11:40 pm 24th April, 2006 - A sudden shrieks of whistles and cacophony of people shouting and clapping filled the chill midnight air of Kathmandu. The waiting for more than an hour, the news has flowed into my ears too. I jumped out of my seat and ran out to roof. I was not the first... I saw my neighbors on top of my house and he was saying - "Raja pani hero bhayo, Girija pani hero bhayo" (Both King and Girija became hero) in a sarcastic tone but there was no doubt that he was jubilant. Someone again clapped from the distant dark and joined them my neighbors.

King Gyanendra, in this oddly timed proclamation, as most of his other declarations, declared the reinstatement of house of representative dissolved by him on 2^nd may 2002. I was really delighted, especially because this afternoon I had heard that the King was bring on "Marshal Law", which would surely have degraded the situation. Besides the major announcement, he improved over his much debated and criticized speech few days earlier. He addressed the protestors and expressed a heartfelt condolence towards those who were killed in the process and wished a speedy recovery to the injured.

Finally, he summoned the members of parliament at the house at 1p.m. Friday, 28^th April, 2006. This is again a good move by the King. We should appreciate what is right. Can't get into his head but seems right... So, Come on leaders, Don't let the Maoists push you around and do what is best for Nepal. Furthermore, I don't want to go to office early in the morning and come back home in the evening, with nothing good to eat during lunch hours!!

Oh I almost forgot. I wonder why Channel Nepal and Nepalnews.com are down... This can't be a coincidence. Hummmm. It's never perfect, is it?

7:00 pm Friday, April 21, 2006 - After a series of agitation, violence and speculations, King Gyanendra has finally stepped down and has asked the Seven Party Alliance to recommend a person, with common approval, for the post of Prime Minister. Till then, the current government will occupy the office.

I see a lot of influence from the recent visit by Mr. Karan Singh, India's special envoy to Nepal. Maoist rebels are "pain in the butt" for the Indian government too and with their open borders with Nepal and political turmoil in here, it would have been a bigger problem for them to control the Naxalites.

I appreciate the King's step in search for peace. Some may say that he was forced to but I do not think so. In long term, he could have been but until and unless he had the authority over Royal Nepalese Army, it would have been extremely difficult for SPA to bring down the king on their own. But this a good gesture form the king and if he had not declared it today, more people would have died. Afterall, he would never have been successful in suppressing the people.

Now the party leaders have a huge responsibility on their experienced shoulders. First of all, they must come to an agreement. I am afraid they might just get muddled into party matters at such critical stage. We all request Congress and Communist party leaders to bring resonance among them as there are more important issues to be solved next. The government formed by SPA will have a huge load of responsibility.

Let's hope for the best and pray for peace.

Article by Amit

As I had written earlier, the king is a desperate businessman. He either wants to maximize the profit, or liquidate the business. But, he doesn't realize that good businessman always averse risk and look for the long term sustainability of his business. So, he's definitely gambling away his throne and troubling the people of Nepal. And his financial calculator (in Srijan's term) is showing the wrong direction. And, exactly like the king in the 'Emperor's cloth' he hasn't still realized that he's been exposed to whole country and only heads two lakhs of his security forces in combined( I don't think they all support him, its only because of their living). So, is that justifiable, when two crores and nearly fifty lakhs people are against him? Here I strongly support Srijan. Will that two lakhs support the Crown, when the present crown prince ascends the thrown. Will your heart support you, when you know that, the person who would have been hanged for murders in rule of law is your head of state? That's why I believe that the monarchy has come to an end with the June 1 royal massacre. So, ceremonial monarchy isn't the right solution.

If you still support monarchy then I'm sorry to say that you haven't ever gone through the pain of the family of PRABIN GURUNG; the female members of your family don't remember the fate of NAMITA-SUMITA; you don't know how much it hurts losing a great friend like Lieutenant AMRIT MEDHASI, who sacrificed his life for the whim of a family of murderers. And, you can't justify why our friend Capt. NABIN RAUT lost his leg on the ambush in his own soil, when his aim of life is to serve the people and the country. I have felt the frustration the conscious security personnel express in private. They aren't happy with their 'so-called' masters who don't have any value of their sacrifices. They would have been proud if they had lost their lives and youth in the welfare of the people. They would have greatest award -THE LOVE AND RESPECT FROM THE PEOPLE, instead of worthless GORKHA DAKSHIN BAHU from the royals. They have lost the dignity of life, working for murderers. They have lost the respect they deserved from the people. So, why do you still support ceremonial monarchy?

