Performing rituals? Visit this shop for all your needs

By Suvecha Pant

KATHMANDU, May 6:Be it the festival season or a religious ceremony performed to mark birth or death in the family, it demands meticulous preparation year after year. Women folk busy themselves preparing for marriage rituals, rituals held to close the mourning period, function held to introduce the newly born to solid food and so on and so forth.

Problems, for most, lie in arranging required materials, which usually demands going for shopping over a period of time. In fact, it is not only a time-consuming task, but also demands patience and sense of where to begin from.

However, much of the problem stand ruled out if the household has older members whom can tell what to do under the circumstances. Conversely, the families, which do not have older members, have to confer with family, that might have conducted related rituals at that point of time.

But this does not in any way avert the need to run from shop to shop. For, once the long list of the items is drawn up, it is time to run from one shop to another. And fast enough. Usually, one has to even ‘book’ some items a month in advance.

"I don’t know if I will be able to finish shopping on time," said a tired and frustrated shopper, Shanti Khadka, outside a shop in busy Ason. "My nephew is getting married in a week and I have to arrange things before that."

The fact that it is a tough task to arrange required things becomes evident from what she said further. "I think we will have to make do without these items… If only there was a shop which offered all the items," Khadka said demonstrating the frustration.

There are many families taking turns of going around the city looking for necessary items. But it is also true that there are people who procure every item from the self-same shop whatever the occasion.

Welcome to Hem Narsingh Ko Pasal ( a shop, which deals in everything, needed for all the rituals ( nestled in the midst of temples and ancient monuments in Patan Durbar Square. If you did not know, the shop goes back to over a hundred and fifty years.

Fourth generation members of the Narsingh family run the shop. Prakash Narsingh Amatya and his wife are devoting their lives to keep up the family tradition.

"This shop belonged to my family dating back to generations," says Amatya, adding that the same was an ancestral heritage rather than a shop. ""I have taken over the responsibility to keep up the tradition."

Equally interesting aspect is that it is open round the clock and seven days a week. Whenever anyone wants anything from the shop, he or she can call out Amatya, who stays upstairs.

"We are ready to serve our clients at any time, says Amatya adding, that the shop belonged to growing numbers of customers.

There ïs a long list of people who are his regular customers by now. They range from lowly citizens to the leading lights of the nation, including the incumbent Prime Minister. What’s more, the shop is known to export required items to Hong Kong and London.

But this upward mobility of sorts has not set in any sense of complacency in the family. Someone who mans the shop sitting by his wife, Amatya offers free sweets to small children, who accompany parents to the shop. He has personal rapport with each customer who he welcomes with a big smile on his face.

The four-room shop is full of assortment of items. "You can get everything from rock salt from Tibet to gold," says Amatya, which perfectly describes his shop.

Yet another feature of the shop is that one has to just name the rituals one expects to conduct, before the required items start falling in shopping bags. The "must list" of items, passed down from generations, has everything under the sun in it.

"It’s much like a supermarket where you get all the items you need under one roof," said Sharada Shrestha, a customer. "I have been buying from here for many years because the shop has everything I need from time to time. The shopkeeper is very kind and friendly," she said in appreciation.

There are too many like her who are known to be buying from the shop since generations even as new customers are joining the old.

"I heard about this shop from a friend at the time when I was busy buying things for my son’s wedding," said Smita Khadka. She has been buying from the shop ever since that memorable event in her life.

Meanwhile, the importance of the shop lies in the fact that it is the only shop, which sells sadewa and sadewi. Both are species of plants believed to have the power to attract the member of the opposite sex romantically.

It is believed that if one carries this plant in his/her pocket and touches someone of the opposite sex, the one who is so touched is likely to start dreaming of the carrier of the miraculous plant. An excellent item, for the romantically challenged, this.

KMC’s warning to ward representatives

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KATHMANDU, May 6: Prior to the end of their tenure, the ward representatives of the capital city are facing hard times as the administration of Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) has pulled its sleeves to bring financial irregularities under control.

Sources said the KMC Administration has recently issued letters to over two dozens of local representatives to make immediate clearance of the advance amount they had received from KMC.

"If the due is not cleared within 15 days of the date of receiving this letter, KMC would force the defaulters to pay the due with the addition of 10 percent of interest," the letter states.

