Dinesh Wagle's Commentaries

Latest stories – पछिल्ला टिप्पणीहरू

  • Week in Review: Whiz Kid & Kathmandu Spring

    First off, a quick update on my teeth. They are all fine except that I am still feeling something odd about the particular tooth in question. A few minutes ago, I took the last remaining capsule of Amoxycillin. I again went to see dentist Ajay Shah on Thursday in Kantipur Hospital. He cleared my tooth and replaced the cement. I will have to visit him on Sunday.

    So how was my week? Today, Saturday, was the day of cleaning. No, not the tooth. Yes, teeth also but by toothpaste and brush. I washed a few clothes, my brother helped me like last week. So, nothing special. Work. A few stories and the regular stint with UWB.

    I met a person this week with whom I was in tough through internet medium for quite some time. I branded the person “Whiz Kid.” No this is not a romantic relationship and I cannot imagine something like that with this person. I have already given her the “Whiz Kid” title so I am not a whiz kid compatible. But over the weeks, I have become one of her admirers though writing like this does not mean I praise her just to make her happy. I don’t care if she becomes angry or happy with my opinions. That was fun and White Rabbit chocolates were quite okay though they were “duplicate”.

    There is another girl and I am in dilemma about her. I mean can’t tell everything here at the moment. I think I will not write more about her here. To be or not to be with… It is that kind of dilemma. I think it will not work. Don’t know why but I think so.

    Okay, about the winter. Its too cold. Daily life in Kathmandu is becoming more and more difficult. I don’t see morning so, I have very few comments about how it feels in morning. And I am in newsroom most of the evenings so I hardly know the chill outside. Newsroom is always hot in Kantipur. So it feels warm inside the room. Still, when I get outside for reporting and other purposes, I can fee the chill.

    Politics? Depressing. Sometime I feel like kicking out all the royalists out of Nepal. Is that democratic? Don’t think so. The best way out is to kick them out of the governing machinery. But it seems the work is being difficult day by day. Everyone is waiting for some kind of Spring. Kathmandu Spring! Okay, that’s the title of a book by Kiyoko Ogura, a Japanese journalist, about the 1990’s Peoples’ Movement in Nepal. Will those glorious days be back this time around? A few Indian leaders yesterday predicted positively. Lets hope Kathmandu springs yet again to the bright days of democracy.

  • Week in Review: Whiz Kid & Kathmandu Spring

    First off, a quick update on my teeth. They are all fine except that I am still feeling something odd about the particular tooth in question. A few minutes ago, I took the last remaining capsule of Amoxycillin. I again went to see dentist Ajay Shah on Thursday in Kantipur Hospital. He cleared my tooth and replaced the cement. I will have to visit him on Sunday.

    So how was my week? Today, Saturday, was the day of cleaning. No, not the tooth. Yes, teeth also but by toothpaste and brush. I washed a few clothes, my brother helped me like last week. So, nothing special. Work. A few stories and the regular stint with UWB.

    I met a person this week with whom I was in tough through internet medium for quite some time. I branded the person “Whiz Kid.” No this is not a romantic relationship and I cannot imagine something like that with this person. I have already given her the “Whiz Kid” title so I am not a whiz kid compatible. But over the weeks, I have become one of her admirers though writing like this does not mean I praise her just to make her happy. I don’t care if she becomes angry or happy with my opinions. That was fun and White Rabbit chocolates were quite okay though they were “duplicate”.

    There is another girl and I am in dilemma about her. I mean can’t tell everything here at the moment. I think I will not write more about her here. To be or not to be with… It is that kind of dilemma. I think it will not work. Don’t know why but I think so.

    Okay, about the winter. Its too cold. Daily life in Kathmandu is becoming more and more difficult. I don’t see morning so, I have very few comments about how it feels in morning. And I am in newsroom most of the evenings so I hardly know the chill outside. Newsroom is always hot in Kantipur. So it feels warm inside the room. Still, when I get outside for reporting and other purposes, I can fee the chill.

    Politics? Depressing. Sometime I feel like kicking out all the royalists out of Nepal. Is that democratic? Don’t think so. The best way out is to kick them out of the governing machinery. But it seems the work is being difficult day by day. Everyone is waiting for some kind of Spring. Kathmandu Spring! Okay, that’s the title of a book by Kiyoko Ogura, a Japanese journalist, about the 1990’s Peoples’ Movement in Nepal. Will those glorious days be back this time around? A few Indian leaders yesterday predicted positively. Lets hope Kathmandu springs yet again to the bright days of democracy.

