Miss Nepal 2012 or was it Mishap Nepal 2012?

Oh I am just so sad. So sad to be seeing what I had to see yesterday. There were a million things that went wrong last night, I am only happy that the one thing that probably went absolutely right was SHRISTI SHRESTHA being crowned MISS NEPAL 2012. Now she completely deserved it and here is why.

SHRISTI IS THE BEST CHOICE AFTERALL

Apart from the fact that Shristi hails from a modeling background and is definitely, without a question THEE best model Nepal has ever given birth to, Shristi also happens to be a sweetheart of a person. And just being sweet doesn’t entitle anyone to win a title as big as Miss Nepal you might ask, and I agree with you. Sweet and beauty queens don’t go together and shouldn’t go together. Beauty queens are supposed to be fierce, passionate and above all a fantastic representative to the nation and Shristi is all of that.

I was skeptical that Shristi would fail to impress Nepali judges who are so hung up on giving points to those who speak well- like it’s a debate contest or something, which is of no advantage in international pageants where only the flair and charm and the elegance and stage presence is marked. (Questions in most international beauty pageants are given beforehand so that the contestants have time to prepare for it)

I was literally 50 feet away from the stage and yet Shristi could be clearly singled out from all that distance- massive stage presence she had. And thank god for her, she gave good answers to go with it too. That crown was her to kiss and for the first time in my life really got excited for a Miss Nepal winner who would go on to make Nepal so proud in Miss World pageant. Here is hoping, Shristi will finally do the needful to put NEPAL in the map of international beauty pageants and international organizations finally take care to notice that NEPAL indeed sends fabulous representatives after all.

The Runner-ups

I always saw Nagma as the runner-up. For a height that good (she is 5.10”) and speaking abilities she would also make a very good representative for Nepal at the Miss Earth pageant and I wish her all the best.

 Shubekchha Khadka did win her spot because of her good answers and here is wishing her the best for Miss International pageant where she represents Nepal.

OK.. now comes the dirty bit …

“Mero Budi Ko Ramro Chha”…

“Mero Budi ko ramro chha”, exclaimed a guy in the audience. His friends asked, “ke ramro chha? ” and he went, “mero budi ko nighty nai ramro chha yiniharu ko bhanda.”

Sad but true. Some of the designs the girls were made to wear at Miss Nepal 2012 was just so hedious. Some of them came out wearing nighty-doubles, some ragged tatters- if they’re called designer pieces please, we’d rather have the girls wearing ready made, Bangkok imported clothes which could be much more decent to look at.

And it looked kinda unfair to contestants as some had really good attire to wear and some had to settle for trashy. A big thumbs down on the designs this year. It was sad to see girls parading around in tents in the name of gowns.

TOP SECRET INFO# I asked a designer who formerly designed beautiful clothes (not the best, and theres a reason, keep reading) for miss Nepal contestants as to why “IT”(cant mention the gender here lol) didn’t design clothes for the girls this time. And “IT” went, “Miss Nepal never gives money. They are yet to clear my dues from previous years. Why work for free?”

Absolutely agree with what “IT” had to say. I mean, designers are artists really and god knows, Nepal don’t lack talented, gifted designers. But why would they want to pull off making that many dresses for free? Shouldn’t their talent be duly paid? And where does all that BIG sponsored money go to? No wonder even the selected designers make below mediocre designs because HELLO that is what you get for trying to make people work for free.

And also this time, I heard that each contestants would be getting their own designers and this piece of info had all our hopes escalated. How ruthlessly it was thrashed last night. MISS NEPAL DESIGNS, GOWNS, DRESSES SUCKED BIG TIME (except for a few).

The Venue

When I first heard that this time Miss Nepal would be held Hotel De’l Annapurna’s pool side, I imagined the event to be elegant and classy. Classy.... my backside.

I am sorry for the language and I am sure you can sense my fury here because please, Miss Nepal has been doing this same damn thing for more than 15-16 years now. And why does after all this time, do they still muddle up and make an event this respected and this hyped- the trashiest event of the year?

Miss Nepal the most glamorous event of the year – they call themselves. Ermm not really please wake up and smell the fury , dear organizers. How can you make the same mistakes year and year and year again is what I don’t understand.

·      The sitting arrangement looked like it was some bhoj-bhater ceremony of some kind. Like a bunch of dohori groups would soon be sitting on the stage in two divisions and start doing their business. Not so classy eh!

·      And even if one would compromise on the sitting arrangements I don’t understand why more passes were printed than its sitting capacity. People were standing because of unavailability of seats. Not so classy.

·      The stage was bad. I mean it was so , you know, school-functions-have-better-stage-than-that types. I at least assumed that it mustve looked good on TV but NO, people who watched the event on TV had the same notion.

·      And you wont believe the sight at the dinner party. Just check out the photo below. Not so classy again.

