Top 5 tragedy theme bus literature / truck literature seen in Nepali roads

There is a tradition, specially in South Asian countries to write stuffs in vehicles like buses and trucks. In Pakistan and some parts of India, such vehicles are made canvas of artists – with all sorts of artistic creations. In Nepal, we see a lot of witty and short snippets written in some buses and trucks. One of my friends has collected a lot of such photos in his blog http://kguff.com. With his kind permission, I have collected top five tragedy themed bus/truck writings (I am not sure if these are literature).
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Rameshore Prasad Khanal asks to take action against corruption

In a Facebook note by recently resigned Finance Secretary, Rameshore Khanal, calls for action action corruption. He says, corruption being disease like cancer, is one of the major hindrance of economic growth of the country. He requests everybody to stop giving bribes or commissions, starting Baisakh 1, 2068 and start doing fair businesses. (I have copied and pasted the whole article for everybody to read below)

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Happy Holi – Karishma Manandhar organizing a special event

Note: Click here for The Photos of the Event

Today is the festival of color in Nepal, Holi. We wish all our readers a very happy Holi! We hope everybody will make it enjoyable to everybody and they celebrate the festival amongst themselves.

Karishma Manandhar Event:

In the occasion, actress Karishma Manandhar is organizing a holi celebration in her home at Godawari, Lalitpur. Karishma has invited many of the Nepali movie personalities to celebrate holi in her home. The holi celebration starts at 10 AM in the morning and will run till about 5:00 PM in the evening. The event reminds me of photos of Rekha Thapa celebrating holi last year.

The actor Rajesh Hamal is on his way back from Japan and he is going to celebrate Holi in Thailand. He is returning back to Nepal on Sunday.

Bitter-Sweet – Lola Festival

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Be careful, it's Nepal

It is not easy being a Nepali and living in Nepal. A few cases to ponder about:

Hospital (Has … Pita … La)

How many times you have read news? About vandalized hospitals and doctors threatened by the family members of the deceased; just because, their loved one has just died in that hospital?

Hospital is where people die!

If you do a survey, you will be surprised by the number of people who die in hospitals. More people die in hospital than they do in their own home. That is because; hospital is a place where people go for treatment of their diseases. Some of those diseases are curable and others are incurables. There is no guarantee that everybody recovers from the illness. Then, why do these people blame the doctors all the time? It is because the deceased person was young and has not seen the life? Will vandalizing hospitals and thwarting doctors solve our problem?

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The stupidest mistake in my life

It was the time I started riding my scooter and I did not knew much of the street rules. It was the time, I didn’t even know I had flat tire and somebody else has to tell me about it. You can call me ‘empty head.’ But, that was what I was in the beginning years of my scooter ride.

I am talking about an incident of the year 2004. I think, I was on the Lainchour area, when a micro-bus driver made a gesture with his five finger open and close twice and fast.

Okay, I have to admit it now, I misunderstood that gesture. Before I could even give him a damn look, he was off on the road. But, I didn’t want to let him go without teaching him a good lesson. So, I followed him as the it was going in the direction of my office.

At around Jamal area, near the Nabil Bank, the same micro-bus was stopped to let passenger get on it. When, I was close the the vehicle, the micro-bus driver made the same gesture, again. He opened and closed his five finger twice and fast!

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12 sex scandals involving CPN Maoist leaders

A lot of internal matters, within the CPN Maoist party during it’s ‘People’s War,’ never came out in public. Some of the best kept secrets were sex abuses and scandals by the leaders at various levels. Only the cases that went out of hands were known to the general public. Journalist Netra Panthi has collected some of the well known sex scandal within CPN Maoist party and in which, the leaders involved were punished for their crime. Detailed, Nepali version, is published by Vishwanews.

1. Ram Bahadur Thapa and Pampha Bhusal

In 2053 BS a sex scandal between the top leader of CPN Maoist, Ram Bahadur Thapa (Cm. Badal) and another top leader, Pampha Bhusal caused the party to punish them. The issue was widely talked about at that time.

2. Haribol Gajurel and Nir Kumari Darlami

Central committee member Haribol Gajurel (Cm. Shitalkumar) and current CA member, Nir Kumari Darlami (Cm. Shila). Nir Kumari’s husband was killed by the army in 2061 BS.

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Shiva Linga – why worship the Shiva phallus?

It really has not been that long, when I came to know, we Hindu worship a Shiva’s Linga (Shiva Lingam); Lord Shiva in the form of a phallus (penis). But, this knowledge made my skin crawl shiver in sheer disgust.

One of my friends, who is devoted to Shiva, tried to make me understand her side of story, a good side to that story. But I was so disgusted; my mind refused to understand the good-good things she was telling me. My mind simply rejected to hear her version of the worship culture. I am a Hindu by birth but, I have lost the respect for the religion due to absurd things like worshiping the Shiva Linga. Going temple every morning to worship somebody’s phallus (who cares even if belongs to a god) is just too much in the name of Dharma. Give me a break. I am not that type.
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A female microbus driver – Chandrika

10-15 seater microbus have been very popular in Kathmandu due to their fast and efficient service. It has almost replaced the local bus service and three wheelers in Kathmandu valley.

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Minister felicitates an illegal driver (Six year old drives school bus)

A six-year-old drives an school bus in Kathmandu. And, a minister, Minendra Rijal, felicitates the kid for doing the "great job".  

What amazed me most is that nobody told the minister that it is illegal to drive under 18, according to the traffic law in Nepal.

