RUNNING IN CIRCLES

Last week when I returned from a month long stay at Rumjhatar; I was accompanied by a Gurung guy who had already travelled to three countries in search of better job opportunities. He was scheduled to fly to Kuwait within the next two days. What he raised was a very pertinent issue- an issue related to remittance. He used the term called 'ponding' to make his otherwise complex understanding of remittance economy simple. He rightly pointed out that remittance that enters into Nepal doesnot form a pond of capital. It rather stays for a while until the benefitting family decides to buy some foreign goods of luxury or send their children to higher education abroad. Without productivity of our own what remittance is doing is creating pseudo wealth. It appears we are more dependent on foreign items than ever. The money comes in hard, but goes out easy. In a simplistic way, our labor is a form of mortgage which gives us loan that we repay in random installments back to the source. From a new Samsung cellphone to a Nataraj Pencil we are paying installments back to the source. Yeah, we will have that pencil and cellphone to show for our labor, but that means Samsung or Nataraj is now more capable of attracting Nepalese to their factories as well. And there's a visicious circle. We will now be too lazy to open an industry of our own. We will rather work on already established factories of foreign countries and send chunk of our earning back buying the same goods that we produced. As perfect as- "Ghumi  Phiri Rumjhatar".Well, more on that from a student of economics perhaps!  Now I would like to correlate this running on circles issue to other parts of our society.

Let's consider the rap battle leagues that we have in Nepal. Look at the ordinary sense of it. How ordinary the performances are and how ordinary their rap is? The artists are running behind something unfathomable to a normal Nepali. For a colored person born in a Ghetto of a sub urban Western city- a rage of not knowing his own dad may befit cursing his own mom. But, how on Earth could that be possible for guys from Nepal? What they sing completely undermines what our society is built upon and they take it so easily. What is that supposed to communicate even if it is only to guys above 18? Some blame for such outrageously sick form of singing may go to wannabe western themed stars, greedy sponsors or ethically unaware citizens. However, it mainly is because we run blindly in circle of Western 'liberty'. A 'liberty' which appears to be the most democratic as porn stars host their own Oscars but equally dark as government carry out covert mass surveillance. What 'liberty' did we inherit? In the process of inheriting the universal principles of freedom we also let in permeate trends that upsets majority of Nepalese sentiment. In a race to prove our liberty- even though we are the poorest among the poors- we let in things that we did not need at all. Our rap battlists will run the always losing race of pursuing the Western rap battlists. The thing is in their blood but it’s in our head. And why is it their? It’s because somebody poured in money to make us run a losing race. A filthier race too!

Okay enough of that too!

Now imagine a lady in a disco of Kathmandu's rated hotel having been intoxicated by a high quality wine. Imagine some guys taking advantage of her! Imagine the scare that would create in our media. Imagine how fearful you will be sending your sisters and daughters to a late night party again. Now take your turn to take another route to imagine the same. A female laborer in a construction site drinks a local Kodho brewed beverage after hard day at work. Coming out of the Bhatti some guys misbehave with her. Honestly, do you think our media, police and matter of fact most of us; would we care of that as much as the former lady? Did our society permit or differentiated on a lady being intoxicated by wine or by a local beverage some decades ago or has it changed lately? Probably a lady sounds independent drinking high quality wine.

And we are more thoughtful speaking about her case- perhaps we don't want to offend what western liberty has brought- that girls too can enjoy their trip of alcohol. But isn't the female laborer independent too; don't she deserve to have same pint of drink after she works as equally hard as her male counterparts. But where does our  police arrives first? Where do our female right activists move first? Where do our television cameras report first? Clearly to the lady tipsy in wine.  After all the western liberty allows you to drown in 'Western' branded alcohol- that liberty which our upper corporate class has inherited and permeated into our society. And most of us would be normal with our worker lady since like she just had local raksi in a mediocre bhatti- what was she expecting? Shouldn't she have known male who are drunk in wine are more sensible than men who are drunk in Local Kodho? And after all who in the news would be moved by showing of a woman covered in dust being sexually abused. That is not  glamorous , you know? A girl drinking wine and she got abused. Well, many won't want to tell this but the truth is media is knowingly feeding on those female victims to make their crime reporting more glamorous. What irony? What liberty are we persisting with? The liberty to make a sexual offence glamorous!

