Author: Anand Nepal

Mobile coverage to cover the top of the World

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Cell for Yeti too Climbers have been calling home from the top of Mt. Everest. But that involves satellite phone, bulky and costly cousin of mobile phones we carry in our pocket. Looks like future climbers can carry the phone they have been used-to to call  back home to share their moments of scaling the top of the world. 

Nepal’s largest telecom company, Nepal Telecom (NT), is going to extend its GSM and CDMA mobile coverage to Mt. Everest by the end of this year. A satellite antenna will be installed for the purpose in Gorak Shep, located at an altitude of 5,160 meters. This however won’t be the first satellite antenna installed in the Everest region. Certain areas of the mountain have had coverage for the past few years by seven other antennas in the region.

It is told that the antennas can smoothly handle 3,000 calls at once.

Looks like NT is inspired by the first ever mobile phone call from the summit in 2007.

Was having a crazy idea of yeti carrying a cell phone, while writing this post… hence the picture :) News source: myrepublica

Angelina Jolie tops the Most Beautiful Women list (again)

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Angelina Jolie with Brad Pitt

Angelina Jolie with Brad Pitt (Sept. 2007)

Looks like nobody is going to dethrone Angelina Jolie from the most beautiful woman’s list anytime soon.  In a recent ‘Most Beautiful Woman in the World’ poll she was voted by 58 per cent of the voters whereas Gisele Bündchen in the second place got only 9 percent of the votes. Halle Berry came third with 4 percent of the total votes. The online poll conducted by Vanity Fair magazine saw fourth place shared by five beauties with 3 percent of votes each.

Jolie is beautiful, sexy, influential and is paid the highest in Hollywood. She was among the Time 100, a list of the 100 most influential people in the world, in 2006 and 2008. She was described as the world’s most beautiful woman in the 2006 “100 Most Beautiful” issue of People, and she was voted the greatest sex symbol of all time in the British Channel 4 television show The 100 Greatest Sex Symbols in 2007. On Forbes’ annual Celebrity 100 list, Jolie was ranked at No. 35 in 2006, No. 14 in 2007, and she was the highest listed actor at No. 3 in 2008. The Hollywood Reporter reported that Jolie was the highest paid actress in 2008.
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Apa Sherpa to conquer Mt. Everest 19th time

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World record holder Apa Sherpa broke his own record of climbing the highest peak for the 18th time on 2008-05-22. Now, he is on his way to the top of the peak for the 19th time. Let’s wish him luck!

Appa Sherpa on his way to Mt. Everest to climb it for the 19th time.

Appa Sherpa on his way to Mt. Everest to climb it for the 19th time.

He is preparing for the summit bid in May to raise awareness about climate change.

Apa climbed Mt. Everest for the first time nearly a couple of decades ago (on May 10th of 1990). If you are interested in his biography this page might be the best place to go for.

Before heading for the peak he was quoted as telling “I am not looking for recognition or doing this just to beat my own record. My objective is to highlight the environmental degradation of the mountain and draw attention to the issue of global warming”.
And,
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April Fool Day on Nepali Websites

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Nepali people don’t celebrate April Fool’s day traditionally. We have a fun filled day to celebrate which is an equivalent of April Fool day and is called Gaijatra. But due to the influence of the Western world people play pranks in this day. Many websites have post hoax news on this day and some of the ones I could gather are listed below (there are not many and they are NOT sorted according their wit or excellence).

Gaijatra - Nepali version of April Fool's Day

The Himalayan Times, published a news about a blockbuster Indian movie “Ghajini” to be made in Nepali and will be renamed “Gajendra”. Geetha Arts, the same production house that made Ghajini, will be producing Gajendra, but it will be directed by Narayan Puri, a noted Nepalese film director. That was news! until, the newspaper told later that they forgot to tell the readers that it was one of their April fool pranks.

Mysansar blog published a post showing fake screenshots of chat with Paras Shah (former Nepali prince).

Hamroblog had its definition of April Fool’s day in Nepalese context and a story about it.

Kathmandu Dairies had an article about Nepal Drivers To Switch Sides.

