# 12 4 - 10 October 2000 20 pages Rs 20

9 DASAIN AYO

Nepal’s bird diversity10

NOTICE TO READERS - Because of the Dasain Festival there will be no issue of Nepali Times on 11 October. After the holidays, Nepali Times will come out on Fridays every week and not Wednesdays as it does presently. The next issue will be on Friday, 20 October. See you then. –Editor

EXCLUSIVE C.K. LAL Swaha, Mata, Lokmata, Shanti, ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ Kosi High Dam orce has masculine connotations in Pushti, Dhriti and Swosti. societies that struggled against Women may have been Secretary-level talks began secre- FNature for their survival. Nature had beaten down by centuries tively in Kathmandu this week to to be subdued and tamed so that Man of supression in our discuss the proposal to build a flood- could be said to have conquered it. society, but they are control high dam on the Kosi River. A In societies that grew in her bosom, still the ones who team led by the Indian water re- Nature was regarded as feminine in both bestow power sources secretary Jafar Hasan was in her gentle and fierce avatars. Nature was upon their Kathmandu for the 1-3 October the complete woman: the mother, the men. So, who meeting, but few in Nepal seemed to lover, the sister, the daughter, all rolled is empowering know about it. Why all the secrecy? into one. All life forces emanated from whom? Officially, this meeting is a follow- her, and behind the Supreme Being’s Matrikas up to the prime minister’s visit to every move there was the cycle of became even Delhi in August when India and Nepal creation, sustenance and destruction. God more im- agreed to streamline bilateral water was a she. And she was called the Mother portant when consultations. But India seems to Earth, the Mother Goddess. She made Vedic want to bring up the issue of the Kosi the moon and the earth go around the Hindus (and and the Bagmati High Dam projects. sun. She made us do what we do, and later even New Delhi is keen to placate fears in later enjoy or suffer the consequences. Buddhists to Bihar that it is not doing enough to When the Aryans came face to face some extent) push the mammoth projects which with the splendours of the Harappan fused with many Biharis see as a solution to civilisation in the early part of the second animism in the their annual flood woes. For the first millennium BC they must have been awe- mountainous regions of time, the Indian team included a struck by the power of the female deity Kashmir, Kumaon, Nepal, Bihari official, Radha Singh, the that bestowed such opulence, even on a Tibet and Assam. A faith state’s commissioner for water people so unwilling to go to war. The emerged celebrating the primal union resources, and also Patna-based Aryans established their hegemony by of the linga (the phallus, standing for male media. torching Harappan cities, and then force) with the yoni (the vagina, Why was Ghimire fired? The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) Director General Nagendra Prasad Ghimire was summarily sacked last week. And that would Mother of all festivals have been that. But word has come that Ghimire was punished for For a society that has a strong matrilineal heritage garland of skulls around her neck Astamatrika, Mother Nature at her opposing a government decision • Indrani rides an elephant and looks a bewitching best. It is said that one night granting licences to seven new and a pantheon of goddesses in heaven, it is little more reassuring, notwithstanding a she appeared in the dreams of King airlines, one of which wanted to surprising how strongly patriarchial practices whip in one of her hands Pratap Malla and directed him to create operate a single-engine passenger dominate Nepali society today. • Chamunda is a skeleton, with two an image of her and enshrine her. So there aircraft. teeth protruding like Dracula she looks she is at the Mohan Chowk of Hanuman establishing their own set of goddesses. symbolising female force). Linga was the like somone who can send a chill down Dhoka—embodying all the forces of Brahmans called them Shodash-Matrika— seed, yoni the ground—together they the spine of sinners creation, sustenance and destruction. The Beeb bends over the 16 mother goddesses. assured fertility, prosperity and peace. • Kumari is the virgin goddess, her Ashtamatrika is also revered as Kali, the The BBC backtracked and altered Perhaps the 16 originated from escorts Nava Durga is another latter-day blessings bestow upon kings the right to seductive destroyer. Other faiths ask the subject of its South Asia Debate of famous patriarchal Aryan chiefs, or from variation on the theme of matrikas. The rule followers to be perfect like the Father in on its World Today programme after the women that took care of the home and nine goddesses are worshipped, one on • Baishnabi appears riding an airborne heaven. All Kali asks for is love: ecstatic the Foreign Ministry sent a sharply children when the men went to war. The each of the nine nights of Dasain this eagle that has a snake in its beak and she love, elevating love, menacing love, worded statement denouncing it. But goddesses could have been wives of various week. Priests have taken a shortcut and has one hand raised in a gesture of punishing love. the emails in the Internet debate, saints revered by traditional Hindus who simplified the nine into just three main blessing. For those who worship the female parts of which were also broadcast, trace their ancestry to them through gotras ones: Maheshwari, Mahalaxmi and These Seven Mothers are revered as form, the Mother Nature, rather than the turned out to be overwhelmingly in named after famous rishis. It is equally likely Mahasarswati. They are symmetrical to symbols of primal forces that constitute Father in heaven, there is creation in Nepal’s favour. that these remarkable women were chiefs or the holy Hindu trinity of Shiva, Vishnu the universe. In addition to them (are you passion. Unison is the rule of the Nepali Times brings a selected saints in their own right. After all, they have and Brahma—the destroyer, the keeper following me here?) there is Mahalaxmi, universe. And that is the Tantric link to transcript of the debate on pg 7. See survived millennia of patriarchy and are and the creator of the universe. the great goddess of Dasain herself. Dasain: perfection in union. This also State of the State on pg 2. worshipped to this day at pre-ceremony rites The original Tantric saptamatrika are Heavily armed with a lethal-looking universal interface of creation that is (purbanga) and ritual initiations and made up of: trident, a bow, an arrow, an axe, a whip, a possible only by submission, a submission marriages. • Brahmi, who sits astride a swan, and snake, a sword and a chakra (rotary blade) to the partner and submission to the When they are solemnly recited, the bears a striking similarity to Sarswati, the in her 10 hands and riding a tiger, Supreme Source that leads to salvation. names of these 16 mother goddesses have a traditional goddess of learning Mahalaxmi is the very embodiment of The Astamatrika mother is thus the hypnotic cadence, a poetry of sound • Maheshwari is a female Shiva, replete power. She is also worshipped as Durga— source of all forces: hell and heaven and connecting us to our unknown maternal with serpent, mini-drum and trident, and the slayer of evil and protector of the everything in between rolled into one. ancestors: Gauri, Padma, Shachi, Medha, riding a bull good and noble. She is the woman who makes it all Sabitri, Bijaya, Jaya, Devsena, Swadha, • Barahi is boar-faced, ferocious with a Last, but not least, there is possible. t 2 EDITORIAL 4 - 10 OCTOBER 2000 NEPALI TIMES

Clauses 118 and 119 Autumn is here, and Nepali peasantry is taking a break from back-breaking work. Planting and weeding over, the golden terraces sway with a heavy harvest. The sun ripens next year’s food. It is time to hang things out to dry, do some Dasain cleaning, and stock up for the winter ahead. It is time to celebrate, thank Mother Nature for a good harvest. It is also time to appease the gods with sacrifices. No one in Nepal we have talked to remembers being less in a mood for Dasain than this year. The sacrifices so far have not been goats, they have been humans. At least 22 killed in the last week in Maoist violence. It does not matter who they were, what uniforms they wore. They were Nepalis, and Nepalis killed them. As the high priests of politics bicker in Kathmandu, blood is spilt on the soil of our country. Our feckless civilian leaders can’t get a handle on this conflict, that much is clear. Self-serving, inept, venal, narrow-minded, immersed in their internal intrigues, and incapable of grasping the seriousness of the crisis confronting the nation—that about sums up the track record of politicians on whom people have put their trust for the past 10 years. Even those who spout peace are playing politics with it. Policemen are being killed by Maoists or vice versa. Innocent sons and daughters of Nepali peasants die. And the leaders on both sides? All that matters to STATE OF THE STATE by C.K.LAL them is power. While the killing fields of Dunai and Bhorletar reverberated with the thunder of pipe bombs and guns, politicians in the capital were jockeying shamelessly to ensure a position in the post-Dasain reshuffle. The Army was busy presenting excuses why it did not come to the aid of the police when they were being slaughtered (“we were not formally notified”, “the bridge was destroyed”). And a A state of paranoia bigger battle looms between the two Durbars over the destiny of this land. One outcome of the blood-soaked week is that the debate is now narrowing down to the key issue of who controls the Royal Nepal Army. The Constitution has elf-deception is a technique of self- Nepalis have to earn the respect of others. They won’t just give it (probably deliberately) left it fuzzy. According to Clause 118, “His Majesty shall preservation. When faced with to us because six generations ago our forebears cut up their operate and use the Royal Nepal Army on the recommendation of the National Sextremely harsh realities, the human forebears with khukuris. Defence Council.” Well and good. The Council is made up of three members—the mind lapses into a make-believe world in come to terms with it. India is also a tourism and trade in a sustainable Prime Minister, the Defence Minister and the Commander-in-Chief. Although Clause order to preserve its sanity. Our excessive country with which we have a lot in manner. Our people are creative enough 118 clearly establishes civil superiority—and one would assume that the tax payers pride in our own nationalism, exemplified common, but why should an online debate to preserve and manage our forests with who pay for the upkeep of our praetorian guard should have a say in what it does— by last week’s outpouring of patriotic to discuss how this commonality can be full community participation. All Nepalis there are historical reasons for the army and palace to have a fondness for each fervour over an online debate conducted pragmatically used for national progress be need is a leadership that will not stifle this other. by the BBC, illustrates this theory of construed as an affront to our sovereignty, creativity and capacity for hard work. But Clause 118 may make it look like the National Defence Council is all-powerful. psychology perfectly. unless our sovereignty itself is so brittle that even that may have started to happen But the very next Clause 119 states: “His Majesty is the Supreme Commander of the Just look at us: our brothers fight in it will break at the slightest hint of open with the evolution of our democratic Royal Nepal Army.” Then, almost as an afterthought, comes a second sub-clause: other peoples’ armies, we sell our sisters to debate. institutions in the past decade. Many of “His Majesty shall appoint the Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Nepal Army on the brothels abroad, our children don’t have It was interesting to note that in the these points did come out on the online recommendation of the Prime Minister.” You can’t get more ambiguous than that, and enough to eat, we need foreign aid to pick online discussions the loudest protests debate, and interestingly, some of the it is this vagueness that is coming to haunt us now. up our own rubbish, it needs an came from Nepalis abroad. This is the case people making these points on our behalf ambassador of a nearby country to write a with the diaspora of most countries: they were Indians! But the very content that letter to the editor before a road gets tend to be more nationalistic than most of would have shown Nepal in the best light paved in our capital. The disgrace of it all the compatriots they have left behind. It was drowned out by the display of foolish should have made us hang our heads in has something to do with keeping one’s and knee-jerk nationalism in Kathmandu shame. It should have made us question identity when the melting pot threatens to on the week that 22 Nepali policemen dogmas, examine beliefs and behaviour. turn all immigrants into alloys. Nepalis were slaughtered by Nepali Maoists. Instead, we choose to hark back to our abroad are no different, especially because When an insecure mind works itself glorious past to mask our present squalor they are assumed to be Indians unless they into a rage, then you have bizarre scenes and ineptness. “No matter what,” we prove otherwise by swearing in the name of like that of the BBC being burnt in effigy shout from our rooftops, “ours is an Lord Buddha and Mount Everest. You at Bhadrakali, or Radio Sagarmatha being independent and sovereign country. We don’t deal with tough questions by stifling forced to chicken out and not broadcast have never been colonised, and our debate. The BBC debate was a unique the very debate that was favourable to kingdom shall remain independent till opportunity in a bold new medium to Nepal. Everyone already knows Nepal is kingdom come.” The legend about Nepal prove the basis of our new-found not a developed country, now they also being an independent country from pre- democracy, show confidence in our own know that we aren’t too clever either. Our historic times (that outlandish claim nationhood with maturity and open- patriots have insulted the strength of comes from the statement of the Nepali mindedness in front of a worldwide Nepali nationalism by their paranoia. So, the commander-in-chief is flummoxed. What is the chain of command: the Congress Party’s denouncement of the multimedia audience. All we did with that Doesn’t our false pride ring a bit king or the prime minister? The clue may actually lie in the third paragraph of the BBC) is a historical flight of fancy. Nepal obtuse statement from the Foreign hollow when we rave and rant against the preamble to the Constitution which states that the purpose of the document is to: is still a nation in the making, as B.P. Ministry was show the world how narrow- radio station of a country where our “...consolidate the Adult Franchise, the Parliamentary System of Government, Koirala had no hesitation accepting. minded and insecure we have become. citizens seek asylum pretending to be Constitutional Monarchy and the System of Multi-Party Democracy...” Perhaps in that Till the 1940s Nepalis travelled The BBC had adopted a provocative Bhutanese refugees? And in the army of order of priority. The Head of State is a symbol of national unity, the Head of abroad with identification papers issued method based on what is known as “null which our countrymen serve, and, we Government is responsible for safeguarding a “bond of unity on the basis of liberty by the Government of British India. hypothesis” in social science researches. might add, in the army of the country and equality” But how can the Prime Minister be given such wide-ranging Geographically, the Treaty of Sugauli According to this concept, if you can show that we are getting worked up about? Let’s responsibility without commensurate powers? This is the reason for the growing tug- fixed the present boundaries of the that a thesis is wrong on all counts, its not deceive ourselves, we have to earn the of-war between Narayanhiti Durbar and Singha Durbar. Kingdom of Nepal in 1816. It was opposite can automatically also proved to respect of others. They won’t just give it For its part, the Army is aware of its awesome firepower and the generals say enlarged a bit when Jung Bahadur was be true. We should have attempted to to us because six generations ago our privately they don’t want to be pushed into a civil war. The casualty rate is relatively rewarded by the British for mercenary prove the null hypothesis of BBC wrong by forebears cut up their forebears with low because the two sides are fighting with crude bombs and antiquated rifles. Given services rendered during the Indian showing that the current trend is towards a khukuris. t the disarray within the ruling party, the Army has a point when it says the civilians Mutiny of 1857. Politically, the People of break-up of larger nations into smaller should first resolve their differences before calling for help. But no one has answered Nepal became sovereign only by the ones. Before a meaningful South Asian one crucial question. Whose side is the Army on? enactment of The Constitution of confederation can even be contemplated, Goddess Durga is worshipped during Dasain as a slayer of the demon, a symbol Kingdom of Nepal, 1990. perhaps the Indian Union itself needs to of evil that resides in each one of us. The creator has also endowed us all with the The subject posted by the BBC on its break into at least about 40-50 workable- force to control that evil, with contemplation and an ability to understand our own web site for its South Asia Debate on sized independent nation-states. inner strengths. From all of us here at Nepali Times, we join you in your Dasain World Today last week asked how Nepal We could have used the debate to show prayers for peace and wellbeing in Nepal. should respond to a resurgent India. We that Nepal may be mired in poverty, but were so spooked by what the answer could the Indian states neighbouring us are in a Nepali Times is published by Himalmedia Pvt Ltd be that we worked ourselves up into a much worse shape. We could have pointed Mailing address: GPO Box 7251 Kathmandu Nepal frenzy of self-righteousness and behaved out that our democracy may not be ideal, Editor: Kunda Dixit [email protected] Marketing, circulation and subscriptions: (01) 543333-7 Fax: (01) 521013 exactly like paranoid Indians do when but it is way ahead of the farces enacted by [email protected] www.nepalitimes.com they see a map of Kashmir with chunks Laloo Prasad in Bihar or Mulayam Singh Printed at Jagadamba Press (01) 521393 on the two top corners missing. Nepal is in Uttar Pradesh. We could have said that International news in Nepali Times is provided through arrangements with The Guardian, not landlocked, it is India-locked. This is we have started to tap our huge untapped Observer, dpa, IPS, The Asian Age, Dawn, SAPU, Die Welt, Sud Deutsche Zeitung and Gemini News. a geographical fact, and we had better potential in agriculture, hydropower, FACE TO FACE 4 - 10 OCTOBER 2000 NEPALI TIMES 3

