Category: FID MONTHLY

Dolmia’s Different Direction

 – Kashiraj Pandey
A middle-aged woman, tall and tired, accompanied by a charming child steps down from an airliner that brings the majority of workers back home and some tourists to Kathmandu from the Middle East everyday around lunch time.
Everybody was in a hurry to reach their destination, some to their long missed family members and others to a hotel, most probably.  Dolmia, a village lady, who had left home some ten years ago, now with her baby appeared so lonely and confused. The beautifying new set of garments and high-heeled shoes she wore made her look younger than her actual age. She was sitting with a boy in one of the far off rows of chairs that otherwise would be occupied only during the rush hour. She neither talked to anyone nor moved ahead towards immigration.
People came and went, passengers from around the globe, some from Bangkok, some from Beijing, and others from Delhi or Doha. Nothing touched her. Everyone looked at her and passed by. 
“Mamma, Lit’s go”, says Mohammed who is visiting Nepal for the first time. 
“See mamma… there”. The boy poking his mother points in the direction of all the other passengers waiting for their turn to be cleared by immigration.
“Wait for some time. I am wondering where to go”.
“Everyone has gone over there. I am hungry.”
“Okay. Here you go.”
Dolmia unzips her hand bag, takes out a packet of biscuits, and gives them to Mohammed. “Great”, expressed with a sense of happiness on finding some water saved from the flight, and a muffin.  She gives them to her boy. 
She stares at everyone who passes the arrival desk when everything around seems so alien to her.
“Dolmia Lama from Qatar” shouts the airline staff. Full of mirage, she wakes up. 

“Yes, Yes. I am here.” 
“Oh you have unclaimed baggage. Yours is the only one left from Flight 354. We were wondering what had happened to you. Please come and take your stuff. Two pieces, right?”
“Yes.”
Dolmia proceeds further, fills in the form, and passes through immigration. The man at the counter stares at them, verifying their documents; Mohammed, a very unlikely name to suit this Family of Dolmia. After official procedures, they walk down to the baggage claim, then to the customs counter, and then outside.
Fresh air and a natural life with all her people, people all alike, her own type. 
Dolmia is very nostalgic. It’s a cool and chilly afternoon. 
Dolmia and Mohammad on one side and a whole lot of people gazing at them on the other. Some were waiting to receive their own friends and relatives and others for the tourists. No one knew about Dolmia’s arrival today. Today, she is with Mohammad, her 6 year old child.
“Mohammed, your name is Mohan from today. You can call me by the same name, “mamma” but you will be addressed as Mohan. No one ever from now onwards will call you Mohammed.
“And Papa?”
“No. We will not meet him again and you will never remember that man. He will be forgotten.”
……
Dolmia was alone when she left Nepal. She had promised with Karma and two grown up girls that she would return soon with much affluence. She left this fantastic family with hope that one day she would return and pay off their loans and buy their own piece of land to build a home of their own. Her mission was to work in Qatar for three years as a caregiver. 
All her life in Nepal, she was a good wife, a mother of two girls, and an honest member of the society. The poor economic condition of the family was responsible for sending her abroad. It was against her interest but the very usual trend of people in her village forced her to think of foreign employment.
After long and deep consideration, the family together took the decision that Dolmia would go to Qatar for three years while Karma would take care of the two girls in her absence. Karma, though he had never gone to school himself, was very devotional and dedicated to the prosperity of their children’s future. He raised the girls with full care — fed them well and sent them to school with appropriate amenities. Dolmia too would send money to the family, until she experienced a twist in her life. 
Waiting outside the airport, where many taxi drivers ask her destination at minute intervals, Dolmia is speechless. 
She talks to herself, “should I go to my own family, to relatives, or towards an unknown place to other people?” 
Seeing his mother in a very confused state, Mohan speaks.
“Mamma, what are we waiting here for? Let’s go to meet my sisters. You said I have two lovely sisters waiting to see me, didn’t you?”
“Darling! Hold on. Let me think.”
“What mamma? What has happened to you today? I am so excited to meet and play with my sisters.”
“Mohan, my dear son, as I changed your name today, everything has changed. We are neither seeing Karma, nor your sisters. We should go to a hotel, to a place where no one knows us. A place where we two can have our own world, my space and Mohan’s space. A new place where you will play with me, and I with you. Something that we never had. ”
“Taxi…. taxi…. !” Shouts Dolmia. 
“Take us to a moderate hotel, will you?”
“Rupees 1000, for the ride. I will drop you at a nice hotel with a very reasonable tariff.”
“Okay, let’s go.”

