NewarlandThe

Monthly

By Newarland correspondant

Hundreds of sweet shops of Kathmandu sensed a tough jostle of earthquake this month, when government officials cracked one after another of the city's known shops and discovered that they were in fact selling filthy mixture of inedible and adulterated items in sweet looking packages.

The reality of dozens of trusted shops for the elite and upper middle class people and many more were brought to the consumers, when the Department of Food Technology and Quality Control (DFTQC) conducted investigations in those shops in the month of September this year. The shops were perhaps weavinging big dream of earning millions of rupees on the eve of the Hindu festival of Dashain and Tihar.

Along with the DFTQC, Department of Commerce (DoC), National Bureau of Standard and Metrology (NBSM), and District Administration Office (DAO) are the key government agencies responsible for monitoring and inspection of food quality in the market.

According to the government officials, nearly one-third of consumer goods are substandard in Kathmandu. That means that out of three, one shop sells inedible foods and in each shop, one in three items are not good for eating. This is the horrible reality of the glistening shops of the capital city of Nepal, where live the most educated people who are concerned about their health and also are aware of the consumers' rights.

Along with the growing population of Kathmandu, the shops of sweets and readymade foods started mushrooming, especially in past one decade or two. The shops spend big

chunk of their income on advertising, attractive packaging and decorating their shops with modern colours and lightings.

Obvious ly, they draw the additional expenditure from the consumers and the prices are sure to rise day after day, or they have to compromise in quality to make profit of what they sell.

S im i la r ly, t he expand ing opportunities as well as rampant corruption have brought a new class of nouveau riche in the capital, who do not care for price. They habitually go to places which sell things in higher prices. However, it is not necessary that those "high standard" shops also seriously consider quality and consumers' health. In addition, as the purchasing capacity of the city dwellers rise, the numbers of such shops increase; this is not unnatural.

When we feel nice to see series of majestic shops along the business

areas of the city, what we tend to forget is that the trend of food adulteration is growing rapidly. Government officials say that the food adulteration in the capital has grown three times in the last six years. According to the DFTQC,

food adulteration rose to 23.7 per cent in the financial year 2008-09, from 7.4 per cent in 2003-04. And the trend is going on, even faster every year. Adulteration rate doubled to 15.1 per cent in 2004-05, compared to the previous financial year. A steady growth in the food adulteration rate has been noticed in 2006-07 (17.3 per cent) and 2007-08 (25 per cent), a government study shows.

As standards for hotel and restaurants as well as food items being produced and sold by them are lacking, the investigation into the hygiene level of such food items has not been effective.

Cont. page 5

Year 1 Issue 1 vol 1 | September 2011 | Nepal Sambat 1131 | Bhadra 2068 Rs. 10.00

I t was saddening that the Newars, the indigenous people of the Kathmandu Valley, still did not have a mouthpiece to speak out their feelings in inter-communicable language. We believe that lack of communication between the Newars and non-Newars is the main cause behind mistrust between the indigenous people and the newcomers to this metropolitan city.

Keeping this in our mind, we have come up to publication of a monthly newspaper "Newarland". This will voice the concern of the Newars on local as well as national issues. English will bridge the Newars and non-Newars living in this holy valley and maintain the harmony that has been here long. It will make the readers feel proud to live in this valley, which has a history of 2000 years of civilization.

At the same time, we believe that this publication will also be useful to Newar young generation, who have unfortunately abandoned their mother language due to the present language policy of the government. This new publication will help them remember their past and make them feel proud to be Newars.

We s t ro ng l y n eed you r constructive criticism, suggestion and contribution to make this publication alive.

Happy Mohani

Congratulations ! for the released of

The Newarland monthly.

Publisher's NoteAdulterated Kathmandu

NEPALBHASA MANKA KHALAKathmandu, Nepal

Some Recent Publications on Newar Culture and Identity:�

Brief Reflections

Page 3 Page 5 Page 6

The Letter

Book Review Foreign Pen Short Story

Prof. Kamal P. Malla John Whelpton Chittadhar 'Hridaya'

Questions of identity :�Unification and Sanskritisation

Events

The Newars of Sikkim celebrated one of the major festivals of the Kathmandu Valley, the Indrajatra probably for the first time this year, on September 15.

The locals carried decorated panaquine with portrait of the Living Goddess Kumari and made a procession along the major street of Gangtok.

A cultral team from Kathmandu went there to participate in the progamme. They played traditional drums along

the procession.The cultural progarmme was

managed by Ganesh Ram Lachhi, the patron of Madhyapur Kala Parishad.

Team of Bakhan Daboo organized symposium of Nepalbhasha short stories and celebrated the 144th birth anniversary of Mahakavi Siddhidas Mahaju there on the occasion.

