MY LOVE Is NOT BLIND

I still remember you being the first one I noticed when we moved to Kathmandu. You and me were just child then. We didn't have to go to school and with our parents away the whole afternoon we had enough time together. With the city bustling, all colorful, full of neon lights all you said beautiful were mere sounds that the wind bell hung on your ceiling would produce. Unlike, me you never were fond of watching TV. That made me like you simply because you were different from me and most of my friends. When my dad would scold me for watching more of TV, and shut down my desktop when I reached last level of a video game, I would consol myself for being close to you. I liked being like you even if it was forced upon me.

 

Time passed soon. Now we had to go to a school. I would pray to God so that we were admitted in the same school. Well you brought different uniform days before school started, and I knew God shattered my dream that day. You know I seldom cry in public, I didn't do it then too. But I cried in my bed. Luckily, I managed my mom not to know of it. I didn't want her to feel sad for my misery. Still, I woke up the next morning, with a frown in my face. Unusual twitches in my face immediately brought attention out of my grey haired Grandma. She would, as usual, ask me why? I could not help answering. I said I wanted to go to the same school as you did. And, my Grandma said the school of yours was for special ones. I need not go there because I was already special from the very beginning. Well, I wanted to be just like you, not special than you. I said the same to my Grandma, but she said life would be pathetic being like you. That might have made me grow to hate you, but instead I grew loving you more.

I was always a curious fellow; right from the beginning. So, I would rush everyday to you to look at what you studied that day. Your books were ridiculous. They didn't have the colorful pictures that ours had. I wanted you to see my books, but you would not dare to. I felt how could you be like that. Well, I didn't think much of it then. Then, I would say you were the most beautiful girl I ever saw. You would ask me to describe how you looked. I used to say, you had beautifully curled up thick-black hair, big forehead, beautiful brown eyes, and your lips were more than pretty when you smiled. You would blush and your face would turn red and I would often, to redden you further, ask you to do the same about me. You used to say, I smelt good, my skin felt soft, my hair though thorny were good enough to rub the cheek with, and particularly you were fond of my voice. At that moment, I would feel ashamed that I couldn't define you the way you did me.

Slowly, we promoted our respective classes just like how we lifted ourselves in the steps close to Pashupati. I always cherish those moments, where I would hold your hand and took you to those green benches facing the temple, in the evening. I came there because I like seeing the temple ablaze in evening light produced by dying sun coupled with blazing yellow electric bulbs. You said you loved to listen to the evening prayers and the birds chirp faintly. Among these days, there would come February 14. I always waited for that day, to let you know that I loved you no matter what. I still remember the first time I felt like celebrating that day with you, I brought you a bouquet of red roses out of my winter's saving. When you inhaled the smell of it; my breathing halted and my heart pounded. Then you said, to bring Jasmines the next time since you could hold it easily without minding the thorns. Moreover, I know your love for that flower and still feel enthralled remembering those days when you used to tell me I smelt like Jasmine. And the next year, when I brought jasmines to you, I never saw you that happy before. You thanked me for remembering your choices. Well, you must have known by then that it was the only thing I cared of. We were in each other’s arm that day. We felt like being at top of the world. That heavenly moment was perfect to bring us more closer. I drew your chin towards me while you closed your eye lids. I gradually came towards you, and just the moment I saw your lips part to make path for mine's our noses collided. We smiled at our inexperience, and you looked down shying. Well, we corrected ourselves just few seconds after and shared our first kiss. So pleasant, soothing was the feeling that I can still remember every fragment of it. It made me think what would have happened if I have never met you.

When I graduated from college, the first thing I thought of was marrying you. I knew you were the one I wanted to be with all my life. I said it to my parents. They would deny. And why that? I would lay disappointed for few more days. Seeing me agitate, my mom proposed me to marry your sister. She said you and your sister looked alike. I could marry her and be as happy. Such ridiculous argument made me boil from inside. I asked for the last time ,"Why?". My mom replied, "Because she is blind".

She replied as if I didn't know the fact. I knew it a decade and a half ago. I loved you before I knew it and still more after I knew that you could see more than what our human eyes could. Your senses would travel faster than light, so you are no less special than us. With all these thought crashing in my mind  I replied to my mom, " Yeah she is blind, but my love to her is not blind. It seeks her and cares for her all the while. I cannot live without her."

