Tag Archives: dashain

Dashain the Festival is an Opportunity to Travel

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This post contains related links to the articles that have been mentioned or referred to in my article published in today’s Hello Shukrabar, (त्यो दसै‌मा) the youth supplement of Kantipur.

Nepal’s Polyandry Tradition: Young Men Don’t Want to Share Their Wife With Brothers in Kimathanka

Polyandry family of Kimathanka, Nepal

A polyandry family of Kimathanka, Nepal

In the polyandry culture the older brother is the head of the family. He is also the official father of the kids even if their biological father is his brother. For example, in the citizenship, the ‘father’ of the shared wife’s children is the older brother. House and land are registered in his name. Kami Nawa, Chairman, Ward No. 6., of the VDC said: “The mother decides which children belongs to which husbands if the brothers wanted to separate.”

A question related to this made the otherwise cool Sherpeni, Rishe who was had decorated her hair with a jasmine flower, somewhat agitated. “We are living now in harmony, there is no necessity of separation,” she said curtly. Continue reading →

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Kids of Dadeldhura on the Dashain Tika Day

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kids of dadeldhura nepal on the day of dashain tika

Rockstars of Dadeldhura: This pose too was their idea, I just clicked.

I was in Dadeldhura on the day of Tika this Dashain. The small bazaar on the hill was closed as people were busy celebrating the festival. I had to spend my Tika day on the hill because I was stuck there. The road was empty. I waited for a day for the buses to ply so that I could move to the next destination. To kill time and my curiosity about the way people celebrate Dashain I wandered around the the almost deserted bazaar. A few people, with tika on their forehead and jamara clipped to their ears, were walking on the street. I presumed that they were moving towards their relatives’ homes. Some men wore beautiful garlands of jamara. That was a new sight to me. We don’t do that in the east. Later a friend of mine in Dadeldhura told me that only so called tallo jaat (lower caste) people, especially damai wear jamara garlands on the Tika day. I am not sure if that’s the truth but it was definitely a new sight to me. I liked the idea. I thought about large families. They need to grow a lot of jamara to get enough garlands for each member of the family.

Related Entries on Kids:

1. Time For Kids To Go Back To School (After Dashain Holiday)

2. The Highway Kids #Nepal

I met them on Tuphan Danda (hill) of Dadeldhura. They were roaming around, like all kids do on such occasions like the day of Tika, after putting tika and garland of jamara. From Left: Bishesh Jairu, 10; Yubaraj Pariyar, 12; Bijay Jairu, 11; Bibek Jairu, 11. They are all 5th graders at Bhrikuti Namuna Primary School in Dadeldhura.
After taking thier group photo, I asked the boys if they wanted to pose in their own style. Bibek raised his hand and said he had some in his mind. This is what he did.
One of his postures for the camera.
Then Bijay came up with his arms spread.
Then it was the turn of Yubaraj to pose with his own style.
Soon there was some competition among the boys to pose with varieties of style for my camera.
Rockstars of Dadeldhura: This pose too was their idea, I just clicked.
Sagar Sinjapati is a student of 10th grade in nearby Mahendra Namuna Higher Secondary School.
Soon after I left the four kids on Tuphan Danda, I found Sagar in his home enjoying the festival with his relatives.
Near the Amar Gadhi (fort) this pair was having a quite lunch in the late afternoon on the day of Tika. The sun was shining bright and warmth, I suppose, was the primary reason for them to come outside to enjoy their food. I asked for their persmission to take their photo. The man happily agreed. “Linus, linus. Kina nahunu? [Yes, please. Why not?] Then he stopped eating, looked at my camera and gave a huge smile for amost 10 seconds. The lady, on the other hand, was reluctant. “No,” she said. “Don’t take.” A few seconds later she changed her mind perhaps because of the smile on her husband’s face. “Make it quick,” she said. I asked if they were married couple just to be hundred percent sure. They both confrimed with big smile and unanimous “yes”.

On “Happy Dashain Mass Emails” and Ram Ravan Dilemma

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Theme of the blog: I have put an auto response message to the senders of Happy Dashain mass emails requesting them not to send any such emails next time. Plus, questions on loneliness and on Ram Ravan dilemma.

Once I had read a news report about a website called tired.com that talked about people’s responses to the only question posed by the site on the middle of the page: “Are you tired? Tell us why.” The answers, according to the report, aren’t published on the site and the report was based on the journalist’s interview with the owner of the site and samplings of the emails that were sent to the site. I haven’t visited the site since the day I read that news but today I am posing similar questions here: What do you do: When you don’t want to talk to anyone? When feel lonely but don’t want to mingle with anyone? If you want to answer, feel free to use the form below though I must assert that I completely retain the right to publish or reject the response(s). Or, may be I will write a news story based on ’em! [Okay, I just visited the site and found that it’s same: there are only two lines on the home page that I have already mentioned and the word “us” links to the email address tired@tired.com] Continue reading →

Kathmandu In Festive Mood. And, Patent for BBC Nepali’s voice.

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[Originally posted in UWB platform]

The recently launched BBC 103 FM in Kathmandu has definitely changed my radio habit. Before I was a TV worm, always pressing the remote control and surfing those 40 something satellite channels available on my cable network. In a normal day, I would be in front of that idiot box until 2 AM. Not anymore. It’s the BBC’s World Service tuned all the time and I am constantly updated on world events. In the mean time, I can do a whole lot of work, like, now, I am writing this blog. It has been a good medium for a global citizen like me who wants to listen news from Africa, music from South America, a drama from Europe etc, etc. When it is 3 PM in London, Kathmandu clocks 20:45, time for the tune Changba ho Changba in BBC’s Nepali Service.

There was an interesting report on yesterday’s broadcast of BBC Nepali. Their far-western Nepal correspondent Umid Bagchand (sorry if I misspelled) had filed a report from Kathmandu about the mood of the capital city and his impression of that. His argument, and its’ very much true, was that unlike remote places like Dadeldhura where people were very much afraid to celebrate any festivals because of the messy security situation, Kathmandu was largely unaffected from what was going on in other parts of the country, and was in a festive mood to celebrate Tihar. Continue reading →