Dinesh Wagle's Commentaries

Latest stories – पछिल्ला टिप्पणीहरू

  • Those Busy Days

    I woke up at 1:30 PM today. I am surprised. Not because I raised from the bed so late but because I got so early. I had planned to sleep for straight 24 hours. I was that much tired because of the workload in the past two days. I am not complaining about the workload. I am proud to do what I did in the past two days. I always wanted to work like that. I wanted to work to the end where I am unable to move myself. And that nearly happened yesterday night. I was barely moving when my brother Email opened the gate for me at 1:30 AM yesterday and asked jokingly: “Well, are there any raids in other FMs?” He was referring to my late coming the night before when I was busy covering the police raid in Sagarmatha FM. I arrived home 2 AM that day and went to bed at 3:15.

    That meant I should have slept until at least 12 AM. No, I could not because of my commitments made a week ago. I had to go to Maharajgung to see a woman in action with her beautiful and command obeying dogs. That was part of my reporting to be published in Kantipur in the next few days. I arrived in office at 1 PM. Stories and other duties were waiting for me. There was a rally organized by the Federation of Nepali Journalists (FNJ) and how could I miss that? I hade to do a follow up story on the Radio Sagarmatha raid. Along with Deepak Raj Pandey, the man who was arrested on the Sunday raid along with four others, was there in Maitighar. I went to Radio Sagarmatha’s office along with Deepak Raj Pandey and my colleague at Nepal Magazine Deepak Adhikari. We talked with RS guys including Acting Station Manager Ghamaraj Luitel till 6 PM. Walking up to Thapathali from Bakhundole was Deepak’s choice and that was strongly supported by the unavailability of three-wheelers.

    “This driver must be a great listeners of songs,” commented Deepak after the driver played some beautiful numbers in the bus. That was a good trip from Thapathali to Tinkune. But the stressful routine started once we arrived in Kantipur complex. I had to write the RS story, hunt down sources, and collect info for the other one: The BBC story in Kathmandu. Thank god, Devendra helped me to find the appropriate Radio Nepal guy (Rabin Sharma, the acting executive director of Radio Nepal) to have quote for the story. Khagendra Nepali, the head of BBC Nepali Service, responded my call to London favorably. When sources give quotable quotes, you can make a good story. I think same applied with my story here. As I was writing the story, Post Bahadur Basnet (Vishnu) translated the BBC story for the Kathmandu Post. After finishing my reporting commitments/assignments, I give some time to UWB. That is my passion.

    One thing that I have been repeatedly saying in these pages about my profession: Journalism. It demands time at odd hours and yes you don’t necessarily have to be in your office all the time but you have to be with your sources at their time. In addition to that, in some cases you have to be at work even if you don’t really like. I fell into such compulsion this week.

    I was planning to write a story about Saraha Giri’s interview but my plan was altered as I as assigned to interview Krishna Pahadi. I did that. No problem. I can do two (or three) works simultaneously. Like, for instance, chatting and writing stories and browsing Internet and talking to persons on phone. And that’s what I did.

    As I was about to leave the office finishing the Pahadi story, the news of raid in Radio Sagarmatha came into our newsroom. I have already written more about this incident in a UWB post.

  • The Talk of Wine & GF

    Let me criticize myself first. I spent one of the most fruitless day today. Pillion riding with Devendra Bhattaria proved to be largely fruitless. Spending in front of computer proved to be fruitless. Watching a British cinema in the evening proved to be fruitless. I am now regretting why I spent more than an hour carrying a glass full of wine and pretending that I was drinking that. What an hypocrisy on my part. Sorry. I owe an apology to myself. I am sorry. I will never do that again. I know I am not a drinker and I cannot be one. That is fine. No problem. I do not regret for that. I do not care at all. But I know I should not pretend that I drink. I will never do that again. I know many people pretend on so many aspects in such gatherings but I think I should not have pretended.

