PEACE OR POLLS||| BONDING WITH NEPAL EVEREST DISPUTE THE TAXI DRIVER AUGUST 15, 2004 VOL. I, NO. 17 www.nation.com.np RS. 30 ISSN 1811-721X cover.pm6 1 8/7/04, 6:30 AM PHOTO: RAJ BHAI SUWAL FINE JEWELERY Putalisadak, Kathmandu, Tel. 4412017, Fax. 977-1-5539787 Fax. 4412017, Tel. Kathmandu, Putalisadak, THE WORLDS BEST THE CLOTHS WORLDS MARZAN, HOTEL AMBASSADOR, LAZIMPAT, KATHMANDU, NEPAL TEL: 4442939, FAX: 4422130, EMAIL: [email protected] cover.pm6 2 8/7/04, 4:11 AM AUGUST 15, 2004 18 A Historic Shift By Suman Pradhan VOL. I, NO. 17 For the first time since its COVER: Kishor Kayastha (9851052778) inception in 1948, the COVER PHOTO: Sagar Shrestha www.nation.com.np Nepali Congress has taken the initial tentative steps towards potentially de-linking itself from the monarchy 26 Peace Or Polls By Satish Jung Shahi CPN-UML fears the Deuba governments rightward tilt but just cant decide where to go 28 Whos On Top By John Narayan Parajuli Mountaineerings traditions of integrity and trust among elite climbers are threatened COVER STORY by the all-too-personal disputes over who is the fastest Everest 20 Go, Go Condo summiteer By John Narayan Parajuli BUSINESS The housing crunch in Katmandu has driven up home prices. But builders have responded with new options. 32 Insuring Health INTERVIEWS: Prabindra Basnet, project manager, Grace Apartments and Surya By Indra Adhikari Bhakta Sanganchhe, deputy director general of Urban Development Board Only 5 percent of Nepalis have health insurance. Why? COLUMNS PROFILE 11 Much Ado About 42 The Book Seller ARTS & SOCIETY Nothing By Satish Jung Shahi By Jogendra Ghimire Twenty-five-year-old Nabaraj Bajagains 34 Home Away From Those who can make you believe absur- story is the stuff movies are made of Home dities can make you commit atrocities By Yashas Vaidya For Nepalis in the U.S., 30 The Curse Of The LIFESTYLE summer is the best time to Blue Sea come see their friends and By Swarnim Wagle 47 Decline In families in Nepal. Its time The study of the causes of the wealth Reading? Not Quite to leave now. and poverty of nations By Ajit Baral The habit of reading is actually growing DEPARTMENTS 38 Talking Conscious in Nepal, but much better promotion Purchasing and marketing strategies are necessary to 6 LETTERS By Ujol Sherchan keep up with demand 10 PICTURE OF THE WEEK In a market, consumers cast rupee-votes 14 CAPSULES 16 BIZ BUZZ 40 Crowning Glory SPORTS By Kunal Lama 44 CITY PAGE A new beauty queen emerges, tearful but 50 Saved By The Bell 52 SNAPSHOTS triumphant, at the end of a gruellingly- By Sudesh Shrestha 56 KHULA MANCH: GANGA RAM KHADGI stultifying-question-&-answer-round- Athlete and fans got a break last week and-embarrassingly-clumsy-song-&- when Rana and Singh factions patched 57 BOOKS: AGAINST THE CURRENT dance-routine session up their dispute 58 LAST WORD 5 Letters Nepal will do well to learn from Bhutan HARI SHANKAR ADHIKARI The expat story back. Thus, the Nepalis are increasingly JOHN N. PARAJULI UNNECESSARILY crowded out of the development sector. puts the expats in a flattering There is an old native Indian saying light(Home Is Where Heart Is, Cover from South America: When they [Eu- Story, August 1). For me, his article is ropeans] first came we had all the land, memorable for what was left unsaid. and they had all the Bibles. Today, we Let us not forget that the increase in have all the Bibles, and they have all the expats is also a reflection of failures of land. Expats are not allowed to buy land the government and our over-depen- in Nepal, but that doesnt mean that this dence on foreign aid. That they have saying doesnt offer a cautionary tale. come to help Nepal rings hollow. Who helps whom is debatable. This is not to HARI SHANKAR ADHIKARI say that there are no sincere expats, but BALKHU how to separate them from the honey In defense of Dor Bahadur eaters, as Kunal Lama puts it and to dis- courage the latter is a challenge. Over- IN REFERENCE TO HIMALI THAPAS letter to my article, most foreigners do stays should be granted as per Nepals consider Dor Bahadur Bistas mix of so- assessed critical needs, not general ciology and history very useful (Ke perceived needs. Garne? Cover Story, Opinion, August 1). Moreover, Nepal will do well to learn It seems to explain to us a lot of things from Bhutan. As Bhutan invested early on that are puzzling when we first come here. in targeted human resource develop- If she thinks Bista is wrong or an old hat, ment, it today has enough homegrown that would be an interesting story because teachers to meet its domestic needs. How of the influence the book has in bideshi/ it has been able to make English compul- INGO circles. If she thinks Bista is be- sory in all