Stories of Sandeept

Yin to My Yang – Soulmates

On September 28, 2015

This post is a response to The Daily Post’s prompt. It says: “How do you define the term “soulmate” and do you believe in the existence of such a person – for you?” I’ll try answering the question in this post.

Soulmate

When you feel peace – a divine peace – in presence of someone; when your soul is touched by the heavenly music – the sweetest tone which gives happiness to you – when you meet the someone; and when you are lead into light by that person – a light so intense and bright that you would see nothing but Love, you know that the person is your soulmate.

A soulmate is someone you can never stop loving. There is no existence of desire between you and your soulmate. There is Love – in its truest sense and there is peace in your mind, body and soul. A soul mate never lets you fall in love for that person always inspires you to rise in Love. While you might fear of losing your ordinary mates and love, you never fear losing your soulmate. Your bodies may not be together – that’s not always possible, isn’t it? But your souls are inter-woven by a divine thread, which can never be broken. You will always to connected to your soulmate despite the time and consequences.

Does a Soulmate exist for me?

I firmly believe that a soulmate exists for me, though I am not sure if the feeling is mutual. I have not dared to ask that to my Soulmate. To find my Soulmate for the first time was a divine. Coincidentally, I had realized this during the Blood Moon of April, 2014 and I am writing this on the day of Blood Moon of September, 2015!

My post on August “This one is for YOU! shows my belief in soulmate. I had written a letter to my Soulmate (an anonymous character). The realization of existence of a soulmate might be confusing at times. If you ever feel you are confused, close your eyes and ask to your soul. You’ll certainly get the answer.

In response to The Daily Post’s writing prompt: “Yin to My Yang.”

The title and the question touched me. I wrote this post as soon as I saw it popping on the Twitter handle of WordPress.

Infinity Dreams Award

By Sandeept

On September 28, 2015

In Awards

Anand (Vibrant) of Blabberwockying! had nominated me for this awards two weeks ago. I would like to thank you Anand for your blog on philosophy, meditation and random subjects!

The Award Rules:

Thank and follow the blog that nominated you.

2. Tell us 11 facts about yourself.

3. Answer the questions that were set for you to answer.

4. Nominate 11 bloggers and set questions for them.

I have done No. 1 in the opening paragraph. I’ll be dealing with No. 2 later. As of No. 3, here are the questions Anand has asked.

Tell me, in one sentence, what is your blog about?
Who is your best friend?
Do you have pets?
If you could meet one person from any period in history (it may even be fictional), who would it be?
What is the sweetest thing someone ever did for you?
Which were the best years of your life – childhood, youth or whichever age you’re now?
Do you suffer from any kind of phobia?
Can you spend the day without looking at the clock?
Which is the cutest animal that you’ve ever seen for real?
Do wishes come true?
The last but not the least, the classic one: Love is ……

Here are my answers:

It’s about my personal experiences.
I would love to keep that a secret.
No, I do not have pets.
If I could meet someone from history, it would be (after a lot of thinking) Abraham Lincoln.
The love my parents have given me, despite all my errors.
Everyday, I have enjoyed my life. I can’t distinguish between the happiness I had during my childhood and now.
Yes, I do. I suffer a mild acrophobia. I am trying to win it over. Hope that happens soon.
No, that would be difficult. There is a power cut-off almost everyday. No work related to electricity can be done without checking the clock over and over.
Human child, a baby monkey and a little pup.
Yes, they do. It just should not be superficial. The wish should, however be made from deep within the heart.
In simple words, Love is what we are.

