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Turkish Airlines brought its international even—Turkish Airlines World Golf Cup—to Gokarna Forest Resort Kathmandu this week.  The global event by Turkish Airline has more than 8,000 invited guests competing in more than 100 tournaments around the world.

“Turkish Airlines is firmly committed to the aspirational vision of sporting competition and trusts in its ability to unite people from different nations,” a press statement released by Turkish Airlines read, “That support extends from football, basketball, rugby and golf at all levels and the amateur series is a fine example of this from the carrier, which offers a multiple award-winning Business Class service and allows guests to take clubs for free.”

The Kathmandu event held on March 12 was supported by the local business community and leading businessmen were among the competitors at Gokarna Forest Resort. Among the competitors was Pratima Sherpa who recently put golf in Nepal on the map after Tiger Woods invited her to Florida for a private lesson in her quest to become Nepal’s first female professional golfer before traveling back to Kathmandu to compete in the Turkish Airlines World Golf Cup.

 Madhav Acharya will represent Kathmandu in the international tournament after winning the competition with 43 points, while Madhav Simkhada was runner-up, Kishan Agrawal was third.

 “We would like to thank all of our guests who made the Turkish Airlines World Golf Cup here in Kathmandu a huge success,” Abdullah Tuncer Kececı, General Manager for Turkish Airlines Kathmandu, said at the event.

Weekly Editorial Cartoon

Alexander McCall Smith

Born: 24 August 1948 (age 69)

Bulawayo, Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe)

Occupation: Writer, professor

Nationality: British

Alexander McCall Smith, 69 now, achieved worldwide fame only in his fifties with the debut of the highly acclaimed ‘The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency’, a series of novels set in Botswana featuring Mma Precious Ramotswe, who feels compelled to ‘help peo­ple with problems in their lives’, as the protagonist. Altogether 18 novels have been published in the series between 1998 and 2017 and they have been translated into 40 languages and sold more than 20 million copies in English alone. The books in the series, The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency, aren’t your regular run-of-the-mill detective stories. Here Mma Ramotswe just happens to solve crimes as she goes about her life, all the while drinking copious amounts of tea. In the first book, she is hired to track down a miss­ing husband, uncover a con man, and follow a wayward daughter. And then there is a missing 11-year-old boy, who seems to have been snatched by witchdoctors. The plots are usually simple and the solution simpler but the wit and wisdom with which Mma Ramotswe seems to solve the cases are delightful, to say the least.

All the books in the series work wonderfully as stand-alone books, although you would do well to read them in order if you want to follow Mma Ramotswe’s life prop­erly. What’s also nice about the books is that the stories feel very real. There isn’t that thrill element in any of the books yet they man­age to hold your attention and you are, all the while, rooting for Mma Ramotswe who, with her self-righ­teous ways, makes you smile despite the ridiculousness of many of her actions. She also isn’t made out to be a typical heroine with no flaws and that is what is refreshing about the series.

Smith writes with a great deal of gentle wisdom and good cheer and his books make you happy and at ease while reading and that, we think, is one of the main attributes of a good author. Crime writer Ian Rankin claimed that as the world becomes more politically turbulent, it will find itself increasingly in need of Smith’s heart-warming novels and reading one of the books in this series, that marks its 20th anniver­sary this year, you will realize that perhaps truer words have never been spoken .

Written in 1900 and first debuting in 1901 at the Moscow Art Theatre, Three Sisters has since been performed in various coun­tries with local adaptations. Penned by the renowned Rus­sian author and playwright Anton Chekhov, Three Sis­ters is among his most famous plays along with the likes of The Cherry Orchard, The Seagull and Uncle Vanya. ‘Tin Bahini’, the Nepali adaptation of the play, is scripted by Meghraj Adhikari and directed by Ghanshyam Shrestha.

Maya, Aabha and Rina are three sisters who leave the capital when their father, a military personnel, gets trans­ferred. The three sisters lead quiet, seemingly purpose­less lives. But their lives are thrown into disarray when their only brother Dipak Jung marries Nikita, a rural girl. Nitika, whose lifestyle and worldview are completely different from those of the sisters, disrupts the family dynamics with her bossy and manipulative character.

Although there are no dras­tic events in this play, the char­acters do have to endure many of the life’s more familiar vicis­situdes, making the play both poignant and relatable.

The cast includes Shanti Giri, Shushma Koirala, Sunisa Bajgai, Shyam Khadka, Shree Om Rodan, Ghimire Yuvaraj, Jiban Baral, Bikash Joshi, Arjun Neupane, Anna Deuja, Suresh GC, Asmita Khanal, Amul Shrestha and Shulabh Pandey.

The play is being staged at Shilpi Theater in Battisputali till May 26. The showtime is 5:30 pm every day of the week except on Tuesdays. There is an extra show on Saturdays at 1 pm. APEX BUREAU  

Nepal’s first international franchise singing reality show—Nepal Idol Sea­son 1—was a rollercoaster ride, from being everyone’s favorite one moment to being a topic of controversy in another. Nepal Idol is gearing up for the second season of its musi­cal journey. In fact, the audi­tion for Season 2 was com­pleted this month.

“Fewer people came to the audition this year compared to last year,” says Suresh Pau­del, the director and project head of Nepal Idol. “But those who did come were genuine singers,” he added. Suresh Paudel took up the direction of Season 2 after Laxman Pau­del decided to part ways with AP1 HD television.