Another set of people running on crazy confusing circles are our Football fans of the football league of European countries. Honestly, Messi doesn't care if u speak filthy of Ronaldo to make him a superior player. It’s not that calling Manchester Gaychester is going to make Gerrad happy. But why our youths get happy? Well let me put my hypothesis. Football is a fast moving game, 90 minutes and it finishes. However, it has so many tactical maneuvers within that 90 minute, the commentator fails to explain even a  tiny fraction of that. He is just busy telling us the action. So, must of our Nepalese fans (I mean no disrespect to those fans who understand football technically enough)watch this fast heated action and are always on the urge to show themselves off as one who saw matches live. Now that you don't understand the technicality of the game, what do u discuss on? Oh Yeah! Wayne Rooney's wife? Yeah, however bitter does it sound it's the truth- the simple looking game of football is complex tactically and if you got a grasp of it you don't really have time to talk bullshits about footballers and their family. Correspondingly look at cricket, its long to watch and commentators give ample analysis regarding its tactical aspect. And the result is during the IPL, rarely do people call Kohli a gay for his team won even if by a wrong umpiring decision. (And i am not trying to be biased as a cricket fan, that's the easiest example that came into me. You can say the same for sports like golf, moto racing etc.) 

So, when shall we stop running in circles that lead us to nowhere. When shall we stop being what westerners are already good at and just be a mere faint shadow of it. When shall we know the value of ourselves?Maybe this year! Happy New Year 2071 B.S.!

BE READY TO BE FOOLED THIS MANGSHIR!

Well, we are coming just off the Bill O' Reilly abuse of our fellow Sudarsan Thapa. He is ignorant, you may say, enough to pull ofF such a lame joke; but you will never find him telling this election at Nepal is going to be a comic show. Otherwise, he will sadly be telling the truth which he is not so known for.

I don't  know how we come to be so credulous to believe in our leaders, to vote them again and again to the echelons of power, to see them fall again, and to vote them back to the pinnacle of power and see them do the same. It is the 'charisma' of election based democracy in the 3rd world country.It blinds us, it feigns at us pretending to give every one of us with undeniable power to choose, but the reality shows our choices have revolved around a very few. The past 20 years are enough to prove the point. It was not elections that brought the Maoist into power. Every time a revolution has had to be in place to make Nepalese realize a new legitimate political force was born or dismissed. Lets do election another score of time and still we will revolve around the same sets of ideals and ideologues. It rather seems a party convention plays more critical role of bringing in new leaders.In a lifetime, an average person may vote up to 8 times, provided regular elections happen. It seems that is not enough for us to realize what is happening is a recurring dream. I sincerely hope we could catch that abuse in the first show just like we did with that O' Reilly's bullshit.

The defeated mentality of us and our leaders plays a part in every subservient move we make. Like a down in confidence player does whatever practice drills the coach says to be back in the team; our leaders, who fell out with India or somebody else at some point of time, do the 'practice drill'- the CA-II. I know there is no option now that we have chosen CA as the form of making constitution. Going back would mean destabilizing the achievements of 2063 B.S. revoultion. But in the mean time,  failure of another CA ensure will ensure the same. However, it is amazing how the intellectuals, the media, and the leaders have turned their blind eye to this possibility.

So, why they have ignored this possibility? Especially, when we have done nothing new to change the final result. The reason is more apparent than what it seems to be. Our fellow top leaders must have been trained by the 'coach' to a certain set of constitution already. The Madheshi parties concluding 'Ek Madhesh Ek Pradesh' is no possibility, the UCPN Maoist's ex PM BRB saying that ethnic federalism is a ideal that must be revised upon and etc. shows the heterogeneity among the parties is already solved by some form of coaching or at least will be. It is now no more a race to make a constitution of own ideology, but it is a 'practice' race to show who is among the popular votes in Nepal, and accordingly be chosen by the 'coach' as the 'play maker' for the moves they propose to implement.

This is even more bolstered by the confidence the main 4 parties have shown to go on with the election even though Baidya was narrowing his demands to take part in the election. Baidya, seeing the popular support not with him, must have thought of taking part in the election. But the puppets of the master drew their own calculation that favored Baidya being out of the election. Especially for the UCPN Maoist the exclusion of Baidya means no division of votes among the Maoist. He was either for unification of the two Maoists or if not then pushing them out of the election. With the radical image that the Baidyas already have it was easy to fool us, however except for Netra Bikram Chand, must Maoist leaders advocated participation in the forthcoming election. It is ridiculous how 'blessings' from external power gives enough confidence,even at the cost of deployment of the army, so as to exclude a legitimate force off elections though it was narrowing demands.

