Received: from mp.cs.niu.edu (mp.cs.niu.edu [131.156.1.2]) by library.wustl.edu (8.8.5/8.8.5) with ESMTP id NAA04525; Sat, 19 Dec 1998 13:23:02 -0600 (CST) Received: by mp.cs.niu.edu (8.9.1/8.9.1) id KAA22411 for nepal-dist; Sat, 19 Dec 1998 10:22:43 -0600 (CST) Received: by mp.cs.niu.edu (8.9.1/8.9.1) id KAA22307 for nepal-list; Sat, 19 Dec 1998 10:11:58 -0600 (CST) Date: Sat, 19 Dec 1998 10:11:58 -0600 (CST) Message-Id: <199812191611.KAA22307@mp.cs.niu.edu> Reply-to: The Nepal Digest <NEPAL@cs.niu.edu> From: The Editor <NEPAL-REQUEST@cs.niu.edu> Sender: "Rajpal J.P. Singh" <A10RJS1@cs.niu.edu> Subject: The Nepal Digest - Dec 20, 1998 (3 Poush 2055 BkSm) To: <NEPAL@cs.niu.edu> Content-Type: text Status: O X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 295
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The Nepal Digest Sunday Dec 20, 1998: Poush 3 2055BS: Year7 Volume81 Issue3
S E A S O N ' S G R E E T I N G S ! ! !
Today's Topics (partial list):
A Nepali Poem
TND co-ordinator interview (finally)
Introducing Berea College
Help needed
Nepal: dangers to women
Copyright violations by Bhagat
Seeking Chris Evans
******************************************************************************
* TND (The Nepal Digest) Editorial Board *
* -------------------------------------- *
* *
* The Nepal Digest: General Information tnd@nepal.org *
* Chief Editor: Rajpal JP Singh a10rjs1@mp.cs.niu.edu *
* (Open Position) *
* Editorial Columnist: Pramod K. Mishra pkm@acpub.duke.edu *
* Sports Correspondent: Avinaya Rana avinayar@touro.edu *
* Co-ordinating Director - Australia Chapter (TND Foundation) *
* Dr. Krishna B. Hamal HamalK@dist.gov.au *
* Co-ordinating Director - Canada Chapter (TND Foundation) *
* Anil Shrestha SHRESTHA@CROP.UOGUELPH.CA *
* SCN Correspondent: Open Position *
* *
* TND Archives: http://library.wustl.edu/~listmgr/tnd/ *
* TND Foundation: http://www.nepal.org tnd@nepal.org *
* WebSlingers: Pradeep Bista,Naresh Kattel,Robin Rajbhandari *
* Rabi Tripathi, Prakash Bista tnd@nepal.org *
* *
* +++++ Food For Thought +++++ *
* *
* "Heros are the ones who give a bit of themselves to the community" *
* "Democracy perishes among the silent crowd" -Sirdar_Khalifa *
* *
******************************************************************************
*********************************************************************
Date: Dec 18, 1998
To: The Nepal Digest <nepal@cs.niu.edu>
Forwarded by: tnd@nepal.org <TND Foundation>
Subject: A Nepali Poem
"YATRA SAMIKARAN"
by sirdar_khalifa
nov 12, 1998
Sastragyan ko adhyana abhilasha le
Pahile muglan panse
Ani artha-tantra ko paribhasha le
Puna: muglan panse
Ani ek jug bitechha - ghar, angan ra deshko itihash ka
Pana ka yada harule jaba ghanti athyayo,
Chhoto abakash liera swadesh panse!
Oho! yahan ta unnati ko mula phutechha,
Lagyo, swatantrata-bad ko chhulko le
Dharati ra janabasi ko darda mitechha
Ani chhaskiyera khol chyati pana paltaunda
Yehan ta diunsai milijuli lut machechha
Bharaute ra pachaute ko khanaki chalechha
Ra, bastawikta ko manahus chehara le
Mero mastiska ma barambar pitechha!
Yehan ta pet palna
Mehanat haina, iman-jaman bechnu parne rahechha!
Pilsidai, naitikta bechnu parla bhanera
Puna: muglan panse,
Ani, katkidai sondhe aphulai -
Kangres, timi magchyou samyabad ko bali!
Emale, timi magchyou samrajyabad ko bali!
Arpp, timi magchyou kas-kas ko bali!
Mawobad, timi magchyou sari panch ko bali!
Tara, tirkhayeko ganti ra bhokayeko pet kotardai ma bhanchu -
Samyabad ra samrajyabad ko matra kina ra?
Sari panch ra mawobadko matra kina ra?
Mata magchu, chhati thokera
Yi sara ra ani 205 ko bali!
Ani, Yehi bali-bhumi ma jotne chhaun
Jana swotantrata ko hali!
*****************************************************************
Date: Thu, 10 Dec 1998 13:15:05 +0500
To: editor contributions <nepal@cs.niu.edu>
From: "F.A.H. \('Hutch'\) Dalrymple" <hutch@htp.com.np>
Subject: Rajpal J.P. Singh interview (finally)
Interview with Raipal JP Singh, Editor/Founder of The Nepal Digest
(With F.A.H. /'Hutch'/ Dalrymple)
Note: I had the opportunity recently to meet and chat with Mr. Singh at his
parent's house in Dhobighat, a district of Paten (Kathmandu), when he was
here in Nepal on a holiday visit (Tihar and Bi-Tika, last part of October).
