This is Nepal

It is not easy being a Nepali and living in Nepal. A few cases to ponder about: How many times you have read news? About vandalized hospitals and doctors threatened by the family members of the deceased; just because, their loved one has just died in that hospital?

Hospital is where people die!

If you do a survey, you will be surprised by the number of people who die in hospitals. More people die in hospital than they do in their own home. That is because; hospital is a place where people go for treatment of their diseases. Some of those diseases are curable and others are incurables. There is no guarantee that everybody recovers from the illness. Then, why do these people blame the doctors all the time? It is because the deceased person was young and has not seen the life? Will vandalizing hospitals and thwarting doctors solve our problem?

Road Accidents 

When some road accidents happen, the people start a protest on the street. They torch the vehicle(s) that had already met with the accident as if, that wasn’t enough. As if, the accident was pre-planned and was a plot to cause trouble for the road users.

Since when has road accidents become an intentional act rather than an accident? Will torching of vehicles and thwarting the driver reduce the road accidents?

Political Natural Disaster

When there is a natural disaster like flood swiping a village, river bank encroaching a land on its way, land slide, the politicians are blame for the disaster. I don’t know about other countries, but here in Nepal, natural disasters happens due to the political inability. It is a political issue. Will the blame game eradicate the such disasters in future?

Meri Bassai… the Language

And then there are programs on NTV like Merri Bassai and Jhai Kuti Jhai. Loud and cheap comedy programs made to teach the public a lousy way to vent their frustration. Teaching such loud talks and disrespectful manners to our kids is nothing to laugh about.

But, it seems nobody cares about it. These programs have always enjoyed good TRP (Top rated Program) on viewership ratings.

Nepali Media

These are some of the day-to-day happenings in Nepali media don’t have time to talk about such problems. Nepali media is too busy feeding us political junk – news, views, and deadlocks – to distract our mind from the main problem of our country. Our journalists have been complaining about not getting a true respect from the society. When will they learn to earn the ‘respect’ they desire and stop asking like beggars ?

Note : This article has already been published in Xnepali.com on March 9, 2011 

Mistake I made in my life

It was the time I started riding my scooter and I did not knew much of the street rules. It was the time, I didn’t even know I had flat tire and somebody else has to tell me about it. You can call me ’empty head.’ But, that was what I was in the beginning years of my scooter ride.

I am talking about an incident of the year 2004. I think, I was on the Lainchour area, when a micro-bus driver made a gesture with his five finger open and close twice and fast.

Okay, I have to admit it now, I misunderstood that gesture. Before I could even give him a damn look, he was off on the road. But, I didn’t want to let him go without teaching him a good lesson. So, I followed him as the it was going in the direction of my office.

At around Jamal area, near the Nabil Bank, the same micro-bus was stopped to let passenger get on it. When, I was close the the vehicle, the micro-bus driver made the same gesture, again. He opened and closed his five finger twice and fast !

When, I was close to the window of that the driver, I spit my mouth-full of saliva on his face and then ran as fast as I could. I was very happy for the revenge I got from the misbehaving micro bus driver.

But, the happiness didn’t last more than 5 minutes. When I was making turns to get in to my office, another guy, about to leave the parking area, made the same gesture. Now, something strike in my mind that the gesture means something other than teasing a lady on wheel. It was only when I looked in front of my scooter, I found the answer.

My headlight was on !

Now I realize, that was what the driver had been trying to tell me more than once. I felt terrible after knowing about my mistake. I deserve a punishment from that micro-bus driver!

I don’t know how to find that driver. I wouldn’t even know him if he appears in front me as, I never saw his face clearly. But, whoever he is, I would like to offer my sorry to him for the stupidest mistake I have ever made in my life.

I am really sorry !

Ed's Note : This article has already been published on February 10, 2011 in Xnepali.com 

The Illusionist

When Sai Baba was frisking gold rings and chains from the air and was giving it to his devotees, a Japanese interrupted him to ask a question. When he got the permission to ask, the Japanese asked Sai Baba, “Can you convert the mountain behind you into gold, just like the way you can do this gold rings and chains ?”

After a brief pause, he said to that Japanese guy, “Come tomorrow.”  And, that “tomorrow” never came.

I was in my second year of college when my English lecturer told me about the incident to our class.

A couple of years ago, India TV ran a program disclosing some of his tricks Sai Baba does in front of his devotees, with the help of spy cameras. The program host had also had invited scientists to explain the reason behind those tricks. But, these revelations hardly mattered to his believers as they believe the television was running scam campaign to taint the image of Sai Baba.

At around 1997, my ex-boss had the hardest and most personal experience of Sai Baba’s art of magic or illusion. It was her uncle, who was suffering from cancer, causing him a lot of pain. Her uncle and aunt went to Bangalore for check-ups. The visit required them to go through Chemotherapy to stop the growing tissue in his stomach. The couple, being believers of  Sai Baba, went to visit him during their Bangalore visit. Sai Baba saw the sick believer and did a magic.

In their next visit to the hospital, the oncologist was puzzled after seeing their fresh sheet of x-ray report prior to the chemotherapy. There was nothing in that  x-ray report, not a trace of cancerous tissue. The delighted couple canceled their chemotherapy treatment and returned back back to Nepal.

