Everyday after school, I meet up with my best friend. To tell you about my friend, she’s great! She understands everything I say, and is always there when I cry. Oh yeah, I cry a lot. All the kids in school treat me very differently. They say I’m a weird kid who is crazy. Before, I used to cry alone. I went way into the forest, a place all adults tell kids not to go to. But on days when I could not control myself, I ran into the forest. I stayed there for a long time. Some days I stayed there for hours on end. I stopped doing that, however, after I met the friend I was talking about. She sat beside me out of nowhere one day. It wasn’t some place a kid like her should be in but I wasn’t one to talk. I assumed she had a situation similar to mine so I started talking to her. And that was exactly when it started. After that, we met up everyday in front of my house and started hanging out. She was my first and only friend. So, I talked a lot. She didn’t talk much, she just listened. I paid it no mind though. I wasn’t going to judge someone else the same way others did to me. She became my only friend and I hers. That made me strong enough not to cry due to the school bullies.
When I first met her in the forest, I asked her for her name. She seemed aloof as if she didn’t know her name. All she did was stare at the sky. So, I took the privilege of picking a name for her. Since she always stared at the sky, I called her ‘Stella’. She seemed happy, at least I think she did since she cracked a smile. I’ve been calling her Stella ever since.
I invite her to my home sometimes. My mom seems to act weird whenever she comes over. Her face seemed worried, I don’t know why. Maybe because she’s so thin that she got worried if she’s eating. Another weird thing my mom does is always serve for one person, my half, when she’s around. I’ve told her to bring for Stella so many times but I guess she forgets every time. So, I go and grab her half everytime. We also play together in the park. The people look at me with weird eyes everytime I play so I get angsty but playing with Stella was enough to make me ignore them.
One day my mom got curious about Stella. Must be because the people saw us playing together in the park and talked about it with my mom. So, I told her all about Stella. How I met her, her name and everything we do throughout our time together. I could not understand my mom’s expression when I told her about Stella. But then again, there are a lot of weird things adults do that I don’t understand.
For a few months, everything went normally. I went to school, got picked at and came back. Well, maybe it wasn’t so normal. But it felt so to me since it happened to me on a daily basis. I disregarded the thought though. Now that I had a friend, it was useless to get worked up about it. Having said that, strange things kept on happening. My mom took me to the hospital more frequently. People in white coats talked to me for lengthy periods. They asked me how I spend my day, and what I do at school. All seemed strange to me, but I guess my mother got worked up about me being ostracized but I’d grown calluses toward it. That’s how a series of months flew by under my eye.
It was finally here, the month of spooks as they say. October, the month of Halloween, the nights of terror, desolation, trepidation and horrors to come. At least that’s what they say and want us to believe but we knew that it was a time of fun. Dress up as cute ghosts and get treats. Couldn’t be a better holiday for us. I mean who wouldn’t want a basket full of treats. And unlike all the other times, this time I had someone to accompany me. That’s right, Stella. I’d prepared a cute vampire dress for the both of us. Took me a few weeks to prepare it but it was worth the pain. You could even say both of us looked bloody good. Anyway, judgement day arrived. Well, night to be specific, but that’s beside the point.
We head out to the front door. My mom was waiting there for me to see me off. I felt like this was such an auspicious day, we definitely need a picture of this moment, especially me with Stella. So, I asked my mom to take a picture for me. She seemed hesitant, I don’t know why. I mean what kind of mother wouldn’t wanna take a picture of their own son with his friend. I sort of forced mom to take the picture and went on with our journey across the city.
The trick-or-treat part didn’t go as I thought it would, however. I was still getting chocolates and other goodies like usual. But the eerie thing was that Stella wasn’t getting any. I thought it was whatever for the first few houses but it went on. Everyone continued to ignore her even though I signalled that she was actually there. All of them just laughed as if it was a part of my play. I, however, wasn’t so jolly about it. I got very furious. So much so, that I decided to return back home without even getting through the block.
When we got back home another weird thing happened. There were people there. People other than my mom. People who seemed familiar to me. It was the same people in white who used to talk to me for lengthy periods of time. Why were they there? It all seemed so…sudden. Also with Stella being ignored the whole day, everything was so unreal.
I’d guessed the people were doctors since they dress in white coats as well. The one who seemed like the head doctor approached me and asked me about Stella, about how I met her, how I know her and all sorts of things. The feeling that I got during this interrogation was the same as the time before during trick-or-treat. But this time I was sure, he spoke with the clear intention that Stella wasn’t real. In the end, he told me something that was hard for me to swallow. He told me that my friend, my only friend, wasn’t actually real. The audacity, it was laughable with the claims. What did he know about her? Sure she didn’t talk much but she was there for me when others weren’t. He had no right to speak about her as if she didn’t exist. Infuriated, I had decided to shut him up. We had taken a picture together earlier. If I just show it to him then he will have to admit that he was wrong. I snatched the iPad from my mom and opened the gallery. Now he would surely admit that he was wrong. What? The picture…it wasn’t complete. This had to be some kind of glitch or a mistake. Why was I the only one in it? This didn’t make any sense. This is like– it's as if what the doctor said was true. Is it? I don’t know. I panicked and looked up to see that she wasn’t there. Stella was nowhere to be seen. Surely this was a dream. I had to wake up, right? I pinched myself, cried, jumped, did everything that I possibly could but I didn’t wake up. Meaning, this was reality. The doctor stepped forward to explain. No, no, no I couldn’t accept it.
I ran. Ran away from my home and into the forest. The doctors couldn’t catch up to me. I went blindly ahead. I tripped, fell, got caught in a bush, but I still kept running. I reached the place where I always went before. The days when I used to cry. Never had I thought that I would come back. Especially after meeting Stella. I stayed there for a long time. I couldn’t think of anything. Just when my eyes were about to fall into slumber, I saw her. Her, the girl, Stella. Ha ha. I knew it was a mistake. She was right there, with me.
