How Anthropology changed me

I grew up in a small town of Rajbiraj in Saptari. Growing up in a neighborhood that had a mix of Bahun, Newar and Madheshi, I was fortunate to witness the diverse cultural practices since my childhood. Since each caste/ethnic group has its own set of rituals and music, I was fascinated by the varieties that there were and curious about how people living so close to each other could be so different.

Being born into a traditional Bahun family, I also witnessed firsthand the discriminatory practices based on caste and gender. I always questioned my elders regarding various practices that there were and was what anyone would call a 'rebellious' child. I would always question my parents why I was supposed to do certain chores while my brothers remained seated. I would be easily annoyed when someone said girls are not supposed to do certain things or should act certain ways. I would ask my grandfather why rice cooked in milk was okay to be accepted from other caste/ethnic groups while the same thing cooked in water wasn’t. And I asked these questions when I was not even a teenager.

My fascination and curiosity of cultural difference and discrimination stayed with me when I left Rajbiraj to come to Kathmandu after completing my SLC. I accept that being raised in a traditional Bahun household had ingrained judgment towards other cultural practices and many a times, I felt like my cultural practices were right and others were doing it wrong. Let's say, for example, the practice of serving meat during funerary /mortuary rituals or making offering of eggs at temples. That was a cultural shock I experienced after coming to Kathmandu. Although these practices were done by other ethnic groups back home, I had never had a chance to experience them closely.

I am talking about these experiences just to give a picture of what my childhood was like and how it influenced my choice of subject and career.

I started my higher secondary education in Kathmandu and have stayed here ever since. It was during my Bachelor's Degree in Sociology and Journalism that I became familiar with Anthropology although it was only introduction, its scope and relations with sociology. Because of my childhood interest in the diversity of culture and rituals and Anthropology being the study of culture, I enrolled into Central Department of Anthropology at Tribhuvan University, Central Department of Sociology/Anthropology back then, in the year 2014 for my Master's Degree. I received Suman Rijal Padak for being the highest scorer in Master's Degree in Anthropology although I had failed in one subject in Bachelor's and was not what you would call a 'regular' student. I had a star mark on my BA transcript and then I received a medal in shape of a star for my Master's degree.

The courses like Kinship Studies, Anthropology of Religion, Linguistic Anthropology, Anthropology of Nepal and the Himalayas and Caste and Ethnicity in Nepal, among others, helped me understand better and respect the rich cultural and ethnic diversity and heritages of my country. Through Medical Anthropology, I was able to understand how our cultural practices shapes our health seeking behavior and how important it is to give consideration to one's culture in every aspect of life whether it is health behavior, education, development, business or social relationships.

I believe that studying anthropology for two years have changed me into a different person, one who is more humble and respectful towards other culture and critical of one's own. It has made me understand the richness of cultural diversity, changed my perspective of looking at things and therefore, helped me grow into a better person. Now, I do not just look at what happened but also ask why it happened or why someone is acting the way they are.

On the occasion of World Anthropology Day, I wanted to share my experiences and how I am grateful towards my discipline for making me the person I am today. I strongly believe that it is a subject that everyone should study because it is not just one's career that Anthropology could change but also their thoughts and perception and make them into a better, more tolerant and humble human being as I became, with few exceptions, of course.

Nepali Education System

Nepali education system goes beyond my head and I am sure many people agree with me.

Nepali education system mostly focuses on the theoretical part and that too, not just for higher level but also for the preschool level. I agree that we need to have theoretical knowledge along with practical skills but what I don’t understand is the reason for torturing the young mind that are just beginning to evolve.

My question is to those authorities who are responsible for approving and also designing the course structure for preschool (pre-primary) education system. Why should the children be tortured in the name of providing education? Getting an education is a matter of choice, well, maybe not for those kids but mostly it is a matter of choice rather than compulsion. What is compulsory is to be literate and at least have knowledge of the basics.

As Einstein had wonderfully said, “Education is what remains after one has forgotten everything he learned in school.”

