A Visit To Nepal

Nepal embassy promotes NTY 2011 in Paris

KATHMANDU: Nepal's Embassy in France hosted a function on Thursday at the UNESCO Hall in Paris to sensitise foreigners about Nepal Tourism Year (NTY) 2011.

The program was inaugurated by Nepal's Ambassador to France Mohan Krishna Shrestha and French Senator and President of France-Nepal Amity Group Jean-Pierre Kucheida jointly by lighting a holy oil lamp.

High ranking representatives from French Foreign Ministry; Ambassadors of USA, China, Japan, Laos, Malta and El Salvador to UNESCO; Professors; former French Ambassadors to Nepal; journalists; tour operators; representatives of Nepali societies in France; Nepali students; French NGO's active in Nepal and many others from different walks of life were present on the occasion.

Speaking on the occasion, Shrestha said the Government of Nepal had decided to celebrate Nepal Tourism Year with an objective of welcoming one million international tourists in the country.



Nepal is a reservoir of natural beauties, rich flora and fauna, exotic and adventurous wildlife and is considered as a living museum of religious temples, monuments, age-old traditions, cultural festivals, arts as well as palaces of traditional architecture, he said.



Shrestha also elaborated on the modem tourism activities available in the country such as bungee jumping, canoeing, eco-tourism, jungle safari and hunting in the preserved area, mountain flight, paragliding, ride in ultra-light aircraft, rafting and trekking. Unity in diversity is an excellent hallmark of the Nepali people, he said.

On the same occasion, Senator Kucheida expressed his happiness to attend the inaugural ceremony and wished Nepal Tourism Year a grand success. He said that he holds profound affection towards Nepal and Nepali people and always wish for their well-being. He expressed readiness to work closely to further strengthen the bonds of friendship between the two countries.

A documentary made by Nepal Tourism Board "Naturally Beautiful Nepal ¬ Once is not Enough" was screened at the function.
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The Reluctant Volunteer: Revolution Through the Eyes of Others
Watching the revolution and violence in Tunisia, Egypt and now Libya, I'm reminded of volunteering in Nepal during the civil war, and the events leading up to the violent revolution in 2006 when the people overthrew the monarchy.

We volunteer because we want to help. We want to lend our skills, or at least our passion, to a place where we think we can make a difference.

But here's the part I don't like to admit: there were many times early in my first volunteering stint that I felt superior to the people I was there to help. After all, relatively speaking, I was far wealthier and far better educated than the vast majority of folks in Nepal. I spoke English fluently, a language they naturally struggled with. I took pride in how worldly I was, and in the fact that I was willing to give my time so selflessly.

The more time I spent in the country, the more this pride began to break down. It was ridiculous, this pride, of course. The Nepalese people I knew spoke passable English, while I spoke just enough words in their language to get ripped off in taxis. Yet still I clung to that feeling of superiority. I was there to help them, after all -- not the other way around.

Then came the revolution.

In Nepal, the Maoist rebels led the charge in the spring of 2006, declaring they would call for a nationwide strike until the King stepped down. The King had seized absolute power a year earlier. Journalists were imprisoned; the King would thwart potential protest organizing by simply shutting down cell phone service for the whole country, sometimes for weeks at a time. The people had had enough, and they took to the streets.

The King called a curfew, ordering soldiers to shoot to kill anyone out of the street. Still the people came out to protest. Many were shot dead. Still more came out.

I left the country just before the revolution began. Watching CNN in the comfort of my home near New York, I saw the Nepalese people I had come to know -- people who had always seemed docile and deferential -- walk toward a row of soldiers and absorb bullets to win freedom for the strangers who stood behind them.

I hope I will never have to decide whether I want to step outside my house, into the path of bullets and beatings and tear gas, to fight to take back my country from a dictator. I don't expect I will. I have rarely been more humbled watching the people of Nepal -- and then Egypt, and Tunisia and Libya -- make those fateful decisions. They are the kind of decisions you make when you've accepted that you may not come home that night, that you may never see your family again.

But on T.V., those images from the other side of the world, we watch everyday people, shopkeepers and accountants and college students, strangers all of them, come together to make that ultimate sacrifice.

After the revolution, I went back to Nepal to help. Thousands of children had been trafficked during the decade of civil war that preceded the revolution -- I decided I was going to try to find them, to find their families, to make some kind of small difference there.

And when I did, I went back a different person than that cocky volunteer who had first showed up two years earlier. The people in Nepal, though, they were the same. They were still polite, generous, welcoming, and -- as they always had been, but I'd just never noticed -- far braver than I would ever have to be.

