(Bael Biwaha/Bel Bibaha) or “Ehee” is a ritual that signifies a coming of age for Newar girls. It is an age-old tradition followed devoutly by the Newar community – the predominant resident population in Patan, Kathmandu, Bhaktapur and Kirtipur in Nepal.
I don’t hike, period!
However, I am at times goaded into following the pack. Throw in a few incentives such as the opportunity to test out my now not-so-new camera pack, I accede myself to the physical abuse of body and soul.
The hike officially began for the nine of us (Abhit, Ashok, Badri, Dadi, Dibbesh, Gyanendra, Ratna, Sanjay and myself) at the park entrance of the Shivapuri Nagarjun National Park in Pani Muhan. A haze overhead showed no sign of clearing at 8:00 AM, as we entered the national park. Rather accustomed to the road up to Nagi Gumba (nun monastery) having been there quite a few times already, I was rather candid during my walk uphill. The steps near the monastery were a different story, as I ran out of breath every few steps. (more…)
Ruining a perfectly good landscape are about four brick factories in Godavari. This panorama as seen from the restaurant/dining space at the Godavari Village resort, is a composite of eight different images stitched with Microsoft ICE. Link to the 6mb panorama The same panorama that you can pan and zoom in Read more…
7th April marks day 1 of the Knowledge sharing workshop in Asia. The third among three different workshops being organised back to back with foci ranging from capturing stories, writing them and sharing , this one focused on the sharing aspect. Primarily geared at IFAD staff in the Asia Pacific, Read more…
This is my first post for 2011! This year, the reasons (read excuses) have been numerous.
Amidst merry making in view of Bhatte’s upcoming marriage, the camp fire in front of Mone’s living quarters also served as venue where an interesting discourse on development and environment took place. The only environmental science graduate among civil engineers, electrical (power) and computer engineers, I had a tough battle Read more…
With bhattey on his FZR
Mona’s invitation to come spend a weekend at his living quarters inside Kule Khani III project, in Nibuwatar was long overdue. Amidst last minute changes, we decided to take up on his offer and packed our bags with bare essentials and loads of hors d’oeuvres for the night. There were four of us who agreed on the commute – Dhungel, Gauri, Bhatte (a soon to be groom) and myself, amongst two motorbikes – an almost bedridden Pulsar 180 DTSi and a relatively newer Yamaha FZR.
About 60 kilometres from Kathmandu, lay Nibuwatar via the Pharphing -Indra Sarowar –Kule Khani route. From Kathmandu via Kirtipur to Pharphing and after taking the fork upper right from Pharphing, onwards to Nibuwatar we went. The road snaked uphill with potholes in the decades old bitumen road. From Lama Gaun onwards, about 11 kilometres of dusty jolting roads punctuated the total length. As we ascended towards Indra Sarowar (the reservoir for Kule Khani Hydro-power), the wind chill factor grew and I considered myself fortunate to have remembered to bring along my woollen cap; Gauri on the other hand, made do with his North Face hoodie. (more…)
My writer friend (Prawin Adhikari), who penned the story and wrote the screenplay as well, got forty of us (mates from school, writer fraternity and their pluses and plus’s pluses) to an evening screening of Kohi… mero yesterday. I did recall some bits of the story from last year in September, when he narrated it as he kept me company in the hospital. I was eagerly looking forward to watching this movie.
I and a few others arrived just in time to cheer Prawin as the opening credits rolled in. I would have whistled out loud, but this is a skill I have yet to master.
I received a text from a dear friend, a day in advance of the scheduled Peace rally. Like the SMS asked me to, I dutifully forwarded it to two like-minded people; I never was going to show up though!
Turns out I did go rallying, tagging along with me a few other like-minded friends. The influx of people on the road, donning whites and carrying the Nepalese flag, was incentive enough to join. A short discussion with fellow compadres, and I found myself matching steps with other peace rallyists, on my way to Basantapur. And thus I rallied for peace; which incidentally was/is a very first for me. (more…)
So reads the hoarding board inside the Bhat Bhateni supermarket complex and a few other places in Kathmandu. Part of the World’s Longest Toilet Queue campaign targeted towards World Water day 2010 (celebrated every year on the 22 of March) the text roughly translated reads Even today, 14 million Nepalese Read more…