Anything, everything, nothing

Bournvita, KW-trIO No 305 Pencil Sharpener, Nataraj Pencil Sharpener, An unused white eraser, Black pens, Blue pens, A Chinese pen, Shine pens, Pencils, Pen holder, Coffee mug, See spray, Tooth brushes, A rose in a glass, Medicated PAM Cough Drops, Little Ganesha, Dryed rose petals, Blue watch, One candle, Envelopes, Dirty dishes, Bells Glycerin of Borax, Bichun Nail Polish Remover with vitamin E, 10619 BAHAMA nail enamel, cotton, Solingen scissors, Half used supermat, Charger, A twenty rupee note, Johnnie walker Red Label old scotch whiskey, Premium Blue Riband Dry Gin, Dear camera, A magazine, Good day biscuits, My clear bag, A bamboo hand fan, FLEXI ™ Band-Aid, Rubber bag, Yellow comb, Pink and white hair clutch, Philosophy, Copy Holder, A letter never posted, A page of Nepali fonts, CRT monitor, Speakers, UPS that lasts not a second after an electricity cut out, A blue plastic bag, Stack of floppy disks, Cassettes, Dard from Rafi, Cds , Dvds, A Three minute short,A dead super manganese battery, Ciprofloxacin Eye/Ear Drops, An unused mouse, Mp3 case, Raisins, Cashews, Headphone, Mini USB PC Camera, Wai wai, Mayos, Baygon, Hengan Bathroom Tissues, Nivea Visage (Anti-wrinkle Q10 PLUS NIGHT CARE), Piggy Bank, Multi-insect killer water based Baygon, Gold-kit, Divya Kayakalp Vati (expires this August), Books, books and more books,

नमोबुद्ध

यी लेखहरु धेरै अगाडि कोरिएका हुन्। कुनै अपेक्षित कारणवस प्रेसको अनुहार देख्न पाएनन्। अहिले यहँ प्रस्तुत गर्दा ‘बि’लाई शीर्षकको लागि अनि ‘हराएको टाइपसाला भेटिदिनेलाई’ धन्यवाद दिन चाहन्छु। म टाइप निकै ढिलो गर्छु तर सिक्दै छु।

रङ्गमा रमाएको मन

सेता चम्किला स्तूपा, मन्द हावाको वेगमा फरफराई रहेका रङ्गीबिरङ्गी ध्वजा अनि तिब्बती मन्त्रहरू अऒ्ढित मानीहरको लस्कर –यो हो नमोबुद्ध बजार।

यस रमणीय स्थलको इतिहास आफँै जस्तो रोमाञ्कारी छ। किम्बदन्ती अनुसार तेहौ शताब्दीमा एक बघिनी आफना तीन डमरुहरुसगँ यहि ठाँउमा अलपत्र परेकी थिई। ख्ाान नपाएर चारै जना मरणासन्न अवस्थामा पुगिसकेका थिए। त्यहि समयमा एक राजकुमार शिकार खेल्दै आइपुगे र भोका बाघहरु देखेर आफनै मासु काटेर खुवाए। तिनै राजकुमारलाई बुद्धको अवतार मानेर नमोबुद्धको नाम दिई, उनको सम्झनामा स्तूपाहर्क निर्माण गरिए जुन अहिलेपनि आर्कषक छन्।

यिनीहरुको आर्कषणको कारण अरु नभएर नियमित रङ्गरोगन नै हो। यो कार्यमा वषौ देखि लागिरहेका व्यक्ति हुन् एकतीस वर्षीय महेन्द्र लामा। उनले नमोबुद्धमा अवस्थित स्तूपाहरुको रङ्गरोगन गर्नथालेको सात वर्ष भयो। कहिलेकाही एकै दिनमा दुई तीन पटक स्तूपाहरुको रङरोगन गर्नुपर्छ भने धेरैजसो हप्तामा एकपटक। बौद्धधर्मावलम्बीहरु प्ााप नष्ट होस् भनेर भाकल राखि उनलाई स्तूपा सजावट गर्ने जिम्मा दिन्छन्। काम गरे बापतको ज्याला दुई देखि तीन सय रुपैँया हुनेगर्छ।

उनी रङ्गरोगनको सुरुवात चुनलाई पानीमा मिसाएर गछन्। सो घोलमा सेतो कपडा डुबाउछन् र स्तूपाको तल्लो भागबाट पोत्दै माथि चढ्छन्। यो कामका लागि उनको कोहि सहयोगि पनि हुनेगर्छ। अहिले छन् मकवानपुरका बाह बर्षीय बुद्धिमान मोक्तान। उनी नजिकैको होटलमा भाडा माझँछन्। मुख्य स्तूपाको माथिल्लो भागमा पुगेपछि देउतालाई लगाईदिएको रङ्गीबिरङ्गी कपडा फेरछन्। देउतालाई यसरी सजाइने कार्यलाई तिब्बती भाषामा ‘स्याम्पु’ भनिन्छ। तल झरेर, उनी ‘साङ्टुप’ अर्थात ‘कुसुम’ (फूलको रस) ले स्तूपाको सेतो भित्ता वरिपरि पहेला अर्द्धवृत्त आकृतिहरु बनाउँछन्। यो बुट्टालाई ‘पेमा’ भनिन्छ। पेमा र स्याम्पुको मेलले स्तूपामा आर्कषक चमक आउँछ।

