DANGI touched down in Sydney

Posted on May 14, 2012 | 4 comments

I am so glad that Australia has got behind, Chandra Bahadur Dangi from Nepal, the worlds shortest man, with the help of Nova FM.

He arrived in Australia about 7pm on Sunday 13 May 2012 to a hero’s welcome.

More than 100 fans cheered, sang and snapped photos as he was carried through the Sydney international airport on the back of his nephew Dolakh Dangi and flanked by his Australian tour guides Nova FM breakfast hosts Fitzy and Wippa.

The 72-year-old from a remote village in Nepal had never left his village until he was discovered as the worlds shortest man in February this year. With his new found fame, Dangi said he wanted to travel to spread the word of his country and village.

Fitzy and Wippa, RJs from Nova FM said they never thought he would actually come when they decided to invite him to Australia via his friend Sid Lama. They were dressed in a traditional Australian bushman outfit and Emma Woodward, Sydneys tallest woman at 194 cm and a second very tall woman were there with a Tall People Love Dangi sign.

They couldn’t wipe the smile from their faces as Dangi high fived fans as he was carried through the arrival Gate D wearing a traditional Nepali Topi with two Nova badges on it. As people caught the first glimpse of him there were cries of Dangi! and comments like “He’s so cute.” Dangi seemed a bit overwhelmed by his new found superstar status. However, the content expression on his face gave the impression that he would soon get used to it.

Wippa greeted Dangi, who doesn’t speak any English, with a white scarf known as a Khata and said Namaste meaning hello, and swagatam meaning welcome in Nepali. Dangi posed for photos, giving the camera a double thumbs up and posing in a big group photo with all the so-called Dangi Fever sufferers.

Nova had organized Dangi badges, balloons, stickers, t-shirts and 54.6cm rulers for Dangi fans, while many had made their own signs and had gifts for Dangi, including Kyle Merry who gave him a fishing rod.

Fitzy and Wippa then took Dangi, his nephew, and Mr Lama to their hotel where they were going to organize room service and have a cup of tea before bed.

Dangi will be a part of five days of activities around Sydney with Fitzy and Wippa, finishing with a live broadcast from the Sydney Opera Bar on Friday morning, where more Dangi fans will have a chance to get up close to the little legend from Nepal.

News, photos and video courtesy of http://www.novafm.com.au

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Posted in Australia, Nepal

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Epic it is!!!

Posted on May 14, 2012 | 6 comments

As my Facebook is filled with pictures of babies and functions related to them right now, while Skyping with my MIL yesterday, we ended up talking about babies as well. She was telling us that I and my husband are in the golden time of our life as we don’t have a baby yet so we can plan what we want. We are in the stage of our life where we don’t have family responsibilities so we should enjoy as much as we can now. Once a baby comes into the picture then we will need to plan our life around the baby. She was very supportive of our decision to go on holiday and enjoy our life. She is really understanding and practical.

Anyway during the conversation she asked if we have heard a sorry about an author of an epic. We hadn’t so she told us the story and I am sharing it with all of you.

The story begins like this.

There was a girl who was bought up by her parents in a way that she never felt she was a girl. She used do everything she loved and hung out mostly with male friends. There was no stopping her in life as she was involved in many sports and was very out going. She dressed like a boy and loved doing all the crazy things in life, she was enjoying life in full speed. As she grew up, she did well in school and college as well. She had a big social circle and she made many friends. She was active in charities as well as her social scene.

One day she fell in love with a man. After going out for some years, they decided to get married. As she was not used to cooking and cleaning, they decided to hire a maid so she could continue her life as before. Now she had her husband on her side to support her but she was still living her life as she wanted. She felt that her life was perfect and she was the happiest person in this world.

(While she was telling me this, for a moment I thought she was telling me a part of my life story in some way.)

Then one day she got pregnant.  She was well and fine in the beginning but as her tummy grew bigger, she couldn’t go out as often so she was socialising less and less. One day one of her friends called her and asked “What’s going on with your life, where are you nowadays, I don’t see you at any charity functions or any parties? You seem to have dropped off the end of the world!”. She replied, ”I am busy writing an Epic so I haven’t been able to go anywhere”. Then her friend asked her what is that about. So she replied, “I am making a baby into a man and that is the biggest epic in the world.’

I too believe this. I salute every mum in this world who goes through so much to be able to have a baby and makes sure every thing is provided for them so that they grow to be capable individuals. Definitely, motherhood is one of the most fantastic journeys whose experience is beyond comparison but it is also one of the toughest ones. Mothers do sacrifice a lot to make sure their kids are happy, healthy and thriving in life.

My biggest thanks to my mum who made so many sacrifices in her life to make sure I got the good things in life. Missing her so much. Also a big thanks to my MIL for being so great and understanding,

Hope all the mums out there had the best Mother’s day yesterday. Please do share your Mother’s day story.

