READ 2B HAPPY

By LB THAPA Sometime in the past, we had lost a brave blogger. He always advocated freedom of speech through his popular blog Mukto Mona. He was a writer and a campaigner of free-thinking. Avijit Roy was born and had his early education in Bangladesh. He came to the limelight with his eight books in Bengali. He was also writing articles on science, skepticism, and rationalism. He founded Mukto Mona (free thinkers) in 2001. Through this blog, he sharply criticized religious practices which were based on superstitions and discriminations. His prickly criticism of Islamic practices which he thought based on hollow principles made Islamic zealots hungry for his blood.  Jamaat-e-Islami , a radical Islamic group, had issued death threats to Avijit Roy. They were waiting for an opportunity when Avijit Roy comes within their range. When Avijit Roy reached within their striking zone, they destroyed him. As long as Avijit Roy was writing his blogs from America, he was out of reach of Ja

He purchased an old bus, modified it to make his home, and started living in it for the last 25 years…Meet the man he is Keith Levy of New Zealand Keith Levy and his old bus as his sweet home.  By LB THAPA Keith Levy is the modern-day Robinson Crusoe of New Zealand. Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe lived on an island after the shipwreck, but Keith Levy, born and raised in Wellington, lives on his bus and he is always mobile. He had purchased an old bus from Lloyd Kahn, who is the editor-in-chief of Shelter Publications in New Zealand. Keith Levy is an amazing man who has hardly lived in apartments; most of his life has been spent off the grid. When asked how he modified the whole piece of a bus into a luxury house, he began explaining as if he was telling one of his adventure stories. ‘I used to work in the day time to make money and with that money, I would purchase necessary materials to give the bus the shape of a house. I took no help and worked all alone. I was qui

Famous British author and retired Colonel CP Cross and editor & publisher RD Sharma jointly launch the book. By LB THAPA My recently published book "The Pokhara valley: A Traveler's Guide" published by Nirala Publications, New Delhi, India, was my first serious project. After the success of this book, I wrote "Pokhara and the Annapurnas". This book was published by the Himalayan Maphouse, Kathmandu, Nepal. So far, this book has been translated into seven languages. Interested readers can buy all my seven books from www.amazon.com .   It took more than 3 years to complete the book 'The Pokhara Valley'. When I completed the first draft of the book, I was lucky enough to show it to none other than Dr. Harka Gurung---he had been my mentor for a long time. He kept the book for about a week, then one day he called me to receive the manuscript. He advised me to add one more chapter to make the book more readable and exciting. I was curio