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 Nepal’s civil liberties are hard-won. During the 104 years of the Rana rule, there was no such thing as freedom of expression for common people. Education was out of their reach and foreign travel completely banned. When the Ranas were forced out, there was a brief respite from authoritarianism in the 1950s, before King Mahen­dra again usurped civil rights in 1960. It would be 30 more years before the gradual opening up of political and social space again. Finally, following another long struggle, absolute monarchy was formally abolished in 2008 and complete sovereignty vested in the people.

As people would from then on be governed solely by their representatives, never again would civil liberties be curtailed, it was hoped. Yet more than a decade later there continues to be a palpable threat to free speech. The two-third communist government of KP Oli has been coming up with one regulation after another to curb press freedom. It censors the internet. It makes a sweeping decision on ownership of traditional guthis in the country without even consulting the stakehold­ers. Most recently, it arrested a comedian on the dubi­ous charge of stepping on public sensibilities.

The communists the world over and throughout history have been high on discipline. (Lenin famous­ly wanted to maintain ‘iron discipline’ in his Bolshevik Party.) They like structures. But it is difficult to give defi­nite structures to a diverse society like Nepal’s. In fact, any democratic society is riddled with contradictions, and the more diverse it is, the more contradictions there will be. But rather than taking it as a natural part of the democratic process and trying to manage these contradictions in a democratic way, the federal govern­ment seems intent on imposing its own vision of a silo-like, monochromatic society.

Voted in with an overwhelming mandate, the ruling communists claim unsullied democratic credentials. They are no Bolsheviks of yesteryears, they protest. Having long fought for the cause of democracy, they claim to be aware of their duty to protect people’s free­doms. They rather blame the recent public backlash against the government as part of the opposition’s dirty politicking. But no one’s fooled. Rather than issuing empty promises to safeguard people’s rights and free­doms, the government would do itself and the coun­try a huge favor if it refrained from restricting people’s constitutional right to free speech. If they want to be heard, it is the democratic government’s duty to listen to them. The undemocratic way of trying to muzzle them is self-sabotage.

By Shankar Prasad Khanal | Nepalgunj

 Around midnight on June 3, the police caught seven people red-handed with what turned out to be Rs 3.8 million in bribe money in Hotel Batika in Nepalgunj. Those arrested had taken bribes from Nepali applicants to the Indian army by promising them recruit­ment, and had leaked ques­tion papers of the qualifying exams.Nepali citizens who have passed the Secondary Edu­cation Examination and are between the ages of 17.5 and 21 are eligible to apply for the Indian army. Many Nepalis apply, as the job offers a lucra­tive monthly salary of around Rs 50,000.

Currently, there are 42,000 Nepalis serving in the Indian army. Depending on the need, the recruitment process takes place once or twice a year at five centers in Nepal—Nepal­gunj and Butwal in Province 5, Pokhara in Province 4, Chit­wan in Province 3, and Dharan in Province 1.

This year in Nepalgunj, 896 applicants sat for a written examination between May 30 and June 4, and 447 of them cleared it. Even though one of the exams was going to be held on the morning of June 4, between 400 to 500 peo­ple were seen at Hotel Batika the previous midnight, which raised suspicion.

When the police raided the hotel, they found 85 mobile phone sets besides the Rs 3.8 million in cash in the posses­sion of the seven arrestees. It is suspected that on an average an applicant paid Rs 200,000 in bribe; others might have paid as much as Rs 500,000.

Even if each of the 447 appli­cants who cleared the exam gave Rs 300,000 in bribe, the total amount would exceed Rs 130 million. “It seems the tar­get was to raise Rs 100 million that night. We could not catch some culprits because they ran away,” says Bhim Rana, an eye-witness and Banke district chairman of Nepal Retired Sainik Committee. The inci­dent has revealed the extent of the fraud in the Indian army recruitment process.

Rana says, “People pay between Rs 100,000 to Rs 500,000 for a leaked ques­tion paper. An additional Rs 500,000 is asked from appli­cants if they clear the medical entrance exam at Gorakhpur, India. Some applicants and their parents have revealed that getting recruited to the Indian army costs at least Rs 800,000. Fraud of such a scale is not possible without the involvement of a criminal ring.”

Training centers for Indian army recruitment have opened up in several cities of Nepal. Many have invest­ments from retired Indian army personnel. The police have informed that of the seven people who have been arrested, five are retired Indian army officers who were running such training centers. Nepal Retired Sainik Commit­tee suspected irregularities last year, but could not catch anyone red-handed.

Spokesperson for the dis­trict police office DSP Prakash Sapkota says, “Those who were involved in calling the applicants to Hotel Batika to receive the leaked question paper in return for bribes are now under investigation.”

The committee organized a press conference on June 8 in Nepalgunj, in which it accused the police of investigating the matter slowly and even trying to protect the guilty.

Q. How would you describe yourself in three words?

A. Fun loving, adaptable and ambitious.

Q. If you were to be somewhere now, where would it be?

A. I want to be right where I’m at now. My career is important to me and I’ll do anything to move it forward. I honestly can’t think of anywhere else I would rather be.

