Hello
crajdahal@gmail.com crajdahal@hotmail.com chandiraj143@yahoo.com
म ब्युँझेको रात
तिमी मस्त निद्रामा
अचेत शरीरलाई घरै छोडी
मेरो बगैंचामा डुल्न आएकी थियौ ।
मैले रोपेका फूलहरुले
बसन्तलाई डाकेका थिए,
बगैंचामा सुगन्ध थपेका थिए ।
पुतली र भमरालाई पनि बोलाएका थिए ।
तिमी परीझैं
सेतो गाउनमा सजिएकी,
सेतै पाउजु र झुम्का लाएकी,
स्वर्गकी अप्सराझैं कोमल, मुलायम बनेकी ।
जुनले तिमीलाई चियाउँदा
मेरो बगैंचा मुस्कुराइरहेको थियो
गुलाफ, शिरिष र गुराँसले तिमीलाई
स्वागतम् सुस्वागतम् भन्दै गाइरहेका थिए ।
तिम्रो स्वागतार्थ मैले
काठको टेबलमा एउटा रातो गुलाफ अड्याएको थिएँ ।
काठकै बेन्चमा खोसेलाका दुइटा चकटी ओछ्याएको थिएँ ।
अनि तिमीलाई 'चियर्स' भन्न दुइटा 'रेड वाइन' पनि मगाएको थिएँ ।
मैले तिमीलाई हेर्दा
तिमी मतिर हेरी टोलाइरहेकी थियौ
तिम्रा आँखामा अनन्त प्रेम छछल्किरहेको थियो
तिम्रो कपाल स्वच्छ आकाशमा बादलजस्तै सल्बलाइरहेको थियो ।
रातको सन्नाटालाई चिर्दै
आपसमा भावना साट्दै गर्दा
तिमी त एकाएक विलिन भइछौ ।
अनायसै चिच्याएर तिमीलाई बोलाउँदा, म झसंग ब्युँझेछु ।
आफैंसँग लजाउँछै, तिमीलाई सम्झँदा ...
म ब्युँझेको रात
तिमी मस्त निद्रामा
अचेत शरीरलाई घरै छोडी
मेरो बगैंचामा डुल्न आएकी थियौ ।
I know they are bad
Online Media assignments
Stereotyping and Gender Representation in Alcohol Ad
With the rise of media industry the business in advertising has also risen up. Today, ads are scattered everywhere and they are multiplying each day. Ads take up more than half the space in successful daily newspapers and consumer magazines. They are inserted into trade books and even textbooks. Internet has become another crucial space for them. Ads are seen in every nook and corner and thus people are being familiar to the message they intend to convey. Despite the intended message the stereotyping meanings carried by the ads create negative impacts upon society at the same time.
Discussion
Over the years, critics and consumers alike have complained about the stereotyping in mainstream advertising (Campbell, 2000). Likewise, stereotypical portrayal of women has generated considerable controversy. Ads offering women as a man's reward for drinking a particular beer, wearing cool jeans or smoking right cigarette have still stereotyped women. Although women today are often portrayed in a variety of social roles many sexist stereotypes still persist in advertising (Campbell, 2000).
Let us look at an ad of Signature a product of MC Dowell Nepal Limited. Though this ad is taken from Jan 15-Feb14 issue of 'The Boss' a business magazine published in 2007, it is widely seen in other media even these days. From business point of view the advertiser has successfully attracted many customers by this ad. However, there are still more perspectives which we can view through and thus consider it offensive when talked about gender difference and bias.
Description of the ad
This ad is published in 'The boss' an English monthly magazine that targets its audience to the sector of business. It covers a full page area and is published in four colors. This is an ad of a hard drink product and ultimately aims at attracting more customers towards it. The ad has following components that make the ad more effective in terms of attracting customers:
• Context and visual elements: The ad shows a context of enjoyment or possibly a hangout. It has attractive and romantic scenery of an ocean which helps establish a romantic mood for the characters.
• Image of the product: The Product is placed in the right side of the ad. It has a close up picture of bottle of Signature with a half-filled glass by its side.
• Characters: There are five characters of which three are male. Among them two male characters are sitting at the fence of the ship they are traveling by. Likewise, a male character portrayed centrally is being pulled by two female characters. Those two males are taking photographers for fun.
• Text: The ad also has some text or words. At the top-right side of the ad the words 'Success is very demanding' is written with bold white colored fonts in the dark green background. Likewise, just below the logo of the advertiser 'Success is good fun' is written with golden color which suggests the advertiser's name.
• Logo or brand: At the right middle part of the ad signature's logo is placed with shining golden letters in it. The ad also tries to attract audience by its brand name too.
