Laxmi Puja

Laxmi Pooja: A festival of Nepalese in which people worship Goddess Laxmi - Goddess of Money. It is the third day of the Tihar or Deepawali. First-Crow Pooja, Second-Dog Pooja, Third-Laxmi Pooja, Forth-Mhaa Puja and Goverdhan Pooja and Fifth-Bhai Tika/Pooja.

It is believed that by worshiping Goddess Laxmi people can have increase their income level or better opportunity of income source. In order to make Goddess happy every house of Hindu is lightened with variety of colors (through electric equipment or typical 'palcha' - a small mud vessel in which oil is poured which is lightened by firing through cotton piece , Houses are kept clean and various kind of flowers and anything thing that makes the house looks beautiful or attractive are used. Moreover in each house 'Gover' (Cow Dung - It is considered the most purified to make the place immaculate) is painted from outside of the house - where people usually worship, to the worship room - the most decorated part of the house. And after all these the Goddess is worshiped, usually at night. These procedures are performed to make the Goddess happy and invite Goddess to their home. People also worship their safe-deposit during this day.

Moreover in order to make this day interesting girls visit different areas to play 'Vailee' - A traditional program where the group of girls sings and visit different houses and in return they will be provided with some cash- usually. Some lines of Vailee goes

Vaileen aaeen aagana
Gunyoo cholo....

Forgot the Rest of It

Some of the snaps of Laxmi Pooja

Mhaa Pooja

In the forth day just after Laxmi Pooja Maha Pooja is celebrated. This is the festivals of Newar and is the New Year of Nepal Sambat. During this day a rally is organized through vehicles - usually on bikes these days, small or big trucks and on foot. Other than Newars, they celebrate this day as Goverdhan pooja - people worship their vehicles, machineries, equipments etc. from which they could generate revenue. This is the day where the Newars celebrate by worshiping their body. A 'pathi', a form of measurement is used in which flowers, abir-red color, raddish etc. are used to worship they body. These are poured by the lady of the house, usually. A 'mandap' - an artistic art, is drawn as in the figure in front of every member. The below pictures depicts the huge mandap to display to the people and foreigners.

Gai Jatra

On 29th August 2007, we Leo Club of Kathmandu Mahankal distributed the drinking water to the street walker during the occasion of Gai Jaitra. People have to walk a long way for this festival, so we thought of distributing the drinking water to make them feel ease to walk under the bright sunlight. First we thought no one would drink the water, but the response was overwhelming. We bought 5 huge jars in the beginning and again we had to order next 5 jars.

About the FESTIVAL

The festival of "Gai Jatra", the procession of cows, is generally celebrated in the Nepalese month of Bhadra (August-September). The festival of cows is one of the most popular festivals of Nepal. The whole complex of Gai Jatra festival has its roots in the ancient age when people feared and worshipped Yamaraj,"the god of death". However, the ironical sessions synonymous with the Gai Jatra festival came into tradition in the medieval period of Nepal during the reign of Malla Kings. Hence, the present form of Gai Jatra is a happy blending of antiquity and medievalism.

According to the traditions since times immemorial, every family who has lost one relative during the past year must participate in a procession through the streets of Kathmandu leading a cow. If a cow is unavailable then a young boy dressed as a cow is considered a fair substitute. In Hinduism, a cow is regarded as the most venerated among all the domestic animals. It is believed that the cow, revered as a holy animal by Hindus, will help the deceased relative's journey to heaven.

In terms of historical evidences, once when King Pratap Malla lost his son, his wife, the queen remained dumbstruck. The king was very sad to see the condition of his beloved queen. The king, in spite of his several efforts, could not lessen the grief of his wife. By all means he wanted to see little smile on the lips of his sweetheart. He announced that someone who ever made the queen laugh would be rewarded adequately.

During the festival of Gai Jatra, the cow procession was brought before the griefstricken queen. Then the participants began ridiculing and befooling the important people of the society. Finally when the social injustice and other evils were highlighted and attacked mercilessly, the queen could not stop smiling. The queen laughed, and Pratap Malla, the king ensued a tradition of including jokes, satires,mockery and lampoon in the Gai Jatra days.

