Parody: This is Just to Say

Our poetry teacher Prakash Subedi says one of the best ways to appreciate a good poem is to compose parodies of them. So, he had assigned us to write parodies of the well-known poem 'This Is Just To Say' by William Carlos Williams. Thus, here are a couple of parodies written by me:

Rigidity in Old Age: Natural and Human

            We demand to our parents that we need internet access and laptop at our home. "Why?" they ask. We say we need to research online for our study and assignments. They answer, "We too studied and were abided with assigned projects in our times. We completed our bachelors and masters under dim lights of a tuki, when there was no electricity. But we never thought of laptops or the Internet. So, you can study and do assignments without them if you really wish them. You complain means you don't want to do them!"

Nora's Final Meeting with Torvald: The Doll's Defiance

Nora Helmer, wife of Torvald Helmer is the protagonist of the celebrated realistic play 'A Doll House' (1879) by Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906). The change in her personality from a submissive wife to an assertive woman is taken as the most important move of the plot in this play. In this development, Nora's final meeting with her husband Helmer (whom she is going to leave) is the climax. Understanding this very episode provides the audience with the central controversy associated with Nora's role: is she right in leaving home. In deed, the scene of her meeting with Helmer is essentially crux of the play as it includes the landmark move in the plot, that is Nora's daring defiance against her doll position.

Role of Family in Personality: A Psychoanalytic Reading of 'I Stand Here Ironing'

'I Stand Here Ironing' is a short story by American writer Tillie Olsen. The story is about struggle of a mother – who is also narrator of the story – to bring up and console her psychologically problematic child, Emily. Emily is projected as one with various psychological core issues; namely low self esteem, fear of intimacy, and sibling rivalry. As the story progresses, she is gradually healed. In this process of problematisation and healing, the mother is seen always with her. Besides, the unnamed mother too shares those core issues. In fact, it is the mother (and indirectly the father) who incorporated the psychological problems into the daughter. Thus, the story shows that parents' treatment to children during childhood in the family directly influences their personality formation.

The Battle Royal: A Story of Realisation of Individual Limitations

While reading 'The Battle Royal' by Ralph Ellison, I find the event in which the narrator is called to redeliver his speech most disturbing. The event that he is called by some people to deliver his graduation speech again at a gathering reminds me of an experience that I myself passed through more than a decade ago. Since that experience was not so good for me, I find this call in the story equally disturbing and I can predict the problems that the narrator will face later. Further, that event makes me highlight innocence of the narrator to prove that the story is depiction of an individual's limitations. Then, for me, the story is an expression of individual weaknesses and their realisation, more than the voice for racial equality. 

English Affixation

1.      Affixation

Affixes are the bound morphemes which are added to base forms of words.  Yule, 2010 defines affixes as "a large number of small “bits” of the English language which are not usually given separate listings in dictionaries" (58). For example, "re-", "dis-", "-s", "-ed" are some common affixes in English language.

Phonetic Description of Nepali Consonants

1.      Consonants

Consonants are one of the major two subdivisions of phonemes of any language. It is distinguished from the other major subdivision 'Vowels'. Unlike vowels, consonant sounds cannot be pronounced without obstruction in airflow. In other words, "consonants are produced by temporarily obstructing or restricting the airstream as it passes through the mouth" (Lyons 75).     

Review of ‘The Journey’

'The Journey' is a short story by Catherine Lim. The story revolves around movement (not only physical one!) of the character named Richard and his family. It presents a conflict between traditional life style in rural Singapore and the modern life in urban cities of the nation that Richard and his wife Mabel represent respectfully. In addition, there also lies a conflict between older traditionalist generation and newer modernist generation. All the elements of the stories – including structure, characters, actions and language – contribute to the exposition of the same geographical and generational conflicts.

Nature and Time in the Given Poems of Coleridge, Keats and Wordsworth

The three poems - 'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner' (Coleridge), 'La Belle Dame sans Merci' (Keats) and 'Daffodils' (Wordsworth) belong to the same historical and literary period (of Romantic poetry). Thus they have similar visions toward nature and time that they pay high respect to nature and believe that past has a lasting effect on present and future.

            Explanation of beauty of nature is perhaps the most significant characteristic of literature of their time. Along with appreciation of its beauty, these three poems perceive nature as something great, God-like, thus it deserves high value and respects from human beings. The same beliefs are reflected in the three poems under question.

