As a Nepali, am I happy about it? No, I am not.
… Mr. Pant is offering to hold nuptials at the Mount Everest base camp, jungle safari honeymoons and bridal processions on elephant back.
Category: Nepal
Sunil Babu Pant, gay rights activist and CA member
Apart from being a CA member he is in LGBT (lesbian gay bisexual transgender) rights group in Blue Diamond Society, a society representing gay/bisexual people in Nepal.
If Pant is to be believed, he is not the only gay member in the parliament. He claims to know at least five more gay/lesbian members, personally.
Love Affair of Charles Sobhraj and Nihita Biswas to be made a Film
When news about marriage of Charles Sobhraj with a 20-year-old Nepali fiancée, Nihita Biswas was released I wrote “loving and marrying a killer with approval of a lawyer mother looks a bit fishy!”
Avenues TV aired an interview of Nihita in which she claimed that Sobhraj was innocent and her love was for life. I wasn’t alone on suspecting their affair. Film director Narayan Puri was watching the interview and decided to cash on the story.
“I watched the program with the girl saying confidently she knew about his past but yet was ready to marry him and I was very impressed,†Puri said. “I realized that it’s not only people with a positive image who have fans. It can happen to even a prisoner behind bars. I also realized what an intelligent man Sobhraj was and how his taking to crime was a loss for society.â€Â
Richa Ghimire marriage (Update – photos)
Richa would have been happy enough by ‘court marriage’ but her family and Shankar insisted in doing it in a more traditional fashion. Richa had a mehendi ceremony in which her friends and family applied mehendi on her hands and feet. Applying mehendi is an Indian tradition and it has encroached Nepali society in recent days.
Mt. Everest (Kala Patthar) to Copenhagen
Nepal government set a World Record by holding a cabinet meeting at Kala Patthar, near Everest base camp. The event was live broadcasted worldwide causing unprecedented media coverage. It was a successful event, even though most of the Nepali think it was an unnecessary expense and the transportation helicopters caused further environment degradation.
Now, it is time to take the decision made in the meeting to the international climate change summit in Copenhagen. The PM is going to the meeting with more than 60 people with him. He choose to ignore the experts’ suggestion to take only 5 people with him. He is given a 3 minutes time to talk at the summit.
Namrata Shrestha to host KTV awards?
The award show hosted by Kantipur TV is one of the show to gauge the performance of movies, actors and backstage personnel. I hope, somebody will nominate Namrata on the Most Scandalous Actress of 2009 followed by Pooja Lama.
Most of the cine artists want Namrata to come back in the entertainment industry. So they are pressuring her to present herself to the public. The acting of Namrata in her past movies Mero Euta Sathi Chha and Sano Sansar were liked by many and they don’t want to lose the rising star of Nepali Cinema.
A fool-proof passport by April 1 ?
Pandey has written that current passport costs $0.82 to print. But, MRP in other hand might cost as high as $20 per passport. Hey, isn’t it only two lines of extra text that could be read by machine? If the cost includes the machine infrastructure then it might make sense.
Gadhimai Mela couldn’t be stopped.
In the last effort to stop the inhuman ‘balee’ of animals, animal rights group went there to request the chief priest to stop the event. The priest played deaf ears. The local and central government didn’t take any steps to stop or minimize the killing in the event. The Chief of Police and other high ranking police officers went to the mela to offer their prayers. The Buddha Boy, who told that he will go there in person to stop the event, has disappeared.
The religious event is a perfect business opportunity for the organizers and the local people in the area. The 300-years-old mela organizers are expecting to raise NRs.140 million this year. Last time however, the mela could generate only NRs. 460 thousands. The low income was attributed to the Maoist civil war during the time.
It is very sad, such an event is being held with support from government and such a large number people.
There sure is a silver lining. In the previous years, such protests were unheard of. This year, many local and foreign media have covered the event and it is going to face much more criticism in future. The poll in the xnepali homepage shows 79% of votes against animal sacrifice. Hopefully, next mela will be a ‘vegetarian’ one.
