A Critical Review of "Clouds"
Michael Frayn (born 8 September 1933) is an English playwright and novelist. He is best known as the author of the farce Noises Off and the dramas Copenhagen and Democracy. His novels, such as Towards the End of the Morning, Headlong and Spies, have also been critical and commercial successes, making him one of the handful of writers in the English language to succeed in both drama and prose fiction. His works often raise philosophical questions in a humorous context. Frayn's wife is Claire Tomalin, the biographer and literary journalist.
Clouds was first presented at the Hampstead Theatre Club, London 16 August 1976.
The Stage
Michael Frayn has done some experiments with the technical aspects. As compared to other plays that we have read, this play consists of more sophisticated production clues. For example, he has given lighting cues direction which plays vital role in contemporary performance theatre. There are certain scenes which can be supplemented with audio-visual equipments.
The stage consists mainly of empty blue sky. The stage offers a simple arrangement of slightly different levels. The only properties used in the stage are six chairs, a table and a fan.
“The lights go up on the foreground”.
“The lights go down on the foreground”. These are the main lighting cues that appear on the opening and the ending of the scenes.
He gives practical suggestions like “cast rearrange the chairs for the next scene, and remove the table and electric fan”. (act 1 scene 1 pg 12)
This makes the readers feel that they are really watching the performance. Because these are the practical things that we see in the performance.
However he hasn’t said anything about the background. He hasn’t said how an empty blue sky works as a room.
The first scene itself is contradictory. The stage cannot be a literal empty blue sky. Because in empty blue sky, there will be no function of light. This dichotomy of light and sky is what makes the stage regulation difficult.
So the empty blue sky should be an artificial one so that lights can come into use, or the office scene can be performed.
He has given some technical directions like “silhouetted against the sky, cast rearrange the chairs for the next scene” (act 1 scene 1 pg 12).We can make a silhouette only by the use of lights. In this case, the sky can be prepared of a flex, of a painted ply board.
Or, a projector should be brought into use. The ready made shots of photographs can also be used as a backdrop.
“the back row is placed on a slightly higher level to make it visible” (act 1 scene 2 pg 12). This means that the car’s front is directed towards the audience. So, the director has full flexibility to use the backdrop in the way he wants.
A projector can be best used in some scenes. Like in (act 1 scene 2 pg 14), the direction says, “They all turn to catch a glimpse of something else already disappearing behind them by the roadside”. This can be shown by the already visualized footage. Something disappearing can be shown by shooting footages of a road by shooting from back of the car. This will obviously create an effect that the chair-made car they are driving in looks better.
The best point in using a projector is that the backdrop can be shown by just a technical switching on off. This will be controlled from the control room. If the play is performed in India, there will definitely be control rooms. Use of physical backdrops like ply board or banner will be an extra load for the cast.
In every alternative scene, there is the sky. And the static sky will be of no use because the color of the sky should keep changing.
There are other scenes where the use of light is very important. In (act 1 scene 2 pg 16) the sky fills with fleets of slow moving burnished sub-tropical cumulus.
I don’t know how in 1977 they showed the slow moving burnished sub-tropical cumulus, because theater then was not as sophisticated as it is now. If I were to work for the technical part of the theater now, I would definitely do the projection. This is the best way I know. Now a days, even Indian theatres are technically equipped, so that should not be a problem. However, this method cannot be used in the Arts and Aesthetics auditorium in JNU where the property is four walls.
Scene 4
He has not said anything how the sky is made up. He just says about the lighting effects. This means that the director has the liberty of creating the sky of his own choice whereas it simultaneously questions on the dexterity of the playwright in writing about lighting.
Lighting
He has given a complicated situation for lighting by creating dichotomous scenes which should be shown in the same stage. On the one hand, he has created the outdoor scene of a sky which requires high intensity lighting whereas on the other hand the scene should be followed by an indoor scene which requires a low intensity lighting. The transition of the lighting between two scenes is not as easy as he has written in the stage direction. The convergence of the both is not possible except when we use the backdrop of a ply board with the painting of a sky on it, or better even, a projector showing stock footages of the real sky. This will help in the projection of the real effects. Playing with the technology is the only option that the playwright has left for the director by creating situations which is otherwise the job of the light man.
The role of lighting in the theme of the play.
Separate pools of lights given to each individual plays very important role in indicating that each individual is engaged in his or her private thoughts. It is basically done when they write reports after the day’s visit. It means that even though the characters are visiting places together, they have different opinions about Cuba.
Frayn has shown his competence in lighting in (act 2 scene 7). In this scene, there is a distant thunder. With every click, a light glows. Light follows people. A rumble of thunder. Black out. Thunder. Lights come again. Power failure.
Total black out.
The concomitant play of light and music intensifies the climax of the play.
The whole scene 7 of act two happens in lighting effect.
Here, lighting plays a vital role in the theme of the play.
The lighting of Act II scene 7 is similar to the lighting of act 3 of Harold Pinter’s play The Birthday Party. Just as in that act of The Birthday Party, in this play too, actions happen in darkness and they are shown as tableau in in intermittent lightnings. Although lighting is an independent genre in performance theater, and the playwright’s lighting direction is insufficient, and sometimes creates problem in practical aspects of performance, Michael Frayn has dexterously handled the lighting effect in this scene.
Music.
Audio of cars passing, or the continuous roar of the engine can be played so as to create a natural effect. Use of audio is also essential for the effect of tropical birds’ singing.
Characters
Owen
He wants to prove Mara an inferior.
Many times he uses derogatory words like “distinguished lady novelist”, “fellow country woman” to criticise her.
Owen is a chatu. He has a peculiar style of picking up the vocabulary used by fellow characters and using it to ridicule them. Like when asking about Ed’s affair with the club girl, he asks :
How did your night’s shovelling go, by the way?
He derived the word shovel from Hilberto’s shovel, and used here as a metaphor for Ed’s genital.
And in (act II scene 2 pg 61) he uses Ed’s words to criticise Ed, Angel and Cuba in general.
Owen: We think this country is the greatest place on earth, dont we?
Owen is too critical of Mara’s capability as a journalist. Saying that the kind of job they are doing in Cuba is not to be done without preparation, he asserts that Mara should start with local newspaper covering funerals. He likes professional expertise which he does not see in Mara. ( act 1 scene ... pg. ...)
Owen is an experienced person in the field of journalism. At least he sounds to be, because he talks about the modes and techniques of reporting. He is of the notion that journalism is the cup of tea for people who have courage. place for reporters like Mara to report, because Cuba is a an sensitive Communist country. It’s for sure that journalism needs courage as well as expertise. The information that you give to the audience must have accuracy. You need to be 100% correct.
(Pg 42)
Owen is professional. Along with his notion of professionalism, he has brought with him the general attitude of the British newspapers that send their reporters in the fact-finding mission in countries that are regarded to be in problem.
He hates the way Mara asks Angel about his personal background. It is because of two reasons- first, that journalists are not expected to inquire about a person’s personal life, and second, that he is jealous of the growing intimacy between Mara and Angel. When he sees Angel and Mara clutching hands, he says : Oh, shit! (act 1 scene 8. pg 43)
He talks many times about moral qualities. He says “It’s so unprofessional. If there is one moral quality in life I do actually care about, it’s professionalism.”
But all his high sounding notions of professionalism vanish because of his sexual involvement with his rival. He has distracted himself from his profession. Rather than writing stories on people’s views, he involves himself in romantic conversation with Mara.
He is not just concerned of professionalism but also of the general impression that the British press would leave in Cuba because of the childish behaviors of Mara.
Owen has completely lost his way. He came to get people’s impression, but ends up listening to Mara’s impression.
Owen wants laugh at the idea of New Cuba that is said to have come into being with the emergence of Fidel Castro as the prime minister.
This reminds me of an old man who said in a vox pop in a Nepali television. While asked what he thought about New Nepal, he had said: New Nepal is all about price hike and more Nepal Bandh.
