Say No to Politically Indoctrinated Soldiers!

Seems like we are heading into a political deadlock.

The Maoist hardliners want full integration of their military cadres into the mainstream Nepali army.

Other political parties including the NC, UML and MJF are opposed to that idea.

Though they sound unreasonable at times, the NC, UML and MJF have made a valid point regarding this issue. How can you have politically indoctrinated army as the national army? Will they be more responsible to the nation or to the partisan interests of CPN Maoists? The latter is inevitable - the way they have been trained.

The Nepali army is not without shortcomings. This does not mean that they require the Maoist army to join them to improve. Their effectiveness will, in no way, be increased by the influx of Maoist military cadres.

Mohan Baidya, a hardliner Maoist, has already made his intents clear. "You cannot measure the chests of the Maoist army for integration. It has to be on a group basis." Baidya, whose chest measurement is way lower than what the army requires, is bound to make statements like that. The sad part is that this represents a view of a good number of Maoists.

Amid this growing tension of army integration, the NC exposes that the Maoists are on a mission to make Nanda Kishor Pun, Pasang, as the new Commander in Chief of the Nepal Army. CP Gajurel seemed to hint the same today in his intereview with the press. Even more reasons to be suspicious of the Maoists.

Last time in a cultural program (which I attended) of the Maoists, they said that the present government isn't being able to perform well. "Everything else is just the same, only the leadership is ours, how can we expect anything? Until the bureaucracy, judiciary, police, army, and so on are Maoist-ized we won't be able to perform well." Total control of the state - that's what they want.

This issue of army integration seems to be getting messier by the day.

Personally I hope that it is better to have troubles now, than have troubles later as a result of openly recruiting the Maoist army into the Nepali Army.

How many of the Maoist army men have passed class 10? We should also strictly monitor people's educational capacities.

An emotional decision is not appropriate. Let's think of our army's standards, and everything when we try to modernize our army.

Let's hope this issue cools down soon enough. Let's hope for no more of any bloodshed. But, let's remember Martin Niemoller and think of the future as well before we make rash decisions.

Alternate Solutions

- Some people have long raised the idea of incorporating the Maoist army men in the Border Security Force or Industrial Force. That is much better than army integration.

- The Maoist army has fought for the Maoist party. They are Maoists, and their allegiance is to the Maoist party. Why don't they work as Maoist cadres openly rather than getting into the national army and then creating further chaos within the army as well? The Maoists should incorporate their fighters into their political wing. That way everyone will benefit.

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Black Clouds Over Nepal

We have already seen months and months of no-progress in the country. The political parties are busy giving speeches about their care for the people and the government’s ministers are busy doing their domestic and international trips. The country hasn’t budged from the problems it had before the government formation.

Dashain, Tihar, Holi and other festivals will come and go in the country but it seems the people would never see the light that they have been hoping for years. They laid their hopes on the political parties during the people’s revolution, then on Maoists during the elections and now they have no more options. They watch the government juggling its issues and the people fighting with same old problems like poverty and unemployment. The next agenda of the government is to work on drafting the constitution, but issues like army integration are bogging down the progress. The Maoists wants their men to be integrated in the national army while the NC (the main opposition party) and most of other parties maintains that national army should have men by qualification not by preference.

Last month, Prime Minister’s foreign affairs advisor Hira Bahadur Thapa told that the US government has initiated the process to take the Maoists off their terror watchlist, which is a good sign for Maoists. But if they do not initiate for a consensus for a new federal constitution, efforts for conflict victims, disbanding of different youth leagues, talk with the Terai armed outfits, clarify the fate of those who disappeared, compensate victims, enable the retun of displaced persons to their homes and acknowledge human rights, the tag would remain.

At a time when the country is looking for donations from different countries for an economic development in the nation, the need is for a political consensus among parties, a consensus that would work together for the new constitution as soon as possible and create appropriate environment for proceeding ahead united. For that consensus, the Maoists have to be lenient toward other parties as other parties had been towards them in the past when they were not in the government and other parties would have to show care for the country.

