2 EDITORIAL 27 SEPTEMBER - 3 OCTOBER 2000 NEPALI TIMES

FFFIDDLINGIDDLINGIDDLING WHILEWHILEWHILE DOLPOOLPOOLPO BURNSBURNSBURNS For the first time in five years of armed insurgency, a district headquarter has borne the brunt of a frontal attack by Maoist guerrillas. This could prove to be an ominous start of a long, cold winter of continued conflict. Rolpa, Rukum, Salyan and Jajarkot are all “Category-A” Maoist strongholds by the government’s classification and hence the concentra- tion of forces there. Government presence in the district headquarters meant that it could show a semblance of control by keeping the national flag flying above the Chief District Officer’s building. The Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister flew in and out on helicopters on largely symbolic visits to denounce terrorism. Everyone knew that the Maoists roamed freely in the hinterland. They had their own administration, collectives and courts in place. It was convenient to pretend everything was normal. Dunai is a remote, poor and sparsely populated town four hours’ walk from the nearest airfield. It was vulnerable, and the firefight seems to have been short and bloody. But the attack has sent a significant symbolic message: the solution STATE OF THE STATE by C.K.LAL to the Maoist crisis lies in Kathmandu not in western Nepal. The Maoist leadership is just taking advantage of petty politicking between factions of the ruling party and between the rulers and the opposition. Then there is the lingering and potentially destabilising struggle Freedom to be irresponsible between Singha Durbar and Narayanhiti for supremacy. The friction between the Royal Nepal e may not be shooting the The three branches of government are Army and the Police is just the messenger yet, but messengers outward manifestation of this www are getting enough hints from ganging up against the fourth estate. dangerous game. the executive, legislative and judicial The Maoists would be foolish branches to lay off. Even for journalists, The independent press does not run we live, which is the pursuit of knowl- not to capitalise on this disarray it seems, no news is bad news. Consider on government grants, which is actually edge that others would like unpursued, at the centre. They are playing a the recent spate of bad omens for public money. It should run on its own and making of comment that others carefully calibrated game: having scored a major propaganda victory the press: resources, and is accountable to no one would prefer unmade.” with their audacious attack on a district headquarter, they left without • The Public Accounts Committee except its readers, listeners or viewers. If If the Public Accounts Committee capturing it for it could have pushed the government to make one more of parliament summons the the media’s foot soldiers break laws while wants Prateek Bhandari of Radio effort to send in the Army. The military has been marking time. Army station manager of Radio pursuing that objective, then prosecute Sagarmatha to reveal his sources, why Chief Prajwal Sumsher Rana warned two weeks ago that the Royal Sagarmatha and wants a news source them by all means. But any call by don’t they first make a law to that Nepal Army could not idle away and watch the country go to rot. But he revealed government officials for the media to effect? The Honourable Jai Prakash, has also succeeded in putting obstacles to police weapons • Communications Minister Jai pursue some “higher mission” rings who happens to be an ex-journalist modernisation and the formation of a paramilitary force. He will now have Prakash Prasad Gupta fumes about hollow. Even the gutter-press and sewer- himself, would do well to reflect over to answer why policemen in Dunai weren’t better armed. ‘anti-democratic reporting’ and channels will rot if they don’t have a whether or not he was once responsible. The fall of Dolpo should galvanise the government’s resolve to deploy wants the press to behave itself readership. The very idea of responsibility reeks of the army for peacekeeping if it becomes necessary. And for it to be • Our learned judges guard their The press does not need the commu- authoritarianism when it is imposed taken seriously, the ruling party must put its own house in order and end privileges with the threat of nication minister fuming about what a from outside. Responsibility is some- a power struggle that has paralysed governance. Factions within the Contempt of Court against any newspaper should or shouldn’t publish. thing that comes from within, and ruling party and the opposition parties must all realise that democracy’s hack caught sniffing around He is free to choose what he likes to members of the press are no less future in Nepal is much more important than their narrow-minded It appears that the three wings of the read, or what he wants to write. In the responsible just because they do not squabbles. Very soon, if they are not careful, there may be nothing left to state are ganging up against the fourth same way, he should not be offended if agree with one interpretation of squabble about. estate. The media should just be a other writers and readers exercise a “national interest”. mouthpiece, amplifying their proclama- similar freedom. The press is not There is some truth in the allegation tions, toeing the line, buttering the boss, accountable to him, it is answerable to that a section of the Nepali press (of the being the propaganda organ. Old habits the public directly. And it does so at extremist fringe in particular, and other HHHERITERITERITAGEAGEAGE TTTODAODAODAYYY, GG, ONEONEONE TTTOMORROW die hard. regular intervals, at least more regularly Trojan Horses in general) is not There will always be the scornful who will say that Nepal is too poor to be The tradition of a drummer going than he answers his own constituency. adhering to its own code of conduct. worried about maintaining some crumbling old temples. Why, when around the village announcing the The press is on trial every time it But that is too specious a ground to Nepali children don’t get enough to eat, should we spend money on the wishes of its chief continues to this day publishes, broadcasts or telecasts pour scorn over the entire media, as upkeep of termite-infested courtyards? This argument is disingenuous. even if the message is coming in through something, it does not have to Honourable Jai Prakash has been doing To begin with, there is now strong evidence that Nepal is in fact not a the cable or dish antennae. In hierarchi- wait for an election to face its lately at every opportunity. Honourable poor country at all. Reports published in this paper and elsewhere point cal societies, the media—be they the old electorate. Minister, are there no black sheep in out that huge amounts of cash are being pumped into the informal bhat and katuwal or the modern reporter Even in more mature democracies, politics, and do all sections of the economy by Nepalis working abroad. Nepalis are bulging with cash: Rs or commentator—is expected to sing politicians regularly accuse the media of government honour their commitments 50 billion is floating around at any given time. The problem is that this hosannas in praise of the powerful. being irresponsible. Our politicians are to the constitution? Or is the press, money is not being invested productively to create jobs and generate But in a democracy, the media no different. They are just more inse- particularly the mainstream media, new wealth. It is also concentrated in the hands of a very few: the gap becomes an essential mechanism for cure. The media must protect its comparatively a better performer? You between rich and poor in Nepal is one of the widest even in South Asia’s check and balance. It has to be allowed independence. That is its most precious decide, I have my own biases. unequal society. So, if there is poverty here, it is of the mind. Of creativ- the freedom to be irresponsible. Demo- possession. It must assert its right to seek The press has become a favourite ity, vision, and a commitment to development and the future. cratically-elected governments may not the truth, even if it is subversive. Truth whipping boy of all sections of power. Some of that creativity is now urgently needed to preserve Kath- like what the media says about them, is invariably subversive. It is only those The Nepali press must take that as a mandu Valley’s endangered heritage. We may pat ourselves on the back but they must protect their right to say who want to hide in dark corners and do compliment. It means at least some of for having fobbed off attempts by the World Heritage Centre to de-list our it. That is why thin-skinned politicos, or things secretively who benefit from a us in the profession are doing some- monuments from the List of World Heritage Sites. But the fact of the those who have a lot to hide, don’t controlled press. thing right. Watchdogs aren’t supposed matter is that our heritage is under grave threat, and we have not shown last long. In the 1980s, the London Times to be cute and cuddly, they are sup- the political will to preserve the rich cultural landscape of Kathmandu. It Unlike the fourth estate, the three columnist Bernard Levin challenged a posed to snarl.  now seems some of the conscientious people of the Valley are not branches of government (parliament, government call for the waiting for the government or UNESCO to tell them how bad things are. executive and the courts) are funded by press to be responsible. They have started renovating and restoring by themselves. Both should the tax-payers’ money. They are He wrote: “The press support these efforts and find ways to replicate them. accountable to the people. And since the has no duty to be press represents the public on a day-to- responsible at all, and it day basis, the government should ideally Nepali Times is published by Himalmedia Pvt Ltd will be an ill day for Mailing address: GPO Box 7251 Kathmandu Nepal be transparent towards it. The rulers are freedom if it should Editor: Kunda Dixit [email protected] elected by the people to run the country ever acquire one...we Marketing, circulation and subscriptions: (01) 543333-7 Fax: (01) 521013 for a limited period, and as the people are and must remain [email protected] www.nepalitimes.com need to know how they are performing, vagabonds and outlaws, Printed at Jagadamba Press (01) 521393 the rulers need to communicate with for only by so remain- International news in Nepali Times is provided through arrangements with The Guardian, those who chose them through this ing shall we be able to Observer, dpa, IPS, The Asian Age, Dawn, SAPU, Die Welt, Sud Deutsche Zeitung and Gemini News. conduit. keep the faith by which PROFILE 27 SEPTEMBER - 3 OCTOBER 2000 NEPALI TIMES 3 A mercenary for democracy CHARLOTTE DENNY CHARLOTTE○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ DENNY administration—although with a bit of rough ride because I said hen the protesters the extra resources it mobilises governance ought to be our “Globalisation is inevitable: the went on the rampage the overall total rises to about priority. There was a lot of W at the World Bank $2.5 billion. The bank’s lending initial caution, the question is on what terms. and International Monetary programme, by contrast, totals $7 developing country Fund meetings in Prague last billion. “It’s all got there by a representatives in New week, Mark Malloch Brown no wing and a prayer,” says Malloch York said ‘Oh, my We have to make sure that

doubt allowed himself a sigh of Brown. In fact, the budget has God, he’s another part ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○

relief. Until just over a year ago, been declining over the past of this secret political ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○poor people are included in his job as the public face of the decade from a peak in 1992 of version of the and understanding of look at the environment in which World Bank would have put him $1.2 billion. The UNDP has been Washington politicalthe systems.process.” He we are operating, advice is a directly in the firing line for the a victim of the aid fatigue which consensus’.” For learnt a lot, as well, scarce commodity”. In fact, biggest rallies against hit the main donors after the some developing along the way. turning the UNDP into an globalisation since the protests collapse of the Iron Curtain country governments “A lot of these nice advisory body will bring it once which shook the World Trade removed the political justifica- the strings which come phrases about local again into competition with the Organisation talks in Seattle last tions for many countries’ lending attached to aid ownership in the Bank, which is also championing December. Trying to justify the programmes. programmes these days, development community the governance agenda. bank to people who believe babies A British national with a long requiring them to consult I learnt at the political His old boss, James Wolfensohn, are murdered in developing track record in the international with their electorates, are coalface.” has been trying to reposition his countries and environments system—he worked for the seen as a new form of Malloch Brown sees his role institution as the “listening destroyed in the organisation’s United Nations High Commis- political structural at the UNDP as the culmina- bank”. But in a name is no easy task, even for a sioner for Refugees in the early adjustment. tion of his previous head-to-head battle over who man with as impressive a track 1980s—Malloch Brown came to But the experience. The should be the prime source record in the black arts of the UNDP at the request of the initial organisation of advice to the developing world political spin doctoring as is UN Secretary General, Kofi concern clearly the UNDP has many advantages. Malloch Brown. Instead, he has Annan, to shake up the place and has needs a While the Bank is handi- swapped his post as head of be part of Annan’s reforming dissi- PR capped by the perception that it is external relations at the bank for agenda which was showcased at pated, overhaul in the pocket of the G7, the the top job at the United Nations the recent millennium summit. accord- to restore UNDP can capitalise on trust. Development Programme Malloch Brown was received ing to donors’ “I’m stunned by the freedom I (UNDP), an organisation that initially with suspicion. Some Malloch confidence, but have to raise issues with govern- most development campaigners poor countries believed he had Brown, as at the same time ments,” says Malloch Brown. The regard as one of the good guys of been chosen to smuggle a bank poor countries he has to go gently backlash against globalisation the development aid world, perspective into an institution have come to to avoid alienating which started in Seattle last although even its best friends which has always been seen as an realise that they need the trust of the December has also benefitted the would admit it has not always ally of the developing world. to change. They would developing countries, UNDP. “The Seattle aftershocks been the most effective outfit. While the World Bank and IMF still rather hear the which is its biggest asset. which have driven the developed Among his goals are putting are under the thumb of the donor message from the UNDP, The old-style UNDP ran countries back to us made them Africa online, reshaping his countries—the Group of Seven however, than endure the thousands of small develop- more cautious and anxious to organisation as the main source leading industrialised economies more heavy-handed approach of ment projects and had a find an alternative path.” of advice to developing countries controls nearly half of the votes the Bank or the Fund. Malloch and early 1990s. He describes reputation for being bureaucratic Malloch Brown is no and mediating in the debate on the Fund’s management Brown’s belief in the importance himself then as a “mercenary for and inefficient. Malloch Brown advocate of stopping the processes which has split the development board—the UNDP has always of democratic reforms comes democracy”, and he and his thinks the project-based approach of economic integration, community over whether been much closer to the recipients from his time at the UNHCR colleagues chalked up some is a waste of time when its however. “Globalisation economic growth or redistribu- of aid. during the late 1970s, which impressive victories, including resources are dwarfed by other is inevitable: the question is on tion of resources Malloch Brown freely admits convinced him that the root of all Cory Aquino’s election campaign aid agencies. “UNDP was in the what terms,” he says. “We have to from rich to poor is more he preaches the Bank’s line about problems in developing countries in the Philippines in 1986 and wrong business, we didn’t offer make sure that poor people are important in tackling global the need to accompany aid with was a lack of democracy. the no vote in the Chilean any value added,” he says. “In a included in the process.”  (The poverty. Malloch Brown admits political and economic reform “If you have a competitive referendum of 1988 which tight market for official develop- Guardian) the contrast between the bank and he deliberately set out to turn political system in which to eventually ended General ment assistance we were going and the UNDP was “a bit the UNDP’s focus to the impor- resolve differences, you won’t Pinochet’s rule. nowhere.” daunting” at first. The UNDP tance of good governance. It was have refugee flows,” he says. The wave of fledgling The plan now is to reposition runs on a shoestring compared to a message not universally popular It was also the spur behind the democratic governments which the UNDP as an advisory and resources available to the bank with aid recipients unaccustomed next stage of his varied career, came to power in the 1980s were advocacy agency. That is not, he and the fund. Its core budget this to receiving lectures on reform his work as a political consultant ripe for advice from Malloch hastens to add, because advice is year was $700 million—less than from their friends at the UNDP. for various developing country Brown’s consultancy with its cheap, although that is an what the bank spends on “In the first six months I had governments in the late 1980s sophisticated polling techniques advantage, but because “if you