Difficulties as Inspirations for Improvement

photo from http://voxy.com/blog/

Despite the fact that I used to score the highest in my class, I was weak in English among my mates up to class 8. In class 9, I realised that I need to work hard on this subject for better SLC result. I worked hard and improved satisfactorily, which ultimately gave me a score of 82 in English in SLC exam. This mark convinced me that I am not weaker than other English school students in this subject. But I was proved wrong when I stepped into my +2 classroom.

End of Internal Exams: Not Reasonable for Real Students

Almost all +2 and bachelor level colleges in Kathmandu Valley schedule internal examinations for its students; but surprisingly very few students attend them. The students are neither forced to attempt them if the exams do not contribute to their final evaluation/score. Nevertheless, many colleges have never thought of any alternatives which would be more favourable to their students. Disparity between attitude of students toward such exams and the colleges' continuation of them can be taken as an evidence of the fact that we have many problems in education system. Yet, internal exams are beneficial too, thus can not be removed altogether from the system.

Mirror or Hammer? : Different Positions of Stories in Social Change

Introduction

            "Art is not a mirror to hold up to society, but a hammer with which to shape it", says Marxist thinker and dramatist Bertold Brecht (1898-1956). His idea is that art does not passively reflect whatever happens in society, but it actively influences and guides it. Art has a role to play, a function to inspire change in human society. It is in apparent opposition to traditional view toward art and literature that they "reflect" society as mirrors. In a way, both views seem correct. Some literatures simply reflect society, whereas some dare to shape it anew. The stories in this course too are divided over it. From the basis of two stories to be interpreted here, we can claim that art doesn't only mirror society every time, but sometime it hammers existing socio-cultural norms and values.

Dr Leinsdorf: Representative of 'White-Chauvinism'

'Town and Country Lovers' by Nadine Gordimer basically deals with racial differences and its impacts in human relationships in then South African settings. It includes two independent but similar stories set in town and country of South Africa. In the first story of town, Dr Franz-Josef von Leinsdorf (white man) is the major character who has relationships with an unnamed black girl. As the title suggests, they love each other. But their love is not so simple like 'pure love', but is complicated that also presents White view toward Black women in particular and whole Black life in general. Dr Leinsdorf's views can be representatives for white's views toward lives of blacks.

Sense of Class in 'The Garden Party'

'The Garden Party' by Katherine Mansfield suggests opinions on class differences in a society as one of its many themes. Its major character Laura belongs to the upper class. However in her neighbourhood, there live many lower (working) class poor families. Laura's and her family's view on life of lower class people has a significance in understanding of the story. Thus, although ambivalent, the story presents upper class's perspective toward life of lower class nearby them.

Delphin Slade in 'Roman Fever': An Unseen yet Important Character

Though only two characters – Alida Slade and Grace Ansley – are seen in 'Roman Fever' by Edith Wharton, there are numerous characters behind the scene. Among them, Delphin Slade is the most important one, whose strong influence can be seen contributing to what appears in the story. At the end of the story, most of the readers are forced to think about his role more importantly than Alida or Grace.

Satire in Gogol's 'The Overcoat'

Nikolai Gogol's 'The Overcoat' has predominantly satirist tone.  Written by a well-known Russian satirist, the story moves around the character of Akaky Akakievich (Bashmachkin); and the writer tries to attack then Russian bureaucracy in particular, and bureaucratic weaknesses of any place of any time in general through the incidents happened in life of its character. In surface view, the story seems to be mere portrayal of hardships and pains Akaky faces; or the story's central light is on Akaky's character, than on bureaucratic misbehaviours. However, if we read it more closely, it appears to be a strong satire against faults of administrative systems and its staff in then Russia.

Introduction to Major Feminists: from Woolf to Cixous

Background

            Feminism is an academic and political movement that attempts to establish women as equal to men in the world. Though mainstream political and literary history of feminism began in the nineteenth and twentieth century; struggles against patriarchy in literature can be seen earlier too. Mary Wollstonecraft's resistance against patriarchal ideology in 1792 with her 'A Vindication of the Rights of Woman' is an example (Tyson 93).