  • The Problem With My Teeth

    I saw stars and the whole of a black hole. The formers were bright and the later, as the name suggests, was black. How did I saw those things? Well, the credit goes to Ajay Shah, a dentist in Kantipur Hospital at New Baneshwor. He gave me the tour of the outer world this evening by putting some spoon and fork like materials inside my mouth and giving terrible pain to my teeth. Oh…I had gone there to seek a swift treatment of a small problem that had arisen in one of my 32, I guess, teeth. (I really do not know how many teeth I have. If that is shame, then let that be. I do not care.) One teeth started behaving abnormally as the surrounding pulp started swelling. Recently terrified by the pilo (boil) on the nose, I thought it was pilo in different avatar. I waited for at least two days to see if the problem gets fixed itself. But this evening, as I finished writing a small piece of news, felt like running to a nearby hospital. Not because it was giving me too much pain, but because I just feel like going. I went and waited for about 15 minutes for the arrival of Ajay Shah.

    I though he would just see my teeth and prescribe appropriate medicine. Instead of doing that, his two lady assistants showed me a bed like machine. What the hell these people are going to do with me here? Is this an operation theatre? I really felt like that as the lady pointed me toward the machine. I went, slowly, as if I was worried about the safety of the machine. That was the dental chair, as I was later told by Shah. I sort of conducted a small interview with him as he was giving me terrible pain. The process of cleaning teeth was so painful that Ajay had to inject the medicine to make my lip insensible.

    I have heard many stories of the painful process from my Kalyan (father), Meera (mother) and my brother Email. And there I was going through the same experience. The unexpected one. Health is such an issue that you just can’t ignore your doctor’s suggestion. Ajay said I need to clean up my teeth. I couldn’t say no. Okay, I said, as if I was cleaning up my teeth by Close-up toothpaste every morning. Then, after cleaning my teeth, he said that I need to fill up the teeth in question with cement. Why?

    Okay, they also performed an x-ray of my tooth. Ajay said there was small problem, like hole and materials stuck into the hole and that need to be filled up. X-ray of tooth was a first experience for me. And I was amazed to see how fast they did that. I had habituated with the long process of x-ray of chest, for example. It would usually take at least 24 hours to collect eh x-ray card and report. There it was instant. Ajay told me that every x-ray was quick but technicians needed to go through the x-ray, prepare the report and that will take time. There, no need of report and technicians. Ajay did all and that’s what happens all the time there, he said.

    The filling process was also painful. Its more than four hours and I am still feeling pain. May be, I am experiencing a slight fever. But I ate bhat and tarkari. What else could I do? I couldn’t have stayed hungry for the whole night. Not even aching teeth can bar anyone from eating, I learned.

    Now, the original pain has shadowed by the new one. The whole jaws are aching because of the cleanup process. I can feel the original pain of swollen pulp but that, it seems, is hidden under the second layer. Ajay has prescribed me a bag full of medicine. One of them is antibiotic tablet called Amoxycillin. I hate to use such medicine but then I also hate to suffer through pilo-like pain. I have to gargle thrice a day. How do I do that in the afternoon? I think I should carry the medicine with me. Tablets, I can. I have done that before. But now, the bottle. Okay, I am ready.

    By the way, before I forget, I think I should mention one thing here. As he was cleaning my teeth and studied the x-ray, Ajay suddenly turned into a byapari (merchant). “You have to fill up the tooth,” he said, “and it will cost you Rs. 1500.” What was I supposed to do? First, I was like punching over his nose. But later I realized that he was just asking my opinion. He wasn’t forcing me for that. I told me that was fine with me. I though I had that much of money in my wallet. No, there wasn’t. I searched through the wallet and managed to find a few hundreds. But in this world of credit and debit cards, the money was just a few meters away. I told them I can bring money immediately. He seemed to be satisfied with 8 or 9 hundred because I have to go see him again in the next few days. The process of filling up tooth has just started. But I went to the ATM machine pulled out a few thousands money and paid Ajay and bought medicines. Later I knew from Email and Meera that I paid too much. The same process could be done at around 7 hundred in a nearby dental center. Okay, no problem, I told them, I just need this problem fixed as soon as possible. And they agreed.

