Mourning Demise of Sir Edmund Hillary

Sir Edmund Hillary, one of the first two men atop Mount Everest, passed away. The news made me numb and left me blaming myself why did not I try to meet him on so many occasions he was in Nepal. For many Nepalis like me, Hillary – a New Zealander – was more Nepali than his teammate on the top of the world – Tenzing Norgay.

As a child, whenever I read stories of Everest, I had always expected the next time I would read about them; the God would exchange their nationality. I was bothered mostly with Tenzing accepting Indian nationality and living in Darjeeling. Indian magazines I read then always called him an Indian.

As I grew, I accepted the reality. For Tenzing, India was a good offer than living a hard life in Nepal. And, when I knew about Hillary’s Himalayan Trust and the works it had done to uplift the lives of Sherpas, in a corner of my heart, I believed, he too was bothered Tenzing living in Nepal and wanted no more Sherpas to leave the country – and his way of doing that was establishing schools and hospitals for them.

On May 29, 2003, when the 50th Anniversary of the ascent was celebrated, he chose to come to Nepal to accept honorary citizenship and went through the capital city on a horse-driven wagon rather than accepting an invitation by the British Queen. Though his love for modesty was well-known, I never thought he loved Nepal so much.

Then I started believing, Ed was more Nepali than Tenzing! May his soul of a legend rest in peace.

Sir Edmund Hillary – King of the World
Hillary’s Himalayan Trust – Nepal

January 11, 2008 by Sadly!

Welcoming 2008: A Personal Note

Before welcoming 2008, I tried to look back – particularly the last quarter of 2007. It was the period that I would particularly like to forget personally – it just happened to the time in which you find yourself disorganized and nothing moves as you had wanted.

Probably, it was a ‘out of form’ period but when I analyze it, I find that I just happened to be at wrong places in wrong times. I was not at the office when I needed to be, I was not at the teaching job when I should be and I was not at home when I should have been. I just missed everything – made most of my ‘owns’ unhappy about me.

I tried to reorganize myself a few times but just failed. My priorities could have been wrong. I was here and there but not at the place where I should have been. And, that did all but improve my efficiency.

Profession wise, I got something good. I just got a promotion at office; I became permanent. At teaching, I started teaching bachelors level students. But then, I know myself, I failed to deliver as I have wanted. It might not be too bad, but I could not live up my own plans.

With all that in mind, off course some of advises coming from my colleagues and relatives, I hope to reorganize everything in 2008. The lone resolution for me on January 1 is to reorganize everything – work efficiently, be at right place at right time and begin afresh everything left behind.

Happy New Year 2008!

January 1, 2008 by Sadly! Uzz Update

Talking on Blogs at Madan Bhandari Memorial College

The students of Mass Communication and Journalism at Madan Bhandari Memorial College, Kathmandu invited me for a lecture session on blogging on Saturday morning. It has been long since I have formally talked about blogging to the people; and I was happy to resume the talks.

I felt all good seeing nearly five dozens of youngsters, along with the MC&J faculties and assistant campus chief, eagerly waiting to learn something about blogs and blogging. The talks went as usual – introduction to blogging, blogging experience, the question of objectivity, how can blogs supplement journalism or fill the vacancy left by mainstream media and a practical session on creating and maintaining blogs (the dial-up internet was little slow as the time ran out). The whole program lasted for almost two hours; and the best part of it was the enthusiasm shown by the participants.

Students of MBMC presenting a momento to me.
Thank you!

December 29, 2007 by Blogs & Blogging

The Whirlwind Tour

I completed a weeklong tour to Eastern Nepal, Darjeeling and Sikkim on three days ago – and wanted to write a few things about it – but the tour was so tiring that I failed to gather enough courage to do so. As a few of us in our 25-member touring party rightly put – the tour was a Touch Tour that we touched every places and never really had enough time to explore them. Our six-night seven-day tour consisted of 78 hours of bus riding – well that makes half the tour time and we of course did sleep at nights!


The tour party at Chowrasta, Darjeeling.

We spent nights at Itahari, Kalimpong, Gangtok, Darjeeing, Biratnagar and Itahari. Overall, it was an worth-experiencing tour that kept a lot of us wondering why did we visited the Indian hills leaving behind better/more beautiful hills in our own country.

For us, the ride to Dhankuta from Dharan was more enthralling than the ride from Gangtok to Darjeeing and the sunrise view from Sarangkot, Pokhara was prettier than that of famous Tiger Hill of Darjeeling. It was kind of self-awakening tour for us where we, after visiting the * (that could be 5, 7 or 9) -points destinations in Gangtok and Darjeeling woke up to know that the * could mean a 100 in many places in Nepal.

