Vibes August

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August issue of our magazine Vibes

Transcript of Vibes August

Page 1: Vibes August
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Priyanka DangolI feel that with more colleges open-ing up, new opportunities have opened up for students. The in-creased interest in education, be it from a business point of view, will probably lead to increased compe-tition which will probably improve quality of education.

Sural SharmaThe massive advertising that is being done currently makes me doubt weather the schools and col-leges are being opened for the no-ble cause of education or just the profit incentive.

Is it Justifiable and legal to build apartments of such heights great-er than the fire engines’ reach?Yes, it’s completely legal to build these apartments. The fault lies in the hands of those in charge of the firefighting department for not be-ing able to upgrade their vehicles. The legal provisions include safe-ty pre-requisites such as enough evacuation space, fire exits and fire extinguishers, which have been fol-lowed and implemented meticu-lously.

How safe are the colossal apart-ments without the firefighting de-partment in hand? I cannot say it’s 100% safe without the firefighting department but in the context of Nepal, the firefight-ing department is almost useless with their outdated vehicles and equipments. From our side, we are completely cautious about the safety and have enough facilities to-save human life during a fire.

Should there be legal provisions regarding the maximum height of a building in accordance to the capacity of the fire fighters?Without the development of the fire-fighting department and upgrading of their vehicles and equipments,

there’s no point in making legal provisions regarding the height of the buildings. In this era of urban-ization, huge apartments and build-ings are undoubtedly vital. If we keep on building traditional houses, where is the room for urbanization and development?

Who is to blame for not overhaul-ing and upgrading the fire fight-ing vehicles and equipments?Well, I would not completely blame the firefighting department on this issue, instead the municipality who are in charge. The municipalities draw budgets of billions but over-look the state of the fire engines and the idea to upgrade and overhaul them.

The maximum capacity of the fire department to deal with fire is with the department able to put out fires only upto 8 floors. Fur-

thermore, most of the vehicles and equipments of the fire department

Shiva Ram Karki (In charge, Fire Fighting Department, Lalitpur)

Is it Justifiable and legal to build apartment buildings of such enormous heights the fire engines cannot reach?No, it is definitely not acceptable to build these colossal apartments though it is not completely illegal. The question is why they cannot vi-sualize the scenario of these apart-ments catching fire and the fire-fighters being completely helpless. It would result in serious danger to human life and infrastructures.

How safe are the colossal apart-ments without the firefighting de-partment in hand? I think these apartments are not at all safe without our department. Though they do not fail to convince people by saying that it is absolute-ly safe but they neglect the idea

that these features are only useful in the time of a diminutive fire and not during an auto-extended or massive fire.

Should there be legal provisions regarding the height of a building in accordance to the capacity of the fire engines?The height of the buildings must be enough for the fire engines to reach them. Moreover, questions are be-ing raised regarding the weak base on which the apartments are built. Us not having modern vehicles and equipment does not give them a reason to overlook the capacity of the fire engines before building such massive apartment buildings.

Who is to blame for not overhaul-ing and upgrading the fire fight-ing vehicles and equipments?We would not blame the municipal-ity in this issue, since they have been incharge of the fire department only for the past 6-7 months and they are trying their best to upgrade the ve-hicles and equipments although the government has not taken serious interest in upgrading it. The main problem that exists is that the ve-hicles are not available locally and repairing takes long time.

Umesh PWe can’t really generalize the trend that is prominent today. I feel that most colleges, especially TU affili-ated, are actually dedicated to edu-cation but there are certainly some out there which aim for nothing but profit by hiking up fees. We need to form a case-to-case view, not a gen-eralized one.

There are colleges opening up around every corner, some probably just for the profit. What is your opinion about the situation?

have not been upgraded since the reign of Juddha Shumsher. But is it acceptable to build such colossal apartments ignoring the capacity of the fire department?

'My own two cents'

Chiranjibi Subedi(Superintendent Engineer, Ministry of Physical Planning )

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Photo Courtesy: kgarira.com

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MUSICOLOGYHouse of Music, located in

Thamel, is - fi rst and fore-most, a live music club. Now you may ask why the need for a dedi-cated live music venue, especially when there are so many restaurants that already have live bands? The answer to that lies a little deeper in the way music has evolved, or rather not evolved, since the 80s and 90s in these so called live mu-sic restaurants in Kathmandu.

Music in Thamel bars still hold on dearly to ‘Cocaine’, ‘Is This Love’, and ‘Lodi’, with very little empha-sis on homegrown original music. In order to move away from this stagnant music culture, House of Music was born. It is owned and operated by Musicology: a music promotion company founded on the idea of promoting music to bring about positive changes in

our communities; it also serves as the management team for 1974AD and Albatross, two of the premiere bands of Nepal.

Established as a venue for live mu-sic, House of Music is a platform for all musicians. In its fi rst year of operation, House of Music has brought together music from all genres – and is a frequent venue for jazz (e.g. Inner Groove), rock (e.g.1974AD & Albatross), punk (e.g. Rai ko Ris & Tank Girls), reggae (e.g. NayaFaya), blues (e.g. Mukti ‘N Revival), and metal (e.g. E.Quals). The House of Mu-sic artist line-up truly represents the vibrant local music scene in Kathmandu. Whenever possible, House of Music has also hosted in-ternational artists (e.g. Vatchapuj & Vanessa Boyd)

EVENTS @ HOUSE OF MUSIC

Featured Fridays, is a weekly event at House of Music that

strives to promote local Nepali bands playing original materials. To take Fridays up a notch, the ‘Art-ist of the Month’ event features prominent Nepali musicians once a month. House of Music also orga-nizes events such as Saturday Rock Revival, Funky Tuesday Jazz, and Dark Wednesdays, where popular local bands are featured to bring to you the favorite hits of the 70s, 80s, 90s and the 00s.

This month of August 2010 is spe-cial to House of Music: It will be one year since it opened their doors to music lovers. In celebration of their anniversary, they have some excellent line-up starting with Sa-bin Rai on August 6th, Robin and the New Revolution on August 13th, 1974AD (TBC) on August 20th, and Astha Tamang Maskey (TBC) on August 27th.

