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The government on Nov 11 appointed Raman Nepal as the executive director of Citizen Investment Trust (CIT).

The Ministry of Finance (MoF) had published a notice calling for appli­cations for the top post of CIT on September 24. Altogether five can­didates had filed applications for the post of the executive director.

The post of the exec­utive director had been lying vacant after for­mer executive director Ramkrishna Pokharel tendered his resigna­tion in August. After Pokharel’s resignation, the MoF had appointed Chandra Kala Poudel, joint secretary at MoF, as executive director of CIT on a temporary basis.

At present, CIT operates retire­ment fund, CIT unit scheme, pen­sion/gratuity fund, investors A/C scheme, civil employee’s insurance fund, teachers insurance, army employee’s insurance fund, police employee’s insurance fund, APF employee’s insurance fund, reserve fund and other institutional employ­ee’s insurance fund. CIT currently has 609,374 members with funds worth Rs 109.84 billion.

Dukkuchhap is a village in Lalitpur district of central Nepal located 15 km south of Kathmandu. You go via Bhaisepati, Chyasikot and Bungamati and it takes one hour on bus. Descend at Duk­kuchap bus stop and hike the trekking route up the Danuwar village, right up to the Devichour on top. This top allows hikers to enjoy the majestic view of Sisneri below. The final destination is an ancient Hindu temple called “TikaBhairab.” In other words, this is a hike for your body and soul.

ArTree Nepal is hosting its second edition of Open Studio titled “Oppo­site Dreams-The Politics of Local” inside its premises at Tripureshwor. The exhibit, which runs through till Nov 17 from 11:00 am-5:00 pm every day, features works of Mekh Limbu, Hit Man Gurung, Lavkant Chaud­hary, Sheelasha Rajbhandari, Bikash Shrestha and Subhas Tamang.

The exhibition highlights the dis­regarded historical narrative of the marginalized, underprivileged and indigenous communities and draws attention to the importance of equal representation of diverse ethnic­ities, identities, cultures and lan­guages. The pieces on display make use of different mediums like stone and wood carving, terracotta pots, videos and lights to accentuate the theme of the exhibition.

Curator of this open studio and creator of the piece “Mahendra Mala” Subhas Tamang, says that he used stone carving to portray Mahen­dra Mala from the perspective of a Tamang who was forced to accept the mainstream and discriminatory account of his culture through the educational system established by the Panchayat-era government.

Mekh Limbu, creator of the piece “How I Forgot my Mother Tongue Language”, says that adoption of a single language—Nepali—in the cur­riculum resulted in the loss of many stories, memories and rituals that are associated with native languages of the indigenous communities.

Exercise and have fun while trying the adventure sport of climbing in the safe confines of the Astrek Climbing Wall. The Astrek Climbing Wall, located at Thamel in the heart of Kathman­du, is easy to get to and open every day, including all holidays. At 50 feet high, this is the tallest climbing wall in Nepal and there are 20 different routes for all experience levels. There are also two awesome bouldering walls for those who enjoy full-bodied climb.

The Club House boasts of a fully stocked bar and serves good food. They also offer free Wi-Fi Internet and access to a music system for those who would just like to relax or check emails or Facebook.

Call: 01-4419265; Visit:astrekclimbing.com

What do you get at a typical bar and grill house? Beer and barbecues mostly. But Oskar Bar and Grill at Panipokhari Heights (opposite the Japanese Embassy) offers much more, both in terms of food and ambience. Apart from the regular grilled meat options, Oskar’s menu has special considerations for vege­tarians and other less voracious meat eaters too. So the menu offers everything from falafels to tacos, hummus and pita to bruschetta, pizzas, pastas and more, all with vegetarian options.

What separates Oskar from other eateries is that it is much more than just a restaurant. Oskar hosts a variety of events in its premises and hence has become a favorite hangout for its regular clients, celebrities and socialites. Music nights, football screenings, cocktail parties and salsa nights are a regular feature at Oskar besides the special events and programs it hosts.

