Karnataka Calling-2: September 2015

Well, I would like to apologize for delaying to post the second part but finally here it goes :)

Moving from IISC to Mysore

After the conference, I had 2 more days at Karnataka and I was headstrong to visit Mysore aka Mysuru, the land of Mahisasura. It is about 140 kms away from Bangalore. I was already swayed by the legacy of Wadiyar dynasty and the flamboyant Mysore palace beforehand. Therefore, I sought some information with local volunteers, friends and concluded to go Mysore in a train. Early morning we rushed to SBC, Bangalore City Station in Majestic Street, this was my first journey via train and all I remembered was DDLJ and Chennai Express's train scenes when SRK gives hand to Kajol and Deepika respectively when they were late to get in the train.

 I silently smiled and wished for the similar scene to occur with me but a loud noise of the starting train shattered my dream and we jumped into a compartment. We sat wherever the seats were vacant and laughed at each other with a relief that finally we made it. There were very pretty women by our side and suddenly a very handsome lad came near our seat and we helped him to accommodate.

As I have mentioned earlier, I am a huge fanatics of south Indian movies, mainly Telugu movies and my favorite actor is Ram charan and the guy who was staying besides me was very similar to him. I was thanking God for at least sending someone like Ram charan if not Shah rukh ;) We all had a smooth journey in the train; shared our famous wai wai noodles and in return tasted a crunchy maddur wada (kind of pakoda), talked about cultures in both countries, they also enquired about the earthquake and our family which was very sweet of them. The ultimate spice of the trip was a gay dressed in saree as we see in lots of bollywood movies entered the train and asked for donation with all the men. Balkumar, my friend was quite scared and I felt like laughing at his cherubic face. For the first time ever, I felt happy to be a woman and seeing how males were being ragged publicly ;). We were so much enjoying the conversation and observing the people that it seemed the 3.30hr journey passed in a blink of an eye. Btw, Ramcharan like looking guy's name is Harsha and we have become good buddies already. Thanks to the Zuckerburg's creation!

Harsha,Balkumar n me ;)

As soon as we reached Mysore station, we were surrounded by some taxi drivers. After some minutes of discussion and bargaining, we hired one of them, his name was Ravi Chandra. I realized that he would be really happy when I called him Ravi Anna. So, he was our guide for a day and was responsible to help us in exploring Mysore. Our 3 main wish lists included:

                      1) Mysore Palace

                      2) Mysore Zoo and shopping if possible

                      3) Brindavan Garden with Musical fountains

Mysore is also regarded as City of Palaces and cultural epicenter of Karnataka. Mysore palace was the place I was craving to visit and as per my expectations, its charm never fails to enchant. Often termed as Pink palace was designed by English Architect, Henry Irwin was built in between 1897-1912. The three storied structure in the Indo-Saracenic style gleam with its beauty. A brief tour inside the palace took me to those times with its ornate domed ceiling, hanging paintings, glazing floors, jewel encrusted throne. It was completely enthralling experience. Likewise, Shwetha Varahswamy temple has further flourished its magnificence.

Mysore palace

After assuaging our eyes with the captivating palace, we rushed towards zoo. The city's proximity to famous wildlife sanctuaries and its own zoo make it a very popular attraction for the wildlife enthusiasts. I am usually against the zoo because I prefer seeing animals in the wild and free. I utterly disliked the way animals were kept in relatively narrower and smaller cages than they need. Many were abused and also indicating some abnormal behaviors. However, Mysore zoo has been famous for its well maintained and animal friendly compartments. We strolled around the zoo to encounter animals we had never seen before like giraffes, zebras, wolves and lions. The zoo was soo huge that I was completely exhausted. We had to rush out as our Ravi anna as he had apportioned 2 hours for zoo tour and then explore more of Mysore. All of sudden, I caught an eye of a hawker who was selling Gajra (Jasmine weaved hair accessory) which is quite famous in India and has important cultural value as well. I was looking for it and while waiting for rest of our friends I could buy it and pose with the flowers.

