Chanawala now, chartered accountant tomorrow

By Tashi Dolma Thinley

KATHMANDU, Oct 18 - With the fall of the dusk, he stops at a convenient corner and prepares delicious hot popcorns and fried grams on his pushcart in the busy lanes of Pyukha tole. A popular chanawala to many in the Pyukha Tole, this simple and sober 23- year-old man is much more than just that.

He could inspire a movie blockbuster; if not that, at least an inspiration to many like him who find it tough to make both ends meet.

He is B.P. Timilsina from Hetauda who lives with his mother in Kathmandu. They make a living out of this, no doubt, but with his meagre income and a difficult life, this person believes in himself and today his dreams and aspirations are slowly taking shape.

Timilsina , besides being a popular Chanawala, is also a student at Minbhawan Campus in Baneshwor doing his second year in Bachelor of Business Studies aspiring to be a Chartered Accountant in a few years.

People who have bought spicy grams from him and the local shopkeepers say that it is difficult to imagine the plight of a person who works till late in the night and attends college early in the morning.

Besides high fees and odd timing of his classes, Timilsina has another problem. He has bought no books. He borrows the books from his friends and takes down notes written by the teachers on the black board. He smiles and says, "It’s not so bad; I have till now managed with others’ books and notes given by teachers".

Shopkeepers around Pyukha Tole like and respect this modest young man and they too pray for his dreams to come true. Mohan Karki, a shopkeeper in the area says, "He has aspired to be a Chartered Accountant for a long time and knowing him for many years, I have realised that today his dreams are not far from reality".

With an income of Rs 200 per day, today he is saving all possible pennies for his further studies. However, Timilsina has no complaints. He says,"I am satisfied with my life and I like what I am doing but I try very hard, of course".

But it is a small wonder that he is feeling a bit skeptical, too. With no scolarships and a field where there is a lot of competition requiring a lot of study time, he contemplates about the hardships facing him. However, he is not discouraged yet. He believes he can do it.

KMC ward profile to be published

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KATHMANDU, Oct 18 - The Kathmandu Valley Mapping Project (KVMP) is publishing a detailed profile of all the 35 wards of Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) soon, an official said today.

"At least 15 persons were directly involved for four or five months in the making of the around 400 page profile, excluding all 35 ward chairmen and four members from each of the wards," he said.

The profile will contain data and tables on population, households, roads, drainage and solid waste management infrastructure for making buildings. Similarly, it will also inform about educational, health and finance institutions.Besides, the profile will also provide space for the information of offices and their areas, industries, shops, service centres, training institutes, entertainment spots, post offices, security posts and parking areas in the metropolis.

"The profile will help the locals as well as others to find out accurate number of monuments, landmark buildings, festivals, public buildings, open space, market areas, NGOs," the official said.

He said it would also contain the major development projects going on in one particular area and bring out the major problems of the wards based on the discussions with the locals.

The data for the profile were made available from the Integrated Action Plan (IAP) programmes that aimed at finding out the local problems and their solutions after discussing with the locals. The IAP programmes that started in August 2000 were held in several places of every ward.

KVMP is a joint effort of the Kathmandu Metropolitan City and the European Commission,which will work till 2003 AD to develop a long-term infrastructure for the Kathmandu Valley’s urban development and to launch various programmes for local development.

Locals,ward office join hands to clean Pashupati area

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KATHMANDU, Oct 18 - People of Pashupati temple area are getting rid of the open drainage soon. The people and the ward office joined hands to make the old residential area clean.

Ward No 8 member Shyam Krishna Sangat said the local people have collected money from their sides to re-build drainage in the Tilganga area near the Tilganga Eye Hospital.

He said, "The people collected Rs 37,000 for the purpose and we brought Rs 20,000 from the Kathmandu Valley Mapping Programme (KVMP)."

Dhanita Sthapit of KVMP said they gave Rs 200,000 to ward office to accomplish the public works on the condition that the locals would provide a fund to match the amount.

"Inviting the locals for construction purposes is to make them feel responsible for the public property and let them generate a sense of ownership," she said.

Similarly, the ward is making a stone-paved steps on the slopes of Itapakha. "A big chariot of Bachhaleshowri is taken down from the slope every year during its festival in February," said Sangat.

And alleys in Nawali Tole and Kada Tole are also being stone-paved at the cost of Rs 280,000 these days.

NTV Unplugged: A class apart

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KATHMANDU, Oct 18 – When the state-owned Nepal Television is facing a tough challenge from private channels, a quality entertainment programme called "NTV Unplugged" has come as a refreshing change.

With the country’s top pop singers rendering their voice without the electrical instrument, NTV Unplugged has managed to grab the attention of music lovers. The programme is aired every Friday after the English news and is produced by the House of Entertainment (P) Ltd.

The programme features one artiste every week who renders five hit songs during the half an hour show. With no electronic gadgets used, the songs sound different in acoustic guitars than their original version. Unplugged versions of the songs are very popular all around the world.

The programme also features famous artistes presenting their creations along with the memories of their past struggle to their present status and provides a chance to relatively new and unknown but promising singers, musicians and musical bands to present their talent to the public.

"We have not compromised on its quality and we are confident that the viewers will like this new concept," says Diwakar Pandey of the House of Entertainment. The organisers have tied up with Saptahik, a weekly tabloid of Kantipur Publications, which will highlight the featured singer as an unplugged artiste of the week.

Pandey also said they are bringing out audiocassettes, CDs and T-shirts of NTV Unplugged, which will soon be available in the market.

Salt inadequate in Jumla

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JUMLA, Oct 18 - Despite the government allocated quota for salt for the current fiscal year, only small quantity of salt has been transported to Jumla district.

According to Muna Datta Budha, Deputy Chief at Salt Trading Corporation (STC) Jumla, the contracting company, Deputy Cargo Service has so far only transported 39.75 quintal of salt of the total amount of 2040 quintal.

"Even at present we will be facing a deficit of 350 quintal of salt if we start distributing a kg of salt to each household", said Budha.

As the festival is approaching the people of Jumla have been forced to buy iodised salt from the market at higher prices.

However according to Chandra Bahadur Karki, Chief of STC at Surkhet, the contractor has already withdrawn 200 quintals of salt from the warehouse to deliver from Surkhet to Jumla.

Mahat terms Maoists as terrorists

NUWAKOT, Oct 18 (PR)- Minister for Finance Ram Saran Mahat today said that the Maoist side should be present to the third round of peace talks with the government unconditionally.

Minister Mahat who is also the central working committee member of the governing Nepali Congress termed the Maoist rebels as terrorists and said that their pursuit of republican state could not be established in the country. He made this remark while addressing the ninth district council meet of the Nuwakot District Development Committee. He said that the present democratic system also allows them to implement their policies and programmes if they come to power by winning over the people’s confidence in elections.

Addressing the same function, CPN-UML lawmaker Mahendra Bahadur Pande said that all the political forces who have faith in the multi-party system should forge a unity to counter the Maoists extremism.

Another lawmaker from the district Rajendra Prakash Lohani said that both the government and Maoists should be honest in the talks and urged all for peaceful solution of the six year old violence.

Officiating DDC chairman Narayan Prasad Khatiwada presented budget estimates of around Rs. 90 million for the coming fiscal year out of which 63 per cent of the total budget has been allocated for development works and the rest for administrative expenditure.