With the rising popularity of kara-oke in Kathmandu, House of Music offers the opportunity for all aspir-ing musicians to step up to the mi-crophone. Interested parties can reserve the hall for a karaoke (birth-day, gathering, offi ce) party where the selection of songs ranges from Beatles to U2; Frank Sinatra to AC/DC, Aretha Franklin to Coldplay.

FOOD @ HOUSE OF MUSIC

While live music is scheduled from 8 pm during event

nights, the terrace at House of Mu-sic is open from 3 pm for snacks and dinner. Enjoy the afternoon, away from the madness of Thamel; sip a cup of coffee, listen to some good music, read a book, enjoy a sumptuous dinner.

The House menu includes popular bar foods such as momo, buffalo wings, spicy satayed chicken, and quesadillas. Should you be hun-grier, House also offers a range of entrés from their newly introduced Asian Fusion Cuisine – from pork katsu with tonkatsu sauce, grilled chicken breast with teriyaki sauce, to kimchi pasta.

Work is under progress to add wood-fi red pizza as well as special-ty coffee, which should be ready in a month’s time.

The bartenders at House of Music are trained to serve the best drinks in town. The bar menu offer a large range of classic cocktails (e.g. mar-garita, mojito, long island iced tea) to some of the House of Music sig-nature cocktails (e.g. g-string, cran-tini, rusted nail). House also serves a wide selection of beer – Carlsberg, Heineken, San Miguel, Everest, and Gorkha.

Contact: http://www.facebook.com/houseofmusicnepal Nitesh @ 9849243807 or Sanjay @ 9851075172.

It is probably diffi cult to fi nd a Nepali music lover who has not

heard of Albatross. To me, they emerged as an assurance that there was hope for Nepali music after all and not every alternative Nepali band had to pronounce “Bhane” as “Vane” – their songs are original and truly represent the potential of nepali bands.

Starting out as Applesauce, Abhaya Bajracharya and Sunny Manand-har started playing music before their SLCs. After Max(bass) left the band, they found new members in Nitesh Rai (vocals) and Dipesh (drums) completed the band and the band was ready to take fl ight. ‘Broke 17’ became their trademark song as their fi rst single that repre-sented their current style infl uenced by RATM and RHCP. After Nitesh left the band, the guys found their new vocals in Shirish Dali, whom they discovered performing at the St Xavier’s School Mela. But again, after Shirish had to leave for the US, the band found new members - Di-was and Anurag. But soon the band

seemed to fall apart when all mem-bers except Abhaya left the country.

Anyone who has heard their two albums will fi nd it hard to believe that both are from the same artist. Where “Hi:Fly” is an all out thrash album, “Jo Jas Sanga Sambandhit Cha” features an alternative vibe. The band says that the transition was motivated by the band not wanting to be labelled into a par-ticular genre. In the future too, the

band claims that they will not be re-peating their style and will continue experimenting

The album Jo Jas Sanga Sam-bandhit Cha became a hit, but it was not instantaneous. The album suffered from lack of marketing and could not get enough exposure. The band rose to fame through un-conventional routes, a few being bluetooth and the internet. Though most of the CDs remained stacked at the homes of the band members,

the songs found their way to mu-sic lovers. During their time away from the country, they continued to be part of many rumors. Two songs in particular, “Gaye Mera Ganja Khane Din” and “Chihan Ki Pari”, were for some reason believed to be from Albatross even though the band was not involved in them. The name Albatross seemed to create such a spark among the people that many concerts made it a habit to add them as guest artists on posters even without informing the band.

The band members love music and jamming. Even being in dif-ferent states did not prevent them from jamming from time to time on Skype. This yearning seems to have brought the band together once again as Albatross has returned and is all set to take the music scene for a joy-ride once again. Niraj Bajrach (drums) is the newest addition to the band. Currently Albatross is working on their full length album named Atti Bhayo.

Albatross Taking Flight Again

Shirish Bhattarai

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MUSICOLOGYSapanako Sabiti

The night was dark, the night was quiet. The moon hung it-

self high up on his throne and the stars blinked from behind her. The lights were out again and the dark-ness had won over, the moon il-luminating everything with its sil-very glow. Inside the thick layer of buildings, no traffi c noises dared to penetrate and inside this quiet street, no urban sounds existed. The birds had already gone off to their respective nests, warming up little eggs or snoozing off with their little ones. There were insects though, the slight sound of crickets hung in the air. Nature had already gone to sleep and the ones awake were the creatures of the night.

Occasionally the light smell of burning wax would drift off from somewhere. The boy threw his head up, tonight was a good night, he thought. His head bumped the wall behind him creating a kind of support for his head. Letting out a deep sigh that resonated through the empty quiet night, he wondered how perfectly still everything was and yet how everything looked so alive. The plants that had turned a dark shade of green rustled in the

night wind and sometimes a mouse would run past, amplifying the rus-tle. No lights, nothing to do.

The boy was a computer geek, he would spend the majority of his time in front of his computer screen and with lights being cut every night, he had nothing to do. His obsession for the machine had left him far behind, his friends were more social, had more friends and would hang out occasionally which left him here but he didn’t mind. He love it this way, he loved spending time with himself as company.

The festival of lights, Tihar was be-ing spent in darkness. People who could afford generators had them on showing off bright lights in full glory while other smaller houses made use of candles or the tradi-tional diyo to lighten up their hous-es. It is believed that the brighter your house is, the more chance of the visit of the goddess of wealth, Laxmi. Far off, the sound of people singing could be heard, singing for money. The houses here were dark though, the houses that lined the street were enveloped in darkness

although faint lights of candles tried to fi ght back, failing. He en-joyed this place because the dark-ness had managed to rule, because the darkness gave him a chance to hide himself.