My Beijing Experience

-Jangab Chauhan
The last month of 2011 left esteemed reminiscence in my heart. In the chilling cold of December, I was heading to the People’s Republic of China as one of two-member delegate led by the Registrar of Kathmandu University, Professor Bhadra Man Tuladhar. The raison d’être of our visit was participation in Sixth Conference of Confucius Institute. For me, it was also an opportunity to have first-hand witnessing of the worlds’ second greatest economic power. This sojourn, however, was my second visit; during my first one in 2005, the country had not attained the record; it was striving and my visit was not official.

During the visit, I had reached Beijing while returning from Moscow by trans-Siberian railway, which runs through the great part of Russia, Mongolia and China. I had been cordially welcomed in the quarter of China Radio International (CRI) by my friend Kamal Lamsal, whom I had known since my student life in USSR. The experience that I had shared about my trans-Siberian journey and China stay in CRI Nepali program is so vivid that it reverberates like yesterday’s episode. After having seen the grand view of eastern civilizations such as The Great Wall, ancient palaces and museums of Ming and Qing dynasties, Beijing Temple of Heaven, grand structure of Tiananmen Square, Badachu Park for five days I had travelled back to Hong Kong. It was during September. It was during this journey, I had got an opportunity to feel the grandeur of People’s Republic of China via rail journey – both the high and plain land – from northern to southern border.
I was impressed by the Chinese people’s sense of discipline in work-force, love for the nation, respect for language and culture. What would happen in such a huge country and consequently in the world if the people went anarchic! Even thinking of any undisciplined spark brings chill to the bone. Thanks to the visionary leadership and disciplined citizens of the People’s Republic of China for making the country a centre of worlds’ attraction and attention. 
Coincidently, a year after my visit i.e., in 2006 Confucius Institute was established in the name of 6th century BC Chinese thinker and social philosopher. 
Confucius is an indexical figure in Chinese tradition and belief. Based on the foundation of respect for ancestors and love for family, Confucius postulated on indispensability of family as the base of ideal state. Philosophizing further, his notions express ethical concern – do not behave with others which you do not anticipate from them. I realized that this simple sounding but very ethical and grave practice stands as golden rule for the Chinese people. Confucianism in this sense is humanism of Chinese tradition. The same of ethicality can also be observed in Confucius’s preference for exemplary governance. He would regard orders unnecessary and un-pragmatic if the leaders appropriately take in tow. Indeed, decoding underlying intelligence of the philosopher’s sense of shame would impart very evocative sense. 
From among many issues discussed in the conference, the précis I have drawn is that the People’s Republic of China has been in commendable direction. So, Confucius cannot only be linchpin of Chinese people; he is the cultural pillar of the world. 
 Confucius Institute in Kathmandu University with the co-operation of Hebei University, for us, is the matter of both happiness and pride. We wish for very active and productive presence of an institution that reminds of such a great person in Kathmandu University. 
While writing these paragraphs, I recall the concluding remarks of Dr. Hao Ping, Vice-Minister of education minster and executive member of the Council of the Confucius Institute Headquarters:
“Do wholeheartedly whatever you do.
… This gathering is a forum for diverse cultural experience.
… Confucius Institute not only belongs to the Republic of China; it is the common heritage of the world.”     
[Translated from Nepali by Khagendra Acharya]

Editorial


Nepalis are experiencing one of the most volatile times in history waiting for stability and sustainability of commonsense.  Common citizens see the present in view of the gradual dilapidation of the age-old structure of unity and shared identities. For some, the moment is not for indifference because indifference would cost little or more, now or later.  For others this is not the time to act an ostrich as if nothing is happening around.

And, in the chaotic time like today people would expect some healing ideas from one of the supposedly anxious groups of people — the intellectuals.  But, do we have intellectuals to devise ways to rescue the nation out of the mire of uncertainties? Does their anxiety involve the fate of the majority who are caught in the dilemma between optimism and pessimism?

Time entrusts intellectuals with the responsibility to generate hope and optimism. Let us reflect on these questions:  What will we do if the society and institutions we lead fail to attract and satisfy the aspirations of young people? How many aspiring youths are prepared to take us as role models for tomorrow? Let us start to think if we can help, at least in part, ensure that the country will still build up to accommodate our good expectations.

