Coffeehouse Culture in Nepal

There was a time in the 18th century England where there were many coffeehouses. Those coffeehouses were the places where literature was discussed and even written. Those coffeehouses provided the writers and poets space and mood to create and write words there. The first recorded coffeehouse was opened in Oxford in 1650. The coffeehouses were very significant as inside their territory, excellent pieces of literature were written, scientific tests tried, conspiracies hatched, companies created and battles planned.

People gathered in coffeehouses to drink coffee, acquire knowledge of the happenings of the day and possibly to encounter with other local residents and hash out subjects of mutual concern. As the presence of alcohol was not found, the atmosphere was created to engage in serious conversation to a greater extent than in alehouses. The financial markets and newspapers were developed with the sprouting of the coffeehouses.

Discussing current issues was the main purpose for men to visit coffeehouses. The popularity of coffeehouses was possible due to famous poets and writers who frequented them. For example, Lloyds of London. It became famous due to John Dryden, an English poet. The coffeehouse made access to the relevant circles less formal and easier; it embraced the broader strata of the middle class, as well as craftsmen and shopkeepers.

The coffeehouses opened in the 1700’s were places for heated debates and discussions. All topics were up for discussion, and noted writers, journalists, and political figures ordinarily frequented their local coffeehouses. Men were all welcome whereas women were prohibited from most coffeehouses. When they serve alcoholic beverages sometimes, the atmosphere could get terribly rowdy. In contrast, coffeehouses these days are totally different. They only serve beverages like coffee and tea, and food like cookies and bagels. There are some well-known chains Himalayan Java and Lavazza in K-town, and each city usually features a local shop as well.

Noted people still head to coffeehouses, though the atmosphere is completely different. For example, individuals head to do work or to speak with an acquaintance. There are no loud or tempered debates as coffeehouses these days are usually quiet places. Now, we can find the loss of the public sphere, including no space for the coffeehouses. The coffeehouses these days are expensive for writers to sit, brainstorm and write for some hours. The charges are high and the spaces are too narrow to do some work. Hotel entrepreneurs can take this concept and start the business by learning the brief history of how it operated in the 18th century London. This would foster both business and literature in our domain.

Published in the himalayan times: 2014-08-08

World Poetry Day and Nepali Poems

March 21 is celebrated as world poetry day worldwide. UNESCO recognizes the unique ability of poetry to capture the creative spirit of the human mind while celebrating it. During UNESCO’s 30th session held in Paris in 1999, a decision to proclaim 21 March as World Poetry Day was adopted.

In the message regarding the poetry day, director-general of UNESCO, Irina Bokova assimilates that poetry is a tool for dialogue and rapprochement and the dissemination of poetry helps to promote dialogue among cultures and understanding between peoples because it gives access to the authentic expression of a language. She has also expressed that poetry comes as deep expression of the human mind and as a universal art. Poetry reaffirms our common humanity by revealing to us that individuals, everywhere in the world, share the same questions and feelings.
One of the main objectives of the Day is to support linguistic diversity through poetic expression and to offer endangered languages the opportunity to be heard within their communities. World Poetry day is observed for many reasons. Firstly, it is observed to encourage a return to the oral tradition of poetry recitals. Moreover teaching of poetry is promoted. Poetry day also may be observed to restore a dialogue between poetry and the other arts such as theatre, dance, music and painting, and to support small publishers and create an attractive image of poetry in the media, so that the art of poetry will no longer be considered an outdated form of art, but one which enables society as a whole to regain and assert its identity.
Although poetry is one of the oldest forms of literature, it is read less than other forms like essays and stories in the current time in Nepal. I wonder why poetry is not read and enjoyed by Nepali readers these days since the fascination towards it is reducing. I see poetry everywhere from personal conversations to films and from dramas to novels. Everywhere poetry is used to highlight the context and make it worth reading. A novelist uses poetry to pull the readers’ attention and a story writer uses poetry to make readers sentimental and to arouse emotions and feelings.

Even in revolutions and mass protests, poetry has been used when we study the political history of Nepal. Be it Gopal Prasad Rimal or Shrawan Mukarung, they have made poetry a crucial tool to prioritize serious concerns and issues. No form of literature can express our feelings in a subtle way except poetry. Almost all poems are subjective in nature that’s why readers get bored at the very beginning. But those subjectivity are the acute representations of many people like the poet. Poetry broadens our imagination and makes us creative. I agree with Wordsworth’s definition of poetry that it is a spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings and emotions recollected in tranquility.

Poetry is able to express events that are even restricted in a satirical way. I consider poets as the great source of human awareness. In Europe and America, night clubs are also jam-packed to take part in poetry recitation events whereas in Nepal, the matter is just the opposite. New poets are discouraged. Poets express their dissatisfaction for not getting space in newspapers and magazines here in Nepal. Some poets have really idealized poetry saying poetry will not die and although poems are taken out of poetry, it will live somewhere else. There’s no need to abolish poetry. It’s self-evident that most of the prose writers have used poetry in their works. There are many good signs of poetry. One of the fine Nepali poets, Yuyutsu Sharma is considered South Asia’s leading poet. He has made poetry recitations in major cities of the world and has equally earned sound reputation and remuneration. Poets Manu Manjil and Suman Pokharel have garnered SAARC awards. I see more possibility if good poets in Nepal get their works translated by good translators. This would take works by Nepali poets to global literary front and could be received by international communities. The foundations that are running in the name of nepali poets should also think towards translation and jointly move along with crafty translators. This will certainly prove the non-nepali literary world that our arts and literature is not less historic and unmatched comparing to theirs. Critic Mahesh Paudyal is initiating a movement called Kavitama Nepal aiming to bring out Nepali folk, regional symbols, local culture in the Nepali poems. The movement is an appeal that echoes stress on local color and ethno-writing. Paudyal claims that there is very faint notice of our poetry in Asia, or in the world. Translation, interaction and research are the ways out for taking the nepali literature including poems beyond borders.

Poetry provides poets with comfort, a way to express themselves, and the discipline of finding the essence with few words. Poems have also been viewed as carriers of messages from the unconscious to the conscious mind. Wherever people gather to mark a moment, they speak from heart to heart, with poetry. Likewise it is one way to cope with recession. Experiencing poetry, either by reading it, listening to it, or writing it, can help people manage feelings of loss and despair. Readers will find great underlying knowledge, culture, values and fun in poems. Poetry is also music. I express my sadness on why few people are reading poetry. I think missing poetry is like living in a world without music. Let’s all promote poetry once again in Nepal. Let’s make adequate interaction and research on it. Joint efforts of poets, translators, critics and researchers will be fruitful in this case.

Ken Subedi

Trends in Mobile Apps in Nepal

KATHMANDU: It is unquestionable truth that mobile phones are ubiquitous. The services and wonderful usefulness of the small gadgets have made them an integral part of human race. Our lives have been more comfortable with the services provided by them and now without their existence and services we probably think that hardship is sure to devour us. The technology has driven quite fast and the computing parts are decreasing in size. The recent development in mobile applications is serving us more and in future, we can predict that their services will be beyond our imaginations. The mobile operating systems like android, iOS and Windows are ahead in providing services to us through different mobile apps.

