmandu’s main business toy store which is now closed. Despite orders through phone and online. “We are n Naughty organised a bumper sale last Adistrict, is abuzz with shoppers. The initial hiccups, the registration of 'Nice n planning to have a separate room with a Valentine’s Day, it was an immediate hit with one stop solution for retail therapy recently Naughty' went ahead smoothly and there female attendant just to cater to them,” says many customers thronging the store and had a kinky addition: Khichapokhari is now have been no problems with shipping Neupane, adding that dildos are popular others ordering online. home to two registered sex toy shops. products. among women in their twenties. While many youngsters visit the store On the third floor of a commercial Just a few minutes walk away from “The demand for sex toys was huge and leave giggling without buying anything, building alongside clothing stores, is Nice Nice n Naughty, near Sundhara is Nepal when we started, so we began selling them there are many who come here seeking n Naughty where shelves are laden with Condom House which has come a long way along with condoms,” says Neupane. Nepal genuine help, says Neupane, who runs a sex bright coloured toys and devices that hint since its establishment in 2009. “The first Condom House now has outlets in Damak, clinic next door. at unimaginable pleasure. A full bodied doll year was tough,” admits owner Yogesh Itahari, Dharan, Birtamod, and Chitwan, Although the store owners have helped occupies the space beside a range of skimpy Neupane, “back then people hesitated where the demand for sex toys is steadily many overcome their apprehension lingerie that even Victoria's Secret models about even asking for a condom and fellow increasing. Nepal Condom House has regarding sex toys, they still find it difficult would think twice about wearing. Established store owners had reservations about the 49 different types of condoms and also sells to make their own families understand six months ago by Prabin Dhakal and Suraj shop and even on my character.” items like dildos and vibrators imported about their career choice. Admits Dhakal: Bhattarai, the sex toy store has received Luckily things have changed for the from Thailand. “My father who is very traditional still has phenomenal response: it has a monthly better now and the store has steady flow of “Many people have changed their attitude problems with the store, but hopefully he turnover of Rs 300,000. people shopping for items to enhance their towards sex and are warming up to the idea will understand that it is just like any other “Although we were worried in the sex life. The walk-in shoppers are mostly of using toys to improve their sex life,” says business.” beginning, we haven’t had any protest or above 35 and mostly men. Suraj Bhattarai. The trend of gifting wives disturbance,” says Dhakal, 28, who first According to both the store owners, and girlfriends sex toys is catching on, and www.nicennaughty.com.np ventured into the sex toy business with women don’t frequent the store as more so because of the rise in the number www.nepalcondomhouse.com 8 - 14 MARCH 2013 #646 11

hen Amrit Gurung (pic, right) retired from the Indian Army, he wanted to come home and Wstart a business but his savings were not enough. He found a job in Japan and worked there for nine years. He returned from Japan six years FISH ago with not just cash, but also a passion for rainbow trout. He felt the clear, cool convince them to stay home instead of streams of his native Kaski were ideal for migrating to work. starting a fish business. Today, Gurung’s One of the pioneer trout farmers in Nepal BELOW Gandaki Rainbow Trout Farm produces is Purna Bahadur Lama who used to work 15 tons of fish a year, and with expansion at the government fishery farm in Trisuli. plans underway he will be raising that to 50 After retirement in 1997, he started raising tons a year. Japanese rainbow trout with one pool and FISH TAIL Gurung has also been training other 400 fish and with a grant from the National Ex-Gurkha transforms district’s economy with farmers to farm trout, and now there are five Agriculture and Resource Centre expanded big trout farms in Kaski and surrounding his farm and restaurant. a trout farm in the shadow of Machhapuchhre districts. Gurung doesn’t see them as competition, he feels there is enough nepalitimes.com business to go around and fish farming JIVAN PRASAD RAI in POKHARA could uplift the livelihoods of Nepalis and Fishy business, #393

GOLD AT THE END OF THE RAINBOW The trout is a carnivore fi sh from the salmon family. It is native to lakes and rivers of North America west of the rockies, but is now farmed across the world.

DIET: Insects, Average life crustaceans, 1 NUWAKOT span in the wild: and small fi sh Rainbow Trout 2 LALITPUR Farms in Nepal 4-6years 3 DOLAKHA 7 4 MAKWANPUR 8 6 5 5 RASUWA SIZE: 1 6 3 KASKI 51-76 2 cm 4 7 MYAGDI WEIGHT: 8 BAGLUNG 3.6 kg

HABITAT: Cool, clear rivers, streams, and lakes water temperature between 3-20 Celsius

HEALTH BENEFITS GRILLED Trout contains fat, but they come from Omega-3 fatty acids which TROUT RECIPE reduce the risk of heart attack, stroke, arterial clogging. Trout also: - Reduces bad cholesterol (LDL) as well as blood pressure Ingredients Directions - Protects the body against circulatory problems like thrombosis and gout. 4 rainbow trout Clean trout and remove head - Has very little sodium tablespoons extra virgin olive oil Preheat grill to 400 degrees - A fi let of trout has up to 19 grams of healthy protein 2 Coat outside of trout with oil 1 tablespoon kosher salt - Trout has cholesterol, but that is compensated by fat burning properties Sprinkle salt and pepper on inside of trout - One fi let makes up most of the body’s requirement of Vitamin B12, B6, tablespoon fresh ground pepper 1/2 Add lemon juice to trout Niacin 1 tablespoon lemon juice Place trout on grill, reduce heat - Rich in potassium, phosphorous and selenium, minerals essential for Flip when grill side becomes white good health Serve trout immediately 12

