Saturday, September 8, 2012

CHASING PAVEMENTS 

"THE government said they were going 

to build a better city. So, they drew 

marks everywhere. They put up signs 

and told people to push back. And the 

CAPITAL EDITION � PRINTED SIMULTANEOUSLY IN KATHMANDU, BIRATNAGAR, BHARATPUR AND NEPALGUNJ � STAND PRICE RS 5.00 

fall of the city began" concern over climate change with regards to the rights of sexual and 

5 8 

gender minorities in Nepal 9 9 

Kathmandu, Saturday, September 8, 2012 (23/05/2069) Nepal Sambat 1132 

KATHMANDU has long drawn 

attention as the political, financial 

and cultural capital of Nepal. On 

the one hand, Kathmandu symbolises 

a haven for the masses, for students 

whose future it holds, for the 

migrant workers and refugees who 

arrive with empty pockets and their 

hearts filled with hope. It has come 

to represent the aspirations of a 

burgeoning intellectual class, pioneering 

trends in art, culture and 

activism. And as is evidenced in the 

rising number of international festivals 

it hosts, Kathmandu is also 

gaining momentum as a trendsetter 

on controversial issues in the 

South Asian region. 

But it is equally prone to evoke 

disgust in the people who walk its 

streets, and disillusionment in 

those who find their lives bereft in 

this city of abundance. 

The cityscape has gone through 

drastic changes in recent years. 

Even as high rise buildings with 

their shiny exteriors have begun to 

pierce the sky, roads have turned to 

rubble and Kathmandu is crumbling 

at the seams. Straddling reality 

and dreams, poverty and prosperity, 

tradition and modernity, 

Kathmandu looks keen on pushing 

itself into the future. 

This week, the Post attempts to 

uncover the multiple layers that 

make up Kathmandu. 

(See Pages 5-10) 

AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE 

CHARLOTTE, SEPT 7 

US PRESIDENT Barack Obama 

implored Americans to grant him a 

second term, warning that 

Republican rival Mitt Romney would 

kill the economic recovery and is not 

cut out to lead. 

Four years after he claimed power 

on a euphoric 

tide of hope, 

Obama bluntly 

warned that the 

United States 

faced its most 

stark political 

crossroads in a 

generation, and 

insisted he 

never said 

change would 

be quick or easy. 

“The path we offer may be harder, 

but it leads to a better place and I’m 

asking you to choose that future,” he 

said, warning that his Republican 

rival would gut the middle class and 

return to “blustering and blundering” 

abroad. 

Sketching an agenda to create 

millions of jobs, cut $4 trillion from 

the deficit and revolutionize energy 

policy, Obama refused to abandon 

the hope of 2008, saying: “Know this, 

America: our problems can be 

solved.” 

A CHANGING PLANET 

THE second Kathmandu International Arts 

Festival, the largest international art event 

in Nepal, has chosen to take a look at 

how art can find a way of expressing 

Nepal’s winning 

streak on, whip US 

THE 

TON MAN 

JAGDISHOR PANDAY 

KUALA LUMPUR, SEPT 7 

NEPAL maintained their 

winning run in the ICC 

World Cricket League 

Division Four with a comprehensive 

32-run victory 

over USA on Friday. 

This win has almost 

assured Nepal a place in the 

final and a place in Division 

Three. Only mathematical 

equations remain ahead of 

Nepal’s chances. 

Opting to bat first, Nepal 

managed to score 258 with 

Subash Khakurel delivering a 

superb century. The 19-yearold 

opener smashed a 115 of 

142 balls that consisted of 10 

boundaries and two sixes. 

With this knock, Khakurel 

became the only fourth 

Nepali to score a century in 

‘Tested, proven’ Obama 

seeks a second term 

The president spoke at the 

Democratic National Convention, 

exactly two months before the election, 

hoping to break open a knifeedge 

race with Romney, who paints 

him as out of ideas to nurse the sickly 

economy back to health. The speech 

drew frenzied applause from supporters, 

but the flashbulbs and fanfare 

could soon be forgotten, as a new jobs 

report released on Friday showed 

still-tepid economic growth nearly 

four years after Obama took office. 

“The election four years ago wasn’t 

about me. It was about you. My fellow 

citizens — you were the change,” 

Obama said, citing his ending of the 

Iraq war, more rights for gays and lesbians 

and near universal health care. 

“If you turn away now—if you buy 

into the cynicism that the change we 

fought for isn’t possible—well, change 

will not happen.” 

Obama proclaimed that with him, 

Americans could stay with “leadership 

that has been tested and 

proven.” 

It seemed unlikely that Obama’s 

speech would break open the race 

with Romney, but it appeared to hit 

the mark in the hall. 

“This once in a lifetime experience 

was more than a rally cry, but a 

call to action. I’m more ready than 

ever to answer the call for Obama,” 

said John Matthew Borders IV of 

Dorchester, Massachusetts. 

Nepal’s Subash Khakurel bats his way to a 

century against the US in the ICC Div 4 

match on Friday. PHOTO COURTESY: ICC 

NEPAL’S LARGEST SELLING ENGLISH DAILY 

an international match. His 

score of 115 runs is also the 

highest ever achieved by a 

Nepali batsman in a single 

innings. Gyanendra Malla 

and captain Paras Khadka 

also played innings of 46 and 

41 runs respectively. 

The USA, requiring 259 

for victory, were constantly 

pegged by the Nepali spin 

bowlers who shared nine 

wickets between them. 

Basanta Regmi continued 

his fine form by picking up 

five wickets and took his tally 

to 14 wickets, the best in the 

tournament. Sanjam Regmi 

and Shakti Gauchan took 

two wickets each, while 

Amrit Bhattarai picked up a 

solitary wicket as the USA 

were all out for 226 in the 

49th over. 

(Scoreboard on Pg 12) 

64 killed in 

China quakes 

BEIJING: At least 64 people 

were killed and 550 injured 

when two quakes struck a 

remote and mountainous 

area of southwest China on 

Friday, officials and 

observers said. Residents 

described how people ran 

out of buildings screaming 

as the two quakes hit on 

the border of southwestern 

Yunnan and Guizhou 

provinces an hour apart 

around the middle of the 

day followed by a string of 

aftershocks. (AFP) 

‘Blasphemy’ girl 

ISLAMABAD: A Pakistani 

judge on Friday granted 

bail to a Christian girl who 

has spent three weeks in 

jail for alleged blasphemy, 

in a landmark decision for 

a case that has sparked an 

international outcry. Her 

lawyer said it was the first 

time anyone has been 

released on bail for blasphemy 

in Pakistan. The 

case of Rimsha Masih, who 

was accused of setting fire 

to papers that contained 

verses from the Koran, 

incited particular condemnation 

because she is 

under age, illiterate and 

said to suffer from learning 

difficulties. (AFP) 

MoFA advises Prez not to 

meet Western diplomats 

ANIL GIRI 

KATHMANDU, SEPT 7 

THE Ministry of Foreign Affairs 

(MoFA) has advised President 

Ram Baran Yadav not to meet 

Western diplomats, including 

those of the EU, Norway, Switzerland 

and Denmark, who have been raising 

concerns about the formation of transitional 

justice mechanisms through an 

ordinance. 

TRC ORDINANCE 

Last Thursday, a meeting of Western 

diplomats held at the Office of the EU 

Delegation in Kathmandu decided to 

meet the President and express their 

displeasure over some provisions in the 

ordinance on the formation of the Truth 

and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) 

and the Commission of Enquiry on 

Enforced Disappearance. They had forwarded 

a request to MoFA on August 31 

to arrange for a meeting with Yadav. 

The diplomatic community was 

also preparing to urge the President and 

SPRINTING OVER 

HURDLES 

SOUTH Asia's first gay sports festival, to 

be held in Kathmandu next month, 

represents a fresh breaking of barriers 

key political figures to ensure that any 

commission should meet international 

standards and must not include blanket 

amnesties for serious violations of 

human rights and the international 

humanitarian law. 

The community is of the view that 

these bills should incorporate views of 

the National Human Rights 

Commission and victims’ groups when 

finalising the ordinance and comply 

with the Supreme Court’s verdict of 

June 2007. The court had on June 1, 

2007 ordered the government to formulate 

a law to criminalise enforced disappearances 

in accordance with the international 

convention, establish a high 

WITHIN THE PAGES 

A WAVE of literary events has come to 

be part of the city's annual calendar 

in recent times, growing in number 

and scale 

Vol XX No 203 | 12+4 Pages | www.ekantipur.com 

The diplomats had decided 

to meet the Prez and express 

displeasure over provisions 

in the TRC, disappearance 

commission ordinance 

level commission to look into such 

cases and provide adequate compensation 

and relief to victims and their families. 

The envoys were also planning to 

discuss with the President the “growing” 

corruption in state organs and the 

current political standoff. UN Resident 

and Humanitarian Coordinator Robert 

Piper has also expressed displeasure 

over the ordinance forwarded to the 

president for approval. He has said said 

that the endorsement of the ordinance 

will ‘severely undermine victims’ access 

to justice, and potentially further institutionalise 

impunity.’ 

MOFA CONTD ON PG 4

2 

ASTRAL 

REFLECTIONS 

ARIES 

TAURUS 

GEMINI 

CANCER 

LEO 

VIRGO 

LIBRA 

SCORPIO 

SAGITTARIUS 

CAPRICORN 

AQUARIUS 

PISCES 

[March 21-April 19] 

The main accent lies on work, machinery, health—tackle 

chores, buy machinery, especially Friday/Saturday, when 

prices might be low. However, avoid purchases—of 

machines and real estate—Sunday afternoon to Tuesday 

afternoon. Your home life meets the same old frustrations 

before Wednesday—but these largely will dissolve by 

October 5 onward. (A problem of financing and, perhaps, 

community reputation, might remain for another decade. 

Rather than flailing impotently against these, accept them, 

then go out, make friends, have fun. I’m serious.) Romantic 

feelings rise midweek. 

[April 20-May 20] 

Romance, creativity, beauty, pleasure, speculation, charming 

children and a winning streak—these give their lucky 

touch to this week and next. Be adventurous; express yourself 

(and your feelings, to loved ones). Siblings, casual 

friends, errands, trips and communications fill Sunday to 

Tuesday—there will be bumps as well as delights. Love and 

liking goes well with an “angry” Scorpio, not so well with a 

Capricorn. Midweek accents home, kids, security—a 

sweet, restful interval, if you can sidestep anger or accident 

potential Wednesday eve. Love, romance flare 

Friday/Saturday! 

[May 21-June 20] 

The accent continues on home, kids/parents, security, gardening, 

retirement and other “foundational” concerns. 

DON’T buy/rent a home Sunday noon to Tuesday (bad eventual 

financial result). Friends, emails, arrive midweek—or 

you go travelling, errand’ing. A good friend and a bad friend, 

or you and a friend argue then laugh. (This is a good time— 

generally, 2011 to 2018 -to start building new friends.) 

Exercise your curiosity. Head for home or nature, garden, 

peace, Friday/Saturday. Nurture kids. You might find a 

home/rental at a nice low price. Work hard all week, 

protect health. 

[June 21-July 22] 

This week and next emphasize short trips, errands, emails, 

media, communications, reports and paperwork—a new 

project or acquaintance might arrive Friday/Saturday. 

Earlier, your energy and charisma rise strongly Sunday to 

Tuesday—get things done, charge into important projects, 

impress people! Tuesday, you have a choice: passively 

deflate, or conquer a long-standing home or relationship 

problem. (Be careful with relationships Sunday night: either 

love blooms, or enmity explodes.) Chase money midweek. 

Buy high tech, not machinery. Career’s blessed, romance is 

a dud Wednesday. 

[July 23-August 22] 

The focus is on money—buying/selling, earnings. Your job 

is changing, slowly, unstoppably, over this entire decade. 

That said, you might be in position to ask for a pay raise 

now or soon. (Try this Friday.) Retreat, lie low and rest 

Sunday to Tuesday—protect your health and reputation. 

Your energy and charisma surge upward 

Wednesday/Thursday Your friendly, romantic or adventurous 

impulses might lead to friction (on the home front?) 

or even a fight, but they also trigger love, great friendship, 

or simple happiness. Your creative, inventive idea these two 

days are superb. 

[August 23-September 22] 

Your wishes and social life have run into a quiet, subtle brick 

wall for the last 2 to 3 years. This has taught you a lot (or 

puzzled you no end) and you still have long-term adjustments 

in attitude to make, but October 5 will dissolve this 

wall to a large degree—you’re going to make more friends, 

soon. Meanwhile, use the gentle wisdom of this week (and 

Sunday-Tuesday’s events) to study why the “dry spell” happened. 

(Hint: romance, and a major change in type of friend, 

are involved.) Lie low, deal with government, charities midweek. 

Your energy, magnetism soar Friday/Saturday. 

[September 23-October 22] 

Continue to lay low, rest and contemplate. Eat, sleep and 

dress sensibly, protect your health. Handle paperwork or 

communications with government agencies, charities and 

private head offices. Despite your low energy levels, you 

remain hopeful—in fact your optimism grows—and life 

looks brighter, especially Wednesday/Thursday. (Correctly 

so, as early October will “remove” three years of emotional 

“chains.”) Friends gather round too. Money flows swiftly to 

you, but bank it or lose it. Be ambitious, tackle career issues 

early week. Quietude and rest bless you Friday onward. 

[October 23-November 21] 

The accent remains on the power of popularity, wishful 

thinking (and fulfillment!) on flirtation, light romance, entertainment, 

fun, group affairs, and optimism. Even when problems 

crop up (a wee bit Sunday—work/health—and 

Tuesday—a missed communication) you hardly feel them. 

(This early week period is gentle and wise—and promotes 

love.) Charge after career goals Wednesday/Thursday. 

(Bosses “love you” now to October 2.) Channel your impatience/determination 

into work, not quarrels, Wednesday 

eve. All that fun, social joy and optimism climaxes delightfully 

Friday/Saturday. 

[November 22-December 21] 

Chase career and status goals this week and next—especially 

this Friday/Saturday, when a new project might begin. 

Opportunities begin to fill your days to mid-2013, offering 

lucky new relationships, public interactions, and, this 

month, openings to climb upward through contacts and cooperation. 

Your intellectual side blossoms, attracting affection 

and success in educational, far travel, legal, publishing 

and similar pursuits, especially Wednesday/Thursday. Seek 

out higher-ups, bosses and scholars—they favour you now. 

The Sunday-Tuesday period is jumbled—act Monday. 

[December 22-January 19] 

Your intellectual side blossoms. Social rituals, gentle love, 

far travel, education, publishing, cultural involvements, 

international pursuits—all are favoured, especially 

Friday/Saturday, when a (related) new project or relationship 

might begin. Earlier, take care with relationships 

Sunday to Tuesday—true love could be riding these days, or 

a major glitch that could break a bond apart. (Your home circumstance 

could irk or impede you.) (You might watch 

sparks of attraction fly between two of your friends.) 

Midweek favours finances, sexual urges and health diagnosis—act! 

[January 20-February 18] 

The focus remains on secrets, research and detective work, 

sexual urges, investment, debt and other large financial 

matters, health diagnosis, and lifestyle changes. These 

could trigger a fortunate event or action Friday/Saturday. 

(You should act; don’t leave it to others.) Earlier, tackle 

chores and health concerns Sunday to Tuesday. These few 

days hold money inspiration and career luck, but they “disagree” 

with romance and secret actions. Watch your words 

with higher-ups and authorities, especially Wednesday— 

they’re a little testy and so, perhaps, are you. A good week! 

[February 19-March 20] 

The focus remains on crucial relationships—of all kinds— 

and on opportunities and challenges. Be co-operative, seek 

others: you’ll gain in both emotional and practical ways. You 

are facing a whole new decade, a whole new life. Don’t sully 

the future with resentments or hurts from the past. It’s time 

to forgive, totally, and move on: that way, your future will 

shine with brightness and joy. Grab the bright, let go of the 

dim. This might be more meaningful Friday/Saturday (when 

a new relationship might begin, or new horizon appear). 

Passion early week; chores midweek (be safe). 

review 

STRIPS REVIEW 

FOOD AND DRINKS 

Krishnarpan— a specialty Nepali 

Restaurant at Dwarika’s, 6 courses to 22 

courses Nepali meal served. Opening Time: 

18: 00 pm till 23:00 pm (Dinner Only) / Prior 

reservations Required, Contact: 4479448 

Taste the sandwiches and crepes at The 

Lounge from 11:00am to 6:00pm every- 

day. Contact: Hyatt Regency Kathmandu 

at 4491234. 

The Italian restaurant serves authentic 

Italian cuisines in an elegant ambience for 

both lunch and dinner. Timings: Lunch: 

1230 to1445 hrs, Dinner: 1900 - 2245 

hrs, Contact No: 977 1 427399 Extn. 

6510, at Soaltee Crowne Plaza 

Kathmandu 

Savor the cardamom and saffron spice the 

slow-cooked kebabs and kormas at our 

Indian restaurant serving Awadhi cui- 

sine. Timings: Dinner: 1900 - 2245 hrs, 

Contact No: 977 1 427399 Extn. 6520, at 

Soaltee Crowne Plaza Kathmandu 

China Garden offers delectable dishes 

from across Asia, including Japanese, 

Korean, Vietnamese and of course, 

Chinese. Timings: Lunch: 1230 -1445 

hrs, Dinner: 1900 - 2245 hrs, Contact No: 

977 1 427399 Extn. 6540, at Soaltee 

Crowne Plaza Kathmandu 

Designed with an exquisite contemporary 

interior, Garden Terrace offers an authen- 

tic world cuisine i.e. Indian, Nepali, 

Oriental, Italian, Continental etc, with dif- 

ferent live cooking stations providing din- 

ers with the unique experience of observ- 

ing their selected dishes being freshly pre- 

pared by the chefs. Contact No: 977 1 

427399 Extn. 6560, at Soaltee Crowne 

Plaza Kathmandu 

Tibetan Gyakok for Lunch & Dinner every 

day at The Mandarin, The Everest Hotel 

ph: 4780100 ext: 7811 

Kaiser Cafe Restaurant & Bar at The 

Garden of Dreams, Opening Time: 9: 00 till 

22:00, offers an international cafe menu 

kantipur 

2:30 Kilo Tango Mike 

ON YOUR KANTIPUR 

5:00 Bhakti Sur 

6:25 Suvarambha+Kundali 

6:30 Swami Haridas Baba 

Prabachan 

7:00 Kantipur Samachar 

8:00 Samachar Time 

8:30 Kantipur News 

8:30 Samachar Time 

9:00 Headline News 

9:05 Hijo Aaka Ka Kura 

9:30 Ghum Gham 


10:30 Infoplus (fresh) 


11:05 Rajatpat 

11:30 Score Board 


12:30 Music Mela 


1:05 Ukali Orali 

1:30 Life is Beautiful 

2:00 Harke Haldar 

EVENTOGRAPH 


3:50 Tite Kareli 

3:30 Hijo Aaja Ka Kura 

4:00 Hamro Team 

4:30 Songs 


5:05 Call Kantipur Reloaded 


6:30 College 


7:30 Countdown Kantipur (pop) 


9:00 Naya Sambidhan 

10:00 Business Journal 



11:30 Countdown Kantipur 

12:00 Call Kantipur (repeated) 

1:00 Kantipur News (repeated) 


2:00 Kantipur Samachar (repeat 1) 

2:30 Business Journal 

3:00 Kantipur Samachar (repeat 2) 

3:30 Naya Sambidhan 


serving breakfast, lunch, dinner, specialty 

tea’s, coffees and pastries, Contact 4479448 

Daily Buffet with a complimentary glass of 

house wine at The Café, The Everest 

Hotel, Lunch 1200- 1500hrs and Dinner 

1830-2230hrs. Ph: 4780100 Ext: 7411 

Special Saturday Brunch at The Café & 

Garden, The Everest Hotel 12:00 Noon to 

1600 Hours; Ph 4780100 ext: 7811 

Sandwich and Crepes: Taste the sand- 

wiches and crepes at The Lounge from 

11:00am to 6:00pm everyday. For further 

details call Hyatt Regency Kathmandu at 

4491234. 

Mako’s offers traditional Japanese food 

served within a warm and stylish setting, 

don’t miss out on Mako’s special 

Tempuras, and also the green tea ice 

cream, Opening Time: 11: 30 - 14:30 & 

19:00 - 22:00, Contact: 4479448 

Manny’s Eatery and bar introduces a spe- 

cial lunch package. The lunch is designed to 

be affordable, tasty, nutritious and quick 

enough to fit your lunch break, Jawalakhel, 

Shaligram complex, 5536919 

Out-of-Africa Lunch amid rural splendor: 

Sat & Sun from 1130 to 1630 hours. Enjoy 

Nepali & Newari delicacies. Munch on exotic 

gundruk bhatmas with Bacardi or Campari. 

