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#183 13 - 19 February 2004 24 pages Rs 25

Weekly Internet Poll # 123

Q. Should foreign ownership of Nepali media be allowed?

Total votes:1,062 Weekly Internet Poll # 124. To vote go to: www.nepalitimes.com Q. Do you think King Gyanendra overstepped the bounds of a constitutional monarch with the royal address in Nepalganj? 8, going on 9

Twelve-year-old Surendra Shrestha bikes in Tahachal during Thursday’s bandh. KUNDA DIXIT He was four when the

war started.KIRAN PANDAY s the Maoist war completes palace and the parties, and between Nepalis.” These are the harshest Nepali Maoists. eight years, never has peace hawks and doves among Nepal’s words the Maoists have used against “Officially, this sends the seemed as remote. donors. India in the recent past. message that India is no longer safe. Nepalis caught in the middle However, the biggest blow to The government hasn’t been The Maoists have two options: have fled their villages by the the Maoists has been the dramatic able to hide its delight. However, give up violence and join the hundredsA of thousands. The extradition by India of senior Maoist spokesman Kamal Thapa denied political mainstream, or antagonise country’s military budget has leaders Matrika Yadav and Suresh there would be any peace overtures India further,” says Shyam increased at least three times more Ale this week. An Indian embassy to the Maoists as a result. “We will Shrestha, editor of the leftist than peacetime levels. Most of the official confirmed the handover and carry on with our military operations, monthly magazine Mulyankan. money has been diverted from said it was kept low key because of and strongly mobilise the security With the government development projects. Weapons are the “legal implications back in forces against them,” he told us. maintaining a hawkish line, the getting more sophisticated: the latest India” as the Indo-Nepal bilateral Although losing safe havens in Maoists commemorating their purchases are two Indian-made extradition treaty is not yet in place. India will be a disadvantage to the anniversary with a light attack helicopters that cost Rs Maoist leader Prachanda lashed Maoists, analysts say one test of series of strikes and 3 billion each. back, saying in an online statement: whether or not attitudes have sabotage attacks Editorial p2 The Maoists have suffered “By kidnapping a popular tarai changed will be India’s response to and the palace- Pawns military setbacks and desertions, but leader and a member of a a big rally planned in New Delhi on party polarisation getting worse, it have benefitted from reports of downtrodden janjati group, India’s Sunday by the ‘Nepalese People’s looks like the country is heading human rights abuses by the forces rulers have distanced themselves Right Protection Committee, into another spring of turmoil and as well as infighting between the even further from the hearts of the India’ that has close ties with instability. l 13 - 19 FEBRUARY 2004 2 EDITORIAL #183 Published by Himalmedia Pvt Ltd, Chief Editor: Kunda Dixit Desk Editors: Trishna Gurung, Jemima Sherpa Design: Kiran Maharjan Web: Bhushan Shilpakar Advertising: Sunaina Shah [email protected] Subscription: Anil Karki, [email protected] Sanchaya Kosh Building, Block A-4th Floor, Lalitpur GPO Box 7251, Kathmandu, Nepal Tel: 01-5543333-6, Fax: 01-5521013 [email protected], www.nepalitimes.com Printed at Jagadamba Press, Hatiban: 01-5547018 Camouf laging crime AWNS Pone of the forces that lord over us these days seems to be able to WomenBARDIYA — As invictims all wars, Nepali ofexplains the one war woman fromare the weepingwar has meant silently endless trauma: utter a sentence without the word ‘people’ in it.The political parties women have been the nearby village of Kalika. losing dear ones, being forced to and their student vanguards making tyre pyres on the streets claim most vulnerable victims of the Said another woman: “Even flee homes and rape. In Bhawang they want to unshackle the people from the chains of regression, while the conflict. In a country where the if it was a pretend marriage, it alone, there are now 36 women bemused public just look on from overhead bridges. NThe Maoists have even named their eight-year war after the people. status of women is already one of was still a marriage, and we with children born from rape by They close down schools and call for national bandhs—effectively telling the lowest in the world, the hope that once they hear they police who were posted here the people they are not at liberty to work, to go to school or open their Maoist conflict has made women have children they will come during the early part of the businesses. even more susceptible to abuse. back.” But I wonder. Many of conflict in 1996. At Nepalganj on Sunday, King Gyanendra used the word ‘janata’ and Increasingly, there are reports of the mothers don’t even know Senior army officers I have ‘desh basi’ more than two dozen times. He said a modern monarch couldn’t stand aside when the people have tears in their eyes. where to begin looking for their spoken to in Dang admit there Ultimately, all three forces know they need to gain the legitimacy and GUEST COLUMN men. have been some instances of rape the trust of the people. That is a good sign: at least the people still seem to Durga Pokhrel Even if the men deserted and, whenever uncovered, the matter. But for the parties, the procedure with which that legitimacy is the women, one could argue guilty soldiers have been gained seems more important than actual fulfillment of the mandate. For forced liaison and rape leading to that the relationship was punished. But aside from the their part, the Maoist ideologues say they are so fed up with patronage and the problem of war babies who consensual. But there are now question of bringing the corruption that passes for democracy that they want a new people’s democracy—and so what if a few thousand people die in the process of have been abandoned by fathers many cases of rape by security perpetrators to justice, there is being liberated? King Gyanendra sees his role as a knight in shining in uniform. forces. “They were the lucky now the problem of finding armour who wants to rescue the people from the clutches of corrupt On a recent visit to mid- and ones,” one woman in support for Nepal’s war babies. politicians and ruthless rebels by redefining the role of a monarch within a far-western Nepal, I came across a Thakurdwara whispers to me, Without fathers, the children multiparty polity. number of women who thought referring to the abandoned can’t even register to attend The people have reacted to these promises with stoic skepticism. They have heard it all before and they have learnt to get on with their lives the men in uniform had married wives. “I was raped.” The school and are unable to apply for best they can. In fact, as this tripartite power struggle strangles the nation, them, only to see their husbands security forces’ men entered her citizenship. Even unmarried the people have shown remarkable patience and forbearance even though vanish. Throughout the Maoist- house saying they were looking mothers can’t have their own the leaders have always punished the people when they want to get back at affected districts, there are many for Maoists, she relates to me. citizenship papers without a their rivals. cases of ‘marriages’ where the When they saw only women husband. Nepalis have endured the Maoist violence of the past eight years, soldier or policeman ‘husband’ has inside, they raped them. Worse, Nepali law denies a suffering greatly. Some believe the Maoists when they say violence is a necessary sacrifice they have to make for a better tomorrow, others are too disappeared. It is a phenomenon Another 28-year-old takes woman’s right to motherhood. scared to disagree. The political parties have drifted from anti-regression to that needs urgent attention. me aside and tells me her story. The state must now remedy the pro-republic, but the people see it as just another slogan. Increasingly In Sanusri village of Bardiya Some soldiers entered her house laws so these forgotten victims of doubtful about the intentions of the king they may be, but Nepalis are still district, only one in every four of and dragged away her husband, the war are rehabilitated and crowding to see him in Simikot and Jumla. the 80 women who got married to but four others stayed behind. cared for even if it can’t find and Longsuffering Nepalis are waiting to be heard through their elected representatives, and their patience is wearing thin. If only those who locally-posted security force They eyed her and the baby punish the guilty. Just talking presently control their destiny could agree on the mechanism of how to let personnel were taken by their she was nursing. “I just turned about this in Kathmandu is not that happen. Throughout all this, it is only the people who are showing any husbands when reposted. “These towards the wall and sat still,” going to help: we need to sanity or a sense of responsibility. The tragedy is they don’t trust any of the honest security men were the she recalls in a low voice. They document these cases, change the above anymore. armed police, not the military,” tore off her blouse and dhoti, laws, set up systems to identify grabbed her breast and bit it till and take care of the women. it bled. All four took turns to Finally, the forces responsible for rape her. the abuse of Nepali women must She never saw her husband, be held accountable. who is now just a statistic in the The government needs to list of Nepal’s ‘disappeareds’. “If enact the National Commission I ever see those soldiers again, I for Women Act that will establish will kill them myself,” she tells the commission as a powerful me, her lips quivering with apex body so that it can drive anger. She finally breaks down, through systematic legal reform and I weep with her. and oversee its implementation. There were others in l Bardiya with similar stories, many of them unmarried school Dr Durga Pokhrel is the chairperson of girls. Up in the hills in Rolpa’s the National Commission for Women. Bhawang the past eight years of

L ETTERS

to live with foreign direct investment in #182) the real tragedy is that instead of l It is disgusting that even a journalist of NoTHE media MEDIUM can ISsurvive MESSAGE if it doesn’t the media. simply competing in the marketplace, the CK Lal’s stature is taking the side of Indian respect the sensibilities of consumers. Rajesh Shrestha, email two English dailies have begun viciously investors in media (‘Battle for mediacrity’, Foreign-owned media in Nepal, attacking each other editorially. Ashutosh #182). Everybody knows that APCA is therefore, can’t be un-Nepali. If foreign l An ironic twist to the newspaper Tiwari (‘Media is the message’, #182) left Indian. We Nepalis are capable of running media investment is so important, why price war is that now it has reversed—at out the falling Rising Nepal from his our own parliament, our own government is the Nepal Media Society the only one least in Narayanghat. Last week while discussion. One wonders what is the need and our own judiciary. Why can’t we run our so concerned? It’s a clear case of travelling on the Kathmandu-bound bus for the taxpayers to subsidise a own media? We do not need Indians to edit protecting their business. I only wish from the Sunauli border, news vendors mouthpiece for the government? and publish our newspapers. Lal and Nepali they did it in a more dignified way, not there were peddling copies of The Daniel Haber, Kathmandu Times should support the cause of patriotic by insulting the intelligence of readers Kathmandu Post with the Rs 1.50 price Nepali newspapers. as Ashutosh Tiwari says in his column scratched out and replaced by Rs100 for Shankar Padhye, Pokhara (‘Media is the message’, #183). The real unsuspecting tourists. I realise there isn’t issue behind the bogey of nationalism much profit on one and a half rupees and l Nepali Times (#182) has three seems to be the media’s own insecurity 50 paisa coins are not in circulation here, columnists attacking the campaign by the about competition. From a business as in India. But when I offered a two Nepal Media Society against foreign point of view, it seems highly unlikely rupee note and told the boy to keep the investment in media, plus an editorial. All that a private organisation like the change, the cheeky kid refused and accuse the anti-foreign media newspapers APCA/Times of India Group would be demanded Rs 100! When I angrily for being unprofessional. But how is it motivated to invest in Nepal by anything dismissed the kid and his pricey paper, professional to have a one-sided portrayal else other than pure business interest. another foreigner in the back of the bus of this serious debate on an issue of such They thrive in giving what consumers paid Rs 10. It looks like our papers may national importance? Isn’t it time to practice want, not what they want. I am have slashed prices, but here in what you preach? intrigued by what a little competition Narayanghat it is more expensive than Name withheld on request, email does for consumers: when I get quality the International Herald Tribune. As you at a price that is unbelievable, I’m willing say in your editorial (‘Media typhoons’, l Thanks to CK Lal, Ashutosh Tiwari and 13 - 19 FEBRUARY 2004 OP-ED #183 3

riting On Revolution, to enter the fray himself. Sunday’s Marx said, “Hegel felicitation ceremony at the remarks somewhere that Mahendra Stadium in Nepalganj Followingbashed into submission the with little Musharrafmerchants. Add toroadmap that the Musharraf-typein Nepal elections by all great, world-historical facts was held amidst tight security with or no risk to the institution of mendicants and minders and we disqualifying all major political and personages occur, as it were, Historyhelicopter gunships patrolling the monarchy. Time will testjust the have the five pillarsburped of the figures by claiming that they are Wtwice. He has forgotten to add: sky. “The days of monarchy being validity of his assumptions, but for establishment. tainted with the charges of the first time as tragedy, the seen but not heard, watching the now, political parties have few In addition to the ‘Made in corruption? second as farce.”” people’s difficulties but not options left. Leaders of mainstream USA’ label, there are other King Gyanendra sees himself addressing them and being a silent parties are bracing themselves for a similarities between the guided as a ‘doer’ king in the mould of STATE OF THE STATE spectator to their tear-stained faces prolonged struggle. democracies in Pakistan and Nepal: his ancestor King Prithbi Narayan CK Lal are over,” said the king. Premier What will the king’s next move both takeovers were staged in Shah the Great. In that case, we Surya Bahadur Thapa, it seems, be? There may be clues from the October, Gen Musharraf also had a may be three years into a model King Gyanendra first made needn’t harbour any illusions way Gen Musharraf has ‘Seven Point’ agenda, our CIAA that may be three centuries an oblique reference to a about his executive powers. consolidated power in the past has been as active as Pakistan’s old.Dismissing Karl Marx’s ‘constructive’ monarchy as an The reception at Nepalgunj four years. After all, like in Pakistan National Accountability Bureau, correction of Hegel, Julian Barnes alternative to a constitutional one was too lack-lustre to ignite any there is a self-selected elite here Musharraf too opened the writes in A History of the World at his felicitation program in spontaneous gestures of support. that considers itself the custodian floodgates of ordinances, capping in 10 1/2 Chapters: “Does history Biratnagar last January. He The king coughed through his of the national interest. The ruling them with his Legal Framework repeat itself, the first time as reiterated this concept, again a bit address and the event itself was so class in both countries think that it Order. King Gyanendra must be tragedy, the second time as farce? vaguely, at another felicitation banal that Nepal Television’s is their manifest destiny to lift the contemplating a similar move to No, that’s too grand, too ceremony in Dhangadi in April. Durga Nath Sharma had to rely on ignorant masses from their institutionalise his constructive role. considered a process. History just Meanwhile, the royal propaganda fellow propagandist Yubraj collective misery. The king will probably learn a burps, and we taste again that machine was relentlessly Gautam of Gorkhapatra Sansthan The symbol of the ruling few more lessons from Pakistan, raw-onion sandwich it swallowed churning out the king’s disquiet to elaborate on the successes of the oligarchy in Pakistan are its just as his late father King centuries ago.” l with mainstream political parties. ceremony. defence forces—omnipresent, Mahendra had done, and replicate Now, the gloves are off. Not With all his considered omniscient and sacrosanct. After Gen Ayub Khan’s Basic content with the tone and tenor wisdom, the king seems to have the Shah Restoration of the 1950s, Democracy in Nepal in the 60s. of the loyal royals, King concluded that opposition to his the monarchy in Nepal has always Will it consist of holding Gyanendra seems to have decided active rule can be bribed, booed or been at the head of the ruling coalition that consists of the military, the mandarins and the

