#421 17 - 23 October 2008 16 pages Rs 30

Weekly Internet Poll # 421 Q. Do you expect next year’s Dasain- Tihar to be better than this year’s? Total votes: 5,319

Weekly Internet Poll # 422. To vote go to: www.nepalitimes.com Q. Do you think it is a good idea for the NC to join the Maoist-led coalition?

EDWIN KOO RIVER TO DESERT: Just 1.5 km upstream from the Kosi Barrage in Saptari, a bull wades through stagnant water. This is where the Kosi used to flow before it suddenly breached its embankment and changed course. See also: ‘Water world’, p 8-9.

combatants. But the real unknown is whether Dahal can sell that plan to his guerrilla commanders in UN-supervised cantonments. Back to work Meanwhile, there are indications of further mellowing The government has a lot of catching up to do of the Maoist line. Finance Minister Baburam Bhattarai, he friendly mood of the Although sharp differences a consensus government. attending the World Bank/IMF festive season seems to have remain, both within parties in the “We need everyone on board annual meeting in Washington Taffected the top leaders of coalition and among each other, to fulfill our immediate goals of this week, surprised people there the NC and the Maoists, who have there seems to be a realisation that keeping the peace process on and in by saying his party been using tea party diplomacy progress on governance and track, to draft a new constitution was discussing dropping ‘Maoist’ this week to patch up differences. constitution-building can’t and to spur rapid economic from its name. Even the body language of the happen in an atmosphere of growth,” Dahal told reporters on Bhattarai needed to make a troika (UML’s Jhalnath Khanal, acrimony and politics-as-usual. Wednesday. He added that the good impression among members the NC’s Girija Koirala and Maoist NC leaders have said they have constitution-drafting process of the Washington Consensus Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal no intention of bringing down the would start “before Tihar”. because his budget has doubled Dahal) at the UML tea party on government “for the next six The more immediate hurdle the foreign aid component to Wednesday was of bonhomie and months” but Koirala rejected could be the integration of the nearly $950 million. However, camaraderie. overtures from the Maoists to join Maoist PLA into the national Nepal’s main donors say they are army. The main political players still skeptical about absorptive and the army brass seem to have capacity, populist cash handouts agreed secretly on a very limited to VDCs and cooperatives as well induction with a rehabilitation as unmonitored disbursement for package for the rest of the Maoist cadres. 2 EDITORIAL 17 - 23 OCTOBER 2008 #421

Published by Himalmedia Pvt Ltd, Editor: Kunda Dixit CEO: Ashutosh Tiwari Design: Kiran Maharjan Director Sales and Marketing: Sunaina Shah [email protected] Marketing Manager: Sambhu Guragain Asst Managers: Subhash Kumar Subscriptions: 5542535/5542525 Hatiban, Godavari Road, Lalitpur [email protected] GPO Box 7251, 5250333/845, Fax: 5251013 www.nepalitimes.com Printed at Jagadamba Press, Hatiban: 5250017-19 Talk the talk The government and Madhesi militants are TERRAIN WARNING talking not because they want a solution, but Nepal is one of those places in the world where a traditionally to be seen as striving for one fatalistic society that hasn’t had time to adjust to the outside world collides head-on with modern technology, often with irst the good news: the they represent. is on the margins now. Goit may disastrous results. government and the armed There has been a degree of be an ideologue but he has been The rate of road accidents in Nepal has soared in recent years. F groups in Tarai are reaching introspection among the more thrown out of his own outfit and Fatalities calculated on the basis of passenger miles is now one of out to each other and may talk. serious militants. They held a is relatively isolated. Ranbir the highest in the world. Building codes, contingency planning or The problem: it is unlikely they meeting in Jayanagar a month ago. Singh’s JTMM and Manager’s evacuation drills are nearly non-existent in the capital’s new high- will either reach an agreement, The process of unification of Madhes Tarai Mukti Morcha may rise buildings. There is almost no state-level preparedness for or that the lawlessness in the some of them has picked pace. merge soon. All this can alter if earthquakes and their aftermath. Tarai will come to an end They are politically vulnerable, three top leaders of a group or 30 Our rash attitude towards pesticides, food additives, traffic rules, fuel adulteration, household electrical appliances, anytime soon. and this is forcing them to engage district activists shift loyalties. pharmaceuticals or even activities that directly affect our health with the state. Even if all the key groups But talk privately to come to the table, what do you do (like tyre burning) show that we either don’t care or don’t know PLAIN SPEAKING about the consequences of flouting norms that guide technology. government leaders or Madhesi with a Tarai Army that blasted Nepal’s civil aviation sector has been flying on a wing and a Prashant Jha militants and one comes away Chandranighapur this week prayer. Inadequate training and equipment and a combination of with the sense of an elaborate killing innocents? Can this carelessness and recklessness have made Nepal notorious for Circumstances have forced charade. Even if formal talks government, full of internal plane crashes. both sides to veer towards talks. happen, it would be best not to contradictions, politically sell Since 1990 there have been 18 fatal airliner accidents in which The government wants to be seen expect too much. Both sides are and administratively implement over 400 people have been killed. Analysing accident data shows as effective in restoring order and talking not because they want a a strategy of talking to some that most of the crashes were caused by airworthy aircraft flown by sincere in tackling political solution, but they want to be groups and cracking down on disoriented or careless crew into mountains covered by clouds, called Controlled Flight Into Terrain (CFIT) in technical jargon. grievances. seen as striving for one. The others simultaneously? Will this Last week’s crash of a Twin Otter in with the loss of 18 Both the Maoists and MJF government wants to be seen as only give a pretext to the groups lives was just the latest in a long list of CFIT events that have have been associated with the sensitive, the armed groups want which are in dialogue to walk occurred with tragic regularity in Nepal. In November 2006, a armed activists in the past. This to be seen as political groups. out? And can there be peace in helicopter flew into a mountain in eastern Nepal killing 25 people, makes it easier to communicate. The government wants to Madhes when all the larger issues including most of Some are quibbling make sure that when it unleashes (representation, dignity, Nepal’s senior about the composition the security apparatus, it is not employment, economic conservation experts. of the negotiation blamed for not trying to find a stagnation) still remain? The Canadian-built team, but that does not negotiated settlement. The armed The timing is not yet ripe for Twin Otter is a sturdy take away from the fact groups want to ensure that they a way out. The incentives of workhorse, but pilots that the government get a breather which can be used major actors lie in promoting need to be extra alert when flying to remote has pushed this to expand their network and instability. The young militants STOL airfields, process forward. build a political platform. have found a quick and easy way especially during the The armed groups The government is in no to earn, and the district monsoon. Ten Twin know they are position to agree to a single administrators are happy with Otters have crashed discredited. The splits autonomous Madhes, and the their share of the loot while since 1990, seven of in their ranks, armed groups can’t be seen journalists and NGOs act as them were CFIT—this is criminal activities, backing away from this demand middlemen. Sections of the an unacceptably high absence of political just yet. At most, the government Indian state and domestic anti- attrition rate by any SURAJ KUNWAR work and public may release some arrested cadre Maoist forces want the armed standard. support, and the ability of the and some militants will halt groups to be around to counter New cockpit avionics that give pilots a 3-D map of the terrain Nepali state to gradually co-opt killings for a bit. Temporary the left. Madhesi leaders are keen ahead of them are now available, but they are expensive. Ultimately, failsafe navigation aids are of no help if pilots ignore them. Nothing key community representatives respite is the best case scenario. to use them during the next can replace rigorous crew training and strict guidelines on flying in have put the militants on the What adds to the complexity round of agitation. poor visibility in the mountains. defensive. They still need to be is that the armed groups are not Till the federal debate plays We are culturally prone to leaving too much to chance. Modern taken seriously, though, not only homogeneous and their internal out and CA deliberations end, the technology doesn’t forgive mistakes, and we tend to make too many. because of their potential to kill power dynamics are constantly armed groups are not going Alas, the Lukla crash probably won’t be the last. and destroy but also the idea shifting. If Jwala Singh was anywhere. We will just have to of Madhesi separatism that powerful till six months back, he learn to live with them. The Gurkhas and Lahore In the city where it all started, they don’t even know who Lahures are

