Diwali Party: My Prepared Remarks

सर्वप्रथम त सबै जनालाई तिहार को दिपावली को मंगलमय शुभकामना
डिल्ली भट्ट, अन्जन श्रेष्ठ र म परमेन्द्र भगत को तर्फ बाट
घर घरमा लक्ष्मीको वास होस्, आफ्नो घर देश छोडेर डलर को खेती गर्न निस्केका हामी सबैलाई आ आफ्नो लक्ष्य प्राप्त होस्

एक हप्ता अगाडी एका विहान हामी तीन जना डिल्ली भट्ट, अन्जन श्रेष्ठ र म अन्जनजीको गाडीमा चढेर शनिवार Rockaway Beach पुग्यौं, sunrise अथवा सुर्योदय हेर्नाले शक्ति प्राप्त हुन्छ भन्ने कुरा वेदमा भनिएको छ भनेर अन्जन जीले भन्नुभो। मलाई त हो जस्तो लाग्यो। मुड फ्रेश।

मेरो सांस्कृतिक पृष्ठभूमि मिथिला हो। मिथिलामा हिन्दुले पनि मुस्लिमले पनि छठ मनाउछन्। छठमा सुर्यास्त को र सुर्योदय को पुजा हुने हो। दिवाली को छैंठौं दिन छठ हो। सबैलाई छठको पनि शुभकामना।

यो दिवाली पार्टीको एउटा theme छ। त्यो theme हो नेपालमा आर्थिक क्रान्ति का लागि न्यु यर्क को नेपाली समुदाय को रोल, न्यु यर्क को नेपाली समुदायको आर्थिक क्रान्ति का लागि High Tech Entrepreneurship को रोल। त्यो High Tech Entrepreneurship मा न्यु यर्क नेपाली समुदाय का आम नेपालीले खेल्न सक्ने रोल।

नेपालमा आर्थिक क्रान्ति भनेको के? मेरो परिभाषामा नेपालमा आर्थिक क्रान्ति भनेको double digit growth rates year in year out for 30 years हो। यानि कि नेपालको अर्थतन्त्र वार्षिक १०% अथवा त्योभन्दा बढी का दरले वृद्धि हुनुपर्यो ३० वर्षकालागि। आगामी ३० वर्ष त्यति गर्न सक्ने प्रधान मन्त्री पास, नत्र भने फेल।

त्यसमा न्यु यर्क का नेपालीको मात्र होइन, सारा प्रवासी नेपालीको ठुलो र निर्णायक रोल छ। त्यो भनेको एक पटकको नेपाली, सधैंको नेपाली नै हो। राजनीतिक अधिकार बिनाको नागरिकता पनि नागरिकता हुन्छ कहीं! राजनीतिक अधिकार बिनाको नागरिकता त पन्चायती नागरिकता हो। प्रवासी नेपालीलाई पुर्ण नागरिकता नदिने हो भने नेपालको आर्थिक क्रान्ति disturb हुन्छ। द्वैध नागरिकता (dual citizenship) भनेको brain gain गर्ने सर्वोत्तम तरिका हो।

दुनियाको राजधानी न्यु यर्क। प्रवासमा न्यु यर्क को special स्थान छ। न्यु यर्क का नेपाली न तात्तिदा सम्म काठमानडुमा NRN movement लाई seriously लिइएन। तर न्यु यर्क का नेपाली ले आफुले आफुलाई नचिनेको अवस्था पनि छ। हनुमान नजागेको अवस्था छ। मस्को मा ३० जना नेपाली millionaire छन् भन्ने सुन्छु। न्यु यर्क मा त्यसो भए कमसेकम ५० जना नेपाली millionaire हुनुपर्ने। किन छैनन्? हामीले सोध्नुपर्ने प्रश्न हो यो।

High Tech Entrepreneurship को कुरा यस्तो छ। Receptionist को काम जहाँ पनि उस्तै उस्तै हो। तर Google मा स्थापना काल देखि काम गर्ने receptionist जब Google IPO भयो, त्यो receptionist रातारात millionaire भयो। सबै कम्पनी Google र Facebook होइनन। ती category A कम्पनी भए। तर category B कम्पनी पनि हुन्छन। बिलियन डलर सम्मको मार्केट value सम्म पुग्ने। Category C कम्पनी हुन्छन, 100 मिलियन मार्केट value सम्म पुग्ने। Category D कम्पनी हुन्छन, 10 मिलियन मार्केट value सम्म पुग्ने। Category E कम्पनी हुन्छन, एक मिलियन मार्केट value सम्म पुग्ने। मेरो tech team ले एउटा client कालागि बनाएको एउटा app December मा त्यो client ले मिलियन डलर मा बेच्यो।

मेरो team अहिले एउटा Augmented Reality Mobile Game मा काम गर्दैछ। यो हाम्रो अन्तरिक प्रोजेक्ट हो। आफैलाई गरेको, कुनै client का लागि होइन। We think we are in a strong position to end up a Category B company in a five year time frame. We are raising some seed money right now at a million dollar valuation. We are projecting 5,000 dollars invested in our company right now should become a million dollars in five years. But sometimes tech startups fail. Then what? I made it risk free for some of my friends who came in. I said, should the company fail, I will have 12 months to give your 5K back to you. But should it succeed, and your 5K does end up being a million dollars, I get 5% of that growth, I get 50K, you get 950K. Some of my friends took it.