The media is so anti Baidya, it is tough for him to survive at urban bases. It is obvious even through latest works like 'Prayogshala' that foreign interference is present in even the most minuscule of government affairs. In such case, how can constitution be independent of it? His proposal of Round Table Conference, though may not be the most genuine of thoughts, was at least a try towards molding consensus withing the Nepalese forces which would diminish  foreign influence.The media points out yet another chance of violent saga to demonize Baidya, though there is little chance he will do the same. I would have been the last person to support an orthodox Communist like Baidya, but seeing his plight I feel mercy for him. Now the big 4s whatever their make up be in the CA-II will endorse the ready made phantom constitution. Apparently the CA-II will turn a hit, and Baidya will be insidiously removed from Nepalese politics. What a loss! Though a advocate of violent rebellion, which is a tragedy in itself, at least he has seen the tragedy of rural Nepalese to whom even Nepal Banda fails to make a difference. At least there is a  remenance of the 'People war'( =yet another tragedy), who still is standing to the reason it were fought for and the people who died for it. The Prachands and BRBs are thinking the war period as a mere dream that has passed away. Neither they repent the war as unnecessary neither they work differently than regular parliamentary force.What a waste of so many lives! Well, its pity to see people like Baidya and his followers being sidelined by the Nepalese themselves for pithy self interests and severe manipulation.We are once again pushed back some 20 odd years. Sorry to say, but Mr. Baidya its good bye to you, at least for now.

So, whoever we elect the result is going to be the same. The constitution as we all have seen in the past will be made in a Resort, and it is pretty easy to put in a imported sets of document there. The 601 we send are mere comedians. Especially when we have seen a defeated fellow, Madhav Nepal, elected as the PM.Now if he is elected again, what does that mean in span of 4 years what change occurred that justifies his back to the hot seat. Nothing, just a comic randomization.

KHILRAJ DHAMLA AND JITU; HOW THEY SUMMARIZE NEPAL'S POLITICAL CULTURE!

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.

THE SIDE OF MARX THAT NEPALESE COMMUNIST FAILED

With the rise of economic crisis in the West, more and more people are taking a look back at Karl Marx’s writings to find loopholes within the current capitalist system. On the other side, the third world countries like ours have continuously experimented with Marxist ideology to take us out of poverty. However, we continue to fail. Through this article, I try to reason the failure of communists in Nepal to bring about a significant change owing to their misunderstanding of following four major aspects.

a. Issue of Productive Forces

In his book, A Contribution to the Critique of the Political Economy, Marx writes, “No social order is ever destroyed before all the productive force for which it is sufficient have been developed and new superior relation of production never replaces older ones before the material condition for their existence have matured within the framework of the old society.” This statement has a pretty direct meaning i.e. a society cannot evolve a newer system of production until the old system has reached its final stages of development.

Marx in his interpretation of transformation of a feudal state to a bourgeois state argues that the capitalist mode of production took over only when the best of feudal innovations failed in fulfilling the then social needs. In Nepal, where capitalist mode of production has not developed even a fraction of what the developed nations currently have in disposal, it will be contrary to Marx’s belief to advocate for an immediate shift to a communist state.

Most of the third world communist movements have ignored this very fact to their own peril. Countries like USSR, Cambodia, North Korea suffered from famines and death of millions. Ironically, with the Maoist insurgency, it was the case of destroying already available infrastructure of development (tagging them as bourgeois development) pushing the country even further down into the path of regression.

b. Ignoring Marx’s “Workers of the World Unite!”

Marx always advocated that it was possible to throw the bourgeois rule only through cooperation among the working class of the world.

Marx, in his book A Critique of the German Ideology, writes “…. and furthermore, because only with this universal development of productive forces is a universal intercourse between men established, which produces in all nations simultaneously the phenomenon of the "propertyless" mass (universal competition), makes each nation dependent on the revolutions of the others, and finally has put world-historical, empirically universal individuals in place of local ones. … The proletariat can thus only exist world-historically, just as communism, its activity, can only have a "world-historical" existence.”

 Marxists of third World countries being the most oppressed; revolted first even with little or no help from the working class in developed states. However, the results have always failed to outcast Marx’s predictions as quoted below.

