You are Safer in a Tempo. In an average day in Kathmandu Valley, there are eight traffic accidents. According to police data, there were 241 traffic accidents in the last month, 13 of them fatal, 28 involving serious injury, and five of dismemberment. Automobiles were the leading cause of accident, with motorcycles second, and tempos trailing with only two recorded accidents. (Kathmandu Post, June 21)
Drinking Water Shortage Looms. Summer weather has arrived and Kathmandu is facing a drinking water shortage. The Valley's normal consumption is 130 million litrs of water daily, but only 60 million litres will be available. And much of this water may be polluted. Analysts have warned that "51 percent bacteria are found in the drinking water." With increasing urbanization, the demand for water has been growing at a rate of about six million litres a year. "There is no sign of improvement in the drinking water," says an engineer in the Drinking Water Department. "Nobody has seriously thought about it." (Kathmandu Post, April 17)
Highway Building Demolition "Hurts Feelings" In mid-May, the Ministry of Works and Transport brought out its bull-dozers to make good on earlier threats to demolish all unauthorized structures within a 25-meter (82 feet) belt in the Maitighar-Sallaghari portion of the Arniko highway. Two gas stations and both gates of the Everest Hotel came down (the fate of its swimming pool, which is also in violation, is being discussed), as well as property belonging to the Department of Civil Aviation, the Everest Bank Ltd., the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority, and private owners. By the time the wrecking crews had finished their work and were gearing up for an assault on Ring Road, two gas stations, 382 houses, and many sheds and walls had been destroyed. Most building owners had followed the government's advice to remove their structures voluntarily in advance of the bull-dozers. Others threw bricks. All who had lost their property would agree with a spokesman for the Rastriya Prajantantra Party that "this action has hurt the feelings of the people." (Kathmandu Post, May 19, 20, 21, June 10)
Prostitution Increasing. Although there is no specific regulation against "sex workers" in Kathmandu, police are interested in learning all they can about the profession, which is on the increase. They have been rounding up prostitutes for documentation purposes, then turning them over to organizations dedicated to their rehabilitation. Among their findings: most sex workers would prefer to be doing something else but have taken up the trade because they were abandoned by their spouses; many have children to support. Very few have any knowledge of sexually- transmitted diseases. At rates that range from 100 to 600 rupees (around US $1.80 to $11), their average income of Rs 200 to 900 (approximately US $3.60 to $15) is far higher than the national average. Some set up their business in the streets, others work in hotels and lodges, and a few work at "high level" with richer people. Superintendent Basanta Raj Kuwar, who coordinates the program, calls attention to the fact that customers, pimps and hotels are equally at fault in this problem. He wonders also why so much attention is given to Nepalese girls stranded in India and none to the women "in our own neighborhoods." (Kathmandu Post, May 19)
No Last Rites Unless Bagmati Cleaned Up. Fifty residents have made a joint declaration expressing their wish that their last rites not be performed on the Bagmati River as long as nothing is done about pollution. They object to the digging of sand out of the river, the flow of sewage, and the dumping of unprocessed chemical wastes, and urge the government to put existing recycling plants into operation and restore temples and monasteries on the river bank. (Rising Nepal, May 20)
Grass Restores Memory. The first wife of Megh Nath Sapkota of Kapilvastu in the Terai died some years ago, leaving two children, a son and a daughter. Their father abandoned them and they soon disappeared. But the son, who has been in India and is now 21, recently returned to his village. He needed his father's signature on an application for citizenship. "I have no son," said the father, prompted by his second wife, "and I did not have another wife." The people of his community, who knew better and were outraged by the lie, have their ways of dealing with this sort of thing. They dragged Megh Nath to the police station and made him eat grass. Whether it was this or the threat of 10 years in jail that made him change his mind, he finally acknowledged his son and, with the permission of his second wife, consented to sign the document. (Kathmandu Post, May 28)
Wanted a Jollier Wedding. Kala Bhattarai of Pakwadi in the central Nepal district of Syangja wanted to be married, like her two other sisters, from her own home "with a musical band and jubilation." Instead, her parents saved money by having her married in a simple ceremony in a pilgrim temple. After the marriage, she came to her parents' home and angrily denounced them for their stinginess. It was better to die, she said, than to live after such treatment. Five days later, her body was found at the confluence of two local rivers. In a suicide note, she counseled her husband to marry a genteel and disciplined girl with wealth, and urged her parents to marry her younger sister off from their home in the proper way. (The Nepal Digest, July 16)
