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Dey’s first performance with the heavy metal giants of Nepal brought the house down at Purple Haze, leaving the audience comprising of music fans and musicians mes­merized. Dey easily inserted herself into the technically difficult music of Underside, while making the songs her own with her unique techniques and unmatched ability. With Dey completing the void in the rhythm section for Underside, the band churned out its hits like Disconnect, Animals, Right to Hate, Welcome to the Underside and All Notes Off while also performing new songs from their upcoming album includ­ing the anticipated “Gadhi Mai.”

Despite the sweltering heat and the congested space, the audience got what it came for and there was no reluctance in ‘head-banging’ and ‘mosh pitting’ to the heavy music. (Separately, Dey conducted a special workshop for Nepali bass players on August 6, offering tips and sharing her life experiences.)

When asked if Dey is to become a permanent member of Underside, Shrestha says, “We can’t exactly call her our permanent member but yes, she is now an integral part of the Underside family.” Dey will be playing with Underside on major shows and music festivals and will also be recording with the band in its upcoming album scheduled for early next year.

Underside and Dey will next per­form together on August 12 at the Bloodstock Open Air concert which is considered the ‘UK’s number 1 metal festival’.

Photos credit: Dipit Raz

 Looking for a quick bite amid the hustle and bustle of mid-day Putalisadak? Then Tasty Bites Burger should be among your first options. It is clean, cozy and cheap—what more can you ask from a fast-food joint? Tasty Bites Burger offers burgers, sandwiches and hot dogs among other delicious fast food. Also included in the menu are an assortment of drinks like coffee, milkshakes and aerated beverages. Finding the small joint might be a little tricky. It is at Dhobidhara, around 200 meters towards Kamalpokhari from the one-way lane right next to Star Mall in Putalisadak. You might want to park elsewhere because it does not have its own parking space but hey, it’s Putalisadak. No one has private parking here.

 THE MENU

Chef’s Special:

- The TBB Special Burger

- Shredded Chicken Sandwich

- BBQ Chilli Dog

Opening hours: 10 am - 8:30 pm

Location Dhobidhara, Ktm

Cards: Not Accepted

Meal for 2: Rs 600

Reservations: Not Required

It was Karki’s love of litera­ture that inspired him to act. A hard-worker who never compromises with his work, Karki has a special way of preparing for his roles. He rereads the scripts countless times to get under the skin of his characters. He then end­lessly discusses his roles with his directors in order to work how and when to improvise, and tweak the script.

“I work to make my charac­ter interesting for audiences of all age groups,” he says. But first, he wants to convince his directors and producers. “Sometimes they are pleased to see that the character they had in mind is someone com­pletely different.” That is how Karki adds versatility to his roles. “Bhasmey don” was one such outcome of this creative process. Perhaps because he puts in so much he is mentally exhausted at the end of his shoots.

Although celebrated as a versatile actor, Karki is still critical of his work. “I still find little mistakes. Although I have been praised for the characters I have played, I want to keep improving on what I do,” Karki says.

“Acting mimics human life,” is a mantra Karki received from one of his gurus, which he still abides by. Karki says it took time for him to under­stand what it meant. “There are millions of people in this world but no two people are the same,” says Karki. “This is why I want to do different characters. I prefer not to play the same role twice.”

Karki considers Saugat Malla his inspiration and someone who prompted him to take a broader per­spective on acting. “He taught me a lot. He put in so much effort even into small roles,” he says. “I was fortu­nate to be his room­mate in Gurukul. He is my big brother, my friend and also my guru.”

Bipin Karki is now one of the highest paid actors in the Nepali film industry, on the back of a string of hits like “Hari”, “Nakaa,” and “Jatra”. But things were not always easy for him and he has had his share of struggles to reach this point in his career. It was a lot of hard work, mixed with some luck, which turned a Nepali literature and sociol­ogy student into an actor of the finest finesse.

As a college student, Karki had once visited Gurukul to watch a play and immediately got fascinated by the world of theater. “I found dramas the most powerful form of litera­ture, where one could express one’s true feelings with ease,” says Karki. “That first show captivated me and from that point visiting Gurukul became a routine.”

