Children are the most precious gift of god . They are bliss to parents.Children require guidance, a little love and attention of the parents .Your children need your presence more than your presents.Good upbringing definitely moulds a child into a better human and an asset to society.The bright memories of the childhood always strengthen a child and leads him towards a successful life.
These lovely children made me nostalgic by reminding me of my childhood . I took these pictures by my n95 in a children park located few minutes away from my home .

He looks so cute . The lovely bubbly boy yo yo get going .

They must be feeling happy to drive a car before turning 18 . Hehehe.

These children are definitely going to be the future Micheal Schuhmacher. LOL .

Toys are child's best friend .

The cute little girl is buying a balloon .

The parents do know how to make their children smile . yeah by getting them their best friend !!

And here are the pilots .Children need models more than they need critics

They look very cute . Childhood is the world of fun.

Children need to be refreshed form time to time .And such festivals help them get rid of the boredom.

Enjoying their peacock ride

Here they also have the train .wow ..

The train has stopped but she still does not want to come out . I want more mummy eheh.

Aaiselu is a kind of berry mostly grown nearby the forests and highways and hilly area in spring season and ripen in summer . I did not find the exact name of it in English but we call it Aaiselu (wild yellow berries). These berries taste simply wonderful and leaves you wanting always more of them. Aaiselu is too soft and should be eaten sooner after picking them up else they lose their original taste . It is a bit difficult to pick Aaiselu because thier bushes are very thorny. Mostly the children so really fond of them that they even bunk their schools just to pick the berries ignoring the scratches in the skin . Even the tourists like them much .During the summer you can see poeple selling Aaiselu near by the highways in Nepal .

The thorny bushes full of ripe Aaiselu . My mouth is watering now

I took these pictures by n95 mobile in my last visit to Pokhara during summer.

I had too picked few of the delicious berries in my last visit to Pokhara . That was fun .

When the whole world is undergoing the fuel crisis currently how could only Nepal be left behind in the race.Nepal lacking oil reserves of its own and also unfortunately being a landlocked country has to depend on India for its needs.The fuel crisis in Nepal has intensified as Indian Oil Corporation (IOC),the main supplier of petroleum products to the Himalayan country, cuts its supply of fuel and other petroleum products.The poor economy of Nepal is also the cause for this scarcity as the Finance Ministry in Nepal could not cope up with the drastic increment(internationally) in the prices of fuel and is struggling to pay for imports.
Queuing up at petrol pumps for hours with their motorbikes, taxis and buses for few liters of petrol/diesel has become a part of people's life.They are forced to stand sometimes almost a day and even spend nights at the pump to fuel their vehicles. This drastic shortage in fuel has not only created anger and frustration in the citizens but has created chaos on essential public transport services and hospitals ,ambulance services,fire brigade services etc.

Here are few pictures that show the real scenario of the crisis . I took them from the nearby petrol pump .There are lot more to be seen all over the city.

The petrol pump is still closed as they have no petrol to distribute .

The drivers are still waiting for the petrol station to open for fuel distribution .

wow!! the petrol tanker has now arrived . Would a single tanker suffice all of them ? And the answer is a big "NO". The early comer are lucky today and the rest should still continue waiting may be till another tanker arrives .But when .. no answer .

Hundreds of taxis queuing up at the petrol pump to fuel up their taxis.

The day is about to come to an end and the people are still there waiting . How hectic .

The number of vehicles increases and increases . There is no sign of ending this queue.How long does is go like this ? Does not this now be taken seriously by our government ?

This very moment I captured by my nokia n95 mobile while watching the moon in the sky through my window .

Tuesday gloomy evening appears in the half Moon behind the cloud.

Moon and Clouds playing hide n seek

Bhanubhakta Acharya(1814-1868) was a Nepali poet who translated the great epic "Ramayana" from Sanskrit to Nepali. He was born in Chundi Beshi of Ramgha of Tanahu district in 1814 .
Bhanubhakta was the first poet ever to write in Nepali language when other Poets in Nepal usually wrote in Sanskrit. That is why he was entitled as "AADI KAVI"(meaning the first poet). He was an outstanding poet, who dedicated his entire life to enriching Nepali literature .

The statue of the AADI KAVI (pioneer) Bhanubhakta Acharya

Bhanubhakta was a young boy from a wealthy family and was leading a luxurious life until he met a poor grass cutter who inspite of his poverty wanted to build a well (KUWA in nepali) to help the travelers to quench their thirst and be remembered even after death .This inspired Bhanubhakta to do something remarkable. So honoring the grass cutter, he wrote these lines:
" He gives his life to cutting grass and earns little money,
he hopes to make a well for his people
so he will be remembered after death,
this high thinking grass cutter lives in poverty,
I have achieved nothing, though I have much wealth.
I have neither made rest houses nor a well,
all my riches are inside my house.
This grass cutter has opened my eyes today,
my life is worthless if the memory of my existence fades away."
Since then he dedicated himself to writing poetry

These are the statues of Poet Bhanubhakta (left) and the Ghasi (grass cutter) on the right in the Ghasi Kuwa Park in Tanahu district ,Nepal.

(I took these pictures by my n95 mobile while coming back to Kathmandu from Pokhara as this park is situated near the Prithivi Highway.)

These are the pictures of the two chariots of "Red Machhindranath" (behind) and his disciple "Meennath" also known as "Gorakhnath" (front).
This longest ceremonial pulling of the huge four wheeled chariots begins in mid-April at Patan, Pulchowk ,Nepal and continues for a month. It is believed that this festival was introduced by King Narendra Deva in the 9th century A.D.This festival symbolizes the annual visit of the Lord on earth and is celebrated for the peace and prosperity of the countrymen.The festival begins with the construction of the chariot in Pulchowk, and ends with the Bhoto Jatra festival (ceremonial display of his jewel studded legendary vest) in Jawalakhel ,Lalitpur.


