Taste of hurricane Gustav
Posted: October 9, 2008 Filed under: News/information and opinion Leave a comment »When I first moved to Louisiana, it was just after hurricane Katrina and Rita. Though I saw some remnants of those storms, I did not personally experience any. Honestly, I did always want to experience a hurricane, not a major one but the smaller ones. Although hurricane most often leads to detrimental impacts, understanding the science behind it and wanting to experience the might of Mother Nature can be very obvious (at least for the first time). Two and half years in the bayou, nothing happened; and now as I was packing to leave there was this hurricane Gustav (claimed as “Mother of all storms” by New Orleans Mayor before the storm made landfall) heading straight towards Louisiana. I did not like the timing of my first ever hurricane; perhaps Gustav wanted to give me a proper sendoff from the Cajun Country.
The forecast at that time was that it would make a landfall as a Category 4 hurricane (wind speed of 131 -155 mph). The closest (straight) distance to the Ocean, from where I live, was about 30 miles; if the hurricane made the landfall through there it would be catastrophic for Lafayette. I had to make a quick decision: am I going to relocate somewhere up north for a while or am I going to stay in Lafayette and face the music. Read the rest of this entry »
एकै छिन सोचौं
Posted: June 27, 2008 Filed under: News/information and opinion 11 Comments »मेरो (एक) मित्रको एउटा कुरा मलाइ सार्है रमाइलो लाग्थ्यो, परिक्षाको परिणाम आए पछी उसको बुवाले सधैं सोध्नु हुन्थ्यो रे : “ए तेरो कति आयो?” मित्रले आफ्नो परिणाम बताए पछी फेरी सोध्नु हुन्थ्यो “अनी तँ सँग हिँड्ने फलानो साथीको नि ?” यदि साथीको बढि आएको छ भने “सँगै हिँड्ने साथीको त्यति आएको रहेछ, तेरो किन कम” भन्नु हुने रहेछ । यदि साथीको कम आएको छ भने “संगत त त्यस्तो रहेछ, अनि तेरो के राम्रो हुन्थ्यो र” भन्नु हुने रहेछ । जे गरे पनि सुख नहुने ।
कहिले कंही मैले नेपालको घटनाक्रमहरुलाई हेर्ने आँखा मेरो साथीको बुवाको जस्तै भयो कि जस्तो लाग्छ । मेरो पछील्लो पोस्टमा RT को कमेन्ट पछी मलाई यो कुरा को आभास अझ बढि हुन थालेको हो । यो कुरामा कुनै शंका छैन कि नेपालमा हुनु पर्ने सुधार हुन सक्ने गतिमा भैरहेको छैन, तर सुधार नै नभएको भने पक्कै होइन । पाकिस्तान र जिम्बाबे मा भन्दा नेपालमा नै बढि स्थिरता छ होला । संसारमा अरु धेरै देशहरु पनि छन्, नेपाल जति पनि प्रगती गर्न नसकेका । तर मेरो मित्रको बुवालाई आफ्नो छोराले धेरै राम्रो गरेको हेर्ने रहर जस्तै मलाई पनि नेपालको उन्नति भएको हेर्ने आतुरी छ । त्यसैले होला “नया” नेपालबाट एकदमै आशाबादी भएको । हो आशाबादी हुनु पर्छ, तर आशाको पूर्णताको लागि समय पनि दिनु पर्छ ।
नेपालको हालसालका खबरहरुमा नराम्रा पक्ष खोताल्ने भए मनग्गे भेटिन्छ, धेरै समाचार स्रोत र ब्लगहरुले नराम्रो खबर नै पस्किन्छन् । कारण: राम्रो भन्दा प्रोपोगान्डा सहितका नकारात्मक खबरहरु नै बढि बिक्छन्, र शायद नकारात्मक खबर लेख्न साधरणतय सजिलो पनि हुंदो हो । तर केही समयको लागि हामी खोताली खोताली भए पनि राम्रो खबर मात्र पढ्ने/लेख्ने कि ? हरेक घटनामा राम्रा पक्षहरुको खोजी गर्ने कि, घटना चाहे जति नै नकारात्मक भए पनि ?
Blood donation in USA
Posted: June 15, 2008 Filed under: News/information and opinion, They call it science 5 Comments »My office organizes regular blood donation event, and last Friday was one of them. I registered for it and went to donate on my scheduled time. Before donation they check for other vital statistics (blood pressure, pulse rate, fever etc), and then you have to answer few questions about your health, drug (medicine) use, travels etc. I had traveled to Nepal last December so the guy filling out my paperwork had to look it up (they had a book with listings for different countries) to see any blood donation requirements for people traveling to Nepal.
There it was said that people traveling outside Kathmandu would have to wait for a year, from time of arrival to USA, before giving blood again. Now it will be only after December 25, 2008 before I can give blood again. Someone arriving in USA, for the first time, would have to wait for three years before giving blood. The point was to see if they had any strains of Malaria. I was quite taken back with the generalization of “outside Kathmandu” so I looked it up in Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDCP) website. They had more specific explanation on Malaria risk “Risk in rural areas at altitudes below 1,200 m (<3,937 ft) in the Tarai and Hill districts bordering India and in the areas of the inner Tarai valley areas of Udaypur, Sindhupalchowk, Makwanpur, Chitwan, and Dang. No risk in Kathmandu or on typical Himalayan treks.” Read the rest of this entry »
Yes we can
Posted: June 3, 2008 Filed under: News/information and opinion, Videos 4 Comments »Today is a historical day for United States, an African American being declared as presumptive nominee for presidential election representing a major party.