LAHORE-When Nepalis fought the East today, they apply by the tens of thousands language, the word has also transported to architecture of Shalimar Gardens and Company in the war of 1814-16 the at recruitment centres. anything foreign, like imported buffalo Badshahi Mosque, one can’t help but British were impressed by the gallantry of Ever since the British Afghan Campaign breed of ‘Lahure Bhaisi’. In fact, the wonder what our young Lahures thought of the defenders. So, after the Sugauli Treaty of 1848 when the new recruits were sent to Agriculture Development Bank gives loans this city on arriving after their long train they started recruiting Nepali soldiers in the cantonment in Lahore for training, only to farmers who want to buy a ‘Lahure journey across northern India. the British Army. those who left to enlist in the British Bhaisi’, and not local ones. Lahoris do not know who the Lahures Army have been called ‘Lahures’ back More recently, the word Lahure is are, and don’t even remember that Gurkha INTERESTING TIMES home. losing its exclusive military connotation soldiers used to be brought here in the last They left their families and friends and includes all Nepalis who leave their century to fight in Afghanistan. (The Mallika Aryal behind, working in a foreign homeland to work abroad. British Gurkhas are still there in Helmand.) land and fighting and dying for foreign The Maoist minister for general The old Lahures fought bravely in In the 20th century, Nepali soldiers powers. The experience of travelling, living administration, Pampha Bhusal, said at a foreign armies and helped establish a name went wherever the British Empire was by themselves, fighting numerous battles public function last month that all for Nepal. Our resilient boys who work fighting to expand or defend territory. changed the young men. For those left professionals including doctors and hard as migrant labourers and send money After India’s independence, Nepalis behind in the villages, Lahures were the engineers who go in search of home are doing the same thing, so are the continued to be recruited not just in the symbol of modernity, the glamour of opportunities and ‘greener pastures’ are intellectual Lahures who sell their skills British Army but also the Indian Army, the valour and the money they brought home neo-Lahures. In a similar category are internationally. Singapore Contingent and the Brunei gave them a special status. In many parts of Nepali consultant Lahures, who are often In Pakistan people from Lahore, who Reserve. Nepal, Gurkha veterans became the main invited to research and present papers at are mostly Punjabis, are thought to be Nearly 45,000 Nepali soldiers were agents of development. international conferences. people with big hearts, affectionate, fiercely killed in the two world wars, falling in The Lahure legend has gone down into But here in Lahore from which the term protective of their culture, their tradition Flanders Field, Gallipoli, the attack on Nepali folklore and songs. The lyrics are all Lahure is derived, the city still opens its and loyal to their country and city. One Monte Cassino and the jungles of Burma. about love and longing and the short time arms to visitors, foreigners and refugees. Lahori says that to be a Lahori is to be But this didn’t stop young Nepali boys they spend at home. While Lahure has a Walking in a city burgeoning and bustling resilient. Nepali Lahures are exactly from dreaming of serving in the army. Till mostly positive connotation in Nepali with people, and the impressive Mughal that. 17 - 23 OCTOBER 2008 #421 3

L ETTERS

MISSING MISS NEPAL #419) and that the money could instead be used Mallika Aryal’s diatribe against ANWO-R’s for a better cause. I agree that we have to obstructions to hold Miss Nepal 2008 is short of support noble causes and animal sacrifices may arguments (Witch hunt hits wrong target, #420). be viewed as a violation of animal rights. But let This is not the first time that the organizers of me point out that we are very rich in our culture Miss Nepal have faced stiff opposition. But when and it is not right to violate our cultural rights you have 140 CA members and 40+ either. These sacrifices are essential part of our organisations rallying against it, there is a need traditions. to understand the reason behind it. The Deepak Thapa, email opponents have already signalled that their opposition is with a private company holding a Animal Nepal is concerned about Miss Nepal title that can be equally confused the reintroduction of state-sponsored animal between a talent hunt and a beauty pageant. I sacrifice. A survey we carried don’t think they would object out in 2007 confirmed that a to organising a Miss Dabur or majority of people feel the a Miss Hidden Treasure government no longer has to contest. The organisers could cough up millions for the not even capitalise the public beheading of innocent situation by coming up with a animals. In fact, Nepal is the new idea like Miss New Nepal. only country in the world that Narayan Manandhar, sponsors such rituals. It is Lalitpur also the only country that shows animal sacrifice live I am no fan of Miss Nepal, on TV, with millions of or the beauty product children watching. How can companies that sponsor it. But we build a peaceful society where are the priorities of those when the government who are opposed to Miss supports extreme violence Nepal? Is the pageant the against fellow living beings? biggest threat to Nepali Last week high level Hindu womanhood today? Is that and Buddhist leaders vowed keeping us backward? ANWO-R would be doing to ban animal sacrifice. This is the right moment everyone a favour if it started agitating against to stop wasting money on the killing of innocent the trafficking of Nepali young women to India for beings. prostitution. We would take them seriously if they Animal Nepal, Patan started a female literacy campaign. They would be serving a great cause if they spread Really glad to see Finance Minister Baburam awareness about the low status of women that is Bhattarai get his comeuppance with his decision feeding into crises like maternal mortality, women to cut the budget for festivals. The Maoists have with AIDS, child marriage and underweight never been sensitive to cultural practices, and female children. The anti-Miss Nepal bandwagon this has been their major weakness. While trying sounds to me like activism just for the sake of to take Nepal to Year Zero, they have tried to activism. infringe on religion and culture, forcing Hindus to R Thapa, email eat beef in some cases. That is what you’d do if you want to make enemies. And at the moment SACRIFICES the Maoist-led government needs all the friends Mallika Aryal talks about violation of animal it can get. rights during festivities in her piece (What a riot, Jujubhai, Asan 4 NATION 17 - 23 OCTOBER 2008 #421 Local impact of global gloom Nepal’s poverty partially cushions us from global recession

TOURIST TRAP: Tourists in Sauraha on Monday wait to view wildlife at the edge of the Chitwan National Park. There are fears global recession will Nepal's tourism industry.

Nepal’s financial sector has benefited from being a relatively isolated economy. Nepal’s banks are not yet large or developed enough to be global players. “We are relatively less affected by the ongoing crisis for the simple reason that our exposure in the products and markets which are facing the crisis is very limited, if any,” says Anil Shah of Nabil KIRAN PANDAY Bank. Nepali banks are insulated DEWAN RAI portfolios. Nepal receives Rs 65 by the global gloom,” he says, through the hundi system. from the global crisis and it is billion in foreign grants, and “although the small size of our However, Pant cautions that local or national challenges that espite massive bank about Rs 30 billion is economy will reduce impact, we the money is probably going pose a far greater risk. Nepali bailouts, fears of global channelled through NGOs and will be affected in indirect right back out. “There is no banks have also diversified D recession are keeping charities. ways. Nepal is not an island.” reason to be happy about investments by reducing stock markets down worldwide. The government’s target of In Washington for the remittances going up because concentration on any one sector But Nepal’s relatively low level of bringing in two million tourists annual meetings of the World the money will be spent in or region. globalisation, and its very by the Visit Nepal Year in 2011 Bank and the IMF, Finance importing more expensive Shah says the real challenge underdevelopment have so far is unlikely to be met. Economist Minister Baburam Bhattarai said goods,” he says. Increased dollar for Nepal is to see how the protected it. Raghab D Pant says, “We can’t the pain of world recession may reserves would have helped economy can be made less India- Even so, economists warn that expect tourists from countries be less for countries like Nepal. Nepal shore up its annual Rs107 dependent. “I do not mean indirect effects of the worldwide that will suffer recession.” "We are in the periphery, so billion trade deficit with India. lessening our trade or economic economic stagnation will soon be The global liquidity crisis Nepal is not as integrated with More worrying is how the ties with India, for we must in felt through a possible downturn may also affect big budget the world economy," he said, impact on India of global fact ensure even greater growth in tourism, a slump in Nepali projects and foreign direct adding that there could be a fall recession will affect Nepal. in this respect. But we also have exports to UK and America, investment in Nepal. The in foreign aid to Nepal from India is concerned about to look to other export, import shrinking foreign aid and the government aims to generate international lenders and inflation and a sagging and investment partners so that after-effect of slower growth in 10,000 MW electricity in 10 bilateral donors. economic growth rate, which the shock suffered by one market India. years, much of which was Economists say the only has been double digit for the won’t resonate so strongly “The effect on Nepal will be supposed to be financed through positive impact of the recession past three consecutive years. through our economy,” Shah oblique,” economist Biswambhar foreign direct investment. may be on remittances. The With Indian elections around told Nepali Times. Pyakurel told Nepali Times, “the Nara Bahadur Thapa, director Gulf region so far appears to in May 2009, political parties The global crisis may have huge bailouts of banks in Europe at the Research Department of come out of the crisis relatively will be tempted to check another silver lining for Nepal: and America will likely reduce Nepal Rastra Bank, says the unscathed, and a projected inflation rather than spur by arresting capital flight, their foreign aid budgets.” global financial meltdown is appreciation of the US dollar growth. especially to India. Some well- Charities and NGOs may also already causing psychological may increase the Rs1.5 billion “Besides, they are trying to known Nepali investors are be hit because of the huge losses anxiety in domestic financial that Nepalis send home every reform their financial sector to rumoured to have suffered big suffered by non-profit institutions. “They will be year through official channels. compete in the world financial losses in the Indian stock foundations in their stock market cautious and even discouraged Nearly as much comes to Nepal market,” says Thapa. market fall last week. z “Capitalism has degenerated into