Listen to Ten Years After, The Grateful Dead, 

Cream etc at The Watering Hole, Indrawati 

River Valley. For prior reservation con- 

tact: indrawatiresort@gmail.com 

The Toran, an ideal location for all day 

lounging and informal dining offers conti- 

nental cuisines. It is opened throughout the 

day from early morning breakfast to dinner. 

Contact Dwarika’s Hotel, Sales and 

Marketing—4479488. 

00:00 Pop It Up 

The Dwarika’s Thali brings you the simple 

yet sublime flavours of Nepal’s favourite 

dish. Stop over for lunch & enjoy Nepali 

cuisne, hospitality and heritage at the 

Dwarika’s Hotel, 3 course meal just for 

Nrs.1199/- plus 10% service charge and 

13% vat, per person, contact: 4479488 

01:00 Non-Stop Nepali Songs 

03:00 Non-Stop Hindi Gazal 

04:00 Bhajan 

05:00 Bhakti Anusthan 

06:30 Kantipur Diary 

07:00 Sancho Bihani 

07:30 Hami Samman Garchaun 


08:05 Bigyan Prabidhi 

08:30 Cyber Time 


09:10 Traffic Update 

09:15 Talking Spaces 


10:05 Pepsodent Games People Play 


11:05 Hit List 

Enjoy the afternoon with a splash in the 

pool and taste something different this 

weekend, Biryani with Kebab, Western 

Grill Items and Pasta with baked dishes at 

The Café from 12:30 noon to 4:00 pm, buf- 

fet lunch for just NPR 1600 excluding 

applicable taxes. Call: Hyatt Regency, 

Kathmandu at 4491234 Ext: 5223. 

Make your weekend more exciting with 

family and friends. Enjoy the afternoon 

with a splash in the pool, relax and sample 

the sumptuous Satey, Dimsums, Mangolian 

Barbecue and Pasta at The Cafe from 

12:30 noon to 4:00 pm, buffet lunch for 

just NPR 1600 excluding applicable taxes. 

Call: Hyatt Regency Kathmandu at 

4491234 Ext: 5223. 

MUSIC 

Live Music by SIGN Band every week 

except Saturday and Friday, 7:30 pm 

onwards The Corner Bar Radisson Hotel 

Kathmandu Lazimpat, Kathmandu 

4411818 ext: The Corner Bar 

Live music at Jazzabell Café every 

Wednesday and Friday with great food, 

drink and old friends from 6 pm onwards 

every Friday. Jazzabell Cafe, Jhamsikhel, 

Patan Contact: 2114075. 

Every Friday BBQ from 7:00 pm onwards 

at Fusion Bar & Pool side at Dwarika’s 

Hotel with live band “Dinesh Rai and Sound 

of Mind”. Price Rs. 1500/- plus 10% 

Service Charge per person, includes BBQ 

dinner and a can of beer or a soft drink. 

Contact: 4479448 


12:10 Postmartum 


13:05 Century Top Ten 


14:05 Abhimat The Vertic 


15:15 Bichitra Sansar 

16:00 Dabur Vatika Maya Ko 

Bandhan 


17:05 Health Hot Line 

LIVE Gazal with authentic Indian food for 

dinner at Far Pavilion except Tuesday, 

The Everest Hotel ph: 4780100 ext: 7811 

Live Music 7: 00 to 10: 30 PM by 

Rapsodi trio band except Monday & Happy 

hour 30 % discount at Bugles & Tigers, 

Gurkha Bar from 5 to 7 pm, The Everest 

Hotel ph: 4780100 ext: 7811 

18:00 Maitiko Sandesh (Maiti Nepal) 


18:55 Khoj 

19:00 Hits From History 


20:05 Pheri Timro Yaad Aayo 


21:30 Rum Pum Hello Mithila 

23:00 Rock Machine 

Hotel Narayani Complex, Pulchowk, 

Lalitpur presents Shabnam & Cannabiz 

Band every Wednesday and Rashmi & 

Kitcha Band every Friday, 7:30 PM onwards 

@ Absolute bar P Ltd; Contact: 5521408, 

5549504,E-mail: abar@wlink.com.np 

GETAWAY 

Experience your holiday at Grand 

Norling Hotel, Gokarna. One night and 

two days at Rs 4500 and two nights and 

three days at Rs 7000, residential package 

at Rs 30000 per month. Contact: 

4910193, 4910296, 4910295. 

Overnight Package and Great Escape 

Package available at The Dwarika’s 

Himalayan Shangri-La Village Resort, 

Dhulikhel for local residents. Contact 

447948 

Fulbari’s Domestic Tourism Promotion 

Package @ NRS. 6500 nett per person, 

Package Includes: 2 night / 3 days deluxe 

accommodation on bed & breakfast basis, 

one special dinner, welcome drinks, free 

tennis, swimming pool and gym, attractive 

discount on Spa, Golf & other services, and 

lots more. For reservation contact 

4461918, 4462248 & email: resv@ful- 

bari.com.np, sales@fulbari.com.np 

Experience The Last Resort, the perfect 

place for family fun adventure and relax- 

ation. Special packages for residents. 

Contact: 4700525/ 4701247 or mail us at 

info@thelastresort.com.np 

Asia World Travel Pvt Ltd presents fasci- 

nating luxury escapades to amazing desti- 

nations: Prague, Ladakh, Bangkok, 

Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Mount Kailash 

and Panchpokhari in North East Nepal. 

Contact: (977 1) 6222604, Man Bhawan, 

Lalitpur, Nepal, Email: info@asiaworld- 

holidays.com, Website: www.asia- 

worldholidays.com 

Hotel Tibet International, Boudha - 

Experience Nepalese warmth with a touch 

of Tibetan hospitality in our Re-opening dis- 

count for rooms & restaurant. Savior 

authentic Tibetan cum Chinese cuisine. 

Call: 4488188 or email sales@hoteltibet- 

intl.com.np Katmandu - finest boutique 

hotel & Spa. www.hoteltibetintl.com.np 

Faint scares 

MANISHA NEUPANE 

IF you go expecting to find 

some spine-chilling scares in 

the latest Bollywood release 

Raaz 3, well, you’re in for 

heavy disappointment. Aside 

from a few scenes that might make 

you jump, much of the film—portrayed 

in its pre-release hype as a 

definite chills-inducer—is largely 

anticlimactic, even funny at times. 

No, it’s not that there’s much going 

on in terms of humour...it’s actually 

the many slips and misses in the 

shabby scriptwriting that will have 

you giggling. Director Vikram 

Bhatt, who was responsible for the 

original Raaz in 2002, has faltered 

big-time here. 

Although the title might lead you 

to believe differently, Raaz 3’s storyline 

has nothing to do with the first 

film. Yes, Bipasha Basu does reprise 

her role as the lead, but accompanying 

her this time around are Emraan 

Hashmi and Esha Gupta. Basu and 

Gupta play two rival superstars, 

Sanaya and Sanjana, respectively. 

Because Sanjana’s success has 

begun to overshadow hers in the last 

few years, the rather obsessive 

Sanaya has turned to black magic in 

the hopes of plucking her arch-rival 

out of the competition. In this, she is 

helped along by her friend and 

director Aditya (Hashmi). While the 

plot certainly sounds intriguing and 

the film opens promisingly enough, 

it is unable to sustain interest, par- 

Monsoon Madness, 2 Nights/3 Days 

Package @ Shangri~La Village Resort, 

Pokhara. Only @ Rs 4999 Nett per per- 

son on twin sharing basis and get back 

coupons worth Rs. 3000 Nett. For more 

details and reservation: 4412999 

Extn.7566, 7503, 7524 

2 Night 3 days, Summer Slash Package at 

Hotel Landmark, Pokhara for local resi- 

dent only. With Just NRS 7777 nett inclu- 

sive of Breakfast & Dinner per double/ twin 

room. Contact 4701076, 

9851130350,9851106662 

Jungle Safari Lodge, Sauraha introduces 

Monsoon Offer of 2 Nights/ 3 Days 

Package at Rs 4444 per person, for 

Nepalese Citizen Only. The offer includes 

elephant safari, cultural programme, 

canoeing, visit to elephant breeding cen- 

tre, 2 breakfasts, 2 Lunches, 2 dinners, 

accomodation in deluxe A/C Room, two 

way tourist bus services. Offer Valid till 

August 15, 2012. Contact: Suman Ghimire 

@ 985111 6181/ 01 44 44 999 

Experience your holiday at Kingfisher 

Jungle Resort at Shukranagar, 

Meghauli Chitwan. One night and two 

days at Rs 3500 and two nights 

and three days at Rs 6000. Elephant 

safari, Canoeing and Nature walk fee paid 

at the resort pickup and drop to 

Narayanghat. Residential package at Rs 

30,000 per month. Contact: Rudra Raj 

Dotel- 9849 059295, 4260329, 056 69 

4490 

MIND AND BODY 

Dynamic Health Group: Join free class- 

es every Saturday to learn about Reiki, 

Yoga, Meditation, Quantum Science and 

Healthy Life Styles, Suryabinayak, 

Bhaktapur, Contact: 9841393760 OR 

9803791114. 

Women Skill Development Resource 

Centre: Join free training for Straw Art, 

Sewing and Skill Development (for 2 

hours, 4 hours and 7days), Suryabinayak, 

Bhaktapur, Contact 9849426628, 

9849462559 

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2012 

ticularly when it approaches the second 

half, where things get very 

repetitive and therefore tiresome. 

The only thing to recommend 

Raaz 3 is its cinematography, wherein 

some 3D shots have been done 

very well, and the fright factor is 

heightened (where it does exist) by 

some excellent camerawork. And 

Basu puts up a surprisingly nuanced 

performance, much more impressive 

than her co-stars—Hashmi 

looks tired throughout, while Gupta 

is just average. 

Raaz 3 serves up neither a convincing 

supernatural angle, nor any 

interesting insights into the psyche. 

So if you’re a thrill-seeker, don’t 

waste your time here. Bhatt has 

nothing to offer you. 

MOVIES 

FINDING NEMO 3D 

QFX Kumari: 11:30 AM/ 

2:00 PM 

QFX Civil Mall: 12:00 / 

2:30/5:00 PM 

FACEBOOK 

QFX Kumari: 9:00 AM / 

6:15 PM 

QFX Civil Mall: 11:30 AM 

RAAZ 3 

QFX Jai Nepal (2D): 9:30 / 

12:30 / 3:30 / 6:30 PM 

QFX Kumari (2D): 12:15 / 

3:15 PM 

QFX Kumari (3D): 8:30 AM / 

7:00 PM 

QFX Civil Mall (2D): 8:30 AM / 

2:45 / 5:45 / 8:45 PM 

QFX Civil Mall (3D): 9:15 AM/ 

12:30 / 3:30 / 6:30 / 9:30 PM 

ABRAHAM 

LINCOLN: VAMPIRE 

HUNTER 3D 

QFX Kumari: 4:30 PM 

QFX Civil Mall: 9:00 AM/ 

7:30 PM


CA revival only under ‘NC-led govt’ 

ISHWORI NEUPANE & MADHAV ARYAL 

PALPA, SEPT 7 

TOP leaders of the Nepali 

Congress have said that the 

revival of the dissolved 

Constituent Assembly is possible only 

if the party is in the governing helm. 

Addressing the NC’s Western 

Regional Mahasamiti gathering in 

Tansen, Palpa, on Friday, the party 

leaders said that the CA could be 

revived for an interim period to 

promulgate a new constitution only if 

an NC-led government was formed. 

Or else, there was no alternative to 

fresh CA elections. 

“A Congress-headed government 

must be formed as agreed in the fivepoint 

deal for the restoration of the 

Constituent Assembly. The incumbent 

government led by Baburam 

Bhattarai cannot undertake the task,” 

said NC President Sushil Koirala. He 

said that the CA reinstatement should 

be done in the presence of the 

President and the international community. 

The NC leader said that UCPN 

(Maoist) Chairman Pushpa Kamal 

Dahal had suggested him in private 

meeting that the NC should take 

charge of the government to resolve 

the ongoing political problem. 

“The Congress will give up the 

CIAA secy bags best 

civil servant award 

POST REPORT 


THE government on Friday awarded Bhagwati Kumar 

Kafle, secretary at the Commission for Investigation of 

Abuse of Authority (CIAA), the best civil servant award- 

2012 for his outstanding performance in bureaucracy. 

The award carries a purse 

of Rs 200,000 and a certificate. 

Kafle, who has also been heading 

the anti-graft body as acting 

CIAA chief for last three 

years in the absence of constitutionally 

appointed commissioners, 

had dragged three former 

police chiefs from among 

34 other police officials to the 

court in the Sudan scam last 

year. He also booked some 

lawmakers for misusing their 

diplomatic passport and 

accepting bribe. The award 

was handed over to Kafle amid 

a function organised in Singha Durbar to mark the Civil 

Servant Day. Civil servants across the country observed 

the Day with the slogan "People-oriented 

Administration: Discipline and Good Governance". 

At the function, chief secretary and chairman of the 

Civil Service Day-2012 main organising committee, 

Lilamani Poudel, said he had given priority to make the 

civil service more people oriented. Poudel said the government 

is going to bring in a new plan to enhance 

capacity of the civil servants. 

2 Nepali women ‘kill 

selves’ in Lebanon 

PRATAP BISTA 

LEBANON, SEPT 7 

TWO Nepali migrant 

workers allegedly committed 

suicide in Lebanon 

in the past week. 

The victims have been 

identified as Shanti Rai 

from Solukhumbu and 

Renuka Jarghamagar from 

Kavre. 

The deaths are 

attributed to 

violence by their 

employers 

However, Binod 

Upreti of the foreign 

employment community 

association in Lebanon 

said the causes of deaths 

were yet to be established. 

Jarghamagar and Rai 

allegedly committed suicide 

on Sunday and 

Nepali Congress senior leaders, including party President Sushil Koirala 

(centre), at a rally taken out ahead of the party’s Western Regional 

Mahasamiti gathering in Palpa on Friday. POST PHOTO 

prime minister’s berth after the promulgation 

of a new constitution is guar- 

Tuesday, respectively. 

Both were working as 

domestic helps in Beirut 

for the past two years. 

It has been learnt that 

the women reportedly 

killed themselves due to 

domestic violence meted 

out to them by their 

employers. 

The body of 

Jarghamagar was flown to 

Kathmandu on 

Wednesday, while Rai's is 

yet to be repatriated. 

Meanwhile, Nepali 

migrant workers in 

Lebanon staged a protest 

at the houses of the 

deceased's employers on 

Friday. They demanded 

action against the guilty. 

Upreti said the association 

receives over 10 

complaints against sexual 

abuse every month. At 

least two women died in 

the country this year, 

where 833 Nepali women 

are working, according to 

statistics. 

anteed,” said Koirala. Senior NC 

leader Sher Bahadur Deuba said that 

the CA could be revived for at least 10 

days to issue a new constitution. He 

said that a short-term revival was 

imperative, even if it meant outlining 

the basic draft of the understanding 

to promulgate the new statute. 

“The current situation demands 

that we give a political outlet at the 

earliest,” said Deuba. 

NC Vice-president Ram Chandra 

Paudel said that once the issue of 

constitution promulgation is settled, 

the country should go to elections. He 

added that the issues of federalism 

and state restructuring should be 

decided by a referendum. 

“The Maoist party has suggested 

10 states while the Congress has 

recommended six. It is best that 

we conduct a referendum to 

decide the matter and we’ve 

suggested the Maoist leaders the 

same,” said Paudel. 

NC General Secretary Krishna 

Prasad Sitaula said new CA polls 

could be conducted if the CA was not 

revived. “We could elect a smaller 

assembly this time,” he suggested. 

Meanwhile, most of the 

Mahasamiti members and the NC 

district level leaders said that the CA 

should not be revived as suggested by 

the central leadership. They said that 

the NC leaders should have a singular 

opinion on the matter. 

Ruling parties fail to pick 

new Nepal Police chief 

KAMAL DEV BHATTARAI 


HEATED negotiations between the ruling 

forces—UCPN (Maoist) and 

Madhesi Morcha—that lasted four 

hours on Friday failed to pick a new 

Nepal Police chief. 

A Madhesi leader, however, said the 

parties will appoint the new Inspector 

Shah Rana Prasai 

General of Police on Monday. 

Incumbent IGP Rabindra Pratap Shah is 

retiring on September 14. 

The government has failed to hold 

regular Cabinet meetings as the ruling 

parties are at odds over the IGP appointment. 

According to sources, Maoist and 

Madhesi leaders have agreed to forge 

consensus on the issue by Monday after 

discussions at the top level. Leader of 

3 

the Tarai Madhes Loktantrik party- 

Nepal, Dan Bahadur Chaudhary, 

claimed there is no dispute among the 

parties on the matter and that a Cabinet 

meeting on Monday will pick the new 

IGP. In Friday’s meeting, the UCPN 

(Maoist) supported AIG Kuber Singh 

Rana, while Deputy Prime Minister and 

Home Minister Bijaya Kumar 

Gachhadar threw his weight behind AIG 

Bhisma Prasai as the 

new police chief. 

Three candidates— 

Rana, Prasai and Navaraj 

Dhakal—are vying for 

the top post in the Nepal 

Police. 

The UCPN (Maoist) 

has said Rana must 

be chosen as the IGP as 

he is the seniormost 

among the three. 

The Madhesi Morcha, however, 

argued that the practice of appointing 

officials on a seniority basis has been 

put to an end when the government 

appointed Lila Mani Poudel as the chief 

secretary recently. 

According to sources, Gachhadar 

has asked the Maoist leadership to 

implement a ‘gentlemen’s agreement’ 

between the two ruling forces.

4 

Migrant injuries, fatalities bring 

home Rs 200m in compensation 

ROSHAN SEDHAI 


IT seems that it is not just remittance 

that migrant workers bring 

back home, they are also bringing 

in money as compensation for 

deaths and injuries. As work-related 

deaths and injuries are on the rise, a 

significant number of migrant 

workers have been receiving compensation 

from their companies. 

According to the Finance 

Section of the Ministry of Foreign 

Affairs (MoFA), around 650 families 

of dead and injured migrant workers 

received a total of Rs 200 million as 

compensation in the past one year 

alone. They were reimbursed mostly 

by the companies of major destination 

countries like Malaysia, Saudi 

Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab 

Emirates (UAE). 

While some families received 

just a few dollars, others have 

received up to 500,000 Qatari Riyal 

(Rs 12.5 m). The amount of compensation 

varies depending on 

Disgruntled UML 

leaders ‘poised’ to 

launch new party 

POST REPORT 


SOME disgruntled Janajati and Madhesi leaders of the CPN- 

UML have started preparations for forming a new party “to 

ensure federal socialism in the country”. 

The leaders said the party’s recent response to their ninepoint 

demand was not satisfactory and they were focused on 

forming a new political force. “We have been discussing the 

manifesto of the new party, its statute, and political ideology. 

The party will be announced by the end of this month,” said 

UML Central Committee member Ajambar Rai Kangmang. 

He said the disgruntled leaders would quit the UML once 

the new party is formally announced. Sources close to dissident 

leaders say the draft of the manifesto, statute and political 

ideology have been prepared and regularly discussed. 

“Federal socialism is our guiding principle,” said another 

Janajati leader Rajendra Shrestha. They have proposed 

Federal Socialist Party as the name of the new party. 

The differences among the disgruntled leaders on 

whether to continue intra-party struggle within the party or 

form a new political force have delayed announcement of a 

new party, according to leaders. Despite preparation to form a 

new party, some leaders including Prithvi Subba Gurung, Bir 

Bahadur Lama, Dal Bahadur Rana and Kiran Gurung have 

emphasised continuation of intra-party struggle within the 

UML instead of forming a new party. 

“We are holding talks with all the disgruntled leaders,” said 

Kangmang. UML Vice-chairman Ashok Rai is supposed to 

head the new party, while Madhesi leader Ram Chandra Jha 

will be given major responsibility in the Tarai. They have left 

for Madhes to attend a programme organised in the name of 

Agragami Bichar Samuha (progressive idealist group). A separate 

orientation programme of the party is scheduled in 

Dhanusha, Sarlahi and Mahotari districts. It is learnt that the 

disgruntled leaders will take a call on party formation after Rai 

and Jha return from Madhes. 

While some families received just a few dollars, 

others got up to Rs 12.5 m. The amount varies 

depending on the country and the company 

the country and the stature of the 

company. However, the injured 

are liable for higher amounts than 

the dead. 

“The amount of compensation 

differs depending on the country 

and the company. But reimbursement 

for injuries is usually higher as 

there is cap on the compensation 

amount for deaths,” said Dilip 

Poudel. Poudel said that Qatar provides 

a maximum of 200,000 Riyal 

(Rs 5 m) to a deceased’s family, while 

the amount could go much higher 

for those injured. 

Ministry officials said they dispatch 

letters to around 50-60 families 

every month informing them of 

their compensation money. 

However, many families have yet to 

visit the ministry to claim the 

money despite several letters dispatched. 

