Welcome to SPIT ZONE!!
I have heard people speak loftily about the clean roads, swanky shopping malls, office buildings in many western and eastern metros. Some of us who are born into these set ups may not have been a part of the processes that make it all happen!! Here is one such!
I am in Birgunj a major town of Nepal. Birgunj is a bustling town with large scale commercial activities as nearly 80% of imports pass this town from across the Indian border. With Nepal opening its doors to foreign ideas and goods, the city is in a transition stage. It’s amusing to see people using the state of the art products but practising habits that seem to die hard!
People generally in this region are traditional tobacco/pawn chewers. It’s hard to find any public space that hasn’t been coloured by the “ red’ spit. The act of spitting happens almost involuntarily almost anytime any where, In a cyber cafe which I have been visiting since my 10 month stay here, the cubicle walls and floor have graffiti formed by the spit. Nothing strange!?? This is where the postmodern and the cultural habit clash!The cyber owner is worried! His idea of providing a common spittoon was of no success.
Last week when I walked into the cafe, each cubicle looked afresh! There was the gentle whiff of fresh paint. As I took my seat to surf, I saw a large poster stuck to the wall next to the seat. The poster displayed the images of Goddess Lakshmi, Saraswathi and Lord Ganesh! I gave a questioning look to the owner. He smiled and said” Madam, “We get the shop painted every year. And this year I have pasted the Gods poster hoping that it would dissuade the would be pawn / tobacco chewing customers from spitting !! “Post modern time vs indigenous culture ! The cyber owner had to seek out Gods help to serve his end! Did this work? I shall inform you in the next news letter! Till then I shall look around for such interesting happenings in my otherwise( boring ?) Birgunj
The airport here should have a Spit zone!!.(An inclusive idea!!)
Friday, November 6, 2009
Diwali in Birgunj ,Nepal
Diwali .. the festival of lights in Birgunj...
Diwali is celebrated all over by most Hindus in south Asia. I was in BIrgunj,Nepal in 2009 during the festival time. Preparations began a week before. Schools were unofficially closed a couple of days earlier than the schedule days. Market place started filling up with stuff people buy. The vendors sold earthen lamps, clothes, vessels, account books , serial lights, flowers , colourful rangoli powder, plastic garlands, Crackers, Gods photos and images to almost everything. Of course the vegetable , fruit and sweets shops were brimming with goods. For many this was the last chance to earn money for the year.
On the festival day, ie., lakshmi pooja, I walked along the streets in the morning. There were a lot of buyers and sellers. There was lot of bargaining as people shopped for flowers. Nepal could not meet the demand locally and had to import flowers worth crores from India !
In the evening the whole scene had changed. Not a vendor except for the occasional cracker seller. Birgunj never looked so clean! People seemed to have taken owe not to spit!!??Every shop front was thoroughly washed , decorated with rangoli and banana shoots. Earthen lamps were aesthetically placed, Electric serials ran down from the buildings top!It all looked like a fairy land! Enthusiastic shop owners young and old lit the lamps and waited for the Pandit to come and consecrate the pooja. They burnt crackers flouting all safety rules. Police men stood passively. But it was a surprise !Not a woman in the shop or on the street!! All the merry that was happening was for men only. I wondered where the women were and what could they be doing.
As I walked along little children stopping at lamps on the pavements , not being watched by the owners, caught my eyes! On close watch, I found them to be rag pickers blowing off the lamps and pouring the oil into a bottle!! Festivals and the rituals are a source of livelihood in so many different ways! There is a system in all these which people make use of in some way or the other. Well ,it might not be egalitarian ( which system in the world is?) A change in one of the practice leads to a series of change which brings about another system in place!!
Diwali is celebrated all over by most Hindus in south Asia. I was in BIrgunj,Nepal in 2009 during the festival time. Preparations began a week before. Schools were unofficially closed a couple of days earlier than the schedule days. Market place started filling up with stuff people buy. The vendors sold earthen lamps, clothes, vessels, account books , serial lights, flowers , colourful rangoli powder, plastic garlands, Crackers, Gods photos and images to almost everything. Of course the vegetable , fruit and sweets shops were brimming with goods. For many this was the last chance to earn money for the year.
On the festival day, ie., lakshmi pooja, I walked along the streets in the morning. There were a lot of buyers and sellers. There was lot of bargaining as people shopped for flowers. Nepal could not meet the demand locally and had to import flowers worth crores from India !
