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Nepal’s King has lost his image long time ago. Stripped of his power and asset, the king and his family are leading a very isolated life. Recently, the King cancelled his holiday in fear of public fury. Now, there is a new blow to the King’s image. On Wednesday, a book titled “Rakta Kunda” (Pool of Blood) has been launched in Nepal. This book talks about various scandals of the kings and other royal figures. The writer of the book, Krishna Bhattarai, is a journalist. He writes under the pen name 'Abiral'. Normally, buying book is not very popular in Nepal. However, this book has created huge sensation and already been sold more than 2000 copies. Talking about the book, Bhattarai said that the writing started eight years ago. At that time, Bhattarai was writing an article on why prince Dipendra was not getting married? While working on the report, the writer by chance met an old woman in a palace official’s house. This woman came with Nepal’s former Queen mother Ratna, when she got married to Mahendra. The women’s daughter later served as the maid of the present Queen Komal. In the beginning, they did not agree to talk in fear of their lives. They gave permission to Bhattarai after they moved to USA.

Aside from ruining image, the King has expressed his displeasure over the budget allocated for his expense. According to the report published in ekantipur.com, this year, the government has allocated Rs. 210 million for the royal palace. The money will be released in three installments and a total of Rs. 7.5 million will be deducted as income tax on its disbursement. To the government officials' surprise, the royal officials did not come to the Kaushitoshkhana; an office from which King collects his money. The government has cut various facilities of the king. Few days ago, the government even forced crown prince Paras of Nepal to pay tax.

In the middle of all these unhappy incidents, Nepal’s crown prince, Paras, observed his 36^th birthday. Previously, the birthday parties of crown prince Paras always used to make it to the front pages of the news papers because of Paras’s quick temper and his friends’ bad behavior. Surprisingly, this year, no such awkward events took place. Moreover, Prince Paras did not take any liquor which shocked the Nepalese media. The birthday party was held in a five star Soaltee Hotel. Prince Paras was accompanied by his wife, Crown Princess Himani. Althrough the party, the prince was very courteous. He offered drinks to other people but he himself politely declined from drinking.

It looks like Nepal’s Royalty is gradually becoming Nepal’s commoner. The government has scrapped Nepal’s former national anthem that praised the king, taxed the prince, and took away all the powers of the royal family. Who knows what the New Year would bring for them!!!

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