Dedicated to Nepal and the Nepalis

This past week, yours truly spent some spare time studying about about and thinking about the following things.  Orientalism: Edward W Said's seminal book points that Orientalism is a western construct. Its premise, as far as yours truly understands, is that Western scholars involved in the study of this construct take orientals as an inferior race, as peoples, who need to be saved by westerners as they don't know what is good for them and what is not.  Said's Orientalism is centred around the biased, preconceived view of the Islamic world, seats of ancient civilisation like Egypt and Syria. Said, citing Western scholars' works, points that the latter do not take oriental men and women in high esteem. In the eyes of these scholars, the Orient is far inferior in comparison to the Occident.  Edison vs Tesla: Listening to the National Geographic documentary on the two great inventors -- Thomas Alba Edison and Nikola Tesla -- was indeed enlightening for yo...

Free as a bird: Keeping off political matters is one sure way to maintain your sanity.   These days, I try not to think too deep, especially over the conduct of the nearly two-third majority government, for deep thoughts are like an abyss from which returning won't be easy. These days, I fear that thinking long and hard about this country, about the ways this government is functioning, may make me mad. What's the use of thinking over matters over which you have no control at all? You may choose to write/talk about it, only to provoke the greyhounds in human form.  So, let it be........ Let it go, for nothing lasts.....  What's the use of thinking about the Guthi Bill, which, according to dissenting voices on the streets and on TV channels, is meant to finish off our centres of faith like temples and Gumbas by attacking our traditions, by attacking our way of life existing for ages, by handing over land and other properties belonging to the Gu...