A lot of time had gone by since the boy had made himself comfortable on the street when the girl came by, guitar slung on her shoulder. She had just returned from her extra guitar classes, her mind drifting over the thought that what kind of crazy person would take guitar classes on a festive day like Lax-mi Puja, extra classes even. She almost jumped when she saw the boy sitting quietly on the ground. Her fi rst impression of him was that of a drug addict, Kathmandu was full of drug junkies and the boy seemed like one. Maybe he was high, she thought, maybe he’ll attack me. A part of her mind had comprehended that he was danger-ous to her, but another part of her mind refused to believe he was. Maybe he’s just lonely, thought that part but one can never be too careful. She walked by the boy and entered her house.

The Festival-1

Prajesh Rana

FICTION

“ “

“The play is fi ctional truth”, stresses the protagonist,

Sapana played by Nisha Sharma in Sapanako Sabiti, a recent addition to the list of Gurukul plays. Writ-ten by journalist writer CK Lal, and directed by Sunil Pokharel, the play grips the audience right from the start; the viewers fi nd them-selves unable to detach themselves from relating to the life of people affected by confl ict.

Written as a monologue, the play focused on the lifes and tales of Sapana. Sapana, attired as a traffi c offi cial, shares with the audience her story of how she ended up as a

traffi c police in the valley. Her nar-ration is assisted by Drasta, played by Sanjeev Upreti, the author of the novel, “Ghanchakkar.” The smooth transition between Sapana and Drasta, alternately performing the role of the storyteller, strength-ens the play.

The story portyraying the search of the identity of a woman who is a vic-tim of the conflict, pres-ents Sapana as the symbol of all Nepali women.

The audiences are transported back in time to Sapana’s teenage years when she fell in love with a foreign photojournalist who dissa-peared without a trace. As the story proceeds we witness how Sapana becomes Himshila, a maoist cadre; falls in love with a fellow cadre who gets killed in the war. She faces the darkest days of her life when she is tortured by the army and is eventually rescued. She then works as a teacher, and then fi nally moves to Kathmandu after the People’s Movement II.

The horrifying events that hap-pened in different parts of the coun-try during the decade long war and even after the establishment of the republic system are presented real-istically in this play. All of the the supporting actors have added their charm to this excellent direction that manages to capture the audi-ence’s attention throughout the play. Nisha Sharma has delivered a vivid performance as Sapana, and her strong acting has given an appealing edge to her whole char-acter. Sanjeev upreti has also done justice to Drasta who narrates Sa-pana’s story. Lighting effects were also applaudable.

The story portyraying the search of the identity of a woman who is a victim of the confl ict, presents Sapana as the symbol of all Nepali women. Her inconstant last name is something that each women has faced. Painted as a light spirited jolly person Sapana never gives up and survives all the ups and downs that life offered. One clear message that the play conveys is -Never stop dreaming.

Events at house of music

Sabin Rai, August 6th

Robin and the new revolution, August 13th

1974 AD, August 20th

Astha Tamang Maskey, August 27th

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“Classical music is the root of every genre of music that

has ever existed. You can not ven-ture the musical ground without classical music because nothing is free from the classical touch”, says Dhurbesh Chandra Regmi, lawyer, social worker and the fi rst and the only PhD degree holder in music in Nepal. When Regmi picked up a Sitar at a tender age of 6 he had never thought that music would be his profession, yet here he is con-tent and happy with his career as a Sitarist.

If you practically live and grow in a musical environment it is bound to make some impacts on you and that is exactly what happened with Dhrubesh. Music ran deep in the Regmi family and thus for him playing sitar on most of its part was a hobby and on lesser portion fam-ily pressure and infl uence. Regmi had his fi rst public performance at the age of 12 and is the 4th genera-tion of Sitar player in the family.

When asked for reasons behind his unusual choice of subject for PhD, Regmi has a very interesting story

to share. During his time, music was not taken seriously so pursuing music to educational level was un-heard and questionable issue. The conception was that music was for those who were weak in studies, something of a second class. Regmi wanted to defy this very notation and his PhD paper entitled “The History of Nepali Music with Spe-cial Preference to Classical Music during Rana period” was the revo-lutionary evidence.

The journey till the achievement of the degree however was not easy. Dhrubesh was hooked to playing Sitar but due to the societal miscon-ception he had to attain a valid edu-

cational degree and thus he chose law. Even twenty years before now he was undecided about his future and decided to take his career as lawyer and musician side by side. Maintaining the balance was diffi -cult but not impossible. Infact the status of a lawyer was an added bonus to his musical expertise and his musical acssociation comple-mented his law profession. He also states that, “ Music is my proffes-sion while law is my hobby”.

Dhrubesh started travelling the world as an individuial musician in 1990 and in 1997 he formed a classical band named “Sukarma”. “Classical music is for class not

mass”, asserts Regmi. The over-whelming appreciation, respect and recognition inspite of selected number of audiences is the proof of their popularity. He also plans to shift the focus from class to mass because classical music needs more coverage.

He is quite happy with his musical journey which was much facilitated by his reputation as a lawyer and his musical family background. Apart from being a successful musician and a known lawyer Dhrubesh C. Regmi is also a social worker. He is the founder member of South Asia Watch on Trade, Economics and Environment (SAWTEE).Dhru-besh C. Regmi has taken music to new heights. His effort of establish-ing music as an intellectual disci-pline is respectable and no amount of praises can suffi ce. In today’s time where lyrically shallow and digitally tampered musics are all the rage we need people like him to continue the legacy of classical mu-sic and rescue it from fading into the pages of history.

“Wrapping things up for this week, this is me, Sujita

aka Suzi to da A ending the show with a suggestion. Remember to always keep that wonderful smile on that beautiful face of yours and, oh yes, keep on smiling!”

With that, I ended my show. Oc-tober 19 2007. That was my fi rst time on air through the airwaves of Hits FM 91.2 and the mixed emotions that I felt throughout the entire show cannot be expressed in words. Nonetheless, if the emo-tions had to be described, then they would be summed up into a kaleidoscope of fear, anxiety and euphoria.