The Consular Section of 

the MoFA had dispatched letters to 

around 550 families residing in 68 

districts in early July, among which 

many were being sent for the second 

or third time. 

“Many families do not receive 

the letters as they might have 

migrated to some other places. 

Others do not want to make the 

long journey for a petty amount,” 

said Poudel, chief of the Consular 

Section. 

In order to avoid higher bank 

commission fees, companies with a 

significant presence of Nepali 

weather watch 

FORECAST: Mostly cloudy with brief rain over 

some areas, mainly over hilly regions. 

PLACES MAX. MIN. RAINFAL 

TEMP. ( 0 C) TEMP. ( 0 C) (MM.) 

Dadeldhura 25.7 16.5 8.2 

Dipayal 35.0 23.4 0.2 

Dhangadi 33.1 25.2 2.6 

Birendranagar 31.8 18.5 0.0 

Nepalgunj 34.8 24.3 0.0 

Jumla 24.7 15.3 0.0 

Dang 31.2 21.4 0.0 

Pokhara 30.6 22.2 0.0 

Bhairahawa 34.4 25.4 3.0 

Simra 35.5 25.5 0.0 

Kathmandu 30.0 19.5 0.0 

Okhaldhunga 24.2 14.0 0.0 

Taplejung 27.2 15.4 0.2 

Biratnagar 36.2 24.5 0.0 

Jomsom 21.9 11.0 0.0* 

Dharan 31.7 NA 0.0* 

Rajbiraj 34.5 26.0 0.0 

Janakpur 34.0 26.0 0.0 

Source: Meteorological forecasting Division, Department of 

Hydrology and Meteorology, Kathmandu 

migrants usually dispatch compensation 

amounts only after accumulating 

a few cases, normally when 

figures reach over a million. 

Normally, respectable companies 

with good jobs provide compensation. 

Meanwhile, workers with 

bad jobs, long work hours and hazardous 

workplace conditions are 

less likely to receive compensation 

even though they are more likely to 

die or be injured. Officials said the 

latter group of workers constitutes a 

large section of the workers’ community. 

They said that the government 

should lobby to provide compensation 

to everyone, irrespective 

of their country or work. 

According to accumulated 

records from the Nepali missions in 

destination countries, at least 7,000 

Nepalis have lost their lives in just a 

decade and a half. However, the 

number could possibly be much 

higher as many illegal migrant 

deaths go unnoticed or unreported. 

At present, 3-4 Nepali migrants die 

on a daily basis. 

VOICES 

OF 

DISSENT 

Fire wreaks havoc in Dhankuta 

DHANKUTA: A fire that broke 

out at Rambazaar in Leguwa-4, 

Dhankuta district, destroyed six 

houses on Thursday night. A 

person was seriously injured in 

the incident. Police said that the 

inferno started at the house of 

one Hom Bahadur Adhikari due 

to an electric short circuit and 

caused damage worth nearly Rs 

10.5 million. A villager, Ramesh 

Sah, was seriously injured when 

a cooking gas cylinder exploded 

during the disaster. He was 

taken to the Dharan-based BP 

Koirala Institute of Health 

Sciences for treatment. 

Meanwhile, the Dhankuta 

District Administration Office 

and the local chapter of the 

Nepal Red Cross Society have 

distributed relief materials. (PR) 

The Rastriya Prajatantra Party Nepal 

organised a mass meeting at 

Basantapur in Kathmandu on Friday. 

POST PHOTO: SHALIGRAM TIWARI 

MOFA FROM PG 1 

“They (diplomats) had 

decided to come up 

strongly against corruption 

in various state organs 

and the adverse effects 

that might have in donorfunded 

projects, while 

also talking tough on 

the aid regime,” an 

informed source told the 

Post on Friday. 

MoFA, however, cited 

political reasons for turning 

down the diplomats’ 

request for a meeting with 

the President. “MoFA did 

not see the relevance of the 

meeting as it is purely a 

political matter and our 

President is a ceremonial 

one. We humbly advised 

the diplomatic community 

to talk to others like the 

prime minister or other 

political figures on the 

matter,” said MoFA 

Spokesperson Arjun 


Ex-minister 

jumps to 

Baidya fold 

POST REPORT 


THE UCPN (Maoist) suffered 

yet another blow 

on Friday after an 

influential leader and former 

Local Development 

Minister Nabin Bishwokarma 

deserted the party 

to join the breakaway faction 

led by Mohan 

Baidya. 

At a press conference 

organised at the UCPN 

(Maoist) central office in 

Paris Danda, after holding 

discussion with the 

party leaders, Bishwokarma 

announced that 

he had joined the CPN- 

Maoist. He had fought 

during the 10-year-long 

Maoist insurgency. 

Bishwokarma was the 

secretary of the UCPN 

(Maoist) Bheri-Karnali 

State Committee. He was 

a minister in the Cabinet 

of Girija Prasad Koirala. 

Managing waste: Act toothless sans commitment 

PRAGATI SHAHI 


IN the absence of people’s representatives 

at the local level, the 

implementation of the Solid 

Waste Management Act-2011 is 

unlikely to yield significant 

results in municipalities. 

Without strong political 

commitment, the new plan will 

fail to be effectively implemented 

at a time when a majority of 

municipalities are failing to provide 

solid waste management 

services in the lack of adequate 

financial and technical 

resources, says Santosh 

Shrestha, who is working in solid 

waste management in Morang 

and Sunsari districts for a project 

jointly implemented by Nepal 

and the government of Finland. 

Out of the 58 municipalities, 

only two—Pokhara and 

Kathmandu—have welldesigned 

sanitary landfill sites 

and only two or three municipalities 

are working on controlled 

dumping sites to dispose of the 

garbage produced in the area. 

The remaining municipalities, 

in an utter lack of proper 

dumping sites and effective 

strategies, practise open dumping, 

either on river banks or on 

other open spaces, polluting the 

environment. 

“Though the municipalities’ 

annual budget indicates an 

increase in solid waste management 

costs every year, there is no 

significant improvement in its 

handling,” said Shrestha. Even 

though some positive interventions 

have been made in waste 

There is need to 

encourage the 

private sector to 

manage the waste 

as a resource 

and keep the 

environment clean, 

says official 

management of late, they are 

limited to pilot areas and fail to 

cover the whole city or town. 

The SWM Act that came 

into effect last July focuses 

on empowering local bodies, 

encouraging the public to 

Participants of a rally taken out in Pokhara on Friday morning 

on the occasion of the Civil Servants’ Day. 

POST PHOTO: LAL PRASAD SHARMA 

segregate household waste and 

fine and punishment for the 

offenders. 

The Act also stipulates promotion 

of waste as a resource, 

recycling and reducing the 

amount of waste, creating 

opportunities for investments 

from private institutions, and 

enhancing the capacity of local 

institutions to deal with waste 

management. 

Sumitra Amatya, executive 

director of the Solid Waste 

Management Technical Support 

Centre under the Ministry of 

Local Development, agrees 

that the municipalities are 

not doing well in managing 

the solid waste in their respective 

areas. In the lack of landfill 

sites, proper drainage system, 

efficient waste collection mech- 

anism and public awareness, the 

municipal waste is left unmanaged, 

she said. 

“Municipalities alone cannot 

improve the situation since they 

lack financial and technical 

resources. There is a need to 

encourage the private sector to 

manage the waste as a resource 

and keep the environment 

clean,” she said. 

As a part of the Act implementation, 

the government is 

working to formulate solid waste 

strategic plans for 15 municipalities. 

“There is a need to 

establish waste processing and 

landfill sites in all the municipalities 

to effectively manage the 

solid waste. The government 

should phase out obsolete technologies 

and introduce newer 

ones,” she said. 

Political reason cited 

Bahadur Thapa. According 

to the Diplomatic Code of 

Conduct, all diplomatic 

meetings with officials 

holding positions should 

be vetted by MoFA. 

A diplomatic source 

said the western diplomatic 

community is itself wondering 

if the president can 

be dragged into the issue. 

“A meeting to be held soon 

will take a call on this,” the 

source said. The TRC is 

political in nature and as 

such, talking about it with 

the President is not a good 

idea, another official said. 

“We should not undermine 

the position of the 

President,” the official 

added. Although MoFA 

conveyed its suggestion to 

the President’s Office, the 

latter was in a fix until 

Friday. “We will convey our 

decision to the envoy on 

Monday,” a senior official 

at the President’s Office 

said. “We will take up 

MoFA’s suggestion,” Press 

Adviser to the President, 

Rajendra Dahal, said.

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2012 5 

PRATEEBHA TULADHAR 

“...I want to do with you what spring 

does to the cherry trees.” —Pablo 

Neruda 

Dear You, 

Once again, I’m sitting here, 

writing a letter I have no address to 

send to you at. 

I thought I should tell you the city 

has started to change. Just at the start 

of the rains this year, they started 

dismantling it. Did you see it on the 

online news portals? Do you read 

about Kathmandu, where you are? 

The government said they were going 

to build a better city. They said they 

would widen the roads, ease the 

traffic and push back people who had 

I see parts of homes broken 

everywhere, like people gaping 

in shock. Rooms exposed in 

just their half-walls. No 

mirrors, no photo frames, no 

curtains. They are like a 

testament to what was 

greedily encroached on public land. 

So, they drew marks everywhere 

around the city, where they deemed 

people had taken more than they 

needed. They put up signs and told 

people to push back. And the fall of 

the city began. 

I saw one morning in a newspaper, 

the picture of a woman standing 

at the threshold of her mud and brick 

wall house in Maharajgunj, weeping. 

Her son held her shoulders. Her sari 

was raised to her knees. She wiped 

her face with the end of it. 

Such pictures were just things in 

the newspapers and TV for me for a 

EXPRESSION 

long while. I think I pretended not to 

look out the safa tempo window when 

I went past the broken-down walls 

and the dismantled door and window 

frames. Then one day, one of passengers 

in the safa tempo I was riding in 

started fidgeting when we entered 

Lazimpat. The woman looked out the 

window several times and finally told 

the driver she couldn’t recognise the 

entrance to the alley that led to her 

home. They had destroyed her landmarks. 

When she got off, she stood on 

the street a long time, swivelling her 

head in every direction, trying to find 

her way. The tempo pulled away. She 

was still standing—her head turned 

to the sky. 

These past few weeks, I have been 

walking the streets. You know of my 

relationship with the streets. You 

know how I look for solutions in 

them, for everything—for a thought 

in snares, a throbbing temple, or even 

heartache? I’ve been doing that again. 

Just the way I did after you left 

Kathmandu so many years ago. 

The trick is to retrace our steps. I 

try to walk our stories on the pavements, 

to find consolation in what 

doesn’t exist anymore. But you know 

POST PHOTOS 

CHASING PAVEMENTS 

The government said they were going to build a better city. So, they drew marks 

everywhere. They put up signs and told people to push back. And the fall of the city began 

how I always tell you the streets 

conjure you up all over again for me? 

Yes, they’ve always done that. 

And there are my favourite 

spots. Do you remember how one 

monsoon we stood near the French 

Embassy, our jeans folded up to our 

calves, our glasses spotting sprays of 

rain, posing for a photo under that 

black umbrella you’d borrowed from 

uncle? That one. And the other one, 

where we’d had our first real conversation? 

That balcony where they 

served coffee and vegetable sizzler, 

where we landed after slipping out of 

a party, and spent the night listening 

to the rain fall. And there’s that other 

place close to the Japanese Embassy 

that we walked past so many 

evenings, where you’d once stopped 

and asked me if I wanted to sit at a 

chiya pasal for a bit, as it started to 

drizzle. All these places, you know? 

How often I’ve walked that particular 

stretch and imagined it happening all 

over again. 

But with the city crumbling, I 

think I’m crumbling too. 

I see parts of homes broken everywhere. 

They are like people gaping in 

shock. Rooms exposed in just their 

half-walls. No mirrors, no photo 

frames, no curtains. They are like a 

testament to what was. It feels 

like there was so much hidden 

behind those homes and they’ve suddenly 

been spilled in public. And the 

inside is ugly. 

It feels like sacrilege. I feel 

cheated in some way—like they stole 

my memories. If I walk past where 

you and I said goodbye for the last 

time, I can’t find it anymore. The 

spot. It’s gone. 

I can no more find the cherry trees 

along the Japanese embassy, outside 

which I stood for hours one day, looking 

up at the blue sky through the 

branches. I don’t know how many 

times I did that in the past—standing 

there, trying to catch the sky with my 

eyes. The trees changed all the time. 

From scrawny branches to pink blossoms 

to green leaves—these trees 

have a weird way of arriving, you 

know? Blossoms first and then leaves. 

Like falling in love first and blooming 

instantly, then gathering your senses 

for the sake of process and starting to 

sprout bright green leaves. 

It rains hard every day now. And 

the houses sometimes fling down 

broken bits like bricks and stones, 

nearly hitting pedestrians. But mostly, 

it’s just a stretch of debris everywhere 

on the streets, soaking. 

The city is eroding. And so am I. 

Nevertheless, I have been walking. 

And do you know what I saw today? 

The marble pavement in Lazimpat, 

where we sat down one day, watching 

the world pass us by—it is still intact. 

And a faint hope rose from the 

bottom of my gut. Maybe I can still sit 

there sometimes and pretend we’re 

together again. And then maybe, this 

city will not feel so unbearable. And 

perhaps, some day, I’ll even find an 

address to write to you at. 

Yours as ever, 

Me 

POETIC LICENSE 

Kathmandu 

Kathmandu is a heater inflamed 

by one hundred thousand volts; 

this capital’s orphan girls sit waiting, 

like Sita on her pyre of fire, 

ready to brand their bodies of gold, 

snared by the noose of its love. 

Snow-white doves fly the endless blue sky, 

there’s a prison in each citizen’s eye, 

as Rani Pokhari floods with colour, 

there come dark smugglers and sneaks, 

fat hypocrites and backbiters, 

and all are made pure. 

Pipal trees, comb trees, mimosa, 

kalki and juniper in rows wave their fans 

at inhabitants pure and foul, 

but Kathmandu is not just cool and calm, 

Kathmandu is hocus-pocus too. 

And isn’t it also that white-wheeled Toyota 

which gulps down its petrol, 

never satisfied? 

And isn’t it also Nanicha’s wine store 

where young men come in swarms each day: 

Gunjamans, Ram Bahadurs, heads held high, 

who go home to beat their wives? 

An auto’s tire marks deep on the street, 

green bruises covering women: 

samples perhaps of each Kathmandu day. 

Kathmandu makes my poor, dear son 

cry out in his dreams every night; 

half I understand, half I do not, 

but still I wish to hear, 

hemmed in and oppressed 

by past attractions, repulsions, 

I find that many will curse me, 

I find there are few who like me: 

I have come to live in Kathmandu, 

but Kathmandu does not live in me. 

The countless processions of these city streets 

pour forth each night in my dreams, 

my nights are weighed down by uproar, 

they belong to Kathmandu, 

covered entirely by mist. 

How silent my cold mornings, 

as if the city’s dead have waited all night, 

and are rotted completely away. 

It is an interesting epic, beloved Kathmandu, 

full of stories, sweet and bitter: 

the opening verses of tremendous speeches, 

the communal song of wants and needs; 

wages—the happy chance of increase, 

prices—the miserable rise, 

an unremitting struggle of loss and gain: 

oil for the lamp, and sugar, 

everything is here. 

Wretched Kathmandu, 

dear to everyone, abused by all, 

its people narrators of Satyanarayan, 

forever repeating the ancient tales, 

of Lilavati and Kalavati, 

always singing the same forest creeper, 

always walking the same back streets, 

always keeping the same feasts, 

always observing the same holidays, 

always celebrating the same occasions; 

ceaselessly they chant, like kakakul birds, 

Kathmandu, Kathmandu, 

Kathmandu, Kathmandu. 

— BANIRA GIRI 

PHOTO: TODD HERMAN 

The translation of Giri's poem along with Herman's 

photographs are taken from Kathmandu:Impressions 

of the City at its Margins, a book of 

photography by Todd Herman | www.todd-herman.com 

PHOTO: TODD HERMAN AND ALISE GARNER-MURPHY

6&7 

Good night, 

IMAGES: SANJOG MANANDHAR 

TEXT: ANUP OJHA 

OUTSIDE the Bir Hospital, 

although past nine o’clock, 

the night is young. Light 

pools outside pharmacies as 

people pass in and out intermittently. 

This is a hospital area and there 

is no sleep for doctors, nurses and family 

members anxiously awaiting news of 

their kin. But despite the trepidation in 

the air, there is something playful in the 

way the baleful gaze of the yellow streetlights 

reflects off of puddles of water accumulating 

on the roads from the afternoon 

downpour. Taxis queue up, some drivers 

sleep, others drink tea, chat or haggle with 

passengers. Tea shops and canteens cater 

to the nervous, the bleary-eyed and the 

anxious. Young people, drunk and stumbling, 

often stop by for a late night snack 

before they head home. In contrast to 

their raucous cries and drunken foibles, 

there are others more somber, quietly 

sipping tea, maybe trying not to think. 

On the other side, night buses line up, 

waiting for passengers. Horns beep and 

signs saying ‘Ratri Sewa’ adorn the front 

and back of the buses, blinking madly in 

the dark. On a bus to Kalanki, passengers 

wear broad smiles. Two policemen lounge 

on the first seat while a CCTV camera 

fixes its gaze on everyone entering and 

leaving. 18-year old conductor Sunil 

Thapa Magar, originally from Hetuda, is 

actively and energetically calling out 

destinations and beckoning people. At 

Tripureshwor, four young st 

into the bus, returning from a 

local Dohori place. 

Bikash Tamang, a 25-ye 

driver, waiting patiently at Kal 

for passengers. “Buses don’t r 

nook and corner of the city lik 

he says, not at all threatened b 

bus service. Even here, a fe 

are open, providing comfor 

travelers coming in late from 

Valley. Sabita Koirala, a 45-yea 

vendor, rummages from amon 

tic selection of cigarettes, bisc 

and junk food on her nanglo. 

the night bus has made m 

better, but if the police see m 

seize my goods so I have to b 

she says cautiously, looking ar

udents get 

night at a 

r old taxi 

nki chowk 

each every 

e taxis do,” 

y the night 

w eateries 

t food for 

utside the 

r old street 

g an eclecuits, 

water 

“You know, 

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e, they will 

e careful,” 

und. 

THE CITY 

AWAKES 

IMAGES: LAXMI PRASAD NGAKHUSI 

TEXT: PRANAYA SJB RANA 

DAWN breaks in Kathmandu. 

Morning light as grey as steel spills 

quietly over the hills like thick 

paint from a bucket. At first it is 

stealthy, the light creeping up on 

you like an assassin in the night. There is a 

point where the darkness and the light meet, 

locked in a cosmic battle but each a complement 

to the other. The darkness seems to 

hesitate at first, as if unwilling to give up 

ground, but the light is insistent. While one 

retreats, the other advances. The light seeps in, 

through cracks, into crannies, around sky-high 

buildings and centuries-old temples, across 

beggars crouched in doorways and street-kids 

huddled under a cardboard box for warmth, 

over the Rani Pokhari, over the Durbar Square, 

over New Road and into the heart of 

Kathmandu, it pierces like an arrow. 

This is a liminal time, neither day nor night. 

Dawn and dusk mark the edges of time, that 

grey area where an old day has not ended and a 

new one has not begun. This is time that is 

neither yesterday nor today, neither here nor 

there. It can only exist for a fraction, for a 

fleeting moment when the cold has not 

dissipated and the warmth has not permeated. 

It is at this time, when most of the city is in bed, 

that Kathmandu seems most itself. But this 

lasts for only a moment and then, like magic, it 

is gone. 

Then, the city stirs awake. A resounding 

gong from a temple bell resonates throughout 

the city, bouncing off of walls and hills. 

Roosters crow, each roused by the last and 

eager to join in on the chorus. Newspaper boys 

pedal furiously under the cover of the fast 

disappearing darkness, aiming papers at 

doorstops and over gates with the precision of 

a marksman. They share the streets with 

milkmen, trucks more often but sometimes a 

lone man, also on his bicycle, two jars of milk 

balanced perfectly on either side of his rear 

wheel. Weary policemen at Maharajgunj yawn 

at their checkposts, an eye open and ear 

cocked for their long-awaited relief. A transvestite 

prostitute limps home on high heels from 

outside a guesthouse at Sundhara. An old man, 

almost bent double, a gnarled walking stick in 

his left hand, shuffles along Jamal in a 

waist-coat, daura-suruwal and a Bhadgaunle 

topi. Dogs that roamed the night streets like 

militia men now shrink under doorways and 

into corners, as if afraid of the brightness. Rats 

and cockroaches scurry into drains and birds 

awaken in their nests and roosts, the pigeons 

cooing rhythmically, crows cawing intermittently 

and sparrows chirping erratically. Slowly, 

the city rouses itself out of one era and steps 

gingerly into another. 

