January 13, 2007
Bait and switchTravel
“Have you seen Nepal?” Apparently those words appeared at the bottom of a poster hanging on the wall of Royal Nepal Airlines’ offices in Delhi. The poster featured this lovely picture:
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“Have you seen Nepal?” Apparently neither has Royal Nepal Airlines. |
It took a sharp-eyed tourist from Peru to notice the obvious error and tattle to his countryman before the world was made aware of this sinister plot. To that tourist I can only say, “don’t hate the player, hate the game.”
“The airline … offered apologies to Peru for using the picture of the Machu Picchu Sanctuary on a poster to promote their country and assured that the lamentable error has been corrected,” the statement said.
“As a consequence, the Nepalese airline fired an employee in the rank of a manager … It is concluded that it was an isolated error,” it added. [Link]
I wish this news would have broken a week later! I’ve hiked to Machu Picchu and will be in Delhi next Saturday en route to Kathmandu, Nepal. What a coup it would have been to pose in front of this poster for the entertainment of SM readers (although perhaps “coup” is the wrong word in this context). I’m wondering if I can take a lot of pictures in Nepal and use them in a poster encouraging tourism in North Dakota where SM’s headquarters are based. By the way, do we have any Nepali readers in the house? Should we even consider a meet-up?
abhi on January 13, 2007 10:07 AM in News, Photos, Travel · T·r·a·c·k·b·a·c·k address · Direct link · Email post
Nice. Just got back from good ole Dilli. Stick to the M-block market at GK-II. Great food. Nice eyecandy.
hey, at least Machu Picchu got a little publicity! Look at him. He looks all happy. I guess Machu Picchu is male.
And, intriguing about SM's ND base. I read SM from South Dakota, huzzah.
Abhi - Not sure how programmed your Nepal trip is, but if its not already in your schedule, and you have the flexibility, I couldn't recommend enough Royal Chitwan National Park. Its one of the most magical places in the subcontinent.
I went to Chitwan in 2003 and was a little disappointed. All we really saw were peacocks and one rhino..but I guess I'm spoiled.
On the other hand I went white water rafting down the Bhote Kosi and it was one of the most amazing experiences of my life...the rapids were amazing, the guides incredibly experienced, the logging along the river was in a magical place...
I had an amazig time in Nepal, the country is amazingly beautiful...whatever time you have there, enjoy!
Wow - wish I could get my hands on one of those posters!
Hey, I've been reading for a while but never commented before. Is it possible the person who made the poster was thinking of Macchapucchre in the Annapurnas? I always got the names confused when I was there.
http://www.earlham.edu/~pinema/pics/Machapuchre.jpg
Hey Nimisha,
I'm the "other" Nepali poster from the link posted above. Nice to meet ya. :) I'm in Boston, but originally grew up in Michigan. I rarely meet Nepali-Americans!
Abhi: Your Mom, myself and 10 others will leave for Kathmandu next Saturday. Can't wait to see you there. Today is Makar Sankranti or "UTRAN" as it's popularly known in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. There is a nice breeze here today and I am flying kites, and eating Undhiu and Jalebis. see you soon in Nepal.....Love...Dad [Ahmedabad]
Funny, you guys mention Nepal and Dakota in the same post.
The only Nepali American I met here was in Rapid City, SD! Some Bhattacharjee and he used to claim to be close to the king :)
It could be a very clever Where's Waldo device. Are you sure there isn't a tiny image of Nepal in there somewhere?
My grandfather crowned the former king of Nepal. Kid you not.
Highly likely. In fact, on a second thought, that probably is the case. The person in charge reeks of ignorance. Its quite weird for a country like Nepal to "steal" when it has enough of its own.
The other day a friend of mine who has a few daycares in Hyderabad sent me his web link. I noticed all the children shown on his web pages were white! And all were American stock photos. Something similar might have happened with the Royal Nepal Airlines ad. They just grabbed a Western stock photo that they thought would be representative of the mountainous terrain of Nepal. As advanced as Indian (South Asian) advertising has become in the last ten years, they have not compiled a significant, indigenous photo library that would be hi-res for print use and still royalty-free or relatively free.
Maybe Kavvya is doing the advertisement work for Royal Nepal Airlines and Peru somehow unconsciously was on her brain at the time?
Do you have any change? All I have in my pocket are these Nepalese coins.
Did you say Nepal?
Yea, I never should have bought the place (walks back to car while Mary follows. Door opens and out fall architectural drawings).
Incidentally when the wife and I went to the DFW Hindu temple after our wedding, I was asked if I was from Nepal, since I was and still am quite pale with blue eyes. (Note: I'm from Dallas via way of Austin and Harrisburg)
first thought when i loaded my browser and so the pic: wutz the brown angle on machu piccu?
This sort of thing boils down to the devil-may-care attitude which has become very prominent in the sub-continent now. Factual accuracy can go down the drain - we need to get the idea out..I don't remember the site now, but I remember visiting a page of some Kolkata tourist agency where they had a silhouette photograph of the Golden Gate with the caption - Vidyasagar Setu : Kolkata's pride.
i think the NAC (Nepal Airlines Corp) apologized to the Peruvian govt for this mishap..
here is the link to this story
http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=126941&version=1&template_id=44&parent_id=24
http://www.regrettheerror.com/2007/01/nepal_tourism_a.html
peace
I'm the other Nepali (nice handle momoking), I read the story last month, after digging a bit, sounds like it was the outsourcing by Royal Nepal Airlines to an Indian company to make the Ad. poster who mistook Machu Pinchhu for Machhapuchhre (Fish Tail Mountain).
BTW, Abhi, time permitting, I would advise you to spend less time in Ktm and more around Pokhara (where Machapucchre is) and other places like Mustang, Namche Bajar and Khumbu....happy travel.