Author: kufit

Mathematics: Exciting or Hard?

– Pushpa Raj Adhikary
Traditionally mathematics has been an integral part of the courses in natural sciences and engineering everywhere. But experience has taught us that learning mathematics has never been a priority of majority students. The high rate of failure in mathematics of mathematics majors as well as Engineering students confirms this fact. Perhaps the motivation and encouragement given to learn mathematics are not sufficient.
Although mathematics is considered the most prestigious subject in the school curriculum at any level, it continues to be a subject taught more for enabling students to get through the examinations only. It is taught in an authoritarian fashion. There is least worry about motivation. At most, all emphasis is on solving tedious and rather complicated problems with little explanation on the inherent beauty and logic of the methodologies involved and their practical implications. Mathematics is one subject where the gap between the intended and the implemented objectives is wide. As a consequence, mathematics is considered a most difficult subject and is considered as a useless, boring and hard subject. Also, it is considered as abhorred by a majority of the educated people. This attitude of parents and educated people in the society is creating a negative impact upon the younger generation that it is a difficult and not so useful subject. This causes great panic among the students to study mathematics.
Part of the reason why mathematics puzzles the majority of persons is that it is hard for them to decide what kind of thing mathematics is. Is it a science? Is it an art? Is it a language? In fact mathematics is all three. Among all the existing sciences, it is the science which is least restricted to any one particular area of the world, real or imagined. It is hard to say all that mathematics is. The famous philosopher Bertrand Russell said that pure mathematics is something which we can talk about without understanding what it is.
Some parts of mathematics can be useful to any intelligent person. They help one to make better decisions. They help anyone to see the structure of the world more clearly and help in common activities. Graphs and tables summarize a lot of information. To be able to read a graph or a table makes the information accessible. Estimating is a technique of making good rough guesses about numbers. Models, plans, schemes, maps, diagrams are the representations or pictures of the real world. In all these activities, the results are not obtained without hard work. Moreover, such mathematical scales are a part of any skill/aptitude test for a job or for advanced study in any discipline.
Mathematics contains ideas that can be, and deserve to be, communicated to a wider public. But mathematicians claim that math is not a spectator sport. You cannot understand math, or enjoy it, without doing it. A mathematician who tries to communicate his subject to the layman soon finds himself in trouble because if he sticks to the truth he cannot communicate, and when he tries to communicate, he strays from the truth. Talking without being understood is pointless, lying is painful, so most often mathematicians abandon the attempt to communicate mathematics to others.
But this is not the case in other branches of science. Not only a geneticist doing research in recombinant DNA research knows about DNA but many others know what DNA is. Likewise, you need not be a Physicist or a Chemist to know that matter consists of atoms. But the reverse is true in case of mathematics. When mathematicians, physicists or electrical engineers talk about anything, sooner or later they scribble down formulas. To them formulas are the most precise and economical way of expressing their thoughts. Without formulas they think they cannot communicate well. But showing a formula to someone who can’t remember the symbols is something like encountering nightmares. An English major student once asked a mathematics professor to suggest him a book of geometry written in plain English without any mathematical formulas and symbols. Can mathematician write such books for students majoring other subjects?
Formulas do not scare only non-mathematicians, but sometimes even to the persons of science. Michael Faraday, best known English investigator for his pioneering work connecting magnetism and electricity, wrote the following to one of his junior, James Clark Maxwell:
When a mathematician engaged in investigating physical actions and results has arrived at his calculations, may they not be expressed in common language as fully, clearly, and definitely as in mathematical formulae? If so, would it not be a great boon to such as I to express them so?
If formulas in mathematics and other physical sciences are considered weapons of intimidation by others, cannot they be replaced by common language? But to explain the mathematical formulas in details, words are often clumsy and sometimes ambiguous.
Having talked about something on the nature of mathematics, now let us answer the question, “Is mathematics exciting?”. Today mathematical methods not only pervade the whole world of physical sciences and engineering but such diverse branches of knowledge as the social sciences, management  sciences, psychology, economics, biology, linguistics, and military affairs. Why mathematical methods are so popularly used is because it has ability to reduce complex problems into a set of simple step-by-step solutions. In the absence of such a technique, problem solving would mostly be a trial and error or a subjective matter.
We are living in the greatest age of mathematics ever seen. Mathematics started being more abstract since the beginning of twentieth century and many feared whether mathematicians would be working on silly intellectual exercise. Since World War II, it has became a single unified discipline having profound influence in the development of human civilization. So, learning and creating mathematics is a worthwhile way to spend life.
Now, to the second question: “Is mathematics hard?  Unfortunately most people confess that they are not good at mathematics.  You may not find a single good mathematician who claims that mathematics is easy for him or her. While mathematics is intensely enjoyable, it also requires hard work and discipline. Very bright students who are good in mathematics at high school do not graduate in mathematics courses and still a few eventually get their PhDs. The truth is that one should be driven to study mathematics and it is literally difficult to convince that they could shine in this discipline. But the fact is: it is exciting. The earlier frustration of learning mathematics should not deter anyone in the thrills of learning and creating new mathematics. Mathematicians are the only people who, by their mathematics, help to create new technologies and knowledge to enhance human civilization further.

वाणीको नालीबेली

मुकुन्दप्रसाद उपाध्याय
धेरै पहिले एकजना कविको एउटा कविता पढेको थिएँ। कविको नामचाहिँ याद रहेन। त्यस कविताको एउटा हरफ म अझै सम्झन्छु। त्यो थियो — “बोलीबाट हुँदैन क्यै किन भनूँ, बोलेर पो हुन्छ के?’ अर्थात् कविले हाम्रो बोलीको महत्ता र प्रभावबारे लेखेका थिए। हुन पनि हो, हामी मानवजातिलाई प्रकृतिले दिएको अनुपम एवं अद्वितीय उपहार नै ‘बोली’ हो, जसलाई संस्कृत भाषामा ‘वाणी’ भनिन्छ। ‘बोली’ वा ‘वचन’ शब्दले भन्दा ‘वाणी’ शब्दले वृहत् अर्थ समेटेको हुन्छ। 
धार्मिक मान्यताअनुसार जलचर, थलचर र नभचर जीवहरूको सङ्ख्या ८४ लाख बताइएको छ। त्यसैले हामी जीवहरूले ८४ लाख योनिमा भ्रमण गर्नुपर्ने कुरा पुनर्जन्मको सिद्धान्तले बताएको छ। ८४ लाख जीवहरूमा मानवजातिलाई नै सर्वश्रेष्ठ मानिन्छ। जीवहरूमा मानव नै यस्तो प्राणी हो जो कर्म, तप, ज्ञान, भक्ति आदिबाट देवतुल्य बन्ने वा देवता हुने सामर्थ्य राख्दछ। त्यस्तो सामर्थ्य हामीलाई बुद्धि–विवेक प्राप्त भएकाले सम्भव भएको हो। बुद्धि र विवेकको प्रकटीकरण र ग्रहणको माध्यम अनि सार नै वाणी हो। ज्ञान वा ब्रह्मज्ञान बुझ्नुपर्दा वा बुझाउनुपर्दा वाणीकै सहारा लिनुपर्ने हुन्छ। त्यसैले वाणीलाई ऋक् भनिन्छ। ऋक् भनेकै ज्ञान वा प्रज्ञा हो। वेदले नै भन्छ — ‘प्रज्ञानं ब्रह्म’ अर्थात् यो प्रज्ञा नै ब्रह्म हो। 
ज्ञानको खोज, संरक्षण र अभिलेखको माध्यम त्रेतायुगसम्म वाणी नै थियो। गुरुकुलमा सम्पूर्ण वेदवेदाङ्गहरूको अध्ययन–अध्यापन गुरुशिष्यपरम्पराअनुसार गरिन्थ्यो। गुरुले वाणीद्वारा घोकाउँथे र शिष्यले कण्ठस्थ गर्थ्यो। अनि त्यही शिष्य कालान्तरमा गुरु बनी अर्को पुस्ताका प्रतिनिधि शिष्यहरूलाई घोकाउने गर्थ्यो। धेरै पछि मात्र लिपिको आविष्कार भयो र त्यसपछि वाणी लिपिबद्ध भई संरक्षित हुन थाल्यो। प्राचीन लिपि ब्राह्मीलिपिलाई मानिन्छ। त्यसकै शाखा देवनागरी लिपि हो, जुन हाम्रो लिपि हो। यो लिपि प्राचीन कालमा शिलालेख र ताम्रपत्रमा लेखिन्थ्यो। धेरै पछि कागजको आविष्कार भयो र त्यसपछि यो लिपि कागजमा आयो। झन्डै हजार वर्षभन्दा बढी कागजको साम्राज्य भयो भने २१ औँ शताब्दीदेखि यो क्रम क्रमशः कागजबाट कम्प्युटर चिप्समा रूपान्तर हुँदैछ। 
बोलीको प्रभावबारे भन्नुपर्दा के भन्नुपर्छ भने यो पारसमणितुल्य मूल्यवान् छ र अनेकानेक समस्या र सङ्कट आदिबाट तत्तत् समयमा बोलिएको वाणीवचनले ठूलो राहत र मुक्ति प्रदान गर्दछ। विश्वमा भएका अनेक ठूलाठूला वादविवाद, सङ्घर्ष र युद्धको कारण पनि कुनै खास परिस्थितिमा कसैले बोलेको वाणी नै हुन पुगेको छ। इतिहास र पुराणहरूमा पछिल्लो कालखण्डका सबैभन्दा चर्चित र लोकप्रिय महाकाव्यहरू ‘रामायण’ र ‘महाभारत’ मानिन्छन्। ती दुवै महाकाव्यको कथावस्तुको उत्कर्ष नै भीषण युद्ध हो भन्दा हुन्छ। ‘रामायण’ को चुरो नै के हो भने त्यस बेलाको त्रिलोकविजयी असुरसम्राट् रावणले देवताहरूसमेतलाई परास्त गरेकाले उसलाई युद्धमा परास्त गर्न परब्रह्म परमात्माले नै अवतार लिनुपरेको थियो। लङ्काकाण्ड वा युद्धकाण्डको पृष्ठभूमि रामको वनवास हुनु थियो, अनि त्यसको पृष्ठभूमि र कारणचाहिँ राजा दशरथले कुनै बेला रानी कैकेयीलाई दिएको वचन (वरदान) शियो र त्यस वचनको कार्यान्वयन हुनुको कारण फेरि मन्थराको वाणी नै थियो। सीताहरण राम–रावणयुद्धको कारण बन्यो र त्यस सीताहरणको कारण पनि रामको वाणी प्रतीत हुने गरी ‘हे लक्ष्मण !’ भनेर गुहार मागेको मारिचको वाणी नै थियो। 
ऐतिहासिक ‘महाभारत’ को महायुद्धमा ऐतिहासिक सयौँ वीर महायोद्धाहरूले वीरगति पाई एउटा पिँढीकै विनाश भएको थियो। त्यस्तो भयानक युद्धको कारण पनि द्रौपदीको कटुवचन (वाणी) अर्थात् ‘अन्धाको छोरो अन्धो’ भनेर युवराज दुर्योधनलाई भनिएको वचन नै थियो। त्यही ‘महाभारत’ मा वर्णित असुर कंसको विनाश र जरासन्धसँगको श्रीकृष्णको पटकपटकको युद्धको पृष्ठभूमि पनि देवकीविवाहपश्चात् भएको आकाशवाणी नै थियो। त्यस्तै, यस ब्रह्माण्डका विभिन्न लोकहरूमध्ये सबैभन्दा महत्वपूर्ण लोक ध्रुवलोकलाई मानिन्छ। किनभने यस ब्रह्माण्डको बीचमा कुमालेको चक्‍काको सुमेरुका रूपमा ध्रुवलोक रहेको छ, जसका वरिपरि अन्य सबै लोक, ग्रह, नक्षत्र र ताराहरू निरन्तर चक्कर काटिरहेका हुन्छन्। त्यस लोकका स्वामीभक्त ध्रुवले त्यो लोक प्राप्त गर्नुको पृष्ठभूमि पनि वाणी नै थियो। बाल्यकालको बालसुलभ मस्तिष्कमा सौतेनी आमाको कटुवचनले मर्माहत भई उनी कठोर तप गर्न वनतिर हिँडे र त्यही तपका प्रभावले उनले श्रीहरि विष्णुबाट ध्रुवलोक पाएका थिए। 