But they didn’t realize the sad truth: cancer was never treated. Within a month of his return back to Nepal, he had to go back to the hospital in Bangalore due to unbearable pains in his stomach. New tests showed that, within that one month period, the cancer had spread all over his stomach. The chemotherapy would have stopped it, if Sai Baba hadn’t done his ‘magic’.

My ex-boss’s uncle died within two months of his visit to Sai Baba. A death, which could have been postponed for some time if not for forever; came too early to him just because he believed more to an illusionist than doctors and their combined conscience.

They say, at the time of desperation, we believe what we want to believe not what is said to be believed.

Moral of the story – an illusionist can not cure diseases. He may conceal it for a short time but, it resurfaces itself.

Ed's Note : This article has already been published in Xnepali.com on February 4, 2011

I like West, I like East

We grew up with teachers who told that we used to have a secret formula to make devices that can fly in the sky – as described in Ved and in Ramayan, as a ‘Puspak Biman’. However, it was the Wrights Brothers who made the first real flying plane. They didn’t have the formula to work on and the flying machine was the product of their own imagination. So, the West rules here !

People in the Western world spend billions of dollars on fitness instruments yet, they are more obese than people in the eastern side of the world. Thanks to Yoga, even a penniless can do it with a little knowledge. East rules here !

They hired 200 best engineers for an idea, and invested 200 billion dollars to design a Space Pen, pen to be used in the space. We ask, why didn’t they use graphite pencil for the job? I don’t think “graphite dust, requires sharpening, and is erasable,” is a valid enough reason to spend such a huge resource.

People in our country worship Goddess Laxmi for wealth and Goddess Sarashwoti for knowledge. But, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Larry page, Warren Buffet should never have cared of Laxmi or Sarashwoti in their lives. Their brilliant minds have created enormous wealth – not only for them individually but also to the overall economy of their country. Do Americans worship those goddesses ?

Pfizer pharmaceuticals, an American drug company, spends billions of dollars to research for a medicine called ‘Viagra’ and we solely depend on natural herbs – hot spices for the same hob. We still have bigger pie of population to contribute to this world: 60% for the world population come from Asia alone.

We have at least one god to worship everyday of the year, in contrast to the Western people most of whom have only one god, Jesus Christ. Yet, millions of gods haven’t helped the people in the East with their poverty and West-dependence. Ever wonder why we have 330 million god and goddess ?

Western culture accepted the idea that school children should be educated on sex, a lot earlier than the East. We, here on the eastern side still go nuts over the idea of educating them on sex. Have you ever imagined what would have been the population of China and India, if they have said ‘yes’ for sex-education in school? May be, it would have been less than the 60% of the world’s population.

Ed's Note : This has already been published in Xnepali.com in January 25, 2011

Shiva Linga – why worship the Shiva phallus?

It really has not been that long, when I came to know, we Hindu worship a Shiva’s Linga (Shiva Lingam); Lord Shiva in the form of a phallus (penis). But, this knowledge made my skin crawl shiver in sheer disgust.

One of my friends, who is devoted to Shiva, tried to make me understand her side of story, a good side to that story. But I was so disgusted; my mind refused to understand the good-good things she was telling me. My mind simply rejected to hear her version of the worship culture. I am a Hindu by birth but, I have lost the respect for the religion due to absurd things like worshiping the Shiva Linga. Going temple every morning to worship somebody’s phallus (who cares even if belongs to a god) is just too much in the name of Dharma. Give me a break. I am not that type.

I don’t care what you do in your bedroom. You are free to explore your wild side but, do me one favor and don’t tell me all about that.

I am not a temple visitor, as it requires me to walk around the temple area on bare feet and temples are not that clean do to so. But, it’s been decades since I have visited a temple.

Wait a minute; do I need to enter temples ?

Most of the time it’s on the roadside to see how clean the area is! Some says Pashupati is cleaner than before. But, I don’t wants to know. After knowing what exactly in the temple, I am not sure about others but, I am least interested to visit it. 

One of my good friends once said about ‘Unmatta Bhairav’ that, it’s image boosted his mood occasionally; and time and again he used to go to see the image just to recharge him.

I am wondering: What does worshiping Shiva Linga teach us? What should we be learning from this worship? Why do thousands of people visit Pashupati Naths’ temple every morning? What’s in their mind ? Why is it so important to visit that place that houses Shiva Linga?

In the Shiva Puran, a book written about lord Shiva, says, ‘The linga of Shiva, cursed by the sages, fell on the earth and burnt everything before it like fire. Parvati took the form of a yoni and calmed it by holding the linga in her yoni’. The shiva linga seen in the first photo is the symbolic sculpture of that procedure. The religious pundits believe it to be the symbol of creation.

It is not only Pashupati Nath Temple that houses Shiva’s Linga. There are many other sexual sculptures in our temples. In fact, the sexual representation in our religious destinations are more than such books we can buy from the Nepali market (Ok, let me admit one thing here, this kind of book is some thing I don’t go for hunting and blue movies do not appeal to me either). There are few explanations on why such erotic images of gods and goddess in the temple like -to ward off the bad intentions in people; don’t make sense.