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus says in this The point is that we have to return as soon as possible to And you think that those two incentives are mutually interview that greed has destroyed the world’s financial market mechanisms that can ameliorate the crisis and solve exclusive? system. Hasnain Kazim spoke with him about the profit problems. Solutions should come out of the market and not I am not interested in turning all profit-oriented motive, social consciousness and what should be done to from governments. companies into socially conscious operations. They are end the financial crisis. two different categories of companies—there will always But you just said yourself that the market is not capable of be businesses whose primary goal is that of earning as Mr Yunus, for years you have been preaching a more doing so. much money as possible. That is okay. But earning as socially conscious way of doing business and have That is exactly what we need to work on. For a long time, much money as possible can only be a means to an end, denounced the narrow focus on maximizing profit as the main priorities have been the maximisation of profits not an end in itself. One has to invest money in harmful. Now, the entire financial system is wobbling ... and rapid growth—but that focus has led to the current something meaningful that improves the quality of life for The current turn of events makes me sad. The collapse has situation. Each day, we have to look to see if there is all people. hurt so many people and has suddenly made the entire potentially harmful growth somewhere. If we find there is, world unstable. We should now be concentrating on making then we need to react immediately. If something grows What, though, does an increase in the number of socially sure that such a financial crisis does not happen again. unnaturally quickly, then we have to stop it. Why don’t minded companies have to do with the financial crisis? companies all pay into a fund that buys up securities that Were there more socially minded companies, people What should be done? have become too risky? would have more opportunities to shape their own There are huge holes in the current financial system that lives. The markets would be more balanced than they need to be plugged. The market is clearly not able to solve On the one hand, you say that the market has to solve the are today. these problems itself, and now people are having to run to problem itself, on the other hand, though, you criticize the governments to ask for emergency assistance. That is overly quick growth. You are talking about saving the world with altruism ... not a good sign because it shows that trust in the markets Capitalism, with all its market mechanisms, has to There are many philanthropists in this world, people who has evaporated. At the moment, there is unfortunately no survive—there is no question. But today there is only one help people by providing them with homes, education, other option than for government takeovers and government incentive for doing business, and that is the maximization of etc. But that is a one-way street. The money is spent and support. profits. The incentive of doing social good must be included. never comes back. Were one to invest that money in a There need to be many more companies whose primary aim socially minded company, it would stay in the economy Where exactly do you see the problem with such a is not that of earning the highest profits possible, but that of and would be much more effective because it would be strategy? providing the greatest benefit possible for human kind. used according to the criteria of the market and would BUSINESS 17 - 23 OCTOBER 2008 #421 5

West Seti attack

○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ Three information centres set up by the West Seti hydroelectric Maoist road show project in Baitadi and Dadeldhura were attacked over Dasain by locals, furniture looted, property and documents set on fire. The ”Is he really a Maoist?” one American communist muttered. much-delayed project is getting ready to build a dam which will export power to India. In a statement, Gopal Prasad Singh, of ou’d think by now that said they’d come to see what West Seti Hydro said: “Our newly elected government considers New York had seen it all, success on the left actually looked hydroelectricity generation as critical to the economy and also but nothing like the like. has a share in the 750MW West Seti project. This event cannot Y Nepali Maoist road show in the To wild cheers, the PM spoke be ignored, we appeal to the government to take legal action Big Apple. first in English, then Nepali, against the perpetrators soon.” During the war, Comrade visibly more comfortable in the Prachanda never stinted on latter. Mantras about change and

High-flying Thai stinging anti-American rhetoric. ending feudalism were rolled out, ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ ○○○○○○○○ But at the UN and on the lecture and promises to be good to private Thai Airways International is adding three more flights between circuit in Manhattan, Prime investors in hydro, tourism and Kathmandu and Bangkok to meet increasing demand from passengers, bringing the total number of weekly flights to 10. Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal was infrastructure. It was a pretty centrist sweetness personified. impressive speech. “Is he really a Maoist?” one American HERE AND THERE communist muttered. Then came the questions, and here Dahal was Daniel Lak nimble, humorous and fairly open about his life, ideology and This week, Finance Minister policy intentions for Nepal. bourgeois reform. More hisses, Baburam Bhattarai also came Nepalis tended to ask about visible disappointment setting in. across as a serious proponent of down-to-earth matters like the It was the turn of the less- free market capitalism in YCL. (“They’ll be tamed, along than-left next. A young American Washington DC. Ironically, he and with other parties’ youth wings man with short hair and a his boss were at the heart of the and merged into a development suspicious resemblance to a capitalist beast during its worst force.”) Land reform? (“The Mormon missionary wondered if Starting 26 October, the new flights (TG335/336) arrive in financial meltdown in modern priority is modern, effective the Nepali Maoists weren’t wrong Kathmandu at 1530hrs and depart at 1630hrs on Mondays, times. agriculture and feeding the to pay too much attention to Saturdays and Wednesdays using Boeing 777-200s. Whether PM Dahal spared the people.”) history and to the ideas of “dead time to tour the Asia Society’s The future of Maoism? foreign leaders in the modern

New sat phones excellent exhibit of Mao Zedong (“Time for Prachanda Path which world”? Dahal smiled and asked if ○○○○

○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ memorabilia (paintings, icons, emphasized multi-party the US was ready to forget George Thuraya, a Dubai-based mobile satellite service, posters and lapel pins) isn’t competition, freedom of the press Washington and Abraham Lincoln is exhibiting its latest products at Gulf known, but wonder what he’d and inclusion.”) And Marxism- and their role in the American Information Technology Exhibition 2008, Dubai. have made of the Mao chic. Leninsm-Maoism? (“We are not nation. Of the exhibits, Thuraya IP is a broadband Where the Prime Minister going to establish a dictatorship Summing up, the moderator service with a speed of 444 Kpbs. really shone was before a mixed of the proletariat.”) This provoked Kul Chandra Gautam offered crowd at the New School in hisses of dismay among hitherto advice to the new Nepali leader

Easy balance Greenwich Village. This was his hopeful US lefties. Nepalis that combined respect for his ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ ○○○○○○○○ first opportunity to be a man of however perked up and looked election victory with the sharp Himalayan bank has launched a new savings account with a low minimum balance of Rs the people on American soil. pleased. edge of years of experience on the 100. The account comes America’s tiny left was seething Chewing a wad of bubble gum world stage as a UN official. with a free VISA debit card, with enthusiasm. Some and brushing greasy hair from his Reminding the PM that he had monthly interest and an youngsters with red stars in their eyes, one questioner wanted to changed his name more than once accidental death coverage eyes were handing out leaflets in know as “one Maoist to another” in his life, Gautam made his point of Rs 500,000. The account is available at all of the bank’s praise of Comrade Dahal and if certain key principles weren’t with a warm smile. branches. wanted to give him a noisy being abandoned here. “It suited you being welcome when his limo pulled Not at all, said Nepal’s Prachanda, the fierce one, when

Responsible bikes up. UN Diplomatic Security Comrade-in-Chief, warning that you were fighting. But now please, ○○○○○○○○○○○○○ ○○○○○○○○○ thought not, and asked the local no one gained from “rigid, as Prime Minister, be like Pushpa In an effort to be socially responsible, AVCO lefties to move to a safe distance. doctrinaire and sectarian” Kamal, lotus flower, to the people International, sole distributor of Hyundai in Inside, there were skeptical thinking, and wowing the local of Nepal.” Nepal, donated Rs 1.5 million to the Prime young Nepali-Americans and a left with his assertion that had A laughing PK seemed to agree, Minister’s Natural Disaster Relief Fund on 3 October. couple of pot-bellied, pony-tailed Lenin lived another decade or so, but who could tell what the fierce white old communist men who he too would have allowed one was thinking? a casino”

thus develop a certain amount of market leverage.

The current financial crisis began as a credit crisis — homeowners in the US could no longer pay down their mortgages. At your Grameen Bank the repayment rate is close to 100 per cent. Do you think your bank could be a model? The fundamental difference is that our business is very connected to the real economy. When we provide a loan of $200, that money will go to buy a cow somewhere. If we lend $100, someone will maybe buy some chickens. In other words, the money goes to something with concrete value. Finance and the real economy have to be connected. In the US, the financial system has completely split off from the real economy. Castles were built in the sky, and suddenly people realised that these castles don’t exist at all. That was the point at which the financial system collapsed.

Is it now time for governments to intervene in the market economy and strengthen regulation? Yunus: There has to be regulation, but governments should not be allowed to steer the market. On the other hand, it has become clear that Adam Smith’s ‘invisible hand’ which supposedly solves all the market’s problems doesn’t exist.