In the evening the whole scene had changed. Not a vendor except for the occasional cracker seller. Birgunj never looked so clean! People seemed to have taken owe not to spit!!??Every shop front was thoroughly washed , decorated with rangoli and banana shoots. Earthen lamps were aesthetically placed, Electric serials ran down from the buildings top!It all looked like a fairy land! Enthusiastic shop owners young and old lit the lamps and waited for the Pandit to come and consecrate the pooja. They burnt crackers flouting all safety rules. Police men stood passively. But it was a surprise !Not a woman in the shop or on the street!! All the merry that was happening was for men only. I wondered where the women were and what could they be doing.
As I walked along little children stopping at lamps on the pavements , not being watched by the owners, caught my eyes! On close watch, I found them to be rag pickers blowing off the lamps and pouring the oil into a bottle!! Festivals and the rituals are a source of livelihood in so many different ways! There is a system in all these which people make use of in some way or the other. Well ,it might not be egalitarian ( which system in the world is?) A change in one of the practice leads to a series of change which brings about another system in place!!
Inclusive Hinduism
I come from south India , which has images of plurality very different from other parts of India. I am a Brahmin by birth. And I am brought up in a home where vegetarianism is in practice. And i continued to be a vegetarian by choice as i grew up.
My exposure ( thanks to TVS school, ) on subaltern studies which challenges the popular narration of the Indian past ,has evoked a lot of interest in me to observe the present with an open mind. As I came to Nepal, I was curious to see the only (erstwhile)Hindu kingdom .I was also wondering how could Hinduism be seen in everyday Nepal life! I must say what hit my eyes were shocking. Yes, the meat selling shops! Don’t mistake me, I know that there are more non vegetarians in my own town. But I hardly see meat being sold on main streets! But here in Nepal the fruit or the vegetable shops had a butcher next door!This is very rare in India. What does it tell me? Some where in the process of progress, meat shops were put out of sight, as the Brahmins turned vegetarians. The fact that this change in eating practice came after Buddhism is not known to many. Fearing that the vedic culture could disappear, the Brahmins had to incorporate the ideas of Ahimsa of Buddha ( a process of reformation?)and hence started eating less and less meat which over time became a rigid practice. But why didn’t any thing change in Nepal even after Adi Shankara came and displaced Buddhism in these parts ?( now his priests are being replaced!)But I see Hinduism more inclusive one as it hasn’t become as rigid as I see it in my part of the world. The abundant meat selling shops and the practice of offering meat to god during festival times gives a glimpse as to how everything could have been in the past. In the Gadimai fair ( very close to Birgunj)that happens once in five years s, animals like goats , rats, buffalo calves etc are sacrificed in thousands even to this day!! Public opinion is now being aroused to stop this. But it will take some time!
The past has continued with little change here , thanks to the closed foreign policy of the kingship until recently. It is interesting to see the different definitions of Hinduism and plurality of this system is now under threat by people in power. The process of exclusion leads to greater conflicts in the long run, as the coming together of people is only superficial and some how or some where humans have repeatedly shown loyalty to their clan !
My exposure ( thanks to TVS school, ) on subaltern studies which challenges the popular narration of the Indian past ,has evoked a lot of interest in me to observe the present with an open mind. As I came to Nepal, I was curious to see the only (erstwhile)Hindu kingdom .I was also wondering how could Hinduism be seen in everyday Nepal life! I must say what hit my eyes were shocking. Yes, the meat selling shops! Don’t mistake me, I know that there are more non vegetarians in my own town. But I hardly see meat being sold on main streets! But here in Nepal the fruit or the vegetable shops had a butcher next door!This is very rare in India. What does it tell me? Some where in the process of progress, meat shops were put out of sight, as the Brahmins turned vegetarians. The fact that this change in eating practice came after Buddhism is not known to many. Fearing that the vedic culture could disappear, the Brahmins had to incorporate the ideas of Ahimsa of Buddha ( a process of reformation?)and hence started eating less and less meat which over time became a rigid practice. But why didn’t any thing change in Nepal even after Adi Shankara came and displaced Buddhism in these parts ?( now his priests are being replaced!)But I see Hinduism more inclusive one as it hasn’t become as rigid as I see it in my part of the world. The abundant meat selling shops and the practice of offering meat to god during festival times gives a glimpse as to how everything could have been in the past. In the Gadimai fair ( very close to Birgunj)that happens once in five years s, animals like goats , rats, buffalo calves etc are sacrificed in thousands even to this day!! Public opinion is now being aroused to stop this. But it will take some time!
The past has continued with little change here , thanks to the closed foreign policy of the kingship until recently. It is interesting to see the different definitions of Hinduism and plurality of this system is now under threat by people in power. The process of exclusion leads to greater conflicts in the long run, as the coming together of people is only superficial and some how or some where humans have repeatedly shown loyalty to their clan !
When a man on the motoe bike chased me...