Today, we have already started using applications developed in our country. Like Mobile Cash which is one of the in-house projects developed by Leapfrog Inc for Kumari Bank — a mobile phone based payment system. We are also aware of Global Bank’s application for banking transactions. There are companies like Swastik IT Co Pvt Ltd developing mobile apps (iphone and android) for clients around the globe. There are individuals developing apps. Still, there are vast areas to cover and there exist numerous opportunities for individuals and companies in developing extraordinary mobile applications in future.

Recently, Braindigit has released Khabar Sanchar — a news mobile application that has facilities for personalisation. There are salient features of Khabar Sanchar that tempts every Smartphone owner to possess it. The news app is a boon to those who want to keep themselves updated. Well, this can replace your habit of reading newspapers but certainly, it has a lot more to offer and compensate.

Users can select the news source as per its categorisation under certain headings — news, selection of news source — news, business. tech, health, top stories, world, horoscope, currency exchange, gold/silver/fuel and stock exchange. One can choose the language either Nepali or English.

Currently the app has made the source from major leading national dailies — Nepali Times, HamraKura and Online Khabar. However, for the full story the user will be redirected to the source’s own website.

Furthermore, use of news apps saves time and cost. With the use of news app one can keep oneself updated and

informed faster. In Khabar Sanchar, the offline news reading feature makes sure that you can read the news in places where internet may not be available. Navigation is made easy and drags and drop facilities help you to customise your news reading preferences. The Nepali font is integrated seamlessly into the app, and unlike other apps, reading in Nepali is easy and convenient. Day/night reading mode can be also personalised as per the user’s need. Currently the news app is available in android and its iOS version will be available within February.

Published in The Himalayan Times dated 2014-01-20

Tejpal Case is Hyped

Last week, Indian medias were overwhelmingly filled with the news regarding the sexual molestation by Tarun Tejpal with his junior coworker. The news was matter of shock and astonishment for me as I had met Tejpal in person some years ago when he had attended a literary festival in Patan. The sensation has hit hard in the Indian medias, the reason for this may be due to the number of enemies Tejpal has earned through his powerful magazine that has gained acclaims for reportings of corruption and gender based violence involving sting operations.


A question stands out abruptly regarding the definition of rape and molestation. I am surprised why the term molestation is replaced with rape in Tejpal’s case. After his deeds, he resigned from his post of editor in chief of his magazine. His news magazine Tehelka is also known as harsh critique of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaking the news of corruption and bribery. This also may be the reason why molestation turned out to be rape and the entire accusation seems politically driven.

I am not defending Tejpal for his heinous act but my concern is regarding the sensationalism of news of molestation in workplace. Is this the first time such kind of molestation has happened in an office by an employer upon the female employee? What may be the reason Tejpal is accused of rape case for molesting a coworker in a lift within just four minutes? It’s true that Tejpal misused his position of trust with the girl interestingly becoming the friend of the victim’s father and thus he should be penalized. But my concern is quite different here. Molestation and Rape are like looking and experiencing. One who simply looks over cannot experience.

His six months of leave in order to lacerate himself should not be taken as a matter of his weakness that he realised his crime but should also taken that he apologized his crime with the victim and stepped down. Now his all contributions is forgotten. Tehelka’s coverage of 2002 Gujarat riots and SIMI trials were thought to be great achievements in investigative Indian investigative journalism. His whole achievements, name and fame is at stake now. I mean a person should not judged on a whole rather should be judged in parts or fragments. His act of molestation should be investigated and police should act accordingly.

I guess India gets hundreds of molestation cases in a day but this case has garnered negative sensations. This also proves that an outstanding person who does any single bad act is waited to be judged bitterly. Tehelka means sensational in Hindi. Is it because the paper itself is sensational has been getting over sensational hype for its founder’s acts?

Fossil, Homage to Martyrs

At a time when novels have set up good trend and market in the literary bazaar in Nepal, a new story collection has arrived to renounce that story writing has its own scope and the desire to read them by readers is not less than that of novels. Kumar Nagarkoti's new venture Fossil has arrived and the readers have aspired to find the newness in it. Nagarkoti, already renowned as a story writer especially among the young circle has definitely tried to give new taste to his readers.
Fossil comprises of eight stories, some too long and some too short, all that revolves around the setting of urban city especially the kathmandu valley. Many topics of his stories are in English. Not only the topics but the content of his nepali stories are at many places found to be in english. This makes us clear that the author seems to be highly influenced by the western literature and culture than the nepali one. But at some places he has brought references of nepali literary pieces and literary figures.

The first story Dance of the Vultures is too big at length. This story is about the search of the lost son and the ultimate finding of him. There are many plots and sub plots. The story starts with a notice where there is information of the lost boy Ukhan, the physical traits, appeareance, skin color etc. Then after there is conversation between the inspector and the father. A few less significant characters are found.
Many english words are used in the novel. Some of them are photogenic, hysteria, mortal, token of love, domestic, desert, dehydration, receive, investigation, punk literature, seven o clock, genuine and the list goes on. This over use of english terms in nepali literary books certainly marks the hegemony of english over nepali. On the other side it can also be taken as influence in the time of adoption of western culture.
The conversation between the inspector and his corworker is less significant. Many literary tools are found to be used. Some of them are dramatic monologue, metaphors, images and soliloquy. Nostalgic anecdotes have certainly provided the reading taste to the readers. Nagarkoti's writing is idiosyncratic. From the letter of the dead man, shape of a tree is formed. From the tree, the garden of that tree is described relating to the protagonist Ukhan Bikram Malla. Reference of the poem by Devkota is also found.

The story through the conversation of the little boy and his parents shows the love and affection of the only child by parents especially of the urban nuclear family. The story is largely dominated by ficiton than realism. The arrival of dead body and the notes written by him regarding the taxi fare clearly proves this. Recap of the images is knowingly written. Some of them are: pear's tree, little monster, Lachhu uncle's poem, devkota's poem, vulture in the tree, hypnotic attraction and others.
The sub plot of the story, the loss of the penis does not have realistic grounds and is less significant part for the story's main theme. Just in Sophocles's Oedipus Rex where the people died because of hunger and due to Sphinx, the people are made to be suffered, the loss of penis, the sudden demise and so on are portrayed in the story. The chaotic world is presented. A world where daytime lacks sunlight, thunder's reign, and the rule of the deadly vultures in the sky is depicted. The bitter realistic incidents like the sacrifice of the martyrs, the blaming as a witch and punishment to her are shown the key reasons for the chaotic world.
The martyrs are the symbolic images and metaphors of the vultures whose soul wanders throughout the sky to find solace. The writer sympathesize the martyrs who sacrificed their lives for the sake of the nation and also tells that their matryrdom has gone into vain. The boy's rebirth is shown where in his earlier life was abducted by the state armies, killed and buried during the time of maoist insurgency.

