6 Feb 2009 bibekpaudel   » (Apprentice)

Diversity in Darkness


Darkness
One reason why I haven’t been able to blog frequently is the latest improvements in the load-shedding schedule (of which I have now lost track). The improvement took the duration of power outages to 16 hours and then, sadly, brought it down to 14 hours. Oh, I forgot to mention the unit, that’s hours per day- yes, 16 hours per day. There were rumors of more improvements which, much to my dismay, haven’t been declared as of yet. The illegal act of bringing down the duration to 10-hours a day, sadly was a failed conspiracy on part of some anti-national elements, very likely “foreign elements” or “domestic regressive and fundamentalist forces.” So, that’s an update to my earlier post on the divine darkness on this divine land.

Ok, there’s a reason for adding that adjective before “darkness.” Darkness can do wonders. Darkness can inspire people to dream of light, hope and brightness. If it weren’t for darkness, whoever discovered electricity and invented light bulbs and dynamos would have no motivation for his work. We can hope that, someday our proud country can also enter the bright age of industrial, electronic, space and digital revolution, in case we don’t have to redo the stone age’s fire-and-wheel revolution. Hinduism’s cycle of life (birth-death-rebirth) confirms with this cycle of revolution.

My life, like many of ours’, has been revolving around this divinity, and I shall forever remain very grateful to whoever is responsible for blessing me with this opportunity. I wake up to find there’s no power and usually that makes me stay longer in bed. I come home, to find that power will resume from midnight or past that. Sometimes, power supply and I seem to coexist. There are four-hour bouts of such sad moments when I try my most to waste my time in front of my computer. There’s no time for other electronic media or devices. Four hours is a lot of time for anyone who knows that. In fact, that’s almost enough for anyone in Nepal to do anything. Ok, then again, goes off the supply of power. I try to call friends who might be available for a walk, talk or tea. Luckily, for the already-problematic telephone towers, there’s a credible looking reason to remain down- power cuts. Apart from friends, tea and walk, there are books too. If you’re out for something, you don’t want to come home because home’s not as sweet without power, your computer and all the work you can/have to do there. If you’ve been waiting for my mail reply, for me to be online on IM or IRC, or have some important task with me that you want done quick, sorry folks. I might look too busy and in fact I am :) I have a few deadlines to meet, for which I struggle, the eternal procrastinator that I am. And four-hour sessions are almost enough to put any deadline to shame.

Diversity
Cliched as it may sound, Nepal has earned a reputation for her cultural, natural, geographical and biological diversity. The country ranks between 25th and 30th on the global scale and 11th on the continental scale for richness in floral (plant) diversity. For a small country (the size of Arkansas), Nepal has great physical diversity, ranging from the Tarai Plain - the northern rim of the Gangetic Plain situated at about 60 meters above sea level in the south — to the 8850-meter-high Mount Everest (wikipedia text). This variation occurs within a stretch of 200 km.

I have loved my country for one more reason. Partly because of the cultural and ethnic diversity, Nepal can boast of a unique collection of indigenous liquor. In plain terms, Nepal is also a country of alcoholic diversity. With every ethnic group, is associated “at least” one variation of home-made liquor. Every such group has “at least” one festival or ritual that is incomplete or inauspicious without the use of such liquor. Varieties of spirit have been named after places (”Marfa” for a kind of home-made apple brandy popular in a place called Marpha) and plants (”kodo” for a drink made from millet- called “kodo” in Nepali). Some have Tibetan names too. They come in many varieties, color, taste and vessels. There’s one famous in the Eastern hills, called “Tongba” that comes in bamboo vessels, with a straw to sip the hot drink. And there are many methods to prepare these drinks, all with local skills and specialties. Much of the country is hilly, most people are (they used to be at least) farmers and a large part of the year in these parts is cold. Home-made drinks are cheap, strong and invigorating. I don’t have the facts, but I guess they are healthy too, as long as they are made by an original Nepali family (from the countryside: honest, innocent and harmless. read: altruistic, helpful and happy), which as you might know, are hard to find these days.

So, that’s an unconventional introduction to Nepal: as a proud country of alcoholic diversity. But that’s slowly changing. As “the original Nepali” starts to become a mythical character (for good and for bad), homemade liquors aren’t as good as they used to be. They can even be harmful. For the love of money and quick profit, the makers of such liquors usually forgo the lengthy and tiresome process of fermentation that might span as well as a month. Such a shortcut warrants the use of different material imported into the markets, which might contain harmful chemicals.

In recent days, number of alcohol related deaths in Nepal is on the rise. Surprisingly, these recent deaths are attributed to branded liquor. Last year, 18 people in Sindhupalchok died of a low-quality imported bottled drink named “Sophi.” More recently, 3 people in Kathmandu died of reputed Nepali brands “Virgin” and “Khukuri.” A few others lost their eyesight and some are recovering in hospitals. Investigations have shown that even Indian brands like “Royal Stag” and global brands like “Red Label” are adulterated. Police was quick to arrest a group of people who looked more like victims. Police confiscated a houseful of bottles that the group was said to adulterate and distribute. This looked all the more dramatic because there was a government’s tax seal on each of those bottles.

More people died outside Kathmandu and the terror doesn’t stop, thanks to a free-media that’s not as excited in consumer rights as it wants to appear, highly professional journalists who don’t want assignments that don’t include wagging tails around sources of money and power and a very vigilant government (including its administration and law-enforcing body) whose prime minister (like everybody else) obviously knows a lot more than to just shake his head, make meaningless remarks and provide tutelage to criminals.

Science:
Alcohol is the generic name for a family of organic compounds. Methyl alcohol is derived from methane and Ethyl alcohol from ethane. Under suitable conditions, Methyl alcohol (CH3OH) can convert to formaldehyde (CH3CHO) and subsequently to formic acid (CH3COOH). Formic acid can be very harmful to optic nerve, cause blindness. It can be a cause of a host of other medical problems and lead to immediate death. Methyl alcohol is not allowed by law to be included in alcoholic drinks. It is the Ethyl alcohol (C2H5OH) that is the ingredient of a legal alcoholic drink.

More Diversity
Well, people have other things to do too, during load shedding. When there was news of Britons opting for sex to save money during the economic crisis, South Asian blogosphere echoed the wishes for a similar crisis in the region. Luckily for the Nepalese, load shedding was the savior. We were discussing among friends a couple of months earlier that there might be a population growth because of load shedding. The intelligent lots that we are, today’s papers have carried reports confirming our prediction. It is too early in the morning for me to link to those stories (Nepali newspapers’ websites aren’t updated before 10) but I can’t wait since there will be no power in 15 minutes. A few of my friends who don’t like to talk, (sip) tea, walk or (read) books wished that they were married. Of course there is a diversity in this opinion too that will surely make our proud country prouder. More Nepalese in the future will wish they weren’t born.

Links:
(to be added in the next session. There’ll be power cut shortly)       

Syndicated 2009-02-06 02:08:43 from Bibek Paudel's weblog

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