Room for a prayer

Spost

Religious artefacts, prayers, inscriptions are on show at the Bamboo Gallery, located opposite the American Embassy in Maharjganj. The exhibition, "Mani: Jeweled words of Tibetan-Buddhism on Flags, Wheels and Stones" by Katherine Anne Paul, a Fulbright scholar currently specializing in the material culture of the Himalayas, has brought together samples of prayer flags, prayer wheels and stones along with substantial notes under one roof.

Though these artefacts are common to us, coming into daily contact with them on a secular basis whether at Buddhist households or monasteries, their religious sanctity and deeper associations may have gone unnoticed. The intention of the exhibition seems to be to show them in a fresh light and to share what the organizer of the exhibition has learnt, and to give information to the public. Through such a compression of religious knowledge and icons, a resurrection of some of their hidden meanings seems entirely possible.

The point is bourne across by the exhibition handout where the curator writes, "Because these religious items are part of popular practice and appear to be ubiquitous in Nepal and throughout the Himalayas, they are frequently overlooked for serious study. Many people are unaware not only of the variety of designs, which are innumerable, but also of the depth and complexity of the practices associated with prayer flags, mani wheels, and mani stones".

A sort of dissection of a mani wheel was a case in point. Its rich contents were laid out like the inner organs of some fabulous living thing. The exhibition tells us, what to many may be something new, that rolls of prayer texts are placed inside the mani wheel and that spinning them brings "all the benefits of reading the text", adding that it also provides "an opportunity for people who cannot read to reap the rewards of religious texts".

According to the notes Mani is a jewel which refers to the mantra (a chanting that evokes a particular deity) "Om mani padme hum" and "the mani is also applied to mani wheels, mani stones and mani walls". On closer observation, each prayer flag has a deity like Amitayas, Vajrasattva or the Rinpoche in the centre and the mantra surrounds it.

Below a prayer flag of Vajrayogini, known as a deity for having the "ability to grant re-birth to the human", the notes mention that "most of the text (on the flag) is of Sanskrit origin, only the final phrase ‘increase happiness and goodness’ is Tibetan." Other examples of this type of vehicle of communication is the Rinpoche flag, where the note says "the text of the red flag is a wish granting text that lists the types of blessings and advantages that Guru Rinpoche has the power to bestow."

Hand printing of prayer flags using wooden print blocks, says the exhibition, is the more common variety but machine printed prayer flags can also be found "which are identifiable by the Roman script in the corner of the flag that names the type of flag".

Interestingly, one note mentions that a US based Lama has already computerized a number of prayer texts.

Although it focuses on how Tibetans use such religious tools, the exhibition mentions that, "Sherpa, Tamang, Gurung, Rai, Lolpas and Dolpas, all use, to greater or lesser degrees, prayer flags, mani wheels, and mani stones".

The exhibition contains nuggets of information that could prove enlightening to the layman and scholars alike with its easy accessibility and minimalistic organization and approach. The exhibition runs theough June 2.

Fatal attraction

By Bunu Dhungana

Many young people these days have taken up excessive smoking, drinking and drugs...and they think they are enjoying it. When you ask them, they try to justify their habit by saying, "You should experience everything once in life". The young people of this country are far more advanced and modernized than past generations but are often vulnerable to taking that wrong step, especially those living in urban areas.

Some of them Turn to drugs and narcotics and for many it turns into an addiction. First they try smoking then drink and later, for experiment or through peer pressure, turn to drugs. They feel it’s cool while forgetting the consequences.

Many girls take substances to claim equal status with boys. When I asked an 18 year old girl studying in class 12 as to why she smoked, she replied in irritation, "Mustn’t I smoke because I’m a girl?".

Professor Dr Rishi Keshav Regmi, a prominent sociologist at Tribhuvan University says modern youths are neither traditional nor modern. "They are in no-man’s land," he says. Regmi urges them to be modern but responsible.

When some boys smoking on the roadside were asked why they smoked, they answered saying that they simply enjoyed it. They can’t even sleep and some can’t even go to the toilet without smoking. About the effects, they told me that they don’t care about the future they live for today.

Psychiatrist Nirakar Man Shrestha stresses on the three factors at work- biological, psychological and social which have been responsible for the situation faced by the young today.

The story of a twenty year old male reveals yet another gruesome factor that comes with addiction. His parents were always busy with their work, they never had any time for him. They simply gave him money which he used to buy drugs which has now left him virtually dead.