RUDRA KHADKA/NEPALGANJ

Yubaraj Ghimire (#182) for exposing the dollars and pounds does not make you shame on all of you who have been active irrational and irresponsible behaviour of the privileged Nepalis. The fact of the matter is in this civil war, shame on you who have EveryTGIF week I tell myself ‘Thank God, it’s so-called ‘nationalistic’ media who are they cook tandoori and rice in London or been involved in humanitarian assistance Friday’, knowing that a new issue of relying on extreme xenophobia to counter New York, and no one cares about them during 40 years of development programs Nepali Times will be available at the what is essentially a battle for the Nepali over there. Now they come to Nepal resulting in such poor records. It is hard to stands. Again, this week (#182) your media market. Yes, The Himalayan Times begging for recognition. Regarding the believe that other sectors of basic needs excellent reporting, objective, factual, and Annapurna Post have used back- herd mentality, the laws of economics say have reached a failure rate, so that such a critical and positive was a pleasure channels to funnel money in Nepal. that allocation of scarce resources results huge disparity gap exists in this country. reading. Your paper is an asset to Nepal, Everyone knows it, and that is why they in scarce resources being utilitised to its Thirdly, shame on the corrupt, both the and friends of Nepal. And it’s good to will never succeed in Nepal because they fullest. The carpet industry, garment givers and the takers. Lastly, shame on me know that we will not miss the are tainted by Indian ownership. Instead of industry, pashmina industry are all who also has done little against it. This is a comments from Daniel Lak. Although the letting them die a natural death, our own examples. Regardless, no economic law scandal. dip in temperature these past weeks newspapers tried to exhort patriotism by works in Nepal. What works is fallacy, as Michael Griesbaum, Kathmandu wouldn’t justify moving immediately to using an old story on Lumbini. This Giri points out, and self mockery of the Miami. controversy has exposed both Indian and kind NRNs created during their Hartmut Bauder, Kathmandu Nepali-owned newspapers. The casualty conference. It’sLAK sad to hear that Daniel Lak is relocating has been Nepal’s media industry. P Thapa, Baltimore, USA from Nepal. I have been an avid reader of Saroj K Shakya, Kathmandu his column in Nepali Times and his JustFAN MAILin case Kunda Dixit is getting put off reporting on South Asia for the BBC. His by all the hate mail he has been getting IfSHAME life expectancy in Kathmandu is 30 views have been intriguing and eye- from irate wit-challenged readers who years more than in Mugu, as Stephen opening. His commentary on the political and don’t get it, I am writing on behalf of his JotiHERD Giri MENTALITY is 100 percent right in ‘Herd Bezruchka states in ‘Diagnosing Nepal’ social situation in Nepal shows an millions of fans (ok, ok, thousands) to Mentality’ (#180) in saying “the NRNs had (#182), then Mugu must stand as a outsider’s perspective that has been ask him to please continue writing his their 15 minutes of fame” at the conference synonym for many other remote districts valuable to us, and also shows how very Under My Hats. We want Dixit to know in Kathmandu last year. We have not seen of Nepal. If the 30-year difference is a much in touch he is with Nepal. that we read his paper backwards. any ‘doers’ yet. Living abroad and earning confirmed fact, then I have to exclaim: Abheek Jyoti, Kathmandu Sam Pradhan, email 13 - 19 FEBRUARY 2004 4 NATION #183

Compassion, free service and dedication to the community are hallmarks of an ancient Himalayan medical tradition NARESH NEWAR in KOMANG t’s love at first sight: breathtaking Shey Phoksumdo Lake, wind- Amchi swept rocky crags, high passes where the Snow Leopards and Blue Sheep roam. The wonders of Dolpo Inever cease. Walking across this remote district at altitudes above 5,000m, the climate and terrain are harsh and unforgiving. Travellers have died of altitude sickness and starvation. Few city folks are prepared for the hardships, even if the reward is the most spectacular scenery on earth. Here at Komang, a 10-day walk west of Jomsom, the local Dolpalis are used to living without modern basic necessities. There is no electricity, no running water, no telephone services. People travel to the Tibetan border for supplies and bring them back in yak caravans. Their only tenuous link with the outside world is Radio Nepal, but it broadcasts in Nepali which the Dolpali cannot understand. The nearest health post with a doctor is several days walk away. The modern health care system is virtually non-existent and the one thing that has kept the people here healthy is the indigenous medical ALL PICS: NARESH NEWAR knowledge of the Amchis, Buddhist lamas who practice an ancient herbal today owe the survival of their Zhang Zhung, and has the most it there. Many consider the Western medical training as well. medical regime. practice to this king who invited Amchis. Dolpo alone has about 64, undertaking suicidal. Many are dentists and cataract Sowa Rigpa, the Amchi art of nine of the most knowledgeable one in each village so people don’t Despite the invaluable and free surgeons. healing rooted in Tibetan medicine, Amchis from Nepal, India, China have to travel to distant health clinics. medical service, the government in “The government needs to has existed since the Bonpo and Mongolia to incorporate their Amchis help to heal common faraway Kathmandu has never recognise Amchi training schools as civilisation. The most experienced medical knowledge in Gyushi text, ailments as well as fractures and accorded the Amchi any recognition. medical institutions, so that Amchis Amchi of Dolpo, Karma Lhundup, which remains a valuable source for other physical wounds in In China, Amchis have been given get certified as real doctors in remote who lives in Komang, traces his Amchis even today. combination of physical and national acceptance and their mountain districts,” says Amchi lineage to King Trisong Detsen of Mustang and Dolpa used to be spiritual skills. Most of the sick who profession is institutionalised. Gyatso, chairman of the Himalayan 8th century Tibet. The Amchis of a part of the Bonpo kingdom of opt for a town hospital never make Practitioners receive allopathic and Amchi Association (HAA). Unlike

Resistingost fashion makersOnly and breakers, milk should Thea majority Barbie be used tohomogenised. win, now it is the any cost,world Nothing facial features ofelse certain the designers, and their glassy- minority, the less than one percent in a textures and tints, bosoms, waists eyed followers assume we are all million who walk the ramps, fill the celluloid and hips of pre-ordained proportions. made the same. How many Barbie images and TV screens, who spout instant This onslaught of imported of womanhood seem to have permeated answers vowing to save the earth and preferences have taken over local Mour psyche even in Nepal? A nine-year-old serve the mankind by creating artificial choice. sized me up, and asked bluntly why I don’t parameters of beauty. The images that Strategic international yardsticks have a Barbie-like figure. Unflinchingly, I come to mind when you speak of great now promote the products that are replied looks are the same names that rule the sold through cable, internet and NEPALI PAN that electromagnetic waves. These looks set the glossies. Are we educating our young I’m standard of beauty and success. to see through all this, to scratch hard Sushma Amatya not Let’s look for non-Barbie beauty and at the veneer for the truth? Are we one create lifetime achievement awards for protecting them for a life in a world of those plastic dolls. Wake up, girl, humans toiling mothers struggling to feed their which will turn them into clones that come in all sizes and shapes. families in the remote hills, the ‘physically buy cloned products? Will they be Think of the agonies of a teenager who challenged’ tailor who creates beauty by forced to sacrifice their identity, uproot could not overcome her genetic code to training others to sew, the waiter who themselves and forget who they are? come anywhere close to her peers she never grew above two feet who makes a They each have unique admires in looks or skills. Too bad she is not living entertaining children in a restaurant. characteristics, special qualities that genetically programmed to accept and Not out of pity, but for their understanding, deserve to be nurtured and given appreciate herself as she is. compassion and what they can teach us. space to grow. Diversity that should Imagine the aches inside a child’s mind Just having faith and hope to sustain be respected, celebrated and whose parents cannot afford the latest themselves and yet continuing with their treasured. Homogeneity is not natural, video game and whose friends can. Or the lives the best they can. it is a slow synthetic poison. We need complexes a young man develops because Success as defined by the media today to teach ourselves the value of self- he cannot speak with the same accent as is a one-way traffic from the ‘developed’ worth, relearn the meanings behind his mates. As a society, we practice West to the ‘developing’ South, and then what we do as a community and political exclusion and it extends to cultural Eastwards to our own ‘under-developed’ practice it, accept our differences in exclusion by not teaching self-esteem, side of the map. Values laden with the world and within a nation, and dignity and self-respect in our schools. aggressiveness, materialism, winning at learn to co-exist within our diversity. l 13 - 19 FEBRUARY 2004 NATION #183 5