Message from Nepalbhasha Manka Khala was read out on the same occasion.

New book released

Shuvarna Keshari felicitated

Interaction of Shakya Forum

Women's Literary Conference

Dharma Bir Shakya Honored

Two new book by Shreelaxmi Shrestha-A story book 'A cry in the Wilderness' and a poetry book 'Shanti ya shanti' has recently been published.

The poet ry book , published by Bhawana Pithana contains 42 poems. The story book published by Vajra Pulication contains 16 stories. Shrestha now lives in Netherlands.

N e p a l b h a s h a K h a l a , Makawanpur felicitated story writer Suvarna Keshari Chitrakar on the occasion of its annual general meeting.

Former chairman of Newa Dey Daboo Laxman Rajbansi addressed the function as the chief guest on the occasion. Chitrakar is former president of Nepalbhasha Misa Khala and is now the vice-chairman of Nepaa Rashtriya Party.

An interaction on the importance and use of Buddhist rituals and tradition in our social life was organized jointly by Shakya Youth Forum and The Shakya Foundation Nepal.

Naresh Bir Shakya, the founder member of the Foundation stessed on need to preactice Newa rituals. The programme was chaired by the chairperson of the Foundation.

The progamme of women's literary conference was postponed to 1131 Nalaswane charhe. Previously, the

programme was scheduled for 1131 Kaulathwa. The time and venue would be the same.

Indrajatra in Sikkim

Dharma Bir Shakya, the patrons of Ilohan Publicaions was felicitated by Nepal Sun Chaindi Byabasayi Sangh Kathmandu Branch.

He was felicitated for his contribution in the process of strengthening of the institution. He is the founder chairperson of the Sangh.

September 2011

A few weeks ago, a well-wisher mailed me three recent Nepalese publications on cultural history and identity of the Newah community, evidently for review. I propose to discuss them in brief, leaving an elaborate analysis for future. All three authors, like most of us, are in search of the common denominator called Newah identity or culture. As all three authors are equally noted scholars what they have to say has considerable value for the social sciences as well. A few comments are given below as preliminary reflections on changing perceptions among us.

Among the three books, Surendra Man Shrestha’s is a handy reference work on Newar culture by a knowledgeable writer. Earlier, he had collaborated with Baladeva Juju on The Tantric Worship and Deities of Nepal (NS1105) and Kantipur (NS 1108), and he has also published a monograph on Newar domestic architecture a decade later in 1998. Although the recent book is entitled as “the history of Newah culture” it is a reference book, a treasure room of unexpected beliefs, hearsay, superstitions, legends and tantric lore of the Newars. Written in cozy style it is, unfortunately, loose in structure and argumentation. His easy-going style makes us feel at home as if we were listening to him in person, but uneasy at his wayward approach. Some 98 short write ups on cults, beliefs, superstitions, rites of passage, feasts or festivals, guthi, agama etc. are assembled at one place in an order which is neither thematic nor alphabetical. The compiler believes that “culture is a system different from religion, and that each author has his own way of looking at it. He believes that “(his) culture is living, and not a dead culture, displayed in a museum.” (pp. gha-nga). The problems with this publication begin here.

To begin with, one doesn’t know why or how the given topics are selected. Some are merely quotes

from inscriptions and introduction to other publications. Some deal with prehistory, others with myths. Some entries cover several pages, others are only a paragraph long. The author doesn’t outline his approach to culture, nor the aim of the compilation. “The history of Newah culture” is a project he took up at the behest of his friends, and it is evidently a tall order for the author. Had it a less pretentious title, the book could have been used at least as a “general knowledge” book, or as a reference book on selected topics of interest to the author or some readers, for example, sitting for quiz contest.

Fascinating though the book is as a source of scattered information, it is too difficult to search any topic. There is a “Table of Contents”, but it is misleading for searching. The Contents mentions “Samskriti va Dharma” on p. 183, but in the text it is in p. 182! The rites of passage are briefly dealt with in pp. 131-176. Just as the sequence of topics is arbitrary their treatment has hardly any consistency of approach. The pieces have more of the flavor of “personal essay” than of cultural history. With a little effort, most of the pieces could have easily been grouped into sub-headings and chapters. For example, under the sub-heading of puja topics such as cahrhe puja, dyah pyakham puja, pancamakara puja, nimantrana puja, jogi cakra puja etc., could have come. Similarly, agam chem, agam, agamdyaya dikcha, istadevata, dyahchem, degu dyah etc. could have come in a group. At the end reading it, the book leaves us wondering what history is, if not confused what constitutes Newah culture

An accomplished writer in fiction and an educationist, Rajvamshi's book avoids that mistake of treating each topic in isolation. His book too serves as an accessible and handy glossary of 436 selected terms in use in our social and cultural life, grouped under 13 subheadings, (e.g., rites of passage, dress and ornaments, food and drinks, utensils, means of carriage, localities, feasts, the ritual roles of select castes, and festivals). Although it is written in Nepala bhasa and translated into Nepali, a useful glossary in Nepali is provided for each term. The publication is also furnished with clear line-sketches of objects.

