I used to think about scoring better in my exams will make me more educated and a better person and then I grew up. Since I was just a child, everyone around me constantly told me, “Always get the highest marks in your exams if you want to be a better person when you grow up.” Now that I think about it, it’s the most idiotic thing I have ever heard. The concept of the exam was developed to evaluate how much a child has learned. But it is not taken as a way to judge who is the better person. 

I don’t agree with the idea of failing the exams and not studying at all but the average or even minimum score in any exams is more than necessary if you have the ability to do any work based on what you have learned. This one day I got very low marks on my internal exams and everyone was disappointed. It’s wasn’t anything like I failed but it sure seemed so. That day I thought about why I am pushing myself beyond my limit to get some numbers in my report card. 

I researched about it the very same day. These problems have been more seen in developing countries like Nepal, India. Every parent wants their child to be at the top of their school. This has put so much pressure on the students, they can’t do anything properly. I was afraid that the same thing would happen to me. From the next day, I decided to not spend all my effort and time on studying. So, I joined a school club and started being more involved in club activities. This decision changed my life. I admit that I can’t get the same score as I used to in my exams but all the other things I have done have taught me a lot more about how to compete with the world better than any Physics or Chemistry book. This has had my parents worry about what kind of person I will be in the future but I am sure that they will understand someday. 

This is the modern era where academic qualification is a small part of our life. We need something more than that. For say, communication, presentation, creation, and leadership skills have taken over the world. In my point of view, we can’t get even a quarter of these things from the coursebook. The education we receive from the student’s book will teach us how to do our job but it won’t ever say how to be recognized from this massive crowd. 

This is my vision for education. I have a dream that someday, every parent around the world will be satisfied with the kind of child they have and appreciate what they become. A parent’s responsibility is to make sure their child is driven towards the path of righteousness not to put pressure on them. So I want to call everyone to stop focusing on how much marks you obtain but how capable you are to compete with the world.

Pink Floyd were masters of psychedelic music, known for their philosophical vocals and for creating music by mixing several instruments together. They originated in London in 1965. The band was founded by 4 original members: Syd Barrett on lead guitar and vocals, Nick Mason on drums, Roger Waters on bass guitar and vocals and Richard Wright on keyboard and vocals. However, true mastery started after David Gilmour joined Pink Floyd in 1967.

Pink Floyd has had a lot of turbulence with its band members; so much so that the total 5 members were together for only a period of 5 months. Together, Pink Floyd has released some truly amazing music: Comfortably Numb, Another Brick in the Wall, Shine on You Crazy Diamond, Marooned, Wish You Were Here, High Hopes, etc. Pink Floyd are recognized for mixing two instruments together and creating unique ambient music. The 2nd solo of the song “Comfortably Numb” is regarded by many critics as, “The greatest guitar solo in music history”. Altogether, Pink Floyd has recorded many hit albums: Wish You Were Here(1975), Dark Side Of The Moon(1973) and The Wall(1979).

Pink Floyd broke up after Roger Waters and David Gilmour had a dispute over the band’s name. Even though it has been many years since Pink Floyd stopped creating music, their psychedelic persona resonates in each piece of their songs and sends shivers up the spine of listeners. They performed their last concert in Pompeii, in 2016. As an avid Pink Floyd fan, I regret not being able to witness any of their live shows. Moreover, I would like other people to discover the true beauty of their music. (Start with the song “Comfortably Numb”)

There are always a few things that a lot of people agree on and are still not necessarily true. At least that’s how I feel about superstitions. Everyone around me told me about how one can become unlucky just because of a rather irrelevant happening. Like a black cat crossing the road would give me bad luck. And sneezing before leaving your house will result in difficulty reaching your destination. It just didn’t feel right. 

Not only have I heard people talk about these things I have experienced them first hand. So one day my family decided to go on a walk on a Saturday morning. It was a pleasant day, the sun was shining brightly and everyone seemed happy and so while we were walking. We saw a cat cross the road. My parents told me to stop and wait for someone else to go by. We waited for a man behind us to go ahead and at the same time I asked my mom “Is that Uncle going to have a bad day now?” 

