Gopal Bhutani is no longer with us

Gopal Bhutani, a fight director and actor of Nepali movie industry, has died 11:00 AM on Tuesday, November 23, 2010 at the age of 78. He was seriously ill for some time and when the condition deterized on Sunday, he was admitted to the Janamaitri Hospital in Balaju.

Bhutani doesn’t have any relatives, so the last rites will be done by fight director Rajendra Khadgi. Bhutani loved Rajendra Khadgi very much and used to call him son.

Bhutani, a Tamang by birth will be put to rest according to the Tamang ethnic rituals in Shyambhu.

Bhutani started his career in movie in the 1940s in Bombay, India. His first Nepali movie was "Manko Baadh" re
leased in BS 2032. Then he started as a fight director in "Jeevan Rekha".

Our condolence to the deceased soul. (Photo credit – nagariknews)

'King' to inaugurate 'Princess' NGO

Taking advantage of the current political instability, the royal family is still in the process to get back it’s previous status. They have tried to use the only person in the family without much good or bad public information, Himani Shah, to create sympathy towards monarchy. Another reason of using the previous princess, in the mission, might be her innocent looking face and beauty.

Now, she has decided to conduct the work in a more organized way, by registering a non-government organization named Himani Trust. The Trust is going to be inaugurated today (October 8, 2010) in Soltae Crown Plaza hotel in Kathmandu.

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NC president Sushil Koirala admitted to the hospital

Sushil Koirala was admitted to Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital (TUTH) for treatment of infection in his lungs, within a few hours of his victory in the party election.

The doctors have told that the illness of the newly elected president of Nepali Congress is related to the excessive effort during the preparation of the election. According to the doctors, he will stay in the hospital before for five day.

Due to the illness, Koirala could not attend the vict
ory rally organized in Kathmandu. Earlier, the 12th general convention of Nepali Congress had elected Sushil Koirala as the next party president.

Documentary – Fairytale of Kathmandu

Irish Film Board presents a beautiful documentary

A 2007 documentary by Neasa Ní Chianáin.

Documentary – Fairytale of Kathmandu

On a subject almost impossible to get this close… Celebrated Irish poet Cathal O’ Searcaigh invites his greatest fan Neasa to Nepal.
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Indian Embassy – Real Juice – Real motive, and Indian Media

‘Real’ Embassy

Indian Embassy accused Nepali media of improperly posting news about the evidence of finding non-consumable materials in Real branded products. The photographs of tainted products published in various newspapers do seem genuine.

Even if Nepali press have exaggerated (which doesn’t seem true) some unanswered question are:

  1. Why does Indian Embassy have to issue a press release in this issue? Is it such a big issue? Does such minor events affect the intergovernmental relations between two countries?
  2. Is Dabur Nepal (or Dabur India) so incapable of defending itself?

Indian Embassy and Nepali Press

There were reports about the tainted products from all over Nepal. Given our media house’s capabilities and dedication, I don’t believe Nepali media can create such a large scaled fabricated story (as Indian Embassy told). And, it was not a single media house that reported the story. Apart from Nayapatrika, Weeklynepal, ABC news, Kantipur, radiomirmire, Pokharatoday, Pokharanews, Yubabahas; a lot of media had published independent news on the issue.

  1. Can Indian Embassy point out which of these media houses they were talking about?

Real worms in Real Juice

The news, photographs, and quotes of general public don’t look fabricated. They are from different sources, involve different people and are from different parts of the country. For example, some of the places from where reports of inconsumable products were reported (collected from different sources):

  1. Kapilvasthu (Badrinath Guesthouse, Chandrauta) – A government official witnessed 20 tainted packets.
  2. Pokhara (Bulaud Bazaar store) – The officials of Dabur Nepal forced the owner to close the shop.
  3. Kathmandu (Mohan Cold Store, Anamnagar) – Sagarmatha TV featured the story.
  4. More reports from different parts of Pokhara
  5. Birgunj – people admitted to hospital after drinking Real juice

Misleading Indian Media Campaign

Various media bodies in Nepal have expressed serious concern over Friday’s statement of Indian embassy.

However, Indian media are doing their own media campaign against Nepali media. (When Embassy itself is that irresponsible, I can’t blame the Indian media!)

Some of the headlines in Indian media:

  1. Dabur faces smear campaign in Nepal
  2. Dabur faces misleading media campaign in Nepal
  3. Indian joint ventures face smear campaign in Nepal

In contrast, Nepali media headlines read:

  1. Media bodies irked by Indian embassy statement; ask it to apologize
  2. Media orgs caution Indian embassy to respect diplomatic norms
  3. सञ्चार संस्थाहरुद्वारा भारतीय दूताबाससँग क्षमायाचना गर्न माग
  4. सञ्चार सगठनहरुद्वारा प्रेस स्वतन्त्रताको मान्यता पालना गर्न भारतीय दूतावासलाई सचेत

Roads that cost Rs. 10 mil a day!

The photo on the right is a new road. You can see the damage and the blockage on the newly constructed road.

It has been about 40 days a road connecting Bhairahawa with Parasi was constructed for Rs. 400 mil. and it has started failing. The 29 km road was constructed under the load of Asian Development Bank (ADB). ADB does its own quality control for which a representative was there. But, the local leaders didn’t show him the damaged part and only showed the good part of the road.

The contractors have passed the road and have received the payme
nt. Now, they are saying it is not their problem.