The second story does not carry much significance as it seems to be the writer's own summary of his life events. 'Slok' is a story about a couple who live together but are not socially married. The new concept of living together found in the urban cities is also shown. The story contrasts the reality and fiction and asks if we are in the state of fiction. In 'Deconstruction', many references of the west from Darwin to Marx is found. Three sub stories are included in it. The first is about the leaf which tells how the studies during university made him a writer in him. The second is about a mother where womanhood is valued and shared how a woman fulfills her responsibility giving birth to a child and also a female child who is a potential mother. The third one titled vulture depicts how an injured vulture after getting treatment from its master comments the inhumane nature and behaviour of human and at last flies away to the vast space in sky for freedom. It also tells ho human society is tied and braced by so called nations, religions, culture, politics and geography.
Other stories like Catharsis, Pandulipi and Revolver are completely fictional. These stories have been categorised into many forms and broken down into many plots. In Catharsis, the protagonist's catharsis is revealed where he was alive but thought as dead by other after a newspaper printed his condolence. Pandulipi comprises of four sub stories, 'unknown writer', 'unknown reader', ' Tiger's story' and 'Bear's story'.

'Fossil', the last story of the collection is revealed as folk tale by a dog of museum to his bitch friend where the protagonist Aadim Nepal laments over his age and recollects his youthful days. He wants his dead body to be buried and not burned. He asks his junior son to do so before he dies. During post-mortem, the surgeon by mistake leaves his historical shaligram beside which is finally kept inside the body and sewed later by his co-worker. Later the elder son of Aadim returns from abroad and burns the dead body of his father following own Hindu rites. His father turned into fossil at end.

Ken Subedi

Need of an Ideal School

The child before going to school is much smarter, curious, less afraid of what he does not know, confident, resourceful, independent than he will ever be again in his schooling. He has solved the mystery of language, as he has discovered on his own by experimenting and developing his own models of grammar of language. However, school thinks only it can teach provide certain concepts but they fail to acknowledge that they are also learning complicated concepts by themselves.

The child is curious, patient, determined, energetic and skillful learner. When he sits down at his desk, we teach at once many things that also reinforce the concept that learning is separate or different from living telling them that they come to school to learn as if they were not learning anything before. This also means that living is outside the school and learning starts when one enters the school. Many students express their opinion after a long vacation look troubled as if their life is taken away or the time for learning has again approached as if they had forgotten in their memory. We have to inculcate the message that living and learning are not separate but they are interrelated concepts, learning can happen everywhere, living in itself is a great learning, we can learn anywhere and schools are not the mere storehouse or reservoir of knowledge.

Students in school are asked to read out in such a way that they do not know it before. They are made to think such that they learnt how to read due to school and if teachers do not ask them to read, they can’t. We take credit for ourselves for qualities they already have possessed. We should not keep them in illusion but tell that they carry potentiality of their own and they need to uncover only. Students become to think that learning is a passive process, something that is asked to do by others instead of something they do for themselves.

Such feelings develop in them and they may face inferiority complex, thinking that they are not trustworthy, fit only to take what others say, or like a blank paper for other people to write on. We grunt a lot regarding the respect for the child as an individual but what we speak a lot about is opposite of our actions that includes what they know, want, like, dislike, experience, need, fear are of no any slight importance but what counts at school is what teachers know, thinks as important, wants them to do and think. This makes child to develop habit of not asking questions as their concerns are of no value to the teachers. Slowly the child starts to hide his curiosity and later becomes ashamed of disclosing that same curiosity. They start to accept the teachers’ evaluation of them as they do not get chance to find out their person in them.

Grown in such environment, the students learn that to be uncertain, confused, wrong, and unaware is a crime. When teachers categorize answers as plainly right and wrong, they learn to fake, cheat and bluff for the perfect answer. Before he joined the school, he would work for hours, on his own, not even thinking of reward, making sense of the world and gaining competence. After joining school, he plans to avoid assigned duties and makes his teachers think that he is working when he is actually is not. He starts to not work when the teacher is not looking at him by stealing a glance from one corner of the eyes. Students learn to escape the reality and start to daydream of days before he joined school when he was very confident, contrary to what he has lost now.
The school teaches them to be indifferent. The child when joins the school has much curiosity regarding other people but in our classrooms, the students who are next to each other only a few feet away are restricted to talk with each other. They cannot interact, talk or smile with each other as they always are ordered to stay quiet and still by their school. They learn to live without paying attention to anything going around them. Most of the children take school as ugly, cold and inhumane where human sentiments have vanished.

In our schools, it seems that everyone is assigned certain roles to perform like in dramas where responses are not honestly given to students. The aura in the classroom is filled with suspicion and anxiety. We can’t even find nearly 25 percent children who come through their schooling with much left of their curiosity, independence, or sense of own dignity, competence and work.
Criticisms became more and to cope with those is a crucial task. Some approaches are tough and may take a longer time. Firstly, compulsory school attendance should be replaced with giving a large number of authorized absences annually. At the beginning it was essential so as to protect the children’s right to schooling and to remove exploitation of their labour. However schools have become the areas of exploitation to students. The school boasts that if kids did not have to go school they would all be out in the streets. If schools stayed just the way they are, children would spend at least some time there because that’s where they would be likely to find friends and it is a meeting place for them.

Secondly, we should get kids out of the school buildings that allow them chance to learn about the outside world at first hand. Some educators have realized to understand this. Taking children outside the school and exposing them to outside world like museums, exhibits, courtrooms, radio, TV stations, meetings, businesses, laboratories, and parks can help them in understanding their world and society at first hand. Moreover we should not bring full-time teachers in the schools instead real writers, poets, novelists, playwrights should be hired to talk about the problems of their craft. Paired learning should be implemented where students do their work, including their tests, together and share the marks that this work gets.

Children should be asked to judge their own work. Asking them to correct their mistakes often will discourage him from working well further. Some works are done independently by them like running, playing games, climbing, rope jumping and so on. If they are not well in doing some activities they compare their performances with those who are more skilled and slowly learn from them. We should give children a chance to detect their mistakes so that they can correct themselves. In some subjects like science and math, the child can be handed even answer books to correct his own papers. Children should learn to measure their own understanding and to know what they know and do not know. Finally abolishing of fixed curriculum helps them to make sense of the world or helps them get along in it as people remember only things that are interesting and useful to them.

Ken Subedi

Social Media in Nepal: Pros and Cons

Information technology has been developing rapidly in the twenty first century. With the development of information technology (IT), the global use of internet, email and World Wide Web have increased. More than 18 % of Nepali people using internet is a good sign for Nepal in sectors of IT, be it less in comparison with other countries. Many sites are available over the net of different types. Social networking sites are the major stakeholders in internet nowadays. For some mass of people in Nepal, internet means social networking sites only. Among all the social networks, Facebook and twitter are in the top rank due to their increased use.

