#571 16 - 22 September 2011 18 pages Rs 30

BIKRAM RAI

Patan’s literary p8-9 Full program of the Literary Jatra, INSIDE p11 Rabi Thapa on reading between the lines at the Jatra, he historical Patan Darbar Square is hosting a first-time literature festival over the weekend. Next week, a young Nepali woman with cerebral palsy, whose only way of T communicating is by writing with her foot, is being awarded ’s most More than 30 well known national and international p6-7 writers will hold forth on languages, minority voices, prestigious literary prize, the Madan Puraskar journalism, politics, history and books, books, books. The Nepali translation of Ani Choying Drolma’s auto-biography, Singing for They include Akshay Pathak, Alka Saraogi, Jug Suraiya, p16 Freedom, titled Phoolko Ankhama is being launched later this month p11 Namita Gokhale, Shazia Omar, Tarun Tejpal, William Collection of Wayne Amtzis poetry, Quicksand Nation, looks at Nepal’s war Dalrymple, Mohammed Hanif and our own Abhi p17 , Anbika Giri, Naryan Wagle, Rabi Thapa and in the context of the unhappy peace that preceded and followed it Sanjeev Uprety, among others. 2 EDITORIAL 16 - 22 SEPTEMBER 2011 #571 REALITY CHECK cross-section of we spoke to on a on whether or not to officially split off. The talk of swing through central Nepal this week were revolt now is of a revolt within the party. A unanimous in their support for Baburam With all this going on, the people’s expectations Bhattarai. After months of paralyzing deadlock, on one beleaguered prime minister may be there is hope that the new prime minister’s intellect unrealistically high. Bhattarai himself has fed these and integrity will help unknot the hopelessly expectations by working 20 hours a day, getting tangled politics. to work in Singha Darbar while the gates are still Ordinary Nepalis are clutching at straws. This locked, and getting his secretary to act on the 1,000 positive perception of Bhattarai, even by those not emails he gets every day. Although the public is traditionally well-disposed to the Maoist party, responding favourably to the crackdown on food stems from a feeling that desperate times call for adulteration, the prime minister’s relief package is desperate measures. Most are willing to overlook somewhat populist and it is questionable whether the lack of transparency in the four-point agreement curbing organized crime should come under with the Madhesi front that allowed Bhattarai to be “emergency relief”. propelled to Singha Darbar. They brush aside the The statement by Gopal Kirati this week Maoist support for the Madhes autonomy proposal about floating a movement of as politically expedient, and they are even willing is a dangerously cynical attempt to exploit a to ignore the clause on the general amnesty to further polarisation of Nepali society. Kirati is those accused of wartime atrocities. This desire to so close to that he staged a see Bhattarai succeed has prompted many activist noisy demonstration against the lack of Janajati wallahs to soft-pedal the agreement that made him representation in the previous cabinet at the behest prime minister. of his boss. Which leads us to the conclusion that But the international community has now taken Dahal is now worried that his party may have serious note of the amnesty clause. Undeterred, pushed too far with ethnic politics and this may the new Maoist-appointed Attorney General Mukti cost him votes in the next elections because a large Pradhan has made an outrageous statement that all chunk of “high” voters feel alienated. This is murder cases against Maoist leaders from the war his clumsy attempt at protecting the caste flank, but years will be dismissed. it seriously risks driving a wedge in Nepal’s social The NC and UML, after initially promising to fabric between Bahun Chhetris vs the rest. behave themselves in the role of a constructive The prime minister, as vice-chairman of his opposition seem to have developed a deep distrust party, and a PhD will not have to be told about what of Maoist motives. Within the Maoist party, the a dangerous game this is. While he keeps one eye gloves have come off with Baidya faction now on the current crises, Bhattarai may have to devote openly talking of a showdown at the central some of his waking hours to the seeds of long-term committee meeting on Monday that will decide discord that are being laid by his own comrades.

DIWAKAR

ON THE WEB www.nepalitimes.com

GAJANAN TO BHATTARAI bring his own new concept of revolution and numbers of people in the Madesh themselves zThe reality is cruel in Nepal. I can’t What is lost in all this euphoria about politics for 21st century Nepal. don’t agree,” then it could put more pressure on imagine climbing dark staircase to the 17th Comrade Baburam becoming PM is that Tashi Lama those who are deciding things like federalism.  oor. Lift would have been “the answer” he has just replaced excellent professional Ushaft but there’s nothing that can be done to Yubaraj Sangraula as Attorney General with zBaburam’s ancestor’s will probably not overcome 16 hour of load shedding. party cadre Mukti Pradhan (Editorial, #570). be too proud of how there descendent has zI was totally taken aback by this completely Occupants will need to employ porters for You can just imagine what is now going to become PM. However, he does hold the best new perspective on the Madhes. The article sure. Besides, running water in Kathmandu happen to all the wartime atrocities. If this is chance of concluding the peace process has revealed the Achille’s heel of the Madheshi is almost zero, are they magically going the way Baburam is going, he is going to be compared to any other leader. Whether he leaders, they are just creating a hullaboo in the to get the force of water, to reach the 17th worse than Prachanda. will be able to conclude it is another question capital in the name of who  oor? KiranL altogether considering the current political hate them. G Monk climate. Mahesh S zIf the Maoists cannot hand in their Rishav BOW TO WOW weapons to the government run by them 9/11 DECADE It is shocking that there are 22,000 street now, the question is when will they? Will CAN’T EAT SLOGANS What can extremely slow individuals like myself dogs in the city, many in a pitiable condition they ever? Thank you for a very nice report on the tell those gifted with superhuman intellect such (‘From bow to wow’, #570). We picked up a Satya Madhes. (‘You can’t eat slogans’ # 570). It as Anurag Acharya who compares the bombing tiny puppy from the roadside one dark load- is touching and gives us accurate picture of of church to disaffection with America in the shedding night, took her home and now she zLet’s not fool ourselves. Baburam the present Madhes and Madhesi people. Middle East and elsewhere in the world, when is a part of our lives. She is healthy and very Bhattarai doesn’t care about the nation The media should follow GON is headed by a character who justi ed the lovable. When we take her out on her lead, state known built by our ancestors or the the example and publish such articles, news murder of many, and denied the genocide in people stop us and ask if she is a foreign country that could have been Nepal. He is features and in-depth reports. It will contribute Cambodia and elsewhere? (‘9/11 decade’ #570) dog but they are surprised when we say she the principle architect of the caste-based to rebuild the harmony of the country’s people. Soni is a Nepali mongrel. federalism and has even considerably Ambika Bridget changed the design for this in the last few z should follow Nepal’s example and years. He aims to make Nepal a USSR zHow many Madhesis are actually make the Terrorist-in-chief the head of the styled confederation. His connection with Nepalis? How many Madhesi families were government. Terrorist problem solved. the uni cation of Nepal notwithstanding, one there when Nepal was formed? There Jange Weekly Internet Poll # 571 can only sympathize with the naivity of the should be investigation into the citizenship, Q. Home Minister Bijay Gachhadar’s remark that editor in expecting that Baburam will behave those who are not Nepalis should not be FALLING FOR FLATS he will make the country corruption free is: in a certain way just because he has some given citizenship and those issued without As long as these high rises are made with Total votes: 2,155 relation with Gajanan. investigation should be scrapped. genuine materials and with highest earthquake Nishachar WC safety standards, vertical housing is the best for Kathmandu city (‘State of the real estate’, zBaburam showed his ability of good zHimalmedia should conduct a large scale #570). From the safety point of view, and to leadership when he earned the highest and systematic opinion poll in different parts of meet the demand of rapidly growing population revenue during his tenure as  nance the country including the Tarai region, to gauge of Kathmandu I myself would go for apartment minister of Nepal, these are his abilities public opinion on issues of federalism, ethnic rather than a single house. I only wish the to do something better. He still has those issues and identity, religion (secularism) and so apartments were more affordable to the middle potentials if he could unlock himself from on. The above story is nice, but if there’s more class. Weekly Internet Poll # 572. To vote go to: www.nepalitimes.com the shackles of outdated Maoist ideas and evidence to back up claims like “overwhelming Sherpa Q. Should the Prime Minister travel in economy class?

