On EnvironmentalGraffiti.com, I saw this new post about Asia’s amazing Buddha statues: 17 Biggest Buddhas on Earth. I got very excited about it right from the name and began scanning the article with huge hopes of finding Nepal in the back of my mind. I was blown away by the creativity of these countries on being able to design such amazing masterpieces. As you can see in that post, these gigantic Buddha statues are everywhere around Asia.
Image Courtesy - Visit Nepal.com
It is so nice to see Buddhism-the Symbol Of Peace celebrated, appreciated and followed by people far and wide at an era when the world really needs to embrace it.
Sad part is that I could not see Nepal anywhere in there. Then I realized there is nothing like that in Nepal. Buddha (Siddhartha Gautam) was born in Lumbini, Kapilvastu, Nepal. He was the prince of the Shakya dynasty who had been ruling that part of the region for ages. After spending 28 years in Lumbini, he left his palace in search of ultimate peace. He received enlightment in India vowing under a bodhi tree in Bodh Gaya.
I have come across a lot of people who don’t know he was really from Nepal. And why not? We haven’t done enough to spread his noble teachings around the world.
Nepali Times happened to have an interview with Michael Maedel: president of J. Walter Thompson (JWT) Company – pioneer of many advertising techniques. From the interview, I was amazed as well as felt glad to know that JWT had been running its office in Nepal for 10 years. Among several question asked to him, this one presents a very good point and I found it pretty interesting too as it relates to Google Advertising:
In recent years, billions of ad dollars have moved online. Companies like Google are eating your lunch. What is your ‘Google strategy’?
“The Googles of the world can best be described as ‘frenemies’. Because of their technological sophistication, they capture and analyse data in real time in such a way that clients have a much clearer idea about who’s viewing the ads online in what manner. But we have to understand that when it comes to creating or ‘ideating’ an ad, just having it on Google does not help clients. It’s the high-end creativity in which our company produces value for our clients to sell more of their products.”
I totally agree with the fact that Google is taking away a lot of revenue from such advertising companies. But at the same time, a company that has already built some name and brand in the society is not going to suffer that much. Though internet users are increasing every day and people are relying more on web, there is a huge percentage of people still vying for offsite advertisement, yellow pages and magazines. The ‘type’ of business largely determines the mode of advertising. Online advertising still has a lot of development to go through before it can successfully take on traditional advertising on the ‘local’ ground.
Marketing is rapidly getting viral and all of these new social media are promoting them as well. People heavily use social networks these days and rely hugely on them for their choices. This has necessitated businesses to garner a wide social presence. And to get ahead of the competition, they must employ ‘creative’ advertising sense; otherwise they’ll get pushed way down the line. Like for example: Google Ad sense in websites. Every other websites try to use Google Adsense from which Google is making a huge profit. But at the same time very few websites now are really successful in collecting a good chunk of money from Google like they used to before. Moreover, internet-users have become smart enough to divert themselves away from such ads.
A teenage girl from Westlake Village, California, USA; Sarah got this opportunity to travel to Nepal and study the life of Nepalese teenagers. She quickly realizes that her middle class house in California was like a mansion and her regular toys: cell-phone, credit card and a car were high end luxury while comparing them with her peers in Nepal. It is indeed a painful truth that even the capital city of the country has to undergo several hours of forceful power outages; let alone the fact that a large part of the population is still out of electricity. With high unemployment and continuous political unrest, teenagers have hard time visualizing a bright future.
But Sarah remarkably identifies an important aspect of the Nepalese culture: social-binding. She is able to see the kids growing with a strong family care and support. She realizes how much US teenagers face depression and lack of social upbringing: some of which have harsh effects on their future ability, personality and career as well as long-term physical and mental disabilities.
Nepali people deeply respect their elders and love their young ones. Sarah says she does not even know the full names of her next door neighbors. But in Nepal, people have a good community indulgence. They spend good time with themselves and their family and not get “crushed by stress of commercialism, corporate greed and a constant pressure to get ahead without time for themselves”.
This is an emotionally touching analysis by a young teenager. I was really impressed by her video presentation.
