Dashain Festival 2007 Ends From Today

One of the greatest festivals in Nepal, Bada Dashain, will end today. I haven't been around to cover up the story behind the each day of those 15 days of Dashain but I will soon write about my experience with all the stories behind the most important festival that happens once a year and celebrated for whole 15 days. All the schools, colleges, and government offices remain closed for these 15 days.

Today is the last day and with it all the festivals spirit ending and people will now turn back to their work and daily lives. I am sure most of the people even going abroad have come back for this great festival and they have been with their families and enjoying their precious moment together.

I hope Goddess Durga will give me blessing and may be sooner I will be in those billionaire's list. Well I know I am asking but I love visiting Lindemann and Family page in wikipedia and viewing the billionaire list. So I am just praying hard to the Goddess Durga.

Happy Dashain to all of the Nepali people around the world!

Balaju Park (Bais Dhara Balaju)

Few decades ago, Balaju was not as beautiful as it is right now. It used to be just a village and not it has turned into a beautiful park, and there is quite dense population these days. You can get a tempo, microbus, bus, or even a taxi if you want a fast traveling with little more fare from National Theatre, Jamal. Well even if you like walking, within an hour, you will reach the destination as it is situated close to the outskirts of the northern side of Kathmandu. The industrial district around Balaju is the most important in the valley but it does not affect the quiet surroundings of the park in any way.

After you reach to the Balaju area, you will need to pay some cheap entrance fee to get inside the beautiful park. Lots of beautiful bamboos, trees, and varieties of flowers, ponds with fishes, and the twenty-two gushing waterspouts can be found inside the Balaju Park. The twenty-two gushing waterspouts also gave the park its name as “Bais dhara Balaju.” There is also a modern swimming pool where you can enjoy swimming in the sumer and a smaller image of the sleeping Vishnu at Budhanilkantha.

In front of the sleeping Vishnu a small, typically Nepalese, temple is flanked by a row of Hindu images including elephant-headed Ganesh, Buddha protected by the hood of a serpent and Bhagwati. A stupa-like structure shelters a many-armed goddess, unusual in a Buddhist stupa, and an image of Harihar – half Vishnu and half Shiva. The hands on one side hold trishul, a symbol of Shiva (weapon), while on the other side the hands hold chakra (weapon) and sankha, the sympbols of Vishnu. There is also a small phallical-shaped linga surrounded by four pillars and an image of the bullock Nandi. The site is not more than three centuries old but makes an interesting visit due to this curious juxtaposition of Hindu deities.

Kakani

This village is situated on a ridge northwest of Kathmandu and offers good views of the western and central Himalayas. Although I personally prefer the view from Nagarkot, those interested in enjoying the variety of Himalayan scenery, especially magnificent views of Ganesh Himal, should go there. It is quieter than Nagarkot but the food available has less variety and caters less to western tastes. There is a lodge run by the Department of Tourism which has the cheapest prices for the rooms available there.

To get to Kakani is not that difficult as it is a short trip from Kathmandu Valley. You can take a bus or a minibus at Sorakhutte at Kaulethan about two hours from Kathmandu on the road to Trisuli. From thee it is about one hour’s walk along a dirt road to the top of the ridge. You can find lots of Kathmandu Valley people coming there in groups to have a nice day picnic as well. I am sure this would be one hell of experience for the nature lovers who mostly love the scenery of the great Himalayas and beautiful hills seen from Kakani.

Newari Food - Mana Choyela And Its Recipe

Choyela is being popular among all people. There are two types of choyela; haku choyela (roasted choyela) and mana choyela (boiled choyela). In the ancient period, only Newari people used to take choyela as their delicacy. It is made up of buffalo meat. I too belong to a Newar family so I love having lots of choyela since my childhood. We have to celebrate guthi bhoj (guthi feast) once a year, and choyela is one of the most important food items in those feasts.

Do you want to how know to make choyela?

Today I am going to give the recipe of making choyela so that you can try and make it at your own home and taste what we Newars have as out one of the best delicacy.

First of all, you need the basic ingredient, buff meat, salt, red chili powder, garlic paste, ginger paste, jeera powder, methi, some mustard oil, and green dhania. Second, boil the buffalo meat for half an hour then cut it into small pieces and put some salt and chili powder according to your taste. You can put some jeera powder, garlic paste, ginger paste, and mash it for few minutes. Heat the mustard oil and put some methi over the oil. When the methi changes its color from brown to black, you can put the oil including methi into the choyela. Put some dhania for decoration and taste in the choyela, and then your choyela is ready to eat.

I hope you will enjoy this delicacy that we have been enjoying over many years. If you want any questions about the recipe you can always comment and ask for more details.

High Quality Stock Footage Video

I have always wondered how does the most of the documentaries, those movies, and lots of television products and other advertising agencies have made such a wonderful high quality videos. Well they must have used the traditional way of hiring professional cinematographers and sent them to the field. Well often there comes a time when you need an urgent video and I am sure most of the companies would not keep any stock footage video as a backup. In such case, you need someone who has the best professional stock footage. I have found out that AlwaysHD.com represents such professional stock footage industry.

AlwaysHD has gathered a lot of talented cinematographers and the many producers around the world into the same platform. They market High definition footage to production companies, such as advertising agencies, broadcast television studios, documentary producers, independent filmmakers, and cinema studios on behalf of its contributing cinematographers. The contributing cinematographers would then receive revenue when their footage sells. When you buy the footage, they are sold royalty free, so that you can use it worldwide for any length of time without any limitation.

Dyochhen

In the ancient times, the activities of gods and goddesses were interlinked with human being, and somehow resembled too. Like normal people, they attended jatras, attended cultural functions, accepted offerings, and lived in a house. For every individual activity, human society created separate spaces for god whom they respected the most. House created for god and goddesses were named as dyochhen where dyo means god and chhen means house. Dyochhen existed in the society from earlier period in Kathmandu Valley, and it is thought that the "devakula" represented "dyochhen" and "digvara" represented "pigan"-"peeth".

In Malla period, "Gvara" represented "peeth". This word dyochhen exists till now though there is no longer the practice of constructing them in Nepal. This might be the reason why books that categories Nepalese temples often forget to include "dyochhen." I think the government should look upon these ancient monuments and try to preserve them as it is one of our national treasures.

Dhunge Dhara

Dhunge dhara is among the magnificent pieces of art that embellish our cultural heritage. Over the centuries, Kathmandu Valley has continually witnessed the constant evolution of numerous religious and monumental buildings that punctuate the public space, providing diverse from and scale, pervading every aspect of life. Dhunge dharas are also no exception.

Its occurrence in Nepal cannot be dated precisely. Many dharas are found to be of Lichhavi period, which reveals that this has been our culture since centuries. Though, over the period of time its basic form has remained relatively unchanged, different terms have been used to represent it. In early Lichhaivi period, it was called “kriti” and it was called “pranali” in the late Lichhavi period. From Malla period onward, it was called “hiti”. Dhunge dhara are the means of water supply in the ancient time. A typical dhunge dhara is called hitigah in Newari language.