Publisher and Editor: Kunda Dixit Published by Himalmedia Pvt Ltd | Chief Operating Of cer: Sunim Tamang | Hattiban, Godavari Road, Lalitpur | GPO Box 7251 Kathmandu [email protected] | www.nepalitimes.com | www.himalmedia.com | Tel: 01-5250333/845 Fax: +977-1-5251013 Design: Kiran Maharjan | Marketing: Arjun Karki, Surendra Sharma [email protected] | Advertorial/features: Ram Krishna Banjara | Subscription: Santosh [email protected] Nepali Time on Facebook Printed at Jagadamba Press | 01-5250017-19 | www.jagadambapr.com Follow @nepalitimes on Twitter OP-ED 3 16 - 22 SEPTEMBER 2011 #571

JOHN NARAYAN PARAJULI Where justice is a game Perpetrators of war crimes often assume power to use their positions to escape prosecution

BY THE WAY Anurag Acharya

n 25 April, 2006, with the nation still in a state of euphoria after the people’s movement, 15 security personnel under the command of Oarmy captain Prahlad Thapa Magar raped and murdered Sapana Gurung, a resident of Belbari of Morang. The medical report con rmed she had been shot dead after being raped. When villagers demonstrated in front of the army base, security forces opened  re, killing six people and injuring dozens. A parliamentary probe con rmed the involvement of Prahlad Thapa Magar and two others, Bir Bahadur Mahara and Nirmal Kumar Panta, recommending immediate arrests and a criminal investigation. Five years on, the incident has vanished from the public memory. "Even after repeated request, the government has refused to give us a copy of the report," says Mandira Sharma of Advocacy Forum who has been following the case. At least 16,000 people were killed in the war. There is no of cial study to show how may died in direct combat on both sides and how many were actually raped, tortured and murdered. But even some emblematic cases like that of Maina Sunuwar and Muktinath Adhikari are enough to expose the fault-lines in our judicial system. When Maoist politburo member Agni Sapkota, accused in the murder of Arjun Lama of Kavre in May 2005, was appointed Minister for Information and Communication in the Jhalnath government, there was widespread condemnation by human rights bodies nationally and internationally. A delegation of Nepal’s human rights activists even  led a PIL in the Supreme Court but they could not prevent Sapkota from taking the of ce. These are just two cases of justice being denied, not because of lack of evidence or laws, but because supremacy of law has been challenged by political and military institutions that refuse to submit to its jurisdiction. Last month, the Maoists and the Madhesi alliance signed 4-point deal which, among other things, talks about extending blanket amnesty in excesses perpetrated during the con ict period. After taking of ce, Baburam Bhattarai clari ed that the cases will  rst be investigated to ascertain the seriousness of the crime. It is within government’s power to grant amnesty, but given the history of atrocities, it is ethically wrong and violates the victims’ right to justice. Similarly, the failure of the government to ensure civil court trials against army and police involved in extra-judicial killings and shameful silence on the matter across the political spectrum and civil society is an indication that security institutions have not submitted to civilian control. Investigation into civilian casualties is jurisdiction of the state and the Nepal Army’s refusal to cooperate in prosecuting personnel involved in such cases in a civil court makes it a violator of the law of the land (Army Act 2006, Art. 63, 66). Yubaraj Sangraula, who defended Agni Sapkota as Attorney General told me this week: “The court cannot prosecute a person on the basis of an FIR and a report which does not have a legal standing.” Experts like Sangraula believe the problem lies in Nepal’s criminal justice system which lacks the institutional framework to bring the crimes committed in special circumstances like war, where no FIR are  led or statements have not been submitted, within the legal jurisdiction. Global experience shows perpetrators often assume posts of power and use their positions to escape prosecution. Nepal’s post-con ict managers must learn from it and come up with legal provision for an independent body that can probe into such cases and ensure effective remedies where grave injustice has been done. The need for an independent Truth and Reconciliation body stems out of this logic. In the last few weeks, the Baburam Bhattarai government sent a positive message about its commitment to democracy and rule of law. But if it is sincere about what it says, it must help in the investigation of wrongdoings involving its members. Similarly, Nepal Army’s empty commitments to civilian supremacy will not clean its tainted human rights record. The administration of justice is the foremost duty of the government, and Bhattarai has the job of bringing all sides to the table to complete the peace process, while making them accountable for their deeds. The pursuit for justice has been a mirage. It can’t wait any longer. 4 MEDIA 16 - 22 SEPTEMBER 2011 #571

with day-to-day survival issues. “They just want the politics to get in order so that they can get by,” Shrestha Sajha Sawal is 200 says. “People are concerned more about availability of seeds, fertilisers, jobs, better schools for their children and health facilities.” One of the most memorable episodes on Sajha Sawal was with horticulturalist Kedar Budhathoki who developed a unique wilt-resistant, high yielding variety of tomato called Srijana. The program which was shot in Budhathoki’s farm elicited a wave of enthusiasm among Nepalis. “Even till today we get BBC Nepali’s popular radio discussion program hits a second century at least one call a week inquiring about Budhathoki’s hen Narayan broadcasting continuously has spawned a whole lot the country the discussions super tomatoes,” Shrestha Shrestha of Sajha since 2007 on the BBC Nepali of similar radio and tv soon ranged from agriculture, says. WSawal radio Service. discussion programs. But foreign employment, Besides listeners discussion program goes “It was hard to get people when it started four years local development and nationwide who listen to the anywhere in Nepal these to ask questions initially,” ago, it was a revolutionary infrastructure. BBC Nepali Service, Sajha days, people throng the Shrestha admitted in an format for radio and TV In the last 200 episodes, Sawal registers 7,000 hits a venue just to catch a glimpse interview with Nepali Times in Nepal: common people Shrestha has witnessed week in the BBC Nepali’s of the dapper presenter. this week, “they mostly gave asking questions to a panel big political leaders being website and is popular among It just goes to show how suggestions. We had to run of invitees which included humbled by ordinary citizens, the Nepali diaspora. The popular radio is in Nepal and an orientation on how to political leaders, bureaucrats like when Pushpa Kamal program also travelled to reflects approval for the way ask questions.” Four years and experts. Dahal was silenced by a the UK and US where issues in which Shrestha afflicts the later, the program’s format “Our idea initially question from a student in RR concerning overseas Nepalis powerful. has become famous for sharp was to involve the Campus. were also discussed. Friday, 16 September and hard-hitting exchanges common people’s voice in But ultimately, Shrestha Rubeena Mahato marks the 200th episode between public figures on the constitution making and says, the public’s concern is of the immensely popular stage and a citizen audience. peace process,” Shrestha not with the nitty-gritty of nepalitimes.com Sajha Sawal radio discussion Imitation being the best says, but as the program politics or tedious theorising program that has been form of flattery, Sajha Sawal started traveling across by civil society stalwarts but Sajha Sawal audio clips Karnali community

