The good news this week is that the rain raised the level of Kulekhani reservoir by 1cm. The bad news is that the level went down by 50cm the very next day because the water was drained to generate power. What all this means is that when Kulekhani goes completely dry, NEA is going to scrap its loadshedding schedule. After that, instead of the power going off at 4PM and coming back at midnight like clockwork, the Nepal Eletrocuted Authoritarians will surprise us by turning off the power anytime they like.
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The most sensational bit of news this week was the antic of First Son Prakash in Dhulikhel where he got himself plastered and was photographed in an advanced stage of inebriation while Daddy and Uncle Babu were meeting KU honchos. (Editor's note: The PMO has clarified that the Tremendous, Jr had "dozed off.") Even so, the Heir Apparent was overheard exhorting the PM's bodyguards and security to join in the merry-making. The second generation comrades are really making up for lost time for having tried to turn the whole country dry during their revolution.
What's with clown princes in this country anyway that they all end up turning into spoilt brats, at best, or mass murderers at worst? Immediate parallels were of course drawn between Prakash and Paras. And speaking of whom, the ex-CP was seen recently at a Burgis St watering hole swinging back one too many Singapore Slings and essentially making a donkey of himself. If he gets another speeding ticket on the PIE they may actually cancel the registration of his Lamborghini, and there's no way he can bribe his way out of that one. At the rate the ex-prince is going, it appears he is personally working towards making the Baby King proposal a reality by disqualifying himself from the contest.
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Is Comrade Shock & Awe thinking of setting up a parallel YCL? Probably not, but it was disconcerting to see him giving the three finger salute wearing a neckerchief and merit badges at a jamboree of Nepal Scouts the other day. Lt Gen Robert Baden-Powell must be turning in his grave, or maybe he is pretty chuffed that someone actually wants his former guerrillas to become Boy Scouts? But the YCLs just doesn't sit when the chairman tells them to sit. The leaguers aren't going after wilful defaulters with toxic assets, they are still on the rampage terrorising multinationals and schools, still confiscating property and conducting wallaby courts in rural areas. Now that the media spotlight has swung away from Pashupati, YCL-backed goons are now extorting money from people wishing to perform pujas by the banks of the unholy Bagmati. There is a standard rate of Rs 5,000 for Indian pilgrims and Rs 2,000 for locals. If you don't cough up, well, you can't say "Om Nama Shivaya" because the YCL control the gates of heaven.
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We now have it on fairly good authority that Nepal is like Rwanda. Although Comrade Navi was quoted out of context, she was obviously trying to make a pitch for a three-year extension for OHCHR mandate in Nepal by implying that things ain't all hunkydory in the boondocks yet, the gaffe may have actually made it easier now for NHRC to attain its goal to drive out the high commission.
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US embassy officials, always very obsessed with security around the Maharajganj Fortress, apparently haven't been able to do anything about a huge billboard that has sprouted on the south side of the embassy parking lot put up by an education consultancy advertising colleges in Australia.The advertisement is obviously aimed at Nepalis wishing to go to study in the US whose visas are refused. So, if the gloves have come off in the War of Overseas Education, can we expect the Americans to retaliate by putting up a neon sign up the road opposite the Ozzie Emb advertising consultancies that offer to smuggle people to the US via Mexico?
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