| Username |
Post |
| Uma |
Posted
on 30-Mar-02 08:20 PM
Does anybody know who is Dr Durga Pokharel? She is now heading the called Mahila Ayog. Just curious if anybody know what was her backgound etc? I was reading one of her article and I must confess I was not that impressed...
Uma
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| duku lathak |
Posted
on 30-Mar-02 09:44 PM
Well I have read her couple of books thats she had puplished when she was in the US. As for her political background, She used to be one of the rebellious women within Nepali Congress in the '70s from Dhankuta. She had left her family family for her political beliefs coz they were strong supporters of the Panchayat and the King.
I think her absence in Nepal during the restoration of democracy was a major setback for her political career coz she had moved to US with her husband during the beginning of the '80s.
Anyway, I wish her good luck in whatever she is doing in Nepal right now.
duku..........
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| ashu |
Posted
on 31-Mar-02 08:00 AM
On page 17 of the latest issue of Himal (Nepali, 29 March -13 April 2002), there
is an essay by DP -- together with her photo --about her own life's journey.
The essay reads like a 'personal statement' -- the kind one would write to apply
to US universities, except that such application essays are also, for purpose of authentication, accompanied by letters of recommendations!
Publishing this essay in Himal now may well be an interesting strategy on DP's
part to silence her critics by pointing out that, hey, she does have the requisite Nepali background full of 'tyag, tapasya, sangharsa and bali-daan' stories to
head the recently formed Women's Commission in Nepal.
Will DP go on to be a great leader of the Women's Commission?
I hope she will.
But my very stupid intuition tells me that this Commission is just going to be a mere, temporary perch for DP to pursue her carefully planned/crafted/scripted
personal goals for greater political clout down the road.
Not that, hey, there is anyhing wrong with it!!
Still, whatever DP does, she's been one helluva interesting lady to quietly
watch -- from Cambridge, Massachusetts to Kathmandu, Nepal.
oohi
ashu
ktm,nepal
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| Mitra |
Posted
on 31-Mar-02 11:13 AM
I heard she is a Harvard graduate. I believe she got her PhD from there. How come you guys in Boston don't know her personally or haven't heard anything about her. Was that very long ago? just curious.
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| informationAssistant |
Posted
on 31-Mar-02 11:24 AM
Her interview: read it yourself, may be with some caution and decide about her
yourself.
http://www.nepalnews.com.np/contents/nepaliweekly/jandharana/2002/mar/mar28/interview.htm#1
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| aviyentaa |
Posted
on 31-Mar-02 11:58 AM
Yes I have read her articles and watched her TV interviews. She helped bring the AIDS infected nepali girls from brothels of Bombay few years back and helped them rehabilitate in Nepal. That was a big Plus point in her career I bet......but she is also one equipped with some tragic flaws.
She had been running this NGO in Nepal.She wrote something quite objectionable articles about the neplese wives in America and stated that Nepali Women here( married to Nepalis of course!), have been victims of domestic voilence, oppression and too many other bad things.I don't think the story she portrayed in her article was enjoyed by everyone. It was just a over generalization of few cases. She can not lead that Aayog efficiently,...she is just a PMBT( Param Mahaa Big Talk).
Those who talk from the strictly feminist stream, can't do anything.....she is the one who wouldn't fail to state that Men are also supposed to be pregnant for the social justice of women...........
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| SR |
Posted
on 31-Mar-02 08:10 PM
I also read her article (in Himal?) about Nepalese wives in US. The article is based on her "innovative" research on Nepalese wives in US. Her regorously conducted research (I am not sure if it is from her PhD thesis submitted to Harvard?) concluded that Pakistanis are most competitive candidates for ready-for-eloping Nepali wives. In an attempt to find the cause, she was also presenting a hypothesis that (in her own words) " Pakistani haru yauna krida ma bejod bhayara ho ki?".
With this new position and resources at her disposal, I hope she will soon be able to continue her "important" research and test her hypothesis.
With such moral value combined with unchallenged scientific insights (backed up by such hallmark as "Harvard"), she is THE only appropriate candidate for the head of Mahila Ayog!
SR
------------------------
>Yes I have read her articles and watched her
>TV interviews. She helped bring the AIDS
>infected nepali girls from brothels of
>Bombay few years back and helped them
>rehabilitate in Nepal. That was a big Plus
>point in her career I bet......but she is
>also one equipped with some tragic flaws.
>She had been running this NGO in Nepal.She
>wrote something quite objectionable articles
>about the neplese wives in America and
>stated that Nepali Women here( married to
>Nepalis of course!), have been victims of
>domestic voilence, oppression and too many
>other bad things.I don't think the story she
>portrayed in her article was enjoyed by
>everyone. It was just a over generalization
>of few cases. She can not lead that Aayog
>efficiently,...she is just a PMBT( Param
>Mahaa Big Talk).