Kathmandu is time out of joint, a haphazard, 

confusing, eclectic mix of centuries, all the 

way from the 17th to the 21st. Wood and stone 

temples jostle for space with concrete and glass 

monoliths. Women in red chaubandi cholos 

share the streets with socialites in Ray Ban 

sunglasses and Louis Vuitton bags. While rich 

young kids sip Illy coffee from ornate mugs in 

cafes straight out of American sitcoms, 

Madhesi vegetable hawkers wheel rickety Avon 

bikes laden with produce in large bamboo 

baskets. This is a city of contrasts, of breathtaking 

beauty and eyesore ugliness. And as the 

morning breaks, as buildings and hills come 

into view, as breathless panoramas are revealed 

as the Chandrama recedes and the Surya 

advances, as eyes open and pupils dilate, the 

body responds, sluggishly at first but then 

more urgently: awake, it says, it is day and 

everything must pick up where it left off. 

and good luck 

Despite the trepidation 

in the air, there is 

something playful in the 

way the baleful gaze of 

the yellow streetlights 

reflects off of puddles 

of water accumulating 

on the roads from the 

afternoon downpour 

On the ride back to Bir Hospital, more 

passengers get on. Among them is Surya 

Tiwari, a teacher at the Parbat Secondary 

School in Thamel, returning home after a 

bhet-ghat with friends. He raises concerns 

about the night bus service’s longevity. “I 

wonder how long this bus is going to run,” 

he muses out loud. Although happy that 

he was able to catch a bus this late, he 

wonders if the number of passengers is 

enough to sustain the service and turn a 

profit. The passengers are mostly men, 

but now and then, a woman will board, 

oftentimes with her husband or male 

family member. Mina Aryal rides with her 

husband and says, “I feel safe and 

comfortable. Where previously I would 

have to pay upwards of Rs 500 to get to 

Baneshwor, now I can get there in 

The light seeps in, 

through cracks, into 

crannies, around 

sky-high buildings and 

centuries-old temples, 

and into the heart of 

Kathmandu, it pierces 

like an arrow 

Rs 30, even after changing buses at 

Ratnapark.” 

The bus will make a last few runs 

before shutting down for the night. It has 

been a long day and everyone is tired. 

Policeman Deepak Thapa yawns widely 

and struggles to stay alert. “Most of the 

people on the night bus are drunk but 

they don’t cause trouble or create 

problems,” he says. Maybe the presence 

of armed, uniformed policemen dissuades 

these drunks from misbehaviour, 

or maybe it is the CCTV’s cold mechanical 

gaze. But it is late for Kathmandu. 

Most of the city is asleep, except for 

denizens of the night: policemen, 

prostitutes, the drunks, the homeless and 

the insomniacs. Good night Kathmandu, 

and good luck. 

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2012

8 

RACHANA CHETTRI 

EARTH|BODY|MIND 

WE have come into existence—body, 

mind, 

and soul—out of the 

earth. It is perhaps for 

the fact that we have 

been created by and are nourished by the 

earth that we refer to it as ‘mother’. We 

personify the earth; she is all-powerful. 

She is Gaia, Dharti Mata. 

We all have surprisingly efficient 

internal networking systems that make 

sustenance on earth possible. As 

humans, as biological beings that have 

proven to be among the most successful 

of all of evolution’s creations, we possess 

minds capable of a great many things. 

And although our evolutionary cousins 

do share the cognitive faculty that 

enables consciousness, thinking, reasoning, 

perception and judgement, it is we, 

the homo sapiens, who have stumbled 

across what seems to be the infallible 

magic formula. And so, we find ourselves 

in a world that is very much a product of 

anthropogenic activities. 

Ten thousand years ago, the mass of 

land that is today Kathmandu could have 

been anything. If the dates traced for the 

Kurukshetra War depicted in the 

Mahabharata are anything to go by, 

Kathmandu—which is referred to in the 

epic—existed as an independent political 

and territorial entity in the 10th century 

BC. A number of legendary dynasties 

ruled over the Valley over the millenia, 

but it is only with the Licchavi King 

Mandeva (circa 464-505 AD) that any 

documented history of the Valley begins. 

Yet Kathmandu, the city that was first 

beheld by foreign eyes only in 1955, was 

far from the work of art that it was to 

become. It was only under the Malla 

kings, who ruled from the 12th-18th 

centuries, and divided the Valley into the 

separate kingdoms of Kathmandu, 

Bhaktapur and Lalitpur, that the arts 

really flourished in these three cities. 

2012, and Kathmandu is not a pretty 

picture to behold. The architectural 

finesse of the Malla era has eroded. Boxes 

of concrete and glass spring to life even 

before dozers have had the time to lift the 

rubble left behind by what used to be part 

of buildings that have been given recent, 

and oftentimes unappealing, facelifts. 

Kathmandu, an amalgam of the new 

and the old, is gearing up to witness an 

event that is set to transform it into a 

stage for the visual and performance arts 

by the end of November. The second 

Kathmandu International Arts Festival 

(KIAF 2012), taking place in venues 

across the Capital from November 25- 

December 21, is going to be one of the 

biggest art events in South Asia. 

The festival—the first edition of 

which took place in 2009—is a triennial 

event organised by the non-profit 

Siddhartha Arts Foundation, with the 

Prince Claus Fund as its biggest patron 

this year. Its organisers are committed to 

promoting the contemporary arts in 

Nepal, and hope to establish Kathmandu 

as an arts hub. And this year’s edition, 

with its resounding environmental 

concerns, advances KIAF’s intention 

of using art as a tool for 

social change. 

2012, and the US 

is witnessing its 

worst drought in 

half a century; Oxfam and the UN are 

preparing for a possible second global 

food crisis in five years; and leading 

water scientists are warning that there 

will not be enough water in the next 40 

years to produce food for a human 

population that is expected to reach nine 

billion by then. 

The Amazon, housing 60 percent of 

the world’s forests and producing 20 

percent of its oxygen, remains threatened 

despite deforestation in the region having 

dropped 80 percent since 2004. And the 

Belo Monte dam in Brazil—the construction 

of which has been halted for the time 

being—threatens to put the livelihoods 

and territories of the area’s indigenous 

communities at risk. 

The Arctic has been warming roughly 

twice as quickly as the rest of the northern 

hemisphere, and the Himalayas, 

which have melted significantly over 

the decades, will continue to melt—at 

accelerated rates. 

And so it is very pertinent that KIAF 

2012 has chosen to take a look at how art 

can find a way of expressing concern over 

climate change and its consequences. 

The works of art that will be part of the 

festival, with the theme ‘Earth, Body, 

Mind’, will explore the responsibilities we, 

as humans, must take up for the 

environmental costs of our actions. 

The festival, which hopes to engage 

A CHANGING PLANET 

LEANG SECKON 

It is pertinent that the 

second Kathmandu 

International Arts 

Festival, one of the 

biggest art events in 

South Asia, has chosen 

to take a look at how art 

can find a way of 

expressing concern 

over climate change, 

and its consequences 

We hope that the 

communicative power 

of our artists will 

reach and inspire 

the experts who 

are framing global 

climate change 

initiatives 

various groups—students, writers, 

politicians, and environmental agencies—will 

commence with a three-day 

symposium. Kathmandu will be witness 

to numerous manifestations of the visual, 

performance and interpretive arts; 

its denizens spectators to, and a 

part of, a colossal contemporary arts 

phenomenon. 

The Patan Museum, Nepal Art 

Council, the National Academy of Fine 

Arts, the British Council, the Siddhartha 

Art Gallery, Summit Hotel, Nepal 

Investment Bank, and site specific 

locations around Kathmandu Valley will 

host exhibitions, galas, performances, 

workshops and even a PechaKucha 

Night, among other events. 

KIAF 2012 hopes to reach over 50,000 

people through artworks and commentary 

created and written by 75 international 

and 22 national artists, curators 

and journalists. 

Works by Brazilian photographer 

Maureen Bisilliat should certainly 

comprise some of the most relevant at 

the festival, given the current controversies 

surrounding the construction of the 

Belo Monte dam in Brazil. 

Bisilliat, whose images faultlessly 

blend the environment and its people 

together, has spent a considerable 

amount of time photographing and 

filming the 16 tribes who live along 

the Upper Xingu River in Amazonia. 

Since first coming into contact with 

the Xinguanos in August 1973, Bisilliat 

has not only documented their lives 

and culture, but has also championed 

their rights. 

In the 1990 edition of Xingu she 

writes: 

“Almost 20 years have passed since 

my first encounter with the Xingu... 

Although in the Xingu Region little has, by 

comparison with other regions, changed, 

long absence makes it difficult to gauge 

the subtle alterations that have modified 

the Xinguanos’ attitude towards the 

outside world: a certain wariness and an 

awareness of the conflicts inflicted upon 

the indigenous populations of Brazil, of 

the losing battles and the silent wars of 

conquest…. 

“Those ‘alterations’ have not been 

subtle. Xingu land is under imminent 

threat. The government has been 

developing many parts of Amazonia 

relentlessly. The Xingu inhabit an area in 

the state of Pará that is the proposed site 

for a massive hydroelectric dam, the 

world’s third largest, Belo Monte.” 

Cambodian artist Leang Seckon has 

always infused environmental themes in 

his artworks. Global warming, climate 

change, water and environmental 

protection issues have, in fact, been 

major themes in Seckon’s works. 

Brangelina Avatar, a 180 cm x 150 cm 

painting, which will be on display at the 

festival, presents the entwined bodies of 

Hollywood celebrities Brad Pitt and 

Angelina Jolie painted as the ‘god of the 

rice field’. The fact that the pair’s eldest 

son Maddox was adopted by Jolie from an 

orphanage in Cambodia is certainly 

reflected in the work, and the reference to 

ecology, with the mountainous body and 

its flowing river, is evident. 

The artist designed and led the 

community art project, the Naga—a 225 

m long recycled plastic installation on the 

Siem Reap River in 2008—for World Water 

Day, creating the largest sculpture and 

installation in Cambodia. His other works 

have featured the use of household 

rubbish in them. 

“Cambodia as a country is catching 

up with what is happening in the modern 

international scene. We never forget our 

culture, just like we never forget how to 

grow rice,” says the artist. “But our 

natural environment has already been 

damaged, and the whole world notices 

changes in natural systems.” 

Nepali artists Lok Chitrakar and 

Meena Kayastha present entirely different 

modes and forms of expression in art. 

While the former is a traditional Paubha 

painter known for his visual renditions of 

philosophical texts, the latter is known for 

using junk collected from local junk yards 

to “present (her) thought processes.” 

“Art is the shadow of what a person is 

thinking,” says Kayastha about her works. 

“Junk is a feeling for me. Junk once had a 

life, had importance, and meant something 

to someone.” 

The very material with which she 

creates her artwork hence resonates 

deeply with the festival’s theme. Much as 

Seckon has done with The Rubbish 

Project—an attempt at local environmental 

advocacy in Cambodia through art. 

Chitrakar’s works, Kamal and 

Basundhara, on the other hand, will 

reflect how traditional Nepali paintings 

are embedded in nature and philosophy 

and are symbolic of life. 

“Traditional Nepali paintings are not 

simply handicrafts created repeatedly. 

Their content, although only religious in 

appearance, is meaningful, mysterious 

and directly linked to life,” he says. 

In a city where contemporary art is 

still seen as rather novel, KIAF 2012 hopes 

to “expand its introduction to a wider 

audience through galleries, art venues 

and public spaces,” says festival director 

Sangeeta Thapa. 

As manifestations of our reactions to 

all that we are exposed to, art—both 

visual and otherwise—has a rather 

intriguing way of telling the truth behind 

things. One that is often more poignant 

and more effective than the direct 

presentation of facts. And so, with eager 

anticipation, we await the beginning of 

KIAF 2012, a festival that will have artists 

from over 31 countries participating. 

“We hope that the communicative 

power of our artists will reach and inspire 

the experts who are framing global 

climate change initiatives,” says Thapa, 

adding, “We hope that this project will 

provide a springboard for renewed 

commitment by the citizenry, in encouraging 

and strengthening their determination 

to act in the exercise of their powers 

to influence and endorse educational, 

parliamentary and grassroots reforms 

pertaining to climate change policies at 

the national level.” 

MAUREEN BISILLIAT 

LOK CHITRAKAR 

MEENA KAYASTHA 

MAUREEN BISILLIAT 

LEANG SECKON 

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2012


PHOTOS: NAVESH CHITRAKAR/REUTERS 

South Asia’s first gay 

sports festival, to be 

held in Kathmandu next 

month, represents a 

fresh breaking of 

barriers with regards 

to the rights of sexual 

and gender minorities 

in the region 

MANISHA NEUPANE 

BOOK-LOVERS and readers of all 

descriptions in Kathmandu have 

had increasing reasons to rejoice of 

late. A wave of literary festivals has 

come to be part of the city’s annual 

calendar, events that have been growing in 

number and scale over the last few years. 

With participants derived from both the Nepali 

as well as the international literary scene, 

among other experts and professionals from 

various related fields, these festivals offer local 

bibliophiles a chance to catch some of their 

favourite authors in person and interact with 

them, or attend discussions on some of their 

most loved pieces of work. 

A relatively new but significant entry among 

the literary events of varying degrees that dot 

the yearly list is the Ncell Nepal Literature 

Festival, the second instalment of which will be 

Sprinting over hurdles 

SAURAV JUNG THAPA 

IN what is a first for South 

Asia and the second such 

occurrence for Asia as a 

whole, Kathmandu is readying 

to host a rather unique 

event this October—a gay sports 

festival. To be held at the Dashrath 

Rangashala stadium and the 

National Theatre Hall between 

October 12 to 14, the festival— 

part sporting event, part social 

awareness bid—is modeled on the 

global Gay Games, organised 

by lesbian, gay, bisexual and 

transgender (LGBT) promoters 

for athletes from the same 

community. 

The Gay Games were first started 

in the US in 1982 to promote 

inclusion and encourage the 

pursuit of personal growth. They 

were designed with the intention 

to prove that sexual and gender 

minority individuals are as legitimate 

a part of society as everyone 

else and to show they are fully able 

to participate in mainstream 

activities like sports. And 30 years 

WITHIN THE PAGES 

held in approximately two weeks time. 

Organised by the Bookworm Trust, the 2012 

edition of the festival is slated to be bigger and 

better than its predecessor. “There has been a 

visible rise in interest in literature-related events 

here, which is a great thing to witness,” says Ajit 

Baral, the director of the festival. “We’re hoping 

for increased attendance—double the 5,000 that 

showed up last year.” The festival will be held at 

the Nepal Academy in Kamaladi—which will 

offer larger premises and halls for the various 

segments to take place in. “The 2011 instalment 

was more successful than we’d ever expected it 

to be. We’ve learned a lot of lessons, so this year 

will be more streamlined.” 

Running for the duration of four days, the 

Nepal Literature Festival this time around will 

not just make room for more visitors, but also 

encompass broader areas of literary discourse 

compared to the previous edition. Interactions 

and talks will be held on various genres and 

since, the Blue Diamond Society 

(BDS), Nepal’s largest human 

rights organisation that works to 

empower the marginalised LGBT 

community comprising 10 percent 

of the population, has taken the 

initiative to bring a version of these 

games to the country. Participants 

will compete in more than 

10 group and individual events 

such as karate, track running, 

marathon, football, volleyball, and 

long jump. A swimming event also 

remains a possibility. 

The festival has already 

confirmed participation from over 

350 amateur athletes from the 

LGBT community in Nepal and at 

least 150 foreign athletes from 

more than 17 countries. One of the 

star foreign athletes participating 

in the festival is Greg Louganis, an 

openly gay and HIV positive 

athlete from the US, who won two 

gold medals in diving in the 1984 

and 1988 Olympics. Sources at the 

American Embassy say that 

Louganis has expressed his great 

happiness at being invited to 

participate in the event and to be 

able to contribute to the noble 

cause of empowering sexual and 

gender minorities in Nepal. 

Aside from athletes, corporate 

employees from Kathmandu and 

some donor and multilateral 

agency employees have also indicated 

their interest in participating, 

according to games coordinator 

and the board secretary of BDS, 

Roshan Mahato. Seed funding 

mediums—whether it be fiction, non-fiction, 

film, theatre, music, or journalism. “And this 

time, we have also incorporated children’s 

literature into the itinerary,” says Baral. Issues 

like plagiarism, new media and its impact on 

reading, and Nepali film audiences, among 

others, will also be prodded at by experts. 

Aside from the discussion series, the festival 

will also include a number of book launches, 

among which Sakash by Jagadish Ghimire and 

Kunsang Kaka ko Katha by Khagendra 

Sangraula comprise the highlights. Attendees at 

the event are likely to run into other well-known 

figures like Pradeep Giri, CK Lal, Chaitanya 

Mishra, Sudheer Sharma, Sunil Pokhrel, Nischal 

Basnet, Anup Baral and Ashesh Malla. 

Baral says that the kind of response the 

festival received in its first round was very 

gratifying, especially for international writers 

who had made the trip last year. Ira Trivedi, 

author of There is No Love on Wall Street and The 

from the Australian Embassy has 

helped the idea take concrete 

shape and further fundraising 

efforts are underway, particularly 

on the part of banks and business 

entities. Mahato says that this 

domestic fund raising has the 

dual goal of raising awareness on 

LGBT issues in the corporate 

sector, as well as creating anticipation 

amid the public with regards 

to the games. 

The Nepal Sports Foundation 

and the Nepal Tourism Board have 

also signaled their support for the 

festival, a significant move, according 

to the coordinator. “The games 

seek to make people aware about 

the human rights of the LGBT 

community members who face a 

lot of societal stigma and discrimination,” 

he explains. National 

players like Hari Khadka, Sangina 

Vaidya, Neru Thapa, and Rahul BK 

have offered their help in training 

participants, and images of the 

athletes in training have also 

been featured in several global 

media outlets. 

At present, organisers are 

working to arrange housing and 

transport for all the athletes, and to 

ensure that LGBT community 

members and their supporters 

come out in full force to show their 

support. The participants have 

been training everyday between 6 

to 9 am at the stadium’s premises 

under coach Bhakti Shah, 29, a 

transman and former Nepal Army 

soldier who was unceremoniously 

forced out of the armed forces for 

having an affair with a woman. 

Eighteen eager trainees have 

been working under Shah every 

morning and he hopes this 

number will rise to 50 in the weeks 

leading up to event. Sessions begin 

with warm ups, followed by track 

running and stretching, and will 

eventually incorporate football 

and badminton. “This is not hardcore 

military-style training but 

more about imparting ideas about 

A wave of literary events—including the Ncell Nepal Literature Festival and the Kathmandu Literary Jatra—has come to be part of 

Kathmandu’s annual calendar in recent times, growing in number and scale 

AMISH TRIPATHI 

Tripathi is one of the most 

internationally successful 

contemporary Indian writers. His 

The Immortals of Meluha and The 

Secret of the Nagas—part of the 

Shiva Trilogy—have sold over 

760,000 copies. Filmmaker Karan 

Johar’s company, Dharma 

Productions, has bought the 

rights to film adaptations of his 

books. At the festival, the writer 

will mostly share his experiences 

of rewriting myth in literature. 

Some notable international writers participating in the Nepal Literature Festival: 

ADVAITA KALA 

Kala is best-known for her bestselling 

novel Almost Single and 

her scriptwriting in the 

Bollywood films Anjaana 

Anjaani and Kahaani. As a 

child, Kala had spent five 

years in Nepal when her father 

had been working with the 

Indian embassy. She will be in 

conversation with former Miss 

Nepal and actress Jharana 

Bajracharya during the festival, 

to talk about Almost Single. 

SUNIL GANGOPADHYAY 

Indian novelist and poet 

Gangopadhyay has written 

over 200 books in his career of 

almost six decades and won 

many awards. The Nikhilesh 

and Neera series of poems 

comprise his most popular 

works till date. Gangopadhyay 

will be discussing writing with 

Kurchi Dasgupta at the festival, 

as well as talking about the 

Beat Generation with 

Abhi Subedi. 

Great Indian Love Story, was among these and 

had expressed her excitement at the rapport 

she’d found with attendees. “Even Mark Tully, 

writer and former BBC head in South Asia, said 

that he’d enjoyed all the presentations and 

discussions he had been part of and 

observed,” adds Baral. 

So does the growing interest in literary 

activities signal a real-life boost in general 

readership? Baral believes so. “I think 

festivals such as ours represent, on one 

hand, a means of gauging how far reading 

has been cultivated in a particular place, and 

on the other, a way of encouraging the same,” 

he says. “I can’t speak for whether this is 

reflected in the actual sales of books, 

but it’s positive all the same.” Baral says 

that if the kind of anticipation and 

attendance that such events generate 

is anything to go by, things are 

certainly headed in the right 

direction. 