The book begins with an Introduction to Newah identity where the author argues that “Newah identity is related

to Newah philosophy” (p.3). The unique nature of Newah philosophy “began to erode with the arrival of Hinduism and its formal cults". "The unique features" of Newar social and cultural practice are precisely what he sets out to catalogue and gloss in the book. Evidently, the author thinks of these "terms" as "the identity marks", or finger-prints of the Newars, if you like. How far Newah ideology, their social and cultural systems are influenced by Hinduism is a complex subject deserving detailed investigation on its own. We wish the terms were more inclusive, at least less selective.

Unfortunately, the cultural “finger-prints” are neither unique nor shared by all castes, nor practiced at all Newar settlements within the Valley, its periphery, much less outside the Kathmandu Valley. Inspired by the Hindu/ Baudha puranas or tantras, the Newars are said to be intoxicated with jatras, feasts and festivals; they are known for their madness for gods and god lings, but those worshipped as key deities differ from locality to locality, from caste to caste, from settlement to settlement. They have no common pantheon, nor a single omnipotent God, much less a controlling church. There are too many varieties of dispensers of salvation from life here, with no certitude of the life hereafter. Their priests range from orthodox Vedic Brahmins to heterodox Saiva Kapalikas, from esoteric Buddhist tantrics to monks and nuns living and practicing pristine monastic Buddhism. As they worship a diversity of cults some social scientists hesitate to identify the Newars as adherents of any formal/organized religion. They have no common scriptures, nor any shared religious institution or authority, certainly no Golden Temple, no Potala Palace, nor any Vatican, or Mecca. The Pradhans of Thamel are Buddhist; whereas the Shilpakars are Uray by caste, but they are Visnavas by religion. The Newars of Khona don’t celebrate Mohani. The inhabitants of Tokha as well as the Kumhas of Thimi don’t have Mhapuja. Not all castes have Degu puja nor do all castes have a tantric agama. More than

one-third of the community don’t even speak a common language—believed to be the sole binding link among the Newars. Although 85 percent Newars call themselves Hindu, even among the followers of the Mother Goddess/Ajima cults, some worship seven, others eight or nine, while the Shresthas in Lalitpur worship Ten Mahavidyas ! The Ugratara of Buddhists is a Mahavidya to Hindus. The same cult of Bungadyah is Lokanatha, Matsendranatha, Avaloketisvara to some-an androgyny, a siddha who was at once a Kaula, a saiva Natha and a Buddhist savior for others. So in isolation or collectively, the selective terms might not be the absolute markers of Newar cultural identity.

In the past centuries, the communities which migrated out of the Kathmandu Valley preserved their cultural memory by erecting the temples of Nasah dyah, Gane dyah, Bhin dyah, or by observing Gai jatra, Lakhe nach or Hanuman Nach in their new settlements. Those who left Nepal to work or live overseas still observe Ihi or Kayeta puja in Maryland, Jhoh bhoye in Texas, or group Mha Puja in London! Small but dedicated groups still are working to preserve language, script, religion and culture to the best of their ability in not too hospitable countries.

Some Recent Publications on Newar Culture and Identity:� Brief Reflections

Reviews

By Prof. Kamal P. Malla

September 2011

The world worships stones, carved into different shapes as saviours of mankind. They visualise all manifestations of gods in the stones but the world finds it hard to accept a living person, with equal respect and love, as a god or goddess - this is human nature. They cannot accept anyone being celebrated in the same way a piece of stone may be. But Nepal might be the only country where a naive, little girl is worshipped as a goddess. The girl is believed to represent the family goddess of the royal Taleju dynasty as a living incarnation with power to secure the throne s and the people’s prosperity. She is known as Kumari, the virgin one.

History has not yet traced the origins of the Kumari tradition. So far the chronicles argue, it started as early as in the time of a twelve-century ruler Gunkam Dev, to whom the credit of making this Kathmandu city goes. A chronicle, narrated by Daniel Wright in 1966 says that he instituted Indra Jatra festival by erecting the images of Kumaris. Further, Mary Slusser writes in her book Nepal Mandala that manuscripts written in 1280 and 1285 AD describe the method of choosing, ornamenting and worshipping Kumari.

