procrastination is a common disease, i guess. everyone suffers from it at one time or the other. you simply need a reason for it and then you postpone the whole lot of tasks for the next day. Anything can be a good reason for procrastination: sometimes you are tired and don't feel like sticking to anything, and sometimes you simply have your favourite show on the TV and dont wanna skip it...you keep finding excuses for justifying your acts. but once when the deadline approaches, you are almost out of your wits. you are buried in with the piles of work around you...you lose the peace of mind due to an immense pressure of work..sometimes you have to spend many sleepless nights. As a result you develop a health problem...and many more....even then most of the people procrastinate in one way or the other..and specifically, this is quite common among the Nepalis...
The seemingly endless series of bandas have crippled life
all across the nation. With the time of the promulgation of a new constitution
inching closer, and the parties preparing to make the final negotiations on the
issue of federalism, many different groups and factions have taken to the
streets in order to pressurize the parties to ensure their place reserved in
the upcoming constitution. Almost no part in the country remains untouched by
Banda called by one or the other group or caucus. First it was Far Western
Development Region, which witnessed twenty consecutive days of strike over the
issue of undivided Far West. Finally, the agitators were ready to lift the on
going Banda after the government agreed to address their demand. All the five
districts in Karnali have yet again been shut down demanding an autonomous
Karnali state. The entire Mid Terai is shut due to the indefinite strike called
by Broader Madhesi Front demanding a single and autonomous Madhesh in the new
constitution. Same is the fate in many other parts of the nation.
As the entire nation is preparing to enter a new historical
era with the introduction of a new federal republic constitution, some amount
of unrest and disorder at this point of time is natural. It can’t be taken as
unforeseen. Moreover, in a democratic and sovereign state, everyone reserves an
unalienable right to put forward their concerns and grievances provided they do
it abiding by the law of the state. And it becomes the duty of the state
authority to listen to and address these concerns in the best possible way.
This is a part of a democratic practice.
However, most of the practices followed in our country so
far are utterly undemocratic. It has been like an established culture for
anyone to come to the street even when there are minor discerns and
resentments. General strikes have been the most common ways of protesting these
days. Whenever there are issues to be addressed, the agitators call for banda and
come to the street. The bandas bring everything to a standstill throwing the
normal life of people completely out of gear. Even though the protesters repeatedly
assert their commitment to a peaceful protest, most of these strikes turn
violent. Such bandas at times unleash an unspeakable terror among the general
public as there is an unbridled chaos everywhere. The banda enforcers roam
around in the streets freely with sticks and rods in their hands force-closing
all the shops and obstructing vehicular movement. Amidst the panic and terror,
shopkeepers pull their shutters down and shut their doors immediately. At
times, the shops and stores are vandalized, and owners are misbehaved and even
manhandled simply for keeping their shops open. Bikers and motorists are tortured,
and their vehicles torched. Even the cyclists aren’t spared. They are made to
pull their bicycles, and those who don’t obey have to see the tires deflated. Within
no time, everything comes to a standstill and there is a deadly silence
everywhere.It looks as if the invading
army has recently taken over the rival camps leaving behind all the rummages as
the footmarks of their invasion. This is highly condemnable.
In a democratic nation, the fundamental rights of people are
safeguarded, and it’s the prime responsibility of the state authority to
guarantee these unalienable rights of people except in the state of emergency. The
state must ascertain this by maintaining a proper law and order in the society.
No one, in any circumstances, has any right to tamper with the fundamental
rights of others, and any breech of such kind is punishable by law. But our
case is just the opposite. In the name of Banda, there is a sheer chaos and a
kind of monstrous fear everywhere, and sadly it goes unchecked and unrestrained.
People are deprived of their right to free movement. Hundreds of thousands of
students are forced to stay away from schools and colleges, and sometimes it
continues for days and months. Factories and industries are closed. Even a
single day closure of industries triggers the loss of millions of rupees in the
nation’s economy, let alone the continuous shutdown. Moreover, the continuous
strike forces hundreds of daily laborers in these factories sleep with hungry
stomach at the end of the day. The continuous and unsolicited Bandas have their
greatest effects on the health sector. Many people have to lose their lives due
to the lack of timely treatment when they fail to reach the doctors in time because
of the obstruction in the vehicular movement caused by the strike. This is
utterly pathetic and heart-rending.
Despite such anarchy rampant everywhere, the government seems
absolutely indifferent to the plight of its citizens. It has failed even in
fulfilling its primary obligation towards them. It feels as if there is no
presence of state anywhere. While the Banda
enforcers unhesitatingly and mercilessly vandalize the private property and
inflict an inexplicable pain to people, the security forces deployed by the
state for maintaining law and order remain as the mute spectators to this
unbridled lawlessness. This has been a regular practice in our country. The
three day general strike called by Nepal Federation of indigenous Nationalities
on Jestha 7, 8 and 9 proved to be even more chaotic. Nefin activists and their
cadres terrorized people all across the nation. Even ambulances, media people,
human rights activists, Red Cross staffs and the vehicles of diplomatic
missions weren’t spared. Journalists were thrashed and their cameras smashed.
