Gratitude towards Unsung Heroes of our life

How thankful are we to others on daily basis? Do we acknowledge the kindness that people bestow on us? Do we care to appreciate those who perform their duty sincerely? Or we just take them for granted!

There are many people who by the virtue of performing their routine job put our life at ease. If we go on enumerating, the list will be long. So, how often do we really thank the early milk boy in the morning, newspaper hawker for timely delivery of newspaper, canteen staff for a warm cup of tea, delivery boy from online shopping stores, traffic polices for their service under scorching sun, even teacher who teaches us? When I asked this question to some of my friends, positive responses were very few.

Some people may argue that aforementioned people do not render any extraordinary job that we should be thankful of. And their reason also being that they are paid for what they do as part of their duty. Yes, I do agree that such people might not be extraordinary in their contribution to society but can you imagine the frustration they may have because of having to work for long hours in unfavorable working condition like scorching sun, dust, rain etc. And most importantly can you imagine even a single day in the absence of their services. So my question to those people who hesitate to be thankful would be:  Wouldn’t it be nice to simply thank them? Won’t it motivate them to think that they are doing a good job and encourage them to perform even better? (which in turn favors us more)

As such being thankful is in fact a worthy choice to make. The most basic advantage of being humble is that it doesn’t cost us anything but only results to gain. It is a choice which when practiced makes us happier and optimistic. It not only assists us to improve relationship with people around us but also helps us to drive out negativity and enables us to learn more from these unsung heroes of our life. So the choice is yours, whether you stop by to your unsung heroes and thank them for their service or not! 

Living Life in Peace

The contemporary world is getting more cacophonic every day. Not a single day is passed without the news of hatred in the form of bombings, killings, genocide etc. The world that we will leave for upcoming generations will be many a time more chaotic that the one which welcomed us. Though the world is getting flatter with the advent of many flattening technology, and people are rejoicing better life, at the same time some part of the world is getting left out. As the countries like the United States, Canada, etc. keep progressing; many countries in the Asia, Africa, Arab world etc. are falling apart.

The tendency of progression/regression of the countries can simply be explained based on belief on hope or humiliation. The leading countries like United States, Canada etc. are very optimistic countries and believe that there is solution to every problem and that tomorrow will be better than yesterday. These countries instill better hope to its people, encouraging them to toil hard towards more progression. As a result, they have become a dream country to 7 billion world population and thus are laboring hard to not be out of league.

In contrast there are countries driven by pessimism, often leading to state of frustration and humiliation. Most leaders of these nations keep their citizens engaged in the glory of the past without a hope of a promising future;  with  discussion of pre-historical periods and its various ‘ism’ as if they are in the 1970’s or 1980’s. Nations and people of these developing countries (e.g. Arab world) rejoice in the grandeur of the past and the image of superiority, when confronted with the concurrent economic and political backwardness, feel humiliated. These humiliated ones engage in extreme violence, which if prolonged may be a threat to whole mankind. This is exactly what is happening in the world post 9/11 incident of the American twin tower case, followed by the Iraq occupation and the current Islamic states operations.

Now the question for people and nations to decide is whether to join the league of countries that transpire hope and aspirations for the upcoming generations or the one that wants to be a threat to them. Whether to be the one to build new landmarks achievement for the future, or the one to bring the existing glory down. The remedy now being that the under-developed countries and the failed countries should enter into level of self-cure: self-introspection and confession. 

Similarly for the developed countries, they should be generous enough to inspire these left out countries to come in track of optimism. Thus the need of the time is for all countries to work together to share that pie of optimism with each-other, and bring the left-out on the track. If this part of the world which is optimistic doesn’t reach to the pessimistic one, than the latter will engulf the previous one. The sooner we realize this, the better the future will be. 

(Published on December 2, 2015, The Kathmandu Post, http://epaper.ekantipur.com/epaper/the-kathmandu-post/2015-12-02/pages/4ec8950671_2015-12-02_6.pdf )

Online Business Surge in India and its Future Prospects

If you study the recent trend in the online business in India, you can easily find out three major market players. Namely: Flipkart, Snapdeal and Amazon. For traditional India where online purchasing was a taboo and thus was limited to few online tickets booking, these companies together have introduced a new culture of online business culture in India. A business that is forecasted to grow from sales of $ 2.3 billion (As of 2014) to $32 billion (as of 2020).

For Flipkart which is largest internet company by its market value of $7 billion, it went through rough ways to arrive at this position to bust the myth that consumers like to see and feel the product before buying. Reluctance of customers to give details of their credit cards, fear about the delivery of the product, suspicion to get exact product etc. were of paramount amount which pioneers like Flipkart had to go through. 

