Shrikrishna wants your Valentine to be fun filled. Comedy singer and actor, Shreekrishna Luitel’s debut movie Bus No. 136 is releasing theaters all over Nepal for the Valentine day (released on Feb 11, 2010).
Presentation of Bhupendra Lingden (Mantri), directed by Keshav Rayamajhi, the movie features Shreekrishna Luitel and Melina Manandhar in the leading role.
Before being released, the movie was premiered among Nepalese in various countries including Qatar and Malaysia.
Note: Online Bagh Chal is available for free at Google Chrome Web Store. It is also available at this location.
A simple board game Bagh Chal, was originated and is very popular in Nepal. In the two player game, one player controls four tigers and the other player controls up to twenty goats.
The tigers ‘hunt’ the goats while, the goats attempt to block the tigers’ movements.
[UPDATE: 6th day Photos Feature]
According to the organizers, a total of 419,180 visitors attened the exhivition. The number of visitors this year increased by more than 40,000 when compared to the last year’s statistics. (video news credits – dcnepal)
The organizers of the event held a press meet on January 26 to announce the final event of the beauty contest. In the contest, girls aged between 16 and 24 and height not less than 5 feet and 1 inch were allowed to participate.
In a competition involving 17 Sherpa beauties, Dawa Yangji has won the Miss Sherpa 2011 title in an event held in Rastriya Naachghra, Jamal.
Dawa also won the Miss Talent title. The first runner-up of the contest was Pashang Lahmu Sherpa and second runner-up was Sonam Chonden Sherpa.
Miss Sherpa Dawa received a prize money of Rs. 50,000. The first and second runner ups received Rs 30,000 and Rs. 20,000 respectively. Title winners also received various gift hampers from sponsors of the event.
Listen to Swastani story here.
Swastani Brata Procudure
Recital of each Chapter of the Swastani Brata Katha is posted here (first 7 chapters more will be updated in near future).
This year’s Swastani Brata Katha starts from January 19, 2011 and lasts for a month. The Swasthani Brata Katha is a story recited everyday by one of the member of the household and other members listen to the story. Every day one chapter of the Swastani book is read.
There are procedures to start the story and end it properly. Following is the mantra told at the start of the story:
The latest – 12 hrs load-shedding starting Jan 18, 2011 is as follows:
Load shedding schedule starting December 29, 2010 (11 hours a day). Some say, it is the New Year’s gift from Nepal Government. 
Born in Calcutta on in Decmber 13, 1957, Kancha has sung in over 100 Nepali movies and has acted in a couple of Nepali movies. Apart from Nepali, Kancha has sung in over 25 languages in India. Kancha is survived by his wife and two sons.
xNepali team offers condolence to Kancha’s family and well wishers and wish his soul rest in peace.
Attached below are some of the most popular songs of Kumar Kancha:
*videos removed*
The Canadian singer, Bryan Adams, has confirmed the date and timing of the concert to be held in the Dashrath Stadium, Kathmandu. The organizers have finalized the ticket rate ranging from Rs. 2,000 to a maximum of Rs. 6,000.
In a press meet organized last week in Soltaee Hotel, the organizers of the concert told, more than 15,000 police and private security guards will be present for the security of the concert to be held on Saturday, Falgun 7 (February 19, 2011). The day is also the celebrated as the Democracy Day in Nepal.
Bryan Adams will arrive in Kathmandu on February 18 and will stay for two days. He will return on the next day.
The total capacity of the Stadium in Kathmandu is only 18,000. So, the organizers will only sell 15,000 tickets. The tickets are being sold through Manakamana Bikash Bank.
For the concert the stage design and sound system will be done by Total Production from India. Four huge screens will also be erected in the stadium during the concert.
On Feb. 19, the stadium will open at 2PM. At 6PM Nepali bands will perform for an hour. Bryan Adams will start his performance at 7PM and will finish at 9PM.
In his 32 years-long singing career, Bryan has won a number of awards including Grammy Awards, American Music Award, and Canadian Grammy Awards. Apart from music, he is popular for his photography skill. His photographs are published in magazines like vogue, Esquire, Zoo Magazine, among others.
Latest Related news (25 MAR 2011) Gurkha solider gets Britain’s second highest medal for bravery
Bishnu Shrestha, a brave Gurkha soldier in Indian Army, defeated 30 train robbers while returning home after a voluntary retirement. The Indian army, is going to awarded Bishnu with Sourya Chakra, Bravery Award and Sarvottam Jeevan Raksha medals during the Indian Republic Day celebration on January 26 .
While in the train, Maurya Express from Ranchi to Gorakhpur, on September 2, 2010, 35 year-old Bishnu saved a girl about to be raped by the train robbers in front of her helpless parents. After looting the train, when the robbers started to strip a 18 year old girl in front of him, he couldn’t contain his calmness. He took out his khukari and took on the a group of 30 robbers, alone. In the fight, he killed three of dacoits and injured eight others. Remaining dacoits fled the scene to save their lives.
In recognition to his bravery, his regiment has given Bishnu a cash reward of Rs. 50,000 and it has also terminated his voluntary retirement, so that he could get a customary promotion after he receives the medals. In addition to that, he will also receive a cash rewards from the government, special discounts in international air tickets, and discounts in Indian railways train tickets.