वाणीको बेलिविस्तार लगाउँदा अक्षरको पनि चर्चा गर्नुपर्ने हुन्छ। अक्षरलाई शास्त्रहरूले ‘अक्षरं ब्रह्म’ भनेर ब्रह्मसँग तुलना गरेका छन्। क्षर भनेको नाश हुने वस्तु हो भने अक्षर भनेको नाश नहुने वस्तु भएकाले यो ब्रह्म हो। हामी जीवहरूको, देवीदेवताहरूको, कहाँसम्म भने सृष्टिकर्ता ब्रह्माको पनि निश्चित आयु हुन्छ, अर्थात् यस सृष्टिमा दृष्टिगोचर हुने, उत्पत्ति हुने र वृद्धि हुने हरेक वस्तु नाशवान् छन्। तर अक्षरको कहिल्यै नाश हुँदैन। यो न कहिल्यै जन्मनेवाला नै हो। यो त सनातन हो। त्यसैले अक्षरलाई ब्रह्म हो भनेर बताइन्छ। अक्षरब्रह्मको प्रतीक प्रणव अर्थात् ॐकारलाई लिइन्छ। सम्पूर्ण अक्षरहरूको सार र जनक ॐकार भएकाले ॐकार शब्दब्रह्म हो र यो वाणीबाट अभिव्यक्त हुँदा नादब्रह्म हुन्छ। पञ्चतत्वबाट जीव र पञ्चतत्वबाटै अखिल ब्रह्माण्ड बनेको हुन्छ। सृष्टिको आरम्भमा ‘एकोऽहम् बहुस्याम्’ का रूपमा परब्रह्मले एकबाट अनेक हुने चाहना र सङ्कल्प गर्नु नै सृष्टिको कारण र आधार हो। पञ्चतत्वमा पहिलो तत्वका रूपमा आकाश उत्पन्न भयो। आकाशबाट क्रमशः वायु, तेज, जल र धर्ती बनेका हुन्। हरेक तत्वहरूका विशेष गुणहरू पनि हुन्छन्। आकाशको गुण नै शब्द हो। शब्द भनेकै ध्वनि हो, अर्थात् आकाशतत्वको गुण ध्वनि हो अनि ध्वनि र शब्दको सम्मिलन, समायोजन वा मिथुन नै वाणी हो। ध्वनि मात्र स्वरलहरी हुन सक्छ, लिपिबद्ध गर्न नसकिने ध्वनि हुन सक्छ, अनाहत नाद वा सङ्गीत हुन सक्छ भने वाणी नाद र सङ्गीत दुवै हो र यो लिपिबद्ध पनि गर्न सकिन्छ। आकाशको गुण शब्द हो। विनाआकाशतत्व शब्द वा ध्वनिप्रवाह सम्भव छैन। त्यसैले मादल, ढोल, तबला, वीणा, बाँसुरी, हार्मोनियम आदि सम्पूर्ण वाद्यवादनहरूको संरचनालाई नियाल्दा त्यहाँ खाली ठाउँ देखिन्छ। खाली ठाउँ वा आकाश भएकाले नै तिनीहरूबाट ध्वनि उत्पन्न हुन्छ। त्यसैले हाम्रो बोली उत्पादन हुने मुखको बनोटमा पनि दुई तालुबीच खाली स्थान (आकाशतत्वको उपस्थिति) हुन्छ। त्यसैले बोली फुट्ने गर्दछ। सम्पूर्ण वैदिक मन्त्रहरू र स्तुतिहरूमा शब्द र वाणीको विलय भएकाले शब्दलाई शब्दब्रह्म भनिएको हो र ‘अ’ देखि ‘ह’ सम्म (‘क्ष’, ‘त्र’, ‘ज्ञ’ लाई शास्त्रमा अक्षर मानिएको छैन) का हरेक अक्षरलाई बीजमन्त्र भनिएको हो। 
हिन्दूधर्मलाई सनातनधर्म र वैदिक धर्म पनि भनिन्छ। विश्वग्रन्थहरूमै सर्वप्राचीन ग्रन्थ मानिने वेदविहित धर्म हिन्दूधर्म हो। वेद भनेको ज्ञान हो, अनि वेद भनेको इतिहासका अनेक कालखण्डहरूमा भएका तत्वदर्शी ऋषिमुनिहरूका वाणीको सङ्ग्रह हो। वेद, उपनिषद्, संहिता आदिको सारवस्तु पनि वाणी हो। वाणी कतै मन्त्रका रूपमा, कतै स्तुतिका रूपमा त कतै सूत्रका रूपमा रहेको हुन्छ। १०८ वटा उपनिषद्हरूको निचोड वा सारांश ‘श्रीमद्भगवद्गीता’ हो, जुन अन्य धेरै भाषाहरूमा अनुवाद गरिसकिएको छ। ‘गीता’ भनेको पनि सारमा भगवान् श्रीकृष्णको वाणी नै हो। त्यस्तै अन्य ‘गीता’ हरूमा ‘रामगीता’ श्रीरामको वाणी हो भने ‘शिवगीता’ भगवान् शिवको वाणी हो। 
हाम्रा ऋषिमुनिहरूले आ–आफ्ना वाणीको आदानप्रदान गरी शास्त्रार्थद्वारा तत्वको निरूपण गरेका हुन्। त्यसैले हिजोआज पनि हामी भन्ने गर्दछौँ — ‘वादे वादे जायते तत्वबोधः।’ हाम्रो भौतिक जगत्का विभिन्न आविष्कारहरूमध्ये अधिक मूल्यवान्, चर्चित र क्रान्तिकारी आविष्कारहरू वाणीसम्बन्धी आविष्कार नै हुन्। लिपिको आविष्कारपछि सूचना–प्रविधिक्रान्तिसम्म आइपुग्दा वाणीसम्बन्धी विविध आविष्कारहरू हुँदै गए र हामी आकाशवाणी, टेलिफोन, स्पिकर साउन्ड सिस्टम आदि हुँदै मोबाइल, टेलेक्स, फ्याक्स, इन्टरनेट र इमेलमा आइपुगेका छौँ। यी सबै वाणीविस्तारका विभिन्न शैलीहरू हुन्। त्यसैले होला ‘गीता’ मा पनि भगवान् श्रीकृष्ण १७ औँ अध्यायमा अर्जुनलाई वाणीको महत्व बताउँदै भन्नुहुन्छ — “प्रिय, हितकर एवं सत्यभाषण (सत्यवचन), वेदशास्त्रको पठनपाठन र भगवान्को नामजपसम्बन्धी अभ्यास नै वाणीसम्बन्धी तप हो।”
हाम्रो जीवनको अभिन्न अङ्ग तथा अति महत्वपूर्ण र संवेदनशील धरोहरका रूपमा रहेको हाम्रो बोली अर्थात् वाणी कसरी प्रस्फुटन हुन्छ ? हामीले आफ्नो मुखारविन्दबाट धाराप्रवाह वाणी प्रस्फुटन गर्दा शरीरभित्र कुन–कुन स्थानहरूबाट बहँदै मुखसम्म आइपुग्छ ? यी कुराहरू जान्नु पनि आवश्यक देखिन्छ। हाम्रो शरीरमा विभिन्न चक्रहरू हुन्छन्। पलेटी कसेर सिधा भई आसन जमाएर बस्ता तलबाट क्रमशः मूलाधार, स्वाधिष्ठान, मणिपुर, अनाहत, हृदय, विशुद्ध, आज्ञा हुँदै टुपीनेर सहस्रारचक्र भएको अनुभव गर्न सकिन्छ। यी चक्रहरूसँग वाणीको सम्बन्ध रहेको हुन्छ। वाणीहरू चार प्रकारका हुन्छन् अथवा उद्गमदेखि प्रवाहसम्म आइपुग्दा हाम्रो वाणीले चार चरण पार गर्नुपर्ने हुन्छ। ती हुन् — परा, पश्यन्ती, मध्यमा र वैखरी। कसैले यिनैलाई परावाणी, पश्यन्तीवाणी, मध्यमावाणी र वैखरीवाणी भनेर व्याख्या गर्ने गर्दछन्। हाम्रो गुदद्वार अर्थात् मलद्वारभन्दा दुई अङ्गुल माथितिर चार अङ्गुल क्षेत्रफलमा फैलिएको एक आधारकमल रहन्छ, त्यसलाई मूलाधारचक्र भनिन्छ। त्यो चक्र सुषुम्णानाडीको पनि आधारस्थान भएकाले त्यस स्थानलाई कुण्डलिनी पनि भनिन्छ। कुण्डलिनीलाई शक्तिको आधारस्तम्भ र विन्दुशक्ति मानिन्छ। त्यही शक्तिद्वारा मूलाधारचक्रमा अव्यक्त वाणीको उद्गम हुन्छ, जसलाई परावाणी भनिन्छ। परावाणीको उद्गम गराउने शक्तिलाई वीणावादिनी सरस्वती भनिन्छ। हाम्रा मुख्य तीन नाडी इडा, पिङ्गला र सुषुम्णाको पनि उद्गमस्थल त्रिवेणी भनिने यो मूलाधारचक्रलाई अङ्ग्रेजीमा Pelvic Plexces भनिन्छ। परावाणी मूलाधारमा उत्पन्न हुँदा क्रियाशक्ति र ज्ञानशक्तिको योगबाट भइरहेको हुन्छ। गुणातीत महायोगीहरूले मात्रै परावाणीको