| Username |
Post |
| Biswo |
Posted
on 03-Apr-01 02:19 AM
Hi friends:
Everybody seems to be in rampage, starting his/her own thread.
I wish I could post as a reply, but hey,let me jump on the
bandwagon!
From information about poetry.com, we came to know a vicious
process of swindling gullible participants in Washington. I
followed one of the links, where a war veteran(and poet) complains
that there were so many people in Washington in the poetry bash.
Let's not forget,people were just gullible participants, and
some of those people are considering to file class action suits
against poetry.com according to the information found there.
Another important thing is how much can we believe all the
postings found in website? Often,losers complain, professional
competitors want to expose(!), and we readers need to use
our discretion. The competition that guaranteed semifinalist
prize is not the competition Adwiti entered, I wish Ashu had
noticed that simple fact.Let's face it: I can write anything about
Adwiti herself in my website, and one can find out this by
just writing 'Adwiti Subba' in google search. He shouldn't
just believe everything because it is there.
Some years ago, we were all gaga over SLC boards in Nepal. The
schools who could have students in that magical list could do
brisk business. A lot of people now says those lists were
manufactured in the SLC Board Committee,and schools paid for that!
I don't know how true are those allegations, but of course, if
we'd been web savvy , we could have all those stuffs posted in web
site. That certainly shouldn't implicate the parents, and the
students of the schools.In fact, the students and the parents
are the victims. But in this website, probably we are accusing
the students/parents !
Now, I go back and see Ashu's posting again and again. No where
did he mention the poetry.com stuff when he proposed to publish
about Adwiti. He could have searched a little bit that time
before he proposed to publish, my wishful thinking only! Here,
one of our friends asked Richard how many books his publishing
house publishes? I am surprised how rash we can become in our
questioning. I remember that a lot of Nepalese writers don't
publish from Sajha or acadamy only. I once read a book by
Sarubhakt published by an obscure publication,but I guess it later
won some significant literary award.( I Guess it was Pagal Basti!)
So,we shouldn't only promote big literary house. I am probably
the only person among we people here who paid US$30.00 for
Adwiti's book, and I did that because I liked the way she recited
the poetry in the recital, the way poems were written, the way a
Nepalese girl was performing in southern USA.I am not a rich boy
from Chitwan,and I've no luxury of wasting US$30.I still have
clips from Statesman(India), Gangtok Times, Montgomery Advertiser,
Spotlight(Alabama) that talked about her poetry. I must say I
am proud of her, whatever she is doing/writing, and it is really
sad that some of our friends are reposing their judgements on
not what Adwiti had written, but who one of her achievements was
given by.I always doubt literary skills of Sitaram prasai, but
should I doubt the prize recipients of Prasai foundation? Should
I accuse Natikaji of receiving award from Tuborg Foundation?
We have been very sharp at accusing others. We should now look
at ourselves, and judge how good we are? How much faith we have
on ourselves? We think we are the future of Nepal, now can't
we dare to evaluate somebody on our own, esp in the fields like
poetry or prose? (They are not technical science,after all!)Ashu
is presenting a show in Martin Chautari with Khagendra Sangraula,
he certainly has some literary contacts and acumen, can't he make
judgements about the poems published in 'Verses from Himalayas'?
My impression is he liked the poem I wrote in the first
introduction,and interacted with Adwiti, and proposed those TKP
stuffs. I guess I was wrong ,and our friend was just pretending
to understand the poem, and praising that falsely.
I think it is great that poetry.com scams (and other similar
scams) are known to us now, we are aware about them now. I guess
Ashu may be right in his decision to retract the promise, because
he doesn't deem her fit to be in the paper. It is fine, because
he was the one who wanted her to be in paper, who wanted to write
about her, and now that he found something in web posted by
equally impeachable sources(how many of us know about those
people except Barbara Walters who posted these stuffs,anyway! and
Barbara Walters show was not talking about World Poetry Bash!!)
and retracts his previous statement.