LETTERS Gaurav Sharma ARMY, INC wash its hand off its constitutional process of recording and Kathmandu C.K. Lal’s comment on the responsibility of running the army tracking TDS payments is Royal Nepal Army (#10) within the legal framework of the Lal #10). A bank for the army is Kathmandu fundamentally flawed. Q&A opening a commercial bank nation. Successive governments fine but commercial banks is RC Thank you for publishing the shows once more that have approved all major deci- altogether another prospect. FUNDAMENTALLY FLAWED Kathmandu transcript of the CNN Q&A with something is seriously wrong sions concerning the army, and But Mr Lal contradicts I believe that you missed (#10) I agree that Nepal’s policies Girija Prasad Koirala (#9). This is somewhere. One of the without cabinet approval. The himself. If, as he says, the army a very significant “investment are unfriendly to investors probably one of the very few times primary responsibilities of a army is still largely run with an is buying unnecessary equip- unfriendly” Nepal government (#10). Nepal must travel extra that a publication is being democratic government is to antiquated and ossified mind-set. ment, and a poor country like action: Tax Deduction at Source miles to commended for publishing effectively assert civilian Transparency is practically non- ours cannot spend so much (TDS). In most countries taxes attract Foreign Direct Invest- rubbish. The interview was an control over the military, and to existent, sycophancy and money, why can’t the army are paid on profits with very ment (FDI) to rejuvenate its excellent example of our prime maintain a balanced civil- nepotism is actively nurtured and venture into commercial business lenient allowances for ex- moribund economy. We must minister’s intellect, his thought military relationship. Succes- personal whims and fancies have to sustain itself, and free itself penses. But because of stop reciting the liberalisation process and his ability to under- sive governments after 1990 precedence over sound reason- from all the politics and hassles? corruption among politicians, hymns and get down to stand the critical issues affecting have failed to reign in the ing. The army is for the country and and the underlying distrust of serious task of correcting our Nepal. I blame Girija’s “advisers” Royal Nepal Army. It is no If good governance and rule of as long as it serves the nation, the government, even normally labour laws, and provide for letting him appear on CNN. surprise, then, if the RNA is law are to prevail, the army the Nepali people should have no law-abiding Nepalis tend to hide attractive incentives to Bichar Nepali attempting to turn into a should be run by laws and problems. taxable income and avoid potential investors. Kathmandu corporation, as C.K. Lal regulations published in the It seems Mr Lal does not like paying taxes. Enron and the privatisation alleges. gazette. Why is an elected the army very much and prefers TDS was an answer to this, of BPC should be eye- The word-for-word interview of our The assertion that the king government so inefficient or politicians, even though the but since income is reduced so openers. India’s honesty and honourable PM was interesting. is under the impression that incapable that it cannot even money politicians have is business liquidity, and thus, sincerity also counts a lot for His words made no sense at all the army is still solely his is ensure that one of its branches— misutilised runs into billions of entrepreneurial ability to take Nepal’s industrialisation. and proved that he has just not open to speculation, but it must the army—sticks to rules? rupees. And why is it acceptable risks is likewise reduced. The Kodak is an example of how been doing his homework. What a also be acknowledged that the Gyan J. Thapa for the army to be involved in Ministry of Finance is extremely New Delhi should not work. chance our country missed to army survives on the tax- Kathmandu infrastructure development and slow at refunding overpayment The sooner our hakims in present our grievances and payer’s money and not on a rescue efforts, but not in running of taxes, if such a process even Singha Durbar move to correct problems. private or royal grant. The I agree that the army should not a bank? exists. Recent inquiries at the these ills the better it will be Alok Tuladhar government therefore cannot venture into capital market (C.K. Arun Khadka ministry indicates that the whole for falling FDI flows into Nepal. Kathmandu

10 LIFESTYLE 27 SEPTEMBER 3 OCTOBER 2000 NEPALI TIMES Zen and the art of kite flying In Nepal kite flying is a martial art. We don’t just fly rooftop terraces to get their kites experience. True kite warriors aloft and there is never a shortage first learn from their masters, kites for the fun of it, we fly kites to fight other kites. of enemies to engage. The fights, then they gain experience and when they do happen, are pass it down to the next

SALIL SUBEDI ○○○○○○○○ SALIL○○○○○ SUBEDI escaped with just bruises), epic glass glistening in the sun. And enormous exciting even for spectators as generation. After getting a kite s the monsoon rains kite battles in which a dozen then the most important item: heights, and the top guns swoop, climb aloft you let it go in a tumbling subside, the sky turns kites with their lethal maajhaa you need a lattai that has the the world and do their victory rolls in motion riding on a gust of wind. A deep blue again and the strings fought for supremacy in capacity to reel in or reel out faster record is 30,000 the ruthless dogfights Tumbling makes it reel out wind suddenly changes from the great Battle of Wotu in than the enemy. It is the lattai that ft. People have al- overhead. And the vanquished, faster than a side-by-side east to west you can tell Kath- 1968, children chasing falling also distinguishes the Nepali ways been fascinated by the drifting unguided in the breeze (tiktike) motion. After the line mandu is ready once more for kites with long sticks and kiteflyer from Indian flyers. possibility of going up in a kite, trailing long strings. has gone for a while and when MIN BAJRACHARYA the annual kite-flying season. running across traffic with their We don’t know whether kite- and Marco Polo did it in the 13 These days people don’t make the kite looks dangerous close to There are other things that go eyes on the prize. flying came to Kathmandu from century on return from China. their own line armour, called the trees, you stop the lattai with kite flying: the fluttering The big difference between the north or south, but either way But people-lifting kites didn’t maajhaa. But some old timers still abruptly, and the kite shoots quiver of a dive-bombing kite, Nepali and European kite flying is ther eis no doubt that it has really catch on. have the secret time-tested recipes straight up. The way a kite the smell of ripening rice that here it is martial art. Nepalis evolved its own distinctive Nepali Marconi did use a kite to for the strongest maajhaas behaves in the sky gives an in the golden fields where don’t just fly kites for the characteristics. Kites seem to have hoist an aerial for his trans- reputedly made of a witch’s brew indication of the personality and the kites swoop, the fun of it, they fly kites been discovered in the land that Atlantic radio transmission. of boiled slugs, gum all mixed dexterity of its pilot. You can collective victory cry of to fight other kites. The discovered gunpoweder: China. Avid kite flyers like the with powdered glass made from tell that a tiktike is flown by a “chaaaaaait” from the idea is to cut their line First historical references date to editor of this paper have flown crushed light bulbs. These have to novice, a puchhare is probably a rooftops. with your line. That is 400 BC, but it appears that kites kites at 18,800 ft at Makalu be mixed carefully—you don’t kid, the flashy Red Baron is a And everyone has a why you need a kite with may have come to China from Base Camp in winds gusting up want a maajhaa that is so sharp show-off who will sooner or kite-flying memory of manoeuvrability, obedience what is now Indonesia. Kites were to 60 knots. But because the air that it cuts your own line inside later get himself shot down, the childhood. Of a cousin who fell and a killer instinct. You need used in 170 BC by the Chinese is thin, the kite survived. the lattai. Darting Diver is probably flown off a roof while backing out thread that looks threatening with general Han Hsien to measure In congested Katmandu, kite Kite fighting with a lattai is by a dare-devil who will get after a launch (luckily, he a blood red colour and shards of distances. Kites have reached aficionados clamber up to their an art that needs a lifetime of stuck on a television antenna, the High Hoverer is a decep- tively calm but ruthless falcon who will plunge suddenly and cut the enemy’s umbilical before he can utter “gwankh” (the MANOHAR RAI

To go up:up:To reel in while kite is To go up faster: pull while reeling To go left:left:To reel in while kite is To go down:down:To reel out until kite To reel in fast: hold lattai with pointed up. in while kite is pointed up. pointed left and yank lattai to the points down then reel line in palm up and pull in line, useful right quickly, pull lattai if you want to after kite is cut if you don’t want dive. to lose line. Go fly a kite (and unit

