Tashi Tewa

It’s been nearly two years since I knew her. Yungdrung, normally we call her whenever we need to talk to her. ' We' denote here our friends of Students of Dolpo (SoD). Friends like Phurwa Tashi, Lhakpa, Amchi la, Wangchen, Tashi Bhuti, Pema Dolma, and so on. She has always been there actively participating whenever SoD organized any activity. She even surprised us when she and our good friend Dawa Sir sang a song, ‘Ful ko Aankha ma’ in one of the Lhosar programs. Similarly, she also participated and talked about how she felt in the Kathmandu protest, organized to remember the deaths due to the violence in Dho-Tarap. She was also there when SoD went to several remote districts: Sindhupalchowk, Dolakha and Dhading, with their earthquake relief materials. With other fellow friends, she also made sure that the optimum medical care is provided to the earthquake victims. All in all she has been very friendly and active in any community involvement that benefited locals. Yung...

On September 20 2015, while asking every Kathmanduities to reflect upon their privileges, Pranaya Rana wrote: ‘We find it difficult to identify with those in the Madhes because we have never lived the lives they have. Our privileges have insulated us from everything that they go through. Empathy is one thing, experience is another. And it is just so hard to admit that one is privileged. It means coming to terms with the unpleasant fact that perhaps it is not our innate talents that have gotten us to where we are. It is difficult to believe that we had a head start when we’ve already won the race. So we choose denial. No, they must be wrong. Their grievances are illegitimate. Structural inequalities don’t exist anymore because now, there are no seats in the Lok Sewa reserved for us. And we actively seek out faults in others. They’re lazy, they’re uneducated, they’re violent, they hate us when we’ve never hurt them. And when that doesn’t work, we choose to patronise them, treat t...

Recently, Dalai Lama led the signatories of 15 senior Buddhists. The reason of submitting the 15 signatories this time was more to do with an urge to the World Leaders to agree a new climate change agreement at a conference in Paris next month. Those signatories also included the strong proposition to limit the increasing global temperature to 1.5C in the future. They also revealed their ‘cause of this “environmental crisis” are the use of fossil fuels, unsustainable consumption patterns, lack of awareness and lack of concern about the consequences of our actions’. It also said, ‘We are at a crucial crossroad where our survival and that of other species is at stake as a result of our actions’ and the respected figures urged ‘negotiators to use “wisdom and compassion” to find an agreement’. In addition, according to the online BBC report, ‘Observers say it is the first time that so many leading Buddhists have joined together on a global issue’ ( http://www.bbc.com/news/science-enviro...