When Terrorists get obsessed with Hollywood style trailers and Game of thrones

It is seriously depressing video of a human getting decapitated. No wonder source of such videos are often from terrorist who have been releasing such videos time and over. They are normally shot on hand held camera with low resolution. Their amateurishness is worse than those of a amateur youtube uploader. For best it can be compared to home made videos who are more concerned with content than the production values. But, a recent video showing decapitation of American journalist made me reconsider this conclusion.

The video is not hand held or does not uses cheap camera. It clearly uses a decent DSLR or even video camera which is held in a good tripod that does not shakes in desert's constant wind where this is filmed. The voice is not disturbed by the desert wind. One of the big thing to notice was it is in 720p resolution. The camera angle changes depending on where to focus sometime on the terrorist and sometimes keeping the victim at center. I am sure the team behind this must be obsessed with Hollywood production techniques.

Lets focus on the content. I am not going to talk about decapitation as it is actually not shown in the video! It starts like a movie trailer or even GOT season trailer. There is an introduction which is obama speech about his authorization on strikes on ISIS members. It then blackens to show the main scene. The victim who is a photojournalist says without any fear or doubt that it is US who is responsible for his death. I can feel no sense of fear or even hesitation. The angle of camera changes from center to right side during this time similar to what happens in movie trailer to show intensity of the situation. The camera is still during all this time. It feels they are taking multiple shots for this shot or using multiple camera for single shot which was later merged. The killer who talks in heavy British accent is next shown talking explaining the reason why he is being killed. He screams no Koran lines or any of those loud Arabic words. He reminded me of the wannabe terrorist guys from the movie Four Lions. All while watching this video, I was thinking there must have been a lot of 'cut' calls and two guys ending laughing of the mistake while taking the line. Considering the seriousness of the content, I always ended up regretting this thought. Then there is break in video and next part shows the guy moving on with chopping the head. It basically shows the terrorist applying the knife without any blood spilling out. The next part shows directly the decapitated head of the journalist. The decapitation process is not shown. Obviously, the censor board of terrorists video should actually require decapitation as mandatory part of video. But, it was not shown. Perhaps, the terrorist have learnt of humane way of killing and displaying it. Or, was it that these people are motivated by Hollywood style movie trailers or Japanese porn that censors from showing genitals. Or, perhaps it was the work of Hollywood people. We can only speculate.

When Terrorists get obsessed with Hollywood style trailers and Game of thrones

About Buddha

The birth of Buddha becomes a topic of conflict among India and Nepal. Gautama is now beyond doubt proved to have been born in Lumbini, Nepal. But, he was enlightened in India converting him from Gautama to Buddha which is in some sense a new birth. For me this birth raises no conflict as I belong to both countries. If a Nepalese says he was born in Nepal and is thus Nepalese then I am happy, for Nepal is my Motherland. If India says he was enlightened in India and thus is Indian then I am also happy as I was myself born and raised there.

And, If tomorrow any human comes and says he is human then I would be most happy because I am also human just like him and feel all the suffering that he had gone through. I too have my share of attachment and hatred towards things born out of my own desire of things. But, if tomorrow some God comes and says that he is God then I would slap that God and be thoroughly angry at him. First, he is not God and is not born among them. Second, The reason that Buddha is motivation to me is that he was able to transcend from being an average human to a higher state all on his own. The path he took was not like the one God would take. There was no magic to his method or is. There was no faith, let alone blind faith. However, There were failures. There were risks. There were utter disappointments. There was struggle. But, There was steadfastness that kept him throughout. And, that has kept us humans alive in this world in face of all the struggle that we face daily. Also, There was open mindedness to change and experiment. And, there was science. Don't expect Buddha to make you like him in a matter of seconds like God can. Even he had to struggle for lifetime for that. How come you get that in matter of seconds without your own focus and seriousness towards it? At the end, he is a teacher whose teaching suffers from the same fault as any human teacher have. It is highly open for misinterpretation and false judgements owing to ambiguity of human language and understanding nature of humans which applies previous assumptions over actual guidelines. If he was God, then there would not be so many division of Buddhism. Maybe there would not have been the word Buddhism at all!