n their separate articles published even though one may be a janjati. in the Himalaya Times and Nepal, How is one to respond if intellectuals IMadan Mani Dixit, Ramesh Bikal belonging to communities classified as and Dr Surendra K.C., have janjati by the Nepal Federation of attempted to define the term Nationalities choose not be identified “janjati”. None of the three writers as such? are janjatis or members of indigenous Dr vs Dr In a recent article in Nepal Jagaran, groups. Neither are they sociologists Pradip Man Shrestha has claimed that or anthropologists by training. TU sociologist Dr Krishna Bahadur Newars are not, have never been and However, they feel qualified to find will never be janjatis. Shrestha further fault in the definition of “janjati” Bhattachan (left) battles it out with TU claims, “In fact, calling Newars janjati propounded by the janjatis is an attack on the community’s proud themselves. (Janjati=ethnic historian Dr Surendra K.C. on the history. By listing Newars, who have community or nationality. Editor) historically been very vocal supporters This is a testimony of their definition of “janjati”. of janjati rights, as janjatis, genuine “bahunbadi” mentality. Bahunbadis janjatis may be deprived of their feel threatened whenever people from indigenous linguists editing the Nepali Brihat Shabdakosh had the find the allegations labelled at me by the well- rights”. Shrestha refers to the Constitution’s Article 26 groups, the janjatis or the dalits try to establish their moral responsibility to take into account meanings known Thakali writer Krishna Bahadur (10) to define “janjati” and also to the Nepal Human identity as people from those groups. (Bahunbadi means attributed by the general public to words rather IBhattachan against my article extremely Development Report 1998, which reveals that the human a proponent of bahunbad, which was defined by Dor than try to impose their own bahunbadi definitions intriguing and fascinating. Unlike what he has declared, development index of Newars is better than of any Bahadur Bista in his controversial book, Fatalism and on the users of the Nepali language. Doing my article was not intended to be meaningless or other community in Nepal. Prakash A. Raj has made a Development, as a culture of fatalism; also loosely used to otherwise is tantamount to cultural tyranny. misguiding. similar claim in Nepal Samacharpatra. Likewise, a define domination by the Bahun caste group in The Nepal Federation of Nationalities, a I was born in Taplejung district of the Limbuwan satirical article published in Kantipur recently proposed different spheres of national life. Editor) Bahunbadis confederation of 32 janjati organisations, defines region in east Nepal to a Karki family of the Chhetri caste. that Bahuns are the most genuine janjati of this have always tried to project the janjati movement of this the term “janjati” as “indigenous peoples and Though I was born a Chhetri, I do not wear the janai, the country. These articles clearly indicate that no country as being erroneous, ill-intentioned, unnatural, settlers who are not encompassed within the symbol of the Tagadhari castes. Nor do I perform shraddha community can be listed as janjati merely on the basis meaningless, and with the eventual aim of engendering Hindu caste system”. The report prepared by the in the name of my deceased father. I do not visit Pashupati of their claim to be so. All I demanded in my article was communal hatred and intolerance. official Janjati Uplift Taskforce agreed to use the nor do I do puja at home. Although I have faith, I have no an honest intellectual debate on the matter. Dixit refers to the definition of “janjati” provided term “janjati” because of its ever-increasing religion. At the same time, I possess no ill-feeling towards Unfortunately, Bhattachan misunderstood me and has by the Nepali Brihat Shabdakosh (the Nepali dictionary acceptance and use by the general mass. “Janjati” those who do. There is one matter I often ruminate over. It used a lot of adjectives to label me a bahunbadi. published by the Royal Nepal Academy). According to describes the social structure of a community has often struck me that unlike Hindus, followers of other Nepal’s history was never written with the objective this dictionary, janjatis are “jungle tribes such as Naga, while “indigenous” denotes time and period. faiths have not displayed a decline in their religious of serving the interest of a certain group, but pro-janjati Koche and Kusunda who are primarily hunters and These two terms are not synonymous but since convictions and communal sentiments. Even in Nepal, intellectuals, who are using the janjati platform to gatherers, who lack education and are isolated from the the majority of the janjatis in Nepal are also janjati activists such as Bhattachan calls for a camouflage their leanings towards communist outside world”. Thus he claims that the definition of indigenous, the two can be considered proximate. differentiation between communities within the Hindu ideologies, are attempting to discredit history. Is “janjati” used by the janjati activists is “unnatural and The janjatis are today waking up to the fact that caste system and those without. I personally believe Bhattachan ready to engage in a discourse on whether ambiguous and coined to suit their own purposes”. over the last two and a half centuries, the bahunbadi that Nepal is a multi-ethnic society. While I agree that cultural and social domination, discrimination and Similarly, without any knowledge of sociological rulers of Nepal have been exercising the power of the Nepal is dominated by a single language, caste and exploitation are perpetuated by the Bahun community concepts and relying totally on English dictionaries for state to create a mono-linguistic, mono-religious and culture, I am of the opinion that its cause is the or by groups who control the power of the state? There terminologies, historian Surendra K.C. makes the mono-cultural country at the expense of the cultural class-based state structure. are two classes of bahunbadis in Nepal: the brahminbadis presumptuous statement that the definition of janjati is identity of the majority of the populace. In today’s In my article, I was trying to argue that society and the Bahun brahminbadis. The first group is driving “sociologically inappropriate” and “sensationalised and atmosphere of commitment towards democracy, and janjati should be identified on the basis of the country towards inter-communal clash by politically motivated”. Bikal, on the other hand, recycles human rights and equality, different communities reality. That process requires answers to various continuing the tradition of centuries-old social the meaning provided by Dixit. (who had hitherto accepted the cultural hegemony of questions. Questions such as if the terms exploitation and dominance of other communities for Janjatis, in general, object to the definition of bahunbadis) are establishing their own individual “janjati” and “indigenous” are synonymous, the creation of a mono-cultural and mono-religious “janjati” offered by the above-mentioned dictionary. identities. Only the janjatis have the right to define when and how did the Mongolian janjatis and society. The second group of bahunbadis, fully The dictionary was edited by a team consisting of Prof themselves. It is pointless for other communities to worry Aryan castes begin settling in Nepal; which cognizant of the intention of the first group, is Bal Krishna Pokhrel, Dr Basudev Tripathi, Dr Ballav about the terminology and meaning of “janjati”. communities were the original settlers of exploiting the issue to encourage inter-communal Mani Dahal, Krishna Prasad Parajuli, Gopi Krishna Dr K.C. makes an appeal to ensure that society’s identity Nepal; are Newars janjatis or indigenous if hatred. Sharma and Harsha Nath Bhattarai. This team of and history documentation are not dictated by hatred, self- the social status of Rautes and Newars are I am sorry to say that Bhattachan has failed to catch bahunbadis had the authority to select words to include interest and political ambitions. But Dr K.C. should take a good similar; which janjati group do Bhujels the essence of my arguments. He questions my in the lexicon as well as to define them. If the team had look at himself to determine if he is putting his own words into (Gharti) belong to and if the non-Vedic credibility as a writer and historian interpreting the included janjati linguist Dr Novel Kishore Rai and poet practice. There are many people who know more about “his Khas are also Hindus? issue of janjati just because I do not belong to a janjati and academician Bairagi Kaila, then perhaps “janjati” story” than “history”, who believe that the events mentioned in There are more answers required from or a dalit community. I firmly believe that the success of may have been defined differently. On page 963 of the the Mahabharat were real, who believe in written history but America-returned janjati academics like the janjati movement will depend on the support of the dictionary, the team of Bahun linguists have defined totally ignore the oral histories of indigenous peoples. These are Bhattachan: “Where did Dolpo, Mugali, poor, rural janjatis. Nothing will happen so long as city- “Bahun” as “one of the four classes of Aryas, the the very people who are trying to discredit the janjati movement. Bahragaule, Panchgaule, Bolung, Tangwe, dwelling, foreign-educated people claim proprietorship Brahmin” or “priests” and “poor, honest and innocent Democracy allows room for different opinions. Only thoughts Marphali, Manang, Topkegola and over the issue and use it as a means to receive foreign Brahmin”. If non-Bahun linguists had propounded a and theories grounded in truth, facts and life experience can Syangtan janjatis originate? What are the donations. We have to be careful in case the second derogatory definition of the term, would it have been survive the test of time. Otherwise, they die and are quickly similarities and differences between these class of bahunbadis start using the janjati movement as a acceptable to Bahuns? forgotten. The two-penny’s worth on janjatis expressed by Dixit, communities and Bhotes (Sherpas) and ladder to reach higher positions in society. Bhattachan Words and concepts have life cycles similar to that Bikal and K.C. is being discarded by the general public while Thakalis? In view of the fact that within and his ilk fear that the hidden agenda of this second of living beings. They are born, they mature to reach the concepts and interpretations promulgated by the janjati the single Rai janjati more than 30 dialects class of bahunbadis may be exposed. Consequently, they youth, then get old and die. Concepts and words do not communities regarding their own identity is gaining are spoken, is it not probable that there may are trying their level best to exclude Bahuns and determine people’s actions. Instead, people themselves momentum at a rapid pace. Various philosophers have be communities which exhibit cultural Chhetris from not just the janjati movement but also attribute meanings to words and form concepts. Words pointed out that power, knowledge and self-interest are similarities despite linguistic differences?” It from any discourse relating to it.  and concepts survive so long as they serve a practical interrelated. The opposition of the bahunbadis against the will not do to make empty claims on the purpose. When they become obsolete, they either die a meaning of “janjati” and its interpretation speaks volumes basis of having a Masters degree in Sociology (The above articles appeared in the daily Himalaya Times natural death or may assume a different meaning. The about the strong interrelation of the three. and Humanities from an American university, and were translated from the original Nepali.)

LETTERS BEEB and India as well? I hope that was remote control.” Keep your high edited news/comments weekly I would like to use your paper to not the intention of the BBC. you see that throughout his have made a lot of fans. We like standards up. surely poses a challenge—and I voice my concern over the Ramesh Shrestha political career Sher Bahadur the way you tell it. Kumud Kumar Sharma could not believe that you guys subject matter of the BBC’s Erbil, Iraq Deuba has been nothing but a K. Karki Kathmandu could keep it up. But after your South Asia debate. The United political opportunist? And so it is Kansas City, USA tenth issue I started thinking that Nations is busy trying to solve DEUBA this time. While the country was in I am totally enchanted with the even if you went down to 50 the border dispute and ethnic As you rightly shock after the barbarity of the Nepali Times! What a newspaper. work of Kunda Dixit. I read his percent of your standard in the problems in Africa and West argue in your latest Maoist killing spree, Deuba I just got a copy (#7) and I am column (changed now to “Under future (hope not, though) you Asia left behind by the British editorial was busy scoring political points impressed. My congratulations. My Hat”) and think it is a real hoot. would still be worth it. So I have Empire. The Indian subcontinent “Fiddling while within the Nepali Congress. And Any vacancies? In fact, I felt inspired enough to finally become your subscriber. I has the intractable issue of Dolpo burns” while his own party was taking on Lis Garval print it out and share it with my sure hope that you will succeed, Kashmir—also a British legacy. (#11) the the might of the army and the Copenhagen Nepali in-laws. I then read his but I also realise that it will Internally India has its own answer to the palace, Deuba was giving ample piece about smugglers and really depend upon your intelligent separatist problems in Kashmir, Maoist indication about which side his Big cheers to Nepali Times. I have enjoyed his acerbic wit. Mr Dixit is readers’ support to make this Punjab, Mizoram, Assam, Tamil problem lies ideological loyalty lies. become a regular reader of your a credit to this paper. Someone paper a unique one. Nadu, and the Hindu-Muslim in Kathmandu, Ganga Thapa weekly and haven’t missed any of who can write with that kind of Chirendra Satyal conflict. Does the BBC now want not in western Kathmandu the past 10 editions. Your paper clarity, wit and farce is a rarity. Kathmandu to add Nepal to this mess? Nepal. But by has a unique, straight-forward Rosalia Scalia Externally India has problems or pinning all hopes on Sher Bahadur TIMES style of presenting news and Baltimore, USA Yours is a paper Nepal needs disputes with Pakistan, Deuba as you did in “Peace in C.K. Lal’s “State of the State” has comments. Where else but in very much: reliable, accountable Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and a pieces” (#9) Nepali Times has been consistently interesting and Nepali Times can you read Like any experienced Nepali citizen (to Nepali society and the world love-hate relationship with Nepal. shown political naivete. It may be thought provoking. He provides a editorials like “TV or not TV?” living in our modern democratic community) and a high-quality If India had played fair all an indication of how desperate you leading example for other (#10) that ends with a sharp setup, I could not believe that your newspaper. I thoroughly enjoyed problems in South Asia could are to find a silver lining in the journalists to follow in terms of punchline like: “NTV must upgrade paper could keep up its brilliant reading every page of Issue # 9 have been solved in no time. So dark clouds that you highlight substance, truthfulness, and content. It may have satellite standard for too long—so I used to and can’t wait for the next issue. what is the BBC up to now? anyone who comes along saying fearlessness in expressing the access, but the audience has a buy it from the shops and did not Surya P.S. Dhungel Create problems between Nepal he wants to negotiate. But don’t truth. Keep on writing, Mr Lal you more powerful weapon—the subscribe. To put out an originally Phnom Penh 4 NATION 4 - 10 OCTOBER 2000 NEPALI TIMES Are Newars janjati ?

status is more about a rights over local natural of Nationalities (NCDN). He community’s social status than resources. added that the NCDN has no economics,” says sociologist and The newly elected General doubt that the Newars are a janjati activist Krishna Bahadur Secretary of the Nepal Federa- janjati group, if nine distin- Bhattachan. (See page 3 also) tion of Nationalities, Bal guishing points listed by the A Bahun sociologist, who did Krishna Mabuhang, says the 1996 taskforce were to be not want to be named, adds term “janjati” was adopted to applied. another twist. The issue has describe the collective “spirit” The multi-religious more to do with fear of other of communities battling for characteristic of Newars is another reason for the confusion over the The dictionary definition of a “janjati” is community’s status. The a “jungle tribe living on wild fruits and 1996-taskforce definition requires communities to plant roots,” one that is “totally cutoff belong outside the Hindu from the development process”. caste system to claim janjati status. But many Newars are Hindus and follow un-janjati janjatis of being co-opted by restoration of their cultural, practices such as observing an the larger, richer Newars who linguistic, religious and land occupational caste system and they fear may hijack issues ownership rights. He adds “untouchability”. This again related to the collective that, in the name of building a could have been caused by concerns of janjatis, the single national identity, the centuries of Hindu domina- sociologist who teaches at rulers have usurped these tion over the Newar cultural Tribhuvan University told us. rights. space, argue some activists. Developing their language and “Though economically “Some Newars might have its use for official purposes in well-off, and better repre- attained high posts and earned areas like Kathmandu Valley is sented in the administration, much wealth but as a commu- high on the Newar agenda, the Newars are deprived of nity we have no say in na- while communities such as the their linguistic rights,” says Dr tional affairs, we’re a group Kirats from the Eastern hills or Chaitanya Subba, Executive left out in the cold,” says the jungle tribes are more Director of the National Malla K. Sundar, a prominent concerned over the control and Committee for Development Newar pro-janjati leader. t

The debate heats up as a new bill a waits parliamentary debate, and it divides the Newar community

HEMLATA RAI proposed foundation for the a hill group along with 61 ○○○○○○ ○○○○○○○○○○ parliamentary bill on uplift of the nationalities, others. There’s an economic Anationalities that defined “janjati” as a argument for the de-listing of proposes to remove community having its “own Newars. The Nepal Human Newars from the list of Nepal’s mother tongue and traditional Development Report 1998 shows 60-plus nationalities has once culture but not belonging to the that Newars are economically again stirred emotions on what Hindu caste system”. better off than any other Nepali makes a janjati and what does This team, led by Shanta community. But some argue not. Some Newars are happy to Bahadur Gurung, described that their economic status goes have “graduated” into the janjatis as groups having distinct against the most basic mainstream. Others suspect a cultural identities, language, definition, the one in the sinister design to erase and religion, customs and culture, lexicon that is accepted as assimilate a distinct community traditional social structures, standard for Nepali meanings, into a Hindu-dominated belonging to distinct the Nepali Brihat Shabdakosh amorphous mass. geographical areas, groups with published by the Royal Nepal The Janjati Utthan written or oral history and “we” Academy. The dictionary Pratisthan Bidheyak (National feeling, indigenous settlers, definition of a “janjati” is a Foundation for the Uplift of groups excluded from the “jungle tribe living on wild Janajatis bill) also proposes re- mainstream of state affairs and fruits and plant roots,” one that naming some janjatis, for politics and communities that is “totally cutoff from the example, changing Bhote which claim to belong to a janjati development process”. some found was disparaging to a group. In other words, the “Newars with their proud location-specific nomenclature definition confuses more than cultural history and economic such as Manange. This may not clearly demarcate the bound- status were never janjatis and be much different than calling a aries—which is not easy in the will never claim that status,” Bahun that travelled west into first place. wrote Pradip Shrestha, a Newar, Nepal from Kumaon, a Kumai, Then there is another in the weekly Nepal Jagaran. but there are those who say definition published in the Accepting Shrestha’s views location-specific names may also Gazette in July 1997, which uses would mean giving up the be confusing if Rais from the economic status of a “special arrangements for Bhojpur are to be called community to decide if it education, health and Bhojpure, or the Limbus from qualifies as a janjati. It defines employment” that the Nepali Panchthar Panchthare. The list “janjatis” as communities having Constitution promises for of examples could go on and on, their “original and distinct “economically and socially” as will the debate once the language and culture” that are disadvantaged janjatis. parliament reconvenes for its “socially backward in Advocates of the janjati lawmaking winter session. comparison to other caste movement challenge both the The contradictory groups”. Although this dictionary and constitutional definitions of what makes a definition is quite different from terminology, arguing that the group a janjati has contributed that prescribed by the taskforce definitions could have been to the division among the headed by Gurung, it adopted different had a janjati been Newars. A 1996 taskforce the janjati list prepared by the represented in the team that formed for the formation of the earlier team and listed Newar as came up with them. “A janjati NATION 4 - 10 OCTOBER 2000 NEPALI TIMES 5

Joshi hits army ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ “This Dasain, don’t drink Home Minister Govinda Raj Joshi resigned on 29 September, five days after a Maoist strike in Dolpo and Lamjung left at least 22 policemen dead. But Joshi went down fighting, if you drive.” blaming the military for sabotaging the government’s plans to modernise the police force with semi-automatic weapons and helicopters. The valley traffic police has stepped up Until new arrangements are made, Deputy Prime Minister breathalyzer tests on Kathmandu’s main Ram Chandra Poudel will look after home affairs in addition to arteries, motorcyclists and bigwigs on his other portfolio as local development minister. In a strongly worded pre-departure statement Joshi attacked Pajeros are all tested. the Royal Nepal Army for having stood by and watched the massacre of police by rebels. He said he found it hard to explain

ALOK TUMBAHANGPHEY drivers are fatal. “The problem is ○○○○○○ ○○○○○○○○○○ why the troops did not come to the aid of the beleaguered police “I think that was the luckiest day not that people can’t handle their garrison. “The army cannot dodge its responsibility in such of my life. That was an expensive drinks, it’s the attitude” says SSP situations,” he added. Joshi also lashed out at members of his own mistake I won’t ever repeat again,” Kumar Koirala, Head of the party, and the peace-making committee headed by Sher Bahadur says Sameer Gurung, recalling a Valley Traffic Police. “People just Deuba, saying that the former prime minister appeared to be tragic accident last year that took don’t understand that drinking speaking as if the Maoists and not the government had formed his the lives of two of his friends. impairs driving judgement, team. Also on 29 September, the Ministry of Defence—headed Sameer was at the wheel of a especially if you are on a motor- by the prime minister himself—issued a statement “clarifying” Toyota van with nine of his cycle.” The most high-profile that the army was an inseparable part of government. The friends out on a midnight drive drunken-driving accident this Defence Ministry statement comes as a hint that Joshi’s after a Dasain party. On the road year was the one that allegedly departure could be associated more with his outbursts against to Bhaktapur, the van skidded and involved Prince Paras Shah and the army than the carnage in Dolpo. slammed into a pole. One of his killed singer Praveen Gurung. friends died on the spot, the other More than 75 people have

in hospital. Sameer, a former already died on valley roads since WFP food transport ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ airline manager, spent several January and half of the accidents A truck convoy carrying 175 tonnes of food grains for Humla months in hospital with a broken were because the drivers were district left Nepal from the Tatopani border on 3 October. This is leg and head wounds and was under the influence of alcohol. In the first of the 350-ton World Food Programme consignment to lucky to get out of it alive. Sameer 1996, there were 104 fatalities in ALOK TUMBAHANGPHEY be transported to the north-western Nepali district via Tibet. The does not drink anymore and his the Valley and while this figure UN agency says it began planning the shipment of food via Tibet message for everyone: “This has gone down steadily despite two years ago and that this was the first time a “comprehensive Dasain, don’t drink if you drive.” increased traffic the proportion of agreement” to transport food aid was possible. The supplies are The Nepali festivities of accidents blamed on inebriated to be used for the ongoing food-for-work scheme that is building Dasain and Tihar are times when drivers has gone up. a road connecting Simikot with Hilsa on the Nepal-Tibet border. more then half of the vehicle The valley traffic police has which is the most common banned on television last year, Work on a 10-km section is to begin next month. drivers at night will have taken stepped up breathalyzer tests on errors drivers make.” While the but doesn’t seem to have more than the permissible level of Kathmandu’s main arteries and officers are at work asking dampened the Kathmandu

alcohol, say the Police. This is the even bigwigs on Pajeros are drivers to breathe into the citizen’s habit of having what More birds hit aircraft ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ time of year when accident rates tested. Last week, we came breathalyzer at New Road gate, they think is a good time— A Royal Nepal Airlines 757 with 179 passengers bound for soar. More than three quarters of upon an all-too-familiar scene up ahead some motorcyclists in especially with the festive season London had to abort takeoff from Kathmandu airport Thursday all accidents involving drunk at New Road gate when a man their 20s realise that there is a around the corner. The morning when a large bird was sucked into the right engine, on a motorcycle was arguing checking going on and zigzag off proliferation of discos, pubs and shattering the fan blades. The pilot managed to stop the plane on with the police in a slurred in another direction. dance restaurants haven’t helped the runway before it was airborne. The incident happened on the voice that he was not drunk. DSP Prakash Aryal of the matters either. Says assistant same morning that a symposium on the threat to aircraft from “Just one peg. Look, I’m fine, I Valley Police says the checks are sub-inspector Ram Chandra bird strikes was taking place in Kathmandu. can drive.” By this time the to protect the public and the Bista: “Drivers coming out of All of last week, there has been bird havoc at Kathmandu police had confiscated his keys. drivers themselves from harm. pubs and bars are more prone to airport with kites and eagles circling dangerously close to the Those caught driving under the “Drivers under the influence of the dangers of drunk driving approach and on the runway, airport officials said. Several influence are sent to the alcohol fear getting caught even than those coming from cultural international flights were delayed, and others had to abort landing hospital for a check up, pay a more then they fear a fatal celebrations.” at the last moment and go around. Thursday’s bird strike was the fine of Rs 200, and sent home accident,” he told us. The irony For Sameer Gurung, the third reported in Kathmandu since a Buddha Air aircraft hit a bird after calling a relative. “One of it all is that the breathalyzer physical scars have healed, but on approach earlier this month. Last week, a Cosmic Air Dornier need not be dead drunk to tests are going on under the the mental scars of his accident hit a bird after takeoff from Pokhara for Jomsom. cause an accident,” says SSP blinking neons overhead remain. He has a final word of At the bird strike seminar, experts blamed bird danger on Koirala. “Intoxication results in advertising vodka, whiskey, and advice: “I was lucky. Not increased urban congestion near airports, and indiscriminate careless driving and speeding beers. Alcohol commercials were everyone is.” t ALOK TUMBAHANGPHEY dumping of trash and carcasses on river beds. Since July the government has been dumping the city’s garbage along the banks of the Bagmati river 100 metres away from the northern Ganga and Jamuna end of the runway.

will survive their operation. Citizens want clean air ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ “This is an extremely Following a petition by three activist groups seeking annulment of a complicated case that demands recent Nepal-India agreement that allows Indian vehicle imports on extreme surgical care, and the basis of self-certification, the Supreme Court has issued a notice equipment that we don’t have in to the government and the concerned departments. Pro-Public, Nepal,” says Dr Devkota who Leaders Nepal and Martin Chautari claim the agreement reached will be flying out to Singapore during the New Delhi visit of Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala in with the twins, their parents and late July violates the Nepal Mass Emission Standards 2056 and is his colleague, Dr G.R. Sharma. also against the citizens’ fundamental right to breathe clean air. The brains of Ganga and Meanwhile, three groups involved in operating electric vehicles have Jamuna are joined, and prelimi- formed an umbrella organisation called the Electric Vehicle nary MRI scans done here Association of Nepal (EVAN). The Association brings together the showed that it would indeed be Electric Vehicle Manufacturers’ Association (EVMAN), the Electric possible for an operation to Vehicle Owners’ Association (CLEAN) and the Electric Vehicle separate them. Dr Devkota Battery Chargers Association (NEVCA).