But the use of drugs alone is not responsible for depressive behaviour. Family problems, problems in love, mounting frustrations in life were cited as some of the other reasons by experts.

A humanitarian approach rather than condemning them for doing something illegal should be taken up to combat the crisis. And parents play a vital role in moulding a child’s behaviour and future life. Experts all agree that it is up to them and responsible groups and individuals in society to give better guidance.

Choc-a-bloc chinese sensation

Spost

Into the rough and tumble of a noisy capital city, where the young mountains are growing older and where there’s trouble brewing in the west came, Nelson Wang, one of India’s finest Chinese chefs. Owner of the much talked about China Town located in the city where the stars go to sleep in the mornings, Bollywood a.k.a. Mumbai, Wang, bustling with energy, was here on the invitation of the Chinese Embassy and Hotel Soaltee to cater to the dietary needs of Chinese Premier Zhu Rong Ji and the Chinese delegation who were here, recently, on the first stop of a whirlwind tour of South Asia.

The first chef cum restaurant owner in India, where the politicians ("Indira Gandhi used to dine"), big Bollywood mega stars and knowledgeable locals are regular customers back in Mumbai, said, the Chinese premiere had to keep to a strict diet, with a dietitian on hand to supervise. "He usually has to watch his diet due to a very tight schedule and it was made sure that all the cuisine came from Soaltee including Italian dishes".

Talking generally about food itself, Wang, with over 16 years of experience in the business, openly said that Chinese food is one of the best and one of the most famous dishes in the world. "Probably because the Chinese are wherever the sky is", he said with a joke.

"Chinese food is flexible, Japanese, Continental and Indian are not very flexible". Pointing out how dishes vary in flavour to suit the tastes of the local region, he said there was only 25 to 40% demand for authentic Chinese food in his restaurant adding that anything called the authentic Chinese food does not exist. "There’s nothing called authentic, it all depends on the regional tastes — some are bland, some spicy and hot and some sweet".

But for him the kitchen is no refuge. Aromas are everywhere, down side streets into gullies. And apart from the smells you never know what you could find. He said, as we savoured the flavours of Japanese noodles, crispy vegetables, Korean prawns, Cantonese chicken, among other dishes made by Wang and served to us by the waiters in the Himalchuli restaurant,

"Yokchang, a Chinese cooking utensil, died out in the world some 25 to 35 years back. But inside some gulli, we found it in Kathmandu. We bought half a dozen for my restaurant in Mumbai".

A man of many catch-phrases one of which was, "Satisfaction comes first and money comes later" continued by saying, "The main difference between Chinese and Indian cuisine is that one should get the flavour of vegetables in Chinese food but in Indian it’s spices and masalas".

Obviously a gourmand with a sense of humour, the name of one particular item on the menu in his restaurant, which consists of 280 dishes, from Korean, Vietnamese, Thai, Japanese and Chinese, has its influences from the instigator of Star Wars. A sea dish with the title Sea War has next to it, a Reagan Special written within brackets. A little bit of politics in food always adds a little bit
of spice.

According to him, opening up a restaurant in Kathmandu (he sees it gradually going in the way of Mumbai and Delhi) with good food and with reasonable prices and not "rip offs like star restaurants" where people can hang out to see and to be seen would be a great idea. It would be "Choc-a-bloc" with people, meaning it would be a great success.

Rajasthan "a nepali state of mind"

By Dubby Bhagat

Some in Nepal trace their lineage to Rajasthan and its Royal houses. The Ranas married into regal houses, and several Havelis and palaces in Udaipur, Jaipur, Jaisalmer have distinctly Nepali influences as Rana palaces bear traces of Rajasthan.

Jai Mall and Patta, the defendants of a siege in Udaipur in medieval times are now the guardians, in stone, of Bhaktapur’s Nyatapola. King Bhupatindra Malla who created the temple and several Malla kings trace their beginnings to Rajasthan and suggested that at least a part of all Newars came from there.

The Tharus in the Tarai to this day have a ceremony where Tharu housewives ritually push away, with their foot, a thali of food offered to them by their husbands. Legend has certain princesses of Rajasthan fleeing with their retainers after an attack into a hospitable Nepal where they, eventually, married. The custom that prevails established all Tharu women as descendants of those long ago princesses.

