| Sajha.com Archives | |
| Username | Post |
| rat-a-tat | Posted
on 23-Apr-04 05:03 AM
Hi everybody, Here's a great news! There is finally an alternative to Nepali Times. I just checked out their website www.nation.com.np and the news look great. Happy Reading. |
| M.P. | Posted
on 23-Apr-04 09:31 AM
A must subscription. A Sajhabasi rocks there again! I didn't know the online edition existed. Btw editors, the subscription link is not working. Or is it my black beauty from the second world war that's behaving weird? |
| rat-a-tat | Posted
on 24-Apr-04 01:59 AM
Just got hold of the people at the magazine. They said they are having problems with some of the links and that the website is still in a test phase. They gave me this alternate email address if you want to get in touch with them: nationmag@yahoo.com |
| Biswo | Posted
on 24-Apr-04 03:08 PM
Yep. Proud to see a sajhabasi starting a serious thing there:-) Hope to read the first issue soon. |
| M.P. | Posted
on 24-Apr-04 03:11 PM
>>Hope to read the first issue soon. I think the first issue is already out. Hope to see the SECOND issue soon. :) |
| Biswo | Posted
on 24-Apr-04 03:12 PM
MP, But I couldn't read the first issue. The link is not working. |
| niksnpl | Posted
on 24-Apr-04 04:08 PM
www.nation.com.np Bandwidth Limit Exceeded The server is temporarily unable to service your request due to the site owner reaching his/her bandwidth limit. Please try again later. |
| ashu | Posted
on 24-Apr-04 09:13 PM
Congratulations to The Nation weekly ko team!! A new magazine means: More choices for Nepali readers as to what to read, and more choices for editors/copy-editors/reporterswriters/designers/cartoonists/graphic artists And, more choices too for advertisers (i.e. people whose money brings down the subscription/newsstand prices for consumers like you and me) as to where to advertise . . . though, in these relatively uncertain times, Nepali advertisers (primarily the big multinationals) might not want to take risks to spread their ad money around). Then again, on the upside, I understand that one of The Nation's backers is Sunil Shrestha (a smart guy who is doing better and better business-wise; he runs a printing house) and the other is Ajay Ghimire (someone I greatly respect for his intelligence and for his razor-sharp financial acumen). On another note, two other Nepali-language weeklies have come up in KTM. Kantipur publication's NEPAL fortnightly has become NEPAL weekly. And Kantipur's former editor Yubaraj Ghimire has just launched a weekly of his own called: SAMAYA (or Time) in Nepali. His publisher is Bhrikuti Prakashan. The more the merrier. As a consumer, my only hope is that all these publishers will NOT become the card-carrying members of that publishing cartel -- The Nepal Media Society or its equivalent. oohi ashu ktm,nepal |
| M.P. | Posted
on 24-Apr-04 09:26 PM
Thank you much for the update, Ashu dai. And I agree with the conclusion you post at the end of the mahabharat. :) --- PS: Is Samaya more like a nepali version of the Nepali Times? Or is it completely different? If you had to advise someone to subscribe one of the three--the Nation, Samaya and Nepali Times, which one would you suggest? |
| ashu | Posted
on 25-Apr-04 12:10 AM
M.P. First the fine print: Since, for better or worse, I write a column for The Nepali Times newsweekly once every two weeks on business matters, and even though I am NOT an employee of NT, you should evaluate my posting here with appropriate caution. OK, with that out of the way, here are my honest comments. It's fair to say that both The Nation (English) and Samaya (Nepali) weeklies are NEW ventures in a relatively NARROW market, started by old Kantipur Publication hands. If I were an analyst, I'd give both magazines a year or so to prove themselves in the market before I give a "buy" recommendation on their "stock", so to speak. I say that because the proliferation of newspapers and magazines in the mid-90s (remember Everest Herald, Lokpatra and Sri Sagarmatha dailies, Kantipur Today and other magazines?) has shown us in Nepal that having great people as writers and columnists and having super-rich financiers do NOT necessarily result in the products' being a success. Sadly, as far as the market is concerned, having talent is just ONE variable among many. Helpful, yes; but not sufficient for success. ***** Meantime, everybody will be watching The Nation carefully. We all know that its editor lost out in the race to the top post at the Kathmandu Post a while ago for a variety of reasons. Now, as things happen in business, fairly or unfairly, whether he likes or wants it or not, as far as media watchers are concerned, the ball is in his court to sort of prove that he can actually: a) compete with established players with a differentiated product, and b) run a NEW weekly well -- both editorially and financially. [Sort of like, to draw a crude analogy, Jeffrey Katzenberg leaving Disney to start Dreamworks, if you know what I mean.] So, I can imagine that the pressure to succeed must be intense at The Nation. As for Yuvaraj, he