So, this is message to all humans. If any Nepali says Buddha is Nepali. Smile. If any Indian says he is Indian. Smile. If entire humanity says he is human. Smile more. But, if anybody says that he is God. Hit him and hit him hard.

About Buddha

Why do plants stay fixed while we animals move?

Few months back, I watched a video Where Do Trees Get Their Mass From? in Veritasium that concludes that trees get all their mass from carbon dioxide that we animals exhale. We animals on the other hand get our mass from trees which is commonly known from our good old textbook topic called food chain. What it lacks is the fact that we in turn were being eaten by plants through our process called respiration (Are You Lightest In The Morning?) that we do continuously and photosynthesis that plants do mostly during day. So, nature does not acts like a bitch as it sounds in the food chain. The food indeed passes backwards in a circular manner. So, there starts a couple of question that bugged my mind. Are plants totally dependent on us animals for the carbon dioxide supply for its survival? What other roles does plant and animals play for the stability of ecosystem and its resources? Obviously the topic of this blog too. So, plants form the source of capturing energy from sun that forms as source of energy to all other living beings in the earth. They basically convert carbon dioxide into glucose which is petrol for us fuelling our activities. We animals lack such mechanism so we are totally dependent on them for getting that source of energy. This energy is used by us in doing all sort of activities like keeping us alive (involuntary actions) and those that we choose to do because we like to (voluntary actions). We have built complex organs in that process and us humans have gone to the extreme in developing advanced intelligence. On the other hand tree seem quite vulnerable, do not have complex systems like we animals have. They have simply skipped them all and are quite satisfied in staying fixed in one place forever making them quite vulnerable to all sorts of risks. So, just like we animals plants also respire. This is basically the process of extracting energy to allow life processes to support. The byproduct of respiration (aerobic which is most common form of respiration) is carbon dioxide. If plants respire then all the oxygen that they generate will be used by plants themselves nullifying any oxygen to be used by us. But, why it wont happen? Maybe because they don't move. I learned this during my Vipassana meditation days where we were asked to stay fixed like tree without moving virtually stopping all voluntary activities which automatically slowed involuntary activities. This helped focus all the energy being generated by respiration in increased mental activities which was then used in the stage of killing all bad thoughts in mind. Vipassana topic aside. Plant dont move or any such rapid activities that consume high amount of energy like we animals do. That allows them to survive with much less energy than us animals. The, the process of photosynthesis that yields oxygen is more then they can consume. This is where we animals come in. Our job is take that glucose generated by plants as their byproduct and burn it with oxygen to generate carbon dioxide which become byproduct for us but source of food for plants. Plants cannot generated carbon dioxide on large scale(because they don't move, right?) like we do so they need to get that carbon dioxide from us animals. All our life activities revolves around this thing. So, next time if you think that plants are dumb beings just sitting in the open land think a second. They are actually eating you all throughout your life.

Why do plants stay fixed while we animals move?

My Vipassana Observations

At start of the course on 0th day, Goenka says to follow the course without doubt and then make conclusion only after final day. So, here I am making my observations public though this blog.

While applying for vipassana when they ask if you have read their documents they mean it by every word of it. Make sure you have read before filling the form.

Goenka looks like Lalu Prasad yadav

Goenka has three distinct voices: Discourse, Sing and Meditation Guideline

When Goenka sings, he sounds like frog croaking before rain

I want that alarm bell as my alarm

The speed of people entering dhamma hall and speed of people leave hall for lunch simply is opposite every time

Staying one place without moving for hours during meditation sucks for guys but staying quiet for 10 days is what sucks for girls

Vipassana may not sincerely teach meditation to all students but it does teaches exercise to all students old and new

Dhamma sewaks are Bouncers and this is ultimate truth of vipassana with no exceptions

Two things need to be added in requirements of Noble Silence: Loud Farting and Snoring especially during group meditation hours. They are way more important than silence of body and mind

If you normally snore loudly during sleep you are going to have hard time during group meditation when you fall asleep especially in morning and after meal

If you are interested in signing up for Dhamma Sewaks, 1st day and days from 5 to 9 are going to be your most difficult ones.

