An evening at partapur

Gagol Road, Partapur Market at night.

Evening, the most crowded hours in the Partapur Market. And I was there to buy some vegetables which I could prepare salad with for the dinner tonight. Should I say, Partapur effect or what, I am habituated to eating onions & khira [cucumber] with a pinch of salt and squeezed lemon on top with dinner/lunch everyday.

So, here was I, like everyday, protecting myself from the speeding vehicles and cycles, looking for a roadside vegetable vendor who had the most fresh cucumber of the whole market. Selecting and rejecting as if freshness matters a lot, just a showoff, because I know that finding fresh vegetables in this market is like finding a needle in a hay.

The main market, both side of the road is filled with thelas of different kinds. You can find everything here... recently a new momo stall has also come up, though it is completely different thing that I will never eat momo there. There are lots of chowmin thelas and people waiting with their hungry eyes for the chowmin maker to finish making their order. Similar is the condition with the juice thela, burger, jalebis and others.

Some boys are doing stunts in the center of the market just in front of the egg thela. It looks really funny to see someone doing wheelie in a Splendor Bike but they are unaware. Oh... there are a couple of girls drinking juice and that must be the reason for the stunts, the girls, class 10 or 11 maybe and their copy in their hands tell me that they are returning from their tuition  The juice shop and the egg shop nearby are crowded today, hope you now know the reason. ;)

There I am, waiting to cross the road, because I see that the shop on the other side has fresh khiras, or is it that 'the grass always looks greener the other side' funda? I don't know but I must check. So many people have already crossed the road and I am still there waiting for that last auto to pass. Meanwhile a bike passes by me, three persons seated comfortably on it, one sees me and shouts 'abey Chinese, kya haal hai?' And I say 'Mast hai Behenc***'. One thing is sure, nowadays I have learnt to swear in their language. And I swear often, because it makes me feel I am one among them and not a chinese.

With some additional efforts, I am on the other side of the road, unhurt, unhit by the cycles and autos, lucky I guess. There is this old aunt on the shop. I check the cucumbers and find it perfect, or atleast I tell that to myself. After asking a couple of time 'khira kaisey diya(this is how you ask the rate here)?', she replies 'haanji... 20 rupee kilo'. I get my necessary stuffs, pay her and am on my way back.

On my way, there is this shop with a big board 'Theka Desi Sarab'. The most unhygenic place I have seen in the entire market, smelling like someone has just now puked or maybe had a loo somewhere there. I curse myself for not carrying the mask. I look towards the theka, the shop is fully protected by the iron grill and a small window at the center from where only one bottle can be passed at one time. I don't know what this protection is for!! So many people near the small window with their money in their hand waiting for their turn and thirsty as hell I guess. Meanwhile, I nearly get hit by a cycle as I lost my concentration and loosing concentration in the market can be very costly. 'Arrey bhai dekh k chaliyo....' I shout pretending that it wasn't my fault. This is what this place has taught me, to never accept your fault. ;)

Little ahead, there is this computer cafe with a board 'Sai Computer Salution(not solution).... seller and purchuse(not purchase) of old computers'. I smile, wondering  who did that flex printing. And not to forget there is this saloon from where I most of the time take the risk of having my hair cut and allow the barbers there to experiment on my hair. The board of the saloon reads, 'Fashon Saloon... Mail & Femail'. You may wonder how brave I am to go to the saloon, the only reason is the bhaiya out there is very friendly....

Little futher, there is this tent on the roadside where this large family lives. I remember clearly some days ago there was only two tents and now there is long series of tents, 5 or 6 maybe and seems one more family is added tonight because some people are busy making a tent on the only space available. Now I have started recognizing the face of some of the people living on that tent. One aunt specially because once she pointed towards me and said to her husband, 'Nepali... dekh!' and I felt happy, atleast someone calls me Nepali(who I really am). Today also as I pass through the series of tent, my eyes are searching for that aunt and there she is busy making chapatis for her family... a dirty shawl wrapped across her body, her legs seems uncleaned for ages, hair full of dust, sweats dripping down her chin[probably due to the heat of the fire) but still some glow in her face, happy face indeed... I wonder how she can cook and eat in this dusty place... But it is all about your needs and circumstances.