is an excellent reporter who has a great news sense. Plus, he is extremely knowledgeable about a lot of issues -- a quality that's rare in Nepal where most journalists' "saa.manya gyan" is really khattam and jhoor. Then again, sometimes a great pianist does not become a great orchestra conductor . . . as such, my impression is that as long as Ghimire finds a solid back-up person to manage the editorial logistics at SAMAYA while he goes after the news himself (thereby creating something like the "joda" of MR Josse and Jan Sharma in the EARLY days of the now-defunct Independent weekly), then, I am certain that Ghimire will give the established media products a run for their money. As for The Nepali Times: One can make a convincing argument that The Nepali Times is a relatively 'elitist' newsweekly in the sense that it caters to the expat, diplomatic, INGO communities and upper-class Kathmandu market. Plus, most multinationals swear by it. Thanks to the effort of its parent company, the Himalmedia, it has a strong marketing team and a good reputation in the market. Then again, I would question Himal Media's financial sense: It dropped off "Jhan", a movie tabloid after a few issues last year. It had started "Jhan" with a bang. And its youth-centric WAVE [yes, yes, I do buy it, but only for the articles, I swear :-)] appears to be floundering due due to a frequent change in staff. What this sort of points out to is: Someone with a very strong business/marketing team but with a relatively so-so product (think of The Himalayan Times giving hell to The Kathmandu Post) can surely aim to dislodge The Nepali Times from its perch. oohi "amateur media analyst" ashu ktm,nepal |
| Shaiva | Posted
on 25-Apr-04 03:36 AM
Brilliant media analysis Ashujyu! More market for business columnists too? :-) |
| M.P. | Posted
on 25-Apr-04 02:55 PM
Thank you for a comprehensive analysis, Ashu dai. For those who are not regular visitors of Nepali Times, here is a piece from the latest issue of the Times on the same issue: http://nepalitimes.com/issue193/nation_3.htm Ashu dai's above analysis could have as well gone into Nepali Times as a column, and enhanced the "collective capital" (Tiwari, 2004). :) ------------- Now with the advent of 3 weeklies, this inquisitive mind wonders: 1) Will Yubraj -- now, I love this name :)-- Ghimire stop writing for the Nepali Times. If so, isn't this a loss in a way? Loss to the English readers. Or will Ghimire continue writing for the Times? 2) The Nepali Times, let's face it, hardly publishes lengthy, well-researched, analysis of any particular issue. Even the main headline hardly exceed 1500 words (unless things have changed or I have forgotten everything). In fact, rarely does it have articles co-authored by more than one writer. I read the Times only for the columns. Nepal and Himal, on the other hand, often have indepth analyses. Which path does Nation pick? ---------- I have little knowledge of Nepali media and policymaking procedure, but I was wondering if it there was any magazine/paper that links the academia with the policymakers (with not very strong academic backgrounds), including the politicians. I mean, is there any paper/magazine that summarizes/includes research articles from SINHAS and Martin Chautari, for example, so that even parkhaal matris--with excessive obsession towards nothing but sex--can read and understand? |
| utsav | Posted
on 25-Apr-04 03:48 PM
Most of us will be glad to know that one of our very own sajhaites whom we have been missing dearly (Paschim) here in sajha.com lately is a regular columnist for the Nation Weekly. I am looking forward to reading his insightful articles. If the one he wrote for the first issue is any indication, we sure can expect a lot from him :) |
| Biswo | Posted
on 25-Apr-04 04:20 PM
It seems I am among the very few who gets 'bandwidth limit exceeded' notice from the Nation.Yet to read the first issue. On a lighter note, it seems the two new magazines both used well established names from American magazines. Time and Nation. If the American magazines are any indications, Time will try to be centrist, and the Nation will be liberal:-) |
| M.P. | Posted
on 25-Apr-04 05:04 PM
>>>It seems I am among the very few who gets 'bandwidth limit exceeded' notice from the Nation.Yet to read the first issue. You are not alone. I got a glimpse of the paper online before the bandwidth issue. But I did not see Paschim's article there. >>>If the American magazines are any indications, Time will try to be centrist, and the Nation will be liberal:-) It also depends on who of the two editors--Yubraj Ghimire and Akhilesh Upadhya--is on the street right now. :) Ghimire, based upon whatever interviews I have seen and whatever number of his articles I have read, looks more like a status quo person. In any case, I hope they are different. If they "are the radish of the same plot", as my high school mathematics teacher would say, it will be buying the Kathmandu Post and Kantipur and trying to what extra news is in each. :) |
| M.P. | Posted
on 25-Apr-04 05:05 PM
...it will be LIKE buying... |
