My Republica

Gunjan Upadhyay

The contributor for Republica.
news@myrepublica.com

All that glitters

Published On: January 27, 2017 04:31 AM NPT By: Gunjan Upadhyay

If something is worth smuggling, you can be pretty sure that the officialdom at Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) is game for it.

Traffic, technology & conformity

Published On: January 20, 2017 04:27 AM NPT By: Gunjan Upadhyay

There is just so much more that can be done to help the police render their duty better instead of token gestures that seem to be the norm. The ever-increasing vehicle registrations and resulting traffic congestion means that it’s going to take more than one drone, a few ‘Go Pros’, and barely functioning CCTV cameras for the police to do their duties effectively.

Prospects of participation

Published On: January 13, 2017 08:57 AM NPT By: Gunjan Upadhyay

As a football fan and occasional drinker, my conversations and banter with my friends tends to centre on the clubs that we all follow – either in the English Premier League or La Liga or some similar league in Europe.

Of overhead costs and underhand expenses

Published On: December 30, 2016 01:21 AM NPT By: Gunjan Upadhyay

In an industry where success of a project or campaign is more often than not measured by its expenditure, the ability to spend money allied with the ability to engineer good reports remains crucial.

Small investors and big problems

Published On: December 23, 2016 03:54 AM NPT By: Gunjan Upadhyay

What was once the preserve of a niche section of society, professional investors, businessmen and the well to do has suddenly gone mainstream.

Chakka panja

Published On: December 16, 2016 03:41 AM NPT By: Gunjan Upadhyay

It was only a couple of weeks ago in this column that I had highlighted the tendency of our politicians to reverse roles with our comedians. And true to form, this time around it’s none other than our Prime Minister who has decided to take up the challenge. Yesterday, the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers released the property details of the PM and his cabinet of ministers.

Federal express

Published On: December 9, 2016 01:24 AM NPT By: Gunjan Upadhyay

You could be forgiven for thinking that the title is a reference to a renowned courier company but it seemed rather appropriate when describing the haste with which the demarcation of federal state boundaries is being pushed through in the constitution amendment proposal. It’s not unlike the ‘express’ manner in which our country was simply declared a ‘federation’ in the first place, without engaging the public in any way.

Cool man Ghising

Published On: December 2, 2016 01:20 AM NPT By: Gunjan Upadhyay

For the general public who were gearing up to endure perhaps 18 hours of load shedding a day this winter, there is no greater hero than Kulman Ghising.

The great barrier

Published On: December 1, 2016 12:25 AM NPT By: Gunjan Upadhyay

The new trade integration strategy has acknowledged non-tariff measures as ‘serious bottleneck’ to boosting exports

The gravy train

Published On: November 18, 2016 09:02 AM NPT By: Gunjan Upadhyay

Social media has been alight the last few days with outrage and indignation over the government’s decision to pay Sujata Koirala a ‘discounted’ amount of five million rupees for her cancer treatment abroad.

Drawing Parallels

Published On: November 11, 2016 09:11 AM NPT By: Gunjan Upadhyay

The year 2016 has thrown up two unpredictable shocks – some may even call them unpleasant specially if they happened to be sitting on the wrong side of the fence on either of those events.

Our leading comedians

Published On: November 4, 2016 03:42 AM NPT By: Gunjan Upadhyay

Around this time last year, while the country was reeling under the economic blockade, there was collective worry about how the earthquake survivors would cope during the harsh winter.

Heroes & super villains

Published On: October 28, 2016 01:27 AM NPT By: Gunjan Upadhyay

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? Is it Superman? Nope. It’s Lok-Man! If a patriotic citizen ever dreamt up a Nepali superhero along the lines of Captain America, surely a contender for the name would have to be Lok Man – ‘the people’s superhero’. After all we’ve had plazas, colleges, armies and even entire revolutions supposedly founded for the ‘people’. So, why not a people’s hero?

Have you seen it yet?

Published On: October 7, 2016 02:46 AM NPT By: Gunjan Upadhyay

With the advent of multiplexes, even in small cities, there is optimism that in the future we will see films with more cerebral content and tackling complex social, emotional and moral issues without resorting to caricature, contrivance and shouting from the rooftops.

Our ‘international’ Dashain

Published On: September 23, 2016 02:30 AM NPT By: Gunjan Upadhyay

It’s the only time of the year when the routines of mother, father, son and daughter coincide to make it a perfect opportunity to escape somewhere else.

Changing our tune

Published On: September 16, 2016 02:05 AM NPT By: Gunjan Upadhyay

The majority of us were brought up to respect the national anthem and this involves showing deference whenever it is played – namely ceasing our activities and standing still out of respect. It has now become so common to hear it in situations and places where it just is not possible for us to maintain the required propriety befitting that of a national anthem.

Democratizing ‘luxury’

Published On: September 9, 2016 02:30 AM NPT By: Gunjan Upadhyay

KATHMANDU, Sept 9: In the course of contemplating the purchase of a car in Nepal, I’m often led to considering the expendability of my internal organs. I could probably afford a nice little hatchback – no power windows, thank you – with the proceeds from selling a kidney. I mean whoever needs two kidneys when one will do just fine.

Seeing red

Published On: September 2, 2016 01:30 AM NPT By: Gunjan Upadhyay

Jokes aside, if the elaborate buildup to Teej didn’t exist, then what would be there to celebrate? It’s not like the actual act of keeping a fast is a whole lot of fun. Just ask the people who do it. In festivals as in life, it’s not so much the destination (the fast) as the journey (the buildup) that matters.

This syndicated state

Published On: August 26, 2016 02:35 AM NPT By: Gunjan Upadhyay

These syndicates through their actions block the exercise of free choice and we often end up settling for second choice, third choice or in the tragic case of the bus victims – the only choice.