Miss Nepal after-show dinner party had a serpentine line -perhaps one that was longer from all the lines outside petrol pumps- waiting their turns to grab a bite of the Annapurna food. No thankyou!

The Emcees

TOP SECRET INFO: I met the main guy from the sound system and I asked him, what is wrong with the emcees mic today and he said, “Kei bhachhaina. Mic on nagari bolepachhi testai ho”. Hmm.. so who is to blame whom here. That still is top secret.

“We have one more SLOT to go “ said Sahana, when announcing the top-10 contestants which just didn’t sound right but apart from that I personally believe she did a fairly good job. Biraj on the other hand is a sweetheart of a boy, but in my harshly honest opinion he was just too young to host the show. He is only 20 and his voice still sounds a bit kiddish and immature and well not too manly compared to the emceeing giants of the country like Asish or Prasan Syangden. Biraj, I have no doubts will make the best emcee  in town in a few years and is superb in hosting concerts perhaps but not an event like Miss Nepal.

Other flaws

·      Bad performances, I really don’t understand what they were trying to do there. Perhaps if you start paying artistes the money they are entitled to, good performers will come forth to be a part of Miss Nepal. 

·      The lighting effects would’ve been better if they’d not attempted to do anything at all. Nepal has a long way to go when it comes to stage lightings, settings and sound.

·      Talking about sound, we all know how the mic went off like a hundred times.

·      The final background score when Miss Nepals were being crowned was just so pathetic. It was the music score from the movie star wars … so yeah please someone  or the one who decided on the music care to explain to me the relation between STAR WARS and BEAUTY PAGEANTS??

·      The miss Nepal event was about 2 hours- the ads lasted for one-and-a-half-hours perhaps. I mean wouldn’t it be better if some performances were put up than play the same ad over and over and over again? What is up with that. Oh I know, on a second thought though, with performances that bad they’d rather have us watch the ads instead.

MISS NEPAL being taken for granted, perhaps!

Accept it or not, Miss Nepal is definitely the most talked about event of the year in Nepali media after - I don’t know, the PM elections? But that keeps happening every 2 months or so … (sarcasm intended ;) ), so yeah, I would say as a journalist myself that MISS NEPAL is thee most hyped event in the Nepalese calendar.

 I saw two huge, super VIP looking cars from Srilankan embassy that had come to be a part of the show and god knows how many other internationally affiliated people/organizations were there in the audience last night.

So when a show that is supposed to be elegant, classy and top-notch event of the year puts up an act like it did yesterday, it is not just hidden treasure that has to be ashamed , the appaling show was rather a big blow on faces of all Nepalis who expect the standards of show business to improve each year but which seems to be unfortunately going down.

Lessons to be learnt

I have watched better shows than that here in Nepal which are well managed. Perhaps its time hidden treasure give away (if its so difficult for them) their management bit to be handled by some other “young but experienced ” team the next time.

There are ads playing over and over and over again which signifies the presence of a huge pool of sponsors. But where does all that money go if youre not paying the working designers, the emcees or not even properly sponsoring the winning contestants. (Fact# last years emcees hosted the event for free)

Hopefully a lot of investment will be done in our three representatives in making them international -beauty-pageant ready and not be another Nepali contestant without proper clothes to wear and well stuff like that.

Open air, outdoors venue doesn’t work. Proven from last night so please switch back to indoors venue with extravagant, fabulous set and stage the next time.

There are a thousand talented artistes in the country and how come you choose acts like those to be staged on national TV ? Please , I say please from depth of my soul to wisely select your performers the next time. If announcing the three winners was the only purpose of Miss Nepal then you could have it done within your four walls. If youre promising us of a glamorous event then give us one. The ENTERTAINMENT factor was missing big time. Hopefully the boredom of an event that happened last night that catapulted in half the audience walking out of the show in the middle of the program will not be repeated.

I believe the panel of judges should be thoroughly briefed on how to mark the contestants. Selecting miss nepals just for their answers alone would’ve made sense if the winners did not go to international platforms to represent our country. But that is not the case. High marks should be given to girls who stand out on stage, who are tall and look presentable. Conversing abilities should be judged to some extent but should never be the ultimate deciding factor for a winner. You want our girls to bring home international titles? Then select good representatives please.

And lastly but  most importantly, hidden treasure or any other mentors and gurus of Miss Nepal, should definitely keep away from interacting with the contestants parents or family of any kind. When the anti-pageant women groups come protesting the most used phrase to tackle them is “these are girls above 18 and have full rights to make their choices in a democratic country exercising freedom of their right of choice”.

 So taking this into consideration, families should be out of these contest. They should be barred from meeting the organizers because those who wish to meet them are sure to lure them in the favour of their daughter which is not fair. Please parents stay out of these pageants. If your daughters made the decision to particpate then all you should really be doing is having her back and supporting her morally and emotionally and not going about everywhere preaching and talking to judges to favor your daughter. this is a PATHETIC trend, that should absolutely stop.

I Say what I Say ... 