PETER PETER AAAVIS IN DIEPPE, FRANCE PETER PETER○○○○○○○○○○○○ AAVIS giants of Sumpago—vast They came from Australia and circular constructions on South Africa, China and Chile, bamboo frames measuring up Germany and Guatemala, to 18 metres across, richly Italy, New Zealand and Nepal. painted in reds and ochres mirinda In all, 33 delegations of that evoke the colour of the kiteflyers were gathered with soil of the land where they their creations in the kite were made. village erected at the edge of Korean kites, too, are the seaway that separates conceived as means of France from Britain. communication with the Thousands of people crowded heavens. It is a tradition in the town for nine days to Korea to write on kites the watch fantastic displays—and names and dates of birth of sometimes friendly battles—in new children and to launch the sky. There were vigorous the kites during the first acrobatic kites and langorous fortnight of the year. When the kites dancing ballets. But most kite is high in the sky, the cord impressive of all were the attaching it to earth is cut and monarchs of the sky, such as it wafts away the evil spirits the tubular sea monster that threatened the children it brought to Europe by famed protects. Battle kites are also kitemaker Peter Lynn of New a speciality of this nation, Zealand, and his green whose kiteflyers develop great octopus that threatened speed and dexterity. constantly to land, like King Indonesian kites, in keeping Kong, on the roofs of adjacent with the predominant hotels. philosophy of that country, are For this millennium edition considered to be in of the Dieppe biennial communion with nature. The festival—the eleventh in the layang-layang are of a vast float in the sky, suggesting the series—three countries were variety, many of them movement of fish in the water. the guests of honour: associated with a particular It used to be considered Guatemala, Korea and island of the archipelago. The that kites originated in China— Indonesia. A team of 10 most popular Balinese kite is which also had a team in Guatemalan kiteflyers brought the be-bean, in the form of an Dieppe this year—but scholars to Europe for the first time six undulating fish whose fins now situate the birth of the LIFESTYLE 27 SEPTEMBER - 3 OCTOBER 2000 NEPALI TIMES11 Drag tends to push the kite put it in an uncontrolled dive. Maharjan. Juju owns a shop in horizontally back while the kite Also remember to allow for Balaju that sells kites during line pulls the kite forward. This delay for the kite to respond to Dasain. The famous brands of GLOSSARY state keeps kite in steady youir command, and this non-doctored white strings like OF KITE position. There are some lato delay is always directly the Eagle, Chain, Gun marks are TERMS changa, or idle kites which only proportional to the tension on still found in the Nepali market respond only when stronger the line. So, if your line is but they don’t sell much. “Kids force is applied through the line. tight the kite responds immedi- who buy kites these days have This is caused by the low lift-to- ately, if it is sagging it is completely forgotten the art of maajhaa: line armour drag ratio. If the drag is greater sluggish. making maajhaa . I remember mandali: stone on string than the lift, the kite will not fly There are Nepali kite fliers when I was a kid, we used the used by kite pirates who at all. On a keen breeze, a kite who attend various international ghyukumari (aloe vera), sabdana prey on low-fliers will be at equilibrium and easy kite festivals every year. Nirmal (starch), bulb glass dust and even kakaa: string at point to control. When the wind dies Man Tuladhar, a linguist and mobicol as maajhaa,” says Juju. where it is tied to kite down, the kite stalls. But even editor of CNAS journal and Maajhaa-making used to be phuin: kite aerobatics here, quick lattai action can Thailand-based Nepali writer a major expedition. Says Sankha tthini: launching kite by keep a kite aloft. But there is a Ramesh Shrestha returned last Narayan Prajapati of Gonga Bu: copilot penalty: you will have to week from the Dieppe Interna- “We skipped school to make loppa: stall sacrifice line length. Pulling at tional Kite Festival in France maajhaa, it used to take us the hi-chait: kite with line cut weight you add to a kite to under the influence of gravity. gwankh: paper weight to balance it). But it doesn’t. The reason is that the string with a lattai raised (see box below). whole day.” These days, people above the head is the trademark Because of the congested don’t have time and just buy balance kite One thing you have to it is an airfoil, and its flight is tiktike: sluggish side-by- remember while kite fighting is defined by aerodynamics and Nepali way of flying a kite in urban space, the Nepali ready-made threads. Also, the light breeze. roof-top kite flyers are wide fields that were traditional side movement of kite to watch out for pirates with Bernoulli’s principle. Unlike chakchake: kite with mandalis. You may be so busy other airfoils like the wings of There are various sometimes compelled to kite-flying areas of the Valley traditional ways to yank the lattai to coax have been overgrown, says attention deficit disorder concentrating on the dogfight at aeroplanes, sails, bird wings and tauke: kite with pattern on hand, that you don’t notice a parachutes, kites can alter or steer a kite (see their kite up. But Prajapati, pointing to the diagram). To take the field kite flyers Gonga Bu bus Park where he top quadrant surface-to-air mandali dart out redirect the flow of air around it babache: kite with bottom of a neighbourhood roof, snare unevenly so as to create pressure kite left, for example, have the advantage used to fly kites as a boy. wait for the kite to point of a long runway for a The cost of kite in Kath- half of a different colour your string and capture your differences. While putting the dariwal: kite with kite (and your enemy’s, too). kite in the air, the angle of the left and give the lattai a kite’s takeoff and get it mandu ranges from Rs 5-50. yank pulling it on the right higher after the launch for it to The lines cost Rs 40 for 1000m. symmetrical pattern on Choosing a kite is also an kite diverts the flow of air bottom left and right art. These days kites made of unevenly over it. This causes the side of your body. Ditto if you catch a passing breeze. “But Pre-armoured line from India want to go down or up. While there is one disadvantage when costs Rs 7/metre to Rs 25/ dharke: kite with stripes Nepali lokta paper are becoming air passing over the kite to move puchhare: kite with tail extinct, people prefer the lighter faster than the air passing under. reeling loose the lattai, the kite you jolt. Sometimes, this causes metre. The most popular kite and more maneuverable At this point, according to often rotates, and you have to be the knots to weaken resulting in shops are in Bhotahiti and “Lucknow” kite flattened with a Bernoulli’s Principle, the faster a careful not to reel in while the the string to snap and the kite Asan, and also Kalimati and conch shell and with distinctive current of air moves, the lower nose is pointed down this could becomes chait,” says Juju Kaji Baneshwor. stripes. Lucknows are the its pressure becomes. And, as Spitfires among kites, they have any physics student will tell you, classic dog-fighting qualities, there is thus a high pressure capable of sharp turns, diving buildup below the kite which attacks, a screeching sound in a gives it lift. Gravity tends to pull dive, good line response and the kite down while the lift bright colours. Nepali kites, makes the kite float. though, have their loyalists and When the kite is in you can still see some of them equlibrium, four forces— around. gravity, lift, resistance (drag) A kite as a heavier-than-air from the wind, and the tension object and logically should fall of the kite line—cancel out. te the world) premium armies hoist them into the sky belching smoke and flames, to terrify their whiskey enemies on the battlefield. Since then, kites have been recruited to more peaceful uses, such as meteorology. In the late twentieth century, kites became a sophisticated leisure industry. The latest development of kite technology in the service of a sport is in fly-surfing, with kites used to pull surfboards and their necessarily skillful passengers through the sea. The high point of this year's edition of the Dieppe festival was the Children's Arch. Two kilomletres long, it consisted of 2,500 individual kites strung together in the longest arch ever created. Every child attending a primary school in the town was wind-borne machine in Indone- invited to decorate one of sia 3,500 years ago. the kites. The arch was Kites—or cerfs volants conceived as a window on (flying stags) as the French the world, facing both land have named them—were and sea, and a peaceful introduced to Europe in the symbol of the new thirteenth century when Tatar millennium. (The Observer) 12 INFO TECH 27 SEPTEMBER - 3 OCTOBER 2000 NEPALI TIMES

GAGAGAURAB RAJ UPADHAADHAADHAYYYAAA

GAGA○○○○○○○○○○○○○URAB RAJ UPADHAADHAYYAA with internet speed because of on it, Sapana. sapna logs in congestion. Says one staffer in a koool : hello sapna, welcome Kathmandu-based company: roger : hi there dream girl “These days I go to office on naina : hi sapna, Let’s have a chat Saturdays for chatting—it is sapna : thanks all of you. great fun.” Isn’t it exciting, koool : are yu really a dream!! Nepalis have always loved to chat. Today young Nepalis from finding out that from Kurakani sapna : i am my mua bua ko all over the world meet in the cyber chowks to chatter away. Chat that Sapana has just burnt sapna kya her finger? Rub a cucumber slice roger : we already had the doe- eyed and now we have the dream pujan is singing “sapna sapna ma timro sapna” hat they seem to like the best is the W anonymity of it all. Unlimited access to the Internet has allowed Nepalis from all over chat to their heart’s content, yakking away in a distanceless world. Kathmandu’s cyberspace is getting increasing attention from all those who have never

been able to use the RAJESH KC neighbourhood chowk for a little talk. The youngsters are not here to use the Internet to widen their intellectual horizons, they are Below are some frequently-used phrases in Nepali here to pass the time and enjoy put in their two cents worth. with connections to Nepal from chat sites are just timepass— chats. Readers can send in translations, where they the nameless banter giggling away They’re all into PM (personal all over the world gather here, rarely you make friends there.” think we are off mark. anonymously in front of their messaging) and the chat site runs drawn in mainly because they are Janet—another regular using hoina ta? = isn’t it jhingaa = irritating person monitors. The subjects range a robot to filter out offending already browsing nepalnews MSN messenger—uses it for ho ra? = really naulo maancche = new guy from music, teachers, friends, words, but it seems our young- regularly to find out what is chatting with friends from India, ani = then gafaadi = bullshitter and drift inevitably to sex. sters have creative ways of getting happening in Nepal. where she went to college. Some raamro = good fantus = fool www.econepal.com’s around such strict discipline. Riddleman—a regular chatter at prefer ICQ, and there have been haterikaa = oh, no haawaa = (same as above) ch@tm@ndu seems to be the The other crowd congegrates this site says: “Hey man, come quite a few who have met their dhwaas = show off fk = faaltu kuraa favourite for most Kathmandu around www.explorenepal.com on—who wants to do serious mates through the sites. One who kasto = what-what faaltu kuraa = useless stuff teens. If you eavesdrop into this and its “Chautari”. The great stuff on a Internet Chat room.” goes by the name “Bann” even sutna jaane kyaa = off to sleep padante = bookworm space you can tune into students thing about Chautari us that you He is off to putting another met his Singaporean girlfriend baraf = ice hallaa = noise from Kathmandu’s upmarket can even use Nepali fonts, but riddle to the chatters “Where is it on the Net. And they have already la-la-cha-cha = you got it chwank = kool schools and colleges talking about despite our repeated attempts no you touch a woman to make her met in a non-virtual manner in made oj = over janne homework, and commenting on one was replying to us in Nepali. blush?” We don’t stay around Kathmandu twice. Chatting is chuppaa = kiss nakkali = stylish girl teachers. From the level of the The main impediment seems to long enough to find out the catching, and as the use of bhayo = enough jhilke = slick discussion, it is evident this is a be lack of Devnagari script answer. computers spreads in Kath- keti fasaayo = got the girl tuppi = topknot teen site. @assassin—a modera- keyboard skills. That is why you The oldest chat site is mandu more and more are loggin balle-balle = dancing kuire = paleface tor of the site says that they are keep seeing “gd:sf/” which nepalsearch.com’s renamed on to this virtual community. nakacharo = shameless happy with the response, but few translated reads as “namaskar”. “dhuk-dhuki chat” which is Some companies have problems others feel that this chat room is Nepalnews.com’s “General” equally popular among Nepalis all kids stuff. But since it has a chat is the another meeting place abroad. This was the first Nepali regular population, ch@tm@ndu for Nepalis from abroad. chat site, but has been losing has many people dropping in to Chatterers of Nepali origin and audience as the newer breed of teens opt for technically superior chat rooms. But as the chat site has undergone technical changes, it could re-attract users. The “kooolest” of all seems to be www.nepalhomepage.com’s “Kurakani”. Although sparsely- populated, the discussions are Special ffer more lively and the subjects on a News that matters higher plane: fashion, Shakespeare and the merits of to Thamel cafes with French being Subscription Rate the favourite alternative people who matter 1 yr 52 Issues NPR 968 language. Being one of the most Roman Nepali phonetic guidelines for emails and known web sites, it is surprising chats more people aren’t joining in— Get NPR 968/- (15 hrs.) worth of Internet There are several factors limiting Nepalis using the could it be that they are intimi- dated by the subject matter? surfing CD FREE with Net. The main reason is affordability, of course. every one year subscription of Then there is access to phone lines, and finally it is There are a host of other sites the English language. Most Nepalis are not familiar that cater almost exclusively to Nepali Times. with the Devnagari keyboard, and even if they the Nepali diaspora, but strangely want to chat or send an email they have to use enough there is little chatter here Name “Roman” Nepali. However, although there have about Nepal, and when Nepal is been attempts to standardise Roman Nepali mentioned it is not with any Address (mainly by the British Gurkhas in Hong Kong nostalgia, or homesickness but more “thank god we got out” Phone E-mail Nepalithrough Times their newspaperpresents a Parbatesuggested) the guide: chat sites are a confusion of different styles and phonetics. kind of sentiment. aa as in “paani” (water) Technical superiority of java Cheque No. dated a as in “pani” (also) (a cross-platform computer Exclusively for you at your doorstep (I wish to pay by cheque) i as in “chiso” (cold) language)-based chat rooms seem drawn on bank e a s in “ke garne” (what to do) to be preferred by chatterers. Every Wednesday Or charge my ai as in “aiyaa” (ouch) “SickFreak” whose signature is chh as in “chhahara” (waterfall) as op- ubiquitous in the sites writes: Expiry month year posed to “Ha! Text based chat, kya bore— “charaa” (bird) you can go around Kathmandu No. kh as in “kharaayo” (rabbit) and come back by the time the f as in “fulbari” (garden) message is updated.” u as in “gundaa” (tough guy) There are other groups of d as in “dudh” (milk) chatters using international chat Fill in the details and call Parag Dhungana at 543333/ as in “dudh” 523845 to leave your address and contact number or E- dh softwares like AOL IM and MSN Himalmedia Pvt. Ltd. mail at [email protected]. Our sales person dd as in “ddaanfe” (national pheasant) Messenger. LiveN’Kickin—a Sri Darbartole, Patan Dhoka, Lalitpur shall collect this form from you. ddh as in “ddhaal” (condom brand) Phone: 543333 Fax: 977-1-521013 Note: Subscription offer open within Kathmandu valley regular on most chat sites, under E-mail: [email protected] only. Offer valid till stocks last. s as in “sukuti” (dried meat) various names—says “I use AOL URL: www.himalmag.com www.nepalnews.com sh as in “shikshya” (education) IM for chatting with friends— ssh a s i n “risshi” (ascetic) ASIA 27 SEPTEMBER 3 OCTOBER 2000 NEPALI TIMES13

More Afghan refugees in Pakistan ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ PESHAWAR○○○○○○○○○○○ – The Shamshatu refugee camp near this north-western Widows, war orphans and women Pakistani city, saw millions of Afghans come and go in the last 20 years is seeing a fresh flow of refugees as drought and war ravage MOSLEM UDDIN AHMED A ghost from the past has come to haunt relations between their homeland again.

