Tihar Party @ Helsinki

Suomi Nepal Seura, ie. Finland Nepal Friendship Association organised a party on the auspicious occasion of Tihar on 16th October. The venue was at Mero Nepal ravintola located at valimotie. The place was quite full and the party atmosphere had the feeling of the festival of lights. Good food and beverages were served and people were happy.Some dance performances were also there and singing as usual. It was an exciting night.

Mr. Narayan Wagle was coincidentally in Finland and he attended the party too. He gave an optimistic speech about the current political situation of Nepal.

Afterwards the youngsters were still hanging out and jamming up while the family people left for their homes.

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Football Tournament Organized

-3rd october 2009, Saturday

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A friendly football match was played between Nepalese residing in Finland at Hertoniemenrannanke ntta, Paasivaarankatu 9, 00810, Helsinki. The match was played between 4 and 6 pm. The event was organized upon student initiatives and supported by NRN-Finland, Suomi-Nepal Seura and Su-Nepal, (the other existing Nepalese association in Finland).

                             This was the first event of its kind and the organizers are planning to extend these kind activities to bring together the Nepalese community and by organizing similar matches between teams from Nepalese residing in different cities of Finland.

 

Despite a small drizzle during the match the spectators were having a good time hanging out at the bleacher and watching the match.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dashain celebrated in Finland

The sun was bright, sky was clear and the time was enjoyable. It was the tenth day of the Dashain Festival, the day of putting Tika and exchanging well wishes and love. The spirit was high all over the Nepali households, their family. Everyone seemed to be well prepared for this holy ceremony. For instance, and the huge population of Nepali in the house of current president of Finnish Nepalese Friendship Society proved that the Dashain celebration in Finland was not less than in Nepal. Though people might be missing their close relatives, Nepali Environment, Dashain Holidays, Congested travel in Bus to visit the relatives in nearby towns, Excitement of buying new clothes (with bargaining), Goat's meat (fried Intestine, Grilled ear, Deep fried Blood, heart and lungs), Playing Cards (Marriage) etc. But the thrill and excitement of Dashain was really high and everyone's face was smiling and bright.

Before the Tika ceremony, Mr. Sharma described his initials about his journey from Nepal to Finland and also explained his days of struggle. He had been a successful entrepreneur since last 2 decades. He wished all the people of Nepal a very Happy Dashain and wished for safe and peaceful environment of Nepal. The Tika started and all the members from the family shared the Tika, well wishes, love and of course money (Dakshina) with each other. After putting on the tika all the attendants were served with delicious Nepalese meal.

After the usual chores of Tika at home, it was time to head towards the party hall where the Dashain function was going to be organized. The programme finally began at 5 pm with our National Anthem. The sign that we were in a foreign country was eminent when the attendants started to clap their hands by sitting in the chair while Nepalese national anthem was played. The party began with speech by Mr. Sharma, current president of SNY followed by dance numbers, modern Ramayan in different intervals, cultural dances, modern dances, comedy shows, etc. The programs were full of soul and worth watching.

In between the cultural events delicious Nepalese food was served. The food in the party was really delicious, the Panche Baja (tradition folk music, combination of 5 musical instruments) was hit of the moment which made everybody dance, and the dance numbers by every participant were awesome. They were talented to dance in almost every kind of songs from Nepali folk to modern hip-hop. Comedy show was also presented beautifully with the parodied News by Sushil Gautam. The news covered events such as the closure of the Mahendra highway because of a two-days old chicken was killed in an accident, vice president failing in first grade, Prachanda’s shaktikhor video being nominated for oscar. The programme was attended by enthusiastic Finnish and other nationalities. Many paparazzi photographers were busy capturing their faces while enjoying the Nepali show in Finland. After all, all the Nepali residing outside their country got a chance to enjoy the biggest Nepali festival in a Nepali environment which was the great thing to be considered.

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Screening of "3rd Generation"

31 August 2009, Helsinki
Silver lining creation screened their documentary called "The third generation" in Helsinki. They also released two short films 'Will You Accept Me?' and 'An Ecological Date' on the same occasion.