Mara
Mara is an inexperienced journalist. When Ed goes out after dividing work for Owen and Mara in his own way, she says:
Mara: He seems quite helpful.
Owen: They are all helpful.
Mara: Isn’t he American?
Owen: They all are American.
Mara is a woman who is suitable for being a perfect housewife. Even while she is abroad, she misses her home- children, cats, Mrs. Sparrow, table, old sofa, books, coffee cups, etc. ( act 1 scene 5, pg 30).
You never know what happens to Mara suddenly. Sometimes she sobs. And after sometimes she suddenly laughs, cracks jokes and makes fun of people. And, when she is happy, she totally forgets her profession and her mission in Cuba.
Mara is childish. When she finds that Hilberto gets gifts from friends, she says:
mara: soon Hilberto will be a rich man.
And for that, Angel says:
Angel: I think tomorrow he must start again with one cigar.
Sometimes she wants to be serious. When she does so, she seems even more funny. She says:
Mara: I shan’t laugh, Angel. I haven’t come here to laugh.”
When a frog touches her leg, she screams.
Here, the playwright has tried to give is a fictional taste by using suspense.
Hilberto
Hilberto is a nice man. I like him. He has a sense of humor. When Mara is in low spirits because of her missing home, he plays the trick of coin and makes her smile.
Hilberto has friends everywhere he goes. He takes cigar for his friend.
Once, he gets a shovel as a gift from his friend.
When Mara kisses him on the cheek, he becomes cheerful--wheee--heeee!
Owen calls him Hilberto-nimbus, which means cloud. This suggests that Hilberto knows nothing, he is dull. (pg 20)
Ed
“This is the greatest place on the earth. You won’t go wrong if you keep that in mind.” ( act 1 scene 1, pg 9)
Ed: “In Cuba everything is possible.”
This is a one sided opinion that any socialist government’s follower speaks.
He tells Owen and Mara to regard the whole trip as a summer vacation by which he wants to suggest them to “just enjoy good things. Don’t write bad things about Cuba. Just forget your profession and enjoy.”
He is an American- “an able, cheerful, energetic, older man who speaks fluent Spanish”. He is familiar to this place. He is sees Cuba as a country doing economic progress. So he says
Ed: Two years from now there’s going to be fountains splashing here, and bands playing under the trees. ( act 1, scene 6, pg 33)
Ed also uses the metaphor of Cloud.
He is an optimistic person. He sees light even in darkness. By giving analogy of the car and road, he wants to say that Cuba is lead towards a bright future. He says:
Ed: What you’re looking at here, Owen, is not dust and emptiness, but ten thousands people and their lives. ( act 1 scene 6, pg 34)
The scene where Mara is leaning towards Angel, murmuring to him and touching his arm brings to Ed the memories of his wonderful tomes he had with his wife in Urbana, Illinois. He sees life in love.
Ed: It gave me a reason for existence. (act 1 scene 6, pg 43)
He even remembers the girl guide he had met a couple of years back. And he is always looking forward to hugging Mara whenever possible.
Angel
Frayn has created a ridiculous character like Angel who does not suit for the profession. Angel is incapable of performing his duties as the agent of the socialist government. Through Angel, Frayn wants to prove that the New Cuba led by communists is not entirely prepared for change. This is proved by the name itself. An angel means a guardian who protects and guides a person. His name is completely mocked when in the final scene Mara has to take care of him when Owen blows him on the head and hurts him.
He is a victim poor victim of his cynical guests. Because he does not have any command over the situation.
Although he is in his mid-thirties, his behaviors are like that of a young boy.
He language is of unique type.
He starts almost every sentence with “ I think”.
Angel: “Ladies and gentleman, I think I have arrived.”
“I think I am only living here.”
“I think I do not understand” pg 63.
Sometimes he speaks good English, and sometimes too bad. His language is mysterious.
Angel: If is possible to have an abortion? (Pg 19)
He is also a great chattu. When Mara asks him about his family background, he gives elaborated details. Sometimes it gets interrupted. Again in the next scene, he continues it. He has a unique style of telling stories in episodes.
He talks too much about his late father. He comes from a comprador family. So he talks about the superiority of his father in the workplace. His father used to laugh at workers who wanted to be happy.
The role of absent characters
Absent characters are living in the past. They represent status-quo, and the longing for the previous government. Some of them are living in 1959. It was the year when the Communist party led by Castro somersaulted the Batista government and established the communist rule.
The little man whom Ed met in the Kitchen:
He was the biggest independent distributor of blue movies in the island before the revolution. And with the emergence of the communist government, he was reduced to repairing fridges. He tells Ed that now he loves cane-cutting more than anything else in life. He represents those Cuban people who are forced to believe that they love cane cutting. They are forced to volunteer in building of New Cuba. It was brought to practice when Che Guevara was the minister for industry. Guevara himself used to go to the field for cane-cutting.
The little man says that he loves cane-cutting. It’s not clear whether he is saying if for the sake of saying or he really loves it. If he really loves it, he can be regarded as the progressive citizen of a communist country.
When all the private property was seized by the state, the people had no options with them other than to go to the cane fields voluntarily or involuntarily.
The Old Waiter
The old waiter is an representative of the old days when Cuba was ruled by the America supported previous government. He is living ten years back time. He is a not quite happy with the present government system and so lives in nostalgia. I remember reading Nirad Chaudhary’s book An Autobiography of an unknown Indian in which the author laments the exit of the British Empire. The old waiter is also the lover of the empire who misses the imperialist rule. The old waiter speaks English. This suggests that he is the one of the followers the old institution. This proves that there are people who are longing for American imperialism.
The lady who has murdered her lover
She was pregnant while she found her lover with another woman in the cane. She killed him with a machete and was then taken to the people's court. She was fined 20 pesos for destroying the machete.
This is the face of the Communist government which is trying to make economic progress. An individual is not important. Rather the public properties like machete are important than a person’s life in a socialist economy.
This reminds me of an event that I read in an autobiography titled First They killed My Father. In the book, the author Loung Young recalls what had happened to one of her neighbours during the Khmer Rouge reign in Cambodia.
I will paraphrase it:
The whole village was starving because the food that the army provided us was insufficient. We had eaten everything that we got, and had started eating grass. At the same time, one of our neighbours saw a stray dog roaming around. He caught the dog and ate it. The dog was nothing but just a heap of bones, and was itself dying because of starvation. At night, the Khmer Rouge army came to his house, took him away and gave capital punishment because on charge of destroying public property.
This event is a case of Cambodia when the Khmer Rouge army led by Pol Pot was exercising communist rule during 1975-1979. Doctors, engineers and educated people were killed because the Pol Pot government thought that the educated people had leaning to Western culture. It regarded peasants as the only ideal citizens.
The situation in Cuba was not like what later happened in Cambodia, but the modes of governance was more or less the same, which the British newspapers are keen to ridicule.
Questions Unanswered:
Most of the questions that Owen and Mara ask – are unanswered. Eg.
Owen: While the opposition is alas incapacitated, what percentage of the labor force on a site like this would be supplied by the local labor camps? ( act 1, scene 6, pg 35)
Mara: What about the abortion laws for women...
This is the fundamental characteristic of a country which is ruled by a dictator. There is no questioning, and no conversations. The state does what it wants to do.
In Nepal, when the king took over the direct rule in February 2005, all the media houses, private as well as public, were occupied by the national army. All the activities, and all the employees were put under scanner. And the army would dictate all the news and programs. It felt like the army was the chief editor of the media. And, so, the media would say what the government wanted to say.
Not being answered in the questions of democracy and human rights is what journalists can expect in countries like Cuba.
Style
The play opens with empty blue sky. And it also ends with an empty blue sky. The playwright plays with the idea of circle in this play too as Tom Stoppard does in A Separate Peace or in Enter a Free Man.