Arrive early on the first day first mediation and grab 3 or 4 cushions. You will realize the importance each day

That word Anichyat sanghara upatdaya dhammaya becomes a magic spell during group meditations starting 6th day

If during meditation you feel like you are flying then you are hallucinating and its totally normal there

Goenka does have sense of humour

If you go vipassana with the purpose of meeting new girls then back off. Better go to Art of Living or Osho

Donations are optional

Its totally fine to take food more than one time

If you have person who snores loudly during sleep in your dorm room, you are seriously fucked up

Dont buy CDs. They just don't work.

New and Old students are two separate category of students with different expectations and experience during course

My Vipassana Observations

Some random thoughts while sitting on desk

I am dying. I just fell down while walking in a long road without any reason. I feel terribly weak and know that my time has come. It is very dark and a lonely road. The only power now i have is to contemplate on those lifetime memories that i usually do during my daily morning time. I know this is last time i will do that contemplation and it will be lost forever. This thought sends shivers all over my body. I think of those silly childhood days when i couldn’t control myself. The first baby steps, first day of school, last day of school and all those weird memories when i thought i wouldn’t last more than that day. The thought of those achievements and thought of competing against that person and putting anything just to overcome. The feeling of supporting one thing and hating other. The levels that I go underwent to prove that what i believed was the only thing correct. That childish nature of hiding my true self just to feel happy around socially. The art of lying I mastered and the design of killing regret I engineered. I laugh at myself and then cry. All through those memories I knew exactly what i was doing and knew the way for proper path yet I didn’t acted on it and I dont have time to act now even if I want to. The laughter opens my mouth and the tears from my eyes enters mouth and meet my tongue spoiling the taste of time. All those years seems just like yesterday. Suddenly i feel very light and raising above like a helium balloon raises automatically when left. The force of the earth no longer seem to have control on me. Suddenly, I see a dawn of light whose light is spreading all over and the world being illuminated in its light.

This is the feeling I get every time when listening to the soundtrack Finale from Once upon a time in West by Ennio Morricano.

Some random thoughts while sitting on desk

Trek to the Kingdom of Lo

The kingdom of Lo is one of the few places in Nepal that remains intact and untouched from the outside influence. For Nepalese, it is land beyond Himalayas and land of people with Tibetan origin and called Upper Mustang. For outside people and Tibetan people, it is the only place in world where you find Tibetan culture unaffected. It was forbidden to outside access till 1992 due to its strategic position in the map. My dream to visit Lo started during my childhood when my mother used to talk about Tibetan people who migrated during cold months and used to stay with her. To me, the narrations about their lifestyle and culture were always interesting. For most Nepalese, Visit to mustang means Jomsom, Kagbeni and Muktinath Temple. But, the kingdom of Lo starts once when you enter into the restricted upper mustang area where you will find all the colors of Lo. There is great deal of active discovery going on in Mustang area in different areas that hopefully will uncover traditional past of this rich area with hostile terrain.

I was accompanied by Sunil who had been with me on a trip to Annapurna Base Camp one year ago. We started on Friday evening when we took a night bus to Beni from Kathmandu. I hated the idea of taking night bus but obliged for a longer stay at Lo. After lots of delay, we reached Beni at 6:30am. Unfortunately the direct bus to Jomsom was packed with people and we had to take the bus to Ghasa. Ghasa is the border point of Myagdi and Mustang district. From Ghasa after lunch we took another bus to Jomsom. This route passes through Annapurna circuit and is one of the wonderful places to be. It is a Himalayan region and is similar to Alps with temperate weather and coniferous forest all over the mountains. The Kali Gandaki river cuts the deepest gorge along this path with Dhaulagiri in north-west and Annapurna towards south-east. We reached Jomsom at 3:30pm. After some quick shopping we took our last ride of the trip to Kagbeni. We stayed that day at Kagbeni in a cheap lodge called Dhaulagiri Lodge.