NGOThe government conservation is outsourcing park management The controversy over the government’s decision to hand over protected areas to the private sector has finally been clarified: the parks will be managed by NGOs and local communities. (l-r) Amchi intern Pema Bhutia After the announcement was made during the budget speech in July tries to identify a patient’s 2003, the Ministry of Forest and Soil Conservation (MFSC) came under disease from his pulse. sharp criticism from conservationists for putting decades of bio-diversity renaissanceAmchi training school in efforts at risk. The government has now ruled out handing the parks to Komang. commercial interests, and is giving them to non-profit conservation groups. Amchi Karma training students It says only NGOs with proven record in biodiversity conservation will to identify medicinal plants. get the chance to manage the parks without government supervision. Protected areas consist of national parks, wildlife reserves, buffer zones and conservation areas. modern medical courses, the Amchi The King Mahendra Trust for Nature Conservation (KMTNC) has system is hereditary and knowledge already received approval from the government to manage Rara National is passed down from one generation Park, Shey Phoksumdo National Park and Shivapuri Watershed & Wildlife to another. Despite financial Reserve—all of which are located in ecologically sensitive regions. Rara is Nepal’s smallest national park and Shey Phoksundo is the largest, and difficulties in the villages, Amchis both are habitats of rare wildlife species like the musk deer, blue sheep, take long journeys to treat the sick snow trout and snow leopard. Rara has the country’s largest lake, and Shey in their homes and spend Phoksundo the highest. considerable time collecting and While KMTNC has experience in running successful conservation processing plants into medicines. programs in the country, the fact that it was handed Rara and Shey Senior Amchis train pre-teen Phoksundo has raised eyebrows here. KMNTC worked with WWF Nepal and Department of National Parks & Wildlife Conservation to turn the apprentices into adulthood. Annapurna Conservation Area into a world class eco-tourism model. Amchis now want the Health “But same success may not be achieved without government Ministry to recognise their ability monitoring and supervision,” says Krishna Humagain from Nepal Foresters based not just on spiritual healing Association. The government is in a bind: as the army is redeployed from but technically proven medical skills. guarding national parks to security duties, who will look after the parks? Conservationists say local communities should be more directly involved At present, the government in conservation, and cite the example of Kanchenjunga Conservation concedes two branches of health Area (KCA) to Local Users Council as an example. studies: allopathic medicine and The council will work with WWF Nepal and the Department of National Ayurveda. Amchi medicine or Parks & Wildlife Conservation (DPNWC) to manage the park in training Tibetan medicine is not integrated local expertise for conservation so the park can be handed over. “If this into health studies. “Amchis are not community effort goes well, Kanchenjunga will be a model for proactive and decentralised management of protected areas not found anywhere able to receive licenses or certificates else in the world,” says Chandra Gurung, WWF’s country representative. like other health professionals even Nepal’s protected areas were established during the early 70s to cover though they are the ones who have worked with local Amchis here providing for his eight-member 21,000 sq km, about 14 percent of the country’s total land area. There are actually stay in the villages and serve to identify, harvest and conserve family and the need to provide free eight national parks, four wildlife reserves, two conservation areas and one hunting reserve in the country. people for free,” says Amchi medicinal plants. Amchis are now medical service to his community. l Nyamgyal from Do Tarap. taking matters into their hands. “Compassion is the first lesson that (Naresh Newar) Most of the time, government They established the Himalayan an Amchi possesses. My people funds for health never reach some Amchi Association in 1998 to depend on me and I will continue villages. The annual budget motivate and encourage Amchis to do this till I die,” he says simply. allocation of Rs 55,000 for Dolpo throughout the country. They also The 55-year-old depends on his district never got there. “The held the first Nepali Amchi two young nephews and a niece to number of Amchis is reducing due conference recently to share propagate Amchi knowledge. to financial difficulties, and people knowledge, problems and health Sixteen-year-old Pema Bhuti is the in the mountains have no one else issues. The association organises only female undergoing Amchi to rely on for health care,” says Amchi refresher training courses every year training in Dolpo. She is well-versed Tsampa Ngawang Gurung from to revive the knowledge and practice in Chimagyud, the Amchi medical Jomsom. of professional Amchis. They are text, and adept with the techniques Lately, there has been an Amchi now working towards establishing of pulse and urine analysis. renaissance with exchange of traditional hospitals in each district Currently studying the knowledge between the Tibetan, and are planning to start a medical identification and preparation of India-based and Nepali Amchis. college in Kathmandu and await medicine, Pema looks up to her The WWF and Department of government approval. uncle as her role model and plans to National Parks & Wildlife Meanwhile, Amchi Karma of become a fully accomplished Amchi Conservation (DNPWC) in Dolpo Komang is caught between one day. l 13 - 19 FEBRUARY 2004 6 NATION #183 NEPAL IN THE FOREIGN PRESS Sharing water SALMAN HAIDAR in THE STATESMAN Training for ince the early years of Indian independence, there have been visionary schemes for taking water from regions of excess to those of shortage. Now there is the even more far-reaching concept of linking the country’s Living in a country with a mere 25km of railway tracks, major rivers. Such imaginative schemes stir both expectation as well as we have romantic notions of rails doubt, even alarm: upper riparians want a say in what is being planned, train travel Slower riparians fear they will lose out. NEITHER HERE Neighbours watch carefully, none more so than Nepal, source of 70 NOR THERE percent of the Ganga flood season flows and hence a necessary partner in Anagha Neelakantan any largescale water management plans. Water sharing is inherently so complex and raises so many passions that very few schemes across international borders have ever seen the light of day. One major exception trip South often requires is the 1996 Indo-Nepal Treaty for joint development of the Mahakali. that one spend Implementation of this agreement is moving slowly but remains the most considerable amounts of significant regional development of its type. time and energy, and, admittedly, The centrepiece of the Mahakali agreement is a proposed high dam at Pancheshwar for multi-purpose development of the river, to provide both proportionately smaller amounts of electric power and increased irrigation capacity. Nepal’s main interest is in money,A on the rails. There are train power, which it can sell to India for a good price–a look along the mountains routes in India that are swift, well- to Bhutan shows just what regular revenue from such a source can do for a lit, clean and extremely commuter country. Thus from the start, Nepal has been very interested in the tariff for hydro-electric power and its preference has been to design the project to train-like. This is important, and provide peaking power because electricity supplied at the time of maximum not merely snobbery. Paul demand yields the highest revenue. Theroux may be dedicated to train For the converse reason, India has held out for a base power station, travel and romanticise the great one that provides regular supply through the day rather than a concentrated railway journeys of the world, or box, the plate (and sometimes This is all especially annoying rush at peak periods. Perhaps India was concerned not to appear to be giving too much away, for there is no good reason why the peaking power it explore the anthropological banana leaf which at least has the when one considers that it is possibilities of train travel in virtue of being easily disposable invariably the people who, while China. and biodegradable), the four making the most efforts to pretend Yet, for some of us, trains as a serving spoons, the little glass that they are on solid ground, mode of getting from Point A to bottles of pickles, the papad, the simultaneously exploit the relative Point B are disturbing. And baby container of yogurt and, anonymity on trains, and the journeys are, presumably, different finally, the bedroom and suspension of ‘normal life’ the if you’re not getting a book bathroom with the furtive slipping most. They ask the most probing contract or two out of them. Yes, into nightclothes under cover of and often enraging questions, the pace of train travel is dhotis, second sarees or just the things they’d think twice about wonderful in comparison with the upper berth. Then there are without an intermediary back quickie effect of airplanes, and no, passengers who actually bathe in home. Questions about one’s age, you don’t have to strain every the toilets first 12 and then 30 occupation, gender at times, family sinew in your flabby legs except hours into the trip. history going back two generations SUBHAS RAI for the moment you board some I once saw a man performing or family’s first flat, whichever Indian trains. I wonder how many an elaborate exercise with a lungi, a comes first, father’s monthly people actually emerge cheerful pair of pyjamas with a long income, marital status, your views Mahakali can provide a model for joint and with a sparkling new insight drawstring, a kurta and a small on Boys, and hence your chastity, development of other Himalayan rivers into the organisation of Indian mauve handkerchief. Naturally, it and your willingness to wed their needs should not be obtained from Nepal. Earlier differences of approach society or the suspension of ended in disaster with the man (a son who has spent the last five on this matter may now be behind us, aided by the emergence in recent traditionally ascribed identities in filthy lecher who had it coming) hours coyly eyeing you from years of a market for electricity in India: where formerly there was only a state-regulated process, today the price for electric power is determined by the liminal context of Train tripping and falling flat on his behind his General Knowledge or market considerations. This healthier basis for commercial sales is in line Journeys. face. But what about the rest of us Norman Vincent Peale book and with Nepal’s long standing demand. True, trains are an equaliser in who consider eating alien food, tried, in his mild and generally There is the related matter of water sharing. Here India has the greater that, once out of the oppressive smelling many alien smells, giving hopeless manner, to grope you on interest, for its needs are increasing and the scope for more irrigation in India is vast, whereas Nepal’s irrigation potential is constrained by its smaller and immeasurably more dangerous oglers the evil eye, resigning his way to the toilet. size and terrain. An agreed basis for water sharing from the project requires ‘Ladies’ compartments’, if you ourselves to the constant rattle, There is a remote possibility sorting out tricky questions of ‘ownership’ of water, fair compensation, assured have to have a snack in the drooling witlessly and groggily that they are the best of all worlds, supplies to both riparians and so on. presence of an Unmentionable, or over our book or at the landscape but think of buses: much more Under the 1996 treaty, these are to be handled by a joint group of experts who are to frame a Detailed Project Report (DPR), on the basis of share taps and toilets with people and people whizzing by too fast to private in some ways, and which work can commence. This has been delayed with a resultant loss of you would simply rather pretend take close notice of and generally conducive to complete glazing momentum. When not enough is happening on the main front, there is didn’t exist, for the most part, being a little grubby, what about over. Or trekking, where annoying room for smaller issues to become prominent and these can retard the people hold their breath and get those of us who consider that this people (usually those who are overall progress. However, neither side has recoiled from its treaty obligations and the project can come to life with just a bit of extra effort from both sides. on with it. is what it is about? Are we not to consciously ‘escapees’) can be In one respect, the Mahakali scheme will not fail to attract hostile The main source of discomfort have our fantasy? Why must deflected with some brisk walking attention. Major dam projects in the Himalaya have their entrenched on long distance train travel, as I people intrude with bootless or a demented look and some opponents who are concerned about environmental and safety considerations see it, is that it often involves efforts to fabricate unsatisfactory gibbering about the delights of and, above all, about the human cost. When Mahakali goes through, there will be displacement of people and submergence of their land, and this will coming face to face with people replicas of evenings spent in dim diamox. l breed strong, even decisive, opposition to the entire project unless who do not, in fact, wish to leave light the same way all the time? resettlement and rehabilitation are treated as no less a priority than the home, or carry home with them as actual building of the dam. The record with other similar projects does not a precondition to movement. The inspire confidence: displaced populations have not received their due, hard sleepers that are the product compensation has been inadequate and only grudgingly given. The DPR has to face this challenge if the treaty is not to collapse under the weight of of the systematic felling of vast local objections. tracts of rain forests are With all the difficulties attendant on such a major venture, the opportunity troublesome in many ways. Even it provides to both nations is immense. Slow progress until now reflects the food is strangely compelling, reduced political commitment. Nepal has been going through a particularly bad patch and has had little time to spare for a development project of this with the trays of greasy and dimension. overspiced generic Indian Curry. Meanwhile, India has set its sights on far horizons, seeing itself as an Disturbing are the many people emerging global player, and in the process is becoming neglectful of who, having barely sat down on opportunities nearer home. A renewed political commitment from both sides is needed to conclude all the outstanding tasks and get on with the their third or half of the seat, begin project. Success with Mahakali can provide a model for joint development reconstructing close reproductions of other Himalayan rivers. Such cooperation is necessary if the vision of a of Home. The living room, with vast water grid is not to remain an airy figment of someone’s imagination. l its complement of favourite slippers and shawls, the kitchen/ (Salman Haidar is a former Foreign Secretary of India) dining room with the six-tier tiffin 13 - 19 FEBRUARY 2004 NATION #183 7 Knee-jerk hair-splitting iven the existing level of trust (or lack thereof) between King theIf situationthe stillking can’t be trusts called monarchythe people, in previous years. why don’tmajority, the king parties?will be back to Gyanendra and the conducive for free and fair However, he did take a cue where he was pre-4 October parliamentary parties, it was elections. But the detention and from BP Koirala (without 2002. Only the political parties, naturalG that the royal address in handover of two prominent mentioning his name) when he especially the five agitating ones, Nepalgunj would be Maoist leaders Matrika Yadav and pleaded that the fruit of have the power to grant the misinterpreted. Suresh Ale Magar by the Indian reconciliation could be “sweet”. status of an ‘active monarch’ to authorities this week is a clear The political parties have been King Gyanendra by running CAPITAL LETTER indication India will act, and will challenged: go to the polls, or away from polls indefinitely. Yubaraj Ghimire be seen to be acting tough, on force the king to rule The Maoists have an equally the rebels post-SAARC summit. indefinitely (if not forever) in crucial decision to make. Their This time the monarch The Maoist leadership now the garb of a constitutional previous tactic of divide-and- showed more pragmatic maturity faces a difficult situation in India. monarch. The choice lies with destroy may not be as effective and tried to appear more It may either have to return to the political parties more than anymore and they can make conciliatory than during the two Nepal to pursue democratic and the king. multiparty parliamentary felicitations last year. peaceful politics, or defy the It will be unfair to conclude democracy more vibrant, pro- Notwithstanding the cynicism Government of India openly by that the king is banking on the people and an effective tool of and hostile reactions showered on joining hands with the People’s Maoists to disrupt elections so democracy if they shun violence. him and the accusation of War Group and the Maoist he can continue ruling. The Alternatively, a democratically harbouring a hidden agenda, Communist Center for a argument that the king wants to elected government will be better King Gyanendra threw the ‘Communist Revolutionary be an ‘active monarch’ since he equipped to deal or negotiate trump card of election on Zone’ in South Asia. A pro- did not reiterate his with the Maoists in a more the table. Maoist group is holding a commitment to constitutional acceptable manner. How soon the political parties meeting in New Delhi on 15 monarchy in Nepalganj, appears It may seem that the will want the election to happen February to mark the eighth lopsided. The present Nepalganj address extended the now depends entirely on who anniversary of the ‘People’s War’. constitution did not envisage life of the Surya Bahadur Thapa they want to derive the power King Gyanendra was no the king’s active role. And the government. But it now faces the from: the king, or the people. doubt critical of the role of moment elections take place and added responsibility of stepping The Maoists’ guerrilla strength political parties during the past executive powers are exercised up the initiative to seek wider has been substantially reduced 13 years, and far less by an elected government political participation and by the security forces, although introspective about the role of enjoying a parliamentary announce the date for elections at MIN BAJRACHARYA the earliest . It can’t just reduce institutions will fall into the the king’s call for elections as a domain of a future parliament. time-buying exercise. An early Continued cynicism and election will not only end the hostility or excessive hair-splitting uncertainty of the present of the Nepalganj address will only constitution, but will also bring prove that political parties are as on track the roles of the feckless as the king hinted at. executive, legislature, as well as Their wisdom will lie in accepting monarchy. Any modification in the real challenge: if the king trusts the current role of these the people, why don’t you? l 13 - 19 FEBRUARY 2004 8 #183 Reinterpreting ethnicity UK Nepalis celebrated Lhosar regardless of their backgrounds, what they had in commonast month mywas family their celebrated Nepali Lhosar near identity London at a show arranged by the Tamu Dhin (Gurung Home) Association. Gurungs, mainly from army backgrounds, founded this association with the primary purpose of teaching their children the culture of their forefathers. Yet nowadays the New Year event attracts over 1,300 Nepalis from across Lthe community to share the celebration. It is important that in the UK, the Tamu people welcome guests from all backgrounds, because it fosters a real sense of kinship and goodwill from which no one is left isolated. The myriad of over 60 caste and ethnic groups that live side-by-side in the hills and tarai, are one of Nepal’s much celebrated features. Consolidated in the Constitution of 1990 as a “multi-ethnic, multi- lingual… Hindu and constitutional monarchical kingdom”, Nepali society continues to swing between caste and ethnic loyalty, and the broader national Nepali identity. These bold statements masked a reality in which the majority of ethnic groups LONDON EYE remained on the periphery of national development, falling Amidst the ruins of E D Bowman behind in terms of employment and education, whilst a tiny urban Bam, a Nepali elite reaped the benefits of a new economic freedom. Since the Adoctor future thinks of foretold introduction of the new constitution and multiparty democracy in 1990, many of these ethnic groups organised themselves to promote their rights, what would happen languages and cultures. in Kathmandu Ethnicity has become increasingly prominent in the current political troubles, often being used as a rallying call for dissent and dissatisfaction. ARUNA UPRETY in BAM Groups like the Khumbuwan in the east, and the Tharu Mukti Morcha in the west have thrown in their lots with the Maoist insurgents. The state, for its part, has shown its mistrust of ethnic organisations (even those with no hat night, Farina’s uncle and links to the conflict), as demonstrated in the arrests and ‘disappearance’ of aunt called her from Bam. members of the Newar Khala and Tamang Ghedung in the Kathmandu They told their niece they Valley over the last few months. In the modern context, multi-ethnic Nepal had heard deep rumbles from seems to be less a cause for celebration, but in political perceptions at beneath the earth. Scared, they least, a threat to national stability. T The Nepali community in the UK has come a long way from its very spent the whole freezing night in after the tragedy as part of an be a lack of medical facilities, no limited origins--the first migrants arrived in London in the 1960s and the car parked outside their house. international health and relief effort. water, electricity or sanitation. We British Army Gurkhas began to be stationed in Britain in the early 1970s. Before dawn, they called another As a Nepali, everywhere I looked I won’t even know how many people Today there are more than 20,000 Nepalis living here, including students, of Farina’s uncles in Karman to tell foresaw what will happen to us died, because we don’t know how workers, restaurant owners, professionals and soldiers, from many regions of him they were now going in for when an earthquake strikes our many live in Kathmandu’s crowded Nepal, and representing a range of ethnic backgrounds. Yet, life in the UK country. As in Iran, in Nepal we core. does not lend itself to the social ties and structures that are left behind in morning prayer. Nepal. Family, village, caste and ethnic group provide support and a “We got to Bam at eight in the shouldn’t say ‘if’ an earthquake In Bam, I came across a woman sense of identity to individuals in Nepal, to the extent that Nepali morning,” Farina recalls. “When strikes but ‘when’. That there will who appeared unwell. She was nationhood often takes second place to family and clan loyalty. we reached the house we saw my be an earthquake of this magnitude recovering from a leg injury sustained The lack of all these things in London has required a social shift within uncle and aunt had been crushed in Kathmandu or other Nepali during the quake. I asked her if there the Nepali community, to a system of support and identity that breaks down to death. Their prayers did not save towns is a certainty. We just don’t was anything I could get her. She the barriers of ethnicity and caste. Perhaps it is the hard economic environment in the UK and the relatively small population of migrant them” know when it will happen. replied that she could use some groups living here that makes people stick together regardless of creed There are thousands of stories Nearly two months after the feminine hygiene items and some and colour. The Pakistani and Bengali communities are already well- of death, suffering and also earthquake, Bam is still in utter lipstick. We both started laughing established here and use their nationalities as the basis for mutual miraculous rescues from that earth- shock. There is a four storey and soon her family and my support. The Nepali community is now also finding that a Nepali national shattering event at 5:30 in the building in the centre of town that translator joined in. Despite the pain, identity can be a source of strength and unity here in the UK. morning of 26 December last year could easily be one of those new I am touched by the generosity, in this historic eastern Iranian city. office blocks that are coming up in compassion and sense of humour In 12 seconds, more than 40,000 Kathmandu. My companion tells among the Iranians I have met. people were killed and 120,000 me it used to be seven stories high— When we travel to nearby villages to injured. More than 2,000 children but the first three floors were simply check on health needs, particularly in Bam were orphaned. crushed like an accordion. The ruins of women, we are often asked to Like Farina, most families have of collapsed buildings are come into tents and share cups of lost at lest two relatives in the everywhere. Piles of bricks, dust, tea. We hear “Ba formain. Chai catastrophe. One elderly Iranian cement slabs, steel rods, crushed dusdari?” so often that we start dressed in black tell us she lost 30 refrigerators, shoes, books lie understanding the Farsi for “please members of her clan in three villages scattered. come in, would you like some tea?” near Bam. “Some of them were alive Here in Bam, I am constantly We are offered dates and fruits, when they were rescued from the reminded of my grandmother’s even from families who have rubble, but died soon after. Some stories of the great 1934 earthquake nothing left. Bam is famous for its In Nepal it is understandable that groups wish to protect their culture were unrecognisable because they and the one that struck eastern date orchards. Every family has an and traditions from the bland, homogenising force of Western were crushed by the concrete.” Nepal 15 years ago. Bam is proof of orchard, even if it is just a few trees. development and Kathmandu. Arbitrary attempts to forge a single One mother lost her eight-year- what will happen to Kathmandu Most families live in tents among national identity at the cost of minority cultures and language cause resentment, history shows that such policies are doomed to failure. Nepali old daughter. “She had gone to when a quake of this intensity strikes their trees. The roads survived the national identity ultimately stems from the very diversity of culture, sleep with her doll the previous our capital. Kathmandu’s urban quake, which has helped the relief religion and language that is currently being dragged through the mud night. At 5:30 there was a terrible planners, architects, businessmen work. and blood of violent conflict as Maoists seek to divide the people, whilst roar, the house came down, we ran should be brought on a tour of Bam Busy with my work, I help the government finds itself unable to trust the basic desires and needs of out, there was dust everywhere,” the to see what it is like. This is what Iranian women with their problems, its own multi-ethnic population. Asan, Indrachowk, the new share their sorrow and try to make Life over here in the UK is far from perfect, but the community has mother recalls in a low voice, and developed a new model of society to try and cope with the pressures, a then breaks into sobs: “We found government buildings, the fancy their present more bearable. But all reinterpretation of Nepali culture, which looks beyond pigeonholing and her in the ruins of her room, still villas, the office blocks will look like along, my mind is faraway in Nepal. dividing Nepalis along ethnic lines. A community that looks beyond its clutching her doll. She looked like after a quake. The unthinkable that could happen internal ethnic divisions can find strength in its increased numbers, and she was still sleeping.” She shows They should think about rescue in my own homeland. l celebrate the diverse array of cultures whilst sharing a common identity, a us the ragged and dusty doll, the and rehabilitation in the aftermath sense of nationhood in exile. During this Lhosar it was fantastic to see the only reminder of her daughter. of an earthquake. Those still alive Aruna Uprety is a Nepali ease with which people came together and celebrated regardless of their doctor who backgrounds, what they had in common was their Nepali identity. “This is the last thing she touched, will face epidemics, mental and has worked in rural western l and she loved it so.” physical agony, hunger and thirst Nepal, Afghanistan and is ED Bowman works for Amnesty International’s Nepal, Bhutan and Sri Lanka desk. I arrived in Bam one month aside from bereavement. There will currently posted in Iran. 13 - 19 FEBRUARY 2004 NATION #183 9 Flying solo Competing interests delay ECONOMIC SENSE No foreign investment please, we’re Nepali Royal Nepal Airlines’ plan to add a 757 OpenArtha Beed and shut case lagued by frequent groundings of its two 15-year-old 757s, Royal Nepal Airlines announced last year it was adding another jet to stabilise schedules. But plans to lease the third jet has been delayed by serious ast week’s issue of this paper differences between board members about the kind of aircraft. was heavy with opinion on Insiders say the dispute is due to vested interest groups represented in foreign investment in media Pthe board trying to push different models of Boeing aircraft without looking and competition. This week, let’s at the airline’s immediate needs or longterm sustainability. The indecision, look beyond just media to foreign coupled with the grounding of one of the airline’s 757s in Shanghai this Linvestment in general. weekend, has worsened the corporation’s financial crisis. Nepal commits to foreign Some members of the airline’s board of directors are putting pressure on management to lease-purchase a brand new Boeing 777, while others investment at every meeting with are pushing for a 757, still others want the airline to buy a 767 off Air Brunei. multilateral agencies, government “We have been unable to decide on the matter,” says RNAC Managing plans never fail to mention how we Director MP Khanal. “One thing or another keeps us from meeting and should be investment friendly. After deciding on the issue.” Khanal refused to comment on differences within the WTO entry and agreement to the board. every free trade zone that emerges, understand Magh or Falgun. abroad to work and compete with Frequent grounding of its 757s for technical reasons has dented the Nepal has now committed itself to Investors in the New York Stock the best in the world. In contrast, airline’s image and resulted in colossal losses. The airline’s two jets are allow foreign investment in sectors Exchange will not want to hear the the travel business was protected overstretched up to 15 hours a day each, limiting maintenance time. One of the jets needs a ‘C-check’ in April and the airline needs a replacement jet still reserved to the domestic Asad masanta results of a Nepali and foreign investment or tie-up for two months industry. So lawyers, accountants, company listed in their bourse. The disallowed. anyway. In effect, consultants and many other 15 minute time difference with India This resulted in having good the airline is now businesses and services have been is just quaint, not practical. hotels, but without the knowhow looking at leasing asked to be ready to face foreign If we agree to have passports for bringing tourists in droves and two jets in the competition. written and signed in English providing auxiliary services. The immediate future. The reality is that we never like (though immigration forms are in travel business has promoted But airline officials believe to give up our small fiefdoms that Nepali—and officers still try to ‘protectionism’ through various there are ulterior churn out products and services that match them!), why can’t we have travel bodies that harp against entry motives to go for can neither face foreign competition international dates and financial of foreign investment or tie-ups. leases instead of purchasing a plane. “We have warned them: if they lease nor provide suitable alternatives. years for business? The fact that we These associations prefer to find an aircraft instead of purchasing one, we will not allow it to fly,” says Capt YK How many local ad agencies folded do not want to even think of answers to businesses by attending Bhattarai, Chairman of National Airlines Pilots’ Association (NAPA). up after foreign companies were embracing future trends are junkets abroad rather than bringing One board member, Basanta Mishra, denies there are differences among allowed in? indicators of our attitude towards in international standards of the directors. “It is nothing like that, it’s just that we haven’t come to a final decision yet,” he told us. For management, that is exactly why the situation We talk about riding the global foreign investment. This is not just professionalism and services. is worrying: by dragging things till the last moment, the airline has in the economy, but are not been able to to attract capital, it is also to woo Of course, we shouldn’t make past been forced to sign faulty or sometimes fraudulent lease agreements. leave tradition behind. These range knowledge and technology. ourselves so wide that foreigners During the last 12 years, when the corporation had numerous political from following a unique Bikram There goes the Beed again, take advantage. It is an issue of a appointees as managing directors, everyone recommended RNAC opt for calendar, having a financial year that harping on his favourite peeve, you mindset required to think and lease-purchase of aircraft because it was the only way the airline could own begins and ends in different days may say. But take hotels and the debate openly without getting into its own equipment. The ideas were never implemented. each year. The communication travel trade: 30 years ago after emotional nationalistic tangles. If The government is not doing anything about the lease-purchase scheme system, computer software and 24x7 foreign investment and tie-ups in the Nepali business is to progress, then because it has already decided to privatise the airline’s international operations. A report by International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) to working environment of the future hotel industry were allowed, Nepal’s gradual and regulated foreign will only support international hotel sector became one of the most investment is the only way. And this value current assets and recommend a privatisation strategy is due soon. l (Khadga Singh) systems. Online airline bookings to sought after for employment. Hotel paradigm shift has to start from the mobile banking services will not training allowed many Nepalis to go private sector. l