The new generation has not been able to gain trust of the government and the parties due to their reputation in the past. Thousands of Nepali youths in foreign countries watch the country’s news every day in hope of something new. But they see the parties tussling over the issues, throwing mud at each other and never caring for them. It’s high time to think about all this and work for a better tomorrow. May the black clouds over the country go away.

- Written by Maal !

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War on the Casinos!

I don't like transmitting breaking news but seems like I will this time.

Just a few hours ago, starting at around 8 pm, clashes took place between the workers of Annapurna Hotel (well, the casino workers were not the only ones to demonstrate) and the police. The media, especially Avenues TV and Sagarmatha TV are highlighting this news as they have the resources. There's also ABC Channel that's broadcasting some reports but its report is dull and at times they don't know what they are saying.

TV Report

Avenues TV has a habit of talking as a close aide of the people. I think their main success mantra is to criticize the government, or anyone else. Their popularity stems from this very fact - they criticize everything, and then close up on people's emotions. That was the case when they were reporting the news of Ashok Bhattarai's murder. There are many other instances. But, this isn't the time to go over them.


Today they were blatantly supporting the laborers for a while. They even went as far as to put it in the headline that an inebriated police officer, who asked them for bribe and talked trash to them was responsible. It was just a claim that some workers made but they didn't care to put up this disclaimer.


As I am writing this, casino workers from all the casinos of Kathmandu have gone over to Durbar Marg to show some consolidation with the movement of the casino workers of Annapurna. It was seven buses of workers from Hyatt's Casino. Something like that for other casinos as well. And, they are shouting slogans against the police and against the Home Minister.


The main arguments here are as follows:


1) Police/Government - The casinos illicitly bring in Nepali people to the casinos. The law of Nepal forbids the casinos to bring in Nepali people into the casinos. It's an agreement between the government of Nepal and the Casino Owners.


2). Workers/Casino Owners - Seems like the workers are doing the dirty work for their operators. They're saying, "It's a matter of our daily survival". The police should come with due procedure, THEY SHOULD INFORM US FIRST!

If you're quick to watch television channels and are gullible enough you might be led to believe in a short time that what the workers are demanding is right. It's not. At least not when they claim to do things legally, NOT WHEN they ask the police to come for random checks by informing them first. AND ALSO NOT when they say that they say conflicting sentences.


The government is not stopping tourists from entering into casinos. It's trying to establish a law practically that had been written down years ago. The casino owners do not want this law into operation. The workers do not as well. It's a matter of their hand to mouth problem. Fuck with the law of this land!


Home Minister Bamdev Gautam also spoke on TV. He asked the police to be alert and not back down. Restraint yourselves but you have my full backing - he said. He even said that he would go as far as to take legal actions against the operators of Anna Casino and Annapurna Hotel.

 Basic Outline of What Happened



Police Say - We went for a regular check up. There were three of us. The people in the casino didn't let us to. Even when we showed our cards, as we were in civil dress, they didn't. Instead they took away our walkie-talkies, and manhandled us. So, support arrived, and the workers started shouting and vandalizing the streets. That's how it started.


Workers Say - Police come here daily. They eat, drink "expensive wines and whiskeys" for free and treat us badly. Today a drunk officer came. We stopped him and other policemen arrived and started beating us mercilessly. That's how it all happened.


We don't have any clues as to what actually happened. Only if the event occured in front of a cctv and if the casino is willing to let it be public will we know what's true and what's not.


Worker's Demands

Now that all these workers of all the seven casinos of Kathmandu have come to Durbar Square and protested and vandalized, they've also raised some demands. The same Nepali thing.


1). Resignation of the Home Minister.
2). A guarantee of our jobs. (what does this mean? does this mean the job should be guaranteed at any cost? even by encouraging Nepalese to go to casinos?)
3). Compensation for all our injured friends,
4). Government should BE RESPONSIBLE FOR EVERYTHING WE VANDALIZED (??).


My Bottom Line

Thought I want the casino workers to have wonderful lives, enjoy and have better futures, I find them at fault in this case.


The fact is that I was in Hotel Annapurna at around 8 when this all happened. We were in the hotel area, and at about 8, we heard -"Careful" or something like that. We looked outside - there were many workers on the courtyard. We could make out some police standing outside the gates. That is something normal in Nepal, so we went back to what we were doing.


