Lizard

In the night , we had a power cut( there was no light at all ) and I so wanted to go to the loo . With my torchlight on I headed to the toilet . As I opened the door, something scared the hell out me . It was the lizard. And know what I had my mobile with me .. wow!! I then focused the torchlight on the lizard and captured this picture.Well I know it is not any great image or something to post but still that was fun for me clicking this in the middle of the night lighting up the torch.

The wall lizard

Just played around with the picture with Photoshop.

Fighting for the rights-Protest against the Maoist

Protests, strikes these day have become very common in Nepal due to the improper and

unstable political management.Everyday for some or the other reasons protests are staged by the citizens.These are people that have all been victimized or had their family members killed by the Maoist rebels.They are protesting to put pressure on the government to meet their demands and to declare those killed by the Maoists as martyrs and return property "looted" by the Maoists.The protesting locals were shouting slogans against the Maoists and they had blocked the main road that links Lalitpur with Kathmandu which caused a chaos in the traffic.

Protest by the Maoists victims .They have formed a group named Maoist victims association.

A chaos on the road.People are stuck .

Security to handle the chaotic situation. But it seems they themselves were confused to take actions.

Protest against funding cut off for festivals on 28th sept 08

An angry protest was staged by the Newar community(Natives of Kathmandu Valley) against the government for cutting off the budget for the religious festivals(Jatras) celebrated since years on 28th September 2008.

The protesters blocked traffic in Basantapur,Kathmandu by burning tyres.

They also demonstrated rallies in Basantapur.

The security force, to avoid any unhappy incidents.

On the day of the solar eclipse

Yesterday , 1 Aug 2008, occurred the total solar eclipse.According to the NASA ,the eclipse began in Canada and extended across northern Greenland, the Arctic, central Russia, Mongolia, and China. A partial eclipse was seen in northeastern North America, most of Europe and Asia.

It was said that a partial solar eclipse would be seen in Nepal too starting at 4:22 pm (NST) until 6:13 pm( about 1 hour and 51 minutes). So even I was very excited to view the eclipsed sky . I waited till the previously declared time .The sky was clear during the afternoon but later was full of clouds which hindered me to view the proper scenario .However I could see the sky darkening (unlike as usual) .I then captured those moments(though it did not look too great) in my n95 mobile.

It was during the afternoon before the eclipse started , the sky was quite clear and not much cloudy .

From my place the sky looked like this during the eclipse. it turned darker but was a bit cloudier than the afternoon.
Though I could see no signs of sun , the sky continued getting darker and darker .

I took this picture at around 5:55 pm when the eclipse was quite near to the end .

Fuel crisis hits my nation too

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 is now high time the government ponders to find alternatives for fuel crisis and bring the it to an edge.They now should seriously start thinking over to use the most out of Solar energy,renewable and green energy,wind power, hydro-electric power,bio-gas generators and so on before reaching the very worst.

Child labour

"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 .

Strike again strikes the City

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 .

Highway Jam

Jam in Prithivi Highway (Pokhara to Kathmandu)
Date-: Jan 21st 2008
Time-: around 2 pm

The raining day in KTM

picture was taken from my window on the raining day in kathmandu.