***
Unable to pursue the boy, the mom and the doctors called the police. They arrived at the scene shortly with their torches lit bright and trained K9s at the leash. The mother was emotionally unstable so she had to be put aside. The doctors explained the situation in her stead. After getting up to speed, the police covered the entire forest and started entering. They checked each bush, pit, opening, you name it. They came across a restricted area. They found it strange. They looked it up in their database. Surprisingly, the entire forest was a remnant of some facility. A military facility, now abandoned. What was left in it were the landmines to keep trespassers out but they were mostly inactive. Seeing a gap big enough that a child could enter, they were convinced that the boy went in there. So they went in. As they grew closer, the dogs grew agitated, signalling that their person was close. And so he was. The boy nestled underneath a tree. But they found it strange. The boy was talking. He had to be the only one there. They shone their flashlights in the direction of the boy. What welcomed them was a sight of despair. There was a corpse, rotting with worms and bugs making it their home. Some cops looked away in disgust while others were in shock. The body description of the girl however was familiar to the cops. It was something that seemed familiar to them. One of the cops opened their case-files titled ‘Missing’. And there she was. The girl. The same girl who the boy was so fond of. The exact depiction of what he described her as. The date however, was 10 years ago. The boy had made a friend. A friend with a girl who was no longer alive. A friend who died. A ghost.
कर भनेको हामी सबैले सधैँ सुन्दै र तिर्दै आइरहेका छौँ तर खासमा कर भनेको के हो ? कर एक अनिवार्य वित्तीय शुल्क हो वा विभिन्न सरकारी खर्च तिर्न सर्वसाधारणबाट उठाइएको शुल्क हो । सरकारले हरेक वस्तु, साधन, हरेक मानिसको आम्दानी तथा व्यापारिक नाफामा कर लगाएको हुन्छ । कर समयमा भुक्तानी गर्न असफल भएमा वा कर छली गरेमा कानुनले दण्ड दिने हक पनि रहेको हुन्छ । देशको राजस्व आम्दानी गर्न संसारका लगभग हरेक देशमा कर लगाइएको हुन्छ । करहरू धेरै प्रकारका हुन्छन्, जस्तैः सम्पत्ति कर, आय कर, बिक्री कर, मूल्य अभिवृद्धि कर र अन्य ।
कर भनेको जनताबाट पैसा उठाउने सरकारको माध्यम हो । कर कुनै पनि देशका लागि धेरै महत्त्वपूर्ण हुन्छ किनभने कर हामी सर्वसाधारणको हितमा नै प्रयोग हुन्छ । सरकारले करको मद्दतले नै हामीलाई सुविधाहरू दिने गर्दछ । सरकारले करको माध्ययमबाट नै स्वास्थ्यको सुविधा, शिक्षाको सुविधा, सुरक्षाको सुविधा र अन्य थुप्रै सुविधाहरू प्रदान गर्छ र सरकारका लागि काम गर्ने हरेक कर्मचारीको ज्याला र तलब यही करबाट दिइन्छ ।
धेरै मानिसहरूले प्रत्येक वर्ष, प्रत्येक दिन कर तिरेको गुनासो गर्छन् र सबै करहरू सरकारको खल्तीमा जान्छ भन्ने कुरा सोच्छन् तर त्यस्तो नभएर सरकारले विभिन्न विकास कार्य र जनताको कल्याणमा कर प्रयोग गर्छ । कसले तिर्ने भन्ने आधारमा करलाई विभिन्न किसिममा वर्गीकरण गरिएको छः प्रत्यक्ष र अप्रत्यक्ष कर ।
प्रत्यक्ष कर व्यक्तिहरूमा लगाइने कर हाे । प्रत्यक्ष कर करदाताको कुल आम्दानीमा लगाइन्छ । प्रत्यक्ष कर भन्नाले कुनै व्यक्ति वा संस्थाले उक्त संस्थालाई प्रत्यक्ष रूपमा तिर्ने कर हो । उदाहरणको लागि हामीले विभिन्न सम्पत्ति कर, आय कर, बिक्री करहरू सिधै सरकारलाई तिर्छौं । धेरै मानिसहरूलाई थाहा नहोला कि व्यावहारिक रूपमा सबैले कर तिर्छन्, विशेष गरी अप्रत्यक्ष करहरू । यो किनभने हामीले उपभोग गर्ने लगभग सबै उत्पादनहरूमा कर लगाइएको हुन्छ । सरल भाषामा परिभाषित गर्नुपर्दा अप्रत्यक्ष कर भन्नाले कुनै व्यक्ति वा संस्थाले उक्त संस्थालाई अप्रत्यक्ष रूपमा तिर्ने कर हो । अप्रत्यक्ष करहरू वस्तु र सेवाहरूको उत्पादन वा आयात र निर्यात वा लेनदेनहरूमा लगाइन्छ । अप्रत्यक्ष करहरूमा बिक्री कर, अन्तःशुल्क कर, भन्सार करहरू समावेश हुन्छन् ।
