Who's more??
The people in Basantapur and New Road have a reason to get angry. They are being deprived of what is needed to keep their "faith" alive. The culture that they have been celebrating since thousands of years is now challenged by radicals, who do not want to believe in anything called God.
A certain group is forgetting that Nepal is known to the international community by its rich culture. Otherwise, why would UNESCO keep our places under its 'heritage list'? Even we Nepalis ourselves, regardless of our caste and culture, proudly introduce our capital as 'city of temples' and our country as the birthplace of Lord Buddha.
A scene in front of RB Complex.
Why doesn't 'that group' keep this in mind and understand that trying to disregard somebody's faith could be extremely dangerous. And anyway, if they had all the money in the world to bring a hefty budget of Rs 236 billion, then it's a stupid idea to justify the 'fund reduction' for 'economical reasons'. I personally feel that their radical/revolutionary approach towards anything won't materialize until and unless they realize what 'sensitive issues' are!!
Sad but true--religious funds have been slashed.
6 comments:
Prerana ji,
I am fully agree with your idea and emotion for culture. I think "some group" aslo know all these (may be more than us) but want to eliminate this living culture heritage.
lets hope that one day they'll realize that what they want to impose is not good at all
Hmmm... though I'm primarily a smart ass and blog about wisecracks and things that make me laugh, I do happen to have a serious side that like to ponder on to serious issues. You see, my past time habit is to think myself bald!
Tara, what you say has a point: is it really just cost cutting or is there something behind it? Tara, try to think from other (that too radical point of view). The protesters, torching the tourist info counter and doing other acts of vandalism... do you really think they care about 'culture' and 'tradition' as the ones who cut the budget. What I think, no one has to buy my views, is that they were the ones were at loss after the budget got slashed.
They were just protesting the cut of their freebies and not yelling to save the tradition. It just happened that 'culture and tradition' got in the way!
Or that's what I would like to think. Radical? Hell yeah!
of course not.. in fact, i was one of the eye witnesses when the mob, that had no leader, hurled hundreds of stones at once into the RB Complex building, and i was also the witness to see how a glass was smashed of a shop; and i was right there when a rickshaw puller was forced to unload his passengers, and the tyres punctured....i can't tell you how helpless i felt at that time when that poor fellow was deprived of the fare, that he would otherwise be getting...and i also asked myself what had the other shop keepers done to the mob???
it's a sort of an unending debate about the mob attitude...i've faced such riots quite a few times when i had to run, feeling ashamed, embarrassed and guilty for valid and unvalid reasons, when i tried to rationale the irrationale....
well, now with a bit of experience, i must say that crowds are bound to be rowdy, like it or not...and on top of that, the mob without a leader will destroy whatever comes in their way, as no one has to answer no one
and yes you rightly said this time culture got in the way.....
i think what's more important is to prevent such mishaps and such vandalism...and all you can do is to be more cautious when deciding on serious and sensitive issues.
as for vandalism is concerned, it'll take maybe another century for Nepalis to understand that it's not the answer..
I liked your blog....very informative and radical....keep the spirit up...
Visit me at http://sikkim-historyhunter.blogspot.com
Regards
Rajen Upadhyay
Thanks:) I haven't been writing these days..guess, i need to revive it. You also have an excellent blog. Liked it.
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