NepaliBigger Times: How come all banks arebanking suddenly amassed unmatched experiencepie and market insight. fixated on retail banking? Others may have been the first movers in consumer Anil Shah: Four years ago when I talked about banking, but Nabil was the first to raise the bar in the consumer banking as the engine of growth for banking overall standard of banking in the kingdom two in Nepal, people in my bank and others outside raised decades ago. It has effectively built its strength both on their eyebrows. Today, they don’t bat an eyelid and say the asset and liability side. The bank has made a retail banking is their area of focus. The thing is, with major investment in technology and is in the process of the proliferation of banks there has been a tremendous migrating to a worldclass banking platform. So, Nabil reduction in margins and yield in corporate banking. Bank is poised for unprecedented growth. Prevailing uncertainties in the socio-economic With so many banks, the competition must be telling. condition has lead to stagnation if not a contraction of Being the first joint venture bank in Nepal, Nabil has the corporate sector. The pie was staying the same, or solid foundations and a strong customer relationship. even shrinking, and the number of players who wanted a In the last 19 years, the bank has grown consistently to slice was increasing. That is when we decided to look for retain its premier position in the industry. However, a new pie altogether: retail financing. Look at the today Nabil’s main strength is its people. When I talk to market today and it seems everyone has the same idea. the staff here I see in each and every one of them the It mustn’t have been easy in the beginning. desire to raise the benchmark, to deliver more than just Quite right, initially it was quite a task to get even my what is expected and now we have all the tools to do bank to buy the idea. The dynamics of retail banking just that. And regardless of what resources others may are very different from the traditional banking that have Nabil’s human resource will be the differentiating everyone was doing, so we had to sell the idea factor. internally first. It had to be large scale otherwise it just But other banks say the same thing, what is your wasn’t worth it. Then we had to change the mind set of unique selling point? the consumers. Customers used to laugh when we You are right, there are banks that tout their offered a loan to buy a car. They said their friends international lineages to banks that flaunt their strong would laugh at them. We had to change the culture of local roots. At Nabil we aren’t centered on ourselves, saving today to enjoy later into enjoying today and our origin or roots, but on our stakeholders: customers, paying later. Anil Shah, the man who led the consumer regulators, shareholders and staff. It is this focus on banking team at Standard Chartered Nepal has Now that you have moved to Nabil, what are your service that drives us to search for ways to meet the recently moved to Nabil Bank Limited as plans? entire gamut of our customer’s financial needs. With Many years ago I worked in Nabil bank as a trainee, it the migration to our new banking platform nearing General Manager where he wants to bring about was my first exposure to banking and the experience completion, we are poised to leverage on the unrivaled a “paradigm shift” in service. Nepali Times that I had during that tenure was the reason why I chose years of experience and strong balance sheet to make spoke to him about the retail financing wave banking as a career. So for me it is like a homecoming. that paradigm shift towards delivering unique customer that is sweeping the sector. Nabil Bank is the first joint venture bank in Nepal, it has satisfaction with all our products and services. 13 - 19 FEBRUARY 2004 10 SHIVARATRI SPECIAL #183 Right: Pashupatinath on the banks of the Bagmati on Shivaratri. Devotees queue up below the great temple waiting to enter the main Shiva temple. This temple, dedicated to Shiva as Nepal’s patron deity, was built in 1696, but the site was sacred long before that. It towers above the sacred river, lined with bathing and cremation ghats and hundreds of smaller temples dedicated to Shiva and other Hindu gods and goddesses. Left: Although Hindu religious texts as well as sadhus themselves hold varying opinions about drug use as a spiritual practice, it is certainly important to this sadhu. He is most likely smoking a mixture of tobacco and hashish, or charas, in a straight clay pipe called a chilam. Since the god Shiva is admired for his ability to transmute poisonous substances into harmless or beneficial elements, drug use is seen by many to be an important spiritual practice unto itself. In this way, the intoxicating properties are felt to be the blessings of Shiva. Shaivite Sadhus say that the use of marijuana or hashish has the power to take one beyond the worldly dimension and expand counsciousness, magnify awareness and can cause the kundalini energy to awaken and descend. Left, below: Most Shaivite Sadhus have long matted hair in imitation of Lord Shiva of the Himalaya. Local folklore says India’s scared Ganges river flows out from his long, matted hair.

assigned role in the illusion or drama of society. Their masks are thickly painted on their naked bodies. Sadhus have formally abandoned conventional time; their world is dense with its own complex politics, social hierarchy, taboos and customs, often making access challenging. Volatile and unpredictable, spontaneous photography of sadhus can actually be dangerous. You can easily be trampled or attacked if you immerse yourself in a naga baba procession after a mass Khumba Mela bathing. Or, without permission from a Mahant to work inside an Akhara, be accused of being a spy and have to answer to a sadhu tribunal. There’s no such thing as achieving photographic acceptance within the sadhu mandala. For me, photographing at ritual time is always the most dynamic and fluid. Once rapport has been established, a camera is tolerated, often with a sense of lila, or maya, play and illusion. It took repeated visits over many seasons and melas to occasionally reach this level. My initial inexplicable attraction to the sadhu world was mostly visual. As a photographer, I loved how they allowed their bodies to become symbols of the sacred—from walking around naked to remind us of our naked selves, to wearing ash to remind us what are bodies become, to dreadlocks to remind us of our natural wild natures devoid of social convention. Their bodies were texts, which spoke volumes regarding sacred symbolism. A sadhu’s body is a map of the Hindu universe, for the body is a microcosm of the cosmos. Like a canvas, the colour and painted symbols aid in purification, inspire and remind Renowned us of the timeless divine beyond body and form. The body

Sadhus force us to ask: renouncerswhat do we need, what is really important, who am I? THOMAS KELLY

adhus are an enigma to me, living the mystery of ancient questions that have no answers. Tricksters, derelicts, madmen, charlatans, wanderers, mystics and yogis, their boldly painted bodies confront us with essential questions at the heart of existence. I found them wandering Sthrough crowded polluted urban centres begging, in villages and in what is left of forest and mountain pilgrimage trails. Like walking mysteries of the human soul, for me, sadhus provoke the question, who am I? What do I need, what really is important and the more ancient pre-settled desire to wander in search of god. Most importantly, they remind us that the answer for all things only lies within our own elusive hearts. In my adopted home of Kathmandu, some sadhus survive primarily off alms made from allowing tourists to photograph them. They are a spectacle and love to play their ALL PICS: THOMAS KELLY 13 - 19 FEBRUARY 2004 SHIVARATRI SPECIAL #183 11

is used to tell stories. As the sadhus work toward an egoless state, they become the very symbols they have painted whether it be Shiva, Vishnu or Ram. The colors refer to esoteric inner visions and possible alchemical states of consciousness. The real goal of a sadhu is to achieve an attitude of non- attachment and transcendence of the physical body. As a photographer, I sometimes like to hide behind my lens, become invisible. Yet for sadhus, it is their very outlandish visibility, the powerful symbols of the divine they paint on their bodies, which help them not to become invisible, but to transcend self. Disturbing, annoying, inspiring, exasperating, irrational, wise and powerful, photographing sadhus is like photographing a living question that people have forgotten to ask. l Thomas L Kelly (picture, above, left) first came to Nepal in 1978 as a Peace Corps Volunteer and has since worked as a photo-activist, documenting the struggles of marginalised people and disappearing cultural traditions all over the world. He has researched and photographed the books: Fallen Angels: Sex Workers of South Asia, Tibet: Reflections from the Wheel of Life; The Hidden Himalayas; Kathmandu: City on the Edge of the World. The book, Sadhus Cuerpos Pintados by Thomas Kelly has just been published by Taller Experimental Querpos Pintados LTD, Santiago, Chile. Kelly’s colour prints from the book will be on display at Indigo Gallery at an exhibition titled ‘Sadhus: The Great Renouncers’ from 13-29 February. A group of Ram Bhakti Sadhus will be playing bhajans from 5:00-6:30 PM on 13 February at Indigo Galley. 12 MUSIC