MIN BAJRACHARYA consulted with his former anga and Jamuna were joined at the head when they were colleague, Dr Keith Goh, and born four months ago at the Indra Rajya Laxmi Maternity with help from the Singapore government and Singapore Airlines it Radio apologises G ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ Hospital in Thapathali. Their mother, Sandhya Shrestha, is now possible for everyone to fly to Singapore later this month to Radio Sagarmatha, Kathmandu’s only community FM station, and father, Bhusan K.C., are from Piuthan. Sandhya had to have the operation performed. apologised last week for what it called “erroneous reporting” on undergo a caesarean, and the babies weighed only 3.5 kg But before that, Dr Devkota and his team will have to an issue concerning alleged bribe-seeking by members of together. They have since grown into two healthy babies and come up with a three-dimensional reconstruction of the parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC). The radio report have made steady progress to weigh nearly 10 kg. joined brain, check out the blood vessels in the brain that had named three PAC members as having sought favours from Now a group of Nepali doctors led by noted neurosur- have to be cut and joined, and perform a computer the Nepal Bank Limited, which is under investigation by the geon Dr Upendra Devkota is teaming up with the state-of- simulated operation many times before they go for the committee. Radio Sagarmatha was put in a tight spot after NBL the-art Singapore General Hospital to try to separate the actual thing. “All this would not have been possible if we denied that its board members had provided any such twins. This is a case similar to the much-publicised one in did not have access to the most advanced equipment that information, as the station had initially claimed. Radio Britain in which Siamese twins joined at the abdomen will they have at Singapore General,” Dr Devkota told us. Sagarmatha Management Committee member Laxman Upreti be separated by surgery, but only one of them will survive. Dr. Devkota “But we are not going to take any chances, and a lot will apologised to the PAC on behalf of the radio station. Doctors say there is a chance that both Ganga and Jamuna depend on what the scans in Singapore show.” t 6 FROM THE NEPALI PRESS NEPALI TIMES After Dunai 4 - 10 OCTOBER 2000 “Whatever may be laid down in the Constitution, the army of a democratic country cannot be anything but subordinate to the government.”

The government has to Of late, members of the cabinet in the outlying districts, even people

provide answers have begun saying (unofficially) that in the Valley are scared. Those JANA KHULAMANCH ○○○○○○○○○○○○○ ○○○○○○○ the Royal Palace and the army are not responsible for ensuring peace are Editorial in Himal Khabarpatrika, 2- co-operating with the government in busy looking for scapegoats. 31 October its efforts to control Maoist violence. Any problem in Nepal is always Whatever may be laid down in the blamed on the army or the palace. The Maoists succeeded in attacking Home Minister: There has been no news of any event anywhere for at least two Constitution, the army of a demo- The home minister has tried to place and, as per their plan, to take control minutes! How can you say that there is no security? cratic country cannot be anything the blame for the present crisis on the of Dunai, the district headquarters of but subordinate to the government. army. Some are even trying to blame Dolpo. They also succeeded in If the Royal Nepal Army has been the palace for this. But the royalty he left office. the army was out to make the police routing their immediate enemy, the disobeying the government and is can only survive if Nepal remains a Around 1,000 rebels overran the and the administration dysfunctional. police, in looting a bank and burning placing hurdles in controlling the nation and we are sure, that the village, 14 policemen were killed, While that was the case on one side, the records at the Land Revenue Office. bloodshed that is taking place, there Cambodian example is still fresh in another dozen or so taken hostage, a refusal of the army to help had created The prime minister who assumed can be no greater misfortune for the the minds of the palace. Therefore bank was looted, government offices a negative public image of the army. office six months ago after ousting his nation. the palace would not dig its own destroyed and important documents Questions were asked as to why an predecessor has failed to keep his It is the prime minister’s responsi- grave. were burnt. The police, it seems, had army should be maintained if it doesn’t word to bring Maoist violence under bility to rein in the army. If the army The role of the army in any prior knowledge of the attack and yet act in such situations. control and maintain peace. is disobeying the government’s democratic nation is limited. The army were unsuccessful in holding their The army also has its own griev- To see one elected government orders, the public has to be told and steps in only if civil governance fails or ground. ances. After the re-establishment of after another fail to address the their help must be sought. But no if a natural calamity occurs. It has a role People feel that all this is because of democracy the successive governments problems facing the country is a government can pretend that every- if there are separatist movements, but the inability of the prime minister to do have been accused of providing matter of concern, a bad omen for thing is well and continue to push regardless of how one views it, the anything. A committee has been preferential treatment to the police. the nation and democracy. the nation further toward disintegra- Maoist problem cannot be called that. formed to investigate the Dunai attack The army wanted the proposed armed It is also a sign that the sover- tion. Only Singha Durbar is respon- The Maoist problem is a political but everyone is sure nothing substantial police force to be under its control but eignty of the people, the constitu- sible for the lack of transparency till problem. Therefore a political solution is going to emerge out of that. The it ended up with the police. tional monarchy and the multiparty now. Hence it is Singha Durbar itself has to be sought. If the army steps in, prime minister is to blame for this The army also says that the distrust democracy are all facing problems. that should take the lead in changing you will end up with a reign of terror incident and there is no reason why he of the army for its role in suppressing First, the prime minister has to that. and that would be no solution. Plus it should not quit. the 1990 movement does not help assume responsibility for the current would also scare away donors and again matters. The police should not be state of affairs. The main question is:

Democracy threatened that is not the type of solution we want. Army to help government projected as an alternative to the army. ○○○○○○○○○○○○

why, even after six months in office, ○○○○○○○○ ○○○○○○○○○○○○ ○○○○○○○○ The prime minister had made The police and armed police cannot do has nothing happened on the three Kishor Nepal in Naya Sadak, 29 Saptahik Bimarsa, 29 September noises about activating the National what the army can. issues he had outlined—good September Security Council but that too has been A highly placed army source said governance, corruption control and Despite all the allegations, accusa- sidelined although the opposition is that the Maoists have graduated from ending violence and maintaining law Within 48 hours of killing 14 tions and counter-accusations, the fully prepared to help him. He is in a the “hit and run” stage of their attacks, and order? It is time people were policemen in Dolpo, the Maoists army has finally agreed to help the fix because of his own doing. His and that is why the army has to step in. provided with a clear answer and the struck again and killed eight police- government to counter the Maoists. cabinet is full of corrupt and inefficient In many democracies the army has been answer must be backed by plausible men in Lamjung. This proves how Immediately after the Maoist strike in people. He and his men don’t under- deployed to control such rebellions; reasons. redundant the government has Dunai, there were consultations stand the gravity of the situation. democracy will not be endangered if If the prime minister cannot become. The present prime minister, between the prime minister, the The Maoist insurgency has spread the army steps in, instead it can guard deliver because of his own inability or while getting rid of his predecessor, home minister and the army and it to over 28 districts and there is no democracy. even lack of support within the party, had declared that he was going to was agreed that the army would help guarantee that it will not expand This is the first time the army is he should not hesitate in stepping concentrate on law and order. He has the government. The government had further. In how many places can the about to step in. The military believes down. If there are other reasons, such since time and again said there is no planned to mobilise the army to army be? Secondly, there is no guaran- in doing what it is assigned to do, that as those being discussed in public— reason for him to remain in power if block the route leading out of Dunai tee that the army will succeed. What is why it wants its authority and limits the role of the Royal Nepal Army, the he cannot resolve the Maoist prob- for seven days, but on 27 September will we do then? If the army fails, what to be clearly spelt out before it becomes Royal Palace or lack of laws—those lem. the army said it would not be able to next? active. This could be done within a few too have to be brought out into the This festive season the people are do that now. The prime minister Democracy in Nepal is under days. Sources say that a package open. Democracy cannot be pre- frightened and scared instead of finally realised that he had to speak threat, not because of the Maoists, but programme is also being prepared for served single-handedly by Girija being joyous and happy. No one to His Majesty and in the evening he because of the people in power. We the Maoist-hit areas and the role of the Prasad or the Nepali Congress or the knows for sure who is going to be the need efficient, clean and hard-working army would also be to help in the UML. People do not believe this next target of the Maoists. Not only leaders. We need those that can rise development process. anymore. above petty politics, someone who is

humble, soft-spoken and understands PM seeks army help QUOTE OF THE WEEK ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ the people. There are alternatives to Jana Ahwan, 29 September “From the helicopter I saw a group of 60 or 70 terrorists and informed Kath- Koirala within the Nepali Congress. mandu immediately... but the agreement was not implemented.” Rather than lay the ground for negotia- —Former Home Minister Govinda Raj Joshi accusing the army of not surrounding Does Koirala want to tions, the government is preparing to the rebels as had been previously agreed, in Kantipur, 30 September. destroy everything? mobilise the army. This may backfire

○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ in the long run. Punarjagaran, 26 September A former unnamed general feels that this will only lead to bloodbath Not since the 1950 revolution has any and chaos. People from all walks of life district headquarter been captured by feel that negotiations are the only way rebel forces. The overrunning of Dunai out. But on the contrary, the prime has changed that. Former prime minister is preparing for battle. minister Krishna Prasad Bhattarai was At its meeting on 25 September the prepared to talk to the Maoists and was cabinet agreed to mobilise the army to preparing the groundwork when he was suppress the rebels. It is estimated that removed. 1,000 rebels attacked Dunai and He was doing his best to bring the fought for almost 6 hours. Maoists to the negotiating table and After looting the bank, the rebels Govinda Raj Joshi was succeeding at that. Koirala said they had succeeded in their removed him and became prime met the king. mission, the village folk were their minister, declaring that Bhattarai was The prime minister met the king brothers and sisters and that their battle inefficient, could not control corrup- and briefed him on the state of the was only against the government. tion and there was insecurity in the country, the public opinion about the In Lamjung eight policemen were country. army and his own views on how to killed and guns and ammunition were Koirala promised to check corrup- resolve the problem. He came back a looted. The local police station, the tion, provide good governance and happy man. Sources say preparations to ranger post and the bank were de- Nepal Samacharpatra, 1 October resolve the Maoist problem. The Dunai deploy the army has already begun. stroyed. One reason for the attack on They seem bent on self-destruction; I don't think the wait will be long comrade. attack has proved that he has been Taking advantage of a weak and the village was to retaliate against the (The sign in the background reads “Democratic Forces”.) unsuccessful and it is high time that unarmed police, it is also suspected that rape and murder of a Maoist worker. t

THIS PAGE CONTAINS MATERIAL SELECTED FROM THE NEPALI-LANGUAGE PRESS. NATION 4 - 10 OCTOBER 2000 NEPALI TIMES 7 DEBATING A DEBATE

Many listeners in Nepal who tuned in to the BBC’s World Today re-broadcast from Radio Sagarmatha FM 102.4 were shocked to hear an e-mail letter being read out saying Nepal should be under India’s security umbrella. As word spread, “India has nothing to give that Nepal doesn’t the BBC, which was just facilitating the debate, was blamed “I am sick and tried of these people who only have already.” for formulating the question wrongly. Said one senior official: talk about pride, history and culture.” “What if Radio Nepal launched a debate saying the United While other parts of the be proud of being a sovereign States and Britain have the same language, culture and vulnerable to infiltrators and to undermine India’s security. Indian sub-continent have nation. We have been able to religion therefore they should be one country.” Actually, there foreign emissaries. It would be Since many Nepalis already reeled under the rule of various maintain our national integrity, probably wouldn’t be an uproar, and Robin Cook would wise for the country to come work in India (legally and colonial powers, Nepal has unity and dignity even though probably not write a stiff note to Radio Nepal. But the point directly under India’s umbrella illegally) and India has a large rebuffed such powers in the past we are sandwiched between the was taken. to contain this effect. They number of Gorkha soldiers in its and should do so in the future. two most populous nations in The Foreign Ministry’s stiff statement on 26 September share the same culture, language ranks, a confederation between It is better to be a first class the world. accused the BBC of hurting Nepali sentiments. “The Nepali and food. the two countries is a good idea. citizen of a poor country than a Ashok Regmi, Nepal/ USA people are proud and have shed their lives for preserving Guru Shenoy, USA Vish, India/USA second class citizen of a rich their identity and sovereignty,” a spokesman said with country. Nepal could benefit substan- rhetorical flair. “For us sovereignty and independence are Culture and religion are Five million Indians are Ganga J. Thapa, Nepal tially in all social and economic sacrosanct.” becoming less important as the already in Nepal legally or spheres if it forms an economic Sensing that it had picked up a red hot potato, the BBC deciding factors for integration. illegally working. Nepal has to The idea of Nepal being alliance/union with India. This quickly backtracked and changed the subject of the debate The main consideration for absorb the poor of Bihar and better off under India’s umbrella will enable Nepal to retain its (see original web site, left, and the amended one, right). Nepal would be economic and Uttar Pradesh and provide them is superficial when there are sovereignty and territorial Nepali Times presents below selected excerpts from the given the fact that the country is with business opportunities. many Indian states whose integrity as well as to sustain a debate, which show many comments actually favourable to so dependent on India for Furthermore, India despite economic growth is as bad as quicker pace of development Nepal’s point of view. almost everything, it is already being a Hindu majority state has Nepal’s if not worse. What that can be aligned with the under a de facto Indian never been friendly towards Nepal badly needs is dedicated enormous growth potential of terms with India. like the EU. This will lead to an umbrella. It is for the Nepalis Nepal. It has imposed the politicians or leaders who can the resurgent India in the years The political rat race in Nepal end to conflict and poverty. people to decide whether problem of Bhutanese refugees, offer concrete plans to India for to come. should be dealt with first, then Bold decisions by strong leaders political integration with India and provided minimal economic the betterment of both nations. S.K. Sarker, Canada only can we do something about are required to achieve this would benefit them. assistance that is lower than the Sujeet, Japan our economy. unity. This can only increase Laksh Nukala, USA proportion of trade surplus it India has enough problems Ram Shrestha, Nepal security and prosperity in the has with Nepal. From geographical and of its own without adding Nepal region. It makes sense for Nepal to Suo Bi, USA cultural view points, Nepal and to the list. Political unification Nepal needs to remain an Srinivas, UK enter into a more strategic India should have a stronger co- of India and Nepal would be a independent nation. India has alliance with India. It will be a Nepal was, is and always will operative relationship in bad idea, as it would mean nothing to give that Nepal Perhaps Nepal would be win-win situation for India as be a sovereign and independent different fields. But this does not simply tagging on one already doesn’t have already. better off as part of India—but well as Nepal. country. Though we Nepalese mean the invasion of one’s corrupt system to another Chris Callison, USA how would India benefit from Amit Taneja, France are poor and our country is sovereignty by another without any obvious benefits. such an arrangement? We underdeveloped, we are proud neighbour. This debate itself is On the other hand, more Nepal is in more or less a Indians are tired of the smaller All Nepal has is its pride. of our country and in our view, nonsense. economic co-operation on both similar situation as India. South Asian nations like Nepal Who cares about pride being independent and a first R.R. Giri, Nepal sides and an active partnership Namely, poverty, illiteracy, poor and Sri Lanka requesting our nowadays? I am sick and tried class citizen of a poor country is with India in building up the infrastructure, medically help and money when they need of these people who only talk far better than being controlled Merely unifying with India Nepali economy could benefit backward. Two poor neighbours it and then insulting India and about pride, history and by any foreign power be it India does not guarantee any Nepal and India. joining do not make a rich man. cosying up to China. My culture. or America. economic development. In the Rupa, India What can two politically weak, message to all Nepalis: solve Ram Sharma, Nepal B. Nepal, Nepal short term Nepal will simply economically poor, corruptly your own problems. Nepal can and will survive inherit India’s problems. The We are certainly close to managed countries produce? Rajan Koshy, India Without strong ties with potential will be in long-term India when it comes to culture. Vikram Chopra, India on her own as she has done for India, Nepal cannot prevail on development, and taking But sovereignty is a different Canada and Nepal seem to centuries. Let us not forget that its own. advantage of India through matter. We Nepalis are proud There are quite a few states have more in common than we Nepal is a much older nation Manorama Rauniyar, Nepal/ intelligent policies. As of now, that we were never colonised by in North East of India which thought. Because we both have a than all other nations in South USA they are better off independent. anyone and believe me, all were merged into India, and a “similar” culture, language and Asia. Nepalis would rather die a Pawan, India Nepalis will be united to fight lot of them want to be religion to our bigger republican rather horrible death than First and foremost, I think against any foreign power trying independent again. If merging neighbours in the south, it is become part of India. these countries should resolve After living in India, to dominate us! into India has not benefitted suggested that somehow we will Amar Singh Thapa, Nepal their own problems (not to Pakistan and Nepal for about Swatantra, Nepal these nations/states, I wonder be better off if we are simply mention the nuclear chaos). half a decade I am of the view how it will benefit Nepal. India has its own 500 Otherwise, Nepal is a beautiful swallowed up by them. Most million living below the line of that Nepal with all its India has enough misery, H.K. Khatri, UAE loyal Canadians would argue we country with mostly honest similarities to India is a corruption and mismanagement poverty. How can it help people there. It’s a sovereign I think Nepal and India would only be assimilated and Nepal? Nepal will have to distinctly different country. in its border areas without forgotten, and I think most state and does have the right to Nepali culture is a good example needing to cast its acquisitive should work together like the US educate its people. remain independent. and Canada, and find out what Nepalis would agree. Our Mo Akhtar, Canada of peaceful coexistence which is eyes on Nepal. There is already sovereignty was established long Raja Dutta, USA hard to find in India despite tall too much of Indian influence in works economically for the benefit of both. ago and we should retain and Nepal is a country with its This is the 21st Century. All claims of secularism and that country. preserve it. own religion, people and democracy. I am astonished how Girish Kshirsagar, USA large countries are breaking up Linda, Italy Pete D, Canada culture. It should try and be many of the participants are into small ones. Every nation is Nepal has always enjoyed more closer politically to searching for its own identity. advocating Nepal’s union with Nepal can never be a security Nepal and India share a lot good relations with India, and democratic countries like India Nepal has had its own sover- India. Nepal despite being a threat to India and wants to of things in common but we are the limited development that and try to stay away from eignty and history for ages. small country will be better off maintain close relations with quite apart on many issues. The Nepal exhibits today is in no communist ideology. Kuber Chalise, Nepal independent. Small countries her. But Indian hawks see small part due to Indian majority of Nepalese people seek Shardool Vyas, USA have as much right of being a due place under the sun but do everything, even the issue of co- assistance. Imagine the growth Closer ties to India is not a independent as the not want the Indian umbrella operating in the area of water that Nepal could attain under As a sovereign and more or solution. India has actually been big ones. resources with Nepal, from a over their head. less democratic nation, Nepal the multicultural umbrella that a hindrance to Nepal’s develop- J. Simon, USA security point of view. There is is India. Although it is unlikely Dhruba Kuwar, Nepal has the right to decide its own immense potential within Nepal future. If closer ties with India ment. While it is important to It is stupid to say Nepal that such a change in political Nepal has always been a to make her a rich, independent is to the benefit of the Nepalis, maintain working ties with shares commonalties with India structure will happen fast, I friendly neighbour and we country—only if we had good why not? India, the solution to the only. How about with China? believe that there should keep it that way. Anyway governance. is no doubt that an Indian state Prasenjit Medhi, India pressing poverty in Nepal will Lots of Nepalis share the Indians can go there freely and only come from internal Kamal Yogi, Nepal of Nepal has a much brighter language and culture of Tibet. trade today as there are no visa The recent hijacking of an reconstruction. The govern- Why would these people want future than the nation of Nepal. problems or anything else of Indian Airlines plane from ments need to change, people’s to merge with India and not It is inevitable that Nepal Satya Ramiah, India/USA that sort. will have to rely heavily on India Kathmandu is merely one of the attitude needs to change, we with China? Sandeep, USA many cases in which India’s Prasanna, Nepal since we are a landlocked I agree that not only Nepal need a better education and country. Therefore, it is indeed but other South Asian countries Nepal, sandwiched between hostile neighbors have used health system and much more. Nepal was, is and will always a necessity that we stay in good should come under one roof, India and Pakistan has been very Nepal’s open border with India Diwakar Thapa, Nepal 8 NEPALI ECONOMY 4 - 10 OCTOBER 2000 NEPALI TIMES