Mysore zoo

After that, we were taken to a government certified shop. The shop was famous of Mysore silk sarees and other traditional wears. Though they were expensive, I was lured to get some Saree and Kurta for my parents. I felt very accomplished with the gifts to my parents and then we headed towards Brindavan Garden. I did not know about the place but it was known for the colorful and dancing artificial water fountains besides Kaveri river. It was already dusky when we reached and it was so much crowdie.

 Nonetheless, we three crazy people made the hell of out it. It was already dark but we decided to go on a boat ride amid the beautiful colorful water fountains all over. It was such a mesmerizing experience. Then, as soon as we got off, we rushed to observe the main attraction i.e. dancing colorful water fountain. To my surprise, there was like thousands of people yelling out loud with their glow sticks which reminded me of having thousands of fireflies all over. The demonstration would be occurring every 10 minutes so we were waiting for the next one to come. Suddenly, there was this yodeling of Bollywood music and I was literally startled to see the water fountains dancing in the beats. Getting up higher and lower, red, green, pink and what not, it was a very entertaining showcase. The way they had used the water to be the source of attraction was quite impressive. It was getting late so ran like some crazy bunch of thugs. It was indeed a very serene feeling to be free like a bird.  It was a very short and sweet trip to Mysore which still leaves me in awe.

Mysore station

Next day, we rushed back to Bangalore and all we gotta do was shopping.Well, I would say it was a very intense day for me in terms of getting back, searching for place to stay and then get back to shopping. I am a very bad person to shop with but I had to.  We strolled around Gandhi nagar and later to majestic streets. It was a very busy day for the locals as well. The whole streets were full of hawkers and people, everyone was shopping, it somewhat resembled like a fair to me. You could get anything, anywhere J It was crazy as you even wouldn't have space to walk properly.  I was buying whole lots of things; dresses, cutlery, and much more. Bal Kumar was already getting pissed off as I was taking lots of time and buying lots of things. We had to get back to our Hotel but we were not sure about the exact location. As soon as we thought of getting back, there started a heavy downpour. After a lot of trying, we could get an auto. The problem was we didn't know the exact location. However, I did remember some of the landmarks nearby which helped us to locate our hotel Lavanya at the end. We were relieved that almost everything is sorted but then we were dog tired and starving. We even didn’t have time to stop and eat so we again went out nearby to get final south Indian dinner. 

Upma wid coconut sauce :) 

No matter how desperate we were to get back home, however there certainly was a strange feeling of sadness to leave this amazing place which embraced us soo dearly and bestowed  us with all the love and sweet memories to take along us back home. I am so much grateful to all the people I met, places I visited and myself ;) coz it all worked out soo well. I got back to all alone but this time I was more confident and happy :) Yay, Birdie gets back to her nest.

"It's good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end." Ernest 

Diary of a Bachelorette

Like always, my morning started with updates from the facebook world. After scrolling for a while, I turned down my laptop and yelled, ‘Mom, where is my tea?’ I realized she was busy in kitchen so went to get it myself. One of my aunts had come and they were busy in their own chitchats. She is a hilarious woman and often reminds me of Indian daily soaps’ typical mother choosing most eligible Bachelor for her daughter and left overs to any other girls in the family.

She is a more a posh version of typical aunties

I grinned with a Namaste and as expected she scanned me from head to toe first and turned towards my mom, ‘It’s high time for her to get married; the perfect age, time and condition. I will update the list and contact you soon.’I interfered in a polite tone, ‘Aunt, look at me. I am still quite young, just completed my Bachelors. I will do my masters first and then think of getting married.’She gave a disgusting look and asked suddenly, ‘Do you have a boy-friend?’I replied innocently, ‘No. I don’t!’ Then, she started to convince saying, 'What’s the problem? You need to get married now. It’s going to be late!’

The discussion was never ending. Later, I turned taciturn because it was pointless to discuss with her. Moreover, I don’t want to be rude to her. I had to lie to escape from her saying I have some assignments to complete.

