Stories of Sandeept

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Monthly Feature 10: A Movie that Took me Back to Astronomy

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On October 1, 2016

In Blogging, Monthly Feature

For the monthly feature this October, I can’t avoid writing about this science fiction movie that involves a worm hole, a black hole, and a crew of scientists trying to save the human species: Interstellar.

I watched the movie twice during the second week this September. The first time I watched it, I did not understand some of the things shown towards the end. The search took me to different answers. It also took me back to astrophysics.

I have always been attracted by astronomy. I enjoyed reading about stars, planets, satellites, asteroids, and comets. I was introduced to complex objects like black hole through a picture book (published by National Geographic Society, I think) my friend had brought to school. About three years ago, I had read Stephen Hawking’s A Brief History of Time. It had given me a picture of the universe but I was still not satisfied.

I had heard about Interstellar from my friends in college. I did not know what the movie showed until I watched it for the first time. To keep the suspense (which I don’t usually do in case of movies) I had not even googled its name. After I watched it the first time, I was confused. Because:

I was touched by its drama.

I did not understand anything shown in the end.

I had to know where Cooper went after trying to enter the black hole. I had to know how all things shown in the movie were related.

As soon as I watched the movie, I googled and saw a term “tesseract”. Cooper had gone into the tesseract. How? “They” had sent him. Who’s they?

Who’s they?

Cooper asks the question twice in the movie. If you have watched the movie and listened carefully the conversation between Cooper and TARS in the Tesseract scene you can get the hint. But who built the Tesseract? Only one answer in Quora satisfied me. And to verify it again, I had to watch the movie.

However, I wanted more information on the scientific accuracy of the movie. While sci-fi movies are related to science, they use their artistic freedom to show things which can be misleading. According to the materials I found on the internet, the movie had shown almost accurately the black hole and the worm hole. I thought, ‘There is some science in the movie.’ I found an ebook The Science of Interstellar, written by astrophysicist Kip Thorne. This book helped me know many aspects of the movie and the science used in it. Combined with my undergraduate physics book I could understand relativity and concepts of space-time better than I had before.

Interstellar helped me widen my knowledge on universe. However, it would have been difficult if I had not known some of the concepts previously. I really appreciate the movies which tease my brain and my knowledge. This is one such movie.

Cast

(Source: Wikipedia)

IMDb Rating: 8.6/10

खोइ नागरिक समाज ?

By

On September 25, 2016

In Blogging, History, Nepal, Nepali, Politics, Reasoning

हिजो अचानक यो प्रश्न मनमा उठ्यो । देशमा राजनीतिका नाममा ठगी भइरहँदा, कुटनीतिका नाममा लुटनीति चलिरहँदा अनि राज्य पुनर्संरचना (शब्दै कति गार्‍हो रै’छ टाइप गर्न !)का आवाज उठिरहँदा नागरिक समाज कता हरायो?  दश वर्षअघि राजाको प्रत्यक्ष शासनको विरोध हुँदा “नागरिक समाज” एकदम प्रचलित थियो । नागरिक समाज नभएको भए  २०६२/६३को आन्दोलन नै हुने थिएन ।

तत्कालिन अवस्थामा नागरिक समाजका कसरी बनेको थियो ? के उद्देश्य थिए ? इतिहास नबुझी हुन्न भन्ने ठानेर गुगल सर्च गरेको थिएँ । हिजो नै सेतोपाटिमा चुडामणि बस्नेतको एउटा लेख प्रकाशित भएको रै’छ । उक्त लेखलाई आधार मान्दा त्यो समयको नागरिक समाज तल दिइएका वर्गको समूह पो रै’छ-

  • समाजका केही अगुवाहरू,
  • काठमाडौंमा केही बुद्धिजीवी भनेर कहलिएकाहरू, र
  • सञ्चार क्षेत्र
  • केही गैरसरकारी संस्थाका अगुवाहरू

नागरिक समाजको उद्देश्य थिए- १) माओवादी द्वन्द्वको वार्ताद्वारा समाधान; २) लोकतन्त्र र गणतन्त्रको प्राप्ति; ३) समावेशीकरण; ४) राज्य पुनर्संरचना ।