As you may have seen in my previous blog “A Glimpse into Nepal’s attractions“, Nepal is very well known for Mt. Everest: but besides that, it also has 8 of the 14 highest peaks in the world. The Nepalese Himalayan range covers the northern part of the country along the Chinese border and accounts for a third of the Himalayan mountain system. It extends eight hundred kilometers from the Kanchanjunga massif to the Mahakali river. Between these two boundaries lie more than six hundred peaks with an altitude of more than six thousand meters.
Mountaineering - Nepal
Among several other reasons to Get in Nepal, tourists believe Mountaineering is the most important of them all. It was indeed the attraction that gained Nepal its first attentions from the outside world. But Nepal’s great peaks were being coveted by mountaineers since ages. Although there had been negotiations for a British expedition to Mt. Everest (Sagarmatha) as early as 1908 and a French expedition to Mt. Makalu in 1934, Nepal first opened its doors to outside visitors only in 1949. By 1960, eighty-four expeditions, both large and small, had encountered the Nepalese Himalayas. This was the pioneer decade of mountaineering, combining both reconnaissance and climbing. All eight thousand meter peaks were climbed. The most famous ascent of course was that of Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay: that of the 8,848 meter Mt. Everest in May, 29, 1953.
Trekking Himalayas- Nepal
Soon after the historical accent, aspiring climbers from all over the world stormed the Everest region as well as the other great Nepalese peaks; some getting success but a lot of them still had to return empty-handed because of the sheer complexity of the landscape. Throughout the history of Nepalese mountaineering, Nepal’s own climbers have played a major role. Locals like the Sherpas and the Lamas, famous in the world for their mountaineering skills have been able to scale these enormous peaks time and again, in addition to guiding and training people through those hostile environments. Apa Sherpa, the legendary mountaineer from Nepal, was able to scale the Mt. Everest for a record 19 times. Although formally designated as “trekking”, Nepal’s summits are pretty serious climbs and necessitate good mountaineering experience and thorough preparation.
Alongside such a glorious history and a rich mountaineering culture, the snow-capped lands of Nepal are now going through a rapid meltdown: as fast as thrice the pace the rest of the world. All due to global warming! The climate change on the high lands are posing momentous threats of glacier-bursts that can wreak havoc in the whole region and the civilizations that have flourished on the banks of these glacier-turned-rivers. If stringent steps aren’t taken in time, nature’s beautiful creations like these are going to quickly head towards destruction.
Nepal is one of the richest country of the world in terms of traditional arts and culture. Hence, there is a wide range of Nepali souvenirs to choose from. Folk music, sculptures, handicrafts and unique clothings are traditionally popular among tourists.
Below is a list of the most popular Nepali souvenirs:
Thangka
Khukuri
Handicrafts
Carpets
Oil and Water Color Paintings
Rice Paper Prints, Notebooks
Handmade Bags and Purses
Jewelry, Ornaments, Precious Stones
Folk Music
Stamps and Coins
Dolls and Puppets representing people and Gods
Khukuris are very popular among visitors and are also regarded as a national emblem. These are long curved knives, made famous by Gurkha soldiers in various wars fought with the British. There are different types of Khukuris, each with its own importance and function. Much older types of khukuris contain two miniature knives inside its sheath, one serving as a pen knife, the other as a flint for lighting fires. One can easily buy a khukuri in any souvenir shop in Kathmandu Valley in different shapes, designs, miniature and brooches. Even Nepal’s current Prime Minister, while on a visit to the White House, gifted President Barack Obama with one of such knifes.
This morning, I came across “U.S. grants $900,000 for renovation of historical monuments in Patan Darbar Square” at Nepali Times.
Patan Durbar Square, Lalitpur, Nepal
Acting U.S. ambassador to Nepal, Jeffrey Moon, handed over a cheque to the Kathmandu Valley Preservation Trust on Monday. The money from the U.S. Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation will be used for the restoration of rickety royal buildings, stone gates and courtyards in Patan Darbar Square.