GIZMO by YANTRICK HOP ON

or all the women who have not yet gone ‘solo’ because of the long labour of love involved in the ‘pelvic massage’, a little fuzzy Ffriend is here to the rescue. Diamonds are no longer a girl’s best friend, the rabbit vibrator is. The buzz fi rst started when the rabbit made its debut on silver screen on the popular HBO series Sex and the City. The drama launched the vibrator into superstar status overnight and since then it has been creating ripples in places where only a few men have successfully ventured. The rabbit vibrator originated in Japan, where it is illegal to produce sex toys that resemble male what they are doing. genitalia. And after taking millions of woman across The beginning of the film, continents on the ultimate joyride, the funny bunny though apparently formless, has made its way to Nepal. Beasts of the introduces the carefree lives of Available at the handful of sex stores the community who choose to around the Valley, the rabbit vibrator amps reside in the ‘Bathtub’ despite its up the pleasuring power with lots of sexy Southern Wild hardships and their life of relative features to target your g-spots. The seven squalor. The various and colourful inch long dildo makes it perfect for deep characters are all named during penetration while the shaft with rows innocence. Hushpuppy too, this time, each of them standing of spinning beads ensures the most must deal with the decline of out in our minds. pleasant and intense massage down her oft drunk father, the loss When the storm does come, there. The well-formed head rotates MUST SEE of their charmed lives in the this introduction makes us care for often, giving untold internal stimulation. Sophia Pande ‘Bathtub’ (an area of Louisiana all of the characters, young, old, Add to that the classic bunny ear shaped unprotected by the levees and drunken or not. tickler that fl icks your clitoris setting you off thus extra vulnerable to hurricane The writers also draw the on a new world of sexual bliss! enh Zeitlin’s entrancing new like storms), and the approach relationship between Hushpuppy The rabbit clit stimulator and the shaft film, also his first feature, of the Aurochs, behemoth like and her father ‘Wink’ with pathos operate through diff erent buttons allowing you to Bhas the heart and soul of prehistoric, mythical creatures and humour. They love each adjust the speed and stimulation level individually. true independent cinema. Shot on that have melted out of the ice that other, but each character, being Powered by 2AA batteries the delightful rabbit 16 millimetre film in the heart of entrapped them and are making indomitable in their own ways, comes in diff erent colours and materials ranging Louisiana, the film was made for a their way across America towards resists the other’s overtures from silicon to latex. little under $ 200,000, the majority Hushpuppy and her beloved home. fiercely until the storm and Wink’s While vibrators from Philips and Trojan are of actors had never been on camera While the film has been illness finally create an unspoken yet to hit the Nepali market, the made in China before, and the main character, the both lauded and criticised for understanding between them. bunnies from lesser known brands which start six year old ‘Hushpuppy’ played its episodic, almost fragmented It is Hushpuppy though, at Rs 5, 000 onwards don’t disappoint either. by the fierce, vulnerable, adorable narrative filled with searingly that astonishes the most in this The only odd feature about the ultimate pleasure Quvenzhané Wallis was actually beautiful scenes, it is far from an wondrous film. Wallis shows no toy is the fake moaning and groaning sounds that the only five years old at the time of her arbitrary bunch of images tied artifice as she explores her world, rabbit vibrator plays. Instead of heightening your excitement, it just audition. together through Hushpuppy’s alternately marveling at the beauty interrupts an intense solo session. Luckily, you can turn the volume Beasts of the Southern Wild has charming narration. The writers, around her, laughing, scowling, down. Some rabbit vibrators available here don’t have bees horns rawness, a poetic heart, beautiful Zeitlin and Lucy Alibar, are skilled burping, ripping apart lobsters, and instead of bunny ears. imagery, and a little girl as the storytellers who know exactly punching her father in the chest Now who’d have thunk a rabbit could make for an aff ordable protagonist. With its hints of magical when appropriate. ‘gateway’ pleasure pal? Just so you make the most of your rabbit, the realism, the film follows in the Hushpuppy’s journey, her rotating beads at the shaft also do wonders to shoulder and back pain. footsteps of other greats such as courage, her imagination, and her Just a suggestion! The Spirit of the Beehive (1973), a wide-eyed stare are the reasons Yantrick’s verdict: This perfect fuzzy friend never gets tired, never wonderful movie by Victor Erice behind this film’s resonance. turns down an advance because of a lousy football match, and makes about a young girl who befriends a Somehow, Benh Zeitlin managed you explode into joyful million pieces every single time. How Frankenstein type monster lurking to write a version of “The Great many men can beat that? on the outskirts of her rural home, American Story”, but with a heroic and Pan’s Labyrinth (2003), a film by little black girl at its heart. Even Guillermo del Toro, about another more astonishingly, he managed to young girl called Ofelia who find the one girl who could actually discovers a magical world of not pull it off. so benevolent fairies and fauns For anyone who loves during the height of fascist Spain cinema, this film is a must. towards the end of World War It might seem experimental, Two. fragmented, and pretentious Beasts follows in this grand to some, but for those whose tradition of young girls grappling minds are open, Beasts of the with monsters, slowly coming Southern Wild is an adventure for of age, but without losing their your soul. 8 - 14 MARCH 2013 #646 13 Witness to history in the making