Rajasthan as a state of mind lays claim to much that is Nepali. Valour, nobility, courtliness and an uninhibited love for colour grace, and above all, food.

The Everest Hotel's "The Far Pavilion", is transformed into a Haveli reminiscent of the fallen gazeboes of Kaisar Mahal’s garden. Bedecked with colour and festivity created by Kunwar Bedela and his Kunwarani from Rajasthan, the restaurant offers not just delicious noble fare - 30 dishes to choose from - but the whole gamut of tradition.

There are dancing girls who are whirls of colour as they pirouette, sometimes with a pot of flames, similar to our "ghagris" on their heads. A six year old boy prancing his way through diners with stone castanets guiding the intricacies of his steps. Singers whose songs have been made into hit movies.

And while you are transported to another time and another world, gauze coverings are swept off tables and an unscrolled menu offers such delights as the famous, "Lal Mass", chicken cooked in fenugreek, and vegetarian delicacies that bring some Nepali cooking to mind.

You choose five dishes on your thali from 3 dozen - no mean feat - as music and dance vie for your attention. Kunwar Badela himself moves regally through diners as he has done on as many continents as there are, murmuring, "Padharo Hukum."

Welcome animal farm

By Skandhar Rai

Down there is the famous Dharahara,.... straight ahead lies the Rani Pokhari .........and a bit on your right is the Ghantaghar..." says our guide and I eagerly look down. I see green everywhere, like a sea covered with green algae, and amongst them I see three squarish looking barren areas of land with a few traces of what seems like rock and rubble. The guide on our cruise-plane sees the disappointment in most of our faces and begins to explain. I don’t pay much attention to him. I’m already in my own world. I catch a few of his phrases here and there, understanding only that in the past few decades Nepal has undergone a massive change and metamorphosized into a sanctuary. The rest of what I hear seems gibberish.

In my thoughts, I’m with my parents in the old Nepal somewhere in mid 2000. We leave for America in an attempt to re-establish ourselves and to make a different identity for ourselves. But this was just an excuse. Once in the US the sun shone and the mist vanished. We were more bent on keeping our identity than making a new one. Faced with the hardships of everyday life, we cursed the day we left our home back in Nepal. However, we managed and had a life much like in Nepal in our Nepalese community. But what we did is of no major concern. What happened to Nepal from 2010-20 was our concern even in our small Nepalese community in the States. So many people started going abroad that the population of the country was at its lowest. Most had gone to the neighbouring Asian countries but nevertheless they had abandoned their motherland. In addition to that, most of these did not return. Instead they got that country’s citizenship. Nepal’s foreign aid was also climbing up. So what happened? I’ve asked myself this question a thousand times but still I’ve never quite got the answer. I admit..... (sprattle.. chug.....). "ugh...!", I say in disgust. The guide tells us - a bit embarrassed - " hee... hee.. hee... corruption. Never quite goes away does it!" (damn it! Why can’t the government be more careful with only a few thousand people to look after? Let’s continue.) I admit that Nepal was huge in debt and high on foreign aids but that doesn’t mean that the powerful could do such a thing to our country and our pride. What they did was a huge backlash to our pride. The countries got together, took advantage of the political instability, and named Nepal as the world's only and biggest - ‘International Wildlife Park ‘. The words ‘only’ and ‘biggest’ were supposed to be a sort of consolation or a form of international pride. But, what pride is there when it makes you feel like you sold out your own country. They made a mockery of us and we were supposed to join in the fun. The surprising thing is that we did! There was a mutual and written agreement from both parties as the Government of Nepal and the Representative for the International Countries exchanged contracts and had a grand party to rejoice such an occasion. But rejoice they did, my foot! They rejoiced the end of our country and the dawn of their own country, a country they could manipulate and use.

"Coming up you will see the beautiful Phewa lake and if you look carefully you can see..." His voice trails off as I continue my conversation with my thoughts. Then what happened? I think. The government gave the rest of the people, except for the few thousand, a new citizenship and sent them off to foreign lands to start a new life. Most of the other countries agreed to grant citizenship to the Nepalese already present. And a few others had to be convinced with a bit of the earning that came from the tourists that visited the ‘International Wildlife Park’. I don’t think I’d ever seen such an unanimous agreement by powerful countries.

