Vikram Seth is an Indian novelist and poet. He spent part of his youth in England and India, and studied philosophy, politics and economics at Oxford University. His most famous work is the 1993 novel A Suitable Boy, which follows the story of a family searching for a suitable husband for their daughter in post-independence India. The novel took him nearly a decade to write. Seth is also known for his poetry and novels The Golden Gate and An Equal Music. He has received many honors for his work, including the Padma Shri in 2005.

2. COUNTRY
AREA
:
NEPAL
:
50.67 km2 (19.56 sq mi)
ELEVATION
:
POPULATION
:
TIME ZONE
POPULATION DENSITY
1,400 m (4,600 ft)
975,453
:
Nepal Time (UTC+5:45)
:
19,250 per km²

3. •IMPORTANT PLACES IN KATHMANDU
Kathmandu Durbar
Square
Nagarkot
Swayambhunath
Dhulikhel
Patan

4. Kathmandu Durbar Square,
or Basantapur Durbar Square is the plaza in
front of the old royal palace of the Kathmandu
Kingdom. It is one of three Durbar Squares in
theKathmandu Valley in Nepal, all of which
are UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

6. Swayambhunath
Located
approximately
3km from the
center of
Kathmandu, this
Buddist stupa is
said to be 2000
years old.
The stupa which forms the main
structure is composed of a solid
hemisphere of brick and earth which
supports a lofty conical spire capped by a
pinnacle of gilt copper.

7. Swayambhunath)

8. Nagarkot
It is situated about
35Km. east of
Kathmandu city and
from here one can
see Mt. Everest and
other peaks of the
Himalayas.
Nagarkot is located
between
Kathmandu valley
in the west and
Indrāvati in the
east.
The top of Nagarkot
commands accelerating views
in all direction. The altitude of
Nagarkot is 2229Mt. Above
from sea level. It is also very
popular for the viewing
sunrise and sunset

10. Dhulikhel

It is situated at an altitude of 1600 m. above
from sea level and 32 Km. From Kathmandu City.
Dhulikhel is famous for its vantage location in
viewing the Himalayan ranges, from Cho Oyu in
the east to Himalchuli in the west. It is popular
for viewing the sunrise and sunset.

11. You will see Durbar
square, the Patan durbar
(palace), which houses a
bronze collection, the
Krishna temple built by
King Siddi Narsinh Malla,
Hiranya Varna Mahavihar,
and Mahaboudha Temple.
5 Km. away from Kathmandu city. Patan, also
known as Lalitpur, is a city of fine arts, enclosed
within 4 stupas, which are said to have been built
in the 3rd century A.D. by Emperor Ashoka.

14. PASHUPATINATH
Lying 6 Km from central Kathmandu, Pashupatinath temple is one of
the holiest Hindu temples dedicated to Lord Shiva. Situated amidst a
lush green natural setting on the bank of the sacred Bagmati river,
the temple, which was built in pagoda style, has a gilded roof and
beautifully carved silver doors. Visitors will be permitted to view the
temple from the east bank of the Bagmati river, as entrance into the
temple is strictly forbidden to all non-Hindus. Pashupatinath is the
centre of an annual pilgrimage on the day Shivaratri, which falls in
February or March. Behind the temples are the cremation grounds
.

15. The Non-Hindus are not allowed to visit the
temple, but they can only see the gilted Nandi
Bull, the Shiva's vehicle inside the temple. The
foreigners also cannot enter the temple
compound, but they can have a good view of the
whole complex from a higher vantage point.
Thousands of devotees gather in this temple
during the Shivaratri festival

16. Finding Shiva Lingam at Pashupatinath
Temple
It is said that the wish-fulfilling cow Kamadhenu took
shelter in a cave on the Chandravan mountain.
Everyday Kamadenu went down to the place the lingam
was sunken into the soil and poured her milk on top of
the soil. After ten thousand years some people saw
Kamdenu pouring milk on that same spot everyday, and
started to wonder what that would be. So they removed
the soil and found the beautiful shining lingam. After
having a good look they disappeared into the lingam,
freed from sin and rebirths. More and more people
came to look and more people disappeared into the
lingam. This was a big concern for Brahma.

17. At the time of a festival

18. Open Air Cremation

19. •Bodhnath
Boudhanath also
called Boudha, Bouddhanath or Ba
udhanath or the Khāsa Caitya) is
one of the holiestBuddhist sites
in Kathmandu (Yambu), Nepal. It is
known as Khāsti in Nepal
Bhasa Jyarung Khasyor in Tamang
language or asBauddha by modern
speakers of Nepali. Located about
11 km (6.8 mi) from the center and
northeastern outskirts of
Kathmandu, the stupa's
massive mandala makes it one of
the largest spherical stupas in
Nepal.

20. The Stupa is on the ancient trade route from Tibet which enters
the Kathmandu Valley by the village of Sankhu in the northeast
corner, passes by Boudnath Stupa to the ancient and smaller
stupa of Cā-bahī (often called 'Little Boudnath'). It then turns
directly south, heading over the Bagmati river to Patan - thus
bypassing the main city of Kathmandu (which was a later
foundation).[1] Tibetan merchants have rested and offered prayers
here for many centuries. When refugees entered Nepal from Tibet
in the 1950s, many decided to live around Bouddhanath. The
Stupa is said to entomb the remains of Kassapa Buddha.

