Have any of you watched the show?
If you have you can clearly see that he is now the worst of the lot.
He is ok but he does not deserve to be where he is at. Some very good singers have been eliminated but he lives.Now, some of you might say that he has luck on his side, that is what I am saying too.He has luck on his side. He doesn't have any talent whatsoever and it is his luck that he is still in thegame. And for some of you who consider him Nepali, He is as much Nepali as any english speaking person considershimself to be American or British.
I rule.
KingOfSajha

ok kingy,
prashant is an indian, on paper, and that's why he is there in the indian idol competition. no one is denying that. but the lad is of nepali origin and nepali is his first language. if you look at darjeeling alone, people like gopal yonzon, tulsi ghimire, bhupi sherchan (if i am not mistaken) et al., all legends on their own rights, were also from there but they were of nepali descent and have contributed so much in nepali art and literature. just because geographical boundaries make one fall in a particular country/region, does not change his heart, roots and his belongings.

on the similar note, we're living in an era where migration has become a culture and just because you moved to US and hold the US passport (if you do) does not negate the fact that you or your ancestors were born and/or brought up in nepal and that you ARE nepali by blood.

LooTe

Loote Bro,

Bhupi Sherchan is not from Darjeeling. I just thought I will let you know. :)

Sorry that I digressed from the topic of this thread.
NC

There are more:
Lil Bahadur Chhetri ( Basain)
Shiva kumar Rai
Ambar Gurung

Because of them we feel pride to be Nepali. Noone in Nepal celebrates Moti Jayanti and Bhanu Jayanti but they do. They love Nepal, Nepali culture language more than anyone residing in Nepal does.

ncobain bro,
thanks for correcting me. i was not sure anyways

but as Narayangurh pointed out, there are plenty others who have made worthwhile contributions to nepali art and literature:

singer- aruna lama
artist and novelist- lain singh bangdel

nirtua singh - actress
pheroz and adrian - singers of 1974 AD

to name few....

Hey Guys I am confused now. Who is a real Nepali now? People who hold Nepali citizenship OR people who are ethnically and culturally Nepali?

A Nepali citizen can be a Khan, Gupta or a Ali but an ethnic Nepali cannot be any of these. Prashant is a Nepali by ethnicity not by citizenship like many Nepalese holding American or British citizenship.

daZ,
nepal, as we know, is a diverse country. a sherpa of himal is as nepali as a yadav of terai.

coming back to your question:

there are numerous khans, guptas and alis living in nepal (especially in terai) since generations, and they also hold nepali passports so they are all nepali-- their culture is also a part of nepali culture and their ethnicity is also a part of nepali ethnicity.

as per people living outside nepal and holding passports other than nepali, if the culture they follow (or their ancestors followed) and the language they speak (or their ancestors spoke) is nepali meaning if they are of nepali origin, then irrespective of which country's passports they hold in paper at present, their ROOTS is nepali. no denying on that.

now to the main question you posed: a true nepali is one who, irrespective of his/her geographical location and official passports he/she holds, is NEPALI at heart-- one whose ancestors have descended from nepal, one who has respect and love for nepal, nepali and their language and culture.

Prashant, on these accounts, is an indian but of nepali origin. i have read his interviews which gave me an impression that the chap has an utmost respect for nepali culture and is a proud nepali.

hope my arguments are cogent :P. if not, or if you have any question, feel free to bring them on. i will try to reply them tomorrow.

good night :P

LooTe

Prashant is safe in 28th july episode.

Watch this result in

http://amchiimast.com/2.php?1=Gala5-result2.wmv

I totally agree with lootekukur. I strongly believe that simply holding the nepali citizenship and passport doesn't make one nepali. One who really loves the country, loves the culture and heritage is the true Nepali. In the case of Prashant he proudly said he speaks Nepali and he said his success is Nepali's success. So, I don't see why people are debating whether he is nepali or not. He made clear already.All I know is he made all of us NEPALI proud.

People from Darjeeling, Sikkim region do have abnormal affection love and respect to Nepal and nepalese society.

For me, before knowing the fact Gopal Yonjan, Aruna Lama. Lainsingh Bangdel, Amber Gurung, Karma Yonjna, (and many others) are from Darjeeling/Kalimpong, Darjeeling was place of beautiful english teachers. I saw many beautiful Darjeeling girls teaching english in emerging private schools of Kathmandu. My impression was totally changed 20 years ago, when I visited Darjeeling in my teen age. I was overwhelmed by their welcome and affection to me and my friends. We were "Rajako Gaunle" for them. Our nepalese language was impolite for them, but they respected it. Everybody loved nepal, nepali culture, music, literature and art. We felt ashamed in front of them.

Few years later, I met a friend from Darjeeling, who was an artist in Kathmandu. He was badly disappointed with the carelessness of nepalese people in preserving cultural values who are living within political boundary of nepal. I felt ashamed again.