To which she replied, “He didn’t see the cat cross the road”. I quickly told her “That doesn’t make sense!” 

My mom told me I was too young to understand all that stuff. I was still not convinced. I wanted to know if it was real. I was really curious so I did the things that my mom told me not to do. I walked without hesitation when a cat crossed the road. Also, my mom had told me I should not serve someone with food odd number of times so I tried that as well. I really wanted to know what would actually happen. 

Honestly, nothing happened I didn’t see any difference. Also, I realized something much more important. Whenever something bad happened people would blame it on the rainy day or the cat which crossed the road. Even if someone has a good day they still forcefully find a flaw and blame it on these superstitions. 

In conclusion, I just think it the mentality that matters. We force ourselves to believe that bad things happened to us because we did something bad in our past life or we just blame it on unrelated things. I didn’t believe in these things and I still don’t. Just because everyone believes it doesn’t mean it is true. 

 Nothing is constant
 Everything has changed
 I have started feeling lonely
 Since you got away

 I love being alone
 Showing the side which no one knows
 Feeling good deeply inside
 Dreams to fly high in the sky

 Loving my faults and learning from them
 Running fast towards my aim
 Thinking something that is unimaginable
 To run the world and break the record

 Moving along with the clouds in the sky
 No one understands why I’m so quiet
 Tired to make people what I understand
 So I love being alone and being me.

How often do you think that you are special or simply useless? I do, most of the time because I know I am the perfect example of mediocrity and nothing more. You know how the stories of others, the ones that are exceptional, ones that overcame their difficulties and paved their way to success. I spent most of my time admiring such stories as this was a way for me to escape reality, the reality which shows I am just your average everyday guy. I let myself think that I would never be able to build such stories, to build my own achievements. And that’s wrong. No one should ever have a thought of not having anything special about themselves.

I play games most of my time, to the point that my reflexes and aim, in general, are what you call some next-level stuff. If winning matches and carrying your teammates to victory can be called as achievements then I have already built myself a pretty neat story. Every now and then I compare myself to others, those who I considered superior and I would see myself having no chance against them and there would be no point for me to continue pursuing what I thought I was a little good at. Yes, I still don’t have a chance against those outstanding individuals but that’s completely fine. Why compare yourself to others, they have their own difficulties to overcome, own problems to deal with.

My friends once said to me “We wish we were as good as you“and it hit me because I hoped for myself that I could be like them. It’s amazing how we people don’t realize that each and everyone one of us is unique and special in a way. It disgusts me now when I take a look back and realize how little I thought of myself.  Some people already have their way paved out for them, some have to forge their way from scratch and it still doesn’t guarantee success. It’s the same with me, I don’t know where my life will take me but I will keep moving and trying to keep pushing until, well until it's time.

So what if life isn’t fair? Maybe we won’t all win a lottery or marry royalty or make a last-second shot, that doesn’t mean we won’t have an amazing adventure, meet exceptional people and make indelible memories; the trick is to believe. I have yet to accomplish anything big but this doesn’t mean that I am useless. I have years ahead of me and so much to see and experience my life’s just starting.

Everyone one of us was born special. We as different individuals all have something we’re good at and love, we just have to wait and believe. 

Hats off to we Nepalese people who are really concerned about our standards of living everything from food, clothes to shelter. But alas we breathe this proudness with the air full of gaseous pollutants and don’t care about the poor lungs of ours which is thriving for fresh air and fighting against airborne diseases. This poor engine of yours is not going to be there for you in good condition for a long time.

The main credit goes us (“we people of Kathmandu valley”). This might sound sarcastic but yes this it true to the full extent. Today we are the people of one of the most polluted cities in the world whose PM level (Particulate Matter level) is very high than the WHO Standard. The valley which used to be home to agriculture and natural beauty is now home to many industries such as brick kilns which emits very harmful gas to the air as well as is gradually using the fertile soil to make bricks rather than planting crops. Another thing that our standard demands are fast food and packaged food. We have reached the fullest extent of being lazy to say that we need the fruits ready to eat for us and this takes us to another burning problem “plastic waste management” which to say is really burning us all alive. Being a developing country we are far more behind recycling things as we don’t even upcycle things and we can see people still are burning plastics as a form of disposal which shows how far we lack on development our hands have become that numb that we are not able to separate degradable and non-degradable wastes so that the government can work on recycling at least on some things.