I expected a much older man, but Mr. Singh is but 32-years of age,
remarkable considering all that he has accomplished in his short life! He
has lived in the U.S. for the past fourteen years, and thus an Americanized
Nepali (in terms of speech and manner). A charming man, actually, whose
dedication to bring democratic change to both Nepal and America is very
much evident in the following responses to my questions (and our always
continuing discussion)!
He, like me, is an 'activist,' in that we believe in actually doing
something about the world's problems... Not just complaining about them
(feeling impotent). We believe that one person CAN make the world a better
place to live!
His 'visiting' (business) card reads 'Rajpal JP Singh, Senior Systems Engineer,
Platinum Technology, White Plains, N.Y.'
Quiz question... What do the president of Necon Air and Greta Rana, an
American living in Nepal for 25 years, have in common...?
HUTCH: Mr. Singh, tell me about your background, and what was it like
growing up here in Kathmandu, Nepal?
SINGH: I attended St. Xaviers here in Jawalakhel, and was exposed to
American culture there, books, movies, television programs (documentries),
and music. I found myself sort of interested with this strange but new
culture, American culture. But, then I went to New Delhi for what's called
'high school' in America or 10+2 here. I graduated from TAFS
(The Air Force School). When I returned to Kathmandu I shared with
my father that I wanted to further my higher education in the U.S.,
but he didn't think it was a great idea for two
reasons. One, it would cost a lot of money, and secondly I could have
easily gotten a Nepali Government scholarship to study in South Asia or any
eastern European country because I had done very well in my 10+2 school
(distinction). In addition, I think he didn't want his son to struggle
in a new country at such an early age. I think he was just being
practical and a very caring father. It was, after all, a very expensive
proposition. But, I was determined to go to the U.S. I thought that the
best place to pursue further education, especially in computer science...
HUTCH: Where did this desire come from?
SINGH: At the time there was no opportunity to study computer science in
Nepal.
HUTCH: So how did you over come your father's reticence, and end up in the
U.S.?
SINGH: First we raised the money by selling some property and my parents also
contributed from their own retirement fund (my parents are such great
people!). Next, we fought the visa 'battle.' A family friend of ours had
attended Northern Illinois University in Dekalb, Illinois, so that's where
I applied. They have a very good computer program, and I wanted to study
computers.
HUTCH: What was the thing that surprised you most about the U.S., after you
first arrived?
SINGH: When I finally got there everything was so different and new. I felt
'uneasy.' But I felt 'at home,' about a few things, at the same time.
Everyone was so nice to me, and before long I felt more comfortable. I
learned to maneuver in American culture, which is different from Nepali
culture, of course... I was glad to discover you didn't need a facade in
social situations, nor was there any real protocol vis a vis business. I
discovered an openness that I'd always hoped that I would find
somewhere... I sort of liked it. I suddenly found myself in an environment I
resonated with in some ways... Thus, I spent six years acquiring two
degrees, a B.S. and an M.S. At the same time I was teaching and working
as a staff engineer at the University... Then a consulting firm for IBM
recruited me, because I had a background in the Internet. So, I moved to
White Plains, New York. But, actually, I wasn't really an employee, but a
'consultant,' and with a friend we financed a company we called
'Supernova.' That relationship with Supernova lasted three years. But,
ultimately, due to the lack of further venture capitol we had to close our
doors. Then in 1997, I found myself in the job market. But, it wasn't too
long before I got a job with Memco, another computer company, that
specialized in computer security systems. Recently they were bought out by
Platinum Technology.
HUTCH: Why and how did you start The Nepal Digest?
SINGH: Along about 1990, after the 'revolution,' in Nepal, and with the
restoration of democracy, there was this euphoria! I could feel it from my
friends all the way in the U.S. It was a hopeful time. I wanted to bring
some form of expression to this 'feeling.' I wanted to empower the people
in some way. I had been an editor of a printed social publication, thus I
immediately thought of print, although it turned out to be too expensive!
I was looking around for a solution, when I thought of e-mail, the
Internet... That was April, 1992. I did a few mass mailing to solicit some
kind of response. The idea immediately caught fire! I remember I'd get 10
to 15 subscriptions per day and that grew to twenty-five! Within one year
we had 1,200. Now, it fluctuates between 1000-1,200, and these are all over
the world, although mostly Nepal and the U.S. But, the amazing thing is
our WEB site (www.nepal.org)... It's getting 1.5 million 'hits' per year
now!
HUTCH: Subscription via e-mail is basically free?
SINGH: Yes, as long as you have a computer and an e-mail account. This is
a service we provide, the 'publication,' on-line either via e-mail, or WEB
site. You can get the Digest via email, provided
by the Computer Department at my old alma mater, Northern Illinois
University . My old professor, Dr. Neal Rickert, an Australian by birth,
has been very supportive. Without him, I don't think we could have done
it. Separately, I contribute roughly $1,200 of my own money for the TND
Foundation website (www.nepal.com).
HUTCH: So, how many people are involved in the everyday effort to produce
The Nepal Digest?
SINGH: Basically me, though there has been tremendous help from a few folks
when I needed it... Of course, all the material comes from contributors
like yourself. I don't edit anything... It probably takes me something
like 20 hours a month to produce.
HUTCH: How many submissions (articles, etc.) do you get a month?
SINGH: The electronic journal is published once every week and I would say
there's around 1,200 to 2,000 lines of material in each issue!
HUTCH: And what's the 'story' on The Nepal Digest now, four years later?
