My favorite web site...is.........

     I am a news freak, I mostly visit  news sites. Websites as www.news.google.com, www.bbc.com, and www.cnn.com gets my frequent visit for international news but I am more in Nepali news sites. No matter how far you are from your home, you would always have the curiosity to know about the situation in your home-area. News proximity, is the jargon term for this natural appeal that a reader always tends to know about his/her home and its surroundings. So, news online portals of  Nepali vernacular dailies as www.ekantipur.com, www.nagariknews.com are my favorite websites.If I had to choose from two of these I would say www.ekantipur.com is my favorite.

     These Nepali websites are just filler forums(most of the news in the websites are already published in print paper, live updates and reports are hardly their contents) of the daily newspaper, which is not a great achievement in online journalism. However, looking at the meager budgetary constraints, I have high regards for these publications. Best thing of these website is I could actually read all the news contents of the print version of newspapers in website in its actual replica. (For example, click in this link.). 

Image courtesy: http://gauravdhwajkhadka.blogspot.com

This is a quite surprising thing; because if you got to read the newspaper in this way then you don't have to buy it. But.the audience(readers) are all expected to be in foreign land where the paper is not available. So this does not affects their commercial interest whereas it gathers more goodwill from these prospective costumers. 

Journalism is not a easy profession in the circumstances like Nepal, Kantipur Publication( the owner of www.ekantipur.com), the biggest media house of Nepal had gone through many ups and downs, political pressures and survival threats and still stand tall in its motto of reporting objectively and serving to the  national interest. Salute to Kantipur Publications and the journalism practioners of Nepal and the world, these are the true warriors of truth!

A text that caused you to drastically change your thinking

If there is a text that caused me to drastically change my thinking, then it is the novel  'The Alchemist' by Paulo Coelho.

     I have read these many-many times, more than I can’t say how many, more than 20 or more( but I can’t still spell the writer’s name: Paulo Coelho ..Lol). Since I read this piece, I have almost read all Coelho’s writings, almost seven novel’s and blogs and articles. I consider myself a huge fan of him. I have read many other interesting fictions, nothing come close to 'The Alchemist'.
  
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It’s a simple story of a shepherd, in search for his destiny, and he passes through different difficulties and finally gets what he always dreamed of. I feel very much attached with the experience the shepherd goes through and feel resolute when he reached his destination. Actually, I always keep a copy of alchemist wherever I go (not every time but 1 or two copies at home), it’s like a bible or Beda to me, and it’s a means of inspiration and  encouragement to me.  

     It’s about realizing your dream:

'When a person really desires something, all the universe conspires to help that person to realize his dream.'

'Everyone on earth has a treasure that awaits him.'

'People are afraid to pursue their most important dreams, because they feel that they don't deserve them, or that they'll be unable to achieve them.'
     It’s about love:

'And when two such people encounter each other, and their eyes meet, the past and the future become unimportant. There is only that moment, and the incredible certainty that everything under the sun has been written by one hand only. It is the hand that evokes love, and creates a twin soul for every person in the world. Without such love, one's dreams would have on meaning.'

'It was the pure language of the World. It required no explanation, just as the universe need none as it travels through endless time. What the boy felt at that moment was that he was in the presence of the only women in his life, and that, with no need for words, she recognized the same thing. He was more certain of it than anything in the world.'

'You must understand that love never keeps a man from pursuing his destiny. If he abandons that pursuit, it's because it wasn't true love … the love that speaks the language of the world.'

'One is loved because one is loved. No reason is needed for loving.'

     It’s about the greatest truth of our lives:

'The future belongs to God, and it is only he who reveals it, under extraordinary circumstances.'

'The secret is here in the present. If you pay attention to the present, you can improve upon it. And, if you improve on the present, what comes later will also be better. Forget about the future, and live each day according to the teachings, confident that God loves his children. Each day, in itself, brings with it an eternity.'

'To die tomorrow was no worse than dying on any other day. Every day was there to be lived or to mark one's departure from this world. Everything depended on one word: "Maktub."'

'Everything has been written by the same hand.'

'The wise men understood that this natural world is only an image and a copy of paradise. The existence of this world is simply a guarantee that there exists a world that is perfect. God created the world so that, through its visible objects, men could understand his spiritual teachings and the marvels of this wisdom. That's what I mean by action.'

'Every search begins with beginner's luck and ends with the victor’s are severely tested.'