We have the concentration of particulate matter that is five times more than it should be as per WHO’s standard. Despite this, all we do is just walk into pollution and contribute to more pollution. We don’t even take care of ourselves from pollution and forget about such minor things such as wearing a mask and end up inhaling harmful gases such as Sulphur, nitrogen, carbons and finally be hospitalized on the cases of lungs diseases, Allergies and skin cancer and paving the way for ourselves to pre expire or simply decrease our time on this earth not only ours but also we are harming or causing threats to earth's future.

I used to wonder why some people love dogs so much. I was just not very interested in them. I didn’t like their smell. I didn’t understand why people around me were so crazy about them. I was once chased and bitten by a dog when I was playing with my friends. From that point I low-key hated dogs. Dogs for me were bone-eating mindless creatures that have no sense of right and wrong. This was how I thought of dogs until I met my dog, Seru. One day, one of my brothers was feeding a dog. He was actually trying to get the dog out of our house because the dog wasn’t leaving. We carried him outside but he kept coming inside so we finally decided to keep it. At first, my mom and my dad were pretty skeptical about keeping a dog because my mom had a cat allergy and thought that she would have a dog allergy too. But we kept the dog anyway. We named him Seru. I didn’t hate the dog but I didn’t like it either. I used to wash my hands every time I touched it. Now that I think about it, I was an ugly douche and hate myself for doing that to this day. Days went by and he was becoming more and more like a family. He was a young dog so he would do some stupid things. He would sometimes irritate us by throwing things around and biting stuff. Even though he did those things, we still loved him and treated him well. I’m pretty sure he loved us too because he used to be really excited when we got back from school or work to home. We were getting closer and closer then, one day he decided to chew my uncle’s laptop charger. The charger was torn into pieces. My uncle got so furious that he told us to leave the dog somewhere on the road. I thought he wasn’t serious but to my surprise, he really wanted that dog out of our house. I tried to convince him but he wasn’t taking any of it. Even though my mom was quite sad to leave him on the streets, she took him and left him somewhere. He was gone for six hours and we were already beginning to forget about him. But after six hours, there he was, wagging his tail and being all excited like we never left him on the streets. I almost broke into tears. At that time, I realized why people love them so much. There are no other creatures more loyal, loving and humble than dogs. There was no way that we were leaving him again. Now, Seru is the fifth member of our family. He is busy barking at his own reflection and playing with tiny insects most of the time. He is still a very playful dog and loves irritating us. Seru and I go on a walk every morning. Although he is not perfect, we all feel happy when we see him after a long day. Seru changed the way I think about dogs. Now, when I see a dog on the street, I have to pet it. I also feed street dogs sometimes. Seru brought a change to my personality so he is one of the most important things that have happened to me.

“Hey, you are on your periods. Don’t enter the kitchen.” my grandmom said to my mother. I was at the age of 6 when I first heard this. And I was totally unaware of the ‘periods’ and the ‘barrier’ that stopped my mother to enter the kitchen. “Mom, what period is?” I questioned my mom. “Nothing.” She replied. And she gave me my toys to play with and at that instance, I didn’t care what period was and why my mother couldn’t enter the kitchen. Now all I could understand was that there’s something called periods that happened to my mom and that period won’t let her enter the kitchen. In the Newar community, there are lots of festivals to be celebrated. And during the month of December, we were invited to our maternal home for Yomari Punhi. We reached there early in the morning as it was just a few moments walk from my house to my maternal house. After reaching there we had our breakfast. When all the relatives gathered in the maternal house, now the work got dispersed. Kids started playing with each other. My mother and aunts started their work in the kitchen. And my uncles started to talk about politics, drinking, and playing cards. At mid-day we all kids, uncles, and aunts gathered at the kitchen to have our lunch. Everybody took their lunch and were having their lunch with a conversation regarding the social taboos and the decreasing rate of beliefs on social taboos. One of my cousins Subha who was on periods got up to add some Yomari. As she was heading towards the kitchen, one of my aunts said, “Hey you are on your periods. Don’t enter the kitchen.” And that was the same statement that my grandmom told my mom some years back and now that was the same statement that my aunt told Subha. Now here’s the point where the conversation got a new breakthrough. My sister totally disagreed with the thought my aunt had. She tried to convince her why the women were restricted to enter the kitchen during their periods in past times. She gave the clear clarifications to her saying, “At last the people had restricted the entry of the girls on kitchen or temples on periods because they need rest in their periods as it is a very sensitive time and a time of intense pain for girls.” But my aunt wasn’t in favor of accepting the fact. And again started arguing giving her some religious beliefs like “Women get impure during their periods and so on.” My aunt couldn’t get it and there are still some people who wouldn’t get it. But I got that thing in my mind and why my mother was restricted by my grand mom back then. It was all the wrong belief that was in the mindset of my grandmom. And I didn’t know why but I was also with the same mindset which got changed when I got the clarification for the restriction of women in the kitchen or in the temples during their periods.