HARIDEVI ROKAYA in JUMLA working in different  elds in Jumla who had the conviction that a radio station would strengthen their voice and make JUMLA - I was 16 and waiting for my SLC a difference in a society that is lagging results when I made my  rst radio program behind the rest of the country precisely for the Karnali’s  rst radio station here in because more of its women are not Jumla. It was a program for children, to involved in decision-making. It has been an provide them with knowledge they would uphill struggle, but the day the transmitter not get from textbooks in an entertaining tower went up and stood out against the way. It was challenging and exciting for me, deep blue monsoon sky was the proudest but it also brought plenty of criticism in our moment of my life. It is now a question of patriarchal society. I had gone against the providing meaningful and relevant content traditional norms of society, and what was to the listeners of Nari Awaz, who I might expected of young women. I had to go out add are not just women. Nari Awaz may into the countryside to collect information be an all-women radio station but its most for my program, often in the company of important role is to educate and inform men. The work at the radio meant staying menfolk of the Karnali as well. late at the station, meeting new people Today, I believe the Karnali Zone has every day. All this gave plenty of grist for a reason to smile. Women in the Karnali the gossipers in town. Fortunately I had a now have a sizable presence in the media mother was fully supportive and cushioned sector, and Nari Awaz will set an example me from the criticism. to give up their aspirations to serve in own station to broadcast programs on gender for other women to also take up journalism My colleague Krishnamaya Hamal’s the media. issues and women’s empowerment. We to spread awareness about the role mother wasn’t as supportive, and came So imagine my pride and sense of overcame the obstacles, the rumour mongers women can play in uplifting the Karnali under so much pressure at home that she achievement when we established the and naysayers, the technical and  nancial community. had to abandon her dream of working as Karnali’s  rst all-women FM station, Nari Awaz dif culties and we challenged societal norms journalist. There are many young women last month. Back then, I had never imagined to set up Nari Awaz. Haridevi Rokaya is the Jumla like her here in the Karnali who have had that seven years later we would have our In this we were assisted by women correspondent of the BBC Nepali Service. MEDIA 5 16 - 22 SEPTEMBER 2011 #571 The new radio revolution production process and help programming and in development and rural allowed global THIS IS IT empowerment. Nepalis to connect Rubeena Mahato Four months back to the concerns of while travelling through their communities Darchula in far-western back home. A Jhapali Nepal, I met an enterprising living in the US can n the 14 years since Radio farmer, Hari Singh Mal. now directly listen Sagarmatha became the After hearing horticulturist to a local FM from Ifirst FM station to get a Kedar Budhathoki talk Damak. People can broadcasting license, Nepal’s about a wilt-resistant variety go back to programs radio revolution has survived of tomatoes, Hari Singh in the archives, regime change, crackdowns introduced tough tomatoes listen, comment and in newsrooms, and crippling known as Srijana in his view the content in a power cuts. farm. The breed developed multimedia format. The quality of the by scientist Budhathoki Many people content may not match the yielded him 10 kg of today hardly quantitative growth of radio tomatoes from a single plant. remember the from Jumla to Taplejung, but Since Nepal Telecom struggle and years the stations have been serving extended its service to that is yet to happen in extending its reach through of lobbying that have gone in people so far left out of the Gokule, Hari Singh is now print or TV. There are now the internet. “Radio are freeing frequency modulation informationsphere. Travelling a mobile user and listens to all-women community no more restricted to the for private broadcasters. across Nepal today, one of the Saugat FM, broadcast from radios in Parbat, Udaypur, range of the signal from the Today, community radios most noticeable things apart neighbouring Baitadi in his Morang and many other transmitter, we can now in Nepal are grappling with from new roads are the new new handset. BBC Nepali places. Bringing in women, broadcast worldwide through coming-of-age problems transmission towers. Even in and the Ujyalo FM network farmers, students and the the net,” explains Gopal like political control, the remotest of places, there are now the most popular rural community into Guragain of Ujyalo FM which commercialism, centralised are FM stations playing songs programs being syndicated its programming and recently made the switch to syndicated content, and in local dialects, running by local stations. Programs production, community digital first streaming audio erosion in quality of adult classes and SLC on current affairs, national radio comes closest to being through the net. programming. tuitions on air. politics, economy and a democratic media in Ujyalo is now being The challenge is to These radios achieve agriculture reach people all Nepal today. It empowers heard by Nepalis in 105 preserve the participatory a rare goal in a country over the country via these citizens with information, countries and gets regular and grassroots nature of the where half the people are channels. and spreads awarensss about feedback from Saudi Arabia, medium, ensure sustainability still illiterate: they keep the Numerous FMs are rights and development. US and UK, with 5,000 and find ways to improve people informed, engage run solely by women (see Now radio is on the hits daily. This has led to quality amidst rising them in the information overleaf), a phenomenon cusp of a new revolution: a more diaspora-focused commercial pressures. LIFE TIMES A pen between

PICS: JANA ASENBRENNEROVA

“A sense of belonging”

Nepali Times: Your book deals with political leaders, which would record the young JS Calcutta of the 1960s. who should more the exact number of Is Calcutta home? aptly be called our reported bribes paid Jug Suraiya: My heart is indeed in political bleeders the previous day, and Calcutta. But it is a Calcutta of the because by their to whom. past, the people and places that corrupt ways made it what it was are no longer they leach all You keep coming there. You can’t call the past your the blood out of back to Kathmandu, home. So where is home for me? the body politic, what is the attraction? I’m not sure. But I’d like to think which is you Desmond Doig of home not as a geographical and me. Can you introduced me to location but as a dispersed domain, further satirise or Nepal way back in a constituency made up of my spoof someone 1969. Since then, my readership. My home is where who already is a wife, Bunny, and I In the beginning of his new book people read me. caricature of greed have both fallen in ‘The Times of My Life’ Jug Suraiya and arrogance? love with the country recounts the heady young days at JS When is it the right time for a You can’t. In our and have visited magazine, the iconic Indian magazine journalist to do a book? subcontinent, the it more times than for the pre-internet, pre-cable, pre- When the irresistible urge to do satirist is a Don we can count. What Shining India youth of India. ‘I never a book overcomes the almost Quixote tilting is it that draws us wanted to be a journalist,’ he writes immovable inertia of laziness. At against windmills here? It’s a sense at the beginning of this book. But he least, that’s the way it was in my in a losing battle. of belonging, which did, and has been with The Times case. Like Nike, I knew that I had to is the gift that the people of of India, writing a weekly Sunday just do it. What can we do to make journalism Nepal so generously and so Column called ‘Jugular Vein’ as well sharper and more hard-hitting so as spontaneously give to all those as a comic strip called ‘Dubyaman’ depicting the post 9/11 world. Suraiya What is the role for satire when to get politicians and bureaucrats who visit the country. We’d like is one of the international speakers everyday politics itself feels like a who rule our daily lives sit up and to thank Nepal for the recurrent at the Kathmandu Literary Jatra tragic-comedy? take notice? gift of hospitality that it has this weekend. Nepali Times caught No satire or spoof can be as Perhaps one idea might be to have a always given us. up with him before he left Delhi for outrageously farcical as the conduct day-to-day Corruption Report, like Kathmandu (with his passport): of the great majority of our so-called we have the daily Weather Report, Interview with Jug Suraiya 7 16 - 22 SEPTEMBER 2011 #571 h e r t o e s

