Nepali Culture and Social Evils

Nepal is one of the smallest countries on the world map but is very rich in its natural beauty and natural resources. Nepal is a beautiful country with verities’ of thing around it. Besides all these things, it is rich in its culture. Its cultural consist of the social customs and traditions. Nepal has a unique culture. The rich cultural heritage of Nepal has evolved over the centuries. The multi-dimensional diversities of various ethnic, tribal and social groups inhabiting different altitude and it manifests in various form, i.e. music, dance, craft, folklore, folktale, language, literature philosophy, religions, festival, Sanskars, food, and drinks. This is the beautiful country Nepal.

Culture is embedded in the high peak of Nepal traditions, its valleys and religions lie in the heart of its people. Although, there are many social evils in Nepal these social evils are the drawbacks seen of our custom and culture. These are the obstacles of our social development. The festival to someone is the social evils to other, so such festival is not to be celebrated.

Whole or part of the social and culture practices that are practiced in society in the forms of custom ,traditions, rituals, festivals, norms, and values that have negative or adverse effect on a particular gender or sex, cast or ethnic group, children, elder in both speech and action are known as social evils. Social evils in Nepal are untouchability , kamaiya system, Deuki Custom, Jhuma custom, Dowry system, Girls trafficking, Kidnapping, drug trafficking, flesh trafficking, and the most political instability and a lot more.

The social evils and superstations that have crept in the society over the centuries made social reforms imperative for the development of the society. In the 19^th century, the newly educated person increasingly revolted against rigid social conventions and outdated customs.

Among above mention social evils, the following are some highlighted issues in Nepal society. According to the Hindu religions book Vedas bramanosyamukhama sidhahu Rajanyah Kritah uritadasy Jyadbaisyah padbhyam gusudrro jayata. This mantra says that all the casts had been born by the same god Purshottam who has,sahasra siresha, sahasrakshan, saharsa patta or innumerable heads eyes and leds.

After studying this mantra, we can say that there was not any discrimation among the castes in Vedic age. But later, our ancient king classified the human beings in many races which one of our social problems. We need to abolish the social evils, untouchability, to develop our nation as well as our society.

The caste system which has its roots in religion is another cause of untouchability. Though it is not so rigid in urban areas, it is still oractice in rural areas.

Kamaiyas sustem is the problem of terai regions. The person who works in other farms/field only for getting food is called kamaiya. It is one of the terrible forms of slavery which existed in Nepal. It arises froms debt relationship. The kamaiya movement was started in 2000, 17^th July and 19^th October 2009 the Kamaiyas ware made free but it is not totally reduced in practice.

Human trafficking is another social problem which can be seen forced prostitution and the exploitation of minors is still far too prevalent within the country.

These are only the examples of social evils. All the social evils are socially generated and are promoted by the people in the society who call themselves to be superiors. It is the common responsibility to seek for their solution. We can classify in many other categories:

1.      Religions problems

2.      Language

The group of socially committed professionals like the teacher, Journalists, and social workers is fighting all the social evils since 1993 in Nepal.

Every country has its own social problems and the main cause of the social problems is the level of poverty because poverty is the keystone of all social evils. To overcome the social evils we need t develop our economics condition we need to develop the condition of education. Education is the key solutions of all social evils.  

 This was something about the social evils. Every problem definitely has the solution of the problems and this social evil has also a lot of solution. They are:

1.      Public awareness: every people should be aware of the this type of problems. And the organizational and all the educated people should create the social awareness.

2.      The strict law should be made for those who try to create the differences in the society for the religious regions.

3.      Girl’s education should be the most priority in every village and every school. The government should give proper attention for the girl’s educations.

4.      Street drama. News article, TV, and many more media are there that can change the concept of the people’s views and can bring the people to right track.

This was some common solution for the problems. There are many ways that can be implemented. But start with you and one-day social evils will end from the root.

