My Travel Stories: Heart and Souls, Part:1: Visit to Chitwan and the Singer lady...


November 5, 2016, at a Tharu village in Chitwan, Nepal. Me and friend decided to hire a horse cart and roam in Sauraha, a village in Chitwan district of Nepal, famous for its wildlife tourism. The Tangawala ( His horse's name was not Dhanno, but Ranjeet), we hired for the day belongs to Tharu community, an indigenous community of the area. We fixed the wage at 3000 Nepali for about 5-6 hours. After riding in the main tourist areas, we asked him to take us to his village, about 5 km away. He gladly took us there but repeatedly warned us that there is nothing to enjoy in his village except poverty. After reaching his village, we found a lovely river passing by and we unsuccessfully tried our fishing skills with great enthusiasm. It was about 35 Degree C and humid. After sometime, butterflies entered our beloved round shaped stomachs. We requested our Tanglawala for some rice and curry and it was sad to realize that they have no food at home except a little amount of rice. Tanglawala said he didnt earn much in last few days and couldnt buy food. We gave him some money to buy rice and fish for the family and for us. The family has four kids, wife is pregnant and earning is meager. Rice and fish curry was ready in next one hour and we enjoyed with the whole family. My friend was a vegetarian and had only rice and tomato. Post lunch, I started a chat with the wife and her health. She is not keeping well and is only 28 years of age. A victim of early marriage, we asked about her parents etc and then found out that she was promising folk singer and was awarded by the Nepal Government at the age of 15-16. We insisted her to sing a song she composed and sang on many occasions. She wanted to study and be a professional singer. Marriage, four children and above all poverty completely ripped her talent. She tried to sing for half an hour with tears and finally she sang and smiled. As the sun set, we returned to the city in the same horse cart and lamented over the loss of such talent in our society.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ima market of Imphal

Image
Imphal: The Khwairamband Bazaar, Imphal, Manipur is a marketplace with peculiar smell, sweat, cacophony and busy movements of shoppers and as well the shopkeepers. There is hardly anyone who does not require visiting the market. Khwairamnand bazaar or the popular name Ima market or Nupi Keithel is the world’s only all-women marketplace and one of Imphal’s main tourist attractions. This is because the most important feature of the market is that 4000 odd shopkeepers are women representing the greater mobility and economic participation of Manipuri women. Women vendors selling dry fish, a popular food in north east India What is not sold in the Ima Market? One can easily find items ranging from food items such as fresh fruits and vegetables, meat, fish and dried fish to local herbs to clothes and woolens, and traditional costumes. Metal and bamboo items are also found in the shops. The market consists of two main sections -one where the vegetables, fruits and necessary items are sold and
Read more

On Citizenship Rights in Assam

Image
 https://www.institutesi.org/resources/monthly-bulletin-march-2021   When and why did you become interested in citizenship rights issues? Illegal immigration has been a perennial socio-political issue in Assam. It resulted in a spectrum of policies and practices in legislations, executive policies, judicial orders for detection and deportation of illegal immigrants since partition in 1947.  These actions enacted from time to time are reminiscent of the colonial legal process based on the colonial understanding of ‘alien’. The process bears reflection of dominant racial and cultural norms together with the claims of civilizational superiority of the ‘Assamese’. Any non-conforming community to this criteria is regarded as ‘outsider’, an ‘Other’ [Bohiragoto in Assamese] and is subjected to persecution, censorship, social stigma, prolonged incarceration and virtual statelessness.   In 2008, I was researching for a project on Understanding Impunity in India, when I started d
Read more

When memories haunt

When memories haunt Memory is a mental activity of recalling information that one learns or experiences in life. Memory can be short term as well as long term. Short term memory is one that remains in the temporarily. On the other hand long term memory is a procedural one that remains for a long time or permanently in the mind either consciously or unconsciously. The long term memories of the victims of the Nellie victims are very much permanent. Yet another year passed by for the victims of Nellie massacre. Each day Nellie victims are haunted by the memories of the massacre that took place long back on February 18, 1983. “We cry when we remember that day and I feel as if it happened the other day. Memory is so fresh in my mind.’ Memories of violence may impact ones reaction and may cause inaction on instance which may be otherwise severely disturbing. “We have seen so many dead bodies that when Mumbai terror attack [at Hotel Taj and other places] killed 200 people, we hardly felt any
Read more