लुडविग भ्यान बिथाेभेन एक जर्मन पियानोवादक र सङ्गीतकार थिए, जाे व्यापक रूपमा संसारका सबैभन्दा उत्कृष्ट सङ्गीतकार मानिन्छन् । बुबा जोहान भ्यान बिथाेभेन र आमा मारिया माग्डालेना केभेरिचका जेठा छोरा लुडविग भ्यान बिथाेभेनको जन्म डिसेम्बर, १७७० मा जर्मनीको बोनमा भएको थियो । उनी सङ्गीतकारले भरिएको परिवारमा जन्मिएको थिए । उनको बुबा जोहान भ्यान बिथाेभेन एक फ्लेमिस-जर्मन सङ्गीतकार, शिक्षक तथा गायक थिए जाे कोलोनको आर्कबिसपको च्यापलमा प्रस्तुति गर्थे । बिथोभेका बुबा मदिरा सेवनको कुलतमा फसेका थिए र लुडविगलाई दुर्व्यवहार गर्थे । दुर्व्यवहार गरे पनि सुरुवाती चरणमा कठोर र गहन रूपमा उनले बिथाेभेनलाई सङ्गीत सिकाएका थिए । बिथाेभेनको सङ्गीत प्रतिभा सानै उमेरमा देखिएकाले जोहानले उनको उमेर घटाएर वास्तविकताभन्दा कम उमेरको देखाउने अनेक प्रयास पनि गरेका थिए । अपमानजनक परिवारमा हुर्के पनि उनले सङ्गीतलाई अँगाले र इतिहासकै सर्वश्रेष्ठ रचनाकारहरूमध्ये एक बन्न पुगे ।
लुडविग भ्यान बिथाेभेनले लेखेका र प्रदर्शन गरेका अनेक कृतिहरू पश्चिमी सङ्गीत इतिहासमा रहेका प्रशंसनीय कृतिहरूमध्ये पर्दछन् । उनका कृतिहरू पश्चिमी शास्त्रीय सङ्गीतमा व्यापक रूपमा प्रदर्शन भएका कृतिहरूको माझमा पर्छन् । उनको सङ्गीतलाई भावनामा परिणत गर्ने क्षमताका कारणले उनलाई इतिहासकै सबैभन्दा प्रतिभाशाली सङ्गीतकारको रूपमा चिन्ने गरिन्छ ।
बिथाेभेन केवल यही कारणले मात्रै सफल भएका हैनन् । उनको जीवनबाट हामीले असङ्ख्य प्रेरणा पाउन सक्छौँ । छब्बिस वर्षको कलिलो उमेरदेखि नै उनले बहिराेपन महसुस गर्न थाले । सङ्गीतकार हुनुको ठुलो हिस्सा भनेको आफूले रचना गरेका सुमुधुर धुनहरूको मज्जा लिनु हो । बिथाेभेनले अब यो कार्य गर्न सक्दैनथे । उनको बहिराेपन अस्थिर र प्रगतिशील थियो । प्रगतिशील भएका कारण उनले एक्कासि आफ्नो श्रवण शक्ति गुमाएका थिएनन् । उनको बहिराेपन अलिकति अलिकति गर्दै समयसँगै खराब हुँदै गयो । आफ्नो ब्यथा उनले “heiligenstadt testament” मा पोखेका थिए, “तर कस्तो अपमान, जब मेरो छेउमा बसेकोले टाढा टाढाबाट बाँसुरीको सुमुधुर धुन सुन्ने मौका पायो तर मैले केही पनि सुनिनँ । कसैले दुर कतै गोठालाले गएको सुन्यो तर फेरि मैले केही पनि सुनिनँ । यस्ताे घटनाले मलाई निराशाको छेउमा पुर्याएको थियो र मैले मेरो जीवनको अन्त्य गर्ने सोचेँ तर केवल कलाले मलाई रोकेको थियो । यो संसार त्याग्न तबसम्म असम्भव मानेँ, जबसम्म मैले आफूले उत्पादन गर्न सकेजति नगरेसम्म । त्यसैले मैले यो दयनीय अस्तित्व सहेर बसेँ ।”
बहिरो हुनु सामान्य मानिसका लागि पनि सुखद अनुभव हैन । शरीरका लागि महत्त्वपूर्ण हुने इन्द्रियहरूमध्ये एक गुमाउनु जोसुकैका लागि डरलाग्दो हुन्छ । एक प्रतिभाशाली सङ्गीतकारले आफ्नो श्रवण शक्ति गुमाउनु भनेको आफ्नो जोस तथा आफ्नो जीवनको भविष्यलाई जोखिममा राख्नु हो । बिथाेभेनको भविष्यका लागि यो ठुलो चुनौती थियो किनभने श्रवण शक्ति गुमाउनु भनेको सङ्गीतको आधा हिस्सा गुमाउनु हो ।
आश्चर्यको कुरा के हो भने बिथाेभेनले आफ्नो कार्यकालका सबैभन्दा प्रतिष्ठित र व्यापक रूपमा ज्ञात कृतिहरू यही समयमा लेखेका थिए । उनले सुन्न नसके पनि आफ्नो प्रतिभाको प्रयोग गरेर कृतिहरू रचना गरेका थिए । उनी आफूले प्रदर्शन गर्न नसके पनि रचना गर्थे तर प्रदर्शन गर्ने काम कोही आर्कै व्यक्तिले गर्थे । मुनलाइट सोनाटा, ह्यामरक्लाभियर र अन्य सिम्फोनीहरू उनले आफू बहिरो हुँदै गर्दा रचना गरेका थिए । नवाैँ सिम्फाेनी लेख्दा त उनी पूर्णतया बहिरा नै थिए । उनी यी कृतिहरू रचना गर्दा पूर्ण रूपमा बहिरा भए पनि यी रचनाले बिथाेभेनलाई पश्चिमी शास्त्रीय सङ्गीतमा पौराणिक व्यक्तित्वको स्थान दिलाएका छन् ।
५६ वर्षको उमेरमा उनले आफ्नो अन्तिम श्वास फेरे । उनको जीवनबाट हामीले बुझ्न सक्छौँ कि जस्तो परिस्थिति आइपरे पनि हार मान्नु हुँदैन । बिथाेभेनले हार मानेका भए उनका सबैभन्दा प्रसिद्ध रचनाहरूमा जस्तै “सि माइनर, ओपमा सिम्फाेनी नम्बर ५” आज हुने थिएनन् । मुनलाइट सोनाटाजस्ता रचनाहरू हुने थिएनन् । सङ्गीतकलाका माध्यमबाट भावना महसुस गराउने शक्ति भएका लुडविग भ्यान बिथाेभेन एक उत्कृष्ट सङ्गीतकार हुन् र उनका रचनाहरूले विश्वव्यापी सफलता हासिल गरेका छन् ।
The term “Trust” means to rely on another person because one feel safe with them and has confidence that they will not hurt or betray you. Trust is the foundation in any relationship. Trust is fundamental to life, if you can't trust in anything, life becomes intolerable. One cannot have a good relationship without trust. If you don't trust you will always feel insecure somewhere with the other one. A trusted relationship can be with anybody in the life we are connected to such as :- Mother, Father, relatives, friends, life partner, business partner, son, daughter etc. Trust is not shown only with others but also trust is shown within ownself. If you can't trust yourself, your capability or your ability to do something in your life can never be achieved. Success is far until you trust onself.
