2069 and ME

2069 and Me

2069 is sliding in a few hours. I am wondering with the bits and fragments of those days of pains and happiness. “There is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so”, a great saying that I read long before and always stick in my mind. How to live our life isn’t only the private matter as we often say. There are various factors that frame our life such as family, friends, profession, society, culture, religion, goal, politics, and technology and so on and so on. We often strive to fit ourselves the best in the situations. We are born with a bundle of desires and struggle from the beginning to accomplish such desires. We fulfill some of them. But we get never satisfied with it. And we shouldn’t be. Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari said “ever since birth his crib, his mother’s breast, her nipple, his bowel movements are desiring machines connected to parts of his body”. This desiring machine leads to the infinite production in the human life if we know its management. Sometimes, unmanaged bundle of desires may result in depression and frustration.

Professionally, I am a teacher/ instructor. Personally I am a son to my parents, husband to my spouse, and a father to my son and so on. I have multiple responsibilities. While working with these responsibilities, balance is essential. I think I did my best despite some problems. My parents live some 250 kilometer far from me. I hardly could manage time to meet them except during Dashain vacation. My spouse and son live 80 kilometer far from me and I visit them fortnightly. Thanks to internet and telephone which made me keep in touch with keens and friends. Thanks to Facebook for digging out the holes and rewarding me with my best friends. Moreover, internet assisted me in problems. Thanks to Google, Facebook, Skype, YouTube, twitter, Gmail, LinkedIn   and many more for keeping me in touch with people, events and information.

Books are my best friends. Books are my mentor. 2069 gave me enough time to read the books. I washed my sins, brushed my knowledge, added fuel to the desiring machine, and discovered the secrets of happiness. The Difficulty  of Being Good : On The Subtle Art of Dharma by Gurucharan Das made me watch the Mahabharat. After reading the book I watched whole epic drama day and night. It gave me wisdom.  “What is here found elsewhere? What is not here is nowhere.” –Mahabharat  I.56.34-35. Gurucharan Das was graduated from Harvard University where he studied philosophy and Sanskrit. In his book, he has given the comparative study with western philosophy and ranked the Mahabharat at the top. The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari and Family Wisdom by Robin Sharma are the enlightening books which deserve much appreciation. In fact, these books unfold the layers of unconscious and make us realize what life is and how to live the life. You can Sell by  Shiva Khera is another book with a bundle of tips to those who are selling their knowledge or skill. Little princes: One Man’s Promise to Bring Home the Lost Children of Nepal by Conor Grennam is structurally well crafted and semantically heart throbbing book set in Kathmandu and Humla. It’s a live documentary of trafficked children from Humla during Maiost Insurgency and how they were rescued and reunited with their families through Next Generation  Nepal founded by Grenam . While reading the book , what the hell the government I think of, the layers of my forehead gathered and my head reeled. Sold  by Patricia McCormick is another heart touching book about the trafficked girls of Nepal who are living a hellish life in the brothels of India. Despite the sufferings of the girls in the brothels, it also digs out the poverty , insecurity, evil practices of Nepal which ultimately have  become cause of the plight of Nepali girls at the hands of traffickers who are their own father or the relatives.

Sakas by Jagdish Ghimire , a rewritten history of Nepal with the unfolding of hidden black faces of Nepali politicians gives tears and laughter together.  Before I bought this book I had not read its review but his earlier book Antaraman ko Yatra  made me buy this book and I really enjoyed it. Ranabahadur Shah and Kantiwati, and Ranabahadur’s shahs activities after Kantiwati’s  death  still make my hair straight. Khana Pugos Dina Pugos by Rabindra Mishra has left an imprint in my heart which always makes me think what can I do to laid a stone on the whole structure of social work done by many people like Puspa Basnet, Dilshova, Gayatri Bhattrai, Minbahadur Gurung etc. I don’t mean to say that these are the only people mentained in the book, there are many others who have contributed equally to give the voice to the voiceless, food to the foodless not  in their speeches and popular columns or in their Dollar farming fake documents but in their actions, toils and sweats.  Khagendra Sangraula’s Samjanaka Kuinetaharu  made me feel that how poor I am in Nepali language. His writing is stunning. Though they were published earlier, Pretkalpa by Narayan Dhakal, Ular by Nayanraj Pandey, Radha and  Saranarthi by Krishna Dharabasi Basanti by Diamond Shamser Pagal Basti by Sarubhatka, Anuradha by Vijaya Malla , Maita Ghar by Lainsingh wandel, Hitlar and Yahudi by B.P. Koirala, Swasni Manchhe by Hridayachndrashingh Pradhan Pallo Ghar ko Jhyal by Govinda Malla Ghothale etc were the books which made my 2070 more fruitful. I regretted for not reading these books in the past. After reading LU, I instantly went to the book shop to by Ular. Udhamiko Aankhama Arthatantra by  Binod chaudhary is different book with different taste for the students of literature like me. However, I learned a lot.

Chetan  Bhagat’s books added some flavors of teenage in me. Later Subin Bhattrai’s novel  Summer Love made me criticize him for adopting the similar technique with different technique. Bharati Mukharji’s Miss New India made me review the predicament of young Nepali girls and their challenges in stunt male dominated society. Anjali Boss, the central character of the novel undergoes several hurdles in her life and can’t come out of the whirlpool created by the society. I see the same fate in every young Nepali girl. They should read this book once. Hundred Days in Maoist Arrest by Narayan Subedhi  gives some truths and fictions in a collage form.  I too Had a Love Story by Ravindra singh gives the new way of love using internet matrimonial sites. Besides, many other books which became the feast of my hunger in 2067, were equally valuable and inspiring.

I too watched movies and documentaries available and accessible to me.  The Interpreter, Beasts of southern Wild, Silver Lining Playbook, The Terminal, Skyfall, Men in Black III, Catch me I’m in Love, The Last Song, Notebook, A Walk to Remember, Caravan etc. are the stunning Hollywood movies I watched in 2069. I too watched some of the Bollywood and Nepali movies. They also equally deserve appreciation as per their quality. Tony Hegan’s 1950’s Nepal, Greek Myth Documentary, Egypt; Rise and Fall, Abraham Lincon, Easter Island, Buddha, Edmund Hillary etc. are the thoughtful documentaries which changed my perspectives in viewing the contemporary world.

2069 was good for friendship, family matters and profession. Dissatisfactions and mistakes are human kind’s daily feast. Negative views and behaviors are like the weeds in a field. They come without our efforts and spontaneously.  I tried my best to remove the weeds and germinate the lifesaving plants and also irrigate which is really hard but creative. Farewell 2069. You will never come in my live but your fruits will be always with me.