RATO MACHHINDRANATH:
Rato(red) Machhindranath (also Matsyendranath) is worshipped as the God of rain and harvest, who by legend was brought from Assam, India to Kathmandu valley in Patan ,Lalitpur to prevent a drought .He was guru of Gorakhnath and also the founder of "Hatha yoga"(a branch of Yoga).Machhindranath was born out of fish's womb.
History:
It is said that once Lord Gorakhnath on his visit to Kathmandu valley got annoyed as nobody noticed him while seeking alms and sat in "samadhi" on the serpents (the cause of rain ) which then resulted a serious drought in the valley .The great Tantrik "Acharya Bandhudatta" suggested the then king Narendra Dev to invite the Lord Machhindranath so that Gorakhnath would stand up to greet his "Guru" and the serpents would be freed and then it would rain .So the king brought Lord Machhindranath to the valley from India .Knowing that Lord Machhindranath was in the valley ,Gorakhnath stood up to greet him and thus the serpents were freed and started raining which then took away the drought .Ever since started the festival of pulling the chariot of machhindranath to honour him

This the chariot of the Rato Machhindranath.The chariot stands so tall as if it touches the sky.One has to climb high to view the statue of the Machhindranath kept on the upper part of the chariot .

A closer view of the chariot .

The giant wheels of the chariot . A lot of enery is needed to pull these wheels . A large number of men gather in the festival to pull the chariot . Interesting huh!!

A closer view of the wheel .

The chariot of Meennath decorated colorfully .This chariot is a little smaller in size than the first one .He always accompanies the Machhindranath .

The long wooden rod carved with the statue of the "Bhairav"(God of protection) in the front. This is attached to the chariot and is built for the pulling of the chariot .

The Bhairav carved on the wooden puller

Again the chariot of Meennath in a full view.

"Child labor" means the employment of children under an age determined by the law . Child labor is a major social problem especially in developing countries where the economically handicapped families are forced to send their children to work tediously .
Well a child works in fact in almost every society and is also accepted but the term "child labor" is undesirable and harmful as child labor hinders a child not only from education but also prevents the overall development in him .
Child labour in Nepal prevails mostly in traditional agricultural sectors, service sectors like small hotels, restaurants, transport and tourism, manufacturing sectors such as carpet and garments factories, domestic services, etc. They work long hours at low wages, poor working environment.

Besides poverty and illiteracy , lack of dedication of the concerned authorities of the government is also a cause of child labor . Trying to put end to poverty and giving the equal rights to all regardless of their ethnicity ,religion etc. and improving access to education could surely be a very effective move to reduce child labor to a great extent .

A boy painting the hotel walls in the heat .

A little boy selling fruit

Not yet ends his tedious painting .. He keeps going on tired and hungry . Poor him !!

A boy around 11-13 years old selling maizes on the street.He must be feeling sad to sit all day long under the tiring heat and watching children of his age enjoying life .

This is a picture of a person who comes to our place (in kathmandu) to collect the wastages from our daily life . Every morning around 9 am .. he makes every people living in my community aware of his presence by whistling loud ,louder and the loudest . The keeps waiting till all of us hand over him our daily wastages .
I clicked this picture when he was already done with collecting the garbages and was all set towards his destination which is the "city dumping site" . Tired he was pulling the cart full of stink .At times I just feel really bad seeing him live with such tedious and unhygienic task .But work is work and yeah out of this he is atleast earning his survival .
Kudos to all the "Garbage cleaners" for keeping our town safe from turning into a repository of wastages and garbages .

STRIKES have mostly been a very powerful negotiating tactic with the government. And Nepal is no exception .Time and again strikes occur here too with various demands .The latest round of strikes started with the Nepalese government announcing a hike in fuel prices and the resultant raise in public transport fares.For several days groups of students affiliated to political parties had attacked government vehicles, burned tyres and threatened drivers in Kathmandu.

Thousands of passengers were stranded across the Ringroad, Balkhu area on Wednesday as the students locked public buses and other vehicles in roads demanding a 43% percent concession in transport fares due to the recent increment in fuel prices.
The students who have been enjoying a 33 percent fare concession in Nepal are also up in arms. They are now demanding a 50 per cent concession. The government’s decision to raise the concession to 43 percent is not enough according to students .


Here I have captured few scenarios of that strike against the increment in fuel prices occurred in Balkhu on Wednesday.

On Wednesday, the students vandalized vehicles and burnt tyres in front of Tribhuwan University and in Balkhu area in the capital.More such spectacles have been expected on coming days.

Students were on strike but other group of people still had the same usual routine so they had to carry on ignoring the blockage .

The students really got down on the streets for a demonstration .

The vehicle drivers still waiting with a hope to pass through the blockage .

The tyres too have burnt down leaving such black and ugly patches on the road .

The vehicles had been jammed and were not allowed to move further almost the entire day .

This is a view of the very famous TAL BARAHI temple , located in the middle of the fewalake in Pokhara . This place serves the visitors as a station for the journey to the temple to start. We can see the people standing on the shore ..waiting eagerly for the boats to sail them to the temple.

"The waiting " in the heat is so boring and tiring but patience is the only solution . The people are still waiting for the move, chill just few minutes more to sail .So on your marks get set and ..


and finally "GO" two boats started to row leaving stilll a few behind at the shore . So tired waiting for their turn .. some have even fallen asleep . Get up .. for sure you are the next .