Nepal Tourism Board

E-Newsletter
December 17, 2004


Bivah Panchami, the celestial marriage celebrated
An estimated three hundred thousand devotees from India and Nepal converged in Janakpur to witness the re-enactment of the legendary Ram-Janaki wedding on December 16, 2004. Special functions were held at the Bivah Mnadap and Janaki temple where king Gyanendra and Queen Komal offered Puja amid the chanting of Vedic hymns by the priests. Upon arrival at the Janaki Temple, Their Majesties were welcomed by the Mahanta of Janaki Temple, Ram Tapeshwar Das.

According to Hindu mythology, King Dashrath's eldest son Ram married the deity Sita by stringing the bow of Lord Shiva over seven thousand years ago. The story relates how over a hundred princess and Hindu kings from different kingdoms across India attended the 'Swoyambhar' to try their luck at stringing the heavy bow to win Sita's hand.

The marriage procession started from Ayodhya, India, hometown of Lord Rama on December 8, accompanied by forty vehicles led by chief of Vishwa Hindu Parishad Ashok Singhal. Other prominent members of the procession were VHP general secretary Acharya Giriraj Kishore and Mahant Nritya Gopal Das, president of Ramjanmabhoomi Trust. Janaki's palanquin was also taken around the city prior to arriving at the Rangabhoomi (the engagement site). Swoyambhar was then formally held. Janakpur was illuminated in the evening to celebrate the celestial marriage. Ramananda Dwar, built by the Janaki temple, was also inaugurated.

Though this festival of celestial marriage performs throughout Nepal and India, the focal point of attraction is in Janakpur, the birthplace of Janaki. Janakpur is considered to be a pious place of pilgrimage. Thousands of people visit Janakpur from different parts of India and Nepal to offer worship at the famous temples of Rama and Janaki. They also watch and witness the ceremonial marriage procession.

KIMFF 2004 concluded
Kathmandu International Mountain Film Festival (KIMFF) concluded in Kathmandu on December 12, 2004 with a feast of 49 films from 21 countries. The Rinpoche of the Tengboche Monastery Nawang Tenzing Jangbu inaugurated the festival on 9th December, 2004 that continued for the four days. The entries included anthropological films, alpine documentation, archival footage, adventure cinema, experimental shorts, light-hearted commentary, and feature films. Besides screening of documentaries, workshops, photo exhibition on Alps-Himalaya, a display of books on the Himalaya, an on-the spot painting contest for children were also organized. On the final day of the festival, botanist Dr. Tirtha Bahadur Shrestha made a slide presentation on “Mountain Beauties”, Nepal's floral heritage.
The Kathmandu International Mountain Film Festival was organized by Himal Association, a Kathmandu based non-profit group, which seeks to inform the people of the Himalaya on issues related to their lives and times and promoted by Nepal Tourism Board. The non-competitive festival of mountain films provided a unique platform for filmmakers to exhibit new and exciting works, and to foster an understanding of the World's highlands, mountain cultures, and mountain sensibilities. The viewer’s choice award went to Dutch Filmmaker Margriet Jansen for “Mr. Sherpa Speaks”, which portrayed the lifestyle and dreams of a Sherpa boy named Nima Temba Sherpa.


Shiv clinched Surya Nepal Int'l Golf Championship title
India's Shiv Kapur lifted the Surya Nepal Masters 2004 golf title after an exciting three-way playoff on the final day of the championship on December 12, 2004.
Kapur, who won the Asian games gold as an amateur, sank a 35-foot birdie putt to win the thrilling play-off on Sunday and pocket Rs 162,000 in the Amby Valley Pgai tour event played at the Gokarna forest golf resort.
In the play-off, Kapur took the honours on the par-3 tenth, but left his nine-iron 35 feet short. The 22-year-old then staged a brilliant recovery with birdies on the third, fourth, ninth and 12th, before dropping a shot on the 15th.
Ashok Kumar equalled the course record of eight-under 64, set by Shiv Kapur on December 10, to pole-vault to the tied-fourth position at 281 along with Mohd Rafique and Sanjay Kumar.

Pokhara Film Festival in the offing
The Inter-Cultural film Society (ICTF) is organizing three days Film Festival from December 24- 26, 2004 in Pokhara. With the aim of promoting inter-cultural communication, ICTF has presented more than 50 movies from Asia, Africa, Europe, the Americas and Australia in last four years. Pokhara Film Festival 2004 is organized in order to reach the audiences outside the Kathmandu valley and to explain multi-dimensional cultures of the world on a human level through films.
The films that would be shown in this festival are: "On the Road with the Red God Machhendranath" and "Listen to the wind" by Kesang Tsten, "Numafung" by Nabin Subba, "Mukundo" by Tsering Rita Sherpa, "Chameli" by Ravi Baral, "Caravan" by Eric Valli, "History for Winners" by Pranay Limbu and "Bheda ko Oon Jasto" by Kiran Krishna Shretha. The film festival would be of great value for the people of Pokhara and the rest, as the work of these renowned filmmakers would find common venue. The Film Festival is promoted by Nepal Tourism Board.



Feature of the Week


The Dolpo Dream for tourism and development


By Archana K.C.


Dolpa is remote. It is rugged. And it is a radiant beauty in its setting of Himalayan glory. The Dolpo experience, will fascinate visitors from abroad and Nepales as well Yet, very few tourists visit Dolpa.