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Nomadic Group of Nepal – Raute

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Raute is the only nomadic group in Nepal living in the hilly districts of Mid and Far West. I had heard about them and their language which is unique in the community. They are very isolated and don’t want to mingle with other people. Hari Thapa send me information about a site set for the group some time back. He also sent some photos (posted below) of Raute. It is told that they don’t stay longer in a particular place. Some stay in one place for 3 months and others up to a couple of years. With people encroaching forests, their habitat, they are facing very difficult time in their nomadic life.

Nomadic group Raute

Recently, the first ever census of the endangered Raute community was carried out by the Dailekh District Development Committee. The population of the nomadic ethnic group is found to be 304 (kantipur). The census report showed that there are only 112 females, 96 children and two disabled in the Raute community. The number of Raute females of marriageable age is below one dozen while the number of eligible males is 36. The fact is causing increase in the case of child marriage according to Raute leader Mahin Bahadur Shahi.

Rautes are the only ethnic tribe of the country who are found in the hilly districts of Mid and Far West. As they move from place to place, they do not rely on farming and other everyday livelihoods.
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Nepali Movie – Sanjivani

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Tshering Chhoden presents a Radhe Shyam Films P. Ltd. banner movie –
Nepal Film – Sanjivani
Starring – Sushil Chhetri, Jharana Bajracharya, Ganesh Upreti, Amrit Jung Basnet, Riddhi Charan Shrestha, Subhadra Adhikari etc.
Story – Sangita Pradhan
Direction/Script – Shyam Pradhan

Special thanks to – Niruta Singh, Ramesh Upreti, Arunima Lamsal, and Arjun Shrestha.
Part 1
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World’s youngest grandmaster

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Congratulation Anish Giri for being the World’s youngest grandmaster!

Anish, a 14 year old Nepalese boy living in Holland has been successful in being the World’s youngest grandmaster. Anish completed his final GM norm on Saturday by beating GM Eduardo Iturrizaga of Venezuela.


Victory smile just after the game. (Photo courtesy: chessbase.com, by John Nunn.)

Anish’s father, Sanjay Giri, is of Nepalese origin. His mother is a Russian. Anish himself was born in St. Petersburg.  He started playing chess at the age of 7, sparring with his mom and later improved by reading Chess books and playing on the internet.

Anish’s first achievement was a win in the U-9 section in Hokkaido (Japan), where his father was posted for a few years. He won the U-12 Russian title and tied for the 3rd place in the same age group at the European level.
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Runner-up in the BBC World Challenge 08 (Nepali again)

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Cheers to Shanti Sewa Griha for being one of the two runner up from hundred of entries in the BBC World Challenge 2008!

Two runner up of the World Challenge 08 Shanti Sewa Griha (Nepal) and Agricultural School (Paraguay) each received a grant of USD $10,000.

Shanti Sewa Griha is a self-sufficient society for leprosy victims and other social outcasts.

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Miss Nepal and the Miss World Pageant

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Miss Russia 2007, Ksenia Sukhinova, returned home from Johannesburg with the Miss World crown and Miss India, Parvathy Omankuttan, managed to grab the runner-up position in the Miss World finals held on December 13, 2008.

I am not talking about the Russian beauty or the Indian beauty who, we might be seeing a lot in Hindi movies in coming days. It is about the Miss Nepal 2008 who was not chosen in the first place. I would have been happy to write about a Nepali model whether placed last among the 108 contestants or somewhere in the middle. After lengthy preparation of the Miss Nepal 2008, the government decided that the event was worthless and it would serve no purpose to the betterment of the society.

Who knows one of these Nepali beauties might have been Miss World … well that may be a day-dream. But it is true that the experience to participate in one of the prestigious events in world would have brought home some knowledge. A few foreigners would have realized that a country called Nepal exists in reality. I hope the Maoist government would work on some common sense in coming days.

Zero-dollar bills for art, zero rupees-notes against corruption

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Artists have created zero-dollar bills for artistic purposes and to get publicity. But in the East it is used for some noble cause. A local NGO, Pro Public, released a zero-rupees note in notes as a symbolic fight against corruption in Nepal. The move looks like a copy of similar act in India against corruption.