SINGH: We've found out a lot, that it's a great way to share ideas... Isn't
that what democracy is all about? It's a common platform, in which any
interested party can make unedited contributions. Of course, we get
complaints all the time about people wanting it this way, or that way.
They complain about the content, about the length of contributions, but we
adhere to our basic goal of providing a forum, and letting the chips fall
where they may. They're aren't many on-line forums like this with Nepal as
the basic issue, though a few new ones are coming... I feel like I have a
moral obligation to provide such a forum, so the common man might speak
his mind.
HUTCH: So, what do you do when you're not providing a 'platform,' for us
out there who think we have something important to say...? (he laughs)
SINGH: My life is pretty busy here in New York, due to my full-time
job and the TND Foundation. We have a discussion group, besides The Nepal
Digest. I have other commitments too. But, I like doing what I'm doing!
Can there be a better way to spend your time? I also like to ride my
bicycle, go trekking, and I read a lot. I also love all kinds of music.
Recently, I'm trying to learn golf... Let's see what happens with that.
HUTCH: Do you think you can ever make the transition back to Nepal?
SINGH: I would hope so... Seriously, I think I will eventually, but I'll
have to learn to change the things I can and accept the things I
can't.
HUTCH: What are your future plans, vis a vis, The Nepal Digest? I know you
and me have discussed getting it printed in Kathmandu, for local=
distribution...?
SINGH: Well, I'm into issues that affects people's lives... For example,
the problems with child labor, and girl trafficking/prostitution, and
raising living standards in Nepal. If there's some group in Kathmandu,
that shares our commitment and passion, then I'd love to combine forces!
HUTCH: What are your hopes and aspirations for Nepal, the U.S., the world,
and also yourself? Where and what will you be doing in ten years?
SINGH: In Nepal we are taught to accept our fate, our lives, no matter
what... In America, children are raised to believe they can change their
lives, their fate if unacceptable to them, and add to the world. I'd like
to produce some new mythology for Nepal that would set future generations
free from a fatalistic, and a deterministic philosophy/religion that locks
them into, just accepting things as there are. I'm lucky... I was born and
grew up in Nepal, but then was able to absorb an entirely new mythology
that set me free in a way! And a personal freedom that has allowed me to
expand my horizons beyond what most of us back in Nepal could fathom when
we were growing up... Knowing this, I can see what has held us back in
Nepal, and I'd like to help change that! But, for right now, let's begin
by sharing, discussing, expressing any and all views that matter to us-let
us learn to speak out! Let us become a true democracy in Nepal!
HUTCH: In that case here's your chance to say something to the
readers/contributors of/to TND, but have never had the 'right opportunity.'
So, say, away!
SINGH: Never forget that 'Democracy perishes among the silent crowd!' So
keep expressing yourselves! Additionally, let's not forget that just
simple love is the most powerful force on earth, and with it we can
overcome just about anything! And may all the Gods be with us in this
endeavor!
Kathmandu, Nepal
*********************************************************************
From: "tati ya" <pim308@hotmail.com>
To: NEPAL@cs.niu.edu
Subject: news posting
Date: Wed, 09 Dec 1998 23:59:25 PST
Visa racket at the Nepal Embassy in Bangkok
I'd like to inform all the Nepal Digest readers - and through TND, the
Foreign Ministry in Kathmandu - that the Nepal Embassy officials in
Bangkok are involved in an illegal money extortion scheme .
I'm based in Bangkok and am a regular visitor to Nepal. For my second
visit to Nepal within six months, I decided to apply for my one-month
visa at the Nepalese Embassy in Bangkok instead of at Kathmandu airport.
I was charged for the visa service US$25, which must be correct as it
was the same amount I was charged at Kathmandu airport for a month's
visa last April.
But here is the extortion: I was asked to pay 1,500 baht at the exchange
rate of 60 baht to a dollar and not 900 baht at the rate of 36 baht a
dollar, which is the current exchange rate.
I pointed that to the visa official. Thai baht was 60 to a dollar in
Januray this year. But now it's gone down to 36 baht. So, I should be
paying only 900 baht not 1,500 baht. But I was told that was the
official policy and I must pay 1,500 baht. Then I asked for a receipt.
" You already have your visa stamped and that is the receipt."
I love Nepal and I am used to these things about the country. I know
embassy officials are probably very poorly paid and need to make some
money on the side. But many new visitors to Nepal will not understand
that. I think these Nepali embassy officials in Bangkok are a great
shame to Nepal; it surely is downright embarrassing for Nepal that their
embassy officials are selling their country's image so cheap.
I request the Nepali Government to investigate the matter.
John Carpenter
Bangkok
******************************************************************
Date: Wed, 16 Dec 1998 12:18:02 -0500
From: "Gaury Adhikary" <adhikary@umich.edu>
To: NEPAL@cs.niu.edu
Subject: Re: The Nepal Digest - Dec 15, 1998 (29 Mangshir 2055 BkSm)
To the Editor,
TND
Dear Sir
This is in response to Mr. Ashutosh Tiwari's letter dated Dec. 15, 1998
I fully agree with Mr. Tiwari's argument that Nepal needs Basic health =
care rather than the sophisticated , costly medicine.=20
ANMF's main goal is to provide information to the practicing health care =
provider in Nepal ( Nurses, Doctors, Pharmacists, Public health care =
workers etc.) at a teaching center ( TU Teaching Hospital) so that this =
information will be disseminated to the rest of the health care providers =
of the country. Assumption here is : if people have the knowledge and =
skill , they will find the way to implement and execute it. This way a =
total body of health care providers in Nepal will be empowered with =
knowledge to help the general population of Nepal. This clearly is to =
supplement to what is already being done in Nepal; it is never an attempt =
to supplant the process in existence in Nepal.