Before the screening, the institution's Chief-Editor Manoj Bhusal gave a speech about the institution's goals, objectives, mission and current activities.

The documentary "The Third Generation" portrayed a Nepali youth as the protagonist struggling in a foreign land and at the same time having a vision for the betterment of his home country.

Speaking at the second phase of the programme, Sudip Joshi, the documentary's central figure, and the secretary of SLC, called on everybody to rise up with anything they have and possess to work for a better world. Acoompanied with the director, he answered questions posed by the audience relating to the documentary and the 'All for All' project.

Teej Celebrated in Finland

(Prem Raj Adhikari, Helsinki)

Nepalese community in Helsinki celebrated Teej Celebration on 22^nd August with a lot joy and happiness. The programme was organized by Suomalais-nepalilainen yhdistys(aka The Finnish Nepalese Society) at Nuorisotalo Herttoniemin Rannan in Herttoniemi. The programme was attended by around 250 people majority of whom were femal dressed in red sari. On the occasion, traditional nepali food, rice, chicken, chutney and dal were also served to the participatants. Although the programme was announced to start at 12:00 and end at 19:00. It was typical Nepalese custom to arrive late and some people arrived as late as 19:00.

The singinng and dancing that started around 13:15 and continued until 19:30 was certainly the highlights of the celebration. Dancing took place in a group of two or three so that everyone would get the well deserved rest before second round of dance. It was amazing to see the participants remembering each and every lines of Sangini, the famous folk song thorough which a married daughter would express her suffering in her husbands house with her parents.

Many chirldren of the dancing mothers were also present on the occasion who were born and brought up in Finland. It really felt good to find that everyone respected their seniors with the kinds of salutions back home and spoke fluent Nepali. Some, however, mixed three languages while talking like 'yli humenna sununtai ho', which translates to “Day after tomorrow is Sunday”.

The programme highlighted the beauty of Nepalese culture that we have not given up while coming here to Finland as well. It gave everyone the feeling that you were living in your own cultural environment. Everyone except the child below seven years contributed Eur 10 to the programme.

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Teej celebration to be observed in Finland...

After the hectic nepali events like 4 summer picnics, GA and new executive board formation of NRNA Finland and Suomalais-nepalilainen yhdistys, another event is gonna bring together nepalese community of Finland. The event is Teej Celebration Programme and it is being organised by Suomalais-nepalilainen yhdistys.

The details of the Programme are as follows:

Date: Saturday, 22 August, 2009

Time: 12:00 - 19:00

Venue: Nuorisotalo Herttoniemin Rannan, Paasivaarankatu-6, Herttoniemi ( beside the sports grounds)

Participation fees:

Single: 10 Euros

Family with one child: 15 Euros

Family with two children: 20 Euros

Family with three children: 25 Euros

Family with four children: 30 Euros

NB: Snacks, non-alocholic beverages and dinner included. And of course, lots of singing and dancing !!!

NSA Finland prepares to welcome new Nepalese Students

The weather in Finland is getting cooler but NSA Finland is getting ready to warmly welcome the new Nepalese students arriving to Finland during the autumn 2009. According to NSA Finland, they are organizing air-port pick-ups and providing other guidance to the new students. According to their website, NSA Finland will not however be able to provide the accomodation to the new students. Sources also say that they will be establishing an information center in Helsinki to guide the new students but the website doesn't mention about it. For further information you can visit www.nsafinland.wordpress.com.

Prem Raj Adhikari

Helsinki, Finland

Suomichautari Team:

Editor in Chief: Gautam Raj Moktan

+358-(0)466696268

grmoktan@gmail.com

Contributing Editor: Prem Raj Adhikari

+358-(0)466469315

lovedynasty@gmail.com

NRN-Finland Election!!!

The much awaited and very much hyped NRN Finland election took place today,15th August 2009 at Kettukuja 4,Helsinki. The 1st ever General Assembly of the organisation also took place at the same venue. Out of 388 registered members of the organisation, there were 351 valid votes out of which 85 votes came through post from finnish NRNs of other cities. The voting started from 9 in the morning and ended at 6 pm. In between there was a break for the GA as well. There was an overwhelming turnup of Nepalese people which some people referred to as the largest number of Nepalese Gathering in History at any place in Finland. After 6 pm, the election committee started counting.