Three years later, and the feelings are the same although I would say there is less of fear and more con-fi dence. Going on air live and the mere prospect of reaching out to the masses and being appreciated by them is what makes the job of a radio jockey (RJ) special and one of a kind.

As my colleague, Supriya Prad-han, RJ at Hits FM 91.2 says, “As a listener back then, I used to be inspired by the RJs whom I used to hear on the radio. Just like them, I wanted to infl uence others and have a positive impact on my lis-

teners. That was one of my main reasons for joining this fi eld.”

Being an RJ does not only give us the opportunity to be a role model for others, especially our listen-ers. On top of this, since the job

is part of the media, the fun as-pect lies in the fact that there are various challenges along the way. Through these, we learn and gain more insight about various things. For instance, I also learnt how to make advertisements and take in-terviews. It is a job that is all fun and where we get opportunities for growth.

Moreover, RJ-ing can be like a stepping stone from which one can

branch out to various other jobs in the entertainment industry.

Alok Thapa, also from Hits FM 91.2 says, “Many RJs have moved on to becoming Video jockeys (VJs). Thus, if you are a people

person, very gregarious then this is the perfect job for you.”

Of course, as everything else, this job also has its own draw-backs. Although it is quite fl ex-ible, there are times when there is no way you are going to be entitled to a “day off” even when the na-tion is in crisis. I remember, during the recent Maoist strikes, I had to walk fi ve hours to get to my offi ce in New Baneshwor to get in time

for my show. Afterall, as RJs, we have a responsibility towards our listeners who expect us to be there, on air, all set to entertain them and at Hits FM 91.2, we provide that 24/7.

Contrary to popular belief, this is not a job with a high salary rate. There are some RJs who do not even get paid for their work in var-ious radio stations. They choose to continue doing the work for their own experiences.

“Personally, it is a very thankless job. It is all about your passion and drive. If you love music, the more blessed you are,” says Alok.

All in all, if you are one with a great interest in music and are passionate about taking up a job where money is not an issue, then you sure are a good candidate for this job! Remember, it is impor-tant to not just have the drive and enthusiasm for the job, but you should also be capable and have a strong command o f the language; depending on the type of show you will be in charge of. It is all about your passion for music and being there for your listeners!

The concep-tion was that music was for those who were weak in studies, something of a second class.

Nikesh Dahal

Going on air live and the mere prospect of reaching out to the masses and being appreciated by them is what makes the job of a radio jockey (RJ) special and one of a kind.

Page 7: Vibes August

Mr. Upendra Paudyal is fa-mous for making the im-

possible happen. Especially to-day, after 10 years as the CEO of NMB Bank, the name Upendra Paudyal has become a perfect synonym for NMB bank. How-ever, it is his sheer humbleness that he does not want to take any credit for the success of NMB Bank and rather praises his team for such accomplishments. Vibes believed that we all had a lot to learn from such a personality and so we sat down for an interview with the man himself...

VIBES: Your brief career his-tory so far.Upendra Paudyal: Initially, I worked for the fi nance department of Soaltee Hotel. Meanwhile, I tried my hands on Rastra Bandi-jya Bank but soon I decided to leave for ‘obvious’ reasons. Then I worked with Grindlays Bank (Now Standard Chartered) for 14 years. This was where my career started building strongly. In 2001, I joined NMB bank as the CEO and today I am proud to remain a part of this bank.

VIBES: You are often referred to as the backbone of NMB bank, why?

The stress of modern living is increasing by the day due to

various demands that people have to fulfi ll in order to maintain their living style. The biggest draw back of going to an offi ce is that there are no physical activity and the mental stress affects the health of working class.

Imagine an oasis providing an es-cape from the hustle of city life with professionals dedicated to pro-viding you with a relaxing experi-ence all the while giving your body a real soothing medical treatment. Most fi nd themselves daydream-ing about such

a tranquil experience. Now, for a moment, imagine yourself at the other side - as the musseuse. So what exactly do you need to do as a spa therapist? As a spa therapist, you need to learn to take the human body through ride - beautifying and relaxing it all the while pampering it to the fullest extent.

Now is a great time for the Spa in-dustry as the market is seems to be have now where else to go but up. There are numerous opportunities in Nepal and abroad as well. Stu-dents studying abroad cannot work as many hours as they wish since they are allowed to work only a

certain number of hours per month. Compared to a part-timer

student in the U.S earning $5.25 per hour, a spa therapist could earn $50 per hour, both allowed to work a maximum of 20 hours per week. In countries like Malaysia, Qatar, Dubai Nepalese workers hardly earn Rs 20,000 working day and night as labourers but in the same countries, a spa therapist can make more than Rs 100,000 in a month.

Thus, students fresh out of A levels, +2 or ISc and hoping to go abroad should seriously look into this fi eld as their education, confi dence and English speaking skills give them an edge.

Nepal is a developing country with people struggling to make ends meet and thus cannot compete in the world of modern medicine. In a developing country like ours, the vast number of indegeneuous practices and medical treatments could give us an upper hand in Spa

Therapy. The Nepal Tourism Board is promoting the industry as an al-ternative to medicine under “Health Tourism” for the Nepal Tourism Year 2011. Minimum education is suffi cient to train as a spa thera-pist and the training itself isn’t that diffi cult too. So, this career option could become a boon to the mas-sive number of unemployed in our

country. Also, this could also be extremely useful to those who may have missed out on a opportunity of a formal education or need a fresh start at a career for instance margin-alised groups, victims of domestic violence, and numerous others.

For those interested to begin training, the Tranquility Beauty Academy (T.B.A) in Lazimpat has started a 6 month long diploma course on Spa and Beauty Therapy.

Upendra Paudyal: Firstly, I dis-agree with the fact that I am the backbone or anything of that sort. NMB Bank is in this position today because of the positive attitude of our team, quality customer service, strategically correct movements and excessive homework. Actually everything just seemed to click and I happened to join the bank when it was ready to grow. After a year of working with the bank, we became the number 1 erchant ank in Nepal. Then later with two years of exces-sive uphill struggle we managed to jump to ‘ka’ (topmost, commer-cial) level directly from ‘ga’ (third, fi nance). This was the most re-

nowned and probably the biggest success of NMB bank till date.