These companies are at the verge of cut-throat competition as they have been going with massive marketing strategy to boost the sales. Recent humongous sales made by e-tailers like Flipkart of $100 million in 10 hours as "Big Billion Sales day" and Snapdeal retaliating the same with sales of a crore per minutes proves this. As such there is a humongous sale that these companies have been able to make. And thus large amount of profit. While the competition is tough over a small profit margin, these companies are also facing challenges. The recent challenge is not because of the competitors in online commerce, but because of the competition/conflict between these e-tailers and brick and mortar models. It should be understood that it is until recently that brick and mortar business have been dominant in doing business in country like India. But this culture is changing rapidly. 

Challenges to Indian e-tailers:

1) Tough competition from competitors who are coming up with innovative strategy to increase sales.

2) Problems from top brands having brick and mortar outlets like: LG, Sony, Samsung etc. who are accusing the e-tailers of making predatory sales (selling below cost), thus damaging their sales and brand names.

3) The customers in Tier-I cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore etc. who prefer see-feel-buy approach in contrast to online modes. Luring them for online business might be relatively difficult.

4) New entrants in the industry which might reduce the price of product offerings sharply in contrast to the old market leaders. Similarly, it is also more likely that manufacturers and brands might offer product offerings via their own online sites. 

5) Another possible challenge would be large brick and mortar group like: Reliance Industries, Future Group, TATAS group planning to go online to expand. etc

Brighter side:

It can be seen evidently that Indian e-tailers have been inspired from Chinese mega online internet retailer: Alibaba's success, which raised record high of $21.8 billion IPO. The statement of Flipkart CEO and Founder Sachin Bansal to make Flipkart a $100 billion club member in upcoming 5,10 or 15 years provides a hint that they are planning for a rapid growth of company business in near future. 

Now lets us put light on the basic facts that hints us about the brighter aspects of growth of online business in India.

1) Online retailers selling product-offerings in a cheaper price as they save on rent and other infrastructures are sure to attract large untapped customer segment in future.

2) Online markets are growing rapidly in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities where physical outlet are absent or are few. They will penetrate the market deep enough before physical outlet set-up there and start to attract the customers.

3) Indian is a country with population of 1.2 billion out of which the population of age group of 18-40 is 40% (as of census 2011). And this is the chunk of population on which online retailer have been finding a dip in sales. This trend is supposed to increase even more. 

4) The service that these companies offer is almost flawless. Delivery before the delivery date, free delivery, 30 days replacement period, etc. will lure more customers to try these sites.

5) The online market has moved towards growth phase of business cycle in which the startup has dried up in recent years as investors are focusing more in larger companies. Thus the prospects of larger companies to grow are even more.

6) Proliferation in the use of smartphones in Indian market which have enabled large base of customers to go online regularly and thus have access to these sites will increase the sales even more in near future. 

Around the World in Eighty Days

Round the World in Eighty Days is an travel adventure novel written by French writer Julis Verne. Published in 1873, this creation is one of the most acclaimed work of Mr. Verne. 

I had wanted to read this novel since a long period of time. But it is just recent that I finished reading this book and would like to give a brief review of it.

Background of the Novel

Phileas Fogg is a well-to-do Londoner, who lives a lonely life. Nothing is known about him beside a fact that he is a member of prestigious Reform Club. Mr. Fogg is less communicative, with restricted social contacts, making him a more of enigmatic character. Though Mr Fogg is rich, of which source is not known to anyone, he is not lavish, nor a miser and prefers to use his resources for noble and benevolent purposes.  In the story, Fogg gets involved in a discussion with his friends from the Reform Club based on a article in The Telegraph which mentions that the circumnavigation across the world is possible in 80 days because of extended Railway tracks in Indian subcontinent. Fogg believes that the journey was possible within the stipulated time frame which his friends deny. Thus more for prestige than for rewards, Fogg enters into a £20,000 wager with his friends in Reform Club to circumnavigate the world in 80 days. The day of wager was October 2, 1872 and Fogg was supposed to be back by December 21, 1872, 8:45 pm. 

Following characters, circumstances make the novel really interesting that you just want to finish it within one sitting.

Mr. Fogg a man of Enigmatic Personage

Mr, Fogg is a man of extreme mathematical precision, such that he dismissed his servant, James Forster, for serving him water at 84 °F rather that 86 °F. Then after he appoints a Frenchmen named Jean Passepartout, who accompanies him to the journey across the world. His mathematical precision becomes instrumental for him to complete his journey in time. Throughout the journey his personality traits like: calmness, cleverness, benevolences, etc makes him a man of great mystery, making the readers believe that he is  the accused robber. 