प्रभावलाई अनुभव गर्न सक्तछन्। मूलाधारचक्रभन्दा दुई अङ्गुल माथि लिङ्गस्थानको समानान्तर मेरुदण्डमा स्थित चक्रलाई स्वाधिष्ठान भनिन्छ भने स्वाधिष्ठानको पनि दुई अङ्गुल माथि तेस्रो चक्रका रूपमा मणिपुरचक्र रहन्छ। त्यसलाई नाभिस्थान पनि भने हुन्छ। त्यहाँ दसपाते कमल हुन्छ जुन स्वर्णवर्णको हुन्छ। यहाँबाटै पश्यन्तीवाणी प्रवाह हुन्छ भनिन्छ। पश्यन्ती नामक निरपेक्ष वाणी प्रवाहित हुने नभई मूलाधारबाट प्रवाहित हुने परावाणी यहाँबाट पश्यन्तीवाणीमा रूपान्तरण हुने हुन्छ होला। यसमा चाहिँ मतान्तर हुन सक्छ। मणिपुरचक्रकी अधिष्ठात्री देवी लाकिनी हुन् भने देवता विष्णु हुन्। यहाँको वाणी पश्यन्तीचाहिँ सुषुप्त मनसँग सम्बन्धित हुन्छ। आफ्नो मनलाई जित्‍न सकेका योगीहरूले मात्र पश्यन्तीवाणीको प्रकाश पाउन सक्तछन्। अनाहतचक्रमाथि हृदयमा मध्यमावाणी रहन्छ भनेर बताइएको छ। यो चक्र शरीरको केन्द्रीय चक्र हो। हृदयचक्र बाह्रपाते कमलको आकारजस्तो रहेको कल्पना गरिएको छ र कमलको बीचमा जीवका रूपमा रहने रातो ज्योतिलाई वाणलिङ्ग भनेर बताइएको छ। यस स्थानका देवता स्वयं शिव र शक्तिचाहिँ काकिनीदेवी हुन्। हृदयस्थानमा प्रवाहित हुने अव्यक्त वाणीले बुद्धिसँग समन्वय गर्दछ। यस विन्दुमा वाणीलाई बुद्धिले प्रभावित र निर्देशित गर्न सक्तछ। बुद्धिमान् योगीहरूले मध्यमावाणीको प्रकाश पाउन सक्तछन्। अनाहत नाद अर्थात् उद्गीथ ध्वनि ॐकारवाणीको उद्गमस्थान पनि यही नै हो भनेर ‘शिवसारतन्त्र’ मा बताइएको छ। हृदयकेन्द्रबाट माथि उठेर कण्ठ हुँदै दाँत, जिब्रो र तालुका सहायताले मुखबाट अरूले सुन्ने गरी व्यक्त हुने वाणीचाहिँ वैखरीवाणी हो। अव्यक्त गुणातीत स्थानबाट स्वतः स्फुरण भएको हाम्रो परावाणी पश्यन्तीमा मनसँग र मध्यमामा बुद्धिसँग समन्वय गर्दै वैखरीका रूपमा मुखबाट उच्चरित हुने गर्दछ। भाषाशास्त्रहरूले मध्यमाबाट स्वरवाणीहरू प्रवाहित हुन सक्ने र वैखरीबाट व्यञ्जनवाणी प्रवाहित हुन सक्ने तर्क गर्दछन्। तर सारमा केचाहिँ बुझ्नुपर्ने हुन्छ भने परा, पश्यन्ती र मध्यमा, यी तीन वाणी अव्यक्त वाणी हुन् भने वैखरी मात्र व्यक्त वाणी हो। 
हिजोआज अर्थहीन, विना कुनै प्रयोजनको बकबक वाणीलाई हेय दृष्टिले वैखरी भन्ने चलन चलेको छ। तर वाणीप्रभावको गतिलाई हामी कसरी पनि बुझ्न सक्तछौँ भने जसरी गङ्गा आफ्नो उद्गमस्थान गङ्गोत्रीबाट बगेर हरिद्वार, प्रयाग, वाराणसी हुँदै गङ्गासागरमा समाहित हुन्छिन्, त्यसरी नै वाणीको उद्‍गम मूलाधारबाट परावाणीका रूपमा प्रवाहित हुँदै पश्यन्ती र मध्यमा भएर वैखरीवाणीबाट शब्दब्रह्मको महाकाश (वायुमण्डल) मा समाहित भइरहेको हुन्छ। 
अस्तित्वमा जड र जडभिन्न गरी दुई तत्व छन् भनिन्छ। यी दुवै स्थायी तत्व हुन्, जो प्रलयपर्यन्त रहिरहन्छन्। जडवस्तु भनेको पदार्थ हो, जुन अणु–परमाणुका रूपमा रहन्छ। पदार्थ रूपान्तरण मात्र हुन्छ, नाश हुँदैन। त्यसरी नै जडभिन्न पदार्थहरूलाई पूर्वीय दर्शनले चैतन्य भन्छ त पाश्चात्यले शक्ति, ऊर्जा वा प्रकृतिका रूपमा स्वीकार्दछ। यस समष्टिगत रूपको द्वयविभाजनमा वाणी पनि निश्‍चय नै जडभिन्न वस्तु हो। जडभिन्न वस्तुको पनि नाश हुँदैन, केवल सङ्कुचन र विस्तार मात्र हुन्छ। वाणी शब्दब्रह्म भएकाले यो नाशवान् वस्तु हुँदै होइन। हामीले बोलेका, विश्वका अन्य जीवहरूले बोलेका, इतिहासका अनेक कालखण्डमा बोलिएका र भविष्यमा अनन्तकालसम्म बोलिने सबै वाणीहरू यस वायुमण्डलमा घुमिरहन्छन्, सुरक्षित भइरहन्छन्। आकाशतàवको गुण नै शब्द भएकाले यो विशाल अनन्त महाकाशले सम्पूर्ण शब्द (वाणी) हरूलाई धारण गरिरहेको हुन्छ। सरसर्ती हेर्दा त्यत्रा अरबौँ मान्छेले बोलेका करोडौँ वर्षपूर्वदेखि अनन्तकालसम्मका वाणी कसरी भण्डारन हुने होला भनेर विश्वास नलाग्न सक्छ। भौतिक जगत्मा पनि आजभन्दा ५०–६० वर्षअघिसम्म हजारौँ स्क्वायरमिटर क्षेत्रफलमा अवस्थित पुस्तकालयका पुस्तकका पानाहरू सिर्फ एउटा एक स्क्वायरमिलिमिटरको कम्प्युटरचिप्सभित्र भण्डारन वा समाहित हुन्छ भनिएको भए मान्छेले विश्वास गर्दैनथे। तर आज विश्वास गर्नुपर्ने भएको छ। मानवनिर्मित जाबो एउटा कम्प्युटरचिप्समा त यति सामर्थ्य छ भने परब्रह्म परमात्मा, अखिल ब्रह्माण्डका नायक ब्रह्मद्वारा सिर्जित अनन्तकोटि ब्रह्माण्ड धारण गर्न सक्ने महाकाश (आकाशतत्व) ले सम्पूर्ण वाणीहरू धारण गर्न नसक्ला त ? निश्‍चय नै सक्छ अनि गरिरहेको छ र भविष्यमा पनि गरिरहनेछ। 
यसरी हामी मानवजातिलाई परब्रह्म परमात्माको अनुपम कृपाबाट प्राप्त वाणीको पूर्ण रूपले सदुपयोग गर्नुपर्दछ। वाणीको दुरुपयोग भनेको मिथ्यावचन, झूटो बयान, अपशब्दको प्रयोग, गालीगलौज, परनिन्दा, चाकडी–चाप्लुसीजन्य अभिव्यक्ति, असत्यको पक्षपोषण गर्ने तर्क आदि पर्दछन्। अप्रिय र कटुवचनलाई त हिंसातुल्य शब्दवाण नै भनिएको छ। वाणीको दुरुपयोग किन पनि गर्नु हुँदैन भने यो नाश नहुने तत्व हो र ब्रह्मतुल्य मानिन्छ। ‘रुद्रहृदयोपनिषद्’ भन्छ — ‘रुद्रो अर्थ उमा अक्षर तस्मै तस्मै नमोनमः।’ अर्थात् शब्द शक्तिस्वरूप हो अनि त्यसको अर्थचाहिँ शिवस्वरूप हुन्छ। ‘श्रीमद्भगवद्गीता’ मा धेरै ठाउँमा अक्षरलाई ब्रह्म भनिएको छ। कतै  ॐकारलाई शब्दब्रह्म बताइएको छ भने एक ठाउँमा चाहिँ ‘परम अक्षरब्रह्म’ भनिएको छ। ‘परम अक्षर’ को अर्थ गर्दा केही विद्वान्हरूले ‘प्रणव भनिएको हो’ भन्ने अर्थ लगाएका छन्। तर ‘परम अक्षर’ भनेर परा, पश्यन्ती र मध्यमामध्येको परावाणीलाई सङ्केत गरिएको हुन सक्छ। यस अर्थमा परावाणी पनि ब्रह्मतुल्य नै रहेछ भनेर बुझ्नुपर्ने हुन्छ। स्वयं ब्रह्म वा ब्रह्मतुल्य जे भए पनि त्यो हामी जीवभित्र रहनुचाहिँ ज्यादै नै महत्वपूर्ण र संवेदनशील पक्ष हो।

