Few days ago, I was at Hotel Radisson to attend the award ceremony of the 'National Quiz- 2013' competition. Apart from being the first of it kind and being held with such grandeur; the program was much hyped due to its live transmission via television, appearance of some popular artists from the music and comedy sector ,and most importantly due to appearance of Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers Khilraj Regmi.
When Mr. Regmi arrived, the show shifted from its semi formal approach to a formal one. Various distinguished post holders, one of them being chairman of HISSAN, Umesh Shrestha, took to the stage. He spoke on various issues regarding the plus 2 education system and the contribution of the private sector towards its development. In an ironic sequence of events, the exact moment when Mr. Shrestha begun to give some pin point advice to the government by drawing attention of the Chief Guest Regmi, the camera shifted to focus on Regmi who was busy side talking with another guest. The advice kept coming, Regmi kept side talking!Maybe, Shrestha in his long spanned teaching career would have catered to such disobedience by his fellow students with severe disciplinary measures, but here he was helpless. He rather looked at ease; perhaps due to the regularity of such ignorance by the political leaders of Nepal.
Okay we finish the first part! All well!
Now comes Rishi Dhamala-a different kind of 'journalist'. He begins lauding Regmi. He portrays Regmi as the only able person in the whole Nepal who could have conducted elections. He goes off limits saying Regmi is the only Chief Justice in the history of Nepal to be the head of executive body as well, hence he is a hero. He rather glorifies Regmi being the executive head of the country despite it creating cracks in the three pillar system of our democracy. He acts as if Regmi just won an election and is now a Prime Minister with majority from the parliament.The camera again shifts to Regmi. With hand in his chin, he listens attentively to Dhamala. Than Dhamala plays his ace trick. He throws a sentence to the crowd which asks for them to applaud the very presence of Regmi. The bourgeois crowd responds with an applause. Regmi feels glorified, Dhamala seems to have got his business done. I tried whistling away Dhamala when he carried on with his 'chakaris'. Few people around me reacted with immediate disgust and surprise. Once i went through half a second of whistling, minding of my friend's job (we got the invitations owing to my friend being the representative of one of the sponsor of the event) and the atmosphere around being unfavorable, I ceased.
I now had that uneasy feeling inside my head. Even after knowing what Dhamala did was complete non sense, none of us in that hall could resist. Instead we played into it and clapped well, which was unprecedented in the program which aired some poking remarks regarding Nepal's education system.
Then came Jitu Nepal - the famous comedian. He made Dhamala the center of his witty comical remarks. He in his own comic way began to despise the way Dhamla sought popularity through media. In a satirical act of comedy he said, " I have asked my cable operator to give first priority to Dhamala; he should always appear clear even if the audio or video of the cable is not allright!". Had Regmi been still present these satires could have made him come out of his 'glorification' and get back to reality. Sadly, like many other times Dhamala laughed away the satires and perhaps will continue the same 'chakaris' the next time around!
For us Nepalese, this is the bitter truth! Our leaders are like Regmis who don't give a damn to suggestions given by the experts, rather listen to well orchestrated chakaris by people like Dhamalas and go away giving a useless bhasan which is scripted by others! In the end the crowd can do nothing more than to laugh at satires of people like Jitu, without whom perhaps many of us could have never got out of webs of hypocrisy laid by people like Dhamalas.
When Mr. Regmi arrived, the show shifted from its semi formal approach to a formal one. Various distinguished post holders, one of them being chairman of HISSAN, Umesh Shrestha, took to the stage. He spoke on various issues regarding the plus 2 education system and the contribution of the private sector towards its development. In an ironic sequence of events, the exact moment when Mr. Shrestha begun to give some pin point advice to the government by drawing attention of the Chief Guest Regmi, the camera shifted to focus on Regmi who was busy side talking with another guest. The advice kept coming, Regmi kept side talking!Maybe, Shrestha in his long spanned teaching career would have catered to such disobedience by his fellow students with severe disciplinary measures, but here he was helpless. He rather looked at ease; perhaps due to the regularity of such ignorance by the political leaders of Nepal.
Okay we finish the first part! All well!
Now comes Rishi Dhamala-a different kind of 'journalist'. He begins lauding Regmi. He portrays Regmi as the only able person in the whole Nepal who could have conducted elections. He goes off limits saying Regmi is the only Chief Justice in the history of Nepal to be the head of executive body as well, hence he is a hero. He rather glorifies Regmi being the executive head of the country despite it creating cracks in the three pillar system of our democracy. He acts as if Regmi just won an election and is now a Prime Minister with majority from the parliament.The camera again shifts to Regmi. With hand in his chin, he listens attentively to Dhamala. Than Dhamala plays his ace trick. He throws a sentence to the crowd which asks for them to applaud the very presence of Regmi. The bourgeois crowd responds with an applause. Regmi feels glorified, Dhamala seems to have got his business done. I tried whistling away Dhamala when he carried on with his 'chakaris'. Few people around me reacted with immediate disgust and surprise. Once i went through half a second of whistling, minding of my friend's job (we got the invitations owing to my friend being the representative of one of the sponsor of the event) and the atmosphere around being unfavorable, I ceased.
I now had that uneasy feeling inside my head. Even after knowing what Dhamala did was complete non sense, none of us in that hall could resist. Instead we played into it and clapped well, which was unprecedented in the program which aired some poking remarks regarding Nepal's education system.
Then came Jitu Nepal - the famous comedian. He made Dhamala the center of his witty comical remarks. He in his own comic way began to despise the way Dhamla sought popularity through media. In a satirical act of comedy he said, " I have asked my cable operator to give first priority to Dhamala; he should always appear clear even if the audio or video of the cable is not allright!". Had Regmi been still present these satires could have made him come out of his 'glorification' and get back to reality. Sadly, like many other times Dhamala laughed away the satires and perhaps will continue the same 'chakaris' the next time around!
For us Nepalese, this is the bitter truth! Our leaders are like Regmis who don't give a damn to suggestions given by the experts, rather listen to well orchestrated chakaris by people like Dhamalas and go away giving a useless bhasan which is scripted by others! In the end the crowd can do nothing more than to laugh at satires of people like Jitu, without whom perhaps many of us could have never got out of webs of hypocrisy laid by people like Dhamalas.
No comments:
Post a Comment