| suva chintak | Posted
on 25-Apr-04 05:28 PM
One interesting aspect of the new weeklies to hit the newstand is the question is thier financial muscle. While the Samaya and Nepal seem to have Nepali capital, the 'Nation' is being launched by the Indian "Mirror" group. I think if you have that kind of financial backing, I think this paper will have a certain advantage over the locally financed papers. Like the Himalayan Times funded by the Times of India group, the Nation can engage in a price war to harm and then eliminate the local competitors. Given the sensitive and often problematic nature of Nepal-India relations, how much of a national position can 'Nation' adopt vis-a-vis India? Just a few concerns. Nepali Times does a good review of the new papers in the market: Weeklies galore Three new weekly magazines have hit the stands, but is the Nepali market large enough for all of them? NAVIN SINGH KHADKA Bad news seems to be good news: in the past week there has been a flashflood of slick new weekly magazines hitting the stands. Kantipur Publication’s Nepal pre-empted the launch of its former group editor Yubaraj Ghimire’s Samaya by going weekly last month. Samaya itself came out this week. In English, the news stands have seen the advent of yet another weekly magazine, Nation. All three new contenders are aiming at the mainstream middle class market in English and Nepali, hoping that better printing quality and upgraded news content will draw advertisers. Media analysts see Nepal and Samaya jostling for the same readership, while Nation takes on 12-year-old English Spotlight. The weekly market is now going to be crowded as established political tabloids like Drishti and Bimarsha have spruced up and gone through major layout revamps. Registration records at the Information Department show that 1,300 of the 3,700 licensed publications in the country are weeklies. Not all of them are publishing, and the circulation battle is going to be between the two new entrants and the tabloids. At a time when there are so many dailies, is there really a need for weekly newsmagazines in Nepali? Yubaraj Ghimire, who edited The Kathmandu Post and Kantipur before starting Samaya says there were aberrations in the dailies that ignored corruption and diverted attention from real issues. “This is the space that weeklies can fill and demonstrate professionalism, accountability and credibility,” he told us. With so much going on, it seems the weeklies have their work cut out to deliver what they promise. “This is where we fit in,” explains Nepal’s editor Sudhir Sharma. “Our niche will be news reports, features, analyses and investigative pieces.” Ghimire reckons the reading population is getting more sophisticated and expects greater professionalism and quality from magazines. “Our professional ability and capability will be tested,” he adds. Sharma thinks the shift from fortnightly to weekly will be seamless. “We are already very well established and have a headstart,” he says. Samaya is brought out by Bhrikuti Publications which has travel entrepreneur Bharat Basnet as its chairman, while Nation is published by Mirror Media. Until recently, Himal Khabarpatrika, which is published by Himalmedia (also the publishers of Nepali Times), and Nepal were the two mainstream fortnightlies. Himalmedia has decided to keep its Himal Khabarpatrika a fortnightly. General Manager Anil Shrestha explains: “We had a serious business plan for a weekly two years ago, but concluded that it wasn’t the right time to increase frequency with a sluggish economy and transportation problems.” The new English language weekly will face the same problem of a crowded market as the Nepali ones, but even more acutely because of the limited readership in English. The Nation’s editor Akhilesh Upadhyay, however, is not too concerned: “Good journalism is good business, and it is here to stay.” One question that nags those in the media industry is how sustainable the new publications will be since the advertising pie is not growing. “Even if the rise in the frequency and number is good news for readers,” says media analyst P Kharel, “it is intriguing that even when it looks certain they will lose money, more publications are joining the fray.” The conflict and political instability has brought the economy to its knees, and everyone, including the advertising industry, is hunkering down for the long haul. Joydeb Chakravarty of Thompson Nepal doesn’t see how all the new publications can survive. “There will be a shakeout sooner or later because advertising budgets are not increasing at all,” he says. Till then at least, Nepali readers can enjoy greater choice, better quality journalism and the hope that increased competition will bring down prices like it has with the dailies. |
| ashu | Posted
on 25-Apr-04 05:33 PM
M.P. wrote: >>>Ashu dai's above analysis could have as well gone into Nepali Times as a column, and enhanced the "collective capital" (Tiwari, 2004). :) << Thanks, M.P. I like to post such stuff here (even in raw, unedited form) for the simple reason that I have NEVER really felt that I am too good for Sajha.com to be posting stuff like that. I guess I will write about other topics for The Nepali Times. Some days are good, some, bad, and that's the way one's column-writing life goes. oohi ashu ktm,nepal |
