Mero Dhangadhi

what's up with india closing the border at the moment? i've heard people saying that nepal doesn't get any petrol at the moment because india stopped the delivery?

The Indian government is not happy with the Nepali constitution for whatever reason. They’re meddling with Nepal’s internal affairs and they’re not happy with it because they didn’t get their way with whatever it was they wanted. Since a lot of resources come into Nepal via India (Nepal is a landlocked country with India on 3 sides of it), if India blocks it then well Nepal doesn’t get resources. I’m not completely familiar with the situation…there is a lot of politics involved and politics tend to give me a headache more often than not. But this constitution is like a first copy of a book, there are going to be changes made to it, and they have addressed a lot of equal rights issues especially relating to the LGBT community of Nepal (which is a big deal as no other South Asian or even Asian country has done this as far as I know). It’s no where close to being perfect, but people have been waiting for this for years, and now it’s finally here. There is something concrete to work from and I’m sure improvements will be made to address issues.

This article is written from an Indian perspective (written by an Indian Member of Parliament) and gives some insight into the situation. Here’s an excerpt from it: 

Modi has thus done our vital interests in Nepal irreversible damage, confirming everything the worst anti-Indian baiters in that country have maintained for years. We have vital security interests in Nepal. China is Nepal’s neighbour on the other side of the Himalayas. In the course of the last few days, Modi has inflicted more harm to India’s standing in Nepal vis-a-vis China than all our past mistakes put together. While Modi’s India has insulted the sovereign, secular Republic of Nepal by merely “noting”, not “welcoming” its new Constitution, while subtly snubbing Nepal’s Constituent Assembly by calling it “a” Constitution, not “the” Constitution, and conveying - none too subtly - India’s “concern” at continuing violence in the plains, China has upstaged us by declaring that “as a friendly neighbor, Chinese side notes with pleasure that Nepal’s Constituent Assembly has endorsed the new Constitution.” In one fell blow, the Chinese have ingratiated themselves with the Constitutionally-authorized establishment in Nepal, while India has self-certified itself as a regional bully. The mess Modi has made of our relations with Islamic Pakistan has now been replicated with Hindu (albeit secular) Nepal. Alienating the Nepalese, who are truly the ‘pasban’ of our northern borders, is the silliest self-goal we could score.

http://www.ndtv.com/opinion/after-pakistan-modi-isolates-another-neighbour-1223237?site=full

is it cultural appropriation when a nepali wears tamang attire/haku patasi/bakhu/whatever though they don't belong to that ethnicity?

No one does this though? People in Nepal have their own culture and their own ethnical identity that they like to showcase so you’ll pretty much never see someone of a different ethnicity walking around with an attire that’s not theirs. Unless, it’s part of some cultural show or something like that, but even then the organizers usually try to have someone of a certain ethnicity represent their people. In a lot of cases, people of different ethnicities grow up in the same neighborhood or region and thus there are lots of cultural exchanges taking place, and you may see them wear each other’s cultural outfits for various functions or festivals, or learn each other’s languages etc–> Which is cultural exchange and sharing and NOT appropriation. 

If someone that doesn’t belong to an ethnical group and has no connection to them walks around with clothing or a cultural artifact that’s not theirs, then yes that fits the definition of cultural appropriation. But I’ve never seen a Nepali person do this personally because everyone has their own culture to represent and wear. You’re never going to see a Bahun do the Chyabrung dance at their wedding because they know it’s a Limbu custom and they have their own culture to represent.