Rule 102 of Local Authority (Economic Administrtaion) Regulation permits local institutions to collect uncleared dues with interest.

Though the letter was drafted on February 13 and again on April 18, dispatching of letters was delayed due to internal conflicts in the KMC Administration itself, the sources said. KMC now is finding more such defaulters and is sending letters to them.

Among the 24 of such addressees who have received the letters, Nirmala Prajapati of ward No. 5, Saroj Dhakal of ward No. 34, Ranjana Maskey of ward No. 33, Amar Ratna Bajracharya of ward No. 27, Sarita Manandhar of ward No. 20, Gopal Mali of ward No. 17, Prabhuji Pant of ward No. 15, Dipak Basnet of ward No. 14, Rajkumar Sharma of ward No. 4 and Dhan Bahadur Achami of ward No. 34 have dues of over Rs 100,000 each but they have not cleared the accounts yet.

Deputy Executive Officer of KMC Naresh Regmi said KMC has decided to take action against those local representatives who have misused the property of KMC for their personal use.

But he refused to give the names of those representatives, neither did he disclose the number of such representatives who have been found misusing the KMC’s property.

Similarly, KMC has also issued letters to those who have been using KMC’s vehicles even though they receive monthly allowance for transportation and communications.

Regmi said, "We have recently issued letters to the local representatives who have been found misusing vehicles of KMC and still not cleared their advance payments. It is illegal as all of them get transportation allowance every month."

KMC had repeatedly asked all the representatives to return their motorcycles and other means of transportation before KMC decided to substitute the vehicles with allowance two years ago.

An in-house report, published in November 2001 by ward No. 28 chairman Subhan Kumar Shrestha pointed out that chairmen of ward Nos. 2, 5, 17, 18, 27 and 30, including a ward No. 7 member as well as the deputy mayor still use KMC motorcycles, which is against the earlier decision that bar such use.

Out of them chairman of ward No. 27 Baburaja Maharjan returned his motorcycle after the report was presented at the board meeting of KMC.

The report also disclosed that the local representatives have taken out Rs 9,300,154 as advance but have failed yet to clear the accounts by specifying where and when they have used the funds as required by the financial regulations to clear up the annual auditing.

Two baby hippopotamuses, the first African-origin mammal in Nepal

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KATHMANDU, May 6:Two captive-born baby hippopotamuses named Siam and Gularb of barely 15-month-old, each weighing about 300 kilograms arrived here from Thailand, Monday.

"They will grow up to 3000 kg and live up to 50 years," said Pisit na Patalung, Director General of the Zoological Park Organization of Thailand, who arrived here by a Kathmandu-bound Thai Airbus Monday with two baby hippos and four ostriches under an animal exchange programme with Nepal.

Considered to be one of the most endangered species, the world’s oldest herbivorous mammals - the hippos, whose ancestors were born in East Africa near the River Nile is the first of its kind to arrive in Nepal from Africa.

"To my knowledge, this is the first time that we have African-origin water hippo (Jalgaida)," said R.K. Shrestha, Director at the Central Zoo, Jawalakhel.

Barrel-shaped, creamy-white bodies with pink belly, large head, and stumpy legs resembling a large-sized pig, these hippopotamuses eat about 30 kilograms of bananas and 60 kilograms of grasses a day.

Brought from Thailand but originally from Africa— a land of amazing creature adventures, these hippos scientifically called as hippopotamus amphibious are expected to become pregnant in three years.

By then each baby hippos would grow to an adult weighing some 3000 kilograms and overrun the capacity of Central Zoo’s little artificial habitat extending barely to a 5000 square feet, south of the historical 300-year-old Malla’s lake.

The King Mahendra Trust for Nature Conservation/Central Zoo has built a small five-foot deep pond, laid a 5000 square-foot grassy lawn for the mammals to move about and has fenced the area with barbed wire.

"I am satisfied with the amount of space for the hippos but as they grow up, it is up to the Nepali officials to relocate them to ensure that they are safe," said Patalung of the Zoological Park Organization, under the Royal Patronage of the Thai King.

Officials said the King Mahendra Trust for Nature Conservation and the Zoological Park Organization under the Royal Patronage of H.M. the King of Thailand have entered into an animal exchange programme.