In today's world Trust has become the most important part in one's life. There is a lack of Trust with everyone you are engaged with. Also loving someone is way easier than trusting anybody. There are some few elements that hold our world together. The one that is the backbone of the society is Trust. Trust is hard to define, but we always know it when it's lost. When that happens, we withdraw our energy and level of engagement. We go on an internal strike, not wanting to be sympathetic to the person who we feel has hurt us. Once we will break someone's Trust, then the other person is likely to never Trust on you for the same reason. As a result, the person pulls back from us and will no longer feel part of their world. This loss of Trust can be obvious or somewhat hidden. On the other hand, trust makes people feel eager to be a part of a relationship, group, or company. And it makes people feel comfortable to depend on each other. When trust is not broken , we will be ready to contribute what is needed from our side not just by offering our presence but also by sharing our dedication, skills and energy. Whereas if the level of trust is low in a relationship or organization, people limit their involvement with everything related to a person. People often feel that distrust is not safe to share. So a person who may be a leader or loved one may be slow to discover that they have lost a person's trust. When we depend on a leader, family member or friend, we can feel vulnerable, and we need trust to manage the anxiety of the feeling. When trust is present, things go well, but when trust is lost, the relationship is at risk. Today many marriages are being wrecked just because of the lack of trust.
Today everyone has some sort of problems. Everyone needs support not only financially but also moral or emotional support. One can just give emotional support by just trusting him/her. If you fully trust somebody then, the other person also feels somewhere bad when betraying your trust and one day he will surely feel sorry about you. People have become so selfish that it's hard to even trust anybody for small works. That's why today every organization, every person keeps paper documents or clips as evidence for their work with others, not because it's mandatory. There is a trust issue within us and within everybody. People while giving just small work to somebody feels insecure until the work is completed just because of the trust issue. So i think that, in today's world, these are common, but to make the relationships best, you have to trust rather than anything.
The word "Veda" is derived from the verb "Vid" and means "knowledge" or "means of acquiring knowledge". The Vedas are thought to have been created by God for the benefit of mankind long before humans were even created. It is said that there was only one Veda but later, during the period of Mahabharat, Maharshi Veda Vyasa divided the Veda into four parts, naming it Rig, Sama, Yajur, and Atharva Vedas.
The Vedas are a group of hymns and other ancient religious texts written between 1500 and 1000 BCE. It contains liturgical material as well as mythological accounts, poems, prayers, and formulas held sacred by the Hindu religion. Each Veda has a number of branches known as Shakas. Rig Veda, for example, has Shakala Shaka and Bhaskala. Similarly, Yajur Veda has Taittiriya and Katha, among many others. You can think of them as Physics departments (Atomic, Theoretical, Nuclear, Quantum, Thermodynamics, and more). The Vedas' goal is to assist mankind in maintaining consciousness of the soul within and preventing them from being dissatisfied in the materialistic world. The Vedas are primarily intended to be followed in order to sustain Dharmacharan (Righteousness) in society and maintain man's happiness. Following the Vedas as a result aids man in achieving Final Liberation (Moksha). The Vedas, on the other hand, are not solely concerned with spirituality and God-realization; they also contain worldly conceptions. Every Veda is related with a Deity, and has "Up Vedas" (sub-Vedas). The Rig Veda is related with Lord Brahma and has 8 branches and incorporates the Ayurveda (medication). The Yajur Veda is related with Lord Vishnu, has 86 branches and incorporates the Dhanurveda (combative techniques). The Samaveda is likewise connected with Lord Vishnu, has 1000 branches and incorporates the Gandharvaveda (investigation of all artistic expressions: including music, dance and verse). The Atharvaveda is related with Lord Indra, has 9 branches and incorporates the Arthashastra (monetary approach and military procedure).
Not believing in religion is a common trend now, but I believe the idea of Science is not to not believe in religion but to question everything and you cannot disprove something you have no knowledge about. So, I think everyone should read texts like Vedas or the Bible at least once in their life.