In the play, a scene ends not with a solution but with a tension. Or, when the tension is at high time, it is interrupted only to be continued later on. For example, in ( act 1 scene 1 pg 7) just when Mara confesses to Owen that she also works for a Sunday magazine, Ed enters and the issue is interrupted. It is again taken up in their conversation with Ed.
His characters usually are introduced in a hostile way. At least in terms of language. Just as Ed enters, he speaks a paragraph in Spanish without knowing if others understand him or not.
Even while introducing his characters, he tells something about their attitudes. For Owen he says “ a middle aged man ......himself”. For Mara, he says “ she is in her thirties.....inert melancholia”. This is peculiar in a play because it is the audience who know the characters by their actions. Even if there is no need to tell all these, he tells.
Even Angel is introduced to the readers as a man who always has problems of some kind or the other.
Autobiographical note
Michael Frayn is himself a journalist. His writing serves both aesthetic and symbolic purpose. Mostly, journalists turn creative writers because, apart from reporting for hard news, they have a desire to express their personal comment. They have something more to say that they cannot express from journalism.
If we exclude the dramatic elements of the play, it becomes a journalistic piece. It becomes a feature, a documentary of the post-revolution situation of a socialist country.
To express his private thoughts, Frayn took recourse to the play.
Frayn has dealt carefully with the autobiographical aspect. Although Owen is a mouthpiece of the playwright, and a lot of autobiographical influence is prevalent in the play, he has created an anti-autobiographical character.
This means, the playwright has tried to hit two birds with a single bullet.
Through the character of Owen, he has criticized the socio-political and economic condition of Cuba. He suggests that if naive journalists have so many things to criticise and so much to question about Cuba, there are obviously many things happening inside the Clouds, that should be brought out.
Whereas, on the other hand, he suggests that journalists like Owen who seem to be advocates of professionalism are in reality practitioners of unprofessional activities. This is a satire on the whole British media.
I have read a story titled “Love and Lust in the Maoist Hinterland” written by a Nepalese journalist-turned-writer called Ajit Baral. The story is a reflection of his experience as a journalist. The summary of the story is:
A Nepalese journalist goes to a Maoist affected area as an interpreter for a British photo journalist. Their plan to prepare a photo documentary is halted because of the water-tight censorship of the Maoist parallel government. They need to wait for some days to get permission from the party’s high division. But eventually, both of them grow interest in the hotel owner who is a divorced woman. And, when the interpreter finally makes love with the woman, the Britisher aborts his plan job, and returns.
The playwright’s concern is to comment on the political, economic and social condition of the country which is governed by Communists after seizing power from the capitalist Batista government which was favored by America..
Language
Each character uses language as a weapon to control others.
Much of the conversation seems futile. They apparently serve no purpose. They seem just to lengthen the play. But that is where the best part of the play lies. The writer has dexterously created such dialogues that resemble the futile situation of Cuba.
Frayn has done a lot of experiments with the language. The conversations are not conventional. The language of Clouds is not as vulgar as that of David Hare’s play A Map of the World. In A Map of the World, the language is obscene sounds harsh. But in Clouds, the language of humor decent and embellished. Its language is rather symbolic.
Theme
Clouds is certainly not a play of characters. It does not focus on a particular character like in other plays. Like in The Birthday Party where Stanley is the main character; in A Separate Peace, Brown is the main character. And in An Inadmissible Evidence Maitland is the main character. It appears that Owen has a lot to say about Cuba, but Mara is equally influential character because it is her who shapes the title of the play, Clouds to a large extent. The unfathomable character of Ed is equally effective in maintaining the title of the play. Rather, to a great extent, the way in which each individual sees Cuba is what makes the play significant.
The verbal, or the linguistic play is also important in the course of understanding and defining Cuba is important. It makes Cuba not just a physical location. It is a state of mind.
The Title
The play is not titled “Cuba” despite it being a play focusing on the country itself. Rather, the playwright has taken an indirect way to talk about Cuba. If the play was written directly, the writer would certainly have given it the title “Cuba”. But, as he intends to criticize Cuba in an indirect way, he has given it a suggestive title which proves more effective. As the writer has already said through Owen that he would deal with things critically, each of his statements questions about democracy, economy and human rights in Cuba. When he says things nicely, he says them to snide. When the characters talk about Clouds, they mean to talk about Cuba. The title Clouds represents the entire economic condition, the security issues, the government policy and the political climate as a whole.
Even the playwright has kept the readers in clouds. The scenes of Mara and Owen’s lovemaking is kept under clouds. And, also angel’s and Ed’s visit to the cane fields and pig farms is kept under clouds. The people whom Owen, Ed and Mara meet are not shown to the audience.
Politics is all about clouds. People are always kept in clouds. They cannot see beyond what is shown to them. The real game is played beyond the clouds. And this is mostly prevalent in communist-led countries.
Language is another medium through which they keep things, people in clouds. They manipulate language in such a way that it is too difficult to know their real personality.
Every individual sees Cuba differently. As there are different ways of cooking at Cuba, the title represents plural forms.
The title “Clouds” in plural form is also used as a pun word. If it were written in the singular form, it would mean the literal cloud.
With plural form, it has two meanings:
1.State of mind:
This means that the lenses through which each the characters see the socialist country are different. The lens itself is filled with clouds. The clouds are as many as the number of characters. The foreigners have ready-made opinions about Cuba, and they have come here to see it with their eyes. So, rather than listening to others and going for ground reality, they pass comments on Cuba and its people.
2.Thematic meaning:
Cuba itself is a cloud. The characters who have come to Cuba have lost themselves in the clouds. They fly high towards the cloud extramarital sexual activities, and so lose their paths. Even Ed wants to keep them in clouds by telling them all the good things about Cuba, and hiding all the bad things. Ed often says “This is the greatest place on the earth”.
Therefore the title Clouds is an all-inclusive title, and so it is fully justified.
The significance of the play in the present political and economic context:
I find this play significant in the present political and economic context. When the capitalist superpower America is facing hard financial crisis, communist governance is a talked about system.
The socio-economic bondage the playwright has shown among the Cuban people in the “common irrigation plants” and “coffee harvesting groups” is important in the present context.
It is thought that the Cuban government has failed, but it is also true that the face of capitalist American economy looks hollow.
To counter the capitalist economy, which is at hard times, the Communist country China has emerged as a new economic power. The fact that the gross domestic surplus of China is the highest at the time, the play has a significance. Recently I read in “The Hindu” that Karl Marx’s “ Das Capital” has become the bestselling book nowadays due to the crisis on the Wall Street.
My interpretation
I am not satisfied with the role given to Angel. He is a slow, rather quiet man who is not typical of Cuban government agent.
He should be given some cold dialogues so as to make the situation intense. The only thing we know from him is his father’s life. He should have something to ay on behalf of the government. Although Ed is there who takes Angel’s role to euphorise Cuba, words coming out of Angel’s mouth would have a greater effect.
So, the play has become lopsided. This shows that the playwright is biased, or has only his things to say.
I half-liked the play. I did not like it because it didn’t fulfil my expectation. Just when you choose a play to read, you take it for granted that it must be about the revolution, something about Fidel Castro, Che Guevara, American influence, etc. and if it is a newly written one, you expect it to have smething to say about the Guantanamo Bay.
The play has derived a lot of influence from novel. As we know Frayn took a break as a novelist and wrote plays and TV scripts, the play also has some influence of television script.
The Play
The play has two distinct aspects:
One: the political aspect
Two: the humor aspect
The political aspect is the main agenda of the writer. He wants to shed light on the social-economic aspects of a country which is ruled by communists and is said to be new.
And, in doing so, he has taken recourse to the language of humor. Here, language plays a significant role in bringing about the writer’s intention.
The playwright has tried to say as many things as possible using as much humor as possible. And, so he has avoided seriousness. Using the language of humor, he has tried to make us aware of the serious matter. The language has made the reading of the play easier.
He has left the readers in curiosity. For example, questions are raised on serious matters, and and not answered.
Mara asks questions about legal procedure on abortion.
