Nepali Times: The Week That Was
17-23 May 2024
Hello Nepali Times Readers,
My name is Kunda Dixit, the publisher of Nepali Times. I will be doing the newsletter from this week on, but feel a bit redundant after discovering that there is competition now from Large Language Models.
I prompted Gemini to summarise in a satirical way what has happened in Nepal this past week, and this is what it came up with:
This week in Nepal was a rollercoaster ride that would make even Everest climbers dizzy. Here's the lowdown:
A spiritual leader nicknamed "Buddha Boy" got busted for... well, not being very Buddha-like. Let's just say Nirvana might have to wait.
The ghost of monarchy past came knocking as protesters demanded the king get his throne back. Guess someone wasn't a fan of "The Crown."
Nepal's cricket star went from hero to zero (eight years in prison zero, to be exact) on rape charges. Talk about a strikeout.
Meanwhile, a legendary Sherpa climbed Everest for the 29th time, proving some folks just love a good scenic view (and maybe setting a record for most times dodging yetis).
So, that's Nepal this week: a whirlwind of spiritual slip-ups, royal revivals, sporting scandals, and Sherpas with serious mountain mileage. Just another week in the land of breathtaking views and, apparently, breathtaking drama. Just another day in the land of mountains, monasteries, and maybe a little bit of mayhem.
You can tell Google AI is trying a bit too hard to be funny, and missed out on the update about the high court aquitting cricketer Sandip Lamichhane of rape charges. Another court this week overturned the guilty verdict on a hydropower tycoon also accused of raping a minor.
Elsewhere, the charges against Home Minister Rabi Lamichhane for swindling cooperatives again brought Parliament to a standstill. On Thursday, hand to hand combat nearly broke out on the floor of the august House as the Kangresis and Emaleys went at each other just like they have been doing since 1994. The only difference is that instead of shutting down the whole country, they have paralysed Parliament.
All these shenanigans point to the state of impunity in the state. As the Barbara Foundation Awards for Investigative Journalism this week showed, the fourth estate is exposing wrongdoing, but investigation and prosecution of the guilty fizzle out in the other branches of government.
This week’s Nepali Times looks ahead at the monsoon as the country lurches from one disaster (wildfires) to the next (floods and landslides). Anita Bhetwal and Wen Stephenson travel to Kagbeni which still looks like a war zone nearly a year after disastrous floods. (Page 1, 6-7)
Dhana Bishwakarma reports from Bajura uncovering stories of deep-rooted caste and gender discrimination (page 10-11), proving the conclusions of a scathing new report on injustice on Dalits by Amnesty International (page 10).
This edition also carried two tributes: one to American philanthropist Jim Simons who has supported Nepal’s rural health system (page 4) and to the Bhutan refugee Govinda Rijal who refused third-country resettlement, only to be killed tragically in a freak accident in Kathmandu last week (page 5).
Finally, review by Vishad Onta of a must-see exhibition at Takpa Gallery by Tashi R Ghale, snow leopard researcher who turns to photographic art to depict climate breakdown in the Himalaya.
We will be back next week with a non-AI summary of all you need to know about what is happening in Nepal.
