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Nepali-American Journalist Awarded

   By Akhilesh Upadhyay Reprinted from th 21-Jun-01 Bill
     Congratulations to Ravi Adhikari on his 22-Jun-01 ashu
       Dear Aashu, Thank you very much for y 23-Jun-01 Ravi Adhikari
         >To be honest, I cannot expect the same 23-Jun-01 Biswo
           <To be honest, I cannot expect the same 24-Jun-01 Akhilesh upadhyay
             First of all Congratulations to Ravi Adh 24-Jun-01 Robin Pandey
               First of all, let me congratulate Ravi o 24-Jun-01 Hari


Username Post
Bill Posted on 21-Jun-01 03:21 PM

By Akhilesh Upadhyay Reprinted from the Kathmandu Post

NEW YORK, USA, June 20 - Ravi Adhikari, a Nepali journalist working for a newspaper here, has received a prestigious journalism award for community activism. His news report forced a company to recall its shoes with images of Hindu gods from the market last year.
Way to go man. Journalism is not dead.
ashu Posted on 22-Jun-01 01:29 AM

Congratulations to Ravi Adhikari on his winning this award
from SAJA journalists. It's always great to hear about
a fellow Nepali's achievements.

Here's wishing that Ravi would go on to win more awards and plaudits from his professional peers!!

oohi
ashu
Ravi Adhikari Posted on 23-Jun-01 12:50 AM

Dear Aashu,

Thank you very much for your kind greetings. To be honest, I cannot expect the same from majority of Nepalis. The Award ceremony is set for tommoros evening at the Columbia University. I hope I will see you in Valley Forge, Penn. Bye,

RAVI
Biswo Posted on 23-Jun-01 12:56 AM

>To be honest, I cannot expect the same from majority of Nepalis.

Dear Ravi:

Who says you can't expect same from majority of Nepalis? We are
al proud of you and your achievement!

Biswo
Akhilesh upadhyay Posted on 24-Jun-01 12:17 AM



I know I am touching a hornet's nest here. But that's my occupational hazard anyway. Ravi Adhikari received the SAJA award today in New York amid a gala function. While he was pleased with the recognition from the South Asian Journalists Association (with overwhelming Indian presence), he was deeply troubled by his own community's lukewarm response, both back home and New York City, his adopted home.

Here's a larger picture. He is extremely critical of New York's fractitious Nepali politics, and Nepal mission's indifferent presence. I am not an old hand on the city affairs as Ravi, and my impressions are preety much in a formative stage. But I do agree with him on this: Nepal Mission in New York has done little to mobilize the community spirit. Let me quote a 29-year-old computer student, who has been in the city for more than five years. "By practice, diplomats posted in New York are happy to exchange dal-bhats with a handful of families. They don't want to have anything to do with the wage-earning, struggling immigrant, whose visit to the mission means nothing but visa problems and so on."
Robin Pandey Posted on 24-Jun-01 01:53 AM

First of all Congratulations to Ravi Adhikari!

Keep up the good work. An individual driven to succeed is an American way. This country was built by individual entrepreneur's competetive spirit to succeed for himself and for his family. Same spirit is alive in many occupations today. Way to go Ravi.

Second, for Akhilesh Upadhyay, there are a lot of people who help solving people's visa problem legally. I am very passionate about people's visa problem and provide them support to boost their career. Send them to me or have them look me up. I won't say my company name here. Look me up in classified section.
Hari Posted on 24-Jun-01 03:22 AM

First of all, let me congratulate Ravi on his wonderful accomplishment. And I can see why Ravi would be angered by the usual lack of response from the Nepalis, in New York or elsewhere.

But I think Ravi needs to relax a little. Whether or not his "national community" shows up to cheer during his award ceremony or call him up to congratulate is irrelevant. After all, his being a first rate journalist doesn't get any worse without this support. I agree, it would be nice, but it's nothing to fret about. He writes regularly in an Indian publication, hence more of an "Indian" response. As for SAJA being dominated by Indians, name me more than the handful of Nepali journalists in New York or elsewhere in the US.

Comes the question of factionalism. Here's my take on it. Nepalis in the US are no better than Nepalis in Nepal. If you are a kangressi in Nepal, you're still a kangressi in the US; a commie there is a commie here, and so forth. I've even met people here that are STILL NeBiSangh or Akhil. And there's no need to get into the kind of factionalism that's going on in Nepal. So, yes, in this case, you can get angry that this Nepali culture of factionalism is just too damn hard to get over for most people.

My suggestion to Ravi: write about these things, let people know about these misgivings of the Nepalis so that more people are made aware that their "community" activities are being watched over. That they can do what they please in their homes and in their private lives; but if they choose to be identified as keepers of the community, then their community activities will be scrutinized.

Let the ink flow from your pen!

Dui Paise Musings,

Hari