A BLAST FROM THE PAST - THE PROCLAMATION

Hippies, Hashish and 'Hare Rama Hare Krishna'

Hippies, Hashish and 'Hare Rama Hare Krishna' - Kami Kanetsuka Kami Kanetsuka is a traveller and writer based in V ancouver, Canada. During the 1960s and ‘70s, she travelled all over South East Asia and lived in Nepal for many years. I did a piece on her husband's restaurant and posted it on by blogsite earlier. https://historylessonsnepal.blogspot.com/2012/08/eating-around-world-in-kathmandu-first.html ********************** Kathmandu in the 1960s and ‘70s was a serene, peaceful and cosmopolitan place that attracted travelers, seekers and filmmakers. A still from "Hare Rama Hare Krishna" The year 1971 was marked with several ‘big victories’ – in politics, cricket and in war – all of which had long term implications for India. The national mood was buoyant, even if the country continued to struggle with endemic problems. Fifty years later, we look back at those times and evoke some of that mood. In a series of articles , leading writers recall and analyze ...

INTO THE MAELSTROM - JUNG BAHADUR LEADS AN ARMY

G overnor General Lord Canning's request to Jung Bahadur to assist the British militarily in Avadh sent a maelstrom through the court of Nepal. Prime Minister Bhimsen Thapa's war was still fresh in peoples' mind and the wound of Sugauly had not yet healed. The pacifists wanted to stay neutral saying it was not our fight. The powerful conservative faction still smarting from the earlier defeat wanted to fight the British instead by reinforcing Begum Hazrat Mahal. Maharajah Jung Bahadur was a brave-heart but he had first-hand witnessed the might of Britain; he knew that it was not the time to fight them. Too, he disliked the duplicity of the Indian rajas and the decadence of the Avadhi court where, until recently, Nawab Wajid Ali Shah was ruling the roost. He had also heard of savage killing of British civilians, women and children too, anathema to the chivalrous Jung. But decision to go to war is always a soul-searching affair. Jung held counsel with h...

THE MAHARAJAH'S LAST REPOSE

T he maharajah was having a nightmare. He often did since he left the hurly burly of Nepalese politics for a life of a raj-rishi with determination to devote the remaining few years of his life in spiritual pursuit. He dreamt of a calamity striking Nepal and taking him in its wake. Although not residing in Kathmandu any longer, he was still close enough to feel the ripples of a revolution should it come sooner or later, but come it would. The maharajah woke up sweating. He asked his attendant to light up his hookah. This would make him calm again. Ridi Bazaar on the banks of Kali Gandaki River Ridi is a very holy place in Nepal. Located at the confluence of the small Ridi stream and the larger Kali Gandaki River in Gulmi district, the site is acclaimed far and wide as a pilgrimage site as holy as Benaras. Throughout the ages pilgrims not able to reach faraway Benaras flocked to Ridi for salvation. The famous temple of Rishikesh founded by King Mukunda Sen graces the site. Nearb...

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