Many people tend to understand social media as social networking sites but the reality is that social networking sites is a big branch or area of social media. Social media is of different types.
i. Social news, like Digg and Reddit where one can vote, rank and comment the writings/articles.
ii. Social Bookmarking like Del.icio.us and Diggo where bookmarks can be tagged, searched and shared.
iii. Social networking, like Facebook and Linkedin where one can make friends, comment on their status, profile and photo. Moreover groups can be created.
iv. Photo/Video/Audio sharing, like YouTube and flickr where one can share audio and video files and even comment them.
v. Wikis like Wikipedia or wikispace where new wiki can be made or the available wiki/writings can be added or edited.

Social media can be interpreted in both ways supporting with the grain and against the grain. It depends on how it is used or for what purpose it is used. Media means expression of freedom. Social media is broader media as it conveys the information to the large number of people. We have a timid act of believing that whatever we posted or shared became global and spread worldwide.
Social media has developed drastically and influenced Nepali culture within a few years as not only popular medias like facebook and twitter are being used by nepalis but also Linkedin and Digg are being used by them. Social media can be both strong and weak medium of expression. If it possesses everyone’s collaboration, it becomes a powerful tool but if there lacks collaboration of generalities then it turns to be volatile. Therefore social media cannot stand of its own, everybody’s help and collaboration is essential. Its foundation is thus collected collaboration.

General media moves on its own taking a straight single path and its sources are also no adequate but in case of social media, many people’s participation is together at a time where sources and voices are many. In social media, there are two ways, one who speaks/tells and second who responds to it. In a way, social media is a website that makes interaction among its users.
The oldest social networking site in the world is sixdegrees.com which was launched in 1997 and later closed in 2000 A.D. According to Nilsen’s report ‘Global Faces and Networked Places’ social networks and blogging comes in fourth place, higher than personal email among all the internet activities.

Among all the online users throughout the globe, more than 67 % users use sites of social network and spend more than 10 % of internet hours in using it. Blog, Wikipedia and YouTube, all social medias are storage house of knowledge. Their use and importance in today’s world is incomparable.
There are many pros of social network, like making new relations, reconnect with past friends and relatives, increase conversations and to strengthen relation. It lets its users to get access to messages, photos, games, invitations and many other facilities all in free for those who have just internet access. It connects people of similar interests, helps to generate new thoughts and minimizes social grieves and sorrows.

To list some cons of social media, it lets to spend a lot of time online and less time in social gatherings, makes involve in
internet activities that do not benefit. Moreover, juvenile users can fall in the sexual world. Some may be fired at workplace or ruin social recognition due to comments and photos that are too private and not society- friendly. In Februarys 2009, Myspace had around 90 thousand registered users in it who were found to be sexual offenders. Facebook, but did not want to reveal its facts regarding that. It is still difficult to find those offenders and it’s also difficult to deprive them from creating new accounts. Social networking sites also bring cyber bullying. According to a research conducted in 2009, 17.5 percent students of lower secondary level have been victim of cyber bullying.

All sites of social networks may not be good and useful so we have to choose the best ones. There is a school of thought who argue that social media is necessary and is a part of our modern culture. Whereas another school of thought claim that social media is filled with perils and risks. The way of it being used can merely distinguish whether it is good or worse.

Ken Subedi

Is ‘texting’ harming the language?

Although the same language is used, its forms are many according to their own spheres. Texting is a new form in writing that has influenced mostly the young learners. While I had given my students homework, some students of grade six had written ‘u’ in place of ‘you’ and ‘ur’ in place of ‘your’. This result came as an influence of science and technology or the development of internet.
The use of language has changed to short form. Internet is the fastest means of communication. So to convey the message in fast means, the characters in language are reduced while sending. In course of time, some full forms generated like asl for age, sex, location, HAND for have a nice day, LOL for laugh out loud and so on.

Texting is being much popular among the young people especially teenagers. They do texting to send sms and during online chats. Texting is one of the trends in modern communication. Whether texting is harming language can be a matter of debate but there are both pros and cons to it.

Texting primarily affects grammar and spelling as it’s idiosyncratic. R u f9 or u r gr8 do not follow the rules of spelling whereas cal 2morrow dnt cal nw does not follow grammar and punctuation rules. Such use over a long period of time develops into incorrect writing habits. A new study found that who text are more likely to fall short on grammar tests. Other shortcuts include dropping non-essential letters, such as changing the word “would” to “wud.” Texting habit affects their offline language skills that are important to language development and grammar skills.

The texters have problem of switching between techspeak and the normal rules of grammar that results in poor grammar choices in formal writing. There is another school of thought that supports texting and opines that text messaging inspires creativity to play with language. It is a good thing to make language and writing more fun. They believe that texting and instant messaging adds to our culture and language instead of diminishing them.

My view regarding texting is different. We have to make sure they learn correct spelling and grammar as well as develop correct writing skills before engaging in the text lingo. Once they develop these basic skills, then they will be able to differentiate between formal writing and text lingo. I think that a strong English foundation is needed before they could start texting.
Don't we shorten other things in writing? Etc. instead of et cetera, 8th instead of eighth, Dr instead of doctor, e.g., i.e. pm, am, mr, mrs, c., tm, et al., cm…Txting is just taking it a step further to save time. Lots of people are capable of txting/IMing when in hurry then writing formally later.

Ken Subedi

Technology in Business, Society and Security

Technology is just like bloodstream of the business. You have to use the technology somehow whether you are running a small scale business or take the control of an international enterprise. In past days, mode of payment was nothing but barter trade system that involved a lot of hurdles and problems. In recent days, a businessman is able to go for either electronic money like credit card, debit card or online payment.

There was a time when a person had to stick with his local area if he intended to start a business as modes of communication and transport were limited and tiresome. He had to spend three to four days for supplying the goods in the other city or country. Contrary to this today businessmen are able to run the business nationally and internationally without even leaving their chair. They can reach to any territory of the world within 24 hours by air.

Internet was introduced for creating connection between military forces but now it has become the first source of communication for the businessmen. A number of professional prefer to start a video conferencing and meeting on personal meeting; this is cost effective and comfortable option than that.

Now it becomes quite difficult for the businessmen to operate e-commerce and trade without technology. They can’t avoid it even after making many efforts. Technology has become an integral part of the business and if we will try to separate it from the business then global economy would collapse.

Technology is quite important for the society. The parents always want to be connected with their children and it would be possible through the latest cell phone technology. A father can easily track where his kid is going. Fast communication is indeed the most useful gift of the technology and I don’t think that there is a person who wants to return this gift.

Social networking is made possible through technology. Now you are free to make friends, play games, share photos and videos with them. There is no need to leave your home and find a friend when you can simply do this with the mean of an internet connection. Technology lets every person a chance to find a like-minded person. Without internet, this thing wouldn’t be possible for you.
With the advent of latest technology, your home, office and automobile’s security is also boosted up. In old days, there was simple lock and key for keeping your valuables safe. Nevertheless, situation has completely changed now. You are able to go for advanced security lock and system for home and office such as Panic bar, bio-metric locks, digital locks, CCTV cameras, intercom, access control system, home watch and many other products.