BIZ NEWS Martina with Captain’s wife her son, Calvin

New bus/truck terminal for Kathmandu ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ The wife of the captain who piloted a domestic A parking-loading terminal with a capacity to accommodate 700 trucks and buses is coming up airliner that crashed last year has not yet received at Teenthana, near the Kalanki intersection on the Ring Road. The facility, which will be ready her insurance money.

during Dasain, is being built by Kathmandu Parking, a private company which will also operate A NEPALI TIMES INVESTIGATION

○○○○○ ○○○○○○○○○○○ recently asked if she would agree it and will have a multi-storeyed parking and terminal complex with ticketing counters, waiting One year after a Necon Air to take two-thirds. But she is firm rooms, fuel stations and warehousing facilities. Nepal Bank Limited is financing the project’s flight from Pokhara hit a tele- on getting all due to her. first phase, which is expected to cost Rs 150 million. communication tower on The confusion has resulted approach to Kathmandu airport because both Martina and her

ATMs at Grindlays and crashed, killing all 15 mother-in-law are listed in MIN BAJRACHARYA ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ passengers, relatives of the Necon’s Personal Data Nepal Grindlays Bank has commissioned five new full-service Automatic Teller Machines foreign passengers and the Information (PDI) sheet as (ATMs) in Kathmandu and Pokhara. Grindlays Access Cards holders can now make deposits, captain have not yet received the beneficiaries, and both have transfer funds between accounts, request mini-statements and chequebooks and cash insurance payments. applied for the money. The PDI as next week when an additional withdrawals using the machines. The machines also allow Visa and MasterCards holders to Martina Joshi, the widow of (dated 14 August 1992) names the document arrives. In the case of withdraw money from their accounts abroad. Capt Jaya Krishna Raj Joshi, says two as recipients of “100 percent” the other, Necon says it is trying With 11 branches, Grindlays is the largest among the joint venture banks in Nepal and also she has spent the whole year in a each. Necon says its lawyers say to locate the husband of the claims to have been the most profitable one since 1996. Over 60 percent of Grindlays legal maze trying to collect her that would mean 50-50 percent. deceased before making payments. possessions are treasury bills, bonds and foreign currency holdings, the remainder has been husband’s $30,000 insurance. All Martina’s legal counsel argues that Getting insurance payments invested in “risk assets,” something it plans to expand in the coming years. she has collected so far is a sizeable as spouse and mother of Joshi’s from Necon was not easy for Grindlays, which paid Rs 135.8 million as dividends to shareholders in 1998/99, is also portfolio of legal papers and debt. son, she is the rightful heir. Nepali beneficiaries either. A among Nepal’s largest corporate taxpayers, having paid Rs 206 million in taxes in 1999/00. Neither have relatives of two “I have asked to see the relative of travel entrepreneur P.P. Bangladeshi and three Indian original of the PDI but have only Prasai who died in the crash told

RNAC extends aircraft lease passengers on the flight that been given a photocopy,” she says. us the family was only paid the ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ crashed on 5 September 1999 Martina, a Hong Kong Chinese, insurance money last month. “For Royal Nepal Airlines has extended its lease agreement with China Southwest Airlines to lease received the money. Necon Air met Jaya Krishna when she was six or seven months, they didn’t a Boeing 757 for one more year. The extension was signed on 26 September, a day before the says paperwork has delayed here as a tourist in 1987, and even bother to contact us,” the existing three-month agreement would have expired. payments to foreign nationals. It married him a year later. The PDI relative said. Royal Nepal faces a chronic shortage of aircraft on both domestic and international sectors also says that in Martina’s case the also provides “100 percent” of Martina adds that she has and will be under added pressure this season because of its new twice a week Kathmandu- delay has been caused because the Capt Joshi’s provident fund to received a very cold response to Banglaore flights starting 29 October, and an additional flight a week to Osaka. The bird hit on insurance money is also claimed both Martina and her mother-in- her inquiry at Neco Insurance, 26 September has grounded one of RANC's three 757s. The airline’s plan to buy new ATRs for by her mother-in-law. law. But as her claim was backed which has been instructed by the domestic operations remains on hold because of an ongoing inquiry on its purchase proce- “We are ready to pay Martina by another document listing her as Insurance Board to make all dures by the parliament’s Public Accounts Committee. also, but we have to act according sole beneficiary, Martina was able payments within 35 days of its Meanwhile, beginning 1 October, smoking has been banned on all Royal Nepal flights, to what the law says in such to collected this amount. letter dated 17 August, 2000. She except in the Kathmandu-Osaka sector. cases,” Deep Mani Rajbhandari, The airline says relatives of says nothing has happened since. managing director of Necon, told all others who died in the crash, “All I want is to cut this pain

Nepal Lever profits us. “The delay is due to legal except those without adequate short and concentrate on bringing

○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ problems.” documents, have been paid. But up my son,” says Martina. “I Nepal Lever posted an after-tax profit of Rs 120.6 million in the year ending mid-July 2000, a The Insurance Board sent this is contradicted by a don’t speak Nepali and this fight slight increase over last year’s Rs 119 million. Its turnover crossed Rs 1.72 billion, bolstered instructions to Neco Insurance Bangladesh Embassy official has been very long and harassing.” mainly by exports that grew by 8.5 percent and a 30 percent spurt in domestic sales which Ltd (Necon’s insurer and also a who told us that it had written Martina’s lawyer, Lok Bhakta reached Rs 581 million. sister concern) to make the to the airline repeatedly, most Rana, says the airline is deliber- The company’s exports included Rs 37.9 million worth of detergent manufactured by payment to the rightful benefi- recently two weeks ago, but that ately dragging things to “wear her ancillary industries being promoted by the company. The company has also doubled its ciary. But even this did not help Necon had not responded. out”. Says Rana: “Martina’s case is toothpaste manufacturing capacity and dedicated two ancillary units to produce detergent and Martina, who is raising a six-year- Necon says that it is in touch with very strong, because the wife is the to package tea. An interesting point to note is that all the 75g soap packs bearing the Lever old child. She says Necon asked two Bangladeshi beneficiaries via first relation, and rightful name sold in India are produced by Nepal Lever. her to accept half the total email and the payment of one of beneficiary. In court we may also insurance amount, and more them would be processed as soon get to see the PDI originals.” t

Black & Decker appliances ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ Grindlays Gazette Universal Trading Corporation has been appointed the wholesale distributor of the Black & Decker range of appliances in Nepal. The US-based manufacturer is famous for its electric drill INTEREST RATE UPDATE CURRENCY UPDATE machines, which was invented in 1916 by the company. It markets and produces a range of AG/USD CURRENT * WK/AGO %CHG home appliances, including drills that come in different configurations, shapes and capacity. NEPALI RUPEE CURRENT% PREVIOUS% Call Money Avg. 5.00 5.00 OIL(Barrel ) 33.20 35.59 - 6.71

Necon’s frequent flyers 84 Days t/bill 4.35 4.54 GOLD(Ounce) 272.50 272.25 + 0.09 ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○

○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ 91 Days t/bill 4.56 4.75 GOLD ( NPR *) 7135 7115 + 0.28 Necon has announced a 365 Days t/bill 6.18 6.16 EUR 0.8820 0.8533 + 3.36 frequent flyer programme Repo rate 5.06 5.25 GBP 1.4634 1.3980 + 4.68 called Necon Premier starting JPY 107.80 107.12 + 0.63 1 October. The programme is Average rate of 91 days T/Bill dipped lower due to aggressive bidding some of the government banks. In CHF 1.7240 1.7845 - 3.39 open to all passengers coming weeks, the average rate is expected to improve AUD 0.5445 0.5435 + 0.18 between ages 16 and 65. The slightly due to heavy festival withdrawals. Expected range airline says it is also working for coming weeks 4.50 to 5.00. INR 46.02 45.99 + 0.07 on other give-aways for Necon *Currency bid prices at 12.30 p.m. on 25/9 - Source Reuters Premium cardholders. FOREIGN CURRENCY : Interest rates Oil : Oil prices continued to fall after US president's order on USD EUR GBP JPY CHF Friday to release of 30 million barrels from its 571 -million- barrel reserve. News of other nations considering interven-

Qatar’s Adventure Club LENDING 9.50 6.25 6.00 1.50 5.25 tions in their oil markets also influenced the sentiment. ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ LIBOR (1M) 6.62 4.68 6.06 0.40 3.30 Qatar Airways has announced an Adventure Club that would allow passengers to make use of Currencies : The Euro rose higher on Friday after major special guidance and advice for leisure activities in Nepal from the Club’s London office and industrial nations intervened jointly to halt its decline, taking Qatar Airways in Kathmandu. Club members are also entitled to an additional 10 kg extra BANK RATES(DEPO/LENDING) Mkt Hi/Lo Mkt Avg the market by surprise ahead of a key Group of Seven (G7) S/A NPR 6.0/3.5 5.30 meeting. Market estimates about the size of the intervention baggage allowance, priority baggage handling, and special check-in assistance. ranged between $2-5 billion. Sterling and the Swiss franc also Qatar flies between London and Kathmandu via Doha and also plans to connect Paris from F/D 1 YR 7.5/6.0 6.81 benefitted from the Euro’s performance. November. OVERDRAFT 15.5/12.5 13.54 INDIAN RUPEE OUTLOOK : TERM LOAN 14.5/13.0 13.49 The Indian currency ended at 46.01/03 per dollar after

More insurance companies IMPORT LN 13.0/10.5 11.52 opening firm at 46.14 /17 on Monday . It had closed at 46.18/ ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ EXPORT LN 13.0/10.0 10.96 21 on Friday. The Rupee held on to early gains against the The Insurance Board has decided to award operating licences to four insurance companies dollar to finish firm on Monday, aided by falling oil prices and and forward the applications to the Ministry of Finance for approval, reports said. Two compa- MISC LOAN 17.5/13.5 15.13 a steadier Euro. nies—the American Life Insurance Company (ALICO) and Nepal Life Insurance Company (NLIC)—already have ministry approval but have not yet obtained the operating licences issued by the Insurance Committee. ALICO’s entry into the insurance market has been delayed by a lawsuit and NLIC was approved only last week. Others waiting for ministry approval to join the life insurance business are Laxmi Life INTERNATIONAL SUBSCRIPTION RATES FOR NEPALI TIMES Insurance Company (promoted by the Khetan Group) and Kantipur Life Insurance Company (backed by the Tibrewal Group). By law the Insurance Committee recommends companies for 6 months 1 year ministry approval and it issues companies their operating licenses. Only 1.6 percent of Nepal’s population has life insurance and those seeking coverage are expected to cross the half a SAARC countries US$25 US$48 million mark by 2005. By then, the Insurance Committee expects premium payments to total Other countries US$40 US$75 Rs 1.19 billion. [email protected] FESTIVAL 4 - 10 OCTOBER 2000 NEPALI TIMES 9

SALIL SUBEDI ○○○○○○○○ The○○○○○ scapegoats of Dasain hen you see a moun- tain goat climbing It is that time of year again: mountain goat, W into a three-wheeler sheep, duck, chicken, water buffalo are all lining

for the first and last taxi ride of up for the Great Dasain Massacre this week.

○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ his life you can tell Dasain is ○○○○○ here. At the Nepal Food Corporation outlet in steam in Kathmandu. There are local market. This helps Thapathali, mountain goats four basic types of sacrificial maintain a standard price as the from southern Tibet are selling livestock: khasi (castrated goat) private sellers are compelled to like, well, mountain goats from tops the list, followed by boka fix reasonable rates,” Adhikary southern Tibet. At the Ring (normal goat), chyangra (Hima- says. However, local sellers like Road, truck upon trucks layan mountain goat) and sheep. Mahesh Shrestha of Kalanki crammed with water buffalo The food corporation picks up Khasi Bazar believe that their PHOTOS SALIL SUBEDI have arrived. Goats are being its selection of khasi and boka prices are just as reasonable. goaded out of the godowns, from three major tarai markets “We give our buyers the best terrified sheep are dragged of Lahan, Janakpur and goats and the best deal while at through the sidewalks. And Nepalgunj. The chyangra and the Corporation there’s no such some smaller bokas are being sheep are from China—an guarantee that one can get a hand-carried through the annual gift from the Peoples’ healthy goat according to the streets—all being prepared for Republic to the Kingdom of price you pay,” he says. The the great massacre next week. Nepal for the festive season. The main issue is whether the animal It’s enough to turn even local suppliers get their animals you buy is healthy or is suffering hardline carnivores into from all over: North India, tarai, from infections. The best way to vegetarians. middle hills and the high find out if the animal is healthy: mountain areas. pick up the animal by its tail—if But this is Dasain and There are three major khasi- it lets out a bleat don’t buy it. animal sacrifices are a part of selling hubs in Kathmandu— “The healthiest ones are those our culture, and the Kalanki Khasi Bazar, Tukucha that run away when you animal-buying Khasi Bazar and the Nepal Food approach,” says Purna Dongol, a spree is gathering Corporation godowns in veteran khasi buyer at Kalanki. Thapathali. At the moment, it is Khasi buyers who have some difficult to tell which are more space for the goats to roam at numerous, the khasi and boka or home buy early to nab the the humans thronging to buy healthy ones. This way the them. Since the early human gets animals also get a few last days the goat, there is a rush to find a of peace and quiet and can healthy and plump animal since munch on some juicy grass Name: Chyangra Age: 1.2 years late-comers may have to be before facing the guillotine. But Weight: 16 kg satisfied with ones that are a little many wait to buy till Phulpati Birth: Southern Tibet under the weather, or haven’t fully (4 Oct), a day before the actual Characteristics: Fluffy hair used to recovered from car-sickness. The sacrifices start on Asthami (5 make pashmina, short but strong legs, chyangra and sheep sold at the Oct) and Nawami (6 Oct). stuffy meat, less fat, nomadic ways Habit: Aggressive, herd mentality Food Corporation have to take a Many of the animals lay down two-day truck ride from the high their lives in front of cars, buses, plateau. and motorcycles. Royal Nepal “The Chinese government has Airlines has a standing order for been very generous. We receive about 150 goats, the bigger ones 2,000 chyangra for free every are sacrificed in front of the nose year,” exults Murari Prasad wheel of Boeing 757s to appease Adhikary, Bagmati Zonal Chief of appropriate gods. This year, the Food Corporation. On their there will be added demand mirnov Name: Kage Bheda way to the Valley, many get sold from private airlines which have Age: 1.7 years along the Kodari Highway in bought new planes. Weight: 20 kg Tatopani and Barabise. The sheep The Food Corporation is Birth: Chapagaon, Lalitpur Characteristics: Curly hair also used to and chyangra are corralled in selling khasi and boka under the make wool, meat needs time to cook, Thapathali and look distinctly same category at Rs 113 per kg belief is you can catch cold eating its homesick; it’s too hot for them (Rs 110 last year) and chyangra meat. Sacrifice for goddess Kali. here. “Due to health hazard and at Rs 102 per kg (Rs 101 last Habit: Dirty lifestyle, has to be dragged inability to cope with the weather year). Khasi bazaars at Tukucha conditions there was a high and Kalanki have more subtle mortality rate and the corporation classifications: The hill pahade has backed off from importing khasi (short ear, sharp horns) are sheep,” says Adhikary. Although sold at Rs 120 per kg while the the animals are free, the Food tarai and Indian madhesi khasi Corporation makes a packet: it (lean, long ears and legs, curled keeps a quarter of the income horns) are sold at Rs 128 per kg. from sales, minuses the trans- The favourite scapegoat is the port cost and send the rest black boka which sell at Rs 120 (which usually amounts to per kg and the brown and white Name: Madhesi Khasi about Rs 3 million) to the ones at Rs 110 per kg. “The Age: 1.5 years national coffers. black ones are very popular Weight: 22kg There are still some in sacrificial goats and therefore Birth: Lahan Kathmandu who prefer sheep. their prices are a bit high,” says Characteristics: Long ear and legs, less “It’s not necessary that sheep Thapa. The kage bheda, also a fat, easy to cook, the most popular buy. Habit: Has no interest in sex. buyers turn up only during popular sacrificial animal, has a Dasain season. The kage bheda is price range upto Rs 250 per kg. a popular sacrificial sheep and A total of 10,000 khasis and the demand remains stable bokas and 2,000 mountain goats throughout the year,” says are expected to be sold in this Mahendra Thapa at Tukucha year’s Kathmandu bazaar this Khasi Bazar. “But we only keep Dasain. The khasi and mountain few of them since it’s hard to goat counter at the Food Name: Boka take care of them.” The price is Corporation at Thapathali is Age: 1.2 years determined according to the open 7am-7pm. Tel: Weight: 16 kg demand of the livestock. The 246399,228365. The khasi Birth: Dhading Food Corporation for instance bazaars in Kalanki by the Ring Characteristics: Has goatee, stinks, averages its expenditures and the Road and the Tukucha in popular sacrificial animal at devi temples, especially the black ones. local market price. “Ours is Putalisadak operate from dusk Habits: Harasses female goats always slightly lower than the till dawn.  10 LIFESTYLE 4 - 10 OCTOBER 2000 NEPALI TIMES Birds in pa There are 850 species of birds found in Nepal, more than the entire continent, and bird watchers from around the world are flocking to t ever greater numbers. the terrain rises to nearly 9,000 metres—all within 100 km as the lammergeyer flies. Of the species found in Nepal, about 620 breed and live in Nepal, another 124 breed in the SANCHIT LAMICHHANE neighbourhood but live in Nepal in significant numbers, and then there are another hundred or so migratory species that transit through Nepal in their long-range migrations from Siberia to Africa, Indonesia and Sri Lanka. And it is these migrations that yield some of the most amazing stories of birds in the Himalaya. The playful Hima- layan choughs, for instance, have been seen by mountaineers soaring at altitudes of nearly 8,000 metres above the South Col below the summit of Mt Everest. George Shaller in his ALALALOK TUMBTUMBTUMBAHANGPHEY ALAL○○○○○○○○○○○○○OK TUMBTUMBAHANGPHEY book, Stones of Silence, reports t has become a cliché to say bar-headed geese being seen at that Nepal is a diverse an incredible 9,375 metres Icountry. But perhaps above the Himalaya. Even if nowhere is this diversity more that was a fluke, and the flock apparent than in the breadth of was lifted by an updraft in the birdlife found in Nepal: some jet-stream, there are plenty of 850 species are crammed in this regular sightings by mountain- country—more than in the eers of bar-headed geese honking entire North American conti- their way past Dhaulagiri at nent. The reasons for this 7,300 metres. variety are three-fold: Nepal’s Some of these geese great altitude variation, its (karyankurung) are known to location in the boundary take off in spring from the banks between the Paleo-arctic realm of the Rapti River in the Royal to the north (Tibet, Siberia) and Chitwan National Park, head this route when the mountains lars and training them on and the big reservoir that it has that you know you have arrived the Indo-malayan realm to the due north and reach their were much younger and lower. raptors feeding on worms by the built up is the favourite haunt into the fascinating world of south (India, south-east Asia), cruising altitude by the time They flew higher and higher as edge of the runway even as they for ducks and geese—Robert Himalayan bird watching. But and the country also lies smack they arrive at the Himalayan the Himalaya grew, and evolved get off the plane at Kathmandu. Fleming, Sr (one of the authors habitat destruction is a worry. along an east-west Himalayan wall. They fly on non-stop to better lungs and flying ability Most them head right away to of the classic Birds of Nepal) Bharat Basnet, the Managing divide of which the Kali roost by the lakes in southern over millions of years. Whatever Kosi Tappu Wildlife Reserve at counted 32,000 ducks of 19 Director of The Explore Nepal Gandaki Valley forms a distinct Tibet. The most interesting the reason, there is no doubt the point where the mighty Kosi species here before the preserve Group which runs the Koshi avian boundary. theory to explain this strato- that Nepal’s birds are high- River flows into India, and the was established. Today, with Tappu Wildlife Camp, has tried From the Kosi Tappu at spheric bird flight is that the flyers. And you just have to look richest bird viewing area in protection, there must be more. to get local schools into bird barely 90 metres above sea level birds have been migrating along at the Siberia-bound terns and Nepal. Kosi Tappu is low, it is a Less numerous but equally watching so that they can work ducks refueling at Gokyo Lake wetland, it is in the east, and it magnificent are the bossy as guides and benefit from bird- to shake your head in disbelief. is on the migratory route of looking black-necked adjutant watching tourism. “What is Nepal is now a major birds travelling down from storks, and the flippity finch more important then a specific destination for bird watchers Tibet along the Arun River—all larks. It is when you can swing species is the habitat. If the from Europe and Japan. Bird factors that contribute to the your binoculars at a rustle in the habitat is preserved then all the watchers so avid that they can be great variety of birdlife found bush, focus quickly and whisper: inhabitants will be protected,” seen whipping out their binocu- here. At 88 m, the Kosi Barrage “rufus-necked laughing thrush” Bharat told us. Even if you are stuck in Kathmandu, there are some fabulous bird-watching areas nearby. If Nepal is a treasure house of birdlife, then Phulchoki Hill south of Kathmandu is Nepal’s bird and butterfly vault. Desforestation along the margins of this once- protected broadleafed forest, blasting in a nearby marble quarry and raucous picnickers have spoilt the atmosphere somewhat, but Phulchoki is still alive with birds. The peak soars to 3,000 metres and has