यदि यो investment opportunity तपाईं लाई आकर्षक लाग्छ भने गफ गरौँ। मेरो सम्पर्क नम्बर हो 917 512 5445 र मेरो इमेल हो paramendra@gmail.com Tech startup गर्न खोजेको म एक्लो होइन। अन्जनजीको पनि एउटा दुइटा idea छ। Tech startup गर्न चाहने अरु पनि कोही हुनुहुन्छ भने हामीले तपाईं का लागि सक्दो गर्छौं, सम्पर्क गर्नोस्।

यस सन्दर्भमा मैले डिल्ली जीलाई एउटा कहानी सुनाएँ। When Oracle bought PeopleSoft a few years back for a few billion, Larry Ellison paid his lawyers $100 million in legal fees.

न्यु यर्क जस्तो ठाउँमा millionaire बन्न नसक्नेले नेपालको आर्थिक क्रान्तिमा ठुलो योगदान पुर्याउन सक्छ जस्तो मलाई लाग्दैन। तर यहाँ सफल entrepreneur बन्न सक्नेले नेपालमा FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) लाने बाटाहरु खुल्छन।

फेरि पनि सबै जनालाई तिहार को दिपावली को छठ को मंगलमय शुभकामना

(To be delivered at the Dilli Bhatta Law Firm, 18 East 41st Street, Suite 1105, New York, NY 10017, October 23, 2014, Thursday evening)

Durga Pooja In Gorigama

English: Devotees of the Festival Chhath Parva in Janakpur, Nepal (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

(written for Vishwa Sandesh)

Durga Pooja In Gorigama
By Paramendra Bhagat (www.paramendra.com)

Gorigama is a neighboring village to my homevillage Gonarpura in Nepal. Gonarpura is not that far from Janakpur. What I most remember about Gorigama is the DurgaPooja there. Chhath was the top festival in the culture I grew up in. Jitiya dashe Dashain, Dashain solhe sukrati, Sukrati chhabe Chhaith. 10 days after the festival of Jitiya we start celebrating Dashain, 16 days after Dashain is over, we celebrate Diwali. Sukrati is another name for Diwali. Six days after Diwali is Chhath. So goes the saying.

In the culture of the hill Nepalis Dashain is the top festival, Chhath is not even celebrated, although Chhath is also a Hindu thing. But maybe it is a Mithila thing, because even Muslims in Bihar are known to celebrate Chhath. In my culture we don’t do tika in Dashain. That is a hill thing. But many Teraiwasis have learned to do the tika thing.

I would be home for vacation from the school I attended in Kathmandu. Most years my Dashain vacation, which incorporated Diwali (one year it didn’t), would end just a day before Chhath. That was the Panchayat era cultural insensitivity.

On the days of Durga Pooja late in the afternoon streams of people would walk from my village to Gorigama. The sight I most remember is all these people who would carry their flip-flops in their hands for most of the walk, and when they were almost there, they would go to the nearest pond, and wash their feet, and put on their flip-flops. They wore the flip-flops only on special occasions. Otherwise they walked around bare feet. It is called being a Third World country.

Local artisans created the most beautiful mud statues of Durga Mata. And then when the festival was over, half the village would go lay the statue down in some pond or river. Such was the custom.

The festival grounds, usually the public school, would have stalls of food and stages of entertainment. The local drama companies got to perform. This was Bollywood to most people in my homevillage for whom Bollywood was not yet a reality. To most people in my village at the time both Nepali and Hindi sounded like English: foreign. There were high school students who would sit themselves in the mango groves reading up cheap Ved Prakash Sharma novels who would would tell their parents they were “studying.”

The festival season would start after the flood and monsoon season ended. You cleaned up and decorated your homes for Diwali because the rains are gone until they are back next year. But after Chhath there was no major festival for months.

Before I moved to New York I was in Indiana. There I went to a local county festival once with my then wife and her family. I was the only non white person at the fair. The festival reminded me of the Durga Pooja festival in Gorigama.

Rumor had it the biggest Durga Pooja festival celebration happened in Calcutta. I have never been. And the biggest Chhath celebration was in Patna, along the banks of the Ganga river. I have been to Patna but not for Chhath. Some day.

In the mid 80s my father was a dealer for the Santosh radio that was manufactured in Calcutta, probably the first one in eastern Terai. My brother is named Santosh.