Later I got a call from home saying that the situation was tense in the place where I was!


On passing I asked a worker there if the casino was open? He said, "Yes sir! There are many playing. It's safe!". He knew that I was a Nepali. And, such a big fuss was being created outside just because of this problem that Nepalis were going inside the casinos. And, he was encouraging me to go? Seemed like they had no fear.


We sneaked from the backdoor, which one waiter kindly showed to us.


It's clear that no matter how much the workers and the casino owners now say that they do not allow any Nepali people in the casino, they are straightforward lying. Not only do they allow, they encourage as well.


It's a different thing altogether that Nepali people should be allowed inside casinos. If I had the right to vote among allowing or not, I would surely choose to allow people to go. But, this is not about that. Everyone has already agreed, including the casino owners, that many Nepali people have faced a lot of problems (well, most of them have limited property, and they only go to casinos when they're suffering from tragedies. Hence they fall into an even bigger shit-pile) because of their indulgence in casinos, so it's been banned for the Nepalese.


Despite this, there's no consideration of what's in the law. Law is something that you should obey. You can't disobey a law, and then protest, and then do all these sorts of things that the workers are now doing.


Bamdev is the epitome of what a Nepali leader should be (at least at the moment). He's the only person who's not afraid to go against anything to make the country better. He took on the dance resturants, the cabin resturants, the footpaths of Kathmandu and now is bent towards casinos. He's the only manly Home Minister of Nepal in a long time. Rest were pussies. Best wishes to him.

I only care for his safety. He's made a bunch of evil people, who've sucked everything out of Nepal for their benefits, enemies of himself. Good luck Bamdev!

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Maoists Cultural Program

After staying idle in my house for a long time, yesterday I went to a Maoist Cultural Program organized in The Academy Hall at Kamaladi. The program was organized by the cultural division of the party called - Samana. It was a pretty interesting program. Most of it was filled with revolutionary songs, one spoof of the current Nepali Musical scene, one parody, where a guy caricatured famour political leaders, and then one musical skit. The program was hosted by Maila Lama, who was the head of the Samana troupe.

When I got a call from my friend that he had an extra ticket for this program, I was in two minds - to go or not to. I thought that these programs would be filled with propaganda, and the people there will not be tolerant of opposite views, but I chose to go. There was this curiosity of wanting to see how the program would be like, what they would do, and so on. So I went with a camera hoping to get some snaps as well.


Snaps! I didn't get any of those. My camera had an 8x zoom, but a position in the last row, coupled by people standing in front and dim lights, made the first few pictures I shot blur. So, I put the camera inside and did away with my desire to get some shots. My observations are listed below.


Audience

The audience mostly comprised of old men and women, and adults. There were relatively few youths in the audience section near my seats. All the young men and women were either on stage performing, or managing the security, or other aspects of the program. I think everyone else besides me there were Maoists. They clapped hard when revolutionary songs were performed, laughed when spoofs of Girija, Prachanda, Baburam and Madhav Nepal were shown, and did everything that a normal audience would do. Most of the audience seemed to comprise of people from the lower economic spectrum. They behaved like a perfectly normal audience contrary to my expectations.


Host

The host of the program was Maila Lama. People referred to him as the "Living Martyr". He had escaped numerous assaults of the Nepali Army in his life, but once he was almost dead because of the bullets in his body. He, however, did not die but has severe harms done to his body. He seemed to be the main attraction of the program for the audience. He knew what he was doing. He knew how to manipulate the audience. He knew how to make subtle changes in his voice to provoke different feelings in the audience. He was also a musician and an actor. He performed some during his hosting. He had some problems walking, seemed like the injuries he had sustained were severe. Nonetheless, he was a revolutionary at heart - repeated time and again that the revolution was still on.


Program

Most of the items in the program were songs - revolutionary songs that asked people to arise and fight. Seemed like they had run out of 'enemies' to fight against, since the King, who was their punching bag had already been removed. The NC and the UML seemed like their 'enemies'.


Most of the program would be what you call a propaganda item. Also the title "cultural program" didn't seem to fit in. It was more a political program than a cultural program.


