Monday, February 18, 2008

who am i?

i remember reading the poem of the famous poet who asked us to ask ourselves
Who am I?
Where am I?
What is my purpose?
I have the answer to the second one while the third one is too spiritual. I thought i knew the answer for the former but lately i have been confused. I knew i am a Nepali boy. Now, still i am a boy but am i a Nepali?
follow the revolution in the tarai, Madhes, the southern part of Nepal and you would know what i am trying to say. I am a nepali, alright.
but the definition now has become that those who live in tarai (madhes) are "madhesis" and the rest are "pahadis" or nepalis.
well, about me, i was born in "madhes" and spent my childhood there,my father too was born there so i am a "madhesi". But i have spent my youth and almost the same number of years in the hills (pahads) that i have in the tarai (madhes). i like to call myself both a pahadi and a madhesi. because my appearance is like a madhesi while my behaviour,lifestyle and attitude is that of a pahadi because i have spent my youth in the hills among the "pahadis". i get along well with my friends of the hilly origin. i even speak Nepali better than Maithili. I do not know how to write even a statement properly in maithili.
when i go to my home in the tarai, i feel that the revolution that is going on is justifiable. the majority of the people vehemently support the revolution and many of them are ready to even sacrifice their life for the revolution. once, even i was tempted to join an angry mob of "madhesi youths" who were demanding equality and justice but i didn't as my father didn't allow me. thanks to my father because the same mob clashed with the police deployed at a chowk to control them. several rounds of bullets were fired and scores of them sustained bullet injuries, few of their condition was critical.
but when i return to my school in kathmandu (in the hills), i hear people looking at the revolution with scorn and remorse. "madhesis have already got more than they actually deserve. the revolution is meaningless. it is the king's conspiracy to thwart the constituent assembly polls." i feel bad when they say so because in the tarai, it is the common people who are involved in the revolution. King could hire few hundreds or thousands. but see on the streets, there are much more than that the king can hire even with all his treasures. Peoples' sentiments can not be bought with money.
Bu again, political analysts calculate in the public shows on leading television networks that Madhesis have got more than that they are demanding. so what is this uproar for? I am convinced by their analysis too. In the headlines too, it is said that even after the government's repeated calls for dialogue, the revolutionary factions are just ignoring them. I feel the madhesi groups are not being responsible too.
I am saddened by the activities of various armed groups of the tarai who kidnap people and then shoot them to leave their dead bodies around some rivers. most of the people killed are of the hill origin. they ask people of hill origin to leave the tera. this is ridiculous. how is that possible? if so is the case then one day, another revolution could break out in the hills too asking people of tarais of leave or be ready to face the consequences.
what would be the results? disastrous.
country would be divided and each region homogenous
this would lead to a civil war probably and more riots in the future, racial riots similar to the religious riots that happen time and again between hindu and muslims of India.
in fact, we had already begun to see some similar signs but people of hills were probably more responsible and avoided it.
the country could be pushed into depression and life might become very difficult. the leaders of both the regions should act responsibly before it's too late

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