There are several Kumaris in the Kathmandu Valley. Theoretically, each Bihar or the monastery should have one but many of them today have discontinued this tradition mostly due to lack of patronage. Kumaris can be found in Kwa Bahal, Kilagal, Tokha (Kathmandu), Sulimha-tol, Hakhaa Bahal, Bungamati (Patan), as well as Chaturvarna Mahavihar (Bhaktapur) among others.

Above all, the Kumari at Hanuman Dhoka holds the principal position for she is given an artistic house - Rajlakxmi Kul Vihara - with elegant woodcarvings and beautiful wall paintings. Her chariot procession during the festival of Indra Jatra is celebrated where the presence of the ruling monarch is a must. He receives ‘tika’ from her on his forehead and carries her divine sword to "recharge" the power of

ruling for the next year.The kings used to watch the

festival from the stone paved platform in front of the Kumari House and follow the procession in a horse chariot.

T h e p r ime Kuma r i i s selected from eighteen Viharas of Kathmandu. The girl must be born from "pure" Shakya families and free of blemishes. She is supposed to possess 32 "special signs" showing her divine nature. It is said that the

candidate children are taken to a special dark room for a strenuous test, in which the little children has to sit in front of giant buffalo heads in puddles of blood where images of different unearthly creatures come and go in the oil lamp-lit chamber. The one, who can sustain the ghastly atmosphere bravely, is selected. However, Juju Bhai Shakya, the husband of the Kumari’s caretaker husband rules out any such criteria.

The Kumari can play all day

within her quarters but she is not allowed to go out of her residence except during special festivals. The rule is that she should not even get the slightest of injuries. Any sort of bleeding, including menstruation would disqualify her from being a goddess.

There are numerous stories behind the origin of the tradition of worshipping Kumari. One says that an ancient king, Pratap Malla, used to play dice in his

secret chamber with Goddess Taleju, the royal goddess and also seek advice in ruling the country. One night, perverted lust shadowed his mind and immediately the omniscient goddess vanished from his sight. Taleju, however, advised him in the dream that the king might select a Buddhist girl in whose body the Hindu goddess could dwell. The king followed the advice and received the power to rule from the goddess through the girl.

Jaya Prakash Malla, the last king of the Malla dynasty, was warned by the Kumari that his time of tenure would end soon and was asked to provide her with a permanent residence. He had the beautiful Kumari House built in just six months and also started the tradition of chariot procession along with two living attendant gods Ganesh and Bhairav - this gave him an extra 12 years on the throne.

As the girl reaches 12, or

sustains any injury, she is sent to her home after a special ceremonial pooja. She starts her family life normally - studying, marrying and conducting a career as well – afterwards. Still, by kins and friends, she is generally called by the name of Kumari, rather than her own name.

The tradition has continued, no political change or natural calamity has ever affected the unbroken chain. However, the set traditions are being modified along with time.

Kumari and IndrajatraNewarland

The rule is that she should not even get the slightest of

injuries. Any sort of bleeding,

including menstruation

would disqualify her from being

a goddess.

September 2011

There ws finally the complex case of the Newars of the Kathmandu Valley, who after 1769 seem definitely to have accepted the new rules:� they were described by a British visitor in 1793 as 'tolerable reconciled to the chains imposed upon them by their conquerors'. The predominant feeling seems to have been simply relief that the log war was over and Newar

traders, who had even before Prithvi Narayan's time begun to settle on small scale in the hills, now spread out in greater number. In the Valley itself there is no evidence of any attempted revolt. When the Newar mir munishi (foreign secretary) Lakshmi Dal told the British residency just after Jang's 1846 seizure of power that the Newars would rise at his command, the British rightly assumed that he was merely acting as an agent provocaterur,

testing on Jang's behalf whether the residency's professions of non-intervention were genuine.

At the same time, however, there remained a strong gulf between Gorkhali and Newar. One prominent Newar bhardar, Tribhuwan Pradhan, was among appointed to government posts or receiving lucrative contract,

but either. Prithvi Narayan Shah himself is said to have praised the charms of Newar women, and his son had an influential Newar mistress as well as an interest in the tantrism which was an important feature of Newar religion, but regular marriage between Parbatiyas and Newars was not permitted. The Parbatiyas seem to have been practicalarly disdainful of the banre, the Vajracharyas and Shakyas:� Kirkpatrik records a conversation with a 'Rajpoot' (i.e. Thakuri or perhaps Chetri), who was eager to point that none of his caste ever visited the Buddhist temple of Swayambhu hills. This attitude served, of course, to strengthen Newar identity rather than encourage full identification with the state. The Newars did, however, have a strong sense of belonging to the Kathmandu valley and, as kings of the Valley, the Sah dynasty could expect a degree of loyality.

