july you’re radisson

Spost

If you’re looking for that sure touch of difference, that something to refresh your mind, that something to beat the gloomy rainy days then Radisson is here once again with the vigorous concept of "rejuvenating July". Walk in any time and marvel over the flavours of internationally branded coffee, for instance Jamaican Coffee (Mountain Prime Wase) available at a nice price of Rs 300 and other brands like Costa Rica Coffee for Rs 125 and Coffee Kenya for Rs 150. There are Liqueur Coffees too (All at Rs165) like a drippingly rich Coffee Amaretto laced with Tia Maria and topped with whipped cream and Home-Made Coffee (From Rs 90 to 100). Yes, they may be slightly expensive but you must keep in mind their special taste and flavours and that they are not locally available.

But this is not just a month for coffees at the popular hotel. There are other items and themes like the Bubbly Brunch which is a "buffet with an unlimited flow of sparkling Wine or Beer" at a price of Rs 999 per adult and Rs 499 per child. There is 20% discount for those under 25. For "Chef’s special homemade" which will start from July 23 to the end of August, you can take on different flavours of icecream and smack your lips with Butter scotch sauce and ameretto biscuits. From 1500 different kinds of Rice from around the world, some of the finest and popular varieties from India, Spain etc are featured this month. "International rice around the world like Biryani from India, rice from China and Thailand can be a full meal in itself. Spanish cuisine revolves around fun and frolic. They use a black pan called a pyre pan and cook the food on the fire and they serve on the pan. They use a lot of pepper in their cooking", says food and beverage manager Nirmalya Biswas.

"Champagne gossip" at Rs 300 each as the name suggests, "is a forum for ladies to chat" and gossipping need not be taken as bitching. There are other themes like Gueridon Specials at the Olive Garden where you can watch the cooking on a trolley right in front of your eyes daily from 7 p.m. to 10.30p.m.

You can order different veg and non veg curries for Rs 777 and Rs 888 respectively with rice, rotis and salads for free. And there’s also the beer of the month, starting with Guiness, buy one and get one free.

Biswas feels that there is a market for quality items and that is exactly what the Radisson hotel is trying to tap. "Kathmandu loves beer and we’re trying to get international beers starting with a locally made Guiness this month and moving on to international brands".

my absurd love

By Niras Prasai

The world itself is not big and proud of possessing enchanting green heights, waiting every arrival with several ups and downs on her face, giving joy and entertainment to each, to whoever wishes to draw him towards her. The fascinating white Himalayas offer mighty deeds and laurels for those who dare to grab the glory but she seems to have a harmonious and tranquil smile. The babbling fountains call at every moment and share the joy, the sorrow and suffering and beside the Parthenon My love is there forever. Beside the floating river when I remain coolly and creakily imperishable I am beyond the natural divide. Sometime, at the ocean, wearing a veil I assume as if she is waiting for my arrival. She is no more for me, neither in the dream beach nor in the dream but in the mind’s eye I always see her and smile.

The world is progressing but the earth herself is dull and the insane are plying her. They are beating the heart of her and sucking her breasts. They are now trying to break the customs. A bunch of fools surround a man and he seems to be lost. There is darkness everywhere even at midday in the middle of this earth. They all are blinded, a man again appears and looks at them but does not trust their movements. He remains silent, looks at them and turns to what they are looking at. Now he looks sad to the crowd. They all seem blind for they have missed the opportunity to reach up to him and I have missed the way to find her.

The days have passed and nights but they are still blind, without being surprised. The lives have been damaged and the people have gone rotten but they bask in what they think is glory. I am alone looking for her among the people but I can’t find her. I will find her because I don’t despair. There’s a dark and deep ditch where a man who has been standing tall will fall down. One day a great storm will come and the ditch will be covered with debris and it will go unnoticed. I’ll wonder where my love has gone, into the ditch...? Then I shall be cursed with no will to see her. Fresh people in the new world with new hope and energy will again appear and walk on them. It will be a painful moment for them all. She will be tortured and I won’t be able to adopt their ways.

The new people with new emotions will make a delegation to surround the standing man. She will live a life like that of a buried person. I have already lost every thing for her and now what remains to be lost? But I have my lovely earth which will love me forever and I will be with her. Now I have a lust to be lost.

education:
who is to blame?

