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Rainfall played a spoilsport for this year’s Dashain. While the festival may be over, it seems as though monsoon is still on, and at the receiving end are the farmers. Every year, farmers harvest paddy before Dashain, but they could not this year. “The gods are angry with us,” an old farmer told me as he was drying his paddy harvest in Bhaktapur on a recent afternoon. The sun was out that day but with the current weather, the sky could grow overcast and the clouds could burst any time. So the old farmer was understandably weary. The rice paddies in Bhaktapur would have been empty by this time in the previous years. I was told not even 10 percent of the harvesting has been completed this year. “Crops have been badly affected by the rain and also by the recent hailstorm,” a woman told me. For farmers of Bhaktapur, harvesting season is a cause for celebration. This is how they have been ringing in the festival season every year. They drink plenty of chhyang (rice beer), beaten rice, and vegetables and gather harvest bounty, the fruits of their labor. The harvest season came late this year. Still, the farmers were making the most of it. I was offered some chhyang and beaten rice on the condition that I take their issue to the government. “Tell the government that we lack fertilizers every year,” a genial farmer told me. I promised to do what I can.

Gulmi: Locals are flocking to play ‘Charkhe Ping’, which has started to disappear. Malika Rural Municipality-6, Khadak Chhatra Temple has seen the attraction of locals in the ‘Charkhe Ping’ installed in the Mahanawami fare. Lately the ‘pings’ made of wood have started disappearing. Iron ‘pings’ are often used in fairs and festivals. Tika Khatri, a local youth of Malika, said that wooden ‘Charke Ping’ has been kept at this place continuously for 6 years. Khatri said that 50 rupees per person will be charged for ‘ping’.

In the presence of President Bidya Devi Bhandari, a special event of Phulpati was held by the Nepal Army on Sunday at Tudikhel. During the ceremony, the army presented the helicopter show, parade, rifle wave and the gun and cannon salute.  Along with the president, Vice President Nanda Bahadur Pun, Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, Acting Chief Justice Harikrishna Karki, Speaker of House of Representatives Agni Prasad Sapkota, Speaker of the National Assembly Ganesh Prasad Timilsina, ministers and other high-ranking government officials participated in the ceremony.

The rush of Nepalis returning home for Dasain has started from the four main points of Far West, Gauriphanta in Kailali, Gaddachauki in Kanchanpur, Jhulaghat in Baitadi and Pulghat in Darchula. Since Ghatasthapana, almost five thousand Nepalis have entered Nepal from Gauriphanta border alone. In the border areas, the local governments have arranged for the vaccine and antigen test for covid. Nepal Police and Armed Police Force have also set up help desks.