Unification and Sanskritisation

Newarland

Questions of identity :�

Adulterated ...The officials admit that it

is going on unchecked due to weak market regulatory mechanism. The government do have legal provision, mechanism and staff to regulate the food standard. But the lack of adequate manpower and other resources, necessary equipment, motivation as well as tendency of some of the staffers to go for personal benefit have hindered the office from doing its duty on the regular basis, they say.

The investigation this year found that the sweet shops were using unhygienic places and utensils, contaminated water to make the sweets. And they were also found re-using old and date expired food, which were returned from the market. When some media footage of the kitchens of some renowned shops were brought on the air,

the consumers could not sleep at night because many of them were their trusted brands.

Food i tems produced traditionally by uneducated people in small scale is one thing but what is alarming is that intended adulteration is turning out to be a huge problem in expensive and fast growing consumer goods produced locally and by chains of food shops.

Nepali market is flooded with branded products with substandard packaging and storage. Packed food are believed for their brand names but one of the trusted brand of juice made a record among its consumers when it was found that the factory was storing thousand of packed juice with future dates of manufacturing, so that it could be marketed even months after the production. Finding inedible precipitations in those juices were

a common saying, which could not be concealed by advertisements featuring noted actors actresses. Even a high-level diplomat was dramatically involved in advocating the factory, which was playing games with the lives of thousands of consumers every day.

An investigation round up of the government officials last year found that five out of 22 bottled water brands had contamination of harmful bacteria, and of the 29 samples of edible oil and ghee examined, 10 were found to be adulterated.

However, the health of around four million people living in the capital valley is dependent on 44 years old legal provision. The Food Act 1967 has provision for slapping a fine of Rs 1,000 to Rs 5,000 or®and a jail term for six months to a year for producing

substandard foods. Likewise, if the food item is found to be unhygienic, the maker is slapped a fine of Rs, 5,000 to Rs 10,000 and®or jailed for a maximum of two years. This is too insufficient to bring the rampant racket of adulterers behind the bars.

Whi l e, a c co rd i ng t o Consumer Protection Act, companies manufacturing and selling substandard edible commodities are either fined Rs 100,000 or are jailed for 5 years, depending on the nature of the cases. But the process of the second is too lengthy to see the justice of the consumers guaranteed.

On the top of it, even when the government officials get the adulterers "red-handed", there is little chance that the wrongdoers are prosecuted and penalised as per the legal

provision. After media hue and cry for several days, the people will forget the issue and the owners start doing business as susual. This is what has been happening most of the cases.

The government officials have admitted to the media that they don't have special plan to step up monitoring and inspection of eateries and their products this year and due to lack of technical guidelines, enforcement of precise standard for eateries and quality of their foods has been difficult.

If the government has to prove its sincerity, and the businessmen want to prove their quality, the cosumers too have to play role in this issue, pressurising the government to see the adulterer behind the bars will make change and keep the healthy city free from evil practices.

From book "A History of Nepal", by John Whelpton (p.59-60), published by Cambridge University Press,

reprinted 2008.

FoREIgN PEN

September 2011

The house of Shanka Sunder, the business man, was humming with activity that day. Many young men came and went leading behind their parting presents, while numerous women filed past the room carrying baskets full of boiled eggs, dried fish and wine, traditionally sent by friends and relatives as tokens of good luck to a person leaving on a long journey to Lhasa in Tibet. The gifts were received and identified by recording the names of each sender on pieces of paper and placed in appropriate baskets.

As e ve n i ng f e l l t h e a s t r o l o ge r a r r i v e d t o determine the auspicious time for departure.When he announced that 11.20 at night would be the favorable time, preparations for the farewell ritual got underway. A metal bowl and a pot of curd were placed on a heap of rice grains, while the lady of the house, Mrs. Latan Laxmi, wiping tears from her eyes, assembled the other puja items, the holy oil lamp, vermillion tika powder, incense, flowers, boiled eggs, dried fish and wine.

The father and his son, Shasi Sundar, in the meanwhile spent some time in arranging business accounts, while their employees were busy packing the goods to be taken on the long horse-back journey to Tibet. Everyone seemed anxious to have everything ready before departure time.

Shashi Sundar moved about from room to room restlessly, now sitting silently before his father and then hurrying to his

room to talk to his wife Kumud Kumari. It was not impatience that he felt, but an emotional confusion in having to leave his home and family for the first time in his life. The thought of his wife's sorrowful face and their newly born son promised to make his leave-taking a painful one, but he struggled to maintain his manly sprit. Just then the family priest arrived, enquired about the appointed time and settled down to a quiet conversation with Shashi's father.