>
>Those who talk from the strictly feminist
>stream, can't do anything.....she is the one
>who wouldn't fail to state that Men are also
>supposed to be pregnant for the social
>justice of women...........
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| rk |
Posted
on 31-Mar-02 11:13 PM
I met Dr. Durga Pokharel in Hare Ram Hare Krishna Mandir at Potomac. Washington dc several times and also read her book "Shadow Over Shangrila".
As far I know she has PhD from Harvard. Once I read her book I am very impressed with her.
rk
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| ashu |
Posted
on 01-Apr-02 12:03 AM
At Harvard, only the graduate school of arts and sciences (GSAS) awards
PhD degrees.
Other faculties (such as law, business, design et cetra) do NOT award
PhD degrees on their own, but they do have their own equivalent
doctorate degrees, or so they say, and GSAS sort of snorts at that, though
in recent years, there is this wave of multidisciplinary studies that have
belatedly come up there.
So, as a historical aside, when good old Roop Jyoti publicly claimed in 1999 in Kathmandu
-- much to the embarrassment of a certain other gentleman then in Nepal who
had been sort of misleading all into believing that he was the first Nepali PhD
from Harvard (that gentleman was subsequently exposed for professional incompetency and much else besides, but that's another story) --
that he is the first Nepali with a Harvard PhD, Jyoti was/is absolutely
correct.
Strictly speaking, then, DP has a Doctorate in Education from the
Harvard Graduate School of Education.
But except for die-hard snobs, who cares about these fine academic
distinctions anyway? :-)
For some years, though, I have been trying to read DP's D. Ed dissertation;
and, barring a visit to the bowels of Harvard Archives at Pusey Library, I
have been unable to get hold of a copy.
Having quietly followed parts of DP's very fascinating career at Harvard and in America, I am convinced -- but would be happy to proven wrong -- that this set-up-by-the-pressure-of-the-donors Women's Commission is simply a pleasant interlude for DP to bide her time and make some waves while she prepares to stand up as a candidate for MP from Dhankuta under -- what else but -- Nepali Congress ko glorious banner.
More than anything else, DP is to be studied as a person who has risen up in
Nepal through sheer force of her will, personality and learnt charm, mixed in
with some careful strategic career-planning, with a hugely generous dose of
luck thrown in.
NOT that, let me hasten to say, there is anything wrong with any of that.
It's just that all Nepali men and women are much more complicated and complex than what they appear on paper or in person, and the narratives of their various lives make them subjects of fascinating, compelling stories. That's all.
oohi
ashu
ktm,nepal
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| Roshan Koirala |
Posted
on 01-Apr-02 09:51 AM
I know Dr. Durga Pokhrel pretty well, anybody interested to know more can email me.
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| Nepali at Harvard |
Posted
on 01-Apr-02 11:30 AM
Ashu:
For your information there is a copy of Durga Pokhrel's thesis at the Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies which is located at 9 Bow Street in Cambridge, MA and similiarly there is another copy of the thesis at the Departmental Library of the Department of Population and International Health which is located at the 11th floor of Harvard School of Public Health at 665 Huntington Avenue in Boston, MA. Please also note that the copies of the thesis are in reserve and can only be read within the premise where it is deposited.
Hope this helps!
Nepali at Harvard
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| villageVoice |
Posted
on 01-Apr-02 03:32 PM
To me, she still sounds better than most of our current crop of politicos...
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| robin |
Posted
on 01-Apr-02 07:56 PM
I noticed one interesting point made here and could not help but respond. i agree with DP on pakistanis being the ones nepalis girls tend to elope with very often. I went to school in Oklahoma city - not a lot of nepalis there and even fewer nepali women. there were "3" nepali girls who had eloped/boyfriend with pakistanis - 2 of them 7/11 enterprenuer. i see nothing wrong with this though. Nice observation DP.
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| Dhaalkay |
Posted
on 12-Apr-02 03:34 PM
Durga Pokhrel is our future Prime Minister. People say she is always proud to let the foreigners know that she is from the high caste, but I think she has the right mix of gender, caste, intellect and everything the country needs in the PM. There may be some people who say that she did not write her thesis on her own, nor did she write the book she claims she did. That may be all hogwash as she seems to write very well, think very well and doing very well. What does it matter even if she did not write herself? All ideas are her own though.
I adore her and I hope she will become not just the first woman PM or Nepal but the first PM who will give equal rights to all regardlless of gender and ethnic background. Under her, there will be a near corruption free Nepal, a model country in South Asia. She will bring a wave of nice changes.
If she stands for election, I will personally go to the villages to campaign for her. It is not a sin to have an ambition. Durgaji, way to go.... go. I am with you.
Dhaal Bahadur Theeng Tamang
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