SLC Now and Then

– Eak Prasad Duwadi 
Like other folks in Nepal, I used to cherish School Leaving Certificate exams so much. For the same, I gave so much importance forfeiting many things— asceticism to sleep, time, money and family duties. Consequently, I even did not take part in brother’s marriage ceremony though it was scheduled two and half months before the exams.
People time and again ask me the name of the high school I was graduated from, and the percentage I secured in the  SLC. Though I have received more than half-dozen degrees after that, SLC has superseded all of them. However, the fact is many who did poorly in the same SLC have already excelled me widely. 
Unsurprisingly, there are many similarities between 2012 and 1992. To begin with, exam fever is still high. As a result, the students have excessive paranoia. Next common thing is the rampant cheating milieus both in Terai and far-flung areas. Then comes similar transitional phases– post- 1990s mass movements and its hangovers were there like present impasse after 2006 peoples’ movement. Like then incumbent leaders, today’s top brass politicians are so corrupt.  Above all, SLC is still the Iron Gate– there are many cases of expulsions and death of students. Again the three-hour long exams are going to determine his future. Like me, he is also mugging up the definitions, formulas, solutions and analysis that are copied and pasted in the textbooks. Nor are his other skills (team work, social service, how to repair mobiles, how to plant cereals, how to plough the field, how to organize rituals, how to earn in business, how to rare cattle, how to guide tourists, etc.) going to be assets of the exams. His future is equally unsecure like mine. Interestingly, the craze of Science-Stream has not faded out. The validity, authenticity and washback of SLC are also similar. There are cases of students who in spite of the excellent results in the SLC have either failed in the Intermediate or achieved very low. There are still hues and cries about the existence of SLC. Moreover, hot debates are still going on because of the politics of two types education (private and public schools) in Nepal. 
Unerringly 20 years have passed since I appeared in SLC exams in 1992. Coincidentally, my younger nephew is taking his SLC now. I happened to judge SLC against then and now. In 1992 question models of English, Maths and Science were changed, but now they are like in previous years. I took seven subjects but now my nephew has to take one more paper. There were less than 100 thousand examinees, where as there are more than a half million now. My SLC exams were being held in January and the results would come out in the last week of June, but now his have started in March and it perhaps is going to be out around the same time. Having passed SLC, I opted Proficiency Certificate Level, but he is going to join either plus two or A-Levels. There were less pass percentage rate (for example just 24 % in the year of my graduation) and distinction was rare, but now it is more than 60 %. There were fewer guides and guess-papers, now the number has grown in many folds. Unlike current school-centered coaching, I used go to teachers’ home for extra tuitions. I did not see frequent bandhas except few curfews then while my nephew observed dozens of strikes even in his tenth grade.
There some changes in twenty years, but many similar problems also exist herein. I do not say that SLC should be abolished from Nepal like some of the intellectuals who seemed to be playing gimmicks in the direction of foreign conglomerates because they want to dismantle Nepal’s school education system as the higher levels. What I want to suggest is making it more inclusive so as to make it more students-centered. Moreover, both the guardians and the teachers ought to not give so much pressure to the juvenile minds since SLC is not the end but it is the beginning of their children’s education. There are hundreds of other exams (either academic and or practical) to face for them. I have told the same to my nephew unlike what my seniors used to advice, “Do or Die”.

Nexus between Law, Morality and Public Policy

 –Hem Raj Kafle

Introduction

This article discusses the nexus between law, morality and public policy. It shows that the three are complementary and interdependent factors, human society being the ground for each to emerge and operate. The first three sections of this essay present the mutual relationships between the three in this order: law and morality, morality and public policy and law and public policy. The final part concludes the discussion.

Law and Morality

The common function of law and morality is to regulate human behaviour so as to establish a congenial social environment for all humans. Law and morality help manage the relationships between individuals and the society, or further, between individuals, societies and the state. Morality encourages individuals towards ‘being good’ and ‘doing good’ for the sake of the well- being of the society as a whole. Thus law and morality come together — “… to complement each other, rather than compete with each other” because “human flourishing requires such complementarity” (Shiner 436).
The “complementarity” implies that law and morality rely on each other; one can be both means and end to the other. Certain legal provisions are directed by the need to respect existing moral norms. This can be seen in the way law prohibits and penalizes actions that are universally considered immoral. To quote Kent Greenawalt’s argument, “Murder, assault, theft and fraud are immoral. In any society sufficiently developed to have law distinguishable from its social morality, the law will forbid murder, assault, theft and some forms of fraud” (476). One of the ends of law is, therefore, to enforce morality in the society, especially when it comes to controlling the practices which directly or indirectly harm the society itself. Law, therefore, preserves the dignity of human life and brings “pleasure and satisfaction to those who live it” (Shiner 436). This indicates that dignity is a relative stage of human psychology and is realized as a source of “pleasure and satisfaction” in connection with the performance of moral duties and responsibilities.
There are arguments for and against the place of morality in the foundation and functions of law. Natural law theory holds that “there is a necessary connection between law and morality, such that an immoral law is invalid or not binding” (Smith 304). According to this school of thought, for law to be a just law, it has to be based on two sources: the law of the divine and the law of nature. But the positivists, in their fundamental “separability thesis” claim that “it is not necessary in all legal systems that for a norm to be a legal norm it must possess a moral value …” (Coleman and Leiter 241). Though such divisions exist, in contexts where law has to address the social, cultural, moral and natural needs of individuals and society, the interdependence between law and morality cannot be ignored. In the words of C.G. Weeramantry, “Just as moral standards have exercised a continuous and continuing influence on the law, so also legal standards can exercise an influence on morals” (132). Weeramantry highlights the inseparability and interdependence between law and morality and illustrates that such interdependence has worked throughout the phases of the evolution of the law. 

Morality and Public Policy

Morality forms a ground for the evolution and legal enforcement of public policy. As stated above, morality inspires people to be united and to care for the welfare of one another; it enhances the concept of collective well-being in people. Morality also helps public policy take birth. Public policy in a broader sense is a system that addresses the moral, cultural and economic values that maintain the unity of the society. A society accepts only those practices that have passed the test of the norms of morality it has consistently observed. This is why the issues like prostitution and homosexuality may not be easily be legalised in Nepal because majority of the Nepali citizens take them as immoral practices. Morality, like law, has norms “relating to the avoidance of interpersonal harms and the management of limited resources, … norms which regulate the distribution and holding of goods” (Shiner 437). When we talk about harms, we don’t mean the direct assaults or immolations alone. Practices that indirectly disrespect the moral sentiments of other people can equally be taken immoral. Law respects these sentiments and enforces the norms of morality to maintain public policy. Greenawalt highlights this concept saying that “in a country that is overwhelmingly Jewish or Muslim, prohibitions on pork eating would be acceptable” (484). If so applies, it is equally plausible on the part of the governments to impose restriction on slaughtering cows in a society dominated by Hindus.
There are limitations in the process of imposing morality in the name of the respect to public policy. In the context of secularism, it would be questionable if the government of Nepal imposed legal restrictions upon the cultural practices of other religious and ethnic communities in the name of respecting the sentiments of majority Hindus. Legal restrictions on the practices of minority, which are thought to offend the beliefs of the majority, may fail to materialise as a sufficient justification in liberal democracy (Greenawalt 485). The point here is that if people are divided in terms of religious beliefs, moral norms grounded upon individual religions do not form consistent public policy. However, morality supports and enhances public policy for the common good of the members of the society.
The relationship between morality and public policy can be seen in the way both are connected to law. Natural law theorist Lon Fuller asserts that law is a particular means to an end, “the enterprise of subjecting human conduct to the governance of rules” (qtd. in Bix 231-32).  Fuller’s proposition clearly binds morality and public policy, as law’s means and ends are “human conduct” and “governance.” Both morality and public policy commonly deal with the regulation of human conduct for the governance of the society. But, where law has been absent (or ineffective) in its service, moral values and social conventions encourage people to maintain peace and harmony, thereby making the society a good place to live. Here the role of morality and public policy as a companion and complement to law is inevitable. 

