Corner with a Full View

गत हप्ता बद्री पुनको  जीव न  कथा र नेपाल मा LGBTI को आन्दोलनको बारेमा कुराहरु सुन्ने मौका मिल्यो । त्यस बसाइमा बद्री पुन र ज्योति थापा दुई जनाबाट नेपालमा LGBTI  त्यस्मा  पनि transgender समुदायको बारेमा धेरै कुराहरु सुन्ने बुझ्ने मौका मिल्यो । यती गहिराइमा मैले यो बिषयमा प्रस्तुती सुनेको पहिलो पटक थियो । उक्त प्रस्तुती अरुलाई पनि जानकारी मुलक हुने लागेर यहाँ केही  भाग  सम्पादित text को रुपमा र पुरै प्रस्तुती भिडियोमा राखेको छु ।  Badri Pun (L) and Jyoti Thapa (R) “१. २०४४ सालमा गेम खेल्दा खेरि हामी पुरुष स्वभाव भएको एक समुह थियौं राम्री केटी देख्नै नहुने खोसाखोस गरिहाल्ने । अरु कुरा थाहा थिएन ।  २. २०४६ मा बहुदल आउँदा सम्म पनि एकदम हेला गथ्र्यो । काठमाण्डौंमा सामाखुशीमा एउटा कोठामा भाडामा बसेको थिएँ । त्यहाँ साथीहरुले केटी ल्याउने गर्थे । एकदिन एकजना साथी (transgender) केटी खोसेर लग्दा हामी लिन गयौं तर पुलिसले यस्तरी कुट्यो कि एक हप्तासम्म त विरामी नै भयौं । त्यतिखेर बेस्मारी दुःख लागेको थियो । ३. त्यतिखेर मैले महश...

The text is largely written by my colleague Ben Ayers. Twenty Bridges by dZi Foundation on Exposure

"I wanted nothing more than to be a Nepali." "I wanted nothing more than to serve my country." "I wanted nothing more but to get some rights and dignity in this country." "I wanted nothing more but to gain some recognition through my work." "I wanted nothing more but my children to have at least a better future than me." "I wanted nothing more but to provide for my family." "I wanted to feel like this land belonged to me too." "I wanted to feel like I did some good for this country too." "I had a long plan for my life." "I had a long plan for my life." "I had never thought that one day I would pelt someone to death with stones." "I had never thought I would be a cold blooded murderer." "I had never thought that I would stop seeing another person as a person but as an obstacle to be removed." "I had never thought I would...

So many facts skipped over and simply wrong in   this article by New York Times   titled "India Dampens Nepal's Celebrations"   that even opening up the link a second time tires me up. Really "international" journalists- you have to make such sweeping blanket statements regarding the state of my country which is not only ignorant but almost offensive? Even to go through it once more for a mere blog piece is an effort for me in practicing perseverance. To put it mildly, like I tweeted, this is a great example of "parachute journalism". Add to that, the parachute lands in an extremely small section of the country and comes in contact with only a handful of people who are from the same circle. What if the situation in USA is judged just by looking at Donald Trump's tweets or by following the Kardashians? A nation is always a complicated, dynamic thing. Even Nepal is not so simple. It is not just "water buffaloes" debating each other . You...

“हैट, तपाइहरु त राई हुँदै होइन !” तेस्रो चोटि पनि तपाइहरु राई नै हो भन्ने उनको प्रश्नमा मैले “हो त” भन्ने उत्तर दिदाँ हामीसंग पागंबोचेदेखिसंगै यात्रा गर्दै गरेकी कुलुङ राई बहिनीले पत्याउदै नपत्याएर यसो भनेको थिइन् । बिहान करिब ८ वजे फेरिचेबाट बाटोभरि फुलेको सुन्दर फुल, हरियो घाँसे मैदान, निलो आकाश र खुलेको हिमाल हेर्दै नाम्चे हिंडेको हामीले उनलाई तल्लो पागंबोचेमा भेटाएका थियौ । फेरिचेकै एक होटलमा काम गर्ने उनी आफ्नो होटल साहुनीको खुम्जुङमा भएको घरबाट केही सामान लिनका लागि डोको बोकेर बाटो लागेकी रहेछिन् । हामी दुई बहिनी काठमाण्डौबाट घुम्न आएको त्यसकारण फोटो खिच्दै र बिसाउँदै अनि वहाँ भने डोको रित्तै किन लाने भनेर साहुनीले कामीकोमा तिखार्न पठाएको फलामे औजारहरुको गर्‍हुङो   भारी टेकाउँदै लगभग उस्तै गतिमा हिंडिरहेको थियौं । बारम्बार विसाएर सुस्केरा हाल्ने ठाउँहरु एकै भएपछि मैले पनि एक बसाइमा सोधिहाले  “बहिनीको घर कता ?” तल्लो सोलुखुम्बुमा कुलगं राईहरुसंगको करिब डेढ वर्षे उठबस र एक हप्ताको माथिल्लो सोलुखुम्बु (खुम्बु वा सगरमाधा आधार शिवि रक्षेत्र)को अव...

न पुलिसलाई मधेशी जनतासँग कुनै रिसइवी  थियो/छ न त मधेशी जनतालाई पुलिस सँग केही रिसइवी थियो/ छ । तर पनि आज प्रहरी र मधेशी जनता एक अर्का सँग एसरी लडिरहेका छन् जस्तो वहाँहरुको सदियौ देखी को केही ठुलो झगडा नै थियो । मधेशी  जनताको रिस त अधिकार पाउँ  भनेर नेपालका एक दुइटा महान नेताहरुसँग पो थियो जस्ले काठमाडौं को सुरक्षा र आराममा चुनावमा आफ्नो  सिट सुरक्षित गर्नका लागि मात्र संबिधान ल्याउन खोज्दैछन  । एउटा पुलिस, एउटा मधेशी,  एउटा बालक, एक महिला - हाम्रा दाजु भाई छोरा दिदी । मरिरहेका छन् दिन दिनै । र यो देश निस्किनै नसक्ने खाल्डोमा जाकिदैछ । तेही पनि हाम्रा नेताहरु शायद आफु प्रधानमन्त्री रहिरहने वा भबिस्यमा बन्न सक्ने जोखना नै हेर्दैछन्  । कतिवोटा लाश गनी सकेपछी यि नयाँ राजाहरुलाई होश आउनेछ  ? एक आपसमा केही झै झगडा नभएको जनतालाई भीडाएर आज एस्तो स्थिती अाइसक्यो कि घाइतेलाई ambulance बाट निकालेर मारिदैछ भने सडकमा खेलिरहेको बालकलाई ताकी ताकी गोली हानिदैछ । तै पनी यो स्थिती सबै रोक्न सक्ने मानिसहरु उखान टुक्का भनेर "आप झर्दै गर्...

At every stage of my life, there has been time when I look back at my past self of various stages and go "ewwww" at some things that the past me found absolutely cool. "You sang to me" is one such song that happened to me. I don't even know what I liked about the song, I only know that I did. Well, there were a lot of Bon Jovis that happened too which I now scrunch to even think about, but hey they were cool when you know...and they spoke the feelings perfectly for me. I cannot guarantee even now, that if those songs came floating to me while out on street, I wouldn't pause for a second to flashback my mind to my "Prince Charming" wishing days. Hmph! This song came back to me when I was photographing away my room out of sheer boredom- my camera's boredom not mine. I have enough in my plate right now to not get bored for another century. I hadn't picked up the camera even once since my last trek so I thought I might as well give i...