I was in a meeting of the HTS’ , SMC Presidents and female representatives of SMC . The were all supposed to discuss issues that crop between the SMC and the head teacher. The facilitator asked the participants to answer some questions , which was done in a politically correct way.In the discussions that followed, people started airing their differences vociferously. I silently listened to all their out bursts. Then the facilitator asked me to address the group.
I walked to the black board wrote a web diagram showing the child caught in relation ship with the, parent , community and the school. I totally agreed that in an organization such as a school where there are many stake holders there was bound to be conflict of interests. But I told them that all their differences can be resolved more easily if their focus was on the child…without whom the school wouldn’t exist!!There was hushed silence.
Later that week I was in a tonga coming back from a school visit. I noticed a man on a motor bike dashing to over take the tonga.’How reckless he is!’, I thought As he approached closer, he with a large smile shouted with joy.”Thank you madam,, I am the head master who was in that meeting that day. What you said was very right, In our school meeting today I helped resolve some conflict putting the child in focus. Everybody appreciated my view. Thank you so much !!” I can still recall the cheerfulness in his eyes.
I walked to the black board wrote a web diagram showing the child caught in relation ship with the, parent , community and the school. I totally agreed that in an organization such as a school where there are many stake holders there was bound to be conflict of interests. But I told them that all their differences can be resolved more easily if their focus was on the child…without whom the school wouldn’t exist!!There was hushed silence.
Later that week I was in a tonga coming back from a school visit. I noticed a man on a motor bike dashing to over take the tonga.’How reckless he is!’, I thought As he approached closer, he with a large smile shouted with joy.”Thank you madam,, I am the head master who was in that meeting that day. What you said was very right, In our school meeting today I helped resolve some conflict putting the child in focus. Everybody appreciated my view. Thank you so much !!” I can still recall the cheerfulness in his eyes.
Water,water everywhere....
I was in a school with an ETC facilitator, who was supervising the practice teaching of the trainees.
The teachers about eight of them, were supposed to make teaching aids. As you guess they stated
cutting paper to make alphabet and number cards. Each one was doing the same. I watched them all doing this for some time. Then the ETC facilitator asked me if I could give them some suggestions. Appreciating the task being done by them I asked if they could use any material available in the room as an aid. They all
looked at each other and went on to say ,’Madam, you come from places where lot of materials are
available to teach. See, there is nothing here’.Quietly, I walked to a corner picked up a glass of water , gave it to a person and asked ‘ can you tell me some thing about this?’ ‘Why, it is only water.’he replied. “OK good , pass the glass to the next one please” I said. The glass was passed. Now I said ‘Tell me one thing you know about water.’ There was a response. The glass was passed on to the next person and there was another response. This act went on for a whole 15 minutes amongst the teachers and there was full excitement .The group was thrilled to see how a glass of water could lead to inclusive and participatory learning. I then pitched up to say how this aid could be used in any class depending upon the age and subject focus, be it language or science or art When all this was happening there was a person standing afar and watching all the fun. After the show he spoke to me. When I asked him who he was, he quietly replied that he was the science teacher of the school!!I did a similar show with the children in a school. Spontaneity in the use of materials goes a long way in making people think that learning happens everywhere and with any thing even as insignificant a thing as a glass of water!!It is also important for them to know that we , volunteers from privileged conditions also most of the time resort to such aids to bring in meaningful learning experiences.
The teachers about eight of them, were supposed to make teaching aids. As you guess they stated
cutting paper to make alphabet and number cards. Each one was doing the same. I watched them all doing this for some time. Then the ETC facilitator asked me if I could give them some suggestions. Appreciating the task being done by them I asked if they could use any material available in the room as an aid. They all
looked at each other and went on to say ,’Madam, you come from places where lot of materials are
available to teach. See, there is nothing here’.Quietly, I walked to a corner picked up a glass of water , gave it to a person and asked ‘ can you tell me some thing about this?’ ‘Why, it is only water.’he replied. “OK good , pass the glass to the next one please” I said. The glass was passed. Now I said ‘Tell me one thing you know about water.’ There was a response. The glass was passed on to the next person and there was another response. This act went on for a whole 15 minutes amongst the teachers and there was full excitement .The group was thrilled to see how a glass of water could lead to inclusive and participatory learning. I then pitched up to say how this aid could be used in any class depending upon the age and subject focus, be it language or science or art When all this was happening there was a person standing afar and watching all the fun. After the show he spoke to me. When I asked him who he was, he quietly replied that he was the science teacher of the school!!I did a similar show with the children in a school. Spontaneity in the use of materials goes a long way in making people think that learning happens everywhere and with any thing even as insignificant a thing as a glass of water!!It is also important for them to know that we , volunteers from privileged conditions also most of the time resort to such aids to bring in meaningful learning experiences.
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