As has been mentioned before, ANMF is jointly run by North American and =
Nepali health care providers to achieve this goal. ANMF provides the =
various materials ( Books, Journals, equipment, Seminars and conferences, =
Continuing Medical Education meeting etc.) only on request from Nepali =
counterpart: in other words it only attempts to fulfill the Nepali need as =
decided by its Nepali chapter
What ANMF cannot and does not attempt to do is to provide health care =
service to each and every village in Nepal: it is obvious that it would be =
akin to running a parallel program to the health services of the government=
of Nepal. I am sure Mr Tiwari would agree with me that this is simply not =
feasible for a voluntary organization to attempt to achieve in a realistic =
way.=20
ANMF is in its very beginning and what we need now is support and active =
participation from everybody concerned with Nepali health care scenario. =
For more information on the ANMF I urge TND readers to visit ANMF Website =
at: http://www.mednetsystems.com/anmf
Please direct all your queries about ANMF to my e-mail add: adhikary@umich.=
edu
with regards, happy holidays,
Gaury S Adhikary, M.D. Ann Arbor, MI
*****************************************************************
Date: Fri, 11 Dec 1998 12:03:46 -0500 (EST)
Forwarded by: Ashutosh Tiwari <tiwari@fas.harvard.edu>
To: nepal@cs.niu.edu
Towards Conserving Communities
by Anil Bhattarai
BOOK: Communities and Conservation: Natural Resource Management in South and
Central Asia
Edited by Ashish Kothari, Neema Pathak, RV Anuradha and Bansuri Taneja
Delhi: Sage Publication, 1998
--------------------------------------------------
Till not long ago, official, state-led conservation efforts in South
Asia, as well as elsewhere in the world, focused exclusively on
regulations which were based on codified laws. During the seventies,
many countries in this region passed legislation and created
institutional structures for the implementation of conservation
policies. These policies focused exclusively on the establishment of
Protected Areas in the forms of national parks, wild life sanctuaries,
and nature reserves, etc., which were very centralized and had little
flexibility within them.
There was little room for the participation of
local communities in making decisions regarding the use and management
of natural resources lying within these Protected Areas. The main
assumption lying behind these efforts was that human beings and
conservation are antithetical to each other, and that nature
conservation therefore requires restricting available natural resources
from human use.
This assumption, however, is changing. Local
communities are once again coming into the center-stage of conservation.
There is a growing realization that conservation cannot be successful
without the participation of local people and of the communities who
depend on local resources for their livelihood.
"A sea change is taking place in conservation across the world," write
Ashish Kothari, R.V. Anurathd and Neema Pathak in their introductory
essay to Communities and Conservation: Natural Resource Management in
South and Central Asia. "From standardized policies and programs
initiated by centralized and urban-based agencies, a slow but definite
shift is taking place towards decentralized, site-specific, community
based activities." It is this shift, and many emerging issues within
this concept of Community-Based Conservation, that the articles that
follow analyze from different angles.
Communities and Conservation compiles revised versions of twenty-eight
papers presented at the "Community Based Conservation: Policy and
Practice" workshop organized by the Indian Institute of Public
Administration with support from UNESCO's "Man and Biosphere Program" in
Delhi from 9 to 11 February, 1998. The book is divided into four major
parts.
The first part includes two introductory essays, which are
followed by six country status papers in the second part. The third part
includes nine articles which primarily deal with emerging issues in
conservation by drawing on the lessons learnt in different countries.
The fourth part includes eight case studies, seven of them from
different parts of India and one from Sri Lanka. The experiences of
Community-Based Conservation have brought into the fore many issues,
problems and prospects.
In the book's second introductory essay, Michel Pimbert and Jules
Pretty have tried to analyze the institutional structures of
conservation bureaucracies and outside agencies. They argue that the
current setup "inhibits the devolution of power to the local community."
Many other articles call for a change in the state structures currently
responsible for conservation. Official conservation policies all over
the world were, and in many instances still are very much centralized,
and they do not pay much attention to site-specific practices. This
oversight has engendered conflict between the goal of conservation and
the livelihoods of the local communities which directly depend on the
resources within conserved areas.
The emerging experience from conservation at the community
level have shown new and promising vistas. New practices and understanding
of conservation have led to institutional transformation. G. Raju has
outlined the emerging institutions on the basis of the experiences
gained in the Joint Forest Management in India and the Community
Forestry Users Group in Nepal. Both of these programs are totally
different from official structures. They are decentralized, they are run
by stake holders, and they are site-specific, and therefore flexible.
They have also brought into the open the fact that the community is
also not a bed of roses. This has had wide range of policy implication
as far as conservation is concerned. The threat to conservation does not
come from those who depend on the natural resources for their
livelihoods. On the contrary, these communities are the ones who
actually have real stake in conserving resources.
Communities and Conservation can be useful to students of various
disciplines who seek to focus on natural resource and conservation, and
to planners, conservation officials and researchers who are focusing on
these emerging practices at the grass roots, and on the changing policy
context of conservation.
(Reviewer Anil Bhattarai is writing a Master's thesis on park-people
conflict, and is a member of the Management Committee of Martin Chautari.)
