My Views – Page 3 – Aleena Rayamajhi writes!

7 Productive Things To Do During Quarantine/Lockdown – COVID-19

We’re all inside our homes in every part of the world because of the new term – lockdown as a result of pandemic caused by COVID-19, right? Well, most of us might not have the habit of staying home for this long in a day. And, as it has been weeks, we might be feeling that all our time is going wasted.

If you are an employee, or University student, or a high school student, or a school going student, you might feel being burdened, right? And, if you are used to being home, are taking a job break, or academic break from your life, you might still feel like a crap right now because you are not used to so many people at home hovering, right? And, if you are away from home, it adds more pain because you are missing everyone. Well, coming to the point, no matter what was your situation before lockdown or COVID-19 situation, you feel like your precious time is being wasted.

Some countries like China & Italy faced or have been facing a lot of horrible experience with this virus outbreak. But, it is not a person or a weapon that can be put to an end, it’s something microscopic, something so powerful that only option we are left with is staying indoors and taking a lot of precautions with hygiene and while coming in contact with another person. I’m not here to talk about COVID-19 in detail, let’s get back to my blog title.

I’ve been indoors for two weeks now, but guess what? I have not found it difficult to spend my time. Though my classes are off & I cannot hit the gym, so my regular schedule has changed drastically, but I’m still working from home (office work), doing freelancing (paid contents), sketching (a lot), reading novels ( a lot), and watching few movies. On top of all, I have been writing a lot of blogs too. I’ve always been a hobby-person (if there’s a term like that), so excess free time never bothered me anyway. Though I travel a lot, and in fact, before this lockdown, I travelled five new districts, and made two treks, this lockdown has not bothered me at all!

So let’s talk about YOUR hobbies. Well, if you tell something like you always wanted to learn a guitar, or a drum, then it might be difficult because you might not find it at this time because of lockdown stores are shutdown, but if you can manage it somehow, you can do that too (never let anyone believe that you cannot do something, not even your dad – dialog by Will Smith from movie The Pursuit of Happyness )

It’s okay if you could not think of any hobbies. Actually, when there’s enough free time, you can build hobbies. This is your time. Again, sketching or painting also requires painting colors, pencil & sketchbook at least, which you might not have, so, we will be talking about many options that you can do!

Do not complain that you just have a smart phone! Because you can do several things with a simple smart phone too! Let’s begin with enormous possibilities now!

Reorganizing Your Room:

Staying all day in that room, it might have started to bother you, hasn’t it? So, before catching any hobby (LOL, it sounds like catching feelings), lets reorganize the room! If you have just few furniture, still give it a go. After all, everyone has that little interior designer soul inside. And, with new interior comes new ideas. But, if the room looks perfectly fine, and you are as lazy as me to lift a furniture, simply skip this point.

Watching Movies:

Well, you might be laughing at this point, right? You might be wondering – “Come on girl, all I have been doing all my lockdown weeks is watching movies, and you are suggesting the same thing again?” Well, watching movies and watching good movies can be two different things. No matter what genre, some movies are not to be missed. If you have always been fan of comedy or romance, then this is the perfect time for you to switch your taste. I can suggest you some of the nice movies I have watched. And, if you have watched all of these and think you know some better movies than these, let us know in the comment section.

Freedom Writers (2007), 12 Years A Slave (2014), Adrift, The Terminal (2004), Taken [1, 2, 3], Apocalypto (2006), Captain Phillips 2013), Wonder (2017), The Impossible (2012), The Pursuit of Happyness, Bohemian Rhapsody, What’s eating Gilbert Grape (1993), The king’s Speech, Soaked up in bleach, The Kite Runner, Into The Wild (2007), Django Unchained

Reading Books:

If you are a regular book reader, you might be enjoying the lockdown time reading books. If your available books are over, you can down AnyBooks app (for android users) to download plenty of online books and read it.