A Visit to Madam Curie Museum

– Dipak Subedi

On October 8, 2011, I got an opportunity to visit the house in which Madame Curie, one of the greatest scientists of 20th century, was born. The house is in 16 Freta street in the old town of Warsaw, the capital city of Poland. It has been turned to a museum in her name. 

The museum possesses good collection of letters and photographs which remind us of the life of a great genius in science. I had a great desire to visit the place when I read her biography written by Beverly Birch. Although Curie spent most of her life in France, it was Warsaw where she inherited a desire to devote her life in science. In the museum, we can see her writing desk, inkpot, ruler and even her spectacles case. The physics practical instruments which her father had collected and were very important in stimulating a lifelong interest in science in little Curie’s mind are now preserved in this museum. Another important aspect of the museum is that it also depicts photographs and documents about the life of her Husband Pierre Curie and her daughter Irene curie, who are also great scientists and Nobel laureates. I found that the story of the life and achievement of Madam Curie has inspired thousands of scientists around the world. 

The house in 16 Freta  Street in the old  Town of Warsaw where Marie Curie was born.
The place where the museum is situated is a unique place with exhilarating beauty of nature. Just behind the Freta street there is gentle slope leading to the bank of Vistula river which is flowing majestically dividing the historic Warsaw city. This is a lovely place. 
Curie was born in this house on November 7, 1867. There is simple plaque beside the door of this house which proudly announces the date of her birth. Her father was a Professor of physics and her mother was a teacher in a school. Marie had a great impression from her father from her early life. She was grown up in an academic environment. Her teachers remembered her as an extraordinary student even at her early years in school. At that time girls were not allowed to enter university and hence she had to go to France for higher studies. She had to work very hard for about seven years in a remote town in Poland to collect money to go abroad for study. Her intense desire to study science was fulfilled when she could get admission in a university in Paris. 
Curie recalled her happiness of the first day at the university saying that this was one of the happiest days in her life. She proved herself as one of the best students of the university few months after her arrival and after few years as one of the greatest scientists of her time. She became world famous for her discovery of radium with her husband and was awarded the 1903 Nobel prize for Physics. She again received the Nobel prize in Chemistry in 1911. This has been a rare achievement.  Madame Curie could have become one of the wealthiest persons in the world because of her discovery of the most precious element radium but she did not use her discovery for her personal benefit. She gave all the radium which she had separated by her four years of hard work with her husband to research laboratories for the benefit of mankind. It is said that when she herself needed some radium later for her own research, she did not have enough money to buy it and had to go to the USA in a fund raising program. It was a great irony.
She was not only a great scientist but also a very kind-hearted person. During the First World War, she along with her daughter served as a volunteer health worker with hundreds of mobile X-ray units built by herself. It is believed that thousands of wounded soldiers in the battlefield had undergone X-ray in her machine and were treated by Curie herself. It is surprising to know that she was working in the battlefield in addition to her regular lectures in the university. 
I regard the place where Marie Curie  was born as one of the holy places for those who love science and want to devote their life in the service of humankind.