१२ कक्षा उत्तीर्ण भएपछि हामी मात्र नभई हामीजस्ता कति विद्यार्थीहरू आफ्नो बाँकी पढाइ पुरा गर्न विदेश जाने गर्दछन् । मैले अहिले “किन गएको ? नेपालमै बसेर पढे हुन्छ नि ।” भन्न वा जताउन खोजेको चाहिँ होइन ।
मेरो शीर्षकबाटै थाहा पाइसक्नुभयो होला । सबै त भन्दिनँ म तर हामी धेरैजना एक न एकचोटि आफ्नो साथी वा आफन्तलाई बिदाइ गर्न एयरपोर्ट गएको छौँ होला । म गएको छु र जान लागेको छु, जब मेरो साथी वा कोही एकदम मिल्ने आफन्त विदेश जान लागेको छ ।
पहिले त मलाई “विदेश त गएको हो, फर्किहाल्छ चाँडै । किन सधैँभरिका लागि जान लागेको जस्तो गरेर बसेको ?” भन्ने भावना आउँदथ्यो तर म एकदम गलत रहेछु । पछि गएर कुनै दिन त्यो देखिराख्ने मानिस गएको असर पर्न थाल्दाे रहेछ ।
मैले सुरुमा यस्तो भावना कक्षा ५ मा महसुस गरेको थिएँ । म भर्खरभर्खर जन्मिएर १८ दिनकाे हुँदा इटाली जानुभएको मेरो सानो बुबा कति वर्षपछि नेपाल आउनुभयो र आफूसँगै सानी ममी र मेरी सानी बहिनीलाई पनि ल्याउनुभयो । मलाई अझै पनि याद छ, जब उहाँ फिर्ता जाने दिन थियाे, मलाई त्यस्ताे ठुलो असर केही पनि परेन । पछि मात्र महसुस भयो कि उहाँ त दुनियाँको अर्को कुनामा हुनुहुुन्छ त । अस्ति चितवनबाट २ दिनमै फर्किएजस्तो कहाँ मिल्छ र ?
अर्को कुरा भनेको चाहिँ मात्र एक आमा अथवा बुबाले महसुस गर्न सक्ने कुरा हो । आफ्नो छोरा विदेश एक्लै जाँदै छ ? र एक्लै आउँछ ? थाहा हुँदैन । किन मैले यो कुरा उठाएँ भन्दा मेरी हजुरआमा सानो बुबा फिर्ता जाँदा रोएको मलाई याद आउँछ । सानो बुबा फेरि पछि पनि ४ चोटि फिर्ता आइसक्नुभयो तापनि मलाई यही भावनाले हरेक पटक असर गरिरहन्छ ।
अर्को किस्सा भने मेरो साथीसँग सम्बन्धित छ । अचम्मको कुरा यो रहेको छ कि मलाई आफैँ थाहा छैन कि को साथी कता गयो भनेर । धेरै साथीलाई सोधेँ पनि कि कता छस् ? भनेर । कोही १० कक्षा सकेपछि नै पढ्न भनेर विदेश गइसकेछन्, काेही भने ११ पास भएर फेरि विदेश जाने अनि ११-१२ त्यहीँ गर्ने भनेर बसिरहेछन् ।
तिनै साथीहरूमध्ये अस्ति एकदमै मिल्ने साथी स्विट्जरल्यान्ड गयो पढ्न । एयरपोर्ट जाने योजना त थियो मेरो तर साथी दिउँसो जाँदै थियाे र मेरो पढाइ हुने बेला भएको कारणले उसकाे बिदाइमा जान पाइनँ । अझै पनि म विश्वास गर्न सकिरहेको छैनँ कि अब म उसलाई कति वर्षपछि भेट्छु भनेर । १० वर्ष सँगै पढेर हामी दुई जना यसरी छुटेछौँ ।
अर्को साथी पनि जाँदै छ अब । ५ वर्ष सँगै खेल्यौँ र समय बितायौँ । अब ठुलाे भएपछि काठमाडौँको कुनै चिया पसलमा भेटेर आफ्नो बालापनको कुरा गर्ने छौँ भनेर मेरो दिमागमा यो कुरा खेलिरहन्छ । यसरी नै अब कति साथी जाने छन् । कुनै दिन म पनि जाउँला विदेश आफ्नो घरपरिवार र साथीहरू छोडेर । कोही त रोलान् नि म गएको देखेर ।
अन्धकारबाट मेरो बाटो महसुस गर्दै
धड्कन मुटुद्वारा निर्देशित
यात्रा कहाँ टुङ्गिन्छ म भन्न सक्दिनँ ।
तर मलाई थाहा छ कहाँ सुरु गर्ने
तिनीहरू मलाई बुझ्नका लागि म धेरै जवान छु भन्छन्,
तिनीहरू भन्छन्, म सपनामा परेको छु,
यदि मैले आँखा नखोले जीवनले मलाई पार गर्ने छ ।
त्यो मेरा लागि राम्रो छ,
जीवन सबैका लागि बनेको खेल हो,
प्रेम एक मूल्य हो,
यो सबै समय म आफैँलाई खोज्दै थिएँ,
र मलाई थाहा थिएन,
जहाँ म हराएको थिएँ ।
Everyday after school, I meet up with my best friend. To tell you about my friend, she’s great! She understands everything I say, and is always there when I cry. Oh yeah, I cry a lot. All the kids in school treat me very differently. They say I’m a weird kid who is crazy. Before, I used to cry alone. I went way into the forest, a place all adults tell kids not to go to. But on days when I could not control myself, I ran into the forest. I stayed there for a long time. Some days I stayed there for hours on end. I stopped doing that, however, after I met the friend I was talking about. She sat beside me out of nowhere one day. It wasn’t some place a kid like her should be in but I wasn’t one to talk. I assumed she had a situation similar to mine so I started talking to her. And that was exactly when it started. After that, we met up everyday in front of my house and started hanging out. She was my first and only friend. So, I talked a lot. She didn’t talk much, she just listened. I paid it no mind though. I wasn’t going to judge someone else the same way others did to me. She became my only friend and I hers. That made me strong enough not to cry due to the school bullies.
When I first met her in the forest, I asked her for her name. She seemed aloof as if she didn’t know her name. All she did was stare at the sky. So, I took the privilege of picking a name for her. Since she always stared at the sky, I called her ‘Stella’. She seemed happy, at least I think she did since she cracked a smile. I’ve been calling her Stella ever since.