Marx elaborates in the same passage, “Without this, (i) communism could only exist as a local event (eg. Likes of N. Korea and partly Cuba where the economy is isolated from major capitalist nation’s) ; (2) the forces of intercourse themselves could not have developed as universal, hence intolerable powers: they would have remained home-bred conditions surrounded by superstition (countries like Greece, Spain etc, where massive protest against austerity measures take place but fails to yield result to their favor as they don’t coordinate across nationalities) ; and (3) each extension of intercourse would abolish local communism. (eg. In China where its involvement in the global trade meant the ruling communist party had to reform to capitalist mode of production)”

In the above pretext, the Nepalese communist movement which is fragmented on its own backyard is sure to fail to ignite a world movement resulting Nepal being one of the above three possibilities.

c. The real issue regarding religion

“Religion is the opiate of the masses.” say that to my mom and she will never agree to it. The communist leaders of Nepal have chosen to neglect this issue of religion in fear of losing out to populist sentiments.

Engels with regard to religion writes in his book  ‘Socialism: Utopian and Scientific’, “His (i.e. the recently risen bourgeois class) interest was to get as much and as good work out of them( i.e. the working class) as he could; for this end, they had to be trained to proper submission. He was himself religious; his religion had supplied the standard under which he had fought the king and the lords; he was not long in discovering the opportunities this same religion offered him for working upon the minds of his natural inferiors, and making them submissive..”

 We can co relate the above saying with how the autocratic regime of the Shahs and its subsequent ancestors survived for so long ; ironically gaining popularity among the oppressed class itself. For decades, the Hindus (majority of Nepalese) and other religious outfits have been fed by the ruling class with the religious stories and myths were King have been the savior and ruler of the nation. The monarchies that ruled Nepal, by making itself the guardian, promoter and representation of the religion itself maintained within the psyche of the Nepalese a deep sense of acceptance towards the king. The kings, though most acting like Indra and Ravan continued to portray their image as that of Ram, which in sense has served as ‘opiate’ to the common people.

The failure of the communist revolutionaries to spread such messages into the mass has left Nepalese society marred by caste based discrimination, allegation of witchcrafts to women of lower class strata etc. These social aberrations are sadly backed by the same tactics of the upper class to make the lower working class ‘submissive’ by using the weapon of religion.

d. Lack of empowerment in the working class and its subsequent effect

Engels referring to English working class writes, “in 1884, the extension of household suffrage to the counties and a fresh redistribution of seats…considerably increased the electoral power of the working-class, so much so that (working) class now furnished the majority of the voters.”  Same could be implied to the post 2063 Constituent Assembly election where a call of change especially by those of the lower strata of Nepalese society resulted in elevation of the Maoist. However just like what Engels had feared parliament became a ‘capital school’ to teach tradition i.e to make the working class continue respect the higher classes. Thus, the new working class which got elected into the CA could not play important role during major decision taking moments. Instead the major decisions were taken by the same old leaders of NC and CPN (UML) (most of whom had lost elections) and the rising bourgeois class within the UCPN (Maoist) and the Madhesi forces.

Unless the working class is empowered via strong education and political knowledge, elections of any sort will mean that new working class leaders will in Engels words continue to keep up the ‘ornamental caste of drones’(i.e. the formal feudal/royal power centers and established middle class members) to dictate the day to day affair of the state, which means even another CA election maybe fruitless in securing rights of the working class.

WE ARE ALREADY FIXED! BUT HAVE WE REALIZED?

Now-a-days I don't watch TV as often, especially when I am in pursuit of rapid updates on current affairs. But the fixing scandal in Indian Premier League, the richest tournament in Cricket History, got me glued to the idiot box. I knew it was inevitable and felt sorry for the players who were involved. I cursed from within the glamour lit world of today forcing men to strip off his morale in return of money.

Via memegenerator.net

That day might have ended the same way as others had my dad not asked me for more on 'fixing'. Probably, he got to know of the term through his colleagues as my father doesn't fancy cricket much. I tried to shoot out a precise sentence to satisfy his new born curiosity. I thought for a while only to realize that 'fixing' is bigger than what we generally think of-it is omnipresent in today's world. Dealing with my internal ordeal, I slipped away from my dad giving a quick makeshift reply, like the one you would give to a confusing Viva question.

My mind grew restless the whole day. Sometimes, during my Undergraduate course,I used to find enough time and lonely space to ponder whether I would still have been what I am if I was born to a different society or lets say in Mars. The more I thought the more I became cynical of everything around me. I later resigned to the fact that rather than the heavenly stars that the astrologers believe to fix our destiny its circumstances, culture, ethics, religion etc. around us that makes us what we are. In fact, most of these factors had coupled down to fix my path. The difference between me obeying my 'fixed' path and the cricket players' fixing scandal are separated by a thin line of legitimacy and public perception.