During all these activities Kumud Kumari sat alone in her room lost in her thoughts. The lamp beside her flickered for want of oil but she was hardly aware of her immediate surroundings. A cross current of distressing thoughts were passing through her mind. Her mother-in-law appeared to her as foolish woman, her husband a layman without feeling-totally unconcerned of his wife and child. Why do people run after money at the cost of domestic happiness? What is the value of money if this disrupted their married life? Men are cruel-they do not understand the inner feelings of a woman. Her patience and tolerance are too often taken for granted. She heaved a deep sigh and looked at her sleeping child. Her emotions seemed to overflow at the sight of the child, for drops of tears rolled down her face.

'Oh, what is to become of this child! Why must he leave us in this world of isolation? How long must I endure this torture of separation?' Her heart echoed these words over

and over again, and embracing the sleeping child she wept bitterly. At that moment Shashi entered the room and said in a firm voice:� 'Look, you are still weeping. You are disrespecting this auspicious occasion by behaving in this way. Why do you make it difficult for me? I shall possibly be away for two

years-no longer than that, I promise you. So why must you weep this way? You should be happy and wish me well in my business venture, but instead you obstruct me with your tears. You may need some money while I am away. Keep this with you. "Saying this Shashi dropped a small bag full of silver coins on her lap, looked back at her once more and left the room. This seemed to add fuel to the fire, for Kumud Kumari burst into tears again, this time sobbing loudly. "What does he mean by saying that I am obstructing him by weeping?

Does he really expect me to be happy, smiling to see him leave? Only two years, says he, but two years is a long time. This money I suppose is the price of my love. Why can't a man really understand a woman's heart? so ran her desperate thoughts. She looked down at the bag of money again,

snatched it and put it away in one corner. She sighed heavily and started to sob again. The lamp, as if unable to witness her sorrow any longer, flickered out, leaving the room in darkness.

* * * *

Shortly later, the farewell ritual commenced when the other men to accompany Shashi to Lhasa arrived after taking leave from their homes. The family priest chanted prayers invoking the gods to bless Shashi Sunder for his safe journey. The offerings of egg, fish, flowers and curd were

made, while the gifts from friends and relatives were emptied one by one and a few coins dropped into each basket. Then the priest took the names of all the known deities sacred to the family and symbolic coin offerings were made to each. In conclusion, every member of the family starting from the eldest to the youngest approached Shashi to bid him farewell. Each of these coins were put into Shashi's red cap as tokes of good luck.

Then came the turn of Kumud Kumari but try as she might she could not advance towards her husband. She stood there like a statue, with her hand covering her mouth to suppress the irrepressible sobs which choked her throat, and her eyes were red and swollen with tears. her mother-in-law sternly rebuked her for weeping and led her forward. She stretched out her hands without looking at her husband, and two coins were dropped into her palms. The feel of the coins seemed to pierce her heart for strangely enough she, at that moment, was reminded of the exchange of gifts on the day of their marriage. She bowed her head to touch her husband's feet, after which she was withdrawn from m the scene to relieve the emotional tension of the final leave-taking.

T he a s t ro l oge r t h e n appeared and reciting Tantric incantations, sprinkled holy water in all directions. Shashi Sundar then descended the stairs, accept ing fur ther offerings on each floor,

Cont. page 7

The LetterChittadhar "Hridaya" (1906-1982) was not only a pioneer among the modern writers in Newari language but a major

force in the literary movement during his lifetime. He was the founder of Nepal Bhasa Parishad, a literary society, and of the magazine Nepal.

For his democratic leaning and writings in Newari language, he suffered imprisonment on the early 1940's for a number of years. While in jail, he wrote an epic about the life of the historical Buddha. sugat saurav. He has tp his credit nearly three dozens publication on Nepal Bhasa, including Thaybhu, Thona jimi woyeta Hay, Yoga sudha, Khupu Bakhan, Min manah pau, Jighu Sahitya, Nepal Bhasa sahityaya jatah, yakamiya cha, Nepal Sanskrit. The present story from Khupu Bakhan (1947) first appeared in an English version by Tej R. Kanskar in Nepal Bhasa short stories (1977). He was awarded the title 'Kavi keshari' by late king Mahendra.

Literature

Short Story

September 2011

The Letter ...and left the house through the

main door where he dropped coins into the two water-filled pitches placed on either side. As he walked away without looking back at the house the image of his weeping wife embracing the child, passed over his mind's eye recurringly. It was only then that he felt the full impact of the separation.

* * * * One evening Kumud Kumari

with her two year old son on her lap was reflecting on her past-her memory carrying her back to the days of her childhood, a few simple incidents in her life and finally to her marriage. She had looked forward to new and happy life after marriage, but the hope she once had no longer held out any promise. Her husband had been away for almost two years now and there was yet no indication of his returning in the near future.