She was busy talking with my parent explaining how hard it has become to find a good guy. And her famous 'funnel' theory was, the more a girl has higher degrees, lesser the chances of getting a guy according to her academic level. For instance, if a girl has finished masters then she would need a man of at least Masters degree and a man with Masters degree will obviously less in number than the boy with Bachelors degree. Forget about PhD, you will only find old men. Hence, Bachelors is the perfect qualification to get married. 

This has become my daily routine these days. Every day, I am showered with marriage proposals; He is engineer in US, he is a government job holder, he is this and that. Sometimes, my parents try to lure me and sometimes they signal as if I won’t have any boy left for me to get married if I reject all of them. I have been also accused of disheartening my relatives who are so much concerned to find a better match for me. Man can get woman of any age but woman’s life is quite delicate like a glass. I often hear my relatives saying me that woman’s life is always on an edge; a small mistake and everything is ruined. The most important thing is her character which is directly linked with virginity to offer for her mate. She has to be decent, demure, modest, benevolent, civil, home maker, conflict resolver if there exists any, submissive plus much more characteristics. 

Nowadays, there is much more pressure on women as they have to manage office as well as home unlike past days. Undoubtedly, girls have to go through more nagging; however, men also aren't devoid of such family pressure. Parents want their daughters to get married sooner-the-better to get rid of the responsibility. Daughters are usually regarded as the keepsake and need to be returned to their real owners. So, it's better to get rid of the burden as soon as possible. In addition, they are also insecure about losing their pride in the society; what if she elopes with a boy from lower caste, what if she becomes debauched. They are plunged into the quagmire of doubts and insecurities. But what about all those dreams I have, what about all those small happiness that I want to gift them in return? The smile that they had holding me for the first time in their hands, those standby fingers that didn't let me fall or held me when I was about to fall. All those knowledge, life-long lessons they instilled in me can't be washed away that easily. I have whole world to explore, to at least be independent enough to support me and my family. It would be unfair to pass me to somebody else all of sudden as if I am a toy you are tired of playing with and gifting it to somebody else. That toy has a life and she wants to live life on her own terms. I have much more to achieve before getting married and I can't let them choked to suffocate.

It is quite strange where one part of the world is celebrating its victory on same sex marriage, the other is still struggling to decide for oneself either to marry or not. We are still crippled by the age-old malady based on caste, class, gender etc. I wouldn't deny the fact that the situation has been ameliorated than it ever used to be but it's equally unjust to judge a woman for not having a man in her early twenties. Many of us would be more than happy to share what we have learnt, accomplished or been pursuing by now rather than complaining for being deprived of man in our lives.

I would plea to every family to at least give your children liberty to make choices for themselves, to explore the world, to stumble yet to rise on their own. If they don't want to marry doesn't mean they are having affairs or they have problems but they are pursuing their dreams and will settle later or do what makes them gleeful. In addition, I do have a strong hope that our society would perceive woman on the content of their character over sexuality.

2015 IN A GLANCE

Looking back to the year 2015, it was a complete package in terms of learning, travelling , surviving, meeting friends and their families, and also waiting ;) Here, I have tried to pin-point the major 5 things of 2015.

1) GRADUATION

4 years of stay at Institute of Forestry, Danphe Hostel came to an end. Those surely were the best days of my life ad I miss it badly.  I am so much grateful to all my batch mates, teachers plus my family to make it sooo memorable for me. I have been blessed to have lifelong friends and memories in those years we stayed together. All those crazy acts. dances, and fun we did in the hostel, traveling together far and wide, tiring field works are still fresh due to these beautiful souls. Wishing them all the best in their future endeavor.

B.Sc Forestry Batch 067-71

Convocation Ceremony in Dec

2.  FORESTACTION NEPAL

Stepped into professional career after studies. Had a very short yet sweet memories from the workplace. Every day was a new lesson :) Met some awesome colleagues aka sisters, frens and brothers :)

3. EARTHQUAKE & BLOCKADE 

Survived through the disastrous earthquake in April 25,2015. It surely makes this year quite memorable for me. It killed more than 9000 people and lakhs of houses have been destroyed. Meanwhile,I can't stop myself from thanking all those people and frens who continuously provided me with enough courage to face the trauma  and all those care and supports dat helped me bounce back :) 

In September govt promulgated the most awaited constitution, however, it has been a curse to Nepalese as it resulted the madhes uprising and Indian economic blockade. So, no cooking gas, fuels to cook, travel. Medicines have gone short and country's economic rate has doomed to 1% or say its in crisis already. Surviving through this anthropogenic catastrophe as well.