Black headed oriole in Chitwan (top), a tailor bird weaving away in Nagarkot (far left) , and a cattle egret with its brown breeding feather in Kosi Tappu (left).(left).(left). SANCHIT LAMICHHANE SANCHIT LAMICHHANE 11 aLIFESTYLEradise 4 - 10 OCTOBER 2000 NEPALI TIMES

North American and Alexandrine parakeet are marshes are drained, pesticides returning. are used indiscriminately, then the Himalaya in Nepal’s rich bird diversity is birds disappear. “Conservation also drawing international avian of Nepal’s forests is vital, for conferences to Kathmandu, like the future of people as well as this month’s International for birds,” write Carol and Galliformes Symposium during Tim Inskipp in their book, A ATLANTIC MONTHLY which more than 100 bird Guide to the Birds of Nepal. watchers and scientists from “The aim should be to balance around the world have gathered the needs of local people, to devise strategies for conserva- trekkers and the natural tion of six of the world’s 22 environment.” Most of pheasant species found in Asia. Nepal’s endangered birds are The symposium plans to dependent on forests, and 90 identify new areas for conserving percent of these species are pheasant habitats in Nepal, and also found in Nepal’s national have set their eyes on the Pipar parks and nature reserves. So region near Ghasa in the the answer lies in bolstering Annapurna region. This area is conservation in these areas, at 1,400-3,300 metres and was and what better way to do that made famous to bird watchers than to use income from bird by long-time Pokhara resident, watching tourism to protect Colonel Jimmy Roberts. An Nepal’s rich bird diversity. t enthusiastic bird watcher and collector, Roberts donated his entire collection of pheasants, fowls, pigeons, and several other smaller species to the Fulbari Resort’s aviary in Pokhara before he died two years ago. The Pipar region has all six species of Himalayan pheasants found in Nepal as well as their lowland cousins, the blue peafowl and the red jungle fowl. Amrit Bahadur Karki, who was on a pheasant surveying team in Pipar, says the place is full of Himalayan munals, blood pheasants and other common species. “One day we heard the sunbirds, finches, minivets, faint calls of the rare cheer barbets and the elusive and pheasant,” says Amrit, describ- legendary spiny babbler, one of ing the distinctive gobble of this premium two bird species that is endemic pheasant. The cheer and the to Nepal (the other being a sub swamp frankolin have not yet species of the kalij pheasant). been included in the endangered Many birdwatchers make list even though they are whiskey regular pilgrimages to Phulchoki threatened. Hunting has now to look for the spiny babbler, been banned in Pipar and the but you have to be very lucky to local community is helping to see it. conserve the Himalayan A morning hike in Godavari snowcocks, chakor partridges, leads us to a small clearing in and the cheer and the koklas the woods. Right in front are pheasants. The Annapurna area half a dozen kalij pheasants is home to half of Nepal’s bird feeding on the ground. Our species. Another bird watcher’s arrival disturbs them, and the paradise is the Makalu Barun kalij erupt into wings and flap National Park and Conservation off into the undergrowth. Area in the northeast. This Within Phulchoki’s vertical rarely visited park reserves a variation of 1,500 metres and 70 total of 440 different species of sq km area live 265 species of birds, of which fourteen are rare birds—one-fourth of all bird eastern breeders. species found in Nepal. Some Loss of forests, wetlands and 86 of the bird species on grasslands are a threat to Nepal’s Phulchoki are migratory. bird diversity. Areas like Godavari resident, Mahendra Phulchoki, Ghodaghodi Lake in Singh Limbu, is a lepidopterist- the western tarai and Mai Valley turned-bird watcher. He tells us: in the east have not yet been “At least six of the species found declared protected areas. There in Phulchoki are rare and is a move to declare Phulchoki endangered.” The blue-napped and Chandragiri ranges nature pita, rufus throated hill par- sanctuaries, but that may take tridge, blue-winged laughing time. In the past 15 years, thrush, grey-sided laughing forests in Nepal’s midhills have thrush, grey-chinned minivet, returned, and with them many Nepal cutia and the spinny of the resident and migratory babbler, are all threatened. birds. What worries conserva- Mahendra says that the success tionists is that tarai forests are of community forestry around disappearing fast, and this is Godavari and Lele means that where most bird species are. many of the birds like the kalij When the hardwood forests go, 12 INFO TECH NEPALI TIMES BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING4 - 10 OCTOBER 2000 From credit card police unparalleled powers to be unhappy to know that with slips to video use the new generation of one call this newspaper can mobile phones to pinpoint the find out what that supposedly surveillance location of any secret number is. CD-Roms individual. They are available that will allow you cameras, almost will act like a to reverse search on phone everything we do homing device numbers—the opposite to planted secretly on directory inquiries. You give it in our daily lives the phone’s owner a phone number and it tells without them you whose phone that is and is watched by realising. But don’t where they live. think it’s just state- The Land Registry will provide someone. Privacy of-the-art technology anybody with details of the that challenges your owners of a particular piece of on the net is getting privacy. Paying bills over real estate, and reveal if there is the Internet can also be a risky a mortgage on it and which harder to maintain. business as personal details can bank is lending the money. easily be appropriated by You can even hire a company ANTONY BARNETT IN LONDON

○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ admit a couple of years ago Powers unscrupulous users. This month to check out neighbours before rom the moment you wake that it uses secret microphones (RIP) Bill John Chamberlain decided to you move into a new home. Fup tomorrow, nearly every to listen to the private conversa- was passed. test Powergen’s security before Of course, if you are movement you make will tions of millions of petrol To civil liberty paying his electricity bill after prepared to use a little subter- be tracked by somebody, station customers. Hidden bugs campaigners, this seeing a Panorama programme fuge with a confident tele- somewhere. Walk to your car, in forecourt shops are picking represents the most on computer hacking. ‘In under phone manner, then much turn on your computer at work, up every word uttered. pernicious invasion three minutes I had access to more can be obtained. When visit the local supermarket—all If you think arriving at work of privacy ever 5,000 credit card details, names the row erupted over Labour will be noted by cameras or provides a sanctuary from well as stopping children imposed by a modern demo- and addresses,’ said Chamber- millionaire donor Lord Levy’s databases deep in the bowels of prying eyes, then think again. accessing porn sites it collects cratic state. Under its terms, lain. tax bill, the Inland Revenue corporate HQs and within Swiping your corporate security information, including users’ every UK internet service Supermarket loyalty cards said it received calls from shadowy government agencies. card through a barrier on your phone numbers and email provider will have to install a are another tool through which someone pretending to be Already these databases are way to the office tells your boss addresses. black box which monitors all the your habits are monitored. Lord Levy, requesting his tax bulging with intricate details of what time you arrived and what Some companies are using data passing through its These cards build up pictures of return. every facet of our private lives. time you leave. The moment ‘web bugs’ that hide computer computers and feed this to MI5 what you like spending your Lord Levy argued that his Your eating habits, hobbies, you log on to your computer is codes behind images only a pixel headquarters. The State will money on. Are you vegetarian? tax details were personal whether you have children or the point when personal privacy in size on your computer screen have powers to snoop, often Do you prefer organic food? Do property, but it is clear that prefer Hindi songs or hip-hip— really disappears. Emails, as we to gather information about without a warrant, on the email you favour Chilean chardonnay when it comes to personal your tastes, preferences and should all know by now, are not your web surfing habits. and Internet activities of over French? Few things can be privacy it is not strange- passions have all been down- private or secure. The number Effectively, this means an everyone with an Internet hidden these days. Those who looking men lurking in loaded. Never in the history of of employees being sacked after invisible dot on your screen is connection. have chosen to make their dustbins that most of us need mankind has personal privacy the boss has read a damning watching every move you make. The RIP Act also gives the phone numbers ex-directory will to worry about. t (The Observer) been harder to secure. email continues to grow. Last These dots mine information Simon Davies, head of summer Kwik Fit sacked two about who owns the site you are watchdog group Privacy workers who were having an surfing as well as details about International, says: “Govern- affair after their erotic emails your computer. “They are a ment and corporations are were intercepted by manage- secret way of gathering informa- desperate to turn the world into ment. tion about someone,” said villages where everybody knows Philip Ryan is a consultant David Banisar, a civil liberties everything about you. Every- from Peapod, which helps expert from the Electronic thing you have ever done will companies spy on workers Privacy Information Centre soon be available at the touch of suspected of wrongdoing. He (Epic) in Washington. a button.” said: “Everything an employee These bugs work best in As you switch on cable TV, does while logged on to a work conjunction with “cookies”— mirinda companies are eagerly taking computer can be watched. The devices that leap on to your hard note of your favourite emails that are sent, the websites drive the first time you visit a programmes and what time that are visited. It is difficult to particular website. They are you’re at home. Maybe it will keep secrets on the internet.” your own personal calling card help them choose the best hour Described as ‘dataveillance’, and identify you next time you to call and tell you about a new the ability to track people by visit the site, but they also service. Or maybe they’ll offer a monitoring the shadow they cast record what sites surfers come personal loan with the bank in data is now big business. from and trace what sites they they’ve just got into bed with. What’s more, there are now go to and how long they spend As you head outdoors, stepping hundreds of downloaded online. This detailed profile of a over the junk mail piling up on programmes that secretly snoop computer user is highly valuable the doormat, it won’t be long inside PCs. A programme called marketing information which before a CCTV camera’s SurfMonkey, can be sold unblinking eye will capture part which is to other of your journey on tape. And if supposed to on-line you drive to work it won’t just protect advertisers. be the police’s speed cameras children According that make sure you’re rarely out surfing the to Epic, 86 of sight for long. Filling up with Net, but as out of 100 petrol may mean you are being tested listened to as well as being online watched. BP was forced to com-

panies work with cookies. But it is not just corpora- tions eager to enhance their profits that are keen to survey your personal internet traffic. Last week in the UK, the Regulation of Investigatory ASIA 4 - 10 OCTOBER 2000 NEPALI TIMES13 Chandrika has edge in Sri Lanka poll Peking Duck vs Kentucky Chicken ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ COLOMBO - Sri Lanka is preparing to elect a new parliament next us. But now, it is really hard to month with the two main rivals running neck and neck, amidst decide where to go because you expectations by some that voters may have to give yet another can eat chicken at both places,’’ verdict. Battered by military losses against Tamil Tiger rebels and she adds. Chen’s daughter Xiao public anger over rising prices, President Chandrika Kumaratunga’s Liu favors McDonald’s, because People’s Alliance (PA) is still seen to have a slight edge over the it’s “more fun, the chips are main opposition United National Party (UNP). great and you can get a Snoopy A UNP win could create complications because it would then toy with your meal’’. have to work with the country’s real executive head, Kumaratunga. In July this summer, KFC The UNP has said it would clip the powers of the president if it wins responded to McDonald’s the poll. But the PA says this cannot be done and the president ‘Snoopy attack’ by unveiling its would remain the all-powerful head of government as provided by latest attraction: free Pokemon the new constitution. toys, patterned after the Fears have also been expressed by the international community monsters in a popular Japanese that polls on 10 October to elect a new 225-member parliament, game. “Many of us were would be marred by growing violence that is undermining one of the educated to think that capitalist developing world’s oldest democracies. Catering to local palates, KFC launched spicy chicken burgers competition is bad because it Most political analysts expect the PA to win the most seats in and wings which sold so well that McDonald’s was pressured to brings misery for workers,’’ says parliament, but not enough to form a government on its own. ‘’We introduce its own even-more-spicy chicken wings. Wu Jingxun, a company may be faced with a hung parliament for the first time. Whichever employee, while lunching at party is able to form a government, will have a fragile coalition that may be forced into elections before its term is over,’’ said Keethish

ANTOANETA BEZLOVA IN BEIJING Zedong’s regime (1949-1976), in McDonald’s moved into the KFC. “But the competition ○○○○○○ ○○○○○○○○○○hinese consumers may not Deng Xiaoping’s era of openness market later than KFC, but has between KFC and McDonald’s Loganathan of the Centre for Policy Alternatives. know where Kentucky is and reforms China has eagerly pursued an aggressive expansion has benefitted both consumers Both the PA and the UNP, led by former Prime Minister Ranil C in the United States, but embraced everything new and strategy and now has more than and workers. Look how excited Wickremasinghe, are offering to find a political solution to the 17- the logo of Kentucky advanced, from mobile-telephone 300 outlets throughout the children are.’’ year-old ethnic war in the north and continue with economic Fried Chicken will soon become technology to foreign fast-food country. In Beijing alone, KFC liberalisation. as familiar to people here as the chains. Frustrated with China’s employs 23,000 people—one A major contender in the poll is the left-wing People’s Liberation calligraphy-adorned red sign of KFC opened its first failures in local fast-food chains, reason why the government Front, better known by its acronym JVP, which is becoming popular Quanjude, the old and revered restaurant in Beijing 13 years ago. authorities were even more vexed seems not to mind the ubiqui- with young voters. Analysts expect the JVP to draw away a large restaurant brand for Beijing Today, there are 380 KFC outlets to see domestic market becoming tous sight of KFC brands in the chunk of the undecided voters, estimated by some to be 40 percent roasted duck. in nearly 90 cities across China. A a battleground for two foreign capital regarded as a symbol of of the total electorate. Despite its involvement in two bloody revolts Famed for having a high survey of 16,000 people carried food companies. Ever since Chinese tradition and commu- against the government in the 1970s and 1980s, the JVP is now an regard for their own cuisine, out by the US market-research McDonald’s launched its spicy nist power. influential democratic political force. (IPS) Chinese people have voted down group ACNielsen shows that KFC chicken wings last year, the two For a country suspicious of all attempts by local companies to is the best-known international giants have been involved in a foreign influences like China, India-Russia “strategic partnership”

establish an indigenous fast-food brand in China. ‘chicken war’. well-known foreign brands such ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ MOSCOW – Russian President Vladimir Putin is in India this week chain. Increasingly, they flock to Local fast-food companies Catering to local palates, as McDonald’s and KFC have where he is due to sign a declaration on a bilateral “strategic the mushrooming outlets of KFC have tried to put up a fight and KFC was first to launch spicy had a relatively smooth ride. partnership’’ which will advocate a “multi-polar’’ world concept, a and McDonald’s, defying cliched stop KFC’s market invasion. But chicken burgers and wings. In Unlike the average French buzzword meaning no single power—the United States—should perceptions of being conservative after six years of harsh resistance, regional markets such as consumer who resents dominate. and biased towards foreign Ronghuaji—China’s home-grown Shanghai and Beijing, they have globalisation as the loss of The idea is not quite new. In 1998, then Russian Prime Minister products. fast-food chain whose specialty is sold so well that McDonald’s was indigenous culture and sees Yevgeny Primakov said he favoured a strategic triangle involving “At first, going to KFC and chicken wings, beat a retreat and pressured to introduce its own McDonald’s as a threat, Russia, India and China to ensure regional geopolitical stability. The McDonald’s was more about recently closed down its last even-more-spicy chicken wings. ordinary Chinese people are just idea was promptly dismissed by Beijing, though Russia and China ‘tasting’ the Western culture than Beijing outlet. “I personally find KFC more curious of everything foreign. have developed a separate “strategic partnership”. tasting the food,’’ says Han Red Sorghum fast-food chain, suitable to Chinese people’s taste,’’ “We don’t ask ourselves: if we Putin’s visit is being capped by the signing of a number of Guoqiang, a middle-school another chain trumpeted as a local says Chen Lin, accompanying her eat American fried chicken, business deals, including arms trade and cooperation in the oil, teacher. “Now, people go there opponent to KFC and 12-year-old daughter to a KFC would Beijing roasted duck agriculture and diamond cutting sectors. Moscow has always been because it is convenient, clean and McDonald’s, is deeply mired in outlet. industry go bankrupt,’’ says eager to strengthen ties with its Cold War allies in Asia, particularly they have learned to enjoy the financial troubles. KFC’s march in “We eat chicken and we enjoy Han, the teacher. “We are just India, but bilateral trade with that country has remained sluggish, food.’’ the market here has been spicy food, while big chunks of happy to have all that variety and involved mainly arms shipments. After years of imposed obstructed only by America’s meat like those in McDonald’s and eat the same things we see Total trade between Russia and India is expected to dip to $2 isolation during the Mao other food giant, McDonald’s. hamburgers are quite strange for in the films.’’ t (IPS) billion this year, from $3 billion last year. Trade between the two was averaging $4 billion a year in the early 1990s, but it fell to $1.3 billion dollars in 1996. Among the products traded are tea, tobacco US runs out of patience in Indonesia and pharmaceuticals from India and metal products, fertiliser and newsprint from Russia.