I invite her to my home sometimes. My mom seems to act weird whenever she comes over. Her face seemed worried, I don’t know why. Maybe because she’s so thin that she got worried if she’s eating. Another weird thing my mom does is always serve for one person, my half, when she’s around. I’ve told her to bring for Stella so many times but I guess she forgets every time. So, I go and grab her half everytime. We also play together in the park. The people look at me with weird eyes everytime I play so I get angsty but playing with Stella was enough to make me ignore them.
One day my mom got curious about Stella. Must be because the people saw us playing together in the park and talked about it with my mom. So, I told her all about Stella. How I met her, her name and everything we do throughout our time together. I could not understand my mom’s expression when I told her about Stella. But then again, there are a lot of weird things adults do that I don’t understand.
For a few months, everything went normally. I went to school, got picked at and came back. Well, maybe it wasn’t so normal. But it felt so to me since it happened to me on a daily basis. I disregarded the thought though. Now that I had a friend, it was useless to get worked up about it. Having said that, strange things kept on happening. My mom took me to the hospital more frequently. People in white coats talked to me for lengthy periods. They asked me how I spend my day, and what I do at school. All seemed strange to me, but I guess my mother got worked up about me being ostracized but I’d grown calluses toward it. That’s how a series of months flew by under my eye.
It was finally here, the month of spooks as they say. October, the month of Halloween, the nights of terror, desolation, trepidation and horrors to come. At least that’s what they say and want us to believe but we knew that it was a time of fun. Dress up as cute ghosts and get treats. Couldn’t be a better holiday for us. I mean who wouldn’t want a basket full of treats. And unlike all the other times, this time I had someone to accompany me. That’s right, Stella. I’d prepared a cute vampire dress for the both of us. Took me a few weeks to prepare it but it was worth the pain. You could even say both of us looked bloody good. Anyway, judgement day arrived. Well, night to be specific, but that’s beside the point.
We head out to the front door. My mom was waiting there for me to see me off. I felt like this was such an auspicious day, we definitely need a picture of this moment, especially me with Stella. So, I asked my mom to take a picture for me. She seemed hesitant, I don’t know why. I mean what kind of mother wouldn’t wanna take a picture of their own son with his friend. I sort of forced mom to take the picture and went on with our journey across the city.
The trick-or-treat part didn’t go as I thought it would, however. I was still getting chocolates and other goodies like usual. But the eerie thing was that Stella wasn’t getting any. I thought it was whatever for the first few houses but it went on. Everyone continued to ignore her even though I signalled that she was actually there. All of them just laughed as if it was a part of my play. I, however, wasn’t so jolly about it. I got very furious. So much so, that I decided to return back home without even getting through the block.
When we got back home another weird thing happened. There were people there. People other than my mom. People who seemed familiar to me. It was the same people in white who used to talk to me for lengthy periods of time. Why were they there? It all seemed so…sudden. Also with Stella being ignored the whole day, everything was so unreal.
I’d guessed the people were doctors since they dress in white coats as well. The one who seemed like the head doctor approached me and asked me about Stella, about how I met her, how I know her and all sorts of things. The feeling that I got during this interrogation was the same as the time before during trick-or-treat. But this time I was sure, he spoke with the clear intention that Stella wasn’t real. In the end, he told me something that was hard for me to swallow. He told me that my friend, my only friend, wasn’t actually real. The audacity, it was laughable with the claims. What did he know about her? Sure she didn’t talk much but she was there for me when others weren’t. He had no right to speak about her as if she didn’t exist. Infuriated, I had decided to shut him up. We had taken a picture together earlier. If I just show it to him then he will have to admit that he was wrong. I snatched the iPad from my mom and opened the gallery. Now he would surely admit that he was wrong. What? The picture…it wasn’t complete. This had to be some kind of glitch or a mistake. Why was I the only one in it? This didn’t make any sense. This is like– it's as if what the doctor said was true. Is it? I don’t know. I panicked and looked up to see that she wasn’t there. Stella was nowhere to be seen. Surely this was a dream. I had to wake up, right? I pinched myself, cried, jumped, did everything that I possibly could but I didn’t wake up. Meaning, this was reality. The doctor stepped forward to explain. No, no, no I couldn’t accept it.
I ran. Ran away from my home and into the forest. The doctors couldn’t catch up to me. I went blindly ahead. I tripped, fell, got caught in a bush, but I still kept running. I reached the place where I always went before. The days when I used to cry. Never had I thought that I would come back. Especially after meeting Stella. I stayed there for a long time. I couldn’t think of anything. Just when my eyes were about to fall into slumber, I saw her. Her, the girl, Stella. Ha ha. I knew it was a mistake. She was right there, with me.
***
Unable to pursue the boy, the mom and the doctors called the police. They arrived at the scene shortly with their torches lit bright and trained K9s at the leash. The mother was emotionally unstable so she had to be put aside. The doctors explained the situation in her stead. After getting up to speed, the police covered the entire forest and started entering. They checked each bush, pit, opening, you name it. They came across a restricted area. They found it strange. They looked it up in their database. Surprisingly, the entire forest was a remnant of some facility. A military facility, now abandoned. What was left in it were the landmines to keep trespassers out but they were mostly inactive. Seeing a gap big enough that a child could enter, they were convinced that the boy went in there. So they went in. As they grew closer, the dogs grew agitated, signalling that their person was close. And so he was. The boy nestled underneath a tree. But they found it strange. The boy was talking. He had to be the only one there. They shone their flashlights in the direction of the boy. What welcomed them was a sight of despair. There was a corpse, rotting with worms and bugs making it their home. Some cops looked away in disgust while others were in shock. The body description of the girl however was familiar to the cops. It was something that seemed familiar to them. One of the cops opened their case-files titled ‘Missing’. And there she was. The girl. The same girl who the boy was so fond of. The exact depiction of what he described her as. The date however, was 10 years ago. The boy had made a friend. A friend with a girl who was no longer alive. A friend who died. A ghost.