The itinerary of the journey is as follows:

Source: Wikipedia

Fix: The Detective

They reach Suez canal in time from where they embark journey to Bombay. While leaving Egypt, they are marked by a detective from England, name Fix, who mistakes Fogg for a bank robber in  England who was in large after robbery of £50,000, for the latter had same description like that of the bank robber. Because of failure to attain warrant, Fix keeps following Fogg and boards the same streamer to Bombay and from Bombay to Calcutta and infact the whole world, to realize at the end that Fogg was not a bank robber.

Aouda: A young Indian Women

The only ladies described in the novel, Fogg and Passepartout, along with their guide meet her while travelling a section of Bombay to Calcutta in an elephant. During the journey, they come across a procession whereby a Aouda, who is a sutte(sati- a widow), is to be sacrificed by burning in a pyre of wood along with her husband. Passepartout wit-fully pretends to be the dead husband and scaring off the priests, rescues her away. She now becomes the added member of the tour.

Circumstances makes Aouda to remain in the Journey

Aouda was supposed to be left to her affluent relative in Hongkong. But Fogg learns that her relative have already left Hongkong and currently resides in Holland. As such Fogg takes Aouda along with him to London.

Fix the desperate detective creates obstruction

Failing to get warrant, Mr. Fix tries to hold Fogg in Hongkong (last British soil in the journey). To do so, he gets Passepartout drunk in an opium den. By this Fix becomes partly successful in stopping Passepartout to not to tell his master about the premature departure of the ship.

Undeterred Fogg

Throughout the journey Fogg remains undeterred and only thinks of best possible way to win the wager. The wager was a matter of pride to him and he was very careful of not making any mistakes along the journey. On way from Suez to Bombay, he paid good reward to streamer engineer to advance their journey by two days. In India he purchased an Elephant at a heavy sum of money and in the end gifted it to his guide who remained faithful in performing his job with utmost sincerity.  In Hongkong, having missed the journey, Fogg hires a boat to escort him and Aouda to Sanghai for a hefty sum of money. The plan was to catch a streamer to Yokohama from Sanghai Similarly to travel from Hudson, US to Liverpool-UK in time he purchases a whole ship for a hefty sum of $60,000 and similar stories continues. Upon reaching to London, he would put himself in a position whereby he would already have had spent as equal to the amount of wager. 

Passepartout: A faithful servant 

Passepartout remains very obedient to this master Mr, Fogg. He risks his life to rescue Aouda from a sacred procession, amidst a risky situation. In another circumstances, though Fix tells him that his master is a bank robber, Passepartout doesn't believe on him. He feels very sorry for his master when he knows that because of him his master missed the ship in Hongkong.

Fogg gets arrested, gets clean chit but losses the Wager

It was not necessary for Fogg to delay his journey by saving life of a unknown Indian women (Aouda). But he risks his wager and his life to save her. Similarly when Passepartout was captured by Indian in America, he takes help of American soldiers to rescue him alive. What can be learnt of Fogg is that he was morally correct and kind  person. Upon arrival to Ireland, Fix arrests Fogg in charge of Bank robbery, later to realize that the original bank robber had already been caught. Disappointed Fogg reaches London just five minutes late thinking he lost the bet.

Passepartout makes Fogg win the lost Wager

Fogg was disappointed as he thought that he had lost the wager and apologized Aouda for having brought her to London in a situation where circumstances had made him poor. Then Aouda confesses her love to Fogg and asks him to marry her. Fogg ask Passepartout to take appointment from Minister. While Passepartout goes to take appointment the next day, he realizes that the date was December 21 and not December 22. The fact was that they gained one day travelling eastward. Passepartout hurries to inform Fogg who comes in the last moment to claim that he has won the wager.

The story ends whereby Fogg wins the wager and gains  £20, 0000. But to the end of his journey he spend about  £19,000 on the way. He divided the remaining amount between Passepartout and detective Fix.

Though Fogg didn't really earn any amount from the wager, he was happy and content that he held his pride high. Most importantly the biggest gain to him from the journey was to get beautiful Aouda as his wife.

Conclusion
Overall these characters and plots make the whole novel very interesting and worth reading. As the story flows, writer also describes the plot in a wonderful way. The writer has really done a good research and made the whole sequence of the story very lively and moving.  At times I felt that I was also travelling with Mr. Fogg across the globe. This book would be a nice read and would like to rate it 8/10. To get book for free flip through "free books section" of Kindle books  download it. If you are lazy enough to read the book, there is a movie based on same story.

Concluding Relief/Rescue works

Probable risk of earthquake made us ponder about us going out of Kathmandu valley for relief works. Beside I was volunteering in Rotary Relief secretariat and didn't have enough time to work in field. As such we contacted some volunteering organisation and sent relief materials with them. 

Relief and rescue activities were almost coming to end and it had entered to rehabilitation phase. As such for rehabilitation required specialised skills and network, we didn't enter into it and were almost winding up our activities. This week we provided materials to two places. 