I know its super easy to just come around for a few hours and pass a judgement on something that has been worked on for days or months perhaps (which didnt look like it though). But despite of my alliance with Hidden Treasure as a former contestant and a judge to one of the rounds for MISS NEPAL 2012, all i can really say is criticisms should be taken positively. And i know i am speaking for so many out there with what I have written and although my respect for people in hidden treasure remains unfaltered, I realy believe its time to pull up your socks, pants, shoes- whatever you have now. There are two types of critics 1. who says mean things just to hurt  and 2. who does points out flaws only so it can be corrected the next time. I have nothing but the highest respect for Miss Nepal pageant and it would be only fair if the pageant equally respected the value we give to miss Nepal by giving us  not just a good set of contestants (which you did btw, kudos for that) but also a good show. 

Finally, to end things on a lighter note

For the first time in a beauty pageant  (I can assure you it has never happened because of the fact that I am such a big fan of pageants), for the first time ever though…. I was so unattentive to whatever that was going on stage (and hence very less photos for this blog update). For the first 30 minutes I had my eyes glued on the stage but the event couldn’t hold my attention for long due to the sound defects and other afore mentioned mishaps. People started walking out and I was just chatting up with my friends most of the time. I only waited so long to see who’d win.

But four things that stood out for me in the pageant were,

Miss Nepal 2011 Malina Joshi’s speech . Very well spoken.

Malina’s gown. Oh it was just so lovely and she was looking dazzling in it. I wonder who designed it.

Miss Nepal 2010 Sadichha Shrestha’s question. She asked “Would you be okay to marry a guy who would rather stay home and look after the house and have you work and earn money instead”? now that was an interesting question which even the audience applauded. Thumbs up for a witty question like that.

And finally the crowning moment where someone so deserving as Shirsti adorned the beautiful title of MISS NEPAL 2012 was my cheering point. Here is wishing all the three girls the best of luck and hopefully I will write something on international pageants and what our representatives (winners) should look forward to in those pageants.

Thanks for reading folks please leave your comments if you have any down below. Until later, cherio :) 

Judging The Miss Personality Round – Miss Nepal 2012

April 30 2012

“Be Curious, Not Judgmental” once said a wise man. And breathing and feeling the energy exuded in the wise statement I entered the hall where Miss Nepal contestants for 2012 were ready on their tables to be “judged” and yes I was curious to get to know them all.

It was the Miss Personality judging round for the new batch of girls, which one of them informed that this year it would be called “miss confident” for some marketing purposes.

“But well, I am still here to see for myself the girl with the best personality”, I replied her with a smile.

First things first, I felt honored to have been called as one of the judges for Miss Nepal’s miss personality round. “We couldn’t have thought of a better person than you after having won Miss Personality there in your Miss Tourism pageant,” said Shuvarna Chhetri or Suvarna sir as we all call him. “Oh how sweet of you sir, thankyou,” I giggled.

Well, to talk a little about Suvarna sir, he really is the Daddy of the pageant, you know. Suvarna sir will always be there during the training sessions to judging rounds and co-ordinating all the events on the finale. If Rachana Mam (Rachana Sharma) as one paper quoted, is the GURU AMA of Miss Nepal Suvarna sir definitely is the GOD FATHER for the girls LOL. And oh how the contestants love him for his ever patient and humble demeanor.

2012 CONTESTANTS in a glimpse

Anyhoo, going straight to the point, this batch of Miss Nepal is pretty interesting. They’re quite diverse and just so gorgeous and I may get some flak for saying this, but yes a huge leap of improvement from last year’s batch.

I mean last year, one could count in their hands the possible names of the top 3 winners, that is probably not gonna happen this time though. Because this year, the girls hail from studying backgrounds such as medicine, architecture, more than half the girls are really tall like super-tall, they’re very beautiful – feature wise (because I didn’t hang out with them long enough to see if they possessed beautiful souls too lol) and most of them were well-versed.

Foto courtesy: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Missosology-Nepal/251740618234148

Miss Nepal – The whole truth

After having observed several years of Miss Nepal pageants and being a part of it myself, I have come to learn a lot about how Miss Nepal actually works.

First there is the open call for application, then the selection process, then the grooming process (where most girls transform btw) and then the grand finale – where anything can happen. ANYTHING.

One might have their guesses placed on a certain strong contender to win the title but it all really comes down to those 3 hours of grand finale. After a girl reaches the top 10 with her performance in the preliminary round it is the day of the grand finale where an underdog may shine and a leading contestant might fail.

So, I don’t have any predictions at this point of time. Although I do have a few names in my mind that I think would make good Miss Nepals I am open to anyone of the 16 contestants winning it. Because that is the beauty (or is it?) of Miss Nepal pageants, that those who shine on the 3-hour finale will be the winner.

