Da Ugly Devil's Heaven

Momo is the food that is made of flour and usually buffalo meat. It is believed to be Tibetan food item but it has gained so much popularity in Nepal that it is now hard to believe that it came from Tibet. I think this is the most eaten food item in Nepal these days, well may be besides rice.

I don’t remember when was the first time I ate momo but since my childhood, I love to have momo and I have kinda become crazed over momo. I can say no to rice (our basic food) but I cannot say no to momo. Either I am full and just had a huge feast, there can always be a place for some momos inside my tummy. If you are in Nepal and at Basantapur, you will see 100s of crowded street stalls selling momo and I wonder where do the people come in such a great mass to have those street food. Even tourists are having momo and other street foods these days, beside the fact that they do not come up to the hygienic food as they have it in their 5 star hotels. Well for me no matter what, I love momo in any form, either hygienic or non-hygienic.

There are lots of varieties of food and cuisine in our country. Mostly, Newari people are renowned for their eating habits and feasts and festivals. With a single buffalo there will be minimum of 20 different varieties of food items. The daily food we eat for our meals is rice. The food cycle for the day would go like, tea probably with gwaramari; and then at about 8-10 a.m.
rice, daal (lentils), varieties of vegetables (usually lots of potato item is cooked in most homes) or meat as a substitute, aachar (pickles); 4-5 p.m. bitten rice, with varieties of vegetables (usually lots of potato item is cooked in most homes) or meat as a substitute; and pickle, with a cup of tea; then in the evening from 8-10 p.m. we will have same thing we had in the morning, i.e. rice, daal (lentils), varieties of vegetables (usually lots of potato item is cooked in most homes) or meat as a substitute, aachar (pickles). This is a regular scheduled eating habit of most of the Nepali people (mostly Newars) on regular days besides when they are having feast.

Cultures differ from place to place, home to home, and not forgetting individual to individual. The essence of culture is its level of comfort that it provides to a community. Today, in business world where people strive hard to survive in competition, they need to take care of differing culture as well.

The essence of the definition of culture is expanding day by day. People who get married, especially girls in the eastern society, have to adopt the culture that is followed in her in-law’s home. Now the question is that are they comfortable adopting one of those cultures? If the answer is yes then there is nothing ahead; but if the answer is no then they are definitely living a life filled with sacrifices. Culture is an answer to sacrifices and difficulties in life. It is there or it is inherited in us to make our lives better and peaceful. This can be seen in business people as well. Yes! They have tons of business colleagues to handle. The cultural difference that they have had almost become a way to high blood pressures and severe clashes in the principles of life. This is not the end. The difference will become greater. This is because the world’s development is centralized to commercial places. Like in Nepal, the development is a centralized one. Similarly if we view the entire earth, we can see that nations like America and Europe has risen too high that it has become a pressure for the third world country to join them. Lets hope that technologies like the Internet, music, and sports help us to lessen the differences.

This post was written by Neeti Sawarthia for dauglydevil.com.

It has been a long time since my mind was pretty caught up with different things about the future situation of our country and what our lives will be in our upcoming future. All these things just got me sick and I thought of going out for a walk to my friends. I got one of my close friend, Shyam Krishna Prajapati, who is my friend since we were in Grade II. He has a Chinese gift shop, Unique Gift Center, at Mahabouddha, Kathmandu, Nepal. I usually go there when I had my medical transcription job. I would be their in my lunch breaks and after office hours as well. The area where is shop is situated is often named as Khasa Bazaar or Chinese Bazaar, as most of the shops there sell goods brought from China and Khasa (border of China and Nepal).

Well lots of people don't realize it but China has helped us in many ways in terms of technology. Of course Japan comes at the top list when it comes to developing and bringing the technology in the world, but for us China is our technology. We can only read about the latest technology developed by Japan and other countries but with China, we get to use it. For a poor country like Nepal, China is doing a great work by sending the latest technology in our hands in such a cheap price. I always have noticed so many new technology stuffs are available in the market but none of them can be found in any websites and for sure lots of the people around the world would never know what China offers either. So I had been working on developing and creating a website, moreover to blog about the latest and cheapest technology, and I thought of adding those goods from China in that site. Currently the is under construction for the template and other issues, but I have been working on it for the past three months or so. I will be reviewing that site and will post it here as soon as it is ready and live. So keep waiting guys. The name for the site will be http://www.techfreak.info.

