Tashi Tewa

                          I thought about this a lot but then, I could not stop myself from writing this. Dear Ishan, no-doubt what you have tried and how you have been trying to excel your ‘Satyagraha’ protests are exemplary. Your abilities to inflict pain upon yourself without harming others for the united and 'harmonious' Nepal will always be appreciated. Yet I would therefore always motivate you and your strong will to challenge the state, even if I could only show my indirect involvement by sharing your status and by conveying my wishes via this blog. As one of your well-wishers, I felt that I should also share my few concerns. I must let you know that these concerns might further cement your political willingness to built our Nepal by accommodating diversity. I would like to apologize for my naivety if you find any.   First , why do you think that the present head of the state should apologize when the N...

He was attending his usual morning prayers when I reached there. He was not surprised to see me over there as we planned for this before few days. It all started just with a conversation I had with Phurwa Tashi. Phurwa Tashi and I have known each other now for more than 4 years and we in the past have shared both personal and non-personal conversations besides our common name, ‘Tashi’. Whenever I get time, I do visit his shop, Dolpa Art Gallery (https://www.facebook.com/dolpogallery/) at Boudha. If nobody knows who is Phurwa? then he is one of the sons of the renowned Dolpo Artist, Tenzin Norbu. Futado as we (friends of Students of Dolpo) call him is also the student of Fine Arts and about to complete his Bachelor in Fine Arts from Srijana College of Fine Arts, Kathmandu. So, the conversation with Futado all started while explaining my intention to continue writing about the locals of Dolpo and their ‘successful’ and enlightening experiences. Though there are many locals, some ar...

         “I was only 7 years old. It was winter and we took the path from Chharka to Mustang through Dhi-chey La (cut by a sword, pass) as I was sent by my father for an education in India. It was hard to move for whole 15 days and the snow nearly covered whole of my tiny body. Yet I succeeded to cross that way along with my sisters, Lama Tashi Yangton and few friends.” Those are some of the words shared by Ugyen, fuller name: Ugyen Bhuti Yangton, when we talked about her understanding about her education and her struggles. In May 2014, she completed her Bachelor in Sorig Medical Science (BSMS) Course in 1 st Division from Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies, Varanasi, India and now has been working in Sowa Rigpa International College in Kathmandu, Nepal since April 2016 after successfully obtaining the job. When she passed her BSMS, she also became first woman from the remote region, such as Dolpo, to complete her educatio...

It is only few months before when Dr. Govinda KC ended his fast onto hunger strike. His demands were also made evident when Dr. KC revealed his intention to make the region such as Dolpo accessible to the state’s health services when he also chose Phurwa Dolpo to end his sixth hunger strike. For this piece, we will try to examine what could be challenges and what could be the way to properly safeguard the lives of peoples living in remote region, such as Dolpo. This article will refer to our long years of living and working experiences in the remote region, both as locals and as nurses. We argue that the understanding of locals’ lives and knowledge such as that of Dolpo for effective delivery of basic health services is important to sustain the policies and institutions and activities of the government. The high-level committee formed on Nov 17, 2004 and headed by Kedar Bhakta Mathema also asked the government to relocate the institutions that have already built infrastruct...

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...