Let's scan and clean our cultural pollution

When Nepalese around the world are asked to introduce themselves, collectively the word ‘Nepali’ would definitely be their first choice. Sometimes when outsiders struggle to understand our identity by our country’s name, we proudly mention the ‘Mount Everest’, ‘Buddha’ and our unique hospitable ‘culture’ which definitely justify where we come from but my question today is do we really have a unique or an impressive culture which we highlight everyday or is it being contaminated?

Undoubtedly when we talk about culture, we emphasize on the characteristics and the knowledge of different ethnic groups of our nation.  Geography, language, culture, religion, social habits and interaction and overall common social shared patterns of our behavior and practice reflect what kind of culture we really have. Certainly, diverse Nepal has a diverse culture but when the country is in the ongoing political insurgency our ‘unity in diversity’ slogan has been paralyzed as we can see ethnic tension rising in our country every day. It has not just created adverse effect within the country but has also developed a negative stereotype of our social and political culture. Our many cultural behaviors and practices need to be redefined, reformed and amended as per the need and the demand of the situation very similarly to the agenda of a new constitution we are talking about.

God and religion is a very holy but equally controversial topic when it comes to discussion.  Recent blockbuster movie of Amir Khan ‘PK’ surprised the Box Office with its record-breaking financial success but also pushed angry mob in the streets which continued to be the week long follow up news story to the worldwide media. From this example if anyone dares to differentiate between right and wrong from the religious point of view, s/he has to be the victim as politics has polluted sacred minds and sectors too but with strong audacity I want to ask everybody, why do we need to build hundreds of temples, monasteries, Church and other religious sites spending billions of rupees when we are failing to solve the hand to mouth problem of our ordinary citizens? If god is omnipresent, do we really have to build such concrete buildings with gold plated roof and silver coated doors and windows? When the government turns deaf to the cry of the poor, majority of them are compelled to rely on intangible god and their fate. Taking an advantage, holy places and preachers don’t stop asking for ‘Bhetis’ and other expensive offerings. Every morning thousands of us don’t hesitate to waste tanks of milks and thousands of money in such sites but we have no interest in helping those genuine poor people suffering in the street.

Every year when Dashain comes, our excitement, superstition and our fake ‘animal sacrifice culture’ takes the life of millions of innocent animals. When Vedas experts and animal activists are against such animal cruelties, millions of us do what we believe is right and define we are peaceful Nepali, are we really? During Gadhimai festival, the world’s second biggest mass slaughter of animals takes place in the land of Gautam Buddha and we still continue to repeat we are peaceful but does our act really justify our claim? As a vegetarian I often question to many people, in this modern world if a cow becomes a holy animal, what allows slaughtering buffalo, pig, goats and hens, our religions, constitution or self-made culture? If the country can proudly allow the mass slaughtering of animals, what’s the logic behind protecting one-horned rhino in the national park? We drink their blood to quench our thirst and the next morning we roar to be the Buddha’s people, wow what a cultural pride we have ! You have freedom to be a vegetarian or non-vegetarian but you cannot continue your culture of animal sacrifice relating it to the religion, its gods and deities.

Caste system surprisingly doesn't exist in our interim constitution but people who are called to be from the low castes know how they are tortured in every sectors of our society. Untouchability is still deeply rooted in our communities and some inter-caste marriages have been just the occasional headlines for our media. How often do we vomit against Sugauli treaty, how many protests have we organized to voice against the ongoing injustice to our Gurkha soldiers by the British Government but on the contrary we showcase more respect and welcome to our fair colored guests in every occasions. A Hindu daughter can’t marry a Muslim man but if she can gain the American green card marrying a fair colored Native Christian American, it becomes a social prestige for the family, isn't this the bigger reality of our society?

I grew up studying,-‘youth are the pillar of the nation’ and obviously youth contribute to build a stronger nation but when I see majority of our modern youths in the in their late teenage and early 20s, I get shocked to see how they talk and express themselves among their friends and social media. Obviously, a decade long internal political conflict in Nepal dragged youths in a direction of violence and fear and till the date majority of the youths are forced to be the  cadres of different political parties and get paid to support them. The ones who have gone to so called high class educational institutions present themselves differently as if they are from overseas. Show me any news in social media where our youths forget to swear badly. When it comes to political headlines, I also express my frustration and harsh criticism against corruption and ongoing political turmoil but our youth go beyond the boundaries. Swearing and negative complaints haven’t changed our country after the introduction of democracy, have they? ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 has just finished and the semifinal between Australia and India was a highly awaited game. As a cricket lover I had supported Australia too but I was shocked to see the comments of Nepali youth in social media against India, not particularly on Indian cricket team. We have choice to support who we like and we are free to express our opinion too but why do we go metal when it comes to India and Indians?