Are Miss Nepal pageants fair? I can tell you with assurance that Yes Hidden Treasure tries their level best to make it a fair one. But you see the 11 judges on the judging panel are no gods. Nepal is a tiny nation, Kathmandu being tinier. And if the girl hails from a strong family background or has business-ties of some kind with the judges who are mostly the “influential” people of the city then Yes! Selected contestants “may” succeed in pulling some strings to their favor.

But that is true of any beauty pageants in the world and that is the whole truth we have live by. And sometimes it is sheer “luck” that determines a winner.

While winning a crown is the ultimate glory, I can say with much experience that it is the journey, the experience of it all that ultimately matters. Miss Nepals surprisingly bodes well not just for the winners but for all who participate in it if they can make it work in their favor.

Well, to give you a familiar example. LOOK AT ME. I came out of my 2010 Miss Nepal rounds without a title but never was there a moment where I thought I was a loser. I always thanked for the experiences Miss Nepal gave me and I always believed that there are so many achievements I am yet to conquer and because I believed it so much, the universe gave me exactly what I was looking for. More successes, more experiences, more joy.

So if there are any contestants reading this right now or any girls out there who wishes to be a part of a contest as big as Miss Nepal I suggest you go right ahead without giving it a second thought. Because as I said earlier its not about winning, it never is. Its about the experience. Win your fears, win people’s hearts, win your self-respect- there is so much to win and nothing to lose.

Contestant’s Profile

That said. Let me just briefly give my evaluations on the girls I met that day. The biggest scorer for me when it comes to anyone’s personality and not just of the contestants that day is HONESTY.

And honesty is something you cant fake. But most of these girls went on with the Cliched Superflous and dishonest takes on “serving the nation” to all the blahs – but you know, we cant stop them. I mean years and again, that is what beauty pageant has taught many girls to be fake idealists and that is when I stopped the girls right away.

“You see, you and I are average humans and we are the same. When someone infront of you is faking to be someone else than him/herself wouldn’t you know”, I asked them. “So stop giving me the kind of answers which you assume that will score you bigger marks because its not gonna happen. Don’t be afraid to show your vulnerable side, don’t be afraid to be brutally honest. Because if you don’t, I will be brutally honest with you , I wont score you well. I am here to judge the best personality and not the best fake answer. So just be yourself”

And after having said this to almost all the contestants, that is when they started loosening up and being themselves except for few of course who went and on with their “beauty pageant-ish” – mannerisms. Well if that works for them with other judges I wish them all the luck.

Starting now with

Contestant number 1 Sonam Singh: Oh boy does she have the prettiest eyes. She is confident, knows what she is speaking and is open to correcting her faults if pointed. I liked her especially her background in medicine makes her an interesting Miss Nepal contestant.

Name: Sonam Singh
Age: 21
Height: 5’5″
Hometown: Sarlahi
Vote for Contestant no. 1
Type: LUXURIA <Space> MN <Space> 01
& send it to 2722.

Contestant number 2 Nirmita Subedi: Oh she is a sweet gal, tall and well mannered. I wish she’d be more vocal about her opinions though. But one can definitely see the transformation and the joy of experiences Miss Nepal has brought about in her life and I wish her the best.

Contestant: 2
Name: Nirmita Subedi
Age: 19
Height: 5’6″
Hometown: Chitwan
Vote for Contestant no. 2
Type: LUXURIA <Space> MN <Space> 02
& send it to 2722.

Contestant number 3 Shristi Shrestha: Having professionally modeled in the UK many have their eyes set on Shristi and she is quite the girl. Tall and pretty to look at. Shristi should work on strongly putting across her thoughts, with a soft voice and a lot of mix of English and nepali her answers could seem weak at times.

Contestant: 3
Name: Shristi Shrestha
Age: 23
Height: 5’9″
Hometown: Chitwan
Vote for Contestant no. 3
Type: LUXURIA <Space> MN <Space> 03
& send it to 2722.

Contestant number 4 Nagma Shrestha: Also a strong contender for the title as claimed by the many participants themselves Nagma definitely has an experience in the media as  VJ for Image TV and has strong communicating skills. Although she seems confident she should curb her tendency to speak only as much as she is asked to. ( I have been guilty of talking too much too so I know lol )

Contestant: 4
Name: Nagma Shrestha
Age: 20
Height: 5’10″
Hometown: Kathmandu
Vote for Contestant no. 4
Type: LUXURIA <Space> MN <Space> 04
& send it to 2722.

Contestant number 5:  Subekshya Khadka. Oh how I wish she would’ve first participated in Miss teen before coming to miss Nepal but that is what they said about Payal Shakya and Sadichha Shrestha. The two winners amazed judges and audience alike so hopefully it will work that way for Subekshya too. She is sweet and bubbly and I still see her as a teen beauty queen and perhaps a little too young to be a miss Nepal but all my luck to her to change the way I think :)

Contestant: 5
Name: Subeksya Khadka
Age: 19
Height: 5’6″
Hometown: Lalitpur
Vote for Contestant no. 5
Type: LUXURIA <Space> MN <Space> 05
& send it to 2722.