We were excited for our first day into upper mustang. I had seen the way into Upper Mustang from Kagbeni 3 years ago during my Muktinath trip and had grown that intense desire to walk along it one day. Today was that day. We woke at 5:30am and after taking some noodles, headed along the way. It was a clean morning with Nilgiri shining towards south. Wind was blowing mildly allowing us to walk easily. The directions appear rarely and are sometimes misleading. Also, the population resides in villages only. So, you must follow the map keeping directions and Kali Gandaki river as reference. The terrain is semi arid with no cloud cover producing intense sunlight. However, the presence of Annapurna range to the south produces direct cold winds blowing from south. As day progresses and sun gets intense it heats the air nearby pushing it upwards. This creates vacuum below immediately filled in by the cold air from annapurna. No wonder winds blow all day peaking during afternoon. Our first taste of upper mustang village was Tangbe. It a small village fenced by high wall to protect sand from getting into village. We had tea as a break at the first tea shop. Tangbe seemed like a oasis in a desert full of lush green wheat crops ready to be harvested. Actually, this is common view of mustang during summer near any village. Every village has a canal of water(kulo) passing through every house which they use to drink, wash or irrigate their farms. The most typical of mustang is the house architecture. They are built from stone and soil found there that wont last presence of good rain. The roof are multi layer consisting of wood and soil made to protect snow and cold wind. Houses are mostly multi floored that are close to each other forming a narrow pathway to pass between. The next stop was chuksang/chusang which was fairly good village. We filled our water bottles which were already empty. At chuksang, there is division. The right path takes you to salt mine from which you can follow a minor trail up to lomanthang. That is great for camping trip. We accidentally followed that trail as we forgot to follow our map. Later I realized that we left kali gandaki river and were not on the way to Chaile, our next destination. We returned back to chuksang and confirmed it from people there. On continuing kali gandaki river you now walk along the river banks. This path is perhaps one of the best path in the route with massive colored cliffs. The cliff caves get visible from here. On crossing the bridge, there was a small uphill climb to Chaile. This climbs faces stiff resistance from winds blowing from annapurna. We had our lunch at tsaile(chaile/saile). It is small village with few hotels. After lunch, we continued on the noon heat to samar(pronounced summer). This was perhaps the most difficult way of the day. The path cut through cliff which was very narrow and dusty. Bursts of wind blew sand over the face from above. The path was unusually long and winding. The name “500 days of summer” reminded to me all along the way. Sometime it felt we had lost the way and had to search for footprints to make sure we were following the path trekkers used. We reached samar at 3:00pm. We had tea and apple as snack break. Samar is normally first day stop for trekkers but we continued. Our goal then was the difficult point of Ghilling. We crossed multiple hills slowly gaining height. We reached Bhena where we thought of staying the night. Unfortunately, it had only single hotel and that too seemed to lack any rooms. Our only option was to continue to Syangmochen. It was getting evening and we were racing against setting sun. We were climbing up the road and were told at Bhena that we could see Syangmochen below once we reached the highest point that road. That would not be an easy task once darkness came. We had our only torch on and we were in search for light below in hope of settlements. Finally we did managed to get sight of point of light. But, now it was pitch dark and we were at the top of a hill and need to climb down. It was difficult time indeed. Once we reached the low point we lost sight of light. Cold winds blew. We were at the height of 3800m then. We were not sure what we saw as light before was settlement or not. At one point we started following wrong path to Bhena but after studying footprints we backtracked and finally found settlements. It was Syanmochen. We got to Nilgiri Hotel. Our head was paining with day's trek in sunlight and cold winds coupled with altitude sickness of that place. The good thing about hotel is that it has hot water and is recommended place who stays at Syangmochen. The night was no good either. My head was paining and I had small fever too.