| suva chintak | Posted
on 25-Apr-04 05:47 PM
Corrections! Corrections! My bad! According to Navin Khadka in Nepali Times, the publishers of Nation are not Mirror India but Mirror Media. Apologies for the confusion! SC |
| M.P. | Posted
on 25-Apr-04 05:57 PM
SC wrote: "While the Samaya and Nepal seem to have Nepali capital, the 'Nation' is being launched by the Indian "Mirror" group. I think if you have that kind of financial backing, I think this paper will have a certain advantage over the locally financed papers. Like the Himalayan Times funded by the Times of India group, the Nation can engage in a price war to harm and then eliminate the local competitors." Still, I still this competition is good. If the Himalan Times had not come to the market, the costumers would not have enjoyed the lower price that Kathmandu Post was forced to set. Why let the Kathmandu Post, or any other patrika for that matter, bask in the sun and charge higher prices, when it can be more efficient and provide its product at a lower price? I do not know any "local competitor" that has been "eliminate[d]" becasue of competition. May be this is the reason why I am so excited about the new entries in the media market. The other issue--"Given the sensitive and often problematic nature of Nepal-India relations, how much of a national position can 'Nation' adopt vis-a-vis India"--deserves special attention. But I guess it all depends on the type of editors, how strong they are about their convictions, and how stongly they care about national interest. All we can do at this moment is to sit with our finger crossed and watch ahead curiously. |
| suva chintak | Posted
on 25-Apr-04 06:13 PM
M.P. jyu, I am in total agreement with you that foreign capital in media brings certain benefits to the profession and the readers, as such I support that. But I am also weary of the ideological function of any media and its propaganda potential. It is a powerful system that not only gives us transparent facts, but it can also subtly mould the opinion of the masses...just look at the role of the media in propelling the Rhitik Roshan riots. This is one reason why the Indian government did not allow any foreign media in their country, and they still have many restrictions. It is one reason why the US government does not allow easy access to al Zajeera (Sp.), al Arabia and many other foreign channels in the US. So, as you say, let us hope that the editors the foreign run papers in Nepal will be able to say no to their bosses when national issue is at stake. But practically, I think it is too difficult to say no to your employer...the one who pays your salary. So, I think there are both pros and cons of foreign media investment, and I don't know what a good balance is in this tricky situation. SC, always weary of the 'manufacturing consent' machine |
| lopsee | Posted
on 25-Apr-04 11:59 PM
me speak no nepali or english |
| ashu | Posted
on 26-Apr-04 09:05 AM
Suva Chintak wrote: "But I am also weary of the ideological function of any media and its propaganda potential. It is a powerful system that not only gives us transparent facts, but it can also subtly mould the opinion of the masses...just look at the role of the media in propelling the Rhitik Roshan riots." This sort of argument is specious, and can be deadly in the hands of the members of that cartel -- the Nepal Media Society. But let's look at one piece of counter-evidence: To the best of my knowledge, watching Star Plus and Zee TV or watching Hindi movies with overt patriotic/pro-India themes for the last 10-plus years has NOT turned any Nepali into an Indian citizen. When the state assumes a total control over the content of media (as when the Palace secretaries did during the Panchayati times), then, nothing but propaganda gets served. But when there is a market-based competition, many viewpoints come to the fore, and it's difficult for one set of propaganda to completely win over the others. In this context, the standard party line is: As long as Nepali media players (regardless of how they are funded) are engaged in a competition with one another, then, there will be BOTH diversity of news and more choices for the readers. The flames of the Ritik Roshan Kanda, let us not forget, were fanned to a large extent by Nepali-owned media in December 2000 and NOT foreign-owned ones. *********** "This is one reason why the Indian government did not allow any foreign media in their country, and they still have many restrictions." Thank you for the past tense "did". India has already eased a lot of restrictions for foreigners to own and run the media there. More concessions may be on the way, after BJP wins the elections. Even China is opening up its media (television) sector. The bottom line? One can wax eloquent about the role of the national media in all its glory, but, at the end of the day, media anywhere is JUST another business segment, subject to the laws of supply and demand. oohi ashu ktm,nepal |