Too Much for Both of Them. Although Laxmi Gautam's marriage had been fixed, she chose at the last minute to marry her lover instead. But her new mother-in-law, upset because she did not bring a dowry soon after the marriage, subjected her to constant abuse. Laxmi's body was found hanging from a banyan tree with a note explaining that she was taking her life because her husband could not shield her from her mother-in-law's harassment. The husband has disappeared. (Kathmandu Post, June 6)
Revenge for Tomato Attack. After an all-night marriage ritual, the bride's party started throwing tomatoes at the bridegroom's party. The groom, Prakorh Gupta of Bhairahawa, was so upset that he has cancelled the marriage and is getting his revenge by marrying someone else. (Kathmandu Post, June 7)
Making Marriage Pay. Sher Bahadur Biswokarma's first marriage ended when he sold his wife at a brothel in Bombay. His second wife, Gita Giri, whom he married about a year later, lived with him for "a couple of days" at his home in Dhangadi in the west border district of Dang. Then they went on honeymoon. After a long train trip, Gita noticed that the sign in the station where they stopped said "Bombay." Shortly afterwards, she too had been sold to a brothel owner and Sher Bahadur was returning to Dhangadi, 12,000 Indian rupees (some US $350) richer. Gita, however, escaped before she was taken to the "working place" and managed to find her way back to Nepal. There she encountered Sher Bahadur at a bus stop. She was able to attract the police, who came and arrested him before he had a chance to spend the money or find a third wife. (Kathmandu Post, April 21)
Black Panther Succumbs After Beating. No-one had ever seen a black panther before in the the village of Okharpauwa in Nuwakot district just north of Kathmandu Valley, and no-one apparently wanted to see one. It was not until villagers had beaten one senseless that a district official recognized it as one of the rarest examples of the cat family and rescued it from the villagers just as they were on the verge of killing it. He took it, unconscious and bleeding, to Kathmandu, hoping "at least for a warm reception from the concerned authorities." Yet the Department of Wildlife and the Central Zoo had were not interested. The cat's rescuer and his journalist friends gave up hope for it. Then Prem Sunder Shrestha, a veterinarian with a private clinic at Dillibazaar, offered his services. After sitting up all night with the panther, administering drugs and changing dressings, the latter showed miraculous recovery. By morning, it appeared that the roaring animal might break out of the temporary wooden cage Shrestha had built for it, and representatives of a now-interested Central Zoo came to take it under their care. Unfortunately, it did not survive long after that. (Kathmandu Post, May 28, June 5)
No School for This Leopard. No-one will ever know whether it was learning that this leopard was looking for or merely dinner. When he entered a primary school in the west central district of Rolpa, the local villagers killed him. Two persons were injured in the encounter. (Kathmandu Post, June 6)
Fake Police Apprehended. Navaraj Prasad Baskota, a faithful employee of the gold dealer Subhas Agrawal, regularly transported gold for his boss by wrapping it securely in a waist band. Some months ago, he was sent on his way with a large quantity of gold, but found that his bus would not leave for another hour. He decided to relax with a baked corn on the cob, but as he sat down to eat it, a taxi came to a screeching halt in front of him. Two policemen jumped out and shouted, "this is the smuggler we've been looking for!" They threw him in the taxi, confiscated the gold, and told him they were heading for the police station. He begged them to let him make a phone call to his employer to straighten the matter out. They did let him out of the car to phone, but then quickly drove away with the gold. He realized that his abductors were not real policemen and that he had been taken. But this story has a happy ending. Police became suspicious when Basant Baral made repeated visits to the central police station to ask how the stolen gold investigation was going. They raided his room in Chabahil and found a new TV and VCR, as well as jewelry and documents that gave him newly acquired title to land. Upon further and more forceful questioning, he revealed the identities of his six accomplices in the robbery. The gold and the goods it had bought have been recovered and the fake policemen are in jail. (Kathmandu Post, June 3)
An Expensive Smoke. A group of enterprising students at Bhanubhakta Memorial School in Kathmandu managed to squeeze Rs 30,000 (about US $550) in blackmail money out of a fellow student who had been photographed smoking a cigarette. The victim stole the money from his two rich uncles to keep his classmates quiet. When the uncles discovered what was going on, they got all parties together and established an "understanding." (Himalaya Times in Spotlight, July 5)
Police Puzzled by Apparent Suicide. "It appeared," says the news report, that Parbati Shrestha, 20, of Kathmandu, "had committed suicide by hanging herself," yet police believe "that anyone committing suicide would lock himself/herself from the inside and not from outside." Parbati's body was found, several days after death, hanging in a room locked from the outside with all windows tightly shut and bolted. Police had earlier been called to the house to intervene when "ugly discussions" between Parbati and her husband had gotten out of hand. The husband has been away for three or four days. (Kathmandu Post, June 14)
