INTO THE WILD-2

Jungle owlet hoots early in the dawn

And drags me out of my dream

Unwillingly, I molt from the sleeping bag

‘Let’s go commandos’ I hear a call

He’s none other than our Raju dai!

Around the fire, we gather

Rapid fire round ticks in the clock

Heart beats as if it’s gonna explode now

Everyone looks pale as if they are sentenced to hell.

With the arms and ammunitions (C’mon not for the war)

Including binoculars, books, note books, pen and camera

Along the transects we march ahead into the wild.

Oh, that’s black kite points one

No, that’s Osprey yells another

‘sssh, this is a jungle not a fish market’

We start whispering.

Few steps ahead, we fit our camera traps

Hoping to capture all the animals

When it comes to perform walk test

I am always a Rhino!

 

We hear a strange noise behind the bushes

Wow, there’s a rhino enjoying his meal

Hiding behind the trees, we try to have a glance

And enjoy the scene.

Following the pugmarks, scats and pellets

We run across the river, forest, grasslands

Every day is a new learning

And a new experience!

Unloading ourselves around the fire

And howling like jackals

Having fun with no limitations

Followed by some important lessons.

Power-points, paper-works and all the hard tasks

Inspiring movies and wonderful documentaries

were just amazing

(With the background music of snores was always well collaborated)

Birds to cats and pugmarks to scats

Butterflies to snakes and frogs to crocs

We kept on following but sometimes it sucks!

No matter how far we walked

No matter how hard we worked

All the memories that we spent together

are fresh like the scats in the bank of Narayani.

With the aspirations to become

Wildlife biologists, birdist or

Experts of herpeto-fauna and butterflies in the days to come

We march ahead into the wild!!

THE LOST WARRIOR

The mighty canines that smeared many preys are now blunt

The tusks that clashed in great battles are just show cases

The growls of bear that was once so loud has turned mute

The birds have stopped singing and monkeys have stopped climbing

The rhinos and hippos have no works except sleeping and basking.

Isn’t it pathetic?

And no more wild as the wilderness is gone

Have turned to living specimens with nothing own

Compelled to live behind the bars

And hear the human’s noise and tease.

The legendary is dead and gone.

“Oh dear human, please leave me free!

Let me spread my wings and fly in the sky

Let me run far and wide

Let me sing the songs I like

Let me live my own life”

Is what I read through their eyes!

LEFT ALONE

Flipping through the pages of my torned diary
every words, letters, sentences are so fresh like the smell of the wet soil
Alas! Is this me?
'We'll never be apart'- is what u said
I smiled back.
'I can't imagine my life without you,' is what i replied.
Now, here I am, we are apart and I am still living!
U used to say  ' u'll never leave me'
Now, I am left alone to freeze

I was begging u, crying over u
but my voice turned mute to u
U no longer feel me
Strangers, what we have become.

I was shattered, trampled
by the disaster that fell upon me
I yelled, cried, punished myself the way i can
with the bruises all around
I was aghast at the pool of sheer emptiness

Struggling everyday to overcome the agony
I do numerous silly acts
but again, at the end of the day
I am haunted by your image
ur presence hallucinates me
but u slipped through my finger tips
and i couldn't hold you tight

Crippled by the malady u gifted me
i am learning to  live everyday
once the soulmates ,now stand aloof
Fairy tales no longer exists, is what i learned


Together we shall remain, we had vowed
Gone with the wind, washed with the rain
Now here I am left alone
with all my Loneliness!!

Where the mind is without Fear

WHERE the mind is without fear and the head is held high

Where knowledge is free

Where the world has not been broken up into fragments

By narrow domestic walls

Where words come out from the depth of truth

Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection

Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way

Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit

Where the mind is led forward by thee

Into ever-widening thought and action

Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.

-Rabindranath Tagore

 One of my favorite poems, which  has always inspired me to rise above the narrow lines that my dear brothers and sisters have created in the name of borders. The poem has always inspired me to learn more and more, which gives me an immense pleasure. UN Declaration of human rights has mentioned in Article 26 “Every one has right to education” But still, why many children are compelled to stay far away from the beam of education? This is what Malala Yousafza; a gallant, creative, beautiful, talented 14 year Pakistani girl is fighting against.