• Plot or activity: The characters involved in this ad are in a trip to somewhere away from their workplace or hometown. They are traveling by a ship. Their goal seems to be a successful person. And since success lies in fun, signature can help them attain it. This is all about the message conveyed by the plot.
Interpretation
Though the ad looks attractive at a glance, it has stereotypical messages contained in it. The words 'Success is very demanding' is associated 'Success is good fun'. Then, the fun is associated with the beautiful girls shown in the ad which the drink can bring them together. The female characters are presented as sex symbols. Generally stating, the majority of beer drinkers are men. By including attractive women in such advertisements, the underlying message is that if men drink a certain type of beer they will be able to attract a certain type of female.
Sex appeal: We often see ads that feature superficially beautiful or "desirable" models, so it comes as no surprise that sexual imagery is used to sell products. But depicting people this way can also contribute to socially offensive practices. The dress up of the girls with half-down naked shown in the ad suggests that they are sexually attractive. How effective would the ad be if boys shown in the ad were half naked instead of girls? And would the ad draw equal attention if there were no girls? It seems that girls are only as important as the drinks shown in ad for both of them are the means to create fun for the boys.
Gender stereotypes: Two girls are getting it difficult to pull a boy with their entire effort. This depicts that girls are inferior in terms of physical strength. Despite the joint effort of both of the girls, here the man is in the control. "Usually the men are very masculine. They have big muscles or they're very successful. Being shown as sensitive doesn't compromise the masculinity, and that's interesting that the only way you can show a sensitive man is if he's already successful in other ways of being a man" (media-awareness.ca, 2010). The words like success in good fun suggest the stereotypical views that the ultimate goal of any man is to have beautiful girls around him and enjoy with them with all expensive drinks and luxuries. Meanwhile the ad portrays the girls' success lies in satisfying men. In this sense it seems that its not just product that is being advertised, gender difference is often shown in other points of advertising.
Democracy and Cultural in stereotyping: Democracy has provided enough freedom to people for the own way of life. The picture shows maximum freedom in characters that they are free to enjoy the way they like. Though girls are shown enjoying outside they are again in control of men. Their role has changed from households to outside but again have the same job to satisfy men at any cost. Being dressed up as per the men's choice and devoting totally for their enjoyment, their role is still inferior. Likewise, culture plays a vital role in advertising. Since this ad is targeted to high class Nepali people it focuses on luxuries which are new to Nepali Culture. Another way overlapping with Nepali stereotype is that only hard drinks and girls are the source of good fun. Accordingly, the ad says that both girls and drink are demanding fun which are required to achieve success.
Conclusion
Based on above discussion, it is evident that expensive hard drinks or luxury products are directly associated with female body as a source of fun for men in advertisement. This has always contributed in underestimating female. Their representation in the ad is just for catching attention of men towards the product. On the other hand the more closely female are associated with the product the more successful the ads prove to be. In other words these ads like of alcohol present female as the luxury products for men's consumption. Likewise, the cultural dominance is seen like in case of what product a high class people consume and what the poor doesn't. And of course, alcohol should not always be associated with sex as that of the ad suggest.
References
1. Media Awareness Network (2010) Learning Gender Stereotypes Retrieved from http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/resources/educational/lessons/secondary/ gender_portrayal/upload/Learning-Gender-Stereotypes-Lesson-Kit.pd