    The wine party (let me say the social gathering) started in time, at 5:30 PM, an hour ahead of the scheduled screening of “28 Days Later” in Gopi Krishna Cinema hall this evening. (I did not like the movie and that added extra pressure to think that I really wasted my time there.) I went there pillion riding with Girish Giri, my colleague at Kantipur, and took a glass of wine upon his kind ’suggestion’. With the glass of wine in my hand, I tried to see as much faces as possible in that small crowd and a foreigner girl caught my attention. But I did not go near her (and she did not come to me.)

    Anyway, let me come to the drink talk.

    “So you don’t drink?” asked Prem Khanal, the business bureau chief at the Kathmandu Post, the other day.

    “No.” I replied.

    “Not at all?” he frowned at me.

    “Okay, beer. A glass at a time in the interval of a month.” I tried to prove myself. “I think last time I drank was a month ago.”

    He dismissed beer as a serious drink and wanted to now if I drank hard drinks.

    “No,” I replied. “No. no. I mean I cannot drink that even if I want. That does not mean I want but I simply cannot. So let me put it this way. Hard drinks are simply not compatible to me. I am not compatible to hard drinks.” And I told him how I unknowingly drank gin in an embassy party thinking that as water and how I threw that out of my mouth within seconds.

    Okay, Prem daju seemed to be convinced by my arguments and points. But he was ready for the next big question.

    “Do you have girlfriend?” he asked.

    My answer was as honest as possible because I didn’t feel like lying to Prem Khanal. “No,” I said.

    “So,” Prem thought for a few seconds before giving me a suggestion. “So, why don’t you go there and do dhyaan. You should replace that man.” He was referring to a controversial young yogi in southern Nepal who is attracting a lot of media attention these days because many people think he is the next Buddha. LOL.

    You don’t drink, you don’t have a girlfriend. You should be a yogi instead of a reporter. I know he wasn’t serious but let me say that the question of girlfriend has become a matter of “prestige” (I hate using that term here.) The peer pressure is tremendous. Probably a friend of mine in Kantipur Complex (I don’t want to name him here because I am sure he doesn’t like that) knows it better. He is a failed lover and is trying to find a suitable woman for marriage. He likes not to talk about this but I can understand his eagerness.

    Anyway, I am still with my old argument that to be without girlfriend means you enjoy a kind of freedom. I am enjoying that right now. No tension of being late in the date. No tension of finding suitable dating spot. No tension of making your girlfriend happy all the time. I think I told Prem Dhakal these benefits of being single.

    Okay, back to that glass of wine. I know I was pretending. I pretended of shipping the wine several time. But I knew I was not drinking. So after holding the glass for about half an hour, I quietly went to a nearby table and left the glass there. I think I drank about 20 ml.

  • Passport Story and the Sydney Radio

    Making rounds of the Foreign Ministry with fellow reporter Devendra Bhattarai on Tuesday was quite an experience. As a reporter covering diplomacy for Kantipur, Devendra knows every nook and cranny of the ministry that is housed in one of the famous Rana durbars- Shital Niwas. Man, the staff are terrified because of their leader, Minister Ramesh Nath Pandey. I don’t want to go into details, but my impression was that Minister Pandey controls almost everything in the ministry— even a small decision needs his approval.

    The ministry has banned, on verbal orders from the minister, issuing travel documents to any Bhutanese willing to go outside Nepal. “Don’t issue travel documents to any Bhutanese without my knowledge and order,” Minister Pandey told officials at the ministry according to a ‘terrified’ official. The ministry was issuing travel documents to Bhutanese refugees for the last 15 years.

    By the way, why was I in the Foreign Ministry? To get a passport, and I have one now. (Yes, Minister Pandey doesn’t know that!) Now that I have a passport, I can go anywhere in the world, given that they grant me visas. I mean just for short trips because I am in no mood to leave the country for a long period in these interesting times. When you are experiencing history in the making, why would you go abroad to feel like a non-actor in these exciting developments?

    Okay, let me talk about some monetary things related to the passport. Spending Rs. five thousand for the passport that will be valid for the next 10 years means I will be paying more than a rupee a day to the foreign ministry. BTW, I got the passport yesterday from the foreign ministry, thus avoiding my visit to Ramechhap (or Bhaktapur) district.