 Kathajor VDC, Ramechhap

We packed sanitation materials for 30 families of Kathajor VDC of Ramechhap. Along with sanitation materials, blankets was also sent to every family via assistance from Rotary Disaster Relief secretariat in Nepal. 

 

 Jeewanpur and Chhatre Deurali VDC, Dhading

Rotaract Club of Sainbu Bhaisepati was planning to go to two villages of Dhading district which was also amongst most hit earthquake area. As they had done preliminary need assessment and had also managed for transportation, we agreed to sent sanitation items through them. There were about 100 beneficiaries families. Rotaract Club of Sainbu Bhaisepati was also providing other relief materials like food, temporary shelter, etc. As such our sanitation packs made a complete relief package to the needy people. 

We still had some amount left with us, which we decided to deposit in PM Relief fund. I would write in brief about it in next blog.  

P.S:  Each sanitation material pack had following materials:

Mosquito Coil                                    1 packet per family

Tooth brush                                     2 units per family

Tooth Paste                                     1 unit per family

Lifebuoy Bathing Soap                   2 units per family

Wheel OK Washing Soap              2 units per family

Handiplast                                      4 units per family

Sanitary Pads                                 2 units per family

Shampoo Sachets                          5 sachets per family

Post Earthquake relief works: My Second Week in Nepal

By now more than 7000 people had lost their life because of the earthquake. However life had started to come back to normal as magnitude and frequency of aftershocks was decreasing.  People had started to come back to Kathmandu and streets had started to be busy and moving.  This week I, along with some of my friends were to start with relief material distribution within the vicinity of the Kathmandu valley.

Khokhana,Lalitpur    
We did survey of nearby villages on the outskirts of Kathmandu: Lubhu, Imadol, Khokana, etc. These area were severely affected by earthquake resulting significant loss of life and property. While in Khokhana, we met a Buddhist monk in a bhuddhist center where around 140 people were living after they had lost their houses. We enquired about the need there and came to know that they were in dire need of sanitation items. 

We organized sanitation items for 140 peoples the same day and the very next day we went to the same place to handover it to Vikshyu Sudhiru. We thanked vikshyu for helping people at such critical period and departed to prepare for next program.

Jhaukhel VDC, Bhaktapur

We had collaborated to with Rotaract Club of Himalaya Patan for our next program in Jhaukhel village of Bhaktapur. Jhaukhel is one of the oldest settlements of Kathmandu valley and most of the houses there were broken down by earthquake. On behalf of SVCET Nepali students, we had arranged sanitation packs for 126 families which included various items like toiletries, mosquito repellent, first aid kits, etc. While Rotaract club had arranged for food and medical team.

We reached Jhaukhel at around 11 am and started to arrange things for distribution. Our medical team also settled their camp swiftly and within some minutes we  would start our camp on full range. As we started to distribute relief material, I heard people making noise and crying. I thought that some dacoits have committed crime. But after few more second ground shook like anything. Then I realized that it was an earthquake. I could see many elderly people, infants and children, women crying. While some of volunteers started to run to open space, I requested the villagers to not to panic and just stay where they had been, Given the difficult location of school, chances of stampede were high. So we just stayed there. The quake gave up within 30 seconds, but increased our fear again. People who had resumed to normal life started to fear again. Aftershocks continued as we went to open space. People were so worried to ensure safety of their relatives and friends. In couple of  minutes, phone line was busy. However I texted my brother to inform I was safe and got to know everything was fine in home.

We rested in open place for a while and interacted with local people. People were not only scared but also irritated with frequent nature of earthquake.  A constant cloud of fear and uncertainty still surrounded them. I got to helpless to see people being panicked. But there was nothing we could besies what we were doing. After about an hour, we resumed our operation in open field and started providing health care and relief materials. About 126 families were benefitted from the camp. We thanked everyone of helping us to organize program in smooth and effective manner and promised of any possible help in future.

It was about 5 pm in the evening when we returned. On way we saw many old houses in Bhaktapur area being demolished by earthquake. People were outside of their building, in open places and were making sure about safety of their family, relatives, friends and neighbors. Amidst all these uncertainty, we still had hoped to help people and bring their life back to normalcy.

Bela VDC, Kavre District

We were informed by one of our friends that some 30 family in Bela village of Kavre district were in dire need of relief materials as no other organizations had been there since day 1 of earthquake. We arranged all available sanitary items and made 30 packs. Meanwhile we had also collected blankets through Rotary International 3292, Nepal and Bhutan. Now only thing that we needed was Tarpaulins. Out of 30 tarpaulins that were needed, I collected 10 from Rotary International 3292 and remaining 20 was provided by Manish Gautam brother from Rotaract club of Kasthamandap. We collected all the items and headed off to Bela. Since we had only few beneficiary families and things were not in big quantity, we decided to curb cost by travelling in public bus. Though it gave us some inconvenience it helped us to save cost. 