They also presented some recent popular songs. They seemed to sell their songs by criticizing the songs of others. "They sing of love, marriage, depression in life, and all the bad things. What has happened to music? We sing of the country, our love for the country, our motivations of the country." Reshma Sunuwar, the singer of Mai Thuli Bhaichu Re was vilified the most.


The main attraction of the program seemed to be the army-dressed guerillas with guns around their shoulders. I asked a man nearby if the guns were real. He was a Maoist, and replied, "They aren't. Guns are in the cantonment."After a pause, he said, "I don't know. They might be real." The guerilla men and women showed their physical prowesses in course of the program as well. The women climbed on top of men, and jumped over. That received huge applaud from the crowd.


It was more a political program and very less of a cultural program.

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Ashok Bhattarai Murder Report

Here is a video report from Avenues TV on Ashok Bhattarai's death, and his funeral rites in Nepal.

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Eschool or Boarding!

So the other day, I was invited to our neighbor's house late in the evening for dinner. It's been like that for quite some time now. We get invited, go there, put tika, eat, drink (not alcohol, Brahmins all around), be merry and play cards for a while. However, yesterday we didn't put tikas because someone in our long list of "close relatives" gave birth to a son. And, the complex Brahmin tradition that our ancestors have handed down to us tells us that it's not appropriate to put on Dashain tikas if someone in your "close relative list" dies, or gives birth, or many things like that!

While we were there there was this gentleman, who had opened and had been running a school for the last two years. I learned a few things from him about how schools are run, why some people run it, and the recent changes made in the educational system by the government to ameliorate the degrading educational scenario in Nepal. So, I thought of writing about the present educational condition.


By rule, there's a provision that a school must be at least 700 m away from another school. But, this is one rule, that's been disregarded by everyone, like almost any other rule in Nepal. If you take a walk around any place in Kathmandu, you'll come up with four-five schools that are adjacent to each other - not to speak of that 700 m. The oldest school that's in a locality doesn't protest, when someone else establishes a new school, disregarding the law because - i). They have also not fulfilled the criteria that the government has set up, so in case of a backfire by the other school, they'll also face some legal problems, and ii). They kind of know that even if they take up a case, no one will give them justice.

So, schools are mushrooming. And, the quality - don't ever mention that! Some people rent a small house at NPR 15,000 per month - without any playground, or anything - arrange a few desks and benches, and get some teachers ( at cheap salaries) and start a school. How can you expect quality? And, you know by the way schools like this are mushrooming in Nepal their true desire of establishing a school - profit/money, nothing else.


I remember my primary school days. We had to shout 1X1=1, 5X6=30 and stuffs like that. We had to memorize a lot of things. The teachers didn't have a good English (or Nepali for that matter). That was responsible for my Nepalish accent while speaking English - I think. Some of my friends from good schools had good spoken English, but not me. My primary and middle school had rules whereby teachers would punish you if you were found to be speaking in Nepali - so we were forced to speak in English. But, they never taught us how to speak in "English" - so we had a terrible spoken English. For the first few months while I was in the US, people had a hard time understanding me! I blame my school a lot for these things.


So, that's the condition of schools in Kathmandu - the schools that people in the villages aspire to send their children to - The Boardings. By the way, one small diversion seems to be due here. Did you know -  that people in the villages use the term school to refer to government schools only? And, that the private ones are called "Boardings"?


The "eschools" in the villages - the government schools - fare even worse. The students are taught in Nepali, which gives them a comparative disadvantage to the boarding school products, when they apply for jobs (assuming that there's no nepotism or corruption in selecting candidates). Also, previously the Maoists kidnapped school children, and took them to their camps further disrupting their education. However, the biggest hurdle seems to be the lack of incentive for teachers teaching in these schools - they get a fixed salary, and their job is secure - regardless of how good/bad they teach!


At this moment, I remember a conversation with Gagan Thapa a few years back. He was advocating that the government schools /colleges have been politicized a lot. The political parties that ran the country wanted support from these government schools because it was easier to use them for their purposes - since most of the people in such schools were from a modest economic background. Meanwhile, the private education system completely removed "politics" from the minds of students in private schools/colleges. Those in power knew that they shouldn't mess with the rich and more powerful citizens, whose children mostly studied in private schools! So, they were not politicized.