Everyone wins with this award show for Nepali music

Win-winDEEPESH SHRESTHAsituationseven categories. Seven years later, there are is an encouraging sign. Among the opportunists 70 nominees for 14 diverse categories including out to make a quick buck, or desire their 15 hether the country has made any Best Song in a Foreign Language and a Lifetime minutes of fame—a feat easily accomplished overall bikas post-1990 or not is Achievement Award. Next year, they will thanks to Nepali music programs on television— always a subject of debate. But the include two more. This year, five-time winner there are those who genuinely wish to contribute one area that holds itself up well to popstar Nabin K Bhattrai has been nominated to the development of Nepali music. The Best Wscrutiny is Nepali music. Initially supported for two categories and another five-time winner, New Artist award seeks to recognise the only by Radio Nepal, Nepal Television and a Kunti Moktan, returns yet again with a contributions made by fresh entrants. This year few private recording studios, the world of nomination for Best Female Vocal Performance. Aastha stand out for their catchy beat, accents Nepali music has now blossomed to nearly 35 It’s going to be a mother-daughter act with her not withstanding. They’ll be up against Shital radio stations, 6 television channels, two daughters, Sheetal and Shuvani, who are and Shuvani’s vocal acrobatics, Pramod Nirwan approximately 50 distribution companies and strong contenders for the Best New Artist (Music Link), The Destiny and Ravi Bajracharya. innumerable recording studios. award. Within the span of a year, last year’s winner in In the old days, a singer’s lot was literally It’s a family affair for Uday and Manila this category, Sugam Pokharel aka 1 MB has hand-to-mouth. The situation has taken an Sotang who sang “Hamro Bajae Le” with their become so popular that his name now features about turn: today there are Nepali musicians young ones Shreya and Sujog. Songstress Nalina with established stars like Nabin K Bhattarai, and singers like Ram Krishna Dhakal and Chitrakar could pick up her second Hits FM Nima Rumba and Deepak Bajracharya. His Nabin K Bhattarai who command such a Music Award after a six year gap, although this distributors at music.com admit that Sugam’s following that a single album of eight songs time she has to beat the likes of Mamta Dipbim, sales increased dramatically following his win. sells upto Rs 800,000 in the legitimate music Poonam Singh and Sukmit Gurung and Sunita Even if in small ways, the Hits FM Music market. Subba for the Best Female Pop Vocal Awards have contributed to improvements in Radio airplay and specifically, the Hits FM Performance. the Nepali music: artists pay more attention to Music Awards, has had much to do with the Meanwhile, singer Karna Das had better the quality of their recording, synthesisers are success of new artists and the continued make some more shelf space. The five-time being replaced by a more human touch, singers promotion of new ones. Hits FM was certainly winner has snagged three nominations this year and musicians enjoy star status and album sales not the first to hand out awards to outstanding for Best Male Vocal Performance, Song of the are rising. Along with the respect due them, artists musicians, but when it began seven years ago, Year and Record of the Year. The duo GP are are increasingly being paid for their talent. Artist it initiated a trend that allowed musicians to the odd men out with their blend of Nepali hip management has become a new sector with concentrate on quality studio recordings. hop in the Best Vocal Collaboration along with agencies like event~nepalaya and Real Solutions The popular Kathmandu-based station hit more mainstream singers like Aim Baral, Sapna handling everything from promotions to concert upon the idea of creating a unique platform for Shree, Uday Sotang and others. In the second bookings. Many singers have become popular performance and praise in its show. The Hits year of introducing the Best Song in a Foreign on the Nepali diaspora circuit, travelling to Hong FM Music Awards is widely regarded as the Language category, former winner Dimple with Kong, the UK, the US and Australia to perform most representative Nepali awards: the people his band Full Circle will vie for the award with for sold-out concerts. l decide on the nominees, and an independent the extremely popular rock act Robin n’ Looza, panel of judges—culled from the pillars of and newcomers Da Nepsydaz and The 7th Close-Up hits FM Music Awards is on 18 February at the Birendra International Nepali music—make the final selection. The Shadows. Convention Centre. The event will be telecast live The first Hits FM Music Awards had only The increase of new artists in Nepali music from 3PM onwards by Nepal TV and Hits FM 91.2.

the world of original soundtracks when he did Maya in 1990. Even so, some are critical of this mix-and-match approach. From then on, there was no looking back. He quickly Perhaps most controversial is his use of foreign tunes in his established himself as competition for (and eventually music, which some may take as proof that his creations are outlasted) Ranjeet Gajmer who dominated the field at the not original. His reputation as a ‘music machine’ also provokes Melody king time. Today, perhaps no other name is as firmly set in Nepali mixed reactions. While some admire his ability to churn out music history. tunes (he created quite a stir when he managed to record Sambhujeet Baskota is by far It is not hard to understand why Sambhujeet maintains songs for three separate movies within a week), others are such popularity. The secret behind his success is versatility. sceptical of the quality of music made in such a hurry. the most popular and prolific Sambujeet’s songs range from serious to light-hearted and over Despite his critics, it is obvious that Sambhujeet has firmly music director in Kollywood the years artists ranging from Narayan Gopal and established himself in the Nepali music scene. He recently n a country where all commercial movies are Tara Devi to Nabin K Bhattarai and Nalina started singing again and is always busy with new projects. musicals, the name Sambhujeet Baskota has Chitrakar have sung his compositions. He has He is currently the director of the music department of the become synonymous with Nepali movie scores. proved his genius at creating songs that appeal Royal Nepal Academy and has two songs nominated for the IAs a film music director, his career has spanned over to the masses, often mixing all types of music category of Best Song Originally Recorded for a Motion a decade and a half and his music has featured in to get the effect he is looking for. He prefers Picture Soundtrack in the upcoming 7th Close-up Hits FM over 200 movies with an astounding total of incorporating traditional folk melodies into his Music Awards. l 2,000 songs. work, but fans claim that he manages to come Sambhujeet proved himself a singer up with something new and interesting each and composer even before entering time.

KIRAN PANDAY 13 - 19 FEBRUARY 2004 #183 13

Hits FM Music Awards 2060 Nominees

BEST NEW ARTIST BEST PERFORMANCE BY A GROUP OR DUO WITH Aastha VOCALS Music Link Karma Band - Hukka Mero Ravi Bajracharya Mongolian Hearts - Timilai Dekhera Shital/Shuvani Mukti & Revival - Bujhai Deu The Destiny Robin n Looza: - Bhool Ma Bhulyo The Axe - Lukna Deu BEST SONG IN A FOREIGN LANGUAGE Hellraiserz - Da Nepsydaz BEST POP VOCAL PERFORMANCE (FEMALE) One Day at a Time - Robin n Looza: Mamta Dipbim - Ke Yo Maya Ho Peace and Harmony (People of the world) - Dimple feat. Nalina Chitrakar - Pani Pani Full Circle Poonam Singh - Mandaina Mann Strike Back Again - The Shadows Sukmit Gurung - Saath Rahane Cha Tell Me Why - Steel Wheels Sunita Subba - Timi Le Yesari FOLK RECORD OF THE YEAR BEST POP VOCAL PERFORMANCE (MALE) Dhan Khayo Dhan Chari Ley - Arun Upatyaka Deepak Bajracharya - Ritu Raato Kapaal - Ram Pandey - Lochan Bhattarai Nabin K. Bhattarai - Eh Jhari Rosi Bagarma - Hari Thapa and friends Nima Rumba - Preeti Basyo Saali Jyu - Tulsi Parajuli Sanjeev Singh - Timi Tadiye Tyo Paari Banma - Prakash Acharya Sugam Pokharel - Bhaneko Hun Maile FOLK ALBUM OF THE YEAR BEST VOCAL COLLABORATION Banepa Bardibas - Prem Kumar Lama/ Megh Bahadur Achut Dawadi / Sapna Shree - Sapani Ma Aye Lama/Anju Verma and friends GP Featuring Shya_Thees - Malai Vote Deu Hile Bajaar - Ram Bahadur Nepal, Sarala Rai Uday / Manila Sotang - Timi Bina Jhaljhali Aankhai Ma - Tulsi Parajuli Uday/Manila/Shreya/Suyog - Hamro Bajae Le Milaun Dahine Haath - Ram Thapa Yam Baral / Sapna Shree - Uddai Chau Ki Sanka Namana - Bhirahi Karki/Sindu Malla BEST FEMALE VOCAL PERFORMANCE BEST SONG ORIGINALLY RECORDED FOR Devika Singh - Timilai A MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK Kunti Moktan - Mann Ko Deuta Bagaicha Maa - Sukha Dukha - Sambhujeet Baskota Manila Sotang - Bhijyo Sirani Chhit ko Saree - Aankha Lobhi Mann Paapi - Ram Thapa Sapna Shree - Sagar Baru Dhadkinchau - Lahana - Sachin Singh Sharmila Bardewa - Dina Ta Deau Samjhanaley - Ziddi - Sambhujeet Baskota BEST MALE VOCAL PERFORMANCE Suseli Ley - Maya Namara - Suresh Adhikari Deep Shrestha - Eutai Bato Jagdish Samal - Samjhera Karna Das - Timro Mero Ram Krishna Dhakal - Eklo Parani Sishir Yogi - Saarangi SONG OF THE YEAR Bistarai Chhayo - Naresh Dev Pant Maanche ko Khoji - Dr. Vishwanath “Prem” Sarangi Ta - Madhav P. Ghimire Swayambhuka Aankha Haru - Dinesh Adhikari Thula Thula Mahal - Karna Das RECORD OF THE YEAR Hukka Mero - Karma Band Maile Choyeko - Yash Kumar Mato Samau - Anand Karki Pan Supari (Gym Khana) - Prakash Ojha Thula Thula Mahal - Karna Das ALBUM OF THE YEAR Aatmakatha - Uday / Manila Sotang Nabin - Nabin K. Bhattarai Purano Dunga - Karna Das Reason - Yash Kumar Shoonya - 1 MB 13 - 19 FEBRUARY 2004 14 VALENTINE’S DAY #183 enjoyable and harmless emotional game—as long as we don’t attempt to construct our lives around it. Almost from the moment of birth, we have been surrounded by the romantic mythology. Every element of the popular culture assumes that romance is real: television, movies, novels, poetry, soap operas, advertising, popular Romantic love may be the most music of every kind, newspapers and magazines. We grew up in a pervasive myth in Western culture milieu of romantic love. H JAMES PARK ax Everywhere we turn, even though we seldom notice it, someone is omance is a cultural become a taken-for-granted making positive references to invention, not a natural phenomenon? ‘falling in love’. The reason for the phenomenon. We have been uniformity of our romantic beliefs so deeply indoctrinated into the Temporary insanity and experiences is not genetic romantic myth that we have no Romantic love is an altered state of similarity, control by the gods, or a Rawareness of the process of emotional consciousness. We seem possessed by common ‘human nature’. programming that created our an alien force taking over our minds. romantic responses. Popular culture Everything seems wonderful— Good-bye illusions provides the main ways we learn how especially the object of our love. Our That we human beings can be to ‘fall in love’. Movies, television, ‘spontaneous’ love-reactions pull us programmed emotionally is amply popular songs, novels and magazines together into a whirlpool of hopeless, demonstrated by such diverse all train our feelings into the uncontrollable, overwhelming phenomena as nationalism, ethnic wonderful delusion of romance. Our passion. Romantic love is blind pride, loyalty to a sporting team, or romantic games would be harmless because we are really responding to attachment to a television program. if everyone knew that romantic love our own internal fantasies, well- But the deepest examples of is a fantasy feeling. prepared by the romantic tradition. emotional indoctrination come Most of us emerged from For years, we have been yearning from the diverse religions of the childhood believing that romantic for our Dream Lover. And when a human race. When people who religious faith. But the romantic other. Reality-based relationships love is a natural phenomenon. When close approximation appears, we fervently believe undemonstrable mythology surrounds everyone. may not have the same emotional we ‘fall in love’, we seem to be project all our pent-up fantasies truths about themselves and the We have all learned the proper high, but, in the long run, they are possessed by an irresistible passion, upon that unsuspecting victim. universe surround us, we often emotions to expect. Almost all of much better for us. Instead of filling our hearts. So, how could These experiences are really being accept the same religious us try to have the romantic projecting our pre-existing fantasies these romantic feelings be a cultural in love with love. assumptions. Or we may have had emotions we believe are real. on others, we can get to know them creation, invented only 800 years Marriages are contracted ‘for a ‘conversion experience’, in which The difficulty we may have in as they really are—and as the persons ago? Before the Middle Ages, some love’. But often the kind of ‘love’ our feelings were suddenly making ourselves ‘fall in love’ is not they are becoming. The wild, people probably experienced that leads to the altar is romantic transformed into a new condition. our emotional deficiency but our extravagant feeling of being hear- exaggerated, fantasy feelings close to infatuation. After the honeymoon is But what was the source or cause intellectual honesty. If we over-heels in love is certainly an what we now call ‘romantic love’. over, grim reality submerges the of this new emotional state? Was it eventually become convinced that enjoyable delusion while that But such accidental eruptions of fantasy. In some cultures, marriages not the emotional expectations we romantic love is an illusion—a web emotional ‘high’ lasts, but should personal, deluded feelings did not are created for more practical reasons. had internalised from the sub- of projected fantasies and artificial we attempt to build relationships on become the passion of the masses If there is to be any affection, it can culture that embraced that feelings—what do we do next? We fantasy feelings? l until the French troubadours come along later. But perhaps particular religion? We can be can abandon these cultural refined and spread the emotional romantic love and marriage are objective about religion’s emotional delusions and begin to establish James Park is an existential philosopher with a deep interest in the dynamics game of love. Who were these people incompatible. Projected fantasies indoctrination because only a our relationships based on real of love and the author of New Ways of who—as a matter of historical fact— seldom survive years of living certain segment of any population information about each other and Loving: How Authenticity started the feeling that has now together. Romantic love can be an embraces a particular form of genuine commitment toward each Transforms Relationships.

