Earlier this year a Sea World orca killed its trainer – adding another fatality to its record of three attacks on people. Last year a pet chimpanzee featured in commercials made headlines when it mauled a woman while attempting to escape its owner’s house. At zoos around the world, there are regular incidents of bears or tigers escaping their enclosures and attacking patrons. And then there are news stories of elephants escaping the circus and wreaking havoc. Incidents like these rarely happen when wild animals are in their natural habitat, roam freely, and socialize with their species. But when isolated, held captive, and forced into abnormal situations, these same animals suffer from severe mental depression and stress, and end up acting out aggressively.

Our eternal tradition says that a sentient being comes into existence through divine grace and then has its own karma to fulfill during its lifetime.  Most of the public is unaware of the animal entertainment industry’s use of himsa to forcibly alter a creature’s purpose in the world. Wild animals used in entertainment regularly have their dharma manipulated for the sake of entertainment and profit. For example, Bhagavan created a cheetah to run 40 miles an hour and thrive in a tropical jungle. Zoos disregard the laws of nature by removing this animal from its natural habitat, and confining it into a small zoo cage in a different climate. Is it then any surprise that wild cats exhibit depression by pacing back and forth in a jail cell-like structure where they’re prohibited from running? Another one of God’s creations is the orca whale – an animal designed to swim up to 100 miles a day and communicate by sending sonar waves through a vast ocean. Sea parks will remove this whale from its natural environment and place it in a tank too small for its size. Its sonar bounces off the walls rather than traveling great distances through the ocean, which causes some sea animals to become violent. Circus trainers use electric prods, bull hooks, chains, and sticks to beat and choke animals into submission. Likewise, elephants which live peacefully alongside people in Asia and Africa show signs of mental illness and become violent when forced to perform in circuses.

It is not natural behavior for a wild animal that weighs several hundred to several thousand pounds to be used to ride like a bike, to stay in a cage all day, or to jump out of water simply to eat fish held in human hands. Animals perform tricks out of fear of their captors. All animals are afraid of fire, yet circuses use inhumane methods to train and force animals to perform abnormal acts such as jumping through flame encased hoops. Again this is not within an animal’s dharma, nor are these behaviors taught through ahimsa .

Besides acting inhumanely towards species held captive, the act of capturing and forcibly removing wild animals from their environment grossly violates the tenets of ahimsa.  In the book Gorillas in the mist, zoologist Dian Fossey describes a European zoo’s quest to draw more visitors by catching two baby gorillas from an African rain forest. During the zoo’s abduction twenty adult gorillas rushed to defend and rescue their babies only to be shot and killed. Stories of animals defending their family and clan members to the death from captors are commonplace all over the world. Those who believe that wild animals are removed peacefully from their accustomed surroundings are sadly mistaken. By no means will a wild animal happily leave its kin and social group and willingly go into captivity. No species voluntarily abandons its clan to trade in their natural tendencies and social behavior for involuntary isolation and performing tricks in front of human audiences. Besides being removed from their natural habitat by force, most wild animals don’t survive the long transportation out of the environment they are designed for and into unnatural conditions. The life span of a captive animal is also much lower than those living in the wild.  Taking all of this into consideration it’s safe to say that practices used by the entertainment industry are not consistent with the Hindu model of ahimsa.

Belief in non-violence and protection of the environment should encourage one to end support of businesses that keep animals confined. Those who desire to observe and learn about nature should instead support the numerous alternatives consistent with ahimsa. For instance, rather than going where animals are confined, families can instead visit a national park, take a boat ride and whale watch,  go on a safari, scuba diving, or frequent amusement parks with robotic animals. Documentaries about nature are also viewable in big screen theaters and on television. Rather than giving money to zoos, circuses, and sea parks, consider instead donating that money to eco-tourist businesses, environmental groups, animal sanctuaries, or charitable organizations that work to protect God’s creation. There are a number of Hindu charities and temples that work towards preservation of Nature. For those Hindus who have more wealth at their disposal, consider purchasing tracts of land that protect wild habitat where animals can roam freely.

