Apropos of the news story “Hotel occupancy drops as visitors stay away” (THT, August 24, Page 11), the hotel occupancy report is getting as interesting and unpredictable as weather reports.

With onslaught of climate change, monsoon, like Nepalese politics, they are unlikely to follow a set pattern that we have experienced for many years. So if tourists fear rains, the hotels’ optimism for better occupancy in the coming days is sadly misplaced. No one knows if we will not have rains, floods and landslides in the coming months. Monsoon is also in the habit of creating mayhem while retreating.

The traders must, therefore, start donning the thinking cap and loosening their purse to rain media blizzards in the tourist generating markets. Waiting for the monsoon to behave, aftershocks to cease, infrastructures to be completed, politics to stabilize might affect the occupancy even during the so-called peak months. So, Nepali traders would do well to plan for the future right away and start promoting new types of tourism so that tourists are not inhibited from travelling because of adverse natural and political conditions. When tourists are prepared for the worst, and find the ground reality much better, they will swarm all over Nepal.

We must also be aware that war, flood, quake, political instability are the realities of the time and these should not deter tourism as terrorist attacks do not dampen the spirit of travelers in other countries. This, however, calls for  better communication efforts that can be bought for a price. But we should definitely not push Nepal as heaven which we are not. Travelers expecting a peaceful heaven will be badly jolted as soon as they queue for visa clearance at the airport. You cannot find peace even at the entrance of Lumbini garden where a ticket vendor, who introduced to me as an engineer, and a Korean speaking guide were engaged in heated verbal duel.

Manohar Shrestha, Kathmandu

Festival

I am scribbling this piece down to express my view on how one of the popular festivals - Teej - is taken by modern women. The authenticity of festival is on the wane owing to modernisation. I am not saying that women should not be modern in terms of their outfits they put on and the dances they perform. All I am accentuating here is if we can treat this festival with an utmost level or purity and sublimity then that would preserve the real typicality of the festival. On that note, there is also an issue attached to how women seem to be ostentatious when it comes to wearing expensive jewellery. This tendency not only prompted a large number of burglars to steal expensive stuffs but also boosted the psychological fragmentation in the society about what it means to not be able to display layers of gold on the body.

Despite all these facts, Nepali women have preserved the long held tradition of worshipping lord Shiva with modern flavor and extravaganza.

Shiva Neupane, Melbourne