On screen and off screen 'Rajneeti'

I did a mistake by accepting the invitation of premiere show of the 'Rajneeti' at Gopikrishna Movies. First, the film started almost an hour late. Second, I was starving and there was nothing to eat except noodles (is that a kind of food?), carbonated drinks (No offence but I hate such drinks) and popcorn (u can't believe the price, its 5 folds more expensive inside).

On the top of all, the movie disappointed me. I was remembering the movie 'Gangajal' by Prakash Jha, same guy who directed the present film. So, obviously the expectations were high. (do you think it is bad to expect high?) Unlike 'Gangajal', 'Rajneeti' has so many loops in the plot. It is full of blasts and blood. Till the use of guns and bombs, the film was somewhat fine and able to hold the interest. Then you find all the interest evaporated when you could guess the end easily. After the interval, the film uses many elements of a 'masala film', ronadhona, the lost son finds his mother, mother requests him to come back home etc. The film is long. Even without any songs it takes three hours to finish the film.

However, I enjoyed the time afterwards. It was 9:15 pm when I was out of the theatre. I flagged down some taxies. All of them demanded more than three hundred rupees. And, I was not ready to pay that amount of money for just three kilometers distance. There was another gentleman, too. He also was talking to the taxi drivers. I asked him to hire a single taxi so that we could share the fare. He did not accept my proposal. Instead, he proposed me to drop to my destination if I paid him one hundred rupees. He had his office vehicle nearby. I agreed.

On the way I asked him where he was working. His reply surprised me. He was working in the Ministry of Energy. His bosses were somewhere around Chabhil in a party. Wow! That was the true rajneeti. A citizen of Nepal paid for travelling in the government vehicle. I did not say anything. I did not say I was a media person. I simply paid him hundred rupees and started towards my destination.


Modnath Dhakal, Kathmandu

Pseudo Democracy

It was Friday, Baisakh 16, a day earlier than the mass demonstration by the UCPN (Maoists) in Kathmandu and other major cities in Nepal. I was going to my office at Putalisadak from Kalikasthan. Suddenly I realized that the shops at the both sides of the road are being closed. The shutters were being pulled down. People were in a great haste. By the time I reached Putalisadak, barely a store was opened up. The number of vehicles plying on the road was also significantly decreasing.

I asked a pedestrian what the matter was. She had no idea. She was just like me – perplexed by the incident. Then, I moved to the shop owner who runs a shop in the same building where we have our office. He said the Maoists were there to ask for the donation. They were demanding more than 5 thousand rupees even from the small grocery owners who hardly earn that amount of money in a week.

What surprised me more was the fact that no one had gone to ask for the donation to the Dillibazar area. But shutters were pulled down everywhere. The rumour created a panic among everyone from the departmental stores to the small street vendors. I heard that the Maoists literally asked donations even from the street vendors who sell green vegetables in a basket. And, they had to give donation according to the demands put by the Maoists, or their sister organizations, not as per their wish.

I pondered upon the situation.

We are the 'free citizen' of a 'free country'

. We are in a democratic society where one can exercise his/her free will. But this kind of exercise was unheard of elsewhere. Benjamin Franklin has said that our freedom of swinging our hands ends there where other's nose begins. But the Friday incident was the punch on the nose not only of the citizen in a democracy but also of the so called 'democratic government'. Alas! There was no one to save the nose of the businessmen at Putalisadak and elsewhere across the nation. We are in a pseudo democracy where neither we can fulfill our duties and responsibilities freely nor there is anything which can guarantee or safeguard that freedom of people.

Forceful donation is a crime. How did the Maoists get the right to have the claim over the money earned by sweat and hard work? Instead of taking responsibility and apologizing to the people, the Maoists always reiterated that such happenings are just isolated events and asking donation is not the party policy.

They even said that other criminal groups were asking the donation in the name of the Maoists. Even if it's true, the Maoists are responsible for that for creating a buffer zone where those crooked personalities and criminal groups have a safe haven to play their games.

Time has come for the Maoists to think about the people practically whom they place at the front in their saying and bargaining.


- dhakalutsav@gmail.com

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I am sorry not to ask her name!

I forgot from where she got into the bus. All the seats were occupied, so I was standing along with other three people. I was on the way to my Rotaract Club’s meeting at Tripureshwor. It was Saturday.

She pushed her way through other people and came back where I was standing. I got a glimpse of her face. She was cute. Her phone rang and she picked it up. After she disconnected it she put it in the pocket of her long t-shirt. I thought to recommend not to keep the phone in the pocket of the shirt as the mouth of the pocket was too big to pick it up from. But I discarded the idea. One shouldn’t be Mr. Know-All everywhere!

As you know it’s not trouble-free to travel in a microbus standing. Sometimes you are falling this side, sometimes that side. You have to depend upon a single pipe, which is added later because the microbus doesn’t have such accessories, on the roof. The girl with the long t-shirt was just next to me. It was my hand at the end of the pipe after her. She continuously moved her hand. I ignored it thinking it’s not easy to stand easily.

But I was mistaken, her hand came upon my hand then it was off. I looked around. Two guys in the last seat were looking at our hands.

I slid my hand a little bit further. Lo and behold! She slid her hand too. Again her hand came upon my hand.

I slid my hand little bit further but still I could felt her fingers moving over mine.

I turn around. She was looking at me. I was blank. After a while I regain my consciousness and smiled. She looked away. I push my hands a bit far from hers. She didn’t make an effort again.

At Kalanki, the bus stopped. She settled herself in the last seat. I wished if only there was another seat adjacent to her. Anyway I let the idea go away. I went into the cabin. At Soltimode, I looked back to ensure she was there.

Oh Holiness! She was looking at me with something in her eyes that I didn’t know.

At Kalimati, a seat beside her became vacant. Without spending any moment in thinking, I moved there. She turned her head. Our eyes met!

The bus was moving and I was planning to ask her for a cup of coffee. Once I thought of even not attending the meeting but following her. That was a sweet and romantic feeling, I suppose. I didn’t ask her for the coffee, instead I got off at United World Trade Center, Tripureshwor – our club’s meeting venue.

I threw a departing look at her. I saw something in her eyes but it was too late by then.

I regretted the idea later. I should have asked her a cup of coffee or taken her to the meeting. I was so lost that I forget to ask her name too. I can’t say whether she would agree but that would certainly have cured my wandering feelings. Time moved very fast. It didn’t allow me a little bit more time for the decision making.

- Mod Dhakal (Kathmandu)

Using transition period as a springboard

Transition period could be useful for any country if there were some visionary leaders who could manage the situation tactically and amicably. It is the time when all the latent ideas, motives, ideologies, biases, discriminations and the rest come to the surface. Everybody is loud during such period. It helps to alter or rewrite the modern history of the nation.

Take an example of Nepal, almost all the cultural, ethnic, social and professional groups have already articulated their demands and preferences. After years of suppression various ethnic groups have raised their voices. Various groups have used democratic methods to create the pressure on the government and society whereas some have taken the route of violence and arms.

This is the high time to recognize the individuals or groups that are working for the society or against. All the state mechanisms should be ready to assess the situation and act accordingly for such time could be a foundation for the creation of better society. The backward societies and people can use it as a springboard for their journey to the progress and prosperity.

But, alas! Not a single leader who could understand this is not seen around us. For a foreseeable future we are doomed to be in such situation. The same corrupt leaders will continue to rule over us. Democracy has become Shaw’s ‘Hot balloon’. We have no chance to go up because somebody has already booked the balloon for more than once in their lifetime.