It’s Another New Year... ...but for what reason?

They want to do things better, become better people.  What unites this custom  and the more common type of resolutions is that on the first day of the year people  take their values more seriously, writes SRJ.

"Happy New Year!" That greeting will be said and heard for at least the first few weeks as the New Year gets under way.

The meaning of most designated days is clear: Fagu marks festivities, Dashain is celebrated for victory over evil and so on. The meaning of New Year's Day - the world's most celebrated holiday - is not so clear. On this day, many people remember last year's achievements and failures and look forward to the promise of a New Year, of a new beginning.

But this celebration and reflection is the result of more than an accident of the calendar. New Year has a deeper significance. What is it? On New Year's Day, when the singing, dancing and champagne doses are over, many of us become more serious about life. People, on this day want to be more attractive by losing weight, and to be healthier by exercising more and smoking less.

They want to do things better, become better people. What unites this custom and the more common type of resolutions is that on the first day of the year people take their values more seriously.

Values are not only physical and external. They also can be psychological. Many New Year's resolutions, in whatever form, reveal that people want to better themselves by improving psychologically. For example, look at your own resolutions over the years.

Haven't they included such vows as: be more patient with your children, improve your self-esteem, be more emotionally open with your wife? Such resolutions express the moral ambitiousness of a person wanting to improve his self and life.

The celebration of the New Year is the oldest of all holidays. Many cultures believe that anything in the shape of a ring is good luck, because it symbolizes "coming full circle," completing a year's cycle. Not all countries celebrate New Year at the same time, nor in the same way.

This is because people in different parts of the world use different calendars. Long ago, people divided time into days, months, and years. Some calendars, like ours, is based on the movement of the moon, others are based on the position of the sun, while others are based on both the sun and the moon.

All over the world, there are special beliefs about New Year. On New Year's Eve, many people hold parties, which last until late into the night. It is traditional to greet the New Year at midnight and celebrate the first minutes of the year in the company of friends and family.

People may dance, sing, and drink a toast to the year ahead. Families go out for dinner or watch the New Year celebrations on television, typical activities for New Year's Day besides parties and dances. What better way to prepare for the celebrations (for those who choose to stay at home) than prepare snacks to munch on while watching television?

Bisket Jatra Bhaktapur marks this occasion with the weeklong Bisket Jatra. On the first day ceremonies begin around dusk outside the Bhairab temple in Tamudhi Tole where a huge 4-wheeled wooden chariot has been readied.

The chariot, carrying the shrine of Bhairab and Bhadrakali, is paraded through the town and during a break, residents from the eastern and western halves of the town rally for possession of the chariot in a mammoth tug-of-war.

The winning side gets the privilege of talking care of the deities for the next seven days. The end of the seven days the chariot is than taken down a steep alleyway to the bank of Hanumate River where an enormous 25-meter pole is raised.

The next day again there is a tug-of-war in the felling of the pole signifies the beginning of the new year. Happy New Year 2059!

Disappearance of Hornbill

Aceros Nipaulensis, scientifically known as Rufos-Necked Hornbill, a kind of hornbill has disappeared in Nepal since the 1950s with the rapid deforestation of the sub-tropical rain forests at the foothills of the Siwaliks. "Nobody saw this bird after the 1950’s," argues Professor Ohsawa.

By Nitya Nanda Timsina

Who would not be so thrilled to watch a bird with its bony outgrowth and its frontal spike stretched so enormously? Who would not be delighted to hear the shrill cry of a Cicada or that of a grunt of wild boar? Who wouldn’t be so fascinated by the sound of a woodpecker, scraping a hole on the bark of a tree?

In most still jungle of Nepal, we have hardly any voices coming from the birds that face extinction. In the confines of a competition for land, man has brought about colossal damages to earth’s natural resources.

I could scarcely recall an incident in my village when a flock of hornbill flapped their large wings and hovered about a herd of grazing sheep. But they were not attacking the young sheep. They were safeguarding them against falcons and eagles threatening to swoop down on the lamb. With their naked red heads looking like a helmet and meter-long tail feathers trailing behind, male Hornbills were busy in defense of the herd of grazing sheep. A moment later they were seen perched on the branches of tall tree ‘barking’. I can as well remember how a male hornbill raised its tail to attract female during mating time.

Except for the waterfowls like ducks, swans and other webbed-feet birds paddling about the dirty ponds, there are hardly any signs of hornbills fluttering about Jhapa’s one-time flourishing sub-tropical rain forests at the stretch of the foothills where the hornbill is said to have roamed freely.

What has caused the disappearance of the bird has been a mystery for quite sometime but Professor Masahiko Ohsawa of the University of Tokyo, Japan, a conservationist came out to say they perished in Nepal. He argues that after the destruction of the rain forest in the lower Himalayas back in 1950s, the rufos-naked Hornbill saw its last day in Nepal. "Nobody saw this bird after 1950’s," says Dr Ohsawa of the Institute of Environmental Studies at the University of Tokyo, who has been doing ecological survey in Nepal and Bhutan since 1991.

