Nepal June 2007--Maoists, Madeshis, Bhutanese--Long Hot Summer

My most recent trip to Nepal was April-May 2007. I interviewed many people including Dr. Baburam Bhattarai, (Maoist leader), out-going Ambassador Moriarty (USA), Ambassador Andrew Hall (UK), ex-Prime Minister of Nepal Sher Bahadur Deuba, the behind-the-scenes leader of the Student Activists Gagan Thapa, head of UNDP Matthew Kahane, Ambassador Graeme Lade (Australia), women's activist Arzu Rana Deuba, Human Rights activist Vijay Kant Karna, founder of the Himalaya Bank Himalaya Rana, leading television journalist and documentarian Dil Bhusan Pathaki, among others. I befriended Sam Taylor, Bureau Chief of Agence France-Press; together, we are working on a lengthy piece on the Bhutanese refugee crisis. I and my assistant Govinda Rijal traveled to the southern cities of Janakpur and Birgunj to interview numerous Madeshi activists, both moderates and extremists. I traveled with leading human rights leader Kapil Shrestra to his home village in Chautara District. I filmed orphanages, homeless rag-pickers along the filthy Bagmati River, extended members of the royal family, upper-class wedding parties, grim street demonstrations, oblivious tourists in Thamel, brutally beaten women in ICU because of their political stance--to name a few. I had lunch with Sir Edmund Hillary.