If you are not very fond of reading books, this is the perfect time to give it a try. Sometimes we do not like doing something because we have set our mind that way. And, that becomes reality. So, try reading a book, may be a nice fiction book like The Time Keeper by Mitch Albom which I read 10 days back. Some more fiction books I read this week & did not regret are – Hiipie by Paulo Coelho & The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

For some more fiction related book suggestion, here you go: The Kite Runner – Khaleed Hossaini, A Thousand Splendid Suns – Khaleed Hossaini, Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams, A Good Woman – Danielle Steels, One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest – Ken Kesey,

For short books suggestions: The Old Man & The Sea – Ernest Hemingway, The Little Prince – Antoine De Saint, The Vegetarian – Han Kang

Coding:

If you ever had this thing on mind, this is the best time. You are surely habituated to looking at your phone or PC for hours, right? Then, you can give it a try to coding. There are plenty of apps and online courses available. You need not have to have a background of IT to learn it. Simply take help from Youtube & begin it. If it interests you, you can learn basic and later on after lockdown is over, take actual classes. There is a huge scope of freelancing in this field, so if it interests you, you will shine.

Alternative To Something You Don’t Have:

I mentioned in one of the paragraphs above to stop dreaming about adopting hobbies like playing drum at this lockdown because you might not have it, right? Well, there are plenty of virtual apps that can help you defeat that. If you want to learn some instrument, you can start with basic through smart phone apps. For example, for drums there is Real Drums as shown in picture below. Go conquer your dreams!

Easy-Peasy Crafts:

I know craft is not everyone’s cup of tea. Don’t you remember good times before lockdown when you had beers, Netflix & chilled? Where are the beer bottles now? How about painting them? If you get enough acrylic paints, you can paint the beer bottles and try to remember good times. This can later on, be your flower vase and be a décor of living room or bedroom. You will look at it, and remember how you did not waste your lockdown days! This is just one suggestion with craft. You can create your own bookmarks for the books like in picture and remember those days when you could hit the library and enjoy smell of old books! If craft interests you, Google it, and booooom you get everything along with easy tutorials in YouTube!

Series:

I’m not a series-person to be honest because my days past by watching at laptop screen during both my jobs so I hardly want to watch screen besides my job time, hence, not watching series. But I know most of us are fond of watching series. If you have managed time for other productive things mentioned above, then you can always have refreshment. This one is a cheat-point. So, here my friend Anjan Dhungana has to suggest you with series!

Narcos, Chernobyl, The Witcher, Altered Carbon, Mr. Robot, Band of Brothers, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, Breaking Bad, Stranger Things, Vikings

He says that you shall not regret going through these series, but do check out the trailer.

Hope you enjoyed going through the content and it was helpful in some ways to some of you. If you are just switching between apps like Facebook – Snapchat – Instagram, then it is time to adopt some new habits that might help you in some ways!

Let’s wish this pandemic to end soon and we all get back to our regular lives once again. It has taught us how important it is to adopt hobbies, and we will be doing it this time, right?

Aleena Rayamajhi
4/2/2020

Ghorepani – Poonhill – Ghandruk Trail Itinerary

Me, and my same old trekking friends went to Poonhill at the end of first week of March. We had been to Kapuche (claimed lowest glacier lake in the world) a week before this trek but then a week after we had series of holidays including women’s day holiday, weekend, and Holi (festival of colors) holidays here in Nepal. Therefore, to make the most of these holidays, we again planned this trekking trip.

Poonhill had always been one of the destinations I wanted to visit but I didn’t have any appropriate time as always some new excuses popped in. But this time we were all determined and we made a grand trip out of it which was of 3 days.

If you are planning of a destination that has a lot of trek, somehow comfort too, a lot of snow (some months) – I would call it a heck of snow, adventure, nearly death experience (not kidding), and the trip not exceeding 3 days from Pokhara, then this is your ultimate destination!

Before going into details and specifications, I would recommend you all, to either go it during snow time or during rhododendron time. We were fortunate to see a lot of snow on our way but missed rhododendron. Poonhill trail from Ghorepani to Tadapani is mainly popular for rhododendron and in its absence there has to be snow to have some thrilling experience at least.

We have no regrets because we enjoyed the snow trail a lot! For some of my friends, it was their first snow. And, walking in snow for 8 hours straight or more, they were kind of pissed off with their first snow experience, LOL. Well, I slipped once and if there was no rope bar, I might would have died by falling off. But since I did not die, I do not regret.

I had carried some women’s day play cards that we held after reaching Poonhill on women’s day. My meaning behind doing that was at least some women like us are doing what we love and that is a sign of a happy women’s day at least on some places in the world.

Also, to flaunt, it was my 51^st stepped district in Nepal.