The most bothering aspect of the tour was that we went on our own bus and there were no place to park it in Darjeeling and Gangtok (well, jeeps or cars could have been easier) and our driver was always waking up early in the morning to go around on the bus looking of places to park. The roads there were narrow and only jeeps/cars were permitted! (I wonder why there is no tourist bus park or something like that).

One thing that we can learn from them is the tourism promotion. At Gangtok, we went to 7-point tourist spots (something that their guidebook says should not be missed). But after visiting a monastery, the flower complex, ridge garden, ropeway, Tashi view point, Ganesh tok and a handicraft display, I said: “If these are tourist attractions, I believe if such spots are included, the guidebook of the Kathmandu Valley will be as large as five dictionaries!”

At Darjeeling, if you ask anybody about a place not to miss, everybody will say Tiger Hill – which is 15-16 KM from town and if need to hire a jeep to go there. In Kathmandu, no one bothers about Nagarkot!

For us, the monasteries, mountains, hills and scenic bird-eye view of city meant nothing (we are used to it). Though we thoroughly enjoyed visiting Delo, a hilltop in Kalimpong with a nice garden and hilly views and loved dressing as natives at Batasia, Darjeeling and the World Heritage Train (sadly we didn’t have enough time to ride it as we were suggested to move out by locals to avoid troubles as the people demanding Gorkhaland – a separate Indian state were gathering at famous Chowrasta).
At Darjeeling, what amazed us (and it will to you if you visit the city), is the number of agents who try to stop you here and there on your arrival asking for hotels and all. Of course, we managed to wipe off a few before finally deciding maybe it’s better and easier with them and without them. That was annoying!

All these cities close at 8 PM – and that didn’t matched my time because I wanted a spent at least an hour on cyber cafes looking at mails and all. But could not – that too irritated me (but was probably better for my tiring body).

The best part of the tour was that I never felt that I was abroad – since Nepali was the language used most in all these areas. I could easily talk in Nepali at hotels, cyber and melas.

November 10, 2007 by Travelogues Uzz Update

On Trip to Darjeeing, Sikkim & Eastern Nepal

I am begining a weeklong tour to Darjeeing, Sikkim and Eastern Nepal on Wednesday. It will be a kind of a honeymoon trip for me as my beloved is joining me along with 18 others – all relatives. We are taking our own vehicle and since we all are relatives, I hope a joyous tour.

Actually, we had a similar trip last year to Pokhara, Baglung and Chitwan which was so exciting that everybody of us ended saying that we had never been on such a wonderful tour. Accompanied by singing, dancing and joking, it was an unforgettable experience.

No two trips are similar still we all are hoping that this will be more exciting as the venues are interesting, and most of us had never visited Darjeeling or Sikkim.

In preparation of that trip, I got too busy on Tuesday. Had to go to Embassy of India twice for the permit to our bus and in between, I joined the rally held by the Federation of Nepalese Journalists to protest the abduction of Birendra Shah, a journalist in Bara district. He was abducted a month ago and rumors are that he has already been murdered.

Then, we had invited a few relatives to the dinner and my wife was too busy. I could only get around one hour to spend with them and that was a pity as it would have been much fun have I stayed longer.

Anyway, I am now dreaming about the days to come when I will be experiencing new things, places and enjoying the freedom from work!

October 30, 2007 by Travelogues Uzz Update

A Few Updates: Experiences & Feelings

I have been quiet for a long time now and there have been quite a few things that happened during these days.

I AM A MASTER

I got the certificate of my masters’. It was great because after leaving the study of Masters in English Literature, I was down feeling that I would never complete masters’. Then I joined Mass Communication and Journalism and completed it in 2005 (I got certificate late because I submitted my thesis only two months ago).

Immediately, I started teaching journalism in Kathmandu Don Bosco College. Although I have been teacher for almost 14 years, teaching at a good college is a completely new experience and I must say my students look like wonderful bunch (well, they worked very hard for the project).

DASHAIN & EID

I wanted to wish a happy Eid to all my visitors but I could not figure out which day is right to do so. I could have asked a few of my Muslim friends but I somehow believed I could know that by newspapers. I failed.

Then there was Dashain and although I sent out Happay Dashain greetings to my Hindu friends, I didn’t put any thing on websites because I feel like not doing it after missing an Eid greeting. I don’t know where that feeling came from, but I feel like going secular.