Then finally comes my favorite sugarcane juice shop but today I ignore the sound of the motor or juice extractor whatever they call that thing, because my throat has been paining recently.

A girl passes me by, and we exchange glances, how can she manage to be on the street at this time of the night? Its too dark already... But she is born and raised in this place, maybe for her its totally safe or normal, I guess! But still, she has to be inside her home, isn't it? Then suddenly I realize that I too have started to think like a person of this place. Pity me....

Now I start wondering what would I be doing at this time if O was at home? This time I would either be watching football with my father or helping my mom in the kitchen(thinking to marry soon so that my mom has company) or the most interesting thing, I would be karaoking with my brother in my room with full volume of my woofer(so much fun). By the time, I am back in the room and writing this post, I would have probably had the food cooked by the best cook of the world (my mom) and already on bed or having a sip of red wine hiding from my parents!!

God... I miss my home. I miss my state!!

Read More

Saraswati Puja 2013 at Malbasey

The first thing I did after reaching home this time was meet my coolest and closest fren Subash and discuss about my plan. My plan was to celebrate Saraswati Puja in Malbasey Sai Mandir involving only the students and youths of Malbasey, my village. As expected he was also excited and our work began.

After getting permission from the Sai Mandali Convenor of Malbasey Mr. K.B. Bhandari to use the Sai Mandir, we organised a meeting with the young and enthusiastic students of Malbasey. I didn't expect that much of co-operation from them at first but was completely surprised the way they cooperated. I felt that all they need is an idea and some motivation. Banner and everything was finalized and everybody came up with their creative and helpful ideas.

Banner that was placed at the turning point of Malbasey [most happening place]

Coupons were printed for the donation collection and responsibility was assigned to the members. It was too good a feeling to see young students giving so much of effort for the programme. Within 3 days we had collected a sum close to 17000/- and that was a big sum since we were only students.

The real task then began from 12th of february when we had to clean and decorate the Sai Mandir premise. Going to shopping, getting bamboo and pine from the nearby forest, collecting all necessary things like syntax, electric stuffs, water supply pipeline, etc were really tough and it wouldn't be complete without the help of those volunteers. It wouldn't be fair if I don't mention the names of those students and others (whom we called 'karmath yoddha') who gave their hundred percent and were present there from morning to evening for those 3 days. 

• Amir Bhandari [Host]
• Subash Bhandari [Host]
• Roomi Subba
• Anup Bhandari 
• Jyoti Bhandari
• Meena Subba
• Sandhya Basnett
• Amir Karki
• Sandesh Bhandari
• Amrita Chettri
• Anuraj bhandari
• Anusa Karki
• Deepsana basnett
• Divya Chettri
• Prajwal Subba
• Pranita Chettri
• Prasanna Subba
• Rojaling Subba
• Ronita bhandari
• Rozie Subba
• Sabina Basnett
• Sabnam Chettri
• Unisha Bhandari
• And many others whose name I may have left behind.

The most hectic day of all was 14th of Feb. Me, Subash and all the members (instead of celebrating Valentine Day) without proper lunch were working the whole day in support of just some samosas orange juice that had been ordered for the volunteers. But that wasn't sufficient if one has to run to forest several times to collect bamboos and pines and then use it in making some borders along the premise, cleaning the kitchen, toilet, cleaning the overall premise, then decorating the inside and out of the mandir. Ufff..... no time for lunch!

And meanwhile the bad news came, the profile [mat] that we had ordered was lost in the way!! The driver who was supposed to deliver it didn't knew where did the profile go? Amazing na? We were startled and panicked a little... :P cause that costed us around 1000/- and everything was planned accordingly.

