Celebrating Christmas in unchristian times

Given the world scenario, the importance of Christmas as an occasion for spreading the message of peace has definitely increased. This is the occasion when being human becomes more important than being a citizen of a nation, a member of a political party or believer of a certain ideology or religion.

Bikash Sangraula

In his traditional Christmas day blessing, Pope John Paul II said on Wednesday, "From the cave of Bethlehem, there rises today an urgent appeal to the world not to yield to mistrust, suspicion and discouragement even though the tragic reality of terrorism feeds uncertainties and fears."

The message of the 82-year old supreme pontiff delivered to some 20,000 pilgrims gathered in Saint Peter’s Square in the Vatican City hit the bull’s eye in countries where the air is thick with with terror. Nepal evidently is no exception.

Festive occasions as big as Christmas have the quality of subduing even the most unconquerable of pains. Thanks to this, Christmas was celebrated in Nepal this time too with unhindered enthusiasm. The Assumption Church in Dhobighat stood witness to the strength of faith. A considerable number of the faithful and even mere enthusiasts visited the Church to exchange greetings in these hard-pressed times, and of course to receive the all-important blessings, of which everyone is needy nowadays.

Sister Margaret Mary of St. Mary’s High School found this Christmas as lively as that of the past. "On the D-day, a large number of people- parents, students and teachers- arrived to exchange greetings and gifts," she said with much enthusiasm.

According to Mary, smart businesspeople have commercialized Christmas. "For many, the occasion is just another opportunity to have ‘fun’. And that’s where business comes to picture. It is wonderful to see a whole population of enthusiasts pouring in gift shops to purchase cards and gifts for friends and family," she said amusedly.

The impact of information technology has not spared Christmas. E-cards have become increasingly popular and even Mary excused herself this time from purchasing greeting cards. "There are beautiful greeting cards in the Internet and delivery is instantaneous," she said highlighting the fact that technology has become inseparable from festivals as well. There is no knowing how many e-cards were circulated during Christmas and how many more will cram the information super highway on New Year.

One might assume that Christmas traditions started off only after the glorification of Christ. However, the history of Christmas dates back to over 4000 years. Many Christian traditions were existent centuries before Christ was born. The 12 days of Christmas, the bright fires, gifts, carnivals, carols, holiday feasts and church processions were populary practiced during the times of the early Mesopotamians.

The exact date of the birth of Christ has never been pinpointed. Legend has it that Christmas has been celebrated since the year 98 AD. In 137 AD, the bishop of Rome ordered that the birthday of the Christ Child be celebrated as a solemn feast. In 350 AD, another bishop of Rome, Julius I, chose December 25 as the day to observe Christmas. That has continued nearly two milleniums down the line.

Meant to be a festival of gifts, wishes, delicacies, happiness and fun, this year’s Christmas was defined by many as one of the saddest in history. Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus was a sorry site this Christmas, bereft of festive cheers and full of Israeli security personnel.

The pontiff’s message gained context as hundreds of Palestinians and some tourists and pilgrims attended Christmas Day services in the ancient Church of the Nativity, the reputed site of Jesus’ birth, but were mistreated by the Israeli army. In the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Israeli troops killed two Palestinians including a senior militant.

Given the world scenario, the importance of Christmas as an occasion for spreading the message of peace has definitely increased. This is the occasion when being human becomes more important than being a citizen of a nation, a member of a political party or believer of a certain ideology or religion.

According to Mary, more and more people in Nepal are celebrating Christmas every year. "Every religion gives the same message; the message of peace and harmony. People in Nepal are fast realising this and thus their religious openness which manifests in celebrating Christmas, despite their being a Hindu or a Buddhist," she disclosed.

There is a whole year to go before next Christmas arrives. Till then, we have ample time to sort things out. Maybe next time, we’ll celebrate the happiest Christmas ever.

Inferno the curse of Cain

When god created Adam and Eve, little did he know about the suffering that mankind would have to go through. Had he an inkling of the degree of greed, ambition and hatred that plagues human hearts, he would certainly have given a second thought to the ‘human project’.

God goofed up on prior investigations and quite rashly carried on with his greatest creation ever: humans. Present artists would call that sloppy work. However, great grandfather Adam had absolutely no one to turn to and was even grateful to God for being born.

Before eating the fateful apple, Adam and Eve were blissful. But curiosity is sometimes a fatal obsession. Adam’s fateful bite opened the gates to hell and mankind has continued to pay in blood and flesh for that Herculean blunder. Thus goes the myth.

