| Username |
Post |
| Sfengali |
Posted
on 04-Dec-01 10:06 PM
Psuedo Expats in KTM and the long awaited shedding of the Hippie haven/trance exotic image of Kathmandu
After the recent economic debacle in the US ( who doubted that Bush administration would not run the economy to the ground?) and a recent spate of layoffs excluding myself, I am in the safe haven of acedemia, I hear of a mass Nepali exodus to Kathmandu. However reasons for Nepalis going to Kathmandu are not specifically layoff related in all the cases.
Bear with me as I go through this vision. Mere presence of these people in Kathmandu is going to add to the already sophisticated sensibilities of Kathmandu culture. This is not a wistful dream of social engineering but rather an anticipation of a vibrant intellectual community in Kathmandu. Much like post WW paris with Hemingway, Henry Miller and all that cadre. But that is a stretch of a parallel I realize. But I learnt of some visionary film makers, artists of different shades, (wanted to meet some writers, but due to my limited knowledge could not) emerging when I was there over summer. This is happening at a time when many young people are working full time, making money and looking for outlets to integrate different aspects of their personalities and interests.
I found exotic watering holes and laid back people generally open minded. Art exhibits, jazz concerts, pubs with live music and expressive attitudes of people (as opposed to traditional nepali introverts). Some may feel that this is the sort decadence of west that we do not want.
But with enough people back from the west with the experiences of their own trials and tribulations, this could only improve. If I have liked anything about the west it is the ability to integrate and cross connect diverse aspects of individual community whatever, without completely losing their shit and unraveling. Now that people are back they will only want to maintain that balance, with intellectually stimulating discussion and instilling a culture of going out and meeting different people, I can see the intellectual and social capital in Kathmandu only growing.
As Pico Iyer said that Nepali are great at imitating. And yes we are. But we also love the fact that we are naturally very flexible given the incentive and we like to surprise by making a big splash when unexpected. Therefore we carry that unique intellectual fortitute and an unshakable belief that we are good. That's why our sense of humor is sardonic. And the hall mark of our uniqueness.
A watering hole, beautiful people, audible fusion music in the back ground, people milling about, and the discussions ranging from the nature of Om, pursuit of perfect love in Nepali songs, clasical versus post modern trend, broadband convergence, theory of a memory based culture, intellectual capital, cross border mobilization. Fragrant aroma of beautiful long haired women, trying to get to talk to her, she holding her own....its my vision dammit!
That remains a personal selling point. Perhaps with enough addition it would even repackage the old mystique of kathmandu, when Bob Seger was just yelling, Bela Fleck was merely meditating, and we would be relevant.
Too much credit on such a normal event that some people that I did not even know went back to KTM but enough to trigger this day dream. Now I am back to my paper
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| Biswo |
Posted
on 04-Dec-01 10:53 PM
I hope your wishful thinking about KTM is true.
Kathmandu can benefit much only if people try their creativity there. But if the
expat themselves got changed, then your thought will be wishful thought only.
Enjoyed reading your article.
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| Sfengali |
Posted
on 05-Dec-01 01:57 AM
Very true, I wonder if there is such a thing called a visionary capital. Not that I am suggesting I am endowed with it if there was. In any case if you compare the social options in Kathmandu from a decade ago it greatly surpasses then. Only right now it appears to have been tolled because of uncertainty with Maoists. Cultural change only comes about very slowly because it is not like adopting a corporate protocol. But in Nepal it has been glacial until now. No wonder that since South Asia was Tethis back in the days, there is a sea of changes to undergo before a transformation. Must be the remnants in that ocean floor soil.
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| _BP |
Posted
on 05-Dec-01 02:33 AM
The world is just a smaller place. It is no more unusual to find enclaves of westernism in Nepal than it is to stumble upon a "Nepal town" in the west. Westernism really is a cosmopolitan paradigm, for it assimilates the various cultures drawn into it. Hopefully eventually the world will simply become one culture, or at least the ethnicities will stop pretending to be so different from each other. After all, the genetic codes for all living beings on this earth vary by less than a fraction of a percentage point. Now tell me God didn't want us to live as one.
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| Sfengali |
Posted
on 05-Dec-01 02:47 AM
Only problem I have with unification theory personally is that it is all about coca colising the whole world. One of my most surreal experience must have been reading about the change in Oreo cookie recipe grabbing headlines here. But then we will learn to identify the subtlety between BK and McDonald and Pepsi and Coke. I say this because I was attempting to envision a world with discernible qualitative difference. And a refined mystique being the qualitative edge of Nepal. In a way your observation stands because you can get anything anywhere, but only that some places draw a different tangent to the same place.
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| _BP |
Posted
on 05-Dec-01 03:25 AM
Sfengali, I think everybody should have access to Coke. Well, milk first, among other things, and then coke. A lot of soda is hard on your bones.
"When people are free to do as they please, they usually imitate each
other." -- Eric Hoffer
Imitation, or perhaps a better word would be emulation, is a key ingredient of progress, don't you think? You get mired in your own individuality, that is exactly what you will remain. Think of something new. As courageous as it is to uphold your individuality, it is equally brave to be able to conform. Even if your are on the right track, you are bound to get run over if you just stand there.
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| Sfengali |
Posted
on 05-Dec-01 11:11 AM
You certainly have much more of social consciousness than I do. For instance I would not have really thought about every one getting milk before talking about coke. But then I really was not addressing the inequality in the world. Where do you derive the individuality v. conformity dichomtony in a comment about cultural attitudes, not in the individual manifestation of it but more as the collective expression of the masses? Unless independent cultures and capitalism would substitute in someway. And I commend you for that stroke of creativity.
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| _BP |
Posted
on 05-Dec-01 03:26 PM
Sfengali, you are losing me. I think you might just be too profound for me.
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| NK |
Posted
on 05-Dec-01 03:34 PM
I am with _BP on this. Gosh, English of some people here.
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| Sfengali |
Posted
on 05-Dec-01 08:02 PM
You are right that topic in the vein that it is going is pretty much exhausted. In any case my babble was more about certain vibe and groove than some articulate expression of an ideal. I am curios about one thing though, does everyone in this board harbor normative, social policy oriented thinking? Or am I just missing the whole point of the board, i.e. that it exists just for that?
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| Sfengali |
Posted
on 05-Dec-01 08:04 PM
NK Would you coach me in ESL?
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