Anyways, the work had to move on. At night we were busy writing in chart papers and pasting it around the mandir and also giving some final touch to the decoration work. The most interesting part of the night was that it was not only valentines day but also happened to be the birthday of one of our friend Roomi and a tasty cake was came on the display. I nearly jumped of my feet when I saw the cake.... :)

Birthday Celebration of Roomi Subba [She never revealed how old she turned on that day.... :)]

I seriously don't know what they were doing with candle in their hand.... haha.... I was only focusing on the cherry on the top of the cake and hoping to get the biggest piece of cake (luckily I did because the birthday girl knew that I was a big khaideo). Though we (guys only) had decided to spend the night at Mandir but it was impossible as we seriously needed a rest as a big day awaited.

The next day (i.e. 15th February and Saraswati Puja Day) was the most unluckiest day for me as I had to go to Geyzing for Aadhar Card registration. I was too sad because I had been working and waiting for this day from day 1 when the plan was just on our mind but in the end I was unable to be present on the puja. I thought it was god's wish & went to Geyzing early morning hoping to be back as early as possible.

The puja as I heard from my friends and family went very well and lots of people in and around had been present (lot more than expected). People really supported us and the students were really excited.

Glimpse of puja attendees during the day.

The two priests from Thakurbari Madir, Soreng (renowned priests) also praised the management, planning and organisation of the puja by the students. Everyone was heard saying that though this place has seen many puja and celebration but this was something different. So well planned and organised and most importantly by the young students. 

Meanwhile our volunteers also didn't forget to have some fun around:

Anup, Anuraj & Sandesh (Do they look like volunteers? I doubt!!)

Our beautiful sisters & volunteers taking some rest and making fun of each other in which they are expert.

Sandesh, Amir Karki, Subash... Those without whom this puja wouldn't be sucessful.

The most important part of our puja was the "Shanti Paat (Peace Prayer)" which I forgot to mention earlier. After the Saraswati Puja Paat,the priests performed Shanti Paat of the Malbasey, Soreng where the priests performed havans and prayed to god to maintain peace in the nearby areas. Then it was followed by delicious prasadam (though i missed the hot ones).

Centre of attraction of our puja was Mr. Asha Subba Sir from Soreng who attended the entire puja and also entertained the people and students of malbasey by sharing his personal stories, stories of inspiration and also by singing some bhajans. In the evening, it was 108 dip prajjwalan program where we started lighting dip (diyas) from the older people first and slowly in descending order to the students. Then it was followed by bhajans.

What good is a program is there sin't some dance to end it. So, our sudents and specially ladies knew it well... :) So, there went a hustle and bustle of dance in some romantic bhajans of Krishna. It was fun. Then the final touch was given by Mr. Asha Subba Sir when he danced on the famous song "nai nabhannu la...". People were smiling and enjoying at the same time.

'Just Dance' :P

One man equal to all the ladies dancing.

"Nai nabhannu la...." Some say he teared his suruwal while dancing!! Only god knows!! :P

This way our long awaited programme was over. We knew it was just a beginning of the many things that we will be doing in the future in our place. This, though being a small programme was the first of its kind when some students had taken the initiative and executed it surpassing every expectation. It has left lots of memories in our mind, the cute and happy ones, the bonding and supporting ones, the smiles and jokes that we shared, the memories of happiness.

Hope in the coming days, we will again do something like this and enjoy doing so!!
Missing those days...

Pictures Credit: Subash & Anup

They are subject to copyright and use without permission is prohibited.

Read More

'Chinese nahi bhaiya Sikkimese...'

A funny poem depicting how students of Sikkim and North Eastern States are called chinki and chinese in the main land India and treated as outsiders.

Title: 'चाईनिज नही भैया..... सिक्किमिज़'

Genre: व्यंग्य [Comedy]

अकस्मात, झटारिएर,

उछिटिएर, लड़बरिन्दै,
म कहाँ आईपुगेछु !
अस्त ब्यस्त शहर,
मान्छेको भीड र हतार
म यो कहाँ आईपुगेछु ?