“The most significant impacts of this restoration project include fostering increased understanding between cultures, the creation of a world-class institution, furthering knowledge of Nepali culture, local training and education, and economic development,” said Moon.
This news is very exciting. Kathmandu valley is renowned in the world for it exuberant temples, palaces and monuments; and is also known as ‘The land of temples’. The valley has three districts: Kathmandu, Bhaktapur and Lalitpur (Patan) which were historically separate states ruled by different kings. That is the reason why each one has its own ‘Durbar Square’ filled with majestic palaces and artistic temples. In addition, the citizens inhabiting the valley as well as the rulers themselves always respected and recognized different religions. That is why there is a huge number of Buddhist monasteries along with the Hindu temples in the valley. It is so interesting to see that most of the temples have mini-’Stupa’s (Stupa is the name for a Buddhist temple architecture) inside their premises and vice versa.
Preservation of such historically as well as culturally important assets is not only valuable but also very important. At a time when the country is all geared up towards national unity and a brand new constitution, such efforts from the international community is remarkably supportive.
There are scores of reasons to Get In Nepal. I absolutely loved this well constructed video by Nexus Nepal which talks about exploring Nepal and the things to do while in there. It gives you the perfect insight of the country nicely coupled with a good amount of information on each of the major local attractions.
Located in a unique geographical location and adorned with a mesmerizing topography, Nepal is a culturally rich and naturally blessed country. It gives you a glimpse into your soul in the solitude of the Himalayas, in a mystical land with the light of fire and faith in the adobe of Gods. Nepal is a country where the heritage and tradition runs deep and where the culture is frozen in time and space.
Swayambhunath
Nepal – The birth Place of Lord Buddha is blessed with a mystical heritage including mustard fields, paddy fields, lush green tea gardens, pristine lakes, holy land together with an amazing wealth of wild life including Royal Bengal Tiger and one horned Rhinoceros.
Natural Beauties include Mt. Everest: the Worlds’ Highest Peak, eight of the fourteen highest peaks, thirty five percent of the land covered by forest, thick tropical jungles, 848 species of birds, 319 types of exotic orchids, 500 species of butterfly, natural treasure trove and extremely varied landscape.
Cultural Mysteries include 93 ethnic group, 103 spoken languages and dialects, 3000 temples, monasteries and lamasteries, and thousands of monuments.
Grand And Ancient Architecture with as many temples as houses, as many gods as people, where religion is a way of life, more festivals than days in a year, ever smiling Nepali faces, the melting point of Hinduism and Buddhism among the others.
Artifacts par Excellence Kumari: the worlds’ only living goddess. Kathmandu city (capital of Nepal) of temples and chiming bells. Patan, city of Fine Arts. Bhaktapur, city of devotees. Pashupatinath Nepal’s most sacred hindu shrine. Janaki Temple where Lord Ram married Sita.
And all this within a very small stretch of land. Nepal is one the smallest countries in the world but does not have a boundary of the treasures it possesses. True to its cultural principles, “atithi devo bhawa”: you will find Nepal and the Nepalese people with greatest hospitality and gratitude towards you. You will discover even more once you start getting more into Nepal.
It is the time of the year to wish every one a very Happy Deepawali/ Diwali.
It is one of the biggest festival for Hindus and is also known as “festival of lights”. It is celebrated for five continuous days in Nepal. The third day is known as “Laxmi Puja” when we worship Cow, regarded as an incarnation of Goddess “Laxmi” representing Wealth. Hindus clean up their houses, yards, streets, shops and light them with electric lights and small oil-filled earthen pots called “diyo”s, as well as garlands of beautiful Sayapatri, Supari flowers.
In similar way Matt Cutt from Google (head of Google’s Webspam team) also wished a Happy Diwali.
And on the final day Hindus, especially people from Nepal exchange “tika” and blessings between brothers and sisters. The day is renowned as “Bhai-Tika / Bhai-Teeka”. On this auspicious day, sisters pray for their brothers’ prosperous long life from Yama Raj, god of death. In return brothers’ vow to always take good care of their sisters. Relatives are invited and sisters and brothers exchange gifts in return.