Coffee Talk of Karima Begum
The same Karima Begum, who beat the CDO, showed her short-temper to Kantipur TV crews, and who the PM don’t want to punish for her wrong-doings, told that she wants coffee to be planted in Tarai (lower parts of Nepal).
There is nothing wrong in planting coffee in Tarai as long as the climate suits. But the agriculture specialist, under her own ministry, think that it was the dumbest thing to say in a public function.
Minister may not know everything about their ministry but at least they should do some homework on what they are talking. She could have discussed about the topic with the specialists before she talked.
For business purpose, coffee can only be planted in the terrain in the range of 800 m to 1,600 m above sea level. Tarai region doesn’t have that terrain and attempts to plant coffee in such region have failed in India and Sri Lanka.
We have seen that she is arrogant, short tempered, and the latest event prove that she is also ignorant of her own field, agriculture.
UPDATE: Begum released a press statement to apologize as instructed by PM Nepal. But the “apology” statement reads more like an “accusation” statement rather than an apology. If you want to read the statement (in Nepali) here is the scanned copy. Continue reading
PM Nepal with Karima Begum
Did you see the video of Karima Begum? Do you still think she is innocent?
Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal has instructed home minister Bhim Rawal not to take action against State Minister for Agriculture and Cooperatives Karima Begum saying such move would hamper inter-party relation of the ruling parties hence the stability of the government, Kantipur daily reported. (Nepalnews)
That was against the CPN (UML) chairman Jhala Nath Khanal’s suggestion: to sack Begum. Even some leaders of Begum’s own party Madhesi Janadhikar Forum-Loktantrik have suggested the party leadership to ask Begum to resign based on morality.
PM Nepal was made prime minister by the parties, not the people, so he is accountable to the parties. He only needs leaders and foreign support to run the country and doesn’t need any government employees to help him.
Indigenous Film Festival concluded in Chitawan
The event in Chitawan was organized by Tamang Film Association with the support of Indigenous Film Archive (IFA). Among the ten films screened in the event, some of the movies liked by the audiance were: Gurung film Tinaga, Tamang film Godeba, Tharu film Bhuyaar, and a documentary named The Long Journey.
Madan Krishna and Hari Bamsha against animal sacrifice
The most popular comedians and leaders in social awareness, MaHa-duo (Madan Krishna Shrestha and Hari Bansha Acharya), have come forward to back the protest. They were talking in a program organized by an animal rights group on November 13, in Patan, Lalitpur.
Hari Bamsha talked about a show in Chitawan National Park in which live buffaloes and goats were fed to wild tigers. The show was stopped when one of the tourists who saw the show wrote the government against it. The tourist asked the government to place the leaders in place of the goats and buffaloes for allowing a business to run a cruel show.
Minister Mentality of Karima Begum
The vision and mentality of a law maker of the country and one of the member of cabinet, that is supposed to prepare the constitution, made me very sad.
Kantipur TV called her in a live prime-time TV interview and she kept talking on and on ignoring the indication of the host about the time constraints. She talked for a full 13 minutes but there was nothing new and she was repeating herself with unnecessary details of the incidents. The rude reasoning for the extended talk didn’t make any sense either.
Animal sacrifice and Gadhimai Mela
In the eve of notorious Gadhimai Mela, a two day religious event, to be held from November 22, the issue of animal sacrifice is raised in every parts of Nepal. The mela is held at Bariyapur VDC of Bara district, every five years. Millions of people from India and Nepal come to the place to sacrifice thousands of animals. The “Buddha Boy†Ram Bahadur Bomjan who is meditating nearby in the jungle asked the organizers and the local authorities to stop such inhuman activities.
Nepali Documentary – Search for lights
ADRA Nepal Presents a
Documentary – Search for lights
This is a documentary about electricity and light in Nepal.