Facts about Myself

I was an extrovert during my early childhood.
I used to sing in the stage until I was in Grade 1. While I was singing a song, I mimicked the music as well which made everyone laugh at it. I thought I had made a mistake and could never sing a song properly on the stage.
When I was in seven, there was a poem recitation competition. We had to recite (actually sing) one song from the album “Chhanda”(Rhythm) by Lochan Bhattarai. I had chosen “Naitik Dristanta” by Lekh Nath Poudyal. It the most difficult one, thinking earlier that we did not need to sing. I sang the song in the end, which was just okay.
In the same competition, a girl, who was my class-mate and also the member of my House (Not my home!), had been nervous about her song. I hinted her in a tone for her to sing, and she got the second prize! I never mentioned that to her because she was a good singer. But you can imagine how bad I must have felt for not choosing that song.
I used to participate on the quizzes since I was in Class 3. By the time, I was in 8, I had become the captain in every quiz competition. Once, in an Inter-House Competition, my House (Red) answered all ten questions in One-Minute-Rapid-Fire Round. That was the last round and we leaped from third to win the competition.
I did not wear glasses despite poor eye-sight during my Plus 2. I passed all the exams by listening to the lectures and copying from my friends, including Maths.
I was very arrogant when I was a child.
If you ever come to my room, you will find books everywhere. The first reason is their number and second reason is that I can’t find them easily if I do not place them in random.
I am fond of animated movies. Shrek, Tangled, Brave, How to Train Your Dragon are some of my favourite movies. I find them artistic.
Two years ago, I read all seven books of Harry Potter series (Ebooks) in 13 days. I can’t explain the hallucinations that gave me.
From 2013, I have been reading at least two novels by Agatha Christie each year. The first I read was “The Secret Adversary”. The most recently read is “The Cards on the Table”.

My nominees are:

The rule says that I need to set questions to my nominees. I decided it would be easy if I just relayed the questions Anand has asked me.

Tell me, in one sentence, what is your blog about?
Who is your best friend?
Do you have pets?
If you could meet one person from any period in history (it may even be fictional), who would it be?
What is the sweetest thing someone ever did for you?
Which were the best years of your life – childhood, youth or whichever age you’re now?
Do you suffer from any kind of phobia?
Can you spend the day without looking at the clock?
Which is the cutest animal that you’ve ever seen for real?
Do wishes come true?
The last but not the least, the classic one: Love is ……

Congratulations to the nominees! Happy Blogging!!

Blogger Recogintion Award

By Sandeept

On September 28, 2015

In Awards

It’s been more than a month since Meloheart of Seeking Romance had nominated me for this award. Thank you for the nomination! You should visit her blog if you seek romance.

I was in the middle of my exams when I had been nominated. Later, there were so many things going on my mind that I had no time to write anything related to the award. Better late than never, I guess.

Rules for the award:

1.Select 5-15 other blogs you want to give the award to. (The post on Meloheart’s says fifteen. This is to ease my nominees; and myself as well.)

2.You cannot nominate yourself or the person who has nominated you.
3.Write a post to show your award.
4.Give a brief story of how your blog started.
5.Give a piece of advice or two to new bloggers.
6.Thank whoever nominated you and provide a link to their blog.
7.Attach the award to the post (right click and save, then upload).

8.Comment on each blog and let them know you have nominated them.

9.Provide a link to the award post you created.

I’ll address Rule No. 1 and 2 later. This post is what Rule No. 3 is suggesting. This is the response to Rule No. 4:

I guess it was in Grade VIII that I had known something about blogging. It was in a textbook. At that time, blogger.com was the most popular platform. I started blogging since 2013, though. I had heard of Malala Yusufzai, a blogger from Pakistan who had been able to bring to the world, Pakistani girls had to face due to the conflict with the Taliban. That inspired me to begin a blog. This year, however, I joined WordPress to see if it is different from Blogger. That’s how this blog came into existence.

Now, to Rule No. 5. I am not an expert to give advice, but I would say: Be original and whatever you post, compose it with all your heart.

I have already done Rule No. 6 and 7 and 9; in the first para.

So, here go the nominations

Congratulations to all! happy Blogging!

