The first of the many to come this year

I am back home after a hectic and an eventful week in Kathmandu. Z got married to the love of her life, to the person I am sure will keep her happy, absolutely happy. They make one of the best matches. It was awesome to be part of the celebrations. The last few months have been emotionally overwhelming and their wedding was a welcome change, a much needed break. It was freezing cold, but we still managed to look perfectly comfortable in our Georgette sarees. I have never had such an expensive hairdo, (which hardly looked like a hairdo), but I did not care. I wanted to have a good time with friends at friends’ wedding. It was exhausting, and all the food that went in our systems was too much to handle, but we ate everything that was served, because all of us were excited for the couple, happy to see them together. Nothing could dampen the spirit, not the weather, not the bandh.

While weddings can make you go crazy with all the work and the formalities, it is a great excuse to bring friends and family together. Z’s wedding was just that. Met some awesome people, and created new friendships.

I wish the newly weds a life long of togetherness.

Aba k huncha?

As someone involved in research projects for a few years, the best part of it is being in the field, talking to people, learning their stories, and sharing a cup of tea with complete strangers. I have been lucky to have been welcomed in almost all places I have visited for my fields. People are generally very warm and inviting. Having someone from the 'sahar' going to talk to them is something valuable for them.

When I am in the fields on various research assignments, I am always asked this one particular question, for which I have no answer. Today, while I was talking to women in a local community about the impact that microcredit has brought in their lives, they answered my questions excitedly. But almost all of them asked me, 'aba k huncha? tapaile yeti dherai kura sodhnu bhayo. Yasko niskarsha k huncha ta? tapaile haamilai jaagir dine ho ta?' In times like these, I question the significance of research. Do research projects lead to something valuable for the community?

Research reports compile a lot of recommendations for different stakeholders. Some recommendations are great, some not so great. But I wonder if those recommendations are looked into properly to have them implemented. It certainly is not the researcher's responsibility to get them implemented, but yes, the question of 'aba k huncha?' does certainly fall upon the researchers. Tomorrow I am going for my field visit again. I hope I am not asked this question for which I have no concrete answer.

NOBODY

This poem by Shel Silverstein was an exercise that were given by our facilitator in one of the writing workshops some time back. I think it is a great poem.

Nobody loves me,

Nobody cares,

Nobody picks me peaches and pears.

Nobody offers me candy and Cokes,

Nobody listens and laughs at my jokes.

Nobody helps when I get in a fight,

Nobody does all my homework at night.

Nobody misses me

Nobody cries

Nobody thinks I’m a wonderful guy.

So if you ask me who’s my best friend, in a whiz,

I will stand up and tell you Nobody is.

But yesterday night, I got quite a scare,

I woke up and Nobody just wasn’t there.

I called out and reached out for Nobody’s hand,

In the darkness where Nobody usually stands.

Then I poked through the house, in each cranny and nook,

But I found Somebody each place that I looked.

I searched till I’m tired, and now with the dawn,

There is no doubt about it—

Nobody’s gone.