schools, private or public, start- ing misused to the detriment of Nepal ing from Grade One, for instance, with- (prop up their reasons for Nepals fail- out letting in the Peace Corps, Youth Am- ure), that could be a great story. bassadors or even Jesuit teachers is a suc- cess story worth emulating. It has also in- JOHN CHILD stituted a cap on the number of expats. SANEPA Nepal should likewise invest in targeted human resource development and gradu- Ignoring the Indians? ally phase out the Peace Corps, Youth KUNAL LAMAS ARTICLE WAS A FUN Ambassadors and foreign Jesuit teachers, read (Take Your Pick, Cover Story, and put a cap on the number of expats. Opinion, August 1). Certainly, Much often, development critics de- Kathmandus expats defy classification. cry Nepals over-dependence on foreign They come in all hues and colors. Funny, aid. Well, we tend to think expats come though, that you never thought of writ- straight from outside riding on foreign aid. ing about Indian expats? There are quite Not true; many come from inside Nepal. a few around. They first come on tourist visas, stay in volunteer jobs and later compete for de- SUPRABASH PRADHAN velopment jobs with Nepalis and stay VIA EMAIL 6 AUGUST 15, 2004 | nation weekly Policing traffic know better because they have, many ON THE ROAD AS A MOTORCYCLIST times and during different stints, pre- for six months, Ive come to realize how pared similar budgets with the same in- Nation Weekly, The Media House, Tripureshor, Kathmandu, Nepal (Regd. 113/059-060). chaotic the traffic in Kathmandu is and tent of not attempting to rock the boat Tel: 2111102, 4229825, 4261831, 4263098 that even following traffic rules word- and that for pretty much the same press- EDITOR: Akhilesh Upadhyay by-word is no guarantee to ones safety ing reasons. Narayans criticism of the [email protected] CONTRIBUTING EDITOR: Suman Pradhan (Policing Traffic, A Little Word, by governments aid management record COPY EDITOR: John Child SENIOR STAFF WRITERS: Sushma Joshi, Satish Jung Shahi, Deepak Thapa, July 25). The Valleys traf- however does not seem to have stuck Tiku Gauchan fic police themselves arent sure that because, as is well-known, the donors STAFF WRITER: John Narayan Parajuli PHOTOJOURNALISTS: Sagar Shrestha, Das Bahadur Maharjan their effort can improve the daily traf- in Nepal generally have the onus to do DESIGNER: Raj Kumar Shrestha fic riot. That becomes evident from the everything right from the stage of the EDITORIAL ASSISTANTS: Indra Adhikari, Yashas Vaidya manner they go about their business. feasibility study of a development AD & CIRCULATION DIRECTOR: Krishna Shrestha OPERATING MANAGER: Ashish Bhattarai They let pedestrians walk in the middle project to its implementation, monitor- MARKETING EXECUTIVES: Sarita Gautam, Rameshwor Ghimire [email protected] of the road, motorcyclists are frequently ing and evaluation. These days they are, SUBSCRIPTION OFFICER: Bipin Raj Ojha on the pavement, and the motorists form in some cases, believed to have started [email protected] ASST. SUBSCRIPTION OFFICER: Jeshna Karmacharya three lines in a two-lane road. And if one giving additional allowance to govern- DISTRIBUTION: Angiras Manandhar bothers to spend some time observing ment employees who work on the their MARKETING CONSULTANT: Kreepa Shrestha the traffic police at a busy intersection, projects leaving their colleagues crest- CREATIVE DIRECTOR: Nripendra Karmacharya you will see that they are having a party fallen and demoralized. It is also un- PUBLISHER: The Mirror Media Pvt. Ltd out there. A taxi driver is fined for ille- derstood that they themselves oversee AD ENQUIRIES: Tel. 4229825, 4261831, 4263098 gal parking, another gets away for a simi- the programs they fund. The govern- COLOR SEPARATION: ScanPro, Pulchowk, 5548861, 5552335 PRINTING: Variety Printing Press, 4278869 lar offence, and yet another happily gets ment role has been reduced to just that DISTRIBUTION: R.B. News, 4232784, 4244679 into an animated conversation with the of a witness. Its true that government Nation Weekly is published every Monday by The Mirror Media Pvt. Ltd. All Rights Reserved. The reproduction of the contents of this police himself. The other day I saw a bureaucracy is oversized, inefficient and publication, in whole or in part, is strictly prohibited without the policeman trying to get on top of an ex- ineffective. A decade or so ago a report prior consent of the publisher. tremely fancy bike (probably of a ha- suggested downsizing the bureaucracy Vol. I, No. 17. For the week August 9-15, 2004, released on August 9 rassed biker) at the Thapathali cross- by about 25 percent and reducing the CONTACT number of ministries to roughly 22.