Monthly Archives: December 2007

Watching Sunrise from the Nagarkot Hilltop

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I experienced the magic while watching the sun rising

It was really challenging for me to wake up at 6:30 in the morning to observe the sunrise. I was determined. I set the alarm on my cell for 6 AM (Friday, December 21). The alarm inside me was also working and I was awake several times in the night. Finally, the cell’s alarm went off and I threw sirak off. After muting the phone, I came back to bed and stayed inside sirak for a few minutes. Then I woke up and in a few minutes I was ready to go at the top of the hotel, the tallest in Nagarkot, to get the better view. There were already a few people and we waited for a few minutes.

It was magical. I don’t remember witnessing a sunrise before with that much of focused attention. It happened for only a few seconds. Probably 20 to 30 seconds. I just kept my eyes focused at the colorful rays of light that were coming from behind the mountain on the east. Continue reading →

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An Evening in Nagarkot: Drinking Soup

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A sudden trip to the hilltop that is famous for the views of sunrise.

So that is how my day started. I wasn’t prepared when my colleague at Kantipur Girish Giri asked me to join him on a motorcycle trip to Nagarkot in the afternoon while I was calmly browsing web and reading blogs. Plus, batteries in my camera had died, cell phone batteries were dying and there was this story about the screening, the actress and her mother to be written. And Girish’s plan to Nagarkot included a long bike ride in the chilly/windy evening. The only thing that didn’t discourage me of thinking the trip to the hilltop was the down jacket that I was wearing since the morning. That, I thought, will save me from the wind should I decide to take the one-hour-long ride. Continue reading →

An Early Morning Show of a Nepali Movie

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The mother of the actress wanted her daughter to be a professor in real life.

One thing that you can predict easily about a reporter’s daily routine is this: it’s unpredictable. You never know how a reporter’s day starts and ends. Forget about you, I am a reporter and I myself don’t know how my day starts and ends. A new assignment can call me anytime. For instance, I was invited to see a Nepali move early in the morning (I am talking about Thursday, 20 December): 8:30 at Kumari. I woke up at 6:30, a record in itself, and reached at the venue on time. But then it’s Nepali time for the organizers: the screening of “Huri Batas” (err, actually it’s “Aandhi Tufaan”, I keep on forgetting name of this movie) would start only at 9. Two girls were standing at the entrance of the theater apparently waiting for invitees. I learned from them that they were the actresses of the film. One was Richa Ghimrie and the other was… I forget her name at this moment. Continue reading →

Following American Election Campaigns From Nepal

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Even in these chilly days, we drink Coca Cola (Okay, to be exact, I drank a glass of Fanta, another offering from the one of the greatest symbols of American culture, this afternoon in a program co-sponsored by Chinese Embassy in Kathmandu). We get to watch the events in the United States as and when they unfold, mostly live, as it happened a while ago with the fire in the west wing of the White House. Now they are talking about the election campaign-the topic of this blog- on CNN, an American network, as I am typing these lines on MS Word, one of the key products of an American software giant. Nine out of 13 tabs on the Firefox, competitor of Microsoft’s IE but still an American thing (Internet itself is an American thing, isn’t it?), display American websites. A paper lies on the floor on my left side that’s known around the world as the New York Times (these particular pages come as a weekly pullout along with an Indian paper called Asian Age). Continue reading →

Everyone Wants To “Volunteer” For UN

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international volunteers day in kathmandu nepal

Anjila Mul, 22, and Sujita Amatya, 22, who got Bachelors in Science (Environmental Science) degree from Biswo Niketan College a few days ago, had gone to the “exhibition” hoping to get recruited as volunteer or explore opportunities in volunteering. “The focus is in the UN of course,” said Anjila, left, “because that’s world wide.”

[Here is what I reported in today's Kantipur about the event]

I was in Basantapur (Kathmandu Durbar Square) yesterday to report about an event organized on the occasion of International Volunteer Day. Many young people from Kathmandu and other parts of Nepal had gathered there responding to advertisements that were published in some newspapers (including Kantipur where I work) that day. The advertisements that featured a statement issued by the UN General Secretary General on the occasion asked the readers to come to Basantapur. “If you want to become a volunteer, visit our exhibition at Basantapur on 5th December at 11:30,” said the adverts. Those who invited the readers were the UN Volunteers, JICA (Japan), KOICA (Korea), MS Nepal (Danish) and other organizations. Majority of the visitors were young and many of them had gone there hoping to get recruited as volunteer or get their CVs seen by the UN Volunteers officials. I met two girls and many other boys who said their main intention was to get enrolled into UNV. Continue reading →