  • End of the Year 2005

    Winter has come with a bang. Its too cold in Kathmandu. I cannot rise from bed before 9 AM. I wish I could stay there whole day.

    I spent most of my time in front of computer completing the UWB’s BEST and WORST list for 2005. I think I found myself lonely as the computer can’t give human feeling. Even if you are with it whole day, you need some people to talk. I mean real talk, face to face. You can find people over the virtual world of Internet. You find some friends whom you know for years. But still, you know, it quite different talking with real people sitting in front of them, watching their eyes, reading their lips, observing their body language. I think I should watch some movies this week. King Kong was good but how about some hindi masala films? Don’t know. Many hindi films are real trash, total waste of money. May be I should get some advice from Sudeep Shrestha. He is quite an expert on movies. Oh.. he too isn’t in Kathmandu these days. May be I should SMS him in Pokhara where he, Sanjay Neupane told me this afternoon, is enjoying boating. I will try watching a movie with love story. Okay, story of adventure will also work.

    By the way, yesterday was the day of washing clothes. After a long period, I found myself washing clothes and that was quite enjoyable. Enjoyable? I must be kidding. Thanks to my brother Email who helped me in the process. Or did I help him? Okay, no debate here. Two brothers did the job together.

    I shaved also. I do not know why, but in the chilly morning, I suddenly headed toward the barber shop and the man in charge with razor blades and scissors did the rest. He also cut my hair short and I am now I am feeling like the winter has become more chilly. There were a few remarks about my new clean face from my colleagues. I know my beards are under the strict control of my mood.

    New Year’s Eve? I was in front of computer. Damn, I missed all the fun at Thamel. I wanted to be there but somehow could not fulfill my unexpressed desires. May be next time. We celebrate more than one New Year in a year. So, I think I should regret too much for not being able to party this time around. A few months later, we will have yet another New Year’s Eve to celebrate.

  • Podcasting and Broadcasting

    It was a day of interviews for me. Interviews for new and old media. First the podcasting. [For those who are not familiar with the term: New Oxford American Dictionary defines the word as “a digital recording of a radio broadcast or similar program, made available on the Internet for downloading to a personal audio player.”] There is a website named ClandestineRadio.com that has podcast service called “Global Crisis Watch.” GCW is hosted by Rich Lafayette in Minneapolis and co-hosted by Nick Grace in Washington, DC. Andy Sennitt, Media Analyst with Radio Netherlands Media Network also joined the conversation from his country. Nick is the Washington Managing Editor of ClandestineRadio.com. That was a nice talk with them. The interview is now available at the Radio’s web site. (This 21.1 MB audio file is 30 minutes long and also includes an update by Andy on the situation at Voice of the People in Zimbabwe.

    They were on Skype and I was on my cell phone: kind of cell phone conference. We talked about Ram Bahadur Bamjam, the new “Buddha” boy, Nagarkot Massacre, Nepali politics and blogging. The conversation lasted for about 30 minutes and I tried my best to satisfy their questions. People are watching us and, as the situation worsens here, they are concerned too. [Global Crisis Watch is a weekly interview program that reaches approximately 5000 listeners each month- mainly journalists and U.S. policy analysts- and focuses on the War of Ideas and independent and pro-democracy media efforts.]

    And then there was broadcasting. The traditional one. I was invited by Narayan Shrestha of Radio Sagarmatha to participate in a discussion program. He was talking with Kedar Sharma and Subir Pradhananga of Madan Puraskar Pustakalaya that translated Linux into Nepali recently. I don’t know where they were talking from, but I couldn’t go to the Radio Sagarmatha studio. I participated in the discussion via telephone. I had very few things to say regarding Nepalinux and Nepali computing. I later knew from Deepak that Narayan and the team also talked about the article that I wrote in Kantipur the other day. What I said is that Nepalinux or Nepali Windows need more exposure. Plus, the computer should be available to more and more Nepalis in cheap price.

  • The Day of Banda

    I arrived at office early in the morning, at about 8:15.yesterday. Why? An office vehicle would go to drop a Kantipur employee near by home in Kadaghari, Gothataar. I desperately wanted to avoid walking for about an hour to reach office because I wasn’t feeling well. I mean I was recovering from Pilo. So, I though that was a nice idea to get a lift from office van. Had daal bhat in office canteen. That was good.

