| Username |
Post |
| lonely |
Posted
on 21-May-03 08:07 PM
This one is really good , its from Nepali times:
The goings-on at Tribhuban International Airport form the backbone for the Beeds column this week. It is of considerable irony that in recent times, the number of tourists flying into the kingdom has dwindled while the Nepalis seeking foreign employment leave in droves. In the Golden Years of Tourism, airport conversations with visitors revolved around treks, tours and how not to get ripped off. Now, with the mass exodus of our Nepali brethren, things are different.
For many it is their first trip on an aeroplane. As they go through the long queues at the baggage security, they start eyeing the check-in counters. Each counter is a possible obstacle in their quest for a foreign job that pays in foreign currency. The sight of security or immigration officials make them shrink into themselvesthey are so self-effacing to render themselves invisible. They are afraid of interrogations, of being sent back from international airports. They have all heard those stories, usually from manpower agencies that exaggerate to highlight their own competitive advantage.
The Bipalis know that if there is any glitch at the airport they are on their own. They do not request window or aisle seats: the very act of being issued a boarding pass is the first hurdle overcome. The men huddle together, anxiously scanning their passes to reassure themselves that they have not been handed fakes.
At the immigration counter, they line up, rewriting the departure card several times with fierce concentration, as they would in a school exam. Those who got through their SLC help the others. Immigration officials know there is nothing to extract from these people, and let them through after asking standard questions for which they receive the standard answers. Once past immigration as far as these Bipalis are concerned, they have crossed the main hurdle in Nepal. All too often the final routine security check is their undoing.
A weary airport official who processes nearly four hundred Bipalis a day, told the Beed that in their excitement of boarding the plane, many leave their bags in the x-ray machines, some even forget passports and valuable documents. TIA authorities are changing tactics to serve these Bipalis, their newest and most consistent customers on a one way ticket out of here. The workers are our new air travellers, and there is a tacit understanding that they should have the chance to exploit the opportunity to better their lives.
At the point of no return the Bipalis hug each othernew-found friends who are bound by the same circumstancesas they dream aloud of buying adjacent plots of land in a Kathmandu suburb, even the same make in motorcycles. They are heading out but their goals are already turned homewards. They speak loudly of a cousin, a neighbour, a friend who sends money home for his family, who returned laden with gifts, gold, a big music system and American dollars. The next breed of the Nepali consumer is in the making.
As political parties repeat their rhetoric, hundreds of Nepalis leave for bidhes. Their remuneration lubricates an economy that is otherwise close to a standstill. While countries around us develop strong internal economic structures, Nepals myopia continues to rely on tenuous external links. Our only competitive and comparative advantage is exporting cheap labour. The lahures of the last century are the Bipalis of this one.
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| lonely |
Posted
on 21-May-03 08:13 PM
I iked this article, one of the reason being the harassing mentality of TIA employees so that they could get out some money form these sojha sajha nepali. When I was flying from TIA, I had to experience the same situation. They asked so many questions and they were not agreeing to let me fly, they were just keeping me in side and trying to frasrtrate me....I really didnot know what to do.....was really worried....I was sure they were going to ask for money....they didnot directly ask for money but started asking about my I-20, college ko letters and more additional letters, which I really don't understand why they need it......malai ta jan jala khodai haina...aafno daat bata pasina nai aauna lagi sakya thiyo...finally.....i was saved.....goods helps at the right time...
ke garne affule nachiya manchhe bhaye ta TIA mai stranded for ever......
tara tini haru ko mentality ta last khattam chha.....poor Bipalis haru lai ni kati dukka dine kati...ya lekhera ka sadhya chha ra...
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| Biswo |
Posted
on 21-May-03 08:26 PM
The writer seems to have missed the point until almost the last paragraph.
Is it fair to attack the ignorance of poor and desperate youngsters? Is it fair to mock them this way? Is the writer justified in excessively ridiculing their fear of being fleeced, and their supposed excitement of flying away to the lands of opportunity? I believe no. The writer may be KTM based, rich man who has flied to foreign countries tens of times, but it is worth not to be flippant while writing about misery of others.
But the author remembers his main point as he progresses. This is not the best piece of literature, but it has the ingredients of good literature.
In a related note, now that thousands of our people go to different countries for job, some of them paying more money than British Army jobs, isn't it time to close the British Gorkha Bharti thing? They are not even looking for a few hundred recruits per year, so any talk of economic benefit to Nepal is no more useful. Also it is obvious that British are always going to join war with Americans, and the American right seems to be in the constant hunt of enemies, which means our Gurkha people, who will be the first in the enemy fire line, are probably going to be sacrificed for British cause for long time to come, while their loved one will have to live in a pension of a few hundred dollars for the remaining life. Of course, Ex-Gurkha military men in Nepal should be a part of decision process if such decisions are to be made, but I think it is time we start thinking about it.
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| sks |
Posted
on 22-May-03 10:47 AM
Biswo, no offense, but i think its u who has missed the point. I read it 3 times and I must say I fail to find the article "mocking" or "flippant" in any way. Realistic and sad are more like it, methinks.
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| Gurl_Interrupted |
Posted
on 22-May-03 11:56 AM
Grrreat article! Thanks God! someone used his/her voice to address the reaL situation.
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| Biswo |
Posted
on 22-May-03 12:35 PM
sks, of course, no offense taken.
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| mirador |
Posted
on 22-May-03 01:09 PM
>>...At the point of no return the Bipalis hug each othernew-found friends who are bound by the same circumstancesas they dream aloud of buying adjacent plots of land in a Kathmandu suburb, even the same make in motorcycles. They are heading out but their goals are already turned homewards. They speak loudly of a cousin, a neighbour, a friend who sends money home for his family, who returned laden with gifts, gold, a big music system and American dollars. The next breed of the Nepali consumer is in the making. ....
The author seems pretty condescending to me. The paragraph is also full of gross generalizations. here are some examples:
-I don't know if the hugging thing is true, personally I haven't seen any. has anyone?
-They ALL dream of a piece of ktm suburbs? Come on! these kids are realistic although they may be from darchula and doti. Most of them don't even like Kathmandu. Think its dirty and full of snotty people.
_What they do is NOT speak loudly. They are soft spoken to the point of annoying the air hostess. The timidity, as expected, is out of embarassment of leaving the country to be vassals of a new society ( I expected the same from the London bound leg too) . And they know that the snots know the story too.
>>Amrican dollars! does the writer know the destination of these flights? Riyal is the currency, i think. And the migrants know it.
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| sks |
Posted
on 22-May-03 03:19 PM
i'm still not convinced, although i must say the hugging part sounds a little stretched. Us nepalis tend to be somewhat frugal when it comes to hugging...i think its more of a western thing. This hints towards the possibility that the writer has some western sensibilities. That said, it doesnt necessarily imply condescencion on the part of the writer.
Contrary to what u said, i think most people from outside KTM do dream of one day owning a piece of land in the city. And from what i hear, the suburbs might just be whats available right now. And once they get used to the urban luxuries while away from nepal, i bet they think twice before going back to work at the ancestral farm.
About the US dollars, correct me if i'm wrong, but no matter what currency they get paid in, isnt it common practice to bring it back home as US dollars?
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| dream_girl |
Posted
on 23-May-03 01:52 PM
why not?? We do hug each other???
Is that strange?? But a good article....
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