| Username |
Post |
| ashu |
Posted
on 18-Aug-00 03:24 PM
Poudel-ji wrote:
>But still, social workers and
>left leaning politicians along with liberal
>journalists and intellectuals have always
>relished maligning high caste whenever there
>was even a singular case of such apathy or
>design against a person who happened to be a
>low-caste or non-caste.(non-caste is
>something I used for non-Hindu Nepalese.)
In general, I agree with you here.
That is why each of us needs to use his/her sense of judgment (sharpened by education, experiences and sound logic) to assess the validity of arguments presented by BOTH "the left" and "the right". There is no need
to take either the left or the right at its face value.
>I don't say we enjoy
>harmonious and exemplary social coexistence
>in Nepal,that is something our dullard
>leaders say in public speech to fool us, but
>we have still not degenerated into the worst
>caste/ethnic chaos that our neighboring
>Bihar
>and others in the world are witnessing.
OK, agreed. Nepal is no pre-Apartheid South Africa.
But, surely, in this ethnically diverse country of ours, racism/casteism and other similar forms of discrimination DO exist in, if not direct, subtle forms?
OK. Perhaps because of my being a "high-caste" and fair-complexioned (that
is to say, somewhat goray-looking)
bahun, I personally haven't experienced instances of discrimination in 'mainstream' (Kathmandu ko) Nepal.
But I do have plenty of well-educated Tharu, Magar, Tamang, Madhesi and Dalit friends for whom lives in 'mainstream' Nepal are constant encounters with many forms of
discrimination - both subtle and direct.
Unless they are aboslute liars (which I don't
think they are!), hearing their stories, often with evidence, I find it difficult
NOT to believe them.
Sure, taking your logic, we can argue over degrees of intensity re: discrimination, but, let's face it, such an argument implicitly accepts that there IS indeed caste-/jaat-based discrimination in Nepal.
>So, it is wrong to implicate caste/
>connection
>factor in this case.
The issue here is NOT of implication.
Why?
Because, quite frankly, there is NOT enough evidence to justify such an implication.
That is why, I deliberately used the word "conceivable" in my earlier posting.
As such, the issue here is of correlation, and NOT of causation.
The general argument for correlation goes like this: All things being equal, you are more likely to face discrimination in Nepal if you are a Rai from Bhojpur than if you are a bahun from Chabel.
>The design may have been
>originated in some Byzantine corner of
>scheming Shital Niwas, which has dismal
>record of performance in its real job: like
>Bhutan issue, Bharat interference issue etc..
Well, precisely.
By the same token, it's conceivable that
"[t]he design . . .originated in some Byzantine corner of scheming Shital
Niwas" precisely because Shital Niwas found
it easier to slam a Rai with that humiliating
piece of news that it would have, say, a Rana, or a Shah or a high-caste person in Nepal.
>There is another point of disagreement with
>you :Do you think Paras Kanda is alive just
>because of Kantipur? Don't you think that
>was
>an eggregious act that jolted everybody in
>Nepal?
Kantiput carried the news -- day after day. Those pieces of news, in turn, jolted everyone else. If Kantipur had not carried
the news in details, I doubt whether we
would have seen this many irate citizens on the street of Kathmandu against Paras Shah.
Paras's "moral turpitude" would NOT have
come to light with this intensity had it
not been for Kantipur's efforts.
> There is no doubt Kantipur is our
>Microsoft
>in media and power,and we need to trim it,
Well, Kantipur needs competition. My sources
inform me that pretty soon there is going to
be another large broadsheet daily newspaper
in Kathmandu.
The more the competition heats up, the less powerful Kantipur alone will be.
> Ashuji, Finally I really enjoyed your
>informed comments.And would appreciate it if
>I can hear more from you.
Biswa-ji, I too have enjoyed reading and thinking through your comments too. Sorry
for my delayed response though.
