Life Among Crisis

Having been late for college once again, the thought of writing this article came to my mind. I'm a calculative person and sometimes being calculative works against me. My first class starts at 6:30am, it takes me 30 mins to get to Ratnapark on bus and from there it takes me 15 mins to walk to my college in Dillibazar (15 mins because I have long legs and thus take long steps). So, I need to leave exactly at 5:45, which I usually do. But despite leaving at my usual time, I'm late for my class these days. And the reason behind it: "THE NEVER ENDING PETROLEUM CRISIS OF NEPAL".

Despite the price hike, the supply of petroleum has not eased. Most of the buses are found in queues to buy diesel thus there are fewer buses running on the route. Public are affected greatly by it. These days, when I get to the bus-stop, there are about hundred people already waiting for the bus (Kirtipur is the place where maximum students reside and over hundred people can easily be seen at the bus-stop when there are no buses). As soon as a bus is in view, people start running towards it. Waiting for the bus to stop is not an option if you really want to get on it. You have to be stronger and faster than the rest to be able to get on the first bus (I usually have to wait for 3rd or 4th bus). There's a lot of pushing and elbowing required to get on the bus (I guess pinching would work too but I haven't tried it and I wouldn't suggest it as well). Even after all this trouble, you have to be immensely lucky to get a seat. If u do get a seat, its great but if you don't, then you have to pray that you don't become "gundruk" by the time you get off if. This is the everyday story of the Nepalese who take public bus to schools, colleges or work. Comparatively, the ones who own bikes/cars have to go through lesser trouble but even they have to stand in long queues (which may last upto a few hours and sometimes all day) to buy petrol every few weeks.

However great the problem of transportation seems, it is nothing compared to the problem of LPG (Liquid Petroleum Gas). The shortage of cooking gas has been going on for last 2 and half months and the situation just isn't getting better. At my home, one cylinder has been lying empty for about a month and the next has very little gas left on it. And, I'm really starting to worry. What would we do if this cylinder runs out of gas? I don't know how to use the traditional "chulo". So, we no longer drink boiled water and I don't even drink my day time tea anymore. We also use rice-cooker whenever possible but with 10hrs of loadshedding a day, it is not possible to use rice-cooker for every meal. 

I've been reading about the people who lived with their relatives and also of the ones who paid Rs1000 extra and bought gas on black and many more who stand in queues all day long and return home in the evening with the same empty cylinder. There are people who are living on dry food and people who eat in hotels because there is no gas to cook. And having read their stories, I'm getting even more worried. I just hope our last cylinder of gas doesn't run out before the supply eases. *fingers crossed*

-Appu

Arpana Shrestha is a 18 year old with too much to say who just wishes to have her tea in peace.

Loot: Examply Gratia

Movie LOOT has been a very good example of what Nepalese movie industry could be doing rather than just producing Bollywood wannabes. A story about local thugs has been the talk of town. Certainly no Oscar worthy movie though, LOOT has marked a milestone in Nepalese movie industry. After just a couple of weeks of release, LOOT has made over 1 crore of moolah whereas the whole budget was around 32 lakhs. After 4 SOLD OUT shows in Sydney, more shows are being added by the very keen 3D EVENTS. Other countries like UK and USA have now also been lining up to introduce the movie. A whole new prospect of national income has opened up. With the increasing amount of Nepalese living abroad spread across the globe, Nepalese movies could very well be a good source of national income. 


             But not long after movie LOOT was released, much anticipated another kollywood movie KATHMANDU has proved to be a dud. Despite of very high expectations, huge budget (including a title song by Kailash Kher, western actors, locations around the map) and so called "top of the line" technology, the movie is said to lack the oomph factor that LOOT has. And the fact is evident from the trailer below: 

        The movie tries to depict the changing city with the appalling generation gap and fast westernizing youth( drug, abortion, sex, etc). It has also tried to include the problems of government, unemployment and so on till the point it gets too much. Keeping the old Kollywood trend of employing family members in movies, director/producer Akash Adhikari also acts in the movie (And that certainly doesn't help :P )

     Coincidentally, Spanish movie KATMANDU was released the same day (yesterday) and is full of heart. Now I do not want to sound skeptical (mind that I have praised many kollywood movies), but it seems ironic that Spanish people made far better off movie despite getting the spelling wrong. (Actually, the word is in Spanish and that is how it is written in Spanish. New York is written/pronounced as Nueva York and so on.) Ending this on a good note, there's definitely hope for Nepalese movies and hope there is plenty. Time to keep the chin up and pour the heart into it. 

Calling "The Spirit"

Well, I would like to share a very weird, interesting and (I guess) yet unexplained phenomenon. What happened yesterday was, my girlfriend and her relatives were trying a so called ‘calling a spirit’ thing. Well, no, I don’t believe in such spirit things and even though how much accurate those things are, I would not believe them without any explanation. And the truth is, neither does my girlfriend believe in spirits and so, she wasn't ready for the 'trick'. But eventually, she had to because her relatives insisted.

Here’s the thing. As they were asking so many questions to the spirit they called, they wanted to get a little 'mischievous' by asking the spirit the names of their future spouse. (Well, you might be wondering how this is a mischievous act, but I find it mischievous though I don’t have any explanation why I think so.) And to their surprise and especially to my girlfriend’s surprise, the spirit took MY name. And moreover, it also told the year in which we will be getting married. Astonishing, isn’t it? Well, the first one, i.e. my name, might be very much correct, but the second one, that is, we will be marrying 2 years from now is largely impossible. Well, how? Its because we are still very young and we wouldn’t want our marriage so early in our lives so that we destroy our career. So, if both of us don’t want our marriage so early and also both of our families don’t want our marriage so early, it is highly unlikely that we will be getting married two years from now.

However, that’s not all. There could be some explanation to what had happened. Well, I am a physics student, so definitely I would want explanation to each and every interesting phenomenon taking place around me and especially those that directly affect me. So, after an hour long talk with my girlfriend, an idea struck both of our minds. This idea might be very amateur, but I have a feeling (though I do not have explanation why this feeling came to me) that hypnotism might be a very good explanation to the phenomenon. No, I don’t know what hypnotism is. But I’ve heard of it and I know a little bit about it. What I have feeling is that, each and every person performing the act of ‘calling the spirit’ might be hypnotizing each other unknowingly. The thing is, the question being asked to the 'spirit' can be answered by the questioner himself/herself or at least another person performing the act. For instance, when my girlfriend's mother asked ‘who would be my daughter's spouse in future?’ my girlfriend would definitely be expecting the spirit to take my name! And if her mother knew about our relation, then she would also be expecting the same. So, they both somehow knew the answer! So, unknowingly, they might be hypnotizing all the other people in the room performing the act. And every other person did the same when they were asking their own questions to ‘the spirit’.

Moreover, what we want in our future or our idea about it might also affect. This idea struck my girlfriend's mind when she was talking to her sister about the latter's higher studies. She said there's no option for her higher studies in Nepal, so she HAS to go abroad. And when she asked the 'spirit' about her higher studies, the answer was New Delhi, which is the closest option that she might be unconsciously thinking. And that unconscious thought might have led every other person present there to be hypnotized.

Well, what I explained above might be completely wrong, and there might be completely different explanation to the phenomenon. Also, may be scientist are yet not able to explain the phenomenon. But I don’t believe that there will be no explanation to this. And only because science is not being able to explain this doesn’t mean that the ‘spirits’ exist because just some unexplained ‘events’ do not prove the existence of some another unexplained object.