Malala Yousafzai, born on 1998, is from the town of Mingora in Swat District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and northwestern Pakistan. She is known for her education and women’s rights activism in the Swat Valley, where the Tehrik-i-Taliban regime had banned girls from attending school in early 2009. During that period, at the age of 11, Yousafzai came to prominence through a blog she wrote for the BBC detailing her life under the Taliban regime, their attempts to take control of the valley, and her views on promoting education for girls. Later that year, the Pakistani military intervened, culminating in the expulsion of the Taliban from the Swat Valley. Yousafzai has since been nominated for several awards, and has won Pakistan's first National Peace Prize.

On 9 October 2012, Yousafzai was shot in the head and neck in an assassination attempt by a Taliban gunman while returning home on a school bus. She remains unconscious but her conditions are improving.

Malala Yousafza, who dreamt a country where "education would prevail", has reminded me of a young Jewish girl, Anne Frank, whose diary had created similar sensations worldwide. All those hardships she had to undergo hiding in her Secret Annexe always inspire me not to give up. Although Anne had a tragic end, our star Gul Makai (her pen name in the diary) is yet to rise. The way she has been advocating about women’s rights in such a young age, we can surely predict she can compensate the loss of Benejir Bhutto.

The thing that I really hate is the way people still think in the 21st century. We still belong to the society where girls are regarded as nothing. We are still crippled by the age-old dead practices that regard woman as a commodity; the material created to satisfy MEN. She needs no rights, education or an independent life who is a slave to man since her birth till she reaches the tomb. She has to be always cautious, the way she walks, the way she speaks, the way she eats, the way she dresses up, the way she laughs…each and everything. She is always being watched.

What a pity! 

The biggest fear women have is the fear of losing her purity or virginity. We have been taught to be pure no matter what and the purity is about the vagina; keeping it safe. And if she couldn’t preserve it, she would be sentenced to death or banished from a society. And what about men, don’t they need to be pure?  To explain this I would like to give a wonderful example: Most of us love animals, specially the tigers. The territory of a male tiger ranges 40-45 kms which includes at least 2 female tigers. What I meant by this information is that men who are brave, strong should have as many women as possible.

One needs to be safe from the enemy while   the other has to possess her for his superiority complex. So, isn’t it a prey-predator paradox? 

I hear girls getting called sluts, bitch and see implied disapproval of girls who have “too many” boyfriends. I haven’t heard any of this negativity around guys having countless girlfriends. And isn’t it ironic when thrice divorced, morally ambiguous man try to hold a girl on his standards of morality? But, this is what happens every day in our societies. In Egypt, almost over 80% of women are sexually harassed on a daily basis.

A recent government survey found that 47 percent of all Nepalese women report being the victims of either physical, emotional, sexual or economic violence. But 84 percent of those who are victims of domestic violence remain silent. The situation is dire.

As Jessica Valenti said-

“the hope I have for women: that we can start to see ourselves-and encourage men to see us-as more than just the sum of our sexual parts: not as virgins or whores, as mothers or girlfriends, or as existing only in relation to men, but as people with independent desires, hopes and abilities.”

‘The division of the sexes is a biological fact, not an event in a human history. We might evidently ask ourselves" whether bald and hairy men had the same or opposite natures; and agreeing that they have opposite natures, might forbid hairy men to be shoemakers if bald men are, or forbid bald men if hairy men are." The crux: IF we find either the male or the female sex excelling the other in any art or other pursuit, then we shall say that this particular pursuit must be assigned to one and not to another. Hence, men and women's differences are the result of nature or learning’- Simone de Beauvoir, ‘division of labor must be made by aptitude and ability, not by sex; if a woman shows her skills.’

I am not against men and their behavior. I am against our orthodox patriarchal programming that has manacled our minds. The problem is not men; they were never a problem but a sub-ordinate. We are born with this malady of the spirit inherited from our orthodox norms and values. We have confined ourselves within the Plato's cave of shadows. As the saying goes, ‘Diamond cuts diamond’ women themselves are the enemy of each other, especially in the Nepalese society. We are busy back-biting, pulling one’s leg, quarreling almost till we survive. It’s our own mother who abandons us to touch our father, brother during our periods; it’s our own mother-in-laws who burn us alive for the sake of dowry. The list goes on. And on top of it, wicked men continue to exploit our vulnerabilities. We need to go beyond the boundaries that we have made for ourselves.

Just remember, that you have the ability to end things that you don't like and to say something isn't okay when it isn't okay. You have the power to insist on good and real things for yourself. You always have the choice to walk away when you are not being treated with respect and most of all you have the right to make adjustments regarding anything and everything to your life. Life is the sum of all YOUR choices.