UPDATE:
Updated according to a news in Indian newspaper Times of India of September 4, 2010. The report of Indian Army awarding Soury Chakra proved to be wrong as his name was not included in the official Indian Army site.
In an event held on January 15, 2011 in Pragya Bhawan, Kamaladi, Kathmandu, Miss Teen Green 2011 title was awarded to Miss Riya Acharya. Among a total of 26 contestants and Najma Mathema and Rashmita Ranjitkar became the first and second runners ups respectively.
In an initiative of Galaxy Modeling Agency and Spring Nepal with a slogan “Hariyo Ban Nepal ko Dhan.†The event was inaugurated by Anuradha Koirala, the chairperson of Maiti Nepal, as the chief guest. In the event, Miss Republica Teen Nepal, Kreety Tamang Lama walked in the ramp to mark the start of the event.
The judging panel consisted of actor Bhuwan KC, actor Dinesh DC, choreographer Prashant Tamrakar, Miss Nepal 2010 first runner up – Sahana Bajracharya, Puspa Joshi, Film Director – Narayan Puri and Rajya Shree Shrestha.
Miss Beer ??
The girls in an odd t-shrit with a beer’s name in big letters on the front looked very cheap.
The infamous “Real Juice” in front of the judges gives an impression that the event was sponsored by Dabur Nepal.
This Saturday, January 15, 2011, is the first day of the Magh month in Bikram Era calendar. The first of Magh is celebrated as Maghe Sankranti.
Maghe Sankranti, also called Magh Sakrati or Uttarayana or Makar Sankranti, is observed every year on the first of the month Magh, usually around January 15. The celebration is the end to the ill-omened month Poush in which all religious ceremonies are forbidden.
Even if Magh is considered the coldest day of the year, the celebration marks the welcoming of warmer and better days for health and fortune. The festival is popular in Nepal and in Nepali communities in India (specially in Sikkim). It also marks th
e time when the days start to become longer than the nights.
Despite of the cold, people perform holy dips in rivers all over Nepal. The special delicacy of the festival are yam, chaku (sweet prepared from boiled and hardened molasses), chaku-sesame candy, and ghee.
Kathmandu resident Newars call the festival ‘Ghyo-Chaku Sanun’, named after ghee and chaku, eaten on the day.
Nepali communities all over the world celebrate Maghe Sankranti. Attached below is the video of the celebration of the festival in Hong Kong.
Folk belief
The folk belief behind the celebration of the festival goes like:
Once a merchant from Bhadgoan (Bhaktapur) noticed that the supply of his sesame seeds didn’t diminish in spite of a very good retail business. When he looked in the sesame seed container he found an idol of Lrod Vishnu hidden deep beneath the seeds.
It is believed that the the Til Madhav idol was erected and worshipped from that day. (We are not sure why Mahadev idol was made when Vishnu was found. The worship is believed to provide generous supply of food and wealth to the community.
This day is also believed to be the day Vishmapitamaha, the elderly grandfather of the Pandava and Kaurava families, during the MahaBharat period. The tow families are famous for the battle of Mahabharat that took place in the ancient India. Vishmapitamaha was lying on the bed of arrows and was determined not to die until he wanted to.
In that bed, he got the words of wisdom on life and death and then he succumbed to death. Hence, belief goes – those who die on this day go to heaven and will be released from the burden of rebirth.
Varieties of Celebration
In one such event held in Taruka of Nuwakot district, people witness bull fights. A huge cro
wd gather to witness the bull fight in the area. (Bullfight photo credits: Rammani Adhikari).
Located on the Eastern side of Kahmandu near Gaushala and Airport, Pashupatinath Temple is on of the biggest shrine in Hindu religion.
In an event held on December 30, 2010, Sugena Shakya of Lalitpur, Jawalakhel was crowned the Miss Newa 2010 title.
Sugena had to compete with 36 participants from all over the country. In addition to the Miss Newa title she also won the title of "Miss Nepal Language". Sugena was awarded a gift hamper of Rs. 25,000.
The first runner-up of Miss Newa contest was Lashata Shrestha of Maharajgunj and second runner-up Nisha Shakya of Thahiti, Kathmandu. Lasala and Nisha each received gift hampers equivalent to Rs. 20,000 and Rs. 15,000 respectively.
In addition to regular titles, five more beauties were awarded district ambassadors. District ambassadors of Shyangja was Puja Shrestha, Kaski – Manjin Ranjitkar, Dhulikhel – Deepa Sonju, Banepa – Subi Kayastha and Makawanpur – Meera Balami.
Google homepage featured an interactive holiday Doodle (Google Logo) from December 23 through December 25. The logo features 17 illustrations of scenes of peace, joy and beauty around the world. When mouse is moved over the small picture, it expands and a click takes to Google search page explaining that particular context.
What made this interactive logo special to Nepali all over the world is that, one of the 17 illustration represented Nepal. The painting shows three ladies laughing in front of a structure that looks like a Stupa. A click on that picture takes to the Google search page for Nepal
.