Morning happened quite early due to previous night sleep problem. Our goal of this day was clear. No more race to lomanthang but a slow steady walk to Charang below Lomanthang. We started early after breakfast. Our first village was Tamagaon. It was a small village with some good people. They provided us with good guidance regarding path. We could continue Nar Phu trek path and go to ghilling or could go straight to Ghami. We decided to go to Ghilling to visit its monastery. It was all down slope to Ghilling. Ghilling is the first large settlement in upper mustang. The red monastery appears at the top of the hill. I had my first taste of Tibetan Tea here along with Tibetan bread. Sunil had by now started to show pain in his thigh part causing him to lag at times. The monastery was unfortunately closed. We continued to Ghami walking uphill. We were following the lomanthang road which would lead to Ghami. We thought of making it our lunch point though we were full with that bread. We reached Ghami at 2:00pm. It is also a large settlement at a good height. We met a guide who was fanatic of free Tibet. We had our lunch listening to his arguments regarding Chinese influence in mustang due to presence of Tibetan people. We were told Charang was at 3 hours from Ghami. The first half of the route was steep height. Here, one could see the red hills that Tibetan folk stories say are the blood of demon slained by Padmasambhava. It was a hard climb in sunny day with cold winds. Instead of following the winding road, we climbed straight following the tractor route. At peak, we had divisions. The main road went right but steeped down quickly while another road went left passing from above. Both of them seemed to go in different direction. Worse yet, there was an direction stone having direction pointing towards left. I grew very skeptical at it. We inspected footprints which we were following before. That also guided us left. So, we continued that way. That path passed through multiple hills rarely going down. We walked for hours before it was 5:30pm and we decided something was wrong with that choice. On the way we met a Shepard below and tried communicating. But, the distance was huge enough for voice to be misheard. We continued that way for another hour. Finally, it sloped down into a stream. Here we were left with horse footprints into the stream who must had come to drink water. We were lost big time. It was getting cold though we had an hour of day light available. The person whose footprints we followed was definitely not of a trekker but of a local shepard. We had no camping gear and at worse just a packet of peanuts to eat. Wind was blowing heavily giving signs of hypothermia. The map showed Charang to the south of Charang river. Since we had no compass we had no way where to go. It was a scary moment for both of us in pretty wild place with no sign of human settlement in any direction. Sunil tried hard to make call but in vain. The GPS too did not worked. I decided to return back and moved to the uncertain left side of road. On the other side of hill, we met a person riding horse. We asked him about locality of Charang. We didn't even know if he knew any of our language. All we could see was his hand pointing left. It was hard to listen anything in that windy weather. Also, initial stage of hypothermia caused some mild confusion. That person rode quickly and disappeared before we could get to him to clarify. It was one of those weirdest situation where you feel completely hopeless after loosing the only opportunity granted. The only goal was to find road as it would lead us somewhere. We decided to get to that small road that horse rider was moving along. We moved downwards opposite to direction of that person. We walked for half an hour when we noticed a line of road in a distance. We raced towards it when we saw a resting tractor. “Human settlement must be nearby” came the thought in midst of darkness. On reaching road, we continued same direction. On reaching certain height, we finally saw settlement. It was all there just beyond hill we were seeing all the time. If we had known the direction, we could have found out the location using map. For me, the lesson I learned was not about carrying compass or about direction. It was a moral lesson that failure comes to everybody, its only how we react/deal that separates us from animals. My first question on reaching settlement was “which village is this?”and the answer was “charang”. It was dark then and everybody was inside their homes warming themselves. We searched for the “Maya's Inn” hotel. Unfortunately, it was pack as it was popular place among trekkers. We had to take the outside room which was newly built. Charang was warmer than Syangmochen and room was well protected from cold winds by extra layer of wall outside. We compensated our previous night sleep by that night's sleep.