So, let’s join our hands in front of the Almighty, for the faster recovery of our Malala and vow that no any girl will be devoid of the brightness of the education because our society needs both productive men as well as women. True is the saying ,’If a woman in a family is educated, the whole family will be educated.’ WE RISE!!

Lost in the darkness

Night is in its height
the room is brutally dark and silent.
But still she can hear a loud noise,screeching and howling
she runs here and there,
her dresses are torn almost everywhere, hair seems uncombed for months

she looks pitiful, starving with hunger, trembling with the cold
Suddenly, he breaks huge laughter
 the sound echoes the whole room
again, she starts crying madly.

She is tied with chains like a dog
high dosed medicines have tranquilized her
she no longer cries, shouts or laughs.
she is lost in the darkness.

FOR YOUTHS OF TODAY

In words of James” Youth is the joy, the little bird that has broken out of the eggs and is eagerly waiting to spread out its wings in the open sky of freedom and hope.”

Every day, I wake up with a new hope that this day is going to be special .With the same hope, I got up, when I removed my curtain, the twinkling rays of sun delights me and a cool breeze whispers me something “It’s your day”, I immediately flipped through the calendar, of course it’s my day, your day, it’s “International Youth Day”
Then, who is a youth?
According to Wikipedia, Youth is the time of life between childhood and adulthood (maturity), the age of discoveries and dreams.
Youth is the carrier of change; either it is big changes like the revolution or the small changes like change in the life-style. Youths are the ones who have got the zeal, passion, energy, power to create as well as destroy anything. They undertake the task of changing the face of the society. Conclusively, we can say that youth is the vanguard of change and progress. Youth is considered to be the spring of life, where the world is full of happiness, excitements, adventures, fun. This is the time when the word ‘impossible’ doesn’t seem to be engraved in the dictionary. We aspire to grow, fly and achieve whatever we wish for. This is the reason why many people who have passed this stage envy youth and wish to get it back (I remember my favorite poem Lamentation of a Old Pensioner by W.B Yeats).
I took my breakfast and hurried towards my university. On the way, I see few guys residing near the tea-shop, enjoying cigarettes as well as teasing if any girl passes by. This is the normal scenario today as you can experience it in every nook and corner of our society.
I was already late to my class so I rushed. Lecturer was delivering lectures from the age-old notes which seem to have been excavated along with the treasures. I looked around; few couples were getting intimate, some throwing papers to each other and some busy in some other things. Except few first benchers, no one seems to be learning. Besides that, my few friends had bunked the class as it was too boring.
After class, I went library as I had some books to return, suddenly I met one of my seniors. He was busy doing GRE, SAT classes. He was not alone, many students dream going overseas for a beautiful future as it is believed that opportunities are perpetual there.

I had to submit assignment so I was searching my professor but he was absent. Later, I came to know that few students smeared black soot on his face because he was against their deed which was unknown. Few student leaders were chanting slogans against him. They seem to be very proud of their deed and were boasting. I thought, gone are the days when teachers were regarded as Gods, and now opposite seems to be relevant.
After the hectic schedule, I returned home. My brother and sister, both were busy in their facebook updates while father and mother were watching television. I also joined them. The news included political unrest, lengthening constitution-writing period, violence, murders, kidnaps, bombings, accidents. I was tired with all those sorts of news every day. So, I requested father to change the channel and play some daily soaps but he denied and rebuked saying I don’t have any feeling of nationalism. I didn’t say anything and got ready for meal.
Then, I sat on my study table to summarize my day and note in my diary. Today was the International Youth Day but how was it special for me?
I saw the youths of today. I saw the youths who are unaware of what’s going on around, who seem to enjoy being addicted to drug and sex. I saw the youths who are creating problems to others. I saw youths who hate own country and running behind some other. I saw youths who love to vandalize own property. I saw youths who don’t know the importance of education. I saw youth of today who just wish for the American life-style without any effort just like the magic wand was rotated over Cinderella. They give damn about national development and busy complaining all the time. This is not good, that is wrong. They did this. They are the culprits. We just blame others but we forget to look ourselves. Another problem is indifferent attitude towards things, situation and politics .The new cool formula of “let the things be “is proving fatal to Nepal’s development.
W. Somerset Maugham once said- ‘ It is an illusion that youth is happy, an illusion of those who have lost it; but the young know they are wretched for they are full of the truth less ideal which have been instilled into them, and each time they come in contact with the real, they are bruised and wounded.’
It seems youth is just like a castle of cards which seems beautiful to look but even a single stroke of wind can shatter it into pieces. We are hollow and by the time we gain wisdom we no longer have the energy to act upon. Don’t we have any responsibility towards our family, society and nation as a whole?
Nepal is a small yet beautiful country which has earned fame all across the globe due to its richness in the natural beauty, cultural diversity and many other significant factors. Brave Gurkhas to strong Sherpas. I must say God must have created Nepal in leisure and One life is surely not enough to visit every aspect of this wonderful nation. But due to the political unrest, strikes, violences all the time, we are disseminating negative impression in the world.
Nepal today is essentially a country of the youth, who are crippled by the dwindling situation of country, frustrated with the political process and worried about the lack of economic opportunities
When I ponder upon the historical background, go through the revolutionary phase, I find that Youth have played a pivotal role. Remember those massive youth-dominated pro-democracy demonstrations in April 2006?
As Hellen Keller had once said, ‘It is not possible for civilization to flow backwards while there is youth in the world. Youth may be headstrong, but it will advance it allotted length.’
When so many wise and intelligent people envy youth, then does it suit us to be mute spectators? Of course not. I do agree that we have lots of problems
I do agree that we have corrupt leaders
I do agree that we lack opportunities
I do agree that we are immature
I do agree that we are aggressive
I do agree that we are impatient
I do agree that we lack experiences
I do agree that we have turned into puppets of the politicians
I do agree that we have many lacking
But can this be an only excuse to withdraw and remain with hand crossed?
I refuse to believe that we can’t make a difference.
I refuse to believe that we can’t create history
I refuse to believe that we can’t dare to change
I refuse to believe that we lack potentialities
I refuse to believe that we have to wait getting old to be wise
I refuse to believe that we can’t dream of a stable nation.