(Interview conducted by Hasnain Kazim of Der Spiegel) ASHUTOSH TIWARI 6 NATION 17 - 23 OCTOBER 2008 #421 Ashok died for a better future Intersecting lives Fate had determined that the trajectory of the short life of Nepali student Ashok Bhattarai would fatally intersect with that of a high school junior, Raymond Whitcher (pictured) on 28 September at a shop in Houston. Bhattarai, 21, was earning money on the side to finance his studies and pay back a loan his family had taken back home in Nepal to send him to the US. Seventeen-year-old Whitcher was a student at Elkins High School, and surveillance footage shows him putting on a red bandana, walking into the store with a rifle and shooting Bhattarai point blank. He ran away with $5,000 in cash and aroused suspicions when he started showing off the money in school and buying a car. He was involved in an accident with his car, but confessed to the murder when he was questioned by Missouri police last week.

ABHA ELI PHOOBOO

shrug and say that they have no over, they send it home. Texas murder of Nepali highlights danger for students choice. Their families have sold “If we don’t get scholarships, land, homes and taken loans to we end up working in gas stations ABHA ELI PHOBOO Parasi who had taken a Rs 900,000 Detective Russell Terry, lead send them to America for better and stores, it’s not legal but its in HOUSTON loan to send their son to America. investigator of the case, education and good careers. work,” Satyal said, “you learn to Ashok had been in the US for remembered Ashok, and said: Students enter the United live with the fear.” Nepalis in wenty-one year old Ashok 15 months and was studying “Every time I walked into the States on an F1 visa, which does Houston president, Rajendra Bhattarai’s death in Texas bioengineering. He was working as store, he would call me Mister not allow them to work off Shrestha, shrugs his shoulders T on 28 September wasn’t the a part-time store clerk at the First Detective, and made jokes. He campus but because of and says that there isn’t much first time that a Nepali has been a Stop Food Store in Missouri City, knew his customers well and expectations and financial that can be done except encourage victim of crime abroad. But it was Texas, where he was shot. The what they wanted.” obligations back home, they often students to work on campus among the first to receive an assailant was later identified in Young Nepali students who work in high-risk and vulnerable where there is better security. overwhelming response. close circuit videos as 17-year-old work in similarly vulnerable settings. Karki says he has been Many of Ashok’s friends Within days, the Nepali Raymond Whitcher who has been situations in gas stations and robbed at gunpoint several times. across the United States did not community sprung into action via arrested. convenience stores attended the In 2002, Divesh Malla was celebrate Dasain this year out of the internet to raise the $15,000 Ashok was well liked by memorial. “This isn’t just about stabbed during a robbery in respect for him. On 10 October, required to send his body home. residents of Missouri City who Ashok, it could have been any of Houston, but survived. the day after Tika, Ashok’s body Nepalis here are well aware that frequented the convenience store us,” said Manish Satyal, who Students don’t tell their reached home in Nepal and was Ashok may not be the last. because of his friendly nature. A works in a gas station not far from families back home about the cremated at Pashupati. Within a week, a staggering following of loyal customers Ashok’s shop. dangers because they don’t want Ashok’s mother, Lila $104,000 poured in through cash, organised a memorial service The crime rate in Houston is them to worry. Most students like Bhattarai, was inconsolable. She checks and Paypal donations. The outside the store on 4 October. The the 15th highest in American Ashok work nearly 100 hours a remembered her son’s last phone money will not replace Ashok, next day, the Nepali Association cities with a murder rate of 5.9 week for $6 an hour. The money call on the morning before he was but hopefully it will help ease the of Houston had another memorial per 100,000. Nepali students here goes to pay rent, food and school killed. He had told her: “I’ll come financial burden of his family in at a funeral home. are well aware of the statistics but tuition. If there is anything left home soon.” FROM THE NEPALI PRESS 17 - 23 OCTOBER 2008 #421 7 Gang politics

Letter to the Editor in believe that the formation of YCL Naya Patrika, 14 October was a well-planned move of the Maoists aimed at the elections. YCL intimidation played a big The association of youth gangs role in tilting the election results with politics is nothing new. In in favor of the Maoists. fact, such groups have survived Now, the NC and UML have only because of their started believing in this ‘gang connections to their patrons in culture’ and are forming similar the political parties. The parties groups. UML’s Youth Force has

RSS use the groups for strong-arm unleashed anarchy, especially in tactics, especially during clashes between YCL. The police elections. Under the protective are helpless in controlling the Dependency shield of the political parties, situation because these groups the groups in turn exert clout. have links to political bosses in Editorial in Kantipur, 13 October Their activities are reflected in government. Recently in KIRAN PANDEY increasing crime rates and Dhankuta, the situation between rat race. If the competition had of thousands but none of these deteriorating security situation. YCL and YF got so out of hand been to further constructive groups were seen aiding those in Is the government having trouble The Maoists have shed their that the local administration had activities, then the society could need. Are strikes, shut downs and providing transportation for underground identity and have to impose a curfew. benefit. But sadly, they are violence the only purpose for Constituent Assembly members? entered mainstream politics, but Although the NC claims to be competing to extort, use violence these groups? Obviously not, because it is using their guerrillas are still out there a true democratic force, it has also and to call strikes. Ramdeb Madhesi five buses donated by the Indian in their YCL avatar. Some set up a Tarun Force to join the The Kosi flood destroyed lives Shantinagar, Kathmandu Embassy for their daily commute. The buses have a big sign that SELECTED MATERIAL TRANSLATED EVERY WEEK FROM THE NEPALI PRESS says ‘Gift from the government of India’ and are emblazoned with the flag of India and Nepal. It isn’t appropriate for Nepali legislators to be using buses gifted by a foreign government. Along with such financial support, the pressures of external influences are increasing on Nepal. In a country that is already economically dependent on other countries, the government is also becoming politically reliant. The constitutional assembly members, who should be guided by the responsibility to develop a free constitution without any outside influence, are giving out the message of double standard as they ride in donated buses with Indian flags on them. Nepalis in Japan have risen to the occasion and decided to donate bicycles to our representatives.

“Come on Girijababu, there’s space for you to hang on”.

Suman Manadhar in Nepal Samacharpatra, 15 October 8 NATION X Villages in Nepal and India are cut off from access due to broken bridges and damaged roads. Getting food and medicine is difficult and often requires long travels on many different means of transportation. Water world LINE WOLF NIELSEN in auri Devi’s bamboo hut is barely standing. A check on houses and belongings, but after six weeks the PHOTOS by SUMIT DAYAL row of wooden poles hold up the thatch roof, a camp was closed. G wall looks ready to slide into the waist deep Most of the 500 people living in Gauri Devi’s village are waters. Gauri Devi is among 2.5 million people in Bihar now back. The Kosi flows through the surrounding and 50,000 in Nepal made homeless by the Kosi farmland, and the villagers wade knee-deep in brown water changing its course. She has now returned to her village to get from one house to another. in Bihar’s district with her five children Boys laugh and dive off the backs of water buffalos, but Three months aged four to 10. the grownups are worried about the future. “How can we The water started rising on the night of 18 August stay here if we have no land to farm?” Gauri Devi asks. after the Kosi when everyone was asleep, within an hour it was more A local NGO distributes supplies in a village, a than a metre high. “The children were scared and all our 40-minute walk across flooded roads. Salt and other changed course, grain got wet. I was afraid too,” she says. essentials need a day’s roundtrip to nearby villages. The No one died in the village, but it took weeks for them village lacks medicine and food the most. Safe drinking to be rescued by the Indian military. They were taken to water is a problem because the tube wells are flooded. Bihar and Nepal high ground in Galmar where a camp was set up in a How quickly life will get back to normal here will school building. depend on how quickly engineers can channel the Kosi are joined by “We slept with more than 100 people per room but it back to its old course upstream in Nepal. was safe and all families got rice and lentils twice a day,” tragedy recalls Gauri Devi. The men went back once a week to All panoramics are digital composites.

X Plugging the breach in that unleashed havoc in Bihar is proving to be a massive challenge for Indian and Nepali engineers. They are trying to divert the river upstream to its original channel so they can repair the breach.

Subha Kanta Jha, 55, was living in a X relief camp in district in Bihar. After a night of heavy rain, he went out to check on his banana plantation but drowned on the way. 17 - 23 OCTOBER 2008 #421 9

X Three months after the waters rose, this is still the only dry patch connecting the village of Galmar to the rest of flooded Mahdepura district.