THOMAS BELL ‘ka’.“I could not share that the same time I feel a sense moment’s joy with anyone, of responsibility. I will n her autobiography, my first letter was written start writing again soon.” Is Life a Thorn or a in the dust on the ground ’s book will soon be IFlower? that won this and in my heart I could published in English. year’s Madan Prize, Jhamak pronounce it. I was so happy The prominent Nepali Ghimire writes about her that I rewrote the letter many novelist and translator struggle to learn the written times.” word despite suffering Ghimire recalls how praised Ghimire’s work. from cerebral palsy that left writing on the ground made “Jhamak Kumari Ghimire’s her unable to speak and her foot bleed, yet her initial expression seems to paralysed since childhood. efforts went unnoticed. “Just have gained elegance not Ghimire taught herself to so that people would see despite, but because of, the write by clutching a twig what I had written I wrote a physical challenges she has with her toes. big ‘s’ and left it there, but overcome,” says Thapa, At 30, Ghimire has far from looking at my letter “she speaks for an entire now been thrust into people stepped on it and my generation when she writes: celebrityhood with first letter got erased without ‘Father! Why are you siring an autobiography that anyone seeing it.” /renegade children like describes her struggle for Besides her prize-winning me?’” self-expression, battling book, Ghimire has published discrimination from the four volumes of poetry, two nepalitimes.com community and family, books of short stories and fighting fatalism and many newspaper columns. Jhamak speaks, Book Review #516 superstition in Nepali culture “I am very happy to get the A renegade child of the hills #468 at the same time. award,” she wrote, replying Of poverty and poems #105 She describes the first to questions with a pen time she wrote the letter between her toes. “But at by Chhong256 8 LIFE TIMES 16 - 22 SEPTEMBER 2011 #571

Time: 6pm to 7pm Time: 2.30pm to 3.30pm Time: 1.30pm to 2.30pm Poetry Recitations in Different Languages Session: The New Age of News presented by Session: Ashoka Mauryan and his Legacy. The Asia Foundation. Nayanjot Lahiri introduced by Rohit Ranjitkar Venue: NMB Hall (Inside Adarsha Kanya Akhilesh Upadhyay, Kunda Dixit, Mohammed Niketan School) Hanif, Prashant Jha and Tarun Tejpal Time: 2.30pm to 3.30pm Session: in . These events are free and open to the public Time: 4pm to 5pm Ahuti, Bidushi Dhungel, Session: Writing and Change. and P Sivakami Sujeev , Rabindra Mishra, Gopal he Kathmandu Literary Jatra is a three- Thakur and Sarad Pradhan Time: 3.30pm to 4.30pm day festival that provides a platform Session: Immersed in Nepali Literature for discourse on Nepali literature. Held T Time: 5pm to 6pm introduced by Ammar Raj Joshi at different venues within the Patan Durbar Session: Getting Things Done! Presented by Square complex, the festival will host 55 Rotary Club of Yala. national and 12 international writers and Karna Sakya introduced by Prafulla Man and feature readings, workshops and Singh Pradhan discussions pertaining to Nepal and South Asia. JATRA DAY II JATRA DAY I Time: 3.30pm to 4.30pm Venue: Patan Museum Courtyard Session: Bridging the Language Divide. Alka Saraogi, Anmole Prasad, Yuyutsu RD Venue: Patan Museum Courtyard Sharma and Namita Gokhale

Time: 2pm to 3.30pm Time: 4.30pm to 5.30pm Inauguration Session: Insurgencies and Nepali Literature. Khagendra Sangraula, , Gopal Time: 4pm to 5pm Ashka and Govinda Bartaman Session: Nepali Literature in the Age of Democracy. Time: 5.30pm to 6.30pm Gopal Ashka, Narayan Dhakal, Sanjeev Uprety Session: The East India Company, the Time: 4.30pm to 5.30pm and Sharada Sharma Mughals, and the Gorkhali Empire. Session: Open Minds: Libraries and Treasure William Dalrymple in conversation with Kanak Troves of Stories presented by German Book Mani Dixit Of ce. Akshay Pathak, Reshu Aryal Dhungana, Paro Venue: NMB Hall Anand and Shazia Omar Time: 10am to 11am Session: Narratives as a Window to History. Time: 10am to 11am Venue: Patan Durbar Square William Dalrymple and Aditya Adhikari Session: Being a Woman, Becoming a Writer. Gyanu Pandey, Anbika Giri, Sanjeev Uprety Time: 8am to 10am Time: 11am to 12pm and Momila Event: Heritage Walks Session: : A New Sign up in advance Time: 5pm to 6pm Renaissance? Time: 11am to 12pm Session: Uncovering the Truth. Amrit Yonjan Tamang, Dhirendra Premarshi, Session: The Power of Social Media. Time: 10am to 11am Tarun Tejpal in conversation with Anagha Gopal Thakur, Sulochana Manandhar and Anil Chitrakar introduced by Nayan Event: Poetic Pie: Slices from Different Neelakantan Yug Pathak Sindhuliya Languages LIFE TIMES 9 16 - 22 SEPTEMBER 2011 #571

Time: 11.30am to 12.30pm Time: 2.30pm to 3.30pm Event: Book Launch: Bhakata Prasad Session: Nepali Literature Beyond Nepal. Bhyaguto Devendra Bhattarai, Indra Bahadur Rai, Susan Waten and Ujjwal Prasai Time: 11am to 3pm Event:Children’s art activities and reading Time: 3.30pm to 4.30pm Sign up in advance Session: Selling out, or telling it like it is? Getting real in South Asian  ction. Namita Gokhale, P. Sivakami, Shazia Omar JATRA DAY III and Rabi Thapa Alka Saraogi in conversation with Uday Adhikari

Venue: Patan Museum Courtyard Time: 11am to 12pm Session: Sumnima to Sakambari: Female Venue: Manga Hiti Time: 10am to 11am Characters in Modern Nepali Novels. (Dhunge Dhara) Session: Politics in Nepali Universities. Archana Thapa, Krishna Dharabasi, Sudha , Manushi Yami Bhattarai Tripathi and Nayan Raj Pandey Time: 10am to 7pm Pratyoush Onta and Ram Kumari Jhakri photo.circle presents Retelling Histories Time: 12.30pm to 1.30pm 16 to 18 September Session: and the Newari Bhasa Renaissance. “Retelling Histories,” organised by photo.circle, Subarna Man introduced by Prawin explores Nepal’s cultural memory through an Adhikari exhibition of archived photography from old Time: 4.30pm to 5.30pm family albums, dug up and contextualized. As Session: and English - Walking Two Time: 1.30pm to 2.30pm part of the Nepal Picture Library, the project Worlds. Session: Book Markets: Local Scope, National engages viewers in Nepal’s history and Mohammed Hanif in conversation with Sophia Ambitions. identity through images. Pande Shazia Omar, Kiran Krishna Shrestha, Sujeev Shakya and Akshay Pathak Time: 5.30pm to 6.30pm Session: The Future of Nepali Language. Time: 2.30pm to 3.30pm Archana Thapa, Buddhisagar, Narayan Wagle Session: Maithili: A Literary History. and Rajendra Bimal Rajendra Bimal introduced by Dhirendra Premarshi Time: 11am to 12pm Venue: NMB Hall Session: The Man Behind the Words. Time: 3.30pm to 4.30 pm Jug Suraiya in conversation with Dubby Time: 10am to 11am Event: Tagore Play: The Parable of the Lost Bhagat Session: Kali-katha: via Bypass. Post Of ce by Parnab Mukherjee

