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www.nepalitimes.com #164 26 September -2 October 2003 16 pages Rs 25 Shah also worried about the psycho- logical impact on children of having to watch animal decapitation. Children are As our rulers hibernate for Dasai, it looks either traumatised, or they enjoy it. Politicallike the political limbo willlimbo linger. Neither is good for them, he told us. Despite pressure from peace groups for a Steeped in rituals, Nir Shahs family is Dasai-Tihar ceasefire and Maoist hints required to carry out a sacrifice at Dasai. that they may consider it, the army Instead of a goat, this year he will bring doesn’t seem to be in the mood. Giving up meat has health benefits, and may A vegetarian Dasai home a gourd. Government spokesman Kamal Thapa’s SRADDHA○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ BASNYAT even make us less violent. “we will agree to a ceasefire if the Maoists Organisations like the Society for the disarm,” was a flat no. However, many s khukuris are sharpened in Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Nepal expect an informal reduction in violence anticipation of Dasai, goats, (SPCAN) are also worried about the over Dasai. “There may be internal buffaloes, chickens and ducks are cruelty to animals in the name of instructions to lessen activities,” a source not looking forward to Nepals great religionespecially big sacrificial rituals close to the Maoists told us, “But a joint annual massacre. like Dasai and Gadimai Mela in Bara ceasefire declaration is unlikely.” AThis year, as the country plunges into district every five years. Violence is However, the tacit ceasefire between a spiral of unprecedented violence, there learned, it could start by beating a dog, the king and political leaders seems to be are concerns about animal sacrifices. or witnessing a sacrifice, says SPCANs fraying as the parties get impatient with Some are even thinking this is the time to Lucia de Vries. the palace’s silence. After unprecedented turn vegetarian. The only thing holding public pressure by Kathmandu-based The rationale for Dasai sacrifice is embassies to mend fences, the parties them back is habit and the belief that the cult of Durga, the goddess who have toned down their rhetoric. The feasting on flesh is a part of our culture. vanquished demons and saved humanity. government has rejected the Researchers have long linked eating nutritious lingers and countries with rising Nepalis will turn to ritual sacrifices at Priest Shivahari Rimal says sacrifices reinstatement of parliament, and is trying meat, especially red meat, to heart living standards always show an exponential home at Dasai, one of the few times in a today have lost their religio-cultural to woo moderates from the parties to form disease, cancer, diabetes, arthritis and increase in meat consumption. year they get to eat meat. facets: These days people justify the an all-party interim government. osteoporosis. A vegetarian diet, on the At 81, Hem Bahadur Basnyat is proof But there are genuine health benefits sacrifices just to fill their bellies. t “Everyone is waiting for the others to make other hand, is low in fat and high in fibre that a vegetarian diet works. After giving to giving up meat. Vegetarians usually the first move,” the UML’s Madhab Kumar and combined with a healthy lifestyle its up meat 35 years ago, the retired army have more energy, need less sleep and We wish all readers happy Dasai Nepal told us. The Nepali Congress known to reverse arteriosclerosis and colonel starts his day with an hour-and- lose weight. The remarkable part of leader Ram Sharan Mahat says the holidays. Nepali Times will skip one even prevent cancer. Its a good idea to half walk at 5AM. giving up meat is that it seems to make issue next week, the next edition of bottom line is to bring the constitution cut down on meat after 35, says Dr Many Nepalis cannot afford to eat people less aggressive. Renowned Nepali back on track. He says: “Our 18-point this paper will appear on program is actually the middle path Sundar Mani Dixit, who prescribes fruits, meat that often. But the urban middle film director, Nir Shah, was a voracious Friday 10 October. between the Maoists and the govern- vegetables, legumes and nuts for the class is consuming more animal products meat eater till three years ago. After ment.” amino acids required by the body to and finds it difficult to give up meat for turning vegetarian initially to lose weight, build protein. purely health reasons. Until Nepal has he found other side benefits. I am less Still, the notion that meat is more modern meat processing plants, most angry now, and feel reduced tension. Nepal figures 11th on a list of countries in danger ofTerrorism terrorist violence compiled Index by risk analysts, World Markets Research Centre. At greater risk than Nepal are the United States, Britain and India. North Korea is the safest place on earth. MIN BAJRACHARYA Weekly Internet Poll # 104 ENJOY Q. How do you rate the chances of an all-party The Sumptuous Barbecue Dinner government being formed? at our illuminated Courtyard and Garden For Vegetarians Special Sish Kebabs and many more. For Reservation: 552 1810 Total votes:1,377 Weekly Internet Poll # 105. To vote go to: www.nepalitimes.com Q. Now that the ceasefire is off, do you think the political parties and the king should unite? 