My father had said me, ‘Be the change you wish to see in the world’.
The youth hopes for a world free of poverty, unemployment, inequality and exploitation of man by man. A world free of discrimination on the grounds of race, colour, language and gender. A world full of creative challenges and opportunities to conquer them.

The problem is we like to follow and we fear to lead .We don’t need big sacrifices; what we need to do is make an Initiation, start a movement against ourselves, our indifference, our carelessness. If we wait until all is perfect to move, we will never move ahead.

We are full of vibrant ideas, passion,compassion,desire,skills,and talents to make a new beginning, to convert our hopes into reality.

True is the saying-“Here is a fountain of youth: it is your mind, your talents, the creativity you bring to your life and the lives of people you love. When you learn to tap this source, you will truly have defeated age.” The full utilization of the talents of the Youth, Nepal will become a complete Nation

Hence, I intent and choose to keep growing, learning, experiencing and expanding in power, wisdom and service in the way that is most fun and an inspiration to all. I am not different but I act differently. I am the dream you dreamt. I am a wish you prayed. Who am I? I am the Youth of today!!

INTO THE WILD………..

Outside the classroom into the outdoors

Away the chaos towards the warm couch of nature

I set up my journey with my tiny luggage

Wherever my GPS n clinometers leads me

But does it work every time? Hehe, nope

Plain to den, gorge to ridge, high to low

Ups n downs we kept on marching

Into the wild……….

Enemies all around, creating obstacles

Curly leech to treachery thorns

Swallowing marshy lands to scorching sun

Shattering rains to attacking ants

But we kept on marching

Into the wild……



Crossing the rivers, holding the trees

Walking for hours n enjoying the breeze

What a happiness; all the pains got seized
.
Every new turn awaits the surprise

I try to catch n it always rises.

Still we kept on marching

Into the wild….



Breath-taking scenes to heart touching views

I was lost in the mist without any clues

A hand to hold n smile to calm

all the pains n the wounds that got engraved.

And we kept on marching

Into the wild…..



Rabbits, monkeys, goats to dove

Invaluable smiles and all the pure love

The gifts I grabbed from all those cliffs

And the never ending journey

with hardships and toils

Still we kept on marching

Into the wild…..



Fighting without reason n smiling all the while,

Singing all the dohoris n playing in the rain

Revealing the secrets n spreading all those gossips

Laughing at each other and posing all the time

Dancing with the tunes n complaining all the time

Stealing from the vines n slipping in the pines

But no worries, I am quite fine…

So, we kept on marching

Into the wild….



Wonderful company and strong support

Sweet Tit-bits and all those nokh-jokh

Were proven to be the colours of my life

A reason to add smiles on my face

And an inspiration to continue the never-ending race

So, thank you everyone for making it larger and really special

I promise that I will keep on marching

Into the wild…….