Owen asks about legal systems in police. But none are answered. The playwright has left for us readers to be active. He gives hints that things are quite wrong in the place, but it is up to the readers to find out. So, we are encouraged to go beyond the text to find out what the real situation is in Cuba.
Apparently nothing happens in the play. After traveling in a Cadillac for three days, the characters find that they have achieved nothing.
The concept of circle is not applied in this play. Like, in other plays we have read, the characters take a journey and finally arrive where they started from. And realize that they are still where were. Like in Look Back in Anger, Jimmy and Alison are together again. In A separate Peace, Mr Brown arrives at a place of his choice, and is compelled to leave. And in Enter A Free Man,..... is at the same position after his ambitious project. But in this play, the journey continues. Realising that the way the paved is not fruitful, the characters continue their journey with a new enthusiasm.
In this way, the play is like the only first two acts of a longer version of a play. The play doesn’t end here, rather it begins here. The search of reality in Cuba begins. The play seems to stop at act 2 scene 8, but pages of it are yet to be written. Truths are yet to be disclosed. The fact-finding mission has just become active. The play takes a break in a hopeful note. So it’s an incomplete play.
Other plays give some lesson to the readers. But it gives passion to the readers. Other plays end with a definite ending, but it does not. The conventional dramatic aspects are not followed. He has just put things as appetizer. It is like a papad they serve in the first course. The main course is to begin from where it has stopped. The plot is the beginning part of a play in larger context, and for me, it stops where the rising action begins. This argument can be supported by the fact that the characters have still four long days to explore Cuba.
Written in 1976, the setting of the play 1969, ten years after Fidel Castro came to power through insurgent coup. but the latter acts of the general drama of communism are being performed real Cuba for many decades. The main character of Fidel Castro is taken by Raul Castro, as Fidel has stepped back as a confidant. Fidel Castro is still alive as the First secretary of the Communist party and Raul is the president of Cuba. So the drama is going on.
Monday, November 17, 2008
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Thursday, September 4, 2008
"Beauty"
“Sir,
my mistress comes to where I am posted, and
unties the ties
unbuttons the buttons
unzips the zips
of her dresses.
Undressed,
she looks at herself in my face
With carefree curves
free of the burden of the dress,
she looks a thousand times
lovely than you think she is.
Her untouched body
shines with the glow of the Himalaya
and challenges the Virgin Machhapuchhre”.
Adds she, the only witness to the beauty of yours,
the fateful witness to the heavenly sight,
arousing the man in me,
“And,
as the water droplets
shine like crystal beads
on her body untouched, unseen,
she looks at herself in my face;
a perfect smile out of shyness
appears on her face,
at the feeling of how beautifully she has grown
like a well-wrought urn”.
“And,
when the droplets
flow down her body...”
By Dinesh Kafle
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Security Concern
The Maoists party's claim to deploy the PLL cadres for the security of Prachanda is a bad decision. How can the prime minister use the rebel army when he has already been nominated by the all-inclusive parliament? The PLA is supposed to stay inside the cantonment. The responsibility of taking care of the Prime Minister should be given to the Nepal Army, as it always is. The newly elected PM should not act like a child at a time when the Nepal Army has vowed to act according to the mandate of the people. Nobody should suspect the loyalty of the national army.
Saturday, August 9, 2008
The Politics against Humanity
In a shameful manner the Nepal Police detained a massive number of Tibetan freedom fighters who were raising their voices against the anti-human Chinese government. In a democratic country like Nepal, where freedom of speech and basic human rights are guaranteed in the constitution, the detention of the already tortured Tibetan refugees is an irony in the democratic history of this Himalayan nation. What impact does this unnecessary act have in Nepal's status in international arena when the Chinese invasion is regarded worldwide as a crime against humanity? The govermnents that have suppressed human rights have been turned upside down by the non-violent people's movements. Why does the Nepal Government support the Chinese opressor given the fact?
It seems clear that the Nepal Government is suppressing the homeless Tibetans due to political pressure from Beijing. But, humanity higher and important than politics, it has to understand. Suppressing and torturing the homeless Tibetans, who have already had enough of torture by being drained out from their motherland, is an act that does not suit the country which has emerged as Democratic New Nepal following the historic People's Movement.
It seems clear that the Nepal Government is suppressing the homeless Tibetans due to political pressure from Beijing. But, humanity higher and important than politics, it has to understand. Suppressing and torturing the homeless Tibetans, who have already had enough of torture by being drained out from their motherland, is an act that does not suit the country which has emerged as Democratic New Nepal following the historic People's Movement.
Monday, August 4, 2008
Sunday, August 3, 2008
Friday, August 1, 2008
Buy a New Coat, Read an Old Book
I don't remember when for the first time, but I know her say this when I started to know language. May be she told me this before my teachers said in their loud voices. And, perhaps she said in calm, unirritating voice to make me feel for long that it was the secret of life. “Wear an old coat but buy a new book”, she said. She, my mother.
She does not know who said this at first. She does not, and needs not, bother to, either. Time on, I learnt through my teachers that it was a popular saying by H D Thoreau, overused to turn a cliché. And, later I surmised that she, my mother, learned it through my father who is a teacher. And I assume he gave her some classes on this particular topic so as to keep us children from crying for new clothes. It was only in festivals that I got new clothes without bargain, uniforms let aside. When it was for books, however, I don't remember her letting me down. Interesting enough, I don't remember much asking her for money to buy books, given the not-so-reading boy I was. And, for heaven's sake it never came to me to buy fabrics with the money mother gave me to buy books, the trade my sister was a master in.
It was already very late, I must say, that I could convince her that what she meant by saying me to buy new books instead of new clothes was wrong. One day, I said to her, “Mother, what you are telling me since my childhood is not wrong in its entirety, but the way you interpret it is wrong”. She jerked, “How can I be wrong since I know it as right for years?”. “A person, while making his theory, says right, but with time, and with several interpretations, the meaning gets deviated”, I said to her in a calm voice like hers, adding “People misinterpret it in a way that suits their interest, and the person who fed you this cliché had his own interest. And it is up to you to demolish the pillars of high-sounding notions once you are aware of its drawbacks”. And, knowing that she, at least was going to listen to what I had to say, I started blabbing my own interpretation.
“By saying 'Wear an old coat', it doesn't mean that you should wear age-old rags chewed to holes by mice. It also does not mean that you need to wear dirty clothes with faded colors. What it actually means is that you can wear the same coat time and again. It does not make big difference how many times you wear it”, I said fluently.
I added, “And by 'Buy a new book', it does not mean 'brand new' book with gleaming pages but a different one. And that should be one which you have not read earlier. You may borrow one from the library or from a friend or even buy from a second hand shop. You can read an old book whose cover has already been stripped off”. “But”, I added a dose, “you can not wear a coat whose collar has stripped off even if it is a brand new one with blooming color”.
“Human mind always seeks for things new. Ideas new. News new. Can you listen to the same news everyday? Can you read the same story everyday? You can, if you are obliged to. In odd cases. But, your mind wants to read a different news, a different story each different day”.
“That's true”, she said.
Happy to see her nodding in apprehension, I added, “So, buying a new book is about buying a different book with different idea, text, philosophy. And wearing an old coat does not mean that you cannot wear a new coat. Borrow books, buy used ones at least, as you can not imagine buying used clothes, stinky and sweaty. Save money from what would have been spent in buying new books, and spend buying new clothes. Laddu in both hands”.
And, finally, to my utter gaiety, and as i had expected, she, my mother, announced, “Buy a new coat, read an old book”.
She does not know who said this at first. She does not, and needs not, bother to, either. Time on, I learnt through my teachers that it was a popular saying by H D Thoreau, overused to turn a cliché. And, later I surmised that she, my mother, learned it through my father who is a teacher. And I assume he gave her some classes on this particular topic so as to keep us children from crying for new clothes. It was only in festivals that I got new clothes without bargain, uniforms let aside. When it was for books, however, I don't remember her letting me down. Interesting enough, I don't remember much asking her for money to buy books, given the not-so-reading boy I was. And, for heaven's sake it never came to me to buy fabrics with the money mother gave me to buy books, the trade my sister was a master in.