Law and Public Policy       

Law and public policy contain and complement each other. In the first place, law is a part of public policy. This means that obeying law and helping in its effective functioning is the duty of the people in the society. Law can play its part only when people obey it or realise its efficacy in giving them the service they need. People expect from the state a “full extent of the legal guarantee of freedom of expression … of a right to life, liberty and security … and equal treatment …” (Shiner 438).  In this sense, respecting the natural rights of citizens and guaranteeing impartiality in its treatment are at the root of a state’s public policy. Moreover, the state has the duty to enforce morality as a part of its policy. As stated earlier, the cultural values of a community in majority have an influence in the mechanism of the state, and it has the obligation to protect and respect these values. Apart from being the saviour of cultural practices, the law is entitled to enhance the political norms of the state. In a democratic event like an election or a referendum people do not usually make inquiry into the “objective soundness of the winning side” provided the victory follows fairness, because the fact that “the side secured the majority is sufficient” (Shiner 439). This is possible because people respect the policy of the state and give utmost value to the results of processes in which they are directly involved.
The public policy of the state authority — both administrative and judicial — is to act as a legal guardian of all the citizens. The first duty of the state is to make citizens aware of the law itself. The famous maxim “Ignorance of the law is no excuse” maintains that citizens should be aware of the law. With this view, the governments print books of law and make them available to the public, or make law a part of higher education. In addition, authorities run awareness campaigns through the media with a message that every adult citizen, because law influences their everyday life, should have minimum orientation on their country’s legal system. For instance, Nepal Bar Association publicised its awareness programmes through television and radio channels in order to provide legal assistance to the needy Nepalis. As a result of such campaigns, people take it as a requirement to know about the uses of law in their lives, and refrain from violating law and disturbing the values of the society. Moreover, as a guardian, the state has the responsibility to protect the citizens’ rights to observe traditions related to birth, marriage and death, and equally to prevent unpractical and collectively harmful traditions from taking place. This is why the practices like early marriages, forced marriages, desecration of graves, mutilation of human body and racial discrimination are made illegal in all countries. 
Public policy is also an important source of law. Certain laws emerge out of the policy of the contracts. This means the state allows citizens to enter into individual contracts. Because of this provision, many social issues do not reach the legal court for an official settlement. For example, individuals run monetary transactions and buy and sell properties without law interfering in these affairs. Even many of the disputes and anomalies related to these contracts are settled within the society itself. But, when these issues reach the court, they may form a basis for a law. They are settled with reference to an existing provision. New cases, on the other hand, evolve new policies which later get incorporated in the legal system. Both positivist and realist schools of thought commonly value these real social conventions as the reliable grounds for law to evolve and operate.  

Concluding Remarks

The above discussion shows that law, morality and public policy function in complementarity, as is the case between each to each. Each contributes to the formation and evolution of the other. But this does not mean that one is the only means or end to the other. Law respects, contains and enforces morality. In the same way, morality directs, supports and enhances law. Similar is the nexus between morality and public policy. Morality directs, supports and enhances public policy. Like law, public policy respects, contains and enforces morality. Law and public policy exist in the same relation of interdependence. Law contains, respects and enforces public policy. Like morality, public policy directs supports and enhances law. Thus function law, morality and public policy together as fundamentally intertwined factors working for the accomplishment of human flourishing within a systematically functioning society. To conclude, law, morality and public policy, functioning in correspondence and complementarity, promote the welfare and development of human society under a systematic state mechanism.

Works Cited

  • Bix, Brian. “Natural Law Theory.” Patterson 223-40.
  • Coleman, Jules L. and Brian Leiter. “Legal Positivism.” Patterson   241-60.
  • Greenawalt, Kent. “Legal Enforcement of Morality.” Patterson 475-87.
  • Patterson, Dennis. Ed. A Companion to the Philosophy of Law and Legal Theory. Massachusetts: Blackwell, 1996.
  • Shiner, Roger A. “Law and Morality.” Patterson 436-49.  
  • Smith, Patricia. “Feminist Jurisprudence.” Patterson 302-10.
  • Weeramantry, C.G. An Invitation to the Law. New Delhi: Lawman Pvt. Ltd., 1998.

Editor’s Say

It feels like a while ago when I first told Prof. Pushpa Raj Adhikary of my desire to run a monthly academic blogzine for KU faculties. He showed intense liking for it and promised to contribute one article a month. The desire became a plan. I requested four of my colleagues to coordinate. Their enthusiasm and commitment equaled Prof. Adhikary’s and mine. We were afoot at once with KUFIT.  Then I, as the initiator and editor/moderator, took up sneaking into the inboxes of majority KU inmates asking  for contributions. One year’s pestering yielded little or naught in terms of writings. But it at least made many realize that some ‘inspired’ apparitions were already  around tinkering in private spheres.  Glad to note, nevertheless, the Forum has completed a year and heads for a celebratory anniversary issue next month.  
Discipline-wise distribution of posts
A brief survey of one year’s coverage lends optimism to the KUFIT team and their readers. We have been able to publish nine issues altogether, with 46 articles and 9 editorials. We  would forgive ourselves for skipping three months because they involved vacations, festivals, evaluations and, above all, strikes at the University. The posts represent disciplines as broad and diverse as popular science, education, social sciences (history, politics, theology, sociology etc.), interdisciplinary discourse, media and communication and literary criticism. 
KUFIT has never been a space to scribble anyone’s unwarranted ramblings. Nor has it provided an outlet for one disgruntled neighbour to come by and vent frustrations about another disgruntled neighbour.
The site has covered an interesting variety of themes ranging from universe, science, human nature, academic growth, ethics, values, rhetoric and migration to constitution, historical events, teaching experiences and travels.  Genre-wise, it has included narratives (fictions, memoirs, travelogues and reflections), research articles, features, reflective essays, book reviews and editorials. 

Genre-wise distribution of posts
KUFIT has faced nonchalance and non-cooperation. But it has never been a space for unwarranted ramblings. Nor has it provided an outlet for one disgruntled neighbour to come by and vent frustrations about another disgruntled neighbour. Nor even is it for the team an image booster. We did not need one both in personal and professional levels. Most of us have been in KU for over a dozen years, spent most of our life’s productive hours struggling to grow and let grow here, and established our firm ethical-professional footings among faculties and students. We have only wanted to diversify our commitments by bringing out an accessible platform for scholarly involvement.

Audience status on a typical day


The number, quality, critical diversity  and readership KUFIT represents should tickle skeptics for a nod, at least now when we prepare to publish the anniversary issue. And we heartily thank all our contributors and readers for being with us till date. With your readiness to write and read for one year, you have already assured us of your future commitments. We only want you to help us sustain our zeal by motivating others to join. On our part, we will continue to struggle and emulate. 
May New Year 2069 bring more knowledge and optimism to all of us.
–   Hem Raj Kafle
Editor/Moderator

Face to Face with the Universe: A search for vacuum

– Pushpa Raj Adhikary
All of us have seen a pipe fitted with a piston. When the lower end of the pipe is dipped in water and the piston is pulled up, water rises in the pipe. This is the way ink is filled into a fountain pen and liquid medicine is pulled in a hypodermic syringe.
No water rises in a pipe when dipped in water, but water can be made to rise up in a pipe once the piston fitted on it is pulled up. How do you think a piston is capable to pull water up in a pipe? When medieval scholars saw that water follows a piston up a pipe , they found a simple, though hardly convincing, explanation. They reasoned that the piston, when pulled up, also pulls the air contained in the pipe, so a void or nothingness is created and water, in turn, rises up to cover this void or vacuum. Although a simple explanation was found out, it was not less than a horror for them to conceive the idea of the vacuum.
In 1643 AD, an Italian scientist, Evangelista Torricelli, carried out an experiment. He took a meter (33 foot) long glass tube with one end sealed and filled it with mercury. By closing the open end with the thumb he carefully lowered this end into a cup filled with mercury. Once the tip was dipped well into mercury, he removed his thumb and held the tube upright. Some mercury from the tube flowed out into the cup and a gap appeared in the upper end of the tube.
Torricelli reasoned that the upper end of the tube was sealed off from the atmosphere and no air could pass into it through the glass walls or the mercury. Therefore, it didn’t contain air or anything, hence an empty space or a total vacuum is created. The space above the mercury column has been named as “Torricellian vacuum”.
Today any physicist will tell you that a Torricellian vacuum is not a real, absolute vacuum. For one, it contains mercury vapour. Secondly, there are molecules of nitrogen, oxygen and even carbon dioxide. These gases are dissolved into mercury and they readily evolve from mercury to spread into the space over mercury.  Every earthly material, even metal, glass, wood or plastic, contains some gases. These gases readily diffuse into a vacuum. This process is analogical to the bubbling of gas in a bottle of coca or soda. As long as the bottle is closed, the pressure inside the bottle is above the normal pressure of the air in the atmosphere. The gas is dissolved in the water and nothing reveals its presence. When you open the bottle, the pressure drops and the bubbles of gases pop out in the surface as if the liquid in the bottle were boiling.
The physicists could also tell you of the difficulties which they encounter in their attempts to produce and, even more so, maintain a high vacuum. When scientists began sending high altitude rockets up to take samples of air in the upper layers of the atmosphere, they thought the job would be quite simple. The scientists have metal cylinder of suitable size with airtight valves, pump all air out of it, place it into a rocket and shoot it two or three hundred kilometers up where automatic devices would open the valves, let the air outside flow into the cylinder and close it again. A parachute would carefully bring the sample back to earth. This, however, is easier said than done.
A process, similar to the boiling of liquid and bubbling of gas in a bottle of coca, though not so violent, takes place in the materials of which a rock is built by the time it reaches an altitude of 250-300 kilometers. Even in a laboratory, with ingenious devices designed to create an ultrahigh vacuum in a glass or metal cylinder, it is impossible to maintain the vacuum for very long as gases begin to evolve from the cylinder walls, and air even filters through them from outside. So you see that it is not easy to bring an air sample from a very high altitude.
Can complete vacuum be found anywhere in the universe above the layer of air which we call atmosphere? A trip beyond the atmosphere is necessary to find out, and we need suitable vehicle to embark upon such a journey. A balloon, evidently, will not do.  A balloon could take up to 20 kilometers which means that the atmosphere up there is still fairly dense. If we ride in a gondola even up to eight or ten kilometers high above sea level, the air would be so rarefied that we cannot take normal breathing.