nder a blue sky in the summer of the year fi rsthand and which account of how, urged on by his grandfather, he My Tryst with Writing 1978 Nepal waited the arrival of a celebrity he now recounts. As turned away from the family teaching tradition A Memoir by Madhav Uguest from its neighbour to the north. a journalist with RSS to become a writer and journalist. Perhaps Acharya China’s paramount leader Deng Xiaoping had and Radio Nepal, and the readers’ attention might have been more Publisher Kisgu chosen Nepal for one of his rare foreign jaunts, later correspondent easily captured early on by opening with the Acharya and King Birendra, the enthusiastic host, had for Kyodo News true story of how, at 10:15pm on 1 June 2001, Rs 300 ensured that a red carpet was rolled. Vice-Premier Agency, Acharya he got the ‘scoop’ on the tragic story unfolding Deng’s visit to China’s tiny neighbour in South lived through a pretty from the Royal Palace and sent it off to Kyodo. Asia had evoked immense interest and the world tumultuous period of Others followed, but Madhav had the story out media based in the region had descended to Nepali history. accurately, and ahead of the rest. Himalayan mountaineering. Kathmandu to cover the event. Acharya has He also relates his encounters with BP Acharya could be faulted about having Page 22, My Tryst with Writing an accurate recall, Koirala, Liz Hawley’s Reuters days, Girija perhaps rather too many references that refl ect and an eye for Koirala’s ups and downs, the story of Bhutan a man who feels that much of the time his cup This is one of the many milestones in detail that has stood him in good stead as a refugees, the then King Gyanendra’s coup, the was half empty rather than half full. There are Nepal’s recent history that correspondent correspondent. He has a ready turn of phrase Maoist insurgency, India’s infl uence in Nepal far too many examples of ‘Nepali English’, but Madhav Acharya writes about in his book, My when recounting many of the personal, politics , Lumbini developments, and the that lends the book a quaintly exotic voice. But Tryst with Writing. political, and national stories that have held our Japanese involvement, meeting with Baburam I am probably biased because Madhav is my The book is a combination of other events interest over those years. Bhattarai north of Gorkha and Sher Bahadur golfi ng buddy. and anecdotes which Acharya witnessed The book opens somewhat slowly with the Deuba in Kathmandu. He also has a section on Robin Marston

on the web. The place is decent with very basic decor: cemented floor, seven or eight big tables set up around the room, and a small terrace for those lovely early 3 FOX summer days. Since it had been pouring the whole morning, we the soup) was just too sweet, the started with a warm bowl of hot and slices of tomatoes that were thrown sour vegetable soup (Rs 90) to beat in with capsicums and onions the chill. were too big and too ripe. To Our soup took forever to show make things worse the fries were up and the service in general was completely soggy and lacked the SOMEPLACE ELSE pretty slow. But we were quick to crispiness that makes chips chili forgive because there was probably such a favourite among Nepalis. just one cook toiling away on a Luckily for us (and a face-saver for 3 Fox) the eight balls of cheese f you’re looking to sample cold, overcast day trying to prepare PICS: TRISHNA RANA some southern delights orders for five tables. What we were heavenly. Deep fried and with Iduring your stay at Lumbini, could not forgive was the mishmash generous portions of cheese, the absorbed in what was playing on tv. you will be sorely disappointed of oily, overpowering tomato fromage frais oozed out; almost Although the food is pretty because most restaurants here paste with tiny dices of carrots, tempting us to order another ordinary, 3 Fox is popular among How to get there: offer the usual Nepali/Indian/ cauliflowers, and garlic that 3 Fox round. Our main course chicken solo travellers and is a great place to From the Lumbini gate at Chinese/Continental muddle like tried to pass off as soup. Manchurian with plain rice (Rs chit chat with fellow tourists, share Mahilwar road, walk towards the Thamel. Next came our appetisers: chips 160) again was nothing much to tips about places to visit in Nepal, bajar and after 500 metres make We picked 3 Fox Restaurant chili (Rs 100) and cheese balls (Rs write about. Other than the slow ask around if anyone wants to share a right turn. Walk another 100 because it had been highly 150). The chips too were a major service, the waiters seemed pretty a taxi ride back to Bhairawa or find a metres and you’ll see 3 Fox on recommended by travellers letdown. The tomato base (like in disinterested in our table and more travel companion. your left-hand side. Sunfl ower Travellers Lodge and Restaurant