Vans carrying newspapers were stopped and torched. Some of the journalists are
still in hospital struggling between life and death. The general secretary of
Nefin Aang kaaji Sherpa issued an open death threat against the chairman of
Reporters Club. However, to this date no offenders and perpetrators of these
cases have been brought to book. This is the indication of absolute anarchy in
the nation.
Therefore it’s high time we thought of strong legal measures
to end such anarchical bandas, and encourage people to find more effective but
peaceful ways of expressing their discerns and resentments.
The middle class makes up more than 60% of the population of
Nepal. There has been a significant rise of this class in the recent years, and
it is still in the increasing trend. There are many factors contributing to the
trend and the gradual reduction of poverty is one of them. The gradual uprising
of the middle class has had many positive impacts on the nation’s economy. This
class, however, is the greatest sufferer of the nation’s plight. The nation
being at the transition has cost more to the middle class people.
Life is obviously difficult for the lower class, but it is
even tougher when it comes to the middle class people. They have a prestige
kind of thing to maintain, as it counts more on the middle class folks. Those
from the lower class are rarely concerned about prestige and social dignity
because these things don’t come under even the least of priorities in their
life. They can afford too meager a living, and earning for just two meals a day
is what they have to die for. Their social horizon is small and limited.
On the other hand, life for a handful of high class is
always the same. The fear of having to maintain the social status least bothers
them because they take it just for granted. They have been carrying it all
through the generations. They carry the tag of their family name or the clan
wherever they go. No matter whatever wrong they do, everything slips under the
social tag they carry with them. The tension of the petty chores of everyday
life doesn’t worry them so much.
The middle class folks, however, are sandwiched between the
two tensions of life. On one hand, they have the tension of fulfilling the
daily needs of the family, and in times when everyday a fresh problem is
propping up, a smooth running of the family is still a challenge. On the other
hand, they are desperately trying to climb the social ladder. They are always
running after the success kind of thing. But it is really tough to achieve the
desired success in times when every sector in the country suffers a gloomy
stagnation. This sort of career hunt doesn’t worry the high class honks. They
don’t make the career but inherit it.
Life is even worse when one belongs to lower middle class
and stays away from home in a rented room or flat. They are often at odds with their
landlord because a humanitarian behavior from the landlords is still a far cry
for majority of the people who live in rented rooms. There are only very few
who are helpful and cooperative.
And life is further terrible when the month is nearing its
end. The landlord frequents his visit to the room. The grocer round the corner
of the street, who was too busy even to smile back, asks about their well being
every time they pass by. They can clearly read the message lying beneath these behaviors
but are simply helpless. They can’t act out quickly because they have to wait
for the bank accounts to be refilled by their office.
Life for the middle class is, thus, a hard nut to crack and
it is getting harder with the growing uncertainties in the country.
I think nothing is as difficult and lengthy as to wait, especially when something pleasant is on the way. You feel as if time has suddenly geared down, and you are well aware of every unit of it..seconds, minutes, hours, days and months....you desperately want the whole lot of it slip just in the blink of your eye but oh God, nothing seems to work in your favour..everyday turns into a marathon of miles and miles...you often wonder why it,s not the same in the exam hall...
Waiting waiting...and desperately waiting with the time stuck on the snail shell......
Every evening, when I come back home from work, I put
everything else aside and sit in front of the computer with the headphones put
onto my ears. Nothing gives me as much pleasure as it does when I listen to the
soft music: whether it be the evergreen
Bollywood oldies of the 70’s and 80’s, and the immortal gazals of Jagajit Singh
and Ghulam Ali or the ever soothing melodies of Bhakta Raj Acharya. It relieves
my fatigued body and mind. For about a couple of hours, I close my eyes and sail
along in the musical world. I feel as if the boundary of time and space has
vanished, and I have been elevated into the world where the petty realities of
life don’t exist. It has now been developed as a regular habit of mine, and if
I can’t manage my time for it any day, I don’t feel fresh and lively.
There can be hardly anyone who doesn’t like music. But, the
degree to which one takes to liking it differs from person to person. Some take
listening to music as an innocent pastime while some others consider it one of
the integral parts of their life. The
undiluted power of music, however, attracts everyone to take a dive into the
magical world of it, once when one develops it as a habit. It is perhaps the
best medicine for the lonely heart and the tormented soul. It has got the power
to soothe the fatigued body and the stressed mind. It gives you company when
you sometimes have to walk alone in life, if you learn to admire it. Music is,
in fact, a healing power.
Music has no language. May be therefore, it is called a
universal language. It knows no political or cultural boundary. Anything that
is enchanting and melodious is pleasing to all the ears. It doesn’t appeal to
the cognitive faculty of our mind. It has its direct path to our heart. Music drives
us to that realm, where we can get sublime experience. We feel an amazing
energy and freshness flow all over our body and mind.
Different kinds of music appeal to different kinds of mood
and emotional aspects and situations. Strong and fast music appeals to the
romantic side of our emotions and arouses in us the desire to rock and roll. It
activates the wild instincts in us and drives us crazy, giving us some
tantalizing sensations. Melodies and soft music, on the other hand, drive us
away from the earthly feelings.
It is generally said
that those people who desperately love music are kind, considerate and more
human than others. Thus, music may act as magic in anybody’s life and change
the course of all that follows if s/he has realized that life hasn’t been
exciting enough despite the availability all the good things one aspires to
have. If it is so, why not give it a
try?
