A social evil of our society- witch hunts

          Our country Nepal had reduced many social evils as it transformed into a democratic country. But still quite a few evils are prevailing in our societies. One of them is witch hunts. 

Witch hunts have been practiced in our society for a very long time. It is the practice of accusing someone as a witch in our society then causing torture to them in form of getting the evil spirit out of their bodies. The witch doctor (priests or shamans) take money from the people that accuse the victim of being a witch, then they do many things to give them pain. The victims are mainly weak, poor, helpless, free-spirited, lower caste,etc. types of women. The victims are beaten, paraded naked, force-fed on human excretion, forced to inhale fumes of burning chillies,etc. The victims can also get killed in the process, burned alive or even beaten to death. The people that accuse someone are mainly after their property or they are blaming them to reduce the pain of losing someone or somebody being sick. The worst treatment is given to widows cause they are suspected to kill their own husbands. They are mainly accused so the other house members can prevent the widow from getting her husband's money. 

         There are hundreds of cases about witch hunts occurring in the neighborhood or somewhere else but, a very few have been investigated and given punishment to the culprits. There are at least a few people among a thousand that believe in witch hunts. Their have been cases reported where high positioned people or a political members were involved in. Those types of cases mainly are closed due to their power. 

         Some cases that we know about are: 

2009- A woman in far western tarai was accused of being a witch. She was dragged from her house then fed on human waste then paraded naked. The news reported was about this case but the police refused to register it and suggested the problem should be solved within the community. 

2010-A dalit 47 years old woman was accused of being a witch and making a school teacher sick. The women was forced to admit that she was a witch. She was fed on human waste and tortured for two days without food in a cowshed. 

2012-A 40 year old widow was burned by a shaman in front of her 9 year old daughter. 8 people were charged of murder of the 40 year old woman, after accusing her of being a  witch and using her powers to keep her relatives sick. 

2013-A 45 year old woman was beaten to death by her neighbors after being accused of being a witch and keeping a girl sick. The police didn't register the case cause it was Saturday. The other day all the culprits fled from the place never to be caught again. 

          There have been many cases till now where the culprits fled from Nepal or the cases are not registered. Our country can be freed from such social evils if we all are educated and taught about the harm it does to us. We can prevent such things to happen in the future if we do the following things:

• Provide education to to people and built a free-public school for poor people.

• Hold meetings and arrange programmes for spreading awareness. 

• Create strict rules for the culprits that commit such crimes. 

          I hope social evils like witch hunts and others don't ever occur in Nepal or any other place.                                                        

Written by:-Shisan Thapa Magar

Tihar

          Tihar is a festival celebrated by mainly hindus. It is also known as deepavali in India. It is mainly celebrated for five days of Mid-november of every year. It's also known as festival of lights. It's celebrated to worship Goddess Laxmi ( godess of wealth ) and animals like crow, dog, cow, etc. It's a very enjoyable festival to create bonds and re-fresh.

          This festival symbolises the victory of good deeds over the evil deeds. As beliefs, the festival is celebrated to remark  Lord Rama ( King of Ayodhya ) defeating the ill mannered King Rawana. The people of the kingdom Ayodhya then lit up all the places in the kingdom with earthen lamps and made beautiful patterns of colours to celebrate victory. Like the grand welcoming done by the then citizens, we as well celebrate it in a similar way in the modern days. We still make rangolis (colourful patterns),  lit up houses with decorative lights. We also use flower garlands, fireworks, diya and other home decors.

The first day of Tihar-

It's known as kaag tihar. It is the day when we worship crows.

The second day of Tihar-

It's known as kukur tihar. It is the day when we worship dogs.

The third day of Tihar-

It's known as Laxmi puja. This day we we worship Goddess Laxmi and cows. We also make rangolis (colorful patterns) on the ground. Some people like to form groups and perform dances known as dheusi bhailo( performed by men ) and  bhailini(performed by women) at evening time at someone else's place. 

The fourth day of Tihar- 

The fourth day is known as goverdhan puja. It is the day when we worship bulls.

The fifth day of Tihar-

The fifth day is also the last day of Tihar. It is known as Bhai tika. This day siblings or cousins exchange blessings and gifts. They also put multicoloured tika which symbolises love, health and wealth. 