            Feminism's history is generally divided into three phases – as the first, second and third waves. Each of the waves involves some academic pioneers whose ideas led other activists. Below are introductions to few of those theorists who led development of the first and second wave feminisms.   

Development and Assumptions of New Critical Thought

New Criticism began in mid twentieth century. However, it is influenced by some nineteenth century thinkers, especially by Matthew Arnold, the British poet and literary and cultural critic. Arnold's central idea that New Criticism brought was "philosophy and religion would be replaced by poetry in modern society" (qtd. in Selden et al 25), where the existence of god is already questioned. He believed that literature is in deed culture, because for him, culture represents the best that has been known and thought in the world, and it can be a humanistic defense against destructive anarchy of the modern world.

Syllable Structures in Nepali Language

1.       Introduction to Syllables

A syllable is generally a speech sound of a particular language which can be pronounced with a single puff of breathes.  It is an essential element for a morpheme, i.e.: no morpheme can be formed without a syllable.  Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia states "Syllables are often considered the phonological 'building blocks' of words." For example, in the word 'Book' [bʊk], there is only one syllable, whereas the word 'Copy' [kopi:] is made up of two syllables. We need to break air to pronounce this word between 'co', and 'py'.

Then I Realised What It Means to Be a Vegetarian

Photo by Rubina Shreshth

I had spent a week with very difficult yet exciting and interesting experiences in Kolki, a rural village of Lamjung district last year. I was there to facilitate five-day training on life skills to members of local child clubs on invitation by a local NGO. Interestingly the trip became so memorable because of cross-cultural experiences I went through, rather than what I did there as a part of my formal purpose. It also made me learn some important life skills practically, which I was supposed to teach there.

Poetry in 'Fences': Metaphors, Music and More

'Fences' (1987) is a play by August Wilson, who is well known for the plays that use best of poetry and music. Like in many of his plays, poetry and music are very significantly present in language of characters of this play 'Fences'; and they have made this play playful and amusing. In addition, the play involves many interesting metaphors, contributing to enrichment of meaning of the dialogues. Thus, it is language of poetry that has made 'Fences' richer for both understanding and pleasure. 

Mother – Son Relations in 'The Glass Menagerie' and the 'Death of a Salesman'

'The Glass Menagerie' (1944) by Tennessee Williams and the 'Death of a Salesman' (1949) by Arthur Miller are considered to be two of most important plays of twentieth century American theatre. Written in the same decade, both of the plays delve into two different families and relationship between its members. The mother-son relationship in these two families is interesting to study, because it shares many similarities and differences. Though there are many gaps, both of the plays involve similar role of mothers toward sons of similar nature.

The Journey of Joy: Pokhara with NDI

To Begin With

Passage of time makes memories dim. If I don't write it now, I can't write as brightly as I remember now.

Dozens of days are already passed since I returned from Pokhara. It is already late to write about it. I have to write it because of two main reasons. Firstly I have unexpressed voluntary promise that I will record important experiences of my life. Secondly, I have expressed my wish to write about this journey with some of my friends.

Intro

Three months back, an informal club of participants of debate trainings named Nepal Debate Initiative (NDI) was formed by Alliance for Social Dialogue (ASD). ASD is the organization which had provided debate training for us. On 15 and 16 November (28 and 29 Kartik), NDI had organized an alumni meeting among available participants of debate workshops and trainings, organized in different points of time. We were in Pokhara from 14 to 17 November for that reason.

Many of the elements have made this journey joyful and memorable. You can't get it enough unless you will follow every details of the journey!

Party politics in media in Nepal

1.       Introduction

Multiparty politics and independence of press both are inseparable parts of today's democracy. They both together contribute to strengthen democratic values and practices. However, the relationship between political parties and media / press sector is quite complex and interesting.

Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia defines, "A political party is a political organization that typically seeks to influence government policy, usually by nominating their own candidates and trying to seat them in political office. Parties participate in electoral campaigns, educational outreach or protest actions." [1]

The Legal Dictionary of "The Free Dictionary Dot Com" defines 'freedom of the press' as, "The right, …to gather, publish, and distribute information and ideas without government restriction; this right encompasses freedom from prior restraints on publication and freedom from Censorship."[2] Thus, press freedom also includes the environment also free from any political interference. In this respect, involvement of party politics in media is regarded as an intrusion to press freedom. In principles, political biasness of any media or any journalist is never acceptable. 