Yesterday, again I was watching avenues television. I just couldn't sleep at the daytime. Usually I work at night and in the daytime I take some rest. I just thought of tuning into something good so that I could sleep and dream about it. Yeah sounds funny but mostly I do those sorts of crazy things. Then suddenly it was avenues televisions showing breaking news again. I thought it must be other hot news again; otherwise, avenues television only starts from 6 in the evening. It was showing footage of our prince Paras taken to a hospital by some army people. I thought may be the royal family sustained another attack. I called my mom and dad to watch the news then I know that prince Paras had sustained a heart attack.

I thought it was serious and might be fatal but later on the news described it as just a simple attack and that prince was okay by then. The news then went on for the rest of the day on avenues television. They were claiming that only they have the footage of the prince being taken to the hospital. That was true. I surfed on all the Nepali channels, none of them had any footage but only news and interviews with the doctors.

Prince Paras sustained heart attack in the morning while he was having his breakfast tea. Then at 10:15 he was taken to the Norvic Hospital for further treatment after two of the doctors visited his house. Immediately at the hospital a procedure called angioplasty was done. The doctors had hard time explaining that to the news persons. It was clearly visible that the news persons were unable to even pronounce the word. Angioplasty is simply, "The repair of a blood vessel, as by inserting a balloon-tipped catheter to unclog it or by replacing part of the vessel with either a piece of the patient's own tissue or a prosthetic device: coronary angioplasty to widen an artery blocked by plaque."

The procedure was just to normal for the doctors at the hospital as it was a daily happening thing for them. They described they do such procedure to most of the patients who have artery blockage, and that it is the standard procedure throughout the world. They also confirmed that prince was okay and that he will be discharged after four or five days of stay in the hospital. 2-3 days in the ICU and then 2-3 days in the recovery room and prince will be ready to go to his house.

I was with my dad on my way home nearby Tripureshwor. The time was around 4:30 p.m. (Nepali Standard Time, +5:45 GMT). We just reached the cross section of main road and we headed up to the small road (galli) and suddenly we heard a big blast. My dad was about to go back to the main road but I just ignored the blast and told him not to go as I thought it might be some lightening striking on electricity pole or something like that as it was raining quite lightly by then. So we reached home and I was on the phone making plans for the evening with my friends. Suddenly dad comes in and says, "We just missed the bomb. We are just safe." I didn't get what he was talking about but later I remembered that blast. I then switched on the TV and I watched the news entire evening. We just canceled our evening plans and were on our homes watching that dreadful event.

I was watching avenues television all the way throughout the evening and other news channels as well. Whole Kathmandu Valley was terrorized. Everybody was in a shock and most of the people didn't even believe the fact, the fact that there were three different series of simultaneous explosion in Balaju, Sundhara, and Tripureshwor. According to the news, two were dead and dozens others are wounded.

In Balaju, the bomb was in a microbus which was parking near the Balaju Industrial Area. The blast just teared off the microbus into pieces. The news showed some graphic clips of the wounded people and there was the foot of one of the victim on the road just left deserted on the road. The wounded are taken to the Siddhartha Hospital and Bir Hospital. The wounded also include a two-year-old child whose mother is taken to Bir Hospital for further treatment. The clips were unedited as they were showing the fresh clips live on television in the gap of five minutes or so.

Blast in Sundhara and Tripureshwor took place on the bus stands killing two. One of them was Anita KC, a class 12 student at Vishwaniketan Higher Secondary School, and another was 40-year-old woman who is yet to be identified. They were both declared dead at Bir Hospital and their bodies have been taken to TU Teaching Hospital for post postmortem. Other dozens have people has been wounded and taken to the Bir Hospital.

According to the news, a little-known group called Terai Army has taken the responsibility of the blast. A person named Mr. John telephoned BBC Nepali Service and claimed responsibility. Another person claiming himself as Mr. Deva, a leader of Terai Army, told BBC Nepali Service that they were working in the interest of Terai region. He said they are ready for any talks if the government calls them for dialog. Another hitherto unknown organisation calling itself Terai Utthan Sangat has also claimed responsibility for the same incident.