Q. A song you wish had your vocals?

A. There are many but if I had to choose, it’d be “Bhanu K Ma” by Poonam Singh feat Cobweb.

Q. In one word, what is music to you?

A. It would be unjust to describe music in just one word. I think its “indescribable”.

Q. A song you would like to dedicate to your fans?

A. ‘Shabda’ because it’s my first original song that the audience loved and supported.

Q. A person from the music industry you always look up to?

A. There are many but one would be Amy Lynn Hartzler.

Q. How would someone get your special attention?

A. People know me as a singer. Maybe with my voice.

Q. What is one message you would give to your fans?

A. I want to thank all of my fans for being the best fans possible. I will never forget where I came from. I’m never too far, I’m always one phone call, text, Instagram message or Facebook message away.

Q. What is your pet peeve?

A. People who talk while their mouth is full.

 He’s 70 but has no wrinkles that come with age. He still has a muscular body and no evi­dence of arthritis or other physical ailments most septuagenarians do. No we’re not talking about Arnold Schwarzenegger or Sylvester Stal­lone here, they’re old. We refer to Bollywood’s ageing bad boy who refuses to grow up—the ever ‘young’ Salman Khan aka Sallu Bhai who stars in and as “Bharat” in his latest installment of a ‘patriotic family action drama’. The film opens with a 70-year-old Bharat (Khan) narrating his story. With the filmmakers clearly failing to make Bhai look any older, we know from the first couple of min­utes how realistic the film is going to be. “Bharat” is an excruciatingly long (155 minutes) attempt to make Khan look good from all sides. It fails, and exposes his lack of acting skills, while still offering a few les­sons to the audience.

Lesson number 1: No one can pull off the India-Pakistan partition scene in mainstream Bollywood better than Sunny Deol and his hand-pump. All other attempts are futile and the subject has been so repetitive in Bollywood that it has probably desensitized the new gen­eration to the ordeal of people from both the sides.

“Bharat,” based on the 2014 South Korean film “Ode to My Father”, tries to do a lot of things, especially from the patriotism angle, within one feature length film and thereby destroys a story that could have been deeply moving. We’ll forgo the plot here so that you can watch “Ode to My Father”, oblivious of Salman Khan and his team’s shenanigans. This brings us to lesson number 2: If you think a movie might be too patriotic to care about the basic storyline, give it a miss.

Lesson number 3: Any movie with Gutthi, sorry, Sunil Grover is bear­able because of his consistent and clever comic relief. Playing Vilayati Khan, Bharat’s devoted childhood buddy, he gives a healthy pace to the movie with his faultless comic timing; we sometimes wonder why he’s not a bigger superstar than Sallu Bhai. But that’s Bollywood for you.

The recent Salman Khan movies have all made huge money thanks to the legions of Sallu bhai’s undaunted fans—the bhai army—and this one crossed the 100 crore mark in a couple of days. But even his hard­core fans will feel “Bharat” lacks the one thing that has always been the trademark of Salman Khan movies—good music. Looks like the recent India-Pakistan rift has taken a toll on Khan’s new movie too. Some of his most popular songs of late had the voice of Rahat Fateh Ali Khan while he romanced with co-actors half his age. (Jag Ghoomeya from ‘Sultan’ and Tere Mast Mast Do Nain from ‘Dabang’.) But sans the Pakistani maestro lending his voice to Khan in “Bharat”, there’s not a single memorable song. Lesson number 4: Salman Khan needs Rahat Fateh Ali Khan to look and sound romantic onscreen.

End of the lessons and time for special credits. Katrina Kaif playing Bharat’s love interest Kumud Raina, who he refers to as ‘madam sir’ throughout the movie, looks beau­tiful as always and has evidently improved her acting and dancing skills, and also her Hindi.

But without a proper backsto­ry for her character, and with her Anglo-Indian accent, she is not con­vincing as an Indian government employee. Special mention should also go to Jackie Shroff who plays Gautam Kumar—Bharat’s father. The veteran actor holds solid ground on whatever little space he gets and sometimes we wonder how much stronger his character could have been if he had a better son, in reel life.

Who should watch it?

Besides Bhai’s unfaltering fans, anyone who loves elaborate Bollywood dramas might enjoy the movie. Comedy is definitely a genre Khan cannot fail in and the film does have its fair share of laughter. Also, Disha Patani and Nora Fatehi light up the screen in a couple of item numbers, worth watching for audiences of all ages and sexes  

Movie: Bharat

Genre: Family/Drama

Cast: Salman Khan, Katrina Kaif, Jackie Shroff, Sunil Grover

Direction: Ali Abbas Zafar

Rating: 2/5

 The Mystery of Three Quarters opens with a premise that immediately catches your atten­tion. A woman Poirot has never met or even heard of for that matter approaches him demanding to know why he sent her a letter accusing her of murder. Then comes another man, again a stranger, who claims to have received a similar letter. Two more people arrive saying they both received letters from Poirot in which he accused them of murder. The thing is Poirot doesn’t know the man who was apparent­ly murdered and he didn’t send the letters.