Education is not about going to school every day carrying bulky books and ten kilogram bags. It’s about learning skills and gaining knowledge which would help you in future. Einstein was a genius and there is no doubt about that. In fact, his brilliance still remains unchallenged. But did he become such a genius by going to school every day and reading bulky books and doing series of exercises on notebooks? The answer is NO! He was curious and his genius lies in this interest in learning more about anything and everything he saw.

The highest level of education can be received with interest and curiosity. One must be interested and curious about things and only then could they be able to learn more. There is no use making someone repeat few pages of the books every day for a year and evaluating their talents on the basis of what they write on a piece of paper. Some people are brilliant in speaking while they suck at writing and some people express themselves well with their writings while they suck at speaking with others.

Everyone has a different talent and their talents could not be judged by one method alone. You cannot call a fish dumb because he cannot climb a tree and you cannot call a monkey genius because he flies from tree to tree with excellence. These are the kinds of talents they are born with and both of these are totally different from one another. Same goes with the children. Not all of them have same talent and so, not all of them could be judged in the same way.

But that alone is not the point. The point is, they should also be able to hone their skills and talents. Why is it that a child who scores 90% in board exams but sucks in sports or any other activities considered a genius and a child who is excellent in all extracurricular activities but scores only 40% in board exams considered a failure? Why do we tend to run so much after the numbers? Be it percentage, marks or ranks? The only thing people find worth appreciating is the number and not the skill or talent a child have.

I have seen parents putting pressure on their children for excelling in exams and the children haven’t even completed their primary level education, yet. They have their whole life to carry the burden of exams and scores and marks and percentage. Why not let them enjoy their childhood as a normal child? Of course you should make them understand the value of education and excelling since childhood but not at the cost of their childhood. They will never get it back!

If your child does not fall in top five category in class, don’t panic. Your child is doing fine. It is NOT compulsion to top the monthly tests all the time. Give them a break. Make them study an hour for whole year, not five hours a day for a whole week before exams. Prepare them from the very start. It will teach them the value of time and also help them excel the exams (that you value the most) and also live their childhood as a normal child should live. 

The democratic version of the Rana reign

Recently, I have had a lot of time for myself and I spent most of this time doing one thing that I enjoy the most - reading novels!

My recent read Satprayas left me thinking and making comparisons between the Rana rule and present Republic rule in the country. This book by Diamond Sumsher Rana, as most of his other works, tells the story of the Rana reign in Nepal. It mostly revolves around Dev Sumsher Rana, the reformist and probably the only democratic Rana ruler in the country whose democratic and people-oriented ideologies didn't let him stay on power for more than few months. 

Dev continuously tries to work for the betterment of the common people and development of the country which is not liked by the selfish Rana rulers who are more interested in their own personal development and entertainment. Long before he becomes the Prime Minister of Nepal, he approaches the then PMs with the proposals of starting development works in the country. The proposals are postponed with false assurances by the rulers, which Dev happens to believe. When he comes to power, he starts to work seriously on his dream projects, of opening schools, educating the common people, starting hydro power plants in the country, etc. His brothers, naturally doesn't like it and take over the power from him. 

This reminded me how such things still happen in our country. Whoever wants to do good are only given false hopes and assurances by others. Power and wealth are still being misused by those in power to support their personal development rather than the national development.

The book is considered as a historic novel so naturally, many things written there are true. I learned many things from it which made me think and compare the two political eras of our country. Here are some comparisons that I have made:

1.     The Rana rulers claimed to be powerful and strong. They were tyrant. But no matter how strong they presented themselves to be, they were in constant fear. They did not have to fear the common people like the politicians (if they do) have to now, but their own brothers. They are known for killing and overthrowing each other for power. Killing of their own kin was what brought them to power in the first place and it didn't quite stop. Well, even if the killing did, the mistrust remained. They did not trust each other and even a slight misunderstanding between one another lead them into plotting and taking over the control for themselves. This practice still exists in our political world. The leaders don't trust each other and if someone (outside of their political party) is in power, they start plotting to overthrow them and take the power for themselves. No wonder, we don't have a stable political leadership in the country.