JIM LOBE IN WASHINGTON Bilateral trade still revolves around arms. During the Cold War, ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ ○○○○○○○○○○○○enior US government officials are actively considering steps, the former Soviet Union and India maintained close ties, Moscow including moving to postpone next month’s donors’ meeting for being India’s biggest arms supplier and an important trade partner. SIndonesia, if the government of President Abdurrahman Wahid India and Russia have agreed in principle to extend to the year does not follow through on a pledge to disarm militia forces in West 2010, a long-term programme of military-technical cooperation, Timor and take strong measures to improve a deteriorating human- which was signed in 1994 and was due to run out this year. (IPS) rights situation throughout the archipelago. US officials, led by Pentagon chief William Cohen, who visited B’desh takes India’s place in Sierra Leone

Jakarta last week, have warned their Indonesian counterparts in ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ unusually blunt language that they are prepared to cut off all but UNITED NATIONS – Bangladesh has offered 900 troops to replace a large part of the Indian contingent pulling out of the beleaguered humanitarian aid. As Cohen was speaking, the Pentagon confirmed that UN helicopter rescues aid workers from West Timor last month. it had suspended military-to-military ties with Indonesia just five UN peacekeeping mission in Sierra Leone. months after they had resumed. that it will take place then. If the army fails to move decisively The proposed withdrawal of the Indian troops—numbering over “It’s not even clear if the top brass in Jakarta really have control over against the militia after Monday, the Clinton administration is 3,000—created a virtual crisis in Sierra Leone as the UN last week their own army,’’ said one administration official who added that the likely to try to put off the meeting, although European donors and began scrambling for new troops to prop up its peacekeeping formal chain of command within the military appears to have broken Japan are more reluctant to take such strong action. mission in the West African nation. down in the wake of last year’s UN intervention in East Timor after On 12 September, the National Council of Timorese Resistance Currently, Bangladesh has nearly 800 troops with the UN militia, with military support, virtually razed the former Portuguese (CNRT) called for putting it off until Jakarta dismantles the militia Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL). If Secretary-General Kofi colony. and arrests all those responsible for the violence there and for recent Annan accepts the offer, the two additional infantry battalions could In addition to disarming the militia and prosecuting those respon- infiltrations into East Timor, and permits East Timorese in West bring the total number of Bangladeshi troops in Sierra Leone sible for the murders of the UN staff, Washington is demanding that Timor to return home. New York-based Human Rights Watch to about 2,600 making it the second largest contingent after Indonesia permit the UN Security Council to send a mission to West (HRW) added its voice Wednesday, insisting that the CGI delay its Nigeria. Timor to assess the general security situation in West Timor and permit meeting until specific conditions are met; among them, an indepen- The Indian withdrawal was primarily blamed on the growing the East Timorese there to return home. dent investigation into the killing of the UN staff; clear steps toward tension between the UNAMSIL Commander, Major-General Vijay Indonesia, which has yet to recover from Asia’s devastating financial disbanding the militia “in a way that does not simply export the Jetley of India and his deputy, Brigadier General Mohammed Garba crisis in 1997-98, is particularly dependent on external aid at the thuggery to another location’’; and the arrests and beginning of of Nigeria. But India’s official position is that the withdrawal is a moment, so the threat of an aid suspension, which was first raised by trials against 19 officers and militia leaders identified last month by routine rotation of its troops. World Bank President James Wolfensohn in a letter to President Wahid the Attorney-General as suspects in last year’s rampage in East Currently, there are 32 countries providing troops to UNAMSIL, shortly after the militia murders, is seen as a major threat. The Bank Timor. the five largest contributors being Nigeria (3,205 troops), India convenes and chairs the meeting of the Consultative Group on Indone- “We’ve had enough promises,’’ said Sidney Jones, HRW’s Asia (3,073), Jordan (1,830), Bangladesh (792) and Guinea (789). sia (CGI), where both multilateral and bilateral donors pledge assistance director and an Indonesia expert in her own right. “Now we want Although Britain has sent in some of its paratroopers to Sierra for the coming year. results.’’ Leone to rescue its nationals caught in the crossfire, it has refused “I would ask you to do your utmost to stop the violence before any While Timor is currently the focus of US and activist concern, to field any British soldiers in UNAMSIL. The United States, on the more innocent lives are lost,’’ Wolfensohn wrote in a letter delivered to continuing violence elsewhere in Indonesia, particularly recent other hand, has kept away from most of the UN peacekeeping Wahid. The Bank Friday sent out formal invitations to the CGI, which high-profile killings in restive Aceh province, an important oil- and missions ever since 18 of its soldiers were killed in Somalia in the is scheduled to meet 18-19 October in Tokyo, but there is no certainty gas-producing region, has also become worrisome. t (IPS) early 1990s. (IPS) 14 WORLD 4 - 10 OCTOBER 2000 NEPALI TIMES

OPEC looks beyond markets

○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ THE SPACE ODYSSEUS CARACAS - The final declaration at the end of the second-ever Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) summit in the oil cartel’s 40-year history, formalising the commitment of its 11

LUKE HARDING IN COLOMBO ○○○○○○ ○○○○○○○○○○ The principal baddie in Arthur C Clarke’s new sci-fi novel is member nations “to seek new and effective channels of dialogue ir Arthur is exhausted. “I’ve Himal Patterson, a megalomanic media tycoon who invents between oil producers and consumers, for the purpose of market just done a video for WormCams to get to the news the instant it happens. stability, transparency and sustainable growth of the world economy.” SAustralian TV,” he wheezes But the delegations to the meeting, held in the midst of international from his wheelchair. “My reality.” He pauses for a moment. If it made some money, good.” pressures against high crude prices, also concentrated on issues executive secretary is away “Don’t print that,” he adds. Before trundling off for his outside the oil trade, demonstrating unease about environmental and organising UN conferences. I Rupert Murdoch’s afternoon sleep, he recounts development matters. can’t speak to you for very long.” HarperCollins publishes the novel how the greatest influences on “The biggest environmental tragedy facing the globe is human He is dressed in a green sarong next week. Its principal baddie is his career were H.G. Wells and poverty,’’ says OPEC, stressing that it is a reality all industrialised and a Hawaiian yachting shirt. Himal Patterson, a megalomanic his half-forgotten contemporary, nations must confront. The document, known as the Caracas He is not wearing any shoes. media tycoon who invents Olaf Stapleton. To his regret, he Declaration, expresses OPEC’s worries about the conse- And he is about to go for his WormCams (which can link any and Wells never met. quences of the Kyoto Protocol, a United Nations afternoon nap. point in space to any other) Clarke makes it clear when convention that establishes guidelines for reducing The reason the world’s most merely as a means of getting to the he has had enough of my fossil fuel consumption. famous futurologist has, at 82, news the instant it happens. company. He has to speak to The Protocol’s grudgingly agreed to do yet Clarke concedes that “there are Alastair Cooke later, he says. principal goal is to reduce another interview (“I’m fed up certain elements” of Murdoch in Most afternoons he also pops greenhouse gas emis- with them,” he grumbles) is to the scheming Himal. Rupert and down to his club for a game of sions, based on 1990 promote the publication of his Arthur are good friends. The table tennis. He has lived in Sri levels, by five percent latest book, The Light of Other author of 2001: A Space Odyssey Arthur C. Clarke Lanka since 1956, when he between 2008 and 2012. Days. It quickly emerges, though, faced his trickiest moment three stopped off in what was then This would imply a sharp reduction in the rising that Clarke is already bored with years ago, when he was turned Mayfield, now dead, whom he Ceylon on a diving holiday. He demands for petroleum doesn’t go out much these days this project. “I’ve done three over by the Sunday Mirror. It was met while diving in Florida in forecast for the coming de- cade. The restrictions on novels since then,” he sighs, Murdoch who wrote him a “very the 50s. Asked whether he is and spends most of his time at oil consumption would cause a drop in demand of 6.5 million swivelling to check his inbox. nice” note promising him that the gay, Clarke always gives the home. He has seven staff— barrels per day, and could cost the OPEC nations a combined $23 Which is a shame, because this reporters responsible would never same puckish pro forma answer: including an apolitical private billion in export losses, according to the organisation’s General novel is not just good—but fun, work in Fleet Street again. “He is “No, merely cheerful.” The secretary called Lenin—to deal Secretariat. capacious, and in parts brilliant. a rather shy, modest person,” answer, presumably, lies in the with the fan mail and interview The leaders stressed the importance of creating conditions so His home in central Colombo Clarke says teasingly. “I find him “Clarkives”—a vast collection of requests. It is an eccentric, that oil-dependent economies can diversify their sources of revenue. is surrounded by a high wall and very deferential.” his manuscripts and private affected, self-regarding, bach- Concerning development, OPEC said in its declaration signed an electric fence. Sitting in the The Mirror claimed that writings, to be published 50 elor-ish existence, but then at 82 Thursday that the eradication of poverty must be a global priority, office, among three computers Clarke had paid young boys for years after his death. Like most why not? Just before we say our and calls on the nations of the industrialised North to take part in and a giant short-wave radio, sex. It produced affidavits from brilliant obsessives Clarke was farewells, Clarke reverses his related efforts. The oil cartel also announced that it would continue Clarke explains that the “ideas” in the boys in question. Sri Lankan not, one suspects, an easy person wheelchair and heads back to his its efforts to fight the social effects of poverty by maintaining the the novel are all his. Most of it was police later disproved them, he to live with. desk, with its three computers OPEC Fund for International Development, which has provided $5.6 actually written, though, by says. The story ran two weeks Since growing up on a farm in and giant Logitech mouse. He billion in resources since its creation in 1976. (IPS) someone else—in this case before Prince Charles flew to Sri Minehead in Somerset, Clarke has has to check his emails again.

Stephen Baxter, the 42-year-old Lanka to confer a knighthood become exceedingly famous. He He is a compulsive emailer. US poll swing states ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ doyen of modern British science on the grand old man of science has written more than 80 novels, Without Sir Arthur C. Clarke, ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ fiction writing, and a Clarke fan. fiction. The saga was the lowest which have sold 50 million copies. much of what the 20th century WASHINGTON - The contest between George W. Bush and Al Gore The two authors hammered out point in his career. The episode Back in 1945, aged 28, he wrote was about—the space race, on November 7 will be decided by a handful of votes in a body called the text via a series of emails. But still upsets him. “I take an an essay for Wireless World in moon landings, geostationery the electoral college. The presidency is settled not by a national tally it was Clarke who came up with extremely dim view of people which he invented the concept of satellites, laptops, and even of Bush voters against Gore voters—the “popular vote”—but in a the WormCam, a time-viewing mucking about with boys,” communications satellites. His email itself—seems unthinkable. state-by-state contest in which the winner in each state collects all of device which abolishes privacy, Clarke says. “The whole thing celebrity reached a dizzy peak in These days, though, in the that state’s votes in the electoral college. speculative biography and was distressing to me. It was the 50s and 60s, as the space age context of a generation which The number of votes each state casts in the electoral college is unsolved crime. vindictive and very unpleasant. I he had so confidently anticipated has lost interest in space travel, equal to its members in the US House of Representatives and the The book, with its vision of a can only assume it was a plot to became a reality. And then there is one can’t help thinking that the Senate combined. Since a state’s representation in the house is relentlessly voyeuristic society, embarrass Prince Charles.” The 2001: A Space Odyssey, a Clarke technology he has helped to based on its population, while each state has two senators, includes a memorable sex scene on novelist was finally knighted this story filmed in 1968 by Stanley create has in some way enslaved California has the most electoral college votes, with 54. a bench in AD 2041 Rome. Who May, at a low-key ceremony at Kubrick which transformed him him. “The last thing I wrote was There are 538 members of the electoral college, therefore 270 electoral college votes are required to win the presidency. The effect wrote the sex bits, I wonder? “I the British high commission in into a household name. Did he a little squib of 500 words. It of the electoral college is brutal, especially for voters in smaller had an operation for prostate Colombo. isn’t easy to write because I think it would turn out like this? states. The big states matter most of all, especially in an electoral cancer 10 years ago,” Clarke says. Clarke’s private life remains “I never dreamed I would be spend so much time dealing race as close as this year’s. “I haven’t the slightest interest in a mystery. He was married reasonably successful. Writing with emails.” And then he goes California and New York, with 87 votes between them, are both sex. But you have to keep up with briefly to an American, Marilyn was always an enjoyable hobby. off to bed. t (The Observer) leaning towards Gore. In all, the Associated Press’s senior analyst Ron Fournier estimates, 15 states and the District of Columbia, worth 224 electoral college votes between them, are likely to go for Gore, while Bush looks to have 21 states worth 171 votes. This The Battle of Prague leaves 14 swing states, in which the election is likely to be decided, with 143 electoral college votes in all. The majority of the most PRAGUE - S26, code for September 26—it was a date in the diaries of seems, dressed in white boiler suits, with car foam on their arms and important states in this group are, as so often in the past, in the people the world over concerned about what the policies of the World gas masks round their necks. At 12.30 they arrive at the bridge. The midwest, led by Ohio (21 votes), Michigan (18), Missouri (11) and Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) are doing to the world’s police presence is no longer discreet. A line has been drawn. Behind the Wisconsin (11). But the battleground is not confined to the midwest: poor. Last year it was N30, a day of action at a World Trade line are armoured tanks and hundreds of police, shoulder to shoulder in states such as Washington (11 votes) and Florida (25) also remain Organisation meeting in Seattle. Protesters then blockaded the riot gear. Facing them are the white suits and the car foam, perfectly very much up for grabs. (The Guardian) delegate’s hotels, and stopped the meeting from going ahead, at least symbolic, it seems of the rich and the poor.

for a few hours. Just after 1 the police order the marchers to disperse. The order is Fighting for Belgrade ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ Could they do the same in Prague? Just after 7 am on S26 I stroll ignored. Tear gas is fired. This doesn’t worry the white suits, they were ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ round the corner from my modest pension to the Prague Hilton. Dozens expecting it, but journalists and photographers have rarely been seen to PODGORICA - The power struggle between incumbent President of police there but not a protester in sight. I walk through a city that’s move so fast. The stand-off goes on and continues all afternoon. We Slobodan Milosevic and election winner Vojislav Kostunica has about its normal business to a 7.30 am press conference that the S26 hear that another group has forcibly got through a police barrier to get dominated the headlines, but the question of who really holds power organisers, the Initiative Against Economic Globalisation, the protester within 50 metres of the Bank IMF meeting and that there are casualties. in the Yugoslav federation is far more complicated that just deciding umbrella group, has called. Amazingly for that hour the room is packed. t (The Observer) who occupies the presidential office. Yugoslavia’s presidency is A young Norwegian woman explains the tactics. Non-violent largely representative. The power of the current incumbent, marches will start from a city square mid-morning and head for the Slobodan Milosevic, derives from his control over the federal Prague Congress Centre where the Bank and Fund are meeting. Other parliament and of its largest constituent republic, Serbia. Yet in both marches will start at different places in the city and all converge on the legislatures in Belgrade he depends on his allies and, in both cases, centre at about 1 pm. The idea, she explains, is to prevent delegates they could desert him at any time. from leaving the building. In the Serb parliament, whose seats were not up for grabs in this Walking to the start of the main march, I join a group from the north election, Milosevic’s Socialists and the hardline Radical Party have of England who had arrived overnight to take part. “I was inspired by so far held sway. But on election night, Radical leader Vojislav Seselj what happened on N30 in Seattle,” one told me. “It shows what ordinary seemed to distance himself from the regime. Moreover, he people can do.” In a grassy square the protesters assemble. A band is recognised the victory of the opposition presidential candidate, playing, a group is performing street theatre, there’s a good humoured, Kostunica, thus rejecting the Milosevic win predictably announced by carnival atmosphere. A huge inflated balloon reads “Balls to the IMF”. the electoral commission. The next day the opposition stepped into Police keep a discreet distance. Helicopters circle overhead. the breach. Vuk Draskovic’s Serbian Renewal Movement called on “Drop the debt” banners are prominent. The march begins. Around the Radicals to change sides. Were they to join ranks with the west- 5,000 strong I guess. Many are singing and dancing, the world’s leaning representatives of the Vojvodina region’s Hungarian minority, photographers are snapping up the action. But as the marchers they would form a majority in parliament. The Democratic Party, the approach the long Nusle bridge which leads to centre, the mood strongest force after Kostunica, is not represented in the Serb becomes sombre. Fire and water: water canons and molotovs last week as police parliament after boycotting the last election. (Die Welt) Leading the march are about 200 people, many of them Italians it battle protesters in Prague. Not all protests were violent. NATION 4 - 10 OCTOBER 2000 NEPALI TIMES 15