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ONLY SHORT LISTED CANDIDATES WILL BE CALLED FOR AN INTERVIEW DURING THE WEEK OF 8-12 MARCH 2004 13 - 19 FEBRUARY 2004 SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY #183 15 challenged the proposed population nutrient intake goals,” Porter added in an email interview. The WHO global strategy does not become official until it is endorsed by member states when they meet for the UN agency’s battle is brewing between the summit in May. Although the draft has United States and the World garnered broad international support, Health Organisation (WHO) the WHO executive board agreed this over sugar. month to US demands for more time WHO met this month in Geneva The US bites back UN plan to fight global obesity to comment on the final resolution. toA discuss proposed guidelines on diet KATHERINE STAPP in NEW YORK Most experts believe that turning the and exercise intended to help national epidemic around will require major governments combat a seemingly societies. The number of obese adults wrote. “However, it is not at all clear groups and industry to develop lifestyle changes that cannot simply be inexorable global obesity epidemic. has grown to 300 million people that this association is mediated by the “appropriate approaches” to marketing enforced by the state. Sugar is not the only factor in worldwide, with more than 115 advertising on television.” food to children. On any given day in the United obesity—high fat intake and lack of Globesitymillion of them living in developing According to the Worldwatch “The expert report offered the best States, for example, one-quarter of the exercise also play central roles, but countries. Institute, children in the United States evidence available, and no one in the adult population visits a fast food WHO scientists think sugar is the The UN’s Food and Agriculture are bombarded with 40,000 television international scientific community has restaurant. More than one-half of main culprit. Organisation (FAO) warns that some ads per year—one-half of which people get inadequate exercise. Global US objections to of the same nutritional deficiencies in promote unhealthy food and drinks. production of sugar has doubled in the recommendations to limit sugar the underfed also afflict the overfed— WHO Spokesperson David Porter last half century and is rising steadily, consumption and re-think food two of the most common being noted that the agency’s report does particularly in the South. World advertising aimed at young children are anaemia and vitamin A deficiency, not advocate a ban on junk food consumption of sucrose now equals said to be based more on industry which causes widespread blindness in advertising: it suggests that some 21kg per person each year. l lobbying efforts than a desire to protect children under five years old. The ill governments work with consumer (IPS) public health. effects of excess fat range from heart “It is significant that resistance disease and stroke to arthritis, cancer from business interests, which included and female infertility. the sugar industry and soft drinks In a critique of the proposed manufacturers with US government WHO strategy, US official William support, was also demonstrated when Steiger contested the scientific validity a previous WHO expert report in 1990 of some key dietary recommendations, made similar recommendations and called for greater “personal intended to prevent diet-related responsibility” in battling obesity. chronic diseases,” wrote Kaare Norum, “There is also an unsubstantiated focus chair of the WHO working group in a on ‘good’ and ‘bad’ foods, and a letter to the US Secretary of Health conclusion that specific foods are and Human Services Tommy linked to non-communicable Thompson. diseases,” wrote Steiger, who works The letter expresses “grave in the department of health and human concern that the United States services. “The assertion that the heavy Government has delivered a submission marketing of energy-dense foods or which appears, in effect, to seek to stall fast food outlets increases the risk of the development of a global strategy obesity is supported by almost no on diet, activity and health”. data.” No one disputes that obesity has This view is not shared by the become a serious problem. American Academy of Paediatrics, In the United States, the world’s fattest which just published a study finding country after Samoa, there are almost that “eating fast food negatively twice as many overweight children and impacts the diets of American children three times as many overweight in ways that could increase their risk teenagers as two decades ago. In for obesity”. It recommends that Britain one in five schoolchildren is sweetened soft drink vending overweight and one in 20 is obese. machines be taken out of schools, a About 300,000 US deaths a year measure that several US states are now are associated with obesity, which is actively considering. generally defined as 14-18 kg Steiger also took exception to the overweight. One rather macabre result report’s concerns about food and has been a rising demand for ‘triple- leverage advertising directed at young wide’ coffins that can accommodate children. “In children, there is a people weighing up to 318kg. But the consistent relationship between problem is not limited to industrialised television viewing and obesity,” he

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Write to: [email protected] JAGADAMBA PRESS 13 - 19 FEBRUARY 2004 16 ASIA #183

The nuclear sale saga is far from over Theany questions Pak remain in thenuke story of Pakistan Presidentcake Gen Pervez Musharraf’s pardon this week of the criminal actions of Abdul Qadeer Khan, the country’s Father of the Bomb. Khan’s transgressions are virtually the world’s first major case of wanton spreading of the deadly knowledge and technology of weapons of mass destruction M(WMD). Khan is said to have sold the knowledge and technology of making nuclear weapons of mass destruction to Iran, Libya and North Korea. Khan, who confessed to leaking COMMENTARY nuclear secrets on 4 February and MB Naqvi was pardoned the next day, admitted to having been linked with an international underworld that buys and sells nuclear knowledge and technology for profit, even though he was not its head. This case of proliferation of nuclear weapons is claimed to be no crime according to Pakistan’s statutes, except perhaps the violation of Official Secrets Act of 1923. But his criminal actions include the theft of state and government property, as all that was developed at Khan Research Laboratories at Kahuta obviously belonged to the Pakistan state. There is also a breach of implicit trust in the actions, for which presidential pardon has been given. Musharraf has allowed him to go scot-free. The United States and other powers, keen on stopping the proliferation of atomic weapons of mass destruction, will not be amused. Here is a proven case of a huge-scale pilferage and the buying and selling of what was the most sought-after knowledge and equipment by what IT Untouchables Washington calls “rogue states”. India’s information technology industry is One area of trouble remains unaccounted for: North Korea, which dominated by high castes says it has eight nuclear weapons, thanks mainly to Khan’s activities and GAIL OMVEDT in KASEGAON, INDIA whose arsenal is a major security fear for Asia. However, two parts of the story are clear: there was absolutely no financial control over Khan’s decisions because he could go anywhere he liked, whenever he chose to n India, caste attitudes still shape Similarly, though some business electronic ‘virtual’ realm of IT seems and could spend virtually any amount, including in precious hard currency. marriages, life chances and career leaders are beginning to speak of somehow especially appropriate for opportunities. IT seems to be no corporate social responsibility, them. Now that some Indians from exception. none have so far declared their elite backgrounds are proving India is projecting a feel-good commitment to ending caste and themselves in the world of IT, there Ifactor about itself: its catchy phrase gender discrimination in society. seems to be little compulsion to is ‘India shining’. But there are “I am not concerned about the broaden this, to make technological significant social groups for whom caste of employees as long they and educational achievement a a good deal of rot lies under the command merit. But if it helps in truly national and universal aim. shine. Since caste still operates as a the process of selection on merit, so The result has been not only a loss defining condition in establishing be it,” Murthy had said at the for the low caste majority, but marriages, social relations and access Infosys seminar. In India, however, India’s loss as well. In spite of to employment, millions of ex- merit has become an ideology vaunted progress, India’s presence untouchables and other former low justifying continued upper caste in IT is a shallow one: there were castes remain behind in education, monopoly. only 38 telephone mainlines per employment and access to wealth. ‘Merit’ is contrasted not with 1,000 people in 2001, up from 6 There is widespread ‘incompetence’, but with in 1990, only 6 cellular subscribers discrimination, and statistics show ‘reservation’. It is as if upper-caste and 6.8 Internet users out of 1,000 there is a broad correlation between monopoly in high-level jobs were in 2001, up from a base of near economic situation and position a result of a genetically-coded zero. within the caste hierarchy. The ability to think and perform, while This compared badly even with government may boast of economic reservations were a ‘gift’ the averages for developing progress and grand new presented—at the cost of slowing countries, which had risen from a As Musharraf has emphasised, security at KRL was under Khan and development schemes such as a down efficiency, by hiring similarly insignificant base to 87 there was no command or control authority over him. The auditor general ‘golden quadrilateral’ of highways was bypassed. Assuming that all of this is so, governments like the United States have to cope with the closure of the case. But two other questions joining major cities or plans to need to be asked. First, neither Khan nor Musharraf has so much as interlink major rivers, but it has mentioned North Korea. Was any nuclear equipment sold to Pyongyang? failed to address issues such as If so, when? Second, how could the Pakistan Army not have known what education, caste, gender was going on right under its nose? discrimination and the rural-urban It runs a tight ship—its grip on all aspects of life in Pakistan is gap. uniformly firm. It does not rely on only one intelligence agency: it has two The result is continued upper of its own and controls and runs several of the normal governmental caste dominance in the many fields apparatus. So how could the army not know about the transfer of nuclear including IT. Though reservation technology? For Pakistanis, it is too serious a national lapse to worry in the private sector is nominally about who gets the ultimate blame. After all, the ultimate consequences supported by many political will be visited upon all the people. No one can buy the facile theory that a parties, the private sector itself has unqualified people in order to meet telephone mainlines, 75 cellular few individuals organised or joined an underworld, spread over four been slow to respond. Now, in the social justice demands. subscribers, and 26.5 Internet users continents, to make money out of new era of a dynamic but privatised A strong refusal to research and in the same period. Behind this Pakistan’s perceived great economy, most Dalits are clear that discuss caste has meant ignoring the halting progress lie several factors, achievement. their future lies beyond the public heavy disadvantages in education, including bad roads and electricity Foreigners and Pakistanis alike sector. language, articulation and in the rural areas that hamper rural are sure to suspect that Khan had Infosys, one of India’s leading socialisation that Dalits and other computer use. But the most striking the active support and assistance of (and Brahmin-run) software low castes have to fight, not to failure of India’s development lies successive army chiefs, especially companies, did sponsor a seminar mention evading the degree to in the field of education. Gen Aslam Beg who led the army on ‘Contemporary Dalit Issues’ in which Indians access their jobs Though literacy and school from 1988 to 1991 and during 2003, but its famous chairman through caste and kin networks. attendance have improved in the whose reign this grand smuggling Narayana Murthy only said: “We India’s growing claim to a global 1990s, ongoing negative attitudes enterprise began. As it happens, have our international IT presence has only exacerbated of many teachers towards low-caste Musharraf is too precious to the US AQ Khan displaying his gold compulsions.” these attitudes. students have hampered efforts to medal awarded by Pakistani ‘war on terror’. Washington has accepted the story at face value for He warned Dalits that private If upper caste Brahmins have change. The end result: a world of President Rafiq Tarrar in Lahore companies could not afford the always seemed to live in a world of IT excluding the large majority of after the 1998 nuclear tests. the time being. l (IPS) rigidities of the reservation system. philosophy and abstraction, the the population. l (Panos Features) 13 - 19 FEBRUARY 2004 INTERNATIONAL #183 17

The absenceOnly development protectsof war peace once is fighting not stops peace ANALYSIS Mark Malloch Brown

t the United Nations last week, US Secretary of State Colin Powell and UN Secretary General Kofi Annan stood together to urge swift and substantial financialA support for Liberia, which is poised on a knife’s edge between the possibility of recovery and a new descent into violence. The response was gratifying, with the European Union fully backing the effort to rebuild the shattered nation. Nearly 100 countries participated in the meeting, promising Liberia more than $500 million in reconstruction aid. Many observers saw this display of unanimity as a conspicuous contrast to the deep divisions in the world community that surrounded the war in Iraq. But despite global agreement on there to pay them. If ex-combatants aftermath of conflict than with wars in advance, on standby for the financial terms, if we fail to ensure the need to seize these moments, we are not provided with alternative between states. The conference in inevitable, would be sound global that these peace processes lead to too often find ourselves scrambling civilian opportunities—and New York Friday drew on the policy. longterm stability for societies that after the fact, in ad hoc fashion, to quickly—many will simply pick up collective resources and expertise of Until that money is available, have already suffered far too much, convene willing donors and organise their guns again. The critical UN agencies, the World Bank, and the UN and its many multilateral for their immediate neighbours, and teams of experts and logisticians to importance of economic support in the major donor countries led by partners will remain collectively for the world at large. l deliver urgently needed aid. Even in these ephemeral post-conflict the United States, an impressive unprepared to aid these post- (© Project Syndicate) the best of cases, as we have seen moments has been underscored by and effective collaboration that conflict societies at their moment Mark Malloch Brown, the Administrator with Liberia, where a peace accord both the successes and failures seen offers a rough framework for of greatest political opportunity of the United Nations Development was signed in August, this takes a elsewhere in Africa, and around preparation for future post-conflict and economic need. We will all Programme, is the Chair of the United perilously long time. Before the next the world. response. Having money available ultimately pay dearly, in human and Nations Development Group. Liberia comes along, we the world International organisations like needs to find a way to provide the UN must have at their disposal resources for peacemaking much, beforehand enough financial and much sooner. human resources to go beyond the As we look at the wider global tokenism that too often characterises context, it is clear that this kind of the international response to post- post-conflict intervention is going to conflict societies. More is needed be a major part of the UN’s work in than a handful of combatants coming years. We cannot always reintegrated, a school or two re- afford to wait for gatherings of world built, and an under-funded young leaders and financial pledges from government lauded abroad but donor nations. unable to deliver jobs or law and In Liberia’s capital city of order to its war-scarred people at Monrovia last month, young men home. began to riot because full funding Liberia and Iraq both was not yet in place for the UN’s demonstrate the need for this kind of disarmament program. Having come freestanding capacity, as 21st century to turn in weapons for a fee, some of geopolitics is likely to continue to be them became violent when they more preoccupied with nation- discovered that the money wasn’t building intervention in the

LONDONForgotten – A new study calls for more resources MDGs to provide reproductive health care in order to meet the Millennium Development Goals. ‘Adding it up’, a report by The Alan Guttmacher Institute (AGI) based in the United States and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) says that gaps in sexual and reproductive health care account for nearly one-fifth of the worldwide burden of illness and premature death, and one-third of the illness and death among women of reproductive age. It figures that closing the gap so that every woman at risk of unintended pregnancy has access to modern contraceptives would cost $3.9 billion more per year, and would save the lives of an additional 1.5 million children annually. This would also lessen induced abortions by 64 percent, reduce illness related to pregnancy and preserve 27 million years of healthy life, it says. Providing contraception to women must be at the centre of the efforts, the report says. The first two of the Millennium Development Goals that relate to eradication of extreme poverty and hunger, and achieving universal primary education will be supported because smaller families allow more investment in nutrition and health, and because smaller families can invest more in education. The next four goals of promoting gender equality and empowering women, reducing child mortality, improving maternal health, and combating HIV/AIDS and other diseases will clearly be easier to achieve with greater stress on sexual and reproductive health care. The seventh goal of ensuring environmental sustainability can be advanced by avoiding unwanted births and therefore helping to stabilise rural areas. The last stated goal of developing a global partnership for development could bring affordable prices for drugs to treat HIV/AIDS. (IPS) l 13 - 19 FEBRUARY 2004 18 FROM THE NEPALI PRESS #183 that the three of them, working

○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ with Maoist-affliliated Kirat Deshantar,False 8 February Workers Party, had a disagreement with the central committee leader The government is faking news of the Maoist Party, and were then about Maoists, says a press release sent to the forest for three nights Samacharpatra, February 9 by Shanker Lama alias Bhimsen, without any food. Dying in Thailand senior regional Maoist leader from Nepalis imprisoned in Thai jails have a the eastern region. “The

dark and hopeless future. In an appeal government is publicising ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ letter to fellow Nepalis, they are asking surrender of Maoist workers who Rajdhani,On air 10 February for pledges of support to bring them were not associated with our party back home. “The situation is grave for anymore,” says Bhimsen. Former For now, the Communication all of us. There is no medicine supply. Maoist party members Parsuram demanded reinstatement of Ministry seems to have won over We are given meagre meals. We may Ghatani and Rosan Khadga were parliament. Once that is done, it the Defence Ministry to allow new die if this continues,” says the appeal punished and removed from the will form a government. That is letter signed by 45 Nepali inmates. FM stations to operate. party a long time before they how the constitution can come Communications Ministry secretary Their desperation to return home is so surrendered to the government, back on track. The five parties that apparent that they would rather spend Mukunda Raj Poudel says the FM the rest of their lives in Nepal’s prisons says the press release. The Maoists are continuing their movement stations that have already been than die in Thailand. “We will be also accuse the army of putting out against the royal takeover have an given licenses will be allowed to indebted to Nepal’s government if news of fake encounters when agreement. If someone can show an begin broadcasts. The Defense helps repatriate us from here,” the cadres were brutally killed after alternative way through which the Ministry had reportedly asked that Nepali inmates said in the letter. they were arrested from their homes constitution can be activated, we new FM stations be stopped until Four Nepalis including Harka in Dolkha district’s Babre and will be receptive to the idea. the frequency issue was resolved. Bahadur Pun and Hari Bahadur Chilankha villages. But without a convincing The fate of more than 30 new FM Gurung have died inside the cells of alternative we have to continue stations remain uncertain after the Piset, Byangkwang and Lardyao jails in demanding restoration of Defence Ministry’s directive. Of Thailand. More than three dozen