IN DHAKA ○○○○○○ ○○○○○○○ Bangladesh and Pakistan: the blood-soaked 1971 Bangladesh Dozens of sand-coloured tents have sprung up. The roofless fter many years, there is a houses have got new canvas coverings. Once again, Afghan refugees tiny bit less despondency liberation war against Pakistan. A Pakistani report into the have made Shamshatu their home. Some 306 refugee families were A when Prof Panna Kaiser secession, kept under wraps by successive governments, has settled here in December talks about the genocide that 1999. Another 523 Afghan accompanied Bangladesh’s reopened past wounds. refugee households were desperate bid for independence brought to the camp in from Pakistan in 1971. Kaiser early September by the is the widow of the eminent Pakistan office of the UN writer-journalist, Shahidullah High Commissioner for Kaiser, who was among hun- Refugees (UNHCR). dreds of intellectuals picked up Refugees at the camp say from their homes and assassi- that tens of thousands nated at the end of the nine- more Afghans are on way month war—a move calculated to Pakistan, fleeing the to leave a nation bereft of its best stepped up fighting brains at birth. between the Taliban rulers of Kabul and the opposition forces. Most Now, a secret report ordered are travelling on foot because they cannot afford other forms of by the Pakistani government transport. Each family has been given a tent, a stove and kitchen into the creation of Bangladesh utensils. They are sometimes given a small quantity of grain. by a commission headed by According to Pakistani government estimates, 1.2 million Afghans former Chief Justice, Hamoodur are living in refugee camps in the country. More than one million Rahman, was submitted in Afghans have settled down in various cities and towns of the country. October 1971, has been made Estimates by the UNHCR put the number of Afghans living in camps public. in the North West Frontier Province at 900,000, while 300,000 are Leaked to the news magazine living in camps in the eastern Punjab and south-western Balochistan India Today, the report is highly provinces. Pakistan and Iran together host an estimated 2.6 million critical of the role of Pakistani Hakim, was Speaker of the occupation army officers with involved in the 1971 war crimes. Afghan refugees. (IPS) army generals who had been provincial assembly of the serious moral degeneration and Then in her address to the

erstwhile East Pakistan which corruption, ascribing these two UN, Hasina, whose own father— India, China warned of meltdown ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ charged with suppressing the ○○○○○○○○○○○ revolt in Bangladesh, accusing later became Bangladesh. vices as the main causes of defeat Bangladesh’s first president NEW DELHI - The big Asian economies of India and China grew them of abuse of power, atrocities Priyavashini supports the in the war. But, in submissions Sheikh Mujibur Rahman—was by a healthy seven percent last year, but they are in danger of and moral turpitude. “I had demand for punishment for those before the Commission, General killed in a military coup, called repeating the recent history of some East Asian nations, warns the always believed that such big responsible for the atrocities of Amir Abdullah Khan Niazi, the for action against those regimes United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). events would be unveiled some 1971—between 1.5 and 3 Zonal Martial Law Administra- which overthrow democratically- “What we are telling India and China is: ‘Don’t let capital harm day, and at last that has come million Bangladeshis are believed tor in the then East Pakistan, elected governments. Although she your countries and maintain capital account controls’,’’ said leading true,” says Kaiser, whose son too to have been killed in the military and his predecessor, General did not name Pakistan, its Indian economist, Sunanda Sen who released UNCTAD’s Trade and was killed in the war. But, she crackdown. An Australian Tikka Khan, both denied their military ruler Gen Pervez Development Report (TDR) 2000. adds, “there is nothing in the doctor, Geoffrey Davis, who personal involvement in the Musharraf responded by calling According to Sen, the late 1990s Asian financial crisis has taught report about the killing of provided treatment to women atrocities. off a scheduled meeting with her. nations like India, the importance of controlling their ever-widening intellectuals. I demand a proper after the war, estimates that a “I say no. I have been doing Back in Dhaka, Hasina’s fiscal deficits and maintaining large foreign exchange reserves, as investigation into the killing of staggering 400,000 women were martial law duties. I never guns were still blazing. “Pakistan they open up their economies to the world. China’s expected entry members of the intelligentsia in raped. The government puts the stopped anybody coming to see must seek forgiveness for their into the World Trade Organisation (WTO) will lead to considerably Bangladesh during the liberation rape figure at 250,000. me. I became very religious atrocities and this is not only our larger capital inflows. war.” Priyavashini supports during the East Pakistan trouble. demand, but the world’s Sen says developing nations will have to be cautious with Like Kaiser, old wounds have Kaiser’s demand, citing the I was not so before. I thought conscience,” she said. As for her foreign capital. “Developing countries need capital from outside but been reopened in Ferdousi Nuremberg trial of Nazi war more of death than these things,” criticism of military dictators, they must learn to differentiate between long-term capital and the Priyavashini, an eminent criminals. “Why not,” she asks, he told the Commission. Never- she added, “I have spoken about speculative short-term portfolio investments,” she added. sculptor who was gangraped by “when the Nazis and perpetra- theless, the Commission incrimi- my ideals and people are the Sen, who teaches economics at Jawaharlal Nehru Pakistani soldiers and under- tors of crimes during the Second nated him, saying he had earned source of all power, not weapons. University, said while the former Asian ‘’tiger economies’’ have made went an abortion. Unlike many World War are still being “notorious repute of sexual I don’t know why he took it upon a spectacular recovery from the crisis, ‘’it does not mean they are other women, Priyavashini never docked? I demand their trial in immorality”. The Commission is himself.” roaring again.’’ (IPS) made a secret of the brutal sexual the international court.” said to have recommended trial Hasina, the national press in

Hundreds of mass graves have of six top army officers, includ- Bangladesh, as well as victims South Asian gangs in Thailand

○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ assault on her. She told a shocked ○○○○○○○○○○○ audience at the launch of an been unearthed across ing Niazi. But none were tried. and freedom fighters have all BANGKOK - The violence here involving rival gangs from South autobiography in November Bangladesh, and they are still Now, the issue is making demanded publication of the full Asia has revived fears that Thailand’s lenient immigration law is 1999: “I failed to save myself being discovered—the remnants headlines in both Bangladesh and report after the Daily Star being abused, making the country into a major global base for from the claws of the soldiers of a genocide that are often Pakistan. Visiting the United newspaper published extracts in transnational crime. even though I was born into a compared to those of Pol Pot in Nations for the Millennium nine instalments. (Gemini News) The mid-September gun attack in Bangkok on an alleged Indian Muslim aristocratic family.” Cambodia and Hitler’s Nazis. Summit, Bangladesh Prime underworld leader, Chhota Rajan, reportedly ordered by a rival, is Her grandfather, Abdul The Hamoodur Rahman Minister Hasina Wajed called expected to revive demands for tightening Thailand’s liberal entry Commission charged the for the trial of Pakistanis rules for foreign visitors. The incident follows a spate of crimes here involving foreign nationals in the past year. Thailand is under pressure from Sri Lanka not to let Tamil Tiger rebels from the Indian Ocean island nation abuse Thai hospitality. ’’We are strengthening measures to prevent foreigners from committing crimes in Thailand.

Bhutan military buildup to fight ULFA But we also have to strike a balance with the need to promote tourism

○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ ○○○○○○○ and bilateral relations with other countries,’’ said a Thai government official. The Bhutanese army has been modernising its equipment, upgrading guerillas and to “ask them to leave”. Earlier this year, state officials in (IPS)