Humanity Three Thousand Years After The Bomb
by Joel Isaacson
BOOK: Riddley Walker
by Russell Hoban
First published in by Jonathan Cape in 1980, reissued by Indiana
University Press in paperback 1998.
***********************************************************************************************
***********************************************************************************************
Little is spelled out in Russel Hoban's Riddley Walker, but a great deal
is allowed to emerge through the broken-down tongue spoken by the
population of "Inland" (England in a dark future). This language,
invented by Hoban, is difficult to read even for a native English
speaker. In the early pages, a gang of workmen are shown working to the
rhythm of this chant:
Gone ter morrer here to day
Pick it up and walk a way
Dont you know greaf and woe
Pick it up its time to go
Greaf and woe dont you know
Pick it up its time to go
London Town is drownt this day
Hear me say walk a way
Sling your bundel tern and go
Parments in the mud you know
Greaf and woe dont you know
Pick it up its time to go
Heard it and the news of 10
Sling your bundel haul agen
Haul agen and hump your load
Ever bodys on the road
This tongue is reminiscent of a southern English rural dialect, but its
idioms, words, and usages are like scars on the psyche of the speakers.
It is a language of refugees, of foraging bands that wander for
generations half starved, through a poisoned environment. It is a
twisted brutal English shaped by a mutilated world.
Riddley Walker begins in the year 2347 O.C. (Our Count). As the tale
unfolds we begin to recognize what can only be the aftermath of a
nuclear war. The "Bad Time" is over, but the shredded memories of the
holocaust that took place thousands of years before haunt humanity like
a nightmare. Ancient legends tell of generations of bent and twisted
human mutants who were hunted down and killed by untainted survivors.
They tell of mass starvation and cannibalism, of the nearly total
obliteration of civilization and knowledge.
Humanity has crawled its way out of the nightmare and emerged in a
semi-literate Iron-Age. As in all oral traditions, history is couched in
rhymes, rituals, and chants. The Bad Time has become humanity's central
myth. No records or writing survive from before the Bad Time, and the
pre-holocaust world is shrouded in mystery, remembered in legends that
try to make sense of ruined machines, and of the buildings whose
functions have been forgotten along with the technology that created
them. No one even knows what caused the Bad Time.
Now, more than three millennia after the Bad Time, the earth is
starting to heal. New soil is forming as the scant woodlands start to
encroach on "sour ground." Agriculture has been taken up again, and the
semi-nomadic foraging bands that were humanity's most successful social
unit since the Bad Time now fight against the pressure to settle
permanently on the land.
The countryside between the new farms and the old nomad stockades is
dominated by packs of ferocious, highly intelligent wild dogs. To travel
between settlements in a crowd of less than five, without spears and
bows, is to risk being "dog-killt." This is a brutal time. Sudden death
is commonplace.
A travelling puppet show is Inland's principle religious act. The show
is performed by the two heads of government, the "Pry Mincer" (Prime
Minister) and the "Wes Mincer" (Westminster), who travel with their army
of "hevvies" from farm to stockade, spreading their party line,
collecting information, and plotting against each other. Their obsession
with rediscovering two lost secrets from before the Bad
Time-"The-One-Big-One" (nuclear fission) and "The-One-Little-One"
(gunpowder)-entangles twelve-year old Riddley Walker in a bizarre ritual
quest.
A mysticism to rival that of medieval Europe pervades Inland. Every
settlement, every tribe has its own oracles, its "Tell Woman" and its
"Connexion Man." Riddley Walker is himself a Connexion Man. His role and
his skill is to see the meaning hidden in things and events, and to
reveal them to his tribe. When he finds himself the focus of
inexplicable events (the wild dogs begin signaling to him), the meanings
he reveals become prophetic. Like all prophets, he is despised in his
own land. His escape from his own stockade, to save his life, starts him
on a messianic quest through power places and altered states of
consciousness.
Beyond the magic of the language, the haunting vision of the
future, and the bizarre twists of the story, what makes Riddley Walker
remarkable is Hoban's ability to imitate and reveal the universal
processes of the mind. We see leaps of intuition that are dead-on
correct, although they are based on incomplete, corrupted data. It is as
though in its hunger for truth, the human mind creates it from whatever
is at hand.
This book demands a lot from the reader. It makes you work.
Without a high level of competence in English and some background in
European civilization you don't stand a chance of understanding it. Even
if you come to it well equipped, you may find yourself wondering what is
going on until about page forty. Why bother with it then? Because the
book pays you for your efforts with interest. It stretches you. You will
not be able to shake its images from your mind. You may never see your
world in the same way again.
(Reviewer Joel Isaacson is a writer and an architect living in Nepal.)
Published in KPRB, vol 3 no 14, 8 Nov 1998, coordinated by Manjushree Thapa
AUTHOR: Iyer, Pico.
BOOK: *Tropical Classical: Essays from Several
Directions*.
New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1997.
A Movable Sensibility
Reviewed by Samrat Upadhyay
How do you go about reviewing a book in which the essays range
from the black and white texture of New York City, to a portrait of a
"merrily smiling" Dalai Lama in Dharmasala, to a condemnation of the
pathetic and apathetic characters of minimalist American writer Ann
Beattie, to a witty treatise on how the comma gets no respect? Subtitled
*Essays from Several Directions*, Pico Iyer's *Tropical Classical* comes
at you from, um, several directions, mocking, prodding, challenging,
lamenting, making a poignant observation here and ridiculing it elsewhere,
and, most of all, laughing.