Maoist War in Nepal and Curricula Debate

 – Khagendra Acharya

I intend in this article to initiate a debate on curriculum change in Nepali context. I basically argue that revision of curricula needs to incorporate dynamics of traumatic experience during ten years of armed conflict.  I use the notion of traumatic experience in Sigmund Freud’s sense, i.e., the experience any individual goes through after any terrible happening. This is to say when any such event occurs, the person does not understand it, but after certain time starts suffering from symptoms like hysteria, nightmares and so on. 
Curriculum of any country as a guide for syllabus design, education experts argue, should comply with the changing environment of not only the country but also of the world. Viewed from this insight, curriculum demands timely revision both for incorporating development in the world and for addressing realities in the country/locality. To meet this need, universities of the world form autonomous bodies of experts to recommend the nature of upgrading. Moreover, they provide freedom to course instructors for changing the syllabus. Together, the mechanisms function for implementation of new courses or termination of outdated programs.
In Nepalese context, however, the curriculum and consequently the syllabus of school to university level show an alarming picture. Bitter but true, we have witnessed the same curriculum operating for more than a decade. Implicitly, this condition demands two-fold interpretation: first, Nepal has not undergone any changes and the development in the world has not affected the country in these years; and second, experts on curriculum in Nepal have either not felt the need to change or not been able to persuade education bureaucracy. Whatever the reality, condemning any side would not do justice to the need of time to revise the curriculum and implement it accordingly.
The revision process, I would emphasize, needs to take findings to the question – what type of traumatic experience have the people undergone in the making of people’s  republic out of the metamorphosis of Hindu kingdom – seriously. Certainly, the political transformation would find its space in the syllabus of social sciences, but what about the experiences different groups such as Maoist guerilla, security forces, and many civilians underwent during the process? Two apparent options become visible to curriculum designers in this regard: one, being amnesiac to their experience with an intention of making the people forget everything; and two, valorizing their deeds with the goal of producing individuals having ‘similar courage’.
Before discussing the consequences of both options, I think it worthy to look back at available statistics within the span of March 1995 to November 2005, i.e., the duration of Maoist insurgency and State-counter-insurgency. A point to note here is, the available statistics of war reveals only the manifested cases: 16,278 killed, 1500 disappeared, 75,000 injured and 250,000 internally displaced. The reality beyond this statics is even more horrible. The number of persons tortured, raped, abducted and otherwise physically brutalized remains measureless. Categorizing the victims, we find mainly three types. The first type comprises the people traumatized mainly by the security forces; at individual level, the category consists of people targeted for their support for the Maoists. The second category comprises people who were hardly involved in any of the sides but faced it as they happened to be in the particular situation. Similarly, the third group includes police or alleged informers of police or the cadres of other political parties tortured by the Maoists.
The option – amnesia – for curriculum designers is inappropriate, for it overlooks human dynamics of any war. As such, the future generation hardly succeeds to understand the bitter part of the war as they would read numbers only and thus fail to grasp the real experience. Moreover, the descendants of victims, who need to disown their revenge motive, cannot enter the psychological process of gradually forgetting their intention. Probably, if the syllabus designers of Nepali history had not been amnesiac to the traumatic experience of people in Kirtipur during Prithvi Narayan Shah’s attack, the people would not have sustained anti-Shah sentiment. Though arguments can be forwarded against this example, the notion of ‘working through’ from psychoanalysis does not refute it.
The other option –valorization – also does not sound appropriate mainly because it exaggerates some experience at the cost of the extinction of multiple voices. In other words, if we confine the selection to unitary narrative of the victory of good versus loss of bad force, we will be providing no space for the dynamic nature of war experience. Consequently, war for the future generation would appear a romantic affair.
Hence, to avoid the curriculum from being traditional in its architecture or from maintaining aloofness of the historical reality, we need to initiate a debate which in turn would be productive. Hopefully, the invitation for debate would result in making traumatic experience, which is often bracketed from our notion of what constitutes curriculum, part and parcel of classroom life. 
(First published in Gurukul – Educational Monthly, October-November 2011)

