Himalaya Watch

People, issues. Debates, perspectives. Details, nuances. A crisp view from the top.

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Wednesday, November 2, 2022

SOS from the Himalaya: The lifeline to 2b people is snapping in real time

Dispatch from Annapurna Base Camp

The day we reached Annapurna Base Camp (ABC), one of the most tempting tourist destinations in Nepal, the peaks were mostly covered by cloud. The next morning, though, everything was clear. Revelers were finding it hard to fathom the beauty of the snow-capped peaks all around them.  

 

I was, though, constantly haunted by a different scene. On my way up to the camp, I had noticed the huge ravine adjoining the camp itself which seemed to be expanding every year because of active landslides on both of its sides. Now it is about three kilometers long with an estimated width of around 300 meters. 


 

What was so anomalous about this mediocre-looking ravine next to the magnificent Annapurna range of the Himalaya?

Once upon a time it used to be a glacier. Millions of tonnes of snow used to sit atop the gravel that is now exposed even in late October. High pressure and warmer temperatures around the tail end of the glacier made sure that a given amount of ice kept melting throughout the year, feeding the Modi river round-the-clock. The ice so lost would be constantly replenished by the snow that kept sliding from the body of the peaks above and falling at the top.

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Thursday, March 17, 2022

कमरेड, देश भनेको के हो?

कमरेड, देश भनेको के हो?

गीतको ऐनामा हेरेर को कति तर्स्यो भन्ने तहबाट गहिराइमा पुग्ने हो भने प्रकश सपुतको गीतले आधुनिक राष्ट्र–राज्यको अवधारणामाथि नै गम्भीर दार्शनिक प्रश्न उठाइदिएको छ। 

Tuesday, February 1, 2022

पाठकका ‘प्रश्न’, स्रष्टाका जवाफ

पाठकका ‘प्रश्न’, स्रष्टाका जवाफ: पुस्तक पढ्नका लागि त्यति प्रयोजन काफी छ। तर त्यसको थप एउटा फाइदा पनि छ। छ जनाले नै आफूलाई मन परेका एकाध दर्जन उत्कृष्ट किताबहरूबारे यी अन्तर्वार्ताहरूमा खुलेर बोलेका छन्। अथवा भनौं, प्रश्नकर्ता अधिकारीले उनीहरूलाई बोलाएका छन्।

Sunday, November 1, 2020

  दशैं डायरी ’७७: साइकलमा उपर्दाङगढी



 

नागरिकसित डराएको सरकारलाई सिडिओहरुले कहिलेसम्म बचाउने हुन् ? 

- प्रितम सुवेदी

आज काठमाडौं लगायतका जिल्लाका प्रमुख जिल्ला अधिकारी (सिडिओ) हरु  नागरिक अधिकार खोस्न उद्यत छन् । उनीहरुले पटक पटक मानव अधिकार उल्लंघन समेत गरेका छन्।  सर्वोच्च अदालतको आदेश लत्याउदै महामारीको बहाना बनाएर उनीहरुले पुनः काठमाडौंका विभिन्न क्षेत्रहरुमा गैरकानूनी तरिकाले निषेधित क्षेत्र घोषणा गरिरहेका छन्। शान्तिपूर्ण रूपमा स्वास्थ्य प्रोटोकल पालना गरी गरेको प्रदर्शनमा पटक पटक गैरकानूनी तरिकाले हस्तक्षेप गरेका छन्। पटक पटक पक्राउ गर्ने आदेश दिएका छन्। भद्रगोल र जोखिमपूर्ण तरिकाले पक्राउ गरेर थुनामा राखिरहेका छन् ।

 Read more at Shilapatra: नागरिकसित डराएको सरकारलाई सिडिओहरुले कहिलेसम्म बचाउने हुन् ? :

विजय कुमारको खुशी पढेपछि

जीवन, खुशी अहंकार

जीवनमा अफ्ठ्यारा घुम्तीहरुमा हिंडिरहँदा मैले कुनै क्षणमा पलायनलाई एउटा विकल्पको रुपमा कल्पना गरेको थिएँ, त्यसलाई यथार्थमा बदल्ने आँट गरिनँ, त्यो बेग्लै कुरा हो त्यसबेला लाग्थ्योः मेरा समग्र दुखहरुको कारण मेरो वरपरको वातावरण हो, यसबाट साहसपूर्वक बाहिरिएँ भने नयाँ दुख आउलान् तर तत्क्षणका दुरुह दुखहरु गायब भएर जानेछन् कति गलत थिएँ !


Read more from Dashain Issue

Debating partition of India: culpability and consequences




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Why I write...

I do not know why I often tend to view people rather grimly: they usually are not as benevolent, well-intentioned and capable or strong as they appear to be. This assumption is founded on my own self-assessment, though I don’t have a clue as to whether it is justifiable to generalize an observation made in one individual. This being the fact, my views of writers as ‘capable’ people are not that encouraging: I tend to see them as people who intend to create really great and world-changing writings but most of the times end up producing parochial pieces. Also, given the fact that the society where we grow and learn is full of dishonesty, treachery, deceit and above else, mundanity, it is rather unrealistic to expect an entirely reinvigorating work of writing from every other person who scribbles words in paper.


On life's challenges

Somebody has said: “I was born intelligent but education ruined me”. I was born a mere child, as everyone is, and grew up as an ordinary teenager eventually landing up in youth and then adulthood. The extent to which formal education helped me to learn about the world may be debatable but it definitely did not ruin me. There were, however, things that nearly ruined me. There came moments when I contemplated some difficult choices. And there came and passed periods when I underwent through an apparently everlasting spell of agony. There came bends in life from which it was very tempting to move straight ahead instead of following the zigzag course.


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