| Username |
Post |
| Biswo |
Posted
on 25-Jul-02 09:33 PM
"So, you want to make some money. And Nareshji is your relative." The
dark mustachioed man looked at the teenager with some curiosity and
went on with a voice tinged with incredulity, "Your math is good, right?"
"Yea." The boy replied.
"How tall is this tree?"
"About 4 and a half meters."
"How many logs can be made up of this tree if each log is to be
125 centimeter?"
"Three." The boy replied without losing any time.
"OK. Then, you can start working. You said you are a bahun,right?
I will arrange a rasoiyaa(chef) for you. There is a small room for you.
Go to the jungle everyday, and make a ledger of logs cut everyday."
The man was a contractor, whose job was to clear the jungle in
that area of Kanchanpur district where Punarbaas was aimed. He was
an Indian national, but with relatives in both sides of the border.
------
Intellect was so non-exist at the place that the boy was surprised
to find himself at such a prestigeous position. A highschool student,
he was there in a brief respite of his acadamic life, and he was
offered that opportunity to earn money just because he went to that
part of the country to visit a relative, and because he knew some
arithmetics. Locals were dying for money, would risk their life too
for a few rupees in their work, yet were ruefully unable to read
letters. Outsider and educated, he became a wellknown whizz kid soon.
Punarbaas was a Panchayati project. It wanted to settle people where
there used to be thick forests. Poors living in the mountains were
promised land, and the officers were too happy to cut logs and sell
them to India. It was a profitable business for all until it became
apparent to apparitchiks in KTM that forest was an exhaustible resource.
----
He would lead a group of labourers in the jungle. He would look at each
tree and guess how tall it could be, and then order the lumberjacks to
fell the tree, and cut it to specified number of pieces. He would mark
the tree at the places where it should be cut, and the another group of
people would sit down there with their aaraa and cut down the tree.
The work resembled an assembly line of a factory with laconic workers
busying themselves relentlessly whole day.When the tree was cut,another
group of labourers would load the logs to truck. Down somewhere,
there was a boarder checkpost, where a few corrupt people would
be waiting for the truck to arrive.
One day, as he was travelling in the truck, he saw those things with
his own eyes.
"Namaskar, sikchhit baaje." A guard came out of the post, and greeted
him. "You came yourself today?"
"Namaskar. Yea, just wanted to see India. And here is your
Rs 200.00!" The truck driver had already told him the rate. The
guard smiled unembarrassed,and the pulled up the barrier of the post.
"What happens if we don't pay him?"
"They would ask us to unload all these logs, and check them. It is
worthy to avoid that hassle." The seasoned driver replied.
In nights, in days, the trees were cut down near Dasgajaa and
everywhere. People were slowly relocated to those places. Where
those people came from, he never knew. Poor, and belittered with
numerous kids, they would come, and set up small huts. Everyday,
like the characters from Lila Bdr Kshetri's Basaai, people would come
down with their woes, some befuddled by swelling loans, some
saddened by boron deficiency that caused their wheats to die in the
farm up in mountain,some families of foreign bound Laaures whose adult
family members never came back. Punarbaas was a hope, a promise and an
opalescent optimism distributed from top-level of government.
With the help of these people,a new village would thus be established.
---
He returned back to Chitwan, where his education was not that much
valued. As he grew up, his interest in Kanchanpur lingered. The far
western district so much resembled Chitwan in its nature. The last
census of Nepal showed Kanchapur as second fastest growing district
in the nation after Kathmandu.Kanchanpur is slowly becoming politically
conscious too. He hopes things will work out fine for the distict.
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| NK |
Posted
on 26-Jul-02 07:08 AM
"Punarbaas was a Panchayati project. It wanted to settle people where
there used to be thick forests. Poors living in the mountains were
promised land, and the officers were too happy to cut logs and sell
them to India. It was a profitable business for all until it became
apparent to apparitchiks in KTM that forest was an exhaustible resource. "
****
Indeed!
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| deep |
Posted
on 26-Jul-02 08:54 AM
Biswoji,
*Punarbaas was a Panchayati project. It wanted to settle people where
there used to be thick forests....*
Yeah the panchayati project wanted to settle sukumbasi people there but it was just a dekhaune dant of an elephant. There probably were many people straight from Mr. Lil Bhdr. Chhetri's Basai but there were also many more "agents" disguised as sukumbasis -occupying lands- following orders from different influential quarters. Poonarbas was a project allright but was a business one. Sikshit baje certainly knows (knew) :) .
*It was a profitable business for all until it became
apparent to apparitchiks in KTM that forest was an exhaustible resource.*
It still is not so apparent to "apparitchiks" in Ktm that forest is an exhaustible resource.
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| Biswo |
Posted
on 26-Jul-02 12:11 PM
Hi Deepji,
Definitely, there were some nakkali sukumbaasi. Sikshit Baaje understands that.
The thread was written after a reading of one thought-provoking article about caste
relation in the recent Samachar Bichar (probably by Nuru Lama). I think a lot of
intellectuals use reductionist approach when they blame certain castes for
source of all evils. Poverty is rather a demographical scourge, which is more
pervasive in hilly north and mountainous west. No matter which caste they
belong to, a lot of those people are poor out there.
Punarbaas did some good job, but its basic modus operandi was wrong because
it sought to give land to some people by clearing lands of forests. But, as
anyone from the border area will attest, settlement near border is boon to us,
since it was helpful in checking the illegal Indian encroachment inside our border.
Those settlements are often there as outpost of Nepal,the nation.
Isn't it true that people who go to foreign countries are often not from far western
region? I wrote two threads about that region, and not a single poster who
replied said, "hey, I am from that region!" It shows how neglected those regions
still are.
Well, this weekend, there are so many good threads in Sajha.com that I better
go read them starting from rightnow!
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| CHITWAN |
Posted
on 26-Jul-02 02:13 PM
Finally my man wake up to write something in sajha after long disapperance. Without your writing sajha seems unsalty 'khole', keep posting.
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| Biswo |
Posted
on 26-Jul-02 05:05 PM
CHITWANji,
Thanks for compliment. However, I was writing stuffs here regularly, it is because
we have so many postings here each day that our postings become invisible
pretty soon:-(
I hope this posting was useful and entertaining too.
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| deep |
Posted
on 26-Jul-02 06:28 PM
Biswoji,
There were a lot of nakkali sukkumbaasis. Influential people were creating sukumbaasis like machines. Those poweful people wanted jaggas even for those who were living in mansions.
The idea of poonarbas is good. it's really sad for a person to be a sukumbaasi in his/her own country. In our poor country people do not become sukumbaasi by choice. Let's remember jhuma's brother in Basai.
*But, as
anyone from the border area will attest, settlement near border is boon to us,
since it was helpful in checking the illegal Indian encroachment inside our border.
Those settlements are often there as outpost of Nepal,the nation.*
I agree.
I think a lot of
intellectuals use reductionist approach when they blame certain castes for
source of all evils. Poverty is rather a demographical scourge, which is more
pervasive in hilly north and mountainous west. No matter which caste they
belong to, a lot of those people are poor out there.
Certainly.
Biswoji, I wanted to write much more on this thread. I was preparing myself for that but ke garne...I have to go now. Bahir nagai bhayena.
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