The news also had the details of the blast might being the cause to stop the constitutional election to be held after 80 days. Other details was Nepal having the same crisis and phase of terror on the same date three years ago when some 16 people were killed in Iraq. The whole nation showed the frustration by ripping of the manpower offices and some Muslim mosque were also attacked during that incident.

I don't know what will be the future of Nepal but so far the signs aren't showing that it will be a peaceful country like it used to be. The regular banda program were just too much to tolerate and now we have the series of bomb blast in the heart of the city. I don't know what is the outcome of this act. How will Nepalese government take this? What will be the reaction of the people? Will there be peace after the election? Will there be a peaceful election?... Lots of other questions are still there which I think wont be answered so soon. I am just helpless and I just can wait and watch for the next act... Meanwhile I want to express my condolence to the families of those killed in the bomb blasts. May there be peace in Nepal soon!!!

In traveling season proper information about destination, vacations for tourists are an important section of travel agent training. Another proper way for travel guidance is travel magazines. These magazines provide information about the famous places, resorts and hotels. As about adult vacation, cancun vacation etc. Internet is also a major source of information about vacations as it provides informational websites for example about kauai vacation. Also provides detailed online information about cancun vacation etc.

I just got bored of all the things these days. So I thought of writing some of my personal feelings here since this is a my own personal blog... Well I know I have been writing lots of business-related post these days but the thing is nothing interesting news seems to come my way these days. Sometimes I feel like I am born in the wrong place at the wrong time. Well I cannot change all that and I don't believe in anything such as destiny or fate. I am not an atheist but I am not that religious either. I am just a normal sane human being who seeks peace and harmony and mostly some adventure and excitement in life. I don't mean only in my life but for everyone. Everyone should have rights to live freely and rest should respect their emotions.

I am not much of a philosopher nor do I know much about life, but I feel like life in Nepal really isn't a life anyone would want these days. I don't know who to blame. First thing that comes in my mind are the politicians. I just remembered an instance. I won't display the name of that popular politician but once the same people used to throw rocks and now the same people are just worshiping him in a way. The incident was in the capital of the country, Kathmandu. The same politician is now the hero and now is on one of the top most position where everybody is giving him respect and everybody is presenting flowers instead of rocks. I really don't understand how they do it...

Second comes the people who live in Nepal (that does include me too but I just can't help it). I have often heard Nepalese people being named as "Bheda" (sheeps, as there is a saying if one sheep falls from a hill everybody follows to that one to the death). I find it so true. Sadly, I am a Nepali too but the truth is truth. For instance, I remember this event while we were in our basketball court at TC. Lots of people were there, mostly people from outside the valley watching the cricket game. I was with my basketball playing friend's group. Suddenly we saw some girl was on some top of the building and the guys began to tease the shooting crew and the girls by whistling around. It was one guy at first and everybody was just staring at our friend who started it but surprisingly after just a minute or so the same people were following us and they were teasing the girls and we were just sitting there seeing the scenario of "Nepali Bheda." That's what we named it back then. This is one of the bad qualities of Nepalese people which the politicians are taking benefit of.

So mostly I blame the people who live in Nepal mostly then the politicians. The power is in our hands but with that in mind, we should never misuse our powers. The government is so unstable at this moment and lots of people are just going by their way. Mostly "Nepal Banda" (Where the whole country is shut down. All the shops and business are closed due to the strike) is the worst way of showing demonstration. I am sure all of us know that but yet we are doing it. It seems so insane. We are using the last measure of the strike in our first step, what comes after that??? Destructions? Killing people? And lastly Death or Suicide???

I just recently read a post in kantipuronline.com. I usually go to this site to see the latest news about Nepal. All the news in the newspaper of Kantipur Newspaper can be found in this site. The post I read today was, "Women bus conducters, a tough new breed." Recently, a lot of women tempo drivers can be seen around the roads of Kathmandu. It is nice to see the women doing the tough job that even men would find hard to do. I don't know if it is only in Nepal or other countries as well that women are really dominated and mostly they are sexually harassed whenever someone gets a chance, either it is in public places or somewhere in the small deserted road. Mostly teenagers and young girls becomes the victim of such act. Like stated in that post, mostly young girls have hard time traveling through a bus. Lots of passengers who have bad intentions and thoughts would just make a move in making a physical contact with the girls.

