Happy New Year 2061 B.S.

Been with friends down at the Bhaktapur's famous Bisket Jatra. What a let-down! On one side the tourist money (now more than $10/per tourist!!!) paved the area, so gone is the DUST, on the other side the "lingo" (tree-to-be-raised) was tiny... I remember a huge trunk, with wild branches, as long as 10-15 m (30-40 feet). Also the pulling boys & men changed a lot in the past 12 years - jeans, baseball caps replaced kurta/surwals and topis...
But the frevor and zest remained, as ever. These Jyapus are so refreshingly conservative, the salt of the earth... So great was a commotion when the "lingo" crashed down from like 5-10 degrees on the sweating crowd! Great throng of people carried someone nearby, everyone shivered and quitened... death walked by. Old Jyapus told of 'bad harvest' and 'disasters'. Can it be worse in 2061?

Still, all my friends & readers I wish all the best in the New Year 2061 Bikram Sambat!