The overall effect is that *Tropical Classical* delights the readers,
engaging them with the sights and sounds of as far flung places as
Bhaktapur and Ethiopia, and whirling them in verbal pyrotechnics that
leaves them, toward the end of the book, craving for Silence, which aptly
forms the title of the final chapter with these words as homage to its
power: "In love, we are speechless; in awe, we say, words fail us."
So how does one review essays which aim to, according to the
author, "romance the possibility by looking at the everyday," when the
everyday zigzags from Bombay to a monastery in California? One, too, has
to come at it from several directions.
A good place to start is with "In Praise of the Humble Comma," for
here Iyer demonstrates his love of the English language, the minute
details of its make-up that can make or break a sentence. Punctuation
marks, declares Iyer, are traffic signs of the literary road: a period is
a red light; a semi-colon is a stop sign requiring the writer motorist to
halt, then proceed slowly; and a comma is a flashing yellow that warns us
to slow down (What about the colon? Although Iyer doesn't say, we can
surmise that it's the traffic cop with a shrill whistle, making us jerk
our heads).
Iyer's love of language permeates the entire book; for example, the way he
catches the odd, endearing ways English adapts to foreign soils. "I am
very suffering," moans an overworked driver in Ethiopia. A street palmist
in Bombay promises to answer such questions as, "Do I fall in love too
easily?" A sign in a Bhaktapur guest house advises customers: "Hot Shower
(Only in Winter) from Morning to 10:30 a.m. Please Deposit your Precious
Goods to the Manager for Safety (Otherwise no Responsibility). Cloth
Washing is Strictly Prohibited."
Self-described as "a global village on two legs," Iyer is keen on
dissolving, or witnessing the disintegration of, the boundaries between
the East and the West, between The Third World and the First, between high
and low culture, and between the tropical countries with palm-lined
streets and the European "classical" countries with cobble-stones and
pillared houses.
The hybrid global village has preoccupied Iyer for quite some
time, from the early *Video Night in Kathmandu*, which contains a chapter
devoted to his adventures on Freak Street with its famous pies and drug
peddlers, to *Cuba and the Night*, in which he depicts the troublesome
romance between an American photojournalist and a beautiful Cuban. "I am
simply a fairly typical product of a movable sensibility," he has said
elsewhere, "living and working in a world that is itself increasingly
small and increasingly mongrel. I am a multinational soul on a
multinational globe on which more and more countries are as polyglot and
restless as airports. Taking planes seems as natural to me as picking up a
phone or going to school; I fold up my self and carry it around as if it
were an overnight bag."
Iyer's reviews of contemporary writers in *Tropical Classical*
also exemplify the cross-cultural hybrid of the world. His review of
Vikram Seth's *A Suitable Boy* is titled "Jane Austin in Calcutta." Kazuo
Ishiguro's *The Remains of the Day*, Iyer says, is written in a Japanese
form about six ordinary days in the life of an English butler--"a
perfectly English novel that could have been written only by a Japanese."
Rushdie is a great postcolonial writer because he infuses into an
old, stuffy England the sights and sounds of the Indian streets, thereby
confusing our notions of what is Indian and what is not: "His is a world
in which Indian boys in Kensington sing Neil Sedaka songs to baby girls
called Scheherazade; and where diplomats from Asia play out the Captain
Kirk fantasies they hatched in Dehra Dun."
In one of the longer essays called "Nepal: Movie Days in
Kathmandu," Iyer chronicles the shooting of the film "The Little Buddha"
in Bhaktapur. He is concerned about how the attempt to represent a place
in a film drastically changes that place, so that the "real Nepal" exists
only in the camera.
While aware of the controversy generated by the shooting of the
film, and the film itself (Westerners making a film about the founder of
Buddhism), Iyer warns against seeing the affluent moviemakers/tourists as
exploiters and the natives as the exploited. If it were not for the
tourists, one local travel agent tells Iyer, we would all be like the
beggars. Despite his concerns for the cultural erosion the filming brings,
Iyer is optimistic for economic reasons: "Nepal will probably end up $4
million richer ... and [w]e can get a taste of Himalayan magic ... for a
mere $7.50."
In the least, *Tropical Classical* is a fun, fun read, a book that
can be, by virtue of its upbeat tone even for "serious" issues, read
anywhere--in airports, in the bathroom, in the stark landscape of
Ethiopia, in the glow of the setting sun in Dattatraya Square--attesting
to the odd juxtapositions of the postmodern world.
(S Upadhyay is a PhD candidate in English at the University of Hawaii.)
*****************************************************************
Date: Mon, 14 Dec 1998 19:34:42 -0500
From: "Paramendra Bhagat"<paramendra_bhagat@smtpgtwy.berea.edu>
To: <nepal@cs.niu.edu>
Subject: Introducing Berea College
Everybody South Asian, please write to Dhruv.
Dhruv, Jit Banjarey is from Calcutta, a notorious Monitor at the most notorious
guys' dorm on campus, Hotel Danforth. I moved from there to Edwards recently.