tomato sauce and chicken meatballs lacked seasoning. Imago Dei’s redemption aside from its inviting space is found in its ends. As a starter or snack, the spinach and artichoke dip and chips is a cheese concoction that will have customers relishing in seconds. Desserts like homemade macaroons and tiramisu pair well with a cup SOMEPLACE ELSE of French-pressed brew or a sup of imported liqueur. Look into Imago Dei to meet friends and colleagues mago Dei offers a glimpse over snacks or cakes and of Kathmandu’s well to coffee, but steer clear of price- do in mid-week play: blinding specials that leave us I hankering elsewhere. broods straight from Stepford Imago Dei Marco Pollo convene on comfy couches; MARCO POLLO clean-cut, architectural types in an adjacent art space But despite its divinely , and tasted more like a salad and minced chicken Up road from Darbar Marg, discuss over frites and beauty inspired moniker and airy Chinese stir-fry. Sanepa’s U (barely traceable) folded find the cafe facing the eastern queen runner-ups primp up environment, Imago Dei’s Café maintains the standard into a moo-shoo style wrap. wall of Narayanhiti Museum on their laptops. The café fare is lackluster and far from for adobo in the city. And the fish and chips apart gallery in Gairidhara boasts ambrosial. On the list of specials, from its watered-down mayo a pleasant atmosphere that Its version of adobo, the bacon avocado wrap, dip was good but not worth Service encourages social dates and chicken or pork cooked in a according to the server, has Rs 400 and could be better Bread ‘n water casual conferences in style. ginger and hot and sour sauce been long unavailable. Then, served with malt vinegar, Its whitewashed, wide-open reduction, doesn’t do justice why advertise? So to our London-style. Space space with red accented to the Spanish or Filipino dismay, we opted for the Pasta options are Deal-icious walls, high ceilings and dish. The meal was too salty, Mexican taco wrap, which abundant, but the spaghetti Rep-eat? natural lighting are ideal even with a mound of brown was disappointing: chopped was overcooked and the for vernissages and mixers. 10 HAPPENINGS 16 - 22 SEPTEMBER 2011 #571

WEEKEND WEATHER Safe drugs by NGAMINDRA DAHAL The three strategic low pressure zones over Asian continents are shifting their positions, and will affect the performance of South Asian Monsoon. The Satellite picture of Thursday for a disease y, first you selected to receive the drug afternoon shows one over Tashkent, the other over Chengdu (China) and the third over need an adequate sample or the placebo then you have India. This means heavy showers in most of the country during and beyond this weekend. DHANVANTARI size of patients with disease introduced bias (chance) into Expect cooler days with fresh showers and gradual departure of monsoon from the west in about a week after. Buddha Basnyat, MD y who will be administered the study. the drug x. To a similar One of the first diseases FRI SAT SUN number of patients you need to be subjected to human KATHMANDU n Western medicine, there to administer a sugar pill trials was tuberculosis. At was a time when a famous or a dummy pill, called a one time only one drug Idoctor would proclaim “placebo” in medical speak. was used for TB, then RCTs 25-18 25-18 26-19 the usefulness of a certain Then over a certain period revealed that the disease medicine and many of us of time, if you can show responded significantly better in the medical profession that those in the drug arm to combination of drugs would agree wholeheartedly, of the trial did better than than just one drug. This without questioning. Now, in the placebo arm of the lesson was carried over for trial, you may be able a more modern scourge, the to conclude that the HIV virus against which a drug X is effective combination therapy is now against the disease utilized. y. But the difference RCTs are now also made in effectiveness has use of for studying the to be what is called, efficacy of vaccines. The “significant”. injectable typhoid vaccine And this that is used worldwide significance is was first studied here in determined by Kathmandu by Dr I L Acharya statistical testing and colleagues in the early you need hard evidence. In which tries to 1980s using the RCT concept. the 1950s, it was Bradford eliminate “chance” as the Finally, besides efficacy, Hill who started the process cause for drug x being more adverse events or side effects of doing proper drug trials effective. To eliminate the of drug also have to be to determine the efficacy of chance factor, randomisation assessed properly to avoid drugs. is very important. the kind of tragedy that the The evidence-based For example in drug “thalidomide” caused. concept is now called determining who receives the So, a world of regulations randomised controlled trial placebo versus the drug in has spawned around RCTs to ( RCT). In the classic RCT, question, the choice has to be make sure drugs are safe and to determine if drug x works random. If the patient is pre- effective.

BIKRAM RAI DIVINE DANCE: Masked dancers perform during the Indra Jatra festival at Basantapur Darbar Square on Sunday. sfd ;fgf] 7'nf] eGg] x'“b}g . kl;gfsf] s'g} /ª / hft klg x'“b}g . sfd u/]/ vfg nhfpg' klg x'“b}g . rf]/]/, 9f“6]/, 5n]/, n'6]/ vfg kf] nhfpg'k5{ . hf] hxf“ /x]/ h'g sfd BIKRAM RAI u5{ pm To;}df DIFFERENT VIEW: Pulbata Herda, adapted from Arthur Miller’s A View from the Bridge, being staged at Rimal Theater, Gurukul, on Tuesday. /dfpg'k5{ uf}/a ug'{k5{ / ;dlk{t eP/ ug{'k5{ . sfd g} zlQm xf], elQm xf] / d'lQm xf] . sfdsf] OHht u/f}+, kl;gfsf] ;Ddfg u/f}+ .

BIKASH DWARE g]kfn ;/sf/ DEGREE: Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai meets vice-chancellors of ;"rgf tyf ;~rf/ dGqfno  ve universities to discuss their activities at Singa Darbar on Tuesday. ;"rgf ljefu PM Bhattarai kept his promise to re-open the universities that were padlocked by protesting professors’ unions. LITERARY JATRA 11 16 - 22 SEPTEMBER 2011 #571 debating the title, cover and the blurb on the back. It was important to represent it a certain way, and needless Telling tales? to say, we disagreed. Come the next round, I almost dare not dwell on steaming RABI THAPA For writers of fiction, smoke, sex, and swearing. cups of tea, spices, arranged questions of representation Just because you’re an marriages, gods and have always been tricky. upstanding citizen who demons any longer than is he Kathmandu Literary This is especially the case disapproves of your sons and necessary, lest I be accused of Jatra is in town. The for those using languages daughters doing the same, exoticising my own culture, Tglorious courtyards of that don’t originate in I wanted to tell them, don’t either out of romanticism or a the Patan Museum are set to the societies that they are While no one could deny the imagine everyone else is. calculated eye to the bottom play host to unprecedented describing. Take a Nepali fact of Nepalis having sex But the flip side to line. intellectual discourse over writing in English about (otherwise we wouldn’t be excessive (thus supposedly ‘Selling out, or telling the weekend. Three score Nepal: who is the writer here at all), many felt that it unrealistic) reality is it like it is? Getting real in and more national and writing for? Locals or globals? was unnecessary to dwell on exoticisation. We’ve all heard South Asian fiction’ is the international writers will In Nepal, if a writer’s the fact. It was smutty, it was about Orientalism, but what title of the session I will be hold forth on languages, compatriots are not full of not representative of Nepali about Self-Orientalising, moderating on the final day minority voices, journalism, praise for her latest work, culture, they said, why whereby a writer internalises of the Kathmandu Literary politics, history and books, they are liable to be attacking exaggerate? Western notions of the East, Jatra (replacing the one books, books. The cynic her for having misrepresented Many more words have and imbues her fiction with on biography with Patrick may deride such events as the Nepali culture, as if there flowed under the Bagmati an excess of spirituality or French). It will feature Indian mere celebrity chaff, but this were ever such a monolithic Bridge since, and the river exotica? Take Upadhyay’s writers Namita Gokhale and is as much about bringing culture beyond the outdated, ain’t getting any cleaner. debut again. Does the P Sivakami and Bangladeshi writers to their audiences state-sponsored notions of Or perhaps it’s just the juxtaposition of ‘Gods’ and writer Shazia Omar, and will – for intellectual interaction topi and dalbhat. So stodgy nature of some ‘Kathmandu’ in the title not attempt to apportion blame – as anything else. For Nepali when Samrat Upadhyay Nepali readers. Ten years invoke the idea of Shangri-La, between writers, publishers audiences keen to get a grip debuted with ‘Arresting on, I published, and was never mind that ‘arresting’ and dear readers. This on how their many-hued God in Kathmandu’ (2001) predictably criticised for them speaks of a more session, along with 30 others, country is being represented and dared to allow his apparently dwelling too long mundane reality? Again, will attempt to get at the story in these crucial times of characters to indulge in on Kathmandu’s indolent before the publication of behind the story, literally and uncertainty, the Jatra may carnal relations, there was youth, who couldn’t possibly my own book, the publisher literarily. This, we hope, is provide some answers. something of an outcry. spend all their time on and I spent quite some time what the Jatra is all about. 12 NATION 16 - 22 SEPTEMBER 2011 #571 A far-away rescue

