COUNTRY AREA : NEPAL : 50.67 km2 (19.56 sq mi) ELEVATION : POPULATION : TIME ZONE POPULATION DENSITY 1,400 m (4,600 ft) 975,453 : Nepal Time (UTC+5:45) : 19,250 per km

IMPORTANT PLACES IN KATHMANDU Kathmandu Durbar Square Nagarkot Swayambhunath Dhulikhel Patan

Kathmandu Durbar Square, or Basantapur Durbar Square is the plaza in front of the old royal palace of the Kathmandu Kingdom. It is one of three Durbar Squares in theKathmandu Valley in Nepal, all of which are UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

Swayambhunath Located approximately 3km from the center of Kathmandu, this Buddist stupa is said to be 2000 years old. The stupa which forms the main structure is composed of a solid hemisphere of brick and earth which supports a lofty conical spire capped by a pinnacle of gilt copper.

Swayambhunath)

Nagarkot It is situated about 35Km. east of Kathmandu city and from here one can see Mt. Everest and other peaks of the Himalayas. Nagarkot is located between Kathmandu valley in the west and Indrvati in the east. The top of Nagarkot commands accelerating views in all direction. The altitude of Nagarkot is 2229Mt. Above from sea level. It is also very popular for the viewing sunrise and sunset

Dhulikhel It is situated at an altitude of 1600 m. above from sea level and 32 Km. From Kathmandu City. Dhulikhel is famous for its vantage location in viewing the Himalayan ranges, from Cho Oyu in the east to Himalchuli in the west. It is popular for viewing the sunrise and sunset.

You will see Durbar square, the Patan durbar (palace), which houses a bronze collection, the Krishna temple built by King Siddi Narsinh Malla, Hiranya Varna Mahavihar, and Mahaboudha Temple. 5 Km. away from Kathmandu city. Patan, also known as Lalitpur, is a city of fine arts, enclosed within 4 stupas, which are said to have been built in the 3rd century A.D. by Emperor Ashoka.

PASHUPATINATH Lying 6 Km from central Kathmandu, Pashupatinath temple is one of the holiest Hindu temples dedicated to Lord Shiva. Situated amidst a lush green natural setting on the bank of the sacred Bagmati river, the temple, which was built in pagoda style, has a gilded roof and beautifully carved silver doors. Visitors will be permitted to view the temple from the east bank of the Bagmati river, as entrance into the temple is strictly forbidden to all non-Hindus. Pashupatinath is the centre of an annual pilgrimage on the day Shivaratri, which falls in February or March. Behind the temples are the cremation grounds .

The Non-Hindus are not allowed to visit the temple, but they can only see the gilted Nandi Bull, the Shiva's vehicle inside the temple. The foreigners also cannot enter the temple compound, but they can have a good view of the whole complex from a higher vantage point. Thousands of devotees gather in this temple during the Shivaratri festival

Finding Shiva Lingam at Pashupatinath Temple It is said that the wish-fulfilling cow Kamadhenu took shelter in a cave on the Chandravan mountain. Everyday Kamadenu went down to the place the lingam was sunken into the soil and poured her milk on top of the soil. After ten thousand years some people saw Kamdenu pouring milk on that same spot everyday, and started to wonder what that would be. So they removed the soil and found the beautiful shining lingam. After having a good look they disappeared into the lingam, freed from sin and rebirths. More and more people came to look and more people disappeared into the lingam. This was a big concern for Brahma.

At the time of a festival

Open Air Cremation

Bodhnath Boudhanath also called Boudha, Bouddhanath or Ba udhanath or the Khsa Caitya) is one of the holiestBuddhist sites in Kathmandu (Yambu), Nepal. It is known as Khsti in Nepal Bhasa Jyarung Khasyor in Tamang language or asBauddha by modern speakers of Nepali. Located about 11 km (6.8 mi) from the center and northeastern outskirts of Kathmandu, the stupa's massive mandala makes it one of the largest spherical stupas in Nepal.

The Stupa is on the ancient trade route from Tibet which enters the Kathmandu Valley by the village of Sankhu in the northeast corner, passes by Boudnath Stupa to the ancient and smaller stupa of C-bah (often called 'Little Boudnath'). It then turns directly south, heading over the Bagmati river to Patan - thus bypassing the main city of Kathmandu (which was a later foundation).[1] Tibetan merchants have rested and offered prayers here for many centuries. When refugees entered Nepal from Tibet in the 1950s, many decided to live around Bouddhanath. The Stupa is said to entomb the remains of Kassapa Buddha.

The Buddhist stupa of Boudhanath dominates the skyline. The ancient Stupa is one of the largest in the world. The influx of large populations of refugees from Tibet has seen the construction of over 50 Tibetan Gompas (Monasteries) around Boudhanath. As of 1979, Boudhanath is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Along with Swayambhunath, it is one of the most popular tourist sites in the Kathmandu area.