| suva chintak | Posted
on 26-Apr-04 01:21 PM
Ashu jyu, Namaste! My very general comment on media seems to have elicited some uncharacteristic response from you. So allow me to clarify these misunderstandings. I had said: "But I am also weary of the ideological function of any media and its propaganda potential. It is a powerful system that not only gives us transparent facts, but it can also subtly mould the opinion of the masses...just look at the role of the media in propelling the Rhitik Roshan riots." Your pointed out, and might I add dismissed me, with this comment: "This sort of argument is specious, and can be deadly in the hands of the members of that cartel -- the Nepal Media Society." But aren't you contradicting yourself within the same sentence? In the first part, you dismiss my argument as specious. Which means that you do not believe that the media can also be an ideological tool with propaganda potential. So far so good. But in the second part of the sentence, you go on to say that this kind of argument can be "deadly in the hands of a cartel -- the Nepal Media Society." So it would appear that you do agree that media can be dangerous in the hands of certain people, right? Wasn't that the very same thing I was saying in my initial statement? Or do you mean to say that media can be deadly only in the hands of the 'Nepal Media Society' and all other cartels are fine (whether Nepali or foreign?). And you cite an incidence which actually undermines your 'specious' claim against my initial assertion. You say: "The flames of the Ritik Roshan Kanda, let us not forget, were fanned to a large extent by Nepali-owned media in December 2000 and NOT foreign-owned ones." Exactly my point: media is not neutral, it can cause problems like the Rhitik riots; whether it be foreign or locally owned. And it does not matter whether they are state owned or market owned...most of the papers that incited the Rhitik kanda were private owned. So just by being a private enterprise or market player is not an panacea for some of the inherent problems of mass media...it can do good, but it also has potential to harm. Sometimes riots and violence pays, and as market players out to make a fast buck they engage in such coverage...like a lot of the private papers in Gujarat two years ago. The better we recognize this, the better we are at minimizing such harm and maximizing the benefits. Secondly, I wouldn't give such a clean bill of health to the Indian media as you do. Recall the Indian aircraft hijack from Kathmandu: the Indian 'private'/,market' media went all out to defame Nepal and Nepalis without any basis whatsoever! Do you still specious to say that media can be used as a propaganda tool? You say: "To the best of my knowledge, watching Star Plus and Zee TV or watching Hindi movies with overt patriotic/pro-India themes for the last 10-plus years has NOT turned any Nepali into an Indian citizen." Where did you see or hear the Indian TVs and Hindi movies urging the Nepalis to change their citizenship? Have they explicity urged us to become Indians? I don't know about that. But my understanding of media in general is that they work subtly, quietly in changing the public perceptions. That is the trick of propaganda and advertisement to some extent: it works subconsciously. So what this will result in the short term: not that people will actually become Indian citizens, but they will hold more pro-Indian views and come forward to defend Indian position in many of the Nepal-India issues and debates. So you don't actually have to become an Indian citizen. The effect of propaganda is more on the mind rather than on the color of our citizenship card. Contd.... |
| suva chintak | Posted
on 26-Apr-04 01:22 PM
Contd.... You say: "When the state assumes a total control over the content of media (as when the Palace secretaries did during the Panchayati times), then, nothing but propaganda gets served." I don't know why you raised the issue of Panchayati secretaries here (is it related to this thread?), but yes, Panchayat state media was propagandist. But hasn't the multiparty state media been propagandist during the past 14 years? Isn't the Doordarshan and AIR, and BBC, and VOA, etc. all propagandists in so far as they advance the views of their respective governments and states? You might say that the 'private' or the 'market' media is pure truth because it is purified by the market competition, and the holy grail of demand and supply. I say yes and no. Yes, may be the private media does not propagate state propaganda in some context. But the private media also has its own interests, it is not neutral. So it just plays its own views and interests and masks them as public interests. As we come to know so well after 9/11 how truthful and transparent the American public/market/mainstream media is! It is so deceitful that they don't even show the caskets of dead US troops returning from Iraq. Particularly in dealing