or dinner, we went Chinese at Sunfl ower masala was barely traceable. The hot pot, amount of juicy, tangy, fresh and a perfect way Travellers Lodge, which was defi nitely a however, was the highlight of our meal. to conclude a pleasing meal. Fbetter pick than our lunch option. Owned Meant for two, it is big enough to be There are no frills at Sunfl ower, the dining and run by Chinese who speak fl uent, endearing shared among three and is a wonderfully area is very simple, but the effi cient service and Nepali, this place takes its ‘authentic’ tag light, healthy yet delicious concoction of excellent food more than make up for the lack seriously. The menu is extensive and you have caulifl ower, broccoli, black mushroom, of fanciness. Our favourite part is defi nitely to place your order and pay at the front desk Chinese spinach, and tofu in chicken broth. the generous portions which means a group of before you seat yourself in the dining room on The broth was bought to us in a pot and a three can eat for less than Rs 400 each. the second fl oor or if weather permits at the small candle at the bottom kept the soup Trishan Rana rooftop terrace on the third fl oor. warm and nice throughout the evening. We ordered chicken kothey (Rs 180) for When our massive plate of Kung Pao How to get there: starters, the manager said it was a hit among arrived, it was a delight for our eyes and From the Lumbini gate at Mahilwar road, walk Nepalis and for the main course we had chicken The eight pieces of kothey are defi nitely bellies. The diced marinated chicken stir fried with towards Parsa chok, after ten minutes you will hot pot (Rs 380) and Kung Pao chicken (Rs 220) some of the best we have tried. They were deep peanuts, onions, carrots, zucchini, crushed green see Sunfl ower’s three-storey red brick building on accompanied by a bowl of plain rice (Rs 50). fried but not heavy, no onions and the meat pepper fl akes, and peppercorns was the right your right. 14 8 - 14 MARCH 2013 #646

HAPPENINGS A breath of filthy air

can easily penetrate these generic masks. While many of us know how harmful air pollution is to our lungs, the relation between pollution and cardiovascular diseases is not talked about too often. Many people are surprised to find out how these small particles lead to an increased susceptibility to heart attacks and strokes. However, outdoor air pollution is not our only enemy. Thousands of households across Nepal still burn wood and dried cow dung to use as cooking fuel in their kitchens. Inhaling this exhaust is BIKRAM RAI as worse as smoking five packs of Zimmermann and Paban Sharma cigarette a day and women who are from Patan Hospital. in-charge of the kitchen are at most DHANVANTARI But to better understand air risk. In a recent study conducted pollution and figure out ways by our Patan Hospital staff and Buddha Basnyat, MD to protect ourselves, we need to Italian colleagues in Khumbu, a understand aerosols. Aerosols are non-invasive ultrasound revealed a collection of particles that remain that the inner lining (endothelium) his past winter has been airborne for a substantial period of of the arteries of a large number very harsh on our lungs. time. Many pollutants exist in this of inhabitants of this region TThe thick inversion layer form and their pattern of deposition was impaired. Derangement of MAHESHWAR CHAMLING RAI/REPUBLICA trapped dust and smog in the in the lung depends on the size. endothelial function of the arteries SENIOR CLASS: PM Baburam Bhattarai honours Okhaldhunga resident Narmada air for weeks and Kathmandu Larger particulate matters above 10 leads to atherosclerotic disease, Bhattarai on Monday during the 50th anniversary celebrations of Gramodaya recorded dangerously high levels microns (PM 10) are trapped in the the hallmark of heart attacks and Yugakavi Siddhicharan Higher Secondary School as Bal Krishna Dhungel looks on(centre). of pollution with the unfinished nose and upper airways, but the strokes. Although Khumbu has road expansion project making the finest and most deadly particles, clean air, most people here still use city’s air more unbreathable. And if PM 2.5, find their way into the inner bio-mass in homes which causes you smoked during this time, you recesses of the lungs. the damage in the endothelium. made yourself doubly vulnerable Most Kathmandu residents don The good news is that both to a host of chronic lung disease masks or cover their mouths with outdoor and indoor pollution are such as COPD (chronic obstructive handkerchiefs when out on the reversible, but we need to create pulmonary disease) as proved streets. But PM 2.5 which is about awareness and the political will to by studies by doctors like Mark 30 times thinner than human hair make a change.

BIKRAM RAI TANK HALF EMPTY: A young girl watches as a long queue of motorcyclists lines up outside a petrol pump in Baneswor on Tuesday afternoon.

BIKRAM RAI JAI SHAMBO: A sadhu puts tika and gets ready for the day on early Wednesday morning. Thousands like him have flocked to Pashupatinath ahead of Shivaratri next week.

READERS’ PHOTO

MANGAL HIRE US: While people rest under the shade of the temple, two porters await potential clients at Patan Darbar Square. 8 - 14 MARCH 2013 #646 NATION 15 Whose Lumbini is it anyway? Greed, conflict of interest, and a lack of sustainable long-term vision on the national level have held back Lumbini for far too long

