Month: March 2012

Are We Really Happy Today?


This question is as interesting as it is pestering, and we all know this very well. There are lots of questions like these which is still  unanswered and will be in years to come. This question, in a way, is just like questioning, “What came first? – Egg or Chicken?” So, in some sense, questions like these are called pestering question that will never have any concrete answer which can satisfactorily quench the query.

Apart from my research questions which is innumerable to count and which will takes years to find the answer, this question has always been reeling in my mind ever since I lost my sense of serenity and acquired an ambition to achieve – some of which has of course been mine and still is, while some are those that I have to find for someone else (family and friends). Our life is divided into combustible chambers of a rocket – our childhood, adolescent, maturation and old age. Every chambers of our life rocket is as important as it is to a rocket to propel it to move forward. Even a single glitch or failure in some intricacies will lead to complete downfall without giving us a single ray of hope to rise again.

In the above paragraph, I said, “……since I lost my sense of serenity and acquired an ambition to achieve……” which means in our adolescent age we start losing our mental serenity and this is the part from where the real combustion beings. Feeling unhappy or momentary happy is the part of this combustion process where when the heat is less, we feel happy, but apart from that we are unhappy. Most of our life is engrossed with this fact – believe it or not – but this is the fact. If you doubt, look back and try to visualize and ask yourself, “Why have I never stopped for a while to take a sigh of rest?”, “Why I am running like somebody is distributing something for free and I have to preempt and get it?”.

The most saddening thing is that we will never attain a ultimate peace of mind, we can never be happy if we keep on living the way we are. Just take for example: Once a child is born the parents start thinking of their health – they grow up, their health becomes fine then they start thinking of their study and to keep them consistently in the right track so that they will take a right course in their life once they will be left on their own. Once they take the right course, the parents starts thinking of their marriage (In this case, it is in terms of South Asian countries) – once their marriage life is well, they wanted to be known as a grandparents of a good kids and the process goes on. In our case, once we finish our school we start thinking of college, then subjects to choose which will lead us to some lucrative job perspective, then job, then money and then comes other accessories things.

When we get something for which we have been running, we are happy for a moment which has the shortest lifespan on earth and then we start thinking of the next level – in fact this chain of process never ends and we kept on running till the time comes when we are left with no other option then going to our moribund. So, what the heck? – what’s the meaning of running? – we never stopped for a while to relish the fruit of our perseverance and achievement . This might be a bit pessimistic opinion. But, in another way it is good. Good in a sense that we are busy with our work so that we never get time to think of anything evil – because there is an old saying which we use to read in our elementary school: “An Empty Mind is a Devil’s Workshop”, “Work is Worship” and things like that.

But, after all, the balance of HAPPINESS AND SADNESS is still not even and it is very difficult to find why. It is difficult to decipher the code of God and to find out why this world is so uneven when it comes to maintaining the equality. But, at the same time it is hard to believe that GOD CAN BE PARTIAL. In this case, we still have to believe that we are living in a even society of God where everything is fair and equal – however, it is difficult to believe, we have to believe if we are even a bit theist.

However stark it sounds, I have got just one thing to say, “Stay Happy, feel happy and be happy” – this is the only way to achieve what you want to. Perseverance is the best choice we are left in our life to deal with life. Be as supple as you can otherwise it is very hard to break even with a gust of wind sometimes – just like a dry branch of a tree.

All the best to all of you whoever have just finished reading this!!

Hard to believe


This blog might somehow appear to be controversial to my earlier one, but in fact both are true. The only difference between these two posts is that this one is in broader perspective.

Soon after Nepal government reached to a decision of providing 20 million rupees to the mount Everest summiting team of Maoist’s commander son Prakash, the waves of belligerent words, diatribe and criticism flooded the internet – specially in the social networking site Facebook.  The words of discontentment and dissatisfaction has fuelled the fire of debate and the already ongoing controversies which is quite normal for the Nepal’s Maoists. I think Maoists might be thinking that, “Let these fools spent their time in vain – their agitations doesn’t mean anything to us neither will they affect us in anyway in near future”.