It was already very late, I must say, that I could convince her that what she meant by saying me to buy new books instead of new clothes was wrong. One day, I said to her, “Mother, what you are telling me since my childhood is not wrong in its entirety, but the way you interpret it is wrong”. She jerked, “How can I be wrong since I know it as right for years?”. “A person, while making his theory, says right, but with time, and with several interpretations, the meaning gets deviated”, I said to her in a calm voice like hers, adding “People misinterpret it in a way that suits their interest, and the person who fed you this cliché had his own interest. And it is up to you to demolish the pillars of high-sounding notions once you are aware of its drawbacks”. And, knowing that she, at least was going to listen to what I had to say, I started blabbing my own interpretation.
“By saying 'Wear an old coat', it doesn't mean that you should wear age-old rags chewed to holes by mice. It also does not mean that you need to wear dirty clothes with faded colors. What it actually means is that you can wear the same coat time and again. It does not make big difference how many times you wear it”, I said fluently.
I added, “And by 'Buy a new book', it does not mean 'brand new' book with gleaming pages but a different one. And that should be one which you have not read earlier. You may borrow one from the library or from a friend or even buy from a second hand shop. You can read an old book whose cover has already been stripped off”. “But”, I added a dose, “you can not wear a coat whose collar has stripped off even if it is a brand new one with blooming color”.
“Human mind always seeks for things new. Ideas new. News new. Can you listen to the same news everyday? Can you read the same story everyday? You can, if you are obliged to. In odd cases. But, your mind wants to read a different news, a different story each different day”.
“That's true”, she said.
Happy to see her nodding in apprehension, I added, “So, buying a new book is about buying a different book with different idea, text, philosophy. And wearing an old coat does not mean that you cannot wear a new coat. Borrow books, buy used ones at least, as you can not imagine buying used clothes, stinky and sweaty. Save money from what would have been spent in buying new books, and spend buying new clothes. Laddu in both hands”.
And, finally, to my utter gaiety, and as i had expected, she, my mother, announced, “Buy a new coat, read an old book”.
Cigarette, Feminism and the Condom Counter
Who says that a girl is not given equal right at present? She is. She has been alloted seats in government positions, in the transport services; the list goes on. In the University's boy's hostels, she is allowed to enter whenever her mood orders-- quite ironical—a lad is thrown a piercing stare if he happens to be passing side the girl's camp, let alone tresspassing. And this helpless lad consoles himself that his forefathers had enjoyed the phallogocentric times and that it is the duty of the following generations to bear the burden. No wonder girls are speaking loud that they don't need any different facility than that given to boys—thanks.
'Dictatorship of the proletariat' termed Marx when theorizing the later stage of the conflict between the ruling and the working class. In new times, girls are 'cocca doodle do' ing— let me not say 'turning dictators'-- when it comes about puffing cigatettes. They need no pal when they will to light the tip of the CP-- thanks to the Women's Rights Movement of the 1920s. When I am in the Ganga Dhaba sipping a two-and-a-half rupee tea, they throw themselves on the seat my sideward and kill the germs of my nostrils by the larger-than-life nicotine puff. And I frisk sensing that i am going to be a minority species belonging to nowhere.
My heart leaps up seeing people fishing out condoms from the ATC (anytime condom) counter stationed inside the compounds of the University wherein I am recently enrolled."Liberalism"? I guess, this entire development is a lesson of postmodernism. Not only hierarchies are dismantled-- alongwith dismantled are the shame, reservation and hesitation. And this I suppose is a postmodernward walk. Fixations can not be stopped because they have never been, so precautions that knock your door are better accepted before you are eventually knocked off life. People seem to have understood it—and this is a yellow signal coming timesward.
'Dictatorship of the proletariat' termed Marx when theorizing the later stage of the conflict between the ruling and the working class. In new times, girls are 'cocca doodle do' ing— let me not say 'turning dictators'-- when it comes about puffing cigatettes. They need no pal when they will to light the tip of the CP-- thanks to the Women's Rights Movement of the 1920s. When I am in the Ganga Dhaba sipping a two-and-a-half rupee tea, they throw themselves on the seat my sideward and kill the germs of my nostrils by the larger-than-life nicotine puff. And I frisk sensing that i am going to be a minority species belonging to nowhere.
My heart leaps up seeing people fishing out condoms from the ATC (anytime condom) counter stationed inside the compounds of the University wherein I am recently enrolled."Liberalism"? I guess, this entire development is a lesson of postmodernism. Not only hierarchies are dismantled-- alongwith dismantled are the shame, reservation and hesitation. And this I suppose is a postmodernward walk. Fixations can not be stopped because they have never been, so precautions that knock your door are better accepted before you are eventually knocked off life. People seem to have understood it—and this is a yellow signal coming timesward.
Friday, July 25, 2008
JNU, Paan and Kukur
JNU is widely recognised as having good academic records. And the discipline observed here is tremendous. But, as it seems, the paan culture is never going to disappear from JNU...because paan is in the blood if these Indians...they will forget to breathe but chew paan.
A girl is given a royal place. Stare a girl for more than thirteen seconds and, if reported, get ready to be summoned--with optimum possibility to be given a letter of relief from the University.
Cats rule the stairs of the hostels; step urwards downwards with the fear of being attacked but don't hatch an idea of attacking them in turn. And you are not allowed to chase the stray dogs...here is a popular saying.."living things and non living things have equal rights in JNU"...and mind you dogs have more rights here...punch a man and pay twenty rupees plus listen to a warning...but punch a dog and and be shown the gate...a man was thrown out of the gate for abusing a dog...his seven years of Ph.D in a ditch. ch.. ch..
A girl is given a royal place. Stare a girl for more than thirteen seconds and, if reported, get ready to be summoned--with optimum possibility to be given a letter of relief from the University.
Cats rule the stairs of the hostels; step urwards downwards with the fear of being attacked but don't hatch an idea of attacking them in turn. And you are not allowed to chase the stray dogs...here is a popular saying.."living things and non living things have equal rights in JNU"...and mind you dogs have more rights here...punch a man and pay twenty rupees plus listen to a warning...but punch a dog and and be shown the gate...a man was thrown out of the gate for abusing a dog...his seven years of Ph.D in a ditch. ch.. ch..
Friday, June 6, 2008
The Rhetoric of "New Nepal"
My friend Uma Bhandari writes
The slogan of ‘New Nepal’ has been a dream evoking expectations to all the Nepalese. The implementation prospect however has not yet been sensed for the fulfillment of these dreams till the date. I have thus internalized it as the way of consoling those who have faced an irreversible loss. Things cannot work as a magical stick sprung over, as beautifully as the politicians present it.
In spite of dream being a further notification towards implementation there’s always a threat that the inability to carrying it out would result to explosion. Sloganeering isn’t complete in itself and an irony behind it is that it needs a backup of implementation which we lack. Mere words of higher probabilities and hopes for stability and prosperity are running into the Nepalese veins since the history but all in vain.
History has turned upside down, people have realized the futility of monarchial institution and a dictator is thrown. But the politics of power play and the use and misuse of authority has certainly given birth to other ‘kings without a crown’. Napoleon was doubtless a despot even after Louis 16th was overthrown. People at any part of the globe, sooner or later have proven that the entire power to approve or alter any government solely lies on their hand. So, one approved today could be denied tomorrow.
The powerful centre has been so much attached to the roots that it does not willingly leave the authority and give the chance forward to the margins. The socially, politically, economically and culturally secluded groups have been justified with their vision. The prevailing controversy on whom to elect the president and their vested interest on individual development has made the concept on New Nepal’ more dim and unidentifiable. Nepalese would possibly be grateful to the leaders had they have been able to leave a single instance upon which people could built up a base to begin trusting them.