    When I was in the consular section of the ministry on Wednesday waiting to collect the passport, an unexpected person came into the room. Binod Bhattarai, my journalism teacher at RR College and former news chief at Kantipur TV, was there to renew his passport. We talked about various issues, mostly related to journalism because that was the common ground between us, while a helpful official worked out our passports.

    Mr. Krishu Kshetri introduced us to Mr. Sharad Poudel, considered to have the best handwriting in the Foreign Ministry. He was more than ready to fill in the details on our passports. “I think I know you,” said Sharad suddenly, looking at Binod. “Don’t you recognize me?” My teacher tried hard to recall memories but it was apparently difficult for him to recognize the man. “We studied together in college in I. Sc.,” Sharad said. “I recognized you from this photo (he was holding Binod Bhattarai’s photo in the old passport.) You were a talented student. I know you.” Now, Mr. Bhattarai seemed to be remembering those good old days. As they became nostalgic and started talking about how they spent time at Patan Multiple Campus, I moved my chair a few inches back so that they could see each other. That was interesting to hear two old pals talking about the past.

    Okay, I woke up at 7 this morning. I had to select some photos for a photo essay. More importantly, I had to be near the phone because Rajish Aryal from SBS Radio, Australia’s Nepali Service, was going to call me from Sydney at 9 am. While talking with him for about 25 minutes, I spoke about the Nepali blogging movement and its importance in the Nepali media industry. He said that the interview would be aired on the radio sometime next week. That an Australian radio airs programs in Nepali was news to me.

  • Week Review: Animal Nepal & Judith Miller

    I am wondering how my week passed away. I didn’t actually realize it. Only two things I remember is that I worked a lot and I wasn’t feeling very well throughout the week. Did that sound contradictory? Okay, then that’s what is the truth. It’s an old tradition for me that I suffer from cold on a regular basis. Winter has arrived in Kathmandu with a big bang. So, it is not unusual for me to get caught up by the Hurricane Winter. I am trying to defy this. Yes, because I feel I should defy. And I am feeling like being successful in this crusade.

    I always wanted to be damn busy- busy with my works. That’s what I am having now- busy days. Sometime I feel too tired but then I feel I wanted this. Sometime I want more hours to work but that is beyond my control.

    While doing a story about pet keeping in Kathmandu I met a couple of interesting people this week. They are people associated with AnimalNepal.org, an NGO that has made its mission of creating awareness in Nepal about respectable pet keeping. We have too many problems in our society. Political problem is the biggest. Some people might question the work of AnimalNepal saying that we have much bigger problem than that. But I think we should not bear such cynical attitude while commenting on such people. What I think is that at least they are doing something in a country where very few positive works are being done.

    Resignation of Judith Miller from New York Times came as big news for me. Going through Washington Post and the Times about her ’scandal’ was quite an experience. The Post’s analysis about Miller was superb. I tried to translate parts of that report and news published in the Times for my paper. I also recommended the Post article to some of my colleagues. That is a must read because that gives the inside knowledge about how American journalism works. By the way, I liked Judy’s web site as well. I knew about that from her letter to the Times.

  • An Evening With Wanda Vivequin

    Saturday in office means facing very few people in a calm environment. A few cups of tea in the nearby teashop are must because guffs with colleagues like Deepak are enjoyable. No hustling and bustling in the newsroom. All calm and quiet. Okay, what did I do today? Nothing special in the afternoon but the evening was great as I spent hours with an amazing Canadian lady in Thamel. Wanda Vivequin is a travel guide and writer whom I found very much in love with Nepal.

    Some people work for passion and fun not just money. Wanda is one of them. She is more worried about Nepal’s unorganized and mismanaged travel and tourism industry. She told me a few stories about how Nepal can benefit by opening up new places and controlling the number of trekkers in certain areas. It’s all about management. As she is a travel writer for websites, newspapers, famed Lonely Planet guide books, she was interested to know more about Nepali society. I tried to give her my perspective.