 We can say that the emptiness of outer space is as illusory as the emptiness of Torricellian vacuum. Our dream of finding total emptiness or absolute vacuum ends in void.

Clouds present another tangible and visible indication of atmosphere. Clouds generally appear at an altitude of 80 kilometers from the surface of the earth. Somewhat higher, between 100 to 120 kilometers above the surface of the earth, meteors appear as shooting stars. And it is a proof that the atmosphere, which is unable to support our breathing, is still sufficiently dense at an altitude of 120 kilometers from the surface of the earth. The aurora Polaris (northern and southern lights) which occur in the uppermost layers of the atmosphere, have been observed as high as 1,200 kilometers.
It can be said that neither lighter than air balloons nor heavier than air aeroplanes can be used to study the upper layers of the atmosphere. The atmosphere, which surrounds our earth, has no sharply defined boundaries. It becomes less and less dense the higher we go, and somewhere between 2,000 to 3,000 kilometers up it gradually thins out into interplanetary gas.
Once the atmosphere vanishes completely at a sufficient height above the earth, would there be vacuum from there and afterwards? At a height of 3000 kilometers above the surface of the earth, just outside the edge of the atmosphere, we encounter electrically charged particles. These electrically charged particles are known as elementary particles because they are the building blocks of matters which make our universe. These elementary particles come from different sources like sun, stars and other energy emitting bodies found in the universe. These elementary particles are trapped by the magnetic field of the earth and spiral along the earth. There are three such belts of elementary particles of high energy which surround our earth.
There was a time when scientists compared the earth with a large nut encased in a thin gaseous shell. Today we know that the atmosphere is extended only up to 2000 kilometers up and it trails away into the gas filling interplanetary space. The earth is surrounded by a great halo of radiation, about 50,000 kilometers in diameter consisting of electrically charged elementary particles gyrating around the magnetic force of the earth.
So, where do we look for a total vacuum? Beyond the atmosphere or even beyond the 50,000 kilometers boundary of the charged particles? If we move away from the earth beyond 50,000 kilometers, say, to the moon, are we able to get a total vacuum? Moreover, the moon does not have an atmosphere surrounding it and no magnetic field to trap elementary particles and make them move around it. But the rockets which reached the moon as far back at 1959 A.D. had detected an increase in charged particles near the moon.
Can we detect a vacuum even far away from moon, or say, very very far away, beyond our solar system? It is known that the interplanetary space is pervaded by a tenuous gas with over a hundred molecules in every cubic centimeter. But even if there were no molecules of gas, could the outer space be empty? The answer is still no because it is pierced by the charged particles which come out of the radiation of the stars. We know that light rays, x-rays, infrared and ultraviolet rays – the whole gamut of electromagnetic radiation – are of material nature and can be treated as streams of tiny particles, photons, possessing mass, velocity and energy. We can hardly regard space as empty through which endless streams of particles pass. To add to this, we have gravitational field which interact in space. We can note here that gravitational fields are omnipresent. Every material particle, be it a tiny molecule or a giant star, emanates a field of gravity. It attracts and is attracted by other material bodies.
We can say that the emptiness of outer space is as illusory as the emptiness of Torricellian vacuum. Our dream of finding total emptiness or absolute vacuum ends in void.

Across Diaspora and Rhetoric

 – Hem Raj Kafle
The term ‘diaspora’ becomes a buzzword in Nepalese mainstream media at least for a week every two years. The occasion is the international ‘congregation’ of Non-Resident Nepalis (NRN) in Kathmandu. In everyday mediated sense  diaspora takes the same semantic value of ‘someone living outside the national border’ as rhetoric does for ‘a cunning, cheap, false comment.’ A conscious user, initially fed with the mass-mediated meaning of these terms, may turn gravely self-critical and self-emulative after learning that they reveal serious implications at specific contexts. But one certainly has to have zeal to quiz beyond the superficial.
I learned both ‘diaspora’ and ‘rhetoric’ in two levels and two phases. My learning started with acquiring the clichéd  but diverged into the serious and critical when faced with academic challenges. I love both concepts, the first as the area of my completed M. Phil. research and the second as the subject of my ongoing doctoral studies.
But I leave rhetoric at this point for future ruminations. There is more to know, much more to realize, and even more to practice and share about it. Though, for me, diaspora as a field of scholarship is a bygone thing, or is temporarily postponed/suspended before rhetoric matures into doctorate, I always cherish the phases of growing with it from ignorance to research to realization.
I picked up diaspora from a mainstream English daily  sometime in the autumn of 2003 around the first International conference of the Non-Resident Nepalis Association (NRNA). NRN was strange and new and special as a human species as was  its signifier, diaspora, at least for some newspapers which took this species for harbingers of hopes come all of a sudden from out of nowhere.
I got academic curiosity about Nepali diaspora only in February 2006 after joining Pokhara University’s M. Phil. programme. It happened during a visit to a small community of Nepalis in Jammu, India, at the end of the first South Asian Universities Youth Festival. And it so happened that, having known through local media about the arrival of “a group of Nepalis from Nepal,” who danced to Nepali folk songs and wore traditional Nepali costumes, two gentlemen came to invite our team to Gorkha Nagar, a settlement of the second and third generation Nepali migrants on the Tawi river. The purpose of this invitation was simple: “to meet Nepalis from Nepal.” One of the two men, S. B. Rana, the then president of J & K Gorkha Sabha, an organisation of the settlers of Gorkha Nagar, explained, in largely creolized Nepali, that they wanted their young children to see the ‘actual’ Nepalis and hear the ‘pure’ Nepali we spoke. 
We managed to reach the settlement only at the office time when most adults were out for work and the young to schools and colleges. So, Mr. Rana’s plan of getting the younger generations to talk with us literally failed. The population that stood in our welcome comprised only the old and middle-aged. They showed great excitement for the fact that we shared with them (at least) one distinctly common heritage, Nepali, although the ‘danger’ of their gradual melting into the local community of Dogris and Punjabis rang sharp in their own accents. But  they seemed to struggle to retain Nepaliness with such regular rituals as congregating every evening in the temple of Gorakhnath, which as much was an ideal deity as a symbol of Gorkha, a little surrogate for Nepal.
I perceived a sense of mutual identification between the Gorkha Nagar residents and us – of real and imagined homeland. They were our hosts and constituted an imagined home, at least after our two-week sojourn in a foreign land. On their part, we represented their living memory of a homeland which was lost long ago by their ancestors with rare chance of physical reconnection. The meeting appeared to be an opportunity for a distanced community to actualize the identity which was imagined but not experienced in real Nepal. I realized our presence had induced their reorientation towards Nepal, to an extent though very scanty. I concluded instantly that this small community was a real Nepali diaspora. 

Even if the early instances of dislocation are excluded on the plea of inadequate official records and for migrants’ possible assimilation into the host communities over the last centuries, the spread of Nepalis to Bhutan, Northeast India, and Burma lends a very discernible location for diaspora scholarship. 

Later, during my M. Phil. studies, I thought writing a research paper about Gorkha Nagar and its people would be one of the best contributions ever; it would be a substantive addition to diaspora scholarship in the Indo-Nepal context. But having had nothing documented for a research work, and with only fragmented recollection of that meeting with the enthusiastic settlers, I could produce only a two-page text in the structure of an argumentative essay with a thesis “The people of Gorkha Nagar suffer a perpetual crisis of identity.” 

The thought of exploring the lives of migrant Nepalis persisted. I turned from Gorkha Nagar to the proposed Gorkha Land and beyond, where there was far greater population of Nepali migrants and a bulk of literature to go through. I got hold of the novel Brahmaputraka Chheuchhau by Lil Bahadur Chhetri and critiqued it as a book on Nepali diaspora. I took very scanty trouble in exploring the theoretical intensity and eclecticism of the term “diaspora” with a general cocksureness for its usage as a substitute for a migrant community. My first treatment of Nepali diaspora was by no means satisfactory to myself. I realized I was too preoccupied with the mass-mediated meaning of diaspora to see any need to study its origin, critical intensity and contextual relevance.