Till the convulsions and insurrections for whatever one need continues it wouldn’t be wrong to say that ‘New Nepal’ is a mere rhetoric politicians have decoratively played with. An economically revolutionized, corruption free society with sustainable peace and political stability is the concept of ‘New Nepal’ people have implanted. It’s high time we started investing our dedication and efforts in building strong walls of the nation through inclusion and participation. The seeds we sow now will decide the stability and prosperity ahead or assure the downfall of what nationality we proudly identify ourselves with today.
(Uma, thank you for your essay)
The slogan of ‘New Nepal’ has been a dream evoking expectations to all the Nepalese. The implementation prospect however has not yet been sensed for the fulfillment of these dreams till the date. I have thus internalized it as the way of consoling those who have faced an irreversible loss. Things cannot work as a magical stick sprung over, as beautifully as the politicians present it.
In spite of dream being a further notification towards implementation there’s always a threat that the inability to carrying it out would result to explosion. Sloganeering isn’t complete in itself and an irony behind it is that it needs a backup of implementation which we lack. Mere words of higher probabilities and hopes for stability and prosperity are running into the Nepalese veins since the history but all in vain.
History has turned upside down, people have realized the futility of monarchial institution and a dictator is thrown. But the politics of power play and the use and misuse of authority has certainly given birth to other ‘kings without a crown’. Napoleon was doubtless a despot even after Louis 16th was overthrown. People at any part of the globe, sooner or later have proven that the entire power to approve or alter any government solely lies on their hand. So, one approved today could be denied tomorrow.
The powerful centre has been so much attached to the roots that it does not willingly leave the authority and give the chance forward to the margins. The socially, politically, economically and culturally secluded groups have been justified with their vision. The prevailing controversy on whom to elect the president and their vested interest on individual development has made the concept on New Nepal’ more dim and unidentifiable. Nepalese would possibly be grateful to the leaders had they have been able to leave a single instance upon which people could built up a base to begin trusting them.
Till the convulsions and insurrections for whatever one need continues it wouldn’t be wrong to say that ‘New Nepal’ is a mere rhetoric politicians have decoratively played with. An economically revolutionized, corruption free society with sustainable peace and political stability is the concept of ‘New Nepal’ people have implanted. It’s high time we started investing our dedication and efforts in building strong walls of the nation through inclusion and participation. The seeds we sow now will decide the stability and prosperity ahead or assure the downfall of what nationality we proudly identify ourselves with today.
(Uma, thank you for your essay)
Saturday, May 10, 2008
‘A People War’ and a Tea Party
On Saturday, when Kunda Dixit was launching the book ‘A People War’, a compilation of pictures of the decade long war, prime minister Girija Prasad Koirala threw a historical tea party to the leaders of political parties. Leaders of twenty-five parties were sipping tea from the same kettle. While readers from all walks of life were looking at pictures of the bygone days, leaders were looking for ways to a new Nepal.
Readers were tearfully remembering those days of violence, and the leaders were seriously contemplating about the form of a new government. The history is being once again remembered and the leaders are talking seriously on the form of a new government. It is a good omen.
With a painful decade-long violence at the backdrop, we have to pave way to a prosperous future. I request the leaders to see those pictures so that they would not forget the dreams of the martyrs. It would be better if they organize a program to see those pictures so as to remember the history together. This would further integrate them.
Readers were tearfully remembering those days of violence, and the leaders were seriously contemplating about the form of a new government. The history is being once again remembered and the leaders are talking seriously on the form of a new government. It is a good omen.
With a painful decade-long violence at the backdrop, we have to pave way to a prosperous future. I request the leaders to see those pictures so that they would not forget the dreams of the martyrs. It would be better if they organize a program to see those pictures so as to remember the history together. This would further integrate them.
A Message to the Leaders
An officer of the Nazi occupation forces visited Picasso in his studio and, pointing to Guernica, asked, “Did you do that?” Picasso is said to have answered, “No, you did.” I happened to remember the same while visiting the photo exhibition tour of a book called ‘A People War’. A visitor’s comment posted on the wall read, “Prachanda, Baburam, Girija and Madhav Nepal should visit the exhibition”. I certainly agree with him. Everyone seems to have a clear idea that the pictures are done by the greedy leaders.
The pictures are so dreadful that I felt uncomfortable to stay there for long. My heart started pounding in a peculiar way. I felt very nervous and dizzy so I hurriedly made my way out. I never knew the rebellion was that violent before visiting the exhibition.
Who does not empathize when one sees tears flowing across a child’s cheek at the death of her journalist father? An octogenarian grandma looks totally confused when several of her neighbors are killed and her house is destroyed in an army operation. Among several corpses, a woman is crying beside her dead husband. An old man and three goats are roasted together with a bomb in an aerial operation. Men and animals are dying the same death.
In an armed conflict, it is always the general people who are the victims. In a non-violence movement they are always the victors. I wonder how pleasant it would have been had the change been brought by non-violence.
An another comment by a visitor who had lost his father in the conflict is worth reading. He says that earlier he wanted to avenge his father’s murderers. But after visiting the exhibition, he has realized that there are thousands of victims like him. Now he is feeling peace in mind. His eyes are still wet, but all he wants is that the same bloodshed should not repeat.
Nepali people have realized that the death of thirteen thousand people was not necessary to bring about change. . A nineteen-day long movement was enough to turn an autocratic king upside down. No any armed conflict in the world has brought positive result.
The visitors at the exhibition have one single voice, “No more violence”.
I would like to suggest the old leaders as well as the newly emerging ones to visit the exhibition. Upendra Yadav, Jwala Singh, Gohit and Pasang Sherpa among others should come and see for themselves what the consequences of violence are. They should ask with people affected directly or indirectly how exhausted they feel by the decade-long violence. They should always take the consent of the people before making any decision.
Victors are they who follow the Gandhian philosophy of non-violence. The world has learnt many lessons from the historic nineteen-day long Nepali movement for democracy. Twenty-five million people will always be with them who tread the intellectual route to democracy.
The pictures are so dreadful that I felt uncomfortable to stay there for long. My heart started pounding in a peculiar way. I felt very nervous and dizzy so I hurriedly made my way out. I never knew the rebellion was that violent before visiting the exhibition.
Who does not empathize when one sees tears flowing across a child’s cheek at the death of her journalist father? An octogenarian grandma looks totally confused when several of her neighbors are killed and her house is destroyed in an army operation. Among several corpses, a woman is crying beside her dead husband. An old man and three goats are roasted together with a bomb in an aerial operation. Men and animals are dying the same death.
In an armed conflict, it is always the general people who are the victims. In a non-violence movement they are always the victors. I wonder how pleasant it would have been had the change been brought by non-violence.
An another comment by a visitor who had lost his father in the conflict is worth reading. He says that earlier he wanted to avenge his father’s murderers. But after visiting the exhibition, he has realized that there are thousands of victims like him. Now he is feeling peace in mind. His eyes are still wet, but all he wants is that the same bloodshed should not repeat.
Nepali people have realized that the death of thirteen thousand people was not necessary to bring about change. . A nineteen-day long movement was enough to turn an autocratic king upside down. No any armed conflict in the world has brought positive result.
The visitors at the exhibition have one single voice, “No more violence”.
I would like to suggest the old leaders as well as the newly emerging ones to visit the exhibition. Upendra Yadav, Jwala Singh, Gohit and Pasang Sherpa among others should come and see for themselves what the consequences of violence are. They should ask with people affected directly or indirectly how exhausted they feel by the decade-long violence. They should always take the consent of the people before making any decision.
Victors are they who follow the Gandhian philosophy of non-violence. The world has learnt many lessons from the historic nineteen-day long Nepali movement for democracy. Twenty-five million people will always be with them who tread the intellectual route to democracy.
Friday, April 25, 2008
Photographing Lives
For the first time I saw him in the roads of Kirtipur. He was photographing small children rallying and shouting slogans for Maoists. The children were carrying flags. Several photographers were photographing the scene. What made me notice this particular photographer was his passionate hurry. Everybody was patiently clicking, but he was differently hurrying. I surmised, all other lensmen clicked two or three snaps except this man who might have clicked more than fifteen snapshots.
