Editorial»
And shining stars begin to flee, too
NOV 06 - STATE COLLEGE --
The fall is slowly giving way to winter. And all around the vicinity of the Great Lakes in North America, leaves are fast changing colours. The vast swathes of temperate forests are turning red, russet and yellow, adding beauty and brilliance to an aura characterised by azure sky and crisp air.
But the leaves are falling, too — no matter how beautiful they look. As that happens, people across the length and breadth of the Appalachians, the ancient mountains much younger to the Himalayas, are celebrating the fall, socialising and participating in several festivities.
On the night of last Friday 31 October, North Americans joined the vast majority of humanity in observing Halloween - a time when witches, devils, fairies and other imps of earth and air are believed to hold sway. They lit up their homeyards with lit pumpkins carved out to look like heads of goblins.
And small and big kids, wearing attractive - and bizarre - costumes, went “trick-or-treating” from door to door as the cheering house-owners handed out candies to them. To a greater extent, trick-and-treat could pass for our Deusi and Bhailo, which were celebrated in Nepal the previous weekend. As I stood with my friends on their candle-lit porch and watched the colourfully dressed kids carrying their sacks — being filled with candies - and chanting “trick-or-treat”, I took a quiet journey home:
There, I would be singing Deusi and Bhailo songs with my friends, my mom would be worshipping cow and Goddess Laxmi, my dad would be playing cards with his friends, my sisters would be working to put together garlands of makhamali flower, and little kids in the neighbourhood would be enjoying the swings.
But then this past Tihar must have been different in Kathmandu valley, to which I belong. Authorities were forced to ban late-evening programmes. So evenings must have been quieter, less musical and less festive - as if to mourn the deaths of 1,000-plus fellow Nepalis, who were killed in the past two months after the breakdown of the cease-fire.
Naturally, when two parties fight within a nation/state, there is bound to be casualties, there is bound to be bloodshed and there is bound to be endless sufferings. The civil war goes on and on yet neither side wins. The cycle of violence continues.
It takes a bitter turn, when more than two sides are involved in the conflict.
As the war rages on in the villages and in the towns, along with the soldiers and their families, ordinary folks pay a heavy price, the nation at large begins to incur heavy losses.
Near and dear ones of those killed in the conflict mourn, and democracy comes under attack. As the toll continues to shoot up, even journalists who are responsible for informing the masses, are attacked and the free-flow of information is curtailed.
When that happens, people begin to flee their homeland. Already, tens of thousands of villagers mainly from eastern and mid- and far-western parts of country have fled to India. Several thousands have left for East Asia, the Middle East, Europe and America to find better opportunities. Unfortunately, they also include celebrities like Prem Raja Mahat, the singer of “Hiun chulima hiun” who was described by an American journalist recently as the Bruce Springsteen of Nepal and who lives in Baltimore, Maryland, and Saroj Khanal, Nepal’s superstar-in-the-making until not just a few years ago who now lives in Washington D.C. area.
There are at least half-a-dozen others, too, who are scattered from coast to coast here and “missing being popular.”
The population of Nepalis in the United States is continually rising; it has been estimated at 60,000 now. That is sure to jump. And that is precisely the reason why members of 1974 A.D., an upcoming pop band from Nepal, travel back and forth to the U.S. and London from Kathmandu, to belt out songs like “Yo man ta mero Nepali ho,” and entertain the Nepalis abroad.
During this past Tihar, they were seen performing in Washington D.C., New York and Boston. Had the situation not deteriorated so much, maybe they wouldn’t have to travel this far so frequently, maybe they would have found their audiences in the towns and villages of Nepal.
But sooner or later, a negotiated settlement has to be found to end the eight-year-old conflict. The damaged infrastructures have to be rebuilt, the wounds of war have to be dressed and the nation has to be led toward the path of peace, development and prosperity.
For that the conflicting parties need to get their act together and do what it takes to restore peace. The sooner it happens, the better it is for Nepal and the Nepalis.
Meanwhile, communities in North America are preparing themselves for snowfall, Thanksgiving and Christmas - another winter of non-stop celebrations and partying.
(The author can be reached at <surendra_phuyal@hotmail.com>)Posted on: 2003-11-05 10:14
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