The economist and the Kathmandu kid

I was searching the web for information about a college in Kathmandu and came across this article! Found it really interesting, thereby have absolutely no regrets on opting for the ‘copy-paste’ mode of blogging either Take a read:

The economist and the Kathmandu kid

Jane Nicholls | January 16, 2008

Source: Click here

THIS is a story about a poor boy in Kathmandu. It is also about his friend and mine, a man so differently placed from that boy that comprehension is difficult. It is a history, too, of a long, collaborative association and friendship founded in higher education policy, that began in violent antipathy back in 1988. It is a story about student financing and about a child in Nepal who wanted more than anything else to get to university.

It was April 2002. Economist Bruce Chapman was in Nepal for a World Bank seminar on higher education. On a free afternoon he ventured out of the Yak & Yeti, Kathmandu’s premier hostelry. Wandering in the Durbar Marg, the main drag outside the Yak & Yeti, Bruce encountered a small boy. Slight, he looked about eight but, as Bruce was to learn, was 10. He was dressed in faded, patched trousers, a thin jacket and worn white sneakers. “Excuse me, sir,” he began. “Where are you from?”

“Australia,” replied Bruce.

“Ah, yes, Australia,” the boy said. “The capital of Australia is Canberra.” His English was that precise, classic sub-continent version, unusual in a street urchin. “I know the capitals of every country in the world, sir, except the new ones because my book is old. Please ask me a country.”

“OK,” said Bruce. “What about France?”

“Paris,” said the boy promptly.

“Not bad,” said Bruce. He was impressed: he upped the ante.

“How about South Africa?”

“Ah,” said the boy. Do you mean the administrative capital, Johannesburg — known to its residents as Jo’burg — or the political capital, which is Pretoria?”

“How the hell do I know?” exclaimed Bruce, and laughed. They formally introduced themselves. The Australian economist and the Nepalese schoolboy, Suraj, struck up a fleeting friendship.

Hypocrisy is red in color

If any word as such existed in the dictionary the day started in a very ‘filmy’ way. The bus heading to Shahidgate was tuned into an FM station which aired dialogues from movies followed by songs. The most beautiful songs were preceded by the most cheesy+corny lines in Bollywood movies. For instance the female voice said: “ Main Tumahare pyar mein jalkar raakh huna chahatihun…Tum kaise yis duniyase ladoge, chalejau…”, The guy was adamant “ nahin main tumare bina rehenahi sakta….” . Now guess the song. It was “Tum bin jaun kahan ki duniyamain aakar kuch na fir chaha sanam tumko chahake..”. If it is the exact dialogue of a film then I must say the songwriter is a real hero in the movie. What a beautiful song to capture such a ‘common’ Bollywood movie plot. The “filmy” part lasted only till that moment. Thankfully, I would say because it was really getting too ‘filmy’ to handle.

enLIGHTenMENT

िमली हवाओं में उड्ने ि क वो सजा यारो

के मैं जमीन के रिस्तों से कट गया यारो

I have never heard this song. But the lyrics PERFECTLY fit into this situation. The old mental picture of the world or the universe at large which is basically not the uncountable number of stars and masses but people which form something called society is hard to destroy. The world being a mirror of one’s thoughts differs according to people as “thoughts” differ. A mere question of the “view” one has and a different world altogether.

Long ago, in my earlier days of being acquainted with the blogging world someone had told me “This isn’t Paradise”. ” Paradise” to be exact meant people who blog. (Add people who COMMENT to it as well).

I was shocked. The shock led to sadness. In a long time, really long time I felt sad, in the truest sense of the word. What kind of people made this world? And can there even be “people” or “humans” like that. What sick mentality caused them to write such low/ degrading (think of the word which represents digress of humanity at its most). Maybe, that is supposed to be normal.( But) Why normalize the bad? There are some things which can be accepted as “someone else’s” opinion which is “different” than yours. People hold different views. Some are just nothing else but an attempt to demoralize the person, hurt them, break them down. I may be wrong about the notion that “the world is full of good people” meaning ( who do onto others as they would be done by) but I think I understand the ‘intention’ of people ( not all times though) .It’s sad that I realize it so late in life that I feel nearly ‘incapable’ of changing my world view from something good and positive to a place where people are just too keen on bringing others down and what not.

The irony, ithis world is full of impostors and no matter how much the ’society’ at large talks of ethics and humanity it hails the bad, it is instinctively attracted by the bad. Reminds of the character, I used to observe everyone of them in details ( to understand the mechanism of the blogging universe). It was clear: they wouldn’t have known it but there they were loving, adoring everything which was stated, actually even the grammatically ‘wrong’ stuff was ‘raw’, it was ‘nice writing’ anything. They didn’t know it, but they loved it! Subconsciously, they all did it.

I should have been scandalous, it would be great then! Oh, what a fine writing I would have created, even if I would ‘know’ the innumerous flaws in it. So, after a day of pain and irritation because of cold, I want to move on for good.

There is a saying in Nepali:
Rakshyan ma Thuke, afnai mukhma chita parcha.