However, as in various sectors of social lives, practices are deviated from the principles. Frequently political parties are seen to be involving in controlling media and manipulating the messages. In Nepal too, party politics in media is an apparent phenomena. That can be seen in different forms.

2.       Forms of political involvement in media in Nepal

I)                    Journalists' organizations with political face

In Nepal, there are many organizations of journalists, which are well known for their political identity. For example, Nepal Press Union is backed by Nepali Congress, Press Chautari Nepal by CPN - UML and Revolutionary Journalists Association (Krantikari Patrakar Sangh) by UCPN Maoists. These organizations don't claim themselves to be sister organizations of respective political parties, neither do the parties call them formal sister organizations. However, we can easily know them from their programs and activities. Some of the most common programs by these groups are to organize press meetings when a leader from respective party visits districts, and provide the platform for the leader to interact with journalists in the district.  Besides, they become more active to serve its "mother party", when the party has some grand programs like general conventions to foster media coverage of such programs.

II)                  Media run by political parties

Besides their authentic mouthpieces, political parties in Nepal are believed to be running other media as well to disseminate their ideas. It is most commonly seen in weekly tabloids. No matter they claim themselves to be objective, they have specific group of readers with specific political ideology and thus, their political ideology is a kind of an "open secret". For example,   'Chhalphal', 'Dristi' and 'Budhabar' are near CPN UML, though the party has its authentic mouthpiece, 'Navayug'. Similarly, 'Tarun', 'Sanghu' etc are near Nepali Congress. Moreover, different fractions of a single party have different outlets and they compete for larger readership. Not only big parties, small parties also have newspapers to spread their agendas.

III)                Political panel during FNJ elections

Federation of Nepalese Journalists (FNJ) is the "umbrella organization" of Nepalese journalists, and it works for rights of journalists and media without political discrimination. However, its members are elected from political panels.  During general convention of the body, the above discussed journalists' associations with political face form their separate panel and run for election. Nevertheless, FNJ doesn't acknowledge political affiliation of its candidates formally.  In the last FNJ convention (May 2011), Press Chautari and Krantikari Patrakar Sangh had a common "progressive" panel, whereas Nepal Press Union had its own "democratic" panel. Besides, there were some "independent" candidates, however in comparison to politically allied panels, they seemed far weaker.   

IV)               Political appointment

In Press Council, the governing body of media freedom and responsibilities too, executive members of the board including the chairperson are appointed politically. Article 4 (1) of Press Council Act, 1992 says, "The Council shall be an autonomous and corporate body having perpetual succession." However, the sixth article of the same act provisions for political appointment, that government is free to appoint people form the sector of law or journalism as it wishes. It has been tradition that the government has been appointing the chairperson and members, only those who support the governing party.

Besides, the Government of Nepal own and runs many media houses, namely Gorkhapatra Samsthan, Radio Nepal and Nepal Television, and a news agency Rastriya samachar Samiti (RSS). In these houses too, office bearer executives and other members are directly appointed by Minister of Information and Communications. 

3.       Political affiliation of journalists:  Accusations and defences

I)                    Accusations

Because objectivity and balance are two of the basic components of media ethics, there are many critics who can't tolerate party politics in media, including political affiliation of journalists.  They opine that it brings biasness in their profession, and they might favour one side whereas criticizing another even in news.

Nirmala Mani Adhikary, Assistant Professor of Journalism at Kathmandu University, who has written dozens of books in media, says, "Whenever journalists do politics, or politicians do journalism, it hampers both sectors." For him, political biasness results in decrease of accuracy, balance, creativity and objectivity, which are in deed prime responsibilities of a journalist. [3]

IN the same way, P Kharel, Chairperson of Nepal Press Institute and the first professor of Journalism in Nepal, opines that Nepali journalism is yet to be professional. In addition to many reasons, "... there has been 'Party Journalism' in Nepal. It is more on weekly tabloids, in comparison to broadsheet dailies", he says.[4]

II)                  Defences

No one ever openly acknowledges that political involvement of journalists is positive.  Even those who are involved in politically-backed journalists' associations too don't accept the accusations that they are promoting party politics in media. However, they defend themselves as saying that every one has political ideology, and it is fundamental human rights as well. So, journalists too are free to choose and express whatever political stream they like.