पछिल्ला दुई उद्देश्य माओवादीलाई मुल धारको राजनीतिमा ल्याउने कडीका रूपमा मैले बुझेको छु । ०६२/६३को आन्दोलनमा ती सवाल कसरी उठेका थिए भन्ने चाहिँ मलाई याद छैन । (म बाह्र वर्षको मात्रै थिएँ नि त !) अघिल्ला दुई उद्देश्यमा जनताको प्रत्यक्ष चासो थियो र राजनीतिक दलको स्वार्थ पनि त्यहीँ गाँसिएको थियो ।

त्यस ताका राजाले शासन आफ्नो हातमा लिँदा दलहरूमाथि जनताको विश्वास नै थिएन । उनीहरूले गर्ने विरोधका कार्यक्रममा जनता जाँदैनथे (रक्तकुण्ड, कृष्ण अविरल) । उनीहरू एउटा माध्यम चाहन्थे जनतासम्म पुग्न । नागरिक समाज त्यस्तो एउटा पुल थियो । त्यही भएर नै नागरिक समाजविना आन्दोलन सम्भव थिएन ।

जनता आन्दोलनमा होमिए । राजाले शासन छोडे । विघटित प्रतिनिधि सभा पुनर्स्थापना भयो । लोकतन्त्र आयो । राजाको शक्ति सीमित भयो । संविधान सभाको निर्वाचन भयो । गणतन्त्र घोषणा भयो । जनताले आन्दोलनमा भनेका थिए- “खबरदार नेतगण धोका देलाउ ।” नागरिक समाजलाई भनेका थिए- “यी नेतालाई मुर्ख्याइँ गर्न नदिनू ।” 

तर लोकतन्त्र र गणतन्त्र आउँदासम्म नागरिक समाज हराउन थालिसकेको थियो ।

सेतोपाटिको लेखअनुसार जतिजति समावेशीकरणको अवाज उठ्यो, नागरिक समाज फुट्दै गयो । जबजब राज्य पुनर्संरचनाको कुरा उठ्यो, नागरिक समाज विभक्त हुँदै गयो । मधेस आन्दोलनले यसमा झन् मद्दत गर्‍यो । क्षणिक उद्देश्यका कारण नागरिक समाज टुक्रिएको हो भन्ने म मान्दछु ।

तत्कालिन नागरिक समाजले देशको मुख्य शत्रुलाई निर्मुल पार्न कुनै कदम नै नचालेको जस्तो म देख्छु । नेपालका मुख्य शत्रु हुन्- अस्थिरता र भ्रष्टाचार । यिनै दुई कारणले गर्दा राजनीतिक दलसँग आजित भएका जनताले राजाको प्रत्यक्ष शासनलाई समर्थन गरेका थिए । यिनै दुई कारणले गर्दा राजाको शासन डगमगाएको थियो । यिनै दुई कारणले भुकम्प पीडित जनताले उचित राहत पाएका  छैनन् । यिनै दुई कारणले नेपाल विदेशी चलखेलको केन्द्र बनेको छ । यिनै दुई कारणले जनता गणतन्त्र देखि नै आजित हुन थालिसके । समस्याको चुरो बुझेर पनि बुझ पचाउने राजनीतिकर्मी र बुद्धिजीवी भनाउदाले गर्दा नै हाम्रा समस्या समाधान नभएका हुन् ।

अफसोस, नेपालका बुद्धिजीवीहरू र सञ्चार क्षेत्र   जातीय, क्षेत्रीय, वर्गीय  रङ्गमा रङ्गिएका छन् । यस्तोमा हाम्रा समस्याहरू झन् बढ्दै छन् । कहिलेसम्म ? प्रश्न अनुत्तरित छ ।