M odern education has become a headache for both students and parents. Generally we define education as a system of instruction and training of children and young people in schools and colleges to give knowledge and develop skills in them. Now the latter part of the definition has been changed. Children do not develop any skills; no doubt we instruct and train them. So far as knowledge is concerned, the old assemblage of knowledge is being passed down from generation to generation. This is a simple hand over process. The teacher who is out to teach his students is doing nothing but passing the trunk of limited knowledge, which he received from his teachers. Even if he tries to modify, it will be in vain since we lack research-oriented education. Modern education is not meant for knowledge but for collecting certificates.

School children these days are under tremendous pressure to excel in every field. This, coupled with parental expectations and their willingness to ‘invest’ extra so that their wards outshine the rest, has spurred on the business of private schools. These well-to-do and ambitious parents are gripped by mass hysteria that their wards should get nothing less than ninety percent in the exams. Dire need to excel in a world of reducing opportunities, parents are forced to seek a private school which can assure at least eighty percent in S. L. C. exams. Exploiting the situation, private schools mushroomed throughout the country. They flourished by leaps and bounds, some even used cheap commercial catchwords like toothbrush manufacturers to hoodwink the parents. Thus began the chain of financial exploitation in the academic sector which is thought to be service-oriented. As the commercialization of education steadily escalated the so-called ‘academic shops’ emerged with the claim to provide education par excellence. They claimed that they are equipped with sound methodology and can bring the best out of the children. Some of them keep their words but most fail to carry out their promises. Thus what rises to the surface is that private schools turned teaching into a profit-making tool. How far this is factual is a question of debate.

I was in a Face-to-Face programme organized by the Reporters’ Club where Private and Boarding Schools Organization Nepal, PABSON tried to justify fee hikes in private schools. It said, "Parents are free to choose a school in accordance with their financial status. We can provide better facilities if they can afford them." This was the voice of academic tycoons. In a way they accept the fact that education has been commercialized. Private schools strive to bring out the best from the children and burden them with heavy textbooks. Just by making the school children fluent in English, one cannot claim that he is providing a quality education.

The blame falls upon public schools as they are not geared to meet the requirements of a job-oriented market. Instead of paying proper attention to classroom teaching, the teachers in public schools are more interested in local politics because they know their service cannot be terminated and they will get their salary, come what may. Moreover, public schools face staff shortage. The teachers, in many cases have a lackadaisical attitude towards their classes and there is hardly any accountability on their part.

A Maoist-affiliated students’ group All Nepal National Free Students Union (Revolutionary) organized a weeklong shut down of private boarding schools across the country. Uncertainty is still large in the education sector. The ANNFSU(R) blames the privately run schools for daylight robbery. Its 15 point demands include, 50 percent reduction in the fees charged by private schools, removal of Sanskrit and the national anthem and compulsory enrolment of government officials’ and ministers’ children in public schools. The government agreed on some of the demands but loopholes are still there.

ANNFSU(R) students vandalized two boarding schools in Kathmandu, burnt cars and nearly set on fire one of the principals of the schools. Such heavy-handed tactics employed by the students wing of the underground Communist party of Nepal (Maoist) may have won them few sympathizers but this is awkward in the extreme. This example of academic anarchism cannot solve the problem.

Private schools remained closed for a week. The Ministry of Education and Private Schools’ organizations were kept busy in nearly a weeklong heated debate whether to open the schools. The government, PABSONs and ANNFSU(R) agreed on a temporary decision but ANNFSU(R) has declared that its struggle will still continue. The education of a million schoolchildren and the future of more than 8000 boarding schools are at stake.

During the last decade in the education sector the government has only formed high-level commissions to collect reports. It is believed that had the government implemented the suggestions of those committees seriously, the present problem would not have become so knotty. When tripartite negotiations were going on, the government arrested the ANNFSU (R) representatives. This act of the government was widely criticized because the talk went into limbo until those arrested student leaders were released.

If the government was to lay down arms, why did they arrest those student leaders? It was the similar case with another student wing of the Communist Party of Nepal (Marxist and Lenin) which demanded the 50% concession in public transportation. The government should either take a strong step or lay down arms and fulfill the demands of the concerned groups before they vandalize public and private property. The government’s act in these cases has led people to an increasing acceptance of violence to solve problems or achieve desirable goals. Now the time has come to bring the politics of education to an end. Alarm bells are ringing to show that something is wrong with the education sector.

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