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Let's demand Saptahik to be categorized an 'adult' magazine

UPDATE: An online petition -To Name Nepali Weekly – Saptahik an Adult-Only Magazine- is started.

A disclaimer first: I don’t know anybody, in person, in Kantipur publication; they have never done any harm to me or anybody I know. Nobody has told to write this article and I have nothing personal to gain or loose by writing this article.

A Nepali weekly, published by once the biggest media house in Nepal, Saptahik, has claimed itself to be targeted to "EVERYBODY" and is publishing contents inappropriate for the children. I have raised this question more than a couple of times and have used every possible medium of communication to get reply from the concerned journalists in Kantipur publication. But, to my dismay, they have chosen to keep themselves in closed door.

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Kantipur's stray sexual desire – strip dance and women's most sensitive parts

It has been more than a few times Kantipur publication has shown it’s immaturity in it’s role as a mainstream media. It has shown signs of becoming an old lion who can’t hunt but is too proud to accept the truth – it is no longer a media of choice.

Kantipur’s desperate attempts to attract readers is evident in some of the articles with extreme sexual subjects, not suitable for minor. For example, the Dec. 24 edition of Saptahik teaches our kids to ‘strip dance’ and tells that Americans spend more time in strip bars than in theaters or operas. There is another article in the same edition, telling the kids that the inside of thighs are the most erotic parts to touch and kiss.

Now, tell me: What will you do if your 10 year-old kid want to test if Saptahik was right?

I wouldn’t have been complaining if the magazine were ‘adult only’. But, the magazine clearly mentions that it is “for everybody” – that includes kids (See the photo below, showing the title of Saptahik).

They might argue they are publishing articles on “sex education”. But, where in earth teachers talk about strip dance in school?

Well, this is not the first time, the sex hungry bunch at Kantipur have published such articles. Last time articles on Maya Bazin and Smita Thapa looked like articles written by a pimp rather than a journalist. In an attempt to hear what they have to say, I wrote emails to editors and writers but, I never got any replies. This is a perfect example on how they treat their readers.

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Gopi Krishna Movies case study – Do high class Nepali love Nepali movies?

Editor’s Note: This article is one of the fact-check analyses for the “Who loves Nepali Movies?” article series. The case study of Guna Cinema and case study of Big Cinema were previously published. All photos by Raunak.
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So-called high class Nepali don’t go to theaters to watch Nepali movies. They say Nepali movies are only for low and lower-middle class people. Why is that?

It is because our theaters practice preferencial treatment to Nepali and Hindi movies! Who would like to be guest to somebody who is so unwelcoming?

Gopi Krishna Movies is one of the biggest multiplex movie theaters in Nepal. Apart from theaters, Gopi Krishna Movies is also engaged in production of Nepali movies. They have been producing at least two movies every year. Like Guna Cinema, Gopi Krishna movies is also directly involved in the betterment of Nepali movies.

Does Gopi Krishna Movies loves Nepali movies?

• Nepali movies featured in theaters with torn and damaged seats
• Customer sometimes are forced to watch their home production movie
• They filter competition when they are featuring home production. Said that, we can safely assume the owner’s friend and families get preferential treatment on holdovers too.

Gopi Krishna has 7 theaters. Out of them, Meera and Radha feature most of the Nepali movies. Recently released movie Dharma, featuring Manisha Koirala, was shown in Radha. The seats shown in Photo 1, is an example of the seats in the theater. Majority of the seats of the theatre are torn and broken. Based on the talents of the crew members and star-casting, the movie was expected to do a very good business, but it wasn’t as successful as expected. We can’t blame the seats, but it would have been better if they could screen such hopeful movies in a better theatre.

Photo 1: Torn seats in Gopi Krishna Movies.

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Does Nepal need Indian Investment ?

Foreign investment plays a critical role in the development of a country. In the current age of ‘global village,’ foreign investment is a key to the economy. But, does the foreign investment always bring "good fortune" to a country? Let’s analyze two incidents in Nepal, related to Indian investments.

No Nepali movies in "Big Cinema"

A theater constructed and managed through Indian investment, Big Cinema – considered to be one of the most sophisticated theaters in Nepal, has decided to boycott Nepali movies. The theater located in Kathmandu, Nepal, now onwards will only feature Hindi or English movies. 

According to a film news site, merocinema (screenshot attached), the theaters halted the release of a Nepali movie after receiving a directive from its New Delhi office. The theater management in India told the local management to stop screening Nepali movies in the future too. In a separate news report the theater management was quoted saying – Nepali movies don’t have quality for the theater.

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Anuradha Koirala arrival – Political leaders and the government ignored the CNN Hero

The government has ignored the internationally acclaimed CNN Hero 2010 winner and social worker, Anuradha Koirala, during her arrival in Kathmandu after receiving the award. It was not only the government, none of the political parties thought of sending a representative to congratulate and welcome the Hero.

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Artist Dinesh DC arrested

Accused of collecting money in the name of disabled people and keeping it for himself, artist Dinesh DC was arrested by the police on November 28, 2010.

Dinesh was released after he handed over the amount to the person in the presence of DSP Dipak Thapa of Mahargung police station.

Dinesh DC had been collecting money through a Kantipur television program named "Khoji Prtibhako" for the treatment of Sanjog Parajuli, a disabled person . He had collected a sum of Rs. 35,000 for the treatment but he kept the money to himself instead of handing over to Sanjog.

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