| Sajha.com Archives | |
| Username | Post |
| Biswo | Posted
on 08-Nov-01 10:32 PM
Discotheques of Kathmandu are often featured in news. Recent one was regarding a homicide of a boy. The murder took place in one disco, and the accused are from Nepal's powerful families.Law enforcement has been Achille's hill of our society and values. The enemies of civil and prosperous Nepali society have been attacking our society from that loophole. The charm of sybarite lifestyle is no longer considered disgusting.Discotheques, as I see being a one time visitor,are the place to express our joy,and forget our mundane privation. Kathmandu's discotheques are supposed to be ornament of its city life.Safety of such discotheques, where young and energetic youths from KTM frequent, should be of paramount concern to law enforcement authorities.But, alas, the perpetrators in Discotheques are from princes to ministers, and a nation of feudal culture can't treat everybody equally. Even in our vaunted democracy, some animals are, as Orwell once famously wrote, more equal than others. -----***********----------------------************------------------------------ A tautological statement is An oppressed society can't prosper. Free spirit is essential for a nation to move forward, to be prosperous. But how much free we are ? If the cascade of praise for prince Paras just after his crowning is any yardstick, then ruefully, we are not free. We may not be fettered by any law or police state, but we are shackled by our internal fear. Our major publications rushed to write eulogy of Paras. TKP, Himal everybody. If to elicit best from the capricious prince is their aim, then good. But the sickeningly effusive praise made a lot of us blush.For a lot of us, who remember that these same journals were so much after Paras when he was just a prince, and specially when King Birendra was the king, this volte-face comes as shameful surprise. This website has encountered a lot of characters in its life of one year. Plagiarist journalists and bigoted shameless human right activists were the most prominent, I think. And here lies the message, what our intellectuals should be fighting for now is not any external law or any oppression from state, but they should fight themselves, and introspect their own psyche. Just like in the Oliver Stone's Platoon, they have no other major enemy but themselves. They have to search their soul. The threat to them, their longevity and their integrity is not from others but from themselves. They should fight their cowardice, their tendency to ingratiation, and their hypocrisy. Their is a bright line, not thin,indistinct and fine line, between what is wrong and what is right, and they should know this. ------------------**************------------------------******************** Until some years ago, we wanted to create myth about our democracy, by claiming Nepal is sort of Scandanavian tract, where there are no political prisoners in jail, where constitutional monarchy remains firmly tamed, and where democracy is in full fledge. The myth is of course false when scrutinized. There is such a sense of insecurity among our leaders that nobody wants to resign, or retire. Compare this with our northern neighbors, reviled by many as autocratic one. Deng silently went to retreat, and died in almost anonymity.Now, the present leadership, including Jiang Zemin and Zhu Rongji are preparing to step down from the 2003 plenary session of Communist Party and new leaders Wen Jia Bao is touted to be new premier and Hu Jintao is touted to be new president.Given the predictable nature of Chinese politics, they are most likely going to be premier and president as being anticipated. I think that is an exemplary change of power(at least in autocratic society). Those politicans who were supposed to be at odd with Jiang Zemin, like Qiao Shi(former speaker), Yang Shangkun (former president) still live in China with dignity. We are democracy, we should create such environment in our country also. We can learn a lot from these northern leaders, and their system. |
| NK | Posted
on 09-Nov-01 11:21 AM
Dear Biswo, Here is another verse: I look around with my Half shut eyelets. They think I am alseep, But, I am wide awake, and ready to Reap. I am the voice of status quo, The spokesperson for the Remoreseless. Don’t worry, I have my own machinery Do you hear the churning? Do you hear the grunting? The work of my chakery? Do you see the far away northern Star? That guides my own star, The Narayanhiti and Paras stuti, My savior in shining armor, My gateaway to super duper richness, My patra patrika, and my Rato Bangala, Wait my fellow loyalists, They all will be double and triple In my lifetime, it is guraranteed. |
| Biswo | Posted
on 09-Nov-01 01:40 PM
Dear NK, Enjoyed your poem. News like this and other Bhajan kirtan surely makes us mad! Gratitude expressed to King (from nepalnews.com) The Raj Sabha Friday expressed its gratitude to King Gyanendra for declaring his only son Prince Paras Crown Prince and heir apparent to the throne on Badadasain. The Raj Sabha meeting also congratulated the Prince Paras and his wife Princess Himani for their appointed as Crown Prince and Crown Princess, an announcement said. The meeting chaired by Dr. Kesharjung Raimajhi was attended by Prime Minister Sher Dahadur Deuba and Chief Justice Keshab Prasad Upadhaya, among others. The Raj Sabha is the first constitutional body to formally congratulate the Crown Prince and Crown Princess. nepalnews.com br Nov.9 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Siwalik | Posted
on 10-Nov-01 11:57 AM
I share Biswo's sentiments about spinless people in Nepal who turn to "bhajan-gaan" of those in power. This is a political culture that has plagued Nepal since time immemorial. When I was in school, this sentiment was brought out by this statement: Hamilai ta ke, jo jityo oohi bhale." Thus the servile nature of mass is apparent. Such a mass is not going to revolt, just switch to singing different bhajan when the power shifts. The same sentiment was expresssed in a different way: "Thulo rukh ko chahaari maa basnu." An equally damaging "ukan" I heard was--"jasle maha kadchha, usle hat chaatcha." No wonder commission, favoritism, nepotism, and ascription are ingrained in the nepalese psyche. What can we do about it? Can cultuarally embedded practices be curtailed by a call to high morality, given the high poverty, low literacy and virtually non-existant independent thinking within the Nepalese border? |