4. MORE TRAVELING
Despite adversities, 2015 has also been amazing in terms of travelling.

a)Explored Gosaikunda:Frozen Lake(4380 masl) few days before earthquake. 4 girls jumped into the trip making it lifelong memories. Hotsprings, rhododendron clad forests, wonderful locals, Yak cheese and lots of snow along with laughters!!!

b) Visited India and SriLanka
Attended Student Conference on Conservation Science 2015 in Bangalore and presented my research on vultures :) Met some wonderful researchers, scientists and experts. Explored Mysore, Bangalore:) tasted a bit of southern India.

Mysore Palace

Finally, I cud visit Srilanka in Dec :) through South Asian Youth Conference. Loved the beaches, srilankan culture and country as a whole. Galle face beach, Kandy, Sigiriya, Temple of Tooth Relic, Pinnawala, Mount Lavinia and much more.

5. MEETING AMAZING PEOPLE

2015 has been a year of friendship beyond borders. I have lifelong friends far and wide who keep on inspiring me and bestowing me with lots of love and care. I am soo much grateful to have them in my life. Plus, meeting old friends rejuvenates all those memories dat we once lived. Whatever the medium used, the invaluable friendship I earned will be very close to my heart for ever and ever. 

2015 has made me stronger, crazier and matured in many ways. I wish 2016 would embrace me with much more surprises, more learnings and travel diaries to share. Thanks everyone for making my year soo beautiful and I hope the new year will shower u all with happiness, and covetous success :)

Wishing for peace and friendship in the world :) Happy New Year 2016!!!

Travel diaries: Karnataka Calling!!!!! Part-1

Travel, it leaves you speechless then turns you into a storyteller. Travelling is a form of rebel and once the travel bug bites us, there is no any antidote.  To pacify my wanderlust, I have been travelling near and far (farthest is India) and trust me nothing gives you such immense happiness and vibes than being a vagabond does. 

Finally, I received most awaited break from my mundane life at the moment and this time, it's Bengaluru Calling!!! Early May, I got an email that my research on vultures is selected to be presented at Student Conference on Conservation Science 2015, Bengaluru. This was pretty exciting news for me amidst the tragedy of earthquake. I have been to India few times but with different purpose and this time I was presenting my work. I booked my flights, prepared my poster and the day arrived when I found myself wandering inside the Tribhuvan International Airport baffled with all the procedures that I needed to follow. 

I was thinking to myself, 'How can people tolerate all these complexities just to go outside the country?' However, I was also enjoying everything before boarding in the plane, I could see people rushing; some with happy faces and some sad, some confused and some anxious. Many youths were bidding farewell with their families either to study or work abroad. Awakened by a boarding call from the Air India, I hurriedly glimpsed over my elephant engraved watch ;) and rushed.

This was my first ever solo international flight; yah, I was quite nervous and happy. The plane takes off, all I could see was houses getting smaller, roads getting narrower, mountains getting closer and above the clouds. I had one hour transit in Delhi; I was thinking I could at least get out of the airport and have a glance of the capital city. 

But, as soon as I arrived at Delhi Airport, I was startled how enormous and dazzling it was, forget about getting out, I even didn't have time to stop for a while. It was completely a different world than I have ever seen. I sighed with relief when my flight departed towards Kempegowda International Airport and btw I loved the food provided during the flight, yum yum!! 

So, after about 2.30 hrs, I reached my destination Bangalore :) but I had to wait for my friends whose flight was 1 hour late than mine. As soon as I got out of the airport, fresh air blew away all my fatigue. I met some Nepali students there and helped me to contact my family in Nepal. There again, I could observe faces; some searching for their guests to come, some desperately waiting for their family. I could merely understand them.