VIBES: In your entire career, what are some notable moments worth mentioning?Upendra Paudyal: When you achieve something after your hard work then that moment is always cherished. One particular mo-ment would be my achievement in Grindlays Bank. I was assigned as the branch-manager and was told to double the business of the branch. Surprisingly, within less than 1 year the business had quadrupled. Simi-larly, the time when NMB Bank up-graded was a very special moment.

VIBES: Besides your career what other activities are you involved in or what do you prefer to do in your spare time.Upendra Paudyal: I enjoy cricket. I support India but I even admire England’s game and performance. I prefer to read books as well. I started reading from Sidney Shel-don and these days I take pleasure in books which are based on fi ction related to fi nancial matter and also fi nancial journals. Besides these, I am an active donor and supporter of an Anath Ashram and I take great pleasure from my work there. Due to regular help and involvement, I was appointed as the Chairman of the school they are running. Simi-larly I am also actively involved with the Rotaract Club.

VIBES: Any words of wisdom for the youth?Upendra Paudyal: Today, there is a wide range of scope in every fi eld. Back in our days the most studi-ous studied Science, the children of businessmen studied Commerce and the rest studied humanities aim-ing for a decent government job. Quite contrary from then, today it’s a global world. The best advice I could give is to have a positive at-titude and do what you enjoy.

Who’s Who Upendra Paudyal

Prepare to Pamper

Now is a great time to join the Spa industry as the market seems to have now where else to go but up.

Pooja Byanjankar

Feature

Page 8: Vibes August

3

5

8

Number of co-lours that don’t rhyme with any thing - orange, purple, silver

If facebook were a country it would be the 5th largest by population

thousand - gal-lons of saliva produced by a human in his life.

number of spiders a human eats ac-cidentally in his life

1410

6

2

98

thousand - num-ber of dreams an average person has every year

feet - minimum distance between commode and toothbrush

hundred - number of english slang words for mari-juana

percent of atoms of the human body are replaced every year

Life in a Day - A Day to Make Film History

Oscar-winning director Kevin MacDonald (The

Last King of Scotland) and produc-er Ridley Scott (Gladiator, Robin Hood) team up with the You Tube community to create fi lm making history. with “Life in a Day”

The movie provides the you tube community shoot their lives and upload them for the world to see. Contributors can send it any-thing from a simple walk on the street or a grand festival. The di-rector wants the contributors to answer 3 questions - what do you love? what do you fear? and what

is in your pocket? After a tens or even hundreds of years, when peo-ple see the movie, they will be able to fi nd a glimpse of what was hap-pening in the world on July 24th, 2010.

The clips sent in by you-tubers will be sorted through and some will be selected and added to the movie, which will be pre-meired at the Sundance Film Festi-val. Twenty of the contributors will be called as guests to the event.All contributors will be given the title of co-directors in the credits.

Driveless Van to Go from Italy to China Numbers

Rumor Has It

A team of Italian engineers from Vislab is all geared

up for the longest test drive of driverless technology. The driv-erless van is to travel all the way from Italy to China in October. The vechile is not just respon-sible for moving from point A to point B but also needs to handle the job of maneuvering through traffi c, twists, turns and every-thing else the road throws at them.

The van is not completely empty. There is of course a man behind the steering wheel but he does not control the steering ex-cept in cases of emergencies if la-ser scanners, cameras, and software fail. The van will also be preceded by a manned vehicle that trav-els in front of it all the way. The manned vehicles will give the driv-erless van cues on where to go .

The idea is that someday 100 percent driverless technology could be used to freight cargo, reduce troop risk by running driverless military supply convoys and so on.

For some rea-son, every

child is told by h i s

takes 7 years to get digested by the human body if we swallow it and God knows what it does to the body while it rots for 7 years.

Chewing is no different from any other food once it gets inside our bodies. Our bodies can-not differentiate between an apple,

a sandwich or a chewing gum. Once it gets to the stomach, it is nothing more than paste and the body can’t tell it apart from food.

No matter how much your mum insists, this rumor is FALSE.

parents that swallowing chewing gum is extremely harmful to his health. Most of us have probably

heard that if you swallow gum, it gets stuck in the

intestines and causes the walls of the intestines to get

stuck together. It seems moms in

western culture are more imagina-

tive their Nepali coun-terparts, as most western-

ers beleive that chewing gum

Chewing gum gets stuck in intestines if swallowed ””

Miscellaneous

Page 9: Vibes August

Letters to the Editor

From the Editor’s Desk Cent Percent PassThis issue of ‘Vibes’ monthly

is quite special for us in many ways. It not only marks the return of the newspaper after a 5 month hiatus, but also marks the end of our fi rst year working together. In the course of the past year, the newspaper has grown a year old but we feel we have grown much more than that. So, here’s to the completion of a year long jour-ney full of excitement, hard work, learning and all in all a hell of a year. Cheers!

Let us take a while to retrace our steps and take you back to the be-ginning when Vibes was nothing but an intangible idea being shared between a couple of friends over a few laughs and a cup of tea at a tea-shop in Kupondol. The idea of the newspaper actually emerged as a way of funding an NGO (4E’s Group) that we were hoping to re-establish. The idea of the NGO got tangled up in paperwork, but that of the the newspaper stuck. All of us realized that we were all ex-tremely interested in publishing a newspaper and that is what we did.

The one year journey from the con-versation at the tea-shop to writing this editorial was fi lled with many obstacles and accomplishments. We have also had the priviledge of working with manypeople who have aided us in many different ways. Each one of them has con-tributed to our growth in one way or another. Starting from square one, we learned to do everything that is needed to run a newspaper - from writing to marketing, hunting down advertising to getting writ-ers to meet deadlines. Every little mistake that we made was a learn-

ing experience for us. We are very grateful to all the people who have accompanied us in this journey by either helping us directly or sup-porting us in our efforts. It is this support that gets us through every time we are faced with an obstacle. Getting articles, interviews and es-pecially advertisements can get ex-tremely hectic from time to time; and with the deadline hovering over our minds, get the job done egts pretty tough. But no matter what happens, in the end the sight of the fi rst copy of the issue makes it all worth it. Every page of every copy is an accomplishment for us. Even after a year, I get jitters every time I see a copy of Vibes hang-ing at the newstands or when I see someone reading a copy. The sense of satisfaction and pride cannot be compared to anything else.