TRISHNA RANA in RUPANDEHI prevented continuity of ongoing turf war between the government projects as each new incumbent and private businesses is not isiting Lumbini is an odd comes with his own agenda. only hurting those who spend experience. While the Since 2008 there have been three thousands to come here but also Vhistorical and spiritual vice-chairmen at LDT. defeats the spirit of the Buddha. significance of the white box The large chunk of the Instead of working as partners Maya Devi Temple leaves one in problem, however, lies in the these various parties treat each awe, if you look underneath its Trust’s inability to move with other as adversaries. The tension calm veneer, the birthplace of the times and its refusal to be between the LDT and hotel Buddha is contemporary Nepal flexible on the master plan. Ask owners in particular is palpable. in a microcosm. officials at LDT about why there Hotels blame LDT for killing Under the Ministry aren’t even basic services like business by allowing monasteries of Culture, Tourism, and information officers and centres, within the Lumbini complex to Civil Aviation, the Lumbini guided tours or guides on hire, open hostels and house pilgrims Development Trust (LDT) has the usual response is, “We will for cheap. TRISHNA RANA been implementing the master start once the master plan is “The number of tourists has ANYBODY HERE?: A kiosk set up by LDT to help visitors fi nd guides has soared, but our business has not plan drawn up by Japanese completed.” rusted and lies abandoned at Mahilwar, Lumbini. architect Kenzo Tange in 1978 Architect and UNESCO been able to keep up,” explains and managing the 1x3 mile zone consultant Kai Weise says LDT’s the manager of Hotel Peace since 1985. However 35 years should remain true to the spirit Lumbini this January. foreigners journey through Land in Lumbini, “LDT’s unfair on, the larger Lumbini area is of the master plan without The Indians came prepared Kushinagar, Sarnath, Bodhgaya policies are driving us out.” still not in the picture and the necessarily following every with books, posters, and other in India and finally make a few The Trust, on the other hand, project is moving at snail’s pace. single detail. But this would promotional material about the hours ‘lay-over’ here. Out of the says hotels in the area haven’t The state’s inability to require a major shift in the style Buddhist pilgrimage circuit nearly 4,000 tourists that arrive bothered to improve their quality support LDT financially is of functioning not just of the in their country whereas ours each day only 1,200 or so (30 per or contributed towards Lumbini’s one reason for three decades Trust but the entire ministry. showed up empty handed. The cent) stay overnight. development in anyway and are of foot dragging. Out of its Rs Like other ‘big fish’ projects state was similarly ill-prepared When asked why it’s so only concerned about squeezing 130 million budget for 2011, in Nepal, greed, conflict of to organise Visit Lumbini 2012, difficult to get tourists to spend every last penny out of visitors. the government could only interest, and a lack of sustainable right at the heels of Nepal more time and money on our But all this ping pong politics supply Rs 15 million. While long-term vision on the national Tourism Year 2011, and the side of the border, officials get holds little significance for international support for the level have held back this event came and went without defensive and shift the blame rickshaw drivers like Krishna, master plan remains strong, international heritage for far much fanfare. elsewhere. “Our responsibility is who earns around Rs 600 a none of that has translated into too long. The government’s As the birthplace of Buddha, to develop and protect the world day taking tourists around the monetary help. notorious lack of foresight was Lumbini should ideally be the heritage site and surrounding garden. Families like his are The high-turnover rate at the on display during the Nepal- starting point of the pilgrimage areas, not to do business,” says hardly ever included in national Trust as well as the ministry has India Tourism Mart organised in circuit. Unfortunately, most a LDT officer, “it’s the job of and international discussions travel agencies and hotels to sell about Lumbini’s ‘development’. the place, network with their And while the windfall counterparts in India, attract from Buddhaland provides more tourists, and convince them employment to some, it has done to stay longer.” little in terms of uplifting living As both vie for the largest standards or improving education piece of the Lumbini pie, this in the region. 16 LUMBINI 8 - 14 MARCH 2013 #646

Spread across 777 hectares with the Maya Devi Temple on the southern end 6 and the Peace Pagoda on the northern and dozens of international monasteries DESTINATION on either side, Lumbini today is 4 an international hub that brings together people of different beliefs, colour, ethnicity, and nationality under one garden. On any given day, you will find eager 2 groups of students learning about the history of Buddhism, families from Sri Lanka taking a breather in the sacred PEACE garden, and pilgrims from south-east 53 TRISHNA RANA city pulls in up to 700,000 pilgrims Asia who saved up for years for this trip 3 annually, pumping cash into the local happily snapping away. economy. The tour is best done on foot. Make hree things unite 26 million A 10 hour ride on a rickety bus from sure you have an entire day (two days are Nepalis like nothing else: Kathmandu (most tourist buses only go ideal) to explore the nooks and corners MoMo, Mount Everest, and till Chitwan or Butwal) or a pleasant of the garden as well as a visit to the Lumbini. Some of us take our 30 minute flight to Bhairawa and then museum. Or there are rickshaws on national symbols so seriously half an hour on a taxi will take you into queue at the main bus stop gate and the we create Facebook pages declaring that Lumbini. While village walks, bird- gate at Mahilwar who will give you a 1 T Buddha was born in Nepal. watching, and a day trip to neighbouring four hour tour for Rs 400. Bikes are also But national symbols aside, Lumbini Tilaurakot in Kapilvastu are some of the available for rent ar Rs 100 an hour. needs to be on every traveller’s bucket highlights, it’s the nativity site and the SEE IN BUZZ: list. Located in Rupandehi district, barely Lumbini development zone that are the Buddha’s Maya, page 8 30 minutes from the Indian border, the main attractions. Someplace Else, page 13