However, Nirmala Mani says that there lies a great difference between having a political belief and practicing politics itself. Thus, though journalists are allowed to keep their beliefs, as they too are human beings; they can't practice politics at the same time being a journalist.

4.       Conclusion

As of everything, involvement of party politics in journalism (or journalism's involvement in part politics) has both positive and negative sides. However, in consideration of well-established global journalistic norms and values, political affiliation of journalists and media can't be considered acceptable, since it endanger objectivity, neutrality and objectivity of journalists. Of course, they are free to keep and follow whatever belief they like. But they should always be careful and cautious so that there beliefs doesn't have any negative influence in their professionalism. 

---

[1] Political Party, Wikipedia, , accessed on 16 October, 2011

[2] Freedom of the Press, Legal Dictionary, The Free Dictionary, , accessed on 16 October, 2011

[3] Nirmala Mani Adhikary in a lecture on media ethics, Sagarmatha College for Higher Studies, 28 April 2011 (2068/01/15 BS)

[4] Adhikari, Antariksha. 'Nepal ma Party Patrakarita Bhairakheko Chha', interview with P Kharel, Page 3, Swatantra Patrakarita weekly, Volume I, no. 1. 17 September, 2009 (2066/01/01 BS)

Beautiful Flower amid the Thorns: JHAMAK KUMARI

"Now I proved myself that life is a beautiful flower of creation. But, don't know if my life is so or not!" begins 'JEEVAN: KAANDA KI PHOOL' [LIFE: WHETHER A THORN OR A FLOWER], a widely acclaimed book in Nepali literature these days. It is anthology of autobiographical essays by Jhamak K Ghimire, who is born with 'cerebral palsy' in 1980 in Dhankuta, Nepal.

All the essays reflect her struggle with physical disability in order to live with optimism and express her thoughts ands emotions through written words.

To general readers, the anthology appeals their senses with vivid descriptions of her attempts to outweigh situation of not being able to speak, walk and move hands. In a surprising contrast to her physical conditions, her mind and heart are so active that have always been producing powerful thoughts and emotions.  Adding up to her inborn disabilities, the family and the society further offered physical and psychological tortures. She was always trying to 'do something' defying boundaries set by her physique and consequent socio-cultural commands. So, her activities would always agitate her family members and society, which in turn led her to encounter more immediate hardships.

In the initial phase of her life, she was experiencing a "thorny" life, when people in her contact - including her parents - wished her to meet death, in order to escape potential hardships of life. However, she faced all these attacks so bravely that society later turned to appraise her and her works. She began to learn read and write letters with direct and indirect support from her sister, though her parents were against it.  She used to scribble the letters on earth or stone with bamboo-bricks, coal or mere bare toes; resulting physical pain and bleeding at one side, and shouts from parents at the same time. She had to cry long and protest hard in order to make her parents buy pen and papers to her for the first time.

As soon as she began to write with her left foot, the surrounding perceived it as a miracle. As a result, people began to visit her to satisfy their curiosity on how she could communicate without speaking.

As she had creative thoughts and emotions right from her early days, writing ability enabled her to express them to other people. So, she started writing poems, articles and drawing pictures; after she got sufficient vocabularies and writing rules from the literatures she went through.

With the support of many helping hands, she later expanded her horizons to be a columnist for a widely popular national daily. This further enabled her to establish and strengthen her recognition. So far, she has written nine whole books, in different genres: poetry, stories, essays and articles. Consequently, she has received tens of awards and prizes for the words she expresses.

Her experiences during the armed conflict and movements for democracy are more painful. Primarily, her humanitarian heart was tortured by news of attacks, wars and killings. Further, members of war-involved parties would carry out searches to her place and possessions to see if she to is involved in "suspicious activities". On the other hand, some people would perceive her appeals for freedom and democracy through writing as political agenda of some specific parties. However, there is no stopping Jhamak- she continued to write whatever she felt and thought.

Now, Jhamak has already written a lot. But, she is still writing, for she says "Pen connects me with the world. Living without a pen might be possible, but not easy and natural at all."   She will be walking the same path, because she believes, "No more life for only self. I have to live for others. How long I live, I will live for my society, my nation and my world."