That’s what I want to say. Your acceptance and understanding of the writings isn’t sought.Don’t show your lack of control over yourself by being in a place you don’t want to be in.

Let no man pull you low enough to hate him. Martin Luther King.

नयाँ नेपालको नयाँ प्रेमपत्र

प्रिय आकाश,

लाल सलाम!

भित्ते राष्ट्रपतिको संज्ञा दिने सबै राजनीतिक पार्टीलाई धुलो

चटाउँदै हाम्रा कमरेड प्रचण्ड भित्तामा नभई वास्तवमै नेपालको प्रथम राष्ट्रपति हुने सम्भावना

बढेको छ। जनताले परिवर्तनको पक्षमा भोट गरेका छन् , देश युगान्तकारी परिवर्तन तर्फ उन्मुख

हुँदैछ। हिजो माओवादीको खेदो मात्र खन्ने सञ्चार माध्ययम पनि अहिले हाम्रै महिमागानमा

तल्लिन छन्। तिमी त समाचारको किरो, सुनेकै हौला। देशलेे आर्थिक, सामाजिक, राजनीतिक

क्षेत्रमा काँचुली फेरिरहेको बेलामा हाम्रो प्रेम पनि यथास्थितिवादीको कथा नबनोस् भन्ने हेतुले म

यो पत्र कोर्‍र्दै छु। प्रेम परम्पराको अध्ययन गर्दा प्रेम पत्रलेखन पनि पुरुषहरुकै विभागीय काम

भएता पनि मलाई त्यो परम्परा तोड्दा कुनै दुख छैन। अरु पार्टीले हार्ने ठाउँमा र हाम्रोले

सकेसम्म महिला उम्मेदवारलाई टिकट दिएता पनि जित हाम्रै वर्गको भयो। त्यही जितको स्वाद

लिँदै म आफ्ना ‘वैज्ञानिक’ तर्कद्वारा हाम्रो प्रेममा परिवर्तनको आवश्यकता औंलाउने चाहन्छु। कुरा

तर्क सङ्गत लागे जित हाम्रै हुनेछ, नलागे हार पनि हाम्रै। यस पत्रले हामी बीच वैमनश्यता ल्याए

त्यसको जिम्मेवारी पनि म कमरेड माधवकुमार नेपालले जस्तै यस प्रेमबाट राजीनामा दिएर

गर्नेछु।

ramblings

अजनबी शेहेरमे जिन्दगी मिल्गयी

अजीब हे ये जिन्दगी ए जिन्दगी अजिब हे

His apartment was the perfect Bachelor’s abode. Smart and clean furnishing. And Bangkok. He’d left his 60GB iPod beside the music system. The volume was loud and a cool breeze was blowing in the room from the verandah. Now and then someone would get up to dance. I don’t think anyone danced to this number “Ajnabi” from the movie Jannemann. But this song, whenever or wherever played reminds me of that evening in Bangkok. It could be the dramatization of reality but I think she was out in the verandah engulfed in the “ bhid mein vi he tanhayi” sorrow as she had told me of . And I’m listening to the very song right now…actually it’s already moved on to “Saun dard” …..Still as good as the last one..and I still get the Bangkok feeling

Constituent Assembly Polls in Nepal: I Voted Did You?

A new day awaits Nepal, like this sunrise on the Day of the Elections ( seen from the Araniko Highway)

After an hour of standing in the line at The Election Center in Mahadevsthan, Koteshwor “Ga” I voted the first time in my life. My number was :773. I left home at ten-minutes to six clad in my ” म परिवर्तन चाहन्छु, ( I want Change) and I am not Alone” T-shirt deliberately. The t-shirt seemed to be made for occasions just like this. Now, that I Have Voted! I feel absolutely great. A friend of mine was quick enough to congratulate me for the feat. I did the same to her as well. We are both Proud First Time Voters of this nation! I would like to extend a congratulations to all the First time Voters who are reading this blog as well. Yahoo! We did it!

People waiting for their turn to vote in Koteshwor

Dumb And Dumber

There are at least a 100 things I could write on as Nepal finally awaits the CA elections to be held day after tomorrow. Still, am not being able to go any further than these “cut and paste” entries, which are very interesting reads to me at least. UntilI come up with something original here is another fine debate from the Washington Post : First Read this: We Scream, We Swoon. How Dumb Can We Get? and then be back to read the article below or just click the link:

Dumb and Dumber: An Essay and Its Editors
The question is not why Charlotte Allen wrote her silly piece — it’s why The Post published it.

By Katha Pollitt

I’ve never watched Oprah Winfrey’s show, bought a Celine Dion CD, read “Eat, Pray, Love,” or fainted at an Obama rally, although he is my preferred candidate. According to Charlotte Allen, that makes me an “outlier,” an exception that proves the rule that women “always fall for the hysterical, the superficial and the gooily sentimental.” But uh-oh: I used to watch “Grey’s Anatomy” from time to time, and I even shed some tears when Denny died. Maybe being female has turned my “pre-frontal cortex into Cream of Wheat” after all. Maybe I’m just another “kind of dim” female, a charter member of “the dumber sex.”