          Even after hundreds of years we still celebrate the victory of Lord Rama. We all still celebrate the festival to keep light within our society and darkness away from us. Tihar has it's own significance in the society as it not only focuses on the Victory of good over evil. It also shows us the importance of animals like: dog, crow, bull, etc. in our life. It helps in socialisation and bonding with friends and families. It is also a great way to clear our minds from our monotonous life.

          Tihar is my favourite festival among all. I really like making rangolis and performing at other places. It is very fun to go around with my friends and families performing, it is cheerful to pass blessings and gifts. The food and fun really makes me happy.

Teej

 Nepal is a multi cultural, multi lingual, multi ethnic and multi religious country. People from different groups and races unite together. People celebrate many festivals here. Teej is one of them.

Teej is a festival celebrated by Hindus mostly. It is celebrated in the month of Bhadra. During this festival, people like to create programs. Some people celebrate at homes and some go to the programs.The festival brings people from different places, castes and religions to have fun, dance and share feelings without differentiating.The festival brings family members closer, strengthens the bonds, etc during this festival. In Teej , a lot of songs especially traditional lok dohoris are omade. Most women’s even like to keep fasts to pray for the well-being and happiness is them and their family members.They most likely are to go temples after fasts. Pashupatinath is a famous temple in Nepal. Teej brings lots of visitors to the temples, especially Pashupatinath. People like to wear nice clothes, have family gathering, eat good food ,talk to each other about wellbeing, dance, etc. During the festival. It brings fun and happiness for everyone. 

This year 2020 the corona virus break out has caused lots of harm.It has kept us locked in our houses. The festival is right around the corner but, no one is allowed to walk around freely.The songs have somehow been released and are still getting released. The programs are all canceled.The women won’t be able to go to the temples after their fasts. Family members away from houses will cause a bit of difference for the family gathering .This years Teej might not be the best one but we have to be happy. We have to respect our god for keeping us healthy, wealthy and happy. We should pray for everyone’s well being.                  

   By-STM

Father’s Day

Father, Mother and teacher are given the place of God in Hindu religion. Father is a teacher, protector and the Savior. Father’s Day is the day of paying respect once again to him.

Father’s Day is also known as Kuse Ausi or Pitri Tripani Ausi or Gokarne Ausi in Nepal. It is also commonly known as “Ba ko mukh herne din” where mukh herne din means to allow Someone as our relative or give respect or to recognize the achievement of someone. Kuse Ausi is on Bhadra Krishna Ausi where Ausi means no moon day.

When I was 5, my father went out of the country. So, after 5 I haven’t got to celebrate Father’s day.  Even though if I had celebrated before 5, I celebrated that day with my father without knowing the importance of it, without knowing the hardwork of my Dad. I just celebrated that day by knowing that day I will get to eat tasty sweets, foods, fruits, etc. It’s been more than 10 years that I have not got chance to celebrate Father’s Day with my Dad. 

It’s kind off sad to not have the opportunity of celebrating with your dad while others in the world are getting to experience their father’s day while having their father beside them. Each and every year on the day of father’s day I call my Dad to wish him.

I feel sad to see that my Dad is doing so much hardwork for his family. Seeing him getting old by doing hardwork for his family makes me sad because I can’t do anything for him. I am very lucky to have my Dad. He is a blessing in my life who always supports me and teaches me to do a lot of hard work. 

I just wish to celebrate my father’s day with him now and lastly happy father’s day to the father’s around the world. 

By- Shikha Thapa Magar

Online classes

       Online classes are a common words for us students now. Many other people also know about it.The quarantine ( corona virus lockdown ) has notified us about usefulness of online classes. It is an important thing for children to get education. It is important for mental, social, cultural and individual development . This quarantine has caused disturbances in school and work life. The process of getting knowledge, earning money, providing services, providing goods and foods, etc. is misbalanced. order to not ruin or waste children's time and learning age, the government decided to start online classes. The online classes are not really like people expected. It is very helpful inorder to not waste time. If the teachers abilities are good the classes, subjects and understanding will run pretty smoothly. The disadvantages are mainly due to technical issues. If internet is not available  then the classes won't be available for the students. The poor internet connections can cause disconnection from the call/class. Due to home stay the distractions, background noises, family members visiting the room frequently can cause disturbances as well.