Between Dreams

By Sandeept

On September 24, 2015

In Blogging, Inspirational

Dreams – imagination and aspirations. Dreams – something that inspires me to live a better life. Dreams are seen when I am asleep. Dreams are also seen when I am not asleep. All my experiences are in many ways related to dreams.

When I am asleep…

Dreams are usually less vivid. They are strange combinations of present, past and future along with little fantasies. When I was around 10 years old, I used to recollect the dreams I had seen and write them down on a notebook. That practice improved my ability of writing. While I read those accounts again, I get back to the dreams and I remember some characters like Supspir Man (Combination of Superman and Spider-man), colourful Robocop and my friends who I used to see then. I also discover that my dreams during my sleep have changed only a little during this time. There are strange characters, strange consequences. One dream was so inspiring that it made me imagine Star-Man, an all-powerful superhero with the powers given to him by Lord Brahma, the creator of universe in Hindu Mythologies. A recent dream introduced me to the word, jellybeans. I never knew the meaning before that dream. The same word became inspiration of my science fiction, Jelly Beans.

When I am awake…

I am an eternal dreamer. I imagine many different things. If I have to talk well to other people, including my family members, I have to imagine the whole conversation. I dream of the things I need to speak and things they might tell me. Without such thorough imagination, I can not present myself well. Every second when I am not sleeping, I dream of achieving higher. Higher in the sense of becoming better than what I am now. I have to recollect the memories of errors and then have to improve on them. My dreams help me achieve the goals of becoming a better each day.

The interactions I make when I am awake also have been important in shaping my dreams. A gossip with my little sister, one day inspired me to imagine the Hindu mythology of the Tripuras in a different way. Words have made me dream of the past, the present and the future. They have been the ways of expressing my dreams. Drawings and movies have always inspired me to dream big. Literary works from different writers have also expanded the ways I dream of the world.

When I am not dreaming…

I am what many would call as normal. I am an intent listener of the talks of my parents, my sister and of my friends. I don’t remember all of their talks, though. It’s really strange that I can remember just a few things that I want to learn from them. The other times I am not dreaming would be the times when I am dead asleep. Dreams, however have always been with my life as my guiding star. At times, I think, how awful would life without a single dream?

An Open Letter to Honourable CA Members

By Sandeept

On September 19, 2015

In Blogging, Nepal

The constituent assembly (CA) is going to promulgate the Constitution of Nepal, 2072 tomorrow(Ashwin 3, 2072) at 5 P.M. This is an open letter to the CA members.

Honourable CA members,

I want to congratulate you all for being able to draft a constitution acceptable to the majority of Nepalese. It took almost 22 months since the election for the second constituent assembly for the drafting. Had the earthquake not struck on that fateful day of Baishakh 12, I am sure the constitution would not have been drafted by now. It seems as though the earthquake had come as blessing in disguise. Anyway, this is not the right time and place to discuss on the earthquake. This is a time of celebration. Celebration of the promulgation of People’s Constitution.

There is not a perfect mood for celebration, however. As I have already said, the majority of Nepalese have accepted the constitution. I, repeat, “majority” because the most Nepalese from the Terai/Madhesh are still not willing to accept it as their constitution. They have the impression that the three large political parties have used their power of majority to draft this book, which they have to call a “constitution”. You all are to be blamed on this.

Some of you representing “Madhesh” decided to leave the constitution-making process. You went back to the Madhesh and then began a strike, which suddenly turned violent. Yet you denied (and you will still deny) that there was any violence. Both the executive, which includes the mainstream parties, and the protesters promoted violence in the districts of Terai. And you did not step back to involve yourself in making the constitution. By doing so, you have denied and dishonoured the votes of people who had elected you. You have missed the opportunity of a lifetime.

Those of you belonging to the three parties (Nepali Congress, CPN-UML and UCPN-Maoists) seemed adamant in drafting constitution, which was good to see. But it came at the cost of almost 50 lives in the Terai. You should have worked out the ways to include the leaders from Madhesh. The drafting of this constitution was not easy – it was more difficult than climbing the Everest, I understand. But if a larger number of citizens had accepted, it would have been more meaningful.