IFAD ready to work in Not Hindu enough

○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ For long, the shaven-headed western adherents of the Hare Krishna movement have had to content themselves with Maoist areas praying to Pashupati from a distance. They are not allowed within the temple premises on the grounds that one is born a Hindu and conversion to Hinduism is not recognised by The International Fund for Agriculture Development the shastras. Now it seems that being born a Hindu is not enough to enter the holiest Hindu shrine in Kathmandu; you has so far spent over $90 million in Nepal, mainly in have to be born in Nepal or in India. At least that was the projects implemented by the government. reason provided by authorities at Pashupati while denying entry to 11 Hindus from Indonesia last week. he International Fund IFAD officials recently visited the Small Farmer Development and The 11 Indonesians from the predominantly Hindu for Agriculture Develop- districts where the beleagured Production Credit for Rural province of Bali were in Nepal as part of a pilgrimage tour T ment (IFAD) says it is kamiya families have been living Women (PCRW). that started from India. “Their documents clearly show that still ready to implement poverty to assess the situation. “The PCRW was a star they are born Hindus, and that should have been sufficient alleviation programmes in the “We faced a similar situation project in the sub-region because to gain them entrance to the shrine of their faith,” said a mid- and far-western hills, the when India abolished bonded it helped us recognise women as furious Bishwesh Shrestha, the Nepali tour operator who very areas hit hardest by the labour in the 1970s. We learnt change agents, while the small organised the trip. Maoist insurgency. That is, if then that going in fast and farmer programme was the first Having faced problems earlier at the Pashupati gates the government gives the go- creating employment guarantees that introduced the concept that with other Indonesians, Shrestha had sought the advice of ahead. “Our plan to work there help,” says Roy, adding that the poor were bankable,” says the World Hindu Federation (WHF). The WHF told him that has not been derailed, but experience there had shown that Roy. since the pilgrims were bona fide Hindus, they shouldn’t delayed,” Phrang Roy, IFAD working with the poor is possible IFAD has so far spent over have any problem at all. But when the group reached director for the Asia Pacific anywhere. He himself come from $90 million in Nepal, mainly in Pashupati in the morning, they were turned back. region, told us. “We felt that we India’s northeast where the IFAD projects implemented by the Phrang Roy, IFAD director, Asia Pacific Shrestha and his clients returned in the afternoon with a needed better knowledge about has been working in insurgency- government. Among them is the letter addressed to the the socio-economic situation hit districts. IFAD is a small UN Hill Leasehold Forestry Project, Mul Bhatta, the chief before moving in. We’ve told organisation with three major which seeks to help people that priest, of Pashupati the government we’re willing to requesting that the work in that area.” Roy was Indonesians be allowed referring to a possible $8-10 “We learnt then that going in fast to enter the temple. But million loan to support the temple authorities not poverty reduction programmes and creating employment only refused to recognise being considered by his guarantees help.” the WHF endorsement organisation for several but, according to Shrestha, the Mul Bhatta also said that the years now. follow once it gets a foothold. WHF is a Bombay organisation and not a Nepali one and as The UN agency also says it is voting blocs—the oil producing, have been bypassed by the “We’ve taken slightly long than such he did not recognise its authority to make any recom- ready to re-allocate funds from an industrial and developing successful community forestry usual because we found that we mendation. As for the Indonesians, they were told they could existing project to assist in the countries (its initial funding came movement. It also helps women needed deeper understanding of not be allowed in because they were not born either in rehabilitation of kamaiyas, who’ve from OPEC’s petrodollars, hence without land make a living by the socio-economic processes Nepal or in India. been left homeless since the the group’s voting power). It protecting degraded public land there. We hope that pro-poor “We issued the recommendations on the basis of the government announced their doesn’t have a large budget and is which is obtained on lease from economic growth may eventually official documents they carried. The documents identified freedom from bondage on 17 July generally involved in small the government. The project has also help to broker peace,” says them as Hindus, which we thought should be enough to let (see Nepali Times, # 7). The $8.8 grassroots projects that provide already organised 1500 groups, Roy. “In Northeast India, we have them into the temple,” said Keshav Prasad Sapkota of the million poverty alleviation project support directly to the poor. It reaching 15,000 families though been pleasantly surprised at the WHF. Indonesia has advisory status in the current executive in the western Tarai has been was also among the first that is still far short of its initial way development has taken place body of the World Hindu Federation. going on since 1997 and Roy told international donors that came in target of 20,000-24,000. despite the insurgency. We are Tour operators like Shrestha are expecting some 300-400 us it could be refocused to include and helped kick-start some of Though the amount it plans also find that if women are given a Indonesian Hindus in the coming three months. But they fear kamaiyas. But it has to be Nepal’s better-known poverty to spend in the western hills is not role, they can also become that if the pilgrims are not going to be allowed into Pashupati proposed by the government first. reduction programmes like much, other partners are likely to peacemakers.” t it will certainly put a damper on their religious enthusiasm.

HERE AND THERE by DANIEL LAK

something called “Natural race. When an earthquake hits acute crises Disaster Television”, a channel Kobe, Japan, or California, lives well enough given over to storms, fires, and livelihoods are indeed already.What floods, earthquakes and calami- devastated. But revisit the scene we rarely do Anti-poverty TV ties in general. Fellow journalists a few months down the line, is look at the chuckled over such an idea, and and people are restoring aftermath, made spurious offers of seed normalcy - often on their own ways of That the biggest disaster of all doesn’t come from the sky, the capital to start up the service. without much government help, preventing My friends and colleagues in the using savings, insurance money them, and success stories. There sea or the earth, but from poverty. humanitarian aid business were and community spirit to are some out there. The Poverty spent several days this week, That phrase, “flood season”, is “Oh it happens every year,” probably appalled by such merr- rebuild. Poverty denies people Channel would be given over to wading through waist-deep one that I often use with goes the refrain in a cynical iment at the expense of the many of those things. A a mix of negative and positive. I suffering masses, and I don’t marginal life without savings We need to show that some water along the highways of cynicism when my colleagues at tone.”Too much monsoon rain India’s West Bengal state. the BBC in London call to ask and you have a flood.” Usually I blame them. can end with the simple things work if not brilliantly That’s right, wading. For as me about reports of dozens of lose the argument and go forth I suppose my cynicism, flooding of a subsistence crop, and consistently, viewers of BBC television will people dead or thousands grumbling into the flooded areas unforgivable really, came from or the loss of cattle in a big then occasionally. Micro-credit, know, it’s flood season again in displaced in the low-lying to report for my bosses at the the limited ways in which one storm. Families become beggars local democracy, simple health Eastern India and Bangladesh. regions of South Asia. BBC. I used to talk about can cover such events for the or day labourers, orphaned and education reforms, mainstream media, especially children enter prostitution. encouraging women to play a TV news. The dash to the scene Communities cease to exist. fuller role, reforming police, of devastation often makes the What’s the bigger disaster? curbing corruption, the list is reporter seem a hero, bearing Certainly not the one I’m endless and there are good relief for the hungry, unhealthy covering with my sonorous and bad things to say about and deprived. In reality, all we tones and my face in front of a each item. can ever offer those whose flooded village. I’m accused on I’m not starry-eyed about misery we cover is a few occasion, and rightly, of the effects of television on bad minutes of airtime that flippancy. But I am deadly situations. Too often it comes might help international serious in proposing “The across as a way of underlining agencies raise money. Recently, Poverty Channel”. Change the just how good the middle I started to take a holistic view, name if you like,but let it classes of the world have it. But if you like, of natural disasters flourish. How else can we afflict can it hurt to show that people and the relationship with the comfortable of this world can improve their lives, along poverty. with the challenges that sur- with vivid illustrations of their Perhaps I am stating the round them. I’m not suggesting problems? Can it hurt to show obvious, but it seems to me that an endless stream of tele-visual the poor as people, not just the biggest disaster of all doesn’t images of malnourished children statistics, victims and illustra- come from the sky, the sea or with bulging bellies, or the tions of political points? Ideas Tailor rescues his machine from a flood in Porbandar, India. the earth, but from poverty. And hungry waiting for handouts in and emails, and seed capital, all that’s an invention of the human sub-Saharan Africa. We cover welcome. t STEVE MCCURRY 16 SPORTS 4 - 10 OCTOBER 2000 NEPALI TIMES

OLYMPIC BRIEFS

○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ Sydneysiders○○○○ get Olympic cup Nepal wins golds The people of Sydney and New South Wales are winners of the 2000 Olympic Cup in acknowledgement of their outstanding

MUKUL HUMAGAINGAIN contribution to the huge success of the Millennium Games which MUKUL○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ HUMAGAINGAINGAIN When the Nepali contingent end Sunday. Speaking at the International Olympic Committee arrived back from session, IOC boss Juan Antonio Samaranch praised the Sydney on 3 organisation, transport and crowds in Sydney and said the locals’ for junketeering examples of fair play had earned them the cup. Samaranch said October there Gurung bettered his timing. Bhagwati K.C. could score only two, Ajay Rana is a medical was no fanfare to Before leaving for Sydney, 486, compared to her personal doctor associated with National the long jump final duel between Australian Jai Taurima and herald their Gyan Bahadur (left) had been best of 488. Sydney 2000 will, Sports Council and Dhruva eventual champion Cuban Ivan Pedroso showed a real example return. For confident that he would break however, not be remembered for Timilsina is the vice-chairman of fair play. “Before the Cuban was jumping, all the people in the there was the existing national record in the athletes’ performance. If it of the Nepal Olympic Commit- stadium were shouting for him,” he said. “For that reason, the nothing to 5000m (14.34:43). And he did stays in memory for long it will tee. IOC is proposing to afford the Olympic Cup to the people of celebrate. As it with a timing of 14.34:15. be for the number of Nepali In the end Sydney 2000 only Sydney.” IOC director general Francois Carrard said the cup was expected, Runa improved her own sports officials that went to eroded the image Nepali “an important gesture to compliment the people.” The Olympic all the national record by clocking Sydney. Twenty-one officials sportsdom had managed to cup is given at the end of each year to an individual or a group five 31.28 in 50m freestyle. Her accompanied the five players. build up with the successful who have made outstanding contributions to the Olympic Nepali players previous best was 31.79. To her The top brass of the National hosting of the 1999 South Asian Movement. (dpa) crashed out of credit, Runa came third in her Sports Council and the Nepal Federation Games. Beginning

competition in first round heats, finishing Olympic Committee were there with the bickering among

○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ Games○○○○ of the dames the first round ahead of swimmers from Sri in full strength. members of the Nepali of their Lanka, the Maldives and Iraq. Despite their protestations contingent and the shameful Women were banned from the first modern Olympics and were respective Chitra Bahadur also did better that the trip was necessary to attempt to provide the athletes treated as poor relations for decades after, but not in Sydney, events. shaving 0.26 seconds of his gain exposure and experience, it with a pittance of a daily which is being ranked as the most feminine Games ever. Both The earlier timing of 27.28. was clear that the Olympics was allowance compared to what the the growing attention paid to women’s sport and the record Nepali But the performances of nothing more than a junket for top officials allocated for number of women attending have made these Olympics the athletes had sprinter Devi Maya Paneru and most of the officials. And if themselves, Nepali sports is a “Games of the Dames”. gone to shooter Bhagwati K.C.’s proof was needed, the website of long way off from the Women’s participation still lags markedly on the boards of Sydney to compete performances were below par. the Games provided it. A professionalism required for management of sport, despite one Sydney first. When theIan Thorpe with the world’s National record holder Devi random search of world-class performance. And it Games conclude, a woman will become the International best with only a had a poor run in 100m. Her www.olympics.com showed two is obvious who is to blame—the Olympic Committee’s (IOC) senior vice president. Anita Defrantz month and a half of timing of 12.74 sec at Sydney of them figure as assistants in sports bureaucracy. As for our will then be only a heartbeat away from the top job. The training be- hind them. was far below her best of water polo, a sport that is not players, at least they went out former US rower would take over if anything happened to Medals were, of 12.17sec. In the 10m air rifle, played in the country. Of those and gave their best.  Juan Antonio Samaranch before his course, some- successor is elected on 16 July in Moscow. The thing they did not HOW DID OUR PLAYERS FARE? even dare dream of. The election of only hope was that in competing event overall performance Sweden’s with the superstars they would Runa Pradhan 50m freestyle 66th out of 74 Gunilla Lindberg has be able to better the national Chitra Bahadur Gurung 50m freestyle 69th out of 80 records. meanwhile The hope was not belied. Devi Maya Paneru 100m sprint 71st out of 84 brought a second Gyan Bahadur Bohara and Runa Gyan Bahadur Bohara 5000m 34th out of 36 woman at long last into the 15-member Pradhan set new national Bhagwati K.C. 10m air rifle 43rd out of 49 records, while Chitra Bahadur IOC executive board. It has been a long and difficult battle for women over the years. The Australian hosts have deliberately put the focus on these Games as the centenary of the first participation of women in the Olympics. Australia issued for example a special series of Olympics postage stamps, and only women were portrayed on them. The organising committee has proudly announced that 42 Hi-tech games percent of the 11,084 competitors in Sydney were women, a new prevent muscle vibration, and compression features are built record. That makes 700 more women than in Atlanta four years into swimmers’ gear for the same reason. ago. Weightlifters’ costumes in Sydney were coated with Women still do not have equal rights in many sports: they slippery Teflon and strengthened with Kevlar: that helps the bar remain banned from boxing and wrestling. In Islamic nations, slide over the lap better while giving a point on the chest to rest many sports codes are still taboo for women. Nine of the Olympic the barbells on between the clean and jerk. teams in Sydney did not have a single woman in them. While The jerseys worn by the cyclists are notable for having women athletes have been adept at baring skin to garner more practically no seams: that cuts drag. They also encourage the attention and promote sporting success, not all the firm tummies rider to adopt the optimal aerodynamic position. Experts claim paraded in Sydney have been voluntarily exposed. Despite the special suits can cut runners’ times by 2 percent and save a full cold, beach volleyballers had to play in bikinis. The dress is part stroke in the pool. of the rules, and the world federation is run by men, not women. High-tech gear does not come cheap: the swimsuits cost (dpa) $300 and runners’ suits can cost up to $1,100. Nike of the United States and Adidas of Germany, the world’s two sportswear leaders, both make body suits, but Speedo and Arena are also in the business. Asics, Converse, Puma and Reebok compete with the two top firms in footwear. Among other developments from the Adidas labs at the Olympics were the Gamarada, the football used in Sydney, and an all-synthetic red ball used in the handball tournament. The German company’s three- stripes symbol showed up in 26 of the 28 Olympic disciplines. So big is the Adidas promotional programme that the company has exclusive sponsorship agreements with 27 national Olympic committees and dresses 3,000 of the competitors in Australia. “All our product innovations have been a big success ather than physical condition, advanced materials have been here,” said Adidas spokesman Oliver Brueggen, pointing to the little-noticed key to many Sydney Games successes. golds won in Adidas gear by Thorpe and Ullrich as well as by R Manufacturers and research laboratories have poured huge fencers, wrestlers and weightlifters. amounts of money into the Games to show off their inventions. Among its other innovations are wrestling shoes with Take the bodysuits, which have provided a second skin for rounded outer soles and asymmetric shoes for fencers, whose competitors as diverse as runners Cathy Freeman and Marion fore feet and back feet need different sorts of support. Another Jones, swimmer Ian Thorpe and cyclists Jan Ullrich and Lance shoe improvement is the Z-spike, said to offer better grip than Armstrong. sharp spikes in track events. Within their shoes, many runners Cotton clothing has almost completely given way to and jumpers have profited from a carbon-fibre “performance synthetics tested in wind tunnels and hydraulics basins. Best plate” that stabilises the joints in the instep. Cyclists have also known are the scaly surfaces of the new swimsuits, which imitate been helped by carbon fibre. Bikes used for both the time trials sharkskin and reduce drag. The athletes’ suits comprise five in Sydney and the Tour de France were developed by Pinarello layers and are designed to cut air drag and retain the optimum at the Ferrari design works in Maranello, the same workshop amount of body warmth. Throwers wear compression suits to that builds the chassis for Formula One racing cars.  (dpa) CULTURE 4 - 10 OCTOBER 2000 NEPALI TIMES 17

SAVING FAITH by DESMOND DOIG NEPALITERATURE by MANJUSHREE THAPA AVINASH SHRESTHA’S A house for Shiva and GLOBAL SENSIBILITY By now, it has become common to find world references in Nepali literature. Still, writers who don’t use obviously “Nepali” images can be subjected to snide remarks. Allusions to global “high culture” (such as world literature) are of course always revered; but allusions to low culture (say, rap songs) are still Parvati viewed, by those who aspire to an ideal Nepaliness in Nepali literature, to betray somewhat inauthentic sensibilities. In the seventies and eighties, those who migrated from Darjeeling and Kalimpong were particularly vulnerable to such criticism: so modern were their Nepali-language creations that homegrown writers and critics easily dismissed them as outsiders. Poet and screenplay writer Avinash Shrestha is one such migrant writer often viewed as authoring “un-Nepali” Nepali literature. Shrestha’s poems are written in an intense and passionate tenor. Aquariums, champagne bottles, blues rhythms, and quotes from world literature pepper his verses. To readers who refuse rigid Nepali/un-Nepali dichotomies (surely an anachronism in this age of mingling and mass migration), Shrestha’s work is fresh and innovative: gone are the clichés about Nepal, gone are the stock images that too many Nepali writers rely on. Shrestha’s poems read as singularly contemporary, and can be enjoyed by those who inhabit today’s jangling modern (or postmodern) Kathmandu. The poem translated below is lovely to read not just because of its ardor; here, Shrestha finds beauty in dark African skin—a unique expression from a “wheatish-white” skin enamored country. A NEGRO WOMAN: IN MY DREAMS I saw her for the first time in a busy street in Nairobi how pleasing she was, how polite she was an educated Negro woman

The wooden images of Shiva and Parvati rest on the window rail, looking out In dreams of my many nights: a figure of

over the passing scene in a manner suggesting interest in all they see. modern Africa that woman ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○

○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ Her dark beauty t is important to they would fight to their death, so ornamented top floor, the middle baithak khana added to the enchanted me and offered remember that Kath- great care is taken to keep them of its nine window frames are old Malla architecture of the unbounded pleasure I apart. carved and painted wooden images place by the Rana maharajas? to my eyes mandu is the valley of the gods. If deities no longer descend In the artists’ city of Patan, at of Shiva and Parvati in mortal Were they amazed by the first in disguise to watch festivals, their Dasain young men impersonat- form, a unique representation. automobiles, surprised by the “For that unknown beauty favourite pastime, they pose as ing the eight mother goddesses, They rest on the window rail, first foreigners and startled by calumny of one color; virgin children or the masked the ashtamatrikas, are worshipped looking out over the passing scene the coming of the hippies? a black rose.” religious dancers who represent as real goddesses and lavishly fed. in a manner suggesting interest in Not far from their pavilion them on special occasions. I have So colourful are these ceremonies all they see. And what wondrous is a temple on a towering I remembered my own woman she who is always present often seen dancers so agitated by that often blaze in the darkness of things they look upon. Just across plinth which became a in my mind, like the reverberations always present the divinity in command of them, night, it is no wonder the gods the square from them is the house favourite abode of hippies, a in the veena’s tight strings as with raga melodies they have had to be held by are often tempted to drop by. It of the Living Goddess. She can be smoker’s paradise, a rent free there only need be a slight wound people on both sides. seems the great Lord Shiva seen occasionally at her gilded rest house. The hippies went, and she resonates all over my heart all over my body In ancient Bhaktapur, the himself made a habit of coming window or being taken in vivid the huge coaches with mysterious nine Durgas contrive to see the divine dances held in procession. They have witnessed London-Constantinople- She is my Indian lover flashing eyes to make themselves appear Kathmandu’s Durbar Square. At numerous coronations, two Tehran-Delhi-Kathmandu, exactly like that Negro girl’s sharp nose inhuman, in masks smeared with first he came alone but it was not divine people in a confetti-bright the more frequent Kath- long neck slender blouse I used to call her vermilion, saffron and sacrificial long before his consort Parvati crowd that fills every inch of mandu-Goa, the extraordinary my moon I thought— blood. Their gait, the exaggerated pleaded to be taken along. space in the square, to watch the Chapati Express, they all that moon was picked off the Indian sky way they breathe and talk, their King Rana Bahadur Shah newly crowned king walk to pay went. The trippies, the budget given a dark complexion travellers, came. and tossed, by some brute, onto African soil Colourfully dressed women selling Jaipuri minor work, old The Nile is a far ways off her youth, all over the spine clothes, old saree borders set up of the Niger and Senegal the oases of her smiles shop below Shiva and Parvati. ease the aridity of the Kalahari and So also curio dealers, and a the harshness of the Sahara I kept meeting her bicycle hire shop. Shiva and again and again I kept getting to know her Parvati have watched them all, have posed for endless photo- In my dreams for many nights graphs and starred in many Africa in my eyes that Negro woman films. What they’ll see next is who I always met—in the passes of the Congo anyone’s guess. Like all capital the streets of Nairobi, by the shores of lakes Victoria and cities, Kathmandu changes fast. Nagami But the festivals and processions and again in the dark alleys of Kampala one day I saw her will always be the same. at the center of a storehouse Women with votive in embrace offerings, men leading a sacrificial goat or playing old From time to time I kept thinking fashioned musical instruments there’s only one terror in her full young breast.... will always come by at dawn terror at the fearfulness of light one contention and dusk. Sometimes, even in in the jungle of her eyes— MIN BAJRACHRYA the late of night. Then unno- “Light can’t swallow the dark” collective sense of secrecy set them decided to build a pavilion homage at a nearby Ganesh ticed, just two people among a apart. After centuries of familiar- befitting the pleasure of Shiva and shrine, then come by on elep- worshipful crowd, Shiva and his Maybe that’s why she came in hiding ity, they are still held in awe. Parvati, and so, on a raised plinth hant back, his queen at his side, consort might leave their ornate to ask for her rights Kathmandu is no exception. that has a grandstand view of all leading a glittering procession bit pavilion and walk the streets of taking strength from duskiness and sleep Indra’s elephant dances in streets the many excitements that fill the of wonderland. Kathmandu again. t always in my dreams at Indra Jatra, as do Bhairab and old Palace Square, he had a Did they recognise other two attendants, also the demon suitable house constructed. A gods and goddesses masquerad- (Excerpted with permission from Avinash Shrestha edits Samakalin Sahitya, the literary Lakhe and the demoness Dogani. house it is despite its elaborate ing as mortals in the crowd? Did In the Kingdom of the Gods, magazine of the Royal Nepal Academy. Should Lakhe and Dogani meet decoration. In the heavily they wonder at the Victorian HarperCollins, 1999) 18 CITY 4 - 10 OCTOBER 2000 NEPALI TIMES

