Bangalore, Balram Halwai and the Nepali Identity

Late December last year we were staying at a hotel in J.P. Nagar,Bangalore. We were three in number including one man and two women. So, on this particular evening before the day we were to leave for Delhi she wanted to have paan after dinner. There was a small ‘Paan Pasal’ just in-front of the hotel and when the shopkeeper handed her the ‘Paan’, she looked at it and said “Yesma ta kei chaina” (It doesn’t have anything). Then a person emerged from the other side of the stall told something to the Paan Pasale in a different language. The Pasale started adding ingredients in it, handed the pan back and she exclaimed “Oho feri kati dherai haldeko!” (He’s put too much of everything!) . The person emerging from the other side of the stall introduced himself as a Nepali. He was from Baitadi. It had only been 3 months in Bangalore and he was working at the hotel as a guard during the nights. ‘He’s also a Nepali’ he said pointing at another guard. “Maile chineko manche vanera dherai halde jasto cha!” he said explaining the extra ingredients in the Paan. And they talked for a while during which she said ‘She was from Baitadi’ too. It was such an interesting situation for me. Two people from both from Baitadi, a relatively underdeveloped district in the Far-West of Nepal, both in the same hotel, same place, beside the same Paan Pasal yet leading lives as different as Black and White. It could be the most simplistic explanation Nepal’s Gini Coeffient as well.

पुतलीको देह

नामकरण गर्ने शक्ति प्रायः पुरुषकै भएको हुँदा स्त्रीलाई ‘देवी’ वा ‘सहिद’ जस्ता विशेषणहरूले सोभित गर्नुपर्ने आवश्यकता परेको हुँदो हो

तर बुझ्नुपर्ने कुरो अर्काे पनि छ- दुईवटा अवस्थामा मात्र नारी ती पुरुषप्रदत्त शाब्दिक आभूषणहरूको लक्ष्य बन्छे । पहिलो, जब उसले पितृसत्तात्मक सोचको आन्तरीकरण गरेर पुरुषकै भाषामा बोल्न थाल्छे । उसकै अपेक्ष्ााअनुसार आफ्नो शरीरलाई मोटो-पातलो गराउँछे । आफ्नो विचारलाई ढाल्दै लान्छे । उसको इच्छाबाट चल्ने पुतली बन्छे । दोस्रो, जब पुरुषप्रधान समाजलाई उसको ‘विद्राेही’ स्वभावबाट कुनै खतरा हुँदैन ।

This is the excerpt from an article by Sanjeev Upreti titled ‘Putaliko Deha’ published in the Kantipur National Daily ( Jan 24, 2009) which compares the existence of women to that of Dolls and explains it by taking the example of the slain journalist Uma Singh. Read the complete article below.