Nepal can extend help

My attention has been drawn to the news “Olympic torch on Everest” published in THT on May 28. It states that the Chinese Olympic organising committee is planning and consulting experts to find out the possibility of carrying the Olympic torch to the top of the world in the year 2008, the year when Olympic games will be held in Beijing. Anything that takes place at the Sagarmatha or Chomolungma or Mt Everest should be of concern to all of us. An event of such enormous importance and magnitude is being planned by China and that should be of interest to Nepal. This is one area where Nepal can extend help to China. I strongly urge the Nepal Mountaineering Association, Nepal Tourism Board, Nepal Olympic Committee and various other concerned offices to immediately get in touch with the concerned Chinese organisation to provide the necessary support and cooperation from our end. Nepali mountaineers, including veteran Sherpas like Angrita, Appa, Kazi, Pemba Dorji, Temba and Shambu Tamang and many other young Everest summiteers, can provide their expertise and help to carry the torch to make the dream of the Chinese climbers to take the Olympic Flame to the top of Everest come true. Such events will be watched by millions throughout the world from which Nepal could gain a lot of good publicity.

Dorji T Sherpa, Galfutar

Unwelcome

This is in response to Girija Prasad Koirala’s claim that there is “Nothing new in royal address” (THT, May 29). The idea that people in authority are supposed to be consistent in their words and actions must be quite elusive to men like Koirala and company. Their

ever-flexible character to reap what is best for them is no alien to any Nepali citizen. And when they see that the King, in sharp contrast to their traits, has remained steady all throughout, must be quite unsettling to them. If people like Koirala had stuck to the promises of 2047 BS, and had offered us proper democracy, his ilk would have had the common man’s moral support right now. But alas! Their moral discrepancies leave no room for that.

Bikram Khadka, via e-mail

Mixed bag

I only partly agree with Raman Thapa’s “Avoid trivia” published in THT on May 26. It is true that there have repeatedly been articles that don’t possess adequate weight to get published in such a column as Midway. That certainly doesn’t mean that we must criticise any article that portray one’s personal account or choices for there have been articles that though personal, have vividly expressed real human sentiments. The topic of the writing certainly does not determine the quality of the article, and not all articles are intended for the intellectual groups; but feelings, compassion or a brilliant sense of humour also make the writings really enchanting. But there’s another category of articles I would say are more unwanted. Those are the articles that devalue human sentiments. I have seen a number of

articles written against love and that too, many of them by a single person. If the rest of the society so passionately feels one way, one has no right to criticise their sentiments based on personal opinion. A mixed bag would reflect opinions from different sections of society.

Smriti Sharma, via e-mail