Young girls from the remote Shangmo with her elder daughter Jael mountains of northwestern Nepal who were trafficked to the southern tip of India are rescued this week

RUBEENA MAHATO in COIMBATORE, INDIA

n the suburbs of parents back home. Coimbatore at Sulur, They were rescued Ithe first thing that one from the centre last week notices in the impressively at the initiative of the walled Michael Job Centre Esther Benjamins Memorial is the sheer enormity of the Foundation (EBMF), Nepal, complex. Childline India and the Child There is a school, a post Welfare Committee (CWC) at graduate level college and an the state of Tamil Nadu. orphanage in the sprawling EBMF got into action premises housing some 500 when the families of four girls that the organization girls from Humla requested PICS: RUBEENA MAHATO claims are abandoned them to find their missing or orphaned children of daughters. The parents of them in boarding schools in parents’ names or where they given by Christians from all Christian martyrs. The last the girls had sent them along Kathmandu. The boys are came from. They have been over the world for ‘orphans’. thing one would expect to with their brothers in the care still in the institution run given Christian names and In one of the pages of the find there are young girls of Dal Bahadur Phadera, a by Phadera, but the girls, identities. website was where we first from the remote Nepali local politician. between 3 to 7 years old, In the website of Michael saw pictures of Anna Bella, district of Humla. But there Many families in Humla were taken away nine years Job Centre, the girls are Daniela, Persius and Jael they are, all 23 of them with had paid Phadera Rs 5- ago. Their families never falsely depicted as children (Christian names given by Christian names living for 20,000 to get their children heard from them. of Christian martyrs in Nepal the centre, original names the past nine years here out of war-ravaged villages When rescued, many murdered by Maoists. The withheld). Their mother and as orphans despite having at the time and educate girls didn’t remember their Centre runs on the donations brother had made a three The After decades of trafficking, there are no young women left in northern Nuwakot

KAPILDEV KHANAL in NUWAKOT

elbon Tamang (pictured, right) is 52, and for most of his adult Slife he has been searching for a bride in his village of Sisipu of Nuwakot. But there aren’t any. This village 90km north of Kathmandu has no young women left: they have all been trafficked to brothels in India. Selbon is not alone. There are hundreds of young men here in northern Nuwakot who can’t find brides. It is estimated that more than 5,000 of the women from this remote mountain region are in brothels in Mumbai and other cities in India. “I have been searching for a bride for the last 11 years, but only underaged girls are left in the village,” says Kanchha Tamang, 37, of Sisipu. Ghangphedi’s population growth has gone down to below replacement PICS: KAPILDEV KHANAL rate fertility. CLOSE CALL: Selmendo Tamang (centre) with her father-in- law and husband. Selmendo was being traf cked by her own uncle, but es- Even married women are being caped (above). Fifty-two year old Selbon Tamang is still unmarried because there are no girls of marriageable age left in his village (right). tricked and sold, sometimes by NATION 13 16 - 22 SEPTEMBER 2011 #571

days journey from Humla to to recognise their mother. join us in Kathmandu for the But her brother’s daughter An emotional Anna Bella breaks trip to Coimbatore in India’s Daniela instantly recognised down at seeing her aunt southern tip. Persius and her aunt. Jael’s mother Shangmo Lama PP Job, the centre’s had never before been in a car founder has denied having before. After a long and tiring known that the children had journey to Coimbatore, a frail families in Nepal. The self- Shangmo smiled for the first styled Christian preacher time when we stepped inside has alleged that the children the gate of the Centre to get were brought to him by back her daughters. She had Phadera and that the center waited nine years for this has only provided good moment. education and living to these At first, the principal underprivileged children. of the centre flatly denied “It is illegal under the having any Nepali children at Indian law to bring children, the centre. But she was forced orphaned or not from Nepal to accept having illegally kept to India, and house them the girls as orphans when the in an institution here. It is photos of the children and a clear case of trafficking,” the mother were shown. Nandita Rao, Childline’s Outside, a very Nepali lawyer told Nepali Times. looking girl’s face stopped The Centre is now under country alive for nearly a me. After few exchanges investigation by the social decade, and were full of in English, I asked if she welfare department in Tamil pride as they sang the Nepali was Nepali. The girl’s face Nadu and has been given 15 national anthem for the brightened up. Lynsy then days to furnish details and rescue party from Nepal. gave me her Nepali name, prove that it was not involved They had memorized the informed there were now 23 in child trafficking. On words from the mobile ring of them left in the centre and Monday, 500 activists from tone of a Nepali visiting the that they have not forgotten different Hindu organisations center. to speak Nepali. Soon the staged a protest outside the Said an ecstatic Sabita news spread of the team orphanage accusing it of Bogati: “I want to go home. I from Nepal and Nepali girls proselytizing. would not mind walking all surrounded the principal’s “Poor countries are the way to Nepal.” office. turning into a missionary There was noisy chatter haven for religious zealots POST SCRIPT: EBMF is now and a sense of jubilation in and this has led to a new preparing to file charges the office. Some of the girls form of trafficking,” says against Phadera on charges were seven years old and all Philips Holmes of Esther of trafficking. In India, child and Bhutan who were also had parents and families back Benjamins Memorial rights organisations have kept in the centre are now home and hadn’t heard from Foundation. The girls are taken up the issue and are underway. But even if the children are reunited, their them in all these years. now on their way home by now planning to bring PP nepalitimes.com It was an emotional train via Gorakhpur. Job and his accomplices to lost years, separation from scene when Shangmo met The girls had kept the book. Efforts to repatriate parents and loss of identity Circus slave, #504 her girls, who at first failed memory of their home children trafficked from Tibet will never be returned. Juggling with young lives, # 405 missing half

