ROFL, LMFAO
Nepali Times ईspecial 5 - 11 July 2024 #1219
We meet again.
If you have not been following the news out of Nepal because of the Trump-Biden debate fallout, Sunak’s rout or the Euro Cup 24, here is a brief recap of the story so far:
During the 2017 election, PKD and KPO forged an electoral alliance and swept the polls. The comrades got carried away and tied the knot to merge their parties into the conjugal Nepal Communist Party. The marriage soon fell apart on grounds of infidelity, and PKD eloped with SBD. A jilted KPO dissolved Parliament, the Supreme Court reinstated it, and KPO resigned. I forget what happened after that.
Fast forward to Season 2 Episode 1, PKD and KPO patch up after the 2022 polls and form a grabberment. They signed a prenup but it was not fated to last. PKD is once more caught in flagrante with his ex, SBD. KPO had been plotting his revenge ever since, until he made his move and wooed SBD at midnight Sunday in the house of a mutual friend.
By now, you must be blurting out: “ROFL, LMFAO, LOLZ, BSAAW, GR8, O RLY, FOMO, BWL, TMI” not to mention “OMG, WTF”. Which is exactly what we said.
But for a more accurate and detailed insider view of the Story of the Week, our Special Correspondent Shristi Karki has neatly summed it all up on page 1 illustrated by a slightly modified Three Idiots toon by Diwakar Chhetri. A longer version of the story is online.
Photojournalist Amit Machamasi has been documenting the loss of Kathmandu Valley’s fertile terrace farms to urban sprawl. He contributed the Pictorial Editorial on page 2. More photos and a longer analysis of Nepal’s paddy economy on our site.
In the latest instalment of her column Angrezi on page 4, Anbika Giri recalls how she learnt the many meanings of the English word ‘due’. And on page 5 Lisa Choegyal recounts the history of the Khumjung School from the time it was hand built by Edmund Hillary in 1961 right up to its 100% SEE pass rate last week. More photos on this link.
In the Nepali Times centerspread this week, Pinki Sris Rana traces the evolution of Nepal’s official daura suruwal dress based on interviews with historians and tailors. The dress is geopolitically fitting, since the baggy pantaloons are patterned after Jodhpur breeches from India and the double-breasted shirt has Tibetan antecedents. Modern labeda have buttons and pockets, and the tie string in suruwal have been replaced with elastic bands, and some even have zipper flies for the convenience of the wearer.
Find out where to dine and travel, what to see and what the weather has in store in our popular weekly About Town page. Vishad Raj Onta profiles Ranjan Adiga and his latest volume of short stories, Leech & Other Stories on page 9.
A Centre for Investigative Journalism Nepal probe by Bhadra Sharma for the first time identifies the Nepalis involved in an international human trafficking network to lure Nepali men with false promises and hefty fees and get them conscripted into the Russian Army to be used as human shields in Ukraine. Some recruiters are absconding and others have been let off through political connections. Read the story on page 10-11.
B4N and SYNT.
Kunda Dixit