I am waiting for her answer right now. I hope the answer would be positive.

JESTHA 14: THE DOUBLE COUP SAGA

As the mystery of another Jestha 14 unfolds, the most unexpected thing might just have happened. As the clock steadily moved towards midnight, it was almost clear none of our leaders were really into constitution making. They had their own set of tricks to covert to what they wanted after midnight.

I am with you brother!

The first Coup as I say is committed by the united stand of NC and UML. Once, it was clear that the issues of federalism could not be solved by consensus; they should have allowed the issue to roll into motion in the CA. Most probably a voting in it would have been the best option at that time. However, knowing that their own lawmakers would cross the floor, the leaders of these parties sought to delay the process in name of flexibility and consensus. Had voting been done, UML would have been in serious trouble with their Leader Prithivi Subba Gurung taking the leadership of the Janajati Caucaus. A signature campaign set right after the 5 point agreement between the 4 major stake holders earlier, gathered 320 out of 596 lawmakers to go for federalism based on identity. They might be wrong or right, but democracy was doomed that day and doomed hard. The NC and UML knowing they would lose to this issue, never really wanted to get into the CA, where they didn't have the same bargaining teeth as in other meetings outside the CA. The so called democratic parties broke the very backbone of modern day democracy that day.

Clever than the teacher Mao!!

The second coup is a fresh one but a long thought for. The Maoists, even the liberals, always ought to have the final onus to be the "State Capture" walas. Every Maoist speaks of it, especially in their internal meet. As far as I am concerned, the Maoists have the cleverest of leaders with their mind full of amazing political tricks. The Baidya faction and Prachanda faction continuously play the Hollywood's Good Cop- Bad Cop routine. The Baidya faction has been able to retain the disgruntled and hardliner faction of their cadres; while Dr. Baburam Bhattrai continuously attempts to bring in more of the middle and upper class into the party base. As, Jestha 14 came closer, the Maoist leadership played an interesting game. Knowing that the downfall of CA, would bring down the legislature as well they organized a show piece discussion the whole afternoon. As the majority of communists, who seek the right situation to pounce for their unquestionable and continuous right to the government, Maoists of Nepal have done the same. If Dr. Bhattarai doesn't resign by himself, there's nothing else to force him to. A Coup, as said by the Chief whip of NC, occurred due to the failure of the same party to understand Maoist tactics. Maoists now have a stronghold in country's day-to-day running. The day they have dreamt of almost two decades ago, have come in partial fulfillment.

If NC and UML don't go into election as soon as possible, but rather choose to stick to its formulae of bringing down Maoist led government showing constitutional short comings, it will obviously  play into Maoist's ploy to stay in the government infinitely. So NC and UML along with other parties have no choice to go into election, even if it be under Maoist government, which shall sustain itself till then via it's coup of Jestha 14.

IN PURSUIT OF EQUALITY

When I woke up last Saturday morning, I was not aware of that day being birthday of Karl Marx. Luckily, one of my friends in twitter tweeted to greet Karl Marx his 194^th birthday. I grew nostalgic and posted some thought into Facebook to mark the occasion.

He resurfaces despite being said obsolete long ago

I adored utopia of equality since beginning of my teenage. I had to call myself a something, so that people could understand what I felt like politically and socially. So, when people asked me of my ideology, I began calling myself a person who adored Marx. I was in deep love with this man’s thinking. His political rhetoric would attract my thoughts especially while seeing poor laborers carrying loads heavier than them, but paid miserly to. I have had hard time persuading peoples why Marx should be regarded as one of the greatest thinkers of all time. The ruthless autocracy in North Korea, the repression of Tibetans by the Chinese Communist Party, millions of deaths in Stalin’s Russia were enough to deter my friends from wanting to know more of Marx. I could not agree more to the intellectuals who rightfully point out flaw in the way communist have ruled states in name of Communist Manifesto co-authored by Marx.