After the procession is over, in the afternoon, nearly everyone takes part in another age-old tradition in which the participants dress up and wear masks. The occassion is filled with songs,jokes, mockery and humour of every kind become the order of the day until late evening. Hence, Gai Jatra is a healthy festival which enables the people to accept the reality of death and to prepare oneself for the life after death. According to Hinduism,"whatever a man does in his life is a preparation to lead a good life, after death". - Source: http://www.nepalhomepage.com

Fund raising and Clothes Collection for Flood Victims in Terai Region

Major part of the Terai was filled with water during July/August 2007 due to the continuous rain for days and even weeks. Many people, institution, organization and other contributed a lot through cash and the cloths. In same scenario, we Lion and Leo Club of Kathmandu Mahankal along with OCEED organized a joint fund raising and cloth collection for them. We started our program from the Bouddha at around 9:30 am. We collected around Rs 6693 through the door to door visit of most of the house and shops of Bouddha and Jorpati. Moreover we also collected 28-30 huge sacks of clothes. We handed the Cash to the Kantipur Publication and clothes were handed to the Image channel. You can view the pictures below:

Panoramic view of Bouddha

Nepals' New National Anthem

To download the Nepals' National Song, copy-paste this url

http://www.angelfire.com/blog/dashain/New_National_Anthem.wmv - recorded from Nepal Television

OR

http://www.angelfire.com/blog/dashain/New_National_Anthem.mp3 - good quality, 128 kbps

The new national anthem penned by Byakul Maila with Amber Gurung's music composition.

A cabinet meeting had approved Gurung's composition for the national anthem. Of the half a dozen compositions submitted to the cabinet for final selection – three by Gurung, and others by Nhyoo Bajracharya and Nepali Army (NA) – the cabinet selected Gurung's creation.

The new national anthem – written by Byakul Maila – will replace the "Shreeman Gambhir…" anthem, which was criticised for being merely a eulogy of monarchy. The earlier anthem was written by poet Chakrapani Chalise.

With the above song get the lyrics too:

सयौं थुँगा फूलका हामी एउटै माला नेपाली
सार्वभौम भई फैलिएका मेची- महाकाली।

सयौं थुँगा फूलका हामी एउटै माला नेपाली
सार्वभौम भई फैलिएका मेची- महाकाली।

प्रकृतिका कोटीकोटी सम्पदाको आँचल
वीरहरुका रगतले स्वतन्त्र र अटल

ज्ञानभूमि शान्तभूमि तराइ पहाड हिमाल
अखण्ड यो प्यारो हाम्रो मातृभूमि नेपाल

बहुल जाति भाषा धर्म संस्कृति छन् विशाल
अग्रगामी राष्ट्र हाम्रो जय जय नेपाल।

रचनाकारः व्याकुल माइला (प्रदीपकुमार राई)
सङ्गीतकारः अम्बर गुरुङ
गायक/गायिकाः यम बराल, विमला राई, जयनन्द लामा, बेनुका राई, झुमा लिम्बू, रुपा झा, चन्दा देवानऽ राजेशपायल राई आदि ।

Pokhara City: Heaven On Earth

Places to Visit

Pokhara is known as a major tourist attraction in whole Nepal. Some important places of visit are:
1. Lakeside and Tal Barahi
2. Devi's Falls and Gupteshwor Cave
3. World Peace Pagoda
4. Sarangkot
5. Bindabasini Temple and the old market place below the temple
6. Seti river
7. Mahendra Cave, Bat Cave and the Kali river
8. Kahun Danda (hill located at north-east of the city)
9. Armala Village
10. Nau danda, Kande, Lumle -(situated in the outskirts of Pokhara) Pokhara has her unique festivals.

Festivals like Gai Jatra, Bhairab Naach (Bhairab dance), Krishnastami add their own colors to the beauty of Pokhara.

Panoramic View of Vindavasini Temple


Panoramic View of Devi's Fall

360 Degree Panoramic View of Fewa Lake

Pokhara (पोखरा) is a city in central Nepal located at 28.24 N, 83.99 E,, 198 km west of Kathmandu. It is the capital of Kaski District, Gandaki Zone and the Western Development Region. It is also one of the most popular tourist destinations in Nepal. It is second largest city (With the population more then 200 thousend) of nepal.

Pokhara is situated in the northwestern corner of the Pokhara Valley, which is a widening of the Seti Gandaki valley The Seti River and its tributaries have dug impressive canyons into the valley floor, which are only visible from higher viewpoints or from the air. To the east of Pokhara is the municipality of Lekhnath, another town in the valley.

In no other place the mountains rise so quickly, within 30 km, from 1000 m to over 8000 m. The Dhaulagiri, Annapurna and Manaslu ranges, each with peaks over 8000 m, can be seen from Pokhara and there is a lake named Phewa Lake, two caves (Mahendra and Gupteswar) and an impressive falls(Patale Chhango or Devi /David's Falls) where the water from the Phewa Lake thunders into a hole and disappears. Due to this sharp rise in altitude the area of Pokhara has one of the highest precipitation rates of the country (over 4000 mm/year). Even within the city there is a noticeable difference in the amount of rain between the south of the city by the lake and the north at the foot of the mountains.

The climate is sub-tropical but due to the elevation the temperatures are moderate: the summers usually have a bearable 30 - 35°C; the winters average around 15°C and have no frost.

