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> > In Kathmandu casinos, business as usual > RAHUL CHHABRA > TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 03, 2005 11:45:05 PM ] > > NEW DELHI: Nepal may be in the midst of a crisis, but the casinos don't seem to have noticed. "Tourists are moving around freely and casinos are functioning as usual. We faced no problems," said Frenchman Vermeulen Hughes, fresh off a plane from Kathmandu. > > A viewpoint largely echoed by A K Saxena, one of the 32 passengers to arrive in the Capital on a Jet Airways flight at 3.25 pm. > "The only visible sign of turmoil is heavy troop movement on Kathmandu's streets. Flight cancellations put us in a spot. Otherwise, we faced no major harassment or trouble in Nepal," he said. > Saxena's relaxed mood quickly spread to those who had come to receive him at the airport. "There is nothing wrong in Nepal. It seems to be media-created hype," said one of them. > Not everyone was so sanguine. V V Raghvan, one of the 35-odd passengers who arrived at 3.40 pm in an Indian Airlines flight, described the situation as 'scary'. > "There was no way we could inform family members back home about our well-being," he said, referring to the total communication blackout in Nepal. > A Nepalese woman, who did not want to be identified, said: "Things are bad there. All communication channels including ISD phones, Indian TV news channels, newspapers and the internet have been blocked." > Relatives of passengers returning from Kathmandu too admitted spending anxious moments in the last two days. "The news of trouble there revived memories of the hijack to Kandahar in 1999. I wanted to contact my brother in Nepal but could not. The last few days were agonising for us," said Sunil. He'll sleep more soundly tonight. Will the people of Nepal? >