wealth by relatives who have returned from Mumbai or Kolkata to recruit. Sitaula estimates that 60 women from Ghyangphedi run their own brothels in India, and they regularly seek fresh young girls from the village. Eighteen-year-old Selmendo Tamang’s (pictured, left, centre) own uncle took her to Rasuwa to sell her Get out of jail off. “It was only when police arrived Kale Tamang alias Chhopa, 41, who has that I realised I was about to be sold,” been responsible for many of the cases of traf cking from Nuwakot, was  nally Selmendo recalls. Her marriage to caught by police last month. In a career Aitaman Tamang last year was been spanning 16 years since 1996, Chhopa the only marriage in Sisiphu in the is estimated to have traf cked at least last eight years. 400 women. Police here say there are Ask any parent here about their another 30 people who are still at large. missing daughters and the standard However, anti-traf cking activists are answer is: “She is in college in the worried that middlemen are trying to city”. Bishnu Prasad Acharya, the get Chhopa out of jail by posting a Rs 6 principal of a primary school in million bail. relatives in India. “My wife was sold There are those who return Simtang says more than 15 girls from by her own relatives to a brothel in to tell horrific stories of abuse his school have been trafficked. Kolkata,” says Lal Bahadur Tamang and exploitation. Among them is Government apathy, political of Shikharbesi. The trafficking Thulimaya (name changed) who has protection of recruiters and lack of Back with HIV ringleader, Chhopa, alias Kale returned after working in brothels opportunities mean that the social Kanchimaya Tamang is 49. She was Tamang, was finally caught last in Mumbai for 25 years. As seems structure of villages here is falling sold to a brothel in India by her relatives month (see box). Chhopa sold to be often the case, after five years apart. But local communities are when she was a teenager. When she got infected with HIV, she was sent back to another woman, Kumari, just 37 days of working in a brothel, Thulimaya now working to spread awareness, Nepal. In the last three years, seventeen after she married Mangale Tamang, started running her own. and Shakti Shamuha is carrying out people have died due to HIV/AIDS in tricking her with promise of a job. Kamal Sitaula, a teacher in rescue and rehabilitation. Shikharbesi alone. There are many Asmita Thapa of the anti-trafficking Shikharbesi believes young women women like Kanchimaya with HIV in organisation, Shakti Samuha, says at first don’t know that they are himalkhabar.com Shikharbesi, and many have married Kumari was sold to a brothel in going to be sex workers. They are because of the shortage of brides. Kolkata run by her own aunt. attracted by the glamorous tales of Longer version (Nepali) 14 FROM THE NEPALI PRESS 16 - 22 SEPTEMBER 2011 #571

Editorial in Nepal Samacharpatra, September 11 of avoiding the major issues of peace process: Peace first integration and rehabilitation of ex-combatants, focusing solely on constitution drafting. The meeting Two weeks into of ce, the Bhattarai government has held between the two parties last week concluded already come under  re from opposition parties NC with an understanding that they would push for and UML for its neglect of the peace process. They decisive breakthrough on the peace process before had earlier expressed commitment to support the cooperating on constitution drafting. government based on its merit. But the latest comments Even the coalition partner, the Madhesi front by the leaders in the opposition indicate that the showed remarkable  exibility by dropping their parties are unhappy with the way things have been demand for immediate induction of 10,000 Madhesis handled so far. in the Nepal Army, on condition that the future Having seen two governments come and go recruitments in NA would be inclusive in nature. without making much difference to the peace process, The Maoists must exhibit similar  exibility by there is an enormous burden of hope on the present respecting concerns of all the major political government. So, the opposition’s rhetoric casts a stakeholders and work towards taking the peace shadow of doubt on public that it may face similar process to its logical end before focusing on fate. The NC and UML have accused the Maoists constitution drafting. BIKRAM RAI

Madarsa futures Rajdhani, 11 September

The government hasn’t yet granted permission to madarsas to run secondary level education. This has been a let-down for girls from the Muslim community in Nepalganj. Their dreams of pursuing higher education has come to an abrupt halt as their poor parents can’t afford to send them to public schools. Madarsa Darulam in Neplaganj has been running classes till Grade 8. The principal, Maulana Mustafa Nurani says: “We have met all the required criteria including a two storey building with 17 rooms but we haven’t yet been granted permission to

run classes above Grade 8.” Madarsas are religious schools run by the Muslim community where students are taught free of cost. Muslim parents who find the environment of other schools unsafe prefer to send their daughters to madarsas. So, parents hesitate sending their daughters elsewhere. Udhav Shrestha, head of school inspection for Banke says that the DEO has issued license to 118 madarsas. Among them, five provide lower secondary level education and one, secondary level education. The inability of community run madarsas to fall in the government’s education policy has adversely affected the lives of many students. FROM THE NEPALI PRESS 15 16 - 22 SEPTEMBER 2011 #571 “Baburam has betrayed us”

Interview with Maoist politburo member Netra Bikram Chand, in Karobar, 11 September

Karobar: Why has the con ict within the party increased after the formation of Maoist- led government? Netra Bikram Chand: It is only natural because we have not yet agreed with the government formation process, its policies and programs. The issues that we had agreed on including army integration, state restructuring wasn’t implemented. We are leading the government but its policies have been changed. Especially on the army integration things haven’t gone according to our agreement. Before regrouping they moved ahead with arms handover. Even Jhalanath Khanal hadn’t agreed to that, and it has led to dissatisfaction within our party.

What is the main disagreement on? There are two things that need to be concluded before the army integration. Whether or not the PLA will be included in the national army needs to be decided  rst. Depending on this decision further provisions regarding its structure need to be made. Furthermore, an effective relief package should be provided for the rehabilitation of the soldiers in PLA. But Babram Bhattari, after being appointed prime minister took Pushpa Kamal Dahal to his side and drifted away from the party’s decision.

What is the issue over the keys handover? Everything rests on the keys. The pride of the people’s army and Nepal’s revolutionary movement lie on those keys. Handing over the keys is a symbolic gesture and means hading over the PLA too.

But your faction is said to have agreed to this. Sometimes even lies seem to work in politics. They shouldn’t have kept us in the dark over the changed decision. Pushpa Kamal Dahal had removed the decision of handing over the keys, but he changed this in the  nal decision. He put on a fake show.

But you seem to want the ministries, right? Had it been about ministries we’d have given up our stand on these issues to please Prachanda and Baburam. We have only been opposing their decision because it contradicts our belief. Whether we want to give in to the status quo or move ahead has been the main issue amongst us.

Will the Baidya faction be a part of this government? They have made a huge mistake by handing over the key. We are ready to work together if they are willing to correct their mistake. They have to take their decision back.

Is it true that the Baidya faction is dissolving the party? Those who have been accusing us are just doing it for their momentary self indulgence. And as for the internal struggle, it will last only until everyone is ready to agree to come to single point of understanding.

Door: State Package: Relief Deven in Nagarik, 11 September

QUOTE OF THE WEEK I have been receiving threats, but we will continue“ “ our supervision and nobody will be spared.