ANDREAS LEHNERT ANDREAS LEHNERT

Maya Devi Temple 1 Great Lotus Stupa (Germany) 2 Mahabodhi Society Monastery (South Korea) 3 Before Lumbini was transformed into a spiritual The Great Lotus monastery dwarfs in comparison to the Disneyland, it was the iconic white box flanked by a Chinese and Korean structures. However, the Germans The gigantic grey Korean structure easily lone-standing pipal tree on one side and the Asokan show that size indeed does not matter. Built by the towers above the rest and can be seen from pillar on the other that devotees and tourists from German Tara Foundation in 1999, this is by far the a far distance. Still under construction, the around the globe flocked to. Excavated in 1996 most elegant and impressive stupas out of the 20 or so in three-storey monastery manages to awe and rebuilt in 2002, today visitors can go inside to the area. Enclosed by a L-shaped pond, there is a sense of visitors with its sheer size. Step inside view the ‘marker stone’ denoting the exact spot of perfect harmony here provided by the seven-feet gigantic the uncluttered prayer hall where you Gautam Buddha’s birth, the Maya Devi statue, and the prayer wheels at four corners of the monastery. As you will find portraits and paintings of Korean excavations. circle around the stupa you will see spectacular murals spiritual leaders, light an oil lamp, and let Next to the monument is the emerald green on the walls depicting Buddhist places of worship like the empty space help you clear your mind. Puskarini or holy pond where Buddha is said Swayambhunath in Kathmandu. If you are lucky to make to have had his first bath and surrounding it are it here before noon (when the monastery closes for an more excavation sites and the lush sacred garden. Once hour for lunch), find yourself a spot outside the prayer you are done looking around, take a breather, admire hall, shut off your camera, and soak up the serenity as the hundreds of prayer flags fluttering in the breeze, you listen to resident monks chant in unison. and absorb a moment of inner peace. 8 - 14 MARCH 2013 #646 LUMBINI 17

Tilaurakot 4 Perhaps one of the most neglected eerie sense of calm you find here and sites in the Lumbini circuit, although there is nothing much to do, all Tilaurakot in Kapilvastu district was it takes is some imagination to transport once the crowning glory of the Shakya you to 500 BC Nepal. dynasty. Today Buddhist devotees and Although you can hire a taxi or tourists who have more than a night van for the day, the best way to see to spend at Lumbini venture out to the countryside is biking especially observe the abandoned remains of the because the roads are so smooth and palace’s fortification wall. flat. The scenery alternates between The former palace ground is in endless mustard fields and busy bajars an overgrown forest in the middle of with several minarets and temples nowhere. A huge pond and a Maya Devi peppered in between. Take photos temple guarded by elephants add to the of boys playing cricket, old couples tending cattle, and families of three or four all squeezing on the back of a crumbling bike. Those who are not in the healthiest shape or are looking for little more adventure, can hop on the back of a rickshaw. You will Distance from Lumbini: 25km west double your travel time, but won’t regret the decision. Stop for regular Rs 2,000 - 2,500 in 40 minutes breaks, head into street-side tea shops for the sweetest cups of chiya you will ever taste, try a samosa, and Rs 100 per hour in 2 hours listen to men engage in animated discussions about, you guessed it, local Rs 1,500 in 3 hours politics. The ride here is the best part of the journey.

Two-way airfare to Bhairawa: Starts at Rs 6,300 (Nepalis) and $242 (others)

From Bhairawa airport to Lumbini: Rs 1,000 From Kathmandu to Lumbini: Rs 1,300 to Rs 1,800

Sakura Travels and Super Salina run three buses in the morning (between 7 to 8am) and two at night (between 7:30 and 8:00pm) which leave Kathmandu from Naya Bus Park at Gongabu. Microbuses also have direct routes to Lumbini. ANDREAS LEHNERT 2011 2012 6 Zhong Hua Buddhist Peace Pagoda Total: 587,538 Total: 795,794 Monastery (China) 5 Built in 1993 by the Japanese, the pagoda is almost Nepal: 395,570 Nepal: 539,210 You have seen it on TV: the sweeping roof with yellow glazed identical in architecture and design to the one in India: 63,709 India: 120,583 tiles, loping ridges decorated with a line of statues, and big, Pokhara. But surrounded by a sea of green, it is beautiful courtyards. But you’ve always wondered what the definitively more charming. Visit during the late Sri Lanka: 52,691 Sri Lanka: 52,671 Forbidden City in Beijing might look like in real life. Here is afternoons when the warm orange sunshine falls Thailand: 26,382 Thailand: 28,480 your opportunity to explore traditional Chinese architecture and directly on the gold plated Buddha making him Burma: 12,503 Burma: 17,595 art without the visa hassles. Let laughing Buddha welcome you almost come to life. On the periphery of the Lumbini China: 8,961 China: 8,598 at the gate. Make sure you take your time to allow for a zone, you can either start or end your journey here. SOURCE: LUMBINI DEVELOPMENT TRUST leisurely stroll around the monastery and admire the detailed handiwork of the artisans. Entry to Maya Devi Temple: Free (Nepalis), Rs 16 (Indians), Rs 200 (others)

Boat ride (one-way): Rs 45 (Nepalis), Rs 50 (others)

PICS: TRISHNA RANA 18 FROM THE NEPALI PRESS 8 - 14 MARCH 2013 #646 Unfinished business NEPALI TWEETS