Overall, various changes were made in this season of Nepal Idol.

“This season we decided to award talented signers a Golden Microphone during the audition itself. The con­testants the judges deemed competent enough to appear directly in the gala round were given the green light. Four contestants received the Golden Microphone in the audition round. Each of them is fantastic,” he shared.

Further, the judges’ author­ity was also changed. Last sea­son, only the voters had the right to decide a contestant’s fate, but from this season, there is an equal distribution of authority between the judges and the voters.

In the first season, a lawsuit was filed against Nepal Idol for airing a ‘No elimination’ episode in which the elimina­tion of a particular contestant was postponed for a week. Paudel attributes the error to many people not knowing the format, but he believes that the situation has changed now. As Freemantle Media has given various rights to Nepal Idol this year, the viewers will get to see new twists and turns such as ‘Double Elimination’, ‘No Elimination’ and a sur­prise wild card entry.

Talking about the contro­versy on social media last year when Nepal Idol failed to broadcast the live telecast of the Grand Finale in Qatar, Paudel accepts the mistake.

“We had planned every­thing but perhaps we weren’t professional enough,” says Paudel. Explaining the prob­lem, he says that the plan was to bring DSMG—Satellite broadcasting device for live transmission—via Dubai. But due to the Saudi-led blockade on Qatar, the Dubai authori­ties didn’t cooperate.

“So we decided to broadcast the event via the internet. But on the day, thousands of peo­ple came, and the signal of the tower was divided. It weak­ened the internet strength and caused a failure in live trans­mission.”

“We failed to anticipate the problem. Everything seemed to falling apart at the same time,” says Paudel. “The venue was miles away from the city. We tried getting a dedicated signal, but it just wasn’t possible in the short time we had.”

The Season 2 of Nepal Idol is set to air on July 26 with hosts Reema Bishwokarma and Asif Shah. The judge trio are Indira Joshi, Kali Prasad Baskota and Nhyoo Bajracharya.

“We will from now on hold the Grand Finale right here in Nepal,” says Paudel  

If you don’t like the food there, you can always marvel the exquisite motorbikes Genesis Café displays inside its premises (Yes, INSIDE its prem­ises) or in the parking lot. But it’s a rare chance you won’t like the food there either, because the owners at Genesis, some of whom are experi­enced chefs with international exposure, make sure that the bites at are as tasty as the stunning bikes on display.

Although its location is a little obscure, (the first left turn from Pani Pokhari petrol pump if you’re coming from Maharajgunj), Genesis café has a regular group of patrons, mostly bikers and biking enthusiasts. The café opens for breakfast, lunch, dinner and quick in-between bites and is also popular for its “Cheap Friday” events—a one-night offering of exclusive imported drinks at below average prices.  

THE MENU

Chef’s Special: Nepali Thali By Genesis

                           Fresh Baked Chicken and Mushroom Pie,

                           Chilli Frittata (Italian Omelette)

Opening hours: 9 am-10 pm

Location : Panipokhari, Ktm

Cards: Accepted

Meal for 2: Rs 2,200  

He informed that the Lalitpur Met­ropolitan City would collaborate with Sajha Yatayat to provide the bus service. The city is also plan­ning to rope in private companies and increase the number of elec­tric buses. So far it has received three proposals.

Lower operational cost

Studies show that China has increased production of electric buses in recent years. In particular, BYD, the Chinese battery and electric vehicle maker, has been producing large electric buses. The Lalitpur Metropolitan City decided to col­laborate with the company after it announced that it would produce buses of lengths 9.5m and 12m.

Apart from the trolley bus service, which is no longer in operation, the electric buses are a new experi­ment for Nepal although the country has been importing electric cars in recent years. These buses will cost between Rs 20 to 30 million each. Despite the high initial cost, the electric buses will have lower oper­ational costs and be more durable and environmentally-friendly than petroleum buses.

Data from the Department of Transport Management show that there are over three million petroleum vehicles in the coun­try, of which 1.2 million ply in Kathmandu Valley.

EV for the mayor too

While the Kathmandu Metropoli­tan City has already bought a petro­leum vehicle worth Rs 12 million for its mayor, the Lalitpur Metropoli­tan City is planning to purchase an electric vehicle for its mayor in the upcoming fiscal year. Environmen­talist Bhushan Tuladhar argues that the state needs to subsidize electric vehicles, since they are far better for the environment. “Private compa­nies should also be encouraged to operate electric vehicles,” he says.

Many environmentalists accuse government officials of having a vested interest in the petroleum trade and therefore being uninter­ested in electric vehicles. Apparently they also receive petroleum vehicles as gifts from private companies.  

By CHHETU SHERPA

KFC, a world-renowned fast-food chain, has launched its spe­cial Wednesday offer in Nepal. With 10 pieces of Hot and Crispy Chicken now available for only Rs 990, KFC just made mid-week Wednesdays “finger lickin’ good.”

Commenting on the offer launch, Samir Menon, Manag­ing Director, KFC India and Area countries said, “With this offer, we aim to get closer to our con­sumers across the region and introduce them to KFC’s world of crave-able and unique food and beverage options at an all-new value.”

KFC opened its first restau­rant in Nepal in 2009 and cur­rently has five restaurants in Kathmandu and one in Pokhara. The brand has also renovated its store at Durbar Marg to give its consumers an environment that allows them to relax and enjoy their meals even more.