Her growing apprehension of a prolonged separation distressed her to the point of divorcing her from the normal realities of life. Her active imagination staged a tug-of-war on her mind, her dream of an ideal future conflicting with illusions of despair and frustration. When her husband comes back she will not welcome him with open arms now will she allow her son to go to him. She will resent him until he feels fully sorry for the mental anguish he had caused her. But such a plan is soon transformed into meaningless fantasy, the practical and real seemed elude her. Finally, tired out by her brooding melancholia she fell asleep with her child still sucking at her breast. Towards the morning her sleep was disturbed by a strange dream. She dreamt that she was walking along a narrow road with her child in her arms when suddenly a

herd of fierce looking buffaloes chased her. Looking back over her shoulder she fled for her life and instantly arrived on the bank of a swiftly flowing river. She ran on desperately along the river bank, and then up a steep hill where, their life and instantly arrived on the bank of swiftly flowing river. She ran on desperately along the river bank, and then up a steep hill where, to her horror, she found herself on the edge of a dark abyss, and unable to stop, she plunged headlong into its yawing depth. But before she struck the bottom, she woke up with a start, her face covered with cold sweat and her heart beating wildly.

* * * * That evening Sanka Sundar

after his meal sat in his room writing a lette. Her wife, sitting next to him with grandson on her lap said, "You should, I think ask hem to return to Nepal without

much delay. I have had many bad dreams lately and I am not very happy about this.'

At this moment Kumud, after washing the dishes came down to place a jug of drinking water in the room and overheard her mother-in-law's remark. She immediately remembered her terrifying dream that morning and stood there in amazement listening to her mother-in-law speak those strange words. Before Kumud could leave the room, the family priest accompanied by an employee of another business man in Tibet, entered the room without any warning.

Shankha Sunder although surprised by this unexpected visit welcomed them and asked them to sit down, while his wife stood up with her grandson and Kumud moved away to one corner. The visitors sat next to Shankha Sunder but did not venture to speak; both

kept silent as if debating a dilemma in their minds. The suspense they created aroused deep suspicions in the minds of Shankha Sunder and his wife. They could not comprehend the purpose of their visit. The priest finally broke the silence as he spoke in a soft vice, "I see no point in further delaying the matter. The way of the world is inevitable, we must accept our fate."

Kumud heard those like a woman in delirium; her head began to swig and her face turned white as a sheet. Although she failed to grasp any meaning in those vague words, her loudly beating heart signaled a premonition of something terrible. At this instant, the companion of the priest put his hand into his pocket and slowly produced a letter tied with white string - the symbol of tragic news, the news of death.

September 2011Valley

The earthquake of September 18 not only moved the earth of Kathmandu bus also rocked hearts of millions of people living here. The magnitude of 6.8 was enough to create panic to the people whohave been threatened of possibility of major earthquake for many years.

Five persons were killed and other 44 were injured as the quake rocked eastern and central Nepal. The panic moved across the country and of course, across the capital city – from the Constituent Assembly to slums simultaneously.

The biggest irony of the earthquake was the falling of the wall of the British Embassy. Dozens of non- government organizations were now and then giving lectures, TV interviews and publishing articles in newspapers that the age-old houses of core city are the main threat to the people living here. But when it really came, it was proved that the constructions of the rich, elegant and intelligent embassy had to wear the crown of being the most vulnerable to the earthquake. The building might be strong enough for its staffers. They even might have safe places in the building to take shelter during the quake. But, they do not care for the common people where the embassy is located.

Unfortunately, three innocent people

have to lose their lives due to the earthquake. Sajan Shrestha, 36, and his daughter Anisha Shrestha, 8, originally from Gorkha district as well as Bir Bahadur Majhi, 19, were crushed to death by the ill-feted wall.

Urbanization of Kathmandu has welcomed constructions of thousands of houses each year in this capital city. Most of them are educated, well-to-do people who are aware of natural casualties like earthquake.

The Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) also is doing its best to make people aware of the threaths of the casualties by such natural calamities. Still, constructions of illegal and ill-designed houses are going on. Greed of some corrupt officials in the KMC has caused thousands of people to live in perpetual fear.

Around 100 mega buildings with over 10 stories are being constructed in the capital, and around 50,000 people

are living in those houses. We all know that the base of the valley is a lake and the surface is made of fine soil sediment. In this case, one can always raise question of durability of the mega constructions. People, mostly newcomers to the capital city are participating in rat- races to possess the most luxurious and beautiful apartments but what will happen if similar, or slightly bigger strike of earthquake hits Kathmandu again? The dangers of open electricity wire, lack of emergency exit, extra food, and drinking water will pose the bigger threats. And we don't have necessary mechanism to rescue the people who will be victimized by the modern concepts of urbanization. We cannot expect them to be better than the wall of the British Embassy.