However, Marx’s thinking has planted an irreplaceable dream in human kind; the dream to create a just world. Though the dream was a utopian one, it is the first of a kind to connect people in a revolution aiming for justness in such a large scale, over vast lands. It is true that a social theory possess loopholes. Most of our ancient astronomers were wrong to believe in sun revolving around Earth; however this observation laid foundation to modern day astronomy. So, it is no big deal if Marxism came with flaws in it. However, he has made us dream if a society better than what current day democracy has achieved. The same dream could be obtained by completely different means but the credit of making humans think of its possibility goes to Marx. In an upbringing where we are ready to praise Devkota for dreaming to reach the moon even before the human did, it is inappropriate that we don’t pay respect to a man who thought if every one of us would be free of hunger, prejudice and injustice. Neglecting Marx and his theories as utopian would be betrayal to humanity.

May Day rallies have found new vigor in Europe @reuters

 Many people criticize and sense authoritarian manners in Marx’s idea of legitimizing violence to overthrow bourgeois rule to establish autocracy of proletariat. Let us deal with the first part. In a totally different context, CK Lal points out in his column Reflection (Republica Daily): “The Road to Martyrdom”, “Lord Krishna justifies wars, even by means of deception if necessary for end of tyrannies and restoration of righteousness.” It is similar to what Marx said. It is debatable if Nepal would have been a Republic this soon without a ‘People’s War’, but the Tsar would not have been removed from Russia; ruthless Batista would not have been ousted from Cuba have the discontent of the working class be united by communist ideas. As far as autocracy of proletariat is concerned, communist parties can achieve it through democratic ways. Successful example of it is the three decade long rule of communist party in West Bengal of India, which recently ended in a bitter loss. The communist parties can establish the rule of the proletariats for a long time, taking consent of regular terms from the people. This fact is more underlined by Leon Trotsky when he famously said, “Democracy is oxygen to socialism”.

Attempts to revitalize communism from its ugly track of autocracy via bureaucracy of a single political party, as in Stalin’s Russia, were even made in Nepal. The credit goes to a  foresighted Marxist-Leninist Madan Bhandari. As per the demand of time, in his doctrine “People’s Multiparty Democracy” , Bhandari has tried to push his communist party out of extreme leftist mode into a democratic socialist force. In fact, many socialist parties in Europe are based on consolidation of their communist ideals. The popularity of such parties in Nordic states and recent polling trends in France, Portugal, and Greece support the popularity of socialists in Europe. However, many rigid communists, so called ‘hardliners’ view this as a betrayal to revolution and tag it as ‘revisionism’. This dogmatic approach deprives pragmatic communist to innovate and adapt after the overthrowing of a bourgeois autocratic leader. This approach has failed to yield communism as a self evolving dynamic culture, rather it appears to be an imposed ditto of some other unsuccessful regime of the past.

Need more of these: Comrade Bhandari

The hardliners are wrong in their insistence to push Unified Maoists, the biggest political force of Nepal into a fully fledged communist revolution. Marx himself was aware that a successful communist state could not be built upon an isolated agricultural economy. Alex Callicinos explains in his book ‘The revolutionary ideas of Karl Marx’ the reasons for failure of USSR, “As Marx had predicted, the confinement of the revolution to a single country meant that the whole filthy business of exploitation and class struggle was restored.” Nepal would suffer the same fate, a communist dictator would take over and Stalinism would eventually dominate Marxism. The writer further insists that ‘forced industrialization’ was flung into by the Stalin regime during and after 1928-29. This goes against the very basics of Marxism. In fact, the communist manifesto clearly states the beginning of united revolt of the proletariat to take place in the economies where Capitalism has reached its pinnacle. However, to the contrary communist revolution happened first in Russia and is popular in poor country like ours. Marxist had hoped the Russian Socialist Revolution to be a “a signal to western proletariat revolution. A self sustainable communist world is to happen only when whole of the world resources are capitalized, a small economy like Nepal would go by the North Korean way if we happen to embrace what the hardliners are pushing for.

If we look at matters seriously, Nepal is the last hope for modern communists. Unlike China, Cuba or North Korea communist ideas are popular among the Nepalese without any forced propaganda or repression by the state. We are probably the only country left, which could get an elected communist executive in the near future. Hence, we don’t have the luxury to experiment the same as orthodox communist regime did to fail just few decades ago. The way forward for communists in Nepal is a tough and demanding one. As written in the communist manifesto by Marx and Engels, “This organization of the proletarians into a class, and, consequently into a political party, is continually being upset again by the competition between the workers themselves. But it ever rises up again, stronger, firmer, mightier.” Hopefully, scattered communists of Nepal would unite and run as a single force in upcoming elections. Further in the communist manifesto it is clearly stated that, “The Communists do not form a separate party opposed to the other working-class parties.” Unfortunately, we have clear factions within the big two communist parties itself.