with foreign issues, one gets to see how jingoistic, nationalistic, partisan, and outright deceitful even the market media can be. One example comes to my mind is the case of private media making a stinking mess is that of the actress Rosha Karki, the editors and reporteres used their power of media to sexually abuse her and finally forced her to commit suicide. So just being private is not the end of it all. Of course we need multiple voices in the market! You say: "But when there is a market-based competition, many viewpoints come to the fore, and it's difficult for one set of propaganda to completely win over the others. In this context, the standard party line is: As long as Nepali media players (regardless of how they are funded) are engaged in a competition with one another, then, there will be BOTH diversity of news and more choices for the readers." I hope you don't think that I am follwing this party line. Just because the capital behind the newspaper is Nepali does not mean that the newspaper will take up a pro-Nepali stance. For a variety of economic, political, and personal reasons even a locally run, locally financed media can tow the foreign line. So I don't say that having a Nepali financier is the only solution to our media problem. Far from it. You took the line where I said "This is one reason why the Indian government did not allow any foreign media in their country, and they still have many restrictions" and you went ahead to say: "Thank you for the past tense "did". India has already eased a lot of restrictions for foreigners to own and run the media there. More concessions may be on the way, after BJP wins the elections." Now, why do you need to thank me for using the tense "did"? Were you trying to patronize me for my little bit of general knowledge on contemporary India? For a second I thought this was coming from the first secretary at the Indian embassy! You say: "The bottom line? One can wax eloquent about the role of the national media in all its glory, but, at the end of the day, media anywhere is JUST another business segment, subject to the laws of supply and demand." I have never waxed eloquent on our national media, I don't think such a thing called a "national media" even exists in Nepal. But at the same time, I think it is also a reverse trap to wax eloquent about the magic of the market and the divine laws of supply and demand. For, if the world was really run on these laws of supply and demand, we would have to explain why the Iraqis purchase the gas at $1.90/ gallon, the US consumer pays $ 1. 76/ gallon (and lord this is high) and the Indian bhiya pays almost $ 2.50/gallon. I have faith in the market froces in some aspects of life, but I don't think the whole of politics, society, and culture can be reduced to its specious charm. I don't know why, but I am deeply skeptical of the position that the profit is the bottom line in human life. Paisai saab cheej ho ta? I hope you will take the effort to convince me. SC, |
| Dr. Strangelove | Posted
on 26-Apr-04 01:42 PM
Ashuji & SCji, Crimson vs. Crimson...mano-a-mano!!! |
| utsav | Posted
on 26-Apr-04 04:42 PM
To keep the records straight, Paschim is writing for the Nation. I thought the one he had sent me earlier (after asking for it though) was published in the first issue. I guess it is reserved for the second one.......... |
| pravin_pandey | Posted
on 26-Apr-04 09:02 PM
Could some one tell me who is the editor in chief and the financier to this weekely. Thank you. |
| Poonte | Posted
on 26-Apr-04 10:37 PM
I wanted to wait until I could read much of the new magazine to congratulate the "Nation gang," but it seems like I too am having a lot of problems opening the links. The baby-phase glitches, I suppose! Anyway, without further delay now, allow me to congratulate the team at the Nation for the new source of news from Nepal! My best wishes to all of you in the weeks, months and years to come! Week after week, may you achieve greater perfection and acquire more admiration from your readers. |
| llkathmandu | Posted
on 27-Apr-04 08:44 AM
Hi everybody, I just checked it ( www.nation.com.np ) and it is working today. It's already the second edition on the net now. Wish you all happy reading. |
| rat-a-tat | Posted
on 28-Apr-04 10:13 AM
The second issue of the Nation Weekly has been uploaded on www.nation.com.np. Those still facing problems sending letter to the editor via website can also write to nationmag@yahoo.com. |
| Nepe | Posted
on 28-Apr-04 04:50 PM