But these questions regularly bothered me: Can’t Nepali migrants be placed within the framework of diaspora? Aren’t Nepalis of India Nepali diaspora? Does geo-political and cultural proximity affect the formation of the real diaspora? What are the accepted modes of mobilities and resettlements that determine the formation of a diaspora? Are there specific diasporic features and related theoretical paradigms? I began to realize that diaspora studies should incorporate diversity of meanings and theoretical dimensions. The initial considerations would be to see whether migration and diasporization meant the same. Upon reading writers like Khachig Tololyan, Robin Cohen, Steven Vertovec and many more, I saw that scholarship in diaspora departed greatly from its clichéd usage, for the former strictly considered at  least three factors about migrants: first, the (unfriendly) nature of dislocation from the country of origin; second, the (often unfriendly and distanced) condition of living in the country of relocation; and third, the migrants’ efforts to negotiate their identities across the homeland, hostland and the migrant community themselves through constant networking and lobbying.
My critical pursuit towards Nepali diaspora culminated into a 9-credit thesis for M. Phil. Degree in English Studies.  I titled the work “Diasporic Nepalese Identity in the Cyberspace.” The kernel of my thesis is that the recent Non-Resident Nepalis (NRN) movement is a veritable critical ground for the study of the discourse on Nepalese diaspora. I had to get back to NRNs in 2008, to see profundity in their supposed identity politics, only when they were reduced to clichés by Kathmandu’s critical circles in a span of mere five years from their first emergence to ‘amuse’ Kathmandu’s elites in the autumn of 2003.
What I achieved through my critical pursuits is very little, considering the scope of knowledge further work can uncover.
Aside from taking the recent case of NRN activism, which is critiqued as representing the west-centric affluent Nepalis in majority,  I think the Nepalese diasporic discourse can expand to earlier historical realities taking as distant issues as Nepalis’ dispersions at different points of pre-and post-unification eras. The aftermaths of power-mongering in and around the central courts of Nepal during the whole of the nineteenth century signal the displacement of a huge population to India. Though there is hardly any record of how many and where of the eviction of courtiers and commoners during the unification, in the times of Bhimsen Thapa and Junga Bahadur Rana, and at the rise of Shumshers after the massacre and exile of the Jung lineage, this early historical reality cannot be ruled out from representative Nepalese diaspora scholarship. Even if the early instances of dislocation are excluded on the plea of inadequate official records and for migrants’ possible assimilation into the host communities over the last centuries, the spread of Nepalis to Bhutan, Northeast India, and Burma lends a very discernible location for diaspora scholarship.
The case of Bhutanese Nepalis (refugees) in Nepal lends a curious subject of study. The chain of settlement (in Bhutan), expulsion, resettlement (in Nepal) and repatriation (in the West) of this population could always provide interesting arenas of study, especially in view of the repercussions of these multiple physical shifts and cultural exposures on the people.
Finally, there is this everyday flow of hundreds of Nepalis out of the country to destinations like Malaysia and Gulf region for employment, and to Europe, America and Australia for studies, employment and permanent settlement. With all these instances to qualify as a migrant supplying country in South Asia, Nepal remains to be a productive space for diaspora scholarship.
I see that diaspora and rhetoric will easily go along. My post-doctoral work may be to cross-pollinate these two domains: one the discourse on identity politics, the other the lens for unraveling the intricacies and nuances of a discourse. Broadly, the product of cross-pollination will be either ‘rhetoric of Nepalese diaspora’ or ‘Nepalese diaspora as rhetoric’ or ‘diaspora as Nepalese rhetoric’ or any meaningful phrase that combines diaspora and rhetoric.

सन्दर्भ प्रेसधर्मको

– मुकुन्दप्रसाद उपाध्याय
नेपालमा प्रेसको विकास भएको धेरै भएको छैन। छ दशकपूर्व पहिलो जनक्रान्तिअघिसम्म नेपालीले बुझेका र जानेका अखबार भनेको ‘गोरखापत्र’ र पत्रिका भनेको ‘शारदा’ मात्र थियो। २००७ देखि २०१७ सालका बीचमा गैरसरकारी अखबार र पत्रिकाहरू देखापर्न थाले।  रेडियो नेपालको स्थापना भयो। २०१७ सालपछि पुनः प्रेसमाथि नियन्त्रणको नीतिका कारण व्यावसायिक पत्रकारिता फस्टाएन। केही साहित्यिक पत्रिकाहरू भने स्थापित भए। ‘मधुपर्क’, ‘गरिमा’, ‘रूपरेखा’ आदि पत्रिकाहरू स्तरीय पत्रिकाका रूपमा फस्टाउँदै गए। यस कालखण्डमा मोफसलबाट पनि पत्रपत्रिकाहरू निस्कन थाले भने पहिलो टेलिभिजनका रूपमा राज्यनियन्त्रित ‘नेपाल टेलिभिजन’ को वर्चश्व रह्यो।

 नेपालको पत्रकारिता जगतले फड्को मारेको चाहिँ २०४६ सालको पहिलो जनआन्दोलनपछि मात्र हो। संविधानले नै प्रेसस्वतन्त्रतालाई स्थान दिएपछि स्वतन्त्र, निष्पक्ष र व्यावसायिक पत्रकारिताको थालनी भयो।  ‘पत्रकारिता’ शब्दलाई साँघुरो महसुस गरी प्रेसजगत् वा मिडिया भन्न थालियो। टीभी, एफएम र इन्टरनेटका कारण प्रेसलाई मिडिया भन्न थालिएको थियो। गैरसरकारी क्षेत्रमा ‘कान्तिपुर’ जस्ता दैनिक अखबारहरू र एफएम रेडियोहरूबाट अनेक समाचारहरू छापा र अनलाइनमा समेत देखिन थाले। प्रेससँग सम्बन्धित काउन्सिल र सङ्घ–सङ्गठनहरू पनि देखिन थाले।
 
यति हुँदाहुँदै पनि २०६२–६३ सालको आन्दोलनअघिसम्म समग्र मिडियामा सरकारी नियन्त्रणै त नभनूँ, तर सरकारी छाया भने रहेको थियो। त्यसैले दलका नेताहरू मन्त्रालयको बाँडफाँडमा सञ्चार मन्त्रालय लिन बढी नै हानाथाप गर्दथे, जुन क्रम २०६२–६३ सालपछिचाहिँ अलि घटेको छ। पछिल्लो दशकमा आएर देशमा पत्रकारिता र मिडिया विषयको पढाइ हुन थाल्यो अनि विदेशबाट यस्ता विषयमा स्नातक र स्नातकोत्तर गरेका व्यक्तिहरू प्रेस र मिडियामा संलग्न हुन थाले। एकताका त कतै नबिकेका र धेरै नपढेका मान्छेहरू कि पत्रकार हुन्थे कि राजनीतिक कार्यकर्ता। तर आजको स्थिति त्यस्तो छैन। आज व्यावसायिक पत्रकारहरूकै बाहुल्य छ।

 वर्तमान नेपाली प्रेस पूर्णरूपेण स्वतन्त्र, निष्पक्ष र व्यावसायिक भने अझै भइसकेको छैन। सम्पूर्ण प्रेसहरू दलीय भागबन्डाको एउटा–एउटा कित्तामा कित्ताकाट गरेर बसेका छन्। जुनसुकै दैनिक वा साप्ताहिक खबरपत्रिकाको पहिलो पृष्ठका दुई–चार हरफ पढ्नासाथ यो पत्रिका यो दलको निकट रहेछ भन्ने कुरा थाहा भइहाल्छ। यही कारणले कुनै घटनाको समाचार छापिँदा तत्काल ‘रूप’ पक्षको मात्र व्याख्या हुन्छ, ‘सार’ लाई कि त वास्ता गरिँदैन कि त लुकाइएको हुन्छ। अनि भोलिपल्ट या पर्सिपल्ट पीडित पक्ष वा पीडक पक्षका पत्रिकाहरूले सारपक्षको चर्चा गर्न थाल्दछन्। कहिलेकाहीँचाहिँ आग्रह र पूर्वाग्रह नराखे पनि खबरलाई सनसनीपूर्ण बनाउन वा रसमय र चासोमय बनाउनका लागि त्यसो गरिन्छ। प्रायः यही कारणले होला नेपालका प्रायः सबै अखबारहरूले नकारात्मक समाचारहरूलाई मात्र स्थान दिन्छन्, सकारात्मक समाचारहरू कि त दिँदै दिँदैनन्, दिइहाले पनि भित्री पृष्ठको कुनै उपेक्षित स्थानमा २–४ वाक्यमा दिन्छन्। यस विषयमा कुरा चलाउँदा पत्रकार साथीहरू भन्ने गर्छन् — ‘हाम्रो धर्म नै यस्तै हो मित्र ! कुकुरले मान्छे टोकेको कुरा समाचार बन्दैन, तर मान्छेले कुकुर टोक्यो भनेचाहिँ ठूलो समाचार हुन्छ।’ सहरमा दिनका दिन राम्रा र सुन्दर महलहरू बनिरहेका हुन्छन्, त्यो समाचार बन्दैन। तर आक्कलझुक्कल कुनै घर भत्कियो वा आगलागी भयो भनेचाहिँ त्यो समाचार बन्छ। सायद पत्रकारिताको यस्तै–यस्तै धर्मका कारण हाम्रो समाजमा नयाँ उखान बनेको छ। त्यो के हो भने ‘प्रहरी र पत्रकारलाई धेरै नजिक पनि राख्नु हुँदैन र धेरै टाढा पनि राख्नु हुँदैन।’

पत्रकारहरूको व्यावसायिक कर्म जेसुकै भए पनि र मार्केटिङ शैली जस्तोसुकै भए पनि केही आधारभूत धर्म पनि हुनुपर्छ। जस्तै: कुनै पनि प्रेसले राष्ट्रियता, राष्ट्रिय अखण्डता, लोकतन्त्र र मानवताका विरुद्धचाहिँ कलम चलाउनु हुँदैन। व्यक्तिगत शत्रुता साध्ने, अर्काको चरित्रहत्या गर्ने, विज्ञापन नदिएको झोक पोख्ने, थैला, झोल र भोजबाट प्रभावित हुने आदिचाहिँ सामान्य विसङ्गतिहरू मात्र हुन्, जुन क्रमशः देशविकासको क्रममा हट्तै जानेछन्। तर राष्ट्रिय अस्मिता, राष्ट्रिय अर्थतन्त्र, राष्ट्रिय धरोहर, संस्कृति, परम्परा आदिको जगेर्ना मिडियाले नगर्ने हो भने कसले गरिदेला त?
 