Bihar is amongst the poorest states in India, eight out of ten people are dependent on agriculture. The Kosi catastrophe is expected to make Bihar even poorer, and force farmers to migrate for work. X

X Gauri Devi returned to her village in Madhepura after a relief camp was closed down. She has returned to her flooded home with The flood waters are knee deep in four children. what used to be Satender Yadav’s rice field in Parwah Navtol in of Bihar. The flooding has submerged 1,100 sq km of farms here. X X

Here in Patarghat, the main road has disappeared. As in Nepal, dangerously overloaded boats help people cross to the other side. 10 SURYA NEPAL JAZZMANDU 2008 17 - 23 OCTOBER 2008 #421

PRAVAT J GURUNG

he Kathmandu Jazz Festival, now known as just ‘Jazzmandu’, is taking place after a year’s gap from 22-27 October. Charging up to put Kathmandu in the International Jazz Circuit, this year’s jazz yatra is T expected to get Kathmandu swinging to the rhythm of Jazzing up jazz like never before. International bands playing this year are Catia Werneck Quartet, Greg Lyon Trio, Mark Brown Quartet, Global Unity Trio, The Wanny Angerer Latin-Jazz Trio and Terrence Bowry along with Prustaar. Nepali ensembles Gandarbha, Kutumba, JCS Trio and Cadenza & Friends of Nepal are also up.

Catia Werneck Quartet, France

Catia and Carlos come from a musical family. Catia has performed on Broadway in the US before landing in Paris and Carlos is a bass player, guitarist, percussionist, composer and an arranger. Vincent Bidal, on the other hand, started playing keyboard when he was 3 years old and started showing interest in Jazz music. Interested in Latin music especially in Brazilian music besides jazz, drummer Christophe Bras has been one of the most popular drummers of the Brazilian scene in France.

Nepali Times caught up with the Catia Werneck Quartet and other international bands via cyberspace and got them to answer a few questions. .

Nepali Times: What do you think of jazzing it up in Kathmandu? Adrian: I have heard wonderful things about it from friends who have played here before, so I am looking forward to having a blast. Catia: I don’t know about Jazzmandu yet but I’ve prayed to be a part of The Wanny Angerer the event. Nepal is one place I’ve always wanted to go and I’m sure it Latin-Jazz Trio, will be a wonderful experience. Greg: I think it’s a great idea. Honduras Terrence: I’ll find out soon as this will be my first visit. With her style of music, a How did the band come together? mixture of bossa nova, Adrian: I was still in college back in the 90’s and Karl and I played romantic ballads, jazz and together then. Then I met Sanjay in 2002 in Bombay when he came Latin American sounds, down from L.A. We played and the good vibe connected us. So in 2004 Wanny Angerer with her when we both resettled in Bombay we formed Global Unity and have dynamic voice sings of love, been playing together ever since. life, loss & celebration. The Catia: Carlos and I come from a musical family. We grew up listening band includes Suchet to all kinds of music. When I came back from my tour to the US, we Malhotra on Drums & began playing together. Vincent was the last one to join the band, percussion and Svetlana Christophe and I have been working together for the past 10 years. Radashkevich on Keyboards. Greg: I was looking for musicians to play my compositions and we Swing, bossa-nova, samba, came together because of similar interest in music. These are some of bolero - the Wanny Angerer the best guys I’ve played with. Trio performs jazz with a Terrence: In Jazzmandu, I will be performing as a solo artist Latin twist. supported by Festival musicians. I haven’t actually met them but this Terrence Bowry, Berlin is rather exciting for me.

How did the band get its name? Born in London, a Canadian citizen, currently living in Adrian: At the time when we talked about getting together I was in Greg Lyon Trio, London New York, Sanjay was in LA and Karl in Bombay. We were individually Germany, Terrence Bowry is gigging around the world with our own respective set ups. Hence, our pure groove! With well- band is called ‘Global Unity.’ known songs of jazz, blues, The trio formed by Greg Lyons Terrence: We are still in search for a good name. Any suggestions? soul songs and his own on sax, Darren Moore on drums ambient and funky and Marcus Dengate on bass has What is the main motive of the band? compositions in his bag, a special place in the jazz Adrian: We love performing and song writing. So this trio gives us a Bowry's musical variety is world. If you’re lucky enough creative sphere to let us be who we are and that’s that. impressive. He was educated to witness this awesome little Catia: I’m a free artist, and love that my musicians feel like me. I write in music on stage while group, which you will in songs and each musician brings something, which is why freedom of working with bands and world Jazzmandu, you’ll hear them expression is important to us. class musicians for many encouraging each other to push Terrence: For me, music brings cultures together and bridges the years, which gives him a the limits of melodic generation gap. This is also what is happening in my band and our versatile background of music, inventiveness and rhythmic music: we are five musicians from different countries, musical dance and acting. daring. backgrounds and experience levels. SURYA NEPAL JAZZMANDU 2008 17 - 23 OCTOBER 2008 #42111 the ’Mandu “Jazz is freedom of expression” SCHEDULE JAZZMANDU PEACE FLAG PAINTING Wednesday, 22 October, 12.30PM-2.30PM Venue: Hyatt Regency

FREE JAZZ Wednesday, 22 October, 4PM-5PM Venue: Bhaktapur, Dattatraya Square Free entry Mark Brown Quartet, London UPSTAIRS JAM Wednesday, 22 October, Having studied classical and 7PM–10PM jazz music, Mark has Venue: Upstairs Jazz Bar established himself as one of Price: Rs. 350/- the leading jazz and pop session players. He has JAZZ FOR SCHOOL STUDENTS performed and recorded with Thursday, 23 October, Basement Jaxx, Amy 1.30 PM–3.30 PM Winehouse, Mark Ronson, Free entry, by invitation only Groove Armada, Jamie Cullum and many more. Jazz UK Magazine quoted Mark Brown VALLEY JAMS Quartet’s drummer Graham Thursday, 23 October Fox as "most listening" young 7.30 PM–9.30 PM drummer ever heard. Bass Price: Rs. 350/- player Jerry Haglund most Featuring recently became the guitarist Global Unity at: Hy Jazz, Hyatt Regency, Boudha for the acid-jazz legends that is Greg Lyons Trio at:1905, the James Taylor quartet while Kantipath guitarist Daniel Drury’s music Mark Brown Band at: La’soon, aims at a tapping foot and a Jawlakhel smirk on peoples faces.

KIRAN PANDAY GOKARNA JAZZ BAZAAR Friday, 24 October, 5PM - 10:30 Do you think jazz is underestimated in the music PM (Gates open at 4PM and close at 7PM) scene? Venue: Gokarna Forest Golf Adrian: Jazz is not underestimated anywhere. It has been Resort and Spa mystified for some reason but when people experience it at a Price: Rs. 599/- concert there is always an immediate connection whether they understand it or not. Its lack of sponsorship that stops it from being easily accessed. It can be the popular music of the day as PEACE PARADE it once was in the 30’s and 40’s. The music scene here in Saturday, 25 October, 12PM - 1PM Mumbai is ok. However, because of lack of exposure and Venue: Lazimpat Street awareness there are just a handful of quality jazz musicians. Free entry Catia: No, not at all. It’s only those who don’t play jazz that Global Unity Trio, Mumbai think it doesn’t have any future. Infact, the biggest festivals in RED HOT LATIN JAZZ the world are jazz festivals. Listening to jazz is giving wings to Global Unity hails from Mumbai and was formed back in 2004. Adrian Saturday, 25 October, your imagination, which is why a jazz concert can be terrific has performed at the VH1 Jazz Masters held at the Gate Way of India. 7.30 PM - 10.30 PM. therapy. I’ve been living in France for 24 years. I’m a part of Sanjay has crossed many borders, physical & cultural, in pursuit of his (To be seated by 7.20 PM) several jazz festivals, but I still haven't managed to sing in all vision –a vision of world community, expressed through music. He Venue: Regency Ballroom, of them. So you can imagine how many there are, know how graduated from Guitar Institute of Technology, LA in 1989 and quickly Hyatt Regency the jazz scene is like there and how respected it is. became an active member of the Los Angeles music scene as a guitar Price: Rs. 499/- Greg: Yes. It is not big business. The media is, player and composer. Karl Peters grew up in a railway employees’ colony understandably, only interested in promoting that which is in Madras where most people played music to relieve the tedium of already popular out of self-interest. The popular stuff is dreary day jobs. His father sang and played the guitar at gymkhanas and JAZZMANDU MASTER CLASS (Workshop) dictated by the music industry which is only interested in the night clubs while his uncle was a drummer. His musical upbringing th safest options for making money. The public would only be Sunday, October 26 , revolved around the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and Cliff Richards and 11:00am - 12:00noon aware of real musical expression if they went looking for it. he eventually got into music himself. Venue: Kathmandu Jazz And about the scene here, well, it's struggling – like Conservatory everywhere else – but it’s a mission to fill the world with Free entry (first come first seat) truth. Nick Aggs of Afro Dizzi Act was one of the first international bands who played for the Terrence: The problem I see is that jazz musicians 1st Kathmandu Jazz Festival and he shares his thoughts. sometimes underestimate other musical genres in order to keep JAZZ AT PATAN jazz 'pure'. I believe jazz can survive only on inclusiveness. In Jazzmandu is a wonderful festival in an amazing part of the world. I have Sunday, 26 October, 6PM - 8.30 Berlin, were I currently live, there are many great jazz performed at Jazzmandu in 2002 and 2003 with my band Afro Dizzi Act and in 2006 as PM. (To be seated by 5.45PM) musicians, you can go see live jazz every night! The a solo performer with the backing of the finest rhythm section in East Asia, Cadenza. I Venue: Patan Museum Square think my favorite gig over the years was at Basantapur, Durbar Square; the day I Price: Rs. 999/- competition is fierce and growing with more international landed in Kathmandu in 2006. Straight from the airport and onto the stage in front of artists arriving weekly. Especially jam sessions are especially thousands of enthusiastic Nepali music fans, the atmosphere was electric. What I love inspiring, when young music students and seasoned about the festival is that it attracts such a diverse range of musicians and ALL-STAR FEVER & JAZZMANDU professionals come together and play. experiences. One moment you’ll be playing be-bop and funk at Gokarna, the next a traditional Nepali folk song surrounded by the ART EXHIBITION majesty of Patan. Monday, 27 October, Tickets are available at Upstairs Jazz bar, Lazimpat, Moksh Music as the key to peace and unity is truly realized at Jazzmandu. There are so 6.30 PM – 10PM Jawlakhel, all Nepa Music Outlets & respective concert venues many talented musicians sharing ideas and playing together in a country full of Venue: Hotel Shangri-La, or call 9841614230. For online booking log onto: grandeur, humility and spirituality. Shambala Garden www.jazzmandu.com Price: Rs. 699/- 12 INTERNATIONAL 17 - 23 OCTOBER 2008 #421