Adam had two sons, Cain and Able. They represented two different sets of personality. Able was industrious but not too bright. His brother Cain was extremely intelligent but lazy. Myth has it that Cain murdered Able in order to get his property. As punishment to his crime, Cain was cursed for eternal damnation.

Intriguing story!

On the cold night of December 27, a large crowd of fun-lovers gathered at the Radisson Hotel in Katmandu to experience the agony of Cain’s inferno. DJ Jimmy Tangree from Calcutta and DJ Jazzy Joe from Delhi gave quite an air to the program with some adrenaline thumping music.

Finalists of the recently staged Miss. Nepal contest were a special feature of the event. Miss. Nepal Malvika Subba found herself amid a crowd of admirers. Subba, who is also the spokesperson of the Everest Peace Project and ambassador of Jaya Stroke Foundation thinks that the program was a ‘real treat’.

"We believe in new ideas. Radisson’s approach to entertainment is always different. Our events have always been successful," said Anup Thapa of the hotel. And the inferno was definitely different. Cain must be a happy man, since his curse is now being shared.

Momos & more
Good reviews & Growing tastes for Nepali Cuisine in America

Smriti Dhungle Gyawali

There is no sincerer love than the love of food," said - English Author George Bernard Shaw, which also heeds genuinely true for most Americans in their daily quest to relish exotic foods from foreign Lands. The "melting pot" diversisified land in the last two years is welcoming our "Himalayan Cuisine" –seen as a cross cooking between their known counterpart Saucy Chinese and Spicy Indian. Nepali Cooking- reviewed as healthy yet flavorful Cuisine is gaining swift popularity. Its good reviews and jumping sales are telling it all.

Everest Express Restaurant- Farmington, Michigan State has in two years since its opening made headlines for the review section of various newspapers in its home city of Detroit. With good reviews from The Plymouth Express, Detroit Jewish News, Metro News, Detroit News and Oakland Press- placing the restaurant amongst the " Best of 2001" makes owner Pradip Poudel (Poudel was the former beverage manager at Hotel Everest, Yak & yeti and Annapurna) proud of his achievement. " I came here with very little money in my pocket," he adds. " I worked at different places and through loans I was able to open a small shop where I sold American cuisine. It was a disaster. I swore I would never go into the restaurant business again until I met my partner Nidhal Gorges. One day I cooked for her a Nepali meal- Chara ko masu, Zogi Tarkari, Aloo Kauli, Bhat, Daal. She was convinced that Nepali Cuisine would sell. However, I was reluctant so she came up with a clever plan of serving Nepali Cuisine accompanied by a few Middle Eastern Cuisine (Nidel is from Middle East). Since 90 percent of the menu items were Nepali, we named it the Everest Express. My journey towards introducing my Nepali cooking to the American community begins here," he adds optimistically.

However, Nepali Cuisine was " not so well-liked" relates Durbha Onta, the owner of Durbar East restaurant, located in the suburbs of Manhattan, New York, "till the aftermath of the Royal massacre". " Since Nepal made headlines during that period, indirectly enough gave a big boost to this restaurant business as people here came to know about Nepal and wanted to try our dishes". " Our customers are from different ethnic backgrounds - Phillipinos to Latinos, Brazilians and Afro Americans who appreciate Nepali dishes, especially the Momos and Khasi ko masu that sell like hot cakes."

Besides the dishes, restaurant owners are paying close attention to the décor, to bring to its customers a vivid picture of Nepal and its people that attract customers and promote sales " When our customers come into the restaurant, the atmosphere, and the decorations are all important," says Padam Sharma, owner of Everest of Grand, a popular Nepali restaurant at the heart of Minneapolis. Sharma invested a lofty 225,000 $ as initial investment. His decorations include everything from huge idols of Buddha and Shiva to Thankas, and pictures of different places and people with ethic Nepali setting that according to him are as important as the cuisine itself. "Our guests want to be transported to our Himalayan kingdom while dining at our restaurant," said Sharma. His creative menus as the Yak momo (yak is reared in Minnesota) is much popular. Sharma recalls the late senator Paul Wellstone of Minnesota (who died recently), a frequent customer for his buffet Lunch.

The other restaurants known through good review ratings in the local American papers are Himalayan Chhahari and Annapurna Restaurant in Santa Rosa California, Himalayan Chuli in Madison famously known for their intricate wooden carved ceiling and spicy food, and Mount Everest located in Washington DC.

The Lives of Nepali restaurant owners are a constant struggle of sleepless nights and over worked days. But then again the return is highly promising.

