Traditional wooden pots from Nepal

In earlier days, still today in few places of Nepal, uses wooden pots to store foods. Depending upon the size and shape of these wooden pots, they are used to store milk, curd, ghee and other food items. Now a days, wooden pots are replaced by metal, ceramic or plastic items. I don't know which one is hygienic and environmental friendly but plastics are definitely not good.

Grass on sale

When I was child, I had studied history of first Nepali poet, Bhanu Bhakta Acharya, where he has mentioned about 'grass sale'. However, selling grass is not common in many parts of Nepal even today. Some city farmers may buy grass for their cattle or hire some one to cut or fetch grass these days. Anyway, recently I was a old women selling grass. It was actually not for cattle nor the amount was large. The grass was 'dubo' (Cynodon dactylon) and sale was for worshiping gods. It is specially used to offer Ganesh God. Are the people so busy that they could not pick up this grass as it can be found any place? or there is no more open space for this grass to grow in Kathmandu city? I don't know how much the old woman could earn from this but it shows that the society is changing and reviving the history of grass sale. Check the green circle.

Juju dhau - King of yogurt

Bhaktapur is also famous for Juju dhau - Newari name for King of curd or yogurt. It is called dhai in Nepali. Earlier, the market demand of curd was fulfilled by the same brand name but there are many brands now. In the name of 'Juju dhau', locals also produce curd and market in the name of juju dhau. Like the tradition of making curd and selling in market, the tradition of carrying in shoulder - 'kharpan' is still practiced. You can see a man carrying curd (don't know whether it is juju dhau or other dhau) and looking for the buyers.

Sumeru parbat during mangal chauthi

Ganesh is one of the most worshiped Gods among Hindus. Mangal chauthi is the biggest day of celebration in the name of Ganesh. While going for shopping, I could see a pile of sweets in front of a temple. I didn't know that the day was Mangal chauthi so with wonder I took these picture and later came to know that the cause of celebration later. I really feel to taste those sweets piled like a 'sumeru parpat' but could not dare to take as 'parsad'.

Bamboo as home utensils

Today, I am posting a picture from a newspaper. Though it is not taken by me, I like the picture very much as it is one of the rare conditions. Besides this, the picture also reflects indigenous technology existing in the country. Bamboo is used for many things but as a water pot is really new to me.

The text in Nepali (below the picture) says that: The picture is from Sankhuwasawa Sisukhola-2 where Gorimaya Rai is filling bamboo pot with drinking water. They do not have bucket or water pot to collect water. Other people in the village also use bamboo as spoon, cooking utensils and others. As cooking utensils, they put rice and water in bamboo pot and put near fire to cook. Click the picture for larger form.

The picture is taken by Surendra Subedi/Kantipur (published on 27 August 2009)

Open tires burning, environmental pollution and health impact

Open burning of vehicle tires on street is becoming a part of life in Nepal. Even for small events, aggressive mass start putting fire on tires to show their yes or no support and put pressure on government. The question of environmental pollution and health impact of such activities has been raised several times but no one has changed this behavior.

Open tire fire emissions include carbon monoxide (CO), sulfur oxides (SO2), oxides of nitrogen (NOx), and volatile organic compounds (VOCs). It also includes hazardous air pollutants such as polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), dioxins, furans, hydrogen chloride, benzene, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). The tire burning emission also releases heavy metals like arsenic, cadmium, nickel, zinc, mercury, chromium, and vanadium. People exposed to such emissions show symptoms of skin, eyes, and mucous membranes irritation, lungs and respiratory problems, central nervous system depression, and cancer. In a long run people may start showing mutagenic effects and higher number of cancer cases. In terms of mutagenic effects, open tire fires emissions are 16 times more dangerous than residential wood burning and 13,000 times than coal-fired emissions.

May be we will start stopping lighting the tires only we experience such effects ourselves but that will be too late to act on. (Information source: http://www.elaw.org/node/2764; Pictures by blogger)

Nepali cultural night in Norway

Almost a month ago, Nepali Society in Ås (NEPSA), Norway organized a Nepali cultural night. The show was not the first of this kind in Norway but was first to Nepalese living in Oslo and Ås. According to the organizers, it was a grand success. Different cultural dances, songs, slide show and a short documentary on Nepal were shown in the event. Nepalese and other nationalities were present in the show. Please enjoy some of the clips. Due to camera shaking, pictures are blur. You may find good pictures from the society's web page www.nepsa.org.np

Road habit of Nepalese

Road construction is one of the important infrastructure for socio-economic development in Nepal. May be because of the fact that the first car enter capital on shoulder of men, road is not meant for vehicles only. People use/misuse highways in different aspects. People walk and cross highways as they like even without looking either sides. Nepalese highways are in maximum use with construction of residential and shopping buildings at both sides, leaving cattle on road, letting children to play, platform for husking rice or wheat and many more. Not only the road, people also use other resources to their optimum capacity. For example, people travel not only on seats of bus, they also use hood and doors for travel. People display and sell/buy things along road. Meat products are displayed along dusty roads without health hazard consideration. Only the vehicular roads are with these problems. However, the walking trails are peace, dust and pollution free, and with beautiful scenery.