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Holi festivities

At last it's with us. After what seems like months of darkness and cold, the warmth of the Nepali summer is now here, and oh yes after more than a year of postponements the first elections in Nepal for a decade are also upon us.

The end of the winter months and the start of summer is marked by the Hindu festival of Holi. This year Holi coincided with Easter in the Christian calendar but rather than eating as many chocolate eggs in as short amount of time as possible the idea for Holi is to cover as many people as you can with water and colourful powder paints.

Kollywood King: Rajesh Hamal

In the run up to the festival and on Holi itself, you can't walk anywhere in Kathmandu without a water filled balloon being thrown at you or without having to dodge a flying cup full of paint. The many Westerners based here and particularly those with fairer hair, are the prime targets. The resulting colours add to the spectacle of the Bohemian lifestyle that many ex pats live in Nepal, clinging onto those hippy days of decades ago.

And if you can't beat them then join them so on the day itself here at the BBC World Service Trust offices in Nepal the computers were shut down, the phones put on silent and it was time for a wet and colourful Holi party. Our stained clothes will be souvenirs of the day for years to come.

Keith and Adam fly the flag

This year's Holi was perhaps even more colourful than usual as it coincided with the peak time for campaigning for the 50-plus parties that are contesting the elections.

The whitewashed walls that border Kathmandu's congested roads are now covered in election slogans and messages. And where ever there is a pole or a roof top there is a flag bearing a party slogan as Nepal is grabbed by election fever.

Never let it be said that the Beech family is left out as we raised our flag more in the hope of an England victory in the Six Nations Rugby Championship than as a political statement. England may have failed but the flag remains.

In the studio - Nepal

In amongst the parties and the campaigning there has also been plenty of work on the BBC project which is all about giving people a voice and a stake in the country's future. The weekly discussion programme which I run is now on national radio as well as on prime time TV and has been making the news as much as reporting it as the election approaches.

One guest who made the biggest stir wasn't a politician but instead Nepal's most famous actor Rajesh Hamal who it appears is the Brad Pitt of the Kollywood film industry based in Kathmandu.

Martha in the stadium

While he was making national news appearing on the BBC programme my children, Adam and Martha, were making their first appearences at a National Sports Stadium.

It's not quite the new Wembley but both Adam and Martha will be able to brag to their friends back in the UK when we return home in the summer, that they've competed at an international sports arena which isn't a bad venue for a school sports day.