Gold figurines from a rooftop overlooking Bodhnath Stupa in Kath

architecture of the Bodhnathstupa is characterized by its

His younger brother, Shantum, leads Buddhist meditational tours. His younger Seth spent part of his youth in London but sister, Aradhana, is a film-maker married to returned to his homeland in 1957. an Austrian diplomat, and has worked on Deepa Mehta's movies Earth and Fire.

Vikram Seth was born on 20 June 1952 in a Punjabi family to Leila and Prem Seth in Calcutta (now Kolkata). His family lived in many cities including the Bata Shoe Company town of Batanagar, Danapur near Patna, and in London.

AT VERY YOUNG AGE

Seth spent part of his youth in London but returned to his homeland in 1957. After receiving primary and commencing secondary education at the Doon School in Dehradun in India, Seth returned to England to Tonbridge School. From there, Seth studied philosophy, politics, and economics at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, where he developed an interest in poetry and learned Chinese. After leaving Oxford, Seth moved to California to work on a graduate degree in economics at Stanford University.

His younger brother, Shantum, leads Buddhist meditational tours. His younger sister, Aradhana, is a film-maker married to an Austrian diplomat, and has worked on Deepa Mehta's movies Earth and Fire. (Compare the characters Haresh, Lata, Savita and two of the Chatterji siblings in A Suitable Boy: Seth has been candid in acknowledging that many of his fictional characters are drawn from life.

he has said that only the dog Cuddles in A Suitable Boyhas his real name "Because he can't sue". Justice Leila Seth has said in her memoir On Balance that other characters in A Suitable Boy are composites but Haresh is a portrait of her husband Prem.)

Occupation Novelist, poet

A polyglot, Seth detailed in an interview (in the year 2005) in the Australian magazine Good Weekend that he has studied several languages, including Welsh, German and, later, French in addition to Mandarin, English (which he describes as "my instrument" in answer to Indians who query his not writing in his native Hindi), Urdu (which he reads and writes in Nasta'liq script), and Hindi, which he reads and writes in the Dvangar script. He plays the Indian flute and the cello and sings German lieder, especially Schubert.

VIKRAM SETH at press conference

Novels The Golden Gate (1986) A Suitable Boy (1993) An Equal Music (1999) A Suitable Girl (2013)

Poetry Mappings (1980) The Humble Administrator's Garden (1985) All You Who Sleep Tonight (1990) Beastly Tales (1991) Three Chinese Poets (1992) The Frog and the Nightingale (1994)

Children's book Beastly Tales (1991) Libretto Arion and the Dolphin (1994) for the English National Opera The Traveller [2008] with composer Alec Roth. Premiere, Lichfield Festival July 2008.

The Golden Gate The first of his novels, The Golden Gate (1986) is a novel in verse about the lives of a number of young professionals in San Francisco. The novel is written entirely in Onegin stanzas after the style Aleksandr Pushkin's Eugene Onegin.

An Equal Music Seth's third novel, An Equal Music (1999), set in contemporary Europe, focuses on the lives of classical musicians and their music. Some readers and critics complained that Michael, the protagonist, was simply not a likeable (or unlikeable) enough character to sustain interest throughout a substantial novel and that the focus on the music for its own sake can be trying for the uninitiated.

A Suitable Boy After the success of The Golden Gate, Seth took up residence in his parents' house back in Delhi to work on his second novel, A Suitable Boy (1993). Though initially conceived as a short piece detailing the domestic drama of an Indian mother's search for an appropriate husband for her marriageable Indian daughter against the background of the formative years of India after independence, the novel grew and Seth was to labour over it for almost a decade.

Prizes and awards 1983 Thomas Cook Travel Book Award for From Heave Lake: Travels Through Sinkiang and Tibet n 1985 Common wealth Poetry Prize (Asia) The Humble Administrator's Garden 1993 Irish Times International Fiction Prize (shortlist) A Suitable Boy 1994 Commonwealth Writers Prize (Overall Winner, Best Book) A Suitable Boy

1994 WH Smith Literary Award A Suitable Boy 1999 Crossword Book Award "An Equal Music" 2001 EMMA (BT Ethnic and Multicultural Media Award) for Best Book/Novel An Equal Music 2005 Pravasi Bharatiya Samman 2007 Padma Shri in Literature & Education

Pravasi Bharatiya Samman

From Heaven Lake: Travels through Sinkiang and Tibet From Heaaven Lake, published in 1987, was the first widely published book which caused his fame as a writer to begin to develop. "After two years as a postgraduate student at Nanjing University in China, [he] hitchhiked back to his home in New Delhi, via Tibet. From Heaven Lake is the story of his...journey and his encounters with nomadic Muslims, Chinese