Contestant number 6: Bandana Tandukar is another “beauty pageant” victim who knows the trades of the game and plays safe with prim and proper answers. She is sweet and intelligent and as soon as she was on the receiving end of my “ loosen up- be yourself” speech she quickly picked up the tempo.

Contestant: 6
Name: Bandana Tandukar
Age: 23
Height: 5’7″
Hometown: Lalitpur
Vote for Contestant no. 6
Type: LUXURIA <Space> MN <Space> 06
& send it to 2722.

Contestant number 7: Heena Shrestha … mmm Heena is this petite sweet girls again who clearly always wanted to be a part of miss Nepal. I am happy for her to be living her dream but infront of the 5.9” and 5.11” contestants she could be scoring low on the physical beauty aspect. Ouch… beauty pageants – cruel as much as it is beautiful eh!

Contestant: 7
Name: Heena Shrestha
Age: 19
Height: 5’4″
Hometown: Jhapa
Vote for Contestant no. 7
Type: LUXURIA <Space> MN <Space> 07
& send it to 2722.

Contestant number 8: Prasansa Rana is participating in Miss Nepal for the second time. After having only made it to the top 10 round last year this would be her second innings in the contest and I was amazed to see that kind of determination. Prasansa for me was one of the most genuine contestants out there, she spoke her mind and she was being herself and I didn’t even have to tell her to be one.

Contestant: 8
Name: Prasansa Rana
Age: 19
Height: 5’5″
Hometown: Kathmandu
Vote for Contestant no. 8
Type: LUXURIA <Space> MN <Space> 08
& send it to 2722.

Contestant number 9: Neelam Chand. Before I went to meet the girls it was names like Shristi Shrestha or nagma shrestha came to forefront as they had already been in the media. But I was pleasantly surprised and delighted to meet miss chand. For starters, she is THEEEE gorgeous contestant in this batch just so effortlessly poised and beautiful. I wish her all the luck.

Contestant: 9
Name: Neelam Chand
Age: 24
Height: 5’5″
Hometown: Mahendranagar
Vote for Contestant no. 9
Type: LUXURIA <Space> MN <Space> 09
& send it to 2722.

Contestant number 10: Dilacha GC. Oh this girl from Pokhara is a powerhouse of a speaker. She is so well versed in Nepali and the points she puts across are so strong, I loved her attitude to life, living and Miss Nepal in general. My heart goes out to this brave, confident chica from Pokhara.

Contestant: 10
Name: Dilasha GC
Age: 22
Height: 5’5″
Hometown: Pokhara
Vote for Contestant no. 10
Type: LUXURIA <Space> MN <Space> 10
& send it to 2722.

Contestant number 11: Rashmita Maharjan has supposedly dropped out of the contest citing health reasons.

Contestant number 12: Anjali Pradhanang is one girl I met at Miss Teen pageant 2010 when I was hosting it. She is the type of girl who is quite an underdog but might surprise you with her sharp answers and timely intellect. In a few minutes of interactions I did manage to give her some pointers as to how to answer as in not be too sugarcoated but answer that should basically stand out, I hope she listens to me.

Contestant: 12
Name: Anjali Pradhanang
Age: 20
Height: 5’4″
Hometown: Butwal
Vote for Contestant no. 12
Type: LUXURIA <Space> MN <Space> 12
& send it to 2722.

Contestant number 13: Pronika Sharma was sitting beside Sonam Singh during the judging round so in a way Sonam did overshadow her. I can only hope that she will however put on a fierce game on the finale and not let anybody else overpower her charisma this time. My luck to the sweet, petite contestant number 13.

Contestant: 13
Name: Pronika Sharma
Age: 21
Height: 5’4″
Hometown: Birgunj
Vote for Contestant no. 13
Type: LUXURIA <Space> MN <Space> 13
& send it to 2722.

Contestant number 14 Akesha Bista: Is definitely one of the pretty looking girls in the batch and I liked the way she expressed herself. She seemed a little distracted when I was asking her questions perhaps because of the many people moving about in the hall at that time, but still, I believe that if this girl gives her 100% she really does have the potential to win it all. Only if she is determined to strive for excellence that is because other contestants are equally tough.

Contestant: 14
Name: Akesha Bista
Age: 19
Height: 5’8″
Hometown: Kathmandu
Vote for Contestant no. 14
Type: LUXURIA <Space> MN <Space> 14
& send it to 2722.

Contestant number 15 Sabita Manandhar: Sabita is another “under the spell of miss nepal” sort of a girl, who has so much to say but tends to go a little direction less with what she is saying. I understand that she cannot express her happiness for all the experiences Miss Nepal is giving her and if she can only contain her excitement for it all, she makes up for a quality contestant.