सवारी

By

On September 19, 2016

In Blogging, Nepal, Nepali, Satire

उहिले राजा-राणाहरू बग्गीमा हुइँकिँदै कतै गए भने सडकको दायाँ-बायाँ उभिएर मानिसहरू स्वागत गर्थे रे ।त्यस्तो सवारीमा हिँडिरहेका बटुवालाई उभिनु पर्ने बाध्यता हुँदैनथ्यो रे । स्वतस्फूर्त उनीहरू राजा-राणाको दर्शन गर्थे रे, आफूलाई भाग्यमानी ठान्थे रे । चाकरी गर्ने राम्रो मौका पनि त्यही हुँन्थ्यो रे । केही गरी तिनको नजरमा परियो भने त सन्तानको पनि जीवन उकासिन्थ्यो । चाकरी गरेर ठूलाबडा भएका मानिसका सन्तान अहिले पनि क्या ठाँटसँग हिँड्छन् ! भलै देशमा राणा मात्रै होइन, राजाको पनि शासन छैन ।

तर सवारीको परम्परा अहिले पनि ज्यूँदै छ । भन्नुहोला, “न राणा छन्, न राजा, न त बग्गी; सवारीको परम्परा कसरी चल्छ ?” म भन्छु- समय फेरिएको छ नि त ! बग्गीको ठाउँमा चिल्ला कार छन् । अनि राजा-राणाका ठाउँमा जनताका प्रतिनिधि । यस्तो फेरिएको समयमा पनि सवारीको चलन चलिरहेको छ । किनकी सवारी हाम्रो इतिहास हो, हाम्रो संस्कृति हो ।

“इतिहासमा भएका कतिपय विषय मेटिन्छ, परिवर्तन गरिन्छ । राजारानीका नाम भएका स्कुल, कलेज, युनिभर्सिटी, बाटाघाटा लगभग सबै फेरिए ।” फेरि भन्नुहोला, “संस्कृति पनि त परिवर्तन हुन्छ । हाम्रो देशको मौलिक गीत-सङ्गीत, नाच-गान, पहिरन र खानामा पनि त पश्चिमा प्रभाव परिसकेको छ । सवारीको चलन किन परिवर्तन किन नगर्ने ?”

म फेरि पनि भन्छु- सवारीजस्तो विशिष्ट संस्कार पनि छोड्ने चिज हो त ? सवारी त हाम्रो एकमात्र साँस्कृतिक धरोहर हो । भुइँचालोले गर्दा हाम्रो देशमा चारवटा धरहरा ढले । हज्जारौं मन्दिर भत्किए । पश्चिमा धर्मसंस्कृतिले हाम्रा संस्कार बदले तर सवारीको चलन हटाउन सकेनन् । सक्ने छैनन् पनि । किनकी सवारी र त्योसँग गाँसिएको चाकरी हाम्रो जीनमा छ ।

भन्नुहोला, “मेरो जीन त शुद्ध छ । चाकरीको नाम निशान छैन । त्यसैले म सवारीको विरोध गर्छु ।” म सम्झाउँछु- त्यस्ता कुराहरू घरभित्र मात्रै गर्नू । भन्नुहुन्छ, “किन ?” म केही बोल्दिन । बाटोतिर हेर्न इशारा गर्छु । बाटो अचानक सुनसान भएको छ । एउटा पनि गाडी छैनन् । डराउनु होला कसैले बन्द गर्‍यो कि भनेर । म पुलिसतिर इशारा गर्छु । कसैलाई अभद्र पाराले बाटोमा साइकल नचलाउन आदेश दिँदै छन् । अर्का प्रहरी अलि परको आकाशे पुलमा नचढ्नु भन्दैछन् । अनि अर्का चाहिँ बटुवालाई फुटपाथमा उभिन लाउँदैछन् ।

केही बेरमा साइरन बालेको एउटा मोटरसाइकल देखापर्छ । अनि आउँछन्, सुरक्षाकर्मीका गाडी, झण्डा फर्फराएको सरकारी गाडी अनि फेरि पुलिस गाडी । हामी नतमस्तक भएर हेर्छौँ । सोच्नुहुन्छ, “जनताका राष्ट्रपति-प्रधानमन्त्री राजा-राणा जसरी हिँड्न थाले ।” म सोच्छु- हाम्रा सन्त्तानले भन्लान्, “हाम्रा बाउबाजे स्वतस्फूर्त गणतन्त्रका मूर्तिको सवारीलाई स्वागत गर्थे ।”

Scribophile: Irony of Critiquing

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On September 13, 2016

In Blogging, Review, Words, Writing

I have been busy on Scribophile these days. It is a writer’s forum where one can read and critique others’ works. After one has 5 karma points, they can publish their works so that others can comment and critique. That’s exactly where the irony lies.

