Miss India Steals TGR Footage of Nepal In Bid To Win “Miss Earth” Contest

Well, we certainly don't get to write about news like this everyday. Last week, as part of the annual Miss Earth pageant, an international beauty pageant that seeks to use the contest as a means to promote worldwide environmental awareness, Miss India, a gal named Aaital Ghosla, swiped a ton of footage from TGR's nature porn video, The Himalayas from 20,000 Feet–which was shot entirely in Nepal–and claimed it as her own video depicting her home country. "It is impossible," Aaital says in the beginning of the video, "that one cannot get astonished by India." Whoops!

Over the Thanksgiving holiday, we were inundated by messages on our Facebook page and Youtube channel alerting us to the piracy and encouraging us to file suit against Miss India herself. No doubt a few of the other Miss Earth contestants' videographers were pissed to be competing against 4K footage shot from a gyro-stabilized camera system mounted to a helicopter, and the furor caused the Miss Earth pageant to pull the video from their channel, and prompted an apology from Miss India herself to her neighbors in Nepal, many of whom we heard from:

Dear Nepal,
I am sorry if I have inadvertently hurt your sentiments by showing parts of your land in my video. It was an unintentional mistake, which I know has caused your people anguish. I deeply regret the same. You are a dear neighbor and will remain so. I seek your forgiveness and I am sure you will be magnanimous in accepting my apology.

Regards, Aaital 

Us Yankees over here in Wyoming got no apology for getting our footage stolen, and Facebook commenting saying as much was promptly deleted from Miss Earth's social media. But you know what? #Firstworldproblems

The backlash from Nepalese viewers to Miss India's video comes as India has kept up a blockade at their border with Nepal, preventing fuel, medicine, and critical supplies from arriving in a country still recovering from a devastating earthquake. Hilmi Hacaloğlu photo via Wikipedia.

Meanwhile, India and Nepal have been in the throes of a tense diplomatic situation. Since Nepal announced a new, democratic constitution this September, the Madhesia people of southern Nepal, who have close ties to India, have instigated a blockade of supplies at the border between the two countries, protesting what they say is their misrepresentation in the new constitution. India soon blocked supplies flowing from their side, leading to a massive shortage of fuel, medicine, and other supplies as winter approaches and Nepal tries to rebuild from the  devastating 7.9 magnitude earthquake that struck it this spring. 

Little aid has been dispersed since international organizations put together a massive fundraising campaign, and landslides have blocked trade routes with China, meaning that Nepal's only access to imported goods is India to the south.

Many Nepalese have accused India of fomenting the unrest in the south of their country, and inflammatory news came out following the blockade that India had also asked Nepal to make several changes to its own constitution.