My thoughts take me to another aspect of the matter as I watch some of the kids in the cruise-plane eagerly looking out of the window and asking questions to their parents. What am I supposed to tell my children when they ask about their true homeland. Will I be telling them that I grew up in what is now a jungle. That - where now the animals sleep I used to sleep and where animals now play was where I used to pray. And what about their ancestry? Do I tell them that there is pride in once belonging to a country which is now an international sanctuary. Whatever I tell them I guess I’ll be back to square one - no Nepal, so where do I belong.

Bloody politics kills off message of peace

By C B Dahal

I have been forced to abandon my quest because of bloody politics in my own country," says 53-year-old Laxman Sapkota of Tankisunwari VDC-1, Biratnagar, Morang.

Sapkota began his World tour on 12 May 1989 on a bicycle to spread the message of "World Peace and Brotherhood". Twelve years on the bicycle seat and covering 39 countries in Asia, Europe and Oceania, he was in Gangtok, Sikkim, during the second week of May, on the last leg of his journey before ending it by returning back to Nepal this weekend via the Kakarvitta entry point.

A family man, Sapkota has one son - a teacher in Mirik, Darjeeling and three school going daughters living with their mother in Morang District.

In Gangtok, when asked why he had taken the arduous journey that too on a bicycle, he said that he was fed up of reading about the tension in all parts of the World. Even in Nepal, the birthplace of the Buddha, the government fought with the political parties (this was before the democratic change in Nepal). "So, in my own way, I thought to try to spread the message of World Peace and Brotherhood to people. And, today, had it not been for the problem in my own country, I would definitely have achieved a degree of success," laments Sapkota about the current state of affairs.

During the early stages of the journey, people were happy to talk and speak about peace. But, he says, " For the last two years, people say, there is no peace in your own country, so how can you talk of peace."

His tour began even before democracy made a return to Nepal. "The Maoist problem began when I was halfway around the world and today I am forced to abandon my quest in shame because the land of peace is no more peaceful. Brother kills brother in my own country, so how can I spread the message of brotherhood to people of other countries" say Sapkota.

His journey began from Kathmandu on 12 May 1989. During the first stage he visited the SAARC countries. In Maldives he was accorded a special welcome and Pakistan conferred him as a ‘Son of SAARC’ title. He then continued his journey through South East Asia on to Australia and New Zealand. In 1994, he returned home briefly to look after his sick wife. When she recovered a few months later he again set on his journey to Europe and visited almost all the countries there including France, Spain, Germany, Belgium, Poland. From there he proceeded to Japan before coming back to India via Singapore this year.

His wishes to travel though China remained unfulfilled as the Chinese government denied him visa.

Almost everywhere he went he encountered people who were friendly and went out of their way to help him. He talked to schoolchildren, local social groups and in turn people donated funds to continue his journey. But, the Maoist problem, which has gripped the country for the last half a decade has been his Achilles’ heel. People still showed love, kindness and hospitality but wondered why, "When there was no brotherhood in my own country how I could continue to talk about it."

"Nepal has been the land of peace. I request all my brothers and sisters to stop killing each other," requests Sapkota, unhappy that he has had to abandon his journey for peace because of violence in his own country.

But he is happy that he was able to meet Crown Prince Dipendra at Singapore while he was on the way to the Sydney Olympics last September. "He has assured me to provide for the education of my children," says ecstatic Sapkota. He plans to meet the Crown Prince after his return home.

During his travels through 39 countries, he encountered a number of difficult situations. ‘Everywhere I went people were friendly and they helped me to get on with my tour." But, there were some difficult moments like while travelling to Thimphu in Bhutan, he met a wild bear on the road near Chimakoti and two Border Road trucks escorted him to safety. In New Zealand two Maori boys and a girl waylaid him for money. And as he had just 2 dollars and few cents on him they assaulted him and badly beat him up. His luggage was stolen in Belgium although the Belgian police managed to retrieve it only after ten days. While in Poland, his sleeping bag and tent were stolen and even the police could not
trace it.

The unhappiest incident was when his bicycle was stolen while he was in Singapore, supposedly the safest State in Asia. Despite all police efforts they could not find it. So he had to fly out of Singapore and the Nepali Ambassador Bheg Bahadur Thapa in Delhi donated a new cycle to him.

When he was inquired if he ever became sick during the course of his 12 year journey, he piously said, "I have never fallen sick with the kind grace of Lord Pasupatinath."

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