| Paschim |
Posted
on 06-Nov-02 05:34 AM
For all development-wallahs (bikase folks), here's an engaging piece from Himal by Saubhagya Shah, doctoral candidate at Harvard University, whose field research involved two years of residence in Maoist-infested Sindhuli.
I personally don't share ALL his views and assertions here, but what follows merits slow relishing; also be warned that the piece is awfully long -- close to 7000 words!
From evil state to civil society
by Saubhagya Shah
http://himalmag.com/2002/november/essay.htm
[A case in point is the contemporary practice of naming children Bikas. Prior to the 1950s, there was hardly anybody with that proper name. Its addition to the Nepali cultural repertoire is indicative of Nepal’s ambivalent encounter with development. First, Bikas as a name is given only to boys, even though grammatically bikas is a gender-neutral term. Naming a child involves the ultimate investment of desire and hope. Which begs the question, what sort of masculine inflections are present in development to cause bikas to be born only as a male child? Second, Bikas has tended to obliterate the particularity of Nepali middle names, which serve to qualify the first name. But those who christen their male progeny Bikas do not generally find it necessary to give them a middle name, as if subconsciously emphasising the point that “development” needs no further qualification.]
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