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The PATA annual summit 2018 hosted at Lakai Sandpine, Gangneung, Republic of Korea from May 17-20 2018 by Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) conferred Basant Raj Mishra, Executive Chairman of Temple Tiger Group of Companies with a Life Membership Award. The Association's highest honor, this award is presented to an individual affiliated to a PATA member organization who has devoted an exceptional service to the tourism industry in Pacific Asia Region. Mishra was also the first Nepali to be the Secretary and Treasurer of PATA.

The PATA Annual Summit brings together international thought leaders, industry shapers and senior decision-makers who are professionally engaged with the Asia Pacific region. The Summit embraces a global forum for enhancing the sustainable growth, value and quality of tourism. The Association provides aligned advocacy, insightful research and innovative events to its member organizations, comprising 95 government, state and city tourism bodies, 29 international airlines, airports and cruise lines, 63 educational institutions, and hundreds of travel industry companies in Asia Pacific and beyond. Since 1951 PATA has led from the front as the leading voice and authority on travel and tourism in the Asia Pacific region.

Kathmandu: Chudamani Upreti alias Gore, the main accused in the smuggling of 33.5 kilogrammes gold, has been arrested. According to high-level police source, he was arrested in India on Monday and brought to Kathmandu. Police has been investigating into this case by giving high priority. RSS

Kathmandu: Biratnagar-based camp office of the Embassy of India has been closed on Monday. The office was opened in 2008 following the devastating Koshi floods. The purpose of the camp office has been served, said a spokesperson at the Embassy of India, Kathmandu. The embassy spokesperson further said that they had already decided to wind up the camp office and relocate the personnel. This decision was conveyed by Prime Minister Modi to his Nepali counterpart during his visit to Nepal last week. RSS

Fiction

THE FORTYRULES OF LOVE

Elif Shafak

Publisher: Penguin Books; Re­print edition (April 26, 2011)

Language: English

Pages: 368, paperback

“Every true love and friendship is a story of unexpected transformation. If we are the same person before and after we loved, that means we haven’t loved enough.”“The real challenge is to love the good and the bad together, not because you need to take the rough with the smooth but because you need to go beyond such descriptions and accept love in its entirety.”

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Elif Shafak’s characters stay in your subconscious mind long after you have turned the final page of her book. They are hard to forget. That’s how well she develops her characters and brings them to life. You only wish the same could be said of her storytelling. You would expect it from an author who claims, time and again, that her homeland is none other than storyland.

Inspired by Rumi’s messages on love, ‘The Forty Rules of Love’, like most of Shafak’s works, man­ages to confuse you no end. This often-poetic novel within a novel story unfolds in two parallel nar­ratives. The first one takes place in the 21st century and is about an unhappily married Jewish housewife named Ella living in Northampton, Massachusetts. Ella works for a lit­erary agency and is given the task of writing a report on a book titled ‘Sweet Blasphemy’ by Aziz Zahara. The sweet blasphemy is the second narrative of this novel that is set in the 13th century. It’s about Rumi and the infamous wandering dervish known as Shams of Tabriz.

The story of Ella finding love with a bohemian Sufi mystic while in the process of evaluating his book that is set in a time period we are famil­iar with is a lot less believable than the one where Rumi and Shams of Tabriz find comfort in each other’s company. And it’s the story that takes place in an era that you can’t really relate to that the readers find themselves increasing drawn to as the narrative progresses.

There is also an overdose of cli­chés that distract from the storytell­ing. Phrases like ‘shivers go down the spine’, ‘bowled over’, ‘far off the beaten track’, and, ‘make a moun­tain out of a molehill’, make the narrative somewhat annoying and lame. Shafak, who has previously written both in English and Turkish, seems to have made a mistake by writing the novel first in English, having it translated into Turkish, and then rewriting it in English. The experiment, albeit interesting, doesn’t quite work.

Despite having been quite harshly critical of her work, we would still like to recommend Shafak’s The Forty Rules of Love to our readers. If not for Shafak, then you might want to read it for Rumi or as an introduction to Sufi thoughts and ideologies. Also, the lessons Shafak shares through Rumi’s story encour­age you to make some changes in your life and fill it with love and even if that were the only reason to read this book, it’s reason enough.