And, his was the picture I saw on the pages of dailies with news that he won the prestigious Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Photography. And then I knew that he was Adrees Latif, a photo journalist for Reuters. Adrees Latif won for "his dramatic photograph of the Japanese videographer, sprawled on the pavement, fatally wounded during a street demonstration in Myanmar," the Pulitzer Prize board said.
While Prachanda was coughing his roadmap of New Nepal, I was looking at the panel of photographers and television camerapersons keenly performing their job. And, my attraction was mostly directed to this particular photographer. While this photographer followed the rallying children from beginning to the end, some Nepalese photographers were seen clicking the same rally sitting conveniently on their motorbikes. I thought the Nepalese paparazzi were either lazy or they were so familiar with those rallies, that, they found it futile to get off their vehicle just for a snapshot.
When I read the news that he won the Pulitzer Prize for photography, I was not flabbergasted. I had already seen this keen labor three days before the prize was announced. In the crowd of more than fifty camerapersons-national and international- he was the centre of my attraction.
There is a commonplace saying ‘A photograph speaks a thousand words’. I think the photograph which fetched Latif the prize speaks volumes of the passion that the photographer has in his job.
I have a respect for photographers. They show to us the beauty and ugliness of life. When they show us beautiful pictures, we praise those pictures. They give us pictures of disorder. They show us the realities of life. They change the way we think. They change us. They change the course of time.
Once, crazy Britney Spears a paparazzi with her umbrella. And he became the news. Lindsay Lohan drove her car over a lensman’s shoes. It became a grand issue. War photographers cover the war, and in the course become lunatics seeing the pathetic condition of people. Rebels hit them with bullets. Armies drive their rollers over their bodies. But nobody bothers for them. They do not become the headlines. They die unsung deaths. Kenji Nagai became the news one day. That fetched Latif the Pulitzer prize. He does not know when he will be the news himself. May be in the battlefield in Iraq or in Pakistan or in Afganistan,a reckless soldier may send a bullet through his body. He knows he may not get a chance to run next time. But he continues to see people’s lives through his lens. And he shows us the ugliness of life.
People will forget the Japanese videographer. But Latif will never forget his friend, the death of whom fetched him the prize.Pulitzer prize has become more of a painful memory than a matter of prestige. I do remember scores of photographers and journalists beaten up by security personnel during the historic april uprising.
In warzones, they find meaning of their life. They go for days without having a bath, they eat whatever the soldiers eat, they sleep three hours a night and wake up to the sound of a gunfire. They know that at any time someone may lob a grenade into the place where they are sitting, and that makes them live. They love every minute, every second. There’s just a great love for life.
07 April, 2008
Kathmandu
And, his was the picture I saw on the pages of dailies with news that he won the prestigious Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Photography. And then I knew that he was Adrees Latif, a photo journalist for Reuters. Adrees Latif won for "his dramatic photograph of the Japanese videographer, sprawled on the pavement, fatally wounded during a street demonstration in Myanmar," the Pulitzer Prize board said.
While Prachanda was coughing his roadmap of New Nepal, I was looking at the panel of photographers and television camerapersons keenly performing their job. And, my attraction was mostly directed to this particular photographer. While this photographer followed the rallying children from beginning to the end, some Nepalese photographers were seen clicking the same rally sitting conveniently on their motorbikes. I thought the Nepalese paparazzi were either lazy or they were so familiar with those rallies, that, they found it futile to get off their vehicle just for a snapshot.
When I read the news that he won the Pulitzer Prize for photography, I was not flabbergasted. I had already seen this keen labor three days before the prize was announced. In the crowd of more than fifty camerapersons-national and international- he was the centre of my attraction.
There is a commonplace saying ‘A photograph speaks a thousand words’. I think the photograph which fetched Latif the prize speaks volumes of the passion that the photographer has in his job.
I have a respect for photographers. They show to us the beauty and ugliness of life. When they show us beautiful pictures, we praise those pictures. They give us pictures of disorder. They show us the realities of life. They change the way we think. They change us. They change the course of time.
Once, crazy Britney Spears a paparazzi with her umbrella. And he became the news. Lindsay Lohan drove her car over a lensman’s shoes. It became a grand issue. War photographers cover the war, and in the course become lunatics seeing the pathetic condition of people. Rebels hit them with bullets. Armies drive their rollers over their bodies. But nobody bothers for them. They do not become the headlines. They die unsung deaths. Kenji Nagai became the news one day. That fetched Latif the Pulitzer prize. He does not know when he will be the news himself. May be in the battlefield in Iraq or in Pakistan or in Afganistan,a reckless soldier may send a bullet through his body. He knows he may not get a chance to run next time. But he continues to see people’s lives through his lens. And he shows us the ugliness of life.
People will forget the Japanese videographer. But Latif will never forget his friend, the death of whom fetched him the prize.Pulitzer prize has become more of a painful memory than a matter of prestige. I do remember scores of photographers and journalists beaten up by security personnel during the historic april uprising.
In warzones, they find meaning of their life. They go for days without having a bath, they eat whatever the soldiers eat, they sleep three hours a night and wake up to the sound of a gunfire. They know that at any time someone may lob a grenade into the place where they are sitting, and that makes them live. They love every minute, every second. There’s just a great love for life.
07 April, 2008
Kathmandu
Thursday, March 27, 2008
बुक क्लब
“Book reading” is not a new term in Nepal. But it definitely is a new trend. Although it is already one hundred and fifty years since printing press was brought to Nepal, the speed of publication of books is slow. So is the book-reading culture too.
Before the establishment of democracy, talking about books was virtually banned. Due to the Rana Regime’s policy of keeping people out of reach of education, people were not allowed to read. Therefore, no discussions on books were held. However, talks on the Upanishsadas and the Vedas were held.
Even after demomcracy was established, there is no record of any book club registered. It was in 1975 that youths like Hari Sharma and Kedarbhakta Mathema established a book club. The would talk on books on a monthly basis. The primary data is not available because there is no need of registration in government bodies.
Recently, a few book clubs are at work. A synopsis of the study of thoses Book Clubs is given here.
Fine Print Book Club
It was established in 2006. Its objectives are to encourage people to read for pleasure and knowledge, to provide a forum for young writers where they can share and critique each other’s work.
Its Activities:
Monthly Discussion: It organizes discussion on a book once every month inviting national and international authors for talks and reading sessions.
Weekly Discussion: It invites members and intellectuals to share their book-reading experiences. They express their views on the book they have loved the most.
Publication: It publishes a quarterly magazine “Read”, the contents of which include features about bookstores, critiques about books, and information about recently published books. It has also ventured in publication of new books by national and international authors as well as reprint of previous best-sellers.
Other Major events:
It organized a talk program on the book “Forget Kathmandu: An Elegy for Democracy” with diasporic writer Samrat Upadhyay in December, 2006.
It organized an editing workshop on book editing in collaboration with the American Center in January, 2007.
It organized panel discussion on the book “The World is Flat” with corporate leaders as panelists, in April, 2007.
It organized a panel discussion on the book “Ghanchakkar” with the author Sanjeev Uprety.
It organized a Creative Writing workshop with diasporic writers Samrat Upadhyay and Sushma Joshi.
Membership Base: It has one hundred and twenty annual members.
Membership Fee: It charges two hundred rupees for annual membership which includes free subscription of its magaine ‘Read’.
Wave Book Club
It was established in 2005. It is supported by the British Council. Its objective is to promote reading culture in peers and school children. In this forum, members discuss about reflections of the books on the society.
Activities:
Monthly Discussion: It organizes monthly discussions on recently published books. The title of the book to be discussed is fixed in the previous month. It provides books for free to the members and calls them for discussion with their critiques. It also invites the author of the book if available.