anxious to preserve the traditional status-quo, analysts say. King Bhumibol is revered by Thailand’s elite Thais as a semi-divine figure who, during 62 years on the throne, has overseen the development of his country revolutionaries from a rural backwater to prosperous land of skyscrapers, ANNE CERA in BANGKOK skytrains and shopping malls. People power in Thailand is different The countryside has developed ince August, Thailand’s from people power in Nepal less rapidly. government is not in the The king’s portrait appears S Government House. The all over the country, often administration has been forced covering the side of buildings to conduct its business out of many stories high. He is Bangkok’s old airport. officially above politics but, in Government House itself is a his own words, has been “in the sea of yellow: the colour that middle, and working in every symbolises Thailand’s revered field”. In 1973 and in 1992 he King Bhumibol Adulyadej. intervened when military Thailand’s would-be regimes opened fire on revolution is being led by the unarmed protesters to stop the People’s Alliance for Democracy slaughter and restore democracy. (PAD), but this is not what In 2006, he quickly endorsed most Nepalis understand by the coup that toppled Thaksin. revolution, or democracy. But Thais never discuss the This ‘people power’ is made king’s role in politics because up of Bangkok’s middle class anything seen as an ‘insult’ to and their leaders are from the the king is punishable with 20 old aristocratic elite. They want years in jail. Prosecutions are to bring down a government common. One subject in that was elected by a landslide particular is off limits: the less than a year ago, and want royal succession. King an elected parliament Bhumibol is 80 years old and dissolved. To make it all ANNA CERA has suffered poor health. happen, they say the army LAP DOG: Protesters at the seize of government homes in Bangkok last week. Writing in the latest edition should stage its 19th coup in of the American scholarly Thai history. exceeding a few thousand and government would win it. So telecoms billionaire who led quarterly Journal of Democracy Over 400 people were opinion polls show that most why is the government so Thailand 2001-2006. It also lies Thitinan says: ‘Both sides are injured in street battles around Bangkok residents oppose their powerless to contain the crisis? in the great undiscussed issue of well aware, as all Thais fear but parliament on 7 October. Three protests. Even the government’s The answer lies in the Thai politics, the monarchy. dare not say in public, that protesters were killed. But PAD fiercest critics say that if an premiership of Thaksin At the beginning of the Thailand’s future is up for has rarely attracted crowds election was held again the Shinawatra, the controversial decade Thaksin’s Thai Rak Thai grabs...the setting sun on the party developed a devoted king’s long reign is the following among the rural poor background against which the with policies that delivered battle of attrition for Thailand’s cheap health care and economic soul is taking place. King development. They rewarded Bhumibol’s unsurpassed moral him with an unprecedented authority has been Thailand’s second term and a giant sheet anchor, the mainstay of parliamentary majority. national stability and Not everyone was so happy. continuity. Once he is gone, the Liberals criticised Thaksin for country will be in uncharted authoritarianism, the Bangkok waters.’ middle class were appalled by It is unclear who will what they saw as Thaksin’s use Thailand’s next monarch. of government power to promote Thitinan says none of King his business interests, and the Bhumibol’s eligible heirs can old, aristocratic political reasonably be expected to establishment were also command as much popularity, alarmed. reverence and moral authority as “The bureaucrats, the he does. military and the monarchy, the King Bhumibol has made no troika that has called the shots public comment on the latest in Thailand for decades opposed round of PAD protests since Thaksin,” explains Thitinan they began. But his wife, Queen Pongsudhirak, a political Sirikit, announced a personal scientist at Bangkok’s donation for the treatment of Chulalongkorn University. injured protesters and, a few In 2006 Thaksin was days later, for injured overthrown by a military coup. policemen. Many of his supporters believe “We, ladies and gentlemen, the plot was masterminded by are the musketeers of the king General Prem Tinsulanonda, and queen,” PAD leader Sonthi chairman of the privy council Limthongkul told supporters as and King Bhumibol’s chief he celebrated the donations. adviser. Prem has always denied This week, Queen Sirikit and the allegation. the army chief, Gen Anupong, Thaksin was disqualified attendedthe funeral of one of from politics. But when the protesters who had died. elections were held at the end of According to The Nation, the 2007, to the coup-makers’ queen described the dead dismay, the rural poor voted woman as “a good girl” who Thaksin’s supporters back into “helped to protect the country office. A few weeks later the and the monarchy”. PAD were back on the streets. No one in Thailand is This is a contest between willing to publicly discuss who populist democrats who the could be the powerful backers poor keep electing, and giving the PAD the high level conservatives in the bureaucracy, support they need to carry on military and the palace who are their campaign. z CULTURE 17 - 23 OCTOBER 2008 #421 13 The theatre of war Chicago 10 and Battle in Seattle revisit protests