"This still jungle, which grew to 40 meter height," said Professor Ohasawa , "has come under deforestation that led to the disappearance of the Hornbill."

However, Hari Sharan Kazi (Nepali) says the bird perished much before professor Ohsawa put forth his hypothesis. "These birds have vanished from their habitat during the 1800s itself," says the bird specialist. "They existed no more after the 1840s," Nepal’s bird protagonist argues.

Some estimates say Nepal has nearly 847 species of birds, coming in every shape and size while the total World’s averages is around 8000 but many face extinction from piercing human settlement. The one similar in the picture perched on the bough of a tree has already faced extinction in Nepal.

Aceros Nipaulensis, scientifically known as Rufos-Necked Hornbill, a kind of hornbill has disappeared in Nepal since the 1950s with the rapid deforestation of the sub-tropical rain forests at the foothills of the Siwaliks. "Nobody saw this bird after 1950’s," argues Professor Ohsawa.

Along with the Southeast Asia, which is said to have a large population of hornbill facing extinction, the rare species of hornbill population is wiped out throughout Nepal. The Aceros Nipaulensis lives no more.

"This could be a sign of habitat destruction in Nepal," says Professor Ohsawa. However, he reveals that the same breeds of hornbills still freely roam in Bhutan.

Dr Puspa Ratna Shakya, another conservationist however, says giant hornbills continue to exist in the Churia region of the Central Nepal, North-West of Janakpur but says they are equally threatened. Deforestation, mountaineering, spread of grazing activities and rapid settlements are responsible for their loss of the habitat.

According to a study published by the world conservation union (IUCN), Nepal has 90 laws, regulations and policies related to environment regime. However, they are less effective. Conservationists express concerns over specific laws and policies on conservation and sustainable use of mountain bio-diversity.

Mukesh K. Chalise and Rodney L. Johnson of the Florida International University, Miami, who carried out a survey in Nepal on primate-human conflict in the mountains of Nepal, say Nepal derives 80 percent of its fuel energy from the forest products, which undoubtedly speaks in volumes the rampant destruction of forest.

Botanists here echo the same concern: rapidly rising population has depleted the tall forests, from which they extract fuel for their cooking and lighting purpose at home as no cheap alternative source of energy is within their reach.

The past 50 years have seen steady disappearance of many natural habitats, which had formed an ideal breeding ground for the birds and for their nesting.

The controversy surrounding the mysterious disappearance of the hornbill continues to baffle many. Most conservationists say the bird might have migrated to a safer location or has hibernated and never came out from its sleep.

Professor Ohsawa claims the bird freely roamed in Nepal until the late 1950s. He says he has last seen them fluttering in Bhutan’s forests. However, bird specialist Kazi maintains that the bird lived well beyond 1800s but only In Jhapa and during the 1840’s, they faced total extinction.

Dr Puspa Ratna Shakya, President of Natural History Society of Nepal however, says there are still a horde of freely roaming giant hornbills-a separate species of hornbills in Northwest of Janakpur but said they are equally threatened by rapid human settlement in the region.

Though there are conflicting statistics on the total species of birds and equally conflicting opinions on the whereabouts of the hornbill, experts say there are well over 800 species of birds in Nepal, several of them facing extinction.

Exam fever is there any aspirin ?

As a matter of fact, the parents should work for realisation of their wards’ individual potential rather than adding to the fear of their own ambitions. The students are bound to be sandwiched between parental expectations and the wager laid by the schools.

By Ajay Das

School children these days are under tremendous pressure to excel in every field. Modern education is poisoned by the canker of competition; making life a contest of stretched brawn rather than brain. An unfailing desire to excel, sometimes even in the field beyond one’s own capacity, debars the students to ‘discover’ them. The exam-oriented syllabus dominates our entire education system. How far is it justifiable to examine the knowledge of a student, especially who keeps on learning almost throughout the year, in three hours long exam?

A few weeks ago, one of the Kathmandu-based foreign embassies published a notice inviting the students to drop their applications for scholarship with remarkable pre-requisition of minimum sixty percent marks. As the score is the first criterion, from the very beginning, students succumb to exam fever. This is one of the few examples of how the exam-oriented education system has become a divine gift for the students with capability to memorise rather than learn. The result is we are forced to realise that modern education is not meant for knowledge but for collecting certificates with towering marks.

So we are led back to the question - Who is to blame for this exam fever? Dire need to excel in a world of reducing opportunities, coupled with parental expectations and their willingness to ‘invest’ extra money so that their wards outshine the rest, has forced the students to come under extreme pressure to obtain as much marks as they can, come what may. Some ambitious parents are gripped with mass hysteria that their wards should get nothing less than ninety percent regardless of their efficiencies and interests. This hysteria steers the parents to seek expensive schools where teaching has turned into a profit-making tool. As a matter of fact, the parents should work for realisation of their wards’ individual potential rather than adding to the fear of their own ambitions. After all, how can we expect a feverish student to out rival his mates? He, who is working under some sort of pressure, can never produce a desired result and will not be able to use his creative ideas. Consequently it proves to be a dead end.