What Rhetoric Means to Me

– Hem Raj Kafle
My academic standing as an M. Phil. in English and a teacher of English language, literature, technical communication and media studies in Kathmandu University has largely shaped my inquiries into different domains of rhetorical scholarship. My entry in this field began with a limited understanding of rhetoric as an embellished discourse where literary tropes played major role in eliciting certain emotional responses from a reader/auditor. Poetry featured most in this understanding, with fictions and persuasive essays to complement at times.
When I studied the classical system of rhetoric, with Aristotle, Cicero and Quintilian as focal resources, my perception broadened from rheotric’s aesthetic dimension to more practical contextual dimensions for its being a system of organized, persuasive discourse. The practical sides, basically the three genres (forensic, deliberative and epideictic), three modes of proof (ethos, logos, pathos) and the five canons (invention, arrangement, style, memory and delivery) guided my teaching of English and media studies and helped shape my own researches, presentations and writings.  
My work has not been unidirectional, as is common in a qualitative inquiry. If I had chosen to be registered full time, with rhetoric at hand, and was not teaching at the university, I would be more focused to the task of clearing methodological and analytical arrays now. But I might have been in disadvantage in two respects. I would not adapt to the pedagogical value of the classical system of rhetoric through practical applications in everyday professional activities. Nor would I consciously improve my sense of discourse embellishment through the awareness of embellished arrangement and style. Allowing myself open channels of learning and practice, I have helped myself to experience my subject in its multiplicity. 
I am trailing through two rich territories of rhetorical scholarship. The first is Rhetorical Studies, which helps scrutinize the social, historical, political dimensions of the April Movement and its representations in the editorials. The second, scholarship in English studies with Rhetoric and Composition as a disciplinary category, teaches me the nuances of discourse structures, figures of speech and overall aesthetics of editorial writing. Unlike a general trend in rhetorical scholarship in the west where a researcher/candidate is formally confined to only one of these disciplinary terrains, and where the two hardly combine or “cross-pollinate”, I have enjoyed the freedom to draw knowledge from both. This may ultimately lead me to a third territory, that of Rhetoric in its fundamental classical sense, where the study directs me to recognizing a particular system of rhetoric characteristic to a non-western, Nepalese context. To be more specific, this is where the inferences might help explore a pattern of Nepalese media rhetoric reflective of a social movement. 
Fantasy Theme Analysis (FTA), a method of rhetorical criticism underpinned in Ernest Bormann’s Symbolic Convergence Theory, which I aim to apply in the study of about 400 editorials, blends the aforesaid lines of scholarship. It merges aesthetics (for its emphasis on performative/dramatic qualities of discourse) and politics (role of time, space and actors). Symbolic Convergence Theory which takes that any communication helps construct a rhetorical vision, a symbolic reality which underlies the convergence of a cumulative number of people who identify with the reality and participate in transferring it further.  Fantasy theme analysis systematically examines how rhetorical visions are constructed from communicative artifacts. It takes communication as a form of drama with characters, actions and settings where realities are dramatized in the form of fantasy themes (shared narratives). FTC accepts the notion that shared narratives accumulate as fantasy types which constitute rhetorical vision, the symbolic reality with which the participants of communication identify. 
I have internalized rhetoric in three dimensions. Whether it really can be of practical, pedagogical value is my first concern. And it does have. The classical system of rhetoric, which involves three genres, three modes of proof and five canons, is useful in the practice and teaching of oral presentation and written composition. I have conceptualized two classroom approaches/activities with the help of the five canons.  The first is what I have introduced as “The Eight R’s of Presentation” involving the steps of preparing an effective oral presentation. The second concerns a blog entitled Rhetorical Ventures intended to facilitate and archive student compositions. I presented this blog in two International conferences of English teachers in January and February 2010.
Besides, I have included fundamentals of rhetoric and rhetorical criticism in the syllabus of Text and Audience, which is taught in the third year of Bachelor in Media Studies, Kathmandu University. This helps complement a small section of the syllabus of Public Relations for the second year, which contains rhetorical strategies as communication strategies for public relation campaigners.
Subsequently, as a second dimension, rhetoric functions as an important tool for the creation and critique of everyday communication. I am conscious of using effective means in all forms of communication, be it meant for persuasion, information, invitation, identification or settlement of conflicts. I have been more conscious seeing the same means critically in the communications of other people. One achievement in this direction is the development of the habit of what Wayne Booth calls “listening rhetoric”. This helps me make clear sense of any communicators’ intentions, weigh the extent of truth and lie in their words, and trace a ground for devising appropriate forms of response. Rhetorical awareness saves me from potential relationship crises because it helps me decide when to force an argument and where to withdraw it in the lack of adequate modes of proof. 
The third and the most crucial dimension of my present study on rhetoric involves critical scholarship. First, it drives me more towards my research through the painful and pleasant moments of losses and finds — my journey of oscillation across disciplines and approaches, and of the moments of serious discourses with the supervisors and potential readers. While the actual analytical journey stills remains in a bulk, I have been trying to feel the adventure through shorter writings, presentations, editing, reviewing, and supervising student projects.
Overall, with two years’ intense involvement in rhetorical scholarship, I have learned that in research the process counts as important as the product.  The process helps me grow along with the concept, and gradually ensures the reflection of this growth in everyday professional adventures.  I am equally conscious that the product has the potential for adding some dimensions to the field of scholarship where I have so far trailed and toiled. The work is ongoing. I feel the growth every time I encounter a new rhetorical challenge.

