The Two Self Defeating Lenses : How Long Will They Keep Preventing A Healthy Nepal Relationship? Essay

The book “Love and Honor in the Himalayas: Coming to know another culture” is ethnography by Ernestine McHugh. In the beginning of the book, the author talks about how she developed her interest in the field of anthropology during her undergraduate study since “at that time [she] knew little about [it,] but [she] had mapped out a project relating to culture and the aesthetics of life” (McHugh). It was her mentor Gregory Bateson, under whom she had developed this project who inspired her to carry out this project in Nepal. Although her attempts at writing about her experience failed the first time, during her graduate schooling she was encouraged by her advisor Roy D’Andrade to continue. This book revolves around the ethnic Gurung community who live at the foothills of the Annapurna Mountain; just about thirty miles up from the famous tourist destination in Nepal called Pokhara. At the age of twenty-one, the village where the author lived was called “Tebas.” Although Nepal is a country filled with people who follow Hinduism and the official language is Nepalese, she chooses a place in north central Nepal where people mostly spoke in their own ethnic language which is very similar to Tibetan on contrary to the popular Nepalese language. In this book she talks about how she fully immerses herself in the field work and in the process tells the story of the people who let her in their house and more importantly made her a part of their family. Throughout her stay she was treated

Problem Statement: After the earthquake in the early part of 2015 and the drafting of the new Nepali constitution and the later part of 2015 tensions are at an all time high in the nation of Nepal. Leading to protests, blockades and all around unrest in the populace.

Roy takes a very particular approach to provide justice for Indians, in that she lives with the poor community that she is reaching out to. Her strategy for change provides insight into the personal connections in a community that help to attain change in governmental accountability, transparency, and economic justice. All the while, we watch Aruna shape her personal life and maintain personal integrity. Her courageous acts leave the reader

Nepal is situated on the Himalayan arc where the Indian plate subducts the Eurasian plate at a convergence rate of ~20 mm yr-1 (Goda and Jibson., 2015). Nepal is classified as a less developed country where landsliding severely stunts its development (Petley et al., 2006).

The social, economic, geographical and environmental context of Nepal with particular reference to hill villages using Sandikhola as a case study

During the 20th century, after India’s history with civil war, the novel, “Nectar in a Sieve” by Kamala Markandaya, exposes India’s state of affairs while struggling with an impoverished population. Markandaya’s tale describes a southern village in India and a family’s struggle to survive. An old women, Rukmani examines her experience with Nathan, and her other children after having embarked their journey to persist in a corrupt society. Without legitimized direction within the country, Rukman’s family must endure the result of subsequent political complications and ethnic

The one main aspect that connects the mountain people together, although many express cultural and religious heterogeneity, is the fact that they are located in the danger zones of most political boundaries, sitting right in between two superior powers. These potent powers then interfere with mountain people’s cultural and traditional ideas in order to benefit their own nation. In his article, “Altitude Sickness,” S. Fredrick Starr states that, “People who actually live in [high mountain zones] are all too often [exposed to] spiraling violence” due to issues with political and even local boundaries (Starr 1). Frederick mentions the struggles taking place in Nepal’s mountains is partly because both China and India are inputting their own voices in the country’s affairs, and are eradicating Nepal’s own voice and ideas. This instance is just one of many cases that occur in mountainous

But of all these, it appears, that the most dominating pressures are related to politico-economic nature. In other words, the story revolves round a strong urge for political supremacy and economic dominance in the region. In such a state of affairs, one may find India playing a zigzag role in SAARC. It is because of India’s uncompromising posture that interstate relations have not been able to stand on sound footing necessary of evolution of South Asian cooperation.

Evelyn Goh’s paper on Hierarchical order in South East Asia aims to explain the surprising peace and mutual co-operation which grew out of South East Asia following the post-Cold-War period. Her main argument is that it is the South East Asian states themselves which created this peace and co-operation through two broad ‘pathways’: Omni-enmeshment on a regional and inter-state level and the creation of a ‘complex balance of influence.’ My main criticism with her argument is that the current order in South East Asia has yet to be challenged by a substantial security crisis, leaving us questioning just how robust these pathways are. I also reference to John Mearsheimer’s paper on the ‘false promise of international institutions’ to provide further criticisms. Regardless, I found her analysis on how smaller states can create the regional framework for peace compelling – it runs counter to the two major streams of IR thought (realism and liberalism) while explaining what they could not predict: peace in South East Asia.