I was so involved with editing and formatting my other blog called Alone In Kathmandu that I was out of contact with mostly my friends and news about Nepal. I just was going through the net surfing and I went to kantapuronline.com to see the latest news about Nepal. I could see nothing unusual there, same news of maoist and the government with some of the news where locals and the government police were in a clash, and other stuffs. Then I saw a segment it was the top story section and it was on the top of the website. Firstly. I just read about the topics and saw one picture of Muslim women and the news was as:

Women of the Muslim community going to attend a rice-feeding ceremony in Bhokraha in Sunsari district. Muslim women in this region wear the veil only during religious ceremonies. Earlier, they had to wear the veil nearly all the time.

I then went ahead with the news below. Then again I came back only to notice there was something like "Listen to the new National Anthem." I was shocked for a while. May be it was me who was out of contact with the news of Nepal, may be this is only the testing of National Anthem, may be they really have verified... These were the thoughts coming up in my mind. I yet don't know if this is the real new National Anthem of Nepal. May be or may be not. I have to find out about this by asking to my friends and family.

But for now, for those who are in my page reading and going through my experiences, I am hereby posting the link where you can download and listen to the song so called New National Anthem of Nepal.

(Edit: I just confirmed it and since my nephew is here, he says he knows this news and he confirmed that they did announce it this Friday at about 5 p.m. Please post your views and comments about the song here if you reach this page.)

Millions of people all over the world have this superstition that seeing a black cat is inauspicious. In our country too they have this belief that if a black cat crosses your path, we take it as a bad omen. I just read about something about the black cat in one of my old magazines and found out some interesting fact which takes us back to thousands of years. Cats particularly black cats have been treated as inauspicious from those days. But personally, I don’t believe in this superstition. I might find it awkward as I was brought up in the same community with people believing about lots of superstitious things.

The ancients Egyptians worshipped the cat. They had a goddess called “Pasht” whose had resembled that of a cat. They believe that this goddess had nine lives. Whenever a black cat died in Egypt, its dead body was preserved as a mummy. Remains of thousands of black cats have been recovered from a cemetery of Egypt. Killing a cat was treated as an offence, punishable with death sentence. Thus people had a great fear of a black cat.

During the middle ages, witches and witch doctors always used the skull of a black cat to prepare mysterious medicines. As a result people started thinking that the black cat was bad. Thus people have been suffering from this superstition for many centuries. This is only an example of superstition we have in our world. Mostly in the country I live, Nepal, there are lots of superstitions which have really been a problem from thousands of years. It even proves fatal to some people when they are accused of harming other people with their witch powers. No living thing should ever be treated as inauspicious either human or a black cat for that matter, as there is nothing as inauspicious except the things our mind that leads us think it is; that is nothing but pure superstition.

It's Saturday here in Kathmandu, Nepal as of this moment, and the time is 6:00 AM (exact) right now. I am sure lots of my friends are sleeping right now and must be dreaming about basketball or may be the girl of their dreams. As usual, Saturday, we gather around at about 5 pm in the summertime in our home court of Tri-Chandra College and get ready for our game. Well there are lots of my friends and they have different groups within them and most of them have different programs for the Saturdays as it is the only holiday here in Nepal. Most of the time, I am with my basketball teammates on Saturdays. It is the day when we gather together and have fun playing basketball. Whenever I play, I tend to forget my every problems and situations of my daily life. I am just in that game enjoying myself and having the time of my life. It really is a golden moment and the feeling is just so awesome. It makes you feel like you are alive and flying across the court with the ball in your hand.

Well lately the passion and love for the game amongst my friends have decreased a lot. I don't know whether it is the older age or lack of interest or getting busy with their lives but it is keeping us apart from gathering even once a week. Even I haven't gone to play for the past three weeks. It is due to me being busy with another group of friends and sometimes I am not energetic enough to go and play the game. I am so dull as I work at nights and sleep at daytime. Last month too when I go to play the first game will be so poor and I would always tire a lot in my first game. It is only the second and the rest game that my stamina comes back and I am able to play my game. Most of the time we don't have enough players to play the full game. We have namely, Me (Amrit), Sameer, Samundra, Rajit, Nishresh, Prabin, Unish, and Bijay as the regular players who do come regularly during the Saturdays. Other than that Bikash sometimes shows up may be once in a month or so. Sameer and I had quite a fun with one incident with Bikash. We both sent him the same sms saying "if you want to get blocked by me come to play tomorrow." Surprisingly, he did come that day and he got a block from both me and Sameer that day. We always keep irritating with our friends but we don't mind it and get too personal about it and try to have fun with it.