"Exchange programme is very important for animal conservation. It will also improve the zoo blood-line," said Director General Patalung adding, "We have hardly anything in exchange for these baby hippos but we might take back some Danphe and Munals in return."

Thai officials during the handing over of the mammals also said that Thai government has been insisting on Nepal’s government since the last three years to provide two rhinoceros under its animal exchange programme but said it has not yet responded.

The Thai-based Asian Wildlife Company, Bangkok also provided four ostrich chicks to the Central Zoo as a part of regional friendship. Three ostriches have died in the past, one immediately after they were unable to withstand the climate and find sufficient means for survival in the creepy little space available at the Zoo.

Only a hundred years ago, hippos existed in great numbers, covering a huge range. There were hippos all along the Nile. Today an estimated 150,000 wild hippos live in sub-Saharan Africa-a land of amazing creature adventures. Thailand has about 20 of them.

For a mammal that can eat up to 100 pounds of vegetation in one night and travel up to six miles from their watering hole to find something to eat, the little enclosure of some 5000 square-foot grassy lawn and a tiny pond of water might terribly handicap them.

Coming only occasionally on land and spending most of their days in the water and partly wallowing in the mud, the couplet hippos would pose considerable challenge to zoo officials that might come from feeding and acclimatization.

However, zoo officials said Monday they are ready for all uncertainties and would do everything to ensure that the hippos live up to their fullest extent of life.

Nepal, India inspect Rasiyawal Khurdalautan dam

RSS

BHAIRAHAWA, May 6:The high level technical committee constituted to resolve the problem of submerging of Nepalese territory as a result of the dam built by the Indian side along the Nepal-India border made an onsite inspection of the Rasiyawal Khurdalautan dam and the areas affected by it.

The inspection tour was carried out as per a decision reached at the joint meeting held in Kathmandu on friday to study the affect of the Risyawal Khurdalautan dam on both the countries and resolve the problem.

Based on the facts received from the onsite study efforts will be made to seek out ways to resolve the problem and accordingly the committee will present a report to both the countries, said Nepali team convenor in the committee and executive director of the Water and Power Commission Arjun Prasad Shrestha.

During the tour, the committee collected facts of the rivers, bridges and culverts over them, the length, breadth and height of the roads in the areas adjoining and neighbouring the dam in both the countries.

The onsite inspection tour was carried out from Lumbini, the birthplace of Lord Buddha to the Indian bordering region and the dam does not seem to cause any affect at the moment to Lumbini, added Shrestha.

Differences had come across after the indian side claimed that the Rasiyawal Khurdalautan was not a dam but an embankment.

Member of the Indian team and deputy chief of mission at the Indian Embassy Ashok Kumar said the Rasiyawal Khurdalautan is not a dam but am embankment made to save Indian habitation from the Tinau and danav rivers.

Expressing disagreement over Kumar’s view, Nepali team convenor Shrestha said no matter how India defines it the Rasiyawal Khurdalautan is a dam.

More than a dozen villages including among others Thamuwa, Pipraha, Asuraina and Karauta were affected by the dam in the last rainy season and paddy cultivation in some 200 hectares of land had been damaged.

Landslide threatens Gupteshwor cave

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PARBAT, May 6:Gupteshwor Gufa, a famous cave at Shivalaya-9 in Kushma the headquarters of the district with Damdare rivulet flowing nearby, posing a serious threat, is likely to go extinct, the sources here said.

The landslide from Dulunge hill above the cave, which hit the region last year, had immensely eroded the sides of Damdare rivulet. It had caused the loss of around Rs. 200,000 to the cave. As the monsoon is nearing, the cave is sure to lose its identity as landslide repeats, according to the Cave Management Committee (CMC).

The cave holds great religious and touristic significance in the district. It finds mentioned even in the scriptures. The Purans narrate it that the cave was the one inside which Goddess Parvati had undergone meditation so as to get Lord Shiva as her consort.

As to the Purans Lord Shiva had himself manifested in the cave to bless the Goddesses with for the fulfilment of her wishes. The cave houses Shivalingam, the statues of Lord Shiva, Lord Ram, during his exile in the forest, Shesh Narayana and others.