Barely about 400 trekkers visited Upper Dolpa in 2003. This number is still an increment as compared to the year 2002 when there were fewer than 150 tourists in Upper Dolpa. It was three years ago in 1999 that Dolpa tourism boomed with the release of French movie Caravan, bringing about 800 tourists in the area (together Upper and Lower Dolpa). Since then security situation has only looked downhill; the difficult access and extremely high royalty to be paid to enter Upper Dolpa ($700 for 10 days, and additional $70 per day per person after the initial 10 days), do not help either.

The locals are hopeful though. Enthusiastic young people work for the development of Dolpa; and they are positive that things are going to change soon.

Ask 19-year-old Kamala Ukheda about tourism development prospects in Dolpa, and she stresses the need for tourism facilities and the use of local products for Dolpa to prosper as far as tourism is concerned. Despite her young age and apparent inexperience as a social mobilizer, Kamala is bright and talkative, very willing to be an interviewee. She is not the only woman social mobilizer in the group. In fact, there are a few more who are just as ready for an interview to give a piece of their mind in hope that their voice is heard somewhere among the urban crowd of Kathmandu. Kamala attributes this positive change in Dolpo women to the continuous awareness programs conducted by the local development projects.

One such project is Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation (MoCTCA) / HMG project Tourism for Rural Poverty Alleviation Programme (TRPAP). TRPAP, which also works in 5 other districts: Rasuwa, Chitwan, Rupandehi, Solukhumbu and Taplejung, is a joint venture of UNDP, DFID and SNV, that works in these remote and tourism potential districts for poverty alleviation through tourism. In Dolpa, TRPAP works through the local NGOs like Dolpo Educational Social and Environmental Reservation Team (DESERT) and Development Association of Dolpa Tourism and Generation (DAD-TAG). As in other program districts its activities are pro poor, pro environment, pro community and pro women. As a part of its mission to work pro women, DDC Dolpa / TRPAP has carried out gender awareness, income generation trainings and other programs related to tourism in the VDCs of Dolpa. These awareness programs have made considerable difference in getting women out of their houses and getting into the community.

Sujit Shrestha, Village Tourism Adviser to DDC/ TRPAP Dolpa has seen the change in the women of the TRPAP VDCs of Dolpa . In the past year TRPAP has conducted leadership programs, and incorporated a section on gender in other awareness programs. During trainings, TRPAP has tried to have a 50:50 ratio of men and women as far as possible. However, the presence of women depends largely on the nature of trainings, according to VTA Shrestha.

"In the previous years only a few women from well to do families used to come to my office when there were things to talk about or help to be asked for," he says. "But this year it has been different. Women from different background go to community organizations as per their need. They speak. Ask for their rights."

Even though women are still shy in villages, in general "Women are not shy…but they're more familiar now in places where awareness programs have been conducted. Women are motivated toward learning and development," says Roshan Hamal, 24, community officer of DESERT through which TRPAP works.

Born and brought up in a well to do family of Dunai, Roshan is keen about the development of Dolpa. Despite having had opportunity to move to Kathmandu, Roshan holds on to her job as tourism development worker in Dunai, traveling to different villages of Dolpa, interacting with local community and hoping that one day Dolpa will be recognized as the number one tourism area of Nepal.

Roshan identifies lack of services and facilities as major drawbacks of Dolpa in light of tourism. "There were not many tourism organizations working in the past," she says. "Awareness has started of late. If people have direct benefit from tourism, then it may be easier to develop tourism facilities."

Such an example is China Maya K.C., 47, also from Dunai, who has won acclaim for her rise from a housewife working in the kitchen garden to a successful businessperson and the vegetable supplier of Dunai. In the dry, dreary land and weather of Dolpa, China Maya grows variety of vegetables, and sells it in the Dunai market where vegetables are scarce and otherwise usually brought from Nepalgunj. China Maya is also an active contributing member of the community and could be a resource person in terms of training other women like her in Dunai and surrounding areas.

"I want the whole organization to prosper; not only me," China Maya says. "If we can have a Haat Bajaar, we can sell well." She realizes that this will also contribute to tourism development in this region of Dolpa.

However, the most important aspect for tourism is peace, China says. "Fear, anxiety will not lead anywhere." she says. "If only we had peace,"

Even though peace and development seem a far-fetched dream for these women, there is hope in most eyes. "There are many well wishers of Dolpa and I hope they do not lose heart because of the present situation," says community officer Roshan Hamal. "Changes will happen is my belief."

- Rural Tourism Feature - 14/ TRPAP


Upcoming Events


Gadhimai Mela Bara
Date:18-19 Dec 2004
Venue: Gadhimai Temple premises, Bariyapur, Bara
Organised by Gadhimai Mela Management Main Committee, Bara

Pokhara Film Festival 2004
Date: December 24-26 2004
Venue: NTB, Pokhara Tourist Information Center, Damsite, Pardi, Pokhara
Organised by Inter-Cultural Film Society
Contact Number: 4489654, 5549386
Email: icss@wlink.com.np

6th Pokhara Street Festival
Date: 28 Dec 2004 1 Jan 2005
Venue: Pokhara
Organised by REBAN-Pokhara Chapter

7th Nationwide Folk Dance Competition
Date: 1st Jan 2005
Venue: Kathmandu
Organised by Sadhana Kala Kendra

1st All Karate Open International Championships
Date: 5-15 Jan 2005
Venue: Kathmandu
Organised by Nepal Kwanmukan Karate Do Association

Chitwan Mahotsav 2061
Date: 9-16 Jan 2005
Venue: Narayangadh
Organised by DDC Chitwan, Chamber of Commerce and Industries-Narayanghat and various organizations


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