○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ parliament. The government says Nepalis are serving long term jail Mea culpa these, 13 are community-based Sushil Koirala in general elections would be the best stations. President of Community sentences including life imprisonment. Deshantar, 8 February way to bring the constitution back Bangel Ghale has been imprisoned for Radio Broadcast Association Raghu the last 21 years. All are accused of on track. But can elections be held Mainali said that the new operators drug trafficking, but most say they were In a democracy, we need basic now? As long as Maoist violence will now have to make up for lost framed. understanding and agreement. remains, there will be no peace. In time. Most Nepali prisoners cannot afford Unfortunately, we have entangled the absence of peace, there can be medical treatment at the hospitals ourselves in trifles, not in principles. no polls. But since we are a

where they are asked to pay for the Witness the Ganeshman faction, democratic party we will not run ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ check-ups. The unhygienic conditions the Bhattarai faction and Girija away from the ballot box. ExcerptImportant from editorial address in and inappropriate supply of bedding faction within the Nepali Congress. Spacetime, 10 February and clothing means their health is They never allowed us to proceed

deteriorating. “We have to sleep on the ○○○○

with confidence and trust. ○○○○○○○○○○○○○ In his Nepalganj royal address His floor all the time, with no bedsheets. We admit our past mistakes and SamacharpatraNo more, 8guns February Majesty King Gyanendra called on They don’t even provide us tooth will not repeat it. It is human to err. all forces who believe in multiparty pastes and soaps,” says the letter. The kind of repentance you see in Dhankuta—After surrendering at The Nepalis in Thai prisons are democracy to work towards an now asking the Nepal government to our comrades from Mechi in the the District Administration Office, urgent restoration of law and order sign an extradition treaty so they can east to Mahakali in the west makes ex-Maoists are now running a to create the conditions for general come home. Several countries me believe that we will not repeat snooker club at the district’s Dara elections to be held, and the including Nigeria, Australia and the same mistakes. Right now we Bazar. They say their main aim is to handing over of executive powers Estonia have signed such treaties with are sandwiched between two armed divert the youth from violence by to the peoples’ representatives. At a the Thai government and were able to groups. On one side there are the making them join their club. The time when many political parties repatriate their prisoners. More than forces of regression and on the three ex-Maoists, Purna Chemjong, have been doubting His Majesty’s 300 Nigerians were able to go home other the Maoist violence. We are Santosh Chemjong and Lok role and intentions in governance, last year, but the inmates say Nepal walking on a knife’s edge. We can’t Bahadur Chemjong were clueless the royal address allays all has so far shown no interest in this help protesting regression because about what to do next, so they suspicions and doubts. Now, the matter despite constant appeals to the we have always fought for started the club investing Rs agitating parties should heed the Royal Nepali Embassy in Thailand. democracy. We are also bearing the 35,000 as starting capital. “We “We had discussed with Law king’s call by not harbouring any Ministry months ago, but there has brunt of the violence of radical were carrying guns and living in more suspicions and coming been no progress so far,” admits communists. the jungle and finally we decided together in the noble task of Madan Kumar Bhattarai, spokesperson To correct regression, we have to give it up,” says Purna. He adds nation-building. of Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA). Meanwhile, the unit at MFA looking after South-eastern regional affairs is working on an extradition treaty. “This problem can’t be solved easily. What we really need is a new law to look into this matter,” says Hira Bahadur Thapa, at the MFA. The list of Nepalis who signed the appeal: Santu Gurung, Ras Tamang, Nuri Sherpa, Ram Bahadur Lama, Singh Bahadur Tamang, Ang Kami Lama, Sanukaji Maharjan, Phey Tshering Tamang, Raj Kumar Gurung, Ram Lal Gurung, Mangal Bahadur Gurung, Buddhi Lal Tamang, Ghaman Tamang, Ramesh Kumar Tamang, Tulo Tamang, San Bahadur Tamang, Iman Gurung, Om Bahadur Gurung, Jiwan Thapa, Puskar KC, Ram Bahadur Gurung, Rosan Gurung, Arun Kumar Tamang, Beg Bahadur Tamang, Lok Pen: Education Bahadur Tamang, Podhe Ghale, Bottlle: Politics Chandra Kumar Rai, Nar Bahadur Pun, Rajdhani, 8 February Prakash Tamang, Tek Bahadur Ghale, Hir Bahadur Tamang and Prakash QUOTE OF THE WEEK Karki, Sita Kumari Bista, Dauki Devi, “The days of Monarchy being seen but not heard, watching the people’s difficulties but not Sita Rai, Nur Maya, Bem Sherpa, addressing them and being a silent spectator to their tear-stained faces are over. ” Pemba Sherpa, Yangki Sherpa, Kulaki Tamang and Maya Tamang. – King Gyanendra , during a public felicitation at King Mahendra Stadium in Nepalgunj, 8 Februrary

SELECTED MATERIAL TRANSLATED EVERY WEEK FROM THE NEPALI PRESS 13 - 19 FEBRUARY 2004

FROM THE NEPALI PRESS #183 19

○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ KantipurBilateral, 9 February

Dhulikhel – Former speaker Daman Nath Dhungana has said the current crisis in the country has turned from a trilateral conflict to a Himal Khabarpatrika,Not Jan 15- 31 underground bilateral one between the king and Even though the government has people. He was speaking at a two- branded them terrorists, Maoist day workshop organised here by leaders walk around openly in the the Foundation of Parliamentary parts of midwestern Nepal they Studies and Development( FPSD) consider their base areas. This was evident during ceremonies held on to identify the agenda for 19 January to announce their peace.“Now there is no alternative Bheri-Karnali Autonomous Region to a constituent assembly,” he said. in Jungthapachaur in Jajarkot. “Students have taken to the street Maoist leader Krishna Bahadur and the street itself will conclude Mahara attended that meeting as the conflict if space is not provided well as the one on 9 January in Thawang in Rolpa announcing a to negotiation.” A Dhulikhel ‘Magarat Self-government Region’ Declaration calls the monarch to which includes Dang, Lumbini, maintain the dignity of the Kapilbastu, Tanahu and Syangja. constitution. Maoist supremo Prachanda himself the autonomous region was part of was supposed to attend this the effort to capture central power meeting, but didn’t. Central and to have a unified republic.

Committee member and head of Santosh Buda from Rolpa was ○○○○○○○○○○○○ Returnees○○○○○ the western command, Postbahadur nominated chairman of the Magarat At the Thawang Deshantar, 8 February Bogati (Comrade Diwakar) was the Autonomous Region, and declared meeting: Pampha chief guest at the Thawang that government aircraft were Bhusal (second from About 50 families have returned to meeting. Others, including the banned from its airspace. The left), Krishna Bahadur their villages in Lamjung after the head of the Maoist ‘peoples army’ Maoist ‘Radio Peoples Republic’ western division, Nanda Kishore organised a press conference where Mahara (fifth) Maoists assured them they would Pun (Pasang),and politburo Mahara told visiting journalists that Potbahadur Bogati not be harmed. They had members Rabindra Shrestha and the Maoists were getting ready for a Diwakar (sixth) and abandoned their homes after Pampha Bhusal were also present, decisive victory against the fractious Rabindra Shrestha constant Maoist extortion, threats dressed in camouflage fatigues. ‘old regime’. Mahara said: “America (eighth). and intimidation. Most of the The Maoists stated that they is trying its best to get into Nepal. victims were party workers, held sway over the region and could Our neighbours China and India attack military bases there at any don’t like this.” A Maoist commander teachers and their families. After time. “Please be assured, we have After the speeches, there were on a walkie talkie and the announcement, they returned ordered our forces to shoot down cultural programs all night. his body guard with an home to look after their property any government helicopter that Watching were villagers who had AK-47. and rejoin families who had been comes this way,” Pasang told the been brought specially for the left behind in the villages assembled crowd. The Maoists also event, some from as far as seven controlled by the Maoists. announced that the declaration of days walk away. 13 - 19 FEBRUARY 2004 20 HISTORY AND CULTURE #183 Back at Sundarijal >54

BP Koirala is struggling against boredom, poor health Shailaja’sand mental strain in near-solitary confinementletter at the Police Training Centre in Kathmandu. A letter from his niece, Shailaja, perks up his mood. He goes into a

A 1982 detailed description of a typical day in prison, and the photograph of BP writing of the diary is itself an effort to pass time and (seated) with Nona Koirala, Shailaja he draws it out as long as he can. The arrival of Acharya and Girija. Prasad Koirala. Ganesh Man Singh to prepare his own breakfast is

13.12.77 himthe supreme highlight pleasure, because of I theprepare mornings. very solitary condition of the present imprisonment. After I received a letter from Shailaja. I was a little good tea, and also because a hot glass of tea at 6:30 till the arrival of a host of policemen depressed and moody when the letter arrived— that hour when the temperature is hovering near the undergoing training here descend on me to do the and what a transformation it affected in my mood. I freezing point gives him some warmth. I open the cleaning till it is about 7:30—I try to catch BBC, am revived, gone is the mood of depression. In her window just wide enough to put the glass out for Voice of America for news and if this is any good letters she reveals herself at her best, because the him. He comes, stands at attention, salutes and music I listen to it. Unfortunately one doesn’t get circumstance of letter writing impresses a restraint takes the glass. Some of them ask me before they good music at this hour. When the police trainees in her otherwise exuberant passion. What is more accept the tea whether I have had my tea. “Have you do the sweeping of my room and the compound I beautiful, graceful than the spectacle of passion taken your tea, sir?” “I have prepared another glass do the walking. The tidying process takes about ½ controlled. There is a visible tension that makes for of tea for myself. After you finish please put the hour. The flower pots are watered, the floor of the grace, dignity. Dignity is flat, grace is glass on the window sill.” Before I take tea I drink a compound is meticulously swept and sprinkled commonplace, beauty lifeless, if there is no glass of lemon water. Since a few days I have given with water to settle the dust. My room is also very evidence of passion in it—passion unallowed, up taking tea with the lemon water as precaution carefully tidied, windows are cleaned—in short they abandoned passion, however vital or elemental is against diabetes. I take only lemon water, followed make everything clean and shipshape. The other a little tornado lacking specifically the human by a glass of tea without sugar—the finest day, Rosa remarked that I would develop never-to- dimension. Shailaja’s letter gave me joy that a Darjeeling Happy Valley special tea. If I could add be-satisfied habit in the matter of the household child gets in the discovery of a secret treasure. I only two spoonfuls of sugar in my tea, I could feel cleanliness if I have to live long in prison in this read it many times. sufficiently happy, contented, indulged and condition. She said that we don’t have so many gratified—as if I have gone through some aesthetic men to look after the compound and its 14-12-77 experience. Even without sugar, the gratification is maintenance. Niru said that the Chabahil house Altho I am by nature disorganised and there is marginally released, this morning’s glass is a bliss. was also clean, tho it was not so overdone as here. nothing like a daily routine for me, the jail does Milk, however is not up to the mark. Water, of course, At about 8 GM comes into my room which has a impart some kind of regularity in myself. I generally is all right. Till 6:30 I try to read—just try—don’t small kitchenette where he prepares his breakfast get up in the morning at about four, then after make too much progress, day-dreaming. I feel my and boils our milk. He boils drinking water for me washing my mouth, I prepare tea which takes mind is also not alert these days. I can’t also. For breakfast, he takes milk with cornflakes, a about 30 minutes. I try to read yesterday’s concentrate, and serious ideas baffle me—and glass of milk with coffee, some fruits and cheese. I newspaper or some poetry, according to my mood sometimes even consecutive narration—a little take a glass of milk. Since yesterday I started taking at the time, as I am waiting for the water to boil. I complicated leaves me panting trying to catch up one boiled egg and two slices of bread. I don’t think prepare a glass of tea for the sentry who is posted with the movement of a story. I hope this mental I can continue this, because I prefer just a glass of outside my room. The glass of tea, no doubt, gives deterioration is temporary, produced by almost milk for my breakfast.

BIGBEN Bigben is the symbol of the cooperation between Biggyan, an 8th grader from Chitwan and Bernard, a travel writer and expedition leader. Bernard taught art in Europe, and drew street scenes wherever he went. Last year Bernard, taught Biggyan the basics in watercolours and this year they started doing cartoons, some mildly A travelling exhibition on the worldwide rice satirical. Rice festivalculture currentlyin at the FowlerLA Museum at the “I realised that Nepal has very few creative cartoonists,” says University of California in Los Angeles has a Bernard. “I was dismayed at seeing your national papers sporting section devoted to Nepal’s Tharus. mostly poor American cartoons.” Bernard hopes the cartoons will The Art of Rice, Spirit and Sustenance in instill self-confidence in Biggyan and be a vehicle for his creativity. Asia celebrates the cultivation of rice in many Welcome to the world of Demo the yellow rhino, the long-awaited Asian cultures, and displays images and folk art Nepal tourism mascot, and his other friends. from these cultures, which includes the Tharu of To be serialised in this space in Nepali Times every week. Nepal. “This magnificent travelling exhibition examines the interplay between rice and culture through a study of an astonishing array of visual art, including works from China, Japan, India, Indonesia, Korea, Thailand, the Philippines, Nepal and other Asian countries,” says UCLA in its introduction to the exhibition. The United Nations has declared 2004 the International Year of Rice in honour of a food grain that is staple to more than three billion people, most of them in Asia. The growing and eating of rice are so fundamental to life in Asia that rice epitomises food, and by extension, symbolises life itself, as well as fertility and social continuity.

