Former Nepali king leads lonely life as commoner
Afp, Kathmandu
With few friends coming to visit and his son and one-time heir now
living in Singa****e, the new life of Nepal's ousted king as a commoner is
by
all accounts a lonely, meditative one.
Former king Gyanendra spends his time writing poetry, praying,
surfing
the Internet and taking walks in the forest around the Nagarjun hunting
lodge where he lives just outside the capital Kathmandu, guards and his
spiritual adviser said.
"The former king has been spending most of his time inside the
bungalow," said a military guard at the lodge. "Occasionally I have seen
him
sitting in front of a computer or reading books. The place is quiet."
Kanchha Shrestha, who runs a small sweet stall opposite the guarded
gates of the reserve, has also noticed a lack of activity at the lodge.
"I haven't seen many people coming to visit except some former royal
secretaries," said Shrestha, adding that the ex-king rarely left the
premises. "Sometimes he leaves once a week, sometimes once in 15 days."
Those outings are most likely to involve visits to his elderly
step-mother, in her 80s, who continues to live in Narayanhiti Palace in
the
heart of the city.
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