आठ–दस वर्षअघिको एउटा घटना यस्तो छ — सिङ्गापुर एयरपोर्टमा एकजना यात्री लागूऔषधको ठूलो परिमाणका साथ पक्राउ परेछन्। त्यहाँको कानुनअनुसार मृत्युदण्ड दिनुपर्ने अक्षम्य अपराध थियो त्यो। तर पक्रिएका व्यक्ति गोर्खाली परेकाले त्यहाँको सरकारले र प्रेसले यस घटनाबारे एक शब्द पनि उजागर गरेनछन्, तर त्यो समाचार एक–दुई हप्तापछि नेपालमा यहाँको राष्ट्रिय दैनिकले चाहिँ छापिदिएछ। सिङ्गापुरका जिम्मेवार प्रेसहरूले नछापेको कारणचाहिँ के थियो भने सिङ्गापुरका राष्ट्रप्रमुख र सरकारप्रमुखलगायत विशिष्ट व्यक्तिहरूका ‘बडी गार्ड’ प्रायः गोर्खाली सैनिक नै हुन्थे र लागूपदार्थको कारोबारसम्बन्धी जघन्य अपराधमा गोर्खाली समातिएको समाचारले भीभीआईपीका गोर्खाली सुरक्षाकर्मीको मनोबलमा असर पर्छ भनेर गोप्य राखियो। दुर्भाग्य, नेपालभित्रकै पत्रिकाले चाहिँ नेपालीको अपमानलाई सगौरव प्रस्तुत गर्‍यो।
 
नेपालका टीभी मिडियाले हालसालै पर्यटनउद्योगलाई असर पार्ने एउटा समाचार नै नबन्ने घटनालाई बढाइचढाई ठूलो घटनाका रूपमा प्रस्तुत गरे। पर्यटनउद्योग नेपालको अर्थतन्त्रको मेरुदण्ड हो।  यसको जगेर्ना र प्रवद्र्धन गर्नु हामी हरेक विविध पेसाकर्मीको धर्म पनि हो। टीभीको त्यो समाचार एकजना विदेशी महिलाकी छोरी पदयात्रीका विषयमा थियो। उनी हराइछन्। उनी मरेबाँचेको खबर नपाएको घटनालाई टीभीमा यसरी प्रस्तुत गरियो कि त्यो समाचार नेपाल आउन लागेका कुनै विदेशीले विदेशमा हेरेका भए उनले नेपालको भ्रमण नै रद्द गरिदिने थिए। विगत १० वर्षमा लाखौँको सङ्ख्यामा नेपालमा विदेशी पर्यटकहरू आएका छन्। त्यसमध्ये एकजना हराउनु प्रतिशतमा शून्य दशमलब धेरै शून्यपछि गणना हुन्छ अर्थात् त्यस्तो घटना विश्वमा जहाँ पनि हुन्छ। त्यसमा पनि पर्वतीय पदयात्रा जहाँ पनि जोखिमपूर्ण नै हुन्छ। माथि डाँडा, तल गहिरो खोल्सो र नदीबीच कतै चिप्लिँदा लास बेपत्ता हुनु अस्वाभाविक हुँदैन। तर समाचारको सार थियो नेपाल पदयात्राका लागि सुरक्षित गन्तव्य होइन भन्ने। यस्तो समाचार–सम्प्रेषण मिडियाको धर्मभित्र पर्छ कि पर्दैन?

त्यस्तै केही समयपहिले स्वास्थ्यराज्यमन्त्री राति रक्सीले मातेर वीर अस्पतालमा गई अभद्रता प्रदर्शन गरेको समाचार सबै मिडियाले प्राथमिकताका साथ प्रस्तुत गरे, जसले एकखाले एकाङ्गी जनमत सिर्जना भयो। तर घटनाको अर्को पक्षलाई लुकाइयो। हो, मन्त्रीजस्ता गरिमामय व्यक्तिले सार्वजनिक स्थलमा अभद्रता प्रदर्शन गर्नु हुँदैन। तर यथार्थ के पनि हो भने मन्त्री रक्सी खाएर सार्वजनिक स्थलमा सरिक भएका होइनन्, बरू कार्यालयको समयपछि राति रक्सी खाएर सुत्ने बेलामा सासूको आपतकालीन ब्रेन ह्यामरेजको समाचारले जेजस्तो स्थितिमा थिए उनी अस्पताल गए। यो र यस्तो अवस्था सबैलाई पर्न सक्छ। पत्रकार मित्रहरूलाई पनि पर्न सक्छ। प्रायः राति कुनै वारदातमा प्रहरी जाँदा मातिएका भेटिन्छन्। किनकि प्रहरी दरबन्दी कम हुन्छ, वारदात हुँदा आठघन्टे ड्युटी सकेर मदिरासेवन गरी सुतिसकेका प्रहरीलाई समेत उठाएर युनिफर्म लगाएर पठाउनुपर्दा तिनको मुख गनाउनु स्वाभाविकै हुन्छ। नेपाल मदिरानिषेधित देश होइन। जातिगत धर्म–परम्परा हेर्दा केही जातिमा त अनिवार्य पनि हुन्छ। रक्सी खाएपछि कुनै दुर्घटना पर्दा, अस्पताल जानुपर्दा वा मलामी जानुपर्दा कोही पनि रक्सी बान्ता गरेर जाँदैन। अनि आफन्तको औषधोपचारमा चिकित्सकको लापर्वाहीको प्रतिकार आम नागरिकले जसरी गर्दछ, ती मन्त्रीले पनि त्यसरी नै गरे होलान्। घटनाको यो पाटोलाई पूरै उपेक्षा गरिनु हुन्नथ्यो। स्वाभाविक र व्यावहारिक पाटाहरूलाई उपेक्षा गर्नु पनि हुँदैन। उदाहरणका लागि कुनै दिन कुनै मन्त्री एकाबिहानै ५–६ बजेतिर कट्टु र गन्जी वा लुङ्गी मात्र लगाएर सडकमा आएछन्। त्यहाँ कुनै फोटोपत्रकारले फोटो खिचेछ र अखबारमा ‘सडकमा मन्त्री नाङ्गै’ भनेर छापेछ। फोटो देख्ता सबैलाई हो जस्तो लाग्छ, तर त्यस दिन त्यति बेला ४–५ रेक्टर स्केलको भूकम्प गएको समाचारलाई चाहिँ लुकाएर सडकमा नाङ्गै देखिएको मात्रै छाप्नुचाहिँ बेइमानी हुन्छ। भूकम्पको झड्कापछि जोसुकै जेजस्तो अवस्थामा हुन्छ, सडकमा आउँछ, त्यो स्वाभाविकतालाई उपेक्षा गर्न मिल्दैन।
 
त्यसरी नै मन्त्री, नेता वा कुनै भीभीआईपीले कुनै ठाउँमा बोलेको कुरा भनेर परिवेश–सन्दर्भलाई लुकाएर बोलेको केही वाक्यमा केही वाक्यचाहिँ लुकाएर समाचार दिइयो र बोलेको त्यो वाक्य एफएम र टीभीमा सुनाइयो भने दर्शकलाई हो जस्तो लाग्छ, तर यथार्थ ठीक त्यस्तो नहुन पनि सक्छ। जस्तैः २०–२५ वर्षअघि भारतका प्रधानमन्त्री अटलविहारी बाजपेयी नेपाल आएका थिए। कुनै एउटा कार्यक्रममा उनले आफ्नो भाषणमा भने — “विश्वको सबैभन्दा खराब व्यवस्था बहुदलीय लोकतन्त्र नै हो।” केही बेर रोकिएर उनले भने — “तर के गर्ने, यसभन्दा राम्रो व्यवस्थाचाहिँ अर्को छँदै छैन।” अर्थात् भन्न खोजिएको के हो भने विश्वमा हालसम्म प्रचलित व्यवस्थाहरूमा केही कमी–कमजोरीहरू भए पनि बहुदलीय लोकतन्त्र नै उपयुक्त व्यवस्था मान्नुपर्छ। तर कुनै प्रेसले अघिल्लो वाक्य ‘विश्वको सबैभन्दा खराब व्यवस्था बहुदलीय लोकतन्त्र नै हो’ भनेर बाजपेयीले भने भनी समाचार बनाएको भए अनर्थ हुने थियो। हिजोआज केही मिडियाहरूले नेता र मन्त्रीले बोलेका कुराहरूमा बीचको अंश सस्वर प्रसारण गरेर समाचार बङ्ग्याउने गरेको पनि पाइन्छ। सायद यो पनि प्रेसधर्म होइन कि?

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