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Chalchitra - Ashok, Ganga ○○○○○○○ Chalchitra, Hira Ratna, Prithvi, he Dasain rush is on and as usual there are far too many Mailee - Goon (Kha) (520668), people seeking a passage out of the Valley than there are Ranjana (221191) T airline and bus seats. Airline counters are swamped by The most convenient and economic way to surf the internet v Hindi hopefuls who regret not coming earlier, while the bus terminal at China Gate - Tara Terms and conditions Gongabu is teeming with people arguing, pleading or shouting 1 The contest is open to everyone, except employees Dhadkan - Jai Nepal (411014), Tara their way to a ticket. of Himalmedia Pvt Ltd and Infocom Pvt Ltd. (476092) With a migrant population of half a million, a majority of 2 In case of more than one correct entry, the winner Dragon will be decided by lucky draw. - Kumari (414932) whom head out of Kathmandu for the festival, the scramble for Fiza - Gopi (470090), Goon (Ka), 3 Entries have to reach Himalmedia, by 5 pm, Manakamana (225284), Metro seats is only to be expected. And it takes a combination of 15 Oct, Sunday. timing, luck and perseverance to get the required bookings. The 4 The winner will be announced in the coming issue. Kaho Na Pyar Hai - Sri Nava Durga 5 The prize has to be collected from Himalmedia Karobaar - Padma reaction of people who reach the counter after a long wait in within a week of the announcement. Please come Shadi Aur Barbadi - Goon (Kha) queues attest to that. Some like Kumar Rai have learnt from with an ID. experience. Last year he had to stand in line from four in the (520668) Across 31 Half dozen boundaries (3) morning to secure seats in an overnight bus to go home to Katari 52 Rain, but not in Iraq (4) 1 Baby Abraham (4) 33 Anglo-Saxon Protestant, not white (3) MUSIC in east Nepal. That was not something he wanted to go through 53 One Italian (3) 5 Tea with Spanish separatists? (3) 54 Big event in Los Angeles (4) 34 Distance (3) v Jazz-Jazz by Cadenza at Upstairs again, so this time he bought tickets two 8 Pain in the head (4) 55 Let the imbecile out (4) 36 Hidden talent (6) Restaurant, Lazimpat. Every weeks before the festival began on 28 12 Imitated a primate ( 4) 56 Infection in pig’s eye? (3) 39 Luxury car nexus (5) Saturday 7:30-10:00 pm. September. “But, look, I was sold a 13 Zero for Lin (3) 57 Sliding cart (4) 40 Sings with a zing (5) v Rock and blues-Robin n’ Looza 41 Live with bad one (4) seat at the back of the bus,” he 14 For crying out …. (4) Down playing their selection of rock, blues, complained. 15 Only the tip of this ice (4) 42 Brave bicycle (4) soul and Nepali numbers every Friday Getting a ticket should not 16 Can be weathered, but not eaten (8) 1 Nepali Dad (3) 43 Not that German woman again (4) 2 Top excursion fare (4) night at The Bamboo Club, Thamel. be a problem like it the past, 18 Along an axis (5) 46 Magazine for her (4) v Traditional-Dhime baja and 3 Very very vitamin deficient (8) says Sharad Upreti, president 20 Nay, whichever (3) 47 As a dodo (4) dance in various courtyards and 21 Nab an outlaw (3) 4 Alan Poe (5) 50 Sauce made of bean (3) temple premises within the Kath- of Nepal Association of 5 Dropped a letter in bene (3) Transport Entrepreneurs. 22 Widest brother (8) mandu Valley. These ethnic Newari 25 Utilise (3) 6 Tyrant’s outburst (6) QUICKWORD 1 bands are dedicated to the goddess “We have added buses to 27 Oh, in debt? (3) 7 A loan by himself (4) Durga. Evening is the best time to busy destinations. New 28 Many limping James (5) 8 A boxer (3) encounter such bands on the streets. bus companies have also 32 Mexican cloak fit for angels (6) 9 Mix Calvin with Hobb (4) v Live shows-Various bands entered the business and 34 Can’t spell an Italian car (6) 10 Hoopla (4) performing every day at The Red long-distance day buses 35 Whiz past a drunken Swiss? (5) 11 Aden is not one (4) Onion Bar, Lazimpat. 416071 have also become popular 36 Lazy in Los Angeles (3) 17 Disability with memory (8) v Chakra at the Piano Lounge, Yak in the last one year...In 37 Can’t be lax about paying it (3) 19 Use one to get around pool (8) 23 Regard with wonder (3) & Yeti Hotel. 7 pm onwards. 248999 Dasain the business is doubled,” a visibly satisfied Upreti said. 38 At loggerheads on the pole (8) v Guitar unplugged-Guitar 24 Blemish with asphalt (3) The increased business may bring smiles to bus operators, 41 Extremely high frequency (3) performance by Syabu Lama at the 44 Allow (3) 25 US ship (3) Coffee Shop, Hotel De l’ Annapurna but it is a different story for their passengers. “You never know 26 Pronounced sow (3) what may happen. Sometimes seats are sold to more than one 45 Allowed the air in (5) from 7:30 to 10 pm. 221711 48 Very tops of triangles (8) 29 Girl made of this (8) Out of 15 correct entries the v Classical guitar-Kishor Gurung person,” said Sundar Subedi from Kakarvitta in east Nepal. He 51 Line on a river (4) 30 New age (3) lucky winner is B. Sangami plays classical favourites at the also claimed that passengers are in constant danger of accidents Chimney, Yak & Yeti Hotel. 8 pm during bus journeys during Dasain since drivers are not immune To send in your entries, please fill in the details below and fax to 977-1-521013, or email to onwards. 248999. to the festive mood and tend to drive under the influence of [email protected]. Entries can be dropped off at Himalmedia Pvt Ltd, Patan Dhoka, Lalitpur. v Dance-Saturday Night Fever alcohol. Name...... dance floor featuring Salsa, The story is not very different for air passengers. No danger Ph...... email...... Merengue, Swing, Rock & Roll and of drunk pilots, but then air seats are just too few. “The number much more by Dance Master Andreas of passengers has increased many times in comparison to seats at The Piano Lounge Bar, Hotel Yak & Yeti. 8:30 pm onwards. 248999 available,” said Rupesh Shrestha, Marketing Manager of Buddha Air. His airline is operating additional flights during Dasain, but EXHIBITIONS all seats were sold out three weeks in advance. Dasain means pressure on airline employees too. “Relatives v Photography-Celebrating the Mountain Porter. An exhibition of expect special favours from us around this time, but how are we photographs on porters by 15 photogra- supposed to produce tickets when there aren’t any left?” moaned a phers from around the world. Organised frustrated official at the Necon Air. Royal Nepal Airlines announced by International Porter Protection Group a advance bookings for its priority destinations and has also intro- (IPPG). 30 Sept-5 Oct, Hotel Yak and duced ‘local people charters’ during Dasain. But tickets are as scarce Yeti. 10am-6pm. Free Entrance. as ever. “At RNAC if you are willing to pay the double of normal SHANGRILA AD v Platform Nepal Online Art Gallery. price the tickets are available, otherwise not,” said a disgusted Tara Currently displaying black and white Rai of Bhojpur, who has tried to buy tickets for almost two months photographs of renowned Nepali before Dasain. photographer M.K. Panday. Contact Even if she does get a seat in the end that is only half the trouble [email protected] over, for when she tries to get back to the capital, an equally tough Adventure Sports time awaits her. But this is Dasain, and people have learnt to live with these hassles and take it in the spirit of the festival. t v Mountain Bike Championship. An International Class Mountain Bike Championship in three phase. 11 NEPALI WEATHER November, Saturday. Registration open till event eve. MTB theory and practice workshop follows after the championship by international cyclists. Surf www.bikingnepal.com or contact Peter Stewart, Race Director at Himalayan Mountain Bikes, Thamel.

427427 DSES- 01-10-2000 1000 GMT Festival Dasain is a Nepali festival which starts in earnest from Phulpati (4 October) till Kojagat Purnima (12 October). Banks Precisely on schedule, the dramatic 180-degree shift in wind and other institutions remain closed for direction characteristic for this time of the year, has chased about a week. It is a time for family away what was left of the monsoon. This is the annual south- members to get together and renew ward migration of the westerly jet stream and it is now asserting bonds. On 8 October, the main day, itself over the northern subcontinent and has pushed away a elders put tika (rice mixed with red low-pressure circulation over Bangladesh towards Burma. There vermilion and curd) on the foreheads of is afternoon cumulus buildup over the Mahabharat Lekh and those younger than them. Jamara High Himalaya that can result in the occasional drizzle or flurry. (budding leaves of seven crops) is Minimum temperature in the Valley will touch 13 degrees by the offered along with blessings, and end of the week. Mist and onset of inversion will delay morning generally female relatives and her flights. children are given dakshina (cash gift). KATHMANDU It is said the blessings bestowed during Weds Thurs Fri Sat Sun Dasain has divine strength.

For inclusion in the listing send information 27-15 26-15 27-15 27-13 26-13 to [email protected] 4 - 10 OCTOBER 2000 NEPALI TIMES 19 HAPPENINGS Celebrating the porter

SALIL SUBEDI ○○○○○○ ○○○○○○○○○○ appreciate the tremendous lthough portering is the effort that is required of porters only way of moving in their work,” says Dr Duff. A goods in much of the Dr Duff himself has Nepali mountains, porters contributed some of the images generally are not the subject of and among them is a series he much attention. Whether it be the took of Balti porters during an village sahuji or the western expedition to K2. “Different ALOK TUMBAHANGPHEY trekker, people who carry loads for faces, but they share the same St Xavier’s Godavari School organised a cross country run below Phulchoki 23 September to celebrate its 50th Anniversary. The winners pose with school staff others might as well be mules or struggle and hardship. The in the grounds. donkeys for the way they are good thing is that the Pakistani treated. But as the week-long government has been taking the exhibition of photographs entitled issue of mountain workers “Celebrating the Mountain seriously, and have been doing Porter” shows, it is a profession so for more than 20 years now, that deserves respect as well as a process that has not even sympathy from those who employ started in Nepal,” says Dr Duff. them. “Trekking is a great exper- The 44 pictures on display ience and great source of cash provide a glimpse of the hardship income for porters. But then we and the struggle of these heroes want to encourage trekkers to and heroines of the trail. The take good care of their porters. photographs show traditional, We hope an exhibition like this trekking and mountaineering will help them understand their porters at work and rest, with porters prior to their treks,” he

SUNEETA TULADHAR SUNEETA contributions from well-known says. The exhibition, which was Mukti’s Revival with its lead guitarist Mukti Shakya performs at a concert mountaineering photographers inaugurated by Pema Doma organised by Wave Magazine on 28 December at the Dasain Mahotsav at the like Jeff Hersch, Tim McCartney- Sherpa, the first Nepali woman Bhrikuti Mandap. Snape, Chris Bonington, and This week-long exhibition of to summit Everest from the Doug Scott. Two Nepali north, is on at the Yak and Yeti photographers, Arthur Pazo and photographs shows that portering Hotel till 5 October. It will Min Bajracharya, are represented is a profession that deserves then move to Thamel before as well. travelling to Canada and the The exhibition is organised respect as well as sympathy from UK. The entire roster of by the International Porter pictures will later be on Protection Group (IPPG). Set those who employ them. permanent display on the IPPG up 1997 at the initiative of Dr website www.ippg.net. t Jim Duff while he was vulnerability at high altitudes. volunteering at the Himalayan In fact, the motivation for Dr Rescue Association health post Duff, an Anglo-Australian who in Manang on the Annapurna has been part of mountaineering

MIN BAJRACHARYA circuit trekking route, the IPPG expeditions in the Himalaya Excited visitors throng the Philips stall at the Dasain Mahotsavr in the Bhrikuti seeks to help trekking porters by since 1974, was the death of a Mandap which commenced on 28 September. raising awareness about their porter from acute mountain sickness just a short distance from where he was. “He could easily have been saved,” says Dr Duff. “Some trekking agencies treat their injured or ill porters really bad,” says Dr Rachel Bishop, who is associated with the IPPG. Dr Bishop has just completed a two-year stint at Khunde Hospital, above Get your copy now!! Namche Bazaar, where she had to deal with many cases of porter maltreatment. The photo exhibition is its third programme since the IPPG was established. The earlier two were conferences where IPPG tried to sensitise representatives of trekking companies, trek leaders and guides and the press on looking after the porters properly. “Rather than focus on the negative aspect, this time we want to disseminate a positive NEPALNAMESTE image of the porters through these photographs. We want people to look at them and

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Prizes every Anil Bhawan, Kamaladi, Kathmandu, Nepal Phone: 00977-1-243649, Fax: 00977-1-220161 page!! E-mail: [email protected] 20 LAST WORD 4 - 10 OCTOBER 2000 NEPALI TIMES

prosperity and well-being he may be—cannot have NEPALI SOCIETY Under My Hat the entire burden of this valley’s upkeep on his shoulders. It would be unfair on the Thais. So, His by Kunda Dixit Majesty’s Government is mulling over a plan to divide up the Kathmandu Valley sectorally and hand f you thought the Prime Minister is the most over each area to a different embassy to handle. Any powerful man in Nepal, you’d better think again. Ambassador who wants to take these up should IThe most powerful man in Nepal is not even the contact the Ministry of Work and Leisure after Commander-in-Chief. The most powerful man in Dasain: Nepal is the Thai Ambassador. His Excellency has • The Nepal Olympic Committee has decided managed to do something that the rulers of this that Nepal has a great future in synchronised country tried but could not accomplish for the past swimming, and on return from Sydney has been four months: get the Maharajgunj Road paved for us scouting around if any Kathmandu-based Embassy by Dasain. would be willing to sponsor Nepal’s national This incredible feat has reminded us once more synchronised swimming team. The sport would how we have cleverly managed to subcontract Nepal’s promote discipline, commonweal, and be a symbolic entire development process to friendly donor nations. sport for Nepalis to show that we can surpass any And the awesome thing about it is that it doesn’t cost hurdle--even if we are underwater, and have our us a cent! It’s all free. Since we have given others the noses clipped with clothespins. ALL PHOTOS RUPA JOSHI responsibility of building our schools and hospitals, • The Great Crater of Ekantakuna. This gaping picking up our garbage and gifting us mountain cavity, through which you can see Mexico if you goats, we can now sit back, relax and enjoy the look carefully, needs an urgent root canal. The Swiss inflight entertainment. We need not worry one bit: charge d’affaires has sent a note verbale (Latin for a responsible people who know what they are doing are message with lots of unprintable verbs in it) to the Up where the air is clear taking care of us. This frees us up for all kinds of Ministry of Waste and Mismanagement to get it extra-curricular activities that we otherwise would not fixed, or else no secret bank accounts. have time for: like spending quality time in the • The German embassy is looking into the 150- unil N.S. Thapa says it is company of our near and dear ones in the festive year-old garbage heap at Kalo Pul. It has a Secret S better than working for a season, decapitating ducks, and sucking in the joys of Plan to transfer the rubbish from Gyaneswore to living. And what a job he a juicy supari in our molars. Baneswore by cover of darkness. has: floating in a cane There is a Sanskrit saying passed down from one • His Majesty’s Government wants Tribhuvan gondola at 3,100 m above generation of Nepalis to the next that goes something International Airport to also serve as a bird park and Kathmandu Valley drifting like this: rajdoot deva bhava, which roughly translated a dog sanctuary. The biodiversity of Nepal’s only slowly across the cobalt means “an ambassador is a god-send, put him to international airport needs to be protected so that it Himalayan sky and making a work”. But one plenipotentiary from a friendly can be a model for sustainable development of the dramatic landing on a field as ASEAN country—however committed to Nepal’s country’s ecotourism. Any embassies interested? t water buffaloes watch lazily. While some pilots like to fly Nepal’s national synchronised swimming team 747s, others love the thrill of a F-16, what is the glamour of piloting a large object that is technically lighter than air, and is at the mercy of the elements? Isn’t it boring? “No, it’s not monotonous at all,” says Sunil, who is Nepal’s only balloon pilot. “Every flight is different. The view, the wind direction and speed, the scenery, the landing and the enthusiasm of passengers are different each time.” At 34, Sunil is already General Manager of the Balloon Sunrise Nepal and has clocked about 250 hours flying balloons in Australia and Nepal. Sunil has a taste for flying, he had jumped off planes and paraglided for ten

years as an officer in the Royal west, and not more than 8 Nepal Army, before taking up knots. Kathmandu Valley is a ballooning. ballooning paradise with light “We’re completely dependent winds, and spectacular scenery. on the wind for direction of travel,” Says Sunil: “There is almost explains Sunil as his balloon never any ground wind, which coasts past Nagarjun forest. “The means the landings are really Ambassador only control we have is over smooth.” elevation, and we go up and down Tomorrow morning at six, to tap different wind direction by when the grass is wet with dew turning the burners and vents on and the eastern sky is just vodka and off.” For navigation, Sunil only beginning to light up, Sunil will has a Global Positioning System, be blowing hot air into the a VHF radio for contact with the balloon and making it rise air traffic controller at Kathmandu above a field on the outskirts of and a UHF walkie-talkie to keep Kathmandu. And when the in touch with crew and the tower clears him for take off, Wide-angle view of the Valley and vehicles on the ground who he’ll soar once more into the Ganesh Himal from 3,200 m (top), follow the balloon to anticipate wide blue sky with seven Sunil pumps hot air into baloon the landing site. Now that the passengers who will remember before takeoff (above) and in the monsoons are finished, the wind the ride for the rest of their cockpit at cruising altitude. direction is usually from the lives. t

0.74 0.37 0.40 0.22 0.37 0.04 54.15 0.65 0.31 0.56 0.33 0.18 0.02 44.46 0.65 0.37 0.57 0.29 0.14 0.05 46.05 0.25 0.28 0.40 0.30 0.42 0.21 11.82 0.41 0.43 0.52 0.22 0.12 0.03 58.20 0.75 0.38 0.63 0.24 0.20 0.03 79.52 0.66 0.38 0.55 0.33 0.18 0.08 73.25 All prices are are in US dollars, collected from informal sources, and are only indicative.