I remember when I was in +2,my parents would buy me any number of Text book in Physics but not a cricket bat. Probably by then, my childhood dream of becoming a cricketer had narrowed down to being a better cricketer at college, but still mindset of my parents, resulting from the tradition(where playing sports at free time is supposed to hamper regular studies) that they were up brought in, did not let me own a proper cricketing bat. That was a less subtle form of fixing as I was equally passionate to both Physics and Cricket. Giving one up for another was a bitter truth that I had realized by then.

However, when I passed out my +2 I was fixed up big time. I realized studying Physics, in most cases, would lead me being a teacher in Nepal. We lacked proper research facilities and the option of studying abroad seemed almost bleak with a one off bad Physics score in Grade 11. Fixed by the circumstances engineering seemed to be the closest option. The education system fixed me to an engineering degree. In most cases, I will get a better girl to marry and more dowry (if i accept) for being an engineer compared to a 'physicist'. My family is happy for my father didn't want me to become a teacher like him, me myself  might have fallen to the lure of 'Er' tag., whatever be the case I was rather helplessly fixed than those IPL fellows. Yet none are arrested or accused of.

So for most Nepalese, lets say a Brahmin boy, we have billions of girls to fall in love and marry as a boy; but well we are at most eligible to some hundreds fixed by what our parents, society, religion thinks amenable to us. And when Nepalese go to vote this time around they shall have the same leaders ahead of them as that of the failed CA. Things are fixed and we shall circle around them until something as radical as nothing that has happened yet shall happen.

Complaining all along,however I feel equally privileged to have my friends and family who helped me protect the core of what I am. I still think the same way that I used to in Grade 5. Whenever I had an opportunity to take decision independently, I feel I have taken it following the same pattern that I followed as a child. I feel proud that I have got my basics intact. Sometimes I feel for persons who were so cool earlier but have changed the belief and their corresponding ambition because the surrounding forced them to. Well its not their fault. We have hypocrites all around and a more than 1000 of years of trends that has such stringent philosophy that your life gets stranglehold for ever. Hopefully, I and you will realize this and be courageous enough to be what we want.

We need to open our eyes to it, realizing the problem, interpreting them and finally producing ways to solve them. WE CAN/SHOULD GET OUT OF THIS FIX!

WITHOUT CAPITAL IN A CAPITALIST WORLD

I wake up earlier than others, mostly at 4 a.m. I then carry a doko (a basket made out of sliced bamboo) loaded with vegetables, and set myself to the bus park at Thankot. Thank God, it is an easy journey downhill to me. My sister-in-law, Gita, has to carry the same weight as mine and start crawling up hill. Damn! She looks so exhausted when I meet her at the bus park. We seat there for a bidi and wait for the bus to arrive.

Once the bus arrives, we then put our dokas securely in the backside of the bus, and then stand near the driver's seat. I and Gita then discuss about the harvest this season. We both have planted carrots, koiralo and oranges this winter. We remember sitting in a long queue in the dreaded cold of January to get fertilizers that was just enough for a quarter of the harvest we acutally planned.

via newshopper.kulekha.com

Our bus is now heading steadily from Kalanki towards Kalimati. Students with well oiled hair and ironed dress board our bus. Amazingly, they pay less than us. They seem to be richer than we; however we have to pay almost double the bus fare. I don't think too much. I have not studied much. However, it seems unfair to me when I pay more than a student who seems to  afford cell phones, perfumes, polished leather shoes etc. And the headmaster at my village says most of such students are always in a hurry to go abroad. Here, I am working hard to make my family survive with dripping sweat in my motherland's soil and there is a student whose aim is to slip away and yet the state provides him with subsidy.

I cease to think.

When we arrive at Kalimati, I feel like being robbed off. Dalals (brokers) come right at the gate and almost seize our vegetables. We rarely get half of the price at which the vegetables are sold in the streets of Kathmandu. Last summer, we sold cucumber for Rs 5-7 per kilo. Hence, I never return to Kathmandu after my daily morning adventure. It’s heartrending to see my own vegetables being sold at a much higher price. It seems as if my vegetables were dirty teen girls whom I brought to sell, and who after being brushed up are now ready to be sold to the city mass at a higher rate.

My cousin Rita, sells vegetable at Purano Baneshwor, in a footpath just at the turn near to Kavre Dairy. Once, she told a 'karyakarta' came as usual to buy some vegetable from her. Once, he offered a cigarette and told her a thing that has remained in my mind for ever. He told my cousin, "The farmers who toil hard in the field sell their vegetables at a low price. The small vendors like you sell these vegetables at a low margin. Where is the other money? That is to one who already have money. That is to one who can afford to hire a godam at Kalimati. They use money to make money. I don't know

how but this is the way it is."