To watch a video on how animals are mistreated by the entertainment industry, please watch this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIxJu5nBcVg

All sounds very nice huh, well there’s a catch – stairs, lots and lots of stairs, and the ever threatening altitude sickness. This was the first time trekking in the Himalayas for all four of us and to try to circumvent the punishment the stairs would inflict upon us we walked at a steady pace realizing the potential danger ahead of us if we didn’t do so. Many trekkers that we met along the route weren’t so lucky and their journey were either delayed or cancelled due to someone having altitude sickness. This became more prevalent as we entered Manang, our sixth day where the altitude is 3500m (nearly 12,000 feet). There we acclimatized for one day and during a coffee and cards break I began talking to my Western friends about the Hindu religion. Their questions weren’t exciting but my answers seemed thrilling to them as their curiosity expanded to peculiar details. One such detail was the custom of Hindus sending off a family member. I told them of my own experience using the most recent example of the blessing I received from my grandfather before leaving for this trek. I also told them of the apple I kept in my bag as an offering my grandfather gave me. I told them I still had the apple with me and would keep it in my bag until the trek ended. Initially they were reluctant to believe the blessing I was given but day after day and the higher we got they realized we weren’t getting sick, not even the slightest headache while other trekkers were becoming sick and some began descending to reduce their symptoms. As we were ascending, my friends started to believe that maybe we were blessed and cherished the apple I had in my bag.

As the trek concluded after crossing the Thorung La pass at 5,500 meters, higher than any point in the continental US, we descended to gale-force winds of lower Mustang into the holy city of Muktinath. There, ecstatic over our achievement and mindful of our blessing we took a holy shower through 108 water sprouts as many onlookers were amused to see three foreigners join in on their ritual. I explained to the onlookers why they were bathing which not only amused them but made them feel proud that three trekkers from almost another world were paying their respect of the blessing they received for twelve days high in the Himalayas.

The cultural program was consist of over twenty entertainment items ranging from songs, dances, comedy and instrumental perfomances to DJ’s musical Mashup. The program was opened with the American and Nepali national anthems. It was then followed by other entertainment presentations from various local artists.  Authentic Nepali foods in the Dashain Saanjh were catered by the Curry Hut Restaurant, one of the local Nepali restaurants in the Chicagoland.

NAC presented its mission “to serve its members and their communities by founding a self-sustaining physical facility”, financial projection and proposed memberships in the first half of the cultural program before the food intermission. Ramakant Kharel, member of the NAC Executive Board, announced the start of NAC Official Fund-raising Campaign and requested community members for their support and contribution to the NAC’s mission. Arjun Subedi, Bigyan Shrestha, Bishal Maskey, Dal B. Shrestha and Srawan K. Shrestha immediately responded to the NAC with donations.  NAC received over $6,000 pledge from five new donors in the event.

CNFS presented its organization progress and financial reports in the beginning of the second half following the food intermission. CNFS inaugurated its newly elected Executive Committee for the term October 15, 2010 thru October 15, 2012. The new CNFS Executive Committee members are: Khem Pathak, President; Dal B. Shrestha, Khimanand Bhandari and Tek B. KC, Vice Presidents; Channu Bhandari,  General Secretary; Rishi R. Gaire, Treasure; and Members Arjun Subedi, Baburam Kafle, Benimadhav Kandel, Bigyan Shrestha, Kabita Ghimire, Kamal KC, Kashi Prasad Singh, Mohan Poudel and Raju Pandey.

Dashain Saanjh 2067 (2010) was made possible by the enthusiastic and energetic participation of community members, over 30 volunteers, and by the generous financial support from the event sponsors.

Kamal Aryal often improvises Nepali folk and popular tunes with his instrument Mandolin. His sound manifests the wide range of melodies and rhythmic styles including Jhyawore, Sorathi, Tamang Selo as well as Rock and Roll. Although he was not able to perform regularly due to his busy work schedule, he has been entertaining in local gatherings every now and then. Recently, he performed in Nepali Mela 2010 in Chicago area.  The whole crowd clapped in the beat and many of them danced with the tune.