So today it is another Saturday and it is basketball time. Like every Saturday our friends must be waiting for that 5 p.m. where they will reach to the court and experience the enjoyment of their lives and have some good time playing basketball. Well I am but I am not sure if I will be able to manage the time for today. If I don't make it, I am sure going to miss the time that I enjoy the most, that's playing basketball! The game that I love the most!

I was born in a small city in Nepal called Hetauda but I was raised in the capital Kathmandu. My forefathers were from Tankeshwor, Kathmandu. I am from a Newar family and we have a saying in our country. "Baun bigrancha moj le, Newar bigrancha voj le!" Baun is a type of caste, a group of people, who has higher values in the community, and who has the main role of praying and giving offerings to god for the community. Newar are another group of people who have lots of difference than the Baun with ordinary and way of living and have different values and customs as do the other different castes. The proverb can be translated as Baun enjoys a lot and get their life wasted in enjoyment while Newar enjoys life partying a lot, having lots of feasts and get their life wasted in enjoyment. Sounds funny but it is so very true in case of Newars.

When the season of our festival come we have feasts like everyday. I think we have one month or so in a year where we don't feast everyday. Rest of the months, we have it like once a week for at least. With the seasonal fruits and foods available, we have lots of festivals organized and have a great feasts were all of the relatives are invited and a grand party is organized. The main item of the feast will be a buffalo, meaning one buffalo can be served in so many ways that even I get confused with the varieties of foods provided to us and the name of the foods are so numerous. You have to be here to have the taste of the food we have. I had written a post couple of months ago about the Newari foods as well and once again I again stress that ordinary people wont be able to digest our regular food. We have a lot of spicy and chili foods with a whole varieties of foods. Some might find it weird for having a lot of festivals and wasting money in it but I don't know may be it is because I am a Newar too that I find it too fascinating and full of enjoyment to be a part in the festivals we have. I really am proud to be called as a Newar with all the fun I am having. :)

The world is changing with all the latest technologies available and people are getting lazier day by day. Even in poor countries like Nepal, we have lots of new gadgets available if you got the money. As everybody is aware of with time the electronic gadgets' price decrease and even the middle class people can afford it with the time.

I believe in quality of work than the quantity, and I believe that time is money. May be that is the reason why I left my job couple of months ago. I think we should be comfortable with the work we do. I just felt that the job I did had nothing to do with me being there in that official environment. I felt as I can do the same work at home with much efficiency because I had all the necessary tools with me available at home. With all the latest technology and cheap instruments I fixed and updated my computer and now I have a newer and latest version of personal computer lying over my table. So with the help of it, I am being able to generate money through the world of internet, another cyber world where we can surf, enjoy, do business, and be in the world of happiness with not so much to pay but to earn a whole lot of information and money if you know the way. So the basic need of the people is changing day by day and I am sure in the future, latest technologies will definitely change the way living style of the general people as well.

Bhoto Jatra consists of two words, bhoto (means a vest studded with jewels) and jatra (means festival). As a custom, the king is invited to the placed called Jawalakhel in Kathmandu, Nepal and the bhoto (vest) is shown to the king on the particular day. The bhoto is shonw from the chariot of Lord Machhindranath that arrives at Jawalakhel after a long process of the journey to the different streets of Lalitpur. The day of the bhoto jatra is the last stop for the chariot.

So this year it was on Sunday, July 8th, 2007. The bhoto was to be shown on 5 p.m. NST. But one unusual tradition was practiced this year. The prime minister attended the festival in place of the king. Lots of the functions where our king is supposed to attend has been attended by the prime minister this year. This happened since the republic democracy (loktantra) came to our country. Since the monarchy has been changed to republic democracy, all the functions where our king used to attend has been attended by our prime minister since he has now been the leader of our nation. I didn't go to see the festival in person but I heard if from the news in television about our prime minister attending our cultural function that day. Lots of tradition has been broken since we had republic democracy. Well before the Shah dynasty, Malla dynasty used to rule Kathmandu, Lalitpur, and Bhaktapur, and in Bhoto Jatra only Malla kings were supposed to attend and see the showing of the bhoto. Well that tradition was broken by Shah dynasty kings when they conquered Kathmandu. So I guess tradition are meant to be broken if it is for the benefits of the public. I hope and pray the future traditions will bring lots of peace and prosperity in the nation.