With the passage of time he became more and more interested in acting. Gurukul cast him for a street play when they were short of an actor and thereafter Karki started getting small roles in theater. But he was not satisfied. “The human heart is hard to please. I hungered for something big­ger and better,” he recalls.

Again a stroke of luck had him replace an actor in a major production. His peers and seniors at Gurukul were quick to recognize his dedica­tion and offered him work as a set assistant. He spent almost 10 years in Gurukul before it closed down. Not a sad ending for him though as it motivated him to look for work in the film industry and the rise of the character actor began. Karki debuted alongside his friend Saugat Malla in “Acha­rya,” playing a small role as his sidekick.

From being a sidekick to acting in a lead role in ‘Hari’, Karki has indeed had a rollercoaster ride. “Some­one said, if you want some­thing with your whole heart, the world will somehow get it for you,” says Karki. “All I had was a dream and the will to make it happen, and now it’s a reality”.

The government has forwarded the process to amend the existing laws that would award life imprisonment to those convicted of committing a rape. 

Minister for Women, Children, and Social Welfare Thammaya Thapa Magar shared that the proposal related to the matter has reached the Cabinet and is under discussion. 

Speaking at a parliamentary committee meeting today, she added that the new provision was going to be introduced to control the rising incidents of rape in the country. RSS

 The August 5 abduction and murder of 12-year-old Nishan Khadka followed by the August 6 ‘encounter killings’ of Khadka’s abductees, Ajay Tamang (24) and Gopal Tamang (23), has raised some troubling questions about Nepal Police. The police appear to be responsible, albeit indirectly, for the killing of the little boy and for what many see as cold blooded shooting of the two abductees.

It is hard to believe that our police is so incompe­tent that it has to send threatening SMS to the abduct­ees, making them panic and kill the boy under their control. Former police officials say that is exactly what the cops should not have done. The two abductees were later arrested and taken to a jungle in Surya Binayak on the outskirts of Kathmandu where they were apparently shot dead in cold blood.

Since the police has thus far put out only a weak defense of its action, these allegations seem to have at least some truth. If so, the implications are disturbing. One, it suggests our police force is incapable of handling even routine abduction cases. The little boy’s life in this case could conceivably have been saved had the police not resorted such crude and juvenile threats against the abductees.

Two, the new penchant in the police for encounter killings hints that the cops think they are a law onto themselves. In this particular case, the two abductees were most likely killed because the police wanted to appear as heroes who punished, in the most brazen way possible, the killers of a small kid. In fact, in recent times there have been some other instances of such ‘encounters’ whereby the police have found it more expedient to shoot to death notorious criminals than to take them into custody.

Home Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa, a former Maoist rebel, has apparently given the police a free hand to remove ‘rotten eggs’ of the society. The aim seems to be to strike terror in the hearts of criminals, make them so afraid they shudder even at the thought of committing a crime. He does not seem to care that giving the police such carte blanche makes police personnel liable to abuse their powers, to lead to grave human rights violations, and to promote a culture of impunity. The Nishan Khadka episode will hopefully serve as a cautionary tale. Justice dispended at the end of the barrel of a gun is no justice at all. Nor does trampling on due process make the police any more popular.

The arrest on August 7 of Khadga Bahadur Biswokarma, better known by his nom de guerre Prakanda, is indicative of the ruling communist government’s commitment to crack down on ‘anti-national’ activities and extortions. Prakanda is the spokesperson of the Netra Bikram Chand ‘Biplab’-led Communist Party of Nepal. He has been charged with using violence to try to disturb last year’s local and provincial elections and of extorting various businessmen. The same charges have been levelled against his party, which is the reason chairman Chand has been in hiding since the government issued an arrest warrant against him in February. It was in 2012 that Chand and his mentor Mohan Baidya ‘Kiran’ decided to break away from the mother Maoist party led by Pushpa Kamal Dahal, accusing the party chairman of abandoning the ‘incomplete Maoist revolution’ and of caving in to ‘status quoist’ forces. But in 2014 Chand would part ways with Baidya’s new party, too, as Baidya, in Chand’s reckoning, could not adequately justify splinter­ing from the mother party. He then formed the CPN. It rejected the new constitution and threatened to disrupt the three tiers of elections.