Black and White World

As usual, I woke up by the tick-tick of my alarm clock, undressed from nightdress and went to the bathroom for a fresh up. Then I came to my room with a cup of coffee and the newspaper. I started turning the pages not finding anything interesting or let’s say my eye caught nothing from the newspaper. But, at the moment an article caught my eye titled ‘Gap caught in child labor mire’. Though articles related to child labor came in limelight quite often, that day I really got into a deep thought. As the child labor is increasing day to day, there is no any solution coming out from the government and social organization can handle only a few children as the money income was less to them. This issue has been much highlighted from a long time.

In theory, we all agree children born should be bestowed the right to education and healthy environment to grow up. I am really fortuned that I got right to education but there a large number of children who don’t get the opportunity. Not only education but they are deprived of a lot of facilities like shelter, health and much more. They need to eat food from a street or else if someone gives. Otherwise, they need to spend a whole night without food and this is common to all the street children. Neither can they say winter nor summer, every season they spend their time in the street? The article stated that a well-known clothing brand “Gap” which operates more than 3000 stores and franchises across the world is selling clothes stained with child sweet and we feel proud to put the tag of ‘Gap’ on us.

Surprisingly the world really consists of two sets of children, one set getting everything they want and the other getting everything they never wanted. They saying 10% people die of starvation and 90% of overeating justifies here. When we are dressed in immaculate uniform to go to colleges, they walk barefooted in search of plastic bags or they are cleaning dirty plates with freezing water when we are enjoying the hot cup of coffee by the side of the fire. To add insult to the injury, such tender children are never paid well. Most masters prefer children worker as they cannot voice for their right payment.

In present circumstances of our country, the number of such children is increasing due to 10 years Maoists insurgency and its consequences. Such children have no option than to lead the life of street children. I wonder what the government thinks by making shelter home for 100 war affected children in Surkhet when there are 2000 suffers there. I once heard interviews of a street boy who sleeps in the verandah of Bir Hospital and work as a conductor in a microbus. When the reporter asked him a question regarding how much he earn a day and what does he do with it, I was jaw opened to hear his answer. He said, ”I buy cigarettes and dendrite, and earn around Rs. 200 a day”, dendrite; I tell you a chemical which gets the person insane. No wonder our country will lead to the path of crime and violation in the days to come. Nobody will give them a job as they are illiterate and what else can they do except involving in robberies to feed themselves. Until this problem is solved the country will reach nowhere. The world is really back for such children and us, on the contrary, are enjoying the clean white world which offers us everything we can dream of. Still someday say “World is boring”.

The government and responsible citizens of the world, not only Nepal , should take the initiatives Now or never.

Imagination Beyond Imagination

In the word of Einstein, “Imagination is more powerful than Knowledge”. So, the thing imagination remains in mind for the longer period than a thing that we learned or studied. The fact is true that a man without imagination is blind. Imagination is the boon of nature for human being where s/he assumes every impossible issue as a possible fact. And can be in the world of imagination and be happy for the certain period of time. Sometimes this can also be the happiest movement for a short period of time.

In this galaxy, a person can imagine of living in another imaginary earth. But they can’t put it to the reality. Since human bring have high imagination power, he can imagine anything and anywhere in the world but that is never gonna be true for some fact. A person can imagine a heaven with beautiful angles but still it’s an imagination, it’s not a truth because he hasn’t seen with his eyes. Anything that has been imagined and what is truth has a huge difference. But this doesn’t mean that you should stop imagine because sometime this imagination gives the strength to move forward to do something or let’s say be successful. In a childhood time,  every child imagine to be an engineer or doctor or anything they love to be and this imagination will help them to get them success in the future. So imagination is quite important in human life.