    I always love talking to new people and especially those who are not arrogant and eager to learn something new. I myself find learning new things in each and every new encounter. Meeting new people and traveling to new places are same. You learn about people and places and societies. The best thing that I liked about her (well, there are many things still let me single out one) is her confidence over herself and her passion to adventure. She doesn’t like western media exaggerating security situation in Nepal and I agreed with her that recent reports in New York Times or National Geographic tell one-sided story of Nepali society.

    Kathmandu is a city that is growing and growing. It is not unusual for it to have problems that other big cities also have. We both agreed upon that. Wanda added: “They (western media) don’t report about general crimes in big western cities but make big headlines about, for example, a foreigner missing in Kathmandu. That’s unfair to Kathmandu.”

    It is really good to know people like Wanda who are bringing tourists in Nepal and contributing to our economy in many ways.

  • This Ason & That Ason

    Since the original photos of the post were lost because of a technical failure on the web site, I re-posted these photos. Some of the photos were taken in March 2005 while others in 2006.

    flower sellers of asonFlower women in Ason

    A few months ago, I was in Ason, the heart of Old Kathmandu, to see pro-democracy political protests. One day I stayed there for about an hour and observed activities just before a demonstration took place (that was immediately controlled by the police). While some people were taking risks of being arrested, a few were worried about their business being hampered. Today here is no sign of political protests in Ason. Everyone is busy shopping, bargaining and deciding the thing that they are going to buy is good enough for them or not. “We need some spices,” I just overheard a woman talking with her husband.

    Oh, did I just see Mickey Upriety in that crowd?

    “Namaste! Tihar ko subhakamana hai. (Happy Tihar)”

    “Oh..Namaste, Mickey ji. Same to you. Kata ho?”

    There were a few Japanese following her in that crowd. What’s going on, Mickey ji?

    “Shooting for NHK (a Japanese network),” she said before disappearing into the crowd.

    A few foreign tourists are roaming around visibly awed by the intensity of the crowd. One of them is chewing almonds with a map of Kathmandu under his shoulder.

    Now, I am in front of a shop, trying to get myself away from the crowd and observing the movements of people. Its really amazing to see these people struggling in the crowd and worried about their own ‘problems’.

    Ason is crowded today, very much in fact. It is difficult to walk without touching other person. I can see people who have come here with their families and close friends.

    Yes, majority of them are middle or upper middle class citizens. Shopkeeper are hell busy with their customers. Intense bargain. This is the time for them to sell as much as they could. This is the business season when people are ready to spend more than they earn.

    That’s the Ason. I arrived in New Road to eat something. Got a chicken burger in a bakery shop. Great. I have not eat anything other than two cups of tea today. A burger partly filled my belly. For a meeting with a pair of American journalists, I left house early in the morning that is to say at 8:30 AM. Both Dr. Sherry Ricchiardi and her husband Frank Folwell are journalists. Sherry, director, International Media Affairs and Senior Writer at American Journalism Review came here to do a story on Nepali politics. Flowell, photojournalist and Deputy Managing Editor at USA Today, accompanied her for photography. What a lucky pair.

    New Road has now a new landmark. Just in front of the Gorkhapatra/Nepal Bank offices, near by the Peepal tree, a huge temporary tent has been established. Inside, I can see idols of Shiva and some Bihari types of songs are being played in loud sound. I tried to figure out what the song is saying but failed to understand.

    Unlike in Ason, In New Road, you can have some spaces for easy breath.

    When I SMSed him, I found that Deepak Adhikari was in office enjoying the Deusi songs and dances. His presence in office compelled me to go there and see the dances. Great.

    boy selling color powder om ason
    a foriegn tourist
    March 2005
    March 2005

  • Celebrating Tihar. The Festival Of Light

    Yes, Tihar or Dipawali or Diwali is a festival of lights and flowers. I generally enjoy the festival but when I compare it with Dashian, our biggest festival, I find Tihar a bit individualistic. Sisters put Tika to their brothers wishing them long lives. While doing so, they are also saving their brothers from the god of death- Yamaraj by making oil marks around brothers. So this is a sacred festival. Still I think this is individualistic. Not as much social as Dashain. Dashain is more social because whole family is involved in the whole process of Tika. Seniors put tika to juniors’ foreheads. Juniors go to other seniors in the village. That creates interaction in society and cements the socialite bond.