In short, technology is quite important for the people of this digital era where we can’t live without any such invention. It is just impossible for us to run a business and live the life happily without technology.

Depiction of War Striven Trauma of Israeli Women

A Review

After BP koirala’s “Hitler Ra Yahudi” if there is any nepali literature that is about Jew, Jewish culture and people, it is Uma Subedi’s new venture “Todaa”. There are some salient features of this book that gives insights about information that is quite distinct, stories that are new, belonging to the changing social patterns with philosophical ideas mingling together along with delightful similes and metaphors.

The realistic depiction of inhumane violence of Hitler and his Nazi armies makes this novel that revolts against authoritarian regime and strives for personal freedom. The language with which Subedi has described serious events and philosophies are very lucid and simple, easy enough for readers to understand the meaning inherent. The writer has cleverly woven words using figures of speech to make the text a good read. It is more interesting to know that she has depicted about Jewish culture and their people in acute way also illustrating the situation of Nepali women caretakers there.

The novel has become successful in comparing and contrasting Israel and Nepal’s physical geography and development processes. Jewish people, their language and their religious practices are used in a subtle way while describing the different characters. For Eg death rite of both an Israeli and Nepali is described finely and compared distinctively. This helps readers to understand values, religious practices and geography of Israel. Some cities and places of Israel are described as well. The anecdotes in the novel represent the prevailing lives of young nepali women and their sufferings, joys and ambitions in the foreign land.

The writer mentions that women when go to Israel or any foreign country they feel free from their strict family life and affinal relationships and taste real freedom in speech as well as in daily life. She collects many realistic events no matter they be related to personal lives, they are the acute representation of lives of many nepali women. The protagonist Parwati is the representation in the book. There are many parwatis in Nepal who have left their nation, suffered relationships break-ups, and missed someone who is genuinely good in morale and character, whose relatives have changed their behaviors depending upon the financial success.

Technically also, the novelist has succeeded as the words she has used while finishing a chapter has been made the topic of the next upcoming chapter. When we read the novel, there are many minor characters that have their own stories. We may feel like reading stories than a novel at times but the novelist has perfectly interwoven those stories in chronological manner using the same words that give dual meanings, one in an ongoing chapter and another in the upcoming one.

Todaa is also not far from criticisms. The plots are not complex. They are simple for readers to predict about what would be the next? Enen’s death can be predicted before the novelist hints her death. The flows of the events in the chapters vary. Some chapters of the beginning have adequate explanation and description and few chapters towards the end flow in a great speed. The cruelty of Hitler and his Nazi soldier is illustrated like those of facts. As a novel, it would better be presented with more fictional details. There are some characters and their description resembles very less with the theme it has carried.

The sequence of the novel is like that of Loo by Nayanraj Pandey, scenes moving back and forth, and at times the characters’ incident resembles like that in Summer Love. Todaa depicts the struggle of nepali women who migrate to the Israeli world being far from their family and society in search of job that gives handsome salary due to their own nation’s political instability and internal conflicts. It also collects the mental tortures and trauma suffered by the elderly Israeli women during the cruel regime of Hitler and scenario of Second World War. The two major subjects arisen in the novel may look different but at a point resemble and move together in a dramatic way. That’s why also Todaa has stood as a powerful novel.

Due to distinctive subject, language, courageous writing and new type of storytelling abilities, we can be assured that in the field of contemporary nepali fiction it has created its own space and identity. Character, context of various humane sensibilities and subject’s profound description has made this novel distinctive. Tough contexts are also expressed in very simple but effective way. Due to this skill also Todaa has become a notable novel.
The end has pessimistic note as the protagonist loses all her wealth many times and also time before she decides to settle back her own home at Nepal and the option she had in earlier times is also lost with the demise of Enes. This situation also resembles with absurdity in life as for wealth people migrate foreign land and sometimes get nothing.

Ken Subedi

Progress is not always good!

Progress has not always been a good thing. Human progress through time has seen the advent of many processes and ideas in the hope for a better existence. Progress in the disciplines of science, industry, and politics has often had dire consequences for some, if not all, members of humankind.

Although science has afforded us a wider understanding of many aspects of the world, progress in science has not always been positive for all of humankind. Our desire to understand the nature of things through science has led to discoveries that could make the extinction of humankind by humankind possible. Nuclear weapons are inarguably capable of such mass extinction, and if not for the progress made in the sciences they would not be within our capabilities.

Science has also made available many substances that do not naturally occur in nature, and are unable to bio-degrade. This inability to bio-degrade creates tons of waste that cannot be reabsorbed into nature.Progress in industry, has not always been positive for some members of humankind. The ever evolving efficiency of industry has given humankind the ability to devote more time to other endeavors, such as science, but this efficiency that we exploit has come with a price, namely, the environment, and the health of the very people whose lives we wish to improve.

Pollution from factories and the power generation plants needed to power them do have adverse effects on our health and environment. The pollution associated with increased industrial activity has also put stress on the earth’s bio-sphere affecting the life cycles of all living organisms.

Progress in many respects is certainly not always a good thing, although progress is necessary if humankind is to reach the goals we have set out to achieve, whatever those goals may be. It is quite clear that there are costs associated with progress in terms of human life and the very environment on which it depends. With the advent of nuclear weapons progress has given humankind powers akin to giving a child a loaded gun.

Progress has made it possible for us to have more material possessions for the simple price of our health and the environment. Lastly our progress to establish a fair and just society has resulted in genocide, starvation, and loss of liberty.

Whether it is an individual’s progress or humankind’s progress, it will most certainly come with a price. Let us hope the goals we strive for are well worth the price we pay. Progress is highly desired whatever the consequences be.

Change Focus, Change Life

Overcoming depression can be a tough task. Once in their lifetime, most people will go through depression. It’s a serious problem and can even lead to disastrous consequences. We should first try to learn where it’s coming from. it could be the loss of a loved one, unfulfilled dreams, a job loss, a betrayal by a partner or so. Your focus is taken away by such serious cause. So to say epistemologically, the meaning you give to any given situation will cause depression.

You need to realize that there is a cause and effect when it comes to how you feel. People who are depressed aren’t depressed the whole day and night throughout the week. There are moments of depression. Something triggers that emotion. The thing that triggers it is what you focus on. Overcoming depression can take a long process that depends upon your situation. The major thing you have to do is to focus on positive grounds, but if you are in the environment where you feel depressed then it’s harder to get out of it.

There are different levels of depression. Some depressed people want connection, someone who understands the pain that they are going through as they want to feel important in some way. There are some who want to escape from life.

No matter whether it’s depression or excitement, they are caused by our focus. If you continually focus on how life is boring then you may start getting into depression, and if you spend most of your time focusing on how good life is and other positive aspects of life in general, you will surely feel good. Create a positive world in your mind full of things for you to be happy about. This isn’t about escaping your reality though.

Some people can go through a break-up and feel depressed for months. One of my friends went through this. The passage of time helped a lot but what got him out of it was when he started to focus on being free to find the person he was truly meant to be with. When he was depressed, he kept focusing on his loss. He kept focusing on how he may never be happy again. This caused him to look at everything else in his life with a darker shade of colour. Thinking back, his memories of that period look very gray to him now.