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Nepal: Dragon enters
Kathmandu: Time is surely running out. Yet the fight continues.
Pandora's Box is about to open. The lid of the box is in an excited mood.
A mere sixty-six days stay behind for the Constituent Assembly body to inhale Oxygen for survival.
The sixty seventh day may invite political bedlam and calamity of the highest order which has tentatively got the approval from the common men which gets reflected from the acts of slaps, marking of the death anniversaries of the living 601 CA members in a hatred manner and more so fast unto death promises being made by some Nepali nationals for the timely draft of the new constitution.
In one way or the other, the general population may not endorse if the tenure of the CA body is forcefully extended for some more time to come under one flimsy pretext or the other.
People's frustration is already at its peak against the presumed blood suckers. Any thing unpleasant could happen in the eventuality if the extension is further imposed on the people.
Naturally the political void that will commence immediately after the expiry of the CA body will not only be dangerous  in political terms but may also facilitate some interested quarters to jump into the scene in order to tame the emerging frightening circumstances under control.
But will the people come to the streets? Not sure. Peace loving as they are.
However, it would definitely be New Delhi dictates that would win through ultimately. The Nepal Army or the Nepal President or even the sidelined King could be told to take the situation under control. This will depend much upon whom of the three New Delhi Godfathers bank.
Testing time for New Delhi indeed.
New Delhi has already hinted that it was not in favor of the extension of the Constituent Assembly body for some comprehensible reasons.
The fact is that the further addition of the CA tenure would mean to bear with the unbearable Maoists arithmetical strength at the said body which further would mean the heightening up of the anti-Indian sentiments in Nepal to which Delhi knows but would like to lessen and to lessen the increasing RED thump in Kathmandu the best way would be the termination of the current CA body once and for all and Nepal be forced to hug a fresh poll which, New Delhi presumes perhaps, may bring down the current potency of the Maoists to a trivial level.
The entire idea is to cut down the wings of the former NOIDA bird called the formidable Nepal Maoists.
The New Delhi scheme has already been floated. Some Indo-pendent Nepali leaders have been awarded this honorific task to disseminate this sparkling thought. Whether the project will work or bounce back on Delhi eventually will take some time to come to the open. Yet the job is in progress.
New Delhi has copious logical reasons to get afraid of the increasing RED whack in Kathmandu's politics. As if it were not enough, the Chinese command has expressed its direct and visible interest in Nepali affairs. Nothing to hide now.
It could be a mere conjecture albeit but the fact is that Nepal as a nation-state will entertain a very high level Chinese Army delegation beginning today.
People's Liberation Army Chief, Chen Bingde, is scheduled to land Nepal today with a contingent of high placed Chinese Army men who generally count in framing the security policies of the Beijing regime across the world.
Border experts too have been included in this jumbo military delegation, analysts have been informed.
The composition of the visiting Chinese Military delegation is such that it has already created panic in the entire Himalayan Asia.
It has been almost a decade or so that such a high powered Military team is visiting Nepal.
In all likelihood, China prefers now to look into Himalayan Asia by permanently residing in Kathmandu.
Clearly, the arrival of such a high level delegation from China does mean that China has begun attaching high importance to Nepal and its turbulent politics and that China would want solid assurances from Nepal's higher authorities and the government that Nepal sticks to One China policy and would never allow Nepalese soil to be used against anti-China activities.
China will not reconcile for less this time, it is widely believed.
Could cause headache for some near and far but the fact is that China will flood Nepal with generous grant assistances and military logistics. All that Nepal needs to do is just to signal the things it wants.
The Indo-pendent lobby in Kathmandu remains in a panicked mood. New Delhi's increased nervousness could easily be presumed.
Reports have it that soon after the completion of this friendly visit, China is inviting Nepal Army Chief ( the invitation has already been made) and the defense minister for a "meaningful" visit to Beijing.
Unconfirmed reports have it that China may also extend friendly invitation to Prachanda and the Maoist party military strategist, Mr. Ram Bahadur Thapa Badal to visit Beijing at their convenient time.
Visibly, China watchers claim that Beijing wishes to cash in upon from Nepal's troubled relations with the Southern neighbor and ensure its place in Nepali politics for all time to come.
Timing is important in diplomacy.
Delhi's nervousness is sure to attain a new height.
All in all, having said all these the tragedy has been that some fifty days have already gone to the dogs, Nepal Prime Minister Khanal has failed miserably to provide a full shape to his cabinet.
The tussle to pocket Home Ministry is on.
Needless to say, the Indo-pendent lobby is doing all it can to topple this RED coalition and force it to embrace a premature death.
How Prime Minister Khanal and Prachanda brave this Himalayan task and become able to steer a full fledged functioning government will have to be watched.
Mind it that only sixty six days were left for the likely chaos to enter Kathmandu.
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In memoriam of lost precious Japanese lives
Calamities at times happen without providing any notices or whatsoever.
As and when such natural misfortune does happen or occur, hundreds of precious lives are lost and country’s basic infrastructure too gets badly damaged.
We in Nepal remain stunned on how to extend our heartfelt grief over the devastating high on the Richter scale earthquake associated with the Tsunami that rocked the friendly nation-Japan which has remained ever steadfast in extending its developmental support to Nepal without any strings attached.
Japan is being loved by the Nepalese population not only because Japan has been extending support to Nepal in a regular basis but also for the providing jobs to thousands of unemployed youths of Nepal who have been living in Japan.
Japan is a prime destination for those who seek jobs in foreign countries. Later come Republic of Korea and then the countries of the Gulf.
Loss of precious lives anywhere in the world is a heart rendering event. Our heart naturally goes to the people and the government of Japan which is doing all it can to manage the country to be back on its original track and come out from the devastating natural catastrophe.
We wish that the government of Japan becomes able to tackle the suddenly approached situation in a skilled manner so that its population gets out from the current panic of the highest order.
We pray for the departed souls and hope that the Almighty provides them all with eternal peace.
We are with the Japanese people and the government as a friendly nation.