he recent collapses of some that Hoffman embodied and that cunning of the protesters of the American banking the proceeding seem to have taken first ‘internet protest in history’ is T institutions and their from the get-go. depicted by a map on a wall with reverberations across the world As the trial continues that Xs and arrows and orders over a have led to renewed questions material, entertaining and walkie-talkie. However, the best over economic liberalisation engaging in itself, is deftly parts of the film are in the streets: championed by free traders. spliced with actual footage from the clever maneuvering over the the of the Yippie-organised police barricades to keep the Festival or Life, their ‘counter- delegates from attending their CRITICAL CINEMA convention,’ a free-wheeling meetings, the spirit of A Angelo D’Silva camp-out in a park that drew camaraderie, the heady adrenaline- thousands of participants and fueled chases and taunts between No other event in recent the eventual confrontation with protesters and cops, and history has lead to more questions the cops at the Democratic ultimately the visceral gut- about the present trajectory of Convention. wrenching violence at the MIN RATNA BAJRACHARYA unregulated free-market The opening credits are still culmination of the escalation. globalisation. But in 1999, running and it is already clear on Surprisingly, it is these ambitious thousands of protesters which end of the political scenes that the rookie director descended on to Seattle to spectrum Battle in Seattle’s shines, capturing something that challenge the WTO, its policies Doctor dogs and its effect on third-world economies and the environment. ango and Tara are at the Bal Mandir for their monthly play Stuart Townsend dramatises that time and seem to enjoy it as much as the children do. event in his debut Battle in M Mango (pictured) is a cuddly and lovable Tibetan terrier Seattle. That form of people and Tara is a friendly and furry mixed-breed. Both belong to power, arguably has its roots in Kathmandu Animal Treatment Centre (KAT) and are part of pet another event: the riot during the therapy sessions with Bal Mandir’s orphaned, physically and 1968 Democratic convention in mentally handicapped children. Chicago, which gets the The children are guided by a group of adults to touch and play documentary treatment by Brett with the two dogs. At first some are hesitant, but soon they get Morgen in Chicago 10. comfortable with the dogs and hug and play with them. Research Morgen unconventionally shows a direct link between pet interaction and improved mental retells the protests surrounding well-being in institutionalised individuals. the 1968 Democratic Convention “The stimulation and excitement really enlivened the kids, in Chicago, the violent there was a new light in their eyes as they started to understand confrontation with the police and and pet the dogs,” says Rebecca Ordish of the Mitrata Foundation, subsequent court case against allegiance lie, with zippy seems genuine– in the varied and who brought KAT and Bal Mandir together for the pet therapy some of the popular faces of the tutorial—blunt as police baton— difficult to articulate emotions sessions. movement, the titular Chicago 10 that summarises the history of from scenes of victory and defeat, While the new-comers are intimidated because it’s their first (the eight defendants and their WTO and its problem. Yet and in those hot-blooded scenes time being so close to an animal, by the end of an hour, they two attorneys). director Townsend strives for a of confrontation. enthusiastically pat and cuddle the dogs. The most marked effect Among the defendants of anti- more nuanced treatment, an Politics asides, I wonder how has been on the disabled children: they are usually the ones most war members of Gandhian- attempt by the director to mine much more entertaining Battle in comfortable with the dogs and enjoy the sessions most, taking the influenced MOBE and the the events of the protest at the Seattle would have been purely as initiative to play with them first, and even encouraging the others Students for a Democratic Society WTO meeting of 1999 for a kind a heist film, a kind of Ocean’s 11 to do the same. and Bobby Seale of the Black of dramatic connectedness and meets Chicago 10 with savvy One small boy tirelessly followed the dogs throughout the Panthers, are the countercultural empathy a la Crash or Babel, protestors rocking out their session, calling them by their names, pointing out the different Yippies, personified by Abbie which hadn’t worked well with unwashed hippie threads while parts of their body, all the while with a wide smile across his face. Hoffman and Jerry Rubin. The those films anyway. sticking it to the system and Bal Krishna Dangol, deputy director of Bal Mandir, explains: “Pet yippies, at turns abrasive and The dramatisation leads to outsmarting the grunting cops in therapy helps children relate to animals, bond with them and that absurd, employed theatrics to trouble with its content, each their riot gear. Now that’s the kind stimulates their overall development.” ridicule the status quo. powerful moment sabotaged by of unabashedly leftie Hollywood The dogs seem to enjoy the sessions too. Mango was initially Morgen’s documentary the shroud of ambiguity. Had the movie I want to see. rescued from the streets and found severely disfigured. He is now a abstains entirely from talking protests really inspired delegates KAT mascot, while Tara is a paraplegic who lived most of her life heads or narration. Instead, using from smaller nations to challenge Chicago 10 in a tiny cage after an accident. Both dogs interact with the an ensemble cast of Hollywood the status quo? Were the Director: Brett Morgen children with the utmost patience, letting them pull and touch actors Morgen dramatises the Starbucks-busting anarchists Cast: Hank Azaria, Dylan Baker, them. court proceedings of the simply a fringe in an otherwise Nick Nolte, Mark Ruffalo Looking on, KAT’s Jan Salter says: “We can trust the dogs around conspiracy trial using actual court peaceful protest movement? The 2008. R. 1 hr 43min children, they love each other.” transcripts. Using an animation ultimate ambivalence that the Roma Aryal technique associated with Richard film’s treatment of events— Battle in Seattle Linklater (A Scanner Darkly), he characterised by turns Director: Stuart Townsend Mitrata Foundation: www.mitrataa.org renders the footage into a cartoon, meaningful, then futile—perhaps Cast: Martin Henderson, Michelle KAT: www.katcentre.org.np which frankly looks like a poor reflects society’s own failure to Rodriguez, Woody Harrelson, Bal Mandir: www.nconepal.org man’s Waking Life but lends come to turns with the protests. Charlize Theron itself to the spirit of absurdism The infamous planning and 2008. R. 1 hr 38 min

Budìjovice in the Czech Republic. Indian cuisine. So the next time I was in the the I argued that Nepal is fairly well known Bohemian Nepalis southern Bohemian town made famous as in the Czech Republic now, and even the city where the Budweiser beer gets its Shrepas have grown to recognise the name from, I looked into the Indicka Czech flag on backpacks while trekking. s the Nepali diaspora expands, it is Restaurace. It is a fairly well known fact So he could easily change the name of the getting difficult not to see a Nepali that most Indian restaurants across the restaurant to ‘Nepalska Restaurace’. After Arestaurant in the world’s big cities. world today are either owned by Nepalis or all, Helsinki has eight Nepali restaurants, But Nepalis can now be found running have Nepali chefs, and this one is no and five of them are a chain run by two restaurants even in the remoter parts of different. brothers also from Gulmi, and the other countries like Canada, Australia or the Arjun Sapkota (pictured), originally three Nepali eateries are run by an Iranian Czech Republic. from Gulmi, was rather surprised when he and a Bangladeshi. At the Kitchen in heard me speaking in broken Nepali on the Arjun and his friend Chhatra Adhikary Calgary, it is easy to strike up a phone. Later, over a generous and tasty plan to open three more Nepali restaurants conversation with the chef and staff. The helping of dal bhat, Arjun told me how he in Bohemia soon. Says Arjun: “That’s place is cosy and warm, evoking the sights, came to Europe to study, and with a probably when we can give our sounds and smells of the faraway bachelor degree in economics decided to restaurants a Nepali name.” Himalaya. A Nepali regular mentions that get away from the crowded restaurant his cousin runs a restaurant in Èeské scene in Prague and cash in on the aura of www.indickarestaurace.com 14 CITY 17 - 23 OCTOBER 2008 #421

ABOUT TOWN After her mother divorced her father eight years ago, Sonia EXHIBITIONS (Minnisha Lamba) was forbidden from seeing her father. Hell- Solidarity, a photo exhibition from the Women’s Trek for Peace bent on meeting him, Sonia walks off from home only to be and Development at Nepal Tourism Board, till 19 October, 9AM- kidnapped by Kabir (Imran Khan). The abductor agrees to negotiate 5PM. 4414430 with no one but Sonia’s billionaire father, Vikrant Raina (Sanjay Dutt), and Sonia's mother is forced to bring him into the game to Installation Exhibition – Mountain from 18-20 October, 11AM-6PM save her only daughter. When Kabir holds Sonia hostage, Vikrant at Nepal Art Council, Babar Mahal. is pulled into a cat and mouse game and made to obey Kabir’s Collaborative Exhibition till 24 October at the Embassy of Japan, daunting tasks. With his daughter’s life at stake, Vikrant is made 11AM-6PM Entertainment to comitt crime and to face the ultimate challenge of how far he A way of Life- a photo show by Rajendra Manadhar, till will go to save his daughter. 26 October, 5PM onwards at The Bakery café, Pulchowk. Kumudinee- The Lotus, an exhibition of drawings and black Call 4442220 for show timings at Jai Nepal pottery sculptures by Kalapremi Shrestha till 28 October at Quest www.jainepal.com Siddhartha Art Gallery, Baber Mahal Revisited. Sunday-Friday 11AM–6PM and Saturday 12PM–4PM. 4218048.

EVENTS sfd ;fgf ] 7nf" ] eGg ] x'Fb}g . kl;gfsf ] s'g} /ª / hft klg x'Fb}g . sfd g]kfn ;/sf/ Vote in 2008 Presidential Election and pick up a Federal Write in u/]/ vfg nhfpg' klg x'Fb}g . rf]/]/, 9fF6]/, 5n]/, n'6]/ vfg kf] Ballot 17 October, 11AM-2PM, Summit Hotel. nhfpgk5' { . hf ] hxf F /x/] hg' sfd u5 { pm To;df} /dfpgk5' { uf/a} ;"rgf tyf ;~rf/ dGqfno 30th Yala Maya Classic, a classical music series,18 October, ugk5'{ { / ;dlkt{ eP/ ug5k'{ { . sfd g } zlQm xf,] elQm xf ] / dlQm' ;"rgf ljefu 5PM, Yala Maya Kendra, Patan Dhoka xf ] . sfdsf ] OHht u/f,}+ kl;gfsf ] ;Ddfg u/ }+ . Inside Man, a film by Spike Lee, 20 October, 6.30 PM, Lazimpat Gallery Café. 4428549