Still, music is just a hobby for Kamal Aryal. He is a family man, who works in the restaurant industry for living. Despite of many social and economic challenges that every Nepali American faces, he always has been enthusiastic and supportive of causes that benefit the whole community. Mr. Aryal is one of the earliest donors to the Nepali American Center.

Kamal Aryal immigrated to the United States with his family in 1990s. He recalls the DV moment and motivation in those days that encourgaged him and his wife to start new life away from the homeland for better future of their son. In the beginning, Mr. Aryal tried to find career opportunity in color photography in the United States. After all, he has more than 16 years of professional experience from the well established Rainbow Color Lab in Nepal. However, it has not been easy journey for the Aryal family in the new world.

Similar to many first generation immigrants in the United States, Kamal Aryal took a job that was completely different from his previous career path. On the other hand, it was good enough to support his family and to keep the life moving.  Throughout the time, he mentioned that he has always followed his father’s wisdom: “Son, Patience and hard work will pay off eventually”.  Today, Mr. Aryal is looking forward to celebrate the 10 years of service in the Mt. Everest Restaurant, Evanston, IL.

Even after spending more than a decade outside from homeland, Kamal Aryal still reads Nepali news online in regular basis. He not only deeply cares about Nepal and Nepali, but also believes that Nepali American culture continues to prosper in the United States. He has seen how Indian and Jewish communities have raised money to build and their community centers and temples around his current neighborhood.  He says “even though those communities are bigger and economically stronger than us, we cannot under-estimate Nepali”. He gives examples Nepali fund raising events to help building hospital and schools in Nepal.

Mr. Aryal is optimistic that Nepali people in the United States will come together to build the center that facilitates cultural activities. He further ensures “If one week worth of my income makes possible to build a center, I wisely donate it for our community and the future generation”. Kamal Aryal lives in North Side Chicago with his wife Sangita and son Shakil.

Just for your information, in order to save some time (e.g. ironing) and time to find another set of clothes, I try to use the same pairs of Jeans for some extended time (I don’t want to disclose the time though). I was thinking that if I change T-shirts regularly, people would not notice or care about trousers!

As soon as I reached office, I felt a cold shiver running through my spinal chord. What if a “Clothes” Gabbar Singh came in front of me with a really big register (as he would be maintaining the list of clothes of every office workers) and threaten me: “Oh Shambha…Kitne din tak ohi kapada pahenoge?” per Sholay’s “Kitne aadmi they?” Now where ever I go, I imagine every people maintaining a long chronological register of shirts, trousers, shoes their friends were wearing, whether the shirt matches the trousers, the last time they had the same clothes on, how many pairs of clothes they actually possess and so on.

To fulfill this niche market some innovative companies will develop an iphone application for assisting users about selecting clothes. This application will maintain a record of all the purchased clothes and classify the clothes (business versus party versus casual). Depending upon the occasion, this application will suggest a list of potential clothes to be worn along with matching shoes and ties. When you put on the clothes, in-built camera of iphone will take a picture of your costume and permanently record the clothes you wore on that day. I am avidly waiting for this i-phone app to be created for a free download.

I predict this app will be very handy and popular as many of us don’t even know how many pairs of clothes or shoes we have in our inventory. When we go to the stores, to find a big sale

it is very hard to resist the instant gratification from the urge to “save” money by purchasing the item immediately. As long as the final price of the item is less than 60% of the original sticker price, we feel better to get such a great deal – a psychological stress reliever.

Recently I saw a very rough white cotton (cora) dress on sale at a large reputed superstore. On close examination I found this material to be similar to the clothes we normally use for pooja.  This item was marketed by a great French designer for a really cheap introductory, once in a life-time price of $99.00. I thought that modern designers were the true reincarnation of the tailor who created “The emperor’s new clothes”. We all are prince and princess trying to be served by the great expertise of these designers. Probably the only thing we are missing is the 2 year old jurors!

By Yagna Pant

Recently my wife and I went on a vacation. This was the result of my taking literally Yagna dai’s article. I wanted to go on a “real” vacation. My wife was trying to dissuade me. She was of the opinion that we would have as much fun if we went to places within the US.  I then asked her to reread Yagna dai’s article and get some ideas. The further you go the better the vacation. Well, after a week over there and a decent hit on the savings, I felt like somebody kicked me in the stomach after I did the math once we were back. The vacation cost had reduced the savings we had for a down payment on a home. But hey, why worry? I am following the golden rules. Vacation is more important than having a place to live.