सम्पादकीय

भौतिक विज्ञानले दृष्‍टिकोणलाई गौण मानी दृष्यमा विश्‍वास गर्नुपर्छ भन्ला, प्रवृत्तिलाईभन्दा पात्रलाई मुख्य ठान्ला। तर ज्ञानको सिर्जना र सम्प्रेषण गर्ने थलोमा दृष्‍टिकोण र प्रवृत्ति दुवैको अहम् मूल्य हुन्छ। दृष्य र पात्रहरू महत्वपूर्ण साधनहरू हुन्। तर ती स्वाभावत: नाशिने वा विश्थापित हुने हुनाले समाज बिकासका प्रमुख मार्गदर्शक बन्दैनन्। ज्ञान, दृष्टिकोण र प्रवृत्ति समयानुसार संसोधित हुँदै लगातार प्रसारित हुने हुँदा मानवको प्रत्येक नयाँ पुस्ताले यीबाट निर्देशित हुन पाउँछ। 
असल मानिसहरू चुपचाप ओझेलमा सिर्जनाका कामहरू गरिरहेको बेला खराब पात्रहरूको मात्र चर्चा समाजले  गरेको पाइन्छ ।  खराबीको चर्चामा समय फालेको समूहले सिर्जनालाई ढिलो देख्‍छ, र प्रत्यक्ष भौतिक फाइदा वा हानीको महसुस नहुन्जेलसम्म त्यसको महत्व पनि बुझ्दैन। आम मानिसको दैनिकी महामानवहरूको संगतमा चलेको हुँदैन, न त हरेक मानिसमा शिखरमा पुग्ने महत्वाकाङ्‍क्षा नै हुन्छ। समाजलाई थेग्ने पात्रहरू सामान्य जीवन बाँच्छन्। असल मानिसहरूले आफ्नो विवेकले ठिक देखेको काम निरन्तर गरिरहने हुनाले समाज बस्नलायक रहन्छ। रचनात्मक काम केही नगर्ने, गर्न नसक्ने वा गर्नै नचाहनेहरूको पनि कमी छैन। चाहने र सक्नेले नचाहने र नसक्नेलाई पनि हतेर्दै लिएर हिँड्नु पर्ने वाध्यता प्रगतिको वाधक भएता पनि समाजले यसलाई आत्मसात गरेको हुन्छ।
 
हामीले सकारात्मक दृष्‍टिकोणले समाजमा राम्रा मान्यताहरू स्थापित हुने र नकारात्मक प्रवृत्तिले स्थापित मान्यताहरूको विनाश गर्ने कुरामा सचेत भई आफ्नो सिर्जनशील बाटो तय गरेका छौँ। हामी ठान्छौँ, सचेत मानिसहरूको ठूलो जमात यो देशमा कहीँ न कहीँ अल्मलिएको छ, रचनात्मक दायीत्वबाट जानी जानी विमुख भएको छ। लाग्छ, जिम्मेवारीले चुनौती दिन, र विवेकले घचघच्याउन छाडिसक्यो। कामना गरौँ रछ्यान मिल्काउँदैमा समय खेर नजाओस्। अनुत्पादक भिड बढ्दै जाँदा हुने असुरक्षाप्रति हामी सबै सजग रहनुपर्छ।

सन्तोष

– हेमराज काफ्ले
भक्तपुरको सूर्यविनायक मैले यदाकदा मात्र टेक्ने गरेको ठाउँ हो। यहाँ मसँग परिचित मानिस भेटिने सम्भावना निकै कम हुन्छ। 

