Dedicated to Nepal and the Nepalis

The Limpiadhura dispute between Nepal and India seems to be deepening. Amid this scenario, a section of the Indian media is going berserk. Feeding this madness are some livid members of the Indian intelligentsia. Our own lot is also trying to catch up.   Just a few days ago, an Indian TV channel made unwelcome remarks against Manisha Koirala. It accused the renowned actor of siding with China while relying on India for livelihood. It conveniently forgot that lakhs of Indians also rely on Nepal for their livelihood. It forgot that Indian workers working in Nepal send home around 3 billion rupees out of 8 billion rupee remittance that Nepalis send from around the world. The channel forgot that rivers originating in Nepal are a lifeline for India, especially big and populous states like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.   The renowned actor was one of the sane voices calling for peaceful resolution of this dispute. All she had said was that Nepal, India and China should resolve ...

It’s June already, the jacarandas have all gone, But my heart is still bleeding with the flowers, That you crushed on the lanes of this city, Leaving blue blood oozing in the rains, Beneath the flowers was my heart, But you crushed it, leaving behind, A trail of devastation, Like dozers do with illegal huts, Made of small, beautiful dreams, On the banks of the Bagmati……… I have become a refugee soul, Tell me where do I go now, From the city of crushed dreams, With a bleeding heart and a wounded soul………..

Early morning (a little past the Brahmamuhurta , May 10). Yours truly is off the bed, already. You see, sleep is hard to come by in troubling times like these when you look closely all around you, only to find that the thing you are looking for, the state, is present nowhere except in the draconian lockdown (luck-down for many people, except for those in or close to the corridors of power or people close to them) enforced without putting in place means of survival for its Praja , the subjects. Praja is not what we are, we are free citizens of an independent country, that will be your line of argument, most probably. Yeah you are right, in principle. You see, liberties become a luxury for the people of a state that cannot ensure inviolability of national boundaries, though it is strong enough to crack down on and arrest people protesting acts of unprovoked foreign aggression by braving the lockdown.       Praja  is not what we are, we are free citizens of an ind...