Holi celebration in Nepal (with photos)

March 05, 2015: Holi, the festival of colors is being celebrated in our country Nepal. As the celebration falls on two days (consecutively in Hills and Terai), the fiesta is celebrated today in the northern side of the country (Hill area) and tomorrow in the southern plains called Terai. Though Holi has come from ancient hindu religion festival, marking the death of Holika as triumph of good over evil, the festival is now equally popular among other communities/religions mostly inside Asia. Holi is also known Phaagu, derived from the month Falgun as the festival falls on the same Hindu month of Vikram Sambhat (B.S.). In this festival, people put colors to each other with extreme joy and fun. Youths and children even throw water filled "Lola" (Ballon or plastic) among themselves and to people in the road, even a week before the main day but nowadays such kinda celebration is getting rare as the government discouraged the action with stringent rules. People also get high with eating bhang (Ghotta) and dance with the music. The festival is also seen as a means to promote unity, brotherhood among the people. Let there be colors, let there be love and harmony among all the people on the earth.

Here are some photos taken today during Holi.

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Turkish Airline flight accident at Kathmandu Airport leaves thousand stranded.

March 04, 2015: Turkish Airlines plane flying from Istanbul had a big accident at TIA (Tribhuvan International Airport) runway this morning. The plane skidded and went off the runway, towards the grass field and stopped, after the collapse of front landing gear. There were no many major damage to the 224 people aboard, but the nose of the plane jolted in the ground and side gear exploded, making it difficult to take out. The accident could have hit the building or the oil tank nearby, resulting at a disaster, Thanks to the cleverness of pilot or good luck that saved from a big loss. The flight is still at the runway as TIA do not have some special equipment to take it out due to which officials are forced to close the airport for indefinite period until they could take it out. At first there was crowd at the terminal, expecting the airport to resume soon but now it is known there is no such crowd as officials have issued a press statement for the closure till 4 pm tomorrow. Thousands of people are also known to be stranded at several foreign airports.
Dikesh Malhotra, President of IMS (official Distributor of Samsung Mobiles in Nepal) was one of the people aboard in the plane. He and his father were returning back to Kathmandu from Barcelona, after attending the Samsung Galaxy S6 launch at Mobile world congress, when they survived a plane crash. He happens to share the pictures and video (that went viral in social media and even online portal posting the same photos) of the incident after getting off the plane.

Kantipur TV reports that TIA officials have already asked for support from foreign countries and they also said that a separate equipment from Mumbai will land here tomorrow morning to use it for taking the plane out from the runway. As it is known that it will take 4 to 5 hours for the removal of the plane (after taking the fuel out), it seems the only international Airport will be closed for at least tomorrow. Lets hope the officials use every means to open the airport as soon as possible. A probe will tell the reason behind the accident later, but TIA management should be prepared for every worst/emergency condition that may occur, with necessary tools and equipment in hand.

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Samsung unveils Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge at MWC

March 2, 2015: Samsung, the Korean Giant, is the top phone maker in the world, probably in Nepal too. The Korean firm though being the top first handset maker, has lost significant sales volumes in the year 2014. There are many thoughts who forced them to come up with new innovations in whole range of phones to keep the top spot, as the competition is now rife with Apple standing firm (with iPhone 6 sales) and rise of Chinese firms like Xiaomi, Meizu, Huawei for cheaper mid range and Flagship devices. Samsung has upped the ante by unveiling the two awaited flagships: Samsung Galaxy S6 and S6 edge in an unpacked event at this years MWC (Mobile world Congress). 

The two devices are of similar high end specs with all the features that make it flagship, but S6 edge is having the curved edge, fewer grams lighter and higher battery capacity. Samsung S6 is a 5.1 inch all metal phone powered by 64 bit Exynos octacore processor (two quadcore of 2.1 GHz and 1.5 GHz), having 3GB RAM (DDR4) and latest version of OS (Android 5.02). The 5.1 screen is of Super Amoled technology having bright and vivid display, with higher QHD resolution (2560 X1440, 577 ppi) as compared to its predecessor S5. Both the devices are sported with better and faster 16 MP rear and 5 MP front camera, having superior quality images (even in low light), along with features like Auto Real Time HDR, Smart OIS (Optical Image Stabilization), and IR detect White Balance, which is more enhanced by the direct access "quick launch" feature. Apart from the high end feature, Samsung has focused on the design and looks, being impressed from similar metal smartphones (like iPhone 6). The Glass encase both in the front and back has Corning Gorilla Glass 4, making it look premium and feel comfy. Additionally the curved edges on both sides in S6 edge makes it look different (appealing to many but not to me) and the first smartphone to have like that (Others to follow suit?? depends on how it sells in the market). Some of the features that disappeared with this new flagships are the non-removable battery/back, water resistant feature and microSD card slot, that may disappoint many. Though rumor is also something resulting most of it to be true, the removal of Samsung touch wiz happens to be false. 

I feel the battery capacity of 2550 mAh (2600 mAh in Edge) seems to be insufficient for such LTE enabled flagship but their better power efficient and fast charging technology, needs to be proven from public to back up. The phone also supports wireless charging feature that is available in the industry, promoting it to be universal from now on. Quick Contact in the edge is one of the new features for the S6 edge for some tricks. The phones comes in basic storage of 32 GB, along with 64 GB and 128 GB variant. The phones are known to be available on sales from April 10th with price ranging from USD 800 to 900 ( NRs 80,000 to 90,000) but the official prices are not yet out. With the phones, Samsung has also launched new payment platform "Samsung pay" to counter Apple pay and Google wallet.

With the specs, looks and reviews from pundits, the S6 and S6 Edge keeps Samsung alive for the competition in the high end market (wary of premium looks and features) but need some more innovation to compete with the cheaper Chinese firms.

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