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# 14 27 October - 2 November 2000 20 pages Rs 20 FACES OF BHAKTAPUR 9,10,11 State of the State 2 Sports 17 From the Nepali Press 6 Off the Beaten Trek19 Economic Sense 8 Under My Hat 20 EXCLUSIVE CK LALLALCK ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ CK○○○○○ LALLALCK Court martial he first to be worshipped, as usual, Twenty-eight officers from the Royal was the laddoo-loving, Nepal Army’s UN peacekeeping elephant-headed Ganesh, force in southern Lebanon are as the five days of facing general court martial for TYampanchak kicked off on Tuesday. LetLet therethere bebe lightlight allegedly selling ammunition to The next day was devoted to that air- your prayers of tamasoma jyotirgamaya Islamic Hizbollah and Amaal borne scavenger, the crow, which this to lead you from darkness to light. militants. Apparently this wasn’t the week were feasting on all the uncol- In the brave new world of trium- lected garbage littering the city streets. phant capitalism, everyone is an first time: earlier Nepali officers had Thursday was Dog Day in the morn- ‘Economic Man’, a Vaishya. Just like sold UN rations and a generator to ing, while offerings were made to the original religious antecedents of the rebels. The Nepali weekly, Jana Laxmi, the Goddess of Fortune, in the Christmas are covered by modern Aastha, which broke the story last evening. Friday is Cow Day, and then commercialisation, so it is with Tihar. week, hinted at a cover-up and comes the turn of the bull. Tihar will From virtual firecrackers on the named important officers. The army end on Sunday with sisters venerating Internet to Diwali greetings on satellite has made no official comment on their brothers. With that the festival channels, the original message of Tihar the scam or the court martial season that began nearly a month ago is lost in this blaze of consumerism. proceedings. See: From the Nepali will finally come to an end in most Good fortune is translated into wealth, Press. …..........................….. pg 6 parts of the country. and the implication is that money can There are variations in the way buy you happiness. Tihar is celebrated in different parts of So we open up our dhukutis and Nepal. A day before Laxmi Puja, for paint Laxmi’s little feet from the door Two ordinances practitioners of Ayurvedic medicine, it to the vault. Greed is glorious, and, Government sources confirmed two is Dhanbantari Day, when they bow to with globalisation, ostentatious ordinances have been forwarded to their founder in reverence. The displays of wealth are no longer the palace for royal assent. One business community in the tarai considered in bad form. Egged on by envisages the setting up of a celebrates the same day as Dhanteras cable, the new creed is: it’s no use Regional Administrator in each of when families buy a piece of jewellery, having it unless you can flaunt it. Thus or at least a metal utensil, to mark the the rush at jewellery shops, department the five development regions, and occasion. The day of Diwali is also stores, illegal cracker vendors in the the other the setting up of a when some business communities close by-lanes of Asan and the gambling paramilitary Armed Police Force. their accounting year and open new dens of Gyaneswor and Maharajgunj, Both laws have been in the making ledgers by imprinting a yellow swastika not to mention all those casinos in the for some time now, but the process on deep red cloth-covers. Friday is also city where all you need to do to get in gathered momentum after the Mha Puja, the day of self-worship for This Tihar, let us light a lamp rather is pretend to be an Indian. Maoist strike on Dunai last month. the Newar community which also The form is prominent, but does celebrates its New Year (the 1120th) on than curse the darkness. the substance of Tihar survive? The that day. On Brother’s Day (Sunday), best time to reflect upon that question Melamchi Kayasthas of the tarai worship their Latter-day traditions of Tihar the day it is lit at the start of is this week, when expensive sweet ancestor Lord Chitragupta, considered include the official sanction of gam- Yampanchak, it keeps burning till all packets oust sel-roti, dry fruits Kathmandu is running out of water, to be the ledger-keeper of Yama—the bling. Nepal imports nearly Rs 50 festivities come to an end. Truly, Tihar challenge guavas from the garden, but this is due more to God of Fate. It is also the only day million worth of playing cards every is a festival of lights: from the small madals make way for electric guitars in mismanagement when Rani Pokhari in the