This is really hard to believe how stoic and stolid we have become over time. Nothing seems vacillating we Nepalese. Everything is okay for us. Whether it be a long hours of load-shedding and increasing over time, either be our kitchen short of cooking gas, or be it a vehicle without fuel – everything is simply okay and we never seems bothering about those things. In fact, we are so foolishly wise that we always have a plan B in our mind or even if it doesn’t exist, we are adroit in making an impromptu decision or find a way out.

Second thing about us it that we are very fond of talking,  and of course because of that very reason we are very gregarious. You want to give it a try? – just accost to some Nepali guy or a girl and see what have they to present you with! I bet, you will simply get awake to becoming familiar with one!  But, sadly enough we all have now evolved though evolution and now talking has become part of our gene – everyone is talking – I am talking right here writing this long piece of lecturing material and of course Nepalese like me are all talking and this is the first thing you will notice once you will land in Nepal. It seems like everyone have a basic knowledge or more than what they really needs about the politics of Nepal. Just stand in a small group of guys, you will find how interesting the talks goes on.

Because of our height of tolerance which we have developed unprecedentedly, the bad politicians are enjoying the fruits of power. Those who were uneducated who can barely write their names with their hands and use to get involved in organized crimes through out Nepal ten years back have now become the heroes of our country. And, now the crime is even more organized. It is organized in the sense that you will not see any policemen involved in any form of confrontation while maintain law and order in the country. As a result, it appears as if everything is okay, and the security is perfect in the country. In fact, who would like to jeopardize their life in vain even when they are getting bread-and-butter sitting in their cozy couch in their drawing-room watching movies and serials in their plasma-television?

You can guess how disturbed you can be when you will see two different conflicting news on the same front page of the national daily – one news about the son of a powerful politician (who is powerful because of us, otherwise, he is just a nonentity as some other general citizen) getting more than 20 million rupees for summiting mount Everest and another is the news about a family who is on the verge of collapse – whose entire property is on auction because of drowning in the debt of the bank for not being able to pay the iota of money (200,000 rupees compared to 20 million) her family got from bank for the treatment of her son who was born with the persisting problem of hydrocephalus (A medical condition of retention of cerebrospinal fluid in brain – “Water in Brain”).  Nepal is one of those poor country in the world where the chasm of differentiation between rich and poor doesn’t seems coming down anytime soon which is sky-high different when compared.

The excuse of getting that hefty sum of money is that he is summiting the mount Everest for the peace and prosperity of the country. I don’t understand how is it going to provide the peace, stability and security in the country – I don’t think it is some kind of magic which will have some kind of weird effect on the country’s situation. I don’t also understand that how can this be feasible for the government of Nepal for not being able to cut-down even taxes for the world cyclist Puskar Shah when he finally decided to ascend mount Everest after cycling round the world, but now the government of Nepal is able to provide 20 million rupees for this idiot son of Mr. Puspa Kamal Dahal (Prachanda) who is good for nothing who haven’t yet contributed for anything inside or outside Nepal in favor of country and nor does he have yet been able to acquire anything by his will, ability and talent.

It is very hard to believe the working strategy, framework and hierarchy of the government of Nepal and how it has been functioning all these years and still going on lurking if not on the fast-track.

Growing Power House of the World — China


If we flip through the pages of the history we can find China having conflicting relationship with its neighboring  country even couple of years earlier to the beginning of World War II. China was technically in war with Japan in 1937, however, the World War II begun in 1939 – one of the biggest debacle in the human history the world had ever seen. The war had been an eye-opening experience for the whole world and the war in Asia ended in August 15, 1945 when Japan agreed to surrender.