पहिलो दिनमै,
केहि छिनमै
जता ततै 'ए चिंकी'
'ए चाईनिज' मात्र सुन्छु,
आफ्नै मूल आफ्नै देशमा
बिदेशी भनिन्दा
कता कता उदास हुन्छु ||

'चाईना नही सिक्किम'
भन्दै बुझाउनु खोज्दा
'ये सिक्किम कहाँ पड़ता है ?'
भन्ने अफ्ठ्यारो प्रस्न पाउछु
'इंडियामे ही पड़ता है भैया !'
भन्दै आफ्नो बाटो तताउछु ||

हन, कहिले कहिँ त
आफैलाई प्रस्न गरि पठाऊछु
म पनि भारतीय नै होइन र ?
इंडियाले वर्ल्ड-कप जित्दा
के म उफ्री-उफ्री नाचिन र ?
हाम्रो राष्ट्रिय गान बज्दा
के हामी उठ्दिनौ र ?
'कालो धन फर्काऊ'
भन्दै अन्ना बाजे अनसन बस्दा
के हामीपनि भोक भोकै बसेनौ र ?

तरै पनि खै त,
'सिक्किम कहाँ पड़ता है ?' भन्छन....
'नेपालमे कि चाइनामे ?' सोधछन् ....
हन, सानो छदा भूगोलमा
इंडियाको म्याप हेरेनछन् कि कसो?
छ्यास्स उक्सिएर उभो निस्केको सिक्किम
देखेनछन् कि कसो ?

कि त सिक्किमको समाचार
आज तक र इंडिया टिवी तिर नआएर हो
कि सिक्किमको IPL को टिम नभएर हो ?
कि हामी  एति शान्त स्वभावको  भएर हो
सिक्किमलाई धेरै नचिनेको......

हन, हाम्रो आँखा चिम्से नै भए पनि
हामी ह्यान्डसम र ब्यूटीफुल  नै छौ
नाइटोमा हामी प्यान्ट लाउदैनौ,
मुरीले जुत्ता छोपदैनौ,
चप्पलमा टाई लाउदैनौ ||

तर हामी कहिले तिमीलाई हेरेर हाँसछौ र ?
सिक्किमतिर आउदा तिमीलाई
नाईजेरियन र अफ्रिकन भन्छौ र ?
फेरी हामी चै किन आफ्नै देशमा
भारतीय जस्तो नठानिएको ?
किन अर्कै ग्रहको प्रजाति
जस्तो मानिएको ??

त्यसैले दाह्रा किट्दै भएपनि
'सिक्किम इंडियामे पड़ता है' भन्दैछु
नबुज्नेलाई खुर्पाको बेड़ भने जस्तै
'चाईनिज नही..... सिक्किमिज़' बुझाऊदैछु  ||

Note: Not meant to harm the sentiments of any.

Read More

Most annoying people on Facebook...

Since when did facebook - "A social utility that connects people with friends and others who work, study and live around them" turn into a channel through which people shove down our throats posts/pictures that are really annoying but we are forced to like them because we need our posts/pictures to be liked in return.

The following are the compilation of the most annoying people on Facebook.

THE OVER SHARER:

Do we really need to know what you did last weekend? Or last night? Or what are you doing right now at this very moment? Even before one can properly hit the 'log in' button, every nano minute of your friends' lives in on display for the world to know.

Ya, this includes
- the duck face in the movie halls(Dabang2 roxx....),
- the metal sign in the pubs(Chilling wid ma homies....),
- pictures of what food they ate(Waiting for the order at MacD....),
- and later status from their loo(Stomach upset....),
Some people even go one step ahead and post their 'current' location on their pages, you know, just to let the world know that they are at xyz location, eating paani-puri with their BFFs (tagged in the update, ofcourse).