Don't you feel humiliation while being stopped even on the footpaths, when you know your crown prince is going for disco and beating up some innocent people? Don't you feel embarrassed when king's security forces scold you like a dog? Don't you realize that you have been paying tax and maintaining these forces that hurts you everyway? Don't you believe that the present king should have handed over fortune of his brother in the welfare of people? Don't you consider that an express highway could have been built in Karnali with such amount? Why don't you open your eyes and think why are we poor and the royals are enjoying the national treasury? The only reason is that the king likes to be a rich business man manipulating the nation, with people serving him as his loyal BADUWA MAJDUR (bonded labor), whose life is worth a penny, whose female members are worth whores.

So, people, we aren't the servants of these royals. Even the brothers and sisters working in security forces have been selling their service and they deserve respect from the royals. So, its time we all move to find our identity, the respect we deserve in living in our own country. So, do you think the ceremonial monarchy- THE SERPENT IN SHEEP'S CLOTHS- can give you that self respect??? A million dollar question!!

JAY NEPAL!!

Wishing World Peace to all of us

Happy Nepali New Year 2063

Hope the New Year sees few changes in Nepal.

1. Peaceful country, where we can roam around in the middle of the night without any sort of fear.

2. Impartial news channel accommodating both (Kantipur and NTV) version of news.

3. New faces in command of the political parties.

4. End of load-shedding schedule, mobile line cut-off and curfew.

5. Ceremonial presence of monarchy.

6. Employment opportunities and return of Nepali human resource back to their homeland.

Suggest yours...

People were buring tyres and logs more in fun rather than for a political mission.

[This is the first time that I have captured a live action. It is just an amateur work and looks raw but I hope I can improve the quality as I get better gadgets and more experience. Till then, Nokia 6600 rocks...]

Article by Amit Sharma

Do our Royalties read news papers? Do they tune FM news? Then why the king is so silent when the street is deafening with people shouting slogan against the king himself. It's really disgraceful to be unpopular to this extent. Now, after seeing the four days of agitation, I have come to believe that the present king is definitely different from his late brother and he is not caring his image that is being portrayed. So, why don't people thank Kamal Thapa for being a catalyst for republic?

Then where this would lead us? I'm not a political analyst but I can see a very scary road ahead. The king will not move with this level of protest. He's ready for a decisive outcome. So, the days coming to us will be more uncertain. The king is not giving up easily. Unless the people come up with some significant programs to paralyze the government, street protest can't be ultimate. Unless some segment of security forces openly support the people, king will not consider anything as such CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY. This can happen, if people paralyze the government work and a situation comes when the government can't pay the salary of these security forces. Moreover, increasing killing of unarmed protestors can cause serious dissatisfaction in lower level officers and can lead to a faction in security force. To bring those dissatisfied personnel to people's side, the protesting parties should give especial care. Unless the parties guarantee the future certainty to the revolting security personnel, they can't just be moved by emotions. If they can guarantee the jobs of civil servants joining the protest then why can't they do the same to the security personnel?

If the leading parties are clear with the objective of the protest, they should focus on wining people's mind. Not to be forgotten that security personnel are among the people. This is what the parties have been lagging. They should act now to segregate the security force that's on people's side. That's only the weak point for king and that can force him to give back the sovereign power to people. Otherwise, the king will play the parties against each other and peace will remain elusive. If he is wise he'll act within this New Year otherwise he is running out of options. So before that happens, why don't you all refer the site weblognepal.com to our king? I guess our crown prince Paras might be surfing the net right now checking his mail at hotmail. And, he may come up to this site. If not, what are they busy with when the whole country is on fire!!

JAY NEPAL.

Few days ago, I suddenly took decision to go my district for making my passport after not getting the passport from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Katmandu. I hate visiting government offices but there are no other options. After a hard try, 15 days visiting the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, I did not have the passport. However, peoples from few so-called Maoist affected districts, declared by government, can get their passport from the Katmandu valley. Certainly, if I have good pulling string (connections), I would have got my passport from the KatmanduValley; need not to be worried about visiting my district.