In the south the city borders on Phewa Tal (a lake, 4.4 km², about 800 m above sea level), in the north at around 1000 m it touches the base of the Annapurna mountain range. From the southern fringes of the city one has an exceptional view of the Himalaya with 3 eight-thousanders (Dhaulagiri, Annapurna, Manaslu) and, in the middle of the Annapurna range the wonderful Machapuchare ('Fishtail') with close to 7000 m. This beautiful mountain dominates the northern horizon of the city and its name derives from its twin peaks, not visible from the south.

Pokhara is quite a modern city with only few touristic attractions in the town itself. Most interesting is the old centre in the north of the city (purano bazar) where still many old shops and warehouses in the Newari style can be found. Mule caravans still arrive there from Mustang.

On a hill overlooking Phewa Tal from the south is the World Peace Stupa (at 1,113 m) QTVR built in 1996 with a view of the lake, across the city and of the snow peaked mountain range consisting of namely, Fishtail, Annapurna and Dhaulagiri Himals (mountains).

Temples worth visiting in the older part of town are Bindhyabasini Mandir and Bhimsen Mandir, the latter with erotic carvings; another temple, Barahi Mandir, is located on a tiny island on Phewa Tal. Not accessible and only visible from the lake is the royal summer residence (called Ratna Mandir) at the lake in Lakeside.

The best viewpoint of Pokhara is Sarangkot (1600 m) to the west of the city. Paths and a road lead to the top from where one can enjoy spectacular views of the Annapurna range, Manaslu, Dhaulagiri and the city itself.
The modern commercial city centre at Chiple Dhunga and Mahendrapul (now called Bhimsen Chowk, named after a Shahid(Martyr) in Jana-aandolan II, April, 2006) is halfway between the lake and Purano Bazar, the old centre. Apart from this there are several subcentres in other parts of town: in the north in Bagar, in the south between Prithvi Chok and Srijana Chok (mainly hardware stores), and in the east, on the other side of the Seti, in Ram Bazar.

PICTURES I WANTED TO CLICK

Panoramic View of Dhulikhel

Panoramic View 1

Panoramic View 2

Panoramic View 3

Dhulikhel is a typical Newari town with nearby Tamang villages. It is situated 30 km. east of Kathmandu on the side of Arniko Highway on the way towards Tibet. Dhulikhel is popular for its natural beauty and ancient traditions. The Himalayan ranges from the twin crest of Mt. Langtang in the west to the Mt. Everest in the east can be clearly viewed in a clear day. Dhulikhel is ideal for snow-capped peaks, sunrise, sunset and it is different from any other place. One can say Dhulikhel is where the peaks speak.

THINGS TO SEE

Whether it’s a mountain sunrise you’re after, or 400 km of horizon from the Annapurnas in the west to Numbur in the east, the Himalayan skyline dominates Dhulikhel. And unlike that Thamel-on-the-Hill, Nagarkot, Dhulikhel has culture with its old Newari heritage. At 1,500 m it is also milder in winter than Nagarkot.

Dhulikhel was once known by the Buddhist name of Shrikhandapur and still has a few Buddhist stupas in memory of the old days. Namo Buddha is an interesting and pleasant three-hour hike from the town, and has a nice mix of Buddhist flavour and old Hindu temples. Dhulikhel also has several ancient temples dedicated to Sweta Bhairava, Hari Siddhi, Shiva, and Narayana, each with an interesting story related to how they came into being.

There are plenty of other short hikes to undertake from Dhulikhel, but one of the best is the pleasant half-hour uphill from Dhulikhel to the telecommunication tower. Walk through a lush forest echoing with the chattering of racquet tailed drongos and turtle doves to come to a temple dedicated to Kali. If you can manage to wake up early and get up there, it is a sunrise you will remember for years.

And there are more than a dozen hotels to stay for the night if you want to do this, from the upmarket Himalayan Shangrila, which stands at the highest point here and offers the best views to the 28-year-old Nawaranga Restaurant and Guest House, which with its gallery of local art is a backpacker’s dream come true.

Durbar Marg Festival

It was May 13, 2007. we guys didn't had any plan until we heard of this festival. the festival was supposed to start at 11 o clock. but as nepali time, it startted around 2 pm. however some food was been sold. but that didn't matter because everyones' tummy was filled in home at that time. we were around 12-13 people. the show didn't seem to start up. the hot sun. it was difficult to stand around. we decided to sit in the premises of Nepal Investment Bank. the guard was kind enough to let us in and stay there for some mins. in a moment of time the show started with some rap song. we stayed at a distance. however we began to feel hungry. we went to the Anituqe restaurant at Ason. the food was good, but we ordered than we could eat. chatamari, chwela, cheura, cille momo, sizzler, potato chille and what not...... the extra food that we could not eat was packed and i took it home. :) then again we headed towards the concert. some of our friends went home cos they were tired. but we 5 stayed there till 8 pm till evening. it was fun. screaming, jumping, dancing, shooting pics, girls all around etc etc. all in all that day was rocking. check out the some snap shots of it.