The recurring crisis in capitalist system like the recent recession in US and Europe would make Marx resurface despite rigorous attempt to nullify his criticism of the current system. But, it would be great if Nepal could prove a point or two by successfully pointing to the West, a democratic socialist state could sustain efficiently. It would stand as a towering example; just like our peace process and removal of monarchy did to bewilder the Western elites. Who knows, the pursuit of equality would rejoice the world once again from the deeds of our communists?

Love The Difference!

When it comes to falling in love, it is sometimes a blind choice, as one University research reports its a decision that a brain makes in 1/5th of a second. Wow! Our brain is brilliant, however it doesnot always reciprocate with what we actually feel in real.Although the feeling may be ephemeral most of the time and the fling may pass by, however some lucky moment it is more of a mutual event that drives us together.

Apart from some great placing of heavenly stars, we don't find "love in a hopeless place" as Rihanna says. Rather,we take some time, we try to gather similarity and then we decide to jump in.
Moreover, I hear folks falling in love because both of them loved to travel, or both of them are doctors... or even maybe down to ridicules such as flavour of the ice cream they chose uninamously in their first date.

I used to believe in the same. I thought the similar we are the better off we are. I hope most of you believe in it as well.

Even a dog can love a cat! copyright@natgeo

Wait!

Now,I don't think so! I think falling in love with a similar type of human is selfishness and an insurance to failure in a relationship. You love yourself the most, so at last you are prepared to love somebody like you because you know you can withstand somebody like you.

If you are a fairly tip top outgoing guy you will curl your instinct to like a girl like yourself because you know you shall be ashamed of going single into a discotheque even though you intoduced your girlfriend to meet with your friends in a family party yesterday night! If you are a soccer fan you will be delighted to have a fan of the same brass beacause none is going to ask you for a romantic evening walk, at a prime time footy match in ESPN.

But, that is not  you two pushing towards each other rather a black force of something that both of you are interested in binding you together. What if your mate suddenly switched to being a vegeterian, or decided she would quit reading stories of yours or changed his genre of movies or lost his adore to skype? You still need to work it out! Well, when people break up, the easy reason is "because s/he changed!". It is rather the interest that has changed. And relationship that has fostered in foundation of similarities tends to rattle once a quake of change in priorities strike.

So, once you love a girl who loves comics rather than opeds of the paper, you shall be in tricky water for some while. But, if you actually love each other,,,like that 1/5th of a second, you shall interchange your stuffs be pro in both of the segments and flourish together. Love shall take you to unknown territories. You will begin to laugh at moves of Johny lever, even though you only used to like Holloywood's Jim Kerry.Power of love is undeniable, use it to rather diversify your and your partner's scope rather than being concentrated on common issues.

Life is short we need to know more. So, love the difference!!

Why aren't Buffaloes as Holy as Cows?

(I am a Hindu myself, and I have no intention of offending any belief! Most of my assumptions below are from my experience of being brought up being a Hindu, and not directly quoted from proper Religious books as such!)
I remember owning livestocks during my childhood! Until, I moved to Kathmandu I would regularly be in proximity to these creatures whom i admired. We had a couple of oxen which pulled our cart,varing numbers of buffaloes and cows. When we moved to Lalbandi (near EW Highway), 2 miles away from our indigenous place of Sishuwa, we began having chickens and ducks as well.We ended giving up our farming along with animal husbandry when our Grandparents decided to move to Kathmandu to join us.

Worshiped Cow!

I don't remeber much of our cows, maybe I was young enough to forget when we had one.I love them still. When I visit my Uncle's shed back in Lalbandi, my favorite passtime is to lightly feather the body of a cow, and watch its big eyes! I remember riding a buffalow.She was a tough one. Once I was asked to look after her as my Grandmother had to return to our house. The buffalow literally bullied me, it moved its own direction though I had the rope in my hand! It feeded in somebody elses barley. I couldn't pull her off. Later grandma who till then seemed powerless to me,such that her slap would be a mere smotch to me pulled her off effortlessly. I remember my Grandma scolding one of our helpers, for not grazing enough of grass to her. And she cleverly used to reply, "well its the pani pet (water stomach) that has not swollen, otherwise she has feeded full." Only God knows, if she was true...and also only God knows why he didn't design Buffaloes to be as holy as Cows.

