Fatalism Never Dies In Nepal

As journalists constantly struggle to seek fair, reliable and relevant sources for their reports, Dhruba Adhikary, a Nepali journalist finds an easy way out. Adhikary writes a report about the country’s future based on an astrologer’s predictions. The world reads it on Asian Times. 

Fatalism never dies in Nepal. Excerpts of Adhikary’s report:

It all began when Bhimeshwar (one of the manifestations of Lord Shiva), housed in a temple in the eastern hill district of Dolakha, oozed what looked like beads of perspiration, attracting thousands of villagers. Another inauspicious moment for the monarchy surfaced when the pole of the chariot of the deity Machhindranath fell to the ground while being taken around the Kathmandu Valley a couple of months ago.
………
Astrologer Gopal Baabaa, in a wide-ranging interview published in Tarun, a Nepali-language weekly, said Nepal is destined to remain in bad shape until mid-March 2010.

Famine in Nepal: It’s SERIOUS!!

People in western Nepal are starving. Elected representatives, meanwhile, are trying to settle the political squabble in Kathmandu.

There’s no government to make administrative decisions, and it’s already too late for people whose crops have died and who cannot afford the steep price of rice and other grains.

Jamauti Kami in Sokat, Accham, southern-west Nepal, was cooking the last cup rice for her starving children when Charles Haviland of the BBC, visited her for his report published on July 10.

Thirteen-year-old Dhirendra Nepali of Kolti, Bajura, western Nepal, had eaten two slices of bread the day before Kantipur interviewed him on July 7.

Ram Chandra Jyoti of Rami Danda, Jajarkot was looking for rice to feed his family, the last week of June, when he talked to Rajendra Karki of Nepali Times.

Seventy-year-old Indian woman gives birth

A woman in her 70’s gave birth to twins in a quest for a boy in Uttar Pradesh, India, reported BBC today. The woman’s husband, a farmer, also in mid-70’s said he wanted a boy to take care of his property. They conceived using the method of In Vitro Fertilization. 

On one hand, India is making a mark in the world by its fast paced developement. Ironically, the same advancement is being used (in this case, IVF) to continue its inflated importance on males. A practice that puts an eldery woman’s life in danger to advance a culture that stresses male supremacy, is really sad and a slap in the face of 21st century’s “development”.