21. The Buddhist stupa of Boudhanath
dominates the skyline. The ancient
Stupa is one of the largest in the
world. The influx of large
populations of refugees from Tibet
has seen the construction of over
50 Tibetan Gompas (Monasteries)
around Boudhanath. As of 1979,
Boudhanath is a UNESCO World
Heritage Site. Along
with Swayambhunath, it is one of
the most popular tourist sites in the
Kathmandu area.

22. Gold figurines from a rooftop overlooking Bodhnath Stupa in Kath

23. architecture of the Bodhnathstupa is characterized by its

25. His younger brother, Shantum, leads
Buddhist meditational tours. His younger
Seth spent part of his youth in London but
sister, Aradhana, is a film-maker married to
returned to his homeland in 1957.
an Austrian diplomat, and has worked on
Deepa Mehta's movies Earth and Fire.

26. Vikram Seth was born on 20 June
1952 in a Punjabi family to Leila
and Prem Seth in Calcutta (now
Kolkata). His family lived in many
cities including the Bata Shoe
Company town of Batanagar,
Danapur near Patna, and in
London.

27. AT
VERY
YOUNG
AGE

28. Seth spent part of his youth in London but
returned to his homeland in 1957. After
receiving primary and commencing
secondary education at the Doon School in
Dehradun in India, Seth returned to England
to Tonbridge School. From there, Seth studied
philosophy, politics, and economics at Corpus
Christi College, Oxford, where he developed
an interest in poetry and learned Chinese.
After leaving Oxford, Seth moved to California
to work on a graduate degree in economics at
Stanford University.

29. •His younger brother, Shantum,
leads Buddhist meditational tours. His younger
sister, Aradhana, is a film-maker married to an
Austrian diplomat, and has worked on Deepa
Mehta's movies Earth and Fire. (Compare the
characters Haresh, Lata, Savita and two of the
Chatterji siblings in A Suitable Boy: Seth has
been candid in acknowledging that many of his
fictional characters are drawn from life.

30. •he has said that only
the dog Cuddles in A
Suitable Boyhas his real
name — "Because he
can't sue". Justice Leila
Seth has said in her
memoir On Balance that
other characters in A
Suitable Boy are
composites but Haresh
is a portrait of her
husband Prem.)

31. Occupation
Novelist, poet

32. A polyglot, Seth detailed in an interview (in
the year 2005) in the Australian
magazine Good Weekend that he has studied
several languages,
including Welsh, German and, later, French in
addition to Mandarin, English (which he
describes as "my instrument" in answer to
Indians who query his not writing in his
native Hindi), Urdu (which he reads and
writes in Nasta'liq script), and Hindi, which he
reads and writes in the Dēvanāgarī script. He
plays the Indian flute and the cello and sings
German lieder, especially Schubert.

33. VIKRAM SETH at press
conference

34. Novels
The Golden Gate (1986)
A Suitable Boy (1993)
An Equal Music (1999)
A Suitable Girl (2013)

35. Poetry
Mappings (1980)
The Humble Administrator's
Garden (1985)
All You Who Sleep
Tonight (1990)
Beastly Tales (1991)
Three Chinese
Poets (1992)
The Frog and the
Nightingale (1994)

36. Children's book
Beastly Tales (1991)
Libretto
Arion and the Dolphin (1994) for
the English National Opera
The Traveller [2008] with composer
Alec Roth. Premiere, Lichfield
Festival July 2008.

37. The Golden Gate
The first of his novels,
The Golden Gate (1986) is
a novel in verse about
the lives of a number of
young professionals in
San Francisco. The
novel is written entirely
in Onegin stanzas after
the style Aleksandr
Pushkin's Eugene
Onegin.

38. An Equal Music
Seth's third novel, An Equal
Music (1999), set in
contemporary Europe, focuses
on the lives of classical
musicians and their music. Some
readers and critics complained
that Michael, the protagonist,
was simply not a likeable (or
unlikeable) enough character to
sustain interest throughout a
substantial novel and that the
focus on the music for its own
sake can be trying for the
uninitiated.

39. A Suitable Boy
After the success of The Golden
Gate, Seth took up residence in his
parents' house back in Delhi to
work on his second novel, A
Suitable Boy (1993). Though
initially conceived as a short piece
detailing the domestic drama of
an Indian mother's search for an
appropriate husband for her
marriageable Indian daughter
against the background of the
formative years of India after
independence, the novel grew
and Seth was to labour over it for
almost a decade.

40. Prizes and awards
•1983 – Thomas Cook Travel Book
Award for From Heave
Lake: Travels Through Sinkiang and Tibet n
•1985 – Common wealth Poetry Prize
(Asia) The Humble Administrator's
Garden
•1993 – Irish Times International Fiction
Prize (shortlist) A Suitable Boy
•1994 – Commonwealth Writers Prize
(Overall Winner, Best Book) A Suitable
Boy

41. •1994 – WH Smith Literary Award A
Suitable Boy
•1999 – Crossword Book Award "An
Equal Music"
•2001 – EMMA (BT Ethnic and
Multicultural Media Award) for Best
Book/Novel An Equal Music
•2005 – Pravasi Bharatiya Samman
•2007 – Padma Shri in Literature &
Education

42. Pravasi Bharatiya Samman

43. From Heaven Lake: Travels through
Sinkiang and Tibet
From Heaaven Lake, published
in 1987, was the first widely
published book which caused
his fame as a writer to begin to
develop. "After two years as a
postgraduate student at Nanjing
University in China, [he] hitchhiked back to his home in New
Delhi, via Tibet. From Heaven
Lake is the story of his...journey
and his encounters with
nomadic Muslims, Chinese