training and strengthening anti-guerrilla commando units for the past Assam said they had concrete evidence that high-level Bhutanese Japan losing war on crime ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ three years to take on Assamese rebels from India embedded deep in the officials have helped ULFA leaders with transit facilities through Paro ○○○○○○○○○○○ TOKYO – Gangland shootouts, rising juvenile violence and a big kingdom’s territory, says Jane’s Defence Weekly. airport, and allowed the transfer of funds and weapons. increase in serious offences have raised fears that Japan—one of the Rebels of the United Liberation Front of Assam and the Bodo Bhutan’s National Assembly last month said that since requests for safest countries in the world—is losing the battle against crime. Liberation Tigers, which are fighting for greater autonomy and a ULFA went unheeded, Bhutan should drive the militants out by force. Official statistics show that Japan is in the middle of its worst crime separate homeland, have been using Bhutan’s eastern districts as a safe India had asked for permission to allow its troops to enter Bhutan to wave in two decades, and its police service, which has been plagued haven to mount attacks on Indian forces in the northeast. flush out the rebels, but Bhutan has so far been reluctant, and officials by scandal, seems unable to meet the challenge. Militants from the two outfits began seeking refuge in Bhutan soon said training of the Bhutanese forces was the compromise solution. While the number of offences has increased, the arrest rate has after the Indian Army began cracking down on ULFAs and Bodos eight The weekly military journal published from London goes on to say declined. In the first six months of this year, the national police years ago. In 1997, following the agreement between India and that the Bhutanese army has created six new battalion-sized units. agency (NPA) investigated 1.1 million crimes, an increase of 12 Bangladesh to act against ULFA bases in Bangladesh, the rebels moved Says the Jane’s report: “Each additional wing is in different stages of percent on the same period of 1999, and the first time that the half- their operational bases as well to Bhutan. There are now an estimated training and acclimatisation. It is perhaps too early for them to year figure has exceeded 1 million. During this period, the number of 2,000 ULFA guerrillas as far as 180 km inside Bhutan. committed for counter-insurgency operations. The Royal Bhutan Army arrests fell by more than 20 percent to 281,000, prompting police Jane’s quotes Bhutanese officials as saying that the presence of the is prepared to take on casualties in the event of operations against officials to acknowledge that investigators can no longer keep up. rebels is “the greatest security problem that Bhutan has ever faced”. The ULFA and Bodo rebels.” The admission—from a police service at a low point in terms of journal says that the Royal Bhutan Army started modernising its lightly- Indian defence planners have always regarded the “chicken neck” morale and public respect—is seen as a plea both for sympathy and armed, 6,000-strong infantry with Indian help in 1997. It also quotes area of north-eastern India where the borders of Bhutan, China, extra resources.(The Observer) Indian sources at the home ministry as saying that the Indian military Bangladesh and Nepal are in close proximity as a strategically vital training team based in the eastern town of Ha has trained 2,000 area. If the Assam insurgency is not controlled it could threaten the Bhutanese soldiers in counter-insurgency operations. whole of the northeast. Bhutan has been sensitive to pressure from India and King Jigme Singye Wangchuk travelled to eastern Bhutan last year to meet the 14 WORLD 27 SEPTEMBER - 3 OCTOBER 2000 NEPALI TIMES COLUMN by BRIAN GOULD Oil prices will remain high LONDON○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ - Oil prices will stay at or near their current high levels, at least for the short term, according to oil experts. “We expect no substantial change in the From kingdom to repub- coming three to six months,” said Standard Char- tered Bank oil analyst Claudio Piron Tuesday. OPEC’s attempts to talk down the oil price holds little Former British MP and native New Zealander Brian promise, according to Peter Gignoux, an oil trader at Gouldlic considers his country becoming a republic, and Schroder Salomon Smith Barney, adding, “the market wants to see more barrels”. concludes that the UK is likely to follow suit. The price for a barrel of oil stood at $36.88 last week in New York, the highest price in a decade. By hen I was preparing to a potent mix of factors—a growing United Kingdom, therefore, the 19 September oil prices in both New York and Lon- return to New Zealand sense of national identity, a long- monarchy can be seen in some don had dipped slightly. The current oil stockpiles in Win 1994, some of my held New Zealand passion for quarters as the guarantor of the the USA are about 30 million barrels below the friends in Britain asked whether egalitarianism, a new generation of constitutional settlement and the average in the last three years, Gignoux said, adding I was going back to a country young Kiwis whose British roots means by which we are connected that it is very hard to try to predict how long it will which would soon be a republic. I are more distant and a more to our history. In New Zealand, take for the pressures holding up oil prices to fall off. assured them that New Zealand cosmopolitan society in which however, these considerations “In a bull market, everything’s bullish, and right would be the last country to Polynesian and Asian elements are seem likely to be overridden now there seem to be a variety of stimuli. The market abandon its loyalty to the both numerically and culturally by a concern for the future is very nervous,” Gignoux said. He favours the monarchy. It took me only a few more significant. But what is really rather than the past. The United States releasing some of its 571 million barrel months to realise I was wrong. I happening, I think, is that New effort will be made to strategic petroleum reserve onto the market in time had assumed that, while the Zealand sees itself as part of the distinguish between those for winter’s cold weather. If that were done, he says, rebellious Australians might want new, or at least the modern, world. aspects of our history which the market would be rid of one worry within two or to put up two fingers to the It seems impossibly out of touch remain of value and must be three weeks. On 23 September, US President Bill British royal family, New with modern realities to imagine— sustained and those which are reduced in various ways. Clinton announced precisely that. Zealanders still lived in a society from this vantage point—swearing anachronistic and hold us back But in the end, the British London’s Centre of Global Energy Studies where Britain was described as fealty, figuratively or literally, to an from operating effectively in the will take the plunge. The bicycling (CGES) sees no point in OPEC increasing its oil ‘home’, the news came from the elderly English lady wearing a modern world. Will the same be monarch is faintly ridiculous production, according to a new report. The centre’s BBC and ladies took afternoon crown and funny clothes. I first true of the United Kingdom? and, in any case, to what experts blamed the latest price rise on low heating oil tea. became aware of this change in I believe that it will and it purpose? An elected president inventories and on a shortage of the light, sweet But while it remains true that New Zealand perception when I should. It may take longer in the may be a fool but would at least crude that refiners “desperately” want to produce it. there is considerable (but at times realised that news bulletins in New case of the United Kingdom, but be a fool preferred to other fools. “We’re getting very late now for refiners to do very rather embarrassed and therefore Zealand never refer to the Queen my guess is that it will not be And what is to stop monarchists much ahead of the winter, and that’s really what’s undeclared) affection for Britain as the Queen of New Zealand. She delayed for much more than a from seeking a popular mandate driving price at the moment,” says the CGES’s Julian and things British, in other is manifestly someone else’s queen, generation. A generation born into for royalty by putting up and Lee, adding that refineries and distributors would respects, New Zealand has an object of respect and affection, a new millennium will be increas- voting for a royal candidate? need so much time to produce and deliver oil from changed greatly. New Zealanders but having very little to do with ingly puzzled by and uncompre- The British will change increased supplies that consumers wouldn’t receive no longer see their country as an New Zealand. hending of a hereditary principle because their self-image will no the new oil before winter arrives. The situation leaves English county which has It is certainly inevitable and which will apply nowhere else— longer permit them to remain the market open to suffering a further, dramatic unaccountably found itself towed probably desirable therefore that nationally or internationally—in where they are. That self-image is upsurge in crude oil prices if a harsh winter results in out into the middle of the South New Zealand will become a the institutions that matter to changing fast and so is the reality panic buying and oil hoarding. (Die Welt) Seas. New Zealand’s physical republic and sooner rather than people’s lives. Class and hierarchy which it reflects. The British are location, as part of the Asia- later. It is even possible, given will be less signicant and talent and in many ways, and arguably have Pacific rim, is now increasingly New Zealand’s uncomplicated Joint approach to development aid

mobility more significant. The been for a long time, the most ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ reflected in its economic, constitution and the small and monarchy will increasingly seem an innovative and iconoclastic of BRUSSELS - Members of the European Parliament political, cultural and ethnic open nature of its political anomaly, an institution no longer people, the least easily herded and (MEPs) want the European Commission and EU character and outlook. system, that New Zealand will relevant to the way Britain wants corralled. They now need a governments to work together when drawing up Hard on the heels of these beat Australia to it. to be in the twenty-first century. constitution and system of development policy to avoid a repeat of the drift and changes comes constitutional The one real obstacle to The British are, of course, more government which reflects that duplication that have characterised the policy in change as well. The honours change is in itself instructive. For tolerant of anomalies than most. reality and frees them to express recent years. system no longer deals out a significant section of Maori We have learnt to live with what their creativity and refusal to In a resolution adopted by an overwhelming knighthoods conferred by the opinion, the demise of ‘the Bagehot called the ‘dignified’ parts recognise barriers. For all the majority of members last week, Euro-deputies said Queen. Appeals to the Privy Crown’ in relation to New of the constitution. Continuity value of its past contribution, for that unless there was greater co-ordination between Council look likely to be brought Zealand would call into question rather than rationality has been the all the respect and affection in the two, European Union (EU) aid would continue to to an end. Even the little Union the commitments on which watchword of our political system. which the Queen herself is held, be hampered by waste and ineffectiveness. Jack in the top corner of the New Maoris rely and which are These are in some senses strengths the monarchy is now a barrier Ministers drew up guidelines for improved co- Zealand flag may be under embodied in the Treaty of and strengths which will give us which should go. ordination in the mid-1980s and have never missed threat. And overlying all of this is Waitangi, signed in 1840 by some pain to abandon. an opportunity to harangue the Commission, the the sharply increasing sense that Maoris and representatives of The demise of the monarchy EU’s executive arm, for its notoriously slow delivery it is anomalous and anachronis- Queen Victoria. Some care will be a cause of shock to some of aid. At the same time, however, national govern- tic for a fully independent would have to be taken, therefore, and regret to many. There will be ments have been loathe to hand over the credit for country in the South Pacific to to transfer those treaty obliga- a long process of anxiety and helping developing countries to the bureaucrats in have as its head of state the tions and to bind New Zealand dispute as to what to put in its Brussels and have jealously guarded their powers in hereditary monarch of a different governments to accept them into place. The monarchy will offer, or the field, parliamentarians pointed out during a country 12,000 miles away. the future. its supporters will suggest, that it debate Wednesday. These changed attitudes reflect In New Zealand, as in the should be reformed and its role The result has often been a duplication of efforts in some fields and confusion as to who should do what in others, they said. The European Commis- sioner for Foreign Affairs Chris Patten and his devel- opment colleague Poul Nielson have recently ac-

Whites will become minorities in US, knowledged that this lack of co-ordination means that ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ although the EU is the world’s largest aid donor, it LONDON - Last week the US Census Bureau issued figures showing Just 500 years ago, few had ventured outside their European home- often fails to have the impact it should. Europethat non-hispanic whites made up 49.8 per cent of the population of land. Then, with several acts of genocide clearing the way, they settled MEPs also rubber-stamped two agreements California. Anglo-Saxon whites are already a minority in Hawaii and in North America, South America, Australia, New Zealand and, to a reached in head-to-head conciliation talks with EU the District of Columbia. Now they are an ethnic minority in the lesser extent, southern Africa. governments before the summer recess. The first, on country’s most populous state. Where California goes, the rest of But now, around the world, whites are falling as a proportion of measures to promote the sustainable management of America is predicted to follow. At present 72 percent of the US population. In its World Population Profile 1998, the US Census tropical forests, represents a rare victory for Euro- population is non-hispanic whites, the US Census Bureau predicts they Bureau predicted that by the second decade of this century all the net MPs, who fought hard to secure more money to will become a minority between 2055 and 2060. gain in the world population will be in developing countries. “The protect endangered forests in developing countries. The past millennium was more than anything the era of the whites. future of human population growth has been determined, and is being The Council of Ministers, which groups together determined, in the world’s poorer nations,” it said. the 15 governments of the EU, initially pencilled in The global centre of gravity is changing. In 1900 Europe had a only 63 million euros for the five-year programme. quarter of the world’s population, and three times that of Africa; by MEPs thought this was a derisory amount and called 2050 Europe is predicted to have just seven percent of the world for the sum to be quadrupled to 249 million euros. population, and a third that of Africa. (IPS) In Britain the number of ethnic minority citizens has risen from a few tens of thousands in the 1950s, to more than 3 million—or WB hijacking Internet: activists

