Hong Kong

Hong Kong, a set on Flickr.

DPM prays for quake in Europe, US, not Nepal

Aftermath 'Nepalese style' by the Deputy Prime Minister. Article from yesterday's Kathmandu Post:


"While Nepali lawmakers on Tuesday urged the government to raise the level of preparedness for future earthquakes, acting Prime Minister and Home Minister Bijay Kumar Gachchhadar offered a lame-duck response.

Speaking in a meeting of the parliament’s State Affairs Committee (SAC), Gachchhadar, also the Deputy Prime Minister, said, "Even great warriors are terrified of natural calamities. Maoist leaders, the prime minister and the home minister, we all were scared when we felt the quake in the parliament building, but we didn’t run out as we were ashamed (to do so)."

The SAC meeting came two days after an earthquake measuring 6.8 on the Richter scale shook Nepal on Sunday evening.

He admitted to Nepal’s low preparedness level, but defended the government. He said even powerful countries like the US, India and China don’t have control over earthquakes.

The acting PM of the country took an extremely fatalistic view of earthquakes.

"We have already become an earthquake zone. So let us pray to the Pashupatinath that it takes place in America and Europe, not here," said Gachchhadar, who in the capacity of the home minister heads the Central Natural Disaster Relief Committee.

The SAC discussed the ongoing rescue and rehabilitation efforts and the government’s strategy to control natural calamities and carry out rescue operations during its three-hour-long meeting at Singha Durbar."

(Source: Kathmandu Post, Thursday 22nd September 2011)

6.8 quake hits Nepal

An earthquake measuring 6.8 on the Richter scale has struck Nepal on Sunday evening at 18:25 (local time). This was the strongest quake to hit the country in 78 years. The epicentre was between Taplejung, eastern Nepal, and the Indian state of Sikkim. (Source: The Kathmandu Post, Monday 19th September 2011)

Sunday's earthquake was the strongest to hit the country since 1934. However, the damage and casualties the country witnessed were exceptionally low. [...] One of the reasons for the low impact in Kathmandu was the distance from the epicentre. (Source: The Kathmandu Post, Monday 19th September 2011)

[...]disaster preparedness and response - largely ignored over the years - has suddenly become a hotly discussed topic. As Nepal lies on a high-risk seismic zone, the country, especially Kathmandu, is ranked among 20 cities most vulnerable to quakes. (Source: ibid.)

Power Off

Each day the electricity supply is stopped for several hours by the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA). The so called load-shedding, or rolling blackout, is a planned power outage which is required due to insufficient electricity generation capacity. Nepal's electricity generation is dominated by hydropower. Depending on the level of water in rivers load-shedding can be up to 16 hours per day in the dry months.

A new load-shedding schedule is effective from 2068-05-29 (based on Nepali calendar), restricting power for 2-3 hours per day in Kathmandu. The schedule ensures that consumers know in advance about outages and electricity is equally restricted in all regions. Further, the hours in which the consumer do not receive electricity are rotated. The schedule, which NEA publishes regularly, has become a must have document these days and, although cynical, is popular in every household.

Limited electricity means that refrigeration, especially during the warm summer months, can be problematic. Most households shop for food several times per week, and when purchased, meat is generally cooked and consumed immediately.

In their 2011 Annual Report the NEA's MD says, "Year 2010/11 is marked as yet another year of exponential challenge towards meeting the growing demand for electricity. Our efforts could not produce tangible outcomes as expected due to existing undulations in the power sector but our initiatives and efforts to resolve the prevailing problems indicate a hopeful future."

Oh well, why worry, if you are part of the "half of the population [which] is still deprived from use of electricity" (source: NEA)?

The Royal Kumari

The Royal Kumari, a prepubescent girl selected from the Shakya clan of the Nepalese Newari community, is the name of the living goddess in Kathmandu. The Kumari is worshipped by some of the country's Hindus as well as the Nepali Buddhists. Kumari literally means virgin in Nepali and is a name of the goddess Taleju (the Nepalese name for Durga) as a child. She lives in the Kumari Ghar, a palace on Kathmandu Durbar Square. A Kumari is believed to be the bodily incarnation of the goddess Taleju until she menstruates, after which it is believed that the goddess vacates her body.

