So as we were chatting with Sharada Sharma I saw someone who almost looked like Krishna Dharabasi, the acclaimed writer of, among others, the novel Radha that I had bought an hour or so ago in the book fair in Bhrikutimandap (on Sunday, 11 May) before coming to Narahari Acharya residence. Continue reading →

Self-portrait. Dinesh Wagle

The district of Gorkha, in my mind, was always a very remote place. That was before I went there last month (in the first week of March). I couldn’t go outside the district headquarter and trek in the villages. I found the district headquarters nice and beautiful. I had to trek for about half an hour- climbing all those stairs- to reach the fabled Gorkha palace and the Gorakhnath temple. That is where I took the photo displayed above. Camera isn’t allowed in the temple and palace premise so I did the self-portrait just below the the main entrance gate. Continue reading →

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 →

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 →