Berea is a cool place. Try and come here. It is academically strong, some would
say VERY strong, but you will be okay, let me not scare you. Socially more
accepting of international students than any college I know of in the US - I
have friends from my high school days at several other destinations in the US -
due to its history as an anti-slavery institution and the shared socio-economic
backgrounds of the students who are here: everyone here has financial need. We
don't have Rockfellers and the like here, which might be good! Everyone has
basically the same-size wallet, kinda small. Everyone works. I have enjoyed
working at the Boone Tavern Hotel more than any place else. Your last name tells
me you are a Brahmin like Jit, but there will be no recognition of your high-
caste status here.
I have a small-town personality. So I fit in well here. Calcutta might be the LA
of India. But you might still like it. Plus, you will graduate without any loans
on your shoulders. That is a big plus. If you make good use of the opportunities
here, and are smart enough - something independent of the college! - you can
dream of going to any Grad School of your choice.
You might even learn to cope with Jit. It has taken some time for me to do that,
but I have finally managed to do it.
The Economics Department is strong. Very approachable profs. Which might be a
rarity at the BIG-name colleges, especially those BIG also in size. Berea is BIG
itself. Consistently rated the Numbero Uno of the liberal arts colleges in the
South. You will love it. Fly by. Drop your hat.
This mail is also going to Martie and Iveta at the Economics Dpt. Martie is the
Head of Dpt. Iveta, a student from the Slovak Republic, was a White House intern
over summer. Well, she was at the Treasury, but that is an attached building.
Where do you draw the line?
The College President Larry Shinn has spent time in India. He has been to Nepal
as well, which is where I grew up. But you did not miss the mark in calling me
Indian. My mother's side of the family IS from Bihar, the Laloo-land.
Check me out at <http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/9511> Sign my Guest Book.
Say Namaste to your family on my behalf. Amitabh Bachchan, my favorite film
star, held a job in Calcutta before he moved to Bombay. "I thought if I do not
find a niche in the film industry, I can always become a taxi driver," he said
later. But aren't we all glad he did move away from Calcutta to Bombay!
My father once was a regional dealer in Nepal for the Calcutta-based Santosh-SRP
Radio Co. But then his shop went down about a decade ago and that phase ended.
He went to Calcutta often then. The closest to Calcutta I have been to is
Jamalpur beyond Ranchi where one of my maternal uncles - the maternal uncle no.
2 - got married. Rough place, a lot of hawai-fires during the marriage
procession that went round town! It was not long after the Hindu-Muslim riots in
was it Bhagalpur? But my uncle's (father's elder brother) family were in
Calcutta once. Nice place!
Is the Howra still over the Hooglie in the City of Joy!
From: "Dhruv Mookerji" <dmookerji@hotmail.com>
To: paramendra@hotmail.com
Subject: Help needed
Date: Tue, 08 Dec 1998 05:25:17 PST
Dear Paramendra,
Hi! I'm Dhruv Mookerji from Calcutta (17 years old)., India. I found your
name on the Berea home page --- at last. I was searching for names of Indian
students in Berea. I too am planning to join Berea soon, probably in Fall 99. I
wanted to know a few things about the college. Firstly, I have no friends in
Berea and would like your help in contacting fellow Indians through Email. I
wish to know about the college from the student's perspective. I wish to pursue
Economics and probably communications and . I would be very grateful if
you could list a few email addresses of Indian students. If you could
help me directly, from your point of view, nothing like it. I would like
to know you better, when you joined, how do you like it, and compared to
other colleges, what are Berea's strong points.
Please mail me --- I would appreciate it very much . Please
respond at the earliest.
Thanks,
Dhruv Mookerji.
***********************************************************************
From: kiasma_suomi@my-dejanews.com
To: <nepal@cs.niu.edu>
Subject: Nepal: dangers to women
Date: Tue, 15 Dec 1998 09:56:37 GMT
There is a specific danger to women in Nepal that can be addressed, yet
nothing is done.
I know about the dangers in the tourism industry.
This man, Ang Zangbu Sherpa, (also spelt Ang Jangbu Sherpa)who is the owner of
Highland Sherpa Trekking and Mountaineering Ltd, has sexually offended against
many women, but he is still allowed to keep his trekking company, which brings
him into contact with women who think he can be trusted.
This is not libel because it has been proved to be true.
I have been told that Ang Zangbu Sherpa and his staff have been using
alternative names to protect themselves now they know the truth is out. Be
wary too of claims made by agents and hotels that deal with them, who hope to
conceal his offences by adopting a respectable front and who are using
various ways to try to discredit the truth.
If action was taken against this man Ang Zangbu, then something more would be
happening to promote the human rights of women in Nepal and this would help
make it plain that women should not be abused or exploited.
Anna Jdrvinen
******************************************************************
Date: Wed, 16 Dec 1998 13:24:53 -0500
To: The Nepal Digest <NEPAL@cs.niu.edu>
From: Brijesh Thapa <bxt118@psu.edu>
Subject: Re: The Nepal Digest
I figured that this may be of some help to various domestic NGO's in Nepal!
----------------------------
For Your Information:
Earth Island, along with four other environmental organizations (IRN, RAN,
PAN and FOE), will once again be helping the Global Green Grants Fund
identify small grassroots organizations in developing countries which might
make good use of a small grant. Earth Island Institute has been asked to
develop a maximum of 3 recommendations totaling $3,000 for consideration by
the GGF Advisory Board - and we are asking for your help.
Global Green Grants was established as an alternative philanthropic channel
for getting small grants to places where they could make a big difference
in the developing world, at a time when especially the large foundations
could not justify making or supervising such small grants. The vision is
to get big funders to support GGF and GGF will in turn take responsibility
for making and overseeing the grants. A number of existing Earth Island
projects have already had sister developing world NGOs benefit from GGF
grants.