I always hear your laughter in the breeze
While I walk along
The lonely country roads.

On cold mornings
I still look for you,
As I did those many years ago.

When you chose away
My loneliness
With your whispering smiles.

I loved you so much back then
I love you so much today.

When I feel a warm breeze 
Touching my cheeks
I turn to see

If that’s you walking
The road of life with me.
 

शान्ति कहाँ छौ तिमी यो अत्यचार र विसङ्गतिको देशमा 
फेरि पाइला चाल्दै आऊ शान्ति तिमी आफ्नै भेषमा

यो कस्तो अवस्था अायो देश रक्षकलाई मारे भालाले (सन्दर्भ:टिकपुर घटना)
त्यही देशद्रोहिले शान्ति तिम्रो महिमालाई ढाले 

तराई जुट्यो,पहाड जुट्यो,हिमाल जुट्यो
तर बुद्ध जन्मिएको देशको शान्ति खै कस्ले लुट्यो

डाँडाकाँडा गाउँ बस्ती सबै तिरबाट अहिंसा मेटाइदेऊ
जसरी अनन्त आकाश अटल छ त्यसै गरि तिम्रो अस्तित्व कायम राखी देऊ

हुन त अहिले सबैले गाउँछन् महिमा क्रान्तिको
तर देशको निम्ति मुख्य मन्त्र बनाउ सबैले शान्तिको

लालीगुराँस, डाफे, र बुद्ध सबैलाई शान्ति भनी पुकार्छन्
असहाय र  बृद्ध पनि तिम्रै सहाय खोज्दछन्

शान्ति अब फैल तिमी देशका हरेक कुना अनि ठाउँमा
म मरे पनि जहिले शान्तिकै नाम सुनु म
 

