Monthly Archives: November 2004

Beard (Daari), What a Lively Thing U R!

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By Dinesh Wagle on November 20th, 2004 in Wagle Monologues
Originally published under UWB banner

beard (noun) hair growing on a chin and lower cheeks of a man’s face: a week’s growth of beard. a false/grey/bushy/long/white beard.

Thus defines the Oxford dictionary the word beard. We in Nepali call daari to what they call beard in English. Therefore, the hair on chin and lower cheeks of my face is daari. I cannot give you an exact number of my daari.

However, I can tell you how important they are. Huge. Daari generate talks, start conversations, and create such an atmosphere where people feel free to express themselves. Ditto with my daari. They are thought provokers. They attract attention from both sexes. You might understand why my daari is popular among females. I will explain why male are interested in my daari.

Let’s start the discourse, I call it Daari Mahatmye, from the news. Today, I am no longer a bearded man today. I am a beardless man. No daari, clean shaved face, cute and shining, at least for some of you people out there. Continue reading →

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Shailaja Acharya And Uma Bharati: Are Marriage And Temper Related?

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Does marriage makes one mature, or consistent or helps calm down the temper? There are some examples that show that unmarried people seem to loose their temper too quickly. They are quite unstable and saying this now and that then. On the other hand, is that so? Arguments are bound to be countered for everyone has their own say. Nevertheless, I am in the mood of arguing. Before that, let me present a quick background.

Shailaja Acharya is a centrist ‘Nepali Congress Party’ leader who is famous for her incoherent expressions. One moment, she proudly announces her intention of fighting parliamentary elections. The next, we can hear her backing off from the earlier remarks. She made quite a front page when she demonstrated this inconsistent behavior some time back. She is also notorious for easily loosing her temper on smallest cause. She acts like a kid who, at one moment decides to go to school and immediately after some time, without any valid reason decides not to go.

Uma Bharati is a rightwing ‘Bharatia Janata Party’ or BJP leader who, like Shailaja, is quite notorious for her Sonia Gandhi, Indian Congress Party leader of Italian origin, bashing. She also regularly makes outrageous comments against, well, anyone, regardless of her party line. She nearly resigned from the Chief Ministerial post of Madya Pradesh, an Indian state, when Sonia was on the verge of becoming the Prime Minister of India.

Why I am writing about two women who probably, let me guess, haven’t meet each other? I have a point to make, or prove what I made in the beginning. Shailaja devoted her entire life for political cause, involving herself in the political movement that eventually restored democracy in Nepal. Uma is a self declared Sanyasini who sports yellow/red color attire, wears malas and talks about politics that is largely based on religious hatred and communalism. Both women are in top positions of their respective parties, dream of leading the organization one day. The most important point is that these both women are unmarried. One of our unmarried leaders, celebrated by the name of Krishna Prasad Bhattarai also regularly demonstrated such fluctuation emotional personality.

These both ladies were in news recently. Prashant Aryal, an assistant editor with Nepal Magazine was interviewing Shailaja Acharya some weeks ago. I didn’t read the interview or don’t remember whether that was published at all. But I read Prashant’s diary in the magazine recently where he vividly remembers what happened in that interview day. The scribe wanted some scoop or exclusives from the leader. So he asked her about the complex web of family relations in the Nepali Congress Party. He wanted to know if Shailaja was confident of winning cooperation of other various factions inside the party in her fight for the party presidency expected to be held sometime later this year.

Hearing the question, writes Prashant, Shailaja lost her temper. She would order him to switch off the recorder that was capturing her voice. Shailaja would also expect him to behave like a Congress Party cadre or well-wisher at least and refrain from asking such question, which, she was certain, would bring further divide in the party. “Then the mercury of my respect toward her lowered drastically,” frustrated Prashant notes. He ends his writing, which Devendra, a fellow blogger, termed as “an overwhelmingly emotional expression”, with a question. “Why would she wish to run a party who can’t even deal with a journalist?” Well asked.

Uma’s drama was far more publicized by numerous Indian TV channels that are always looking for some juicy scoops. After re-assuming the presidency of BJP, veteran leader Lal Krishna Advani was before cameras flanked by various senior party leaders. He spoke of increasing violation of discipline in the party. He suggested to leaders, naming Pramod Mahajan, Sabha Navi and Uma, not to speak against each other publicly. Hearing this, Uma who was sitting just in front of Advani, suddenly on her feet and started blasting against some leaders whom she accused of doing nothing but talking against her. They were members of Rajya Sabha, upper house of parliament in India, she said. She also challenged Advani to take disciplinary actions against her. The scene itself was not only dramatic but quite shocking as well. Uma demonstrated her impatience this time around too.

There are stark similarities of impatience and incoherence, among other things, between unmarried women- Shailaja and Uma. I can fairly conclude, not only based on these two events but also after observing their behavior, that both Shailaja and Uma are fluctuating personalities. They are immature. So, my question is: Is there anything to do with their being unmarried in that? Will anyone, married, please clarify?

1 Comment »

I thing Mr. Wagle is unmarried guy. Otherwise he would have writtena ll this thing more clearly. Everyone should know there is somethin called sex and lack of that causes a lots of problems.