TREKKING

It wasn’t an actual trekking but I did a kind if hiking during Dashain. I went to Bela – nearly 50km from Kathmandu on a bus for the Dashain tika from my wife’s aunt. Then, we found that there is a jeep ready to go to Kanpur – a small village of my wife’s maternal uncles (on Hindu culture, taking blessings from them is necessary during Dashain but I hadn’t gone there in last five years). So we went there.

It was a tough riding on the top open jeep and the road was bumpy – I nearly fell off the vehicle twice. After all that, we walked back 90 minutes (hurriedly to catch the last bus to Kathmandu) only to find that the last bus has left 15 minutes earlier.

We were stranded half-an-hour away from Bela and there was no vehicle. A microbus came and when he knew we were not going far, just sped away. Damm him! Is he no human?

But there was another driver who gave us lift and we reached Bela and spent a night there. (The touch ride on the jeep and 90 minutes walk caused pain for more than two days)! Ahaaaa!

And, JOURNALIST’S ABDUCTION

Birendra Shah, a journalist in Tarai, was abducted by the Maoists (the investigating committees say this while the Maoists deny). He was abducted before Dashain and his whereabouts is still unknown despite the issue being raised at the special session of the Parliament and government’s commitment to find out.

Very sad! Please release him if he is still alive (or if he has already been killed then the Maoists are going to go through after wave of hatred feelings – this time from media)!

October 29, 2007 by Uzz Update

Little Steps for Big Leap!

Blog Action DayA tree stands a few yards from my house. It houses two crow nests. And whenever I see it from my roof, I feel proud that I had, in my childhood, planted the tree that has become house to at least two crows.

Sometime, after working long hours on computer, I feel tired and in search of fresh air, I go to the roof. And, the green tree soothes my eyes like nothing else. I feel like I should have planted a few more of the trees.

This morning, I went to the tree and touched it, and stood beneath it as proud as an adult be of his childhood deeds as the crows above me started looking at me suspiciously. Then, I remembered I have received an email yesterday reminding me that I had signed as participant of the Blog Action Day with a promise that I will write something today about environment.

I am neither an expert nor activist to write something scholarly or important enough on the issue… but wait can I say that? Can I ignore environment because I am a journalist? Can WE leave the issue to those working for it only?

Of course not, because environment is something that we live on. But then what can I do? As a child I have planted a tree and now the tree is big and green! I am happy but is that enough? Maybe not, but if we all do small things like that then we can change everything. Maybe decreasing the font size by one step so that a page in decreased while printing; or not using plastic bags when not absolutely needed can help.

From within a busy schedule we have, let’s take out a minute everyday and think about environment and how can we make it better, or at least keep it as of today’s, can change our future. Little steps for big leap!

October 15, 2007 by Factual Fiction

NEPAL ELECTIONS POSTPONED: Stunned!

The Seven-Party Alliance (SPA) government decided to postpone elections of constituent assembly indefinitely. Nepal Communist Party (Maoists) succeeded to persuade/pressure other parties for an agreement that will do no good for the country.

Though I had already predicted in my earlier post that the elections would be postponed, the news of postponement shocked me and made me numb. As any other average Nepali, I believe the unstable situation should end as soon as possible and elections is the only way out of any unseen problems that may arise in future.

Politics is illusion. At least true for Nepali. Only yesterday, after listening to a speech made by a labor leader in a small gathering, I have asked a few others, is politics is all about illusioning people. Same for us – our leaders are keeping us in an illusion while in fact, they have proved themselves as un-visionary as possible.

Our leaders are not only making us believe on their ill-vision but are also not telling us the truth. Past has shown us that all out leaders have failed. PM Girija Prasad Koirala might have been nominated for the Nobel and he might be the only hope today, but he had a troubled history where he had failed to understand even his own friends at the party.

Maoists have proved themselves to be childish in politics. The ‘Roundtable Conferene’ is just an example where they even failed to envision what an average Nepali understood – that it’s not possible to decide on future of the country leaving out Nepali Congress and CPN-UML.

There is a simple logic behind all these failures. Their decision are more based on political ambition and party’s benefits than national interest or intellectual analysis.

The decision to postpone elections of constituent assembly too followed the same logic. Maoists do not want it as they knew what people thought about about. Congress’ old leader may be willing to solve all this for his credit but he will not mind getting a few more days at the position. Only CPN-UML want anyway, and they have already declared the protests of the decision.

Sadly, we are once again being deceived and I sincerely hope this postponement won’t be counter-productive for the democracy in Nepal.

LINK: CA Polls: A Mirage at Last?

October 5, 2007 by Sadly!

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