Gagan Thapa added an interesting twist at this instant - so the state machinery has created a vicious cycle in which those who study from boardings, study a lot and become doctors, engineers, pilots, intellectuals, etc. would be subject to the leadership of such people from government colleges, who took part in protests every time instead of studying, and spent their times fighting and thus not gaining important knowledge required of a capable leader (who is to develop the country).


His analysis was true to some extent. Seems like only the Gundas (Gangsters) will be in the top of the party positions. (Or, killers for that example if you talk about the Maoists!) Talented people studying here, or in the US or any other country, will lack the skills to do "politics" in Nepal.


Now, getting back to my point. A bright prospect, I think is that despite the uncertain political aspirations of this present government, it's coming up with a new Education Law. I heard that schools not fulfilling a certain criteria will not be given permissions to continue to operate. Also, they've started levying a 5% education tax on the parents paying for their children in boarding schools. This money, the government plans, to invest in the educational opportunities for students of the rural areas. Good plan indeed. It would have been better if the 5% tax had to be paid by the school and not the students!

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Personalities of Kathmanduites!

I was on facebook, and I happened to go across some Nepali groups there. All of the groups were pretty much the same - Our Nepal is the best kind of sentiment - but there was this group that had some funny yet meaningful contents. This group called You Know You're From Kathmandu When.. was really interesting. To see why I say so just read a few sentences. I know you'll not rest until you finish reading this whole post if you're from Nepal.

You can sing this song... " super top, ma hun super top... ma luga lai seto paarchu..."

If somebody touches your neck, u need to blow air in their hand (fuu fuu)...

You shake your head to say yes or ok.

Your are asked, "hatti baliyo ki hatti chap chapal", you reply, you say "ustai ustai ho".

You watch english and hindi movies more than nepali movies.

Boys court girls from the street.

Todays rice is tomorrows fried rice.



You have time to speak,but you dont have time to listen.

You're at least a lil anti indian from your heart.

You chichyai chichyai boling on the phone.

You pronounce 'YUM' for 'M'.

You point with your lips.

You get annoyed when people think you are from Naples.

Whenever you meet someone you ask, " Have you had your food?" ( bhat khayao?)

You meet someone in a movie hall and ask, " Have you come to watch a movie?" ( cinema herna ayeko?)

You laugh at everything on Nepali TV but you still watch it.

Covering your nose everytime you pass through the bridge becomes a reflex.

Your conversation with any Nepali you just met always ends up being an interview to unearth the degree of association with this person. (eh...Ghar ka?? Lazimpat? Tyeso bhaye timile xyz lai chinchhau??)

You are crossing a one way street and you have to check both sides.

Your relatives give you money whenever you visit them.

You call anyone rajesh hamal if he has a long back-hair.

You go out for lunch/ dinner/ whatever in a group and look at the menu for half an hour and order the following:
1. momo
2. chilli chips
3. fried rice
4. chicken chilli

You think of titaura and your saliva glands go wild !!

You miss wai wai, rara and titaura and churpi...

You are good at drunk driving, especially on motorcycles...

Using a spoon becomes awkward!

You are afraid to step on any paper, or pen (You don't want to piss off Saraswati and flunk an exam).

Your White Friends Ask If you've Climbed Mount Everest!

You can bribe anyone even the Cops.

You know ganja is REALLY cheap!

You translate rap songs into nepali as a pass time hobby. example "mero hapsis nachdain, khali pant mathi sarchan. ani dhunga tadha, dhunga tadha.

you accidently ask for an e-sprite and an e-snickers bar

you're in Kathmandu, you find Mo:mo shops every other block... yumm..

u finally think uve perfected yor bargaining skills, but come bak ripped off...

You are used to cows sitting down in the middle of the road during a traffic jam.

You wonder why the Maoists are being so quiet these days, & then you realize that you aren't in kathmandu

You know that mango fruity is FRESH AND JUICY!!

Chiya is even better if you put cheura in it

Dogs barking don't stop you sleeping...

Boiling and filtering and boiling water again is part of everyday life...

Your initial instinct on a sunny day is to stay in the shade...

Winter only lasts three months...

Most if not all houses have balconies...