    But in Tihar, each sister is worried about giving tika to her brothers. A brother is worried about taking tika from her sisters. Well, may be this is the hallmark of Tihar and that is why it is different from Dashian. All festivals have their own style and identity.

    dinesh wagle in tihar

    Dinesh with Tihar Tika

    Email and myself received tika from Gita and Ambika just like in previous years. Kalyan went to Kaushaltar for tika with his sisters.

    It’s been a pretty lazy day for me. Have nothing special to do other than the tika thing. They say no news is good news but now I am feeling like that is really a bad news. Anyway, from tomorrow, work will resume and I am excited about that.

  • From Kantipur FM to Supreme Court to Deepak’s Place

    That was quite a busy day yesterday. Spending time in Kantipur FM and in Supreme Court to express solidarity and update on the writ petition. Today’s Valley Banda, general strike in Kathmandu. That’s why I decided not to go to home. I went to Deepak Adhikari’s place yesterday evening. After reading his blog on Dera Owes, that was an opportunity for me to see his place and stay there. His brothers made wonderful food. Great work. I loved that. I was too hungry because of the day’s busy schedule. Going here and there and standing all the time and updating the event on UWB. For the first time, I sat behind Deepak’s bike from office to his room yesterday. His was an average ride.

    We made rounds of Ghattekulo, Dilli Bazar. Putalisadak and Ratna Park this morning observing the Valley Strike. Then we took trolley bus from Maitighar to Tinkune. Later in the afternoon, we did a long march: from Tinkune to Basantapur, and then rallied for about half an hour. I was quite tired and found Vishnu just arrived in the mass meeting venue. I persuaded him to return back to office and we walked up to Thapathali expecting a trolley bus. The bus arrived and we too arrived in Tinkune.

  • Finally, No Lukla At All

    Okay, here is the news. I cancelled by Lukla trip this morning…in fact yesterday late night. More important and historical things are happening in Kathmandu and I want to experience them in person. Yes, I would love to go there sometime later. I miss you Lukla. But what can I do? I think history is being made in Kathmandu as the government is becoming more aggressive and repressive with free and independent media. Lets see what happens…

  • No Lukla For The Day

    Kathmandu: The dateline of this blog tells it all. I am still in the capital city of Nepal. I was supposed to be in Lukla, eastern region, today. But who can ignore the bad weather? Pilots? No. They too love their lives. Passengers too love their lives. I also wish to live a few years more to see the amazing things happening right now in Nepal.

    Anyway, I wake up at 5:30 in the morning, a recent record of sort, and reached at the main gate of Tribhuvan International Airport (also national airport) at 6:30. Sharad Babu Shrestha, Nepal chief of READ, was waiting for me at the gate. (This gives a clue about my Lukla trip. The organization is sponsoring my Lukla odyssey.) We together went to the domestic terminal and then the game of waiting began.

    I met two American ladies (Dr. Allison Wren and Suzie Cordero), both associated with READ, and talked with one of them about a few topics like Nepali and American politics. Countless announcements from the airport office about the flight schedules that I heard throughout the morning are still echoing in my head. Most of them were about flights being delayed or, as you can guess from my case, cancelled for the day.

    Our Yeti Airlines flight was cancelled after we waited for about 6 hours. Hungry I was like a feeble jackal. But that biscuit and tea helped me a lot. That kept me alive. I think I should rush to the canteen for some things to eat.

    Now a few words on READ. This is a campaign launched by Dr. Antonia Neubauer, an American with the aim of “building literacy and communities through libraries.” “She has been traveling back and forth to Nepal since 1983,” states READ Nepal’s web site. This organization establishes libraries in remote parts of Nepal with community involvement. Learn more about the campaign in READ Nepal Page.

    By the way, I will again go to the airport tomorrow morning hoping to take a flight and land at Lukla Airport.