एकदिन दिउँसो सञ्‍जोगले यहाँबाट बस धुलिखेलको लागि पक्रिनु पर्‍यो।

मैले गाडी पर्खिरहेको बेला एकजना ज्यान परेको हकर छेउमा उभिएको थियो। उसले निधार छोपिेने गरी रातो रङ्‍गको क्याप लगाएको थियो। उसको हातमा एकबिटो पत्रिका र केही पैसा थियो। दुईटा भरिएका बसहरू त्यहाँ रोकिएका थिए। तर ऊ बसको नजिक गएर पत्रिका बेचिरहेको थिएन। त्यसै अल्मलिएर उभिइरहेको जस्तो लाग्थ्यो। ऊ घरी-घरी मतिर पनि पुलुक्‍क हेर्थ्यो। पत्रिका किन्ला भन्‍ने आशाले हेरेको होला भन्ठानेर म वास्ता गर्दिनथेँ। यो साँझ पर्ने बेलामा बिहानको पत्रिका कसले किन्दो हो, म मनमनै भन्दैथिएँ। 
धेरै परसम्म हेर्दा पनि आइरहेको गाडी नदेखेकोले समयको सदुपयोग गर्न म नजिकको पसलमा गलैँचाको दाम सोध्न गएँ। फर्कँदा ऊ त्यहीँ थियो। पर्खेर बसेको पो रहेछ। देख्‍ने बित्तिकै छेउमै आएर बोल्नथाल्यो, “चिन्‍नु भो सर मलाई? प्रोफेसर भइसक्नुभो होला हगि?”
मलाई यो अप्रत्यासित तर चिरपरिचित भावको सामिप्यले थोरै चकित बनायो। एउटा हकरलाई म प्रोफेसर भएको नभएको के मतलब?
“छैन। तर मैले तपाईँलाई चिनिनँ त। हाम्रो भेट कहाँ भा’को हो र?”
“मैले केयुमै पढ्‍या हुँ त। तपाईँले पढाउनु भा’को हो नि”, उसले विनम्रता प्रकट गर्‍यो।
 “तर कहिले नि ! मैले अनुहार ठम्याउनै सकिनँ, भाइ”।
“आज हो र, २०५८ सालमा”
“आई. एस्सी?”
“हो”
“अरू के गरिन्छ त?”
“यस्तै उस्तै”, उसले मलिन अनुहार लगाएर नाक खुम्च्यायो। 
अरूलाई भए पढाइ कहाँ पुग्यो भनी सोध्थेँ होला। यो युवकसँग यसभन्दा बढी सोधखोज गर्न मन लागेन। शायद उसले आई. एस्सी नै पास गर्न सकेको थिएन। मलाई लाग्यो ती टोपीमुनि लुकेका आँखामा कतै केही पीडा पनि पक्‍कै लुकेको छ। 
नाम मात्र सोधेँ। सन्तोष रहेछ। झट्ट सोचेँ नाम अनुसारको जीवनशैली भनेको यस्तै होला।
धुलिखेलको बस आइसकेकोले बिदा लिएँ। ऊ पनि बस स्टपबाट पश्‍चिमतिर लाग्यो। मलाई कताकता अनौठो लागिरह्‍यो।
केयुबाट टाढिएका अधिकांश विद्यार्थीहरू स्वाभावत: सधैँका लागि हामीबाट पनि टाढिन्छन्। अहिलेमात्र फेसबूकमा यदाकदा एकदुई जना सम्पर्कमा आउँछन्, अनि हराउँछन्। चिनजान फ्रेन्डलिष्‍टमा सीमित हुन्छ। सुनिन्छ, धेरैजसो राम्रा ठाउँमा गतिला काम गरेर बसेका छन्। मलाई लाग्छ यहाँ पढेकाहरू माथि नै पुग्छन्, अनि एकाध यताउता देखापर्नेहरू या त नियतिले ठगेका या जे छ त्यसैमा सन्तुष्टि लिएर बसेकाहरू हुन्।
केही वर्ष अघिसम्म म एकजना केटालाई बनेपामा तरकारी र फलफूल बेचिरहेको देख्थेँ। “आ… सर, मलाई त यही काम मनपर्‍यो” भन्थ्यो। उसलाई त्यस्तो काम किन मन परेको हो मैले कहिल्यै सोधिनँ। 
कहिलेकाहीँ धेरै माथि पुगिसकेकाहरूसँग पनि जम्काभेट हुन्छ काठमाडौँका सडकहरूमा। थोरैले मात्र चिनेझैँ गर्छन्। कसैकसैले बोलाइ पनि हाल्छन्। यस्तो भेट मलाई रमाइलो लाग्छ। देखेर नदेखे झैँ वा नचिने झैँ गर्नेहरूसँग पनि केही गुनासो छैन। मानिसहरूबीचको सम्बन्ध पानीमा हिँडेजस्तो हुनु नपर्ने हो। तर व्यवहारमा यस्तै हुँदो रहेछ। तर एउटा शिक्षकले पुराना सम्बन्ध छुट्दा खिन्‍न भइहाल्नुचाहिँ पर्दैन। नयाँ नयाँ भेट र सम्बन्धले उसको जीवनलाई सार्थक बनाइरहेकै हुन्छ। शिक्षक समुद्रको किनार र विद्यार्थी लगातार आइरहने पानीको छालजस्तै हुन् रे। छाल आउँछ जान्छ। किनारले आत्मसात गरिरहन्छ। कहिलेकाहीँ किनारमा रहेका फोहरहरू बढारिन्छन्। कहिले पानीसँग आएको फोहर किनारमा थुप्रिन्छ।
केही मानिसहरू केयुले सहरकेन्द्रित र विदेशोन्मुख युवाहरूको जमातमात्र उत्पादन गर्ने गरेकाले देशलाई समग्ररूपमा खासै फाइदा भएको छैन भन्‍ने टिप्पणी गर्छन्। कोहीचाहिँ यहाँ पढेपछि सरासर सफल र धनी बनिन्छ भन्‍ने विश्‍वासले भर्नाका लागि मरिहत्ते गर्छन्। यसरी यहाँ पढेपछि के हुन्छ के हुँदैन भनेर आग्रह राख्‍नु मानवजीवनको समग्रतालाई राम्रोसँग नबुझ्नु हो। कुनै स्कुल वा कलेजले जीवनको एक कालखण्डमा महत्व राख्छ, तर त्यो एकमात्र निर्णायक पक्ष हुन सक्दैन। मानिसहरूले यो कुरा बुझेकै हुनु पर्ने हो।
 