MUSIC Himalayan Blues Festival 2008 from 15-19 October. 2313997 Jazzmandu 2008 from 22-27 October. 9841614230. Poesie and Fags a jazz vocal trio from Holland, Saturday at Patan .5522708, Sunday at Thamel.4700736. New Orleans Café, 7PM 74 Twister playing live every Tuesday at Moksh, Pulchowk. 5526212 Tuesday Melody at the Jazzabell Café, everyday happy hour 6-8PM Happy cocktail hour, 5-7PM, Ladies night on Wednesday with live unplugged music at Jatra Café & Bar. HyJazz Club every Friday from 8.30 PM, Hyatt Regency, Kathmandu. 4489800 Dance and Cocktails at Cube Bar, Kamaladi.4438017 Fusion and Looza Band every Friday night, Bhumi Resto Lounge, Lazimpat. 4412193 Rudra night fusion and classical Nepali music by Shyam Nepali and friends, every Friday, 7PM at Le Meridien,Gokarna. 4451212 Sufi music by Hemanta Rana, every Friday at 7.30 PM at Dhaba Restaurant and Bar, Thapathali. Fusion and Classical Music by Anil Shahi every Wednesday, rock with Rashmi Singh every Friday, Sufi & Raga with Hemant Rana every Saturday, 8 PM onwards, Absolute Bar. 5521408

DINING Wok & Curry every Wednesday at Hyatt Regency. 4491234 Sunday Jazz Brunch at Hyatt Regency with performances by Mariano and his band from 12- 3.30PM. 4491234 WEEKEND WEATHER by NGAMINDRA DAHAL Organic Salad Bar and Steak at Jalan Jalan restaurant every Friday from 6PM, Rs 650 A significant change in the past two week’s weather is the change of Fusion of Marcela Regan’s new menu and Mannie’s new bar at season from wet to dry and drop of the mean temperature by 4 Dhokaima Cafe. 5522113 degrees. October is the second driest month when the monthly quota Plat Du Jour at Hotel Shangri-la, Kathmandu, Rs 600. 4412999 of rain for Kathmandu Valley is only 56 mm. And this rain usually Pizza & Pasta every Monday and Tuesday at Rox Restaurant. falls in the first half of the month. This October, we’ve had only Hyatt Regency. 448936 10mm so far. Satellite pictures of Thursday morning show the Pasta pesto passion at La Dolce Vita, Thamel. 4700612 monsoon rolling back from eastern and central India while the westerly Steak special with free Irish coffee at K-too! Beer & Steakhouse, fronts seem waiting to advance eastward. Also, there is a temporary Thamel. 4700043 low pressure trough over the eastern hills of Nepal that may Continental and cafe item with Live band every accumulate passing clouds and produce brief isolated showers such Friday at Vintage Cafe and Pub, Woodland Complex, as those experienced in Nagarkot (16mm) and (16 mm) on Durbarmarg. Wednesday. In general, autumny weather with sunny days and clear Unlimited wine offer for Rs 990 at La Maison wine nights are in store for the weekend. and cigar lounge. 9841333628 Home made pasta at Alfresco, Soaltee Crowne Plaza. 4273999 Reality Bites, The Kaiser Café, Garden of Dreams, KATHMANDU operated by Dwarika’s Group of Hotels, 9AM-10PM. 4425341 Steak escape with Kathmandu’s premier steaks at the Olive Bar and Bistro, Hotel Radisson. 4411818 Cocktails, mocktails and liqueurs at the Asahi Lounge, opening KATHMANDU VALLEY hours 1-10PM, above Himalayan Java, Thamel. Retro Brunch Barbeque with live acoustic music by Sound Fri Sat Sun Chemistry, every Saturday, 12-3PM at LeMeridien-Kathmandu, Gokarna. 4451212 Starry night barbecue at Hotel Shangri-la with Live performance by Ciney Gurung, Rs. 666, at the Shambala Garden, every Friday 26-13 26-14 25-14 7PM onwards. 4412999 Kebabs and curries at the Dhaba, Thapathali. 9841290619 lly Expression Coffee at Hotel Shangrila, Lazimpat and Mandap Hotel,Thamel Socially Responsible coffee at Himalayan Java, Thamel

For inclusion in the listing send information to editors(at)nepalitimes.com HAPPENINGS 17 - 23 OCTOBER 2008 #421 15

KIRAN PANDAY ONE FOR ALL AND ALL FOR ONE: The UML's Jhalnath Khanal, Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal and the NC's Girija Koirala at the UML tea party on Wednesday.

MIN RATNA BAJRACHARYA SOLIDARITY TREK: A photo exhibition of pictures from the Women’s Trek for Peace and Development, in which Nepali and Canadian women took part, opened on Wednesday at the Nepal Tourism Board.

KIRAN PANDAY NOT THE SAHARA: But Sauraha. A tourist lodge in Chitwan tries out camel rides on the banks of the Rapti River at the edge of the national park on Monday. ELD

MIN RATNA BAJRACHARYA FLAMENCO MATADOR: The Honorary Consul General of Spain to Nepal, Ambica Shrestha, hosted an evening of modern flamenco improvisations on Wednesday on the occasion of the national day of Spain. 16 T Another wassoangryhe to thecustomsguytakehome. there andthenratherthangiveit preferring toconsumeitright down halfabottleofwhiskey, One distraughtpassengerdrank Red ChanneltoseizeLabels. Customs wasonRedAlertinthe were allsurprisedtoseethatthe home fromtheGulfforDasain Nepaliworkerscoming Jones andComradeNapoleon. to distinguishbetweenFarmer period, itissuregettingdifficult strict liquiddietoverthefestival seen someseniorcomradesona confiscated scotch,buthaving know whathappenedtothe the Dasainholidays.Wedon’t including OldSmuggler,over another 16assortedbrands, 52 bottlesofRedLabeland seized 15bottlesofBlackLabel, proudly announcedthatit through customs. sneak inanextrabottleofbooze clamping shops attheairportand closing hawkers fromthesidewalks, from theBagmati, nation by a semblanceofnormalcytothis Judge apartybyitstea The DeptofCustomshas stone unturnedtorestore government isleavingno he Baddies-led downtheDutyFree BACKSIDE downthosetryingto clearing evicting squatters Kathmandu’s blackmarket.And sell in or acoupleofperambulatorsto smuggle inmorethanonetricycle hapless touristswhotryto it istocomedownhardon cadres. Thewayhe’sgoingtodo afford thehandoutsforBaddie revenue forhisbudgetsohecan is reallyseriousaboutraising Now weknowComradeBaburam cans ofbeer 1 pieceeach Camera 1piece having topayduty: brought intothecountrywithout consumable itemsthatcanbe lists theconsumableandnon- pink passengers (inappropriately Declaration Formsforarriving just printednewCustoms the AirportDutyFree.Andithas Ministry orderedtheclosureof didn’t work,theFinance So, whenwhiskeyconfiscation revenue tobalancehisbudget. BRB hasanuphillbattleraising shattered hisbottleonthefloor. Perambulator 1piece Video CameraorSteel(sic) Tricycle 1piece Used FountainPen,BallPen Fishing Rod1piece Liquor upto1.15litresor12 paperthistime)which FG with theFierceOne.Thatwas glimpse ofhimshakehands crush ofpeopletryingtocatcha knocked downbecauseofsheer it, whenhewasverynearly even ifhehadtogodowndoing democracy andpressfreedom finger sayinghe’ddefend in astampede. President beingnearlytrampled tea partywithoutitsParty country, itcan’tevenorganisea wonder theNCcan’tgovernthis a partybyitsteaparty.No chaotic conditions. for sheerbadmanagementand kangresi teapartytookthecake gatherings thisweek,the the nearfuture.Ofall their ownbourgeoisteapartyin Maobuddies arealsothreatening this country,itlookslikethe post-Dasain madteapartiesin As ifwedidn’thaveenough are readytopounceonyou. vigilant customsofficials ball pointpen,beware,Nepal’s more thanonefountainpenor you aretryingtosmugglein item. fishing rodsweresuchahot it’s arevelationtotheAssthat Girjau waswavinghisindex It’s reallytrue,youcanjudge Warning totourists FG : If sector enterprises.Bhattarai intention toprivatisepublic free marketorientationand declare hisparty’scapitalist attending theIMFmeetingto Maoist FinanceMinisteris nationalising banks,whileour Americaisgoingsocialist, to? days. Whatistheworldcoming smooching inpubliconeofthese love festisgoing,thetwowillbe At therateGirija-Prachanda is thepan?” chiapan: “Wehadthechia,where of here!” aides: “Getthosejournalistsout when hewasheardtellinghis Overheard attheeh-maley CDO Regd No194/056/57Lalitpur, CentralRegion PostalRegd.No 04/058/59 FG cannibals. into anationof meat. We’re turning insatiable demandfor to meetthecapital’s donkeys andelderlytangaponies suppliers thereareslaughtering Nepalganj thatdriedmeat intelligence fromrelativesin sukuti inKTMafterreceiving The Asshasstoppedbuying need awar? Question thenarises:whydidwe convention nextmonth. CPN-M afteritsgeneral would bejettisoningthe‘M’in even letitslipthathisparty ass(at)nepalitimes.com 17 -23OCTOBER2008 FG #421

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