    Then I started my Valley Banda coverage on UWB. I was eager to see the Banda effects. I walked up to New Baneshwor and spent hours wandering from one corner to another following the clashes and taking pictures. Once, I was caught up in the tear gas. Felt like I am going to die on the spot. The gas directly entered from my mouth and reached to the bottom of my lungs. I felt so. But then seeing people caught up inside a shop full of gas broke my heart. I tried to capture the image but my camera wasn’t that fast enough and I missed the horrific scene. Bikash Karki took the picture though that too doesn’t capture the intensity of the scene.

    Today I feel that I ran too much. Thighs are feeling the stress. No problem. I think I can handle the pain easily. Well, here is an update on my Pilo: the sign of Pilo has gone from my nose. I knew it in the morning and now people in the office are also reminding me that. A few minutes ago, as I was congratulating Bikash Sangraula for his wonderful story in today’s Kathmandu Post in the canteen, Prateek Pradhan commented: “I also like you nose now. The sign of Pilo has gone.”

  • Nagarkot Massacre Victims

    Ah..feeling so tired. Today was a tough day. Yesterday was similar. As I was recovering from the pilo, events dragged me in full swing. To live in Nepal these days means you will experience all the fascinating developments personally. From very near. Live in real life. The Nagarkot Massacre case as a shocking surprise as I was participating in a low-profile ceremony organized to release Nepathya’s latest album Ghatana. In the album, the 25-minute-long title song, details an incident in Mainapokhari a year ago in which a bus carrying civilians was caught into a live firing between Maoists and the army. A bigger and horrific Ghatana (incident) happened in Nagarkot hours ahead of the album release.

    While returning from the program, I got the details of the incident from Prateek Pradhan, the editor of the Kathmandu Post. He dropped me in the office of Kantipur and within 20 minutes I got words from Hari Bahadur Thapa, the Chief Reporter at Kantipur. “Army is taking journalists to Chhauni (Birendra Sainik) Hospital. Rush to Officers’ Club immediately.” There you go. As I was about to get out of the Kantipur Complex, I found DK Jaishy, Chief Reporter at the Post, going to Sundhara. He hired a cab and ah…both time and money saved. Many journalists were already present and I couldn’t find seat in the army bus. No problem. I was determined to be at the hospital and see the survivors. That’s what happened.

    I was deeply wounded by seeing those innocents who were victims of a senseless firing. But more than that I was hurt by the behavior of journalists in front of those wounded souls. Journalists were like, what to say, careless folks who were only interested in their stories. They didn’t care about the Nagarkot folks health. They were asking questions, creating hustling and bustling and big noise. More than 35 reporters and photographers were in the room were four victims were kept. Their names were written on the files kept on the end of the bed but no one cared to see and read that. Everyone was asking: What is your name? What happened? Where were you exactly? I could see wounded folks were tired of repeating the answers because questions were repeating from one scribe to another. Trying to get information from them was like was like raping the victims.

    Yes, if journalists don’t ask, public will not know. So, they have to ask. But I was afraid to ask a single question to a single Nagarkoti. I couldn’t do that.

  • When Pilo Attacks You

    This week has been one of the most disastrous for me. Well, I was not destroyed but my nose nearly got wiped out, literally. Oh… aliens attacked my nose. Yes, aliens in the form of a Pilo (Boil). Then what happened? An epic battle began and I bravely fought my own war against Piloism by largely lying down on my bed and watching, ah…hearing, George W Bush in self-congratulatory mood and telling the world, yet again, how his fight against terrorism was producing a vibrant democracy in Iraq. I decided to use no WMDs whatsoever against my enemy because I wanted the fight go insurgency way. I relied on my white blood cells, the traditional police against bacteria and virus.

    (Pic will be reposted soon.)

    Pilo Pidit Wagle (Wagle, the Pilo victim): I think this gloomy mood, captured by Shaligram Tiwari this afternoon in a teashop outside my office, reflects the sufferings I went through in the last four days because of pilo (boil). Look at that black spot on the right part of my nose. [Wagle, while posting this photo, hopes that possible girlfriend will understand him for, well, everything!]