Frooti Produces Booty. Rajendra Shrestha and Bir Bahadur Khadka Kshetri were on their way to Kathmandu when their bus stopped at a small community where the latter said his sister was getting married. They got off the bus and headed for the family home, but on the way stopped at a secluded spot where Khadka offered his friend a drink of Frooti. Shrestha drank the Frooti and fell unconscious. Khadka took his wallet with 7,000 rupees (about US $125), a watch and a pair of leather sandals, then disappeared, leaving only his shoes behind. It turns out that no member of his family lives in this community. (Kathmandu Post, May 28)
Headless Attacker. Bishal Tamang, 23, of Banjihakhet in the central district of Lamjung, was returning home at 3 am after attending a marriage party and watching a rateuli program in a neighboring village. As he neared his own village, he was attacked by what looked like a man without a head. The apparition delivered blows that made him feel "such a pain as if he was hit with an iron hand," yet when he hit back, he felt as if he were hitting on a bundle of soft cotton. The headless attacker seized his flashlight and threw it on the ground, then pursued him some distance before disappearing into the darkness. Bishna fell ill immediately after arriving home. His wife took him to the district hospital but he became angry because the doctor "did not behave well," and returned home. There he was worked on by traditional healers but his condition worsened by the day, and soon he died. (Kathmandu Post, May 29)
Teachers Attack Blind Students with Sticks. Teachers and employees of a school for the blind in Dharan in southeastern Nepal responded to a protest on the part of their blind students by taking away their sticks and beating them with them. The students were upset by what they regarded as corruption at the school and the lack of proper food and medicines. It was only after they were able to lodge a complaint with the police that school authorities gave medical treatment to the students who had been injured. According to a teacher who had earlier been expelled, "there is a big corruption going on in the school." (Kathmandu Post, June 25)
Possible Simikot-Yari Road. An increase in the number of persons wanting to visit Mt. Kailas in Tibet, just northwest of the Nepalese border, has inspired talks between the governments of both countries about the possibility of building a road between Simikot, where there is an airfield, and Yari, close to the border. (Rising Nepal, May 24)
Ain't Nothin' but a Hound Dog. When the mother of the infant son of Bate Karki of Haipung in Bagmati district died, the family dog took over nursing duties. For five years, she fed him her milk. Now 12 years old, the child speaks both like a man and a dog and often startles his companions by behaving just like a dog. "Rather than staying at home," it is reported, "the boy likes to roam about as do dogs in general." (Kathmandu Post, May 30)
Just Ask Them About It in Remote Nepalese Villages. The following item, under the headline, "ANOTHER FLASH FROM OUR NEPAL BUREAU!," in The Oregonian, June 28, is reprinted in its entirety: "In remote Nepalese villages, the most popular name for newborn boys is Eddie Fisher. Yes, the crooner and ex-husband of Liz Taylor is still a superstar there.
Too Much Rain. Monsoon rains in July have taken the lives of 23 people and damaged property and crops worth many thousands of rupees. Worst hit have been the Terai districts of Morang, Jhapa, Rupandehi, and Kailali. (The Independent, July 17)
Elephant Comings and Goings. If you are an elephant, you can probably go anywhere you want to without a visa. Yet the Indian government seems to feel that the 12 Nepalese elephants who recently entered its territory are unauthorized, and have reportedly raised electric lines at the border to discourage further elephant entry. The traffic goes both ways, however. In another part of Nepal, four wild elephants crossed the border from India and proceeded to destroy houses and property worth Rs 11,000 (about US $200). Local police and forest guards fired 15 rounds in the air to drive them away. (Kantipur, Himalaya Times in Spotlight, July 19)
MP Drops Off Bridge. Not only sureness of foot but a certain degree of faith are needed for crossing many suspension bridges in Nepal. Siddhi Lal Sing, a UML member of parliament, was lacking one or the other or both. He was on his way to a meeting with the party's general secretary when he dropped off a hanging bridge at Koteswar in Kathmandu. He sustained minor injuries, and was rescued by local people. (Aajko Samacharpatra in Spotlight, July 19)
Expensive Trip. Not everyone who attended the Olympic Games in Atlanta had $18,750 to spend each day on incidental expenses or $10,000 for telephone calls, but not everyone is a crown prince. Prince Dipendra's 15-day visit to the Games, with a side trip to New York, cost the Nepalese government Rs 8.3 million (about US $149,000). The amount provided for the Prince and four members of his staff, and included such items as air transportation at $5,520 per person (coach fare for ordinary people is $1,500 or less) and formal dinner and reception expense at $7,500. (Nawa Awaz, July 14, excerpted from The Nepal Digest Fortean Times and Universal Press Syndicate)