The Ncell Nepal Literature 

Festival will be held between 

September 20-23. A second largescale 

literature festival—the 

Kathmandu Literary Jatra— 

organised by Quixote’s Cove 

and the Nepal Economic 

Forum, has also been 

announced for November 

This is a dream 

event that symbolises 

the courage of the 

LGBT community 

to come out and 

celebrate their 

physical, mental, and 

spiritual integrity 

with openness 

and dignity 

basic fitness and knowledge 

about the rules and procedures of 

sporting events,” Shah says. He 

adds that coaching LGBT community 

members has been a pleasure 

as many of them come from the 

fringes of society where they 

were denied opportunities to participate 

in mainstream activities— 

many had never even seen the 

inside of a stadium before. 

Events in the gay sports festival 

in October are open not only to 

LGBT athletes, but also to their 

progressive supporters in the 

straight community. Furthermore, 

the event is designed to encourage 

inclusive participation more than 

competition, which is why it has 

been billed as a ‘festival’ rather 

than a competition or contest. The 

three-day festival will wrap up 

on a celebratory and colourful 

note on October 14 with a pink 

fashion pageant fashion featuring 

transgender women. Prominent 

civil society and business leaders 

from Kathmandu will be invited to 

judge the event. 

Sunil Babu Pant, a pioneer of 

Nepal’s gay rights movement, and 

who used to be a member of 

the now dissolved Constituent 

Assembly, is effusive in his praise 

of South Asia’s first gay sports 

festival, calling it a “dream event 

that symbolises the courage of the 

LGBT community to come out and 

celebrate their physical, mental, 

and spiritual integrity with 

openness and dignity.” Pant 

further commends the positive 

attitude demonstrated by Nepali 

society and the government 

in enthusiastically supporting 

these games. 

9

10 

FICTION 

Like his master and 

mistress, Bundulung 

had strayed a long 

way from the green 

terraces of Jambu. 

Now the three of 

them lived in a 

temporary dwelling 

made from bamboo 

staves, plastic 

sheeting and part of a 

torn and faded old 

wedding tent in the 

very heart of 

Kathmandu, along 

the bank of the 

Bagmati 

CHIYA-BISKUT 

DOMINIK VON BOHLEN 

BUNDULUNG sat under the false 

banana tree. As the lives of dogs go 

in the city of Kathmandu, 

Bundulung’s was not a bad one. Tuli 

Puli, not usually given to spontaneous 

actions of the heart, had suddenly 

insisted late at night that her husband Sonam 

pay a wizened old farmer an asking price 

equivalent to that of two healthy chickens for 

the cross-eyed golden-furred pup on their 

annual visit to Jambu village. She had tucked 

the newborn into her choli on the long hike 

down to the valley floor the following 

morning, and the way he had inquisitively 

stuck his little wet snout upwards and 

outwards in front of the curve of her neck 

had brought her a fleeting respite from the 

sorrow that had settled on her like fresh snow 

since her second miscarriage several weeks 

earlier. Bundulung was no little boy, nor even a 

little girl, but he was little and helpless and 

warmed the skin of her chest under her choli 

in the crisp morning air. 

On the bus journey back to Kathmandu, 

Bundulung became the plaything of the 

crowded front seats. Tsering, Tuli Puli’s sisterin-law, 

unpeeled a hard boiled egg and, breaking 

up the egg white by squashing it between 

her fingers, patiently fed it bit by bit to the 

puppy, not before popping the yolk into her 

own mouth. Several minutes after Tsering had 

finished, Bundulung vomited the whole meal 

back up again on Tsering’s yellow kurta. She 

gave the affected area a few perfunctory wipes 

with a page of newspaper before suddenly 

losing interest in the dog and falling asleep. 

Some young boys tried to recover Bundulung 

from Tsering’s lap but Tuli Puli intervened, 

placing him inside her choli once again. 

“Uncle, why did you name the dog 

Bundulung? It is a strange name,” shouted one 

of the boys above the creak and din of the old 

bus. “Be quiet,” replied Sonam, “you are a 

strange boy but no one asks you why your 

mother and father begot you.” To this, the 

front of the bus, including the otherwise silent 

driver, bug-eyed from a brown sugar habit, 

guffawed with laughter. 

Once he had preferred to sit on his hind 

legs on top of a little pile of requisitioned 

bricks which buttressed the front of Sonam’s 

tiny restaurant, but now Bundulung sat under 

the false banana tree. There was more shade 

there and fewer flies due to the fact that Tuli 

Puli never used that spot to wash dishes and 

jettison lumps of uneaten rice or congealed 

daal or chicken bones as she would from time 

to time in every other spot surrounding their 

shack. Bundulung was now old enough to 

appreciate these fine differences. Like his 

master and mistress, he had strayed a long 

way from the green terraces of Jambu with the 

Bhote Kosi rolling below them in an endless 

surge of foaming white glacial melt-water. 

Now the three of them, still without child, 

lived in a temporary dwelling made from 

Bundulung 

• Prerana Pakhrin 

bamboo staves, plastic sheeting and part of a 

torn and faded but still gaudy old wedding 

tent in the very heart of Kathmandu, along the 

bank of that city’s main river, the Bagmati, 

which, like the vein in the leg of a man suffering 

from gangrene, had long since turned 

black and lifeless. 

A chain made from heavy duty links had 

been fixed by means of a rusty carabiner 

around Bundulung’s neck and attached to an 

unsightly cylindrical mass of concrete with 

iron construction rods sprouting from its 

smashed-off top. It was part of a pillar of sorts, 

requisitioned from the debris of a much larger 

demolished building and somehow brought to 

the sukumbasis as a potentially useful item of 

building material. If one thing can be said of a 

sukumbasi, it is that wastage is not an option. 

The chain lay slack along Bundulung’s 

reclining flank. There was no human traffic 

outside Sonam’s restaurant just then to excite 

him. Neighbours and their children no longer 

elicited a response from him; them he recognised 

without even opening his eyes. Some of 

them he was indifferent to. Some, like Barsha 

Magar, he was fond of, but then everyone was 

fond of Barsha Magar because the little girl 

was beautiful both inside and out and only a 

fool could fail to see that. But there were 

others still who made Bundulung spring to his 

feet in an instant and growl menacingly or 

bark outright depending on their proximity. 

Unfamiliar people like the hawkers who sold 

wholesale tat to the many tiny shops in the 

area, surly street urchins from the Indian end 

of the settlement, sellers of chatpatte, drunkards, 

beggars, schoolchildren, thieves, itinerant 

holy men and the occasional foreigners. 

Even though he slept outside, Bundulung 

was sometimes let into the one-roomed 

restaurant shack, where he witnessed many 

incidents. His was the unofficial role of dishwasher 

as he often licked clean the plates of 

customers who had asked for second helpings 

which were too large to finish. Mostly Tuli Puli 

would later take out the dishes to rinse with 

water, which she would collect in a large blue 

plastic jerry can labelled ‘Nipacide’ from a 

hand pump further down the sukumbasi 

settlement but sometimes she forgot or had 

no water and made do with Bundulung’s dishwasher 

tongue. He was fed and treated well by 

the customers, particularly by a well-to-do 

long haired man with criminal leanings called 

Hari Bahadur and his group of cronies. Only 

sometimes, on rowdy evenings fuelled by 

rakshi and chhang and tongba and beer, 

would a drunken customer kick or smack him, 


Neighbours and their 

children no longer 

elicited a response 

from him. Some he 

was indifferent to. 

Some he was fond of. 

But there were others 

who still made him 

spring to his feet in 

an instant and growl 

menacingly 

but then he would rush for cover behind the 

restaurant’s shop counter and cower under 

Sonam and Tuli Puli’s low wooden bed. 

One time a tall American man entered the 

restaurant and drank tea. He talked in Nepali 

about the Christian God. The others listened 

because it was rare that a foreigner visited and 

rarer still for him to speak in Nepali. The man 

returned another day and gave out T-shirts. 

Then he returned again. This time, an old 

woman lay on the ground in the corner of the 

restaurant because she was very sick and very 

weak. The American said he would pray to his 

Christian God to heal her and kneeled down 

next to her and put his hands on her head. 

Purple blotches caused by Clofazimine treatment 

covered her wrinkled face. Bundulung 

barked because he could sense that death had 

entered the room. Then the others too realised 

that the old woman had died. The American 

was very sorry and left quickly. That day the 

others too were sorry but soon they learnt to 

laugh at the man and his God. Not long after 

that day, the whole settlement came to know 

of the story and it was told to anyone who 

cared to listen, except, of course, to Christians. 

Bundulung sat under the false banana 

tree. In the evenings he would join in the howling 

of the street dogs which is the plaintive 

night chorus of Kathmandu.

AYUSH KHADKA 


AT one moment he was in the dugout of 

the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium in New 

Delhi as a goalkeeping coach of the 

Nepal national team, and a strategist of 

Madhyapur Youth club the next. 

The past one month had been a very hectic 

one for Upendra Man Singh as the former 

national team custodian shared his time 

between national team, as assistant to coach 

Krishna Thapa, and Madhyapur Youth of which 

he is the president. 

But he is not complaining. It has always 

been like that so long as he could remember. 

Singh began his career at A division side 

Annapurna Club in 1990 as their first choice 

‘keeper at an early age-he was preparing for the 

School Leaving Certificate at the time. 

The next big leap he remembers was playing 

in Thailand for a second division outfit in 

1994. Singh had already become a heartthrob of 

Nepali football by that time. He was making 

$500 a month when his peers back home were 

Ghosts of 

the Past 

SOMESH VERMA League Division 5—which 

then cricket administra- 

IT is strange how the tors said was after intense 

ghosts of past keep com- lobbying—after showing a 

ing back to haunt you. lot of promise during 

More so, in sports, as it early part of this decade. 

deals with statistics— Since then Nepali cricket 

again, of the past… has been a story of strug- 

By all means Malaysia gle. 

has been a happy hunting That’s perhaps why 

ground for Nepali crick- the World Cricket League 

et—after the home Division 4 this time 

ground—having won two around was not merely a 

titles at age group level tournament for Nepal. It 

cricket. The first of them is more than that, as 

came at the ACC U-15 Nepali team needed to 

Two Day, when Nepal won beat the ghosts from the 

the title under Prithu past, to start afresh and 

Baskota’s captaincy, in keep the promise of 

2006. 

climbing up. To spice up 

Nepal won ACC U-19 the atmosphere, 

Elite Cup, in 2007, under Malaysia’s coach was Roy 

Paras Khadka’s captaincy. Dias—the man who had 

Some of the members of been at the helm of 

present senior team like Nepal’s coaching for close 

Anil Mandal, Amrit to a decade—almost an 

Bhattarai, Gyanendra insider of Nepali cricket. 

Malla were a part of the Paras Khadka, who has 

team coached by Roy fond memories of lifting 

Dias. 

the title there, leading 

Team Nepal, which had a 

few players that played in 

OFF- SIDE that fateful loss eight 

years ago. 

That’s why Nepal ver- 

That’s perhaps 

why the Division 

sus Malaysia was more 

than a game, not only for 

Nepali players, but also 

four this time 

around was not 

merely a tourna- 

for Roy Dias. Apart from 

being about forgetting 

2004, it was a duel 

between the mentor and 

the protégés. It was an 

ment for Nepal. 

They needed to 

beat the ghosts 

emotional battle as they 

had parted ways and were 

in opposing camps now. 

Once friends, now foes. 

It’s not easy to play against 

from the past 

what you term as your 

second home. 

And Nepal annihilated 

Malaysia. The boys 

At the same time, the beat their mentor, domi- 

senior team hasn’t had nating both with the bat 

such happy memories of and ball. As Dias’ present 

the venue, having suffered team showed the same 

one of the biggest set- vulnerabilities in batting 

backs in Kuala Lumpur. seen during his Nepal 

In 2004, in one of the years —crumbling during 

most surprising results pressure situation—his 

Nepal has faced, they lost former team showed no 

to Qatar by four wickets in signs of it. 

quarter-final of the ACC It would be difficult to 

Trophy. It was a huge say if the ghosts from the 

impediment for Nepali past were laid to rest or 

team, given its past results not. For only time would 

at the tournament. After tell that. But the re-emer- 

first round exit in 1996 gence of two of Dias’ pro- 

and ‘98—early days of tégés—Binod Das and 

Nepal’s international par- Shakti Gauchan—must 

ticipation —they had have given him heart. For, 

reached semi-final in it is something about the 

2000 and been finalists in mentor-protégé relation- 

2002 at the same tournaship that cannot be killed. 

ment. Had Nepal reached As a mentor, you want 

the final then, they would them to do well. 

have reached World Psychologists will tell 

Cricket League Division 2 you that the interpersonal 

qualifier, gaining in rank- similarities between menings 

and possible incretors and protégés forge 

ment in funding provided strong bonds. The old 

by ICC. That would have warhorses may have more 

also meant increased than proved that they’re 

international exposure. not spent forces. And if 

These were the days the ghosts of the past are 

when World Cricket laid to rest by now, 

League’s structure was Malaysia could be the soil 

still being formed. This where Nepali cricket takes 

defeat led to Nepal being a turnaround again. This 

relegated to World Cricket time, for good... 

hardly drawing Rs 1,000- Rs1,500. 

Later that year, he was drafted into the 

national team as a goalkeeper and held on to 

the position for the next 20 years. Though the 

national team hardly had anything to cheer 

about during the period, his club career as a 

goalkeeper scaled further heights. After plying 

his trade with India’s Salgaocar from 1997-2000, 

Singh joined Ranojjung in Dhaka, where he 

spent three seasons, before finally ending his 

illustrious career with Three Star Club in 2005. 

The All Nepal Football Association recognised 

his long contribution to the game with the highest 

honour and was presented a Toyata Yaris. 

“I was making good money back then. At 

both the clubs abroad, I was earning about 

$1,000, which was a big deal at that time when 

the maximum a Nepali player would take home 

from local clubs was Rs 3,000. It was a good 

experience,” says Singh, who is currently looking 

over his club’s preparation for the Ncell Cup 

starting on September 12. 

Madhyapur Youth, sponsored by Iceberg 

Beer, are pitted against his former club Three 

Star in the tournament’s opening match. It will 

be second major outing for the amateur side 

after their debut in the British Gurkha Cup, 

where they were beaten 1-0 in extra time by 

Nepal Army for the title. “I have been training 

them hard for the last two months. We had 

focused on physical fitness in the first month 

and now we are working on technical side. I 

think they will do okay,” he explains. 

Madhyapur Youth is the brain child of 

Singh, a Madhyapur native. The club was established 

in 2007 with a motto, ‘Football for 

Education’, with objectives to introduce a team 

from their native Bhaktapur in the top flight and 

to produce local talents. 

Five years on, Singh and his club partners’ 

mission has been achieved. Madhyapur 

Youth are now playing in the top flight with a 

squad picked up from a large pool of almost 800 

players. 

“Except for two-three players, all of the 

players in the team’s 22-man squad are from 

Bhaktapur. They have been playing together 

from D division until today,” says Singh, who 

has another batch of about 30 players training 

in the club’s academy. The club management 


For Upendra Man Singh, life’s been all football 

Upendra Man Singh instructs players of 

Madhyapur before their friendly against 

Machhindra. POST PHOTO: KAUSHAL ADHIKARI 

APF, NPC win NVA titles 

Kailash Dutta Bhatta of APF, best player in the men’s 

category (left), and Kopila Uprety of Nepal Police 

Club, best player in the women’s category with the 

award they won in the First NVA Cup Volleyball 

Championship on Friday. POST PHOTO 

POST REPORT 


ARMED Police Force (APF) 

and Nepal Police Club 

(NPC) became the champions 

of the First NVA Cup 

National Club 

Championship in men’s 

and women’s categories 

respectively on Friday. 

APF defeated NPC 3-1 

in the men’s final, while in a 

very competitive match in 

the women’s final played at 

the National Sports 

Council covered hall, NPC 

agonised APF with a 3-2 

win. 

APF dominated the 

beginning two sets with 

25-15 and 25-20 but NPC 

bounced back in the third 

set with a narrow win of 

25-23. Nevertheless, APF 

sealed the match in the 

final set with a 25-21 score 

line. Opposite was the case 

in the women’s competition 

as NPC have gone 

down in the beginning two 

sets but they overturned 

the result to be the 

champions after winning 

forthcoming three sets. 

NPC trailed with a 

21-25 and 22-25 in the 

beginning two sets but 

AWARDS 

Women’s category 

Best player: Kopila Uprety of 

NPC 

Best spiker: Ramila Tandukar 

of New Diamond 

Best blocker: Chandrawati 

Rana of APF 

Best lifter: Binita Budhathoki 

of APF 

Best server: Sushila Thapa of 

NPC 

Men’s category 

Best player: Kailash Dutta 

Bhatta of APF 

Best spiker: Sanjaya Aryal of 

NPC 

Best blocker: Mahendra 

Shrestha of APF 

Best lifter: Khushi Chaudhary 

of APF 

Best server: Kul Bahadur 

Thapa of NPC 

went on to win the trophy 

after registering a win of 

25-18, 25-17 and 15-12 in 

the last three sets. The 

winners bagged a purse of 

Rs 100,000. Nepal Army 

Club finished third in the 

men’s category while New 

diamond attained the 

same feat in the women’s. 

Likwewise, Kopila 

Uprety of NPC was awarded 

the best player in the 

women’s category, while 

Kailash Dutta took honours 

in the men’s category. 

11 

has arranged for food and free education to the 

players in nearby schools. 

Now, the club’s 17-member executive committee 

has its eyes now trained on turning their 

practice ground next to the Army Barrack in 

Sano Thimi into an international standard 

ground. 

“The club’s success was possible only 

because of the help from the local community, 

the determined executive committee and sponsors,” 

says Singh, who expects Madhyapur 

Youth to create “the biggest fan base” in Nepal 

in the future. His belief is stemmed from the fact 

that eight buses packed with supporters from 

Bhaktapur and the surrounding areas travelled 

to cheer on their team in the Municipality Cup 

in Pokhara in 2007. 

“I still remember that day when we competed 

in the tournament. We had a huge fan following 

who had travelled all the way to Pokhara 

just to see their team play. I am sure of similar 

support if we do well in the top flight,” reminisces 

Singh, before ordering his players to 

stand in single file for the friendly match which 

they went on to win 3-0 against Machhindra.

sportsdigest 

NK memorial football starts 

from Monday 

KATHMANDU: NK memorial football 

championship is set to begin from 

Monday at the premises of 

Buddhanilkantha School, the organisers 

Sports Training and Recreation, a 

sports association of Buddhanilkantha 

said on Friday. According to the 

organisers late Narayan Khadka, after 

whom the tournament is named, was 

a national taekwondo player and a 

sports teacher at the school. 

Altogether 12 teams are participating 

in the competition. 

Mourinho won’t comment on 

sad Ronaldo 

MADRID: Real Madrid coach Jose 

Mourinho isn’t going to divulge what 

he thinks of star player Cristiano 

Ronaldo’s glum demeanor. Ronaldo, 

the world’s most expensive player, 

says he is “feeling sad” because of 

professional reasons the Portugal 

forward claims the Spanish giant is 

aware of. Mourinho, speaking in 

Spanish sports daily AS, says “it’s a 

theme in which I shouldn’t nor 

can I comment on. I won’t say 

anything about it.” The 27-year-old 

Ronaldo revealed his feelings after 

being asked why he had not 

celebrated scoring twice in a Madrid 

victory. On Tuesday, Ronaldo issued a 

statement denying it’s because of 

money while committing himself to 

the Spanish champions. Ronaldo has 

scored 150 goals in 149 games for 

Madrid, including 59 in all competitions 

last season. 

Samsung renews Chelsea deal 

LONDON: uropean club football 

champions Chelsea will have the 

Samsung name on their shirts until 

2015 after the South Korean company 

extended its sponsorship deal with 

the English Premier League team. The 

agreement was reportedly worth 

around 18 million pounds per season 

to Chelsea. The deal’s reported size 

compares with the $559 million 

agreement Manchester United 

secured with US carmaker General 

Motors to have the Chevrolet brand 

on its kit for seven years from 2014. 

Bolt ‘open’ to Man 

United charity game 

AFGENCE FRANCE PRESSE 

BRUSSELS, SEPT 7 

JAMAICAN sprint star Usain 

Bolt said he was open to playing 

a charity game for his 

favourite team Manchester 

United, following a statement 

to that effect by the Premier 

League club’s manager Alex 

Ferguson. Ferguson told Inside 

United magazine on 

Wednesday: “Usain’s a character 

and a big United fan. 

“But it’s interesting he says 

he’d like to play in a charity 

game. It could be brilliant, and 

next year when we play Real 

Madrid’s Legends again, there 

could be opportunities to 

bring him up and see how he 

does.” 

Bolt, fresh from his second 

successive triple gold haul at 

the London Olympics and 

speaking ahead of his final 

outing of the season in the 

Brussels Diamond League 

meet, responded: “I heard Sir 

Alex Ferguson’s proposal. I’m 

open to everything. 

