…is a barber. It shouldn’t come as a surprise, if you, like me, are used to frequenting the same barber for your haircut. I have had haircut from no more than 5 barbers in the last 10 years! Even on average that comes out to be one barber every couple of years. But law of average doesn’t apply when it comes to my barbers. There is only one barber I go to here in England, and there was only one that I went to when I was living in Canada. So, I basically have two barbers in my time outside Nepal. The remaining three are those I visit(ed) whenever I have been to Nepal in between.
I went to get an appointment for a haircut the other day. As soon as the barber sees me, he asks if I knew of two other Nepalis who are currently at the university. Even before I could answer he tells me they are here for a short course on post-war reconstruction and development and that both are Gurkhas (he means army officers!). I have met those two gentlemen once, and I know that they are both colonels in Nepal Army. I got an appointment for Monday morning (he is a very busy barber - the only one we have at the university!). I am sure I’ll be able to find out a lot more about those two Nepali colonels from the barber on Monday…a lot more than I probably need to know!
But that’s not it really. Although I go to the barber’s only once every few months, one visit is generally enough to catch up on the news/gossips that I didn’t know since my last visit. For example, I found out about the divorce of one of my professors from the barber…who would have thought!?!
Continue reading ‘the man who knows everything…’
A revelation (for you all, not me 
) - I do most of my thinking in the bathroom, while taking shower to be precise. However, only a tiny percentage of the thoughts conceived in the shower make way to my notebooks (paper and electronic). So, a majority get aborted, mostly unintentionally! I am thinking of getting a waterproof digital voice recorder, to record my thoughts during shower. Should be very useful, and fun too. May be I can upload them as podcasts…just a thought for now!!
I am in the office now, and its just 08:30 - its not the record in coming to the office early, but surely is for this year so far. I would have liked to come even earlier (what I used to do when I was in Vancouver) BUT the cleaners here work such strange hours. They would be sitting in OUR common room, with their tea and gossips if I come to office before 08:30. I don’t think they have left yet either, and the sun is already way up in the sky!!!
Actually I felt quite nice while walking to office this morning. Firstly its a fine morning - not too cold, neither too hot. Even more exciting was seeing a herd of cows coming down from their shed towards the pasture. The herd used to be busy grazing already as I walked to office on other days, so its a nice feeling being earlier to work than the cows!
Continue reading ’something for the weekend…’
There is always something to write about, especially if you are a Nepali and are remotely interested in your country’s politics. Even if you aren’t “remotely” interested in your country’s politics, I’m sure there are issues that you could pick up on. Gossiping (and moaning, and complaining, and leg pulling, and so on) seems to be our second nature, and I don’t claim to be any different. BUT, of late, I have refrained from commenting on political issues back home - might as well because:
(i) even when I was commenting, I was doing so amidst the frustration of seeing the country I call home sliding downhill, crumbling like a house above the mudslide; and not as an “objective” political commentator who “knew his stuffs”
(ii) the early optimism (nearly a year now from the April uprising) and hope of country moving (or rather the old and mostly useless leaders trying to move the country) in the right direction (of participatory democracy, decentralisation and of economic development to name a few “right-direction” issues), have completely dried now, and I would rather keep to myself what little optimism that remains!
(iii) I am busy with my work (the usual excuse!), which determines my future more than anything else, and not even the political (and socio-economic) situation of the country that I was born in matters!
(iv) (and this is probably the REAL reason) I am sick and tired of trying to keep up with (and comprehend) what is happening in the country that I haven’t lived in for nearly a decade, and probably won’t live in for another few years to come!!!
Continue reading ‘back with a vengeance…’
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copylefT 2008
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