A similar release in india was carried out by Fifth Pillar India, an NGO set up to fight corruption. It had printed over 200,000 zero-denomination notes that resemble Indian currency and had distributed them around the country in the start of 2008. It was asking people to give the notes to anyone demanding a bribe (source). 
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First Nepali aircraft Danfe passes test flight

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Nepal’s first aircraft, named in honor of National bird Danfe, built by young Nepali engineers has successfully completed its test flight in Pokhara, a Western city of Nepal. The the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) opposed the test flight previously, citing security reasons and lack of policy on such an experimentation.

The aircraft was built by eight mechanical engineering students from the Institute of Engineering at Pulchowk Campus, Kathmandu. The two seated aircraft with the total load capacity of 400kg (including 115kg pay load) can be used for adventurous flight and air sports. The aircraft was built with an Austrian engine and locally available materials.

In the test flight, the aircraft held its flight for about a minute covering a distance of about 1.5 km. A Nepali license holder Russian pilot, Alexander Maximov, conducted the test flight of the ultra-light aircraft. (Official Website | Kantipur news)

Danfe - the first aircraft built in Nepal

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Dog worship and walk in London

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I talked about how Nepali people worship dogs in my previous post on Tihar. In a rare occasion, dogs were worshiped in UK and Duchess of Cornwall participated on the dog walk to support a Nepali organization.

To support Kathmandu Animal Treatment (KAT) center and Kathmandu Arts Centre, Nepal, Camilla Parker Bowles, the wife of Prince Charles, participated on a dog walk to help raise fund for Nepal’s stray dogs. Kathmandu Arts Center organized the event at Green Park in London on Nov. 8.

I wish I were there to witness the rare sight of 65 dogs wearing maala (garland) and tika on the London streets. (photo source)

Mysterious “Buddha Boy” Ram Bahadur Bomjan

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Ram Bahadur Bomjam (Palden Dorje), 18, known as ‘Buddha Boy’ made news all around the world when he meditated motionless for months without water, food or sleep under a tree in a remote village of Nepal. Local and international scientists unsuccessfully tried to explain his unique meditation technique.

For the second time he made international headlines when he reappeared in the second week of November. It is told that he has resumed his mediation in unknown place late Friday, November 21, after blessing thousands of devotees for the last 10 days.

Some believe he is reincarnation of Buddha and others including the president of the Nepal Buddhist Council don’t think he can be a Buddha only by meditating. Buddha needs life experience and the young man doesn’t have it.

But still he is something not to be taken lightly. He has done something everybody else think is impossible. He did stay under a tree for months and nobody could question his credibility. National Geographic team filmed him for at least 10 days and they couldn’t find him taking food or water. Science can’t explain how he could survive that long without water. The teenager staying still for months in itself is strange. It is another thing that he was not allowed any medical tests to testify his genuineness.  Continue reading

Nepal ranks 11th major supplier of students to the US

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According to the latest data released from the Institute of International Education (IIE), the students from Nepal to the US institutions have increased by 15.2% in 2007/08. Nepali students in the US cover about 1.4% of total foreign students. India tops the list with 15.2% followed by China with 13.0%. In the past year Nepal was ranked two points below at 13th rank with 7,754 students in American universities. Chart in Figure 1 compares the major suppliers of foreign students in the US with their percentage share and rankings with Nepal.

Figure 1: Foreign students in the US (2007/08).

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Biography of Laxmi Prasad Devkota – Nepali Mahakavi

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Gifted poet Laxmi Prasad Devkota born on the festival of the Goddess of wealth “Laxmi Puja” and so named as a present from the Goddess Laxmi. But he turned out to be wealthier in knowledge and wisdom rather than in money and riches. He was known as Mahakabi, the great poet, and lived and died a poor man.

Biography of Laxmi Prasad Devkota

Lakshmi Prasad Devkota was born on November 12, 1909 (1966 BS) on the night of Laxmi Pooja festival in Dillibazar, Kathmandu. His father Teel Madhav Devkota and mother Amar Rajyalakshmi Devi regarded him as the gift from the goddess Laxmi and named him Laxmi Pradad. Devkota is known as the greatest poet of Nepal, and has been given the title of “Maha Kavi” (“The Great Poet”).
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