We at village use to think we all Nepali are 'sojho', but when I come to the city it surprises me a lot. It seems every things non Nepali here. I think like there are none whom I can relate too. Sometimes when I want to ask direction, I am afraid if I pick a sahariya who would make fun of me by saying the wrong turn. I don't know what made the difference. Is they being born with the same piece of land as that of mine but in the capital making this difference. I feel fidgety. Or is it that that they having the ability to buy vegetable from me that makes me  less valuable.

In the last decade or so, few men holding red flags have visited me saying they wanted to ignite revolutionary ideas within me. They say, I must help them in their struggle against the one in the cities. Though I have some jealousness with the people in the city, I didn't want to rob them of their property and make myself rich. I cooked them food and allowed them to take my vegetable when necessary. I told them rather make our village as good so that I would not have to carry my vegetable each morning. That will be enough. They told me I didn't understand the bigger picture. Now when I see them sometime in the TV, I seem to know that they were right, the city is the devil. However, they too were no different, they too got swallowed in the mess. Now, I hate them even more than those dalals at Kalimati.

In my dreams, I sometimes see a mini truck of mine. I load my vegetables in it and my husband drives it to the city. I see my husband has a store and he sells it there and brings back profit in the evening. It’s not that we didn't try. The bank would charge a really high rate of interest for us to loan enough money to contract a truck and setup a store in the city.

And it would be foolish to keep all of our property as mortgage for such under evaluated cost.

Now when I see my son, I hope I can make him study. I hope he never aims to be rich. I hope he aims to remove poverty.  Till my or someone else’s son do it earlier, I and my cousin will have to go through the same routine every morning. 

WHAT IS SEXY?

So what is sexy. Being sexy should literally mean you are attractive enough for the people of opposite sex(in most of the cases) to want of or at least think of having sex with you. However, things are ridiculous now-a-days with TV, music videos and all glamour. The thing sexy is completely a different thing. Today, being sexy is inextricably linked with what media portrays as "sexy".

When I went to watch a Hindi movie, this Laxmi Puja, one of the actresses kept explicitly stating herself as "sexy". To make that statement look relevant, the film started from a scene where she wore a bikini and dived into sparkling blue water. That is what most of us think sexy is. It occurred to me that irrespective of the actress, anyone(most of Bollywood actresses) wearing the same attire and carrying the same scene would have been tagged "sexy". So, I couldn't stop but think, were the wardrobe and the setup sexier than the heroine herself?

In some other cases, actors who are benevolent enough to strip off are considered sexy. That too surprises me. Neither of us are going to have actual sex with those highly rated, rarely reachable so called shining,hot celebrities. So, when they strip off, they must have lost their sexiness. I mean, if you are not going to have a sexual intercourse with a person, the next closest thing to be sexily close to him/her is watch them naked. So, to be "sexy" they must hide more than reveal, you know to keep that "sexy" curiosity going. Surprisingly, the media acts arcane and rates actors who reveal more as sexy. So, like a creed to be followed, actors continuously crave for movies that demands more of intimate scenes until either the viewers or their age get fed up of such nuisance. The rise and fall of such curiosity driven artificial "being sexy" culture is portrayed in the Vidya Balan's starer "Dirty Picture."

even the cartoons are to be blamed?

The media has presented another horrible prospect through its 24 hour "being sexy" bullshit. A "hero" in a movie  always has a muscular setup, and the heroine has a zero sized figure. Then, they are said to complement each other enough to make the sexy chemistry of the "true love saga" work, while all other shapes and sizes are ridiculously thrown away. Imagine, what would happen if all of the world were had men with six pack abs, and women with fair skin and a skinny figure? Maybe a overweight human would be told as sexy! Through continuous streaming of such propagandist agenda, people of personality other than that approved by the media, begin to impugn whether they are capable of nurturing a proper relationship. An over sized person, is always a subject of joke, and put as one who has to seek advise to date a girl/boy. And none protest to it.

Well, I realized these effects that media put into, when i recalled what sort of girls i got attracted to. In my early teens, i would have not picked a particular shape and size, while for now I certainly prefer the media fed "tall and slim" ones. Maybe, I was to grow this way or those actresses in movies made me think so: that may remain a mystery forever. But, it is certain that the media, is feeding wrong sense of being sexy into us. That is too detrimental as we shall spend more of our time, intellect and resources trying to be sexy in par with the actresses or the actors, who in fact have professionals to help their cause.