around 6 percent of the total population—now. ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ One demographer, who didn’t want to be named for fear of being WASHINGTON - The World Bank and civil society called racist, said: “It’s a matter of pure arithmetic that, if nothing have fallen out over a $60 million Internet initiative by else happens, non-Europeans will become a majority and whites a the Bank. minority in the UK. That would probably be the first time an indig- Non-governmental organisations and academics enous population has voluntarily become a minority in its historic are alarmed over the Global Gateway, a portal homeland.” (The Observer) website project which the Bank says will be the “the premier web entry point for information about poverty and sustainable development” but which the NGOs NATION 27 SEPTEMBER - 3 OCTOBER 2000 NEPALI TIMES 15 girls in Nepal. The thousands who have passed The college was established through its gates can attest to that. Royal alumna when Nepal’s overall literacy rate Besides being easily identified as a Queen Aishwarya, like her was a mere 3 percent, and the PK girl and hence having to watch daughter, Princess Shruti three number of educated women was their steps, the constant refrain was decades later, graduated from even more negligible. In such a the hassle of having to get ready for Padma Kanya Campus. That PK going onthe then education 50 minister, Dilli situation, the college marked the college; the amount of time spent in was back in the 1960s, when Raman Regmi. The college was beginning of a new era in Nepal’s starching the cotton sarees and she attended college as a housed in the building of Padma social and political history and ironing them is something most regular BA student, and when Kanya Vidyashram in Dilli Bazar. there is no doubt that it has would like to forget about their days no one had any idea that she (It later shifted to a rented house contributed tremendously to the at Padma Kanya. would one day become queen near Bhrikuti Mandap, then to general development of Nepal. In But that does not prevent the of Nepal. what is now Shankar Dev Campus, the last fifty years, the campus has more than thousand hopefuls who Her then principal, Angur before moving to its present produced hundreds of politicians, apply for admission every year, Baba Joshi, remembers her as location in Baghbazar in 1970.) efficient administrators, eminent less than half of whom are lucky a “quiet” and “very disciplined” The college now has 8,000 academicians and outstanding enought to get accepted. “Parents student. “She was by nature students, 425 teachers and 106 professionals. It’s list of alumnae feel safer with their girls in a quite reserved,” says Joshi. administrative workers. It has its could not be more impressive: women’s college. Besides, ours is She also recalls Queen own buildings, libraries, laborato- Queen Aishwarya and her among the very few in Nepal with Aishwarya had a close circle ries, conference halls, cafeterias and daughter, Princess Shruti; Nepal’s all kinds of physical educational of friends who were “good and hostel. The name of the college has first and so far only woman deputy infrastructures,” claims present prominent students” in their changed from Padma Kanya prime minister, Shailaja Acharya; Campus Chief Chirik Shova own regard. “She had a keen College to Padma Kanya Campus the only woman in the present Tamrakar. interest to participate in to what it is presently known as cabinet, Kamala Pant; the first The campus administration cultural progra-mmes officially, Padma Kanya Multi- Nepali UN Fund for Women has had an ambitious plan on the organised by the college, but Purpose Campus. It offers regional director, Chandani Joshi; anvil for the last couple of years. her parents did not give her undergraduate-level courses in 23 and so on. It wants the campus be developed permission to take part in subjects under the humanities, Even these days when ‘private’ into Nepal’s first women’s them.” commerce and science streams. colleges are making their mark felt, university under the Joshi, however, says she Students can also pursue post- the college is still a highly sought- government’s multi-university had not noticed the Queen’s graduate studies in Nepali after educational institution. “The concept. Prime Minister Girija aptitude for literature when she literature, English literature and college has always felt this pressure Prasad Koirala had assured was at the college. “It could be home science. Plans are on to for admission. Even back then, consideration of the proposal that her literature teachers saw introduce post-graduate courses in some influential people tried their when it was made back in 1997, the possibility of her one day sociology and anthropology, political connections to secure but nothing has come of it so far. earning a reputation as an economics, dance, music, culture admission for their girls,” says outstanding lyricist of our time, and archaeology and population Angur Baba Joshi, principal of the but I personally do not studies after the intermediate level college for 12 years in the 1960s. remember associating her with MIN BAJRACHRYA is phased out from all colleges Says Sushmita Dahal, a BBA literary activities.” HEMLAHEMLAHEMLATTTA RAIRAIA HEMLAHEMLA○○○○○○○○○○○○○TTA RAIRAIA lege of Nepal. This year, the vener- under Tribhuvan University. student at Padma Kanya, “Parents oung women in ochre- ated institution is turning 50. Padma Kanya was estab- encourage their girls to join this Give your home a new look with wrought iron coloured sarees is perhaps one It has been a long haul for lished barely half a year after the campus, but students here face Y of the most ubiquitous sights Padma Kanya since its inaugura- end of the 104-year-long some disadvantages also. Since it’s furniturefurniturefurniture in Kathmandu. From early morn- tion by King Tribhuvan on 17 autocratic Rana rule. Despite the a prominent girls’ college with an ing till late in the afternoon, the bustle September 1951. The college had fact that the Ranas restricted easily recognisable uniform, general Innovativefromfromfrom Ideas of these uniformly clad women fills only 12 students and seven academic activities in the country, people tend to be critical about the the streets of the capital. These are the lecturers. The principal was the college is named after one of girls’ behaviour in and out of the Visit us at A-55, Dasain mahotsav, Bhrikuti Mandap, 28 Sept- 2Oct. ‘PK girls’, students of Padma Kanya Kamala Devi Sinha, an Indian them, Padma Sumshere, for his campus. They do not excuse a PK Workshop:Chhauni, Ph:270924, email:[email protected], Campus, the oldest all-women’s col- professor invited personally by role in initiating free education for girl so easily.” website:www.innovativeideas.com.np Show

Mukti & Revival September 28 Thursday 6 pm dasain Opening band - The All Stars

Robin N Looza: October 2 Monday 6 pm Opening band - Albatross

September 30, Saturday 2 pm Flower Generation At Dashain Mahotsav, Bhrikuti Mandap Exhibition Wild Graz Ground. Smarica Dashain Mahotsav organized by House of Rajkarnicar Third Grade Chaos

See October issue of Wave for your free entrance ticke to Dashain Mahotsav. 16 SPORTS 27 SEPTEMBER - 3 OCTOBER 2000 NEPALI TIMES

OLYMPIC BRIEFS

Olympics half-way done

○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ Australia’s multi-hued squad ○○○○○○○○○ inhabited by their ancestors for The “Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, Oi, Oi, Oi” Olympics over 40,000 years, Australian hit the half-way point Sunday amid universal signals changed times Aboriginals are still among the praise for a sensational sporting celebration only poorest populations in the mildly tainted by drug abuse in weightlifting. developed world. But they are Aussie teenage icon Ian Thorpe got the swim Although discrimination against Aborigines is conspicuous by their presence at the events off to a dream start by winning the 400m widespread and rife, sports-mad Australia is learning to 2000 Games. Kept out of sports, as freestyle in world record time en route to three in all other walks of life, it was only gold medals. And when the same day the Aussies draw from an increasingly multicultural pool of sporting in 1996 that an Aboriginal athlete also brought the house down by ending the US talents. won an Olympic gold meal—Nova perfect Olympic gold medal record in the SANJIVSANJIVSANJIVA WIJESINHA IN Peris-Kneebone as a member of 4x100m freestyle relay, Michael Klim MELBOURNE ○○○○○○○○○ Australia’s 1996 hockey team. played air guitar in a mock refer- he list of Australian Switching from hockey to athletics ence of American swimmer Gary medal winners at the after the Atlanta Games, he again Hall’s claim that the Americans T will smash the Aussies “like Olympic Games a century ago struck gold at the 1998 Common- could easily be mistaken for a wealth Games as a member of the guitars”. team from the British Isles. 100-metres relay team. In the end Hall was right as Australians in those days Probably the most high-profile once again the Americans domi- considered themselves so much an Aboriginal athlete today is 400- nated in the pool with 14 gold extension of Britain that, when metre-runner Cathy Freeman, medals to Australia’s five. they lacked the numbers to silver medallist at Atlanta and The US also have the most participate in team events, they winner of the event at the last two successful women’s joined up with the British. world championships. Freeman, swimmer ever in Jenny But the make-up of Austra- 26, first hit the headlines at the Thompson, who now has lian sports is changing as 1994 Commonwealth Games a total eight gold, one multicultural immigration when, after winning the 400- silver and one bronze. gradually blurs the nation’s metres gold medal, she ran a Holland also got five from Pieter van den ethnic dividing lines. This year’s victory lap draped in the red, black Ian Thorpe Australian Olympic team boasts and yellow Aboriginal flag. Hoogenband and Inge de not only ‘traditional Aussie’ Another Aboriginal athlete Bruijn, who set world names such as Thorpe, O’Neill vying for selection at the Olympic records in each of their disciplines’ semifinals as and Perkins—it also has trials in August is Patrick Johnson the swimming competition saw a total 14 world sportsmen and women with from the Umpila tribe of north records broken. names like Olevsky, Gregorieva, Queensland. Add to this lot two Van den Hoogenband ended Alexander Van Heer and Kneebone. Russian-born pole-vaulters, a Sri Popov’s bid for a unique 100m gold medal treble, Among those in this month’s Lankan-born sprinter, and and Peter the Great also failed to make it three Games is Bulgarian-born Italian-speaking marathon runner 50m golds in a race which saw Hall and Anthony weightlifter Kiril Kounev who has Silvana Trampuz—and you have Ervin dead heat for double gold. Aussie veteran competed for Australia for the past highly-rated synchronised swim- weight training and land drills. a multicultural, multilingual, Kieren Perkins also failed to pick up three 1,500m 10 years, winning six gold medals ming team. Silver medallists at the Certainly one of the most multicoloured Australian team. freestyle golds but at least completed a local one- at the last two Commonwealth last Commonwealth Games, they pleasing sights at the Sydney (Gemini News) two finish behind Grant Hackett on the final day of Games and narrowly missing the train harder than those competing Olympics is the participation of action in the pool where the noise from the 17,500 bronze at the Atlanta Olympics. in the traditional swimming indigenous Australians. Until fans was deafening. Russian-born Irena Olevsky, along events—spending nearly six hours 1967, denied even the basic right A few hours later the main attention shifted to with Naomi Young makes up a in water each day in addition to of citizenship in a country athletics where Marion Jones and Maurice Greene cemented their role as sprint queen and king with over- Sex and sports whelming victories. (dpa) CATEGORIES: in Sydney

OPEN/WOMEN/SENIOR/JUNIOR IOC protects Internet rights ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ Sex is not yet a designated SYDNEY○○○○○○○○○ - International Olympic Committee watch- AND competitive event at the Olympic INTER SCHOOLS dogs are surfing the Internet around the clock Games, but that doesn’t mean there during the Sydney Games in an effort to catch isn’t plenty of it going on after the those who undermine exclusive Olympic television CHAMPIONSHIP DATE: torch was lit on 15 September. The broadcast rights through illegal video-streams on ( 1ST OCT/11TH NOV, 2000) Sydney Olympic Games Official the World Wide Web. So far, IOC director general Committee (SOCOG) is certainly Francois Carrard said, the efforts have been taking no chances, although the successful. VENUE: incidence of AIDS in Australia is NORTH WEST OF SWAYAMBHU “We are monitoring the situation very closely. one of the lowest in the world. We are looking for protection of our rights holders KATHMANDU, NEPAL The Committee has not and looking for violators,” Carrard warned. The underestimated the capacity of the IOC has hired a London-based company for the 10,000 residents of the Olympic operation and is so far satisfied, as Carrard said: athletes’ village to have a good time “We are taking action when necessary. So far I and has ordered from the official think we have been rather successful.” supplier to the Games, Ansell, With more and more people hooked up to the “stronger and safer” condoms, in www.bikingnepal.com Internet around the world and high-speed connec- an “assortment of types, including tions also rising, the Internet is posing a big threat ribbed and regular”. Ansell says it to the IOC and international television broadcast- will make 100,000 condoms freely ers who have paid billions of dollars for the rights available to athletes. Sex workers until 2008. always abound at international Sensing the danger, the IOC announced 24 sports events. Sydney is no different August that it would invite global sports leaders and the cost of commercial sex will and information technology wizards to a confer- not be low. Raphael Epstein, of the ence at its headquarters 4 and 5 December. “New Australian Broadcasting Corpora- media has the potential to fundamentally alter the tion (ABC), thinks sex workers at world relating to sport, especially the way sports is the Olympics charge $300 for an consumed as entertainment,” said IOC vice presi- hour. Whether athletes, officials dent Dick Pound, who will be the chairman of the Entry and sponsors are customers of the biggest such conference in a decade. sex workers is unclear.(Gemini form now But he vowed: “We will never allow the Internet News) available to be a substitute for television. The Internet is an Contact: addition to television.” (dpa) 437437

Rains in the games

○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ Proudly Sponsored by: SYDNEY - It may seem ironic that it rained for the Radisson Qatar Airways Karnali Air Royal Nepal Airlines Bisleri The Last Resorts Dwarika Hotel first time at the Millennium Games on Sunday and Sanmiguel Nepal Tourism Board Alpine Travel Service Ultimate Descents The Borderlands that a piece of the Olympic stadium roof crashed Shahanshah Sports Hotel Swoniga North Field Cafe Dawn Till Dusk Thamel Tourism Development to the ground, at a time when everyone was Committee Kathmandu Travel & Tours Indigo Gallery Nirvana Garden Hotel