Now that he thinks about it, he is embarrassed he had those thoughts. Set goals for yourself. Give yourself reasons to be feel happy. Paint a brighter future in your mind. When you are depressed, the future can look very dark and gloomy. Change that.

Reducing depression can be done by asking more positive questions. Write down some questions on a small pocket notebook that will help you. Change your focus, change your life.

Teaching profession In Nepal, Then and Now

Any profession has not complete security but comparing to others, teaching profession is thought to be a bit secured, that has dignity, respect and social recognition. But to take or even think teaching profession a risky job may not be agreed by most of the people. I also used to fall under the school accepting this opinion. But when we know the prevailing truth that teachers in colleges and even in some schools face threats and risks will definitely make one ponder over and shatter our stereotyped views regarding teaching profession.

Teaching profession stereotype assumes teaching as secured job, where students obey what teachers say, greet whenever they meet and talk with due respect. Due to all these reasons also, teachers feel their profession dignified be it low in grounds of wages. But time has changed. Things are completely different from past. Especially, students of secondary and higher secondary levels have been successful in breaking or changing the stereotypes where they don’t respect teachers at all, take teachers as friends, misbehave with them, and sometimes even make physical assaults which are all deteriorating factors for their own education and career. The sad part is that they are not aware of consequences that results out of their insane acts.

We can hear some incidents time and again regarding the misconduct, misbehave and physical hurt made by students to their teachers. Last week an incident occurred when a teacher slapped a high school student for his misbehave and violence he was making. To the surprise, the boy brought his three other friends and punched the teacher and made physical assault that resulted in the rupture of the teacher’s ear. The college administration expelled those students related with that incident and are taking necessary steps to prevent such misdeeds along with the punishment to the student. But the college is in own panic thinking the incident may hinder in the new admission.

Teachers are the ones who educate and enlighten the students. There may be a few people who have joined teaching profession and have shown their arrogance and excessive pride. But that does not make teaching profession as negative job. Teachers show right path and guide the students, make them able to understand life. Even in the religious scripts, teachers are immortalized. But nowadays the students assault the teachers. How poor the life of a teacher has become when he is hurt by his own student for educating and giving lesson.

For the misconduct and assaults made by students, the students’ familial background matters most. If he/she has born in the culture where they don’t respect their elders or their parents are divorced or any other problems of family life, such students grow negative culture in them. For prevention of this, college management needs to be very strict. If not taken seriously over these incidents or punish the culprit, such incidents may continue again and again and also pollute the name and fame of the organization. They have to be very careful during the time of enrollment and should not accept the student if he/she does not have good previous disciplinary records.

The saying ‘Might is Right’ also applies here which it should not have happened. Culture of gangs and groups has started. Those who have good number of people to their side have every possibility to win over regardless their faults and mistakes. It is quite painful to know that educational sectors are day by day influenced by the deconstructive groupies and gangs. Colleges without discipline in-charge (DI) are facing severe difficulty in smooth academic administration. But this does not end here. Even the job of discipline in-charge is too risky as he has boundaries in social movement. It is more painful to know that some DIs even have been assaulted by the students’ groupies for his strictness.

The prevailing teaching profession in colleges is pathetic and miserable. There was a time when a child when asked what his aim was would reply that it was a teacher and people who praise and felt pride upon. But at current times, being a teacher has low social recognition, a good pastime and a profession that everyone can involve until he/she does not find a secured job and. This could be due to the increasing rate of unemployment in the nation and also wrong attitude developed by the generalities. Government should be able to provide conditions for employment and awareness should be there among general people that teaching is one of the purest professions that human beings are indulged in.

Kinds of Happiness

What makes people happy? Will a better economy do it? Will fame do it? How about having the perfect body? Having the perfect job? If you ask people what makes them happy, you will probably get a ton of different answers, but there are two fundamental things that will ensure happiness. The first is knowing that they are growing mentally, spiritually, etc. The second is feeling that they are making a difference. Many people will make the mistake of thinking that happiness comes from something external. They think that new luxurious cars will make them happy or that salary raise or getting a new house. Although these things can give you temporary feelings of happiness, they are short-termed. Think about the time you bought your first home or car. You were probably excited. How did you feel several years later? Probably not as excited since you got used to it right?

So the first part of what makes people happy, as mentioned earlier, is growth. When you feel like you are improving your life, that’s when you are happy. It doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to constantly buy bigger and better things. It’s much deeper than that. You need to feel like you are growing on a personal level. You need to know that the essence of who you are is continually improving in some way. If you want to know how to find happiness, look within. Work on yourself, your goals, and your dreams. Keep looking for ways to make yourself better today than you were last year. The second part of what makes people happy is that sense of contribution. Everyone wants to believe that they were put here to do something great. You don’t have to do something that will change the world though.

As long as you know that by you being here, by doing what you are doing, you are helping someone somewhere, it will bring you happiness. For some people, being a parent is happiness because they brought a new life into their world and they are responsible for its happiness. It’s that sense of making a difference. It’s that sense that you are a part of something much larger than yourself. This is what makes people happy in life. Being a part of or creating something that will outlast them. It’s doing something that will make some sort of a difference in other people’s lives. This is why you will often see people who have all the money in the world want to give it away. They realize that money alone doesn’t bring happiness. Contribution does. These are two ways of how to find happiness. Are these the only answers to what makes people happy? That depends on how you define happiness. You can be happy just to be alive. You can be happy just to be able to see.

Appeared in The Himalayan Times, Feb 21, 2013
Link: http://www.thehimalayantimes.com/fullNews.php?headline=TOPICS%3A+Kinds+of+happiness&NewsID=366689

What is Religion?

published in the Republica, Gennext ( Feb 21, 2013)

Let us enjoy poetry

KEN SUBEDI

Poetry is one of the four genres of literature. Although poetry is one of the oldest forms of literature, it is read less than other forms like essays and stories. I wonder why poetry is not read and enjoyed by Nepali readers these days since the fascination towards it is reducing. I see poetry everywhere from personal conversations to films and from dramas to novels. Everywhere poetry is used to highlight the context and make it worth reading. A novelist uses poetry to pull the readers’ attention and a story writer uses poetry to make readers sentimental and to arouse emotions and feelings.

Even in revolutions and mass protests, poetry has been used when we study the political history of Nepal. Be it Gopal Prasad Rimal or Shrawan Mukarung, they have made poetry a crucial tool to prioritize serious concerns and issues. No form of literature can express our feelings in a subtle way except poetry. Almost all poems are subjective in nature that’s why readers get bored at the very beginning. But those subjectivity are the acute representations of many people like the poet. Poetry broadens our imagination and makes us creative. I completely agree with Wordsworth that poetry is a spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings and emotions recollected in tranquillity.