It was an amazing sight to see so much enthusiasm among the voters and as the election committee was providing regular updates of the development of the voting scores, there were many people informing about the updates to others via mobile phones too.The results were announced at 10:40 pm according to which the newly elected Chairperson of NRN finland is Mr. Jyoti Prakash Kharel who won the election by 222 against his competitor Mr. Lila Nath Silwal who got 88 votes. Mr. Sushil Gyawali has already been nominated as the ICC representative member after his opponent withdrew his candidacy. Apart from that, the 20 newly elected board members(along with their election serial number) are:

3 Ram Prasad Aryal (200 votes)
4 Arun Pokharel (176 votes)
5 Pratigya Khanal (185 votes)
6 Mohan Aryal (218 votes)
7 Teeka Kharel (148 votes)
8 Sudeep Bhushan Aryal (114 votes)
9 Manoj Kumal (135 votes)
11 Dilu Sapkota (121 votes)
12 Suman Khadka (187 votes)
13 Shabbir Mohammad (137 votes)
14 Byoma Tamrakar (193 votes)
15 Bishwas Hamal (160 votes)
16 Jagannath Kafle (120 votes)
18 Binas Timsina (Yogendra) (156 votes)
19 Gopal Aryal (167 votes)
20 Jeevan Kharel (163 votes)
21 Bijendra Neupane (221 votes)
22 Laxmipati Bhandari (148 votes)
23 Devidutta Kharel (186 votes)
24 Krishna Bhandari (237 votes)
After the results were out, The newly elected president gave his first speech as the Chairperson and requested everyone to leave the you vs me feeling created by the election and work together to create a better NRN community in Finland. He also asked for 388 new ideas and plans from the 388 registered members which was highly appreciated. The newly formed Executive board will now appoint Vice-Chairperson, Treasurer and Secretary from among themselves after their first meeting.

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Summer picnic at Seurasaari

As per the tradition of Seura(Finland Nepal Friendship Association), this year's 3rd Summer Potluck picnic was held in Seurasaari on 15th August 2009. The picnic began at 1 pm and people showed up according to traditional nepali timing :) . There were multitude of delecacies which were haighly appreciated by the attendees. The sadheko ghundruk-bhatmas-machha was an instant hit. Great food-great day- great fun, After a hefty lunch there were fun games requiring both mental and physical well being. Then some antakchidi singing, cards playing and chitchats... the food was abundant and people went for a second helping too. Maybe because of the NRN election to be held next day, there was quite a good turn out of people showing up and the guff-gaafs were basically focused on the election agenda. It was good to see conscious people taking the election matter in a more serious note. Candidates were having a one on one conversations with the voters so that they could hear the woes on site. Afterwards people gradualy left with high spirits for the election.

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Summer picnic at Suomenlinna.

Organised by The Finnish Nepalese Society, This picinic on 25th of July was grt way to enjoy summer and visit one historical place of Finland. I definitely had fun. The Finnish-Nepalese Society also had their General Assembly and a new board was elected. It was a good feeling to see women dancing to the tunes of folk lores and teej songs. They also conducted a quiz competition for the kids and a fun filled game of Hot Potato. The students were delighted as always to taste some home made traditional nepali style delicacies. All in all, It was a good way to use one summer weekend. Click here for more pics...

Welcome to Suomi Chautari.. !!!

Hi Everybody!!

I think you have seen me running around with a camera around my neck in a few nepali events in Finland. In an effort to share those pics with all of you and to provide a little background on those pictures, I hereby created this photo blog and since It's here I thought of adding a little more along the way. Those shall be some upcoming events, some helpful information for fellow deshbandhus , etc. I hope you will like it and get your daily doze of entertainment. I dunno where this blog will head towards but definitely I will keep on putting pictures on this blog that I take during my stay here in Finland.

PS: Any feedback (suomichautari@gmail.com) will be highly appreciated. Thank you in advance.