These ethnic nepalese community deserve to be more nepalese than any other nepalese from mainland Nepal. It's like the french speaking people of Quebec, who are canadian by their citizenship, but are better french than any french of France. It's like the portugese of Brazil, who are Brazilean by their citizenship, but are better portugese than any potugese of Portugal. You just visit these area, you will recognize these facts.

On the other hand, there are a lot of people in boarder area, where people have nepalese citizenship, but they don't feel they are nepalese. They want their son and daughter marry with an indian so that they can enjoy benefit from both india and nepal. These half-indians are very selfish in nature.

I consider Prashant Tamang a great Nepali because he declared it without any doubt at very crucial time. We have seen Udit Narayan, how badly he tried to cash benefit of his birth place to claim himself as an indian despite holding a nepalese passport until now to travel around the world. He married with two women, both indians. Nobody than his room partner Madhu Chhetri, a known nepalese singer and his roommate at a rented room in putali sadak can explain better how much he loves Nepal, but still he never claimed his success will be success of nepalese people as clearly as Prashant did in his interview.

Udit Narayan himself is a great nepali because he does not want to abandon nepalese passport as many other so called educated and patriots residing in USA, UK, Canda and Australia do. People are dying hard to get green card, PR and citizenship abandoning nepalese citizenship unlike Udit. Prashant is even better than Udit to speak out his faith without worrying about his votes.

i am marrying a fat bitch in couple of weeks for hariyo patta

The fact of the matter still remains that he is not a citizen of Nepal and hence not Nepali. You can call him Indian Nepali but he is not Nepali. He is an Indian. Having an affinity to a country does not make you a citizen of that country. If you are a Christian and you celebrate all the holidays and you speak English does not mean you are an American.
there are millions of Christians that are not Americans. If you live in Nepal, work in Nepal but hail from a different country, you are Nepalese. You pay tax for Nepal. What does he do?

"नेपाली हुन पबित्र आत्मा नेपाली चाहिन्छ
दौराको फेरले पराया मुटु छोपेर पुग्दैन
हैन भने नेपाली नभन"

KOS,

You said "He is as much Nepali as any english speaking person considershimself to be American or British." and now you said "You can call him Indian Nepali but he is not Nepali. He is an Indian."

You are making your point weak yourself. Can you say the french community residing in Quebec are not french? Do they pay tax for France? Can you say the korean people residing in Japan are not koreans? Do koreans in Japan pay tax for korea? No, they pay tax for Japan, but still they are koreans NOT japanese. Do portugese of brazil pay tax for Portugal?

You are bringing your own definition of nepali or non-nepali that ends on who pays tax to which country. I am paying tax to USA, but I am not american.

And the bottomline is you are Prashant hater, that's why you are bringing this kinda issue out of common sense.

Haha, Do Tax-payers qualify someone for the citizenship??? If yes then we alll living outside Nepal shouldnt be called Nepalese or sud we??? Last 3-4 yrs I have not paid a single Penny 4 the country I love, the country where my Heart is but Still Proudly say I m a NEPALI!! M I wrong in being proud King of Sajha???

Prashant though officially may b Indian, but his roots, anchestors were from Nepal and look at him, at first glance u will find out that he`s proud to be of Nepali Origin unlike many of us do!!!

Paying tax is not the only thing, I agree. but, not being a citizen and not paying tax either, how is that Nepali. Polly, you do not pay tax to Nepal but you are a citizen (assumption based on your saying) so that makes you a Nepali. You cannot just pick a random person who likes Nepal and say he is Nepali. This is why I say Nepal is shitty. People are so desperate now that they pick a foreigner and cheer for him for speaking Nepali.
I rule
KingOfSajha

Any message for your fans?
"I am the first Nepali to be on this stage. I am sure my achievement is a matter of pride for the whole Nepali community across the world." - Prashant Tamang

at 9:15 PM Posted by The Sikkim Times

source: http://sikkimnews.blogspot.com/2007/07/indian-idol-3-interview-with-prashant.html

Dont u feel proud that some foreigner is good at speaking ur language?? Atleast that guy is from Nepali Origin and he`s always proudly stated that!!!Has anyone here denied the fact that he`s an Indian (thats what his citizenship card says??)!!!! N ya sth Cheering for someone who speaks in Nepali as far far betta than cheering no-one!!

King
1.What proof do you have that Prasant is Indian? He and his parents may still be Nepali citizen, just living in Indian. Do you have any proof?
Don't even bother telling me that you need to be a citizen to serve in the Indian police. Take a look with another fellow Nepali who's served in Indian Parliament from Assam(2 terms), just being investigated that he's not even Indian. Hahahah.

To resolve this topic, King Of Sajha!!!
1) If you meet anyone from Darjeeling, Kurseong, Kalimpong, ask them are they Indian or Nepali???
2) Wikipedia - Read about Sugauli Treaty (Darjeeling, Kurseong, Kalimpong, Garhwal, Dehradun, Sikkim were a part of Nepal before the war with the British between the year 1814-16, Sagauli Treaty was signed to end the British invasion ,under the terms of the treaty, about one-third of Nepalese territory was lost)