Kathmandu through My Lens

‘Write about what you think, see and feel while you are travelling from your home to college early in the morning’. Is this is a “standard” topic for an assignment for the student in the final year doing their bachelors? Are we so short of topics for an assignment? Well honestly this was the first thought that came streaming up into my mind.  The tragedy is that the assignment carries marks and will accumulate to my grades so with no other choice to make I start my assignment. 

My college days run from Saturday to Wednesday and occasionally on other days. In other words, I have five college days to attend in a week. Today is 19^th September 2011, a day after the shocking and shaking earthquake of 6.8 rector scale that cosmopolitan Kathmandu experienced. I woke up at 5:30 am and hurried to the bathroom. Unfortunately the taps ran out of water as we had load shedding last night. The timing for the water supply and load shedding seems to coincide most of the time so this is not very new to me. I take a mug of water, wash my face as well as manage gargle the paste off my mouth. Giving up the idea to take a shower I change and leave for my college. The clock strikes quarter past six; I am already late. The college starts from 6:45 am and it takes 45 minutes for me to reach my college in very popular public bus “Nepal Yatayat”.  I let go of two buses as they are too pack to travel. Yet I can see many people cling to the door and head towards their destination.  I question myself, why am I so conscious about the safety or is it that those people are too brave who can forego their safety to reach their destination on time?  Or is it the after shock effect of earthquake on me? Now it is really late and finally I get on to a bus and manage to get a seat.  

The bus moves from Baneshwor to Anamnagar, New Plaza, Putali sadak, Jai Nepal,  Naag pokhari, Naksal, Tangal ganesh , Bhatbhateni and finally my college  at Baluwatar. During this journey from Baneshwor to Baluwatar I come across the variety that this capital city has to offer. I witness the structural transformation that the place has acquired in past three years. Every morning on my way to college, I see hundreds of youth like me who are studying at different colleges. It reminds me of human resource class lectures. I notice the consultancy offices for abroad studies and start to think about my further studies. Should I continue my master’s degree here or seek for abroad studies? Most people suggest trying at least once for pursuing master’s degree abroad.  Suddenly, the driver applies the brakes as it was about to hit a motorbike which overtook the bus from wrong side.  ‘These motor bikers have no consideration for traffic rules or seriousness towards their life’, I hear the driver shout. The bus gathers its speed and I go back to enjoy the ride.  I see very captivating film posters on display at Jai Nepal cinema hall and make up my mind to manage time to come and watch the movie some time soon.  Tall shopping malls and apartment housing are becoming quite popular these days in Kathmandu and so are the giant hoarding boards. Due to yesterday’s experience of 6.8 rector scale earthquake, I could not help but wonder is it safe to come out on road if such incidents repeat. I notice the maze of wires hanging helplessly, poles at the road side which no longer have the strength to hold any more mass on to them, the massive use of huge see through glasses and the walls built to mark the boundary. Observing all these, I silently come to the conclusion that more safe outlet would be the basement or the ground floor rather than road.  By then the bus reached near Naag pokhari. I really like this place. The multipurpose use of this place is something to admire as we can find people out for jogging, small tea shops running business and youth doing their regular workouts. I remember that the pond was recently emptied for maintenance and the water was changed. This place certainly has socio-economic value to serve different people. But one cannot ignore the narrow lane road which is made even congested by the ill managed deposition of the construction materials. I do not know whether the system allows this nor do I care much. The road section near Naxal police headquarter lacks proper drainage and the pedestrians have difficulty walking on the road. If any vehicle passes by there is high chance of getting shower of the muddy water from the road. There is quite open field on this one way lane. It is slowly turning into a dumping site. If I had the authority, then I would manage this place into a park instead of letting the land lose. This would enhance the aesthetic value of the surrounding as well. The conductor announces Bhatbhateni and bus comes to halt.  Devotees from different corners are seen paying homage to Bhatbhateni temple. Just across the temple lies the most well known shopping market of Nepal named after Bhatbhateni itself and a park for the community built from its sponsorship. Anyone can say that this place is much better than most of the places around Kathmandu. Past Bhatbhateni, comes the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China. The great walls surrounding this embassy remind me of the Great Wall of China itself. The security system and the standard of fencing done around the campus of the embassy signify the level of effort they have made to ensure safety. So many of our planners, diplomats and leaders go on foreign visits annually.  The former kings, royalties and many well to do families have been abroad since long on different purposes. They have seen the development process of the developed nations. They should have suggested for the urban planning of the city long before but I can feel its absence.  At least, even Junga Bahadur had come up with idea of building places and other historical structures and Muluki Ain after his visit to England. Why is it that the latter ones could not come up with any better planning concepts for the urban area and its settlement system?

Few buildings ahead of Chinese embassy comes my college. I search for change to pay for the bus ride. The bus stops just in front of my college gate where a teacher is already standing to alert the late comers.  I hastily run towards my classroom and the thought of earthquake and security run along with me.  Before entering the classroom a silent voice speaks in my mind, Is your classroom safe?  I take my seat turning deaf ears to those voices. 