Well, that was out of Kathmandu. But, there is a road in the heart of Kathmandu that got damaged within a month. And nobody in the authority is concerned.

Kguff.com says that ‘it can only happen in Nepal’. Everybody should be asking:

    • Are the approving officers incompetent ?
    • Do constructors / engineers have ethics in Nepal ?
    • Will the culprit be punished?

ITC Info Fair – Robot and Cheap Netbook (video)

This year’s Info Fair was a bit different from previous years. In contrast to most of the public events where political leaders inaugurate the events, the Info Fair was inaugurated by a robot on Thursday, July 1. The robot started the Fair by cutting a red ribbon on the entrance of the Info Fair location in Bhrikuti Mandap.

The technology fair made news previously when the organizers announced a $88 laptop (netbook), the stall of which, attracted the most number of visitors.

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World Cup 2010 to be screened at the Stadium in Kathmandu

The World Cup football is one of the most sought after international games in Nepal. There was an outcry when Nepal government decided to increase the load shedding hours from 42 hours to 54 hours per week on June 12, 2010. The cable operators have been switching off all the sports channels and only one Nepali TV broadcaster is allowed to telecast the games live.

There is however one good news. The Final of the world cup is coming to the Dasarath Stadium in Kathmandu … through five big screen television sets.

Nepal National and International Players Association (NNIPA) and Growth Sellers Consultancy have teamed-up to broadcast World Cup 2010 live from South Africa, in Dasarath Stadium, Kathmandu.

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$90 Laptop on sale in Nepal

An unbranded, so called laptop, costing Rs. 6,500 (less than US $88 in today’s conversion rate) is going to be on sale, starting July 1, 2010, in an information technology fair to be held in Kathmandu.

Information Communication & Technology Association of Nepal (ICT) is going to organize the 2010 edition of the Info Trade Fair at Exhibition Hall, Bhrikuti Mandap, Kathmandu on July 1. The third mega event of information, communication and technology will run till July 5.

The notebook will be powered by ARM VT8505 processor, 128 MB RAM, 2 GB storage capacity. It uses card readers and pen drives for additional storage needs. The laptop will feature Windows CE operating system, WiFi for internet browsing. The battery however can only run for a maximum of two hours – not enough for the load shedding we have in Nepal.

The event will have 12 pavilions and 110 stalls to display various products and services on information and communication technology. The gadgets on display in the event include desktops, laptops, mobile phones, iPods, DVDs, Pen Drives, printers, and many other electronic gadgets.

The event will feature many international brands including Acer, Akkord, Altec Lansing, Aoc LCD Monitor, Anid, Asus, Aztech, Belkin, Benq, Brother, Creative, Dynamic, Edifier, Edimax, Epson, Foxcom, Genius, HCL, HP, Hyundai, Intel, Kaspersky, Lenovo, Lexmark, M-Audio, Microsoft, Mitsubishi, Motorola, MSI, Nokia, Philips, Pinnacle, Powercom, Quickheal, Richo, Samsung, Silion-Power, Sony Ericsson, Storium, Sukam, Techcom, Toshiba, TP Link, and Verbatim.

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Travel Log Kathmandu – Pokhara – Palpa – Lumbini – Chitwan (Part 1)

By: Raju Shrestha

With lots of passion and enthusiasm I decided to take a break and go on leave to my beautiful home country Nepal with basic motive to set out for tour. Time just did not show no mercy and the schedule was so hectic and busy, visiting relatives and doing all those formalities! It was far more time consuming and expensive than anticipated. So, at last I need to make decision of short trip to Pokhara. We made a plan for 4 days. Kathmandu – Pokhara – Palpa – Lumbini – Chitwan – Kathmandu. So with this short listed places on our head we made our tank full and jet-off in search of natural pleasure. With every blow of air I thanked nature by blessing my country so much. Cool air blowing through, rivers and rivulets all over, huts and pure Nepali lifestyles added extra perfume of perfection that I was searching when I made my mind to go Nepal.

This was my first trip ever. I never thought, riding bikes or even sitting as a pillion is a hard job when it’s too long. So, we decided to take rest and eat lunch in Malekhu with fish, which was also fun altogether.

All I was doing was praising the charisma of nature. Halo shining through this pictures is a resemblance of excitement and pleasure to know the nature by so near.

Overtaking is indeed a tough job to accomplish neatly. A small mistake’s outcome is so big that we all are well aware. Ain’t it?

Finally, we reached Pokhara and decided to stay in lake-side for that night. Glad to see the beauty of over-hyped Fewa lake, clouds all around so no mountains.

The panorama was so good that we almost forgot our friends. All were busy taking snaps in their own world of imagination and excitement. Some time later we accumulated and decided to get back. There we regretted of not having group pictures, blaming each other we reached hotels to get some sleep.

Next morning we went to see Davis falls. Again it was so splendidly running looking at which I imagined how David actually fell here when there were no bars. It was another masterpiece or gift of nature.

Then we set out for our next destination Palpa. Getting there was actual fun, back pain caused by riding bike was easily overcome by the pleasure of eye experiencing nature.

I feel like I am in heaven when I was taking this picture.

(…to be continued.)

Night Life in Kathmandu

In the past the night life in Kathmandu used to be a bit dull. Kathmandu used to sleep at night. But, not anymore. These days, the night life has been more colourful because of the new way of lifestyle. Nepali youths have grown interest in disco and restaurants. Late night entertainment has been an integral part of the day-to-day life of Kathmandu residents.

The dance restaurants and clubs have contributed to this development.
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