“The Olympic Games are 

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA 

VISAKHAPATNAM, SEPT 7 

AFTER winning his battle against a 

rare germ cell cancer, India’s World 

Cup hero Yuvraj Singh would be the 

cynosure of all eyes when he starts 

his journey back to international 

cricket with the first Twenty20 match 

against New Zealand on Saturday. 

Yuvraj was diagnosed with the 

ailment between his lungs within 

months of winning the Man of the 

Tournament award in the 2011 World 

Cup. 

His career looked in jeopardy 

when the diagnosis was first revealed 

but the flamboyant all-rounder 

fought back after undergoing three 

cycles of chemotherapy. 

The 30-year-old left-hander has 

been training hard at the National 

Cricket Academy in Bangalore and 

would be looking to make a state- 

behind me, they went well, 

which takes off a lot of 

pressure. So in 2013, I could 

take a few more risks. Charity 

football matches, why not?” 

The charity game is 

scheduled for June 3, 2013, at 

Old Trafford, but comes in 

mid-season for Bolt ahead of 

several lucrative Diamond 

League meets and the August 

10-18 world championships 

in Moscow. 

Djokovic topples Del Potro; 

Ferrer rallies for semis 

Novak Djokovic of Serbia celebrates after defeating Juan Martin del 

Potro of Argentina in their quarter-final match in the US Open in New 

York on Thursday. AFP/RSS 

REUTERS 

NEW YORK, SEPT 7 

NOVAK Djokovic was at his 

brilliant best as he moved a 

step closer to defending his 

US Open title with a 6-2 7-6 6-4 victory 

over Juan Martin del Potro to 

reach the semi-finals at Flushing 

Meadows on Thursday. 

The second-seeded Serb 

stamped his authority on the quar- 

ment when he returns to the cricket 

field in Saturday’s match. 

It is something that has never 

happened on the cricket field and 

Yuvraj will go on to inspire generations 

when he wears the Indian 

colours again after more than nine 

months. 

ter-final when he edged a titanic 

second set against the 6ft-6in (1.98 

m) Argentine, who won here in 2009. 

The set lasted 84 minutes and 

featured a 17-minute game at 6-5 

when the 23-year-old Del Potro 

saved three set points to force a 

tiebreaker. 

It was tennis of the highest order 

as the pair pushed each other all 

around the court but Djokovic 

emerged with the set after taking the 

McIlroy, Woods in 

hunt at BMW 


INDIANAPOLIS, SEPT 7 

RORY McIlroy, who is fresh off a win last week 

at the Deutsche Bank Championship, fired an 

eight-under 64 Thursday to grab a share of the 

lead after the first round of the PGA Tour’s 

BMW Championship. Also in the hunt atop a 

crowded leaderboard is McIlroy’s playing partner 

Tiger Woods, who is one stroke back after 

shooting a seven-under 65. 

The 23-year-old Northern Irishman 

McIlroy birdied his last two holes to put him 

into a four-way tie for the lead at the Crooked 

Stick golf course. Woods also made it look like 

just another day at the office, chipping in from 

30 feet for birdie on his last hole. 

“You know, with the soft conditions you 

could really shoot a number out there, and I 

did,” said PGA Champion McIlroy. 

“I took advantage of hitting the ball 

really well, hitting it in the fairway, which I 

need to do, and also hitting it long, and gave 

myself a lot of opportunities.” Canada’s 

Graham DeLaet, American Bo Van Pelt and US 

Open champ Webb Simpson also shot 

eight-under 64. 

American Woods is tied for fifth with Fijian 

Vijay Singh. Luke Donald, Ryan Palmer and 

Ryan Moore share seventh place at minus-six. 

The players were playing under lift-cleanand-place 

rules due to a wet course softened 

up by the heavy rains over the past week. 

All eyes on Yuvraj’s comeback 

PREVIEW: IND V NZ, 1ST T20 

Behind all the limelight he 

hogged after he returned home, 

Yuvraj put in hours sweating out at 

the NCA to regain the fitness and 

agility, for which he was known for. 

Whether he would make a stupendous 

comeback on his return on 

Saturday or not but the fact that he 

beat cancer will now be a part of 

cricketing folklore. 

His last International appearance 

was the Kolkata Test against the West 

Indies in November last year, while it 

was more than a year ago when he 

last played a T20 (against South 

Africa on January 9, 2011). 

The two T20Is against New 

Zealand will start India’s countdown 

for the fourth edition the World 

Twenty20 that will get underway in 

Sri Lanka on September 18. 

Djokovic will meet 

Ferrer in the semi-final, 

who beat Janko 

Tipsarevic of Serbia 

6-3 6-7 2-6 6-3 7-6 in 

a marathon four-anda-half-hour 

tussle 

tiebreak 7-3 against the seventh 

seed, who more than once draped 

himself over the net in exhaustion. 

“Even though it was a straightsets 

win, it was much closer than the 

score indicated. He’s a great player,” 

said Australian Open champion 

Djokovic, 25, who reached his 10th 

successive grand slam semi-final as 

he pursues a sixth major title. 

“I was lucky in the second set to 

get out with a two-set advantage. We 

played some incredible rallies, some 

incredible points.” 

Djokovic excelled from the service 

line, getting in a remarkable 84 

percent of his first serves and allowing 

Del Potro to convert only one of 

three break points in the finale to the 

11th day of the tournament. 

The Serb also produced some 

incredible service returns, often 

leaving the Argentine shaking his 

head and waving his arms in 

frustration over sharply angled shots 

that eluded him. “He was too much 

for me,” Del Potro said. “I think 

he’s the favourite to win this 

tournament. I wish him the best.” 

Djokovic will meet fourth-seeded 

David Ferrer of Spain, who beat 

eighth seed Janko Tipsarevic of 

Serbia 6-3 6-7 2-6 6-3 7-6 in 

a marathon four-and-a-half-hour 

tussle. 

Saturday’s other semi-final will 

pit Olympic champion Andy Murray 

of Britain against Tomas Berdych, 

who upset Roger Federer in their 

quarter-final. 

After dropping the first set, Del 

Potro drew first blood in the second, 

claiming a service break in the opening 

game and maintaining his lead 

until Djokovic broke back in the 10th 

game to level at 5-5. 

The Serb held serve for 6-5 and 

put everything he had into finishing 

off Del Potro, who refused to buckle 

under the pressure of the linebrushing, 

groundstoke blasts that 

kept coming off Djokovic’s racket. 

The game went to eight deuces 

with Del Potro extending the set to a 

tiebreaker when Djokovic sent a 

service return long on the 22nd 

point of the duel. 

Djokovic maintained his intensity 

through the tiebreak, running off 

the last four points after they were 

knotted at 3-3. 

Del Potro sagged at the start of 

the third set, losing his serve in the 

opening game on a weak backhand 

that barely dented the net and was 

never about to recover. 

With the match winding down, 

Del Potro was able to share a lighthearted 

moment with the Arthur 

Ashe Stadium crowd when he raced 

to his backhand side to hit a winner 

and jumped up on a barrier in front 

of the stands to soak up the cheers 

with arms outstretched. 

“It’s amazing for me to share 

with the crowd this kind of moment. 

I really enjoyed playing in this stadium. 

I had my big memories here in 

this tournament and I would like to 

say thank you for these things.” 


12 

SCOREBOARD: NEP v USA 

NEPAL WON BY 32 RUNS 

Nepal innings (50 overs maximum) 

SP Khakurel† c †Taylor b Hutchinson 115 

AK Mandal c Hutchinson b Allen 20 

G Malla c Thyagarajan b Corns 46 

P Khadka* run out (Nadkarni) 41 

P Airee b Allen 14 

B Regmi run out (Usman Shuja) 6 

S Vesawkar run out (Hutchinson) 0 

BK Das b Usman Shuja 7 

SP Gauchan not out 1 

S Regmi not out 1 

Extras (lb 2, w 4, nb 1) 7 

Total (50 overs; 5.16 RPO) 258/8 

FoW: 0-30* (Mandal, retired not out), 

1-111 (Malla, 28.6 ov), 2-180 (Khadka, 

39.2 ov), 3-207 (Mandal, 43.6 ov), 4-224 

(Airee, 45.6 ov), 5-248 (Khakurel, 48.3 ov), 

6-248 (Vesawkar, 48.4 ov), 7-256 (Das, 

49.3 ov), 8-256 (B Regmi, 49.4 ov), 

*AK Mandal retired hurt on 12 from 30/0 to 

180/2 

Bowling: EH Hutchinson 10-1-39-1, Usman 

Shuja 9-1-55-1, TP Allen 10-0-69-2, OM 

Baker 3-0-15-0, Muhammad Ghous 8-0-34- 

0, RG Corns 10-0-44-1 

United States of America innings (target: 

259 runs from 50 overs) 

SR Taylor† c Vesawkar b S Regmi 17 

OM Baker st †Khakurel b B Regmi 8 

TP Allen lbw b B Regmi 29 

SS Nadkarni c Das b S Regmi 84 

SJ Massiah* b B Regmi 41 

A Mishra lbw b Bhattarai 0 

A Thyagarajan c Malla b Gauchan 8 

RG Corns c Malla b B Regmi 12 

EH Hutchinson not out 16 

Usman Shuja b B Regmi 0 

Muhammad Ghous b Gauchan 2 

Extras (lb 1, w 6, nb 2) 9 

Total (48.2 overs; 4.67 RPO) 226 all out 

FoW: 1-19 (Taylor, 4.4 ov), 2-35 (Baker, 9.6 

ov), 3-96 (Allen, 24.1 ov), 4-185 (Massiah, 

38.6 ov), 5-186 (Mishra, 39.4 ov), 6-188 

(Nadkarni, 40.2 ov), 7-206 (Thyagarajan, 

44.2 ov), 8-213 (Corns, 45.4 ov), 9-213 

(Usman Shuja, 45.6 ov), 10-226 

(Muhammad Ghous, 48.2 ov) 

Bowling: A Bhattarai 8-1-33-1, BK Das 3-0- 

13-0, S Regmi 10-2-50-2, B Regmi 10-1-35- 

5, P Khadka 9-0-49-0, SP Gauchan 8.2-1- 

45-2 

Toss: Nepal, who chose to bat 

Man of the match: Subash Khakurel 

(Nepal) 

Published and Printed by Kantipur Publications Pvt. Ltd. Kantipur Complex, Subidhanagar, Kathmandu, Nepal, Phone: 4480100, Fax: 977-1-4466320, e-mail: kpost@kantipur.com.np, Regd. No. 32/048/049, Chairman & Managing Director : Kailash Sirohiya, Director : Swastika Sirohiya, Editor-in-Chief : Akhilesh Upadhyay

Inside 

CROSS CURRENCY 

USD EUR JPY GBP CHF CAD AUD INR NR 

NR 89.0500 112.7640 1.1281 142.0926 93.1632 90.7840 92.0287 1.6015 

INR 55.39 70.408 0.7024 88.2709 57.9636 56.434 57.2625 0.6244 

AUD 0.9646 1.2279 0.0123 1.539 1.0128 0.9835 0.0175 0.0109 

CAD 0.9804 1.2476 0.0125 1.5641 1.0292 1.0168 0.0177 0.0110 

CHF 0.9526 1.2119 0.0121 1.5214 0.9716 0.9874 0.0173 0.0107 

GBP 0.627 0.797 0.008 0.6573 0.6393 0.6498 0.0113 0.0070 

JPY 78.54 99.98 125.0000 82.6446 80.0000 81.3008 1.4237 0.8864 

EUR 0.7854 0.0100 1.2547 0.8252 0.8015 0.8144 0.0142 0.0089 

USD 1.2732 0.0127 1.5949 1.0498 1.0200 1.0367 0.0181 0.0112 

HOW TO READ THE TABLE 

The chart shows the rates of nine world currencies. Move across the table to find rates of exchange between any two currencies. 

One unit of the currency mentioned vertically is worth that amount in the currency mentioned horizontally. 

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FOREX 

U.S. Dollar 89.05 

Euro 112.76 

Pound Sterling 142.09 

Swiss Franc 93.16 

Australian Dollar 92.03 

Canadian Dollar 90.78 

Singapore Dollar 71.75 

Japanese Yen 11.28 

Chinese Yuan 14.04 

Saudi Arab Riyal 23.75 

Qatari Riyal 24.46 

Thai Bhat 2.85 

UAE Dihram 24.24 

Malaysian Ringit 28.64 

South Korean Won 7.88 

Exchange rates fixed by Nepal Rastra Bank 

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2012 | ekantipur.com 

Merchant bankers look 

for new biz avenues 

PRITHVI MAN SHRESTHA 


WITH the number of public 

share issuances slumping 

in the past three years, 

merchant bankers are finding it 

increasingly hard to get adequate 

business. 

They have asked the Securities 

Board of Nepal (Sebon) to make legal 

arrangements to enable them to 

enter into new types of businesses as 

per international practices. 

“They have asked us to expand 

the scope of businesses they can do, 

arguing that business opportunities 

are limited in the present context,” 

said Sebon director Niraj Giri. “We 

are studying the possibilities of 

opening up new areas for them, such 

as investment advisory and loan syndication.” 

Currently, Sebon regulation has 

fixed five types of jobs for merchant 

bankers, including issue management, 

shares registration, underwriter, 

portfolio management and 

depository participants for central 

depository system operation. They 

are now seeking work in areas of consultancy 

services, mergers and margin 

lending. 

“We can hardly survive with the 

existing business opportunities,” 

said Bhism Raj Chalise, the chairman 

of Nepal Merchant Bankers’ 

Association. “The decreasing number 

of public issuances in the primary 

market and the poor status of 

the secondary market are to blame 

for the merchant bankers’ plight,” he 

added. 

According to him, two merchant 

bankers, including Araniko Capital 

Management Company and 

Investment Management Merchant 

Bankers, are closing their operations, 

while the troubled Share Market and 

Finance is doing no business for a 

long time now. With their formal 

departure from the scene, there will 

be 12 merchant bankers operating in 

the country. 

Looking at the figures of the ini- 

Merchant bankers 

have asked the 

Securities Board 

of Nepal to make 

legal arrangements 

to enable them 

to enter into new 

types of businesses 

as per international 

practices 

tial pubic offering (IPO) and rights 

shares issuance over the last three 

years, there has been a drastic downfall 

in the number in the last fiscal 

year. 

According to Sebon, it approved 

right shares issuance for seven companies, 

IPO for 15 companies and 

debenture issuance for three banks 

in the fiscal year 2011-12. The figure 

was high in the fiscal year 2010-11, 

with 31 companies getting a nod for 

the issuance of rights shares and 17 

companies getting the initial public 

offering (IPO) approval. 

Sebon had approved 35 companies 

for rights share issuance and 37 

companies for IPO issuance in the 

fiscal year 2009-10. When limited 

public share issuance constrained 

their business opportunities, the regulator 

limited the scope of underwriting, 

which further hit their business. 

Sebon has prevented them from 

underwriting more shares than their 

paid up capital. It means a majority 

of them can only underwrite shares 

worth Rs 70 million as their paid up 

capital requirement is just Rs 100 

Traders take goats brought from Kavre to Tukucha Khashi Bazaar in Kathmandu on Friday. With Dashain round 

the corner, sales of goat meat is increasing in the Capital, traders say. POST PHOTO: BHAVESH ADHIKARI 

 

Page II Amazon unveiled new models of its Kindle Fire tablet computer on Thursday, including a 

bigger version with a high-definition display, in a clear challenge to the market-leading iPad 

IPOSLOWDOWN 

million and 30 percent of which 

should be allocated to the public. 

As a result, banks and financial 

institutions are appointing several 

merchant bankers to issue IPO. For 

example, Commerz and Trust Bank 

has appointed issue and sales managers 

in Citizen Investment Trust 

(CIT), Nabil Investment, Civil Capital 

Market and Growmore Merchant 

Banker for its upcoming IPO worth 

Rs 600 million. 

Likewise, Civil Bank has appointed 

CIT, Nabil Investment, NCM 

Merchant Bank and Ace Capital as 

the issue and sales managers for its 

public offering worth Rs 800 million. 

Although Sebon has not introduced 

regulations regarding this, it has 

been putting forth pre-conditions for 

IPO approval. Sebon took such a policy 

to ensure that the merchant 

banks do not carry more liabilities 

than their capacity. 

“This policy has seriously affected 

our business prospects as we cannot 

entertain additional opportunities 

after we underwrite up to a certain 

amount,” said Rameshwar 

Pokharel, the managing director of 

Ace Capital Limited. 

Sebon is also preparing to introduce 

guidelines regarding this soon, 

according to Giri. 

The merchant bankers have 

asked Sebon to revoke this limitation. 

Sebon has not imposed this 

limitation for CIT which has benefited 

it greatly. 

CIT’s Executive Director 

Rishiram Gautam admitted that they 

obtained more business opportunities 

in underwriting last fiscal year as 

compared to previous years. It was 

involved in share issuance and 

underwriting of Janata Bank last fiscal 

and has been appointed the issue 

manger for both Civil Bank and 

Commerz and Trust Bank. “I expect 

more business this year in the area of 

share issue and underwriting,” 

Gautam said. 

Plan to tame VoIP racketeers soon 

POST REPORT 


TERMINATING incoming international 

calls illegally through 

the voice over internet protocol 

(VoIP) will be tough for racketeers in 

the near future. The government and 

network and internet service providers 

are preparing to set up a monitoring 

system to control illegal call bypass in 

the country. 

A committee comprising officials 

from the Nepal Telecommunications 

Authority (NTA) and representatives 

from network service providers (NSP) 

and internet service providers (ISP) 

have readied a report on curbing illegal 

VoIP. The report says that call 

bypass could be controlled with the 

help of a software—NetFlow 

Analyzer—installed by NSPs in their 

gateways to check the internet traffic 

pattern. 

Deputy director at the NTA Bijay 

Kumar Roy said the software has a 

module through which voice packets 

of incoming calls can be monitored. 

“The gateways are the main 

source of internet and once we start 

keeping an eye on them, we will be 

able to track down any user of the ISPs 

using high bandwidth internet for 

voice service,” he said. 

NSPs provide internet bandwidth 

to ISPs through which normal customers 

get the internet service. On 

Thursday, the committee submitted 

the report to the NTA with a recom- 

Clearing members 

at high risk 

POST REPORT 


ALTHOUGH commodities 

exchanges witness 

daily transactions worth 

Rs 50 million on an average, 

none of the clearing members 

affiliated to the exchanges have 

paid-up capital of more than Rs 

2.5 million. Clearing members 

are the ones exposed to the 

highest level of risk, but their 

core capital is far less to absorb 

any possible shock. 

There are 15 clearing members 

associated with six commodities 

exchanges. According 

to a recent study of the 

Securities Board of Nepal 

(Sebon), the clearing members’ 

paid-up capital ranges from Rs 

2 to 2.5 million. 

While entering into future 

and forward contract, clearing 

members should stay opposite 

to general investors. It means if 

general investors gain, clearing 

members lose. 

If investors correctly 

analyse the market and invest, 

there are higher possibilities 

that they gain at the expense of 

clearing members. It may lead 

the clearing members into 

bankruptcy. 

Also, clearing members 

have to strike balance between 

buyers and sellers. If there is a 

mismatch, it is the duty of 

clearing members to facilitate 

adequate liquidity. 

Since clearing members of 

commodities exchanges are 

exposed to tremendous risk, in 

regulated international market, 

they retain a significant chunk 

of their profit and place it under 

clearing guarantee fund. Such a 

practice helps them absorb any 

possible shock. 

“However, a majority of 

the clearing members operating 

here distribute all the 

profits,” said an official at a 

commodities exchange. “In 

other countries, only 25 percent 

of the income is distributed, 

A committee comprising 

officials from the NTA 

and representatives 

from service providers 

have readied a report 

on curbing illegal VoIP 

mendation to hold NSPs responsible 

for monitoring the internet traffic 

pattern all the time and to give NTA 

officials an access to the software 

for cross checking and monitoring 

from time to time. 

Roy said the monitoring mecha- 

COMMODITIESEXCHANGES 

while the rest is placed in 

a separate fund.” 

Currently, a majority of 

investors in the exchanges are 

losing so the problem has not 

surfaced yet. “Once investors 

start earning, the entire clearing 

members can go bankrupt,” 

he said. The Sebon study says 

around 80 percent of investors 

are losing in the commodities 

exchange. 

Almost all clearing members 

are operating under the 

investment of exchanges, so the 

entire profit is distributed 

ignoring the possible loss in 

future. “Almost all exchanges 

Clearing members 

are the ones 

exposed to the 

highest level of risk, 

but their core capital 

is far less to absorb 

any possible shock 

have their own clearing members 

along with some other 

independent members,” he 

said. 

Investors trading in commodities 

exchanges maintain 

accounts in commercial banks. 

They are required to 

increase/decrease their 

deposits as per the price fluctuation. 

However, the interest 

earned on such accounts is 

enjoyed by clearing members 

and the exchanges, according 

to a Sebon official. 