At that day; Feb-21, 2006, I returned to my office from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, talked to my boss for the leave and it was granted. I started my tiresome journey from the Gangabu Bus-Park at 3:00 PM. What a coincidence! Growing conflict situation in Nepal between Maoist Rebellions and state; and my seat partner was a human right activist. I came to know, after introducing with him, that he was 50-55 years old while I am only 25. On the way, we had lots of talk about the contemporary situation of Nepal and human right violation. My bus was heading ahead through roads and bridges battered by rebellion ambush-blasts. Most of Army, Armed-Police and normal police (Janpad) check post were tightly fenced. All the travelers had to get down from the bus for checking, except for patient, olds and babies. After long hour drive, my bus touched my district; Kailali, crossing the Karnali bridge, the longest bridge of Asia standing in a single pillar. It was around 1:00 PM that our bus reached my VDC. My seat partner told me that he had already visited the VDC during his meeting with Far-Western Maoist Commander, Lekh Raj Bhatt. The Maoist leader had explained to him about their guerrilla barracks and other powers. This is the village, where I will be back after finishing my passport work. It will take about two more hours from here to reach capital of Kailali district - Dhangadhi.

Finally, I reached the Dhangadhi at 3:00 PM and took the Rickshaw, directly went to the District Administration Office and within an hour and half I got my passport. It was a happy moment for me. After that, I took Rickshaw back to my village. There I met all my relatives and neighbors. A neighbor's uncle told me that not a single day passes by without sound of explosives and they had to learn to ignore it if they want to sleep well at night. It was the district headquarters and had all kinds of security forces they were no good. It was 7:00 PM and uncle suggested me not to go out. I noticed a curious but frightened expression over his face. Obeying the words of the experienced ones, I took my dinner and went to bed. I woke up at 8:00 AM, took heavy breakfast and went to market. There I met friends. At 12 noon, I got on a local bus to my farm home.

After few checking and 2 hours drive, in a local station of my village I got down from my bus. I was little bit scared but was smiling like its okay, looked here and there, went towards the gas station. The owner was from my village. He explained me that there is no need to be scared with the Maoists, as they do not harm you until and unless you obey them. "They even never ask goods/gasoline on free of cost from us", he said. Then I took a deep breath and started heading towards my farm home. It was too hot and I was regularly turning back, hoping for Cycles, Motor Cycles or Tractors, on the way to my destination. On the way, I met many new faces. I greeted them. In response, few unknown faces eagerly looked at me. I guessed that they were the Maoists. My hope ended. I did get neither Cycles nor Motorcycles nor Tractors. Finally, I reached my farm home. I saw dad. He was surprised. I had left the city in hurry so there was no time to inform him. Mom was not home at that time, she had gone in search of grass for cattle. A woman working at our home immediately took off to inform Mom that I had come. After few talks between Dad and me, Mom came I briefed them about my surprise visit. I asked Dad if the situation was too dangerous. He told me that it was okay. "Sometimes they request us to join in there mass meetings and we participate to listen to their speech and ideology", he said. After few talks, I set up my mind that there is no need to get worried about. I took bath, changed cloths and had a cup of Tea.

My home is on the CHAUBATO. At some distance, there is Peepal Chautaro, an old tree. Olds and young all gather there for sharing their daily activities and views. There are few grocery shops and a teashop nearby. Sometime it serves homemade liquor as well, if Maoists allow. I went towards the shops, said hello to those I knew. There few unknown faces as well. Few old men were chatting about politics and some were sleepy. Children were playing stone. We have graveled road there. After that, I went to nearby Thulobuba's and Sanobuba's (Uncle's) home. My young cousin told me that Maobadi (Maoists) live in their house sometimes and he asks them for money. I was very surprised and I asked him “Then how much did they give you?” My cousin told me some time one rupee, some time two and he buys chocolate from the money. I also have a younger brother (Sanobuba's son), who had connected a long string with FM radio and straighten it to roof of house. He explained to me that he had done that to listen to Maoist FM Station. I can understand why they had given more emphasis to Maoist FM than to the state owned radio stations. Later, I listened to Maoist FM news in Thulobuba’s house with elder brother. He had also straightened the string for Maoist FM. He told me that he believes more in Maoist FM then in stated owned SW/MW radios broadcast. In my farm home, there is coverage of few local FM, Maoist FM, and State owned SW/MW radio stations and TV.

Then I went back to the Teashop. There were new adult faces smoking. Few were drunk and crying aloud with slang language. I was talking with my friends there that those guys stared their bikes and left. One of my friends informed me that they were Maoists and had gone to their post for bed. Maoists had established their post in a nearby house. Suddenly I heard my Mom calling me and I went back home. Dad was trying to tune his radio. "Which Station are you trying to tune?", I asked. He was quite, radio tuned well; it was Maoist FM station he was trying to tune.