Day in Photo -3

Enjoy the life
 like warrior riding on horse

Day in Photo -2

Building  looking like a sculptor 

Day in Photo-1

Prince Pranjal Posing for Photo

Freedom is not "free"

Statue of Liberty, Japan

Liberty or freedom is dear to all. Throughout the history there are stories of struggles for the freedom from the shackles of oppressions. The oppressions may be religious, social, cultural or political. People have fought for the independence of their beloved nation when colonial power excesses their limits. The American War of Independence is an example where brave Americans fought with colonial master Britain. Once people are successful in their aim they construct memorial to honor the freedom fighters as well as to make a history for the coming generations so that they can learn from the history. They also want to show that freedom is not free and it should be taken with care and veneration.

In the American War of Independence, France actively supported the American cause. To commemorate the victory France offered a gift, a statue, to America as a token of friendship from the people of France to the people of United States. It is 46 meter high and designed by Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi. The statue represents the Libertas, Roman goddess of freedom. Established in 1886 and located in New York, it is an icon of city similar to the Opera House of Sydney. Since then it has become an icon of freedom and democracy. If someone happens to New York, s/he tries to be there to feel from the nearest distance. It is not only national monument of USA but also world heritage site (since 1984).

Since all can't be in New York, hundreds of replicas of statue of liberty have been made throughout the world. One replica (1/4 th of size) is given by American community to the France is located in the Paris. Here in Japan we can feel and observe the replica is Odaiba, Tokyo. It is located in the sea beach with nice background of beautiful buildings and Rainbow Bridge. In the cherry blossom the place is full with visitors.

Ten famous homeschooled people

By  Stacy Condrat

1.Agatha Christie was a painfully shy girl, so her mom homeschooled her even though her two older siblings attended private school.

2. Pearl S. Buck was born in West Virginia, but her family moved to China when she was just three months old. She was homeschooled by a Confucian scholar and learned English as a second language from her mom.

3. Alexander Graham Bell was homeschooled by his mother until he was about 10. It was at this point that she started to go deaf and didn’t feel she could properly educate him any more. Her deafness inspired Bell to study acoustics and sound later in life.

4. If Thomas Edison was around today, he would probably be diagnosed with ADD – he left public school after only three months because his mind wouldn’t stop wandering. His mom homeschooled him after that, and he credited her with the success of his education: “My mother was the making of me. She was so true, so sure of me; and I felt I had something to live for, someone I must not disappoint.”

5. Ansel Adams was homeschooled at the age of 12 after his “wild laughter and undisguised contempt for the inept ramblings of his teachers” disrupted the classroom. His father took on his education from that point forward.

6. Robert Frost hated school so much he would get physically ill at the thought of going. He was homeschooled until his high school years.

7. Woodrow Wilson studied under his dad, one of the founders of the Southern Presbyterian Church in the United States (PCUS). He didn’t learn to read until he was about 12. He took a few classes at a school in Augusta, Georgia, to supplement his father’s teachings, and ended up spending a year at Davidson College before transferring to Princeton.

8. Mozart was educated by his dad as the Mozart family toured Europe from 1763-1766.

9. Laura Ingalls Wilder was homeschooled until her parents finally settled in De Smet in what was then Dakota Territory. She started teaching school herself when she was only 15 years old.

10. Louisa May Alcott studied mostly with her dad, but had a few lessons from family friends Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Nathaniel Hawthorne. Can you imagine?

(Collected by - Er. Pradeep Uprety, Source : Different websites )

South Asia Then and Now

South Asia in 1805. Note Nepal written as NIPAL on the top

Nepal has been an independent country throughout her history. Even when the great neighbors viz.,  India and China were subjected to foreign powers, Nepal managed to preserve its independence.This is the reason why we can now have an identity as Nepal and Nepali in international arena. In the coming years too Nepal must preserve its territorial integrity. True Nepali people living  in or outside Nepal love their county first and  ready to do anything to preserve the nation and make her more strong in every front of development.We must give prosperous and independent Nepal to our next generation. 

South Asia in 2012. Note the emergence of new nations

First anniversary of The 2011 March 11 Japan Earthquake

Devastation caused by Tsunami.
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Today is  the first anniversary of The 2011 March 11 Japan Earthquake. Magnitude was 9 and its effect was felt in Eastern Japan rocking both Tokyo and Chiba. More than 20,000 people are dead or missing and property worth of 300 billion dollar was estimated to be loss. The 2010 Haiti earthquake was deadly in terms of casualty as more than 200,000 people are dead. However, from  economic terms The 2011 March 11 Japan Earthquake is costliest in recent history. Most tragedy is due to the nuclear disaster in Fukushima nuclear plant which was damaged heavily due to earthquake and tsunami. Though the dedicated engineers and   workers are able to stabilize the plant, still there is danger. Many people around the place have to be evacuated and many could not return back to their home as the radiation level is still high. 

However, the most important part is the resilience shown by people. There was not panic or chaos as in other part of world after disaster. Even in USA, after the hurricane Katrina there were some visible disturbances, chaos and looting. There is no need to talk in other parts of world especially in countries where rule of law is distant future as even in normal time. The sharp contrast for  resilience shown by  Japanese people  may be the due to the following reasons: mono-racial  or homogeneous society  and second is the true Buddhism practice in life. Discipline is  another factor. I should not be reason for trouble to other. Keeping this belief, the society was able to cope this disaster without any social unrest.

Still roaring ! Salute to  sense of courage.
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Still there is hope that we will learn from this disaster and prepare for better in future events from natural hazards. Life is like this. Learning from the past to prepare for the future.