Buddha Air Pepsi Raniban Retreat Luxury Mountain Resort warning about complacency. Sydney organisers King’s Cross in and the Australian public have been praised Brought to you by: Himalayan Mountain Bike Tours & Expeditions Phone/Fax: 355739, 437437, E-mail: [email protected] beyond limit by the International Olympic Commit- tee, athletes, the media and Olympic visitors. CULTURE 27 SEPTEMBER - 3 OCTOBER 2000 NEPALI TIMES 17 SAVING FAITH by DESMOND DOIG DINESH ADHIKARY IN SEARCH OF PEACE his year’s The mystery of the Madan Puraskar From dawn till late evening literaryT award went there are worshippers at the spot, to noted Nepali mostly women wrapped in shawls poet and lyricist and making offerings of rice, Dinesh Adhikary. vermilion, incense and oil lamps What many of and flowers. Adhikary’s admir- Black How so massive a statue was ers don’t know is brought to where it now stands in that he is a gov- the old palace square, miles apart ernment lawyer from where it was discovered, is working for Coun- yet another riddle that attaches to cil for the Investi- the image. gation of Abuse of Bhairab When it was raised in its Authority (CIAA). present position, guarded by two So, beneath this stone lions and attended by a anti-corruption panel of ashtamatrikas, it took on lawyer lurks a a new quality. modern poet People accused of whose simple words and accessible contempla- cheating or lying were tion evoke deep social comment. brought before the Bhairab to Some Dinesh Adhikary verses have found swear their innocence. If they their way into music, with vocals by Narayan lied, they would surely die of a Gopal and others. “My words are about people, mysterious bleeding. Modern the love, hate, angst and soul of people,” justice has discontinued the Adhikary told us. “So I explore their place in practice, but it is possible that society, the economy in politics.” The Madan in dark ceremonies no prize was awarded for Adhikary’s latest book of passersby see, oaths are still poems, Atirikta Abhikekh (Extra Archives). taken before the frightening In “Home”, Adhikary examines the relation- presence. ships between modern mores and family values, Bhairab represents the community and individual, individual and god, awesome, destructive forces of and finally the place of religion in a materialistic Shiva who, if properly propiti- age. It is an age-old quest, and no longer ated, becomes the omnipotent confined to the godless consumerist west. guardian. As such he is Urban Nepal is going through similar spiritual venerated confusion, the rituals of traditional religion and throughout the yearning for spiritual solace. Adhikary here Nepal, making makes a scathing judgement on people who go him the most to temples to look for peace, even though for popular of all him there is nothing to compare it with the deities. His image peace that comes from the love of his wife and is everywhere, often children. just a head because legend is fitted with stories of how Bhairab was home decapitated. One tells how Bhairab came from whenever i see Kashi, Benares, in people India, to visit the heading for the temples New Year festivals with offerings If you look long enough at that wide-eyed, i n the guise of a man. i don’t know why

grimacing face you see a scarlet smile of pleasure. People soon grew suspicious of a i’m always in a hurry to get back home

○○○○○ ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ tall, handsome stranger in their midst and informed their priests. my son is shaping the times ne of the piquant found lying face down near a sleeping Vishnu, which belongs to Using tantric rites the priests with his mighty hands qualities of the great royal forest where a MaIla king the fourth or fifth century AD. soon discovered that the stranger so what if he did not eat some curd on the sly? O black Bhairab in was constructing a garden. To The black Bhairab is more was indeed Bhairab, so they i think he’s more valiant than krishna Kathmandu’s Durbar Square, is many it was miraculous, as all crudely carved, but its power plotted to bind him with spells my little daughter that no one knows where it statues that ‘rise from the earth’ matches the overwhelming might and keep him in the valley with her bright eyes originally came from, the temple or ‘fall from the heavens’ are. of its subject, a six-armed god Bhairab, finding himself trapped, and oh-so tender fingers or even the town in which it The other great stone statue that standing triumphantly upon a tried hurriedly to sink into the she always manages to drive away my fatigue stood, who the craftsmen were or was similarly ‘found’, is the demon, cloaked in human skins earth and escape, but as he i find her stronger than kali to which age they belonged. It was image of Buddhanilkanth, the and garlanded with human heads. disappeared the people cut off his and when my beloved shrouds her needs He wears an ornate golden head, which they enshrined and and serves me a platter of smiles headdress, snakes writhe from his have worshipped ever since. i find her more bountiful than laxmi ears instead of earrings and coil Perhaps the children who told about his neck, and in his hands me that the great black Bhairab forgive me, if i have offended anyone holds an upraised sword, a had come from heaven were those who always leave their homes chakra, a trident, severed heads right. Their reasoning might to scour the temples in search of peace and a bowl so reddened with surprise scholars, for they had i cannot even bring myself vermilion it might contain blood. him so gorged on the wicked and to see humanity there Carved flames dance about the on demons that he could no so what if they have conquered the spoils of the tableau. longer fly Why did he not fly world? Purists would have the statue away again when he was empty? if they have not discovered happiness in their cleaned of its colour but here it is Because the people of Kathmandu own homes unnecessary, the black figure hung keep him happy, they said, and i wouldn’t hesitate with red arid yellow and white there is, if you look long enough to call them born losers against a raw cobalt sky in which at that wide-eyed, grimacing face, are set a vermilion and yellow sun a scarlet smile of pleasure. when i’m away and moon with human faces, (Excerpted with permission from and see projects a stunning force no In the Kingdom of the Gods, people ordinary stone could achieve. HarperCollins, 1999) busy clanging bells in the temples There is sacrificial blood on the i don’t know why figure which appears necessary for unknowingly so powerfully primitive a god who and slowly MIN BAJRACHARYA instils majesty with fear and i take it out from my pocket The Bhairab at Hanuman Dhoka on a recent evening, and as drawn protects with terror. and start caressing by Desmond Doig in 1980 (above). the photographs of my children 18 CITY 27 SEPTEMBER - 3 OCTOBER 2000 NEPALI TIMES ABOUT TOWN ART REVIEW by WAYNE AMTZIS QUICKWORD 1 by Cross Eyes FILMSFILMSFILMS 100 WIN A NepaliNepaliNepali Modernity’s HOUR Basanti – Bishwo Jyoti (221837),Plaza INFOCOM 1 MILLENNIUMCDCDCD Chalchitra - Ashok, Ganga Chalchitra, celebration Hira Ratna, Prithvi, Mailee - Goon (Kha) (520668), Krishna (470090), Ranjana (221191) of the HindiHindiHindi Expression 2000 The most convenient and economic China Gate - Tara (476092) way to surf the internet by Shyam Lal Shrestha Dhadkan - Jai Nepal (411014) traditional Terms and conditions Dragon - Kumari (414932) Siddhartha Art Gallery, 1 The contest is open to everyone, Fiza - Gopi (470090), Goon (Ka), except employees of Himalmedia Baber Mahal Revisited Pvt Ltd and Infocom Pvt Ltd. Manakamana (225284), Metro 2 In case of more than one correct Kaho Na Pyar Hai - Sri Nava Durga 19 September-3 October entry, the winner will be decided by Karobaar - Padma lucky draw. Shadi aur Barbadi - Goon (Kha) 3 Entries have to reach Himalmedia, by 5 pm, Sunday, of this week. (520668) 4 The winner will be announced in the n his poem “City Fair”, the contemporary Newar poet, coming issue. EXHIBITIONS 5 The prize has to be collected from Purna Bahadur Vaidya, describes modern-day Kath- Himalmedia within a week of the Celebrating the Mountain Porter. A mandu as an obvious seductress “baring her many her announcement. Please come with I 46 Mum's the word (3) 20 Ho, ho ho! Get it? (5) travelling exhibition of photographs on multicolored eyes throughout her body—a city handing out Across an ID. Nepali porters by 15 mountain photog- 1 A sum of many advertisements (3) 48 Front of a plane (4) 21 A part of Cole's salad (4) raphers from around the world. Display civilisation” to the crowd, and admits I “lost my very face 4 The sound returns (4) 49 Drinking a big word (8) 22 Captain of the Ark (4) includes pictures of traditional porters, within that onrushing crowd”. 8 Doctor or lawyer works on it (4) 54 Mrs Schroeder is one (4) 23 A pain that sounds like one trekking porters and high altitude por- The Newar painter Shyam Lal Shrestha in a key painting 12 Stuck in a pothole? (3) 55 Christmas in France (4) (4) ters. 10 am-6 pm. 30 Sept-5 Oct. Hotel from the Expression 2000 exhibition currently on view at the 13 Valli or Clapton? (4) 56 Row to find fish eggs (3) 25 Evening happening (5) Yak and Yeti. Free entry. Siddhartha Art Gallery depicts a similar scene—a street or 14 A/c abbr (4) 57 Camp out in one (4) 27 Bloodsucker! (5) The Heritage of Chitrakars-2000. A square full of anonymous figures standing forth or milling 15 Come and finish it (8) 58 They must be crazy (4) 29 Antelopes with silent "g" (4) unique exhibition showcasing traditional round oblivious of each other’s presence. Perhaps they are 17 Surprised? Nuts! (4) 59 Short evening (3) 30 Capable (4) paintings by the Chitrakar family of the Newars in the native dress, but the faces fade, the forms are 18 Employ to sue (3) 31 Drat, mice! (4) Kathmandu Valley on a wide variety of overlaid by strokes of colour; the near facelessness masked by the 19 Can't breathe, ma! (6) Down 34 Arouse by singing (7) subjects spanning a period from the beauty of multicoloured layering. 21 Doze off and it breaks (4) 1 Curved trajectory (3) 37 Dirty cloth outside (3-3) 24 Penalty for Nepal? (5) 2 Takes two to do (3) 39 Numb and speechless (4) medieval Malla era up to the Rana re- The artist, though admitting the city’s anomie, stresses gime. Durga Bhawan, Bhat Bhateni. 11 26 A domestic call (5) 3 An e-less stem (3) 41 Fix firmly into bed (5) am-5:30 pm. 22-30 Sep. Free entry. beauty, and, in the larger context of his work, the face of his 28 Salad ingredient (7) 4 Eek! Slippery! (4) 43 27th US president (4) 419559, 425958. culture is maintained in paintings that characterise ceremony 32 Aha, it's jumbled! (3) 5 What a jerk (5) 44 Listen at this place (4) and situation that are explicitly traditional Newar. Within 33 Build upright (5) 6 One visit to my site (3) 45 I sprinted to Tehran (4) EVENTEVENTEVENT these sensually rendered forms colour is brought forth as it is in 35 Basketball assn (3) 7 Pacific, Atlantic (7) 47 Lubricants (4) life. Sometimes integral to the emerging work and elsewhere 36 Where is it on? (7) 8 My home is one (6) 50 Cow call (3) Fun and frolic - Dasain Mahotsav 2000. Annual fair of food festival, music con- taking on the predominance of abstraction, strokes of colour 38 Only for grownup (5) 9 End act with an "h" (4) 51 Anger (3) certs, fashion shows, Nepali folk dances overlay or manifest emotions evoked by the scene. 40 One sharp, good looking (5) 10 Worthless bag! (4) 52 November (3) and contests. 175 stalls at Bhrikuti Modernity in the artist’s bold use of colour and accentuation of 42 Pluralise 18 across (4) 11 One neat volcano! (4) 53 Wow, its Gopal-ji (3) Mandap. 11 am-9 pm. Thu, 28 Sept, on- the brush stroke confirm the vibrancy within the Newar culture 43 Siamese legs (6) 16 After larva (4) wards. itself—as if colour and stroke abstracted were born of locality and - “Bhaktapur Development To send in your entries, please fill in the details below and fax to 977-1- Lecture tradition. In this larger context, the isolated moment of anomie 521013, or email to [email protected]. Entries can be dropped off Project from Operation to Cooperation, sensed is no more than the mist of morning not yet burnt off, ready at Himalmedia Pvt Ltd, Patan Dhoka, Lalitpur. 1974-1986” by Dr Ernst Reichenbach to reveal a cohesive culture and people held to the ever-present (Programme Coordinator of UDLE). Name...... morning of their world. The many richly textured paintings linked Ph...... email...... Durbar Hall, Shankar Hotel, Lazimpat. to Newar life and ceremony attest to this ongoing and centuries-old Free entry. Tea/Coffee for Rs 50 will be served afterwards. 410151. milieu. The poet raises a warning; the artist anticipates it. Within IIFT Fashion Summit 2000. Fashion the forms of modernity, and despite the ever-present and encroach- show by amateur Nepali and female mod- ing larger world, the traditional and the local can achieve a viable els sponsored by IIFT of New Delhi and mode of expression. Where the balance holds, abstraction’s designed by Pawan Sodhi at Dasain energising force brings forth the inbred power of Newar culture— Mahotsav 2000, Bhrikuti Mandap. 7 pm for the outsider, the merely picturesque takes on a likelihood of onwards. Sat. 30 Sept. presence, not a static eccentricity, but a living grace. Sports - Mountain Bike Championship. Where abstraction dominates, the sustaining rituals of the Second phase on 1 October. Registration local are lost in the interplay of colour and stroke and what open till event eve. MTB theory and prac- remains of the cohesiveness of its cultural gestures is the tice workshop follows after race by inter- patterned regularity of brushstroke in the painter’s hand. national cyclists. Contact Peter Stewart, SPORT PLAZA Himalayan Mountain Bikes, Thamel. Where colour dominates, a saturate brilliance, not unlike 427427 the multicoloured lure the poet decries as a sign of an indig- enous culture’s decline, masks in its celebration of the abstract MUSICMUSICMUSIC the loss of the indigenous. Shyam Lal Shrestha’s Expression Traditional - Dhime baja and dance. 2000 exhibits the sustaining power of the local and the dyna- Ethnic Newari bands from Lalitpur per- mism of the abstract—his defining work is where these forces forming at Dasain Mahotsav 2000, generate a unity of form. Bhrikuti Mandap. 1 pm, Friday, 29 Sept. Rock - Live rock show by Mukti and the Revival Band celebrating the re- NEPALI WEATHER launch of WAVE magazine at Dasain Mahotsav 2000, Bhrikuti Mandap. 6 pm, Thursday, 28 Sept. Entry tickets at en- trance. Pop - An afternoon live rock gig featur- ing the first Nepali female band, Sparkle Girls, at Dasain Mahotsav 2000, Bhrikuti

Mandap. 3 pm onwards, Fri, 29 Sept. GMT DSES- 25-09-2000 1100 Jazz - Live jazz by Cadenza at Up- stairs Restaurant, Lazimpat. Every Sat- urday 7:30-10 pm.