To sum it up, if you are a nurse, you are going to be sexy to a doctor, if you take care of your patient reliable and sincerely not necessarily by wearing what Jolie wore to the Oscars.

TWO KIDS! SAME STORY!!

There are numerous such kids but they  have almost the same story. Here, I try to bring into limelight stories of two such kids whose fate has taken them away from home, in pursuit of a little money and better fooding; however at expense of education. Two such kids that I have recently met are Shere and Azhmed Ali.I could have had their photos here, however a lack of proper camera phone is really taking a toll on my blogging. Although, I am trying to stick with my current set until the end of my engineering degree.

Shere: Shere is a delightful and humble kind of kid working at a restaurant near Kathmandu University. He must be of 10 years of age. He possess a beautiful smile and that coupled with innocence of tender age results into direct affinity from the customers, which the restaurant in itself seem to benefit from. His family lives at Koshipari, a rural setting in the hills of Dolakha, East from Kathmandu. Dolakha is where my forefathers have settled for generations. We  have close relatives and some property there. So, I find myself attached to people from Dolakha.

These two might just represent the kids.
Courtesy: http://www.fotothing.com/photos/

Shere was sent to school, but he did not take liking to it. He turned truant, left the school, probably hearing wonderful stories of the city and due to excesses of unnecessarily martinet teaching personnel. The teachers in Nepal, take physical punishment as integral part of the education system. This makes education a heavy duty for kids especially who have much to do at home or average at certain subjects.

Just before the Dashain vacation, as the number of customer withered away I got an opportunity to interact with him. He came to Kathmandu by himself with the cook of the restaurant- who is much older than him but he had somehow done schooling till the 6th grade. I wanted to make him return to the village, and begin to go back to school. He seem to shyly oblige. I along with the cook gave him some simple logic. Even if he had to do away with daily diet of meat and rice (that is a much better supplement in both taste and nutrition compared to what he gets back at home), he could make it up in his adulthood owing to better education. I reminded him, even to work in better paying restaurants of Kathmandu, education was essential since he needed to note down and read orders, calculate prices etc.

He might have got his lesson, in the tiny stint he had working away from home. He must have missed his parents and friends of his age. Now when he goes back home, he shall be a star among his friends and a nuisance among his parents and teachers. His wonderful stories of the city, the boys in well pressed shirts and smooth denim and girls with clean hair and fitting apparels would be new story to his pals. If this experience increases his morale and that improves his confidence in being a good student, it would really turn his life on its head. I sincerely hope and pray, he doesn't return back to the same hotel, and maybe I get to see him only after years as an educated smart man doing great at whatever he takes up in future.

Azhmed Ali: I met this kid just for a day, at the occasion of Phulpati. He must be aged around 8-10 (however I have a gross ability of guessing ages). He was at Tudikhel, and began voluntarily fielding for us. He would field at fine leg, a fielding position in Cricket where the ball tends to go regularly especially if u have average playing conditions. He was a prodigy if we are concerned with his cricketing ability. He threw the ball in a technical manner, fielded in bumpy outfield putting his body behind every ball and diving (not in the air however) to gather balls away from him. He just got to bat a few deliveries at the end, which is a very obvious however painful of a story of any young cricketer playing with adults. However, he swung  the bat which was relatively heavy for a kid of his age, above his head to connect bouncing balls and still managed to connect them to get them away up to conventional mid on position, that's like 40 yards away from his batting position.

As we returned, I asked him in which class he studied. He said, he did not go to school. That made me slightly angry. I don't know why but I felt angry for our country which would trade cheap labour out of these kids at a young age , and later make them a comrade of their stupid politics and desert their agenda after getting to power. He was from Janakpur. Regarding Janakpur, it has a strong connection with me. My mom was raised up in Janakpur. I was born in a hospital of Janakpur, and we constantly visited our great grandmother who resided in Janakpur until she passed away due to old age. We used to call her ghuyya aama ( as we had to travel in bus to reach her).I still adore visiting temples around Janakpur.

This poor kid, has his father working at one of the Gulf countries. His mother lives back in Janakpur. He was left by his dad to work at a Saree embroidery shop near Maitidevi. As Maitidevi is in my route back home, I offered him a ride in the Safa tempo. He had a monthly salary of Rs 3000 ( roughly US dollars 40). Surprisingly, he had a brother who studied back home. As we boarded the tempo, I showed him "Maitidevi" written in the rear side of the tempo. I told him if he had studied he would have understood it. As he seemed so interested in cricket, I persuaded him in another way. I asked him if he watched cricket in TV. He answered positive. I asked him if he understood scores written in TV. He said no. Perhaps, that moment he must have realized education was required even to be a cricketer. At least I pointed that out for him, and suggested he could enjoy the game even more back home at Janakpur.