Poor Buffalo!

Cows are generally beautiful compared to Buffaloes. Buffaloes are rather dark and they lack silky fur as that of cow.Buffaloes love to sit in muddy ponds and they do it regualarly, coined as aahal basnu in Nepali. Cows are more tidier, and even its dung would make a mud plastered kitchen floor of our scared. I thought maybe this bulkier look of Buffalow compared to the sleekness of Cow gave them the advantage. I pondered. Wait, so weren't those earlier brand of people wrong when they asumed the white men of Europe superior to the Blacks in Africa!Can physical dimensions and color give an upperhand to beings that usually have the same purpose and sense of existence. We have our own preferences, we have products that claims to makes us fairer, so fairness is what we praise.However, that doesnot make Europeans superior to African! So, why would the poor buffaloes be less holier, when they produce the same milk. Cows are considered as holy mothers in Hinduism because she sacrifices much of her milk to people who are not her direct children. And Buffaloes too do the same ,don't they?


The next thing is Cows are a symbol of Mata Laxmi(Goddess of wealth). If you go by what I think, Cows were symbolically related to Laxmi maybe(a big maybe!!) because in ancient times people having Cows might have been more richer! And they would be the same if they have now.Lord Krishna seem to be always enveloped either by Gopinis or Cows but no black Buffaloes. So, why no Buffaloes? I again pondered. I recollected my visit to Jiri, where they have a animal farm for more than 50 years now. All I saw there was Cow, no traces of Buffaloes(and now i wonder how the hotels provided Buff momos?).So, maybe Mahabharata occured in places where Buffaloes didn't fluorish as much as Cows did. So, people then might not have kept Buffaloes(or maybe they were still to be tamed). And so Hinduism might have ignored the poor Buffaloes. Well not totally true. Buffaloes are related to Yamaraj, God of Death. So,why don't we make Buffaloes holy so that we could praise Yamaraj. Why  don't we put garland over our poor Buffaloes the same way we do it to Cows in Laxmi Puja. One of my witty friend pointed, if we worship Buffaloes that would mean to invite death to ourself as Yamaraj would be pleased!I again pondered!Then celebrating Tihar (Yama Panchak) is to make Yamaraj happy, well that does not make us vulnerable to death, does it?

So, when I see the cramped old buffaloes who have passed through their fertility age and therfore can't produce milk, being transported to Kathmandu, to be slaughtered so that their flesh be put into little rolls of Suji to make our favorite MoMos, I heavily feel that it is unfair to these big black innocents. They do the hard yards as much as beloved cows do, but they don't get the same retirement plan as Cows.I think Hindus must look upto this matter, its time we begin to think Buffaloes are as holy as Cow!!!

RETURNING THE FAVOUR

"On Thursday, police clashed with demonstrators as hundreds of thousands swamped the streets in Barcelona and other cities.          Unions said 800,000 people joined the protest in Barcelona. Police put the number at 80,000.  Some marchers in the city smashed windows and set rubbish bins alight.                                                                                   Police fired tear gas and shot rubber bullets at the ground, TV pictures showed."

This was what BBC reported about the latest protests in Spain.

"Frankfurt airport cancelled about 80 flights and said services would not be back to normal until Thursday.

The strike has also grounded 142 Lufthansa flights, mainly on domestic routes, with Stuttgart, Munich, Cologne and other airports hit.

Verdi is pushing for an 8% wage increase for its two million federal and local government workers."

Similar is the story now at Frankfurt the third busiest airport in Europe.

"SNPL had closed its garment unit in Biratnagar from June 15 citing insecurity following violent protests by the workers. 

The prolonged labour problem, according to the company management, forced the company to permanently close the garment unit." 

This is what happened at Surya Nepal earlier  as reported by Ekantipur.

So, the protests are not just a part of the Nepalese society but that of highly privileged European society as well. When strikes happens/ed in Nepal, and  foreign medias roll their camera in the street, we feel a sense of loss. We feel ashamed. We are made to look upon as fools who hardly know economics. The elites in the media ask the protestors with a quote of some billion of losses in a day!