The blame falls upon schools as they are geared to meet the requirements of a job-oriented market. As the commercialisation of education steadily escalated, the so-called ‘academic shops’ have mushroomed by leaps and bound. Claiming that they are equipped with sound methodology and can bring the best out of the children, some of these schools try to assure the parents of at least eighty or more percent in S. L. C. and other exams. A few of them succeed in keeping their commitments but most fail to keep their promises and the parents, at their own sweet will, are being hoodwinked. After all, the reputations of the schools are at stake, they want nice and clean records. Their effort to squeeze ‘more’ out of the students are doing nothing but rubbing salt into the wounds as the immense pressure is put on the students to either excel or to face doom. The students are bound to be sandwiched between parental expectations and the wager laid by the schools.

Education system, indeed, cannot be spared from the blame to escalating exam fever. The question-paper system further pressurises the students to keep up to the mark of expectations from their parents and school. The time, therefore, has come to reconsider the entire system and devise a new format that includes both qualitative as well as quantitative capability of a student. Similarly, the time has come to think of an aspirin that can help the students to reduce their fever and develop their innate and genuine attribute.

Heritage tour
Bhairav Temple: The house of Kashi Bishwonath

By Razen Manandhar

The royal palace in Bhaktapur is the most beautiful place. At the end of the market street, a rather small stone-paved courtyard of Taumadhi welcomes you. You can’t stop holding your breath when you see 300 year-old two giant temples, which reflect the fabulous art, architecture and love of art of the people living there.

A giant Bhairava temple stands at Taumadhi, Bhaktapur, next to the famous Nyatapola temple. The temple, known commonly as Bhailaa Dyo, is considered the temple of Kashi Bishwonath, a wrathful image of Shiva from Baranasi. Though it looks dwarf in front of towering Nyatapola, it has its own significance.

People remember this temple during the Bisket Festival, which falls in mid April. The deity of Bhairava is taken around the city in a wooden chariot to show how happy local people are and that he is the source of their happiness.

Though the exact date of the temple’s construction is not known yet, it is believed that it existed even during the Lichchivi period, from 4th to 7th century, perhaps in a simpler form. Chroniclogical order states that Lichchivi King Ananda Dev of Bhaktrapur had renovated it in 1150. Bhairava of this temple later became so angry that he started bringing calamities in the city to disapprove the people’s worshipping. The priests later decided to erect Nyatapola temple of Siddhilaxmi to calm him down. She is considered as Bhairava’s consort and both of them together admired the work city-dwellers did tirelessly and got good harvest.

Like all religious monuments of this country, the origin of this temple is also based on a legend. One day, Bishwonath of Kashi or Baranasi, came to enjoy the festival of Bisket in Bhaktapur in the guise of a simple man. A Tantric, identified as Muni Achaju, recognised him with his sixth sense. Thinking that Bhaktapur would win fortunes if he could force Bishwonath to reside in the city he tried to capture him with the help of his mystic power. But he failed and he was forced to behead Bishwonath and keep him in the temple. People still believe that the real head, cut thousands of years ago, is still there.

This is not the only temple where Bhairava’s head is worshipped. Shweta Bhairava of Hanumandhoka and Akash Bhairava of Indrochowk are also worshipped.

King Ananda Dev earlier constructed the temple of Bhairava that had been there before he had ruled the country in the 10th century. A stone inscription found nearby indicates that there was a temple as early as 1005 AD. And a series of renovations and addition of new and new decorations took place in course of time. And then King Bhupatindra Mall again turned it into a giant temple of seven stories in 1722 AD. The great earthquake of 1934 destroyed that temple extensively. It was renovated later but obviously, its original splendour was lost. The Bhaktapur municipality renovated the temple using local technology and craftsmen last year that cost 7.3 million rupees.

It is in rectangular shape and has three major doors in the front. There is one small cast image of Bhairava but no one is allowed to go inside. There are two stone reliefs of Kalash and small windows on both sides. Now, there are no Taranas, hanging over the doors. On the first floor, there are five gilded windows which are too small to peep through. On the right hand side, there is a beautiful golden window and on the left, a painting of Bhairava is hung. Other floors are either filled with struts or latticed windows. It has windows in either side as well. The top floor is covered with metal roof whereas other ones are made of tiles. Seven gold-plated pinnacles decorate the temple, which also have umbrellas over them. It is flanked by pairs of guarding lions, bells and pillars. In each floor, series of wind-bells supported by struts are hung. They add sonorous environment to the whole area as they stir when the gentle breeze blows in the temple.

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