Specifications:

Altitude: 3210m
District: Myagdi
Duration: 3 days max.
Specialty: Amazing views of the Mountains & sunrise view from Poonhill
Trekking hours: 6 hours day 1 (Ulleri – Ghorepani), 90 minutes day 2 both way (Ghorepani – Poonhill), 7 hours day 2 (Ghorepani – Ghandruk)
Vehicle hours: 3.5 hours day 1 (Baglung bus park – Ulleri), 3 hours day 3 (Ghandruk – Pokhara)
Vehicle supported: Bike, mountain bike, jeep, bus (only on highway up to Ulleri)
Public vehicle available: local bus, jeep
Difficulty level: 2/5 without snow on trail, 3.5/5 with snow on trail

Things To Carry:

Raincoat (it didn’t rain on our journey though)
Trekking poles (two in case of snow)
Extra pair of clothes and socks
Extra bags to put wet clothes in
Gloves, cap
Flip-flops
Snacks (juice, energy bars, fruits)
Medicines (also carry stuffs for leg cramps like bandage, I had severe leg cramp and had nothing to reduce the pain)

Things To Wear:

Trekking shoes
Snow Clamps for shoes in case of snow on trails (Google it)
Light and loose clothes (jeans not recommended)
Sun hat
Sunglasses
Sunscreen

Breakfast on Ghorepani (Tibetan bread, potato soup, black tea, boiled egg)

Price Details:

Public bus fare from Pokhara (Baglung bus park) to Ulleri: NPR 350
Veg Nepali Khana on the way to Ulleri: NPR 300
Black tea near Ghorepani: NPR 50
Veg Nepali Khana Set + room charge + breakfast at Ghorepani for one day and for one person: NPR 1000
Veg noodles at Tadapani: NPR 400
Veg Nepali Khana Set at Ghandruk: NPR 400
Room charge at Ghandruk: NPR 1000
Museum entrance fee at Ghandruk: NPR 100
Gurung dress with jewelries for rent at Ghandruk: NPR 100
Saarai nai mitho veg momo at Ghandruk (Ishtuti Momo Pasal): NPR 150
Jeep fare from Ghandruk to Pokhara: NPR 500

Ancient Museum at Ghandruk (This is the same house whose picture is on the one thousand rupees Nepali note.)

Route & Vehicle Details From Pokhara:

Take a public bus from Baglung bus park, Pokhara to Ulleri – 3 hours drive.
Trek from Ulleri to Ghorepani – 5-6 hours.
Trek from Ghorepani to Poonhill – 45 minutes.
Trek from Poonhill to Ghandruk – 8 hours (with snow on trail).

Wearing Gurung’s cultural dress (rented) at Ghandruk

Itinerary

Day 1: Six of us reached Pokhara at 6 am in the morning. We took a bus from Baglung Bus Park to Ulleri. We had lunch on the way to Ulleri. The funny thing, our bus could not pull up and cross a hill on the way, so we were dropped few kilometers before reaching Ulleri. After trekking for 5 hours, we reached Ghorepani, where we stayed in a hotel and had dinner there.

Day 2: Early in the morning, it was 4:30 am when we woke up. At 5:15 am we began trekking, and reached Poonhill in 45 minutes. We made it before sunrise and were able to see it, enjoyed the snow trail and came back to our hotel. We had breakfast and left at around 10 am. After having short breaks at few stops for food, we reached Ghandruk after trekking for 7 hours straight!

Well, what do I tell about the trail? May be if you are not a very adventurous person, and do not enjoy extreme risk, do not take this trail at this time of the year. Because everything is covered with snow; and at some points you will have to slide down holding a rope that is already available there. So, this one is not a very easy trek while there’s snow on the trail.

Struggle didn’t stop at reaching Ghandruk. At first, we had to struggle with finding a hotel to stay. So, it is advised to prebook your stay if you are trekking from Ghorepani to Ghandruk because it will be late and there are less chances of getting proper room. We got it little later though.

Day 3: We woke up at 7 am in the morning, had tea and left the hotel at 8 am to tour Ghandruk. After wearing Gurung’s cultural dress, and having the world’s best momos at Ishtuti Momo Pasal, we left for Pokhara in a jeep. We reached Pokhara after 3 hours ride.

Sahii mitho momo at Ishtuti Momo House, Ghandruk

Specialty of Poonhill Trek!