2. Campbell, Richard. Media and Culture. 2nd ed. 2000. 362-364
3. Photo taken from: The boss. 2007. Jan 15-Feb 14. Page 21.
खिचडी
म पश्चिमपट्टि फर्केर हरियो घाँसमा पलेंटी कसेर बसेको छु - आफूले चार बर्ष बिताएको काठमाडौं विश्वविद्यालयलाई करिब ४ किलोमिटर टाढाबाट नियाल्दै ।
विश्वविद्यालयको भवन र अस्ताउन लागेको पहेंलो सुनजस्तो सूर्यलाई धनेश्वरको डाँडोले बाँधजस्तै लम्पसार परेर मलाई गिज्याइरहेको छ । सायद मलाई त्यसले चुनौती दिइरहेको छ- "तैले ज्ञानको खोजीमा म जस्ता कयौं पर्खालहरु नाघ्नै बाँकी छ ।"
खेतको बाटो हिँड्न मलाई रमाइलो लाग्छ । विशेषतः म कलेजदेखि घरसम्मको यात्रामा कहिलेकाहीं यही बाटो आउनेजाने गर्छु । खासगरी ३ वटा अवस्थामा म यो 'सटकट रुट' को प्रयोग गर्छुः दिमागमा धेरै तनाव जमेको भए म प्रकृतिको अनुपम स्वरुप हेर्दै आफूलाई भुल्याउन खेतैखेत लाग्छु । मन अत्यन्तै रमाउँदा पनि म खेतैखेत अन्नबालीको बयेलीसँगै हराउँछु । अनि कहिलेकाही बसलाई दिने ५ रुपैयाँ साथमा नहुँदा पनि मलाई यही बाटोले बोलाउँछ ।
खेतका गराहरु मलाई विशेष मनपर्छ । खोई किन हो आज मन साह्रै चन्चल भइरहेको थियो - मैले फेरि यही बाटो रोजें । खेतबारीबाट आउने आलो माटोको सुगन्धले मलाई वाल्यकालमा खेलेको झझल्को दिन्छ । चराचुरुङ्गीहरु चिरविरचिरविर गर्दै आफ्नो बासस्थानतर्फ लाग्दा म पर चउरमा खेलिरहेको बेला मलाई मेरी आमाले साँझको खाना खान बोलाउनुभएको याद आउँछ ।
मेरै नजिकबाट दुई बालक मलाई जिस्काउँदै भाग्छन् -'कस्तो खेतमा बसेर पनि होमवर्क गरेको !'
सूर्यले आफ्ना किरणहरु आकाशतर्फ मिल्काउँदा गोधुली साँझले चिसो सिरेटो बटुल्न थाल्छ । कताकता चिसो हावा मुटुसम्म पुगेजस्तो लाग्छ । मनका भावनाहरु जमेर दिमागसम्म पुग्न सक्दैनन् । म खेतका गराहरुमा लुकेको त्यो अथाह सौन्दर्यलाई अर्को दिन खोतल्ने अठोट गर्दै आफ्नो कदम अघि बढाउँछु ।
खिचडी कापीः मेरो नोटकापी जुन म सबै विषयको अध्ययनका लागि प्रयोग गर्छु।
Grandma
Kidney trade goes unchecked in Kavre
Kidney trade goes unchecked in Kavre
Chandiraj DahalDespite widespread problem of kidney trade in Kavre district, both victims and the authorities concerned have failed to bring the culprits to book.
Victims say kidney racketeers are assisted by one’s own neighbour or even relatives and are engaged in such a wide network that their kingpins can hardly be reached. The victims’ stories also reveal that the number of people losing their kidneys is still on the go though most of such cases belong to the time when there was no appropriate law regarding trafficking of human body and organs.
( To explore more about this issue listen to a radio report, watch video or read more stories)
This content was developed by Chandiraj Dahal, the author of this blog, as a part of an assignment for the course fulfillment of Online Media.
Capital hankers after underground passages
There are eight sky bridges in the city with six lying between Sahidgate and Jamal alone. On the contrary, the number of subways is far less than that, let alone matching up to public expectation. The KMC wants to go the whole hog for sound traffic management by strengthening the subway system. However, in reality the metropolitan city has almost remained dormant in building subways.
According to authorities, the only subway at Ratnapark has proved to be a better alternative to overhead bridges. When it comes to benefits, underground passages are one step ahead than sky bridges.
“They are more durable and disaster resilience. At the same time subways are friendly to different people like those with disability”, said Indra Suwal, an engineer at KMC. He said subways are friendlier to heavy loads too, while sky bridges can stand in the way of double-decker vehicles.
The Ratnapark subway was built some three decades ago. Before its construction, there were already two overhead bridges at Kantipath and the NAC gate. These overheads were, later, knocked down to expand roads, but the subway is still there.
“Despite huge investment, subways can be built in other parts of the city too”, said Ram Bahadur Thapa, chief of KMC’s physical and infrastructure division. “We will have some multipurpose subways in the major junctions if the private sector comes forward with investment.”
The underground passage at Ratnapark has not only served pedestrians crossing the road, but at the same time it has seen business activities flourishing inside. Mega subways can take the form of shopping centres. According to KMC records, the lone
subway generates revenue of more than Rs 600,000 each year. “I have been running my business here since five years and this has helped me sustain my life,” said Shyam Lama, a retailer.
(Origionally published in The Kathmandu Post of 27th May, 2012)
The Media Lab: constructed???