I could never be as excited as this day. It was day of Lomanthang, the capital of Lo. We woke up in a relaxed manner. We had our morning breakfast with other folks who were going to leave for Lomanthang too. We left for Lomanthang early moving rightwards and then following the main road. This way was pretty easy with less slopes. Passing vehicles were more common on the way. The sky was clear and less windy. It was a perfect morning. We reached Lomanthang at 12:00am. Our goal was to visit Chosser in horse ride after lunch. But, the horses were unavailable for that day. We had our lunch and after some rest, we roamed around Lomanthang city. It is a very small city with entire city could be circled within an hour in a slow pace. We tried to go to ACAP to get some idea of things around but that was closed. We tried to enter palace but King was reported to be ill and not available for visit. We visited the nearby souvenir shop. Sunil bought a necklace made of gems after some bargain. I was just interested in watching the pretty face of shopkeeper. There are three old monasteries inside Lomanthang. The main priest who stays in Choede Monastery has right to open the door of the monastery. Unfortunately, it was close then and we had to return back to hotel. At hotel, all the other tourists pushed hotel owner to help meet with king and enter palace. After some talk, 9 outsiders and 5 Nepalese were allowed on visit. Sunil and I were the part of 5 team of Nepalese to visit. Since, king was sick, the prince welcomed us. The palace was a four floored Tibetan house. It is an old building made in 1460AD. The ground floor was simple with wooden pillars. The first floor led to a large compound. We were taken to the left inn. The first of the room was kitchen where food was being cooked. It was an ordinary looking kitchen. At last was the main hall room where we could see prince smiling in normal dress. It was first time I was meeting a real prince in person. We had bought Khata with us which prince used to put around us as a greeting. We were made to sit around in chairs. We began our discussion with prince who appeared calm and gentle. We asked questions, shared our stories of travel, tried getting information about status of the region. Once, I acted as an English translator to the prince on the matter of history of Lo. It was an amazing experience. Suddenly, we all felt part of same team that had visited Lomanthang on the same day and were privileged enough to visit palace too. We had guide of a camping group who knew a lot of history of Lo. We spent a complete hour which was one of the lengthy session. After talk, we took snap with the prince. We hurried to the Choede Monastry to get possible access to the priest who kept the keys to visit of monasteries. Due to encroaching darkness, we were able to visit only one monastery i.e. Jampa Gompa. The monastery is 700 years old and has three floors with explicit meaning associated to them. The middle floor which meant 'in' had large “future” Buddha with two followers on the side. The wall paintings were the most amazing part of the monastery. Different stages in the life of Gautam Buddha and Tibetan deities were painted. The paintings used inks made of gold and silver. The wooden carvings on the doors and wall paintings show Newari influence in them suggesting Newars must had traveled to those locations showing past richness of this area as a center of culture demonstration. Work on renovation of these paintings were under going, under the funding of American Himalayan Foundation. The rest of the day went inside hotel talking with the other tourist and their guides about their experiences.

We would be staying this day at Lomanthang. The thought itself gave me happiness. After having breakfast, we started our horse ride to Chosser, a VDC north of Lomanthang. I had always fantasized riding a horse in Tibetan plateau. We slowly rode upwards and since the horse was pumping blood to carry us ahead, we could relax and look around and ask fellow travelers about the villages that we could see on the path. It was an amazing experience. Slowly we could see the caves from far away. In 2 hours, we reached the Chosser area. We went into first monastery called Garfu. It is the second oldest monastery of Lo after Lo Ghyaker, made in 9th century. It was dark inside and we missed taking torch with us. So, we couldn't see paintings properly. There was a school nearby, made explicitly to preserve this monastery and whose students were from Nepal, India and other countries. The schools there, runs for 6 months and during winter, it shifts to Pokhara, my hometown. The wall paintings near the door was the most amazing thing is saw in Lo. It showed the oldness of this monastery. The wall was of mud but drawing was done by pure silver. The Buddha was glittering even in the little light that entered the monastery. The other walls had paintings similar to other monasteries. I talked with the principal of the school trying to gain information about it. The next and last monastery in the line was newer one. It had priest having their daily worships and chanting. We were allowed in to see it. After that, we hike up to reach the real beauty of Chosser, Jong Cave. This cave is one of the numerous caves on cliffs that exists in Lo and several of them could be seen right while trekking to lomanthang. Jong cave has 8 floors stacked above each other and wooden stairs were provided to reach from one floor to another. Each floor had holes to view the beautiful view outside and let air come in. The room inside each floor was unexpectedly large and well structured. Brick walls were also present to create separation. It must have been a good and secure resting place for ancient people of Lo. Unfortunately, there was no adult guide in place to quench our questions. I got up to 4th floor only as I never knew there was higher floor above that. It was only when I returned to hotel did I knew there was higher floor above that. The ceiling in each floor was coated with black shoot of carbon mixed with oil showing wood was burnt inside to keep room heated during cold times. We returned down exhausted by climb but amazed with the hidden wonders of Chosser. We rode back to Lomanthang in noon heat. After lunch and some rest, we headed towards Choede monastery. We waited for priest inside their canteen which was like any other school canteen but with a Tibetan touch. We were given free tea and snacks. Finally when priest arrived, other tourist had arrived and we joined as a team on the visit. We first visited the Thubchen monastery. It has 35 pillars and Padmasambhava as prime deity. The walls were painted as usual. After Thubchen, we visited Jampa again. This time we visited the upper “secret” floor too. At last, we visited the newer Choede monastery. It is also an old monastery but had been rebuilt multiple times due to damage caused over times. The masks priest wear during Teijin and other festivals are kept here. It has a school behind which also hosts a museum in it. It has lots of old Buddhist scriptures and Tibetan artifacts. After visit, we returned back to hotel. Our rest time went through discussing our two days visit of Lomanthang with other tourist and singing songs as we bid our farewell to this amazing place.