We finally reached the place at 10 am. From there it was 30 minutes walking to reach the village. We carried the boxes ourselves and walked down the way to reach the village. In coordination with a local school teacher, we distribute the materials to available families. As we were about to return, the very local teacher offered us food. We didn’t want to become burden to people at such difficult situation and thus declined the offer thankfully. But a Nepali never gives up in hospitality, no matter in what condition his family is. He insisted that he would prepare basic meal.  Finally we agreed and stayed there for lunch.

Post Earthquake: My First Week in Nepal

I always wished to write blog more frequently. But I have been failing to do so because of various reasons. Of course one of them being my inability to manage time. May be because of this slogan “Better late than never” has been popular.

The first day I met my family and rested for a while. After lunch I visited Nepal Rotary Disaster Relief office and updated myself of relief and rescue activities that Nepal Rotary was organizing in coordination with various I/NGO’s. 

For the next entire week I started volunteering to clear debris of Kalmochan temple, in Thapathali of Kathmandu. The program was scheduled from 7:00 am to 9:00 am in the working. It was entirely a labor work that needed to carry bricks and mud from one place to another. Though this work was not an easy one as the dust from bricks and mud was very harmful and carrying bricks too was difficult one. But many motivated youths kept each-other motivating. There were many high school youths and also local residents who joined us after some days. Our work had started to show some progress as we had stacked almost all the materials and had cleared the temple area. Together with us Nepal police and Nepal army were also volunteering to clear the area. Together it was great experience to work for nation rebuilding.

As we had collected funds via various fundraising campaign in India, we now needed to spend it prudently for the benefit of the quake affected people. After so much of destruction and loss of life, threat of epidemic was haunting quake affected people. As most of I/NGO’s were focusing on foods and shelter, we decided to focus only on sanitation items. The reason also being that we didn’t have enough resources to cater people’s need of food and shelter. Now we had to collect basic sanitary items and also had important task of choosing the right place with needy people, for the distribution of materials.

Procuring things became easy as we had contacts of some local wholesaler. Next thing of choosing right place also became somehow easy via help of Rotaract club ( youth wing of Rotary), who had experience of working with people in grassroot level. We contacted some of them and accompanied them. Their part being to collect foods items, medicines and medical team, manage transportation, etc. This not only helped to take entire package of relief materials to needy place but also saved us from duplication of cost related to survey, transportation, duplication of relief distribution in same place, etc. After few other day we would start with relief material distribution to various places affected by earthquake.

I was informed later that a volunteer was needed in Nepal Rotary Disaster Relief office. I easily decided to join from the next day, where my job was to keep records of items that were coming and were being distributed via Rotary and also assist distribution of relief materials. 

Fundraising in India for April, 2015 Earthquake of Nepal

This time when earthquake hit Nepal on April 25, 2015, I was in India. This made me to envision the outside-in perspective of things happening in Nepal. Being updated about the aftermath of Earthquake, I was able to experience the helplessness of not being able to help my country besides giving moral strength to my people. There was also a section of people within Nepal who were claiming people  like me (who were living outside Nepal) to have neglected the country at such a critical period.  This helplessness was not only kicking hard on me, but also to some of my friends. As such we decided to come back to Nepal and help them in ground level. Before we embarked on our journey to Nepal, we organized series of fundraising for the earthquake victims of Nepal.

1)      Fundraising in own college

The fundraising originally was started by some of our friends from various countries, who were deeply pained by the unfortunate disaster in Nepal. Special thanks to every friend from MBA classes who touched us with their kind endeavor. Later the same day in afternoon, we collected contribution from various students from different departments.

Fund raising in our own college

In the evening we organized the fundraising in our hostel which houses about 1000 students from 32 different countries. These fellow friends from hostel were kind enough to have accompanied in our cause. At the end of the day we were successful to collect about INR 38,391.

2)      Getting out of comfort zone
Being outside of Nepal we were worried about ways to help our people back home. The only thing that we could do on such situation was to collect as much as resources to help our families back home. I was happy to see my friends coming out of comfort zone and volunteering to reach out people in nearby cities, to collect fund. As such we divided into teams for fundraising in Vellore, Tirupati and Chittoor. That very evening we witnessed a whopping collection of INR 40,669, resulting to total of INR 79,060. On the third day we collected INR 39,700. Including INR 25,000 from Emeralds Business School, Tirupati and INR 11,000 from Krishna Teja Group of College, Tirupati.