You know that fire and ice is the best pizza place ever

Sitting on the front seat of a taxi feels like you're in a video game

Pretty interesting, isn't it?

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Cool Offer for Nepali Bloggers!

Are you from Nepal? Or, do you blog about Nepali society, culture, sports, politics or anything? Do you think the domain http://rednepal.com is cool? If your answer is yes, I have some good news for you.

I get irritated when people create random accounts on free hosting services like blogger.com or wordpress.com. To know what I'm talking about check http://nepal.blogspot.com , or http://nepali.blogspot.com or http://yahoo.blogspot.com . The owners of these blogs have made no effort to maintain their blogs. There's just one post in these blogs, but many of the blogs I tried to register didn't even have one entry. They were blank. The owners just registered the blogs, and then have taken a back seat and done nothing else. Most of these blogs have been last updated on 2001 or 2002. Seven years of inactivity, can you imagine? And, that makes me angry.

While I cannot do anything to remove those blogs, I can make life easier for people who want to have a cool subdomain that they like. If you blog at blogger.com, and have an address like http://pallagharkokanchakosalokochimekikochora.blogspot.com because you weren't able to register the cool subdomains at blogspot, I think my offer will relieve you a lot.



I will give you an address like http://google.rednepal.com or http://nepal.rednepal.com or http://anythingyouchoose.rednepal.com (that means any sub-domain you choose if it's not already requested by someone else) FOR FREE. You will also get an email address, from google with & GB storage, like yourname@yoursubdomain.rednepal.com or yourname@rednepal.com.


This offer works only with blogger blogs, so if you've a blog on wordpress then I will not be of much help. Remeber that I will not be hosting you, but every single post of yours will be redirected to the new post.

Check out how my blog works now. I think you'll know about what I wanted to say better than how I said it if you see it for yourself. My blog was initially http://nepalijournal.blogspot.com, a pretty long name. But, now everything has been directed to http://www.rednepal.com. All the posts as well, for eg. a post of nepali music on my previous site with the address http://nepalijournal.blogspot.com/2008/08/nepali-music.html now opens in http://rednepal.com/2008/08/nepali-music.html. So, it's the real deal when compared to those url redirection services!


One more good thing about this method is that your previous address at blogger remains intact. You get this address for free, while still retaining your blogger address. Cool isn't it?


But, there's one condition. I will not be accepting your blogs if I feel it's not up to the standard. If your blog is approved, you're good to go! Remember that your blog should have some content, and should have been updated in the last three months. I am giving out this offer because of those worthless blogs that make no use of the cool domains that they have, so I need to see that your blog is updated!


Email me at rednepal@rednepal.com or comment on this post with your present blog address. If your blog is approved, I'll email you the instructions to create your new address - it's that simple. By the way, the instructions I'll give are also simple indeed! You'll be done within a minute.

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Oldie (is Goldie) Pictures of Nepal - Volume I I

In the last post, I published 14 antique pictures of ancient Nepal - mostly Kathmandu. This post has a relatively greater number of people-photos as compared to the last post.

It feels awesome to look at these photos and imagine how life was then. The places seem so pristine - so heaven-like (if there's one). I would vouch for an old Kathmandu like the one these pictures reveal in place of the present one, which is extremely crowded, polluted and unsafe.

This post contains 17 pictures of the past. Try to guess what the picture is about, as I haven't included any captions. I will do so shortly but for now, I want to see if anyone is interested in recognizing these photos.

 

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

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Oldie (is Goldie) Pictures of Nepal - Volume I

Here is a collection of the rarest pictures of Nepal. Here are only bare pictures without any captions. See if you can recognize any of the places/people/buildings in these pictures. There are 14 photos in this volume. I will add more in the next volume (considering that some of you who will view this site in Nepal might have a lot of troubles with your browser because of the slow internet connection there!)

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Entroducing RedNepal

Dear Readers,

I am glad to inform everyone that I have moved my blog - it's not an actual movement but I've upgraded my blog to a new domain. Please use this address to visit this blog from now - http://rednepal.com

It took me a really long time to come up with this new address. I had thought of registering the new domain as nepalijournal.com but I felt it was a bit long. Besides, I felt non-Nepalese might have a hard time remembering this name because of the -i- between the two words. So I tried to get a shorter domain - newnepal.com, neonepal.com, nayanepal.com, merodiary,and goreto amongst many others.