ATTENTION SEEKERS:

Its true that everyone is seeking attention on some level but these guys use the most cringe worthy tactics. Like taking the quiz, 'Which bollywood actress do you look like?' Facebook applications says you look like Katrina!! Well, then you definitely do 'coz FB is never wrong. Or even worse 'Who have a crush on you?' yuck...

Or posting the lyrics of Avril's or Taylor's song so that everyone asks you 'Is everything ok?' Or posting some vague philosopher's quote because you are so intellectual, which a 100 people will 'like' because they are also intellectual.

Worst offenders? Dramatic exes, who, when arent busy tearing apart their former loves on their walls are busy changing their relationship status. Since this isn't a ______ movie and you arent Tom Cruise and ______, we seriously dont give a damn.

ONES WITH MARRIAGE TIMELINE:

Its been proved that married people are the most hyperactive FB users, effectively turning the website to shaadi.com. Logging on means having to face the onslaught of wedding & honeymoon pictures and worst of all, wedding countdowns. Did you know that marriage isn't official until your relationship status says so and a thousand people like it and comment on it, like 'cool bro' or 'congrats'.

FRIENDS MAKER:

Its really great to make new friends on FB but what if you find yourself as one friend among their 9871 other friends? Do they feel that there is some award that they are gonna get if their friend list is the largest in the FB community? God knows!!

ONES WITH DUCK FACES:

We all know that face, right? The one that every girl makes whenever there's a camera in the room. The one they think makes them look like Angelina Jolie but they actually just look like ducks.... or even worse, fish!! The duck face is usually accompanied by equally painful looking body contortions and black and white photography.
Dont tell me you have seen a boy's picture with a duck face? Really? M already sick....

ONES WITH BABY PICTURES:

They are cute ofcourse and its really nice if there are some pics on FB. But it really gets boring after the 101st picture, when you run of your awwwwws. And the worst one, having a FB account for their babies through which they send you friend requests? There's just a thin line between cute and creepy, and your baby just crossed that line by commenting on my pic.

DAILY WISHERS:

What if someday you log in and you see all the 1200 friends of yours, posting their status, 'Good morning friends!' 

These are the people who dont forget to post 'Good night, friends....' on their walls before they goto sleep everyday. But even after an hour you find them online, replying to the comments on their post 'Good night to you too!'.

ONES ON RELATIONSHIP:

Wasn't he/she 'in relationship with' someone else yesterday? and with someone else a week before??
Why doesn't FB provide a feature where the people can show the list of their exes who they were in relationship with in the past(If you are already showcasing everything in FB then why to hide this one, isn't it?)

Ok we came to know that you are in relationship with xyz(if you really think that we care), and we believed it, but is it necessary to post a pic of you hugging her or worst, kissing her??

Note: The characters depicted above are purely original. If it has resemblence with any living person, then it is just a fact.

Read More

Gone away.....

Though we seldom met

we never had long chats

but as a brother or a friend

you were someone

always close to my heart.

Deep down,

I knew you were hurt

And you had reasons to be

But life doesn't seem to hold on

It just moves on and on.....

Never knew such day would come

When you wouldn't be here

to see another dawn

The dew drops twinkling

and the magical ambiance

The chirping of birds

in the flowers outside.....

There was so much left to relish

So much left to have fun of

Together we could make 

lots of merry and delight...

But you didn't let the day come!!

That wasn't the way

We know and you knew too

A bit late to understand

And we lost you.

I didn't shed a tear

But deep within, I cried

You didn't let us say goodbye

This sorrow will never die.

Now that you are gone

May heavenly abode be yours

May your soul find eternal peace

And if you come again,

Somewhere, 

Someday,

As a tough boy or  a cute girl

May you understand

Why living is so important!!

If only you would hold on

And be strong to face life

You would find so many reasons to live

So many faces to bring smile to.....

The void thats created within

is too hard to fill

The silence is too hard to break

You didn't understand the simple fact,

"You were special,

And there wont be another you!!"

Dedicated to WangChu
You live in our heart forever!!

[ - Amir Bhandari ]

Read More