So, what now? Where do we head from here? We have had many people tell us things that are good and bad about the newspaper and we hope we continue to improve and evolve into the true representa-tion of the youth of Nepal that we wished the paper would be in the fi rst place. When we started out, we had a fi rm picture of what we wanted from the paper and what we did not. We wanted it to be some-thing that the youth could relate to, enjoy and at the same to keep up to date with what is happening in the world. We don’t want it to be-come another teen magazine with glitz and glamour but no content. These are somethings that you can always expect out of Vibes.

On the oth-er side of

the Iron Gate, lie numerous detours, each one promising the best route in your jour-

ney towards higher education. As the admission ‘season’ comes by, newspapers, television, radio and every other media imaginable is fl ooded with advertisements of col-leges and schools offering every-thing from ‘well-equipped libraries, elevator service, unlimited internet’

and so on. The only thing they are missing out on is a ‘admit one and get one free’ scheme. If you exam-ine these adds closely you will see that almost all of them fl aunt a ‘cent percent pass’ record in SLC or very promising results in other board exams. If not infl uenced by fl ashy advertising, students are most likely to be drawn to schools and colleges that have a very good record - 100% passing rate, high percentage of stu-dents getting distinction or very high grades and world and nepal toppers would just be the cherry on top. But beware, stop and think what these records actually mean before jump-ing into any conclusions.

Year after year, the creme de la creme among graduating students enter into colleges that have earned fame throughout the years. The colleges too make the criterion of admission such that only the bril-liant ones are fi letered out. So the

best schools in the country end up with the best students in the coun-try which gives colleges have a ‘cent percent pass’ rate and end up with nepal-toppers; isn’t that con-venient? Two major issues root out of this predicament. Firstly, the per-fect record of the school is not nec-essarily a refl ection of the school’s education standard. It may as just well be a refl ection of the student’s hard work. For example, though Kathmandu has the best infrastruc-ture and teachers in the country, the SLC board toppers are always from schools that no one has ever heard

of from rural areas that no one ever expected. Secondly, if the good col-leges are willing to take only the best students, what is to happen of the second best and even worrying, the rest of the class. The real glory in education would lie in turning a poor student into a brilliant one, not taking an already brilliant student and fi ne tuning him a bit.

Education should not be a race or a job interview, each student has the right to the same quality of educa-tion as any one of his peers. The practice of differentiating students according to performance or even having ‘honors classes’ is not only a huge blow to self esteem of the students but also an indirect attack to one’s rights. If a school really wants to prove itself as a capable institution, it should take the worst students out there and mould them into the best ones.

Nisha MallaVibes has many interesting facts and information. However, I do hope that you would consider a fi ction segment. It would give a refreshing dimension to your paper. Otherwise, no comments. Love it!

Nibu NaralI am a regular reader of VIBES and am glad to know that in this short period since its start,’ it has gained market and a good read-ership. I enjoy going through your magazine and am glad to see such young people work in such a serious matter. Keep up

the good work.

Akash Thapa I am a big fan of your work and am very excited ev-ery time a new issue comes out. I am sure that vibes is destined for big and great things, my only concern is that the lack of pic-tures and colors might be stop-ping people from picking up a copy of vibes and pulling them toward the competitive brands. I really wish that you start putting up more pictures to attract read-ers

Ankita Shah I feel that some pages are too serious for our crowd. But I really like your work.You guys are doing a great job.You guys are so young but good and it shows in your work. For me, Time Out, Entertainment and Trends page take the top places. The numbers and rumor has it are always a good read. Though, I hope articles are more light hearted

Shubham SapkotaI feel that the newspaper is not getting enough exposure due to lack of marketing.

The real glory in education would lie in turning a poor student into a brilliant one, not taking an already brilliant student and fi ne tuning him

Op-Ed

Page 10: Vibes August

Come monsoon season and everybody has to rake

their brains as to what to put on and step out of the house. Be it clothes, footwear or make-up, everyone has to compromise in terms of dressing up not accord-ing to what looks best on them but as per the showers allow them.It’s time to prepare for the rainy days with style!

Here are some simple but impor-tant tips for this Monsoon season.

Footwear Ladies: Flip-fl ops, fl ats, modern crocs

Men: Sport sandals,crocs even high gumboots (if one can carry it)

Strict No: High heels, sports

shoes, slippery shoes, leather shoes.

Raincoat A raincoat is a girl’s best friend when it comes to rainy days. Besides acting as a shield it can also be an ultra-fab accessory of our outfi t. Trench coats proved to the ideal combo to survive the rainy season.Options available: Mini or super-sized ones, mono-colored or densely patterned ones for a smashing look.

UmbrellaWho could refuse to wear them when the autumn umbrella trends step to another level with the arrival of each rainy season? Besides being fashionable it is also worth ensuring that it offers the necessary protection from humidity.

Make-up

MUST- Waterproof mascara, lin-ers, foundation, transfer-resistant lipsticks

Strict No- Dense Make Up as there is a chance of being smudged and washed out severely.

The origin of the term sundae is obscure. Various American

localities have claimed to be the birthplace of the ice cream sundae. These claimants include Ithaca, New York; Two Rivers, Wisconsin; New Orleans; Cleveland, Ohio; and Buffalo, New York.

But who’s concerned with the origin while slurping over a delicious bowl of sundae? If you love ice-cream and all things sweet, we have good news for you.Jawlakhel is proud to be the home of the newest ice cream parlor in town – S u n d a e , S u n d a e s are their m a j o r attraction and it claims to give one of the most genuine ice cream Sundaes of all time.

