[Click here to read this article in English and see more photos.]
नेपालमा २०७० मंसिर ४ गते दोस्रो संविधान सभाका लागि राष्ट्रिय चुनाव भयो । जनताले सर्वाधिक संख्यामा मतदान गरे । त्यो दिन भोट हाल्ने ९४ लाख नेपालीहरू मध्ये म पनि एक थिएँ । तर मध्यपश्चिम नेपालको एउटा पुरै गाउँ मतदान केन्द्रमा अनुपस्थित भयो । रोल्पाको थबाङले चुनाव बहिस्कार गर्यो ।
थवाङ जाने एउटा अर्को बहाना, मैले सोचेँ ।
Was browsing through the snapshots taken in 2013 by the phone. Here are four from April- women and children of Chitlang village and a house and a dog. (More pics in this original post)
Did you notice a recent tweet by veteran journalist Kishore Nepal? This post, particularly its timing, is inspired by his tweet.
Yesterday he tweeted: “Suggestions to young lovers of Kathmandu. Taudah is not a good place for romance. Better to visit somewhere else to avoid do & don’t.”
And a genuine question by @Ushaft: “where else, for example? Kathmandu doesn’t have friendly spaces for couples and young people.”
[Here’s a related article (सपनाको बगैचामा), btw, from 2008.]
Wondering why Kishore Nepal said that? A big noticeboard at the entrance of Taudaha lake says the following:
Discipline is the identity of civilized citizen.
If you are found doing the following restricted activities inside the lake area you will be fined as per the following:
Restricted activities
Hugging: Rs 1500
Kissing: Rs 2000
Entering into the lake area in student uniform: Rs 500
Drinking alcohol and doing drugs: Rs. 5000
Fishing: Rs. 15,000
Swimming: Rs. 10,000
By Karkotak Nagraja Nagrani Habitat Taudaha Society
Check out these photos taken in September:
If you want to know what Taudaha is (from Wikipedia):
Taudaha Lake is a small lake in the outskirts of Kathmandu, in Nepal. The name comes from a combination of Newari words ‘Ta’, meaning snake and ‘Daha’, which means lake. (धेरै…)
12 Aug 2013
A couple of weeks back I walked from Bhaktapur’s Changunarayan Temple to Nagarkot (4hrs). The walk continued next morning. Went to Sankhu via Lapsephedi (near Jaharsingh Pouwa, 6hrs). This is one of the several villages that are part of Kathmandu-2 constituency where I am registered to vote (I voted). Found a piece of campaign poster in Phedi, just before taking a rarely-walked trail to Bajrayogini temple, that appealed for a victory to the UCPN Maoist candidate Lilamani Pokharel win in the Nov 19 polls. (Pokharel came a distant third.)
#Freak Street, Kathmandu. 14 Sept 2013.
As you can see from the excerpt of an old entry below I was super excited about voting and about the election process back in 2008. It was because I believed, as I do now- sort of, those were the ‘historic’ elections for the CA. If same thing happens in exactly about five years, it can’t be as historic as it was the first time, I think. Okay, I am excited today as Nepal votes for a second Constituent Assembly. But I was super excited back in 2008 when the country voted for the first Constituent Assembly.
Read a paragraph from my 2008 Election Day entry:
It was a thrilling experience to vote after so many years. I came to this computer a few minutes ago after casting my vote in the historic elections of Constituent Assembly this morning. I had reached at the polling station in Gandhi Adarsha High School, a minute of walk from my home in Gothataar village of Kathmandu constituency 2, at 6:20 AM. That was 40 minutes ahead of the opening of the voting time at 7 AM. There were already about 50 people in the line! One guy came behind me with his identification card saying: I was eagerly waiting for the morning. My hand is itching. I want to vote! I will be voting after 16 years.
After standing in the queue for 40 minutes I went inside the polling station. There the lines got divided into three sections (six in total for males and females). As a result of this division I found myself standing in the third position! Cool!
Seems like the decline in excitement level was a slow process. It happened over the time- slowly. As things remained the same more or less around my life- as a citizen, politically speaking. For example, In 2011 while registering with the Election Commission I was a bit more excited than I was today and a less excited than I was in 2008. Here’s an entry that I wrote detailing my experience of registering myself with the Election Commission in 2011.
Spotted this on Monday. Can anyone tell where this is?