Actually, a book can be written about our home search. It has been a year since we have been searching for a home. We still haven’t found the right one. I don’t know how Ram, Shyam and Krishna found their homes within 4 to 5 months. Now Krishna has already sold his and is closing in on another next week. Our friends and well wishers have been very kind and have suggested many different homes. But due to one reason or another, we still are not able to close the deal. We might have even wore down our real estate agent so much that she is now seriously thinking of going on a 10 day Vipassana course.

Okay, back to the original topic. I went to a couple of places last month and met a few friends and a few relatives whom I had not seen in several years, and had a really good time with them. But that does not count as a vacation. That is a family-friend get together. A vacation should be a faraway place where you stay in a hotel and get involved in all those activities that you normally don’t do and drastically reduce your savings. So what if you can get the same feel and thrill at Wisconsin Dell’s, you should still go to the water park in Ayia Napa, Cyprus. It doesn’t matter that Colorado white water rafting is just as good, you should still go to Pite River, Lappland, Sweden. So, I will continue to live in this one bedroom apartment in a non-descript building but when it comes to vacation there will be no compromises. I will continue eating “Dhi(n)do” and “Saag”—err that is hard to find and expensive in the US—maybe Tilda Basmati rice from our very own Patel Brother’s and “Qua(n)tiko Jhol” but when it comes to vacation it must be outside the US.

- By Binod Dhungel

The NAC coordinated free community services such as Medical Booth and Resume Workshop. Other activities included an Art Showcase and Children’s Art Drawing Talent Show. Many attendees received health advice and had their blood pressure checked at the Medical Booth. Groups of working professionals and educators reviewed resumes of students and community members who are looking for career advancement. Various art works on “Nepali American Culture and Heritage” theme were showcased at the event.

The live entertainment was one of the major attractions at the Mela. The performance series was opened with American and Nepali national anthems. It was then followed by many varieties of music – ranging from the Nepali Folk tunes to the contemporary Rock and Rolls performed by individual artists and the local Nepali Chi-Town band. Similarly, the Mela committee also organized different fun activities and games like soccer, volley ball, badminton, bean bag and the Dashain Swing. Authentic Nepali foods were served.

All of these activities and overall Mela were made possible by the enthusiastic and energetic participation of community members which numbered roughly at 50 volunteers, and by the generous financial support from the Mela Sponsors – Non Resident Nepali Association (NRN), Association of Nepalese in Midwest America (ANMA), American Society of Nepalese Engineers (ASNEngr), Adamjee Insurance, Cumin, Himalayan Restaurant and Bar, Key Performance Idea, Macy’s, Mount Everest Restaurant and Travel House Nepal.

The NAC envisions a well managed physical space for its members, their groups and organizations, to organize more community events like Nepali Mela. Its mission is “to serve Nepali American communities by founding a self-sustaining physical facility”. Visit www.NepaliAmericanCenter.org today to find out how you can contribute, support and donate to the mission of NAC, and learn more about its initiatives.

Later that afternoon, we went to eat at a local Taco Bell. The customer in front of us had probably ordered a 1200+ calorie food and a diet coke. We ordered a few tacos and asked for 4 cups for drinking water. The waitress looked puzzled and amazed that we did not order any drinks. As if it was just socially unacceptable behavior to go to a restaurant and not order any drinks! It is a high-class norm that if you go to a restaurant to eat, irrespective of what type of food you order, you must always order a drink.

After pondering for a while, I wondered the marketing power of a company that “simply sells” pure junk beverage. Consuming Coca Cola is now an inevitable and normal part of our high-class society — the beverage with high sugar content that could probably create a lot of health hazards including diabetes, weight gain and teeth cavities!! A quick reference check at the wikipedia reveled that for 2009; Coca cola spent nearly 2.5 million dollars and had 38 lobbyists at 7 different firms lobbing on its behalf.