On Sunday, I critiqued a work inline (one can point out errors and suggest modifications word by word in this format). When I completed and looked back at the homepage, I had received an inline critique on a story I had submitted. I am grateful to everyone who critiqued the story. They showed me the errors and suggested some of the things I had never in my mind. When I ended reading the critiques, one thing became clear: We tend to turn a blind eye to our errors, while we tend to point out other people’s mistakes.*

I think it is our inherent nature that makes us able to show other people’s errors. Scribophile has helped utilize that inherent capacity for the growth of authors. And I am loving the irony in it.

*In Nepali we have a proverb: 

आफ्नो आङको भैंसी नदेख्ने, अर्काको आङको चैँ जुम्रा पनि देखाउने !

Transliteration: Aafno aang ko bhaisi na dekhne, arka ko aang ko chai jumra pani dekhaaune.
Translation (literal):

One does not see a buffalo on their body but shows lice on other’s bodies. (Excuse my translation!)

Examples Jhamak Ghimire has Set

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On September 6, 2016

In Blogging, Humans and Humanity, Inspirational, Nepal, Nepali

Introduction

On Bhadra 20, 2073 (September 5, 2016) the Madhya Paschimanchal University (MPU) granted Jhamak Ghimire an honorary doctorate. The inspiring litterateur never went to school. Yet, she has received the honour because of her talent in literature. 

Jhamak Ghimire was born on Asar 21, 2037 in Dhankuta. She suffers from cerebral palsy. The neurological condition does not allow her to talk and move her limbs properly. However, she uses her two toes and immense power of observation and  imagination to communicate and create literary works. She has published thirteen books of different genre- poems, stories, essays and autobiographies. Her autobiography, Jeevan Kanda ki Phool (won her Madan Puraskar, the most reputed award in Nepali literature.

Examples she has set

1. Nothing is Impossible

Even with extremely limited movement, if one has healthy mind, nothing is impossible. Though she has never attained school, she gained knowledge on her own. And has become an inspiring figure.

2. Thoughts are Limitless

One may be limited physically but thoughts and imagination have no bounds. She writes as if she has experienced things herself. She has shown her abilities in critically analyzing things she hears and reads.

3. Life is full of Struggles

There are hardships in life. One has to undergo several struggles in life. Ghimire has faced the obstacles of the family, and the society. The obstacles inspired her to revolt against them. Her literary works represent the revolution.

Conclusion

Jhamak Ghimire is an exemplary personality who has challenged her physical weaknesses to inspire people all around the world.*

Note:

*Jhamak Ghimire’s autobiography Jeevan Kanda ki Phool has been translated into English, Hindi, and Japanese languages and is being translated into several other languages.

Source

1. MPU’s circular on Honorary Doctorate to Jhamak Ghimire

2. The Kathmandu Post

3. The Himalayan Times

4. Ratopati

Environmental Sustainability, Evolution and Natural Selection

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On September 4, 2016

In Blogging, science, Science And Society

Truly. We are the fittest species till date but if we mess up with the nature that we have to live in, no adaptation, no survival instinct can save us.

तीजमा माइत जान नपाउने चेलीहरू

By

On September 4, 2016

In Blogging, Nepal

महिनौ देखि ‘तीजको लहरले छोयो काठमाडौंलाई । नेपालमा नै त्यस्ता ठाउँ पनि रहेछन् जहाँका महिला कहिल्यै माइत जान पाउँदैनन् । थप माइसंसारको यो लेखमा- http://www.mysansar.com/2016/09/24734/

Book Review – Karnali Blues: Story of Rural Nepal

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On September 3, 2016

In Blogging

A Story that took eight months to complete

By

On August 31, 2016

In Blogging, Story, Words

I began writing Leave Me Alone through a concept while I was writing Quest during last year’s NaNoWriMo. I had written about a book Arun (the main character of Quest) reads during his vacation. Sometime later, I thought, ‘Why shouldn’t I write one such story myself?’

