| Sajha.com Archives | |
| Username | Post |
| Biswo | Posted
on 17-May-04 11:19 PM
Quest For Fire --------------------- Now this is not really a fiction. But it may not necessarily be the truth either. My neighboring Tharus were there in Chitwan since time immemorial. They say general Bahadur Shah went to Upardang Gadhi with some of his men, subjugated whoever was there, and looked down from the fort. All he could see was a forest so dense that he didn't even go down. He left the forest in tact, and considered the forest to be bulwark agains the English empire of south. "There are no states to conquer, no people to subjugate down there, there are only diseases which will kill you before you can come out of there ,so the English will never be able to cross the jungle" was his verdict. He was wrong: Tharus and Prajas were there. Tharus were civilized society. They used to clear khoriyaa, stay at a place for about five years, then move to another places, making them semi-nomadic. Prajas were rather primitive. Tharus regarded Sal, Sisau, Khayar and Kali Kaath as essential to their life, essential to create and preserve fire. Ranas would discover life inside those forests later. But they also discovered great wood that could be sold to India where British were furiously doing development works like making new rail ways, for which they needed fine woods. Ranas had a great market in the south for the woods.. So, they first banned the wood consumption by Tharus. Then, the wood were cut and shipped from Narayani by Indian wood cutting/shipping contractors. The Tharus hence suddenly faced problem about what to use to preserve the wood. That was when they discovered that they could create an incendiary object by collecting cow dung, holding the viscous material together in raw straws or dry grasses, and then baking them in sunlight. They called those alternative to the woods Guithaa.I recall using them when I was a kid. I sincerly think it was a neat idea. The Last Lunch ------------------- Now this is strictly fictional:-) The king organized the last lunch. The lunch was held in a small town, Kathmandu, but he could find 350 people to attend his lunch. Showing his magnanimity, he even invited some people who were in the street a few days ago against him. It was so nice of him. My story centers on an actress of the yore. Actresses, btw, have been traditionally favorites of strongmen: Marylyn Monroe(JFK), Jiang Qing(Mao), Karishma (Prachanda). Anyway, here this actress, invited to a upaban, shyly sidles up to the king in the upaban. The king is still expecting some kind of kind words from the actress, he is morose, it is the last lunch he would be hosting, and like Jesus, he knows it. He is looking for the ultimate words of consolation. He wants to be consoled, probably praised, amidst the screeches of outside protests, where everyone but his handful men are participating. And then, this actress says, "Maharaj, give me Gorkha Daxin Baahu this time." The king is suddenly surprised.It is just Jyestha. And this lady is asking for a medal which are handed away in Poush. Suddenly, the king's face brightens up, he feels happy, ecstasic, energized. Amid the gloom of anticipation of fall, this was the best thing he ever heard: here this actress is the only person who seems to be so cocksure of his survival until Poush. He was always the fan of the actress, but the actress seems to be even more infatuated with him, even more sure of his survival than he himself was. He happily replied, "Sure, I will give one to you this Poush." |
| prabhats | Posted
on 18-May-04 07:30 AM
Biswo, nice one...particularly 'the Last Lunch', seems true that the days of monarchy are going to be over. BTW, I liked the poem by Anil Paudel on why we should stop rearing a useless pig, a very symbolic and timely representation on the debate of republic. It was featured in Nepalikavita.com yesterday. The poem is titled 'Hamile Sugur Napalda Ke Hunchha'. I liked it very much. |
| andolan_61 | Posted
on 18-May-04 07:59 AM
Praphat, Could you post either link or that poem in this website. I couldn't find it there |
| SITARA | Posted
on 18-May-04 09:50 AM
Biswo; The last lunch struck a cord and brought on a smile; the straw that brought the camel back! |
| Biswo | Posted
on 18-May-04 11:19 AM
prabhat, Thanks for your comment. I went to the website you referred to, but wasn't there. I recommend that you provide some 'hot' link for the poem here, if possible:-) Sitara: I am glad you liked it. I was reading a news in Kantipur yesterday, and I was so surprised by the sureness in the actress that the king would survive that long. And, btw, is GoDaBaa that worthy? |
| nsshrestha | Posted
on 18-May-04 02:43 PM
So it is about Sarmila Shaha. |
| Biswo | Posted
on 18-May-04 06:20 PM
nsshresthaji: How did you figure that out?Sharmila Shah(Malla) or Gouri Malla? |
| nsshrestha | Posted
on 18-May-04 06:33 PM
I think it was in this weirdo named Ram Prashad's nispakchhya. |
| confused | Posted
on 18-May-04 06:36 PM
haha khatra story! |
| prabhats | Posted
on 19-May-04 02:19 AM