For those who missed our own Paschim's article in the very first issue of the Nation, I am taking liberty to post the full text of the original manuscript I had received from Paschim (The final para, which ends the article in a seriously humorous note, was missing in the online version. Was it due to editing or an erronious truncation ?) Song of Sovereignty By Swarnim Waglé As one of the first Asian leaders to visit Victorian England in 1850, Jung Bahadur Rana, who became de facto emperor of the central Himalayas at the age of 29, insisted that he be given a 19-gun salute (higher than the 17 reserved for princes from the plains). A rare treatment not assured for everyone, this was next extended to his cousin Chandra. He went to England where he also collected his honorary doctorate at Oxford – a degree in Civil Law that was also given to Bill Clinton 87 years later. Jung and Chandra, the most notable of Rana rulers, kept this land unconquered by sending as many hill men as necessary to fight the White man’s wars. Doing so, they deprived the British of one good reason to not wage an expensive mountain invasion. Technically, thus, we were never colonized, but Nepal did not even have its own national anthem until Chandra’s final years. "God Save the King," the English anthem, was still played in the ‘independent’ kingdom. And it would be played at the oddest of hours, for random pomp and amusement, much to the inconvenience of the poor British ambassador resident in Lainchour. He had to stand up, no matter what he was doing, whenever he heard his native tune practiced in Tundikhel. In a sparsely populated, traffic-nil Kathmandu of the 1920s, much was seen and heard. Ram Mani Dixit, advisor to Chandra Shumsher, writes in his Purana Samjhana (from where this story is taken) that he then recruited his poet friend, Chakrapani Chalise to construct Nepal’s own anthem. Like a dependent Consultant, eager to please his benefactors, Mr. Chalise enquired what "angle" he needed to pursue for his compositions. He was told they needed to be grand odes that felicitated both the Shah King and his Rana Premier, "pure ksetriyas who ruled Nepal, home of the brave Gorkha race." An Indian gentleman from Rajasthan, M. A. Pathan, who was in town upon invitation by Chandra Shumsher to be Nepal’s "bandmaster," then put music into Mr. Chalise’s words. Thus was born the infamous Shrimana Gambhir -- a sycophantic mess that still stands as our national anthem. The progressive drafters of the 1990 constitution thought they had reduced the king to his proper size. They thought so on the strength of Articles III (sovereignty lies in the people, not the monarch) and XXXV (roughly: the monarch makes no mistake, for almost everything he does is on the advice of the elected Prime Minister). They also thought reaching out further to reform the Army, reduce royal claims on the exchequer, and dismantle iconic remnants like the anthem, would be an unnecessary stretch on their mandate. Justice Biswonath Upadhyaya was right to be benign, but not everyone was happy. The extreme leftists that included today’s top Maoists wanted to go all the way. They even goaded their ally among drafters, Nirmal Lama, to break rank. In those chaste times, even the rebels were restrained. Thirteen years on, we have come full circle. The cacophony of orchestrated felicitations of the king is growing. In the remote district of Mustang last week, this columnist witnessed by accident preparations for the king’s Jomsom felicitation. Marshalling every single resource of the state in the poor district, from the army to the CDO’s office to line ministries, local ethnic leadership, and even airline offices, it really was unclear how these costly tamashas could possibly gratify the king. He routinely refers to the "glorious tradition of the Shah dynasty reigning in accord with the wishes of the people." This desire to locate a glorious past that never existed is puzzling to students of history. Of the ten Shah kings after the great Prithivi Narayan in 1775, hardly three made any lasting mark. There simply is no consistent record on past royal glory notable enough to be evoked to justify activist roles for the monarch. The political parties vow to redress political regression definitively, especially the violation of the two articles cited earlier. And they should. But as custodian of state religion, language, and armed forces, the House of Gorkha is in equal need of shedding its baggage of "cultural regression." In this day and age, why should we be beholden to norms, institutions, and symbols in our statecraft in a manner that gives the impression that what we are holding on to, if let gone, would violate all sanctity? Instead of basking in nostalgia of absolute authority, or imagining caricatures of the preserving Vishnu, the institution of the monarchy is much better off seeking new legitimacy through deeds and gestures that are social, not political. A harmless point to start would be to encourage the replacement of icons like the national anthem that have inglorious origins. It is after all an unusual song loaded with symbolism of where sovereignty rested in the yesteryears. There is, of course, one more reason. The most striking adjective that describes the king in the anthem is "Prachanda." And this has long been famously co-opted by a bearded man from Chitwan who is not very friendly to either the crown or his state. |
| yadav | Posted
on 28-Apr-04 05:14 PM
other than paschim, what other sajhaite write for this new e-magazine? |
| provein | Posted
on 06-May-04 02:48 PM
anybody read the new issue? paschim's article is interesting but a bit too complex for my brain :) |