The site draws huge number of devotees in all the major Hindu festivals. The cave is also an important touristic site for the domestic as well as foreign tourists, said the sources at CMC.

"CMC is unable to launch the preventive measures for the conservation of the cave due to economic constraints, but then is it not the duty of the government body to preserve an important national heritage?" questions Tikaram Acharya, the chairman at CMC.

While contacted Shivalaya VDC and the District Land Conservation Office in the district, the concerned sources said that they lacked enough resources to go through the preventive measures of the endangered site.

"The VDC is unable to protect the cave, though an invaluable property of the district due to lack of budget," Toya Nath Chalise, the Vice-Chairman at the Shivalaya VDC said.

The sources at the DDC said that the government has allocated the budget for the conservation works of the cave but it has not been released as yet.

IKASDP turns fiasco

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SIMIKOT, May 6: Iterated Karnali Agriculture Special Development Programme (IKASDP) implemented by the government since last year in Karnali Zone has become a fiasco due to retarding trends in the annual budget, said the concerned sources.

The government had forwarded the programme in five districts of the zone in the country aiming to uplift the life standard of the people.

"We were indeed very happy that the government had brought such a special package for the districts in this region. Now we are said that it has ended just as a high talk," Chandra Bahadur Shahi, an MP from Mugu district said, while inquired on the efficiency of IKASDP programme.

To the proposed amount of Rs. 1,000,000 to be distributed each to the five districts by the government last year, a district received a total of Rs. 440,000. In that too only Rs.3,700,000 was spent, Bhagirath Yadav, at the District Agriculture Development Office (DADO) said.

The government has not allocated a separate budget for IKASDP this year as in the last year. The government has earmarked a total budget of Rs. 9,091,000 for development cum administration, in the district this year, Yadav said.

According to Yadav, the government has already hinted that it is to cut down the proposed budget by 25 percent to 40 percent in the current fiscal year.

"In this district a total of 7,500 plants have been distributed to the farmers to the earlier target of distributing 12,000 plants," he said.

According to District Veterinary Office, the office has done nothing substantial till now since the government has not released the fund as yet.

Farmers in the district allege that there were massive irregularities in implementing a farmer oriented programme under IKASDP last year. Padam Bahadur Lama, the Chairman at Baragaun VDC of the district, alleges that the government employees had implemented the farmer oriented programme in a haphazard manner.

"The farmers in the district were provided with sheep bought from Mugu district, also a poverty stricken one, to its worse the sheep distributed to the farmers in the district died of disease within a year," Lama said.

Treatment costly for poor patients

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MAHOTTARI, May 6:Kal-A-Zar patients, mostly from the poor section of the society approaching Jaleshwor Hospital for free treatment are compelled to spend Rs.700 for medical check up to undergo the treatment, the patients said.

So as to relieve the poor people, mostly vulnerable to the disease, the government has freed medical cost, treatment procedures, lodging and fooding inside the hospital. However, the patients need to spend Rs.700 in a private laboratory for bone-marrow test, as the hospital do not entertain the facility, it is learnt.

The plight of the poor patients worsens as the clinics doing the bone marrow test extract extra charges from them.

"I got bone marrow test done at a lab of a private clinic in Janakpur, but the doctor charged me Rs. 150 extra just for his written words as ‘Refer to Jaleshwor Hospital," Ram Kali Kumari, at Sonamai VDC-8 of the district said. There are many patients echoing similar versions.

Even the health workers at the hospital say that the private labs in Janakpur me

0-71rcilessly extract extra charges from the downtrodden people.

With such injustice going on with the poor patients, the management committee at the hospital had informed that it was on the way to set up its own laboratory for test bone marrow.

"To this effect, we have already trained a technician to operate the laboratory and have almost all the tools required to run the laboratory," a member at the Hospital Management Committee said.

"The laboratory is almost ready but the work has not started yet in the absence of one chemical," Ram Lakhan Shah, the Medical Superintendent at the hospital said.

However, the observers are suspicious on the version of the hospital side in connection with running the laboratory. Why the hospital is unable to run its laboratory citing the cause of a chemical that is being amply supplied in the private laboratories in Janakpur, ask the observers.

"The hospital has taken the issue of operating the laboratory seriously and the laboratory is soon to come in operation within few weeks," Dr. Shah said.