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Posted in Personal, Social Issue

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Learn Nepal Bhasa / Newari – Chapter 8 – Relations

Posted on May 13, 2012 | Leave a comment

 

English Nepal Basa
Father Baa
Mother Maa
Grandfather Baa-jyaa
Grandmother a-ji
Husband Bhaah-ta
Wife Ka-laah
Elder brother Daa-i
Elder sister Ta-taa
Younger brother Ki-jaa
Younger sister Ke-henn
Maternal uncle Paa-ju
Maternal aunt Ma-le
Relations Thah-thi-ti 

Please click here for previous chapters.

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Posted in Learn Nepal Bhasa / Newari, Nepal

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Just because you think you are right, doesn’t make me wrong!!!

Posted on May 12, 2012 | 16 comments

I am sorry to bring the topic of babies again to my blog but my life revolves around babies these days. Only last week one of the friends who had a baby girl in December has a Pasni (Rice feeding ceremony), Nepali version on Christening. It was a fun event and I was happy for the excuse to wear sari and also to share in their happiness.

I am attending another Pasni tonight for another friend’s baby boy. I have more baby showers, Pasnis and babies’ birthdays this year than I can ever remember.

I am always happy to be a part of my friends’ happiness which includes their little ones. It is so nice to see the babies growing up so cute and adorable. It is nice to listen to their experience and share their joy. There are at least five of my friends pregnant right now.

But what I do not like when I go to these functions is everyone asking me when I am going to have a baby. I think that is a valid question but I still don’t want to be constantly bothered when I have already told then that it’ll still be a few years before I have a baby.

One of my friends who is pregnant said, “There is a right time for babies so if you don’t have in now, you may regret it later”. I was really annoyed when she said that because it is my and my husband’s choice to decide on when to have a baby and we decided to wait a few years. Come on, I haven’t even had my first marriage anniversary yet. Why don’t everyone leave me alone and let me enjoy my time with my husband. Just because she is pregnant now and heading towards motherhood, doesn’t mean I need to follow in her footsteps. And just because she thought that it is the right time for her, my choice of not having a baby right now doesn’t make me wrong.

The other day, in a similar conversation, another friend of ours told us that she got pregnant because she thinks that it is the right time and implied that we need to think about it as well.

My friends may think that they are doing us a favour by suggesting to us to have a baby but I don’t want to be pressured into having a baby just because they are pregnant now. Me and my husband have a plan and we want to move according to this plan. We don’t want to follow other people’s plan and definitely don’t want to be pressured to have baby.

When I got married last year, I thought the pressure of having a baby will come from my parents and his parents. But amazingly other than his grandfather, no one else has nagged me about not being pregnant yet. We had told both our families that we have a plan and they are happy for us to follow the plan and have babies when we decide to. But we are getting more pressure from our friends and only from those friends who are already pregnant or have a baby.

I’d love to be a mum one day. I believe that motherhood is a wonderful experience but at the same time I want to be well prepared before we have a baby.

Right now I just want to be with my husband and enjoy my life. And I will have a baby when I am ready. Please don’t tell me that our decision not to have a baby right now is wrong.

If you have a baby please do keep this in mind when you suggest someone else to have a baby. If you’re married and don’t have a baby yet I’m sure you know how I’m feeling 🙂

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Posted in Social Issue

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Chatamari

Posted on May 11, 2012 | 7 comments

Chatamari is a special Newari dish which is like a crepe made of rice flour and optionally topped with mince meat with seasoning or vegetables.

Use non stick pan so that Chatamari doesn’t stick to the pan.

Ingredients 

For Rice Base

  • 2 cups rice flour
  • 3 eggs (beaten)
  • 1 cup water (depends on consistency)
  • 1 cup ghee or butter
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • ½ cup of peas
  • A bunch of coriander leaves chopped

For Toppings

  • 250 grams minced chicken
  • ½ cup finely chopped onions
  • ½ cup diced tomatoes
  • 1 teaspoon garlic, minced
  • 1 teaspoon ginger, minced
  • ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 2 teaspoons curry powder
  • Salt to taste
  • 1 tablespoon cooking oil

Steps

  • Mix minced meat, salt, pepper, onion, tomato, oil, peas, curry powder, coriander leaves, garlic and ginger in a big bowl and put aside. This will be the topping for the Chatamari.
  • Mix rice flour, eggs, water and salt to make batter.
  • You may need to add more water if necessary to achieve the consistency similar to the batter for crepes.
  • Heat a non stick pan.
  • Pour in some batter and spread out into a thin crust. Cover the pan and cook just on one side for a few minutes. Don’t flip onto the other side.
  • Put the toppings on top of the Chatamari and cook for a few minutes by covering the lid.
  • If you like your meat well done, take the Chatamari and put it in the oven on low heat for 2 minutes. But this tends to dry the Chatamari. Alternately you can pre-cook the minced meat mix and then add it to the Chatamari in this step.
  • For vegetarian options, topping can be made with potatoes, onions and tomatoes or if you eat eggs just use scrambled eggs for toppings.
  • Serve hot with spicy achar or your favourite sauce.

You may also like :

* *Goat curry *Momo

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Posted in Nepal, Nepali food, Newari Food, Recipe

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