Editorial in Sourya Dainik, 7 March This ‘banda culture’ is a result of efforts that try to institutionalise change through glorifying violence. Can we be brave On 6 June 2005, the Maoists enough to correct past mistakes? Let’s ambushed an overcrowded ask ourselves. bus in Bandarmude, Chitwan. 38 people died and more than 70 were wounded in the attack. It was by far the worst terrorist attack perpetrated For the second day in a row schools have by the Maoists during the been forced to shut down. Apparently conflict. there are more bandas this week, not to BIKRAM RAI Almost eight years after mention consecutive public holidays. the incident, UCPN(M) Week wasted by bandas and holidays. Change the constitution Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal visited Bandarmude and announced that a relief to change the government? package worth Rs 6,000,000 had been earmarked for the heinous crimes get political Nepalis don’t eat their greens. There’s a Narayan Wagle, Himal Khabarpatrika, 3 March victims. However, the PM’s protection and suffer silently as football game on at night, so let’s hope their eyesight doesn’t fail them. personal secretary later the killers walk freely alongside Major leaders are once again busy meeting behind closed doors. They want clarified that the government the PM and other high-ranking Chief Justice Khil Raj Regmi to become PM without much resistance and had made no such decision. government officials. are looking for ways to ‘suspend’ the democratic principle of separation It is unfortunate that leaders The families of victims are of powers between the executive and the judiciary. However, Nepal’s of a party responsible for the not alone in seeking justice. constitution will not allow this. tragedy in Chitwan cannot Thousands of people across the Yes, Bhattarai’s government needed to be replaced but on moral and even come to an agreement country still don’t know who @Sadan_Adhikari You worry about political grounds, not on constitutional grounds. The current deadlock exists on how to help the victims. killed their loved ones. If justice yourself. And read Karnali Blues if exactly because everyone is busy seeking a constitutional answer to a Dahal has now said is not given to these people, no you can to learn how to address Tharu political problem. But giving an unelected person the keys to the cabinet will that the money will be one will have much faith in the women. Why show fake sympathy? set the wrong precedence for the future and push the nation into an even released from the Maoist country’s judiciary. deeper crisis. party’s treasury. But the In their last ditch attempt to dislodge Baburam Bhattarai from power, NC and UML leaders have unwittingly agreed to forgo the constitution and ongoing rift between party handed over victory to Bhattarai. Not only has this move tarnished their chairman Dahal and PM democratic credentials but also shown how weak they are. Bhattarai, coupled with If the opposition wants to keep the constitution alive, it must demand Dahal’s reputation of double that Regmi resign from his post before taking over Baluwatar. But the speak, raise doubts over UCPN(M) has played its cards very well (especially with Bhattarai taking any probable relief for the a tough stance on citizenship, TRC bill, army integration, and voter victims. registration issues) and completely bullied the opposition leaders into Locals of Bandarmude surrendering to its will. Continuing to comply with the Maoists will only put have been denied justice their existence at further risk. for far too long. They have Since November is the earliest possible date for polls, the CJ will seen the perpetrators of basically be in charge for nine months. This will be a huge problem. There are critical questions the opposition parties need to refl ect on: did the Maoists propose the ‘last resort’ CJ idea because they wanted to merge the two powers all along? WEEKLY BAZAR POLL #3

Himal Khabarpatrika asks 375 respondents in 14 cities across Nepal every Monday for their opinion on contemporary issues. This week’s result: “Remove your hands” “It hurts!” 1. How is your business doing “Then, let it be.” compared to past years? “It hurts!” Boulder: CJ-led government Same: 38.2% Worse:34.2% Better: 27% Abin Shrestha in Kantipur, 5 March Don’t know: 0.3% Won’t say: 0.3%

2. Why is your business not going QUOTE OF THE WEEK according to plan? “ We don’t need a constitution. All we No business environment: 40.2% No customers: 33.2% “ need is development. Lack of security: 9.6% No expansion in business: 6.6% Central committee member of UCPN(M) Other: 4.1% and first lady Hisila Yami speaking at a Don’t know: 3.3% press meet in Balaju, Kantipur, 5 March Lack of Attention: 3% 8 - 14 MARCH 2013 #646 OPINION 19 Foreign domestic policy

BY THE WAY Nepal’s quest for sovereignty and international credibility Anurag Acharya stands at odds with its geo-strategic balancing act