I want all of you to imagine yourself in a scenario in one of the countries in the middle east. You see a man wearing long kurtas and with a child under his arms, coming along the dirt road. Your manipulated mind automatically switches to the term ‘suicide bomber’ but no, that’s just a struggling father accompanying his child to school so that his child can grow up and not be bothered by his stance as a Muslim in the world. The father struggles because his crops have been destroyed, his farmland turned into a warzone, his home is in poor condition but still; he is happy that he is still alive, which he cannot say for so many others who were mistaken for terrorists and viciously shot down.  This is just a small view of the conditions in countries like Syria and Iraq. Upon deeper inspection, you start to realize that all these are influenced largely by the media. Not just terrorism, but everything that the West deems “not relatable” like communism is degraded by the media. I mean, how many war or action movies have you watched that show Muslim terrorists as antagonists or Russian commies as the bad guys? The number is insanely high! I don’t know how but somehow, we have managed to blame almost 1.8 billion people for the deeds of a few 100!  Connecting this to the 4-way test of rotary is a bit difficult; this being a broad subject. IS IT THE TRUTH? Is it true that the media is indeed discriminating Muslims as bad guys and terrorists? It is. We don’t have to look far to find all sorts of examples. From the portrayal of plain racist stereotypes in movies to rude and condescending news articles, the Internet is full of examples of the portrayal of Muslims as bad guys. Coming this far into the point, I’d like to make something clear. I do not deny that there are terrorists out there. I do not deny that action should be taken against them. However, I do deny the abuse that is being served to many, many people for the crimes they never committed and the injustice they never did.  Moving on, IS IT FAIR TO ALL CONCERNED? Of course, it isn’t! If the media, the core, the source of most of the information we get, stigmatizes one particular group from the rest then the public will follow, regardless of their doubts. It’ll build discrimination in people. Muslims will be stared at and pushed around in every part of the world. I’ll borrow an example from a show called “Home” which is essentially about a Syrian refugee living in England to escape the violence and protect his family. However, he is proclaimed a coward and a terrorist in some places but as time passes, people find out that not all Muslims are bad and the main character finds out that there are people capable of overlooking discriminations.  WILL IT BUILD GOODWILL AND BETTER FRIENDSHIPS? However, if the media were to provide consolation and aid to the Syrian refugees as well as civilians then the mentality of the public will change. After all, the fear instilled is a product of the media. So, if the media does indeed change its ways and focuses more on empowering Syrian civilians and providing aid and consolation, I believe that the public will be more lenient towards Muslims overall. This will indeed build goodwill not just among different people but also among different countries and hence, develop closer bonds.  IS IT BENEFICIAL TO OTHERS? Rather than answer this question directly, I would like to give a counterpart. If the media continues to bully certain ethnic groups, it’ll only develop more hate and resentment in those people. Steadily but surely, it’ll give rise to rebellions. People will stop and say,” I’ve had enough” and start taking action. There’ll be more deaths and governments will receive even more pressure. Since the situation will only worsen, it will serve as a benefit to all concerned if things can be stubbed as the way they are with the least collateral damage.  We often say “Don’t hate the player, hate the game” but this is, in fact, the opposite of what should be done. Hating the game means hating everyone involved, this includes innocent children and striving mothers, all of whom have suffered at the hands of a few people who did wrong and now more and more people suffer because of them and I think we have enough proof to relay that people are suffering while we, as a group, have been blaming a lot of people for things they never did.

I must say we are so lucky and happy that we have a family so loving, caring and amazing. They have always been an integral part of our life and so we are in their lives. But, it's not the same in everyone else’s lives. In some corner of your town, there is a person who is broken both emotionally and mentally with loneliness and endless thoughts that never end. It's some sort of physical mark that never disappears and no one else cares. By broken family, it merely does not mean your parents are separated or don't live together, it also means isolation and a lack of attention we face despite having them.  Broken families may have several reasons. It can be child adoption, financial issues, misunderstandings, health conditions, and even early pregnancy. Whatever the reasons behind it, it severely affects the mental, physical and emotional development as well as the spiritual being of a child. People who grew up in broken families are always embarrassed, depressed and numb. They start comparing their families constantly with others and end up being aggressive, disappointed, and angry; leading to mental conflict. What must it feel growing up like this? Everyone else gets picked up by their parents after school, gets pocket money for tiffin, have many friends to hang out with, have parents attending school events and festivals. On the other hand, you are left with guilt and expectations that never come true. Most of all, you don’t like to share these with anybody else and grow up into a person different from the rest. Doesn’t It hurt? Yes, it does. Don't worry! At least our families are not broken.  It’s like we never know the tragedy, hardships, difficulties, and misfortune they are facing from their early ages. And we so-called ‘smart people’ never stop calling them anti-social, stupid, silly, unlikeable and inhuman. It needs to be noted that any judgment passed based on personal biases and experiences, it's never a judgment, but only one's outlook to others. People say they are difficult to deal with but who knows they just need a little love and care to change. Their outside is stone carved but inside, they must be a beautiful soul that they never like to show.  They are also the ones who know how to uphold people and happiness since they will do whatever it takes to stop losing more and more people in their lives. It just needs to make them believe that people do care. With their challenging life experiences, you can learn how to be emotionally stronger, independent, exist in an affliction, handle embarrassment and deal with sufferings that may knock at the door of your life in the future(let us hope not so!).