Hi Biswo and Andolan I checked out in the archives of Nepalikavita.com for the poem I mentioned but they have not updated the archives since Baishak 15. I just read it and didn't have a copy saved. If you are interested, you can email Bikram Subba at: webmaster@nepalikavita.com, I am sure that he would be happy to send/ email the poem. |
| rauniyar | Posted
on 20-May-04 07:28 AM
Biswo Ji: Here is some more " read " to provoke your thoughts for some more stories in the future. As they say, some feel the rain, but some get wet. You would rather do the former than the latter. Best! Uhi Rajeev, CT, Amrika ‘King and country’ AMEET DHAKAL - The Economist ran an interesting story on Nepal in its last issue entitled “King and country.” More interesting, though somewhat painful, were its concluding lines which read: “Monarchy is down in Nepal. But it is not yet out.” Similarly, a caption below the picture of King Gyanendra, read: “Still reigning.” Such caption would have been considered ludicrous some months back and unthinkable a few years ago. What has changed so much in one winter in Nepal that The Economist, known for its pithy captions and timely stories and analyses, deems such caption fitting? More importantly, who is to blame for it? Yes, the students, in their “youthful extremism” have littered the streets with anti-monarchy slogans, and that has taken the debate over whether or not Nepal needs monarchy to cities, towns and villages. But it is not simply that students woke up one fine morning and decided to chant anti-monarchy slogans. Never in history has a monarchy ended merely because of an unprovoked proactive initiative from the people. It has always been people’s reaction to what monarchies have done that has swept them away. The tragedy is that every former monarchy that is now a part of history thought that people were making an unnecessary fuss against it. And they never realized their fault until they were deposed. Mohammed Shah Pahallavi, as a deposed Iranian monarch living in Egypt, once lamented: “I never understood Iranian people so long as I was their king and now that I have understood them, they are no longer with me.” History has indeed been cruel to kings, rewarding them harshly for their shortsightedness. What the Shah of Iran regretted should be a lesson to other reigning monarchs. Because it succinctly captures a discord in the way monarchs and their subjects think. This discord, I think, is the major problem, not so much in the king’s intention. Though many of my friends have warned me against my “too generous” attitude towards King Gyanendra, I still feel that he is a man of good intentions but that he has chosen the wrong ways, and means, to act on them. No one disagrees with the king’s assessment that the country is in a deep mess that must be redressed. However, if, as all indications suggest, the king thinks that he could do it or should do it, he is hundred percent mistaken. The preceding one-year of his rule-by-proxy hasn’t brought any good, nor is it likely to accomplish any miracle in the future, just as his father’s and elder brother’s over 30 long years rule failed to accomplish any wonders. And mind you, it’s not because they didn’t try. Rather, it is because absolute rule has its own inherent limitations. Some people cite the Singaporean, or even the Malaysian examples to prove their point that, in certain circumstances, an “enlightened” dictatorship can work. However, they forget the fact that hundreds of other dictators have failed to deliver what they had promised. Agreed, democracy is notoriously messy, but the success rate of dictators is disproportionately low compared to that of democrats. But many of the people who surround the king — and who benefit from his active rule — tell him that it is only he who can address the mammoth problem facing the country. And they dismiss the soaring street protests as the misadventure of a disparate mass. A few weeks ago, Kamal Thapa, the Minister for Information and Communications and the government’s spokesperson, argued with this columnist that a few thousand students chanting anti-monarchy slogans does not represent a popular feeling. Maybe. However, numbers have always misled the Panchas and the monarch’s so called loyalists, who have done the monarchy more harm than good . On the eve of popular Janaandolan in 1990, many Panchas were shouting similar lines: Muthivhar arastriya tattoo… (handful of anti-national elements). However, when that handful mass swelled to hundreds of thousands and headed towards the royal palace, the Late King Birendra, a man gifted with strong instincts, knew that it was finally time for change. Maybe people would not come out into the streets now as they did in 1990, because the popular faces of then have already failed them. The leaders are arguably at the height of their unpopularity. But, remember, so is the king. And the people know that they can vote out the leaders but not the monarch. That makes the king all the more unpopular, and the people all the more restless. (The writer can be reached at |
| Deep | Posted
on 20-May-04 02:18 PM
source: hindustantimes.com - http://www.hindustantimes.com/wfsf/high/2004/05.06/images/high736352.jpg Momo ko nimta aaula ta pandit kaha bata? |
| Biswo | Posted
on 20-May-04 04:45 PM
Deepji, Satire bujhiyena. The picture seems like of the day after the last lunch, though. |