I wonder, what kind of bad intention people might get while visiting temples? Or, is it an advertisement – so that people visit temples more often?

I wonder, what image comes in those people’s mind when they really cry and need to reach out for the God and kneel down praying ‘Oh God’ !

Just wondering ! 

Note : This article has already been posted on Xnepali.com on January 10, 2011

Love Marriage or Arranged Marriage

Picture downloaded from Internet

I was about 14 years old when my vocational teacher (not from my school) told me this incident: one of her good friends from her office chose to marry a girl just because he did not wanted to disappointed his mother. The love birds broke-up days before his marriage, to marry an unknown woman his mother chose. My teacher had all praise for him for that decision, yet my young mind could not understand his side of story more importantly the hidden reason behind that decision.

During my college days, I had a friend who preferred arranged marriage over Love marriage. She had her parents to look upon, admire and have that strong belief in this institution. But when Diana and Prince Charles divorced, her strong belief towards arranged marriage was terribly shaken.

I have friends who are doing well in arranged marriages and I also have friends who are not doing that well even after a love affair before marriage. When situation turns like that, we tend to analyze the pros and cons of both types of marriages.

Let’s give another twist to this question: in Western world, love marriage is only an option and in my side of the world, arranged marriage is a culture with traditional values. If you go for an arranged marriage, it means you are very family oriented person and will tie the knot at your family’s wish, like the guy who married the girl his mother chose for him.

As for me, the choice of arranged marriage has another angle. This traditional institution is based on the transfer of ancestral property to the offspring. If ancestral property is not transferred from fathers to sons and if the main person in the household is given a choice to give away his /her properties as per his/her wish, this facade of the family oriented decision will have clearer picture: the aspect, some people prefer to ignore.

If people are given choices in choosing their life partners, they would certainly use their intelligence in choosing the right partners and that won’t diminish any family values. There should be no financial matter involved during the decision taking. If the ‘will system’ in passing the ancestral property is implemented in Nepal; there won’t be such thing like Western culture and Eastern culture when marriage is concerned. The culture and traditional values will be a lot more different than what we witness now.

Woman, money and land are not the only reasons leading to war all time; it is also a reason that helps one to decide on the wrong and right.

I am pretty sure; if marriage is not done for money or land, people will definitely go for love marriage instead of an arranged one.

In a different note, love marriage is popular in developed countries and arranged marriage is more popular in developing countries. Does that choice has anything to do with being rich or poor based on the marriage tradition ?

Eds' Note : This article has already been Posted on December 24, 2010 on Xnepali.com.

Battle of sex: women’s side

“Do you hate men?” An innocent looking lady who works with me asked.

“No!”, I replied.

“Then, why don’t you marry ?”

She doesn’t stop asking the same question even after my repeated request not to ask it again. I don’t want any more questions in the topic.

This question makes me feel uncomfortable, and it also freezes me. I am not interested in this institution. My concern is, if I am free from this question in my family circle, why are the outsider even bother? But, they never stop bothering me.

So, I have to answer her question to make sure that she won’t keep asking the question again.

“I am not buying the concept that men are superior to women and that, I can’t live with a man who strongly believes that they are superior creatures on earth.” I added, “In our society, men are brought up with this belief and I look at them with a question in my eyes.”

She told that, she understands what I was talking about. Her own daughter, who is gender specialist and works in china (what a paradox a gender specialist is a gender biased), is also uninterested in marriage and thinks men are chauvinist.

Some years ago, when my boyfriend asked me “do you think men are pig ?”

My prompt answer was “No !”

But in my mind, I was thinking, “Why is he dragging the innocent creature, and what fault did the pig had to be compared with an arrogant man ?”

He was the same guy who had problem with me watching Oprah Winfrey show. I am a huge fan of Oprah as she is a single woman institute in the whole world who has done a lot to empower women all around the world.

The idea that male are superior sex compared to female is being injected in our mind for their own benefit. The truth is, physically there may be a vast difference between men and women, and one thing that is truly equal is brain. To illustrate the physical difference in a comical way, a Hindi movie explained the difference: men can bare their top in public and women can’t. Leaving alone the physical difference, we can’t difference between the two sexes by the intellectual strength they can possess. That might be one of the reasons Harvard University enrolls more women than men.

Yes, we think in a different way than men and as the saying goes, “Man thinks with his head and woman thinks with her heart”. Different ways of thinking don’t mean that one is smarter and the other is not, it is just that we think differently.

My experience says that men can do only one task at a time but, women can multitask. Shouldn’t it make us a superior sex?

I have read of a English teachers who once wrote, “Woman without her man is nothing”, on the black board and called a boy and a girl in the class to put the punctuation mark on the sentence. The outcome was:

Woman, without her; man is nothing.

Woman, without her man; is nothing.

Interesting lines, aren’t they ?

Now you tell me which of the two lines was the the touch-up of the boy and which one that of the girl?

Ed's Note : This post has already been published on December 16, 2010 on Xnepali.com