THE GLOBAL AND THE LOCAL

France 24 asked its observers what the most significant event of 2009 was, in their opinion. My answer: "Coming from Nepal, the Copenhagen climate change talks were very important to us because 65% of Nepali people are farmers and for many of them the lack of rain for the past three winters along with the very meagre monsoon we had this year really affected the amount of food they could grow. For many of these people, the food they grow is all they have to eat; they don't have a job. Despite the fact that the Copenhagen talks faced many obstacles in coming together in agreement, at least they brought global attention to this issue from all fronts." Watch Sushma's submission at France 24 .

DEC 27 - One Nepali man of Brahmin origin who’d grown up in the States, and with whom I was hanging out in those moments when you think you might be compatible enough to share the rest of your life with, told me kindly that he’d finally diagnosed what my problem was. I had, he said, the Angry Brahmin Girl syndrome. Angry Brahmin Girls could never get over the gender discrimination they faced when they were young, and consequently had trouble in later life forging relationships. As an antidote, he suggested going out to a steak dinner (steak being the forbidden food), which I would eat while he watched over his own empty plate. Then, when I was done, I could throw the bones at him to assuage my rage. We had a good laugh about this, and despite everything, parted friends. I think back on this incident and have a good laugh once in a while because it reminds me of the self-reflectivity so often missing in Nepali culture. This Brahmin man knew enough about his own culture to understand tha...

SUSHMA JOSHI  KATHMANDU, DEC 20, The Kathmandu Post - The music was akin to jatra music. I was walking on the Lazimpat road and assumed the music was for some festival. Oil lamps burnt on the ground, and men carefully put red powder on the words. I mimicked the dance — one man smiled. Then I looked down and realised the words said: The autonomous Newa state. Ah. Then I looked deeper into the crowd, and readjusted my eyesight. Except for the one woman dressed up in her lone jyapu outfit, the rest of the men were a familiar species — Brahmin men. Now this was an intriguing sight indeed. A group of Brahmin men celebrating the birth of the Newa nation. I took out my camera to document this interesting fact. The leader of this little group took out a little mike, in response. “Down with anybody against federalism!” he intoned. Immediately the tenor of the group changed — threatening, more intimidating. My hackles rose. Having grown up fighting authoritarian Brahminism, I can recognis...

Free to be you & meSushma Joshi DEC 18 - At the recently concluded Kathmandu Mountain Film Festival, after the screening of In Search of the Riyal, Kesang Tseten’s moving documentary about Nepali migrants’ plights in the Gulf, a young man got up. “I am in Grade 12,” he said, in bad English, “Do you think I could get a job in the Gulf with my qualifications?” The packed hall had just spent an hour watching Nepali migrants work in some of the most difficult and heart-wrenching conditions in the world. They often got into debt only to find themselves in some of the harshest working conditions, including desert farming, and construction. The return is often negligible, with people leaving behind elderly parents and infant children to work for meagre wages. One humorous source says in the film: “We have sold ourselves with our own money.” “Excuse me, I didn’t understand your question,” Tsetsen said, thrown off balance. Then, a little helplessly, he looked around for help. “Devendraji...

I always wonder why people in Nepal are so aware of celebrities from other countries, but don’t recognize their own. This December, for instance, Oprah magazine, the magazine of one of the world’s most influential and wealthy woman Oprah Winfrey, features a beautiful red gown on its cover. That gown is designed by no other than Prabal Gurung, our own fashion designer. Sadly, our children know all about Britney Spears and Amy Winehouse, but are indifferent to their own stars. Indira Rana-Magar, who recently received the prestigious Asia 2009 Asia 21 Young Leaders Public Service Award from the Asia Society of New York, gives me the same feeling. Indira is a fireball of dynamic energy who takes care of 300 children of jailed inmates in homes across Nepal. Prisoners Assistance Nepal, her organization, bested 20 finalists from across Asia to take the top prize for this year. PA Nepal helps children of jail inmates who have no other place to go. Taking care of this most marginalized populati...

Coming from Nepal, the Copenhagen climate change talks were very important to us because 65% of Nepali people are farmers and for many of them the lack of rain for the past three winters along with the very meagre monsoon we had this year really affected the amount of food they could grow. For many of these people, the food they grow is all they have to eat; they don't have a job. Despite the fact that the Copenhagen talks faced many obstacles in coming together in agreement, at least they brought global attention to this issue from all fronts." Watch my submission to France 24 Television.

France 24 interviewed me about the  most significant event  of 2009. I said the climate change talks in Copenhagen was the most significant event of the year.

DEC 05 - About a year ago, I started an anti-white rice andolan in our house. The strategy was this: each time my mother put rice in front of me, I would say, “White rice!” in exaggerated horror, then ask for some other grain. Maize maybe, or wheat. My mother was heavily offended. She thought I was insulting her, not the rice. “White rice is full of calories! There aren’t any trace minerals! The entire husk has been beaten out of it!” I used to tell her. After a few months of this tension, my mother, who had been modestly eating some cornmeal or some wheat-meal on her own—the food reserved for poor women in the Brahmin hierarchy—started to realise the men may benefit from this low-status grains as well. Maybe—horror of horrors—the men who had been relegated to the ‘good’ white Basmati rice were actually eating the unhealthy grain. It took at least a year before oatmeal, cornmeal, and other grains began to make a regular appearance in our kitchen, and a few months more before the dogs s...