ne of the few privileges who were on their way to TU Teaching governments in developing hospital to pay tribute to a 25-year-old Ocountries enjoy is a free hand in self-immolator. The same police later matters of foreign policy. that evening were arresting young men The everyday existential problems wearing ponytails and earrings. Last means citizens in these countries time I checked this country’s interim couldn’t care less about how their constitution, neither was listed as a government deals with refugees. When criminal offense. Nepalis are ill-treated by Nepalis, there is Every government in Kathmandu little time to find out how we deal with since 1956, after Nepal recognised Tibet those who have sought refuge in our land. as a part of China, has used the Chinese So when a Tibetan man burns himself card to leverage its political influence to death in Kathmandu or Bhutanese BREAKING THEIR SOULS: vis-a-vis Indian pressure. We have leaned refugees are refused entry into their own Police surround defi ant over backwards to be friendly to the country, people go about their business Tibetan protestors after North to counterbalance our dependence as if nothing has happened. fi ring teargas to disperse on the South. In countries like ours, the common a peaceful demonstration The failure of Nepal’s diplomacy citizen’s interest in foreign affairs outside the UN Building in in the last six decades has reduced its is limited to status of demand for Kathmandu in 2008. foreign affairs to a balancing act and manpower in Qatar, Malaysia, and South SAM KANG LI crude economics that only seeks to Korea. The urban middle-class despise it the prime minister pictured alongside tacit support of Sri Lanka’s human influence domestic politics. Assertion even more. Their international concerns war criminals, will willingly look in the rights violations during the war and of national interests, defined in terms stretch only as far as Raxaul from where other direction at the way refugees from their government’s mistreatment of the of influencing regional geopolitics by our regular supplies of oil enter the Bhutan, Tibet, Somalia, and Iraq are Kashmiri Muslims. elevating international image of the country. treated here. Even a small country like Ecuador country has remained a dream. When the people of an erstwhile When the Vietnam War broke out stood up to a western superpower and Nepal’s inability to sign the 1951 Hindu kingdom celebrate their great in the 1960s, thousands of Americans granted asylum to international whistle Refugee Convention and blatant violation festival in a couple of days, thousands came out on the streets against their own blowers against possible persecution. The of customary international laws in the of refugees and ‘second-class’ citizens of government. Four decades later the same fact that we live in a landlocked state, treatment of refugees fly in the face of the this country will be denied cultural rights people protested on the streets against trying to survive at the mercy of two Foreign Minister who makes lofty claims to celebrate the birthday of a spiritual American foreign policy in Afghanistan nuclear giants needn’t stop us from about defending national interests. leader. and Iraq. doing the right thing. We don’t just have the right but an But like the year before and the Closer to home, critical sections of On Monday, the Supreme Court obligation to protest against government year before that, Kathmandu’s brightest the Indian media and civil society have issued a show cause notice against policies that have turned us into an whose conscience is offended to see been condemning the UPA government’s Nepal Police for detaining four Tibetans international pariah.

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Europe anytime soon, you can be sure of that. Still polls apart FG We hear Chairman Lotus Flower is mighty ow that elections look sore that Binod Chow-chowdhury beat impossible in June, improbable FG him to the Forbes’ list of the stinking in November and implausible After all the blood he helped shed during rich, Following Kingji’s example, PKD N has refused to pay 15 lacks in water bills in the 21st century, the Mao-Baddies the war with an ideology that sanctioned seem to be losing interest in their hacking off hands of teachers and driving for KUKL tankers that brought water to own plan to make the CJ a CEO. To nails into the knees of class enemies, Com his former Pistachio Palace twice a day. be exact, it is BRB who seems to be in Red Flag seems to miss all the blood and But in order to defuse an embarrassing the mood to back down and has been gore. How else would one explain his protest during his visit to Chitwan on whispering to people that the whole extraordinary statement in Okhaldhunga the anniversary of the Madi bomb, he CJ idea was to hold elections in June the other day where he said that his party promised families of victims 6 million and if that ain’t happening then he’d hadn’t abandoned the revolution, but was bucks compensation, saying he had just got rather like to reluctantly continue just slitting the throats of reactionaries it sanctioned by the finance minister and in office, thank you. The Justice-in- ‘halal-style’. At first it seemed like a prime minister. Only problem was, they Chief is never going to forgive the FG sloppy way to appease Muslim voters, hadn’t, Awesome was lying through his Ideologue-in-Chief. The real reason the Justice-in-Chief until we saw that he said this in the teeth as usual. When he got found out, to save face he got flunkies in Paris Danda to FG ship is floundering is not because the presence on the podium of Bal Krishna (“I opposition parties don’t want it (the did Ujjan Shrestha in”) Dhungel. issue a cheque ‘from the party’. The guy who is most miffed about Kangresis in fact have their tails wagging FG FG this, of course, is Chairman Ferocity and paws in the air) but because the In order to ensure that evil compradors who staked all and was rubbing his Task Force has been deadlocked by the It’s not just BRB, his First Lady is of Western Imperialists and Southern hands with glee ever since he first Mau Mau proposal to include a ‘package’ also afflicted by foot-in-mouth and Expansionalists don’t influence our Dear disclosed the proposal at the Hasiya that includes a watered down TRC Bill admitted publicly on Monday that she Leaders, Kamikaze Narayan has got the Conf in Hatauda. As paranoid as only and impossible demands for seniority of and she alone sanctioned building a Farang Ministry to issue guidelines about the comrades can be, PKD is said to be integrated gorillas in the Nepal Army. highway bypass through the Garden when and where netas can meet dips: more and more suspicious that BRB If it hadn’t been for these demands and of 22 Fountains in Balaju. She added: Keep the Qazi informed of all dates has pulled another fast one, has no Comrade Rawal standing firm, Justice “We don’t want a constitution, we want Wear a bracelet with a GPS tracking intention of stepping down, and never Rag-me would have already thrown his development.” Ooops. Then Yummy’s device all the time had. Which is why Kamred Awesome suitcase over the wall in Balu Water. hand-picked Attorney Generalissimo No more cocktails, especially is blowing kisses at Kiran Kaka again. And, speaking of our Praetorian Guards, Comrade Mukti declared in a speech: “The in the vicinity of Lainchaur Where does this leave the middlemen since when did anyone give the generals Universal Declaration of Human Rights is and Maharajganj who brokered this deal, Shri Amrace the power to write to the censor board to out of date and not applicable to Nepal.” Get venue cleared by Ministry and Shri Shitola, one wonders? stop a movie? These guys aren’t going to be visiting so they can plant bugs

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