लामा आफनो मेहनतलाई केहि बेर आरामसँग नियाल्छन्। उनी यो काम बाहेक आफनो स्यामपाटी स्थित किराना पसल र मोटरसाइकल वर्कशपमा समय बिताउँछन्। उनका चार दाजुभाई र दुई दिदीबहिनी छन् भने उनी स्वयम् दुई छोरा र एक छोरीका पिता हुन्।बिहानपख ,उनलाई यहि आएर ध्वजाहरुलाई (तिब्बती भाषामा धरच्यौ) छोएर आएको हावा थाप्न मनपर्छ। यसो गर्दा पुण्य हुने मान्यता छ। आफ्नो कामबाट पूर्ण सन्तुष्ट महेन्द्र भन्छन् “बुद्धको सेवा गर्न पाएकोमा अत्यन्त खुसी छु, अर्को जन्ममा पाइने हो कि होइन?”। उनको कुरामा विभिन्न हिन्दु शास्त्रहरुञको भनाई प्रतिध्वनित हुन्छ “आखिर यो जीवन आत्माको अनन्त यात्राको केवल एक क्षण मात्र त हो”।

Real life tragedies

‘The Bold and the Beautiful’ has been running as a mini series in Star world for more than ten years now. For a period of time I followed its episodes and was amused by what it had to offer. There’s Brooke who gets married to a man with a wife. She’s young and he’s aged. She then falls in love with his young son, marries him and falls out of love with him. In due course of time she also falls in love with his brother and the time I left watching the show she wasn’t so intimate with the brother but was having an affair with her daughter’s fiancée who already had a child with her. The show made it seem simple-What could people do when they were in love? But could something like this really happen and if it did what would be the consequence? Is having an affair with every person from the same family tree possible, realistic, without remorse?

‘Oedipus Rex’ Sophocles greatest tragedy being staged in Gurukul gave me the answer –it’s not. Media has washed us with so much escapism that even incest could no more be a taboo. Morality and determinism however have more of a say than media in our real lives. We seldom act as characters out of a serial. We deal with problems as ourselves. Our reactions are guided by societal norms and values. Although written centuries ago, Sophocles’ tragedy is a revelation. Its Nepali adaptation is commendable. Saugat Malla steals the show with his superb performance.

Kambaqt Ishq…..bachaoooo!

Direction: Sabir Khan
Rating: **

Have you had a hell of a week:lost your job, flunked a test, your exam got cancelled and rescheduled three times in one day,there’s a strike in the locality, the newspapers are splashed with the beating and death of two innocent guys, sixty six people died in a remote district in your county in the last two months from diahhorea and all the T.V reports is the memorial of M.J and his message;love and peace, you have been secluded from the world for almost a fortnight now, Ryands philosophy is slowly getting to you and you can’t help sleeping for ten hours. What do you do? Go out for a movie. That’s what I did

If you decide to watch “Kambaqt Ishq” two things will happen: you will be emancipated or you will feel suicidal. Well, I hugged escapism and Binni nearly passed out.

We decided to meet sharply at 7:30. After a long time I am on time but sadly she isn’t. I watch all these class bunking teenagers count their tiffin money slowly and hand out to the cashier. I buy two tickets for “New York”. The movie starts at 8:10 she arrives maybe at 8:20.
We walk into the hall. Akshay Kumar is giving a flying kick.”Hey! It’s the wrong hall.” “C’mon let’s refresh our minds for once, the three sullen faces from New York was bugging me”. We find our seats and decide after half time it’s going to be ‘New York’.After half time we didn’t find the other hall so we got stuck.

Deepak Rauniyar on his film:an interview

‘Threshold’ is the first film by a Nepali director to be screened in the ‘Short Film Corner’of the ‘Non-competitive category’ at the ‘Cannes Film Festival’. The film was the third prize winner in the Kathmandu International Mountain Film Festival 2008. It was also selected for the ‘Phuket Film Festival’ to be held in Thailand in june. Recently it won accolades in the Ahemdabad Film festival held in India and was also screened at Kumari Hall.
The director of the film is –Deepak Rauniyar. Here are excerpts from the interview taken by me before he left for France(almost two months ago).

What attracted you to films in the first place?
It was in 2047 B.S that I came to Kathmandu. Before, I used to work in Biratnagar in Radio Nepal. In kathmandu I worked in a number of print media like Nepal Samacharpatra, Himal and Kantipur. During that time I met a lot of Nepali film directors and got a chance to critique their work. There would always be discussions with directors and they challenged us to make films and show them.
That was how my seniors like Nabin Subba got into films and how I did too.

Do you remember the first film you saw?
No I don’t. But I remember when I was small there were no cinema halls in my village and televisions were rare. Only a few people owned television sets. They used to charge us two rupees to watch programs. We used to walk miles to watch World Cup matches on television at neighboring villages.
I however remember my first cinematic experience maybe I studied in grade eight. It was to watch ‘Shehansa’. We bought the lowest priced tickets and got the front row seats. We had to tilt out heads completely to watch the film. Amitabh Bacchan looked even more magnificent with his chain and hairstyle. The movie now as I remember seems to have been inspired from Spiderman. During the day the protagonist is a shy village boy but at night he turns into a superhero.

Which Nepali film directors do you admire?
I have worked with Nabin Subba and Tshering Rhitar Sherpa and admire their work. I also like Tulsi Ghimires detailing and use of Nepali sentiments in his films.

You have worked in print media, visual media and now you are working as senior editor and producer for ‘Katha Mitho Sarangi ko’? Which medium do you find the most effective?
Well, film is the most effective medium but radio is the pathway to awareness. Print landed me into films and now radio is helping me make films. It is teaching me how to make characters work.This visit to the Cannes will further add an expense of one to two lakhs. I don’t know where it will come from? My job is financially supporting my career as a film maker.