So on this Bhoto Jatra, our prime minister attended the festival and watched the bhoto and as usual Kumari made the second appearance and witnessed the Bhoto Jatra. So from that day forth, the festival is over and the idols were taken back to their respective resting places, namely Machhindranath to Bungamati and Minnath to Patan. The chariots were dismantled and stored for the next year. For more details about Machindranath and Bhoto Jatra go to my old post about Rato Machhindranath – The God of Rain.

Walking alone on the streets of Kathmandu, I see many of the children on the streets. I often think about them; what are they doing in the streets? Hy are they here? What are they going to do in the future? Do they have any future or not? These are the questions that keep my mind busy.

Most of the street children have run away from their villages, because of the physical torture, quest to earn money which drive them to the city and they join the groups. There are few children who are from good family but only for their fun and freedom they join these groups. Most of these kids collect plastics, rags, and sell it and earn for their living.

These kids can adopt every condition. They are waterproof in the rainy season, internally hot enough to face the cold. When the dark and cruel winter night throws millions of knife on them, they don’t freeze to death. Cold doesn’t seem to affect them. There is nothing that they can’t go through. It is said that “Man can fight anything but not the hunger,” but they have developed the special weapon even to fight hunger; Glue Sniffing. Yes, they sniff Dendrite, popular glue to sniff. They sniff it just to kill the pain caused bye starvation. But now they are habitual. Most of them are addicted to it where as there are numbers of the children, who are not addicted, they just imitate others. Almost every child in the street sniffs glue, unaware of the serious damage to their health. Not everybody knows what exactly the glue sniffing is, but they know it’s bad. Here is how I know it, “Inhalation of the fumes from organic solvents of the type found in paints, lighter fuel, and glue, for their hallucinatory effects. As well as being addictive, solvents are dangerous for their effects on the user’s liver, hear, and lungs. It is believed that solvents produce hallucinations by dissolving the cell membrane of brain cells, thus altering the way the cells conduct electrical impulses.”

I asked one of the kids sniffing glue, what is the main purpose of the awful act? I was stunned to hear his answer, he simply replied, “I have seen god. Have you? Each time I sniff glue, I feel god’s looking out for me.”

Fact Sheet on Glue Sniffing Among Street Children in Nepal

• According to CWIN estimation there are 5000 street children in Nepal and around 400 - 600 are based in the Kathmandu Valley.
• CWIN Research on Alcohol and Drug Use among Street Children in Nepal, 2001 has shown that between 25 and 90 per cent of street children use substance of one kind or other.
• Glue sniffing is relatively new trend in Nepal. It is fast becoming an addiction among street children in Kathmandu. The current prevalent of glue sniffing is 51.7% among street children in the Kathmandu Valley. 19.7% have started using glue two years ago, 34.4 % started a year ago and 27.9% started just few months back.
• Glue sniffing is taken as a 'debut' drug by street children. Mostly street children begin drug-taking by glue sniffing and end up on other, more hard-core, drugs.
• Street children, who do not even smoke or drink alcohol often sniff glue.
• In general, the main short-term effects reported by the responding children were hallucinations. Its ill effects have resulted in problematic behavior, self-destruction due to hallucinations and fighting amongst friends.
• The reasons given by the users for sniffing were low self-esteem, an inferiority complex and having enough pocket money to buy this substance.
• Children also use glue because it is cheap and easily available.
• Most of the harmful effects of Glue Sniffing are found to be related to the brain and the Nervous System. 63.9 % have reported one or other kind of illness as long term effects of glue sniffing.
• Even among non-users almost all the children knew about glue sniffing. In the group of non-users a majority (85%) have seen their friends sniffing glue.
• Glue sniffing can be termed as 'group activity' among street children. 95.1% children use glue with friends. 77% use glue in peer influence and 60.7% children sniff glue daily.