We are asking all of our projects to both make nominations and work
with the organizations they nominate to complete the very brief GGF
application forms. Application forms are available by mail or
fax. Specific application guidelines are as follows:
1) All applications must include a completed Organizational
Information Form, Non-Profit Equivalency Form, and a detailed letter of
endorsement from an Earth Island Project. Copies of both forms will be
sent to you by regular mail.
Prompt payment requires complete information on grantees. Only
fully complete applications will be accepted.
Endorsement letters should include the amount requested for the
project, describe the nature of your relationship with them, and describe
why their need is compelling. Please remember that EII only has a total of
$3,000 we can allocate so the grants will be small.
2) All applications must be legible (preferably typed) and in english.
Please work with the NGO(s) to complete the forms. Or complete them for
them and then have an officer of the NGO sign the forms.
3) Program eligibility requirements are as follows:
Grassroots NGO that demonstrates a clear commitment to raising
awareness about the threat to the global environment and activist programs
designed to address the threat locally and regionally.
NGOs based in developing regions with rich biodiversity of global
importance - primarily in the Southern Hemisphere.
Organizations operating in developing economies where alternate
sources of funding do not exist and where the value of a small grant is
very significant.
Organizations with democratic decision-making structures and strong
leadership.
New or emerging organizations with good potential to strengthen the
environmental movement in their area.
Organizations with well-defined strategic goals and objectives.
Activities that would be significantly enhanced by a small grant.
Individual leaders or informal groups of activists will be
considered when they have the potential to form a stable organization.
Organizations that coordinate or participate in local and regional
networks of like-minded organizations.
Organizations with an annual budget under $25,000.
******************************************************************
From: "Diwas Khati" <diwask@hotmail.com>
To: nepal@cs.niu.edu
Subject: Copyright violations by Paramendra Bhagat
Date: Wed, 16 Dec 1998 18:59:43 PST
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain
COPYRIGHT NOTE
--------------
The content contributors are responsible for any copyright violations.
TND, a non-profit electronic journal, will publish articles that has
been published in other electronic or paper journal with proper credit
to the original media.
--------------
Mr Bhagat..
Have you bothered to read those normal prints at the bottom of TND
before you lift the articles from other news-media?
(see: Workshop on NAFTA-SAFTA begins in Kathmandu, MP's murder and
investigation and other articles/postings appearing on Dec 18, 98 TND)
Just Wondering...
Diwas Khati
******************************************************************
From: "Eknath Belbase" <eknath@ad-co.com>
To: <nepal@cs.niu.edu>
Subject: submission to Digest
Date: Thu, 17 Dec 1998 16:17:24 -0500
I am doing an electronic survey and would *really* appreciate it if you
would e-mail replies to me. All names will be removed as a first step and
summary statistics will be put on TND as well as soc.culture.nepal. The raw
data will be provided to anyone who asks. For any question that doesn't
apply or for which your answer is 'none of your business', please write NA.
For some multiple choice questions you may want to choose more than 1. My
purpose is definitely academic but possibly also commercial/political.
Others may use this information for other purposes. please e-mail to
eknath@ad-co.com
PS If my guarantee of confidentiality isn't enough, please get an
anonymous hotmail account and send the replies from there.
If you want to do 1 but not 2 please do 1 anyway. Part I will take
less than 5 minutes, part II may take 10.
--------Survey of soc.culture.nepal and TND readers----
Part I. Basic Demographics
Please give your
1. Age
2. Gender=M/F
3. Marital Status=single/married/attached
4. Divorced? (Y/N)
5. Sexual Orientation (Het/Hom)
6. Citizenship
7. Current Country of Residence
8. Religion (Hindu, Buddhist, Moslem, Christian, Jewish, Agnostic,
Atheist, Bahai, other)
9. Political: Royalist, Social Democrat, Marxist, Maoist, etc.
10. Highest degree earned/field
11. Current Occupation
12. Languages
a)spoken
b)written
13. Ethnic Group
14. Income ranges, annual: (a) < $12000 (b)12-20 K (c)21-35 K
(d)36-50K (e)51-65K (f) 66 K or greater
Part II. Detailed responses
1. If you are a Nepali citizen not in Nepal,(a)how long have you lived
away from there? (b)Do you plan to return other than to visit?
(c)what are the 3 most important factors affecting this decision?
2. (a) Are you interested in volunteering in Nepal (for little or no
pay) at some point? In what capacity? (b) Would you be interested in
working for a non-profit which pays moderately well? (c)For a
for-profit firm in your professional capacity which pays well?
3.(a) Are you interested in investing money in Nepal? In what
sectors? (b)Is political corruption the only thing stopping you? (c) If you
could be reasonably certain the system was clean how much would you be
willing
to invest over the next 5 years? (d)Ten years?
4.(a) Are you interested in actively participating in joint business
ventures with Nepalis in Nepal? What type are you open to?
(b)Do you have any experience in business?
***************************************************
Date: Mon, 16 Nov 1998 07:57:51 +0000
Subject: Seeking Chris Evans
From: dhiser@photoaspen.com (David Hiser)
To: nepal-request@cs.niu.edu
Dear Editor,
I am desperately trying to contact Chris Evans. Could you please send me
the Email or fax number that he can be contacted at. Thank you very much
for your time.
Sincerely,
Leila Zeppelin
******************************************************************************
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