Comment by Binaya Sharma — 11/15/2004 @ 2:01 pm

The John Grisham Novel and My Journalistic Life- II

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Those striking similarities between Willie Traynor, the protagonist of the John Grisham novel The Last Juror and myself that I had described in detail in one of my earlier blogs, ended just there. Grisham is a master at telling stories and, well, lecturing on how a newspaper should function. I could not disagree with Grisham’s wisdom, and what Willie does at the Ford County Times, a fictional weekly paper of which he is the owner, publisher, editor and reporter. Here is why.

The ailing newspaper finds itself on the verge of bankruptcy. With the help of his generous grandmother, 24-year-old Willie takes over the management of the paper and does some wonderful reporting that the paper was aspiring to print. A gruesome murder certainly helps him. But, then, he didn’t confines himself on that event. He covers on varieties of subjects that either was neglected by the former editor/publisher or was too taboo in the white-dominated American society of 1970s- Clanton, Mississippi to be precise. Continue reading →

Some Words on Yasir Arafat & Situation in Nepal

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How you see Yasir Arafat, a Palestinian, who died at 75 today in a Paris military hospital, largely depends on which spectacle you are wearing on. For Israelis and some of their western allies, he is merely a terrorist, and for Palestinians and their Arab brothers, he is a father-like figure who gave up his life for the greater cause. I think, for people like me who have nothing to give or take with Israel-Palestinian conflict, at least directly, Yasir Arafat is a fearless and one of the greatest leader of 20the century who miserably failed to land the jet safely that he was piloting.

As the New York Times firmly declares in its front-page headline today, Arafat “forced his people’s plight into the world spotlight.” Arafat became the symbol of Palestinian nationalism. He was, in a true sense, a world-class leader. That might be, partly, because of the magnitude of the Israel-Palestinian problem and it’s impact throughout the world. People from around the world, I am sure, have intense interest to learn how the events are unfolding or will unfold in West Asia or Middle East, as the mighty westerns prefer to call the region.

That is why I am listening a continuing coverage of his death in BBC World Service for the fourth consecutive hour. Still, I am not tired with the news though the information that is pouring in is pretty much the same. I have been listening the name Yasir Arafat since the days of my childhood when I used to tune in to Radio Nepal news bulletins. Names like Arafat, Israel, Palestinian, West Bank, Gaza Strip would dominate almost all international news bulletins. I offer my deep condolences to the Palestinian people. May Arafat’s soul lies in peace.

Yesterday, I read an Op-Ed piece in Kantipur by Angaraj Timilsina about Arafat and how Nepal can learn from his life. Though they may look like two side of a coin, there is difference between leading an insurgency and a nation. Yes, I agree with Timilsina. Arafat could not do the later as our leaders like Girija Prasad Koirala and other. Mandela, however, did just that with an illustrious manner. He was free of greed, power hunger, corrupt mindset, and was driven by the will to achieve greater national goal. People say Arafat could not control the corruption in Palestinian Authority, did not delegate power to his subordinates.

Here too, Girija Prasad Koirala, at the age of 80, five years older than the late Arafat, is still eying for the Nepali Congress Presidency. Surya Bahadur Thapa is trying to open a new political party. To sum up, almost all leaders are running after power. We do not have a Statesman. We lack a dynamic and versatile leadership. Yes, what we can learn from Arafat is his courageous leadership, his determination to achieve Palestinian nationhood, his aspiration of freedom. We should throw away the corruption and lust for power. Don’t you think that Mandela, even after resigning from the post of South African President, is a powerful personality?

2 Comments »

1. I am not a great follower of world politics but yet I respect Yasser Arafat for his devotion and dedication. His death, indeed, is a loss to the world. It would be difficult to find any other people fighting for the rights of the people so hard and so long – I can only remember Nelson Madela as greater.

While talking about Arafat, one should always remember the 1990 Gulf War. He supported, I find it difficult to believe, Saddam Hussein, who captured Kuwait. The one who was fighting for his nation should have also remembered the cause of Kuwaities. That one particular thing was the cause that stopped Arafat from being as great as Mandela.
May his soul rest on peace.

Comment by Ujjwal — 11/11/2004 @ 4:41 pm

2. Yes Dinesh, I wholeheartedly agree with you as well as the scholar Angaraj that Arafat was a failure in handling his beleagured occupied territories but at the same time a great revolutionary.With his death, a saga in palestinian struggle or Intifada has come to an end.He must be regarded as a great leader of our times.

Comment by deepak — 11/12/2004 @ 2:48 pm

The John Grisham Novel and My Journalistic Life-I

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I studied journalism with a hangover. In the early days at Syracuse, I aspired to be an investigative reporter with the New York Times or the Washington Post. I wanted to save the world by uncovering corruption and environmental abuse and government waste and the injustice suffered by the weak and oppressed. Pulitzers were waiting for me. After a year or so of such lofty dreams, I saw a movie about a foreign correspondent who dashed around the world looking for wars, seducing beautiful women, and somehow finding the time to write award-winning stories. He spoke eight languages, wore a beard, combat boots, starched khakis that never wrinkled. So I decided I would become such a journalist.

I grew a beard, bought some boots and khakis, tried to learn German, tried to score with prettier girls. During my junior year, when my grades began their steady decline to the bottom of the class, I became captivated by the idea of working for a small-town newspaper. I cannot explain this attraction….

I do not eat breakfast, and I’m usually not awake during the hours in which it is served. I don’t mind working until midnight, but I prefer to sleep until the sun is overhead and in full view. As I quickly realized, one of the advantages of owning a small weekly was that I could work late and sleep late. The stories could be written anytime, as long as the deadlines were met.

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