  I am also a student and I also take online classes. I have also not got the most best experiences from my online classes. For me, my internet connections do not stay at the best condition every time. Even the teachers internet connections get lost or disturbed which causes them them to disconnect from the classes. Sometimes other technical issues occur such as : not being able to hear the host/teacher, not being able to see screen or share screen, etc. The teachers also face difficulty while starting classes. The timing of starting classes can be off. The time limit of classes can cause a bit of problem due to the teachers not being able to finish their topics.
The online classes or meetings have not only been useful for us but also for holding meetings between workers, teachers, etc. We should take this quarantine period to not only think about negative things caused by corona virus, but to think about ways of improving ourselves and utilizing our time to learn, explore even more. We should spend more quality time with our family members. Unlike other holidays we stay at our own houses and take more care of ourselves.

By-STM

Forest Fire

                 

 Forest Fire is a word given to fire starting or occurring in the woods and causing the trees and other vegetation on fire. Simply it is a term given to fire in jungles causing loss. It is a disaster caused by both human carelessness and naturally.Like any other disasters it only causes loss and harms everyone directly or indirectly.It occurs naturally during summer and dry climate.It can cause the loss of vegetation, animal extinction, misbalance in ecosystem or water cycle, loss of animal or human lives and properties, etc. Forest fire now -a-days is a common name. Most of the people must have heard it.It had recently been reported about the mighty Amazon on fire. Even huge forests in Australia had a huge loss due to forest fire. It is getting more common every day as it is very frequent. It is a shame on humanity because we can save the woods and save our lives but people don't seem to be affected yet.A lot of people around the world forget that living necessities are not only food,water,land and facilities,but also a nice environment.It has bad effects on other necessities such as lack of food due to vegetation loss, fire produces gases harmful for us to inhale, harmful gases mix in water or even mix with clouds which creates it to rain and fill up water sources with unhealthy water, etc.
        One day, during a jungle safari with me and my friends we saw trees on fire.As we went closer it seemed more and more dreadful. The guide who was with us told not to worry. I felt at peace but when he said that the fire was created by nature and will reduce itself I was at great shock.No body cared about it.I felt great shame because it is us destroying the nature but every one is suffering.
        We all are to be blamed. We hurt nature and ignore the fact we did anything to it. We think about different plans to help others and make the world a better place but don't put it in action. In process of just imagining we blame and tell others to change but don't change ourselves. So, we should take our own responsibilities and make sure to give no chance to others for blaming us. Help the name of Forest Fire vanish in the vast world of  peace.

By - Shisan Thapa Magar

Quarantine Life

The life after this devastating disease well known as COVID-19 which was named by WHO(World Health Organization) has been spread all over the world.This disease was discovered in December 2019 in Wuhan,China. After the outbreak of the disease there are about 6,464,534 cases 382,729 deaths  around the world. Originally the disease was discovered in 1930s . Due to all this devastating disease spread all over the world there has been drastic changes in the country. There are changes in the air,nature and a huge death rate in the country.After all this disease spread in the world there has been isolation all over the country.The doctors and nurses have been working very hard to cure this disease they have been one of  the most responsible person to recover this disease . We should truly appreciate their effort.

Unlike other countries,our country Nepal has been facing lots of problems though there is less cases compared to other countries . There are about 2,099 cases recovered 266 and 8 deaths .The life of youngsters are truly awful during these quarantine because they have to attend online classes which is truly not the case ,the awful case is being faced by those youngsters who have no internet access and can't join those classes and study. After all these COVID-19 spread in the country the life of class 10,11 and 12 are mainly awful because they haven't attend their final exams and their is no information related to the exams .Talking about the situation faced by adults ,it is also truly awful because they are the people who are responsible for the fulfillment of entire people living in the house they are not able to earn salary during these quarantine and can't fulfill desire at the required time. Even during this COVID-19 situation there has been occurrence of earthquake two times ,but the earthquake was not so huge that it could take lives and properties of people.

by Shikha Thapa Magar