If you could join a new world that provides you with a new face, a new personality, a new environment, and finally do things you could never achieve here on Earth. Would you want to only live in it? Welcome to the metaverse! Right now many people are confused about Facebook, Instagram, and Whatsapp changing its name to meta. So exactly why they did it and what is metaverse? The simplest way to visualize the metaverse is to think about yourself as a character in a video game, you can take on a new face and a new personality, interact with your own friends and family as fellow characters, and do a bunch of stuff that you could never achieve in real life.
We've progressed from desktop to phones, from text to videos, but this isn't the end, the next platform and medium will be an even more fascinating and embodied internet where you're immersed in the experience, which we call the metaverse. We will be able to do nearly everything we can imagine like getting together with friends and family, work, study, play, shop, and create whole new things which are beyond how we now think about computers or phones.
Everything you do in the metaverse can be considered valid in reality. And I know it might sound quite overwhelming to some people, let me explain how your life could level up in the future. For beginners, long-distance relationships will no longer exist.
Because we will experience the closest things to teleportation. The partner you miss so badly, your remote coworkers, friends you’ve never seen since last year can now be present in the same room as you and it will all feel real as if they’re right there beside you. You'll be able to attend both real and Metaverse concerts together, visit fascinating tourist sports built by virtual creators, and even play games and sports with anybody in the world by just wearing a VR headset and a haptic suit.
Everything we do online now, whether it's socializing, playing games, or working, will be more natural and realistic. This isn’t about spending more time on screens. It's about making the time we already spend more productive. Screens just cannot capture the entire range of human emotion and connection. They can’t deliver the deep feeling of presence, but the next version of the internet can. That's what we should be working towards technology that builds around people, and how we actually experience the world and interact with each other. That’s what the metaverse is all about. Metaverse will be a part of our lives in the same exact way. Mark Zuckerberg knows it very well, and that is why Facebook is now known as Meta.
In the metaverse, everyone starts from zero. In the same way, a regular person can tweet to a celebrity online, anyone can meet up with a Hollywood star in that virtual world. And their avatars can share meaningful experiences together. After all, the metaverse is meant to be its own world. You also have the right to own the things you see there. From the very outfit your avatar is wearing, the title to the virtual land you’re spending time in, down to the digital art that people now call NFTs. And as we’re on business and money, just imagine shopping in a virtual mall. Unlike on shopping apps where you just judge from the screen, here you will get to pick up the actual product from the brand’s Metaverse stores, feel it with your hands and literally add it to your digital cart. Just imagine disabled people can just log onto the metaverse and finally perform things they have never physically done before. Architects can create the most beautiful metaverse structures without attempting to follow structural physics laws. From their homes, students can attend virtual campuses and interact with classmates from across the world.
Today’s kids will work in metaverse-focused jobs. The same way we right now work in social media. Of course, as we get excited about all of this, we cannot deny valid questions such as. How will this virtual world affect our health? And most importantly, what if people want to only live in it, to actually leave the real world? Only time will answer these questions. But as we move closer to the future era of living with the Metaverse, I hope we use it to make us feel more connected and not disconnected from reality.
हालैका वर्षहरूमा महिला श्रमशक्तिको उच्च सहभागिता दरका साथ नेपालले लैङ्गिक समानतामा ठुलो फड्को मारेको छ तर अझै पनि सुधारका अवसरहरू छन् । विश्व बैङ्कले नेपाललाई विश्वकै गरिब राष्ट्रको सूचीमा राखेको छ । २०१४ मानव विकास सूचकाङ्कमा यो १८७ देशहरूमध्ये १४५ औँ स्थानमा थियो । अन्य धेरै संस्कृतिहरूजस्तै नेपालमा पनि पितृसत्तात्मक समाज छ । शैक्षिक, आर्थिक र राजनीतिक स्रोतहरूमा महिलाको पहुँच अत्यन्तै सीमित छ । वर्ल्ड इकोनोमिक फोरमले विश्वव्यापी लैङ्गिक अन्तर प्रतिवेदन तयार गरेको छ । भौगोलिक क्षेत्र, जात, वर्ग, धर्म, जाति र बसोबासको स्थान अनुसार नेपालमा महिलाहरूले भोग्नुपरेका समस्याहरू र तिनीहरूको सामाजिक र आर्थिक अवस्था व्यापक रूपमा भिन्न हुन्छ ।