THE MENU

Chef’s Special:

- Mediterranean Tacos

- Nicoise Salad

- Penne Arrabiata

Opening hours:

- 11 am to 11 pm

Location:

- Panipokhari, Ktm

Cards:

- Accepted

Meal for 2:

- Rs 2500

Reservations:

- 01-4418648

Kathmandu is soon going to witness its own version of the global ‘Come Together’ music festival, to be held for one whole week, from Nov 17-25. Six international acts will be joining a number of local Nepali bands at different venues to celebrate the festival.

In its first year, the goal is to bring musicians from around the world to Kathmandu and raise money for projects that The Active Community (the organizers) are involved in. They plan to make it an annual event.

JJ Empower has been the man on the ground in Nepal sourcing bands and venues for this international festival to come to Kathmandu and his band Kazukij will be launching their new album at the festival as well.

The Come Together festivals are already operating in Brixton, London and in Noosa, Australia and will soon be set up in Peru for the Amazon Come Together, which will also include breaking the world record for the longest performance: 65 hours non-stop.

The Active Community have broken the world record for the ‘highest concert’ on Mera Peak in Solukhumbu and raised money to build a shelter for girls in Dhulikhel with their partners Help Nepal.

They hope to use the event to lure more tourists to Nepal to help rebuild the economy. The ultimate goal is to establish it as one of the major music events in all of Asia.

 For more information go to the Facebook page- Kathmandu Come Together or visit:

http://www.theactivecommunity.org/festivals/kathmandu-music-festival/

Q. Three adjectives that best describe you

A. Compassionate, sympathetic and hypersensitive

Q. Dream musical collaboration

A. Between me and Breaking Benjamin

Q. Your biggest musical influence

A. Too many to choose from

Q. Nepali artist that you would love to work with

A. Albatross

Q. Most admirable quality in a person

A. Sense of humor

Q. Best compliment that you have ever received

A. Haven’t received it yet

Q. A stereotype in our society you wish would be broken

A. ‘Real men don’t cry’

One widely accepted reason for the poor showing of Nepali Congress in the 2017 elections was the manifest failure of party president Sher Bahadur Deuba to make his foot-soldiers, all shocked by the sudden left merger, believe that the party could still do well. The old problem of factionalism in Congress was compounded by Deuba’s inabil­ity to come up with a credible electoral slogan to challenge the twin communist agendas of ‘stability’ and ‘prosperity’. Now ahead of the meeting of NC Mahasamiti, the party’s second most-powerful body, scheduled for Dec 14-18, Deuba seems to be hanging on for dear life. Senior leader Ram Chan­dra Poudel, General Secretary Shashank Koirala, Krishna Prasad Sitaula, Prakash Man Singh—they are all miffed at what they see as Deuba’s go-alone mentality. Deuba’s unilateral appointment of Bijaya Kumar Gachchadar, someone who has only recently joined the party, as vice-president seemed to be the last straw. One thing these forever feuding leaders now agree on is that Deuba must go, at any cost.

They are all jockeying for a favorable position in lieu of the national general convention, the party’s supreme legislative and electoral body, slated for March 2020. Among other things, the general conven­tion will elect a new lead­ership. But that is still some way off. Right now, the focus should be on giving final shape to a new statute that will help the party restructure in line with the federal setup. When that draft is finalized, it will have to be endorsed by the Mahasamiti. Yet as the battle between the ‘establishment’ and ‘anti-establishment’ factions intensifies, the taskforce formed to finalize the draft has not even been able to meet regularly. This tardy progress on the statute could in turn further delay the Mahasamiti meet.

Opportunism characterizes all politicians to an extent. Yet it is shocking to see how little the party leadership has learned from their drubbing in the last elections. Amid their little personal battles, a hard truth seems to have escaped them: it will be impossible for Congress to win an election unless one, it can clearly articulate its vision of the new fed­eral Nepal and two, unless people know how the party will tackle their bread-and-butter issues. Deuba’s failure on these two fronts cost them the last set of elections. And yet none of the senior Congress leaders who are challenging Deuba has thus far shown any inclination, or imagination, to suggest that they are any better.