Located in the heart of the valley, Sundae is not at all a hard place to fi nd. It is right by the zoo parking and anyone with a sweet tooth can not miss it. Once you’ve entered the place, it will defi nitely surprise you with its mixture of the modern and the traditional look they have successfully achieved. Especially, when you do not expect it to be a

restaurant! Yup, Sundae is not only an Ice cream parlor but its also a restaurant, serving not only Nepali and Newari but also Continental, Chinese and Indian cuisines!

Sundae is a place for everyone, for all ages. It has an authentic Nepali feel once you’ve entered the roof top where the whole area is made out of nothing but sukuls.The best part of it all is that it is affordable, even if you’re low on pocket money! The Ice-cream sundaes

range from 175 to 210 r u p e e s according to the f l a v o r s . You can also enjoy a full meal for aboout Rs 250 for a full meal.

The person behind all of this is Mr. Madan Krishna Maharjhan who is a 3r year BCOM student and who has just turned 22.

So, if you’re looking for a scrumptious, belly fi lling meal then here is the place for you. Sundae is defi nitely the place to be. Make sure you order an entire sundae for yourself because sometimes you are allowed to be selfi sh, especially when it involves something so delicious!

Trends

Monsoon Tips

Dear perspective students,We are, most probably, Nepal’s fi rst in introducing a comprehensive spa education program. Our dynamic curriculum composite of sci-ence, ayurvedic and spa’s best practices, through which we prepare our graduates to become a confi dent workforce in Spa and Wellness industry.

Our diploma course is highly career specifi c & effective to current industry demands. Job is 100% guaranteed for deserving student, upon successful completion.

Good Luck.

Page 11: Vibes August

Come monsoon season and everybody has to rake

their brains as to what to put on and step out of the house. Be it clothes, footwear or make-up, everyone has to compromise in terms of dressing up not accord-ing to what looks best on them but as per the showers allow them.It’s time to prepare for the rainy days with style!

Here are some simple but impor-tant tips for this Monsoon season.

Footwear Ladies: Flip-fl ops, fl ats, modern crocs

Men: Sport sandals,crocs even high gumboots (if one can carry it)

Strict No: High heels, sports

shoes, slippery shoes, leather shoes.

Raincoat A raincoat is a girl’s best friend when it comes to rainy days. Besides acting as a shield it can also be an ultra-fab accessory of our outfi t. Trench coats proved to the ideal combo to survive the rainy season.Options available: Mini or super-sized ones, mono-colored or densely patterned ones for a smashing look.

UmbrellaWho could refuse to wear them when the autumn umbrella trends step to another level with the arrival of each rainy season? Besides being fashionable it is also worth ensuring that it offers the necessary protection from humidity.

Make-up

MUST- Waterproof mascara, lin-ers, foundation, transfer-resistant lipsticks

Strict No- Dense Make Up as there is a chance of being smudged and washed out severely.

The origin of the term sundae is obscure. Various American

localities have claimed to be the birthplace of the ice cream sundae. These claimants include Ithaca, New York; Two Rivers, Wisconsin; New Orleans; Cleveland, Ohio; and Buffalo, New York.

But who’s concerned with the origin while slurping over a delicious bowl of sundae? If you love ice-cream and all things sweet, we have good news for you.Jawlakhel is proud to be the home of the newest ice cream parlor in town – S u n d a e , S u n d a e s are their m a j o r attraction and it claims to give one of the most genuine ice cream Sundaes of all time.

Located in the heart of the valley, Sundae is not at all a hard place to fi nd. It is right by the zoo parking and anyone with a sweet tooth can not miss it. Once you’ve entered the place, it will defi nitely surprise you with its mixture of the modern and the traditional look they have successfully achieved. Especially, when you do not expect it to be a

restaurant! Yup, Sundae is not only an Ice cream parlor but its also a restaurant, serving not only Nepali and Newari but also Continental, Chinese and Indian cuisines!

Sundae is a place for everyone, for all ages. It has an authentic Nepali feel once you’ve entered the roof top where the whole area is made out of nothing but sukuls.The best part of it all is that it is affordable, even if you’re low on pocket money! The Ice-cream sundaes

range from 175 to 210 r u p e e s according to the f l a v o r s . You can also enjoy a full meal for aboout Rs 250 for a full meal.

The person behind all of this is Mr. Madan Krishna Maharjhan who is a 3r year BCOM student and who has just turned 22.

So, if you’re looking for a scrumptious, belly fi lling meal then here is the place for you. Sundae is defi nitely the place to be. Make sure you order an entire sundae for yourself because sometimes you are allowed to be selfi sh, especially when it involves something so delicious!

Trends

Monsoon Tips

Dear perspective students,We are, most probably, Nepal’s fi rst in introducing a comprehensive spa education program. Our dynamic curriculum composite of sci-ence, ayurvedic and spa’s best practices, through which we prepare our graduates to become a confi dent workforce in Spa and Wellness industry.

Our diploma course is highly career specifi c & effective to current industry demands. Job is 100% guaranteed for deserving student, upon successful completion.

Good Luck.

Forlan,Diego The tournament’s top play-er and a much deserved winner of the golden ball, a man who took the alomost un-qualifying Uruguain team to fourth place.

F “Give me Freedom” Wavin’ Flag - The anthem of the world cup, although not the offi cial Fifa world cup, was defi -netly a hit all through the competi-tion and was played more than the offi icial track by Shakira.

G

Hand of devilH

Hand of devil, Suarez

I Iniesta, Andreas The man who ended the 2010 world cup with his extra time fi nal goal against Neatherlands, and won the man of the match award for the fi nal game.

JJabulani.The adidas ball match ball with its own brain. Faced nearly as much criticism as the French team.

K Kingson,Richard Wigan Athletic’s third choice showed us why he is Afri-ca’s top goal keeper, a top assest to Ghana, should be credited for Gha-na reaching the quater-fi nals giving Africa something to cheer for.