For rest of us, though this episode remains shocking and
untasteful, we have got the lesson that rashness in judgement is
not good. Rashness in making promise is also a culpable thing.I
also hope that we will all become mature after this episode. We
judge people by what we have seen(poem in Adwiti's case),not what
we hear about(poetry.com scam).We can't blame those SLC boards
for the unwitting payment their schools have done on their behalf.
|
| ashu |
Posted
on 03-Apr-01 04:15 AM
Adwiti Subba's supporters need to know that:
I have NOT criticized Adwiti Subba publicly or privately
or professionally.
As Hom Raj has eloquently pointed out, if anything, a
"poet's" participation and winning awards in dubious,
for-business contests such as those organized by
poetry.com discredits his/her standing as a poet.
If Adwiti did not know this before, she does now. Loud
and clear. This knowledge can ONLY serve to help her as
she marches on to win more hearts and minds with her
poems.
I made a public promise to write about Adwiti
ASSUMING that the awards were legitimate. On
finding out that my assumption was wrong,
I had no trouble admitting PUBLICLY that I made a
mistake (i.e I was fooled). After that, the only proper
thing to do was to face up the truth PUBLICLY and
retract my promise. In doing so, I was well aware
that I was not going to be Mr. Popular, and that
was fine with me.
People are FREE to criticize me for this, and some, like
Biswo, can argue endlessly over the technicalities. All that
is fine and expected. I accept full responsibility for my decisions, and, FYI, I am happy with them.
Finally, I do NOT consider myself so powerful that I can make or break Adwiti's 'career' as a poet. If Adwiti's good, I am sure she'll bounce back -- here and elsewhere -- with good stuff in weeks, months and years, and we can all rejoice in her legitimate success. If she's not good, then, she'll sink without a trace, and that's life.
As one of my former writing teachers taught me at school in Boston, writing publicly is an act of trust (howsoever defined), regardless of the consequences.
oohi
ashu
|
| namita kiran-thuene |
Posted
on 03-Apr-01 10:23 AM
Here we go again folks. We the great debaters are at it again. Creme de la crème (put that little hat on ‘e’ please,
my computer does not) of the society! Ashu’s retraction is
the topic du jour. All the gladiators are in. Let the
show begin! Actually it has already begun.
I have a feeling it is at the ebb. Sorry for being so late.
To retract or not to retract; to be or not to be. Ashu vs. poetry.com. As I saw it, the question was not between
ashu and adwiti’s talent. Ashu made a decision and
everybody has an opinion. Long live democracy. Everybody
is allowed to have an opinion. So what the core of the
subject gets lost, at least we all have a say.
Matter to the heart. Poetry! We need another subject
to debate, don’t you think? Ideas anyone? How about
global warming and Bush’s retraction of the Kyoto treaty?
Talk about retraction!
Namita Kirna-thuene
|
| Rekha Mukhia |
Posted
on 03-Apr-01 11:16 AM
Hi,
I have been following all the threads that have been posted here regarding Adwiti Subba. I find myself unforgiveably guilty! of not having clarified some accusations/comments that are now being thrown at her. And, Adwiti, Im sorry.
I was there at this poetry.com bash that was held in DC. Believe me, it was no small affair!! They had people streaming in from all over the world. So, the whole affair was grandios with a capital G, and Hom Raj, had you been at this affair like I was, you would not have even deducted that this was a SCAM! And yes, talking about this thing being a scam - maybe you guys would like to know what actually happened - Adwiti had prepared herself for DAYS for this competition. She is an intelligent person and had she known that this whole thing was a scam, Im more than sure that she would not have travelled so far to participate, would you have??
This was clearly, an Adwiti-dominated show but the outcome did not show that, in fact, I remember Adwiti's husband being disappointed and outraged at the unprofessional way things were handled. It was, in many people's view, unfair. And the person who did get the first prize, did NOT have any of the qualities that many other contestants had, not only Adwiti. Even with all this, we did not even, once, think of it as a scam, if it was, then it was very well covered!