My college friend in front of CMC Hospital in Vellore, Tamil Nadu in India

3)      Our helpful friends

This notorious earthquake gave enough coverage across the globe that every people knew about the tragic condition in Nepal. Our friends from various countries were in pain just like us. It is said that you know your friends in hard time, and I think of this statement as being true. Our friends not only provided moral and emotional strength, but also helped us collect resources for our people, back home. Not only those whom we had know for quite a long, but also recently known friends helped us based on humanitarian ground. I was, and am so blessed to have such friends in my life. 

4)      What goes around, comes around

 After the tragic earthquake of Nepal on Baishakh 12, 2072, we approached to some recently established friendship to help us. Of course they did help us, feeling more of a duty than  help. While visiting a college in Tirupati, I met this man with golden heart who had visited Nepal couple of years ago. This man was so touched with the kind and generous behaviour of Nepali people that he said he got emotional when he heard Nepal was hit by a giant quake. In spite of our single request, they themselves collected the amount and provided us moral support and also promised of any kind of help for the relief operation in Nepal. This response was because of all those Nepali people who had been good to him during his visit in Nepal.

Fund handover to us by Assistant Director of Emeralds Business School Mr. Cma Parthasarathy

With due thanks to all the contributors who helped us at this time of need, I would like to inform you all that by the time I write this post we have collected INR 148,620. I shall post in details with amount and name of contributor as I get the full details along with the relief program organised by us. 

April, 2015 Earthquake of Nepal: An immediate call from Motherland

It was around 11:50 am, 25th April, 2015 when all of sudden the peaceful ambiance of my MBA class was disturbed by a phone call from Australia that informed that a massive earthquake has hit Nepal. I doubted the veracity of the information , as social media pranks are very common these days. But the intensity of seriousness of my bench partner made me serious. And then the first thing that I remember was my parents back home who were old, alone and in small house surrounded by big buildings. Then i remembered my relatives, friends and who not !! Fear kicked me hard inside when we tried to contact our family back home but couldn't succeed. And it was confirmed that a real earthquake had hit Nepal.

Panicking began when in-spite of trying to contact with family back home turned futile. Everyone who had not been able to communicate with family had started to panic, trying to hide it though. Finally I could contact my brother in law, an officer in Nepal police, who was in remote area of Dolakha. However he himself was unknown about family members in Kathmandu, which increased my restlessness. Counselling friends that everything in Nepal was fine was a damn lies as earthquake had created a havoc. Finally, it was only in the evening that I got little relief when my friend's brother in Kathmandu helped me to communicate with my parents, who were all fine, including my immediate relatives.

Dharahara: a symbol of our hope, pride and confidence was shattered by the Earthquake

However after updating myself with news in Indian medias, social media sites, etc I realised that a dark period has begun in Nepal which would not only lead to thousands of casualties and immense loss of property but also push back the country years back. I could see the intensity of seriousness by my friend's, juniors and other friends from various countries, who were trying to hide it with smile. Some friends who had lost their home had tried counselling themselves thinking that there is no human casualties. 

The quake created a real havoc. Immense loss of life of people (7800 people as I write this blog), thousands injured, loss of major cultural sites, etc. I had never imagined that Earthquake of this scale would hit Nepal. But now as it had occurred, there was nothing we could do beside trying to curb the casualties. 

Then the following day another big aftershock, 6.8 on Richter Scale hit Nepal again which make the situation here more intense. People had started to live in open space with intense fear, of not only quake but also of burglary, theft, etc. Thousand of household, including women, elderly and children where in roofless open space waiting for some relief from the side of government as well as mother nature.

Meanwhile, we in Chittoor were about write our exams after two days. But it was really difficult condition to do so as we were stressed with what was happening back home.   

I was feeling so helpless that I immediately wanted to come back to Nepal. I couldn't bear imagining the guilt because of not being able to help my people, my country at this hour of need. This was an higher order calling of my country and I just wanted to be there to serve her.  

As such I started to convince the officials of our college to consider such condition on humanitarian grounds and give us leave to return back home. Thanks to the college officers who promised to look after us, in case any problem arises. Anyway that was not a big issue as we had decided to come back home and started booking return tickets. In some couple of days we would be back to wipe the tears of our motherland. 

Where is Our Future ?

I get frenetic about the way political events churn out in our country. Since the dawn of democracy, the political parties have been fooling Nepalese in a way or other. Surprisingly for a country where 73 percent of the population is under 35 years of age and 50 percent is under 18, most of the political leaders who represent us are elderly, who discard the involvement of youths.

It is said that “The best way to predict the future is to create it.”  A hope for a prosperous Nepal rests in the hand of youths who are the future of this country. But instable political system have been creating impediment for the youths to lead the socio-economic progress in the country.