Finally, I would like to thank you on the behalf of all Nepalese for showing us a way out into the path of development. I believe that with the promulgation of this constitution, Nepal with take a leap into the path of prosperity. The infrastructures damaged by the recent earthquake will be reconstructed and new infrastructures will be established in all the corners of the country. I congratulate you all again and pray to Lord Pashupatinath (I don’t think I have offended anyone, have I? The country has been declared secular!) that we all remain safe and sound.

Ankit Dhakal “Sandeept”on behalf of all peace loving Nepalese

(P.S. I have also written an article on that earthquake of Baishakh 12 (April 25). You can click here to read it. You might find it useful.)

माननीय सभासद्ज्यूहरुलाई खुलापत्र

By Sandeept

On September 19, 2015

In Blogging, Nepal, Nepali

संविधान सभामार्फत भोलि (आश्विन ३, २०७२) संविधान जारी हुँदैछ | यसै अवसरमा यो खुलापत्र लेखिएको छ |

माननीय सभासद्ज्यूहरु,

नेपालको संविधान, २०७२ संविधान सभामार्फत बहुमतले पारित भएकोमा बधाई दिन चाहन्छु | दोस्रो संविधान सभाको चुनाब भएको ठीक २२ महिनाको अन्तरालमा यो संविधान आएको छ | वैशाख १२ मा भूकम्पको झट्काले नबिउँझाएको भए सायद अहिले पनि संविधान आउने थिएन भन्ने कुरामा मा विश्वस्त छु | त्यो भूकम्प सायद हाम्रो लागि बरदान बनेर आयो | यद्यपि, यो पुराना कुराहरु कोट्याउने समय होइन, यो त हर्षोल्लासको समय हो – संविधान जारी भएको अवसरमा |

तर हर्षोल्लासको माहोल अझै बनिसकेको छैन | मैले पहिले नै भनेसकें – यो बहुमत नेपालीले स्वीकारेको संविधान हो | फेरी दोहोराउन चाहन्छु – “बहुमत” किनकी अधिकांश तराई/मधेसका नेपालीहरुले यो संविधानलाई अपनाउन चाहेका छैनन् | उनीहरुलाई तीन ठूला राजनीतिक दलहरुले बहुमतको तुजुक देखाएर एउटा यस्तो पुस्तक तयार पारिएको भन भएको छ, जसलाई उनीहरुले “संविधान” मान्नु पर्नेछ | यस्तो गहन समस्या देखिनामा यहाँहरुको दोष देखिन्छ |

“मधेश”को प्रतिनिधित्व गर्ने यहाँहरुमध्ये केहीले संविधान निर्माणको प्रक्रियाबाट हात झिक्नुभयो | मधेसमा गएर एउटा आन्दोलनको सुरुवात गर्नुभयो, जुन अप्रत्यासित रुपमा हिंस्रक बन्न पुग्यो | यद्यपि तपाईंहरुले हिंसा भएको स्विकार्नु भएन (आज सम्म स्विकार्नु भएको छैन) | ठूला राजनीतिक दलहरुले बनाएको कार्यपालिकाले र तपाईंहरु दुवै पक्षले तराईका जिल्लाहरुमा हिंसालाई प्रोत्साहन गर्नु भयो | अनि तपाईंहरु पनि संविधान निर्माण प्रक्रियामा फर्केर जानु भएन | यसो गरेर तपाईंहरुले जनताले दिएको भोटलाई अस्वीकार र अनादर गर्नुभएको छ | एउटा सुवर्ण अवसर बाट चुक्नु भएको छ |

