Last Monday the Koshi river in south Nepal burst its banks. This led to a war of words between India and Nepal as to who was behind the mismanagement of this water resource that led to 50,000 people being displaced, destruction of homes and farmland and the loss of many (an as yet unquantified number) lives. There has been an immediate and significant response to this national disaster with the European Commission donating a million euros in emergency relief. There has been a local response too, however in many cases the contribution from various corporates has been for me too much of a public relations exercise as photographs appear in the papers of comparatively modest amounts being donated at ostentatious cheque handover ceremonies.
But today I was disgusted to see one corporate, Wai Wai noodles, offering through an advertisement in The Himalayan newspaper to donate 10 paisa (a fraction of a penny) for every packet of their noodles that are sold over the next month. To me it seems obscene and insensitive that this company should be using the floods with their associated loss of life as a marketing ploy.
Passing through Bhairahawa domestic airport on Friday I found myself with an excess of time awaiting my Buddha Air flight that allowed me to study the advertisements in the departure terminal. Don't believe eve
rything that you see in Nepali advertising. In the midst of uninspiring advertisements for cooking oil and dry cell batteries there's a board there pushing the dubious delights of the Hotel Maharaja Palace which is on the airport road in Kathmandu. The architecture, as you can see from the adjacent picture, could best be described as neo-Stalinist however note the backdrop of the Himalayas which is surely a strong point in the hotel's favour? It would be if this wasn't a doctored image. In reality there isn't a mountain in sight.It's felt good to have been blogging again. More to follow.