Imagination is so powerful that it can lead us beyond its imagination. The people imagine how birth takes places place but the truth is that he/she is still born from the womb of his/her mother. Some people imagine of changing their gender to the opposite gender. But the truth is that s/he remains sill of same gender as s/he was born with. If the boy changes his gender to girl in his imagination then surely his gender won’t be changed but remain as he was. He imagines himself to be a girl but the society and reality is he is still boy. So we say the power of imagination is very vast. You can imagine being the president of the America but you are still in the same position. The thing that the imagination gives is a short pleasure and sometimes a great courage for the people. Imagination doesn’t cost anything at all. A student can imagine being pass without studying anything but in real they are nit gonna pass until they study hard to write the exam. But surely this will provide them strength to study.

The people think or imagine high above the sky but the sky is not the limit. There is still high above the sky. So, imagination is the same as the sky. So, the power of imagination should be controlled. If the power of imagination is controlled by an individual, he can make up his life successful. Since only imagining something it can’t be converted to the truth. Truly saying there is no limit to the imagination. Anyone can be anywhere in their imagination no one can stop them from imagining. If the scientist hasn't imagined today’s world then certainly we world still be hunting animals for our daily food and shelter would be the forest. Scientist imagines the thing then they think to put that in reality. So today we are here. For eg: Leonardo Vinci imagines of flying bird that someday people have the similar flying object which will take people from one place to other. So now it is called Airplane.  It’s all about imagination and turning them into the reality.

If imagination is truth then a rich person may imagine himself happy and prosperous. But the work load, thinking of money will make him busy that he can’t convert that imagination to truth. So, imagination is still an imagination. A person may imagine that the world may burst one day but it hasn’t been converted to the truth because it’s still an imagination that has come to his mind. Imagination with limit can be changed to reality at some point.

So, if we see by ourselves we can imagine how big the universe is? What is beyond the universe is? How far this universe leads to? Etc. because all the imagination is done beyond imagination.

Experiencing the Yoking in Literature

The diachronic figure of literature provides us many instances if yoking in which we can read the basic of life as a collocation of two contrary elements. We can take Greek literature as the first point of departure. Sophoclean discourse on literature mingles on the debate between the fate and skepticism, a yoking germinated, somewhere between the old rooted pagan belief system and premature scientific thinking. Sochocle’s doomed hero Oedipus Rex in order to evade fate but he is defeated. Through fate dominated reasons in the drama, the aesthetic taste of the drama rests upon the way fate and skepticism are yoked together. With Renaissances literature, yoking tradition has found a new momentum. Falling victim of the pestilence of hatred poured in him by jealous Iago, Othello, and Shakespeare’s tragic hero happens to murder his beloved Desdemona in a surge of aggression. But, when the truth of Iago’s plot reveals, Othello realizes his mistake, the realization becomes intolerable and consequently, he finishes himself. Shakespeare gives Othello this word of speak: 

I kissed thee era I killed thee.

Within the poetically inherent in the above lines, there lies yoking between two poles of life experiences. Kissing and killing are two distinct phenomena which can barely be expected to come together in our daily lives. Furthermore, this yoking speaks of the polarity between integration and disintegration, tragedy, and comedy, civilization , and savagery, as well as arrogant love and benevolent love, yes love and hates are clinches but what is important here is the way contrary poles of life experiences get merged telling its reader how contrary things and experiences co-exist and keep on giving distinct stature to aesthetics as a means of teaching and delighting.

With William Blake, a visionary Romantic, yoking has found even more delightful poetic bent. In his highly celebrated poem ’Tiger’, Blake merges blackness and whiteness together In his attempt to mystify the tiger.

Tiger! Tiger! Burning bright

In the forest, if the night

What immortal hand or eye

Could frame they fearful symmetry

The burning bright eyes of Blake’s tiger that burn bright amidst the ‘jungle of night’ represent what the poet says ‘contrary state of human soul’. In this connection the imagery ‘bright and night ’ are metonymic signifiers of the universal human and malevolence, as well as beautiful and the ugly. The polarity between bright and night also correspond the creative and destructive forces of nature which Blake too envisions in the poem by creating the images ‘Lamb’ as a parallel to ‘tiger’. Where tiger exists there exists lamb too. In the electric fusions of tiger’s anger and lamb’s simplicity and meekness, Blake guides us to find the true essence of life ‘the contrary states’. This yoking is not the simple one. Our life yields nothings to us until and unless our actions and thoughts do not get impetus of such violently and fiercely opposite poles of experience.