2.     The Rana rulers lived extravagantly. They loved to show that they had enormous amounts of wealth (which of course wasn't theirs but belonged to the people of Nepal). They raised the taxes if their Dukutis were running low on wealth. They took people's money and spend them for their personal interest and entertainment. Looking at how our top leaders and country heads live and travel, we can rest assure that the practice of using people's money for personal benefit still exists. The only difference now is that the people are educated enough to know that their hard earned money is being wasted but yet, they do not seem to complain. The taxes still continues to rise. I wonder how poor our late Kings must have been because even after nationalizing all their wealth, our government has not been able to cover the loans and are in deep debt which results as price hike that only seems to affect the common people and not the ones riding the expensive air-conditioned vehicles around the clean roads of the capital.

3.     The newly appointed Shree 3 Maharaj (The title given to the Prime Minister then) would transfer all the national treasure into his palace. Few lakhs (One lakh of that time was more or less equivalent to one crore of today) were given to the second and third-in-command like Mukhtiyars and Hajuria. I fear the practice still exists, although not openly and not in the same way (you need to show some respect to those guys at Income Tax office, don't you?). The Prime Ministers and other Ministers in power still likes to live the same way and spend millions on their unnecessary travels to the foreign countries (apart from Sushil Koirala of course). I don't understand why discussions on state matters require the PMs and Ministers visit foreign country with their family (PLEASE let me know if this is necessary as my understanding of politics is limited). 

4.     Many development projects are still 'under construction' or limited to papers just like it was more than a hundred years ago. We are given assurances and hopes but not results. We only hear promises but do not see the actions. Dev Sumsher dreamed of starting hydro power plants in Karnali and Koshi, which to date, has not been completed (I wonder if it has been started at all).

There are many practices today which would remind us of the Rana reign if only we had enough time to sit, think and compare. We barely get enough time to spend with our family let alone compare the political eras. Our everyday struggle to provide a better life for our family does not give us any time to think about our country. We let everything happen around us without frowning and which is why the political leaders have so much control over our lives. They could easily turn our lives upside down if they want because we have forgotten how much power we have over them. We let them rule us when they are there only to serve us. If only we had enough time to think and take some action.

Well, I did have enough time to think after I left my job and waited for my college to begin. There was nothing else to do, thanks to the hours of load-shedding, which made me grab a book and then think about these issues over and over again.

The conclusion I came to often terrifies me. We abolished the Rana rule decades ago but did we actually do it? Are those days really over? Because from what I can see and feel, the system still exists. I fear that the Republican system in the country is only the modified, refined and so-called 'democratic' version of the Rana rule.

The Most Awaited Results!!

The most awaited SLC results are soon to be published. It has been a very long wait for the students who appeared in this exam. It is scheduled to be published today, hope it does, after such a hype.

Not just the SLC results but also the result of BA first year is yet to be published. It has been more than half a year since the exams completed but the results are yet to be published. This kind of delay makes it hard for those students who are trying to go abroad for their further studies. Not only that but it also hampers their studies. It wastes their time.

The proper steps should be taken to eliminate this problem and the education system should be made proper and better.

SLC and Cheating

The much hyped and awaited exams (SLC) is over now and as usual with lots of cheating. This year either more students cheated or the media gave the proper coverage, the number of cheating went up compared to that of yesteryear. Everyday I heard the students were caught cheating on exams or threatening the invigilators or the fake examinees being caught. This year there was fine and punishment set up for the cheaters but it was never applied. That shows how bad the authority of our country is. The rules are always meant to be broken here. They make and cant apply it. Why to make rules that can't be followed? Oh God! I am fed up with such things here. It gets on my nerves. The importance this exam gets is the reason behind the cheating. If it was like any other normal exam then there wouldn't have been so much cheating.