Contestant: 15
Name: Sabita Manandhar
Age: 19
Height: 5’5″
Hometown: Kathmandu
Vote for Contestant no. 15
Type: LUXURIA <Space> MN <Space> 15
& send it to 2722.

Contestant number 16 Alisha Kunwar: Alisha Kunwar also a Miss Teen pageant graduate is another girl on the forefront for her height, beauty and confidence. She has always been this polite and a sweet-natured girl and I wish her all the best.

Contestant: 16
Name: Alisha Kunwar
Age: 19
Height: 5’7″
Hometown: Kirtipur
Vote for Contestant no. 16
Type: LUXURIA <Space> MN <Space> 16
& send it to 2722.

Contestant number 17 Indira Rai: Indira is a powerhouse of talent. She sang for me during our session and it was just beautiful. She is definitely in the contest for the experience and to learn as much as she can and I respect her for that and wish her the best.

Contestant: 17
Name: Indira Rai
Age: 22
Height: 5’5″
Hometown: Dharan
Vote for Contestant no. 17
Type: LUXURIA <Space> MN <Space> 17
& send it to 2722.

Bottom Line: And well the bottom line is Miss Nepal pageants like any other pageants in the world is very unpredictable. So I wish all the luck and love to all those who are participating this year. As I always say, “agreeing to be a part of a competition, already makes one a winner”- regardless of who wears the crown, every girl out there is a winner in her own right.

Miss Nepal airs live on NTV , this MAY 6, 2012 from the premises of  Hotel Annapurna 8:30 PM onwards. I hope to give you a detailed account of the show in my next blogpost and tell you if in fact the standard of Miss Nepal has hiked up or come down. With time, tell-all-tales will be revealed.

Thanks for reading folks. Until later.

(Photo courtesy: thepnpmedia.com) 

The Other Side Of Pokhara

So well, as declared in my Facebook page here I am all set to spill the beans on my crazy,weird, funny, hysterical, a little furious- weekend in Pokhara (April 20-23). Let me zero in right on the topic.

The posters plasted around the beautiful lake city looked like this :)

MY PURPOSE

My visit to the beautiful lake city was to host the event where ADITYA NARAYAN son of the respected and beloved Nepali singer in Bollywood UDIT NARAYAN were to perform for the first time in Nepal.

Was I excited? Sure I was. Would I be overwhelmed by his “stardom”?  erm not really.

And well that is exactly what happened. In fact, I realized that I had held high expectations on the guy, felt disappointed by the much-bragged about star performer. More on that later...

The Good

·      This was my first time emceeing outside of Kathmandu and the organizers- KRISS EVENTS, went out of their ways to take care of me. From tickets, accommodations to food, they beared it all and even paid me very well. I am all smiles  

I am glad I met Mr Anil Thapa on this trip. This man with his incredible jest for life truly inspired me in so many ways. He is a Korean language teacher by the way -but he got many more  levels to just being that :)

·      Saw the Pokhara Ko Don lol. Seriously, in a big hilux ( I think it was a hilux or some other big pick up truck) a party of four entered from the VIP entrance half-way during the concert. I puzzled them for Aditya Narayan as all the photographers starting taking non-stop pictures of them. And to my confused look a photographer came and whispered, “Pokhara ko Don ho yini haru”. Arey bafrey I said, with a big grin. One of the Dons was actually young, kinda my age and was actually cute looking haha. I swear I shouldve taken his picture. Let me see if I can find it in any of the pokhara sites.

·      Went for the Phewa Taal boat ride after a whole four years and it was awesome.

·      Captured some interesting captions and signboards here and there  in Pokhara that brought about series of smiles on my face. Here check them out.

Reads: Who is uglier she want to be oversmart - like super LOL

You dont need luck if you are good. Hmm makes some sense eh:)

Dont ask me whose pervy hands are those? haha

Ahh typical NEPALI :) no wonder the Thakali Restaurants are so popular

Erm.... Once upon a time in Pokhara, I went to a once upon a time restaurant. Yes I did. Bad pancakes they served but steak was yummm  :)

Pollution made my women? Huh! haha

YES that Tshirt is ridiculous. PLEASE dont wear it the next time. THANKYOU for putting a smile across my face with your wonderfully captioned Tee anyway :)

It is the "wash and dry by PROFESSIONAL MACHINE" that had me rofl-ing.

·      Sabin Rai was one of the best parts of my trip to Pokhara. Hadnt hung out with him again in full four years so was nice to catch up with him. The jokes he tosses are legendary and its so nice to see and meet and spend time with a truly talented and celebrated artiste who is so down to earth and humble. One of Sabin dai’s band members tells me that one of the weirdest ways any emcee has called him on stage was by saying this “ Aba audai hunuhunchha Sabin Rai unko “kalo kalo” liera”Directly translated to – “Now here comes Sabin Rai bringing along with him his black, black”. “Kalo Kalo Raat”- matrai bhandeko bhae pani ta hunthyo- Sabin dai says with a big smile and I was literally on the floor.