तर केयुमै पढेको मानिस दशवर्षपछि सडकमा पत्रिका बेचिरहेको पाइएला भन्‍ने कल्पना कसले गरेको थियो होला। मैले त गरेको थिइनँ। 
यसको अर्थ केयुमै पढेका कारणले कसैले पत्रिका बेच्नुपर्‍यो भन्‍न खोजको होइन। पत्रिका बेचेर जीविका चलाउनु नराम्रो हो भन्‍ने पनि होइन। पत्रिका बेच्ने मानिस अर्को अझ गतिलो काम गरेर बसेको पनि हुनसक्छ। पढेका मानिस सबै जागिरे र हाकिम बन्‍नै पर्छ र बनेकाले पत्रिका बेच्नै हुँदैन भन्‍ने झन् होइन। हाम्रो समाजमा कुनै कुनै शिक्षित मानिसहरूले निर्धारित गर्ने सफलताका मापकहरू गजबका छन्। यहाँ भने सानोतिनो काम गर्न इज्जत जाने, बिदेश गएर जेसुकै गर्न पछि नपर्ने अधिकांश शिक्षित वा अर्धशिक्षित नेपालीहरूको सफलताको मापक पैसा र त्यसले किन्‍न सक्ने भौतिक सुविधाहरू हुन्। यी जीविकोपार्जनका प्रमुख साधनहरू हुन्, तर यी मात्र सफल र सार्थक जीवनका निर्णायक आधारहरू भने होइनन्। 
प्रचलित दृष्‍टिकोणले सन्तोषको जीवनलाई हेर्दा ऊ एउटा हरूवा र पछौटे लाग्न सक्छ। मैले छोटो भेटमा उसमा पाएको आत्मविश्‍वास र जीवनप्रतिको इमान्दारी भने उदाहरणीय छ। उसको पेशा र अवस्था मेरो लागि अप्रत्यासित थियो भन्‍ने जानी जानी उसले आफूलाई चिनायो। त्यो उसको सामाजिक परिपक्वता थियो। युवावस्थाको प्रातकालमा केही समय कक्षाकोठामा देखिएको र अहिले विस्मरणमा गइसकेको एउटा पुरानो शिक्षकसँग लामो समयपछि भेट्दा देखाउँन पाएको हार्दिकता भने उसको लागि पनि अविस्मरणीय भएको हुनुपर्छ।
सन्तोषले आई. एस्सी. पास गर्‍यो गरेन, त्यसभन्दा माथि पढ्यो पढेन वा सडकमा पत्रिका बेच्न कसरी आइपुग्यो भन्‍ने एउटा खोजको विषय हुनसक्छ। हिजोआज पनि सूर्यविनायकको छेउछाउ पुग्नासाथ म सडकको दायाँ वायाँ राम्रोसँग चिहाउँछु। अनायास उसलाई खोज्छु तर देख्‍दिनँ। भेटेको केही वर्ष भइसक्दा पनि उसको अतीतप्रतिको मेरो खुल्दुली मेटिएको छैन।
सन्तोषले छुट्टिने बेलामा भनेको कुरा पछिसम्म मेरो कानमा गुञ्‍जिरहला, “मेरो हालत देखेर अचम्म नमाने हुन्छ, सर। तपाईँका सबै चेलाचेलीले डाक्टर, इन्जिनियर, वैज्ञानिक वा अनुसन्धाता बन्‍ने अवसर पाएका छैनन्। तपाईँले अरू पनि सन्तोषहरू भेट्नुहुनेछ”।
सन्तोषको यो भनाइमा वास्तविकता छ जस्तो लाग्छ। देश सन्तोषले आई. एस्सी. पढ्दाको भन्दा फरक भइसक्यो, अनि फरक भैसकेको छ केयु पनि। अहिले त यस्ता अरू पनि स‍न्तोषहरू सडकभरि आइसके होलान, स्वदेशमा नभए विदेशमा। तर कोही कतै भेटिए भने पनि भक्तपुरे सन्तोषलाई भेट्दाजस्तो विस्मयानुभव चाहिँ मलाई हुनेछैन।
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