Meat and Feast

Today I was going through the "Animal Slaughterhouse and Meat Inspection Act, 2055(1999)" of Nepal to compose my assignment on the related subject matter. In the very first place, I was happy to know that there is such an Act in Nepal even though the implementation part as like many other acts is not satisfying at all.Some of the points that caught my interest were

• Nobody shall establish a slaughterhouse or become a meat seller without obtaining license under this Act.
• Examination of Animals before slaughtering (Ante-Mortem Examination)
• No sale of meat of dead animal due to disease or any other cause shall be allowed.
• No sale of meat with skin shall be allowed.
• No meat seller shall sell any meat without having stamped or marked from the meat investigator after the investigation 
• it prohibits the sell of adulterated meat i.e. no two or more types of  meat from different species can be sold together or mixed
• punishment for violation of this act starts with penalty of five thousand to twenty thousand and/or imprisonment of three month 
• No slaughtering is allowed elsewhere except for religious sacrifices and research purpose

Well, I doubt if there are hardly fifty slaughterhouse following the provisions as per the act and same applies to the investigation team or whatever they name it. Most common example of non implementation of the act is whenever we get meat from the shop we also have to take the skin included while weighing and pay and only after that if we do not want skin, ask to separate from rest of the meat.

Dashain, one of most widely celebrated festivals of Nepal is very close and the Khasi bazar are quite active these days and so are the issues of meat consumption. Dashain is famous for consumption of meat among all Nepali and since the sacrifice of animal is permitted by the act itself poses a vulnerable state for unhygienic meat consumption. The sites for such sacrifices are not managed well and the best example of this can be sighted on the ninth day of Dashain around Hanuman Dhoka Premise after the performance of Kal ratri at midnight on  eighth day of Dashain. 

Well now moving on to the day to day life the growing popularity open stall food where items like drumstick, mo:mo, sausage etc are easily available at lower price.It is obvious that more people are inclined towards consumption of such open stall meat items. Imagine a person in front of Kathmandu Mall having sticks of sausages and think about the hygiene. Is it an issue beyond the coverage of this Act? I do not know but I definitely feel the need for some control or management mechanism to look after this. More than that people themselves are not conscious about their health so what more is there to expect from government!! Correct me if I am wrong.

 

Getting the Remark ' The Neta Types'

Life has stored surprise packages and offers us in installments I assume. Recently, one of such packages was tossed to my side. One of my friends had got an opportunity to attend a workshop where he happened to meet a girl from my old school of my batch. Generally we start asking people if they know so and so person from the same school and he did the same. Her reply was "OMG!! KRITA BHATTARAI TYO NETA (politician/leader) TYPES!!!  Well right away I was off my mind.What the hell did she think of herself??? Does she not remember herself sleeping during the class lectures and having her note copy covered with her Thuk (saliva). How could she say so when I had done nothing wrong to her. Yes, I used to enjoy taking the lead at times and my nepali was better too but I don't understand how that gives her an excuse to call me a 'Neta'. I shared her remarks on me to few of my school friends and was finally happy to find that they had quite a number of funny incidents related to her which I better keep to myself. And with a light heart I laughed along with them. This is human nature so don't take it any other way. Good old school days always brings smile to everyones' face I guess.

Still her remark bothered me time and again for the following three days so I thought of giving it an optimistic view. After all Neta refers to leaders right and everyone wants to be know as one.There is no harm in being recognized as one and its even better that you were recognized at your early days. I questioned myself, why was I so pissed off with the word Neta?? Then a simple answer ran into my mind; because in Nepal Netas are not looked upon as a leader but merely as politicians who are a slack of useless bulk.Good for nothing, selfish persons who enjoy filling their pockets and keeping the general people at confusion, dirty people doing a dirty business and so on. With a transitional phase that seems to be never ending, with nearly doomed economy and the everyday cat race for the post and power leaves no single good impression of Netas on us. Very few of us see our career as a politician though these days slight changes have been felt in the mindset of young people. Personally, I never see myself as a politician in the days to come.

What I believe is that our country is not in need of politicians but of those people who do their jobs in the right way and let others do theirs and do not interfere. These people would be teachers, policy makers, doctors, engineers, students, entrepreneurs, drivers, plumbers, police and army officers, mechanics, journalists, civil servants and so on. One thing that really gets into my nerves these days is that politics has entered into every wing of the society. Rather than doing ones job people are more inclined towards certain party politics, getting affiliations and strengthening this vicious network of  favoritism. Another thing is that we all want to be leaders,      but tend to forget that in order to be a good leader one also should possess the virtue of accepting others lead and learning from them. We all are well aware that too many cook spoil the broth.

Having said the above things I would like to go back to where this all started and would like to thank that friend whose remarks helped me construct this write up. Though I'm still not Ok for being referred to as Neta at all but it did help me wonder why I or we are so not fond our politicians.

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The Sooner The Better.....

You are given a minute to choose the words or phrases that would distinguish between Old and Youth. At the end of that one minute, outdated, old fashioned, boring, full of suggestions, wise mind, been there done that attitude might be few to describe the former; while vibrant, energetic, optimistic, fun to be with, full of ideas and courage to make things happen, ambitious, fashionable and pleasing to senses would describe the latter.