The Art of Rice: Spirit and Sustenance in Asia till 25 April 2004 at KATHMANDU WEATHER FORECAST: UCLA’s Fowler Museum. Partly cloudy, A few scattered showers http://www.fmch.ucla.edu/incEngine/ 13 - 19 FEBRUARY 2004 SPORTS #183 21

The Nepal Under 14 tennis team arrivedUnder back in Kathmandu 14 after tennis shines Golf for competing in the International Tennis Federation (ITF) 14 and under Asian Championships–Zone 2-held recently in Rangoon. There were 13 other countries beginnersyou hit the ball straight from the tee into the IIhole. (Yes, in Zone 2, and the Nepali players you would also call it a hole in one). Americans like to ranked sixth in combined points. The refer to an Albatross as a “double eagle.” It is very rare Nepal team consisted of Jimmy Sherpa, Ramesh Karki, Priti Rijal and to get an albatross. Saloni Pandey (see pic) and was led by their coach Hem Bahadur Lama Last week (#182) we looked at some basic terms for a and Manager Nancy Sherpa. “All children performed well individually in golf course’s features: tees, fairways, roughs, bunkers, singles, together in doubles,” Sherpa said. The players had daily matches hazards, out of bounds, and greens. Let us continue: Eagle – Two strokes below par. For example completing a par four with a score of 2, or a par five with a score of against other children from Bhutan, Laos, Maldives, Mongolia, Malaysia, Some basic terms for your score 3. Burma, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The event was organised by The Tennis Score Card & Score – A printed form where you fill in Federation of Myanmar And was a certified International Tennis Federation your score on each hole. For each of the 18 holes you Birdie - One below par. So, if you score 3 on a par four, event. The All Nepal Lawn Tennis Association endorsed the team from you have had a birdie on that hole. Nepal to participate in this important junior tennis event and said the play, you write down the number of times you hit the children had established a ranking for Nepal and it will open the door for ball and add on Par – the standard for the hole future talent to excel in Nepal’s international tennis performance. the penalties for TEE BREAK being in a hazard Bogey – One over par. On a par 3 if someone plays 4 Deepak Acharya or breaking the shots to put in the hole then he has had a bogey on that rules of the game. hole. At the end of the round of golf (18 holes), you total it Double Bogey – Two over par for the hole all up and that is your score. The lowest score wins. Triple Bogey – Three over par What is par? - Par can be used in different ways, but basically it means the “ideal” score for a particular hole Quadruple Bogey – Four over par – common score for or golf course. The par of a particular hole is usually beginners. dependent on the length of the hole, and generally What is a Handicap? there are three groups of lengths. Short holes require A handicap is not a disability, it is one of the most you to get the ball from the tee into the hole in 3 shots. interesting aspects of golf. In simple terms, a person’s These are known as par threes. Medium length holes Handicap in golf is determined from an average of his are par fours. Long holes are par fives. score over par for a number of 18 hole rounds of golf. If you get the ball from the tee to the hole in 4 So if a person regularly scores 80 on a par 72 course, his shots on a par four, then you have had a par on that handicap would be 8. hole. Handicaps allow players of very different skill levels A standard golf course of 18 holes could have four to play competitively against each other. A beginner’s holes of par 3, four holes of par 5, and ten par 4’s, for a handicap is 28. A top amateur’s handicap is zero. total of a par of 72. If you have scored 72 after playing 18 holes, then you have played your 18 hole round to Are we ready now? par. Armed with this terminology, you no longer need to be hesitant on joining in that conversation between a group Hole in one – Every golfer’s dream – hitting the ball of golfers, or driving down to the golf course and taking from the tee right into the hole. your first lesson. Albatross – Finishing a hole with a score of three below Deepak Acharya is a golf instructor and Head Golf par. On a par 5, it would mean getting the ball into the Professional at Gokarna Forest Golf Resort hole in just 2 shots. It also can be scored on a par 4 if & Spa, Kathmandu. [email protected] 13 - 19 FEBRUARY 2004 22 CITY #183

ABOUT TOWN BOOKWORM Ian Buruma FESTIVALS AND EXHIBITIONS Bad Elements: Chinese Rebels from Los Angeles to Beijing v Reflection and Reality Paintings by Erina Tamrakar 14-28 February Phoenix, 2003 at Gallery Nine, Lazimpat. 4428694 Rs 850 v Bungadeo Jatra Paintings by Sharada Chitrakar till 15 February Travelling through the US, Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong and the People’s Republic at Siddhartha Art Gallery, Baber Mahel Revisited, 4218048 of China, Buruma tells the personal stories of Chinese rebels who dare to stand up to v Sadhus: The Great Renouncers Photographs by Thomas Kelly from 13-29 February at Indigo Gallery, Naxal. their rulers. From the exiles of Tiananmen to the hidden Christians in rural China, he v Farewell Photo Exhibition Karl and Antoinette Schuler at Patan brings alive the human dimension to their struggles and reveals the most secretive Museum Exhibition Gallery till 16 February. superpower through the eyes of its dissidents. v For the sake of love Sculpture, painting and print exhibition till 2 March at Gallery Moksh, inside Club Hardic, Jhamsikhel. 5528703 Courtesy: Mandala Book Point, Kantipath, 4227711, [email protected]

EVENTS v Introduction to Foot Relflexology 6-7.30 AM on 16 February. Above Everest Bookstore at Babar Mahal Revisited. Details: Buddha’s Feet, The Lord of the Rings: CLASSIFIED 4425931 Visit Femilines, the Exclusive v Valentine Salsa with Diego 8.30 PM onwards at Roadhouse Café, The Return of the King Lingerie Store for ladies Thamel. Entry: Rs 300 The journey has ended, and what a ride it’s been. The undergarments, nightwear, v Open House at the American Language Centre from 11AM-2PM on three-picture Lord of the Rings epic is now complete bathrobes and more. Ladies 14 February. Open to all. after three quick years, and it seems like a whirlwind. Return isn’t just a triumph—it’s also a celebration. staff. Opposite Sajha Yatayat, v Qualities of Buddha Body, Speech and Mind Teaching by Druptop Harihar Bhawan, Pulchowk. Tel: Rinpoche 2PM on 14 February at HBMC Gompa. This film is everything a fan could want and possibly more. For three-plus hours, it entertains, enthralls 547428 and awes. Its special-effects artistry is astonishing, MUSIC and its story races to a rousing finish whose finale LIVE IN STYLE! Arcadia v Not Just the Jazz Bar with Chris Masand and The Modern Jazz Live Apartments in the heart of Band every Friday and Saturday night. Shangri~la Hotel, Lazimpat, puts other trilogies to shame. Without spilling any beans, be advised that it’s the kind of payoff that makes Thamel. Centrally located, fully 4412999 you joyous to be a film fan—or could reawaken the fan JAI NEPAL CINEMA furnished apartments at v Abhaya & The Steam Injuns at Dwarika’s every Friday from 7PM that’s been dormant within you after too many Call 4442220 for show timings. unbelievable rates. For details: onwards. 4479488 overheated Hollywood tamashas. www.jainepal.com 981026903, 4260187 FOOD Renting made easy: v Cupid’s Spell by the Pond Dinner, a bottle of wine (for couples) and www.2letonline.com- Looking for dance through a silver themed 14 February at 1905, Kantipath. a place to stay- Log on to find Couples: Rs 1,200. Singles: Rs 700. 4225272 the perfect house, apartment or v Valentine’s day at The Chimney Four course dinner for two for Rs 2,000 even a retail space that meets (glass of wine inclusive). Hotel Yak and Yeti, Kathmandu. 4248999 Happy all your needs. Make an easy v Love at the Jazz Bar Wine and five course menu on 14 February. 1000 bucks by reporting a Shangri~la Hotel, Lazimpat, 4412999 vacant property to us. Find out v Valentine’s Day Romantic lunch or dinner at The Godavari Village how- www.21etonline.com Resort. 5560675 Valentines v Valentine’s Day Special candlelit evening on 14 February at Modern houses for residential Dwarika’s Hotel. Rs 2,999 per couple. 4479488 from office or flat. Contact 4720147,4721147 GETAWAYS v Pure relaxation at Tiger Mountain Pokhara Lodge. 01 4361500 For insertions ring NT v Shivapuri Cottage Dadagaon luxury package of gourmet meals, Marketing at 5543333-36. board and transport. Highland Travel & Tours, 4253352, 4253053 WAVE v Thank Goodness It’s Friday Dwarika’s overnight package for local residents. 4479488

KATHMANDU AIR QUALITY The best indication we have so far that vehicular pollution is the main cause of harmful particulate pollution in Kathmandu is the latest data (below) for the week 1-7 Feburary. Just compare the average concentration of PM10 (particulates less than 10 microns in diameter, which are dangerous because they lodge in the lungs) for Sunday, 1 February with Monday, 2 February. All six pollution monitoring stations 91.2 in Kathmandu from the heavily-traffic areas like Putali Sadak and What you burn is Patan Hospital to the higher suburbs on the Valley’s western rim, what you breathe. Tribhuban University and Matsyagaun recorded much lower PM10 levels on Monday compared to Tuesday. Moral of the story: bandhs Good < 60 are good for health. Ok 61 to 120 Unhealthy 121 to 350 Harmful 351 to 425 Hazardous >425

Putalisadak Matsyagaun TU Bhaktapur Patan H Thamel NEPALI WEATHER by MAUSAM BEED VIS -12-02-2004 03:00 GMT The entire subcontinent is bathed in sunlight in this satellite picture taken early on Thursday morning, even though there is lingering fog over the western Ganga plains and hazy mist over the rest. The temperature is climbing steadily in the tarai, but in Kathmandu Valley the effect will be tempered by the filtering action of Rise and shine the haze. There are no sizeable westerly Get ready for a brand new day with BBC World Today. fronts on the horizon, but the season for them is not over yet. Mainly sunny and Every morning on 102.4 FM from 5:45-6:15 AM partly cloudy with chilly, misty mornings in Kathmandu Valley. Daily 2045-2115 BBC g]kfnL ;]jf KATHMANDU VALLEY Daily 2245-2300 BBC g]kfnL ;]jf Fri Sat Sun Mon Tue Radio Sagarmatha P.O. Box 6958, Bakhundole, Lalitpur, Nepal Tel: ++977-1-545680, 545681, Fax: ++ 977-1- 530227 E-mail: [email protected], 21-03 20-02 21-04 21-03 21-03 on FM 102.4 www.radiosagarmatha.org /]l8of] ;u/dfyf 13 - 19 FEBRUARY 2004 #183 23

HAPPENINGS

RUDRA KHADKA ROYAL ADDRESS: King Gyanendra delivering his address at a civic felicitation ceremony in Nepalganj on 8 February. Queen Komal is also seen in the picture.

KIRAN PANDAY OM SHANTI: Ishwor Gurung of Namaste Band at the sets of his new music video, Shanti, at Maitidevi on 7 February.

KIRAN PANDAY LOVE LETTERS: Students of Tri Chandra College writing love letters on Wednesday, 11 February, for a competition to mark Valentine’s Day.

MIN BAJRACHARYA UNIFIED COMMAND: Reuters photographer Gopal Chitrakar being questioned by security forces during the disposal of a suspected bomb at the Nepal Telecommunications building in Jawalakhel on Wednesday, 11 February.

MIN BAJARACHARYA NO VISORS: Traffic police dismantling the visor from a motorcycle helmet on Tuesday, 10 February. The rule is being enforced for security reasons. 13 - 19 FEBRUARY 2004 2 4 #183 NEPALI SOCIETY

Halfhe dreamed of being a doctorthe but Madhuri Karki’ssky career took a little detour. Today, she is Nepal’s first and only forest

pathologist. Madhuri is our very own tree doctor. www.nepalitimes.com SIn two decades, Madhuri has given free checkups to more trees than she can count, diagnosing their diseases and treating them. In doing so, she has raised awareness about forest conservation, which stands her in good stead today as Nepal’s only female District Forest Officer (DFO). “My education prepared me to deal with the physical well-being of the forest, but dealing with people’s ignorance required more work,” Madhuri says wryly. She has now learnt hands-on how to KIRAN PANDAY use Nepal’s community forestry movement to save our woodlands. As DFO in Bhaktapur, she has handed over most of the district’s 1,900 hectares of government land to village management committees. The result is there for all to see: the deep green slopes south of Bhaktapur. f all the various species of at the Chabahil Roundabout. All Feathered Friends to assure us Madhuri is used to ups and downs. In Telkot, where locals jungle fowl that mankind together now (sung to the tune of that they are in the pink of collected firewood and the army conducted exercises, she was Thehas domesticated essence over the Rato bhale): of chickenhealth, and we can safely eat blamed for everything that went wrong. Madhuri realised the them without dropping dead in solution lay with devolution, but for this, she had to fight the higher- course of its history, none have up bureaucracy in Kathmandu. Her perseverance worked. had such a profound impact on Red rooster, the process. As proof, our panel As the locals protected their forests, wild animals returned. Ohuman civilisation as the factory- Cock-a-doodle-doo to you, too! of speakers today have kindly Once, villagers attacked a marauding bred broiler. Take our own I fed you to the mother of a agreed to have their heads leopard. Madhuri tried to newborn babe chopped off and be grilled by save its life, but the But I ate your head, members of the press corps. OK, animal died. “It UNDER MY HAT I swear. (And I’m not making this who wants to go first: would have lived if Kunda Dixit up!) there was a vet in the village,” she The Fowl Times: Mr says. Another time, country, where the chicken may Some of you more alert readers Chicken, sir, we have eye- she apprehended not have the same status and will have noticed that chickens witness reports that you actually poachers with 7kg flamboyance as the national bird, have been in the news lately. crossed a filthy road twice this of rare the danfe, or the national bird-in- Prominent members of the poultry morning. Why did you do that? yarchagumba in waiting, the monal, but our community were invited this week Lalitpur. “What poultry industry has almost as to the Meet the Press program at Chicken McNugget: Because I many patriotic songs written in its the Reporters’ Pub where they am a dirty doublecrosser. makes me happiest is honour as those rare and spoke up on a wide range of issues Harharharhar. Just joking. when I see resplendent pheasants. For of national and international central example, the popular ballad, An importance that are now coming FT: As a followup question, planning Ode to a Deceased Cock that goes: home to roost. what is your response to chicks benefiting Hungry for news, the gathered who claim that it was they who people in the Rato bhale kwae kwae journos badgered the fowl came first, and not eggs? village,” she Sutkeriko nama gari leadership with tough questions says. If it was any other bureaucrat saying Tauko maile khaye which they fielded with CM: I think they are reactionary it, that remark may have Hey, hoina maile dhanteko equanimity, poise, aplomb and, running dog lackeys of global been a cliché. But not yes, even guano, from the podium. imperialism, and you can quote Satte satte dharo dharma with Madhuri.l Jhuto kuro chhaina boleko! We have just retrieved a transcript me on that. However, I don’t (Khadga Singh) Now, we all know most Nepali of the Q&A session of the press want to get into a polemical folk songs are made for dancing, meet and, in the interest of debate on this issue. All I want not translating. But this one has to transparency and the public’s right to tell the higher-up be turned into English to give us a to know, we present below a short authoritarians is not to flavour of the high status that we excerpt after carefully deleting underestimate our potential to have traditionally accorded expletives, anti-monarchist slogans create havoc and not to make chickens in Nepal’s socio-cultural and bird droppings: the mistake of counting us milieu. In fact, if most of our before we hatch. intersections didn’t already have Rishi Dhamala: Welcome statues of various national heroes everybody to this session of the Dhamala: And that about adorning them, it would be fitting Reporter’s Pub. We are glad to wraps it up for today. Thank that a bust in honour of the have with us today a delegation of you everybody. Dinner is unknown hen be put up urgently the All-Nepal Federation of Fluless served. MIN BAJRACHARYA

CDO Regd No. 194/056/57 Lalitpur, Central Region Postal Regd. No. 04/058/59