Source: CWIN Survey on Glue Sniffing Among Street Children in the Kathmandu Valley, 2002

Now it is time to think about it and solve it. If this problem is ignored for the time being it can be the huge problem by the couple of years and the future of those thousands of children will be in jeopardy.

This isn’t a problem that cannot be solved. This is solved, if we all try in the joint effort. These kids can be driven back to the right path by educating them, teaching them some valuable skills to secure their future. So they can return back to the society. If they are assured that they are not outcast of the society, rather the part of society, they too have a golden future ahead They will respect that value and one day they can live a reputable life. And in future they will contribute the society with their food service in return and be a proud citizen of Nepal.

This article is written by my friend Bimlendra Khadgi, who is a student of College of Journalism and Mass Communication. He has given all the rights to me to publish it in this site.

Recently I have found out that lots of people don't even know the fact that the flying ants does exist. So I thought of writing my own experience with some shots I found in internet about the black flying ants. This post is especially dedicated to one of my friends, Jenisha, who too thinks that flying ants doesn't exist.

Since my childhood, I have been attracted by the insects. Some might find crawling spiders too disgusting and weird but I find them to be a gentle animal with some extraordinary quality like metabolism control and their web made of silk which when combined can be used as a bullet-proof vest. Similarly, ants had made me so curious to know the fact like where they live, where they take the foods they carry, etc. Some might call it a sin, but I really have killed a lot of ants in my life while i was a child. I just cannot bare it when the little red ants crawl into my bread or in any other foods I have. So I have burnt so many of those poor ants. The other ants I killed were black running or marching ants. In that black ants group, I had found so many of ants with wings. So I had asked my parents and they had told me that ants grow wings when they are about to die. In several Bollywood movies too there is one dialog that says, "When ant's death comes, they bear their wings." I don't know how much truth does this comment has since I haven't seen them die with wings unless I kill them myself.

My bad experience with the black ants has been this month of June. I have been working with my posts all night and when my lights are on, lots of bugs get attracted towards it. I don't mind them crawling and gathering around my lights unless they bite me or give a foul smell. It was okay until the black ants began to spread throughout my room. At first I thought since they are dying (having wings and all), I won't do anything and let them fly back. Soon after, they began reaching to my body and instantly some of the bit me. The bite was so much painful. I think their bite is like a pinch from nails, difference being a big rash and a tear in your skin. It is so much painful.

I have been telling my experience to my friends about ants and I found out that lots of them even don't know that the flying ants even exists. They thought I might be confused with some different insects. May be they thought it was a termite or some other insects, but I am dead sure about it being an ant as I have seen it from my childhood. So I went through Internet to find some pictures of them in some sites and they do say there are black flying ants and some of them are carpenter ants, but these carpenter ants are too big.

Okay. I guess lot of my friends will get my story and reality and the fact that the flying ant does exist. Those night-flying black ants. So be aware of those fliers my friends because they might look sweet but their bite will make you hate them. Trust me!

Lately lots of rumors have been going on about the earthquake coming in Nepal. I don't know the exact details of who exactly was the tantric but he has frightened everybody in Nepal. The strange thing is I got to hear all about this from a friend who is working in Dubai right now. The rumor has reached overseas and I didn't know about that. When I consulted with my friends, they all had heard it too. One of my friends said, "One of the trantrc named Trishul Baba has declared that a big earthquake will epi center in Nepal, mainly Kathmandu, and everybody will die with it. The effects will be mainly in Nepal and the parts of India and China too."

Yeah, it is so stupid remarks. Lots of people around India and Nepal believe in these superstitious belief about tantra and mantra. Well I am not against them, sometimes even I have second thoughts, but I think this is a big claim. Lots of people are frightened about this remark. It was even in news about people fearing and trying to arrange and be prepared for that earthquake which might never come. I was watching NTV (Nepal Television) today, and there was a program that described about how earthquakes occur and that no science can ever predict any earthquake till date. The program consisted about some children in school at Makawanpur district who performed an act about what shall they do if sudden earthquake strikes while they are in school. Everybody in that school was involved in that act. Everybody had something to do and all of them had certain jobs to do. Most of them acted as the victim. The act showed how the children learned about the safety measures against the earthquake. There is the fact that most of the children would die in their school if the earthquake strikes at the daytime. So every school must teach their school and show them the demonstration like they did about the safety precautions and measures to be taken under those emergency circumstances.