The tradition of experiencing life with yoking find a rigorously philosophical bent with Friderich Nietzsche. The ‘discordant concord’ between Apollonian intellectuality and Dionysian passion is what Nietzsche calls a progenitor of perfect arts. As put forward by Nietzsche the Apollonian and Dionysian duality, the yoking between two distinct psychic forces gives life to art and literature and the epitome of which is the ancient Greek tragedy namely ‘Attic Tragedy’. Apollo represents benevolent god, the god of order, reasons and clarity whereas Dionysiud represents ecstasy and passion, the god of irrational behavior. A great appreciator of Greek art, Nietzsche argues that the magnitude of Greek art and literature depends on the balance yoking between these two psychic forces.

Greek art and literature have an ever-present influence on an aesthetic of all ages across the globe. This cause of this fact lies in the way Greek art and literature incorporate Dionysian and Apollonian qualities.

The art and literature that take their origin in yoking have a power of hypnotizing human consciousness and liberating the reader from the bouts of lethargy.  Confronting us with the usual opposite poles of life, that is, the lovely and comic and unkind and tragic, yoking of literature provides us replication of the world of daily experience in which we can get the vision of the universality of life experiences as collocation of opposite poles and may find a definition of our life really lived. Moreover, to experience yoking means to know how to find a middle way in life nurtured by the polar opposite. Longing and cultivating ideas life along the polar ways is an extremist through whereas complicity and literature provide us a textual space to evoke discourse on how to understand the symbiosis between life and art.

Role of youth in Environmental Preservation

Human beings are joined in the most intimate relationship with the outside world from the day they take birth. The irony is that very little time is spent thinking and caring about one of the most important ones! Obviously, I am talking about our connection with the environment and the activities that we will be dealing with it. This lack of attention is a major cause of concern because rapidly growing world population and the increased use of energy are placing unprecedented pressure on the earth and hence our environment.  The solution will have to be found out which are truly global in scope. This nation’s youth have the special relation to the protection of the environment. This is mainly due to the fact that young people have to live for an extended period with the deteriorating environment bequeathed by the earlier generation and there are lots of risks and health hazards involved in this. Young people will be forced to engage in improvised and effective response to ecological challenges. If these challenges do not face today then surely there is going to be a great trouble in upcoming future and there will not be any solution for sure.

The future generation will also be affected by today’s course of action because their future depends on the extent to which they have addressed concern such as the depletion of resource, the loss of biodiversity and long live radioactive wastes. To represent the concern of the future generations is difficult in the context of policy making at the present moment. Environment education is one way to equip young people with the necessary cognitive skills to recognize and withstand the pressure of the advertising world and to implement it, a topic should be taught to the student from their small age so that that will be in their brain when they are grown up. The kind of education that needs to be imparted here involves providing information about how the world’s ecosystem are under stress as well as proper guidance on how to draw links between as advertiser’s products and their ecological consequences. As the cognitive demands are very high and an advertiser is extremely skilled, they will always try to convince you that their products and activities are environmentally sound or beneficial.  This is commonly known as “green washing”.

In order to turn your back to such corporate, consumer boycotts and protects can be most effective, eventually causing pollution companies to rethink their corporate strategy. Apart from having a great sake in the more distant future, young people are properly praised to promote environmental awareness simply due to promote environmental awareness simply due to the fact that they often have better access to information about the environment that their elders. The youth have lived all their lives in an era in which environmental issues have loomed large.