(Info: Sabin Rai has a hit song that is titled Kalo Kalo Raat)

Me and Sabin Dai :)

·      Other funny dialogues that I overheard in my trip are as follows

Conversation between our hotel owner and one of the patrons at a buffet dinner.

Patron: Dai, ke ho yo.

Owner: Chicken ho.

Patron: Eh laaa, ma ta vegeterian ho.

Owner: Haina khas ma Chicken pani veg nai ho, katey pachhi matrai non-veg.

·      Conversation between Sabin Rai and one of his band members

Band member: Dai , swimming janu parchha hai aja please

Sabin Rai: Aaahh janna ma, swimming na fwimming timi haru ja

Band member: Ani tya aera tapai swimming garnai parchha bhanney chhaina ni ta. Aera dubey bhai halyo ni.

The old lan hua china restaurant- Lake side.. highly recommended. Authentic, super-delish food prepared by a Chinese Chef himself. And its so reasonably priced. Try the Kung-Pao chicken ...oh I am still drooling.



Hmm the view ?? ;)

·      And as always, the enchanting Pokhara with its relaxed ambience, endless mountain ranges and laid-back awesomeness makes me fall in love with it all over again and again and again.

The Bad

·      Well, how do I put it. Aditya Narayan’s overall performance, demeanor and personality was pretty bad- disappointing is the right word. Read the full account if you have the time, down below.

·      Damn those Pokhara taxis don’t have no meter box- that means one has to move around in Taxis by bargaining the rate before the ride every time. And boy, will they haggle all the money out of you lol. That is probably why it is a good idea to hire a scooter for a day to move about in Pokhara. 

See.. no meter box there! :/

·      Also bad and really sad was the state of Phewa taal. I saw this foams of white something that was floating on the shore and I was informed that it was because of all the clothes-washing that is done in the once-pristinely clean beautiful lake.

Breaks my heart to see the polluted Phewa Taal. Can only hope it doesnt turn into another Bagmati.

The Ugly

·      And oh the ugly side of it. Many of you probably thought that my mentioning of the Pokhreli Don – probably has to do with the threats that I got but not really. If at all, I actually enjoyed observing the D to the O to the N to the S lol. It was the wanna-be Pokhreli emcees that had me on my nerves. “I will SEE you after the event” they said with a voice of absolute threat. I was not putting up with anything like that and that is when I saw a side of me that I hadnt seen. I got a little aggressive and picking up my body language a friend looking the entire drama from afar had to come ahead and whisk me away Anyhoo. I am all calmed down now and in fact find the recollection of the episode quite hilarious. If you have the time, read the detailed account, down below.

Other than that, I did all the things that one does when in Pokhara. Went to fewa taal, walked about like a real tourist, purchased souvenirs for the heck of it– hey I don’t smoke or drink I have to find something to keep myself entertained , don’t I? LOL.

And this is what we bought in Pokhara acting like total tourists again lol. Anything in PINK give it to me baby :)



. I love walking around Pokhara streets in my chappals like the absolute tourists - not my beetle though:)

And despite all the highs and lows within just 3 days of a visit to Pokhara, I cannot wait to get back there again. Thankyou for reading folks. I hope you enjoyed the pictures too. Until my next blog this is a good bye.

ADITYA NARAYAN- THE EPISODE

Oh Aditya Narayan. What can I say about him. He did not live up to the expectations of many- the young boy of 24. I was introduced to him a day ago at a dinner party hosted by the organizers, there he came in shook his hand, said “hey, howre you?” , took a drink, fidgeted about, kept standing and in two minutes – off he went. The organizers told us that he had just landed from Mumbai-Kathmandu-Pokhara and was tired. Oh well, that’s understandable!

But oh wait, met him for the second time and I saw the same impatient, fidgeting about guy who looked towards the ground most of the time. He came in with his entourage, didn’t smile to a soul and looked as if in a hurry to get his performance done and get out of there.

And by golly! That is what he did. You will be surprised, when and if I manage to upload the video of his performance, that he monkeyed around the stage, looked at the audience only a few times, looked down on his feet most of the time and performed like he was doing a favor to the Pokhrelis. I mean I have seen Bryan Adams and MLTR on stage and we all know how humbly they interacted with the audience- But not Aditya.

Oh sad no. Sad for him as an artiste. When I watched him on TV I loved him. The fun, ever-smiling, charming guy that my mom loves so, was nowhere to be seen. Was he in trance? Was he high? It is in fact hard to tell. But I felt sad for him.

Especially, because I think deep down he probably knows that he has no signature song of his and it was almost like taking around a Karaoke box around performing and making the little money outof it. He sang from “pungi baja de to every last hit bollywood song- none that was his”

I wish the guy the best and can only hope that he gets to record some hit songs of his own and makes his own identity one that is not of being just an UDIT NARAYAN son but a star, a performer, an excellent artiste in his own right.