Since it was a marginal force the party had to adopt radical ways to come to the public notice. It started dispensing ‘people’s verdict’ and humiliated people’s representatives by smearing their faces with black soot. It bombed LPG plants it excused of extorting people. A transmission tower of a ‘tax evading’ telecom provider was similarly bombed. It was also under the pressure of CPN that the concert of Bollywood superstar Salman Khan in Kath­mandu had to be cancelled earlier this year. These populist moves, CPN hoped, would earn it the goodwill of at least a segment of the Nepali society.

But Chand and company seemed blithely unaware that after witnessing nearly 17,000 deaths in the decade-long Mao­ist insurgency most Nepalis had had enough of the politics of violence. Its violent actions, which included nationwide shutdowns, were roundly condemned. The only way it could survive in this context was by shaking down rich business­men. In order to credibly threaten them the party needed to engage in public show of force, like bombings. A vicious cycle was thus set in motion.

Even though there is a level of sympathy for Chand and his party in the ruling Nepal Communist Party, it will be hard for Chand’s former Maoist colleagues to openly back criminals. Politically, CPN is fighting a lost cause. Signs are that its days as a criminal racket are also numbered.

Chelsea have signed Mateo Kovacic on a season-long loan from Real Madrid, with goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois expected to have his permanent move in the opposite direction confirmed later on Thursday.

Midfielder Kovacic, 24, has been at Real for three seasons since joining from Inter Milan.

He helped Croatia reach the final of this summer's World Cup in Russia.

"I am really happy and excited to be here. It is an amazing feeling," Kovacic told Chelsea's website.

"I will try to do my best for this club. It is a new league for me, the beginning is always tough but I am sure the coach and my new team-mates will help me and I am looking forward to a great season."

Chelsea director Marina Granovskaia added: "He is a perfect fit for us this season, his style is well suited to how Maurizio wants to play and we are sure he will prove to be a valuable asset for the club."

Perez makes West Ham switch

Upon arriving at London Stadium, Lucas Perez said: "I’m very happy to be here at such an historic club."

"I’m very excited, as West Ham are giving me the chance to stay in the Premier League and I’m very happy to be part of this new project.

"West Ham have great fans and play in an amazing stadium, so to sign here brings me great joy. I’m very motivated."

Follow live football transfer on BBC

 Hiking was organized in Black Mountain at Wales in the United Kingdom to promote Nepal Tourism Year 2020. 

The programme entitled 'Hike for Nepal-2018' had put Nepal on spotlight for four hours in the city of the UK. 
'Let us take moves together for Nepal' was set a slogan for the 12-km long march. 

The We Will Rise Foundation has been organizing such hiking event in Hong Kong every year. Following the declaration of Nepal government to mark 2020 as the tourism year, this is most probably the first-of-its-kind event held outside the country on the initiative of Nepali Diaspora. 

On the occasion, Nepali Ambassador for the UK, Durga Bahadur Subedi recalled that Sir George Everest who named Mount Everest to the world's highest peak, Sagarmatha, was from the UK which has also deepened the bilateral relations between Nepal and UK. 

Such programme would not only enhance harmony, fraternity and cordial relations but also play catalytic role for tourism development of Nepal, he noted. 

The guest of honor on the occasion was members of Parliament for Brecon and Radnorshire Chris Davies. 

Also present in the event were Chairman of the Powys County Council Cllr David Meredith, Mayor of Talgarth Town Council Cllr William Powell, Mayor of Brecon Town Council Cllr Many Trailor, deputy mayor of Brecon Town Council Cllr Ann Mathies, former Mayor of BreconTwon council Cllr Eueun William and former Mayor of Talgarth Town Council Cllr Jacque Wilding, among others. 

Phurwa Tenzing Sherpa,a record-keeping Mount Everest climber, Thaneswor Guragain, who suceeds in keeping his name in Genies Book on 16 different genres, Tulsi Gurung, founder of the We Will Rise Foundation, its Director Nirmal Shrestha and Suraj Gurung had reached Wales to participate in the 'Trek for Nepal' event. 

Foundation founder Gurung expressed his confidence that the event would contribute to make the 'Visit Nepal 2020' a success. 

Around 150 Nepali and foreigners had enquired about Nepal with much interest in the trek programme. 
The UK Embassy has set a target to send 100,000 British tourists to Nepal in 2020.