नेपालमा आर्थिक रूपमा सक्रिय महिलाहरू छन्, जसको आर्थिक स्रोतको पहुँच छैन । बेतलबी परिवारको तीन चौथाइ श्रमशक्ति महिला छन् । खेतीपाती, घरायसी आर्थिक गतिविधि विस्तार गर्न र घरपरिवारको हेरचाहमा महिलाहरूले पुरुषलाई पछि पार्छन् । औपचारिक रोजगारी र वैकल्पिक जीविकोपार्जनको अभावले देशको आर्थिक वृद्धिमा महिलाहरूको सहभागितामा बाधा पुर्याउँछ र उनीहरूलाई योगदान दिन अनुमति दिन्छ । लैङ्गिक मापनको अर्थ महिलाले अस्पष्ट हेरचाह प्रदान गर्न जारी राख्छ जसले सशुल्क काममा हस्तक्षेप गर्दछ, जस्तै छनौट, प्रकार, र स्थान ।
हाल देशमा लैङ्गिक असमानता घटाउने काम भइरहेको छ । महिला, बालबालिका तथा कल्याण मन्त्रालयले ग्रामीण नेपालका लाखौँ महिलालाई एजेन्सी बन्न प्रोत्साहित गर्न शक्तिशाली महिला विकास कार्यक्रम सुरु गरेको छ । यो गरिबी विरुद्ध लड्न एक लक्षित, राष्ट्रव्यापी हस्तक्षेप हो । सामाजिक परिचालन, संस्था निर्माण, हालसालै, ग्रामीण व्यापार प्रवर्द्धनमा उनको अद्वितीय दृष्टिकोणको लागि पनि प्राेत्साहन गरिएको छ ।
देशकाे कार्यक्रम रणनीति २०१३-२०१७ ले लैङ्गिक असमानतालाई नेपालमा प्रमुख सामाजिक समस्याको रूपमा पहिचान गरेको छ । शिक्षा, स्वास्थ्य सेवा, पोषण, सरसफाइ, स्वच्छ खानेपानी, संरक्षण, सबै बालबालिका, किशोरकिशोरी र महिलाका लागि सूचना र अन्य सेवाहरूमा पहुँचमा रहेका तीनवटा प्रमुख असमानतालाई प्रत्यक्ष रूपमा सम्बोधन गर्ने र यसको अस्तित्व र विकास पुरा गर्ने रणनीतिको समग्र लक्ष्य रहेको छ ।
नेपाल एउटा कृषि प्रधान मुलुक हो l त्यसैले यहाँ कृषिसम्बन्धी अनेक प्रकारकf व्यवसायहरू गरिँदै आएका छन् l त्यस्ता कृषि व्यवसायमध्ये माछा पालन पनि एक महत्त्वापूर्ण व्यवसायका रूपमा विकसित हुँदै आएको छ l विभिन्न प्रकारका उन्नत जातका माछाहरूको उचित पालनलाई माछा पालन भन्न सकिन्छ l
माछा पालनाका लागि ज्ञानका साथै उचित वातावरणको पनि आवश्कता पर्दछ l राम्रो हावापानी, जलस्राेतको उचित व्यवस्था, मलिलो माटो भएको उपयुक्त जग्गाको छनोट गरी आधुनिक तरिकाले पोखरीको निर्माण गरेर उन्नत जातका माछाहरू पाल्न सकेमा माछा पालन व्यवसाय सफल हुन सक्छ र यसबाट प्रशस्त फाइदा लिन पनि सकिन्छ l माछामा मानिसको शरीरलाई अत्यावश्क पर्ने प्रोटिन पाइने भएकाले थोरै खर्च एवम् जग्गामा धेरै आम्दानी हुने हुँदा आज माछा पालन व्यवसाय लोकप्रिय बन्दै गइरहेको छ l
नेपाल एउटा कृषि प्रधान देश भएकाले यहाँको अर्थतन्त्र पनि कृषिमै आधारित छ l माछा पालन व्यवसाय पनि कृषिसँग सम्बन्धित एउटा अभिन्न अङ्ग हो । नेपालको अथाह एवम् अपार जल सम्पदाको सदुपयोग गर्न माछा पालन व्यवसायमा बढी जोड दिनुपर्ने देखिन्छ । यसबाट आवश्यक मात्रामा प्रोटिन तत्त्व प्राप्त हुनुका साथै देशका धेरैजसो गरिब किसानहरूको जीवनस्तर उठाउन सहयोग पुग्दछ ।
कृषिका विभिन्न निकायसँग समन्वयात्मक रूपमा सम्बन्ध कायम गरी माछा पालन व्यवसाय गर्दा प्रतिएकाइ क्षेत्रफलमा धेरै आर्थिक लाभ हुने हुनाले यस व्यवसायको महत्त्व बढिरहेको छ । साना किसानको गरिबी हटाउन पनि याे व्यवसायले निकै महत्त्वपूर्ण भूमिका खेलिरहेको छ । नेपालमा माछा पालन व्यवसायको सम्भावना प्रशस्त रहेकाले सम्बन्धित निकायले यसको प्रवर्धनमा ध्यान दिन सके व्यक्तिको मात्र नभएर देशकै आर्थिक वृद्धिमा टेवा पुग्ने कुरामा दुई मत हुन सक्दैन।
Vagabond is the best samurai manga in the industry . It is written by Inoue Takehiko who might as well be regarded as the godfather of realistic art filled manga . He is a pioneer of his style of manga and no matter how much time and effort other mangakas put in their work it is ludicrous to even think it will match this level of brilliance . Inoue Takehiko is not just a lucky man who happened to make this manga as a one off with no backing of other works as great as this.
Vagabond began it's serialization in late 90s directly after the completion of Slam dunk the manga. It is inspired from Eiji Yoshikawa's world famous Novel "Musashi '' . Now as the title suggests the manga has its lead character by the name of Shinmen Takezo who later changed his name to Miyamoto Musashi to later go on and became the strongest and the most renowned swordsman in the history of japan . Although not yet mentioned in the manga it is believed that he has a total of 61 undefeated 61 duels . He is also considered a sword saint in Japan . Already got you hooked, didn't I ? Now this is just a brief history of the man in the actual manga there is so much more than that .Regardless, even if this manga is never finished, it is still a seminal masterpiece in the industry that everyone should read. the amount of artistry, research, and raw passion that went into it are undeniable . Put simply, there is not a manga that I could recommend more .
Slam dunk is another one of Inoue Takehiko's basketball based manga in a school setting . It is another out of body reading experience which will just engross you into the beautiful world of basketball . The art is unquestionably one of the best we have ever seen in the manga industry for the longest time . The characters are so amazingly drawn but not only that they are so amazingly written . They have purpose , goals , passion , ambition . It is clearly reflected in the story arcs of the manga . Apart from the matches looking exactly real, the setting of the match is also real . I mean that some matches go on for multiple volumes while some may end in half a volume . With no idea of the timeframe of the match you will be enticed and hooked to know what happens next and when it ends exactly the next moment , you will be like " I didn't know there could be mangas that end without the Mcs winning ". Not that I'm saying they will lose for sure . But there are mystery elements that you are not sure if it's ending early or late . Long story short, read slam dunk.