Whatever may be the word or phrase we choose to describe, Youth definitely beats the Old. Youth is a phase when everything seems possible or doable. Yes, there are mistakes made but also lessons learned. It is  the time when one explores ones limit, confusion, strength and expertise.

The mortality rate of Nepal is around 37 per 1000 live births, except those 37 out of thousand  undergo this fruitful phase of life.   But everyone is not fortunate enough to see the  light   at the end of the tunnel. As a result they lag behind or in between their ultimate goal towards prosperity   and the so called life. Not being able to figure out what they truly long for is tragic of all.  They grow old without even realizing when their youth tossed them by as they were too busy mimicking and following others in vain. In the end, they are left abandoned and wanting for their ends  which will be morned by few and then they too move along their own  life.

Well, let the day not come when our country becomes old without  even realizing when its youthful days had come as most of us are busy searching   for scapegoat to put the blame for not having the wanted change and prosperity. Instead let us awaken to be the desired change.

A Trek To GHANDRUK

On 9th April, 2011, trekking for about six hours from the place called Nayapul (New Bridge) near Birethati, I along with my classmates and teachers reached Ghandruk(northern- central Nepal). It is especially known as a transit point for the Annapurna Base Camp and falls under the IUCN Protected Area Management Category VI (http://www.iucn.org/about/work/programmes/pa/pa_products/wcpa_categories/pa_categoryvi/ )

Now having been to Ghandruk I feel as if I have conquered the Everest Summit. Well you may take me as a fool and laugh  but seriously Ghandruk is not within the access of most of the people. Reason is you have to trek up and down the trials (very well managed and clean) as there is no proper road (no bus, mocro or taxi) to take you up there and next option is to charter a helicopter, which is possible only when your pocket is thick enough and the weather is friendly(beyond the capacity of most Nepalese and others as well). One can enjoy the scenic beauty and the local Gurung culture and the feel of the old days that our grandparents used to share saying one had to walk this many days to reach to so and so places. But while I was going uphill finding it really hard to breathe and blood rushing up my brain equal to the speed of  light (a bit of exaggeration won't do much harm) I remembered a phrase once shared by one of my teachers 'Bhoko pet ma himal ramro dekhinna' ( Mountains don't please you when your tummy is empty). This place is so famous for the trekking that people don't find it a necessity to build road networks !!! Strange. But I was glad to see that the road construction was in progress..PHEW!!!

We were there on our field visit for the subject Tourism and Development and during the household survey people complained about inadequate health facilities, access to educational institutions, inflation and so on... The operational cost being very high and Ghandruk being a touristic area, things were really expensive. Great hospitality of the people however made the travelers satisfied.Ghandruk economy is totally dependent on tourist who come for trekking. Hence many have an opinion that when roads are linked to Ghandruk, there is high chance that its economy will suffer a lot (porters, hotels and lodges and even the small shops). While others say that simply because the tourists love the trekking and the stone age feel should that deny the people of Ghandruk from their basic right to development? Should people remain as a museum piece to please the outsiders???  Both views have their own stand and equally true to some extent.

Another fun event was to see the Khachhads one after the other walking in the trails with heavy loads on their back and the sound from the bells tied around their neck. It seemed as if they were synchronized in some sort of system. They were disciplined, civilized and waited for their turns unlike humans.One thing that we need to be careful about Khachhad is not to be too near to them as you might get a nice blow from its constant moving tail which is painful indeed. First hand experience you know ;)

Ghandruk indeed was an exciting trip.  Golden mountains during the sunrise, breakfast in the lap of mountains, the warm Gurung culture, the forest covered with rhododendron, great taste of churpi, the clean trails, body covered with sweat,  pranks with pals, ever smiling locals on the way and many more  made this a memorable trip. Another story that will put a smile in the days to come. A place that one must try at least once in their lifetime. Ghandruk is a place where you don't want to reach until you are there and you don't want to leave once you are there. Right from the beginning of the trekking till its ends you will find everything warm, welcoming and surprising.

One night a feat was held in the palace, and there came a man and prostrated himself before the prince, and all the feasters looked upon him; and they saw that one of his eyes was out and that the empty socket bled.  And the prince inquired of him, "What has befallen you?"  And the man replied, "O prince, I am by profession
a thief, and this night, because there was no moon, I went to rob the money-changer's shop, and as I climbed in through the window I made a mistake and entered the weaver's shop, and in the dark I ran into the weaver's loom and my eye was plucked out.  And now,O prince, I ask for justice upon the weaver."

Then the prince sent for the weaver and he came, and it was decreed that one of his eyes should be plucked out.

"O prince," said the weaver, "the decree is just.  It is right that one of my eyes be taken.  And yet, alas! both are necessary to me in order that I may see the two sides of the cloth that I weave.But I have a neighbour, a cobbler, who has also two eyes, and in his trade both eyes are not necessary."

Then the prince sent for the cobbler.  And he came.  And they took out one of the cobbler's two eyes.

And justice was satisfied.

source: 

The Madman by Khalil Gibran