Nothing excites me more than an open-minded,
honest and stimulating conversations with those who seem to share similar interests.
oohi
ashu
|
| Biswo Nath Poudel |
Posted
on 19-Aug-00 11:09 PM
For alternative media group:
1. The problem with our intellectuals: either
they want to coast through everything, or they lack resource to mount challenge against
a jaggernaut.
starting a newspaper?? ok.fine.But I don't have money.Money is no problem, that
Made(no communal insult intended) is ready
to funnel money.
lo , the first issue is ready. Who should
inaugurate? Take it easy yaar.If I request,
who else but the prime minister himself will
come for Lokarpan.
After the first issue: some other intellectuals:"haina, yo moro ta kangressi po
ho ki.Girija lai bolaayo udghatan ko laagi."
A fortiori, anti-communist article pani chha.
A pall of suspicion will reign.
2.Another problem: some doesn't even know that intellectual media doesn't mean catering to intelligent groups only. These media should still use as simple language as that of Shyam Prasad Sharma and give the message to the majority of the people who can read.
Imagine a paper which features:
1. Dinesh Satyal(Saurav)'s article. They wander so much that sometimes you feel you are scooting along the bulwarks of names.
2. Mohan Koirala's poems. His poems should be confined to Madhupark and Garima. Nobody
will understand it if you go to Chitwan and
ask about his poems.
3.Batsyayan's sex article: Liberals have no
problem with his articles.I also don't object
but are we ripe to read them?
I don't want to name more here. Because first, I left Nepal six years ago, and in my
occassional travel to Nepal, I didn't read
any more magazine too.But the pillars of the
magazines are still in my mind.
I have great regard for Himal. But sometimes they also falter in the message they want to give to people.Some of their
main features (like car sales statistics) are
obsolete to a large section of people.Better
people would appreciate the cycle sale statistics.
The great problem with these intellectuals
in Nepal is their ego.People don't like even
well-intended criticism.Like leaders, they also want to be reverred, and feel as if they
are sacrosanct.The same intellectuals who will start newspapers would like people to buy their newspapers , just because they are convinced that Kantipur needs alternatives, and that they are offerring it, "so who the hell these common people are not to buy our papers??"
But I will salute every efforts to provide
alternate media jaggernaut in Kathmandu . Or
else, Kantipur will model every brain in KTM
and whole Nepal.
|
| ashu |
Posted
on 20-Aug-00 12:40 PM
Poudel-ji wrote:
>For alternative media group:
>1. The problem with our intellectuals:
>either
>they want to coast through everything, or
>they lack resource to mount challenge
>against
>a jaggernaut.
Not being an intellectual, I can't really comment on this. But what I do know from my limited experience is this: There ARE
really smart people in Nepal who seem
serious about what they do and think, and
who do not settle for easy answers to
tough questions.
For a thoughtful Nepali, the challenge
is to find such people in Nepal and elsewhere, and keep them as
friends or colleagues or as someone one
can call up or meet to solicit advice, seek ideas/advice and to get solid criticisms.
> starting a newspaper?? ok.fine.But I don'
>t have money.Money is no problem, that
>Made(no communal insult intended) is ready
>to funnel money.
>
> lo , the first issue is ready. Who
>should
>inaugurate? Take it easy yaar.If I request,
>who else but the prime minister himself will
>come for Lokarpan.
Money is a SECONDARY problem to start a
daily newspaper in Nepal.
The PRIMARY problem is that of putting together a first-class team of great editors and journalists who are full of great ideas
and can implement those ideas.
Kantipur is a top newspaper NOT because of
the money -- which, admittedly, it has aplenty -- backing it up, but
because that's where some of Nepal's
top young journalists like Narayan Wagle, Suman Pradhan and others, work.
Talents attract talent, and these smart
young journalists, in turn, attract other smart young journalists writers, and so on and so forth.
Now the question is: Would many of these smart, young journalists leave Kantipur Publications for better challenges/opportunities in another daily newspaper?
I think the answer is: Yes.
As such, Kantipur's challengers need not worry too much about building a larger 'war-chest'.
What they need to think first and seriously is how to recruit, train and retain talented editors, journalists and writers.
Without its human resource, Kantipur
Publications is nothing.
> Imagine a paper which features:
> 1. Dinesh Satyal(Saurav)'s article. They
>wander so much that sometimes you feel you
>are scooting along the bulwarks of names.
I have met people who worship Dinesh
Satyal's writings. And that's fine.