Bengaluru is the capital of the capital of south western state Karnataka. It is one of the fastest developing states and also known as Silicon Valley of India. I have been always fascinated by South Indian unique and diverse culture. I am a huge fan of South Indian movies so it has helped me a lot to know about their culture and lifestyles. Kannada is the major language along with Telugu, Malayalam, Tamil, and Hindi etc. Hastily, I ran through the arrival board to confirm if my friends have arrived and finally, they did.

It was already getting late and Indian Institute of Science is quite far (as per the information), so we got into the shuttle from the airport. The bus was another thing that impressed me. The drivers and conductors in uniform, properly maintained seat for women, men and disabled people and lot more was so cool. I was imagining the busty bus in Kathmandu, angry driver, rude conductors. Chilling wet air pulled me back to Bangalore; wide lane roads along with greenery, managed transportation system, subways were quite new and amusing for me.

The digital screening in the bus mentioned that IISc was the next stop after 1 hr journey. It was raining heavily, we ran across the road in heavy traffic (it was crazy and stupid ;)) and finally reached Indian Institute of Science. The organizers had managed our accommodation in a Guest House of Indian Academy of Science, Jalahalli so we were asked to have our dinner in Prakuthi canteen before the shuttle arrives. The canteen was the social get together forum for us, many were the local students, some participants etc. I could hear the croaking frog inside my stomach so rushed to order; I was pretty excited about the food as I have heard a lot about south Indian delicacies. After a long crazy session with my group, we finally decided to order range of foods from North Indian mini meal to idli. I wanted to try south Indian mini meal but it was already over so had to limit myself in the paneer fried rice. The annas (brothers) in the canteen were really sweet and smiled at my broken Hinglish.

After the dinner and some interactions with other participants, we were taken to the IAS Guest house. I and my friend Anita got a room with an anonymous room partner who hadn't arrived yet. It was quite hectic day so we collapsed into the bed. In the midnight, we heard a knock on the door; first we were like staring at each other 1) Ghosts????? Nahh! 2) Men???? Hmmmm!!!! (We were used to such scenes in lot of  bollywood movies).

Slowly, we asked who it is then received an answer from a girl who happened to be our room partner from Srilanka, haha! We grinned with our lousy eyes and again fall asleep within a second. We were informed to get ready by 6.30am so we got ready quite early but again there was no presence of our room partner. I wasn’t wearing my spectacles last night, so even didn't remember her face.

Srini anna, the volunteer, was running here and there asking participants to hurry, yelling in the phone for some confusion. It was fun watching him. The shuttle took us to the main venue; JN Tata Auditorium Hall. It was a very lively spot with many participants from far and wide, volunteers announcements, dignified faces etc. The Student Conference on Conservation Science- bengaluru brings together young researchers in the science and biodiversity conservation.  The SCCS series in Cambridge, Australia, Bangalore, Beijing, New York and Hungary is the only international series of conservation conferences aimed entirely at students. 

As a sister conference to SCCS-Cambridge, SCCS Bengaluru focuses on attracting student participants, primarily from countries in South and South-east Asia and Africa. The 2015 conference was organized and hosted by Indian Institute of Science, National Centre for Biological Sciences, Foundation for Ecological Security, Asian Nature Conservation Foundation and Madras Crocodile bank Trust and held at the JN Tata Auditorium, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru from 8-11^th September 2015.

It included 6 plenary talks by eminent conservationists, diverse workshops, 20 student talks and around 80 poster presentations. The plenaries included both technical talks and practical facets of conservation from T.R. Shankar Raman, James D. Nicholas, Krushnamegh Kunte, Sudha Vasan, Kanchi Kohli, Uma Ramakrishnan and finally Former Indian Minister Jairam Ramesh shed light on climate change and COP 21 issues. 
There were six presenters from Nepal; I, Anita and Balkumar (my classmates), Hem dai along with his wife and two very talented and congenial brothers; Ganga ram dai and Tirth dai(as he pronounced to many focusing on the last letters J). It was a quite packed conference but we still got time to socialize and connect with many experts, students and researchers from far and wide. I was very happy to interact with IUCN vulture specialist, Chris Bowden and many other renowned scientists whose literatures and works I have been following. Likewise, the conference also provided a wonderful platform to share our knowledge and experiences with many students through student talks and poster presentation. I also received lots of suggestions along with appreciation from many people. In addition, I met amazing Srilankan, Indian, African, Australian, European friends who were also contributing a lot in the biodiversity conservation in many ways. So, overall it was not only an academic sharing but also socio-cultural flow along side. I loved the local food provided during the conference but my taste buds were reluctant towards coconut sauce.