Poetry is able to express events that are even restricted in a satirical way. I consider poets as the great source of human awareness. In Europe and America, night clubs are also jam-packed to take part in poetry recitation events whereas in Nepal, the matter is just the opposite. New poets are discouraged. Poets express their dissatisfaction for not getting space in newspapers and magazines here in Nepal. Some poets have really idealized poetry saying poetry will not die and although poems are taken out of poetry, it will live somewhere else. There’s no need to abolish poetry. From Marquez to Abhi Subedi, all the prose writers have used poetry in their works.

Poetry provides them with comfort, a way to express themselves, and the discipline of finding the essence with few words. Poems have also been viewed as carriers of messages from the unconscious to the conscious mind. Wherever people gather to mark a moment, they speak from heart to heart, with poetry. Likewise it is one way to cope with recession. . Experiencing poetry, either by reading it, listening to it, or writing it, can help people manage feelings of loss and despair. Let’s all promote poetry once again in Nepal. Readers will find great underlying knowledge, culture, values and fun in poems. Poetry is also music. I express my sadness on why few people are reading poetry. I think missing poetry is like living in a world without music.

Published in the himalayan times dated Jan 28, 2013.
Link: http://thehimalayantimes.com/rssReference.php?headline=TOPICS%3A+Let+us+enjoy+poetry&NewsID=363636

Building self esteem

BUILDING self esteem is something that, if done successfully, can change your life. Being able to accept yourself, to have confidence in yourself, and to know that you are good enough can take you a lot further in life compared to thinking that you’re worthless and that no one likes you or accepts you. If you want to build self esteem, the first thing you need to understand is how it got so low in the first place.

Understand that much of how you see yourself was formed from a very young age. For most people, having low self esteem has to do with their parents. To be more exact, it had to do with your misinterpretation of what you experienced or what you were told as a child. One of the most common beliefs that people with low self esteem have is the belief that they are not good enough. No matter how hard they try or how well they do, they will feel like it just wasn’t enough. This is most likely caused by having parents who said things that made you believe you weren’t good enough. They may have communicated this verbally or through their body language. Either way, the message you received was that you were not good enough. Understand that reality and what you perceive to be reality can be two very different things.

Building your self esteem will be a lot easier when you realise this. One of the most powerful ways is to simply recognise the fact that you have been looking at the world through a lens that only focused on things that reinforced your false belief that you aren’t good enough. Realise that all of the so called “evidence” that you have seen up until this point of your life that “proves” you aren’t good enough or people don’t like you or you’re not important was a distortion of reality caused by your belief that you are worthless.

Now that you know better, use your logic and common sense and go back into your childhood memories, to those times when you were told that you were a piece of crap, and challenge those statements. You are much more than who you think you are. Besides, now that you know you have been wrong in thinking that you aren’t good enough, you can begin to take charge of your life. Building your self esteem comes down to understanding that you can control your beliefs. The belief in who you are and what you are capable of achieving in life is up to you to decide, not your parents and others.
published in The Kathmandu Post , Link: http://epaper.ekantipur.com/ktpost/showtext.aspx?boxid=12048109&parentid=20670&issuedate=6122012

Microsoft’s Surface, Apple’s iPad & Google’s Tablet –The battlefield set

For all you tech geeks out there, here is an awesome collection of tablet PCs which has taken the world for a swirl! The monopoly market which had been captured by Apple for pretty long time has been shed with Microsoft and Google entering the race. The PC tablet industry seems to take serious twist and turns with the latest entry Google. It seems that all these IT big guns are all set to fight it out straight. First it was Apple with its iPad, then Microsoft with Microsoft Surface and now it’s Google with its Google Nexus! What exactly are these big guns up to?

Few analysts have the gut feeling that the OEM –business models seems to have broken down as both Google and Microsoft have broken ties with their earlier OEM partners. With Apple creating a monopoly market for its iPad’s, probably Microsoft and Google might have thought to give it a go with the hope to beat its monarchy in this industry. It seems that these IT giants have decided to produce its own tablets to drive out the producers of PCs for making better and much more competitive tablets.

Targeted for the movers and shakers of the society and for those tech geeks out there, these Tablet PCs released by the big guns, Apple, Google and Microsoft, are consistently trying to surpass each other by constantly updating the features and characteristics of their newly introduced tablet PCs. Comparisons between these products are common, but here we would deal with the features of these products individually so that you yourself can judge which stands better rather than getting biased upon the writer's judgment.

Apple's iPad: With the launch of the all new iPad by Apple, a brief sneak peek into its features. So are you all set to know more about this Apple iPad?
This iPad provides you almost everything, starting from entertainment to games, from videos to music, from books to recent news, all here at your fingertips. Though even an iPod could do all these functions, but with a screen dimension of 9.7", ½" thin, weighing 1.5 lbs. This is a real mini wonder for all you tech geeks. Furthermore, its price is quite attractive than anyone has ever though off. With a price tag of just $499 for the lower end model, it a real dream comes true for all. The data planprovided by it is also great and is an ideal option for all the net book users where you get to avail various kinds of choices. Apart from all this, this iPad gives much more space for the user to use one's hands than using the mouse for the same. But the monopoly ruler is not devoid of flaws as with this mini wonder, you really cannot afford to perform any multi-tasking options though there are several productive applications present in the same. With all the latest application present, it still fails to work as efficiently as a computer would do. Next it has no webcamfacility and the iTunes application has several restrictions which does not support many kind music formats.

It has been seen that more than forty percent of the apple owners prefer to buy the Apple iPad. The data also reveals figures which states more than 80% apple owners, 80% of individuals with income more than $90,000 and more than 75% of adults in age group 18 to 34 are interested in buying this Apple iPad.

Google Nexus: Since Google announced its Google Nexus, hard to define it in one word as a smart phone or super phone, the review for the same ismixed. With all the new Google Nexus, you can now tweet as well as text even when you are driving with the presence of a voice recognitionfacility, but again in contrast to the rumors which had come out, this phone cannot be defined as a VoIP data phone revolution. This is very much like the other phones in terms of making phone calls, suppressingthe expectations that the users had form its reviews.

Though Nexus uses the Android 2.1 version giving various kinds of 3D features, but it has been seen that this nexus one's superior software features are just fleeting in nature. One of the best features of this is that you can get this Google Nexus unlocked though it is quite pricey in nature. As we have seen that Google Nexus is not devoid of flaws as already discussed. To add to the same tally is the absence of the multi-touch facility. Though the hardware of the phone is able to support multi touch facility, the software does not support the same. Moreover, the music player of nexus is still not as superior in its features as it had been thought to be, but with the presence of the in-built Google voice, there is much to be seen in this tech gadget as well.
With its latest tech gadgets, Google aims to target those price conscious consumers who love to use latest tech gadgets but keep away from them as they are pricey.