FestivalFestivalFestival Ghatasthapana, 28 September The monsoon is in full retreat, as you can see in this fine Ghatasthapana, which literally means satellite picture taken on Tuesday afternoon. Aside from a few ‘establishing the pot’, marks the first day cells towering over the Himalaya, the moisture has evaporated. of Bada Dasain, a major festival for But there is still some local convection in the afternoons that Nepali Hindus. On the first day, the can spring surprises like the dousing that Pokhara got on kalash (holy water vessel), symbolising Monday with 80 mm of rain in four hours. Light drizzles at night the goddess Durga often with her image are possible, and a passing cloud could bring sleet or snow embossed on the side, is placed in the flurries at altitudes above 16,000 ft. Temperatures will fall prayer room. The kalash is filled with steadily to a minimum of 16-170 C in the mornings, with some holy water and covered with cowdung mist that will burn away soon enough. The days will become balmy with plenty of sunshine. on which maize seeds is sown. A small KATHMANDU rectangular sand block is made and the kalash is placed on the centre. The sur- rounding bed of sand is also seeded with Weds Thurs Fri Sat Sun grains and Durga is invoked to bless For inclusion in the listing send theinformation vessel withto her presence. This is [email protected] act of ghatasthapana. 27-18 26-17 26-18 26-18 26-17 27 SEPTEMBER - 3 OCTOBER 2000 NEPALI TIMES 19 HAPPENINGS OFF THE BEATEN TREK by MANISHA ARYAL

or most people on the trekking superhighway from F Lukla to Everest Base Camp, LingeringLingering inin Namche Bazaar, at 3,440m, is just an acclimatisation stop. But Instead of rushing hang around for the weekly through Namche, stay Saturday market and you will be around, acclimatise, able to take in the trading rhythm relax, and visit the

BAIKUNTHA SHRESTHA Saturday market. The newly-appointed Norwegian ambassador to Nepal, Ingrid Oftad, presenting of the capital of Sherpaland. NamcheNamche credentials to His Majesty the King at the Royal palace on 22 September. Not long after the sun clears the mountain trade came to an the eastern ridge of the end. amphitheatre-like Namche, the Luckily for the Khumbu Saturday market is bustling with people, that was about when traders from far and wide. Nepal opened up to mountain- Tibetan traders come loaded eering, and Sherpas became high competition, and less profit. with cheap Chinese goods: shoes, altitude guides, porters and hotel “I sold eggs for fifteen blankets, readymade clothes, and owners. That is why the “new” rupees,” says Gopal Tamang, who even solar panels. Lowlanders traders in the bazaar now are makes the trip twice a month in journey up, sometimes 10 days villagers from down south. Cash the tourist season. “Now it’s gone from the nearest roadhead of transaction has replaced barter down to four rupees. What can Jiri, loaded with rice, meat, trade and the grains, vegetables you do? I’m losing so much on

AMAR SHRESTHA toilet paper, Coca Cola, and and imported beverages human Coke—I sold a box for twenty Subani Budha Magar, 18, (left) became Miss Capital 2000 at the Royal Nepal instant noodles. All these to be porters carry up goes to feed the five hundred. Now I can’t even Academy on 22 September. sold to Sherpa hotel owners, some 50,000 climbers and trekkers, sell it for thirteen hundred… I’m something for 100 rupees, we of whom descend a thousand their guides and porters that visit losing a lot this week.” Even press one, zero, zero, on our metres every Saturday from as the region each year. then, this seasonal income is still calculator. If Nepalis want to far as Pheriche and Lobuje to This once-a-week market was a lot more than what Tamang lower the price, they’ll press their stock up for the week. initiated by the government thirty- and others like him earn from number on their calculator…” Until the middle of this five years ago and has acquired farming alone. So they continue Negotiations continue, until both century, the Sherpas themselves significance far greater than to come up by the hundred for Tibetans and Nepalis agree on a went north, and over the Nangpa anyone could have imagined at the the weekly bazaar. price. La to trade in Tibet. Yakloads of time. There were over two hundred Tsering Topgay travelled 13 “Trekking tourism occupies sugar, butter and paper were merchants at the bazaar on a recent days from Tibet, with 10 yaks an important place in the region’s exchanged for salt and wool and Saturday morning. Gopal Tamang, loaded with Chinese carpets and economy today,” says Sonam MIN BAJRACHARYA again bartered southwards with a trader from a village six days blankets, Nike shoes, thermos Gyalzen Sherpa, Chairman of Renowned Nepali singer, Deep Shrestha (right), making a comeback on stage after a decade with a charity concert promoting children’s literature organised by Himal grains. But after the Chinese south of Namche, was worried. flasks—items prized for sturdiness Namche Village Development Association at the Russian Cultural Centre on 22 September. takeover of Tibet in the 1950s, More traders means stiffer in the Nepali hinterland. With his Committee. “It fills the vacuum waxy black hair plaited and bound left by the demise of Tibet trade.” in scarlet tassels, Tsering stands out As for Namche’s bazaar—that too in his sheepskin jacket. As he talks, has evolved. From a centuries-old he touches the clump of turquoise trading post, to a one-stop-once- and coral, threaded through each a-week-shopping centre. ear, to indicate other things he is willing to sell. He speaks no Nepali, but manages to do business. “We use calculators to get around the language problem,” says Tsering. “If we want to sell GRINDLAYS Soon to hit the stands! AD

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Anil Bhawan, Kamaladi, Kathmandu, Nepal Phone: 00977-1-243649 Fax: 00977-1-220161 E-mail: [email protected] 20 LAST WORD 27 SEPTEMBER - 3 OCTOBER 2000 NEPALI TIMES

they have in common besides being cheated Organisation at Bal Mandir yesterday. NEPALI SOCIETY Under My Hat by their rulers, and also why the people of Speaking on the occasion, the Speaker of Nepal should be subjected to listening to the House, who is also chairman of the news items like these at seven in the Main Celebration Committee of the 36th by Kunda Dixit morning. National Children’s Day and the NepalMr may not Eco-tourismbe doing very well in the conservation of The Deputy Prime Minister has said Chairman of the Publicity and Fund- cultural heritage, but this country is internationally re- his is Radio Nepal. The news, that he has arrived at the conclusion that Raising Sub-Committee for the Central nowned for its achievement in nature conservation. The memorised by Bikas Nepal. His the time has come to end wrong trends that Development Region Bagmati Zone Sub- Royal Chitwan National Park, with its success story in T Majesty the King has sent a message have vexed Nepalis, and to initiate Chapter, said: “Only by girding our loins preserving rhinos, tigers and other biological diversity of heartiest felicitation and congratulation measures to counter them if the nation is will we be able to ensure a better future and the unique Annapurna Conservation Area Project to Sheikh Salamat Azizuddin to march ahead in a four-directional for ourselves.” are Nepal’s showpieces. Abduluzzaman Alhaz Peradana Bongo El manner to a bright and prosperous future. The Government of Thailand and One Nepali whose hard work contributed to the Hadji Omar Yang Di Pertuan of the He was speaking at the prize-giving His Majesty’s Government of Nepal have success of the Annapurna project is Chandra People’s Democratic Republic of Togo on ceremony of students who stood first, signed a Memorandum of Understand- Gurung. On return from Hawaii University in 1985 the happy occasion of the Independence second, and last in the Inter-School ing for Phase Two of the Maharajgunj to complete his research paper on wildlife conservation, Chandra was asked to Day of Togo. Similarly, Prime Minister Rubber Band Chungi Competition at Road Repaving Project so that a 200- help in designing a project for conserving the Annapurna area. It evolved into work Girija Prasad Koirala has emailed an Sankhamool on Tuesday. Speaking on the metre section in front of the Foreign combining eco-tourism with conservation. Fifteen years later, it is regarded as a attached greeting card as an occasion, the Minister for Sports and Ministry can be completed by the year model for other countries. Chandra believes more than ever before that the only animated .gif file to the Agriculture said the government would 2010, which has been declared “Amazing way to preserve nature successfully is with the active participation of the commu- prime minister of Togo, lobby with the International Olympic Nepal Year”. Speaking after the signing nity. “Regulations need to be imposed when the community does not understand the wishing him personal Committee to get rubber band chungi ceremony, the Minister for Roads, efforts. But if the community is made a part of it then that is the key to success,” good health and included in the 2004 Athens Olympics so Highways, Bridges and Other Lucrative Chandra told us. satisfaction that our athletes have a strong chance of Infrastructure said he would leave no Today, Chandra Gurung has a high-flying job as country representative of the and the winning gold medals. “After all, if stone overturned to ensure the successful Worldwide Fund for Nature Nepal Programme, which is involved in supporting continued synchronised swimming can be called a completion of the road. He also said that continued conservation efforts in Chitwan, Dolpo, Kangchendzonga, Mt Everest and progress sport, so can chungi,” the Minister said. Nepalis must work towards constructive Makalu-Barun. We ask Chandra how come environmentalists are only interested in celebrity mammals, and no one speaks for snakes and bats? Chandra says the tiger is an apex species and protecting it will also protect the entire food chain. And And that is the end of the news. conserving Chitwan protects all other indigenous plant and animal life in the sanctuary. and prosperity to the people of Togo. He The Minister for Men, Women and corruption. “If we are to advance, we Chandra is gearing up for the WWF conference in Katmandu in November also expressed the confidence that the Children has said that babies are a gift must combine corruption with construc- which will be attended by luminaries such as Queen Noor of Jordan. The Israel friendly relations between Togo and Nepal of god and a symbol of the nation’s tion,” the Minister added. Philharmonic Orchestra will be presenting a free open concert in Basantapur bright future. The Minister said this Now, for the news in detail. would grow further in the years to come Durbar on the occasion. and that the people of the two countries after hoisting the national flag and the would figure out exactly what it is that flag of the National Children’s

0.74 0.37 0.40 0.22 0.37 0.04 53.85 0.65 0.31 0.56 0.33 0.18 0.02 44.46 0.65 0.37 0.57 0.29 0.14 0.05 46.12 0.25 0.28 0.40 0.30 0.42 0.21 11.82 0.42 0.43 0.52 0.23 0.12 0.03 57.50 0.76 0.38 0.63 0.24 0.20 0.03 79.16 0.66 0.38 0.55 0.33 0.18 0.08 73.25 All prices are are in US dollars, collected from informal sources, and are only indicative.

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