Government has not yet 

regulated the exchanges that 

have been operating for the last 

six years. None of the government 

offices has detailed 

record of transactions of the 

exchanges. 

nism will be finalised after the decision 

of the NTA. 

Earlier, with the government criticising 

ISPs for fueling illegal bypass by 

providing high speed internet service 

to users, the NSPs and ISPs had urged 

the NTA to monitor the illegal call 

bypass through the NetFlow Analyzer, 

primarily a bandwidth monitoring 

software. 

The software provides real time 

visibility into the network bandwidth 

performance by collecting, analyzing 

and reporting on what purpose the 

bandwidth is being used and by 

whom. NTA officials said that NSPs— 

Worldlink, Mercantile 

Communications, Subisu and 

Websurfer—have been using NetFlow. 

“Since we are using NetFlow 

already, we want the government to 

monitor the illegal call bypass through 

it,” said Dilip Agrawal, the general secretary 

of the Internet Service Providers’ 

Association (ISPAN). He added that as 

the software is web-based, NTA officials 

will be able to check the traffic 

pattern in their office and investigate 

suspected users. 

ISPAN said that after the installation 

of NetFlow by the NSPs, the trend 

of terminating incoming international 

calls through the VoIP technology has 

reduced remarkably in the last one 

year. 

The VoIP call by pass has been a 

major headache for the government 

and telecom service providers as it 

affects in their revenue generation.

II 

THE KATHMANDU POST | SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2012 

Lending up and deposits 

down, slightly 

POST REPORT 


LENDING by commercial banks 

has increased in the last one 

month while deposits have 

slumped marginally. However, bankers 

said that this does not reflect that 

demand for loans has grown. 

According to the Nepal Bankers’ 

Association (NBA), deposit collection 

has dropped to Rs 863 billion as of Aug 

31 from Rs 866 billion on Aug 3. 

Meanwhile, loan issue rose to Rs 624 

billion from Rs 616 billion over the 

period. In the last fiscal year, commercial 

banks witnessed a continuous rise 

in deposit collection while they had a 

hard time finding borrowers. 

According to a recent annual 

report on the country’s macro-economy 

published by Nepal Rastra Bank, 

deposits in commercial banks in fiscal 

2011-12 swelled 27.7 percent while 

lending grew 17 percent. 

Although the data shows an 

British manufacturing 

rebounds sharply 


LONDON, SEPT 7 

BRITISH manufacturing 

output surged in July by the 

largest amount in a decade, 

rebounding from the previous 

month when activity 

was hit by public holidays 

for Queen Elizabeth II’s 

diamond jubilee. 

Production soared 3.2 

percent in July from June to 

record the biggest monthly 

rise since July 2002, the 

Office for National 

Statistics (ONS) said in a 

statement. However, it fell 

0.5 percent on an annual 

basis. Manufacturing activity 

had contracted by 2.9 

percent in June, when the 

country celebrated the 

Queen’s diamond jubilee 

with two public holidays. 

The ONS added on 

Friday that the wider measure 

of industrial output — 

which includes manufacturing, 

mining and quarrying, 

electricity, gas and 


SHANGHAI, SEPT 7 

CHINA has approved a massive infrastructure 

package worth more than 

1.0 trillion yuan ($158 billion), state 

media said on Friday, as the government 

seeks to boost the flagging economy. 

The top economic planner, the National 

Development and Reform 

Commission, this week announced 

approval of 55 infrastructure projects 

ranging from subway lines to highways, 

reports said. The China Securities Journal 

said the 1.0 trillion yuan figure was a 

‘conservative estimate’ for spending on 

projects announced Wednesday and on 

Thursday. 

The government needed to open more 

funding channels for infrastructure, including 

allowing banks to relax controls on 

Date Deposits Credit 

03-08-2012 Rs 866b Rs 616b 




31-08-2012 Rs 863 Rs 624b 

Source: Nepal Bankers’ Association 

increasing lending trend in recent 

days, NIC Bank chief executive officer 

Sashin Joshi said demand for loans 

was still suppressed. “A small up and 

down in lending and deposit does not 

reflect a particular trend,” he added. 

However, he said that loan 

demand would grow in the coming 

days before the Dashain and Tihar 

festivals to finance imports. “The 

declining interest rate may also help 

increase loans in the days to come,” 

he said. 

Similarly, Mega Bank CEO Anil 

Shah said that government funds not 

coming to banks may be the reason 

water supply — rebounded 

by 2.9 percent in July from 

June. That was the 

strongest monthly increase 

since February 1987. 

IHS Global Insight 

economist Howard Archer 

said the upbeat data would 

provide a ‘significant’ boost 

to hopes of economic 

growth in the third quarter, 

or three months to the end 

of September. “There is 

now genuine hope that the 

economy will be able to 

more than make up the 

second-quarter GDP contraction 

of 0.5-percent 

quarter-on-quarter in the 

third quarter,” he said. 

Britain sank into recession 

in late 2011 and has 

experienced three successive 

quarters of economic 

contraction. Gross domestic 

product shrank by 0.4 

percent in the fourth quarter 

of last year, and by 0.3 

percent and 0.5 percent 

respectively in the first and 

second quarters of 2012. 

credit for projects, the newspaper quoted 

unnamed industry sources as saying. 

The official Xinhua news agency 

described the package of projects as a 

‘stimulus plan’ though the government did 

not use that term when announcing the 

approvals. 

On Wednesday, the commission 

announced it had approved 25 new urban 

railway projects, in what analysts said was a 

sign the government is ramping up government 

spending to boost the country’s weak 

economy. It said the projects, including 

subways and light railways in 18 cities 

across China, were valued at more than 800 

billion yuan. 

The commission on Thursday also 

unveiled another 30 infrastructure works — 

including 13 highway projects, 10 waste 

treatment projects and seven port or waterway 

projects — but gave no value. The 

behind the recent dip in deposits. 

“There is little demand for loans,” he 

said. Another banker, Anal Bhattarai, 

CEO of Nepal Commerz and Trust 

Bank, said there was no demand for 

long-term loans. “Demand for shortterm 

loans to pay for imports is slowly 

growing with the festive season 

approaching,” he said. 

Anil Gyawali, CEO of Nabil Bank, 

had a similar view. “Industry may 

have seen a small growth in lending, 

but we have had no new clients,” 

he said. “Deposits have also surged in 

our bank.” 

Bankers have been blaming the 

country’s political stalemate and lack 

of a conducive business environment 

for the suppressed credit demand. 

They are of the view that a decrease in 

interest rates alone will not push up 

demand for credit. 

With banks awash in excess liquidity, 

they have been engaged in intense 

competition to lure corporate clients 

to take short-term loans. 

Myanmar parliament passes 

foreign investment law 


YANGON, SEPT 7 

MYANMAR’S parliament on Friday 

passed an eagerly awaited new law 

aimed at boosting foreign investment 

in the former pariah state, which is 

emerging from decades of military 

rule. 

The move comes as global corporate 

giants from Coca-Cola to General 

Electric jockey for a share of an expected 

economic boom in the impoverished 

but resource-rich nation, which 

is opening up after a long period of isolation. 

The investment law, which allows 

foreign firms to own up to a 50-percent 

stake in joint ventures with local partners, 

is aimed at regulating the growing 

interest from overseas as the international 

community begins dismantling 

sanctions. 

One of the major complaints of 

businesses eager to enter the country 

formerly known as Burma is the lack of 

a clear legal framework. “The law is 

likely to give confidence to foreign 

investors, but it is part of a long 

The move comes as 

giants from Coca-Cola to 

General Electric jockey 

for a share of an expected 

economic boom in the 

resource-rich nation 

process to reform the legal framework 

of investment,” said Romain Caillaud, 

who heads the Yangon office of business 

advisory firm Vriens and Partners. 

“Some structural problems remain... 

such as lack of infrastructure, electricity 

(supply problems) as well as a lack 

of competence in the bureaucracy,” he 

said. 

Than Maung, a lawyer who sits on 

a parliamentary legal affairs commission, 

said disagreement over the law in 

recent weeks had highlighted the 

dilemma the country faces choosing 

between protectionism or an open 

economy. “We shouldn’t be too afraid 

of foreign investors. Every country in 

Indian economist Professor Bibek Debroy and Nepal Economic Forum Chairman Sujeev Shakya during a discussion on ‘Federalism and 

Economics’ in Kathmandu on Friday. POST PHOTO: BHAVESH ADHIKARI 

China okays massive $157b infra spending 

news sparked a rally on China’s stock market 

on Friday with the benchmark Shanghai 

Composite Index closing up 3.70 percent 

on gains in building material and construction 

shares. 

Analysts said the government spending 

could boost the country’s economic growth 

from the fourth quarter of this year. 

“Implementation of these projects will 

begin in the coming months, which will 

cause fixed asset investment growth to 

rise,” Zhang Zhiwei, chief China economist 

for Nomura, said in a research note on 

Friday. “The impact should start to be 

reflected in GDP (gross domestic product) 

numbers in Q4 2012.” 

He estimated future spending on 

recently approved infrastructure projects at 

1.0 trillion yuan, equivalent to just over two 

percent of 2011 GDP, and added it would be 

invested over five years. But China has so 

the world is protectionist to some 

degree,” he said. Some people in 

Myanmar ‘are too concerned about 

the competitiveness of their business’, 

he added. 

With huge natural resources and a 

strategic position between China and 

India, Myanmar is seen as a potentially 

huge market for foreign firms as it 

opens up to the world after decades of 

isolation. 

President Thein Sein has vowed to 

put the economy at the centre of a new 

raft of reforms, following a series of 

dramatic political changes since 

almost half a century of outright military 

rule ended last year. “Foreign 

investment is needed for our country’s 

economic development,” said Hla 

Myint Oo, a lower house lawmaker 

with Thein Sein’s ruling Union 

Solidarity and Development Party 

(USDP). “We have to consider the 

needs of both sides to avoid hurting 

each other’s interests,” he said. 

Myanmar has invited foreign firms 

to invest in the mining sector and 

signed a series of oil exploration deals 

with foreign companies. 


TOKYO, SEPT 7 

JAPAN said on Friday it 

would suspend 5.0 trillion 

yen ($63 billion) in spending 

as a political row has left 

the government facing a 

severe cash crunch that 

could see it run out of 

money within months. 

Officials warned there 

would not be enough in its 

coffers to cover expenses as 

political gridlock ties up the 

passage of a bond-issuance 

bill needed to help pay for 

some 40 percent of Tokyo’s 

spending to March. 

Finance Minister Jun 

Azumi warned that reserves 

would “mostly dry up at the 

far refrained from equalling the massive 4.0 

trillion yuan fiscal stimulus package it 

launched in the wake of the global financial 

crisis in 2008. 

China’s economy has eased markedly 

over the past year, expanding 7.6 percent in 

the second quarter of 2012, the worst performance 

in three years. 

The government has set a target for 

economic growth of 7.5 percent for this 

year, down from actual growth of 9.3 percent 

last year. 

Securities house UBS on Friday cut its 

China growth forecast for 2012 to 7.5 percent, 

from the previous 8.0 percent, citing 

delayed government support. “In recent 

months, economic activity has remained 

weak as export growth slowed. Policy support 

was not as rapid or aggressive as previously 

envisaged,” economist Wang Tao said 

in a report. 


MADRID, SEPT 7 

SPAIN’S government said 

on Friday it will not take 

an ‘overnight’ decision on 

whether to seek a bailout 

for the eurozone’s fourth 

largest economy. 

“These are decisions 

that cannot be taken off 

the top of your head nor 

overnight,” Deputy Prime 

Minister Soraya Saenz 

de Santamaria told a 

news conference after 

a cabinet meeting. 

The European Central 

Bank announced Thursday 

a scheme to purchase as 

many government bonds 

as needed on the open 

markets to curb high 

interest rates throttling 

stricken states. 

But in order to 

qualify, the recipient 

countries must apply 

formally for a sovereign 

bailout from the eurozone 

end of November” if the 

opposition-led stalemate 

continued, with the current 

parliament due to end on 

Saturday. They are expected 

to restart in October. “There 

is a high possibility that we 

will have to make further 

delays in November,” 

Azumi told a regular news 

conference on Friday, as he 

called on lawmakers to 

approve the bill. “If this situation 

continues into next 

month and the month after 

that, the impact on the 

Japanese economy will not 

be at all favourable. We 

could almost run out of 

money by of Nov-end.” 

Japan has a national 

debt that amounts to more 

MONEY | ekantipur.com 

Pashmina traders receive growing 

enquiries from foreign buyers 

POST REPORT 


NEPALI Pashmina traders are receiving 

increasing enquiries from international 

buyers, especially from 

Germany, South Korea and Taiwan. 

According to Nepal Pashmina 

Industries Association (NPIA), 

importers of those countries have 

been demanding products with 

the Chyangra Pashmina logo. 

“Of late, traders here are seeing 

rising demand from Germany, South 

Korea and Taiwan,” said Mandu Babu 

Adhikari, senior programme officer at 

NPIA, adding retail shops in Germany 

are even highlighting the Chyangra 

pashmina logo at their outlets. 

The three countries have already 

granted approval for the registration of 

the trademark. “Buyers from these 

countries are attracted towards quality 

pashmina that are backed by the 

trademark,” said Adhikari, adding that 

they were mostly demanding products 

made up of 10 percent pashmina fabric 

or a combination of 70 percent 

pashmina and 30 percent silk. 

In 2011-12, Germany was the 

fourth largest Pashmina buyer, 

importing Rs 43.50 million worth of 

the product12. South Korea and 

Taiwan imported pashmina worth Rs 

240,438 and Rs 998,908, respectively. 

The pashmina business, which 

faced a decline in the last decade, has 

started reviving following the endorsement 

of the collective trade mark 

about two years ago. 

Traders had exported pashmina 

products worth Rs 7.5 billion during 

1999-2000, but the figure dropped to 

Rs 1.3 billion in 2009-10. But after the 

registration of the trademark in 2010, 

exports rose 79.3 percent in 2010-11, 

and 42.1 percent in 2011-12 to reach Rs 

3.23 billion, according to the Nepal 

Rastra Bank. 

The association is also registering 

the logo in importing countries. NPIA 

has so far registered it in 41 countries. 

The association said efforts to register 

the trademark in Brazil, China, Russia 

and the UAE are underway. “Among 

them, Brazil is likely to approve the 

trademark soon,” said Adhikari. 

Besides, the Enhanced Integrated 

Framework of the World Trade 

Organisation (WTO) has also initiated 

the publicity of the Chyangra 

Pashmina in the international market. 

According to the NPIA, the institution 

is expected to release a documentary, 

which it featured about five months 

ago, within the next two weeks. Also, 

the International Trade Centre, a joint 

organisation of WTO, has also agreed 

to support $1.4 million for promoting 

the export of Pashmina products. 

Spain: No overnight 

decision on bailout 

rescue funds, submitting 

to strict conditions. Spain, 

which has faced punishing 

borrowing costs on its 

debt, and has about 30 billion 

euros in repayments 

looming in October, has 

insisted it will not decide 

on a rescue until it knows 

the conditions. The government 

says it will not be 

rushed. 

“Matters that are so 

important for the public 

interest and for the future 

of Spaniards must be 

analysed with calm and 

prudence,” Deputy Prime 

Minister Soraya Saenz 

de Santamaria told 

reporters. “They have 

important implications for 

our country and our future 

and so this government 

will analyse it rigorously, in 

detail and weighing all 

and each of the 

elements,” she added. 

“And that is what we are 

going to do.” 

Japan hits brakes on 

$63b in spending 

than twice its gross domestic 

product — the highest 

among industrialised 

nations, with the costs of a 

rapidly ageing population 

heaping pressure on the 

public purse. Legislators 

passed a bill this year to 

double Japan’s sales tax to 

10 percent by 2015 in to 

deal with public expenses. 

Japan may have to look 

at “scenarios that have been 

possible in the US”, Azumi 

said Friday, referring to a 

1995 US government shutdown 

that saw the temporary 

closure of many 

national parks, furloughing 

of workers and suspension 

of benefit payments to 

veterans.


POST REPORT 


THE government’s target to 

attract half a million foreign 

tourists to Lumbini, the birthplace 

of Gautam Buddha, in 2012 

seems like a herculean task despite 

impressive growth in tourist arrivals 

in the first eight months. 

The government had 

announced 2012 as Visit Lumbini 

Year (VLY) as a national campaign 

with an aim of attracting a million 

tourists, half of them foreigners, to 

Lumbini in 2012. 

In the first eight months 

(January-August), Lumbini received 

172,830 tourists — more than half 

Indians. According to Lumbini 

Development Trust statistics, the 

number of visitors from third countries 

grew by a mere 7 percent to 

78,707 over the period. However, 

the number of Indian visitors 

increased notably by 181.43 percent 

to 94,123 compared to the same 

period last year. 

A similar performance was 

recorded with the Nepali visitor 

movement. Lumbini, one of the 

country’s 10 sites inscribed 

on the UNESCO’s World Heritage 

Site list, attracted 323,673 Nepali visitors 

in the eight months, up 47.99 

percent compared to the same 

period last year. In aggregate, 

Lumbini received 496,503 visitors 

in the first eight months, an increment 

of 52.45 percent. Last year, 

587,538 tourists, 67 percent Nepalis, 

visited Lumbini. 

POST REPORT 


SOALTEE Crown Plaza 

Kathmandu on Friday 

launched its Chinese 

specialty restaurant — 

China Garden — after 

renovation. The hotel 

said the restaurant, 

which has got a new 

look, can accommodate 

up to 92 guests and offer 

the splendid selection 

of more than 300 original 

recipes. 

The menu comprises 

Chinese culinary 

delights from across 

Asia including Japanese, 

Korean, Vietnamese, 

Cantonese, Szechwan, 

Thai, Malaysian and 

Chinese catering. The 

restaurant is blended 

with stylish and contemporary 

design, 

VISIT LUMBINI YEAR 2012 

Target going out of sight 

Soaltee gives 

fresh look to 

China Garden 


FRANKFURT, SEPT 7 

STRIKING Lufthansa cabin staff 

said they saw signs of possible 

movement in their bitter wage 

dispute as a 24-hour walkout grounded 

half of the 1,800 flights of Germany’s 

biggest airline on Friday. 

“We’ve received clear signals that 

Lufthansa is going to move,” the head 

of the UFO labour union Nicoley 

Baublies said. The two sides could even 

meet for talks this weekend, Baublies 

suggested. “We’ll try from our side, and 

have the impression that management 

are also interested,” he said, adding it 

was unclear whether a mediator would 

be needed at this point. Baublies also 

Travel trade entrepreneurs 

attributed the sluggish growth in 

visitor movement from third countries 

to the lack of promotional 

activities, inadequate infrastructure, 

and the government’s apathy. 

They said there has been resurgence 

in pilgrim arrivals from predominantly 

Buddhist countries like 

Japan, Thailand, Sri Lanka and 

South Korea after suffering a setback 

during the Maoist conflict and political 

instability. However, the country 

has not been able to cash in on 

Lumbini’s potential. 

According to them, the cam- 

exquisite furnishing and 

Chinese artifacts. 

The restaurant, 

which serves lunch and 

dinner, has two private 

dining sections with 

comfortable seating 

arrangement, making it 

an ideal venue to host a 

business meals, family 

gatherings or social dinners. 

It has a large wine 

cellar showcasing the 

wide range of exclusive 

wines from around the 

World. 

“China Garden with 

its stylish wooden interiors, 

Chinese sculptures, 

gold leaf decorations 

and discreet lightning 

redefines the luxury 

and will elevate the 

dining experience of 

our valued guests,” the 

hotel said in a press 

statement. 

VISITORS IN LUMBINI (JAN-AUG) 

Year 2011 2012 Change (in %) 

Indian 33,444 94,123 181.43 

Foreigner 73,529 78,707 7.04 

Total 106,973 172,830 61.56% 

MAJOR SOURCE MARKETS 

Sri Lanka 35,727 

Thailand 14,023 

Myanmar 8,976 

China 4,143 

South Korea 3,903 

POST REPORT 


ETIHAD Airways and RAK 

Airways have signed an 

agreement to codeshare 

on five flight sectors, 

including, for the first 

time, domestic flights in 

the UAE. 

The agreement, the 

first ever between two UAE 

carriers, will see Etihad 

Airways place its ‘EY’ code 

on the RAK Airways flight 

between Ras Al Khaimah 

and Abu Dhabi. In return, 

RAK Airways will place its 

‘RT’ code on Etihad 

Airways routes, which initially 

includes flights 

between Abu Dhabi and 

London Heathrow, 

Manchester, Dublin, 

Bangkok and Geneva. RAK 

said there would only be further walkouts 

if ‘the two sides don’t move closer’. 

And following the 24-hour stoppage 

on Friday — the third separate 

day of industrial action in a week — no 

The government had 

announced 2012 as 

Visit Lumbini Year as 

a national campaign 

with an aim of 

attracting a million 

tourists, half of 

them foreigners, to 

Lumbini in 2012 

paign has more benefited tour operators 

from India as they are 

seen very active in selling Lumbini 

circuit packages. Tour operators 

said India held a 90 percent share 

of the pilgrim market and it was 

hard to compete with such an established 

market. 