Nepal Tourism Board, Nepal National Ethnographic Museum and friends of Jan Salter, who passed away last month, hosted the launch of the webpage, Faces of Nepal, at the Nepal Tourism Board, Brikutimandap on May 15.

The entire collection of Salt­er’s painting and drawings, which capture the faces of Nepal’s diverse ethnic groups, has now been made available at www.jansalter.org. Minis­ter of Culture and Tourism, Rabindra Adhikari, and Dep­uty Chief of Mission of the British Embassy Nepal, Ali­son McEwen, attended the function.

Jan Salter MBE (1936-2018), a British artist, is widely known for her portraits of the people of Nepal, as well as for her lead­ership in several social causes, including the anti-trafficking movement and animal welfare. She was also the founder of Kathmandu Animal Treatment Center (KAT).

The webpage contains information on paintings and drawings for sale. The amount thus earned will be donated to KAT, as per the wish of the late artist.

THE MENU

Chef’s Special:

Grilled Aubergine Sandwich

Red Velvet Cupid

Crinkle Cut Fries

Hurricane Fries

Dark Intense

Opening hours: 11 am to 10 pm

Cards Accepted

Meal for 2: Rs 1,200

Summer’s here and there’s nothing better to beat the heat than a tasty ice-cream treat. And when you have the option of crafting your own ice-cream sundae order, to your unique preferences, you’re in sweet-tooth heaven. At Icekraft-Nepal, you can do just that with your sugary delights.

Located at Kamaladi (Between Royal Singi Hotel and Bank of Kathmandu), Icekraft is a popular joint for desserts along with its exotic options for fries, waffles, pancakes, salads and sandwiches. Tasty offerings with the options of the best of coffee drinks and ‘thick shakes’ as well as ‘freaks shakes’ is what Icekraft offers. With the summer reaching its peak and ice-cream lovers thronging ice-cream bars, Icekraft might need to expand to a bigger property soon though.

Simrik Air helicopters on May 16 completed their search and rescue mission for the Bulgarian national Boyan Petrov, who had gone missing in an area of the Tibetan Autonomous Region in China since April 29.

Petrov is a veteran climber who has summited all 10 peaks over 8,000m. As the operation could be undertaken only by Nepali helicop­ters, with Chinese permits, Simrik had deployed its helicopters on an immediate basis on a special request of the Embassy of the Republic of Bulgaria in New Delhi.

After the first unsuccessful mis­sion on May 11-12 to spot Petrov, involving two helicopters, on May 16 one of Simrik Air's helicopters flew over the concerned regions for the second time, again to no avail. The search flight over Shishapangma, the Tibetan mountain Petrov was climb­ing, lasted for 1 hour and 30 minutes.

Further, Sherpas reached 10 meters closer to the summit. They found some of Petrov’s belongings, such as insulin, medical kit with some energy gels and his t-shirt at camp 3, but there was no sign of the climber. APEX BUREAU

VG Automobiles, autho­rized importer and distributor of Suzuki Motorcycle India for Nepal, and a subsidiary of one of the country’s leading busi­ness groups—Vishal Group—took the new Suzuki Intruder riders to Sukute this week. VG Suzuki invited Intruder riders from all over Nepal to the event.

The route wound its way from Teku, Thapathali, Maitighar, New Baneshwor, Surya Binayak, Jagati, Sanga, Banepa, Dhulikhel, Pachkhal, Dolalghat and all the way to River Bay Rafting & Resort, Sukute.

The event consisted of fun games and musical performances to entertain Intruder riders. The riders followed the same route back to Kathmandu.

Talking about the ride, Nabraj Koirala, Marketing Manager of VG Suzuki, said: “We are very happy to take the fearless and daring riders to Sukute. We believe that Intruder riders have always been attached with excitement and adventure, Intruder being the definition of a bike that domi­nates every terrain, be it tarmac, rugged, muddy or any other pre­carious routes.”