Even till today, we can see that the broken relationship in WW II has not subdued and there is still mark of broken relationship since then. Even though there has been number of treaties formulated, promulgated, incorporated and has been subsequent change in the bilateral relationship between the superpowers, the sense of enmity doesn’t seem to be erasing anytime soon. China, US, Israel, Iran, Russia, Japan, North Korea and South Korea in the present situation are the few examples.

In today’s context, China seems gravitating the world’s attention towards itself. Even a iota of information coming out from China make the headlines of almost all the leading journals and newspaper in the world including the print and digital versions. After WW II, China has been successful in developing itself in an unprecedented way despites of hurdles and some stymies being created by the feared super powers of the worlds – which mostly points fingers towards the western allies. It is a commendable attitude of China for being able to learn a big lesson from WW II and till now keeping it away from any form of unnecessary debate, conflict and proving itself not be a warmonger.

Few years back whenever we use to go to buy some electronics goods we use to get things tagged as: “Made in Japan” – at least in the Asian countries, which is now shifted to being: “Made in China”. China has learn to rise from the ashes and develop from scraps and have developed a sense of: “Rise and Rise Till the Lamb Becomes Lion”, which means NEVER GIVE UP! Chinas have made her house from the stones thrown to her and because of this Chinas is evolving to become the world’s super power in terms of army, technology, and monetarily. This is not an accolade but this is the fact and we have to be pragmatic in this case.

Now taking a veer to another direction and part of China, she seems solicitous to things that she should not be. The first thing is that when the world is moving towards denuclearization, China is moving towards bolstering its military force – may be this time China do not want to get tampered under the feet of superpower if in case the war is waged – which is still a far cry. For that very reason China is collecting all sorts of data it needs for his military research works. The news of collecting meteorological data of the Indian Ocean couple of months back had heated the matter between India and China despite their excellent relationship in foreign trade.

It is really apprehensible to see all the ongoing changes taking place in terms of militarily – moving of US special force to Australian bay, shifting of Japan based US military base, and the presence of US military in the Asian countries in the Asian countries like Nepal, India, Bangladesh and many more. Though  US is indicted with showing belligerent nature to China, the claims were rebuffed indicating US special force presence in Asian countries are just the bilateral move to foster the military development and training in the Asian countries to mitigate terrorist threat.

I don’t know why the world is apparently mute seeing the unequivocal changes taking place. I think the world will soon have to pay the price for being a mute-spectator!!

आज सिले होठो से कुछ बोलना चाहता हु,


 

A dad says,

आज  सिले होठो से कुछ बोलना चाहता हु, 

बंद हाथो को खोलना चाहताहू, 

दूर किसी मुकाम पे जाना था मुझे, आज खुद को उन हबावो में घोलना चाहता हूँ, 

मनगा था तुझको जब किये थे सजदे, आर्जुवो के सजदे, उन आन्सुउवो के सजदे, 

आज उन सजदो को तुझसे तोलना छाहताहूँ, 

बंद होठो से कुछ बोलना चाहत हूँ, 

 

From the movie: “LAND GOLD WOMEN”.

कहतेहै सब के तू बिल कुल मेरी जैसी है,


 

कहतेहै सब के तू बिल कुल मेरी जैसी है, 

बचपन देखा तेरी आँखोंमें, देखा जब तुने पहली बार, 

छुवा जब नन्हे हाथो से तुने, जी गया था में हर बार, 

तेरी दामन से बंधी हर याद आज भी वैसी है, केहेंते सब की तू बिलकुल मेरी जैसी है, 

थोडा चल दिया था में, जब तुने चलना सिखा था, गिरकर फिर उठ कर चलना तुजसे ही तो सिखा था, 

उन नन्हे कदमो के बाद तू आज भी वैसी है, 

केहेंते है सब की तू बिलकुल मेरी जैसी है, 

आसुवोओ को जा देते थे, जब तुझे रोना आता था, 

डोली में फिर जाएगी तू, सोच का रो जाता था, 

खौवायिसोके वोह मुलाक़ात  आज भी वैसी है, 

कहते है सब की तू बिलकुल मेरी जैसी है !!