“There have been limited activities 

in the promotion of VLY, while 

nothing has been done so far on the 

development of infrastructure from 

both the government and private 

sector,” said Ram Kazi Koney, a travel 

trade entrepreneur. “Even basic 

facilities like toilet and roads, 


SINGAPORE, SEPT 7 

SINGAPORE’S Changi airport said on Friday 

that it will remain a major hub for Qantas 

and other carriers despite the Australian airline’s 

decision to shift its European connection 

point to Dubai. 

Qantas said on Thursday that flights 

from Australia to London and Frankfurt, 

and vice-versa, would stop running 

through Singapore from April 2013 as 

part of a new global alliance with the Dubaibased 

Emirates. 

The Changi Airport Group said 

despite the move Qantas was planning to 

step up connections between Australia 

and Singapore. “We understand that 

Qantas faces challenges in its international 

business and needs to restructure its 

Etihad, RAK sign 

codeshare deal 

Airways operation between 

Ras Al Khaimah and Abu 

Dhabi will commence on 

October 3. “We are proud 

to welcome RAK Airways, a 

fellow UAE airline, as a 

codeshare partner. This is 

the first time Etihad 

Airways will have its ‘EY’ 

code on a domestic UAE 

flight which is an exciting 

milestone for us,” said 

Peter Baumgartner, Chief 

Commercial Officer of 

Etihad Airways. 

RAK Airways Chief 

Executive Officer John 

Brayford said they are 

delighted to announce our 

code share agreement with 

Etihad Airways, which has 

followed many months of 

consultation and collaboration 

between our two 

companies. 

further strikes were planned in the next 

few days, he told ZDF public television. 

The latest strike began at midnight and 

so far ‘more than 100,000 passengers 

are affected’, said a Lufthansa 

among others, have not improved. 

As a result, Lumbini failed to attract 

visitors as expected.” 

Some entrepreneurs said tour 

operators have the most powerful 

position, as they are the ones who 

offer packages. But in the context of 

VLY, only limited domestic operators 

are seen to have engaged in selling 

packages and rest of them are 

done by Indian operators. “Indian 

operators are more active in selling 

Buddhist circuit packages. This also 

means a large number of visitors to 

Lumbini are counted as same-day 

visitors,” Koney said. 

The VLY campaign was the continuation 

of the government’s commitment 

towards tourism development. 

After Nepal Tourism Year 

2011, Prime Minister Baburam 

Bhattarai had formally announced 

VLY from Lumbini on December 1, 

2011, and was launched by 

President Ram Baran Yadav on 

January 14. 

The Nepal Tourism Board, 

which is responsible for tourism 

promotion, also said the campaign 

lacked direct coordination between 

the private sector, the government 

and the board. “NTY 2011 was an 

intensified campaign, but no specific 

responsibility has been entrusted 

to NTB on VLY 2012,” said Aditya 

Baral, spokesperson for NTB. 

Besides, the Lumbini Development 

Trust has not been able to coordinate 

with concerned stakeholders 

for promotional and other activities. 

“Overall, the national campaign has 

become an incoherent campaign.” 

network,” the Changi Airport Group said. 

Changi currently serves Qantas routes 

between Singapore and five Australian 

cities—Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Brisbane 

and Adelaide—with a total of 90 flights 

per week. The airport, which is still 

being expanded, serves about 100 airlines 

operating 6,200 weekly flights to 220 cities in 

60 countries. 

A spokesman for Singapore Airlines — 

which competes with both Qantas and 

spokesman, adding that around half 

of the airline’s 1,800 daily flights had 

been cancelled. 

Frankfurt airport, Lufthansa’s main 

hub and Europe’s third-busiest airport, 

was ‘most affected’. But chaos had been 

averted because the airline had 

informed passengers beforehand 

about cancellations via text messages 

and Lufthansa had also posted information 

on its website, a spokesman 

said. “Lufthansa seems to have been 

better prepared this time round,” said 

UFO chief Baublies. 

The union claims it is the biggestever 

strike in Lufthansa’s history, but 

the airline itself refused to comment on 

that information. The Lufthansa 

spokesman said ‘all German regions 

REUTERS 

CHARLESTON, SEPT 7 

AIR India took delivery of its first Boeing 

787 commercial wide-body airplane on 

Thursday at Boeing Co’s final assembly 

plant after a months-long dispute 

between airline and manufacturer over 

compensation for a four-year production 

delay. 

Three white 787s trimmed with red 

and orange Air India colors were parked 

at the Boeing plant near Charleston, 

South Carolina and ready for delivery at 

the end of May. Delivery was held 

up for months while Air India and 

Boeing worked out a compensation settlement 

and waited for Indian government 

officials to approve it. Terms were 

not disclosed. 

The Dreamliner was also at the heart 

of a recent Air India pilots’ strike. In July, 

about 500 Air India pilots ended the 

almost two-month strike over exclusive 

rights to fly the Dreamliner. The striking 

pilots had demanded that their colleagues 

from the former Indian Airlines, 

the domestic state-run carrier that 

merged with Air India, not be trained to 

fly Dreamliners because they worried it 

could hurt their own career prospects. 

Boeing said Air India is the fifth airline 

in the world to take delivery of a 787 

Dreamliner. The ailing airline has 

ordered 27 Dreamliners in all. “I am sure 

Air India and their customers will be 

thrilled to experience the revolutionary 

features on the 787, an airplane that will 

be the key focus of the airline’s turnaround 

plan,” said Dinesh Keskar, senior 

III 


Air India takes delivery 

of first Dreamliner 

Emirates — declined to comment on the 

new alliance. “However, speaking entirely in 

general terms, we have faced competition 

since day one, so it is not unfamiliar to us,” 

the spokesman said, adding that the airline 

uses alliances to boost its network and offer 

connections for passengers. 

Shukor Yusof, an aviation analyst with 

Standard & Poor’s Equity Research, said 

Changi remains competitive as an aviation 

hub despite the impending loss of Qantas’ 

Europe-bound services. 

“It’s not a huge blow. Changi will 

still remain an active participant more 

than anything else,” he said, citing the 

Asian travel boom boosted by rising 

income levels and the emergence of regional 

budget carriers. 

Some analysts, however, cautioned that 

the Qantas-Emirates deal could signal more 

and all types of flights are affected’, 

including long-haul flights which in the 

past strikes have been the least disturbed 

by the stoppages. 

The company had been expecting 

to cancel 1,200 flights, or two-thirds, as 

a result of Friday’s strike. Already on 

Thursday, the carrier had cancelled 

around 50 flights ahead of the planned 

walkout by cabin crew at six major 

airports. And the Lufthansa spokesman 

said that around 13 flights were also 

expected to be cancelled on Saturday 

due to the knock-on effects of Friday’s 

walkouts. 

Late Wednesday, the cabin staff’s 

labour union, the Independent Flight 

Attendants’ Organisation or UFO, said 

its members would stage a 24-hour 

vice president of Asia Pacific and India 

Sales for Boeing Commercial Airplane, 

in a statement. 

The airplane delivered today was 

built in Everett, Washington and flown 

to South Carolina for delivery. “The 787 

will allow Air India to open new routes in 

a dynamic marketplace and provide the 

best in-flight experience for our passengers,” 

said Rohit Nandan, Air India 

Chairman and Managing Director. 

Made primarily of lightweight carbon 

fiber materials, the new 787 is 

lighter than standard aluminum widebody 

jets. It is the first mid-size airplane 

capable of flying long-range routes, 

enabling airlines to open new, non-stop 

routes preferred by the traveling public, 

Boeing said in a statement. Air India’s 

Dreamliner is equipped with 18 business 

class seats and 238 economy class 

seats. The airplane is scheduled to fly to 

New Delhi on Friday. 

India, one of the fastest growing aviation 

markets in the world, offers 

tremendous growth opportunities to 

planemakers as more newly affluent 

Indians take to the skies. Boeing officials 

forecast passenger traffic to grow by 8.4 

percent annually in South Asia, which 

includes India, and by 7 percent annually 

in China up to 2031. 

Singapore shrugs off Qantas-Emirates alliance 

Qantas has said flights from 

Australia to London 

and Frankfurt would stop 

running through Singapore 

serious competition in the longer term 

between Singapore and Dubai. “This is a 

very bad sign for Singapore,” said Jonathan 

Galaviz, managing director of business consultancy 

Galaviz & Co which specialises in 

Asia. “Singapore’s position as an airline hub 

in Asia is going to be strongly challenged by 

Dubai over the coming years,” he said. 

Data from Sydney-based industry monitor 

Centre for Aviation showed Qantas 

accounts for 8.2 percent of Changi’s 

air traffic measured on an available-seatkilometre 

(ASK) basis, second only to 

Singapore Airlines. 

“Qantas is the second largest carrier by 

ASKs at Singapore Changi and while it may 

seek to increase local Australia-Asia traffic, 

Changi will lose Qantas’ two daily A380 and 

single 747-400 service from Singapore to 

Europe,” it added. 

A file photo shows tourists from mainland China taking pictures during a visit to Hong Kong. Hong Kong said 

on Friday Beijing will suspend a plan to allow millions more mainland Chinese visitors indefinitely, after the 

overcrowded city raised fears over the influx of tourists. AFP/RSS 

Lufthansa grounds half of flights as 24-hour strike begins 

stoppage on Friday at the airports of 

Frankfurt, Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, 

Duesseldorf and Stuttgart in an escalation 

of their ongoing pay dispute. 

Other much shorter walkouts of 

eight hours last week and earlier this 

week had grounded hundreds of flights 

and affected thousands of passengers. 

The airline’s chief executive Christoph 

Franz, interviewed by ZDF television, 

acknowledged that he had ‘not anticipated 

a movement of this scale’ but 

described it as ‘disproportionate’. 

According to its latest demands, the 

union — which represents some twothirds 

of Lufthansa’s 18,000 cabin crew 

— is seeking a five-percent pay 

increase backdated to April after three 

years of wage freezes.

IV 


Yamaha CEO and MD Hiroyuki Suzuki (left) and Chief Sales 

Officer Jun Nakata pose with motorcycles during the launch of 

a Yamaha showroom in Amritsar, India, on Friday. AFP/RSS 


SANTA MONICA, SEPT 7 

AMAZON unveiled new models 

of its Kindle Fire tablet computer 

on Thursday, including 

a bigger version with a high-definition 

display, in a clear challenge to 

the market-leading iPad. 

Analysts said the Amazon 

upgrades—as well as launching the 

hugely popular Fire devices outside 

the US, starting in Europe later this 

year—signaled the online giant has 

its sights on challenging Apple’s longstanding 

dominance. 

The new Kindle Fire HD will be 

offered with an 8.9-inch (22.6-centimeter) 

display, along with an 

upgraded version of the tablet 

launched in a smaller format last 

year, said Amazon founder and chief 

executive Jeff Bezos. “Kindle Fire HD 

is not only the most advanced hardware, 

it’s also a service,” Bezos said. 

“When combined with our enor- 

mous content ecosystem, 

unmatched cross-platform interoperability 

and standard-setting customer 

service, we hope people 

will agree that Kindle Fire HD is 

the best high-end tablet anywhere, at 

any price.” 

Analyst and consultant Rob 

DEZINER JEWELLERY 

WITH A DIFFERENCE 

POST REPORT 


IF you are someone who chooses 

quality over price and wish to 

carry something different, 

Deziner Gems & Jewellery store 

at Durbar Marg may be your 

perfect destination. 

The store features pure diamond 

jewellery along with diamond 

jewellery studded with gold 

and silver in Victorian, Kundan, 

Bangkok and custom designs. More 

than 10,000 varieties have been 

showcased at the store to quench 

the thirst of domestic jewellery 

enthusiasts. Precious gemstones are 

also available at the store. 

Deziner store is an ideal destination 

for those looking for exclusive 

items as it does not make several 

copies of a single design. The 

store is expected to cater to the 

demand of people who travel to foreign 

locations like Singapore, 

Dubai, Bangkok and India, among 

others, searching for quality jewellery. 

Moreover, to mark its first 

anniversary, Damas Jeweller, the 

operator of Deziner Gems & 

Jewellery, is conducting an 

expo which will run until 

September 20. During the expo, 

customers purchasing a jewellery 

item will get 30 percent discount on 

another purchase. 

“The store has been doing 

exceptionally well. However, people 

have issues with prices as we do not 

compromise on quality. Therefore, 

REUTERS 

SAN FRANCISCO, SEPT 7 

INTEL Corp will tout a new generation 

of processors next week that consume 

less power, hoping to reinvigorate 

a stagnant personal computer 

industry and soothe increasing concerns 

about its growth. 

Wall Street is reassessing its outlook 

for the top chipmaker after 

Hewlett-Packard Co and Inc warned 

last month of weak demand for PCs. 

At least eight analysts have reduced 

their revenue estimates for the dominant 

PC chipmaker since August 23, 

pointing to poor economies in 

Europe, the United States and China, 

as well as the growing popularity of 

mobile gadgets. “The risk of a (negative) 

preannouncement is extremely 

high at this point,” said Patrick 

Wang, an analyst at Evercore 

Partners. “I think the supply chain is 

reeling at the elevated levels of inventory 

out there.” 

The top chipmaker is banking on 

Microsoft Corp’s much anticipated 

launch of its Windows 8 platform in 

October to help slow the growing 

numbers of consumers buying 

smartphones and tablets instead of 

this expo is aimed at serving those 

customers who think the prices are 

a bit higher,” said Kavindra Modi, 

chief executive officer of Damas 

Jewellery. Spread over 5,000 sqft, the 

store has astonishing interior, giving 

it an international feel. According to 

Modi, the company has made an 

investment of around Rs 80 million 

in the store. “This kind of store is 

rare even in the South Asia. Each 

and every aspect has been detailed 

perfectly to give it an international 

appeal,” said Modi. 

In today’s edition of Bazaar, The 

Kathmandu Post features a selected 

product range you may want to 

check out at Deziner. 

Intel to showcase new chips 

Enderle tweeted: “Is Amazon the New 

Apple? I think Amazon just stole the 

tablet market,” adding that for “the 

key uses of a tablet—reading, games, 

movies—Amazon is now better in all 

three.” 

Industry analyst Jeff Kagan said 

Kindle Fire ‘is bigger, stronger and 

The chipmaker is 

banking on Microsoft’s 

launch of Windows 8 

platform in October to 

help slow the growing 

numbers of consumers 

buying smartphones and 

tablets instead of 

personal computers 

personal computers. Devices running 

Windows 8 and powered by Intel’s latest 

components will be a major draw 

when thousands of technology pro- 

better than before and will compete 

more directly with the big guys on the 

playing field’. 

The large-display tablet is only 

0.3 inches thick, and weighs 20 

ounces (567 grams). The Kindle Fire 

HD has dual-band Wi-Fi and two 

antennas. Bezos said the upgraded 

Wi-Fi specifications and increased 

processing clout would make 

it run 41 percent faster than the latest 

version of the iPad, launched earlier 

this year. 

Amazon will offer three versions 

of the tablet. The seven-inch Kindle 

Fire HD will cost $199 and ships 

September 14, while the iPad-challenging 

larger version, with 16GB of 

memory, will cost $299 and go on sale 

on November 20. In an even more 

direct challenge to the iPad, a 4G version 

of the larger Kindle Fire HD will 

sell at $499—the same price as a 

basic iPad. 

Bezos said Amazon kept its prices 

lower than many competitors 

fessionals descend on the annual 

Intel Developer Forum in San 

Francisco next week. 

Analysts on average expect revenue 

of $14.2 billion when Intel 

reports its third-quarter results in 

October, still well within the company’s 

forecast of $13.8 billion to 14.8 

billion according to Thomson Reuters 

I/B/E/S. But in a further sign of growing 

investor caution, the ratio of put 

options for Intel shares to call options 

has risen close to highs not seen since 

2006, said Jim Strugger, a derivatives 

strategist at MKM Partners. 

Fears of slowing global PC shipments 

have helped push Intel’s shares 

down about 11 percent since the end 

of April. At the forum, Intel’s nextgeneration 

PC processor, codenamed 

Haswell, will be front and center, with 

executives talking up improved 

power performance letting future 

laptops stay on longer without needing 

a recharge. 

Haswell, due to appear in a crop 

of laptops released for next year’s holiday 

season, will improve on computing 

and graphics features and is targeted 

to slash electricity consumption 

from 17 watts to 10 watts, 

according to Intel. 

Amazon unveils new, larger Kindle Fire tablets 

because it wants to make money 

from selling content, rather than 

from devices themselves. “We want 

to make money when they use our 

devices, not when they buy our 

devices,” he said. 

The Kindle Fire HD announcements 

came after Bezos unveiled a 

new Kindle e-reader with so-called 

‘paperwhite’ display. It will have a 

battery life of eight weeks with the 

backlight on, and will ship October 1. 

The paperwhite Kindle will retail at 

$119, while a 3G mobile version will 

cost $179. A new version of the basic 

Kindle will be reduced in price from 

$79 to $69. 

Offering the Kindle Fire outside 

the US for the first time, all except the 

new bigger-screen version will 

go on sale later this year in five 

European countries—Britain, 

France, Germany, Italy and Spain. 

“We want to get into as many places 

as we possibly can over time,” Kindle 

vice president David Limp said. 


MARKET WATCH 

RETAIL PRICE 

Vegetables Unit Price (Rs) 

Red Potato Kg Rs 32 

White Potato Kg Rs 30 

Onion (Indian) Kg Rs 24 

Tomato Small Kg Rs 40 

Tomato Big Kg Rs 42 

Squash Kg Rs 34 

Cabbage Kg Rs 32 

Egg Plant Long Kg Rs 25 

Green Peas Kg Rs 65 

Fruits Unit Price (Rs) 

Apple Kg Rs 140 

Pomegranate Kg Rs 200 

Orange Kg Rs 145 

Water Melon Kg Rs 45 

Sweet Orange Kg Rs 100 

Pineapple 1Pc Rs 90 

Cucumber Kg Rs 35 

Pear Kg Rs 155 

Papaya Kg Rs 70 

Banana Doz Rs 60 

DAILY COMMODITIES 

Commodities Unit Price (Rs) 

Pokhreli Rice Kg Rs 60 

Jeera Mashino Rice Kg Rs 60 

Indian Bashmati Rice Kg Rs 80 

Mansuli Rice Kg Rs 50 

Sona Rice Kg Rs 43 

Beaten Rice (Taichin) Kg Rs 84 

Beaten Rice Kg Rs 35 

Big Mas Kg Rs 115 

Small Mas Kg Rs 100 

Big Mung Kg Rs 110 

Musuro (No 1) Kg Rs 105 

Musuro (No 2) Kg Rs 92 

Rahar Kg Rs 135 

Chana (Big) Kg Rs 120 

Chana (Small) Kg Rs 115 

Chilli Powder Kg Rs 200 

Jeera Powder Kg Rs 350 

Sugar Kg Rs 85 

White Soyabean Kg Rs 80 

Black Soyabean Kg Rs 100 

Fried Mustard Oil lt Rs 220 

Soyabean Oil lt Rs 142 

Dalda Ghee lt Rs 120 

Nepali Ghee lt Rs 450 

GASOLINE WATCH 

BULLION PRICE PER 10 GRAMS 

Hallmark Gold Rs 51,440 

Tejabi Gold Rs 51,225 

Silver Rs 999 

INT’L MARKET 

SOURCE: NEGOSIDA 

Energy Price (US$) %Change 

BRENT CRUDE FUTR (bbl) 114.33 0.74 

GAS OIL FUT (ICE) (MT) 986 -0.50 

GASOLINE RBOB FUT (gal) 302.5 1.14 

NATURAL GAS FUTR (MMBtu) 2.73 -1.66 

Agriculture Price (US$) %Change 

COCOA FUTURE (MT) 2,695.00 0.15 

COFFEE 'C' FUTURE (lb) 158.8 0.38 

CORN FUTURE (bu) 800.75 0.28 

COTTON NO.2 FUTR (lb) 75.71 -0.37 

ROUGH RICE (CBOT) (cwt) 14.59 -0.24 

SOYBEAN FUTURE (bu) 1,734.50 -0.72 

SOYBEAN MEAL FUTR (T) 524.9 -0.61 

SOYBEAN OIL FUTR (lb) 57.05 -0.58 

SUGAR #11 (WORLD) (lb) 19.07 1.06 

WHEAT FUTURE(CBT) (bu) 895 0.36 

Industrial Metals Price (US$) %Change 

COPPER FUTURE (lb) 359.05 2.10 

Precious Metals Price (US$) %Change 

GOLD 100 OZ FUTR (t oz) 1,725.20 1.15 

SILVER FUTURE (t oz) 33.085 1.26

Saturday, September 8, 2012

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