    Four days, spending inside the room, covered by blankets, listening to news coming out from radio and TV, were like four full boring years. Sachin Tendulkar hit his 35th ton and he was on Aaj Tak. How could I miss? I couldn’t see him (and that wasn’t necessary) but heard his as the master blaster hit back queries filed by Prabhu Chawla. Once I thought what will happen if I turned blind for ever? Would I be able to live as usual? No, of course not. Weird thought. Okay, then there was (on Star World) the Miss World competition in Sanya, China. That needed to be seen by the eyes. Ears weren’t useful at all. How could I miss? Pilo couldn’t stop me from seeing beautiful ladies fighting for the crown.

    Body was there on the bed but mind was visiting around the world: from one corner to another as newsreader turned her pages on TV. For a few seconds, I was in Harvard University listening to Muhammad El Baradei, the IAEA chief (on BBC World) before filing a question to Condoleezza Rice. Well, I was the judge of the Miss World competition asking questions to ladies. That was a beautiful moment. I find no time to mention all the virtual places I went while lying on the bed. Oh… height of imagination. You can be anywhere in the world at any time. Mind travels fast.

    At least two moments (when Pilo needed to be squeezed) were unforgettably painful as if insurgency was at its height. The side effect spread in my whole body in the form of light fever: I thought it was 102 in but Email, after inspecting the thermometer, insisted on saying that I was hot by 99 degrees only.

    So, naak ma pili (boil on the nose) is in no way a thing to be proud of. “What happen to you?” people asked because they are concerned. When you reply, the concern turns into laughter, a satirical one. “Naak ma pilo?” people ask as if that was result of a crime. Yes, naak ma pilo. Quite painful. But many of my friends and well-wishers who called me in my house ended the conversation with some consolation.

    Back in office, everyone inquired. What happened to Wagle? Pilo, I answered pointing to my nose, right over here. What? Naak ma pilo? Again, my pilo was “stigmatized” for a few seconds at first and adorned later with consolatory remarks. I am no alien to pilos. A few months ago, it was on my knee. Before that, it was a little below that. Before that it was near elbow. Nearly three years ago, it was on my chin.

    But then no one is alien to pilos. Every one of them had a story or two to tell. Yes, about pilo. Their experiences. Oh… my God. I discovered, pilo has left no one. Almost all are victims of pilo at least once. I found hardly anyone one who had pilo on the nose. Someone had on upper lip. One had on both cheeks. He used medicine and that didn’t work and his cheek has now a dimple. The pilo phenomena is that it appears mostly on butts. Some told me their stories when pilo attacked them on their butts.

    “Man, its more painful than on the nose,” he said. One friend told me a story of how one of his friends suffered a pilo on butt while travelling India a few years ago. I haven’t had that experience as yet. Some friends, smiling at me, said that pilo was a sign of good days ahead. I don’t know. I am always hopeful about the future but for now as I am recovering from the pilo it is hard to forget the pain I experienced in the recent past.

  • Talking About Life In An Evening

    Yesterday, I spent my evening with a lady having coffee, lemon tea, and cookies and discussing about life. Though I try to be honest in these blogs, for the time being, I can’t reveal the name of the lady for some unknown reasons. Anyway, that was a good experience. She did the speaking and I tried to listen to her as attentively as possible. That was like a teacher talking to her student. Our conversation was centered on life, its existence and its purpose. Sounded like philosophy? Let it be. She was trying to say some thing and I was interested to know more about that. Some points, though not completely new, were kind of revealing. Yes. I think I should read more about that. After all, in this world of materialism, you need to learn something about spiritualism. We didn’t talk about our personal things. So that wasn’t a personal meeting but that wasn’t a public meeting for sure.

    While returning from her residence, I encountered difficulties faced by the general public because of the Raja, maharajas. Some folks from the royal palace, I don’t exactly know who, were to attend a marriage party in Gyaneshwor. All the roads were cleared for them as if the road solely belonged to them, not to we the people. My cab was diverted to the opposite direction and I had to pay extra Rs. 70 for that. I felt so bad. Why the hell they capture the whole road for their travel? You have so much money that is “provided” by the state, why don’t you just fly a chopper? That way people can’t pelt stone on the convoys. They don’t have to suffer traffic jam and spend extra money.

