My Experience
There are many ways you can follow to understand and figure out the misunderstood, and unknown. You can gain knowledge by reading books, watching TV or some other artificial means, but the most effective is by gaining experience on your own. Yes, learning through other's experience may be effective, but learning on your own would be an experience that'd be real, authentic, and something you'd recall for the rest of your life. Here's my knowledge that I've gained through my experience of the country that has given me an identity, a family, and yes, a name from which I'd be remembered (I hope).
I didn't know what transportation system was like here in Kathmandu until I was forced to use the local buses while returning home from school. Like most of the kids of Kathmandu, I was unaware of the fact that more than 50% of the people of Nepal live under the poverty line. And yes, I gained a lot of knowledge from my 15 minutes travel from buses everyday. How the bus driver waits for their turns, how the conductors repeated their mantras to attract passengers, what kind of people use the local buses, the condition of the road, the manners of people, and just about any logical thing that you can learn. I worked hard to figure it all!
Everyday I would take the front seat on the bus, so that I'd be able to view all the passengers that'd enter the vehicle. At first, I pictured everybody in the bus gross and uneducated, because I was not used to what I was seeing. What I witnessed in the bus was tired people, and that's all I thought about in the beginning. But later I realized that, these people are the victims of lack of facility, limited opportunities and genuine things. After a day's hard work, with their tired faces, they head home on the available and cheapest means of transport, the local buses.
Few days back, when I was returning home from the local bus, I realized something very important. Out of all the people, there were 3 women with new -born babies in the bus. The first woman that I noticed looked frail and probably without a husband to support her family. She had very shabby clothes on and the baby was wearing a very dirty looking cloth. However, the most important thing that I noticed was the love and affection that she had for the baby. The baby was smiling all the time, and the poor mother was smiling through her baby's smiles. No matter what the situation, she would protect the baby and never leave the little guy, I thought. It was a sight that melted my heart and made me realize that there's something more and far more, important than money.
The second mother looked like any other average Nepali woman. She was dressed in a fine manner, and the baby looked very healthy. Judging her with her appearance, I guessed that she must have a very decent family supporting her with love and other essentials. I portrayed a typical Nepali woman through her eyes. She looked satisfied, which means family's the most important thing for her, and besides that, it's not her business. She seemed totally hooked up in her fantasy world like any other Nepali woman not trying to stand on their own feet, with their own name. Good for her, I thought.
The third mother looked very humble and financially equipped. I wondered why she was taking a local bus...she probably has her own car or something. Besides her, was a man with the same genuine looks. He was entertaining the baby, and I guessed he was the husband. I stared at the family with pure dignity, and they looked at me and smiled.
Well, the smile answered my unanswered questions. I found the connection to the people I was judging. This is what my country is all about. People with different principles, different aspects, and different values, living together in a country with morals that has yet to be understood. What we have, is what has made us do the things we do. Be it the politicians, be it the Maoists, or the public, all of them are responsible for what has been achieved and where we stand. The only difference is that all of them have their own distinct way to see things. They all have different issues to deal with, but all of them are so occupied in gaining their wins, that they have forgotten what they are supposed to be fighting for. An uneducated mother knows how to protect her child from foreign, and she'd do anything for the little baby she's given birth to...then how can we, the children of the mother Nepal, hurt her by dividing and not doing anything human and related? How can we desert her like this? How can we stick to principles that are killing people, that are destroying humanity?
You can earn and raise a family, teach your children to be an individual and responsible. But if the people that I know are the people that are being called individuals, then I'm sorry; I don't want to be an individual. I visualize my dear mother crying for her children, crying for her unknown destiny, and I am ashamed that I'm not any better than her other vicious children.
You really want to know what's going on? Go public, vast your thoughts to neglected things as well. The best I can suggest is, ride a local bus, and the rest...you'd know!