Abraham Lincoln had issued Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 in favor of abolition of slavery. In 1968, after Martin Luther King was assassinated there was huge spark against racism. Finally in 2008, Barack Obama will be competing for the highest office in United States of America.
No matter if he wins or not, which I believe he would, he already made history. Who would have thought a first term senator from Illinois would defeat political heavyweights to this nomination. A son of African immigrant father and a Kansas mother, who against all odds went on to study at Harvard Law, but on upon graduation chose to work as a community organizer (not choosing obvious lucrative corporate job). He then got into Illinois Senate, and then on to United States Senate. And within four years in Senate he now is the presidential nominee of Democratic Party.
How did he do it? Simple, he used his bottom up organization skills. He showed that even a lesser known person with correct and positive ideas can excel against all unlikelihood. He rallied people around with his message of change with three words “Yes we can”.
A new beginning
Posted: May 30, 2008 Filed under: News/information and opinion, Randomization of randomness 2 Comments »Nepal is the latest republic of the world. Absolute monarchy, that too very unpopular and demanding, would never be accepted in any civilized part of the world. Nepal‘s monarch learnt that a hard way couple of days ago.
I hope Nepalese political leaders/parties, for at least two years, work in an unpartisan way without any trivial political bickering. Republic is not a super-bullet; it’s simply a new starting point. The situation, until new constitution and general election, is very sensitive; we need to demonstrate patience, unity, vision, and leadership never before seen in Nepalese history.
And people of Nepal need to show more maturity; stop being whimsical. Getting Republic doesn’t mean that there is lawlessness; the whole point of republic is to state that “no one is above the law”. We still need to learn more about respect, common sense, and civic sense. Stupidity and rush of blood is not patriotism, I hope the youths of Nepal think thrice before doing anything offensive, especially younger “Maoist Cadres”. I want to reiterate again, getting republic doesn’t mean any party cadres are above the law. We are Nepalese first before Congress, Communist, Democrats, hilly people, Madhese, Hindu, vegetarian, cricket fan, pet lover, singer, and so on. Think of Nepal first, anything after is trifling in comparison.
कागले कान लग्यो भन्दैमा आफ्नो कान नै नछामी कागको पछाडि दौडिनु हुन्न है।
Gorkhe’s crawfish experience
Posted: May 25, 2008 Filed under: Let the picture speak, News/information and opinion 4 Comments »In one of my earlier posts I had mentioned about my experience with alien food, today I would like to share my familiarity with another one. Unlike the last one, I eventually did enjoy this food item: Crawfish, one of the specialties of Lafayette Louisiana.
Crawfish are freshwater crustacean, resembling like small lobsters. More than 90% of Crawfish supply for United States is harvested alone in Louisiana, thanks to its immense swamps. Eating crawfish in Louisiana is more than just a culinary practice, its part of their culture too. According to Wikipedia, “Louisiana crawfish are usually boiled live in a large pot with heavy seasoning (salt, cayenne pepper, lemon, garlic, bay leaves, etc) and other items such as potatoes, maize, onions, garlic, and sausage. They are generally served at a gathering known as crawfish boil.”
When I first came to Louisiana, my colleagues suggested me to try crawfish. After my rabbit fiasco, I was extra careful where I ate; I only went to the places where I knew the food, like Chinese buffet. But even there, they had crawfish. I had no idea how to eat those, so I skipped them for couple of times. The hype of crawfish was getting bigger on me so I decided to bring the food home instead (so that I don’t look like a fool trying to figure out how to eat it in the restaurant. Anyone ever seen the movie “Mr. Bean’s Holiday” ?). At home, I broke the crawfish in half, threw the tail and peeled the abdomen off and ate (there was nothing to eat, so I sucked the spicy juice). What a waste of crawfish I thought, all this hype was for nothing. That year I tried couple more of crawfish in few occasions in Chinese buffet, and same the next year. However, when I was talking with one of my colleagues this year on how best to eat a crawfish that I realized, all this time I was throwing away what was supposed to be eaten and eating what was supposed to be thrown away. No wonder, crawfish didn’t live up to the hype 
Read the rest of this entry »
My interpretation
Posted: April 27, 2008 Filed under: News/information and opinion 2 Comments »My last post was on exploring “Dalit’s” in Hinduism. I got some very good feedback for that post, rather than replying them as a comment I decided to write a reply post. I think this is a very important issue, because if we meekly dismiss this right now and accept the status quo, I can’t imagine how the Hinduism will look like in the next century. There are some really bad practices of Hinduism, it’s up to us to find out if that was for real or some human created propaganda. My effort now is on exploring the existence of ‘Varna’s’.
I feel a little ashamed as we (Hindu) being a follower of the most ancient religion don’t know many things about it. We were never taught our religion in a practical manner, it was always enforced. It’s very true that within in each 50km there might be a completely different practices of Hinduism, despite having same principle origin. Read the rest of this entry »