Mariamma Temple

During the conference, I and my friends also visited some nearby attractions like Mariamma temple, ISKCON temple, Sankey Tank, Bangalore Palace. I was enthralled by the beauty and glory of the astonishing ancient monuments. We ran across these beautiful places via Auto-rickshaw which was another adventure. The drivers we met were quite friendly and gave us lots of tricks and tips to shop around. I was left in awe with the massive skyscrapers, shopping malls along with undeniably beautiful architectures around the city. 

Bangalore is a complete mosaic of scientific advancement and ancient enigma. I was startled by the beauty of Bangalore palace and ISKCON temple.Manu, our new friend from Karnataka itself, volunteered to guide us around these and we are so grateful for making us feel special. Along with encountering the historical master pieces, we played some pranks which made it more memorable (Anita, Balkumar and Manu can't disclose but m sure u guyz remember it).

Bangalore Palace

I have always tried to live my life to the fullest and when you have the good company then who on earth can stop us to make the best out of everything. Tired with the hectic sessions, we get back to hostel in quite dead form but on the last 2 days of the conference, we had a moving disco in the shuttle. One night, when they played some energetic dance numbers, my innate passion just exploded out and I initiated dancing in track lungi dance followed by many south Indian songs I had never heard. Many friends accompanied me simultaneously which transformed the entire environment.

On the final night, most of us came together in the hall, played the name game, danced, teased, and took lots of selfies. True is the saying,' A journey is best measured in friends, rather than miles.' We exchanged souvenirs, gifts, delicacies amongst each other and got connected in Facebook and watsapp. SCCS Bengaluru 2015 came to an end with lots of aspiration and hope in the days to come.

                                            P.S Part 2 is more fun!!! 

Multi-faceted Madhes!! My Pride!!

Nepal is geographically divided into 3 regions: Mountain(15%), Hilly (68%) and Terai(17%) of total land. Terai comprises 50.27% of the total population of the country.

Belonging to Inner terai, I share a deep intimacy, affection and regards to all my Madhesi brother and sisters. I have a very complicated origin; Born in Sindhuli(Inner Terai), raised in Kathmandu(mid hill) and still look like Gurungs( as many think I am cross bred lol from Mountains). Most of my families and relatives live in Janakpur, Sarlahi, Biratnagar, Sindhuli of course, similarly in mid hills and I love traveling to mountains. I acquire the essence of all three regions in me. However at times, I felt the identity crisis. Where do I actually belong? And I console myself saying I am first a Nepali and all these traits  make me unique. I have been to almost 50 districts of Nepal, traversed all across southern plains. Danabari in the east to Mahendranagar in the west, have embraced me whole heartedly and I do feel the same about them. I equally enjoyed the salty tea with Sherpa ladies in the north and meetha paan with my bhaiyas in the south. I was instantly a part of their families, their daughter and sister. Then, I never felt the identity crisis; It's utterly impossible to limit myself into one region or group saying Pahadiya and many opine the same. I have this privilege of taking any form and avataar as I like but the important feeling that holds us is being Nepali as a whole. Either you are tharu, madhesi, pahadiya, kirat, magrat, himali or any other unique ethnic group, first and foremost you are Nepali.But today, dirty politics have blindfolded many people. Brothers are fighting in the name of castes and ethnicity and with these we have again turned back to the plight before Prithvi narayan Shah united all these different pearls into one.