The selection process is rigorous. Eligible are girls from the Shakya clan, the caste of silver and goldsmiths, who meet the basic requirements (among others: good health, never shed blood, no blemish, never lost a tooth). Girls who meet these requirements are examined by the priests for the 32 'attributes of perfection', including - poetically described - a body like a banyan tree, eyelashes like a cow, a chest like a lion and a voice soft and clear as a duck's. Additional examination, e.g. a matching horoscope to the king's, will follow before the greatest test where the candidate proves that she possesses the required qualities to be a Kumari. On the 'kalratri' (black night), during the Hindu festival of Dashain, the candidate is taken to the Taleju temple where 108 sacrificed buffalo and goat heads are illuminated by candlelight and masked men are dancing around. If she shows no sign of fear spending the night in the temple, the final test is to identify the belongings of the previous Kumari from things laid out before her.

Each year the Nepalese King seeks the blessing of the Royal Kumari at the festival of Indra Jatra. Indra Jatra is a holiday related to Hindu god king of heaven, Indra. During the festival the Kumari leaves the seclusion of her temple in a palanquin and leads a procession through the streets of Kathmandu. This tradition has changed recently with the country becoming a republic. From 2008 the president of Nepal sought Kumari's blessing instead.

This year, the ceremony took place in the afternoon of Sunday 11th September. Both Nepal's president, Dr Ram Baran Yadav, and the (new) prime minister, Dr Baburam Bhattarai, followed the procession from the balcony of the old Royal Palace. The crowds, separated in tourists and Nepalese, screamed twice during the one hour event on Kathmandu Durbar Square. First, when the Kumari was carried in her palanquin on the square and, second, when the Nepal-assembled Golchha Mustang SUV (see earlier post) stopped in front of the palace.

The tradition, an elementary part of Nepalese culture, has been strongly criticized and reform has been requested over the last decade. While some reforms have been implemented, e.g. education for the Kumari, apparently in 2007 the Nepalese Supreme Court had ordered an enquiry into human rights violations. A report seems still waiting to be delivered.

Guangxi

Guangxi, a set on Flickr.

Namaste! - Nepali language class (Part 1)

Tapaai:ko naam ke ho?
Mero naam Hari ho. (For the duration of this trip to Nepal my name has changed from Hardy to Hari.)
Mero deshko naam Germany ho.

Our intensive (6 day per week) Nepali language class has commenced on Monday this week. Comfortably seated in the garden of our guesthouse the learnings of the first two days can be summarized as follows:

• Words: ~150
• Major concepts: pronunciation, pronouns, sentence structure, numbers 1-10, possessive pronouns and commands

Through homework we got to know most family members and friends of most of the guesthouse staff members (Subash, Ganesh, Sunsa and Bhupen) and our fellow students have been sent around in the garden practicing 'commands'. 

Most practically in many cases it is possible to slip in the English word if one does not know (yet) the Nepali vocable. The grammar seems to be quite regular although 'to be' (hunu) is highly irregular with two forms (ho/chha) depending on the context and a positive (e.g. I am) and negative (I am not) form. 

Let's see the coming lessons...

Nepal business and technology update

In one sentence:

• The fastest speed for broadband internet offered by Nepal Telecom at the moment is 256k.
• PM Bhattarai praised by media for choosing Nepal-assembled SUV 'Golchha Mustang'. (For details see BBC news.)
• Mobile payment is accepted in a shoe shop on Durbar Marg, Kathmandu's fanciest street.
• One minute talk time on Ncell's network, Nepal's first private sector mobile provider, to another Ncell mobile is 1.99 Rs. (~€0.02).  
• Currently a service charge of 10% and VAT of 13% is added to all restaurant bills.
• Nepal steps five ranks up to 125th in Global Competitiveness Index out of 142nd countries in 2011/12, according to Nepalnews.com. - If you continue on reading it says: Nepal is ranked at 141st in infrastructure, standing last at 142nd on quality electricity supply this year as well.