LLinesmen.So many rash dec-sions, made by linesmen this world cup raised the debate for video technology yet again. M Maradona,Diego

NNepal. Football had hit Nepal like never before with matches being shown on random concrete walls ,but when we will get to cheer for our own country is unknown.

OOver-Hyped

PPaul the octopus

QDecisions like Fabio Capello’s choice to stick with 4-4-2, Kuz-manovic’s decision to handball in Serbia’s opening game however France’s decision to stick with Domenech before the competition might still be the worst.

Revolution - French

S Sneijder, Wesley The man who could have won it for the Neatherlands, and the probable player of the year.

T Tshabalala The man who started the world cup with a great goal and making africa proud.

U Upsets This world cup saw many upsets when Spain , Italy, France, all faltered.

V

Vuvuzela

W Waka-Waka The offi cial Fifa song for this world cup raised much concern for the decision for columbian sing-er Shakira to sing it.

X Xavi and Xabi This spanish force were the best passers of the tournament and were a major force in Spain’s win.

Y Yellow - Cards 14 in total were awarded in the fi nal between Netherlands and Spain, a record.

Z Zuma The South African presi-dent, who played a major part in bringing the world in africa for the fi rst time.

Vibes Dream 11

Africa. The continent’s fi rst World Cup was embraced off the pitch but on it, where only Ghana of the record six teams taking part got beyond the group stage, it was a massive disappointment.

BBlatter,Sepp It was always the Swede’s ‘dream’ to bring a World Cup to South Africa, how-ever his general disdain for video technology has once again risen to the fore.

DCameroon. So much hope was put on by Africa in this team, but player egos and bad tactics got in the way.

R

Early-exits. Big forces had to head home early this world cup including 2006 champions Italy, along with France and England.

E

World Cup A - Z

A

Domenech.From nearly failing to qualify in the fi rst place to stealing the head-lines of the world cup for all the wrong reasons the french manager was a huge failure.

One of the stars of the world cup, he pleasantly surprised many critics with his tactical preparation

Qestionable decisions

Anelka vs Domenech - probably the reason for the demise of the French.

World Cup 2010In numbers

58%England’s Shots Off Target

42 The number of goals scored during the second round of World Cup 2010, an increase of 68% on those scored during the first round

66%New Zealand have managed just three shots on target this tournament but have scored twice - the best shot to goal ratio of any team.

The tight Swiss defence kept out a goal for a re-cord 558 minutes of World Cup finals action stretching back to 1994 before Chile breached their backline in Monday’s 1-0 win.

558

446 Teams have been far more attacking and have racked up an impressive 446 shots on goal, the most at this stage since the World Cup was increased to 32 teams in 1998.

The number of goals Brazil had conceded to an African team at World Cup finals before Didier Drogba’s header.

0

Sports

Rooney, Ronaldo, Kaka - the list goes on......

R

Page 12: Vibes August

Success does not come easy. Hard work and will power are

the prerequisites.” This is what I have learned from my trek to An-napurna Base Camp (ABC). The steep twists and turns are bound to scare you but seem incongruous when you witness the sheer beauty of the place. There might not be much to do apart from soaking up the sight but just sipping a hot cup of coffee with friends at the altitude of 4120m is incomparable to any-thing else.

We started our trek from Nayapul with our fi ngers crossed in excite-ment and fear, anticipating an ad-venture of a lifetime. After 6 hours of tiresome walk, we reached Ghan-druk (1951 m), home of the biggest Gurung community. Our second stop was Chhomrong (1950m) which took us 5 hours. The quaint village with its mesmerizing to-pography, purity, cool weather is a strong contrast to the smoke-ridden streets of Kathmandu. After some rest we were back on track for 6 more hours till Himalaya.

The rhododendron forest is responsible for sending countless number of foreigners and tourists into fi ts of ecstasy. The sun that shone fi erce-ly looked like it was warming the chilled atmosphere with her warm balmy kisses. The beauty was such that no words of praise would suf-fi ce.

On our journey back home, we de-cided to get a little change of scen-ery, or at least a change of route, and took to Tadhapani (2630m) which is 5 hour walk from Chhom-rong. After Tadhapani and another 4 hours of hike, civilization of prob-ably the most advanced and de-veloped Chorepani (2850m), came into sight. We walked for 40 more minutes and reached Poonhill (3210 m). The whole Annapurna Range is visible from here and the sunrises are truly breathtaking. 7 hours later we were back to where we started, Nayapul.

The journey to ABC, is beautiful but dangerous. While we were slid-ing and skidding in snow in MBC, a friend of mine caught altitude sick-ness. She needed to be at a lower attitude and it was up to us to take her to Deurali, which was almost at 4 hours walk. It was 6 pm and get-ting darker when 5 of us left. The steep narrow road was diffi cult and the fog that entirely covered it made our rescue extremely dangerous.

The already tricky mission got more complicated when we reached the spot where 27 Japanese were killed in an avalanche. The screaming and shouting from girls weren’t helpful either. Adding to it all, a blinking light at a distance, unusual sounds and the myths of ghosts existing in the Himalayas made the journey al-most impossible. It took us almost an hour to locate the bridge and I al-most drowned while crossing since the thick fog had obscured my vi-sion. Drenched in cold Himalayan water and surrounded by thick fog and the myth of ghosts and ghouls isn’t the combination that you would want to experience. We fi -nally made it to Deurali unscathed at around 11 pm.

I did not make it to the ultimate destination, but I am happy for I did make it to the ultimate human-ity destination. A word of advice for all who are planning to trek this route- pack a lot of courage and pa-tience and take along the company of trustworthy and beloved friends.

“The steep narrow road was diffi cult and the fog that en-tirely covered it made our res-cue extremely dangerous.”

“The rhododendron forest is responsible for sending countless number of foreign-ers and tourists into fi ts of ecstasy.”

Published by VIBES Newspaper, Thasikhel-5, Lagankhel, Nepal| Ph No 015534690, 9841187129, 9849038626 | Editor: Shanta Banskota Koirala | Publisher: Amigo Khadka | Printing Press: Express Color Press, Buddhanagar, Kathmandu