International Book Day Program: It organizes a two-day program in the international book day. It invites authors, journalists and educationists to discuss on various topics related to books. It also holds a week-long book show at the library premises.
Membership Base: It has forty regular members.
Membership Fee: Membership is free for all.
Read to Lead
It was establilshed in 2006. Its objectives are to create a literary circle of book-lovers, and to educate people about the current affairs.
Activities:
Fortnightly Discussion: It organizes book discussions every alternate Sundays. It invites authors and critiques to share their views on the book.
Educational Program: It organizes public awareness events in collaboration with different social organizations. From July 2007, it has been launching discussion forums on the Constituent Assembly. Most recently, it is organizing education campaigns on diferent colleges throughout the country where it provides free materials to the students.
Membership Base: It has sixty regular members.
Membership: Membership is free for all.
Informants(if needed): Ajit Baral, Manager, Fineprint Book Club
Suman Sharma, Manager, Read to Lead
Kiran Bhattarai, Co-ordinator, Wave Book Club
Before the establishment of democracy, talking about books was virtually banned. Due to the Rana Regime’s policy of keeping people out of reach of education, people were not allowed to read. Therefore, no discussions on books were held. However, talks on the Upanishsadas and the Vedas were held.
Even after demomcracy was established, there is no record of any book club registered. It was in 1975 that youths like Hari Sharma and Kedarbhakta Mathema established a book club. The would talk on books on a monthly basis. The primary data is not available because there is no need of registration in government bodies.
Recently, a few book clubs are at work. A synopsis of the study of thoses Book Clubs is given here.
Fine Print Book Club
It was established in 2006. Its objectives are to encourage people to read for pleasure and knowledge, to provide a forum for young writers where they can share and critique each other’s work.
Its Activities:
Monthly Discussion: It organizes discussion on a book once every month inviting national and international authors for talks and reading sessions.
Weekly Discussion: It invites members and intellectuals to share their book-reading experiences. They express their views on the book they have loved the most.
Publication: It publishes a quarterly magazine “Read”, the contents of which include features about bookstores, critiques about books, and information about recently published books. It has also ventured in publication of new books by national and international authors as well as reprint of previous best-sellers.
Other Major events:
It organized a talk program on the book “Forget Kathmandu: An Elegy for Democracy” with diasporic writer Samrat Upadhyay in December, 2006.
It organized an editing workshop on book editing in collaboration with the American Center in January, 2007.
It organized panel discussion on the book “The World is Flat” with corporate leaders as panelists, in April, 2007.
It organized a panel discussion on the book “Ghanchakkar” with the author Sanjeev Uprety.
It organized a Creative Writing workshop with diasporic writers Samrat Upadhyay and Sushma Joshi.
Membership Base: It has one hundred and twenty annual members.
Membership Fee: It charges two hundred rupees for annual membership which includes free subscription of its magaine ‘Read’.
Wave Book Club
It was established in 2005. It is supported by the British Council. Its objective is to promote reading culture in peers and school children. In this forum, members discuss about reflections of the books on the society.
Activities:
Monthly Discussion: It organizes monthly discussions on recently published books. The title of the book to be discussed is fixed in the previous month. It provides books for free to the members and calls them for discussion with their critiques. It also invites the author of the book if available.
International Book Day Program: It organizes a two-day program in the international book day. It invites authors, journalists and educationists to discuss on various topics related to books. It also holds a week-long book show at the library premises.
Membership Base: It has forty regular members.
Membership Fee: Membership is free for all.
Read to Lead
It was establilshed in 2006. Its objectives are to create a literary circle of book-lovers, and to educate people about the current affairs.
Activities:
Fortnightly Discussion: It organizes book discussions every alternate Sundays. It invites authors and critiques to share their views on the book.
Educational Program: It organizes public awareness events in collaboration with different social organizations. From July 2007, it has been launching discussion forums on the Constituent Assembly. Most recently, it is organizing education campaigns on diferent colleges throughout the country where it provides free materials to the students.
Membership Base: It has sixty regular members.
Membership: Membership is free for all.
Informants(if needed): Ajit Baral, Manager, Fineprint Book Club
Suman Sharma, Manager, Read to Lead
Kiran Bhattarai, Co-ordinator, Wave Book Club
Monday, March 3, 2008
controversy
In Jammu
Latest controversy - please find ways to PROTEST
Kathmandu, Dec 4 (IANS) Indian-origin author Kiran Desai's bestselling novel 'The Inheritance of Loss', that won the Man Booker prize for fiction this year, has created a hullabaloo in Nepal with readers calling her insensitive, colonial and prejudiced.
The 34-year-old's second novel moves from Kalimpong, a sleepy town in east India, to Britain and the US, recording racism, the plight of the Asian illegal immigrant in the west and the insurgency spearheaded by the Gorkha National
Liberation Front in eastern India.
A large number of the characters in the novel are people of Nepali origin and their depiction has angered Nepalis, who accuse her of having a warped vision.
A strong protest came from Nepali author and educator D.B. Gurung, who was educated in eastern India.
While reviewing the 'Inheritance' for the Kathmandu Post last week, Gurung came down heavily on the portrayal of the Nepali diaspora, calling it the result of 'living a bastardised life inside and out of India that Desai seems unable to acclimatise herself (to) either in the western milieu or her own home'.
The Nepali author says Desai has portrayed the Nepali inhabitants of Kalimpong as 'crook, dupe, cheat and lesser humans' while the 'truth' is that the hill community still retains its language, culture and dignity despite exploitation by the 'hungry jackals from the plains of Calcutta'.
Gurung has also taken exception to Desai's creation of Biju, the son of a Nepali cook, struggling as an illegal immigrant in New York.
'I have seen many Indian engineers and executives doing the same sort of job or selling hotdogs in the streets of Los Angeles, New York, Chicago and Washington,' he wrote scathingly. 'They would perhaps make more poignant characters than Biju.'
Letters from enraged readers began pouring in, agreeing with Gurung.
Calling Desai 'schizophrenic', Dinesh Kafle said contrary to her 'prejudice-ridden characterisation' of Nepalis, the community had been able to preserve their dignity at all times.
Latest controversy - please find ways to PROTEST
Kathmandu, Dec 4 (IANS) Indian-origin author Kiran Desai's bestselling novel 'The Inheritance of Loss', that won the Man Booker prize for fiction this year, has created a hullabaloo in Nepal with readers calling her insensitive, colonial and prejudiced.
The 34-year-old's second novel moves from Kalimpong, a sleepy town in east India, to Britain and the US, recording racism, the plight of the Asian illegal immigrant in the west and the insurgency spearheaded by the Gorkha National
Liberation Front in eastern India.
A large number of the characters in the novel are people of Nepali origin and their depiction has angered Nepalis, who accuse her of having a warped vision.
A strong protest came from Nepali author and educator D.B. Gurung, who was educated in eastern India.
While reviewing the 'Inheritance' for the Kathmandu Post last week, Gurung came down heavily on the portrayal of the Nepali diaspora, calling it the result of 'living a bastardised life inside and out of India that Desai seems unable to acclimatise herself (to) either in the western milieu or her own home'.
The Nepali author says Desai has portrayed the Nepali inhabitants of Kalimpong as 'crook, dupe, cheat and lesser humans' while the 'truth' is that the hill community still retains its language, culture and dignity despite exploitation by the 'hungry jackals from the plains of Calcutta'.
Gurung has also taken exception to Desai's creation of Biju, the son of a Nepali cook, struggling as an illegal immigrant in New York.
'I have seen many Indian engineers and executives doing the same sort of job or selling hotdogs in the streets of Los Angeles, New York, Chicago and Washington,' he wrote scathingly. 'They would perhaps make more poignant characters than Biju.'
Letters from enraged readers began pouring in, agreeing with Gurung.
Calling Desai 'schizophrenic', Dinesh Kafle said contrary to her 'prejudice-ridden characterisation' of Nepalis, the community had been able to preserve their dignity at all times.
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