Emigration by youths is record high, a large chunk of youth have become prey of political parties and are spoiling their prime time without utilizing their ability  in creative and promising works etc. Contrastingly, there is also a small chunk of optimistic youths who tirelessly toil for better situation of the country. The eminent need of the time is to create a favorable ambience for a rapid socio-economic progress through reforms via critical inquiry of the past and current situation of the country. Such a noble task should be spearheaded by youths and without any delay. 
(Published in The Himalayan Times, dated March 20, 2015)

Culture of Volunteerism

Volunteerism is an action at free will directed in offering of service to others. The general notion of it being that receiver will be benefitted. Though this belief if valid, most of the time the opposite is also true. The volunteer who offers help gets more benefited than the receiver.

The benefit to volunteer can range from the psychological satisfaction derived from helping others to numerous other benefits like access to vast network of like-minded kind people, improvement in interpersonal communication, confidence boost-up, etc. 

For a nation where volunteering is an established culture, the country benefits the most because of the proactive nature of its citizens. These proactive citizens have a positive mindset, who are optimistic and of cooperative nature. In Nepal the concept of volunteerism has been popularized with the proliferation of social organization like Rotary clubs, 

Lions club, Scouts, Red cross and many other I/NGOS’s. A contemporary example can be the success of Bagmati river cleaning program since a long period of time. 

A quote that always motivates me to help others.

(Published in The Himalayan Times, dated March 18, 2015)

FDI in Nepal: An Overview

Amish Dhungel

Dwaipayan Regmi

Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) is a remarkable indicator of a country moving into free market and accepting globalization. One of the potential markets for FDI is developing countries, as such countries have abundance of valuable resources that are untapped. Besides, FDI helps these developing countries to balance the gap between desired investment and domestically mobilized savings. Widely believed notion is that FDI role is tremendous in terms of bringing wave of economic changes that would benefit a country, and that is even more in case of developing country like Nepal.

Often referred to as a major tool of globalization post early 1990s, FDI increases ownership of assets across the national frontiers. FDI provides a country with access to global talent, global managerial skills and knowledge, optimum utilization of human capital and natural resources, enhances exports, makes industry competitive, provides forward and backward linkages and access to international quality product offerings, and facilitates more employment opportunities.

In the context of developing countries like Nepal, FDI can be regarded as lifeblood for rapid economic development.  FDI contribution to all round development of economy is crucial. Indian Management guru, Ram Charan reflects the importance as: “No country ever has grown without FDI, including America. FDI is not only money it’s what comes with it: technology, managerial knowhow, risk-taking.” Though Liberalization of national economy in 1990s opened door for FDI in Nepal, the country hasn’t been successful to attract significant amount of FDI.

The Foreign Investment and Technology Transfer Act 2049(1992) shapes the basic foundation for Investment in Nepal. The policy seems liberal. There is easy entry, as one can get ‘non tourist visa’ for six months if they tend to invest in Nepal. They can take every penny that they earn out of profit, share, dividend, equity and interest back to their country. There is no any Government interference in case of any dispute with the local stakeholders. The case will rather be solved following United Nations Commission on International Trade Law. Again, foreign investors are allowed to hold 100% ownership in any business apart from cottage industry and other few sensitive places.

The policy is beautifully designed, but the practical side is loaded with lots of side effects. Any foreigner cannot own land in Nepal. FDI is restricted for the ownership of commercial banks up to 66% only. There are various places where Government is enjoying monopoly; as such it is difficult for foreign investor to enter into these sectors. Nepal Electricity Authority, Nepal Drinking Water Corporation comes into these sectors. Foreign investors are not granted equal right as that of domestic investor. For instance, a foreign investor pays double rate to register a trademark. Above all, one can note that there is a political disturbance that creates fear within the mind of foreign investors. Government has not yet been able to take risk for their loss because of political disturbances. Failure of BIPPA has also showed negative impact to foreigners regarding investment in Nepal.

Despite the dark sides and limitations of the policy, there are rays of hope as well. World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business Indicator 2015 ranks Nepal as second best destination among the SAARC countries for investment. There are educated mass, who are always turning pages for looking job opportunities. This indicates, large number of educated mass is looking for job, so any investor would get educated manpower at comparatively low price. Nepal has recently come up from the ten years of civil war. History indicates that industries built after war times have been long lasting, so this hypothesis shows that this is appropriate time to invest in Nepal too. There are problems in sector of communication, electricity, water, fuels. But, these problems are actually opportunities for the investors.

After the end of ten years of Maoist insurgency, Foreign Investment in Nepal has showed a positive symptom. Although, the Investment Year 2012/13 effectiveness can be kept as a separate question to be answered, we can see that Nepal has received Rs 19.93 billion of FDI in the year 2012/13 and that of Rs 20.18 billion in the year 2013/14. There was 0.9% increment in FDI, however, 3.8% decline in foreign investment projects.