Now to comment on some of the comments:
"As Hom Raj has eloquently pointed out, if anything, a
"poet's" participation and winning awards in dubious,
for-business contests such as those organized by
poetry.com discredits his/her standing as a poet."
Adwiti was an innocent victim to this so-called scam. I know that for sure - because of her enthusiasm to participate in this "contest" (if I may). And Hom Raj ji, I believe you may have doubts about Adwiti being a poet? Well, who would you call a poet? Someone who has got literary acclaim? or someone who might have the ability to artistically pen words? or someone aspires to have her work be appreciated? When did aspirations become a negative thing? Im sure you and I know about aspirations. Without which, none of us would have set foot in this country.
No negative consequence, until this, has come about after her participation as far as I know, and anybody in their right mind would probably say that these people were victims of a scam and judge the participants rightly. I fully second Biswo's POV on this!
"If Adwiti did not know this before, she does now. Loud
and clear. This knowledge can ONLY serve to help her as
she marches on to win more hearts and minds with her
poems."
Ashu, you are right. But you do go on to judge her and contradict yourself in the latter half of your message.
"I made a public promise to write about Adwiti
ASSUMING that the awards were legitimate. On
finding out that my assumption was wrong,
I had no trouble admitting PUBLICLY that I made a
mistake (i.e I was fooled). After that, the only proper
thing to do was to face up the truth PUBLICLY and
retract my promise. In doing so, I was well aware
that I was not going to be Mr. Popular, and that
was fine with me."
I don't think you were fooled at all. The one who was fooled was Adwiti! Poetry.com had not been a very positive experience for her because she felt the judges were unfair. We had discussed this in great detail - that her goal was that her work be appreciated by people NOT by a handful of judges.
Im sure you had your share of soul-searching to do before you made the announcement. It might not have been an easy task. And you said you were fine with the unpopularity that it might bring. Im glad for you. BUT, there was another person's feelings at stake here, her attempt at being accepted and admired by her Nepalese fellowmen.
I do believe, you owed her an email or even a call to let her know of your decision, that would have been so very graceful on your part.
"Finally, I do NOT consider myself so powerful that I can make or break Adwiti's 'career' as a poet. If Adwiti's good, I am sure she'll bounce back -- here and elsewhere -- with good stuff in weeks, months and years, and we can all rejoice in her legitimate success. If she's not good, then, she'll sink without a trace, and that's life."
I agree, I don't think you or anyone for that matter would make or break Adwiti's career or anybody else's. Except Adwiti herself.
Your "if" Adwiti is good...just goes on to affirm what Rajendra said, what was your real motive? Had you not appreciated the poem at all and was just doing this for some other reason? I did not buy "Verses from the Himalayas" but I have read and re-read her "Between Eyes and Eyes" and from a reader's point of view, it was beautiful and a lot of people have appreciated her for her eloquent words.
I have known Adwiti, almost all my life and she had the talents then and she has them now. There are many of us who have talents that we have ignored as we grew older to survive in this world. Then there are some of us who have sharpened our talents and used them - Adwiti has surely proved herself to be of the latter group. And being a fellow Nepali, the most I can do is wish her well.
My tuppence on this whole SAGA!
Rekha
|
| Gopi |
Posted
on 03-Apr-01 09:39 PM
Talk is such a thing it bends where-ever and as far as you want.Here you go emotional.May be tomorrow Awditi will commit sucide.HALE Democracy,freedom of speech...
Since Ashu rejects to promote Awditi along with her fame in poetry.com May be Biswo would be interested in promoting these two togather,under his own name,discarding criticism from ABC news,since he is the one who introduced Awditi and even suggested Ashu to put some remarks about Awiti on Nepali Media.
|
| baba |
Posted
on 03-Apr-01 10:52 PM
Hare Gopiji!! Maybe you should be the one committing suicide, since you seem to be so emotionally overwhelmed.
Why do you worry about Adwiti so much? Maybe you should worry about yourself, before it is too late ...
|
| me |
Posted
on 04-Apr-01 09:23 AM
this is surreal.
-me
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