AND HERE IS THE UGLY MOMENT…

Please read it at your own discretion. Its pretty long :)

SO… over it by the way. I cant help but smile thinking about it now but this is how it went…

But at that moment… I could honestly, sucker-punch the guy if my friend didn’t pull me away from the heated discussion. So this is how it started.

I was the hired emcee for the event but a day earlier one of the organizers tells me that there are few RJ kinda guys in Pokhara who had been after them to be hosts of the show. So to pacify them, three of the guys would be opening the show – like an opening speech. And I said – “good enough.” Have them over.

But oh to my dismay, the three emcees went on for almost 15 minutes tossing about the cheesiest jokes ever. like hear this one “rekha thapa le skirt muni ke lagauchha”? and they would pause for a while and go “jutta laguachha ni, ke ho timro esto fori dimag”…. kinda super-corny, annoying jokes. In a god-damn concert. Well I guess, “in Pokhara I would have to let what the Pokhrelis do” and was getting ready to ascend the stage.

And the organizer comes to me again and says, the Pokhreli emcees would also be introducing another singer if I don’t mind (FYI there were 5 other performers besides Aditya). I paused for a while and said, “that’s arite”.  

And again for the third round when the three Pokhreli emcees came to me with a suggestion that they’d go back on stage again to introduce me as the official emcee- (which I was beginning to doubt by that time btw) , I put my foot down and said, “I am really sorry. But you guys have already had your time on stage. And honestly I have never heard of an emcee introducing another emcee. Thankyou very much but its my time to do my job” The guy quietly backed off and all was well. Up until MR. Narayan came to sight.

I was to introduce ADITYA NARAYAN now. Aditya wanted to go once before Sabin Rai’s perfomance and his second innings of performance was to happen again after Sabin Rai and this is when things got ugly back stage.

No points for guessing, the three idiots wanted the limelight again and this time they brought along one of the organizers and I swear the organizer looked so frightened.

One of the monkeys tells me, in Nepali of course but am translating here, he said, “we didn’t come here to warm up the crowd. We have been in this business for more than 15 years and 95% of the audience out there are my fans”.

“Oh really”, I replied. “That is awesome. But please, back off now because the event organizers sadly didn’t hire you for the job, they hired me. And don’t talk about professionalism with me when you have none. If you were the official emcee for this show, I wouldn’t be asking to go on stage like that.”

And the scared organizer tells me  “Samriddhi jee, yahi Pokhara ko manchhe haru sanga kam garnu parchha hamilai pachhi garo hunchha. Please bujhidinus.”

And I looked straight up to the three miniature emcees and asked what their plan was. They said, “We are going only for a minute, give out the names of our sponsors and introduce you” “Okay, but please don’t mention anything about Sabin Rai, I will invite him on stage” I said and took this one, for the organizer.

Oh well though, I shouldve known “they went on to talk about more than 10 mintues again. Chanting we “Lowwwwwb” Pokhara and all their hullabaloos and despite of having warned, they did introduce Sabin Rai after all. I swear I had never been so mad in my life. What I was supposed to say now. The monkeys had taken up so much time talking and I didn’t wanna bore my audience. But still championing a few little dialogues about celebrating talent I invited Sabin dai on stage.

As I descended from the stage I went to the guys and asked what was that all about. “Haina, Samriddhi jee ma tapailai event siddhe pachhi bhetchhu” one said with a threat in his tone. The what?  My temper shot up to the highest. You friggin kiddin me?? , “Bhetdaina ma kasailai pani. I am getting out of Pokhara as soon as I get out of here”. And he goes, “Nepal bata ta kai janu hunna hola ni”.

This is when I actually did took two steps forward to actually punch the a-hole (all in my mind of course, I couldn’t hurt a soul lol). And please Don’t mind my language here but you can understand I have had enough.

First they encroach on my professional space and they became rude and stooped down to threaten me just because I was from Kathmandu and the fact that I am a girl. So you see, the other side of Pokhara that I saw this time was the society and Pokhreli community that is so enclosed and small that even event organizers would be compelled to bow down to insignificant little RJs for christ’s sake.

I was whisked away from the scene by my friend and the idiot’s parting sentence was, “ ma press conference bolauchhu, tapaiko height ma bhui ma lerauchhu”.

Did they really think they could bully me around just because I am girl? I don’t think so. I am at least, glad that I gave them a mouthful of answers right on their face. 3 men vs Me was quite a scene to watch eh!

Anyhoo now that I recall the moment all I can really recollect is how funny the entire episode was and one that I hope that never returns. I wish the best to them anyway.

As I wrap up , a very popular Nepali phrase comes back ringing in my ears. It goes, “ aula diyo bhaney, hath nilnu khojchha”. Never ever am I ever compromising in regard to my professional space from now on. I don’t care if the Satan from hell comes to threaten me. God knows- that sucker punch is still due and next time will go off without warning.

Oh have I turned into a little don myself? I can only hope not. ;-)