 

OUR DAD LOVES US MORE THAN ANYONE ON THIS EARTH. SO TRUST HIM FOR WHAT HE IS DOING FOR YOU.

From the movie: “LAND GOLD WOMEN”.

Glad of getting old things back


Its almost like twenty days since I left blogging, and I had already started missing it. But, now, I am back from one of the most momentous and cherishing moment of my life. It was great! I think its better to leave something personal, so I prefer not to reveal it. Those last 17 days passed so swimmingly that I didn’t even realize that it is time to return to my work place, and I was not mentally prepared to come back so early – soon after finishing the function. Finally, reluctantly, I had to and I could not help myself then to leave.

My Nepal visit this time was more memorable than in 2010. I guess it was more memorable and lively which might be because I had things to get engaged with which kept me occupied both mentally and physically. And secondly because I find more positive changes in Nepal which I wanted to see at least a bit. Nepal was in wrong track since the downfall of Nepal as a kingdom to a democratic republican state. For me it was something like unfettering a mad cow. People were turning violent – in the last 10-years of history, Nepal was becoming more and more chaotic.

Engulfed with darkness because of unprecedented long load-shedding, shortage of cooking gas, petroleum, shortage of proper drinking water has marred the entire beautiful society. But surprisingly we Nepalese have unprecedentedly and incomparably high level of tolerance – everything is okay for us. Even till now there is still some exceptions – Whatever goes around, nobody cares unless it falls to them. “Khai k garne?” (“So, what to do?”) has become a dictum for them. People had started becoming more and more personal and insular in attitude and egotistical. They had seeing themselves first – which can even be at the cost of somebody’s stake.

When I visited in 2010, I use to fear to go out – scared of being looted or kidnapped in my own hometown. It was really hell scary, but this time after two years things seems changing – thanks to the security system of Nepal that has somehow brought situation under control. And, just because  of few things this time I felt as if we have started getting our old Nepal back – not in terms of development but in terms of security, and the honesty people have started showing now – it has irradiation of positivity towards the development of Nepal.

The ramshackle roads links highways turned out to be a smooth full-throttle roads (though still not comparable to a developed country) – but still far more commendable than what I had seen few years back. Where it use to take an hour to reach has been connected with beautiful roads where we can reach in just 20 minutes or so, roads have been separated with diversions in the middle to minimize traffic accidents, we can now walk and drive our vehicle late night without fearing of being ransacked, jaywalkers have started crossing the roads only from the zebra-crossings, started using over-head-bridge or underground pass to cross, traffic have been eased, street vendors disappeared, army check points every now and then on the highways and the garrisons and barrage have simply disappeared, civil police who use to wear a nice clean dress that had disappeared during the insurgency period have come back again lashed with a beautiful rhododendron on their caps  – simply awesome!

The old roads are under construction with driving forces like China, India and Japan on the back. Almost from East to West of Nepal has been connected to broadband internets, ADSL, 3G internet and cable internet and wireless broadband internets and even that with a very descent speed of at least 1 MBPS or above. In totality I am so impressed with the ongoing infrastructure changes inside Kathmandu and outside which make it appear as if Nepal has got a new life. And the most stark thing I saw was that even in the passport control section of Nepal Immigration Center in Tribhuvan International Airport, foreigners queue was longer than Nepali. Wow! Somehow Nepal Tourism Year 2011 seems has been successful.

It was even more impressive to see that the new generation is coming up with more vehement ideas and enthusiasm to set up their own research labs in collaboration with foreign university and research centers – particularly with the one from where they have graduated or graduating. I think the beginning of new Nepal has just started and its meaning is taking its true color which seemed to be fading with every passing day and hurdles in the way of only hope of all Nepalese – promulgation of new constitution of Nepal.

I am happy that I am getting my old Nepal back with new shades of colors !