I told him the same as that to Shere. Go back home and enroll in a school. Don't run away even if the teachers punished him. He promised me he would go home back after a month. I myself got off at Maitidevi, as it was Dashain time and I needed to fulfill my mother's desire of visiting temples. His teeth was all brown. I bought him a brush and asked him to brush regularly. He seemingly obliged. He promised to return back home in a month. I said I was a local of Maitidevi and  gently threatened him that it would not go down well with me if I was to see him again after a month. And out of nowhere, he brought up his hand to make a hand shake. I was surprised. A kid who was fumbling with words just an hour ago, now was confident enough to shake hands. I hope he thought of going back home, studying well and pursuing his dream to be a cricketer. I hope he would do good and luck would see him shake hands with the current rising stars of Nepal like Prithu Baskota and Chandra Saud who would be his seniors if he ever made it to the National team.

I will try to  remember these two kids for ever. And, if they made a name for themselves, I would selfishly draw myself some credit. Maybe, it was small time and money for me, but their experience with me might change their entire lives. Studying amateur palmistry, it occurred to me that smallest of the lines might have biggest of the impacts in a person's life. I just can hope that their encounter with me can change their life. May Durga Mata bless them both this Dashain.

THE MICHAEL EFFECT

Sometime back, I read an article of a foreign educated young Nepali women who went to rural Nepal working for a program in an INGO. She reportedly felt like not being treated as their own, by the people in the field. This is a prime example of the "Michael"  effect. Compare a women, who would put lipstick in her cheeks to get that red look during her marriage to a sophisticated women who would not step out without a SPF leveled sunscreening cream.The difference is such that a mere closeness of 2-3 day is not enough to create homely interactions.Throughout the article she made genuine effort to indicate her willingness to serve Nepal, and her act of returning to Nepal in itself stands as a proof. However,she could have faced the situation better.

would you call this a skirt?

To those who have done schooling at Nepal, Jujuman is an interesting story included in Secondary level Nepali curriculum. The Michael that I am talking about is just the opposite of the Jujuman. The humiliation that Jujuman faced while visiting his relative in urban area, is nicely depicted in the story. Now, as more and more city based organizations are seeking to  take their programs to rural Nepal, more of educated and modern Nepalese are visiting the rural and ragged side of Nepal.These urban Nepalese are facing opposite however similar humiliating incidences as Jujuman.Back in my hometown in Sarlahi, some of my uncle used to call me "Ta tuh Michael bhayechas"; when I visited them during  occasions like Dashain. Covered with shining denim, and hair trying to point skywards, it certainly would have made me look like more of an alienated phenomenon than a village boy they searched in me. If somebody would put an earphone
(especially those bigger ones) and murmur some foreign songs coupled with fancy sun glasses; that would make him look a perfect "Michael".

Here are some points which if taken care of could save you from being a Michael.

a. Dress Up: Don't dress what's fashionable in Kathmandu or Paris. It shall look nothing but alien to the rural people. Dressing unorthodox shall attract unwanted precaution and shyness while interacting. Simple shirts and soft jeans shall serve well.

the man on the left has the perfect dress up

b. Language: Don't mix English words until absolutely necessary. Most of the words that we use for granted like washroom, cupboard etc sounds too foreign. These shall create a negative impact in your audience and create a wider gap. Try to explain technical terms in as detailed way as possible. An engineer may be habituated to call a "suspension bridge" but  saying "Jholunge Pul" creates a world of difference.If you are staying for a long time, try to make use of the local language.

c. Lifestyle: Try to adapt to the way the people are living. Try to have the same food, in the same manner. Don't try to be picky and particular. Maintain basic cleanliness but don't give an impression that the whole surrounding is allergic.Try to know more about people and try to accommodate yourself to their day-to-day life.

d. Attitude: Don't have an attitude like you are the learned and command high respect. Have an attitude of a learner and a trier. If you didn't like those folk songs played over and over again in the public buses of Kathmandu, it doesn't mean every folk songs are going to be boring. Listening to a live event in itself is a new and better experience. Try to learn or observe new things like milking, shearing of wool etc. Try to give equal space and maintain two way learning process with your rural counterparts.

I hope these tips would help you come out of the "Michael" shell and enjoy your trips to far flung remote part of Nepal.