None of these sites I tried to register had any contents. They were all filled up with advertisements and there was nothing related to Nepal in those sites. Also, most of these domains were up for sale. I realized that people were buying domains like these to resell the domain at a much higher price. I then reverted back to my original plan of using nepalijournal.com.

While I was about to checkout, I again thought of trying for one last time. So to choose a new domain I asked myself - What's best about Nepal? I remembered the childhood slogan that we all are asked to rote learn - Hariyo Ban Nepalko Dhan - meaning green forests are Nepal's riches. So, I thought of greennepal.com, but this seemed like a dull address. I thought I might be misleading people on thinking that this is an environmental blog. That moment the word red hit my brain.

REDNEPAL. This sounded like the best thing I could think of, given that almost every nice domain name had already been bought by internet pimps.

The name's significance arises from the fact that in Nepal the Maoists are currently in power. While they are trying to create a Red Nepal, a Communist Nepal, Rednepal.com is and will be against that idea.

Let's hope rednepal emerges as the winner!

Happy surfing everyone!

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Kathmandu..New Kathmandu

So, the day before yesterday, after getting tired of resting in my house for over a month, I finally went out to get some fresh air. Relatives were not far from sight though, and many of them managed to give me some words of advise - "You should not be walking in the sun now! Don't eat anything..You should not eat anything outside for four-five more months". As soon as I contracted jaundice, I read a lot of stuffs online, yet nowhere I found these advises. But, everyone here keeps on telling me that. I don't argue, but simply accede and move on.

I was waiting for a micro bus to Ratna Park. All the tempos and vehicles that came were full of people - some of them sticking out as well. Not a single seat was empty. I waited for another twenty minutes, and finally when I've had enough of the wait, I decided to call a taxi. Just as I was about to leave the parking station, a small-blue microbus stops right in front of me. The back is full - but in the front, by the driver's seat - only one guy is sitting. Two people are supposed to fit in there - and so I decided to open the door and get in. So I did.


It didn't take me long to figure out that the guy beside me was drunk. Then I realized that was the reason why people in the back preferred to stand, or sit in a really awkward posture rather than sit beside this drunk man. The man had torn clothes, and his mouth smelt really bad. He was speaking all the time. I was, by the window, and really afraid that the drunk guy might puke, and that my clothes would be spoiled as a result. I tried my best to look outside the window and not listen to him. For some reason he was blaming Bamdev Gautam - This guy is the greatest idiot. I thought of arguing with him, but soon I crossed out this idea. because I couldn't face him, and he was drunk - so wouldn't make any sense.


The bus stops in Ratna Park and I move on. Wow! I become engulfed by a sea of people in the pavements of Ratna Park. People all around. Small temporary Footpath shops making the passage difficult. It must have taken me about three minutes or more to cover the normally 20-second distance. I do and I cross that place and am in the pavements by the Rani Pokhari. I wondered if the place was still called Rani Pokhari. It must have been changed to something like LokPokhari or Sahid Pokhari, but I wasn't sure about it. I ponder on for a while and then move on glancing at Rani Pokhari all the time.


The overhead bridges - they usually show a multicultural Nepal I think. You just have to pass one of these, and you come across a lot of people of different traits and kinds. If you don't, you can always stand and look from the top of these bridges and see all kinds of people and whatnot! I did that. I saw a few tourists, a few beggars, women, men, old men, children, an image channel vj, some laborers, and the footpath vendors. I expected that. What I didn't expect was the huge - colossal might be the better word - crowd of people in the street that takes you into Asan from Jamal. The tourists, who might have been more awed than me, started taking out their cameras and shooting pictures. I wanted to do that - but then I felt that the other Nepalese around would think that I was just imitating this foreigner so I walked away ontoThamel.


Thamel is a wonderful place. It has always been. It's diverse. You can find almost everything you need here. I was walking with a camera bag on my shoulders and a Hawaii tshirt. That might have made a few weed and hash dealers whisper to me - "Weeeeed. Hyaaashh. Magick Mushroom. Berry Chip." A smile and a "Ma Nepali Ho Dai" (I am a Nepali, brother) was sufficient for them to turn around and walk away. They didn't even bother to say anything else.