Misconceptions: barrier to scientific progress

DR DEEPAK RAJ PANT

Common people sometimes have serious and basic misconceptions about scientific principles. Questions of truth and falsehood are most often implanted on the people by political perception, blind preaching, inheritance from society and ancestors, and religious faiths. These groups inform them how nature must behave. However, scientific laws do not say how nature must behave but rather describe how nature does behave. These upbringings and blind trust serve in developing an alternative non-scientific conception to create theories or hypothesis, which are derived on false concepts or observations. It is not that they do not have a clear understanding of what is presented by scientists, but rather they have their own views on scientific knowledge. Not only do they resist abandoning incorrect viewpoints but also they do not even make the two contradictory views confront each other. They tend to distort new scientific ideas to fit their misconceptions – from time to time to clash with the current scientific perception that is evident. Their views are usually vague, unsystematic and non-quantitative. They connect scientific theories with living things and affiliate with physical activity and muscular strength. Even schoolchildren develop mistaken non-scientific beliefs because of movies, cartoon characters, television, video games and daily behaviour.

A scientific method is an orderly method for gaining, organising and applying new knowledge which at times is based on the well-known aphorism of Socrates -"we know only this, that we known nothing". We have no compass to guide us on boundless subjects of inquiry through the deep and wide oceans of science. However, scientists strictly plod along the doctrine of Didymus, who said "Except I put my fingers into the prints of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe." The foundations, upon which scientific understanding is built, are, first the evidence of our senses, second logic, third calculation of theoreticians, and fourth experimentations. It is impossible for us on occasions not to recollect what has often occurred as to have grown into an everyday observation, of the sporadically fallibility of our senses. We are not only deceived by our senses, but also deceived in the inference we make from our sensations. The modest enquirer, without pretending to put himself on equality with illustrious scientists, has to be forgiven, when he permits himself to suggest a few doubts and theories, and presumes to examine or experiment the grounds upon which he is called upon to believe all that is in the passage "every word that proceeded out of the mouth of God". A scientific approach however involves the formation of law, theory and hypothesis that has to be tested repeatedly without contradiction by experiments or make specific predictions for phenomena, which can be tested and proved with experimentations. When findings of nature are expressed in a mathematical language, they are easier to verify or disprove by experiments.

Depending on the outcome of experimentations findings will need to be abandoned, revised or extended to accommodate the data. Results should be reproducible no matter who the observer is. Scientists use the conceptual mediation model of discrimination of scientific view and unscientific concepts. They inquire differences between the old conception and the new conception and search for the correction required. If they are different to scientific ideas then researchers go for conceptual change; but if they are similar but limited then they try for conceptual development. To use the technique used by scientist in changing unscientific ideas of a common person is not an easy task. A democratic not an autocratic approach works best for ordinary people. Methods to employ for the ordinary person are to collate a person’s views, direct them to discover the key scientific concepts and finally present the scientific view. Compare their view to the current scientific ideas.

Discuss pros and cons. Challenge their view. Explore the sort of understanding they already have by posing questions (who? where? what? why? when?). Provide them situations to discover ideas, opinions, viewpoints and attitudes. Suggest them to apply their knowledge, experience and imagination to explain old scientific concept. After going through brainstorming and focussed questions, make them aware of their prior conceptions and tell them to clarify the old idea. Discuss and review their ideas and models. Collect answers to ideas and write them. Vote on them. Demonstrate an experiment, and display the evidence of the new scientific concept. Show them the validity of scientists view with facts they have found performing the practical activities in daily life. Give them opportunities to make predictions and test them. Tell them why the new concept is better. Enquire, what are the advantages to change their old idea and take the new view? The vagueness of their beliefs will allow to flexibly accommodating new evidence without fundamentally altering their thinking. After all, it took humankind many centuries to develop effective concepts and present viewpoints.

It is worthwhile to consider the famous historical method used by Galileo to change old mistaken conceptions of the public to the new scientific approach. Aristotle observed that leaves from a tree flutter slowly to the ground, while stones dropped from the same height fall quickly which led him to an erroneous conclusion regarding falling bodies – saying that heavy bodies fall proportionately faster than light. People accepted his statement as truth for 2000 years until Galileo found apparent inconsistencies. He attracted a large crowd to the Leaning Tower of Pisa as he dropped two stones one large and one small from the top of the tower. These two bodies struck the ground together. He presented to the world a powerful method; the method of experimentation so that the ordinary people can see it themselves to reject old views.

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