     Coelho’s writing is simple. I love the way his words connects me. I first buy this book in footpath store in Mumbai, 2005. I never know about this book before I bought this, and I hardly used to read any books other than text books. This fiction draws so close to me that I started reading books like a hungry child. In Mumbai’s kiosks, all pirated bestsellers were easily available for less than a dollar. My appetite for books grew more and more and stopped growing since I came here in US. I still buy a lot of books in summer and enjoy them. For me, Coelho is the greatest writer on earth. Recently, his fictions are repetitive but I love the way he is.

From what do you learn more: films or text? Why?

Lets start from this particular example.
Nicholas Spark's Novel in paperback  is made into a movie. The original work in print( the cover of the book) looks like this:
  

And the trailer of the same book-based film looks:

 OK! Being the same audience,how would I learn more about 'A Walk to Remember', from the print or the book? Obviously, I learn from the film more than the text. Films has multidimensionality, it has sound and motion whereas text lacks both. Audience require adequate attention to learn from texts versus films could virtually release audience from those requirement. Audience need a certain quality to decipher the textual meanings whereas films showcases ways of such denouement.

US Education: falling behind?

     I was quite surprised when Thomas L Friedman, in the book 'The World is Flat' choose to research about India (the education and the booming economy)  and keep dragging the US  authorities about weakening education scenerio and its immediate and long term consequences. I always expected US education is superior to everwhere else. However, Friedman slams the US authorities with surprising statistics that says US education is fading in productivity and thus has a skimpy future. Thats seems true to me.
     Because being an outsider to US always gives me a chance to compare and contrast with the system I was born and the system I am in now. Nepalese and Indian education systems are supposed to be a rigirous work of 'process of learning'. When I was kid, I never want to go to school because I was always loaded with: heavy books in my back, lots of homeworks, and fear of physical abuses by the instructors and so on. But on the good side this industry-modelled schooling resulted in producing hardworking students( I am the worst product they produced.. lol). And my cousin who is now studing in middle school here in US is having all the fun which I could never imagine. My quasi-Indian mindset had many times questions this type of education.
     I really agree with Friedman that US education is somehow relegated where government is more concerned with other issues like economy and World affairs. Unlike other developing countries US is loosing its focus in education. Saying that, I am threatening my position too, I should still think US education is best because I am here to study.

Thoughts on plagiarism

     I didn't know the word 'plagiarism' before I came here in United states, like 3 years before. Suddenly, this word was a biggest threat to the works I do in my computer. The concept was new to me and suddenly I was aware that many work I did was an act of legal and ethical questioning.
     But now I knew, how this is so important and significant and why everyone should know about it .Most of the creativity and arts of an artisit comes out from a rigirous and thoughtful learning. The creator should always be credited for their creation. I mostly put myself in the place of creator and see the copier as a thief looting my asset. Ok I guess being a nice dumb guy is much easier than frauding somebody else's work as my own.

What is the solution to homelessness in the US?

     Now I have to be a sociologist. But I lack all analysing and researching skills. The only thing I am sure about this subject is that this is definitely a real big issue that needs to be addressed. This issue is related to various problems of our society like unemployment, insecurity, drugs, education, and somehow  showcases the difference of lives of poor and the very rich. Some people argue that the problem of homelessness is one of the biggest instance which shows the failure of Capitalism.
     What is the solution to homelessness in the US? I can vaguely say that adressing the issues of education, social security, employment would solve this problem. But in practical, these things are the biggest hindrances for a civilized society, and solving these issues are always a big challenge.

The end of books ?

     I would say books are the entrance to the World of knowledge. 

Are books going to die? I don't want to see them dying, I never want to believe on this. But Alas! The end of books is coming soon.

     Still I would argue that sans the books physical appeareance, they will survive.

     If we are only considering the technological aspect that is threatening Book's physical survival, there is another aspect that seems to keep books surviving.  For me, books not only connotes with wisdom and knowledge, they embeds with my religious and spiritual stance. Like in any religion, Hinduism has distincinctive ways to achieve holy and spiritual attainment; one of which is that a Hindu pupil would get through rigirous thorough studies of Hindu Vedas and Upnisads(books).
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In practical, the presence of these sacred books itself creates worshipping values. Like a nice and valued Hindu pupil, I will always keep these books. 

     Well, I know that's not the case we are discussing here. But even with the transition to digital, the books haven't lost there looks and physical resemblences.  Ebooks have lost the fragrances  and the texture of the physical pages of books, but it maintains the some original structures of a book like fliping pages, cover page, back page and so on. 

     Well, I tried to reason to make book survive, but poor me, I know I did a very pitiable and unbalanced argument. Phew! We did know there is the end of books!