तीन “ठूला” दलका प्रतिनिधिहरु भने कटिबद्ध भएर लग्नु भएको देखियो, जुन असाध्यै राम्रो पक्ष थियो | तर पचासौं तराईवासीको जीवन गयो यो संविधान जारी हुनु अघि | मधेशी नेताहरुलाई सहमतिमा ल्याउन तपाईंहरुले कोसिस गर्नुपर्थ्यो | संविधान बनाउने काम सगरमाथा चढेको भन्दा पनि गाह्रो छ – मैले बुझेको छु | तर बहुमतको साटो सर्वसम्मत संविधान आएको भए संविधान अनि खुसियालीको अर्थ पनि बढ्ने थियो |

अन्ततः संविधान बनाएर विकास निर्माणको मार्गनिर्देश गर्नुभएकोमा कृतज्ञ छु | यो संविधान जारी भएपछि नेपालले सम्मुनातिको मार्गमा छलांग मार्नेछ भन्ने आशा राख्दछु | भूकम्पले ध्वस्त बनाएका संरचना पुनर्निर्माण हुनेछन् र नयाँ संरचनाको निर्माणमा पनि सबैको ध्यान जानेछ भन्ने कामना गर्दछु | यहाँहरुलाई म फेरि पनि बधाई दिन चाहन्छु र भगवान पशुपतिनाथ नाथ (मैले कसैको धार्मिक आस्थामा चोट पुर्याएँ कि ? राष्ट्र धर्म निरपेक्ष भनेर घोषणा भैसकेको छ !) सँग हामी सबै सुरक्षित र खुशी रहन सकौं भनि प्रार्थना गर्दछु |

अंकित ढकाल “सन्दीप्त” सम्पूर्ण शान्तिप्रिय नेपालीको प्रतिनिधित्व गर्दै

(नोट: बैशाख १२ को भूकम्पको बारेमा केही पहिले अंग्रेजीमा एउटा लेख लेखेको थिएँ | त्यो लेख पढ्न यहाँ क्लिक गर्नुहोला |)

Kaikeyi — the Mother

By Sandeept

On September 17, 2015

In Blogging

I have been writing on Sanskrit epics for almost two years. This is my recent post published on a Blogger.com site.

Kaikeyi — the Mother

Happy Birthday to a Great Dame

By Sandeept

On September 16, 2015

In Uncategorized

You See what You Want to See!

By Sandeept

On September 15, 2015

In Inspirational, Philosophical, Reasoning

फूलको आँखामा फूलै संसार, काँडाको आँखामा काँडा संसार | – दुर्गालाल श्रेष्ठ

(Transliteration: Phool ko aankha ma phoolai sansar, kaanda ma kaandai sansar)

This beautiful line from a song written by Durga Lal Shrestha says that we perceive the world as we are. If we are soft within, we think that the world is ‘bed of roses’ and can be easily lived. If we are hardened within, we look at the harsh side of the world.

If only eyes could see everything!

We, humans have two distinct types of visions. The first one, that is perceived by our eyes relates us to the physical world. The other, that is perceived by our consciousness (‘heart’, in simple words) is the one that makes us superior to all the other animals. But this consciousness is biased. It sees what it wants to see.

When a boy is in love with a girl, he merely sees any imperfection she has. He might have well seen them, but he either pretends not to notice or does not care about it at all. If, for some unpleasant reasons, the boy starts developing a negative feeling towards her. Her sound, which he previously thought musical, hurts him now. Her questions become her jealousy. He starts hating her, ultimately.

Just as in the above example, we often compare people and things based on our preference of vision. Sometimes, we want to see things as normally as they are. Sometimes, we want to depreciate their values. At other times, we praise someone or something even if they are not praiseworthy. This is perfectly normal as it is human nature to judge things based upon our preference.

However, if such a tendency is obsessive, many people can suffer. In the above example of the boy and girl, the boy might have confessed his love towards the girl. He might have gained acquaintance with her family member and he might have introduced her to his family as well. The hatred, which he unfortunately gained from an unknown source, if grown in his heart further, can be distressing for the girl and her family. Even the boy’s family might have been hurt. To prevent this, we have in our possession a great tool: reasoning.