After I returned from Atlanta, I was invited by one of my friends to watch the final soccer game between Spain and Holland in a large screen TV. When I reached there, a few of my other friends had already gathered there. The first question they asked me was whether I was going to support Spain or Holland. I tried to decipher to meaning of “..supporting a team …” in this context. What does it mean to support a team? What catastrophe would happen if I support Holland and did not support Spain? If I support Spain, how would that impact the performance of Holland? How does the winning by a team would affect me, my family and my community?

Don’t you believe that the TV is such a wonderful thing? Comcast offers more than 200 digital channels, Dish networks and ATT u-verse offer similar number of channels as well. One of the advantages of the availability of so many channels is that you always realize that there must be something “more” interesting happening in other channels and you flick through the channel list. If it takes around 30 secs or so to go through a channel, it would take nearly 1.5 hours to go through 200 channels!

But what is the main purpose of TVs? One of my learned friends argues that the main purpose of TV is to create a pool of very loyal consumers to which companies can sell their products. TV networks like CNN, Fox news, ESPN, animal planet, food networks, etc. is for targeting mass advertising to different group or segment of people: who are interested in world news, politics, sports, animals, etc. He further argues that the TV networks need to create “sensation” to attract people, but their main goal is always to create a solid consumer market base. Even there are a handful of channels for the kids! It is good to let the kids hook to the TV from the very early age such that they can start consuming from a very young age and become a loyal consumer when they grow up! Another of my friend always tells me that there are referred papers linking academic excellence with “consuming toys”. Not sure if this is based upon real facts or simply a biased report endorsed by the Association of Toy Makers.

I vividly remember growing up in the village of Chisapani, Tanahun with scarcity and poverty in everything: be it food, toys, shoes, clothes, school supplies, etc. But our family was one of the few “better families” (in the top 25% percentile) in our village of 100 to 200 people. Even though we were better as compared to most of my peers, we used to get only one pair of clothes, one shoes, etc. for the whole year and that too during the Dashain festival. Purchasing Toys would be a great luxury for us. When I was around 7/8 years old, I vividly remember one elderly uncle giving me a little rattle when he came from India. He might have paid one rupees for the rattle. However I saved the rattle till I was 11 or 12 years old keeping it in a secret place such that no other siblings would be able to find and play with it.

I try to compare this with the mass consumption behavior of our kids. When a new toy is purchased, children would be interested in it for the first 30 mins or so till they see another toy advertised in the TV. After seeing the new toy, the kids would bug their parents to immediately to go to the shops to purchase the new toy. They would play for the first 30 mins or so and the saga continues. One of my friends had sarcastically suggested donating the toys (in its original container) to charities immediately after purchasing it from the super market. Kids will be happy as they have just purchased the toy, toy maker and the store can profit from the sale, you will be happy as the house will not be cluttered and the charity will be happy to receive a brand new/ unopened toy. What a smart idea to create a win-win situation for everybody!!

Around 4 years ago, I along with one of my friends went to see a Tax agent for preparing my tax return. On a casual side chat he mentioned that he did not have any TVs in his house. He tried to explain how the big players in this country try to influence the middle class for mass consumption. And what could be a better mass consumption media than a TV? He further went on to say that TV is slowly poisoning our society. At that time I considered the tax agent to be crazy from different planet to not to own any TVs in his house. However after seeing and understanding a recent TV ad about “…consulting my doctor to find out whether the advertised drug would be beneficial for me”, I am thinking that the tax agent was probably right. However I leave the final judgment to you!

मैले रोजेको यही हो की,

आखा भरी देखेको मैले सपना यही हो की /

न्यानो न्यानो अनुभब माया यही हो की

डर छैन कुनै मलाई बिस्वाश यही हो की

मैले मागेको यही हो की,

मैले पाएको यही हो की,

आखा भरी देखेको मैले सपना यही हो की /

रून पनी बिर्सिए मैले ख़ुशी यही हो की

ईश्वरको बरदान जीवन यही हो की

मैले सिकेको यही हो की,

मैले बुझेको यही हो की,

आखा भरी देखेको मैले सपना यहीहो की /

By Jyoti Adhikari