This day we planned to go directly to Jomsom in Truck that went down through Kali Gandaki river in one day. But, it rained during our two days stay (all over nepal including jomsom but it was sunny all day at lomanthang) at lomanthang due to which truck path was canceled. We had plans to visit Lo Ghyaker and go to Ghami. But, Sunil had problems with thigh that made him difficult to climb the height of pass before Lo Ghyaker. So, we decided to scrap that plan and took a jeep to Bhena. We had lunch at Syangmochen in Nilgiri hotel. We reached Bhena at 12:30pm. From there we hiked all the way down through same route to Samar and then to Chaile and finally to Chuksang. Here, we could get a jeep to Jomsom. The intermediate way we hiked, is under construction for allowing jeeps to move. The construction work is underway at Samar and moving towards Chaile. It is hoped to be completed next year. We reached Chuksang at 3:00pm. The jeep started at 4:00pm and took us Jomsom at 6:00pm. We were bidding our farewell to upper mustang (Lo) that had kept us away from the tensions of outside world for few days and shown a completely new world. We stayed that day at a cheap lodge. We stayed with a local police staff who was returning home from Chosser on a month long Holiday. He shared with us the life of police in Chosser which is nearest check post to Chinese border. I got to taste my third Can of China made beer (Lhasa beer as it was called) from him. It was wonderful to taste it after day of tiring journey. All the way we talked with foreign tourists, Nepali guides, local people, priests and Nepali people on visit to Lo for some work. Each of them had their stories but they all had the aspect of Lo in them. The number of tourist is so less compared to other places that we knew well before other tourists who were entering Lo from mouth of guides we met in the way.

Our last day would be return trip to Pokhara for me and Kathmandu for Sunil. As before, we missed the sole bus to Beni and had to take bus to Ghasa. We could feel the moisture brought by rain during our upper mustang visit. The sky was clear as a result and the mountains were visible just as in autumn season. Kali Gandaki was overflowing with water. I felt like rafting on those violent rapids for some more adventure. Lete was as usual the beauty queen. Dhaulagiri to the north-west and Annapurna to south-east. It felt like we were on base camp of both mountains. We reached Ghasa at 10:00am. We took bus to Beni directly that took us to Beni at 1:30pm. From there, we took quick taxi to Pokhara. It was 4:30pm when we reached Pokhara. After getting sunil on the last bus to Kathmandu, I returned back to my home with all the sweet memories of visit to the kingdom of Lo.

