Leaders and Intellectuals
The discourse on the nexus between leaders, intellectuals and political parties often takes an interesting form. The nexus is tricky. In Nepal, the three are embedded with one another so…
On Teaching and Teachers
The Kathmandu Post. 1 August 2007 Celebration of Teachers’ Day every year gets some credit for bringing awareness in the growing minds about the value of teachers. On the day,…
On Discourse of Depoliticization
The Kathmandu Post 6 July 2007 A recent subject of discourse among Nepali intelligentsia has been the issue of the politicization of universities. This issue gained notoriety when the eight-party…
Spectacle, Aftermath and Awakening
By luck or chance, I am in a condition to speak of three earthquakes, which Nepalis who lived during the last eighty two years narrate with some familiarity and confidence.…
Three-Scar Memento
I suddenly got tormented by a question when I saw scars in my elder son’s hands: “Do I carry something similar in my body that reminds me of my (grand)parents?”…
Wish for a Bigger, Better Choutari
The following piece was written for Nelta Choutari in January 2013 as a reflection of my four-year engagement in team blogging. I remember seeing Shyam only once in one of…
After Doctoral Degree
“I grew up in a society where a Masters degree was considered the biggest, and highest, level of formal education one could achieve in life. PhD was an outlandish dream…
मतलबी हुन्, मतलबी होइनन्
सँगै उभिएका सहकर्मीले बढ्दै गएको भिडलाई देखाएर भने, “यो जमात अत्यन्तै स्वार्थी मानिसहरूको जमात हो। यिनीहरूले बुझून, सिकून, जीवन सपारून भनेर कति मिहेनत गरियो, घाँटी सुकाइयो, सकेजति गरियो। ऐले हेर्नुस्…
Growing up As a Generalist
On the occasion of the launching of Six Strings some five years ago, one of my professors satirically but with some hint of admiration remarked : “Hem seems at ease…
Prices and costs…
What is the price of favoring truth? What is the cost of disfavoring chicanery? I am perpetually trying to answer these two questions. Even when people look like creating chasms…