Nepal has many issues to deal with India and their multiple governments didn't treat Nepal fairly on a political basis which is why we can have some strong disagreements on their policies and actions but when we know that our own corrupted politicians are more responsible for creating such diplomacy, why do we hate ‘India’ and ‘Indians’ as a whole but not to the particular ‘issues’. Millions of Indians flock to Nepal  for travelling and pilgrimage and when we offend them  with adjective like ‘Dhotis’ are we not going against our culture of respecting others?  The same groups of youth who don't watch Nepali movies bunk their college for Bollywood movies and admire Bollywood music and actors. As the Nepali fans flooded in the streets, the security forces had to organize high standard security arrangements when Bollywood actors like Akshay Kumar and Shahrukh Khan visited Nepal in the last few months. We love their movies and music; we visit their ‘Char Dham’ for religious salvation, thousands of our people work there, we feel honored to chant the glorious success story of Udit Narayan and Manisha Koirala in their land and welcome Modi as a Royal character but it’s again us who write racist, offensive, vulgar and abusive comments and opinions to Indian people, what kind of culture is this? Our people, friends and families live all over the world and in many occasions they may have to be the victims of racial attack because of our offensive behavior.

I have encouraged many Kiwis to travel Nepal and almost all of them have returned with remarkable memory but every time when I ask them about Kathmandu and other cities, they become sad and feel sorry for our beautiful cities. Their camera lens finds piles of garbage and polluted atmosphere and their photos would certainly overshadow our heritages.  Educated majority living in Kathmandu have turned the beautiful city into a dumping site where every individual has to cover their face with mask while walking around and educated youths who watch Hollywood movie and shop in Bhat Bhateni spit in the streets of his own city and discard plastic randomly in the street without thinking. He then facebooks and tweets about the pollution himself and post the picture of Singapore and cleaner cities where he wants to study further or work. If we can't even execute basic cleaning ideas, how do we even deserve to see a dream of clean and corruption free country? On the other hand, jumbo team of ministers who visit Western countries almost every month return to Nepal learning how to eat with chopstick and after arrival they have no shame farting in the public. These politicians who can't even buy garbage bins for the public are now talking about eliminating the darkness of the country; if you want to believe them, choice is yours.

Rape is rising issue in our community, a daughter can’t be safe from her own father. Kids are raped by a gang of adults. Even older women can't walk freely without fear. Acid attack is a new criminal style introduced in the country. Domestic violence on women and child marriage still prevail in our society. Prime minister, home ministers and other senior politicians can go to America for their basic health check up and ordinary Nepali citizens around the country die of cholera and diarrhoea.  Our state fails to supply  basic medicines like Paracetamol to the needy people. People from remote Humla and Jumla can't even buy a sack of rice when our mammoth groups of politicians can have lavish breakfast and dinner at five star rated hotels and resorts. Medias are owned by corporate and journalists do not get paid for months and with hungry stomach how long they can write and speak about the reality of our society? Major criminals and gang members are sheltered by political parties and we all know how policing works in our corrupted society. Social activists and self-stood social workers like Dr. Govinda KC has to risk his life to death asking for the change in the health and education sector and still the prime minister of our country says, ‘let them die who want to die”, what a tragedy !

Who will make the people serving constitution and who will execute it for the benefits of public? The most interesting question would be do we really need a constitution to correct our thoughts and actions? Can't we help ourselves to be morally rational and well mannered? There was a time when our country was really peaceful, people were friendly and the whole world used to admire our bravery and warm culture, now the time has changed and like other societies around the world, we have got many social and political monopolies rising as our new cultures. Who knows how long it will take for us to get our new constitution but I don't think we need a long time to guide ourselves with morally correct human behaviors. Let us rethink about what we follow, what we speak, what we write and what we do because our every act represents our culture and identity.