On 31st December, 2015, I began writing the story. I had set a goal to write about 4,000 words that resembled the story of the book Arun reads. I decided to use the first-person narration from the girl’s point of view. The first statement in that version was- “I was cold. So cold that it felt like my heart was frozen.”

When I read the first draft later, I was sure the story would not be completed in 4,000 words. Nor would one person’s view was enough. I decided to add one more character- the girl’s boyfriend. I made them enter the girl’s house together, where the boy would be attacked. Until then I had not given them names.

As I added more characters- a lawyer, a maid and a doctor- who, obviously had no names, I had to name the girl and the boy. That would make the narrations of latter characters easier. I gave them names- Ajay and Sasha. That was on May-April, I guess.
A month after I finished my notebook (not a computer) draft, I started typing. By this time, Ajay’s narration had preceded Sasha’s and each character was speaking in the first person PoV. When I reread that draft, I was distressed. They just looked like collection of judicial statements with only two characters having a little interaction.

Then I jumped to the PoV I am more comfortable on- the third person. And I decided to limit it, focusing one character during one chapter. ‘That will add suspense,’ I thought.

So the first time I typed it into the computer, Sasha’s PoV came up in the first chapter again. Sasha and Ajay would go to the girl’s home and Ajay would be attacked.

The same thing would be narrated by Ajay in different place. But there are differences and they are intentional. The foremost chapter has now become the third. The fourth, fifth and the sixth chapters have the stories of a maid, a lawyer, and Sasha’s dream on a back story linked with attack on Ajay. When the story ended, someone else than I had previously thought became the antagonist. I have not pointed them. 

I want you to unravel the mystery.*

*Note:The story is going to be published every Friday beginning on September 2, 2016. Be prepared!

The Faults in our God

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On August 29, 2016

In Blogging, Philosophical, Writing

It is said sinful to put a debate on God. May I be punished for the sins I will be doing here!

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The question I think of often, “Did God create us or did We create gods?” There are ample evidences for the latter while there is a huge amount of speculation for the former. Yet people seem to believe in some supreme force that governs them. There are also people who dare to challenge the Divine Authority. I find myself in the middle.

How can someone be in the middle of believing and not believing God? You might be thinking. Well, that’s where I am. Sometimes I believe in God so much that every inexplicable/unexplained thing becomes Divinity. Take the origin of life (not evolution), for example. Sometimes I doubt God so much that every progress in human-induced. For example, the technological progress is the best thing humans (especially the Western World) have done. I am really confused about the existence of God.

But in the Geeta, God is said to “exist and not exist” at the same time, that God is “as small as microbes and as huge as universe”, that God is both “the creator and the destroyer Himself”. If God preaches duality, maybe I am following his path of duality at the moment. Maybe it is that fault I am unwilling to accept.

God is said to balance both Good and Evil within Himself. He is said to possess both physicality as well as spirituality and he is said to create everything visible and invisible (let’s not get into destruction right now). So, we should possess both the Good and Evil within us. We should have similar physicality and spirituality as that of God; that we should be able to tell right from wrong. And we should be able to tell differences between God and god.

You might have recognized that I have been writing “God” and “god” in different senses. If not; by God, I am talking about the Omnipresent, the Omnipotent and the Omniscient Being: the “Creator”. By gods, I mean the ones created by Humans. To God, death is “soul changing its body” like we change our clothes. (Hence, no emotions!) To a god, death is emotional. Shiva mourning for Sati is an example. A god is driven by passion, like Indra seducing Ahilya. And God is not jealous as Indra envies kings.

But I am confused again. If God created us and if We have created gods; and if we have all qualities of God and god have all our features, aren’t gods the same as God? Shouldn’t God be as emotional, as passionate and as jealous (if not more) as us and our gods? Are the faults in me (or those in God) confusing me?

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