In “Journey to Dharmsala,” Rohinton Mistry offers a memoir narrative of his trip to the mountainous city of Dharmsala which emerges as an attractive, ocular and fictional delineation of a tour to a Tibetan people’s town in India that ease the speaker come full circle: His childhood imaginations which he pictured by seeing the photographs of his uncles family in reality were quite different in adulthood: “How far was it- that Dharmsala of my imagination and of my uncle’s youth-how far from what I had seen?”(51). However his childhood and adulthood coincide in peaceful moment that manifest Mistry’s glorification of his birth place India. Therefore, Mistry offers narrative structure that leads the reader to an agenda regarding Indian Nationalism. This is not to indicate that the speaker has some malevolent agenda to force Indian nationalism upon the reader. Rather, he shares experiences of his journey to divulge the subdued whisper of the essay in a manner that even he is not fully aware of. He produces regular imagery such that reader can visualise all the events and get attracted towards the speaker. Hence, the power of rhetorical analysis lies in the text is shown as an evidence of an analytical assert and tried to aim throughout this analysis.

Rohinton Mistry’s (38) first person autobiographical narrative of his trip to the Himalayan city of Dharmsala is on the surface a quaint, visual, biographical account of a journey to an Indian town that helps the author come full circle: His childhood visions of the city he dreamt of visiting and its reality as he sees it in adulthood are different in many ways, yet his childhood and adulthood converged in serene moment that epitomizes Mistry’s glorification of his native India: “To have made this journey, I felt, was to have described a circle of my own. And this understanding increased the serenity of the moment” (51). However, a rhetorical analysis of the speaker in the essay, which as mentioned is a first person autobiographical narrative lead us to an agenda that is hidden below the surface: Indian nationalism and pride. This is not to insinuate that the author has some hidden, malevolent agenda to thrust Indian nationalism upon the reader. Rather, the tools of rhetorical analysis reveal the subtle undertones of the essay in a manner that perhaps even the author is not full conscious of. Rhetorical analysis depends on part in gauging what effect a text has on its intended audience (Leach 218). Thus, the strength of rhetorical analysis lies in the textual evidence that is presented as proof of an analytical claim and that is what is attempted throughout this analysis.

Nepal’s present is reflective of its history. Within the past few years, the country has been in a state of disarray because its history has been fraught with political turmoil. As a whole, Nepal is a severely underdeveloped country. Throughout its history, Nepal has had little interaction with the outside world. The lack of political stability throughout its history accounts for many of the reasons of why Nepal is the way it is.

A Landlocked nation in southern Asia, with a terrain variation from 6,000 meters altitude down to sea level, has a unique economic structure. The long narrow country is separated into seventy five districts, each being controlled by a chief officer. Agriculture varies because of the difference in terrains and industry being limited. Most of the trade occurs with bordering country, India. Lifestyle in many cities in Nepal is not as modernized as surrounding countries in Asia. It does have features that make it a great place for tourism. Nepal is the birth place of Gautama Buddha, therefor many Buddhist come to see the temple in where he once lived. Not only are Buddhist temples scattered across the nation but many Hindu temples as well. For people not of these religions, a feature of Nepal is the Highest Mountain in the world, Mount Everest. The capital, Kathmandu, is a beautiful sight to see. This city is surrounded by mountains and the architecture is a delightful mixture of India and China. With the various cultures and difference in lifestyle that Americans are used to, Nepal would be a great place to take a vacation if venturing around the world is on your bucket list

On February 19, KP Sharma Oli became the first Nepalese premier to visit India in half a decade, where he met with Indian counterpart Narendra Modi at Hyderabad House in New Delhi. Oli’s trip followed months of bilateral friction marked by accusations from Kathmandu that India had unofficially blockaded Nepal in support of the Madhesi protests against its new constitution. For 135 days starting in September 2015, a Nepalese economy heavily reliant on overland fuel transportation from India dealt with acute diesel shortages that hobbled rebuilding work after last April’s earthquake and magnified power outages for citizens and industry alike.

Fears of external interference into domestic affairs, particularly the hidden hand of Pakistan, are prominent. India’s ire was aroused with confirmation of Lashkar-e-Taiba involvement in the 2008 Mumbai attack (Rath 2010, 16) and India has responded to the Naxalite threat in existential terms (Tharu 2007, 96). Thence, to ameliorate its perceived insecurity, India has attempted to grasp the position of regional hegemon (Rais 1991, 379), but has done so unsuccessfully and in the fact of strong opposition.