When the government officials are making fun of century-old four-storey houses in Asson, they are turning their blind eyes to the newly constructed houses along the narrow alleys of Baneshwar, Kalanki, Chabahil and Koteshwar.

This is the time of do or die. Either the government, or the KMC be sincere to put an end to illegal constructions and emphasize safety measures, or we have to be ready for casualties of thousands of people in the next round of major casualty.

Earthquake Rocks Kathmandu

What necessitates a country’s governance system to restructure may vary depending on individual cases. Many developing countries after civil war or ethnic conflict tend to seek changes against the existing governance systems. But taking up cases of Cambodia and South Africa for examples, both countries after decades old conflicts that led to civil war have managed to settle the problems with the existing system of governance by rectifying the past ills and errors. Nepal, needing the change of governance system and after Maoist insurgency and military atrocities, held election for Constitutional Assembly (CA) in April 2007, has so far seen three governments collapsed without concluding the peace process and drafting of the New Constitution, despite the people elected them for those two important purposes. The recent UNCP(Maoist) - Madheshi Front alliance government led by Dr. Baburam Bhattarai remains to see how it will comply its commitment to the logical conclusion of the peace process and the drafting of the New Constitution. PM Bhattarai’s three week old government was greeted by an unprecedentedly huge tremor before he left for New York to attend the UN conference. Thanks to the truthfulness of the peace loving people of this land, the 6.8 rector scale tremor brought less

death and destruction than one similar size of tremor that occurred with a magnitude of 6.7, struck in the western state of Gujarat, India in 2001, killing more than 20,000 people.

PM Bhattarai can manipulate the tremor for better for worse. If he was only image building for the past three weeks, he may be spending time visiting the victims and touring the damaged in Kathmandu and elsewhere no sooner he comes back from New York. But, if he is genuine on the need of solving centuries old grievances of the people of this holy native land of diverse nationalities, we can expect him assigning several of his subordinates to take good care of victims and damages Sunday’s tremor has caused, and he will be initiating to find solutions to peace process and drafting the New Constitution within the next month well beforehand his three months term ends in November.

In bringing peace process into a logical conclusion, he has to solve disputes over Maoist combatant integration with national army and, over nation’s restructuring under a federation. He can not back down the commitment to federalism but can rectify the present state restructuring committee’s wrong decision of unfairly demarcated sizes of future federal states. In considering the sizes of 14 states allocated by a group of three big

party leaders for a New Nepal, even an elementary school boy or girl will ask why these pieces are different so much so the sizes are unfairly demarcated. But the Committee concerned has not heeded calls for rectification of the wrong demarcation of the states in the new federation. The most affected people by this unfair and discriminatory demarcation are the Newar people, whose whole indigenous and historic state of Nepal Mandala was squeezed into just three districts of Kathmandu, Lalitpur, Bhaktapur, and some tiny areas of adjoining districts despite it is black and white clear that the historic Nepal Mandala covers a region of at least twelve districts of today’s Kabhre, Dolakha, Rasuwa, Dhading, Nuwakot, Ramechhap, Sindhuli, Sindhu-palchok, and Makawanpur in addition to Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Bhaktapur. Unfairly demarcated 14 states must not be a Hobson’s choice. Every fair minded one believes that Bhattarai administration can rectify this. A Fair Society

A humble desire of a people of any country is primarily a peaceful and prosperous life, which is possible only in a fair society, a society where everybody is treated equally, given chances of access to basic needs such as water, food, shelter, education, work and security, for which they do not

have to struggle to procure, whereby harmony among people is developed and peace prevails. So desire the Nepalese, too. Governments in the past have proved that they did not represent the people of Nepal, hence willfully ignored the desire of the Nepalese. Baburam administration should be able to prove that his government represents the people of Nepal, not just UCPN (Maoist) and UMF just because they have formed a coalition government, and he will be honoring his commitment to the people. If not, he will only be confirming the allegation of his government’s own spokesman and the coalition partner Jayaprakash Prasad Gupta that Baburam is simply busy in “personal image building.”

- Suwarn Vajracharya is Advisor of Nepal Federation of Indigenous Nationalities (NEFIN) Japan

Views

Restructuring Nepal from Newar Prospective

Suwarn Vajracharya

VIEWS & IDEA

Editor/Publisher:� Naresh Bir Shakya | Assistant Editor:� Rajendra Manandhar| P.O. Box:� 1967 | Phone:� 4220730 |e-mail:� elohanpublication@yahoo.com | Printed at :� Print Sky, Kathmandu

September 2011

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