अनायसै
हिड्दै थिएँ दोबाटोमै रोक्किएछु प्यारी
मन पनी काँडासरी भैदिएछ क्यारे
थाहै नपाई त्यो मुटुमा रोप्पिएछ प्यारी
आखिर गल्ती भइहाल्यो त अब यस्तो हुन्न
बिन्ती गर्छु तिम्रो कसम नरिसाउनु प्यारी
भर हुन्न रे
तिमीलाई भेटूँ भेटूँ लाग्न थाल्यो फेरि
बताउनै नसकिने स्वाद जवानीको
मुहार त्यो लजाएको बस्छु हेरीहेरी
नशासरी आँखाबाटै बोलिदिँदा तिम्ले
हत्तार लाग्थ्यो मलाई नै सर्न तिमीनेरी
छम्या
मेरो तालु
मेरो तालुसँग किन कसैलाई रिस उढ्नु ?
मेरो तालु देख्दा किन कसैलाई हाँस उठ्नु ?
म त एक सफा चरित्रको मान्छे
मेरो तालुबारे किन कसैले कान फुक्नु ?
जति चिप्लो भयो उति कल्कलाउँदो
जति ठूलो भयो उति ढल्कन्छ यो
देख्नेलाई के थाहा कति प्यारो हुन्छ ?
जति स्याहार गर्यो उति टल्कन्छ यो ।
मेरो तालु पोलेको आलु होइन
मेरो तालु पाकेको फर्सी होइन
कसैलाई इश्र्या जागे भन्छु यत्रैसित्ति !
मेरो तालु तबला पनि हुँदै होइन ।
मात्रै एउटा दोधार मनमा राख्नुपर्ने
मुख धुँदा कहाँसम्म भनी सोच्नुपर्ने
न त कोर्नुपर्ने, न त बाँध्नुपर्ने
मेरो तालुमा किन कसैले गुलेली ताक्नुपर्ने ?
निबन्ध भावहरु
विश्वविद्यालयको भवन र अस्ताउन लागेको पहेंलो सुनजस्तो सूर्यबिच बाँधजस्तै लम्पसार परेर तेर्सिएको धनेश्वरको डाँडोले मलाई गिज्याइरहेको छ । सायद, मलाई त्यसले चुनौती दिइरहेको छ– ‘तैले ज्ञानको खोजीमा म जस्ता कयौं पर्खालहरु नाघ्नै बाँकी छ ।’
खेतको बाटो हिँड्न मलाई रमाइलो लाग्छ । विशेषतः म कलेजदेखि घरसम्मको यात्रामा कहिलेकाहीं यही बाटो आउनेजाने गर्छु । खासगरी ३ वटा अवस्थामा म यो ‘सटकट रुट’को प्रयोग गर्छुः दिमागमा धेरै तनाव जमेको भए म प्रकृतिको अनुपम स्वरुप हेर्दै आफूलाई भुल्याउन खेतैखेत लाग्छु । मन अत्यन्तै रमाउँदा पनि म खेतैखेत अन्नबालीको बयेलीसँगै हराउँछु । अनि आफूसँग बसलाई दिने ५ रुपैयाँ साथमा नहुँदा पनि मलाई यही बाटोले बोलाउँछ ।
खेतका गराहरु मलाई विशेष मनपर्छ । खोई किन हो आज मन साह्रै चञ्चल भइरहेको थियो – मैले फेरि यही बाटो रोजें । खेतबारीबाट आउने आलो माटोको सुगन्धले मलाई वाल्यकालमा खेलेको झझल्को दिन्छ । चराचुरुङ्गीहरु चिरविरचिरविर गर्दै आफ्नो बासस्थानतर्फ लाग्दा म पर चउरमा खेलिरहेको बेला मलाई मेरी आमाले साँझको खाना खान बोलाउनुभएको याद आउँछ ।
मेरै नजिकबाट दुई बालक मलाई जिस्काउँदै भाग्छन् –‘कस्तो खेतमा बसेर पनि होमवर्क गरेको ?’
सूर्यले आफ्ना किरणहरु आकाशतर्फ मिल्काउँदा गोधुली साँझले चिसो सिरेटो बटुल्न थाल्छ । कताकता चिसो हावा मुटुसम्म पुगेजस्तो लाग्छ । मनका भावनाहरु जमेर दिमागसम्म पुग्न सक्दैनन् । म खेतका गराहरुमा लुकेको त्यो अथाह सौन्दर्यलाई अर्को दिन खोतल्ने अठोट गर्दै आफ्नो कदम अघि बढाउँछु ।
i love you
Just imagine, there's no one
Just feel this and think of me
Just for you
You and me
The world revolves around.
I say this and keep on saying it
My feelings are always with you
And everything belongs to you
Whatever miles I run away
I m always close to you
See the world, see the rain
Don't forget to think of me again
I m behind you, on your path, remember.
Ever my sweetheart, ever, forever
Any time I wanna be with you.
I know there it is
In the core of your heart
Something remains in my name
And that I m proud of you
Yeah honey! That's what "I love you."