Culture

In the proposal, Kailash Mansarovar is in the mixed category — both as a natural as well as a cultural heritage. Covering an area of 6,836 sq km within India, the area is flanked in the east by Nepal and bordered by China on the north.
Indian part, Kailash Mansarovar, UNESCO, tentative list, world heritage sites, Ministry of Environment and Forests, Kailash Mansarovar yatra, Mansarovar, Kailash, Tibet
Kailash Manasarovar (Image- kmy.gov.in)
UNESCO has included the Indian part of Kailash Mansarovar in its tentative list of world heritage sites, sources in the Culture Ministry said Sunday. It was in April that the Archeological Survey of India, which is under the Culture Ministry, sent the proposal mooted by the Ministry of Environment and Forests to UNESCO.

In the proposal, Kailash Mansarovar is in the mixed category — both as a natural as well as a cultural heritage. Covering an area of 6,836 sq km within India, the area is flanked in the east by Nepal and bordered by China on the north. The Indian site is part of the larger landscape of 31,000 sq km referred to as the ‘Kailash Sacred Landscape’ constituting the Mount Kailash and Lake Mansarovar in the remote south-western portion of the Tibet Autonomous Region of China and adjacent districts in the far-western region of Nepal.

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Both China and Nepal have proposed the landscape as a world heritage site to UNESCO. If it comes through, Uttarakhand, a major transit point of the annual Kailash Mansarovar yatra, will benefit as communities living along the yatra route can be incorporated in the plan to develop sustainable tourism for the site. The Indian portion of the landscape in the State of Uttarakhand comprises four major watersheds viz. the Panar-Saryu, the Saryu-Ramganga, the Gori-Kali and the Dhauli-Kali.

The lights in the ballroom were focused on the stage as each group was introduced by the hosts of the event. The crowd of people filled in as the show began and took a seat at one of the many round tables set up in the International Ballroom.

Subechhya Bohora, a University of Idaho student from Kathmandu, Nepal, joined the Nepali Student Association (NSA) to find community and share her culture through Taste of Nepal.

“It’s a good opportunity of showing off my culture and our traditions to the university,” Bohora said.

Bohora performed in a dance from the Newar people, who are from the Kathmandu valley near the capital.

Taste of Nepal has been a yearly event for the NSA for the last 18 years. The night began at 5 p.m. and the line went out the door. There was dancing, music and food — all of which was either made or performed by students.

The NSA president, Saugaut Baskota said they sold out again this year within half an hour of opening the doors. Baskota said there were around 350 tickets for sale after they had given out some of the tickets reserved for sponsors.

“Our mission with this event is to show how diverse our culture is, Nepal is really small. I think we can fit three Nepal in one single Idaho, but our cultural diversity is pretty big,” Baskota said.

Before dinner, Navin Chettri, a UI part time lecturer for the school of music, and Brantley Bacon performed a song Chettri wrote.

As the music came to the end, the smell of chicken curry, dumplings and vegetable curry began to fill the air. Guests lined up along the walls as their tables were called. One of the students who made and served the food was UI student Bisha Thapa.

“I helped cook food for this event and I love this. I love cooking food because I get to work with people from Nepal who have been here for over 10 years and then learn from them at the same time, I get to share tastes that I have been tasting all my life,” Thapa said.

Thapa, like Bohora, wears many hats at this event, he also performed a dance during the event.

“It’s very important because you get to show how unique you are, how different you are but at the same time have all the same needs and wants,” Thapa said.

by Kali Nelson. He can be reached at arg-life@uidaho.edu or on Twitter @kalinelson6.