26 SEPTEMBER - 2 OCTOBER 2003 2 EDITORIAL NEPALI TIMES #164 Nepali Times is published by Himalmedia Pvt Ltd, Chief Editor: Kunda Dixit STATE OF THE STATE by CK LAL Desk Editor: Trishna Gurung, Design: Kiran Maharjan Webmaster: Bhushan Shilpakar [email protected], www.nepalitimes.com Advertising: Sunaina Shah [email protected] Subscription: Anil Karki [email protected] Sales: Sudan Bista [email protected] Sanchaya Kosh Building, Block A-4th Floor, Lalitpur GPO Box 7251, Kathmandu, Nepal Tel: 01-5543333/ 5523845 Fax: 01-5521013 Printed at Jagadamba Press, Hattiban: 01-5547018/17 ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ Warmongers○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ will win if we, out of fear, stop living. Wartimeasai comes every year, but every Dasai but not to celebrate our festivals would Marcos, Thailand is still trying to find a HUMAN SACRIFICE year it is different. When there has be to capitulate to the wishes of the balance between the military, the he most important Nepali festival is two weeks away but the been a death in the family, the warmongers. They win if peace-loving monarchy and the masses. country is not in a mood for festivities. living grieve for the departed. A marriage citizens stop living out of sheer fear. The We in Nepal had 13 governments in This is the time of year when people go back to their ancestral Dor birth the preceding year multiplies the spirit of Dasai must live, it cant be 12 years, but even an armed insurgency villages for clan reunions. But this year the few people still left in the joy as a new family member is welcomed. villages are leaving. They are fleeing fear, dread and terror, leaving snatched away from Nepalis who have and an earth-shattering massacre of our Like any other festival in any society, had little to celebrate in the past year of royals didnt rob elected governments of ripeningT rice on the terraces and their livestock, and abandoning the Dasai is redolent with joy for some, monsoon-green hills of their homes. They are leaving because there is broken promises. political legitimacy. The institutions of tinged with sadness for others. Like the call to call off Dasai, the democracy, however shaky, withstood the nothing left to hand over to extortionists. The teachers, shopkeepers, It is also a time for the larger clan to farmers, social workers and nurses who they saw and greeted every political parties' rhetoric of regression is knocks. Instead of making fun of our first day have been decapitated like Dasai goats in front of their eyes. Then get together, to visit ancestral farms and beginning to sound equally hollow. Its true 12 years, we should take stock of the there are the untold numbers who have been killed in encounters that re-establish ties to ones roots. But this that King Gyanendra has been in direct achievements since 1990 and figure out a we don’t even hear about. All predictions that the breakdown of the year, chances are that the ancestral home command of the country for one year now. way of getting democracy back on track by ceasefire would take the violence and brutality to a new scale have has been destroyed by the Maobadi, or But the state hasnt, at least not yet, correcting the mistakes that led to the lack sadly been proven right. security forces may be camping in it. regressed to a pre-1990 state. The very fact of accountability and bad governance. It isn’t hard to see that the Maoists’ shock and awe campaign is Extended family members may have fled that Messers Sitaula, Nemwang, Sherchan, The trouble with our democracy was that going to backfire badly. It is going to isolate them further from the to the relative safety of the district towns Bijukchhe, and Tripathi are free to deride there wasnt enough of it. people and is going to distance them even more from a political or the capital, or migrated to work. resolution. Since neither side can win this war, what is the point of all the royal move from public pulpits is proof Some sections of the intelligentsia also The middle-class observes this Nepali that the constitution isnt yet dead. The take vicarious pleasure in blaming the this blood-letting? To improve their bargaining position in the next festival in the way it does most other round of negotiations? And how precisely is the slaughter of innocents regime that we have is far from democratic, leaders of the political parties for spreading thingsritualistically, doing the same but its not completely authoritarian either.

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