They can introduce fresh ideas and outlook to environment-related issues because anti-ecological ways of thinking and behaving are not ingrained in them. A major reasons why the youth ought to take the lead in protecting the environment is stronger awareness of the issues and greater stake in long-term sustainability. They will obviously face challenges as pressure is brought to bear in the opposite direction. Every aspect of life is severely affecting the youth of today. In addition to single word these effects, on the whole, technologies that increasingly distant people from the environment effects of their consumption decisions are growing with globalization, acting as an impediment to environmental awareness. Either it’s late or earlier the steps to protect the environment is to be take soon. So, it is ours wisdom to start from today and encourage other people also to participate in this huge movement to protect and get protected from this biggest issues of the world. So, get prepared and get started from for world protection from yours place.

Dhampus an Eco Paradise

The journey to Dhampus village, one of the paradise of Nepal, begin from Phedi village, nearly a 15 minutes drive from the beautiful lakeside city of Pokhara. From here one treks alongside beautiful views of golden rice terrace and the vast expanse of the Annapurna Mountain Range. This 2 hours climb to Dhampus continues through magnificent rhododendron forests nesting various species of birds to the village of Chandrakot, inhabited by the warm-hearted and hospitable Gurung People.

Dhampus is also a gateway to Annapurna Conservation Area. The place also serves as one of the main entry points to Annapurna Base Camp and to other trekking trails of Annapurna. The village ranges from the altitude of 800m at the base to 1600m.

In terms, if climbing technicalities, it is an easy mountain to ascend. The overwhelming altitude difference between Annapurna and Dhaulagiri range make Dhampus peak a very vantage spot to observe the mountain with Tukuche peak (6920 m) and the Dhaulagiri (8167 m) spectacular close to you.

When you emerge from the forest and reach Dhumpse, you will be able to marvel at the exceptional view of the massive Mt. Machhapuchhre popularly known as fishtail Mountain (6900 m) for its peak resemble the shape of fish’s tail. From Dhampus one can also grab the exceptional views of Pokhara and the scenery gets even better as the Sun goes down. The small villages comprise of the enormous beauty of mountain and friendly Gurung people. A small lake from where one can reflection of fishtail, temples, flowers, mustard field, birds, beautiful scenes and much more.

The total population of Dhampus is 2766 (1297 males and 1469 females). Gurung comprises the major population of the village, which consists mostly of ex-army and most of them are older people with an average age above 40. Gurung is followed by Brahims/ Chhetri, Kami/ Dami, and few Magars. Gurung speaks their native language whereas other speaks Nepali.

 In Dhampus, the villages have started building lodges from where good views of a mountain can be seen. That is the reasons why the thick forests with abundant wildlife and natural vegetation are slowly transforming to the site of lodges and houses. Today, these lodges’ owners are among the wealthiest village and have high status in the village.

The hotel business has become so popular among the villagers that not only the lower class but also the people from the higher class of the society are indulged in this business.

The main source of income is farming as well as ex-army pension. The literacy ate us very low in this village. The majority of the women above the age of fifty are illiterate.

After seeing some tourist, the local felt that they could attract more. So the entire village got together to improve the facilities and infrastructure of the village.

Since then the number of tourists has increased considerably. Similarly, many lodges, tea shops, and cafes are available now in the village for better services to the visitors.

Dhampus was famous as a trekking route and was also enjoying all the benefits from trekking but lately after the construction of road joining Pokhara and Baglung. The number of tourists has decreased.

As Dhampus lies on the way to Gandhruk, the tourist normally stays here as a half point which is the main source of income for the people here.

Some other kind of hotels, which are operating in this village, are Hotel Green Land, Hotel Raju Gurung and Hotel Riu Top.

As said by Dibya Gurung, a research, “Tourism Development in Dhampus can be broadly divided into two categories: Direct tourism-related activities represented by lodges, tea shops, cold drink/ consumer stores, and petty trade and indirect tourism-related activities consisting of horticulture and vegetable farming, fuel wood selling, alcohol brewing, wage labor, livestock and poultry.”