When we are biased towards someone, we usually lose our abilities to reason. We can not ourselves decide what is right and what is wrong. We start listening to those who water the hatred and without any confirmation believe that they are true. That way, we destroy ourselves and destroy the lives of uncountable people. We should always be open to reasoning so that we can decide correctly, what we want to see.

How do you see the world? Do you think you were biased at someone or something some day? Do comment below.

Get Well Soon, Nepal Government!

By Sandeept

On September 11, 2015

In Blogging

To those who know what is happening with medical education in Nepal, the picture tells it all. But there are many more who do not know it. There are others who do not want to accept that there is a problem in Nepal’s medical education.

Background

When a child is born into a middle class family, the first thing they do is to celebrate the birth. The next thing the parents do is to think of its future. To secure the future, their first aim is to provide education to the children. So that, the child will eventually become a doctor and turn over the fortunes of the family. The education system promotes such a motive. The teachers guide brighter students into medical profession no matter what subject they are interested in.

The Entrance “Preparation”

Those who have passed their Plus 2 with decent percentage (60% and above- I guess) are eligible to attend the entrance examinations held by the Institute of Medicine (IoM), TUTH (Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital); Ministry of Education (MoE); Kathmandu University Schools of Medical Sciences (KUSMS); B.P. Koirala Institute of Health Sciences (BPKIHS); and entrance exams run by the Indian Embassy, Bangladeshi Embassy, etc. Thousands of students join entrance preparation centres, based on their convenience. That’s where I guess the business begins.

The business might well begin from the Plus 2 “colleges” as they bring in “teachers” from reputed institutes. They promote more of their institutes along with some short-cuts which will help the entrance. The short-cuts might not help always. In that case, you are asked to join the institute – a business strategy!

After providing a variable amount of money (None to 25,000) one may join an entrance preparation centre. The course is not extra-ordinary. No question is asked beyond the HSEB (Plus 2) syllables. They teach a touch more than necessary. They teach questions from IIT-JEE, AIIMS, and from graduate level which are absolutely unnecessary. Not bad if you want to join B.Sc., but not of any use if you are sure you can “crack” the examination.

The Entrance and the Scholarship

The pattern and number of questions depends on the exam you are giving. MCQs (Multiple Choice Questions) with usually four options are provided. Subjects include Physics, Chemistry, and Biology. (English, as well, in Indian Embassy exam). According to the percentage obtained in the Entrance Exams an allotted seats, one can obtain scholarship. Those who get above 55% can join medical colleges (donation colleges) affiliated with the IOM, KUSMS, and other universities. The entrance exams of the MoE also allows seats under reservations.

Donation and Private Medical Colleges

As already mentioned, those obtaining more than 55% can join these colleges. These medical college can not charge more than a certain amount (30 lakhs?) according to the rule, but this is not the case. They are charging far more than what they ought to (50 to 80 lakhs!). Furthermore, they are concentrated in the urban areas and most of them do not even meet the minimum standard assigned by the government.

Dr. Govinda K.C. and Hunger Strike

Realising the problems faced by students, parents, and patients due the business-oriented medical colleges, Dr. Govinda K.C. has been trying to change this. As a professional who has worked in rural areas, he understands that corruption is the cause of “Medical College Bloom” in Kathmandu valley and urban areas. To provide access to proper medical services, he believes that the colleges should provide service-oriented education.

Dr. K.C.’s sixth hunger strike had ended this Sunday because the government had promised to set up a commission to control the private medical colleges. He felt he has been betrayed because the commission has not been set up yet. He is starting his seventh hunger strike. Students, doctors and civic society are standing by his side to help provide a standard medical education and to improve the condition of medical services. This blog-post is a small contribution to the cause.

#I_am_with_Dr_KC

Sandeept