Madhes, as I know is completely different from what I am seeing now. And there are far more critical issues that need attention than just these political agendas. I can see ourselves turning into scapegoat for the sake of these bloodsucking traitors who give damn about the citizens and their welfare. I don't know why we have to support such leeches ever? It's not the time to blame each other, it's the time to envisioning a better Nepal, rising from the rubbles!!!

Well, I am already frustrated talking about this so I am sharing some pics that were taken during my field visit in Madhesh :)

Mustard fields at Chitwan and Nawalparasi

Planting paddy at Sunsari&Mangoes sold at Lahan

Terai is regarded as the breadbasket of the country. The southern plain produces most of the food and fruits, supplying to whole nation and exporting surplus quantity. Discrimination is everywhere but it depends on us how to change our mentality first rather than fighting amongst each other. Trust me, I was quite surprised when my friends from madhes told me they rarely buy rice, lentils and vegetable oil as these are produced in their own lands. I wished to buy land on terai someday, and I still do!!

A beautiful woman  at Koshi Barrage

I met her during my field work in Koshi Tappu.  She was so much hardworking woman busy serving customers however she was sooo cheerful. I think  it's the asset of Nepalese. " Smiling even in the adversity"

Inquisitive & Innocent kids at Sunsari

Hardworking people in Eastern Terai

They are the ones who have to tolerate extreme scorching sun as well as spine freezing cold. They struggle all their lives for their livelihood. They are the worst hit of this so-called strike. How can we ensure happiness, rights and well-being affecting these people's lives while the rest  who are meant to be fighting for them are enjoying the delicacies served by the neighbors! 

Terai is still facing the wrath of  various social problems; domestic violence, illiteracy, lack of sanitation and much more. Women face lots and lots of problems; accusing them as witches, torturing them for dowry, child-marriage are still crippling in terai. We surely need to focus on education to reduce this gap and make them independent. Sanitation is the another pressing issue that needs urgent attention. Poor feeding habits, polluted ponds in the locality, lack of cleanliness is risking many lives.

Marching towards education

All these can only be solved only if we are educated. Hence, govt must ensure sound education system and policies in the country specially in Madhes to cope very serious issues. A single educated woman at home, educates the whole family. So, better focus and invest on Sikshit Beti (educated daughter) than collecting dowry for her marriage.

Buffaloes n kids

Kids in Madhesh share very cordial relation with the animals. Actually, they don't need toys to play with. They go swimming in nearby ponds with the buffaloes and hence animals play important role in their social as well as economic aspect. In addition, bullock-cart is a very common mode of transportation as well. 

Mothers: First teacher in our lives




An emerging Engineer

Hatiya bazaar: the traditional communal market where local products are sold in specific days within the community

Beautiful faces

 Terai harbours most of the nation's biodiversity hotspots. Tigers, Asian elephants, wild water buffaloes, one horned rhinoceros, leopards and much more make this region super special. They are rich in natural as well as cultural resources contributing alot in the tourism industry of Nepal.

Arna at koshi Tappu & Rhino at Chitwan

Scenic beauties at Chitwan and Janakpur Temple 

Terai has been an epitome of unity in diversity, happily staying together since ages. Children are the hope of a developing nation. They need to be well educated in a favorable environment so that they can contribute in regional as well as overall development of the nation.

While the whole country is suffering at the moment, madhes has been drenched in blood. Many have been expressing their views as pahades and rest discriminate the terai but I wud like to ask a question, just becoz a son get angry with his father at times, it doesn't mean they don't love each other. Terai is the father  feeding the whole nation and how come we discriminate our own father. Madhes is a part of us. We are a complete nation with dignified mountains in the north, beautiful midhills and then fertile south.  Please end the ongoing violence and work collectively towards prosperous and peaceful Terai. Nothing can disrupt the bonding we have until and unless we think rationally. Lets not be the puppets of so called politicians who are just fooling us to fulfill their selfish motives. 

                   

                                          TOGETHER WE RISE; DIVIDED WE FALL

                                                                                            JAY NEPAL!!

PS. Thank you Adarsha dai and Manoj for providing some of the pictures :)