Microsoft Surface: In the boxing ring, Microsoft is all set to face the challenge it has before it to compete its rivals Apple, the till date monopoly ruler in the tablet PC market, and the new face, Google, Microsoft has a tough task in hand! It seems that Microsoft Surface tablet strikes a great balance between work as well as play, but it has a long way to go to impress the iPad users.
The keyboard that is present within the cover is an ideal trick making it an attractive platform differentiating it from the others. This is an ideal option for business entrepreneurs. With the option for the user to choose one between the two, is clearly a tablet of choice! With the presence of an Intel Processor, it can easily eliminate the compatibility issues. Furthermore, it's this tech wonder also has a competitive price (which actually Microsoft had to keep as it is not a monopoly ruler in this market). The best of this iPad is that, it competes as an underdog. Had it done as an iPad-crusher, then it was sure to fail in this market. Apart from all these, it has been successful in getting its balance right, but again it is not devoid of flaws. With the absence of cellular-connectivity, and a small screen, Surface is not very great to impress its users. With its limited storage options available and with, the capability of solving only some of the Windows problems, there is much that needs to be thought of the same.

It’s no doubt that the presence of substitute elements would reduce the share that a monopoly product was getting, Hence with Microsoft and Google in the battlefield, it is for sure that there is going to some migration of the prospective Apple iPad users to either Microsoft or Google. Thus Apple’s market is sure to suffer, but what remains to be seen is who wins the race. Over to your judgment folks!

Overcoming Nervousnesss

Dealing with nervousness can sometimes be a difficult thing to do.When you feel nervous, you tend to lose control to some extent. You can start to shake and tremble a bit. You can start to sweat and even get a bit dizzy. The cause of this feeling can be many things but most of the time, it is caused by your focus. Sometimes it can be caused due to your habits but even then, it’s mental. Let’s examine why being
nervous can cause you to perform poorly and why it’s something good to be nervous.

There are many situations that can cause a person to feel nervous. It can be a situation where you are about to make a speech. It can be one where you are about to ask an attractive person out on a date. It can even be a situation where you are about to take an exam. All of these things can bring out that feeling of anxiety. It can cause you to stumble on your words.

It may seem like a bad thing but realize that this feeling that you experience is your body’s way of telling you something. Do you think athletes get nervous before a game? How about professional speakers who are about to go out on stage for the 1,000th time? Nervousness is a signal to your mind that you need to get ready. It can sometimes be mixed with the feeling of excitement as well.

In order to control nervousness and use to your advantage, you need to acknowledge the message. When you get the nervousness anxiety feeling, most of the time it means that you aren't as prepared as you think you should be. Second way to minimize nervousness is to change your focus. Controlling nervousness can be done by changing your focus. If you are nervous about doing something, chances are that you are picturing the worst case scenario. You are imagining totally making a fool out of
yourself.

Overcoming nervousness can be done by realizing that no matter how bad you do, whether it’s a speech or some performance or asking someone out on a date. Most people are simply too busy focusing on themselves and their own insecurities to think about yours. We often get nervous because we are afraid of how others might thing of us.

Nervousness is something that can be dealt with thorough practice as well as realizing that life is too short to spend too much time worrying about what others think of you. If you want to do a good job, be prepared and practice as much as you can. From there, picture the best outcomes in your mind. After that, just do your best and even if you mess up, people are going to forget out it anyway because you arenot the most important person in their lives, they are.

IT careers in the context of Nepal

There is an infinite scope and opportunities in the field of IT. We know lots of career path that we can select and along with that we see new and emerging careers paths coming along our way. It is necessary for us to select our field of interest during the study period and its future prospects in the context of Nepal and abroad. Currently IT industry is facing a severe shortage of competent human resource both locally and globally.
IT graduates can work in different industry like software industry, financial institutions, Health, corporate organizations etc. The following are the list of most common career paths for IT graduates.

1.System Administrator:
System Administrator is a person who manages the all the IT resources of an organization. An organization requires a system administrator to manage servers, pc, network, internet, backups, security etc. System Administrators can get opportunity in ISP, NGO, INGO, Software companies, schools, colleges etc. CCNA, CCNP, MCSA, MCSE are some of the certifications which can be acquired to work as a system administrator.
System Analyst: The system analyst is responsible for performing the feasibility study of a system. They prepare software requirement specification based on the requirement of the stakeholders. A systems analyst researches problem, plans solutions, recommends software and systems, and coordinates development to meet business or other requirements. They also help programmers during the development of the software. In the context of Nepal it has a very good scope in software companies.

2. Project Manager: Project manager is responsible to manage the assigned project. Coordinates project related communication with clients and manages the development team, distributes project work among the team members, tracks the progress of the projects. In the context of Nepal project manager has a very good scope in software companies.

3. Mobile Application Developer: Mobile application development is one of the most demanded and fastest growing career fields in the world. As mobile devices continue to change the way we do business, communicate, and access news & entertainment, the demand for new and innovative mobile applications is growing rapidly. Mobile application developer for iphone, android are in high demand.
Software Developer: Software developer is responsible to develop software. They should have a good programming, problem solving and analytical skills. Software developers can select any one of the development platform among VB.NET, Visual Basic (VB), Java, Delphi, Oracle Business Intelligence.

4. Web Developer: Web developer is responsible for the development of websites and web applications. Web developers can select any one of the programming language as a development platform among PHP, ASP.NET, ASP, JSP, Perl, Ruby on Rails. There is a huge scope of PHP and Asp.Net in Nepal. Moreover, a lot of software companies choose PHP as a development platform. Furthermore, PHP web developers can gain expertise in popular open source software like Joomla, Word Press, Drupal, Magento etc. Web developers working as a Joomla Expert, Word Press Expert, Drupal Expert, Magento Expert can relatively earn more. It is also good to have knowledge of PHP framework like Zend, CodeIgniter, CakePHP etc. There is a good demand of PHP developers in software companies of Nepal. Web developers showing sufficient expertise in open source software and frameworks are in high demand.

5. Web Designer: Web designer is responsible for designing the web site. Web designer should have knowledge of Photoshop/ Fireworks, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, JQuery. Web designer should be creative enough to make attractive websites and interfaces.

6. SEO/ SMM Expert: IT graduates can also work as a Search Engine Optimization and social media marketing expert. They should possess sufficient skills to do online marketing of businesses (websites) by listing it in organic search result of search engines. They can also make use of social media and networking tools like YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn etc in promoting products or services online. These days the need of SEO expert is increasing globally.

7. Database Developer: Should have a good knowledge of database design, SQL since it will be used while creating software, websites and web applications. Popular database systems used by database developers are MySQL, Oracle, MSSQL.

8. QA (Quality Assurance): Quality assurance officer are responsible for ensuring the quality of the software and web applications. They should have knowledge of different testing techniques, designing test cases and performing tests.

9. Technical Writer: Responsible in creating documentation of the software and web applications. They are also responsible for creating user manuals.
There are also other careers prospects for IT graduates like Graphics Designer, System Administrator, System Engineer, Database Administrator, Network Engineer, Animator, Ethical Hacker, Network Security specialist, hardware engineer and many more. Moreover new trends of working practices are being developed these days where you have boundless opportunities to work from home as a freelancer if you can reveal competent skills. Some another sectors like Animation, game developing and OUT Sourcing can be job sectors for IT graduates.