Trek to the Kingdom of Lo

Similarities between the Connecticut shooting and Delhi Rape case event

It was the neighborhood of a so called “Apocalyptic event” as proposed by Mayans. Most people's eyes were in the heavens or Youtube's Gangnam style over signs of it. But, the signs seemed to be different. First, it was US, the third largest population of the world. It was morning of 14th December when a person drove to a school and massacred school going small innocent children and few staffs before killing himself. Second, was India, the second largest population of the world. It was the night of 16th December when a young medical student was brutally gang raped by a group of people in an area of urban security. Both of these incidents drew immense criticism from common people who were petrified by the brutality of the event. Social Networking sites like Twitter and Facebook saw massive rise in use over it. But, the important thing to realize is the similarity of these events apart from the fact that they happened on nearly similar period of time. Both of these events happened in two largest democratic counties of the world. Here I do not mean to criticize democracy by anyway but trying to apply my analytical mind over the events as they are present. Involvement of these events in democratic nation obviously meant demonstration from public in digital and outside form. But, the biggest similarity was the immediate debate that started over avoiding such events in future and deal with it. First thing to note that, though the brutality of event was unforgivable there had been worse event than them in the near past. Virginia Tech Massacre and Kunan Poshpora incident were events of worse brutality. But, the global media wasn't powerful then as it is now. Also, current events drew memory of brutality of previous events in the minds of people who cried for its end. The second aspect of these events is the approach towards solving them. Though everybody is fighting and calling for legislations against gun violence and rape, nobody actually knows what exactly to do. Actually, There are voices in support of such events from political lobbyists. In US, there are people who want to revoke gun laws and believe that allowing people to have gun (and that in pure isolation without government tracking) would make people more secure. But, as every sensible person would understand easy access to gun is the prime reason for such massacres in US. If you do not believe it, similar event happened in China during similar period of time where 22 children were hit yet nobody was killed. Worse yet, as bureaucrats struggle to make strong decisions over it, such events has been recurring ever after and gun companies are making huge amounts of sum from their sales as the possibilities of worse event looms in future. This is clear from the voice of president Obama who tried to clear his hands by saying “We Need Meaningful Action” without specifying what it meant showing lack of motivation of government agencies in tackling such issues. Similar is the case of Indian rape case. India has high rape rate with one rape being reported every 22 minutes. The current Delhi rape case was just a single one in a series of rapes where most of them goes unreported. Again, aftermath of the event saw massive protest from people. But, what about response from government side? They were towards politicizing it to avoid opposition parties pin pointing as much as possible and putting ruling party towards better position. Transport routes were shut, mobs were charged with lathis. Prime Minister tried consoling protesters by words. But in that process, the words of prime minister drew criticism in twitter. Later voices that directly criticized protesters too started erupting. All these proved that event was not so important from government agency's point of view. But, the final similarity which connects to the heart of these two events is this. Are the criminals the only guilty people? Aren't the society a breeding grounds for such events that silently motivates such crimes. With democratic society this becomes much more important because the thought of people defines not just society but the rules and legislatures. Hollywood movies are full of shooting and revenge is the basis of basic plot. Its very rare to find a Hollywood movie that opposes revenge as done by academy award winning movie In a better world. Also, American soldiers were involved in killing citizens in middle east countries and their videos was available in whistle blowing sites like wikileaks. Consider the effects of such events in the minds of young innocent children who consider them as hero and mimic them. Also, India is a place of bollywood. People from poor slum areas find solace in unrealistic plots of bollywood movies. Recently, bollywood movies are copying south tradition where bloody action, sex and revenge defines the basis of overall plot. This year was also the year when a porn star successfully acted in a bollywood movie. Consider the effect of such movies in illiterate young masses especially with the availability of porn movies and fashion projection of young females of growing middle classes. The final conclusion is towards where are we heading towards. Are we right in our decision in sending our children to school for learning who are getting killed, raped or bullied(ultimately suicide)? What can be done by us against such events? But, for that we need to know what is going on first and its cause. The best textbook explanation that I can give right now is the warning by Psychologist Phillip Zimbardo over the demise of guys which I completely agree with especially at psychological level and possible effects that it can cause to people overall (involving killing innocent people or raping girls). Again, I would like to end this by positive note saying nothing happens for bad. These events are recurring but lets hope we have realized the gravity of this issue at global level. Hope this holds key for change. We have entered an era where public realization is the most important thing and holds key to real revolution and not just political change.

Similarities between the Connecticut shooting and Delhi Rape case event