Frenchman glides in air

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BHAKTAPUR, Gundu, Oct 30 - A French national glided in the air for about 20 minutes the other day with the help of a para-glider.

Nicole Didier, 45, landed some two kilometres down from the peak of the hill, after the historic gliding - jointly organised by Mt Pumori Adventure Treks and Expeditions, Nepal and Reunion Parapente, France.

Organisers said the gliding was organised to promote paragliding, an adventurous tourism sport in Nepal.

According to Purushottam Shakya, air traffic controller at Civil Aviation Authority, this was the first time that the authority has sanctioned paragliding in the valley. The other popular spot for this sport is in Pokhara which the authority has already sanctioned.

One of the members of the gliding team, Rodien Pascal, said  Nepal was one of the most appropriate places for paragliding in the world.

Professional gliders say that wind flow should be smooth for gliding and the person who is gliding should be of significant weight.

Ban on late night
Deusi results in tension

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JIRI, Oct 30 - The decision to ban deusi and bhailo at night on the occasion of Tihar festival resulted in slogan-shouting during this year's Tihar festival.

Tension prevailed when local youths took out a rally on the day of Laxmi Puja to the Area Police Office to express their anger against the ban.

One could see throngs of youths playing deusi and bhailo here in the past, but this time the whole of Jiri looked deserted on the night of Laxmi Puja.

Following the decision to ban deusi and bhailo, the police were on patrol duty, but when they were themselves drunk and arrested two people walking on the street, the rally was organised in protest against the police action, Hemant Kumar Pradhan, President of Jiri Sports Association told The Kathmandu Post.

Since it is one of the Maoist-affected areas police have banned people from walking at night.

People taking part in the rally used obscene words against the police, the VDC office, Chamber of Commerce and their office-bearers who were responsible for the ban.

They had decided that nobody would be allowed to play deusi and bhailo after 10 p.m. and should not give more than Rs 51 as the maximum amount of donation to the deusi  and bhailo groups.

Some youths complained that this decision of the so-called authorities may be responsible for the disappearance of this traditional festival.

On the other hand, VDC Chairman Nurbu Sherpa says the decision was taken in view of the fact that the youths harassed people all through the night in the name of deusi, both boys and girls  moved in the same group and they bargained for money to be donated to them by the households. He said the decision was aimed at removing these bad practices.

READ sets up libraries

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KATHMANDU, Oct 30 -  Rana regime did not allow any libraries in the country. They knew the literacy generated through a library would produce enough poison to exterminate their regime.  

"In the same way, literacy is the Daal-Bhaat for Democracy," Dr Antonia Neubauer, an American educator told The Kathmandu Post here Monday. "Democracy will just starve without literacy. This needs to be understood."

Dr Neubauer is involved in the empowerment of the Nepalis through the establishment of libraries in various nooks and corners of rural Nepal through Rural Education and Development (READ), a non-profit making NGO.   The American educator came to the country as a trekker but just "fell in love with her."

Unlike sponsoring scholarship for a few or schools for a few more, if you open one library, it helps thousands of people by empowering them with literacy, she said adding "Library is indeed the means for maximum utilization of resources."

READ has already established 17 libraries with some 30,000 books across the country, through funds raised from various sources and also from collaboration with other I(NGO)s.  It also collaborates with Kathmandu University to train the librarians, she said.

"We, however, don't go to   villagers to persuade them to open a library in their village, they have to approach us with their proposal. After all, they should take the initiative for their own good," she said.

 Asked to comment on what measures have been adopted to sustain the libraries, she said the villagers interested in establishing a library in their village should also produce a proposal of a commercial project aimed at sustaining the proposed library. "We donors are like doctors who help the parents to give birth to the baby (the project). But the villagers are the parents who have to bring up the baby," she said.