The Mystery of Three Quarters is Sophie Hannah’s third Hercule Poirot mystery but the first novel that is truly reminiscent of Agatha Christie’s Poirot. Hannah, it seems, has finally got everything about Poirot right, from his mannerisms to his oft-aggravated sense of self. But that’s about it.

Nothing about the plot or the narrative reminds you of flair with which Christie wrote her simple sto­ries. The plot feels forced and the characters ill-developed, with many arbitrarily thrown in. And there’s just too much happening without any of it going anywhere.

Continuing Christie’s legacy is a herculean task and it’s easy to understand why the Agatha Christie estate chose Hannah for there could perhaps be no one better at cleverly building suspense and intrigue. Her books give you sleepless nights. Fans of Christie might rejoice at Poirot’s return but for those who have read Hannah and know just what she is capable of, The Mystery of Three Quarters falls flat. Having said that, as a crime novel Hannah’s third Poirot mystery is fine – definitely way better than her first.

All loose ends are neatly tied up in the end and the solution seems believable. We would definitely rec­ommend this book as a light week­end read. Just don’t get your hopes up for it to be an immensely enter­taining one.

Book: The Mystery of three quarters (Hercule Poirot Mysteries)

Authors: Sophie Hannah, Agatha Christie

Genre: Fiction

Publisher: Harper Collins

Published: August 2018

Language: English

Pages: 400, Paperback

 From its humble beginnings at Uttardhoka, Lazimpat 10 years ago, the Attic Bar has now shifted to its new lavish premises at Gyaneshwor (next to the German Embassy) and is celebrating its 10th anniversary this week. Started by a group of four friends looking for a place to chill, Attic swiftly rose to popularity among Kathmanduites for its delicious food, specialized service and all the good times it offers. Occasional guests became regular faces at the restaurant with its owners participating in every event and on every weekend to make the guests feel at home.

The new venue is a sprawling building that has plenty of options on seating arrangements, the same consistently good food, the service staff waiting to treat the guests like royalties, and the promise of more good times.

 THE MENU

Chef’s Special:

- Attic Chicken Chop,

- Grilled Herb Chicken,

- Royal Aaloo

Opening hours: 11 am to 10:30 pm

Location: Gyaneshwor

Cards: Accepted

Meal for 2: Rs 2,500

Reservations: 014417843

 In this series, Gurung scrutinizes the changes that he witnessed in Khorla village, perched high in the mountains of Gorkha district, where he was born. Gurung’s paintings display the dilemma of the people stuck between their ethnic tradition and modernity, and still unable to embrace one fully.

 In this series there are 21 sepia-toned and monochromatic oil paintings that give a sense of history, capturing everything from people to musical instruments to kitchen utensils. In spite of the use of a single color, Gurung has managed to give minute details in each of his paintings. They are mostly of women as Gurung feels men have already been completely engulfed by modernization. It is rather the women who are in a dilemma whether to stick to their tradition or embrace westernization.

 In the paintings, women wear fariya and traditional ghalek, but the cholos are replaced by modern t-shirts, padukas are replaced by crocs, madals by box speakers, and the traditional theki by plastic bottles. “I could not capture these moments ten years ago and I regret not being able to do so. But now I don’t want to miss anything because if we can’t capture them now, it will be very difficult for upcoming generations to trace our tradition. It will vanish without a trace,” Gurung says.

 The exhibition at the Siddhartha Art Gallery runs till 9 June 2019, from 11 am to 5 pm.  

Go on a walking tour In Kathmandu

 Even if you are from Kathmandu—better if you are not—you should still consider this free walking tour to learn more about the tangible and intangible history that have influenced the old city in the past and continues to shape it today. SherpaShah Heritage Fund facilitates this tour every Wednesday from 2:30 pm to 4pm. The event is offered in Nepali language. If you contribute some money, it will be collected in the “SherpaShah Heritage Fund” to facilitate future tours. The tours explore rituals, traditions, cultures and urban designs of Kathmandu.

If you want to join, call 9818664566. 

Celebrate rice planting In Lalitpur

  Rice is the staple food for many Nepalis. Rice planting festival, also known as “Ropaai festival”, marks the first planting of rice, celebrated on Ashar 15 ( June 29 this year) every year. On this day you can play in the mud, get wet, mingle with locals and plant rice. Socialtours is arranging one such event in Bungamati, Lalitpur. The price of Rs 2500 includes pick and drop, traditional Newari snacks and rice beer!

Call 9801123401. 

Honey hunt In Lamjung

 Indigenous people of Nepal have practiced honey hunting for thousands of years. And now you can also do it in Lamjung with local honey hunting experts from Global Holidays Adventure. You choose between a four-day or a 12-day honey hunting trip. Honey hunting primarily involves extracting honey from massive beehives nestled in cliffs 200 meters to 500 meters in height with the help of traditionally weaved rope. The honey hunting locations are Chamja, Bhujung, Nai Chi, Passion, Jaya Gaun, Ghale Gaun, Ludhi, Seurung and Dare of Lamjung district.

Call +977-01-4420009 or send an email to [email protected].