Yubaraj Khatiwada, Governor, Nepal Rastra Bank 16 SOCIETY 16 - 22 SEPTEMBER 2011 #571 Ani’s story hen fame came to her as The singer of the hit song Phoolko Ankhama, Nepal’s famous ‘singing Wnun’ few knew the true is coming to Nepali readers as a writer story of the struggle of this refugee child growing up in Kathmandu. In Ani Choying’s heart-rending of the original published in fact, the outside world knew more story of her childhood and her French in 2008 by Oh! Editions. about Ani Choying than Nepalis decision to become a nun is told in French writer, Laurence Debril themselves. Now, Publication simple, yet deep prose. Very early collaborated with Ani Choying in nepa~laya is bringing out the in life, Ani Choying learnt to be structuring the story. Nepali translation of Ani Choying self-reliant, and was motivated to Since then, the book has been Drolma’s autobiography, Phoolko take up the challenges of life, and published in 12 languages: French, Ankhama. to help others like her. German, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, Being born to her mother was English, Portuguese, Russian, the first good thing that happened Polish, Slovenian and Hungarian. to Ani Choying, and being a nun The Nepali edition of the book has was the second best. “If I had been translated in collaboration Nepali with formal arrangement with not become a nun, I would have with Girish Giri. the original copyright owners, Oh! probably been an unidentified “I could have written three Editions of France. wife and a mother of probably books during the time I spent For her part, Ani Choying says 3-4 children,” confesses Ani working on this,” says Giri, “but it she is glad her book has come out Choying. “My decision to become was a really worthwhile experience in Nepali after being read in 11 a nun and the blessings I from to collaborate with Ani on the languages. “I am glad my story is my mentors, has made my life Nepali translation.” finally coming home to Nepal,” she more worthwhile. I am thankful Kiran Krishna Shrestha of says. She has contributed all the that through the talent my Gurus nepa~laya says the book will be earnings from her book to the welfare helped me identify, I have been released before Dasain. “There are of kidney patients in Nepal. able to serve many people and our many books written and published The English translation of Singing society.” around the world on Nepal, which for Freedom is published by Pier 9. Ani Choying’s positive outlook remain unnoticed by Nepali on life has made her living proof readers,” says Shrestha, “this book that a troubled childhood is not marks the beginning of our effort to nepalitimes.com the end of the world, but can open bring world literature on Nepal to Songs of peace, #554 new horizons in life. Phoolko the Nepali public.” Ankhama is the Nepali translation The book is being published in Music video of Phoolko Ankhama LITERARY JATRA 17 16 - 22 SEPTEMBER 2011 #571 Quicksand nation Collection of Wayne Amtzis poetry looks at Nepal’s war in the context of the unhappy peace that preceded and followed it

he core of Sand Castle City/ TQuicksand Nation written in Kathmandu by Wayne Amtzis between 2003 and 2008, during the Maoist insurrection and aftermath, are emotive, sound-driven poems born of sickness and disquiet. It is an outsider’s attempt to empathise with a country and people tearing themselves apart and more universal ruminations on violence, torture, impunity and death. The work that opens and closes the book, however, was composed mostly in the early 1990’s and in the present day. These image-driven depictions of street-life in Kathmandu present a city-dweller’s recounting of the world he passes through; poems formed with a detached and an omnivorous eye. In the first instance the aim was catharsis and in the second, awareness. Says Amtzis: “The aim for the conflict poems was catharsis and for the street poems, awareness. My concern throughout was with how lives are lived and suffering endured.” The reader can see the years of violence in the context of the unhappy peace that preceded and followed it. These are poems of witness that ask the reader to look through the images to the world that brought them forth, and feel through the sounded words to the emotions that engendered them. In both instances they ask that a judgment be made.

THE TASK

“peace decays forever” –Jean Follain

A tall woman in a tent-like dress, raises a tray of rocks to her head. Coolness and heat at play on her skin, air and blood at war in her ease. As she treads the mud path, from rock-strewn street to wall-less tower, a hint of rain aslant the air, neither hurries nor halts her steps. From an all-day vantage, she stands in place and never moves, un-told, unaccounted for, a traceable sadness drawing us to her eyes. Across the street, worlds apart, a trio of blind schoolgirls chatter as they walk. The sole seeing sister among them, clearing the path with her single-minded stare, wary at what stands in the way, yet sure-footed in her shepherding, as they are, hand in hand, in halting grace, linked in new-found pride that draws them in a single wave on and on...

Far from these lives, on the see-saw, in the grand public display, (while the usual sycophants and hacks –the better to see by– crowd round, tossing matches in the air) in packs, the leapfrogging leaders stammer and squeal as their bottoms settle in, as they push and rise, their feet barely touching the ground. So careless in the to and fro, in their squabbling rites of succession that they Or is just monkey see monkey do they do not care, they know they’ll make a monkey out of you. They know when the accounting is done it is the clerk in the requisite government of ce ( rst this one, then that) who explains –with registry, signature and stamp– how much it takes to complete (and while sipping tea, how much more!) to initiate the glorious task at hand. 18 BACK SIDE 16 - 22 SEPTEMBER 2011 #571 www.nepalitimes.com www.nepalitimes.com

Something cooking in the kitchen cabinet

here are two ways to look at for a month after that you can West, to revive his non-Tharu the prime minister’s decision Ever heard bet your bottom that this is going front for a territorial province in the Tnot to  y business on his trip to of deep vein to another one of those hair-raising trans-Karnali of which he is already New York next week. One is to see thrombosis? photo  nishes. the self-declared warlord. What this as proof that he is anti-business. FG has prompted all this, according Or, we can say that by  ying to notoriously reliable sources, is economy he has shown that he is The party leadership seems to know that the Baddies realized rather serious about the economy. something that we don’t: that this belatedly that their ethnic identity This is a heads-I-lose-tails- time there won’t be no extension politics was having an anti-Maoist you-win situation, either way the of the CA and that they’ll have to backlash among the Bahun-Kshetris PM is going to be accused of go for new elections. Which must who make up nearly a third of the endangering his own health by be why the Madhesi front was so electorate. exposing himself to deep vein desperate to get plum posts in the FG thrombosis risk, or splurging the BRB coalition so that they could national exchequer. Frankly, we because BRB now thinks  ying 40 wing Oli faction is  irting with the make hay when the sun came out All is not well in the governing don’t want a photo op with the hours roundtrip with long layovers in Maoists’ left wing Baidya faction to and replenish their depleted war coalition, the cabinet is still head of the Nepali delegation in the cattle class is just too much trouble, undermine Baburam. And then there chests. And, knowing how important incomplete and some Madhesi General Assembly dozing off at the and we hear that he is trying to call is Awesome the Enigmatic, who muscle power is at election time, ministers are openly de ant of the desk, so please do us all a favour, off the trip. just can’t stand his vice-chairman’s all parties are getting their militant prime minister. Like Comrade JP prime minister, and get yourself a superior intellect and is back to youth wings ready for some serious refusing to be party spokesman, and free upgrade. What would be much FG wearing his Hawaiian shirt which booth capturing and arm twisting. telling BRB publicly that it would be more meaningful, though, (and And that may be just as well with he always does when he is plotting FG better if he got one of his yes-men to the Ass has just sent this email to all the knife-sharpening that is some big breakthrough. do the job. But if the frequency and ([email protected]) going on. Com Red Flag faces FG Another sure proof that the length of meeting between the Gang would be for the PM to refuse to challenges on multiple fronts. The Baddies are girding up their loins of Three, BRB, Sitola and Right use the VIP departure lounge at Baidya faction is now publicly People are past caring, but the for elections is that even a former Honourable TIA and stand in line for one hour accusing BRB of being a medium donkey would like to remind Raja Baddie-turned-Mao Baddie Amreso Singh is at and x-ray with the rare Indian stooge. The NC is up in everyone that the next deadline for Gopal “Shoe-thrower” Kirati is anything to go rest of the hoi polloi and face what arms about the 4-point pact and the CA extension is 30 November. With setting up an organization of Maoist by, something is Nepal’s proles have to face every promise to induct 10,000 Madhesis the PM gone next week and then Kshetris. Which has prompted cooking in the day. But all this may be academic into the army. The UML’s right the country closing down for Dasain Lekha Raj Bhatta, the Lion of the kitchen cabinet. ISSN 1814-2613 CDO Regd No 194/056/57 Lalitpur, Central Region Postal Regd. No 09/066/67