In a casual essay of 1,700 words, Allen manages to stir together a breathtaking mishmash of misogynistic irrelevancies and generalizations. One minute she’s mocking women who bake cookies for their dogs; the next, she’s castigating Hillary Clinton’s campaign as “stupidest” partly because she fired her “daytime-soap-watching” Latina campaign manager too close to the Texas primary. (Note to Allen: Hillary won Texas with a flood of Latino votes.) She wonders why “no man contracts nebulous diseases” of possibly psychosomatic origins. (Note to Allen: Actually, they do.) She asks why women have more driving accidents. (Note to Allen: See below.) Could it be because women are mentally inferior, as proved by men’s greater ability to mentally rotate three-dimensional objects in space? Unless it’s a cute little puppy, that is, or maybe a cookie.

The upshot: we ladies should focus on what we’re really good at — interior decoration and taking care of men and children.

Source: Internet

Too successful for a mate?

I came across this article while checking my mails some time back. It’s a nice read. Excellent flow.Excellent reporting! The content however, may not hold true in our case if we are talking about the rise in number of single women, cause Most are married young in Nepal. Nevertheless, the essence holds true even in our context ( Why wouldn’t it??): men haven’t quite overcome their inability to see women as their equal-parts. “Gender” has become the buzz word, so everyone uses it. But few have understood the ‘gravity’ and ’sensitivity’ of the issue which is vivid through actions like giving women tickets to contest as candidates for CA elections where they are most likely to loose to begin with.. Read स्वागत महिला नेतृहरूलाई by दोभान र्राई in The Kantipur ( April 04,200 edition ( Sorry, couldn’t give the link). Or just read this :

Too successful for a mate?

Today’s talented, ambitious women are staying single in droves. Are they too busy, too picky or — horrors — too awesome?

By Kris Frieswick, MSN Money

The majority of my most successful, good-looking, educated, talented girlfriends are still single.

If they had Y chromosomes, they would have been married a decade ago. Instead, like successful single women all over the country, they trek into their mid- to late 30s on their own — experiencing fabulous professional success, buying real estate and making savvy investments for the future, without much going on in the relationship department.

Still Not A Veggie?

This is an accidental finding, was surfing for farmer’s rights, came across some interesting links and found all that I will put up below. Well, the Glories of Being A Vegetarian once again!

Source:Another inconvenient truth.org

Here are some compelling facts to begin with:

In April, researchers at the University of Chicago showed that a person eating an average American diet contributes the equivalent of about 1 1/2 tonnes more CO2 to the atmosphere each year than does a person on a vegan diet. That’s more than the difference between driving a Hummer H3 and a Toyota Prius 5,000 kilometers in the city. Startlingly, fully a third of the raw materials consumed in North America are used in meat ‘production.’ Half- to three-quarters of all grain grown in North America is used for this purpose. So is some 15% of fossil fuels. The livestock industry is responsible to an astounding degree for the pollution of our air, lands and waterways.

Nearly three quarters of North American ammonia emissions are due directly or indirectly to animal farming. According to the Worldwatch Institute, farm animals around the world generate 130 times as much bodily waste as the entire human population.

The raising of livestock and the soybeans to feed them is easily the number one contributor to rainforest destruction. More than two acres of tropical rainforest is being cleared per second to graze or feed farm animals. Around the world, topsoil to the tune of tens of billions of tons are lost each year to cultivation of animal feed crops. Raising animals is an incredibly inefficient process.

Depending on the animal, it takes 2 to 10 lbs of grain to get one pound of meat. Think how much less destruction would attend a human world devoted to feeding itself directly with plant foods!
Source: A N O T H E R INCONVENIENT TRUTH

Hasta la vista, baby

I hope you never lose your sense of wonder,
You get your fill to eat but always keep that hunger,
May you never take one single breath for granted,
God forbid love ever leave you empty handed,
I hope you still feel small when you stand beside the ocean,
Whenever one door closes I hope one more opens,
Promise me that you’ll give faith a fighting chance,
And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance.

I hope you dance….i hope you dance.

Miss You, is not what I want to say. You know the reason. I’ve seldom missed anyone in my life, other than when they are gone altogether. So, this letter won’t have a “Miss You” anywhere. Still, I will always remember our last meeting on the road. I don’t know about you but I was noticing the “cyenide” (the spelling error) on the wall behind us. Your “Bye” and the “Cyenide” , I was wondering who in the world had time to scribble that. And every time I turned around to see you leave I was embarrassed to see you still waving your hand! It felt strange because I have only watched people leave. I’ve turned back to watch them walk away but never been caught doing so. Real stupid, wasn’t it? To meet on the road when we can’t predict our next meeting. The goodbye protocols make me feel awkward as I am bad with emotions, and you are too when I show mine. Thought I hadn’t noticed? Hehe, I am the observer, my dear.