centre of year, and most of them are used up this mustard oil lamps in tiny terracotta the deusi groups, and people go for and under- Kathmandu is open to the public. week. Even women, traditionally barred cups to designer candles and colourful extravagance in a big way even in a utilisation of Diwali, as it is called in India, is from gambling, play their hands with electric bulbs that is the rage of the festival as religious as the tarai’s existing sup- primarily a religious festival. Whereas modest stakes. In the eastern and upper middle classes. celebration of Tihar in Nepal has taken on a socio- central tarai, celebrations continue till All life is said to be composed of Chhath. plies than a Eating OutOutEating real shortage. cultural and family-oriented aspect in Chhath Pooja when the Sun is elabo- five basic elements—earth, water, air, But all is not Nepal. The deusi and bhailo chanting lost, and even that in Kathmandu Upgrading ex- rately worshipped in its female form as fire and sky. They owe their origin to from house to house has an almost Mother Goddess Chhathi Mai. This the sun, which is the representation of what is lost is not page 1212page isting capacity Halloween-like trick-or-treat quality to four-day festival involves fasting, the Supreme Being. The earthen lamp lost forever. Like a and expanding it. Then there is the legend about King penance and then feasting. It is said is worshipped as a miniature symbol of potter’s wheel, change goes and then antiquated water mains would be Bali, who was so generous that all who that Chhath is the only time when even the life-giving sun. An earthen lamp is comes back in cycles. The realisation adequate for now. But at the rate went to see him returned with all a setting sun is celebrated for its glory, the product of all the five elements— that culture is beyond the realm of Kathmandu is growing, the Valley wishes fulfilled. He was tricked into since the cycle of birth starts with the panchatatwa. A potter takes raw consumerism seems to have dawned will need extra water from outside. giving up his kingdom through the death. In a sense, then the setting sun is earth, mixes it with water, turns it on upon many. The little terracotta diyo is The Asian Development Bank is to machinations of Devas and their chief even more important than the rising his wheel, lets it dry in the air under the staging a comeback. It’s all a matter of give the final green light for the conspirator, the wily Bishnu. It is said one. sky and then bakes it in fire. When that keeping faith. Darker the night, $450 million project next month. But that during Tihar, Bali gets his king- In all these festivities, for five to six earthen lamp arrives in your puja room, brighter burns the wick. May its dom back for five days and that is what flickering flame inspire us to live in it will take at least six years for the days in the hills and for nearly two it has already passed through the the deusi singers chant. Meanwhile, weeks in tarai, one single leitmotif process of life and death. It is now the harmony with the five basic elements first drop of water to reach some historians say they have traced common to all celebrations is the symbol of eternity, of immortality and of life. Let us light a lamp, rather than Kathmandu. ….........................pg 4 Bali as a Magar king in Central Nepal. humble earthen lamp—the diyo. From of light. It is capable of listening to curse the darkness. EASYEASYEASY TIMESTIMESTIMES Itís never been easier to subscribe to Nepali Times. Just dial this number and leave your address. 543337 You pay upon delivery of the first issue. 543337 2 EDITORIAL 27 OCTOBER - 2 NOVEMBER 2000 NEPALI TIMES WET DREAMS Whenever water shortage hits the Kathmandu Valley, which is most of the time, the subject of Melamchi invariably comes up. Melamchi is whispered in hushed tones, as if it is manna from heaven. Successive gangs of politicians since 1990 have sold Melamchi as the panacea to the capital’s perennial water problem. Melamchi has already entered the vocabulary of Kathmandu’s socialites as a synonym for water. “Can I have a glass of melamchi, please”, or “Make mine Scotch with melamchi”. Halfway through pontificating on the Valley’s water crisis, politicians on the podium reach for a glass of melamchi. With a population reaching nearly a million and a half, Kathmandu needs 150 million litres of water a day. Present supply is officially 80 million litres a day, al- though unofficially it is known that His Majesty’s Government’s undertaking, the Nepal Water Supply STATE OF THE STATE by CK LAL Corporation, pumps only 60 percent of that amount.