THE GLOBAL AND THE LOCAL

Title: This Singer is No God of Stone Author: Sushma Joshi (New York) The death of Narayan Gopal, Nepal’s most beloved singer, left a void in the Nepali psyche. Deep Shrestha, with his soulful voice, lyrics that blend folk and pop, and songs filled with poetry, has been one of the few voices that have dared to fill the empty space in the popular consciousness. Born in Dharan in 1951, Deep started to picked up music from his father, who was also a musician. His father sang with his friends, and young Deep listened to him and picked up the music as he went along. His father, unfortunately, did not live long enough to see the talent he was nurturing. "I don't know if he even knew I had this talent." Says the singer, whose father died when he was 11. He started off by learning many instruments - the bongo, the guitar, the harmonium, all of which were self taught. "I would listen to my older brothers and that's how I learnt." He says. "Then I...

SMOKE SIGNALS Sushma Joshi On a clear day in December during the student protests, I saw three plumes of black smoke rising in the air. Students from Amrit Science Campus, SankarDev Campus and TriChandra Campus, it appeared, had all started their individual bonfires from scrap tires. As I walked closer to Ghantaghar, a cloud of billowing black smoke rose up to the sky. A line of fire, feeding off old tires and gasoline, cut off traffic from Kamaladi and caused a nightmarish traffic jam. A police car rushed to the scene and put the fire out in seconds, but the smell of burning plastic and chemicals lingered in the air. The next day, the wheels of traffic circulated the fine dust into the air. I watched the crowd of pedestrians, mostly lower income citizens, as they walked around this environmental disaster zone. Burning tires is the preferred strategy of Nepali students during moments of public protest. Old tires, easily available, produce a satisfying amount of smoke. They are ignited...

DREAMING THROUGH WAR Vincent Androciglio, licensed psychotherapist and former professor of Clinical Psychiatry at the New York Medical College, talked with Sushma Joshi of the Nation Weekly about his research in Nepal, including dreams of people about the civil war, and how systems theory might shed light on the current stalemate in the political situation. Why dreams? Dreams never lie. People have many defense mechanisms that keep them from facing feelings they have during the day, but these feelings always comes out in dreams. The dream is a powerful source of knowledge about yourself. It is a problem solver, it portrays the past, and can tell us about the future. What kind of dreams are Nepali soldiers having? I interviewed about 20 of them. Some had fought in the war, and some hadn't. They were very open and honest about their dreams. One young man described how he was surrounded by a circle of Maoists who were going to kill him. He was so terrified he ran away. Fear is a natur...