चाेखाे माया डट कम: जन्मभूमि नेपाल र नेपालीहरूमा समर्पित

No, yours truly doesn't want to embark on morning walk daily with some sort of missionary zeal.  Rather, he would do all that walking in his dream to spare himself the trouble.  But some mornings he really finds himself worried about his health.   It was just one of those one-off mornings that gave him the realisation that his body not in the best of shape, that he should do something on the personal health front. It was one of those rare moments when yours truly thought he had had enough of screen time.  Joining the gym and sweating it out was out of the question for a lazybones like yours truly.  So, what option was left save walking with the countryside beckoning as ever?     Not all health experts, I suppose, agree that morning walk is good for health in the bowl-shaped valley (which valley is not  bowl-shaped? you may wonder) where fine particulate matters remain trapped in the atmosphere.  ...

The city skyscape dotted with beautiful clouds, as seen from the flyover near Mahankal Temple, Kathmandu, The Kathmandu skies were a sight to behold, thanks to beautiful clouds, on September 18, 2019.  Looking heavenwards had an obvious advantage too. It meant that yours truly could grow wings and escape from the milling crowd of a metropolis spread too thin in terms of its capacities, the dust, the sweat and the smoke. Till his limbs ached, yours truly, an amateur lensman, followed the skies from the nooks, crannies and squares of the old, nostalgic Kathmandu. Here are the fruits of his labour. Enjoy! The 'kingdom of beautiful clouds', as seen from the concrete junle of Basantapur, Kathmandu.  High heavens as seen from the Shani Mahankal Temple, Kathmandu. It was one of those days when the skies were clear and spectacular.   Garuda (the sunbird), the vehicle of Lord Vishnu, on standby in front of the Vishnu Temple, at Basantapur.   ...

Finally, the President of China, Xi Jinping, is coming to Nepal, putting to rest speculations about the delay in the visit of the globe-trotting leader of the world's second largest economy and a global military heavyweight to a neighbouring country. This delay had been causing certain unease to the two-third majority communist government of Nepal. So, undoubtedly, President Xi's visit will provide some respite to the ruling party that is not in the best of shape. It will be great if Nepal can use this visit to make its tilted diplomatic relations more balanced. Will Nepal be able to use this visit to further national security issues like energy security, trade diversification and population influx? Let yours truly elaborate a bit: Will Nepal be able to start working together with the northern neighbour to somehow lessen the impact of population influx from the extended neighbourhood (and beyond) at constant flux? Who are more capable of answering these difficult...

China's President Xi Jinping is coming to Nepal on a two-day state visit on Saturday (October 12, 2019). On the eve of the visit, yours truly made a round of the beautiful national capital of Nepal, Kathmandu, to see how much more beautiful it had become. Yeah, the city looked pretty clean, the portraits of President Xi and his Nepali counterpart Vidhya Devi Bhandari placed here and there did not look that bad. One thing, though: Rather than on electric poles, those pictures could surely have been placed on some other places.  As yours truly was travelling around the city, a beautification overdrive was in full swing, with planting of saplings, flowers and all. One wonders if any authority will have time to look after these saplings, these flowers after the visit is over. If authorities like the Kathmandu Metropolitan City indeed find time to look after these saplings, they will not have to plant saplings afresh when another dignitary visits Kathmandu.  Will w...

There are things yours truly likes about Dashain aka Vijaya Dashami and there are things he does not like.  Yours truly is acutely aware that his liking or disliking won't make much of a difference, nonetheless he will use this platform to share about the same. So, please bear with me, readers.  First, let me start by dwelling on things that I like about this festival of the Nepali people.  Friends and families People come to Nepal from far and wide to celebrate this great festival with their friends and families. This strengthens our family bonds as new generations come to know about the old ones and vice-versa. And you get one of those rare opportunities from your busy lives to say a quick howdy to your friends and revisit those good old times. Who would want to miss that opportunity?  Festivals like these are necessary to boost the national economy, especially economy of rural areas of Nepal, which see a huge influx of a large number of t...

Sweta Bhairav, Basantapur Behind those glittering lights may have been hidden painful stories of poverty and deprivation. Yes, yours truly is talking about those selling fancy lights in the evening at the tourist destination of historic importance, the  Basantapur Durbar Square, with divine figures like the Bhairavas, Shiva and Parvati, watching over humanity in dire straits quite helplessly. They must be thinking: What is this land of ours coming to? Basantapur durbar square, a UNESCO world heritage site On the surface, those lights surely make the evenings more beautiful. But the lives of those selling the lights may not be that glittering.  Of course, most of those selling these lights are our very own people.   But yours truly has also read that young children from across the southern border also come here during holidays to sell those lights and make some money for their education. Yours truly will try to come up with stories about the...

Feeling gloomy? I do sometimes, so does everyone, I guess. While strolling around the old Kathmandu some days ago, I came across with shops glittering with lights and glittering the neighbourhood of Bhotebahal too (the place is just a stone's throw from Dharahara). There was light everywhere on that piece of Earth. In the high skies and down below.  'Soaked in that divine beauty and decided to capture the whole show. Here are the fruits of my strolling, the fruits of my labour. Wishing you happy Vijaya Dashami, Tihar and Chhath, festivals that help remove dark corners of our hearts by celebrating good things about life.    Enjoy! Text and pictures: Devendra Gautam Legal warning: Any unauthorised use of these pictures will lead to legal action as per national and international copyright laws