Well I don't think that any earthquake will come this month and I don't know why that trantric claimed about the earthquake. Mostly tantrics calculate studying the movement of all the planets and they take out the solution where it is determined the future of any person or any incidents that might occur. I myself have seen lots of things which they predict and come true. For instance, I have seen the rain under the exact time that my father predicted with all his calculations. He is not a big and named tantric but he does know some tantric things, but in this case of earthquake, even he has second thoughts and he claims no earthquake shall come that would kill us all. He thinks may be if that tantric is right, a small earthquake might come but nothing as disastrous as that tantric claims will ever occur this month. The date that the tantric declared the disastrous earthquake will strike is from today June 21, 2007 till July 4th, 2007 or so. Lets hope and pray that whoever that tantric is that his predictions come wrong this time, and I am quite sure it will.

Nine-story Palace has been a part of the museum of Hanuman Dhokha at Basantapur. Anyone (both local people and tourists) can easily enter that museum with a certain payment to be made outside the gate named as Hanuman Dhokha. Inside the museum are various kinds of old valuable specimens from the ancient period. Mostly there are things owned by our ancient kings of Shah dynasty. Lots of spectacular specimens are there and most of them are the ancient coins, lots of hand made guns and other weapons used in war, and the most attractive part of the museum is the nine-story palace which is the final destination of the museum. After that part the tour ends. The view from that nine-story building is so spectacular. The top of the story has four windows which has kind of dangerous inclination of nearly 45 degree or so. I myself had some creeps when I leaned on those windows to enjoy the beautiful view of New Road, Basantapur platform, and other two sides of the Hanuman Dhokha Durbar Square areas.

Today, I was watching NTV News today, and then certainly I saw the news about a woman and a little girl’s death from the same monumental nine-story palace at Basantapur. The news reader said,

“A 27-year-old woman, along with her two-year-old daughter, committed suicide Tuesday morning at Durbar Square, Kathmandu. According to the police, the woman, who has yet not been identified, leapt off the top floor of Basantapur's historic nine-storied palace along with her daughter. According to Janasewa Police inspector Uma Chturvedi, both the mother and the daughter died on the spot. The woman, who possesses Aryan features, is still to be identified. Her body has been kept in the capital’s Bir Hospital.”

So it is yet a mystery if it is a suicide attempt or not. So far the police has been claiming it as suicide attempt. May be they will be able go thorough the actual details of how this death was occurred. More news yet to come with the proof and the autopsy report.

I was watching Nepal Television today. There was a program which showed the entire history of plastics and its uses in our daily lives. I now know the importance of the plastics and how it is important in our daily lives. Like all of the others I too thought plastics are polluting Kathmandu city but I knew that plastic alone was not the reason.

After watching today's program I came to know that plastics really are not the reason for our pollution. The main problem is proper management of our daily wastage and dumping site management. Since our country is developing country, we don't have any proper system of managing the recycled waste and other wastes. All of the wastages are mixed up in our places. So people just put their wastes in the polythene plastic bags and throw them everywhere on the road. So the wastage inside the plastic bag gets decomposed and then gives out the smell whereas the plastic bag never gets decomposed and the person on the television said that plastic bag never never creates pollution unless it is burned but yes it can create a problem of littering. That was so true.

If only we had this proper management of dumping of wastage and if only we could separate our recycled and nonrecycled wastages, there wouldn't be this problem of littering and may be the pollution can be controlled to some extent. Well lots of issues are there with our dumping sites and other managements of dumping the wastages but the main thing in today's program was plastics being an important part of our life and not creating pollution but creating littering problem to some extent due to the lack of that management system.

Lots of my friends like the idea of the calendar in a single table, and one of my friends, Anmol, especially requested me to design a Nepali Calendar few days back. He even commented in one of my blog post here. So here you go Mr. Anmol Maharajan, a total Nepali Whole Year Calendar in a single table for you, which you can carry on in your pocket or you wallet and whenever you want to know any Nepali date, you can just take it out and see what date it is and you will know what we are celebrating over here. I have collected the public holidays as well which is stated below.