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.
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).ÂÂ
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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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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)
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
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).
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.
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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There was no priest though the bride’s brother and mother Shakuntala Thapa turned up to show their support. Thapa, a leading lawyer, is also fighting Sobhraj’s case in Supreme Court, challenging a lower court decision that declared him guilty of the murder of an American backpacker, Connie Jo Bronzich, in 1975. (indiatimes)
Sobhraj has in the past admitting to killing several Western tourists, and is serving a life sentence for killing a Canadian tourist in Katmandu in 1975.
Agreed, love is blind and love doesn’t see the barrier of age, sex or anything. But loving and marrying a killer with approval of a lawyer mother looks a bit fishy! Many questions remain unanswered like – how could a girl fall in love with a man so famous for killing women? Or how could they fall for each other in mere few visits of 20 minutes each?
It it Charles making some plans and Nihita being used? Or is it like Charles want to settle down and Nihita want to enjoy the sudden limelight?
Amidst child right groups’ objection on the tradition itself, three and half year old Matina Shakya has become the new Kumari. She has become the first Kumari who was shown to the general public without being observed by the King. Traditionally Kings used to worship Kumari before she was shown to the public.
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The Lukla airport, (Tenzing-Hillary airport) in the eastern Nepal is considered one of the world’s most dangerous airports.
In today’s news, a Yeti Airlines plane crashed during landing at the airport killing at least 14 passengers, mostly tourists. It is told that the sole survivor is a Nepali passenger.
The airport is located at an elevation of 9,380ft (2,860m) and is popular with mountaineers and trekkers heading for expeditions in the Himalayas.
Following video shows how a plane lands and takes off in the airport (it’s not a crash video!).
Gautam Sapkota, from Hetauda, Nepal has set a World Record for most birds-calls imitating. He 
It is told that Gautam Sapkota has visited more than 6,500 schools in 45 districts of Nepal, interacting, entertaining and educating the kids about birds, their habitats, their ways of life and their calls.
Photo by Sanjib K. Chaudhary (source)
He is also planning to release an album of popular Nepali folk songs remixed in the voice of different birds.
A Youtube user, Suren Shakya, met Sapkota in Hetauda and he managed to record 26 of his bird calls in the videos. Shakya has posted five video clips of the amazing Birdman including three popular songs in bird voice. Here are the videos:
He is speaking in Nepali in between. But the bird’s language is universal so I don’t think translating is that much necessary.
I argued about Nepali Flag to be one of the top flag design owing to its uniqueness and beauty. But not only the Yard Flags think otherwise, the Chinese Olympic committee was unsure on what to make up of the unique flag. They had to call a professor in vexillology to assurance that the flag of Nepal meets the requirements for this international event and is in fact a proper flag!
After all, according to a high Chinese official, the flag ‘looks a little unusual, it has a tattered look, ripped so to say.’ Also no one is sure which way is up. (fdrnepal)
It was nice to see the flag being carried in the opening ceremony of the Olympic 2008 arena. I wish good luck to the eight member Nepali player team for medal in the games. Have nothing to say for the unnecessary, irrelevant, scandalous 28 member official team (About the team in Nepali language blog).
Melting ice in Arctic have been the hot news lately. Today there was another news about a 20 sq km (eight sq miles) of ice from the Ward Hunt shelf that split away from Ellesmere Island. This split is thought to be the biggest piece of ice shed by one of Canada’s six ice shelves since 60 sq km of the nearby Ayles Ice Shelf broke away in 2005. In an article in the New York Times in late July 2008 by an author promoting a forthcoming book about “global warming” calls the Greenland ice-sheet “one of ‘global warming’s’ most disturbing threats”. The article says: “The vast expanses of glaciers – massed, on average, 1.6 miles deep – contain enough water to raise sea levels worldwide by 23 feet (link). It is also told that the ice roads that were open 245 days a year have been restricted to only 100 days a year in Alaska.
That was North Pole; what about the third pole, the top of the world? Scientists and climbers are also witnessing the rapid melting of snow cover exposing bare rock on the climbing route.
“Climbing is becoming more dangerous, and I think we will start to see more injuries and even fatalities because of the difficult terrain,” said Dawa Steven Sherpa, team leader of Eco-Everest Expedition 2008, who successfully ascended Everest for the second time this May.
According to him, there was only 50 meters of rock to climb on the famous Hillary Step last year. This year, there was about 150 meters of rock. “Wearing crampons (metal shoes made for climbing in snow and ice) and standing on the bare rock at over 8,600 meters was a very scary experience,” said Sherpa. “At one point I slipped and if I hadn’t been clipped in I would have fallen 2,000 meters to Camp Two. (kantipur)
Some people claim that the Nature has its own way of doing things and we have done nothing much to upset it. Most others however disagree. Melting of Arctic ice seems way faster than some computer models predict.
Do we need to do more to offset this? Are we in the right direction?
Mendoza, 178-centimetre (5′ 10″) beauty, clinched the diamond-studded gold crown after answering a question on the difference between men and women.
“Men think that the fastest way to go to a point is to go straight,” explained the trilingual contestant from Amazonas state. “Women know that the faster way to go to a point is to go to the curves.”
Mendoza’s Venezuela is a “pageant superpower” with 4 previous Miss Universe and 5 Miss World winners. (Read more about her in Wikipedia and official Miss Universe site)
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Heroic act of a 13 year Kid, Kamal Nepali, saved the life of a two and half years old Aradhana Pradhan who fell into the gorge of Seti River in Pokhara, Nepal.
Aradhana fell some 60 meters into the Seti River gorge while she was following her father who was going towards the Seti River.
Several rescue attempts by the Military People, Armed Police Force, and the local people went in vain. Even a A rescue squad from the Franch Embassy in Kathmandu was also sent to aid the rescue operation. It was because the gorge was dark and too small to go in for the rescue squad the rescue squad couldn’t rescue the toddler.
Kamal Nepali volunteered himself to make an attempt to rescue the girl by crawling into the gorge with ropes attached to him. He was a small kid so he could reach places adults couldn’t get in.
Finally, the little girl was rescued 22 hours after she fell down the gorge. She was rushed to the local hospital after her rescue. She had suffered only minor bruises, but was kept in hospital to check whether she sustained internal injuries.
The incident made headlines and Nepal is Nepali was awarded various prizes. More photos of the incident in phokharacity.