China has been the largest investor in Nepal investing Rs 2.71 billion and Rs 7.32 billion in the year 2012/13 and 2013/14 respectively.  It is then followed by India who invested Rs 2.8 billion and Rs 6.5 billion in 2012/13 and 2013/14 respectively. After Indian PM Modi’s visit this investment from India is likely to be increased in next year. Investment in the sectors like tourism, service, mineral, manufacturing, energy, construction, agro and forestry has been getting prime concern in Nepal.

In order to attract the new investors in Nepal, first thing that Nepal can do is create favorable environment. Government need to provide security to the investors, ensure good environment for business and its operation. There is again a necessity to shape a proper monetary and fiscal policy that would attract the investors. BIPPA and other bilateral and multilateral trade agreements should be formulated and implemented properly. There is still the fear of political disturbance in Nepal, this issue has to be properly addressed, and the one planning to invest should be welcomed.

The recent development in FDI sector has been praiseworthy with the arrival of largest ever FDI project in Nepal in Hydropower sector by Indian company GMR.

For a rapid growth of economy, Nepal has no option but to attract FDI. Being sandwiched between two giant economies of the world, Nepal holds the vast potentiality of benefitting from these humongous economies via FDI.

(This article was published on The Himalayan Times, dated March 9, 2015)

Incredible MYSORE

I wanted to visit Mysore as soon as I came to India on July, 2014. There were two reason behind this.
One: I wanted to meet my dear friend Sujan.
Two: I wanted to see Mysore palace.
However this had become only a wish until and unless I decided to go all of sudden during my semester break. We had just cancelled out North India visit because of fear about Swine flu being viral as it had already taken dangerous presence all over India. The first day of vacation was passed boringly in Hostel. However, I couldn't prepare myself for three such more days. So I convinced Gaurav and finally boarded train to Mysore, the second day. That was a challenge to swine flu ;)


Mysore:

Mysore is one of the beautiful cities of whole of India. Located in Karnataka state of India, Mysore is an ancient city with rich cultural heritages and historical importance.

I happened to visit this place recently. During my three day stay in Mysore, I visited some of the prominent tourist destinations that were really amazing. One of the oldest planned cities of Asia, life in Mysore resembles to that of some European countries. Things that keep Mysore a class apart from amongst other cities of India are: clean roads and public spaces, mildly populated, no heavy traffic, many cultural and architecturally exceptional buildings, etc.

Based on my own experience, I recommend you to visit following places if you happen to visit Mysore anytime in future.

1)      Mysore Palace

It’s marvelous, really captivating, and the lights makes it really a heaven on earth !

Mysore palace during evening time, every Sunday, 7:00 pm to 8:00 pm.

Mysore palace is the official residence of the Maharajas of Mysore-The Wodeyars. The palace houses gigantic courtyards, gardens and buildings. The palace is built via use of Hindu, Muslim, Rajput and Gothic styles.

Mysore palace during morning time

Every year during Dussera festival in Autumn, the palace hosts famous Mysore Dussera which is the major festival in Mysore and a major tourist season.  The palace is a must see especially during evening time on every Sunday and some other special occasions like Dussera.

2)      Chamundi Hills

Chamundi hills houses the famous 11^th century Chamundeshwari temple on top of the hill. Situated at about 13 kms from the city and at height of 1000 meters, the view from top is mesmerizing panoramic, from where we can see beautiful Mysore.  On the midway to the hill is a statue of bull Nandi, the carrier of Lord Shiva, which is carved out of single piece of black granite ( 1.9 m tall and 7.6 m long). Hindu Mythology has it that the then king of Mysore Mahisasura was killed by goddess Chamundeswari after a fierce battle. To mark this victory Hindu followers celebrate Dussera/Dashain festival, which is the major festival in Mysore.

An evening bike ride to Chamundi hill can be really a worthwhile experience. Try it !

3)      Brindaban Garden

Adjoining to a dam called Krishnarajasagara which crosses Kaveri river is a beautiful garden called Brindavan garden. This garden is one of the most visited tourist destination in Mysore. Famous for variety of flowers and fruits, the garden is really amazing during evening time when the ambience is beautified via lights and water fountains. The construction of garden dates back to 1927 and is still one of the most favored tourist attractions in Mysore.

A major attraction here is the musical fountain where bursts of waters are synchronized to music of song.  Go there with your loved ones and enjoy the gift of nature. :)

Beautiful Sunset on way to Brindavan Garden !!

It was not only place but my greatest buddies who made travelling fun. On the first day Suwas decided to join from Bangalore. More fun to my stay was by momo party hosted by Nepalese girls, evening  bike ride, sleep upto late morning, alcohol, movie and movie and so on....such a FUN !!! I am thankful to my friends for being such a great host. Special mention to Sujan, Suwas, Sainju, Raju !! See you soon again Mysore ! Now back to default >>Chittoor!!