  • Meeting the Other (Sarah) Giri

    (pic will be reposted.)
    Sarah Giri, the wife of Dr. Tulsi Giri, is in a mission. Pic by D Wagle.

    In the beginning, I though I was talking to a diplomat. That was the impression I gathered while talking in telephone. Sarah Giri has all traits that a diplomat needs to have. When you talk with her you feel like you are in front of a highly religious personality. Okay, that’s another aspect. I had heard quite a few ’stories’ about Mrs. Giri before actually meeting her a few days ago in her residence in Baluwataar. Yes, the same ‘famous’ residence of Dr. Tulsi Giri, Sarah’s husband and the Cabinet vice chair.

    As a reporter you meet many people and some of them are people in the news. Yes, Sarah is not in the news but her husband is for all good and bad reasons and that makes a lot of difference. You tend to feel like “Oh..Tulsi Giri ki srimati” {Tulsi Giri’s wife!). Kasti holi Tulsi Giri ki srimati? (How would Tulsi Giri’s wife seem like?) How does she feel being the wife of one of the most ‘famous’/’infamous’ man in Nepal? I wanted to know the answers of all those questions though that was not part of my reporting. I was tempted to ask that question because of well various things. Most of the time I try not to deviate from the core topic of reporting but in this case I couldn’t stop myself from asking questions related to her personal life. But asking personal/family questions to women is not new to me because when I was working for Tarun Weekly, I ran a column (Adha Sansaar) interviewing wives of political leaders and other prominent personalities. That was a long time ago, almost 7 years ago.

    Sarah is beautiful and appealing. But she wouldn’t reveal her age but here is my guess. This woman married three years before I was born (I am 27) to a man who is 50 years older than I am. When you see Sarah, your guesses turn wrong. She deceptively appears younger than she actually is. Dr. Giri had briefly talked about Sarah in our meeting in the same building a few months ago.

    Sarah Giri is in a mission. For those who have sound and functioning ear, her mission might sound like a difficult one because that is related to making deaf communicate and, yes, dance! I was amazed how those beautiful deaf boys and girls danced in the tunes unheard to the rest of the world. They were all practicing for a ballet project and Sarah was directing them. I will post another blog in UWB about this in the next few days but let me write here more about our meeting.

    I regret for not being able to eat those fish and cookies that were given to me on behalf of Sarah at the time of interview. I was too busy to note down her verbatim. In our journalism classroom they always teach us to put your eyes on the face of your subject while interviewing. When you do that, your interviewee feels that you are giving attention to his/her talks. I genuinely try to follow that idea because that also helps you better understand the facial expression and body language of the interviewee while not missing the exact wordings s/he utters. While keeping both eyes on the interviews face and part of your mind in the notepad, you find no time for coffee and fish. Still, after she repeatedly reminded me of the coffee, I finished that in less than 10 sips. I couldn’t eat fish that according to Sarah was “prepared in the house.” I miss that.

    I think I did a mistake by presenting her with two tickets of a charity screening of two documentaries in Jay Nepal Theater on Friday (Nov. 25). Well, let me not use the word ‘present’. That was rather selling of the tickets that I know a reporter shouldn’t have done. The Kantipur branch of Federation of Nepali Journalists (FNJ) had organized a charity show screening two non-fiction films ‘Bheda ko oon jasto’ and ‘Team Nepal’. One of our colleagues needed money for his sister’s serious and expensive treatment and Kantipur journalists wanted to help him. They were selling tickets to people and one of my colleagues gave me two tickets worth Rs. 500 each hoping that I might be able to ’sell’ them to Sarah.

    I know Sarah was in difficult situation. A reporter whom she welcomed so warmly half an hour ago was ‘offering’ her with the tickets that too sabotaging the moment when she started talking about a documentary on deaf people that she made sometime ago in India. Screening for a charity. Pay the money. She just couldn’t ignore that. I would have done the same. But I think what I did was wrong. Worst, Sarah couldn’t make it to the charity show meaning she only ‘donated’ the money. I am thinking of returning the money to Sarah. [In my latter meeting with Sarah, I told her what I felt about that ticket thing. “Let me return the money to you, Sarah ji,” I said. “I gather that you didn’t make it to the theater.” She refused to take money back. She told me that she donated the money for charity.]

    The story of my interview with Sarah appeared in the Wednesday (Nov. 30) issue of Kantipur.