Gorigama was part of the same local village unit as my homevillage. There was Gorigama, and the adjacent Hari, and Hriduwa not far away. I had relatives in Hari. My grandfather’s sister lived there with her two sons, one of whom was a teacher. My grandfather had no expressed desire to become mukhiya. But then one day a committee in the neighboring village decided he was the appropriate person, and they came and lifted him up while he was sitting for dinner. I witnessed the scene. They took him away. When he came back, he was garlanded and had abeer – red powder – all over his face. He had just become Pradhan Panch. I guess he acquired a taste for it. Then they started holding elections, and he contested and won several times. He remained Pradhan Panch until the system got toppled, and there were still people urging him to run. He didn’t. A few years later one morning he headed out to the holy cities of India to spend the rest of his days as a sadhu, never to return. The family performed his cremation rites in absentia a few months back.

His father, my greatgrandfather, was a local rags to riches story. He started with very little, and his other branches of the family were proof, and went on to own more land than anyone else in the village. A key element of his success was the strong urge to save. My greatgrandmother knew how to save. She would get the last drop out of every mango, every time. My grandfather’s other sister was married to the Pradhan Panch of the neighboring Badiya. A granddaughter of hers, my cousin, recently moved to Minnesota from Nepal after getting married. Small world.

At the Durga Pooja festival in Gorigama I would often get to meet my relatives from Hari and Badiya, and also Banchauri nearby. My grandfather’s brother’s daughter was married in Banchauri. Her daughter’s son now lives in New Jersey. Hello Suneel.

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Sonal In Scarsdale

Sonal In Scarsdale 

Saturday evening was a gathering at Binod Shah's place. He lives in Scarsdale. That would be Westchester County. Satya Yadav has his annual event at his Long Island home early in the year every year. I think Binodji is trying to set up something similar. He took a first crack at Holi. Now he is shooting for a Dashain khasi thing. I think it is a good thing to have a few family home setting events spread over the calendar that local Madhesis might have the option to show up for or not.

Celebrating birthdays is not native to Nepali culture. But many Nepalis do celebrate the same. Goat meat during Dashain is not a Madhesi thing, it is a Pahadi thing, Madhesis associate goat meat with Holi, but then there is culture, and there is cross-cultural pollination. And so there was goat meat, and there were about 20 or more Madhesis. Binodji ka ghar itna door hai shahar se, bahut Madhesi unke ghar jate jate raste mein hara ke wapas shahar ki or chale jate hain.

The main attraction of the evening was MP Jitendra Sonal of the Terai Madhes Loktantric Party (That Madhesi Agenda: Jitendra Sonal). I told him, there are about three Madhesis in town that show up for most events Nepali. Most of the rest stay away until someone big and famous like Sonal shows up.

I took many pictures, to be stored on Facebook as a private album to be shared with those who showed up and are also on Facebook.

Sonal's Talk

I think Sonal gave a terrific talk. We all sat on the floor and he talked. Then we fielded questions. He handled them really well. Sonal was beat up real bad by the police during the Madhesi Kranti. Before that he spent long years in the wilderness as a Sadbhavana cadre.

"Back then, even the trees and herded animals in the Terai were either with the Congress or the UML," he likes to say.

He gave solid replies to questions on what exactly is Madhes, and who is a Madhesi. The 22 Terai districts are Madhes, he said. He pointed out distinct cultural differences between the Madhesi and the Pahadi. The Pahadis in the Terai are Teraiwasi, he said. Madhesi is a cultural term.

I added that when they use the word madisey, they don't have the slightest doubt as to who the Madhesi is, but when we talk about rights and equality, they act like they don't know who the Madhesi is.

The formal part of the event was chaired by the ANTA New York chapter outgoing president Ritesh Chaudhary. 

Overnight

The event started in the afternoon, some people left late in the evening after dinner, but most stayed until the morning. Then I had a call from Sonal around 11 that he would like for me to join him for lunch with his friend Arvind Singh who is in Sunnyside.

Seaport Diwali

A few hours later Sonal went gift shopping with Arvind, I went to the Seaport Diwali.

Friday Evening: Ridgewood Dashain Party (Dashain Party, Ridgewood)

Jitendra Sonal showed up for this event late. He had just got back from his DC trip. Binodji wanted to know if the two of us would like to ride with him to Scarsdale that very evening while the rest joined us the following day. Neither of us felt ready.

Jamaica: Halal

Kamal Labh was responsible for the goat meat. He had been to the same halal place in Jamaica only a week or so earlier for another goat meat party with another group of his friends.

The Delegation

Sonal of course has been in town as part of the Prime Minister's delegation to the UN.
There was quite a tamasha towards the end of the Prime Minister's interaction program with the local Nepalis: Interaction With Madhav Nepal: Friday. I got interviewed by Namaste Nepal television towards the end of that event, and also by the USNepalOnline that was broadcasting live with Ustream. There was another tamasha during an interaction program of the Foreign Minister with some of the members of her party. Compared to all that Sonal's interaction with local Madhesis was smooth sailing.

Social Gathering, Political Talk

This was primarily a social gathering in Scarsdale, lekin 20 Madhesi jamma ho wahan rajniti ho, wo sambhav nahin hai.

Mission Madhes

I briefed Sonal about Mission Madhes during my time with him Sunday.

Bye

I get to see him off Monday evening.