But I think Saurav aka Dinesh Satyal is a pompous jackass who drops names, tries to intimidate his readers with his pseudo-knowledge and does not know how to
argue thoughtfully in public.
Yes, I am prepared to tell this to his face
if I meet him.
> 3.Batsyayan's sex article: Liberals have no
>problem with his articles.I also don't
>object
>but are we ripe to read them?
Oh, you'd be surprised by the kind of sex tales you'd hear in Kathmandu and away!!
Sure, there's this prudish front about which we are all aware.
But there's a lot that goes on behind and
beneath that front. Nepalis are not as
innocent on sexual matters as others
have made them out to be.
Discos in Kathmandu, to give you a public
example, are as sexually charged on any
given night as, say, nightclubs such as Avalon or Karma in Boston.
And if you think we are not ready for
Batsayan's fantasy-drenched articles,
then I wonder what you'd make of
(to give some recent examples):
a) Sita Pandey's best-selling Nepali-language book "Sex and Feelings", which openly discusses Nepali female sexuality,
b) Samrat Upadhyay's prize-winning Nepal-based short stories (published recently in America) which feature, at times, graphic sex in poetically charged terms, and
c) Asmina Ranjit's publicly displayed paintings which celebrate female nudes
with strong sexual messages.
And so on and so forth.
> The great problem with these intellectuals
>in Nepal is their ego.People don't like even
>well-intended criticism.Like leaders, they
>also want to be reverred, and feel as if
>they
>are sacrosanct.
Khagendra Sangraula, a Marxist Nepali
writer I admire (NOT for his political beliefs but for his compassion and intellect), has written some place that: "Those who fall down because of criticism never intended to stand up in the first place."
Same could be said about those who call themselves Nepali intellectuals. If they
fell down because of criticisms -- whether
well-intended or ill-intended -- then
perhaps they had never really stood up
for anything.
It's no loss to anyone if those people
fell down, and are replaced, over time,
by Nepalis who are intellectually secure
in themselves and are open to better
ideas from others.
oohi
ashu
|
| Biswo Nath Poudel |
Posted
on 22-Aug-00 07:38 PM
Re: Khagendra Shangraula
I also admire him and his writing,though
they are often coupled with the (expected)
prejudice and dogmatism.
His comments are often trenchant, and his
writings are very interesting and focussed
on exactitude and objectivity.His belief,
which may be outdated and objectionable to
some, looks more and more inalienable to him
and probably due to the same conviction on
his belief, his writing doesn't suffer from
the vacillation, and instability that scourge
his several contemporary.
I want to make a contrast with two writers.
Mod Nath Prashrit and Madan Mani Dixit. These
two writers wrote their best books in their
early days.Prashrit wrote laudable Manab,but
he intended to disown the book in his later
days.While he immured himself to the
straitjacket of socialist belief that
strongly influenced his later writings, and
,admittedly,some of his "socialists" books
were also very excellently written, his lack
of informedness and his mental corruption in
post democratic era has left him lurching
along sadomasochism of literature
helplessness.Now,we all feel very painful
when we read his new articles. They essay
to advocate the same shabboleathe that he
espoused earlier when he was incarcerated,
but they don't reach the pinnacle that he
himself had once established,in both free
thinking literature and progressive
literature.
Take Madan Mani Dixit.He follows the same
suit as that of Prashrit.His Madhavi was
great.His Sanskrit mastery is undoubtedly
excellent.But he too has dithered in the
political uncertainty , and his messages
lately has been vague.I feel poignant when
I read these two writers now, and wish they
could produce something that could resemble
their past works which they are admired for.
I am pretty much sure I shall keep on
admiring Mr Shangraula for his conviction,
and lyrical style of writing.They try to
mirror the society, and we need such
literature.I hear people saying it is not
possible to survive in Nepal as a writer.
Man, the reason behind the low sale
statistics of books in Nepal is that there
are no writers that could spur and prod
Nepalese propensity to buy book.Probably if
somebody wins international reputed prize,
people will rush to buy his books.(Do you
remember the Polish writer who got Nobel
prize a couple of years ago,her books were
sold out from the store after the
announcement.)
Biswo.
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