 In one gloomy day for Nepal's sovereignty, the ambassadors of the superpowers united and shamelessly declared to slam a visa and fund embargo for people and organization that would call for a strike. Well, I would like to know what they are doing right now for the strikes in their own backyard.Ain't the cacophony of the worker's chant strong enough for them to realize protest can turn up even in a well-to-do "civilized" society?


We can be sure that the protestor's in Europe enjoy far more higher living standard compared to that of the workers in Surya Nepal. Yet an European diplomat will have enough courage to question the morality of the strike here at a Nepali enterprise. They would teach us to wear a black ribbon instead of burning off tyres. That's fair. However, protestor's action not only depends on their morality but also on their level of frustration. When we have nothing to lose, we resort to most violent and meanest way of protest to a level to which rarely a "suited and booted" diplomat in a blue number plated Land Rover reciprocates to.


Now, that the Europeans are feeling the heat of a hard recession, austerity measures have created unpopular sentiment in the continent ranging from Germany(the biggest lender of EU) to Greece(the total bankrupt).Everybody knows, cuts in benefits, social welfare, government jobs etc would lessen the burden in Economy. So, why are the civilized taking it to the streets torching dust bins? It is because of frustration, similar to that we are used to here at Nepal. The have the same hostility within as that we have towards our leaders, who have failed to leave up to their promises!


So, next time a foreigner pricks you about protesting for a valid reason, don't think twice to return them the favour! All of us know that one day when social equity and prosperity envelops Nepal, such act of random protests and strikes would gradually go away from our culture. Till then, protests and strike will act both as boon and curse for the welfare of us the Nepalese and an integral part of Nepal's yet to bloom democracy.

Why Can't Printing More Money Make Us Rich?

Since, my early childhood I wanted everyone to be rich. I was aghast to be forced by mom into a bus that had no vacant seats!I usually thought what if everybody could buy a car, nobody would be forced to cramp into a already jam packed bus! For that we need money, all of us need big money! Whoever printed money, Why wouldn't they print as much as for all of us to buy a Car?

Many of us might have been confused by the same thing but in different situations in different ways.

I  found the answer.It was not my curiosity that led me to the answer. It was a mere coincidence.

So why don't the FED publish more money to make us rich?

We had a course named Engineering Economics, this semester.Now that the exam was over and afternoons were filled with slots of regular load shedding, I had nothing to do!Then i caught up with my sister's book in Economics ( i just wanted to cross check what was the difference between ours and their way of economics) and I read its preface. Luckily the preface was so well composed that it drew me into its content."I believe that everyone should study the fundamental ideas that economics has to offer..... You will be glad that you studied economics"These lines would make me look into whatever it had between its cover.

The first chapter, that of Principal of Economics, would end the age old curiosity. The Ninth Principal is titled as "Prices rise when the Government Prints too much money"!

So let me explain it to you in simple terms. When government prints too much money, people will have much money but the number of goods available in market would be the same. Like all of us had 10 lakhs to buy a Maruti 800 but their would be the same number of Maruti 800 in the market. The industries due to its limitation cannot fulfill the supply. Hence a sort of competion begins between customers to buy the car which makes it a more scarce commodity. Hence, the price of the Maruti 800  would adjust (increase sharply).This is known as inflation. Again, all of us wouldn't be able to afford the car and the persons who where earlier incapable of riding a Maruti would still be the same!

So we came to know, why printing money would not make us rich! But you may again think why do then government acts crazy and prints too much money creating inflation. There is a reason for that as well.

Let me carry on from above example. When people have more money, they will try to spend it. So,  people will want more of Maruti 800. Though the company can't satisfy all of us, it shall surely increase its production to whatever level it could to reap benefits of increased sales. Hence,to increase production of cars the company must hire more workers. Thus the unemployment would go down. Thus Inflation and Unemployment are inversely proportional to each other in the short term. At least most of the economist believe in this theory!

So next time if you ask God for  trees that have money instead of leaves, that is not going to work if everyone of us could implant that tree.

(The book i was referring to is "Principles of Microeconomics",Mankiw,4th edition,Cengage Learning,Indian Edition)