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June, 2002 |
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No laughing Matter |
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www.road.closed By Madan Lamsal Binod Chaudhary, Padma Jyoti and Rabi Bhakta Shrestha were riding on a train to India to discuss about the ICD contract. When it came to a halt, the driver said, “our engine has failed - what shall I do?” “This is the 21st century, let’s find a new train,” Chaudhary declared. “Try to call the professionals to mend it,” offered Jyoti. And Shrestha suggested, “Call Binod, Rajendra, Suraj and Chandi and take their advice what to do.” As the then vice-chairman of National Planning Commission, Prithvi Raj Ligal was often asked to address various functions. One recent appearance was going to be trumpeted in the newsletter of Nepal Chambers of Commerce (NCC) thus: “ Mr. Ligal will be our guest speaker at the last session of the seminar, which will be followed by a cocktail and dinner. In addition, a Rs. 1000 door prize will be given away as an incentive to get more people to attend and listen to the chief guest.” But the ad had to be withdrawn as NCC dropped him as guest speaker because he was not reappointed to NPC. Upon return from a recent visit to USA to request the US government for additional grants, a senior member of the country’s delegation was asked at the airport by a trainee journalist: “Sir, what do the letters D. C. stand for in Washington D. C.?” The officer thought for a moment, consulted his friends in the delegation, then replied, “Dollars and Cents.” Worried with the Coke sales going down steadily , N. N. Singh, the CEO of Bottlers Nepal Ltd., came out with a brilliant idea to promote the sales. He made a new commercial. Before it would go to the public, he gathered and started explaining about the ad to his sales force. To avoid communication problems he had erected a three-panel story board. The first panel depicted a guy drenched in sweat, standing on the road. The middle panel showed him gulping down a bottle of Coke. And in the third panel, he’s fully refreshed and shows it with a big smile. “Sounds great,” one of his Sales Officer exclaimed and then inquired his boss, “But what was the problem at the first place? Why was he all sweating?” One day few prominent economists of Nepal including Dr. Ram Sharan Mahat, Dr, Raghav Dhoj Pant, Dr. Prakash Chandra Lohani and Dr. Dilli Raj Khanal went to Hotel Radisson for a lunch. Dr. Mahat ordered the food, Dr. Pant remained smiling throughout while Dr. Lohani cracked a couple of jokes. After the luncheon was over Dr. Khanal, who had remained silent during the lunch watching all the others behaving in their customary way, said to B. K. Shrestha, the hotel MD, “Never mind the food, just send us the bill so that we can evaluate it critically.” One day when Piyush Bahadur Amatya (the boss of Fulbari Resorts & Spa) had a very big tension with the bankers, he went to play golf at Fulbari. But as he was playing worse that day than usual, he decided to explain his predicament to his teen-aged caddy. “You know, I took up golf to practice self-control,” Amatya said. The youngster replied, "If that’s the case, you should have better gone in for caddying.” After fifteen minutes RNAC took off from Paris airport for Kathmandu a steward, fighting the hangover from the last evening’s booz, made this announcement: “Ladies and gentlemen! Welcome abroad. Today’s fright time will be five hours and fifteen minutes.” The road in front of Mercantile’s office was under repairs. Driving to the office one evening, I noticed a large, crudely lettered plywood sign that read: www.road.closed. |
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