Memorable moments to cherish

I, along with then SSP Rohit Thapa, had the honour of escorting His Royal Highness Crown Prince to the villages of Kaski and Parvat districts. His Royal Highness was to have a day-long trekking-cum- inspection of some of the projects including drinking water and schools in the area. I still remember the lesson taught by His Royal Highness about keeping the trekking route clean of even small thrown-away wrappers of food and water. His Royal Highness had not only carried his lunch bag on his back but also picked up small pieces of papers and pocketed them in contrary to the mess that the minister for education Sarbendra Nath Shukla and his party had strewn at the site. His body guard carried the lunch packet for the minister throughout the way to the villages. We all Nepali should learn lessons to keep the environment clean of mess from the Royal guest.

Bidding farewell to His Royal Highness Crown Prince at Pokhara airport when I was DIG

National Seminar on Magar Identity

July 15, 2012
Chaired a session of 'National Seminar on Magar Identity' organized by Magar Academic Group on 14 July at Nagarkot, Bhaktaour. Two papers were presented in this session:

Origin, arrival, and expansion of Magar by Fatik Thapa and Territory of Magarat and Trends of Naming by Chhabilal Chidi Maagar. I suggested few things at the end of the session:

1.       Avoid repeating old data—need to do research beyond the known areas.

2.       Share research findings with wider circle of researchers: inter-caste groups, national and international groups. It is important to validate our research findings and update what others have found out

3.       Understanding the limitations of research—it can only direct, lead or indicate towards truth but it cannot prove anything as in mathematics or physical science.

A moment with Prof. Michael Opitz

Sharing a moment with Michael Opitz

Do you believe in Bhoot, Pret, Boksi, Dhami, Jhankri or SHAMANISM? I can presume that many of you do not believe in them. The fact is that in Nepal, still these practices go on in the societies. These are not only practiced in remote villages but also in the capital city of Nepal—Kathmandu. 

David E. Watters in his paper 'Siberian Shamanistic Traditions Among Kham-Magars of Nepal' writes:

"…Shamanism, as described by most scholars, is pre-eminately a magico-religious phenomenon of Siberia and Central Asia (Eliade 1964: 4,5). In fact, the word 'shaman' comes originally from the Tungusic word saman meaning 'one who is excited, moved, raised' and was borrowed into English from the Russian. The term is descriptive of the shaman's most basic attribute—shaking, or an 'ecstatic trance' (Casanowicz 1924:419)."

Michael Opitz did some research works on this community during 80s. Prof. Michael Opitz is the director of documentary film 'Shamans of the Blind Country' 1981. 221 min. West Germany/Nepal. 

 http://vimeo.com/3198388

An ethnographic film that studies the Magar people of West Nepal--Rukum, a pre-literate mountain tribe living in the vicinity of the Dhaulagiri range and practicing a shamanistic religion.

Source: http://dalbhattarkari.com/nepal-documenary/

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Siberian shamanistic traditions among Kham Magars of Nepal 

Respect others rights first

"The promotion and exercise of tolerance, the ability to keep our hearts and minds open to the reasoning of others are the true litmus tests to gauge whether our commitment to the full and interdependent set of human rights and to human dignity is truly genuine and not just expedient rhetoric." Ms. Navanethem Pillay

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Magar language

Magars speak Pang (known as Kham) in Mid-Western region, Tarali or Kaike in Dolpa district of North-Western region, and Dhut mostly in the West and Central part of Nepal. These mother tongues belong to Tibeto-Burman family. The population of mother tongue speakers is 3.39% of the total population of Nepal (2001 census). Other remaining Magars speak Khas, and Nepali. Magar language stands at the seventh rank in Nepal in terms of the large number of population speaking their mother tongue. The Magar tongue speaking population in 1952/54, 1991, and 2001 were 273780, 430264, and 770116 respectively. The study of the trend in mother tongue retention shows that Magar language retention rate has increased from 32.1% of 1991 to 47.7% of 2001 census.

Population by mother tongue and sex

Total Number % Cumulative % Male Female
770116 3.39 86.51 372568 397548

Source: CBS, 2002

Constituent Assembly revival or fresh elections

 Personally  I am in favour of CA revival because it will save time, cost, it will prevent polarization of society, and it will definitely guarantee Constitution. Prashant Jha, in his article, also fears of some kind of uncertainty if new election is held. He writes:

Elections are more democratic and will accurately reflect the new balance of forces. But the outcome is almost certain to be fragmented. Will the next house, which will consists of parties who have fought elections purely on positions of federalism, be able to throw up a document of compromise? The interim constitution did not envisage that CA would not produce a constitution, but Nepal no longer has that luxury of not contemplating failure; how will it deal with a scenario where a social contract is not drawn again. And listening to the conservatives — those who mythologize the 90s and want to go back to that period — will not work. Radical democrats, republicans, federalists and secularists will wage a battle for survival to protect existing achievements.
 
On Oct 28, 2012, the retired judges of Supreme Court have suggested to go for fresh CA election rather than to opt for the revival of CA.


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सुरक्षित समाधान ः संविधानसभाको पुनःस्थापना | विविधा | :: कान्तिपुर ::

Longer the political uncertainty; more the complication

Prashant Jha writes, "Political forces are still calculating who won and who lost with the dissolution of the CA without the constitution being delivered. On the surface, it appears that the Maoist-Madhesi coalition outsmarted the NC-UML combine by retaining the government while not giving up on the federal agenda." 
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