I finished my stuff over in Thamel and was walking back. I think I encountered six-seven similar kind of people on the street from nearby Chettraparti to Hot Breads area. They all had a common character - all of them were handicapped - some had no legs, some no fingers and some no hands. And, they were blocking the paths of the tourists, who were walking infront of me. It looked like a setup indeed. For some reason, I thought so many similar people couldn't have come together by simple coincidence.


My friend called me when I was somewhere around the Bowling Boulevard. I had to go to New Road to meet them. I took the inner route from Ason. It was a bad choice. That was the biggest jam I'd ever gotten myself into. At this moment, I felt how stupid it was of some people to complain that more vehicles were responsible for creating traffic jams. If there were none of these vehicles, and you had all these people walking on the streets, then you would see your father's marriage (your father's marriage is a Nepali catch phrase) - I thought. That was a stupid thought, but wasn't the only one. I had many similar silly thoughts while I was walking through that crowd of people. Solace lied in thinking whatever came to your brain.


I should also be quite proud of my achievement that day. I learnt how to navigate through a crowd. I think the trick I found out helped me walk faster. I am not sure if it was a coincidence on that day - I'm yet to test the trick again. The idea is - you choose a corner and stick to it. And then move fast along the corner by using your hands to create a gap between the person in front and the corner of the street. Try this idea out sometime - if it's a success I would be glad to hear back. If not, I know I'm a madman.


That was it. I was tired. I took a tempo infront of RNAC (R doesn't stand for anything, if you're someone who gets upset by the use of R). That was the hardest moment of my life. There was a fellow female schoolmate - and she had 4-5 of her relatives along with her. I'm not that good at talking with people, and I was really tired to talk. That was the most embarrasing moment of my life. If I looked straight, I would see the girl. I did that and we talked for a while. Then every topic I could think of finished, and I couldn't gather extra energy to even talk. So, I looked out of the tempo from my seat (the last one) into the streets outside. That was an equally difficult task - I had to twist my head to look at the street and keep on doing that to prevent looking at her - so I had a small neckache at the end of the journey.

That was it. An end to my whole day of moving nowhere. I guess I saw glimpses of New Kathmandu.

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Ashok Bhattarai Murdered - Video

UPDATE - October 8 - Ashok Bhattarai's murderer has been caught by the police. The murderer was a high school student in a nearby school. He was caught after he started showing off his money that he'd looted from the store. Let's hope he gets punished for the terrible crime he's committed.

This is a really sad event for all the Nepalese. It's also extremely frightening for those of us, who are in different places in US and work in similar conditions as Ashok did.

Ashok Bhattarai was gruesomely murdered. The footage by Fox News shows that a man dressed in black clothes entered into the store with a rifle, and shoots Ashok. It takes less than ten seconds for this whole affair to be over.

We say that Nepal is not safe - the US is safe. But, so many criminal activities take place in the US that it's not really better than Nepal in terms of security of your life. The criminals are big, better and far dangerous there. Here most of the criminals are petty thieves.

With a heartfelt condolence to Ashok's family, let's take a look at this footage from FOX.



This footage includes the surveillance videos from the cctv at the store.

To help send Ashok's body back to Nepal, Click here to donate. Remember little things we do at moments like this, make a big difference!


Here is what the Mayor of Missouri City of Texas had to say -

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My Refuge

These days I am increasingly getting depressed. I don't want to do anything. All my plans for this semester came to an end after I suffered from jaundice. Now, I am at my home, sleeping and reading and doing nothing significant. Every time I remember what I would be doing at college now, I feel having been betrayed by life.
Two days before the flight - while on a shopping spree - is not a good time to get sick. There's few things I like to do. Almost none. But, this site http://ladyjayes.com is my place of refuge. There's a collection of a lot of poems - most of which are soothing to the mind. And, the songs automatically play. The one on the homepage is Enya's "How can I keep from singing?" This is a really nice song. Enya is awesome in this song. Plus, the video is also interesting. Check out this youtube video.

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