 Resilience! Smiling face even in the time of disaster.
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On this first anniversary of event, 

We would like to offer our deep condolences to bereaved family and sympathy to all those affected. We would also like to salute people who being affected directly by disaster withstand this event bravely and show the true sense of courage and conviction for better future.

Small is Beautiful

Small But Beautiful
A typical courtyard garden in Kyoto, Japan.

Beautiful Lotus

Lotus stemming from water!!!

Coffee and its Production in Nepal

Coffee is one of the most loved beverages in the world. Originated in Ethiopia and made popular by Arabs it has become an integral part of modern day society. Caffeine is the main chemical substance in coffee and is responsible for the many good effects including increase in memory performance, decreased heart rate and even retarding factor in cancer. Most of the coffee is produced in Africa and South America (mostly in Brazil). In terms of agricultural product it has high commodity value. It was ranked as the agricultural export for twelve countries in 2004, and it was the world's seventh-largest legal agricultural export by value in 2005.

Mr Hira Giri, a hermit, is given credited for introducing coffee in Nepal. He bought some seeds of coffee from Myanmar in 1938 and Aapchour (Gulmi District) for the first time in Nepal. It was just curiosity based expansion until some people understand its commercial value and started its business and export abroad. Currently it has been planted in 39 districts (out of total 75 districts) in mountainous region and expanding day by day. Area of plantation has increased from135.7 hectares in 1994 AD to 1531 hectares in 2008 AD. Adjacent graph shows the current trend of production. It has increased steadily from 114 ton in 2004 to about 500 ton in 2011. This is not big amount compared to the global production which accounts 7,742,675 ton. Even India produces 288,000 ton. Given the position of Nepal with diverse climate and high altitude , Nepal can produce coffee for local consumption as well as export organic coffee which has big business in international sectors including Europe and Japan. Nepali coffee is exported to Japan, Europe and American market where organic grown coffee from Nepal is popular.

Prince Pranjal Thinking Higher

Prince Pranjal, very cute and sweet baby is progressing day by day. He is learning many things and is fond of electronic gadgets. Here in the photograph he is thinking "always aiming higher". God bless you baby.

Prince Pranjal Playing with Snow

Prince Pranjal playing with snow ( December 2011)
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Children are the most happiest people in the world and they show their utmost  sincerity in expression. Children are the princes and princesses.They are the future of the world and if we can nurture the true humanity in them it is sure that the world will be more happier place to live in. Please love children and make them more happy whatever means you have and whatever small it may be. Wishing a very happy time with children.

DEAR Children we wish you very very wonderful days ahead.

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2012.

Top Universities in the World 2011

Each year universities around the world are ranked to give the glimpse of the impact they have on the academic community and contribution to the humanity. QS world ranking is prestigious ranking. In this ranking, for each university 100 marks is allocated of which academic reputation counts for 40% weight, employer reputation 10%, citation per faculty 20%, faculty student ration 20%, proportion of international student 5% and  proportion of international faculty 5%. 

Fig 1 Allocation of weightage for evaluation

The top 10  universities in this year are from United Kingdom and United States of America (5 from each country).University of Cambridge from UK ranks first, Harvard and MIT from USA ranks second and third respectively. Details are as shown below:

Fig 2 Top 10 Universities in 2011

It is interesting that western universities are again the top universities in the world. However, many Asian universities are also vying for top position. The HongKong university ranks 22nd, The University of Tokyo 25th, National University of Singapore 28th and Kyoto University  32nd. Regarding South Asia, the situation is bleak as the most renown universities in the region are not even within top 100. Indian Institute of Technology (IIT Delhi ) is just 218th.There is no rank for the university in Nepal. There must be some reasons behind this situation. Some reasons are  politics in the education, lack of motivation and research fund, high teacher student ratio and so on.

Panorama

Panaromic view of Garden, Japan

Lapaz, The world's highest capital city

Lapaz is world's highest capital city in the world. Located in the South America it is the capital of Bolivia and is above the 3,650 m (11,975 ft) above the sea level. Bolivia is landlocked country like Nepal. Capital of Nepal is Kathmandu which is valley and has elevation of 1,400 m (4,593 ft) above sea level. Lapaz has population of about 1 million and is the second largest city of Bolivia. It has subtropical highland climate with average temperature of 30 degree Celsius.

Landslide Disaster

There is a big news from Colombia in South America regarding the deadly landslide causing widespread destruction and damage. Landslide is one of the natural or man- made hazards and can be disaster if it affects the human population directly or indirectly. It is to be noted that it happens only in those places which have mountains so it is not found in plain areas. Each year many people around the world are affected by landslide and it is common in many countries including Nepal during the rainy seasons. Landslide in Krishnabhir on Mugling highway is well known in Nepal for its yearly blockage during Monsoon time causing the disruption in transport disruption and break in supply chain to Kathmandu city.

In 1949 landslide in then USSR killed 12,000 people, Honduras landslide ( 20 Sep 1973) killed more than 2,000 people and in the latest event landslide in China (7 Aug 2010) killed 1,756  people. Many factors are involved in landslide like nearby the fault area, slope of the mountain, proximity to river and so on.Sometimes earthquake also induces instability to the weak mountain and causes the landslide.Figures below from USGS shows the before and after the landslide event where we can see closely the damage to the roads (red circle). 

Landslide images  (Up: Before and Down: After)

There are many ways to tackle the landslide and one is the landslide mapping and do land-use according to the hazard. Beside that, retaining wall and other engineering methods can also be employed.Forestation of affected area can also help a lot in controlling the rain water and thereby reducing the chance of landslide in very steep slope areas as in Nepal.Water Induced Disaster Prevention (DWIDP) was established on 7 February 2000 under the Ministry of Water Resources  to tackle with the water induced disaster including landslide in Nepal. Next blog will talk about the disaster scenario of Nepal including landslide.