...I speak my mind =)

Painting by: Leonid Afremov  It was the last night of my little trip. Despite being borderline apprehensive about going to Pokhara alone, the 4-day vacation had felt very...freeing. I had left all my electronic devices back home. No schedule to follow, No places to be, no calls to answer...it was bliss. I was anxious about getting back home because I knew a desk full of papers were awaiting my arrival at work. I gulped down the remaining beer in my mug. I motioned to the bartender to bring me another one. My plan for the night was to drink as much as I could keep down without feeling sick. Well, as far as an unplanned plan could go. I looked around the bar. It was buzzing with enthusiasm. At 8 pm on a Friday night, I imagined what I must look like to the world. A guy in his mid 20s sitting alone at a bar. But, I was having fun. Many people don't understand it but solitude isn't all that bad that people make it out to be. I was feeling slightly hazy, when a girl a

Photo Credit:  alldowntoharmony.tumblr.com I'm not much of music person per se. I don't play any instrument nor do I understand chords. And I like to believe that I can survive without listening to music for a couple days atleast, if it comes to that. However, most often than not, my room is blaring out songs and I need to listen to music while I take a shower or first thing in the morning when I'm getting dressed for college ....The thing is I am not much of a music person, but I prefer to be. What I like most about music is how it transports you back to the person you used to be when you first started listening to the song. 5 seconds into the intro and you will be traveling back in time. When I was in middle school, I was a big "Hannah Montana" fan (still am, kind of). Hence, my playlist included a bunch of Miley Cyrus songs, a couple from Linkin Park (courtesy of my best friend's big brother), that super popular Avril song and of course, infamous &q

Picture credit: dreamstime.com The methods of informal education in Nepal dates back hundreds of years. However, the doors to proper formal educational institutions for the general population was open only after 1951 after the oppressive Rana regime was over thrown. That event will always mark a stellar moment in Nepali history as it brought about the wave to produce thoughtful and intellectual Nepali citizens. Over the past 60 years, educational scenario has come a long way. From 10,000 students in 300 schools in 1951 to hundreds of thousand students in 49000+ schools in 2010 reflects on the positive journey. The adult literacy rate climbed from 5% to 60.3% which shows how far we've come. However, the bottom line is this isn't enough. For the past couple weeks, Nepal is in the middle of huge political unrest regarding the constitution draft. There are strikes and revolts against the decision of the government left and right. Some castes have demanded their own st

In the fall of 2011, My family took a vacation to South India. Until then, I'd only travelled a few places in Nepal so it was safe to say that I was quite excited. And the fact that I was going away from Kathmandu for a total of 22 days only made it better. Don't get me wrong, I love Kathmandu along with all its quirks but we all need a break sometimes. My Trip to India involved 2-3 days long train journey at a time, visiting stunning beaches and staying in sea view hotel rooms. Sounds amazing, right? And it was amazing...for 5 minutes. After a while, the euphoria was up in smokes. I had my family right beside me at all times but I missed home. I missed my friends. I don't want to sound like a spoiled brat, but the whole sleeping late/waking up early to visit someplace new got old too soon. Halfway through the trip, I just wanted to go home and fall into the unproductive monotony of a typical 15 year old teenager.  But, you see, this is where things get intere

My jar of memories :-) Ever since I was little, I've had this affinity with Roses. I don't know if it's the overlapping petals, the sweet sensational smell or the fact that that level of beauty can blossom midst the nastiest of thorns. Or maybe its the whole package.  It might be the romantic in me showing its colors, but gifting someone Roses always felt like the right thing to do. And in return, receiving Roses still feels like the best thing ever. Years passed, friends broke away and lovers drifted yet I always saved the roses- pressed and dried. A sane person would throw away the memories of people who don't matter anymore. However, I like to save it because no matter what happened afterwards, that moment is a happy memory. And happy memories are like bottles of wine in a way. As our brain has a way of blurring out negatives, moments become sweeter the farther down you travel in time. In a way, my jar of memories (as I like to call it) provides me ge

As of today, around 7 million people have viewed Deepika Padukone's Vogue Empowerment video. For the first few days, I just ignored it when it appeared on my Newsfeed. But a slew of jokes followed and I knew I couldn't ignore it forever. The first time I watched the video I had a deep unsettling feeling in my gut. Women Empowerment is a very important issue and all that the video pointed out to me was the societal double-standard against men in today's seemingly "modern" world. The video talks about matters ranging from the choice of clothing to choice to have sex (I'll come back to this one later) and something about being the snowstorm not the snowflake. The video has got so many things wrong it's not even funny. India has so many problems regarding the society bringing women down. India is the place where a girl being married to a man thrice her age is normal, where a girl has to pay the price when the only sin she has committed is being born a

photo credit: kimberlybelle.com As February 14th was fast approaching, my Facebook news feed was flooded with posts about how people were going to spend Valentine's Day crying or eating ice cream while crying or something along those lines. No I'm not kidding but I wish I was. It only shows how our society prefers two people over one. You are born alone, you die alone. So why the prejudice? Ever since I was little, I've been a big fan of all things romantic. Roses, Novels, Chocolates ...you name it. And I understand that Valentine's day may be the most superficial 'holiday' in the history of holidays. You give someone gift because you're supposed to. You say you love them because it's an unspoken rule to say it that day. I want to hate this supposed 'Day of love' but I cant make myself do it. When I pretend to be disinterested, something inside me stirs and I remember that all this began in good spirit. How wonderful is it to value love ov

When I think about the first time I met her, the details are a little hazy. But I do remember thinking it being such a 'date' despite us resisting to call it that. A little coffee on her part because I hated coffee then, a walk along the dusty streets of Kathmandu all sealed off with Ice-cream for us both. The fact that it was a chilly December evening didn't stop us. Come to think of it, the details aren't all that hazy because I remember it being a Wednesday. When I saw her for the first time, the first thing I noticed about her were her beautiful brown eyes. I was in my early twenties and I had already been with half dozen other brown eyes but hers had that glimmer that no one else held. They were exquisite. Online dating was new to me whereas the whole dating scenario was new to her. She'd warned me beforehand that she was going to be awkward as hell on the first meet but when we met she was all talks and smiles- zero awkwardness. At that poi