You will have the best sunrise view from Poonhill if you make it to the view point early in the morning before 6:35 am.
You can wear Gurung’s cultural dress at Ghandruk, and visit some ancient museums.
Well, there is snow slide (I named it, LOL) so if you look it in an adventure way, it’s really fun sliding there! But only when there’s snow on the trails.
The trail is also popular for rhododendrons, which I missed and well, if you want to witness that, go a little later than I did.
You can finish this trek over a weekend! All you need is two days from Pokhara and the trek is over.
Ghandruk itself is a destination for people who are looking for an escape from Pokhara where you can find nice food and home-stay too. So, there’s a bonus that comes with this trip!

This blog does not really tell you much about Poonhill itself because you will find several blogs on Internet doing that. So, my main focus was with route, facilities, stuffs one should carry, and budget. Hope it helped you in some way! I would love it if you leave a feedback.

Have a nice time!

Aleena Rayamajhi
3/31/2020

Thank you Bikalpa-Library!

I have been a woman who loves to write. I have been writing from class six. The contents might have varied since then, but the passion is still the same, or has risen more than in those times.

While I write, I feel I am exploring myself. In the process of writing, I also discover something more; the things that were inside me, but unknown.

From writing everyday activities on my personal diary, to writing blogs in the personal website for more than four years, I am improving. Recently I finished my Bachelors in Agricultural Engineering. While waiting for my result, I had two months vacation. I came to know about the library run by Bikalpa- An Alternative. It is a think-tank, whose director is Sir Basanta Adhikari. I had participated in some of the workshops and boot-camps organized by them.

To occupy myself with the free time, I went to the library and asked for a suggestion. The brothers in the library are really kind. They suggested me a lot of books. Suman Khalingbrother suggested me my first book. I got ‘A journey to the self’ by Luna Thakur Shrestha as my first book. It was so amazing I completed it overnight. I started visiting library again and again, and with every new book,I started to enjoy my free time.

It doesn’t mean I didn’t read books before I came to know about the library, my father is fond of books too.He used to bring a lot of books to the home. I had read some of the novels from the home. But, when you have a stack of options in the library, you become more open towards something of your interest rather than reading a random book at home.

While I wrote all these years; I was expressing my views and opinions, of what I learnt through my experiences,problems, successes, failures, and travels. But when I started reading, I started to visualize others point of views too. This added another essence to my life. When you write, your knowledge remains same, but when you read,your knowledge broadens. This enlightened me.

“Read more because knowledge is power.”

“A book can take you to each and every corner of the world without moving a single inch.”

I started asking for more suggestions, and every time I was on the trip, I took a book with me. This made my solo journeys much more interesting.

It would be impossible for anyone to buy a new book in every two days. When there is a library around you, you can give some books a try.

This Deusi-Bhailo, we volunteered to collect books for the library too. We played deusi for two days in Tihar of 2018, and asked for books or donation for the library. We were able to collect a lot of books, donations, and blessings. It not just provided us happiness, but immense pleasure to work for the library that provides us to read books for free.

*Books collected through Deusi-Vailo 2018*

With the reading habit, I have discovered that my writing skill has improved too. I have learned some new words, some new techniques of writing, and thanks to the Bikalpa-Library,I have been able to do this in a free time, which I would eventually waste if not for the books.

Recently, I have been appointed as an author for a website where I get paid for my articles and creativity. It has been an awesome part time job. I have got a platform to work for something that I am confident at.

Thank you Bikalpa-An Alternative team, you guys are doing a great job. The library has been providing the service since 2014. They started with a rack with ten books and today with the team’s effort, the library serves with more than thousand books.

The library is located at Mahendra Chowk, Biratnagar. Anyone despite the age, gender or class, can visit the library from 10 to 5 and from Sundays to Fridays and receive a book at a time.If you have read a book already and it stays at your home with no more of a use, you can donate it to the library, and eventually your book will be into many hands and people will thank you for that.

Why not visit the library today and make a good habit of reading, just like me?

I thank you Bikalpa-An Alternative, for such an amazing platform for us to utilize our time. We need more people like you. Thank you.

Er. Aleena Rayamajhi
Field Survey Coordinator, GiZ
1/13/2019

People shall judge you, no matter what!

If you are doing something great in your life, you shall meet two kinds of people. The first kind includes those people who admire you, appreciate you and ultimately copy your styles. The other kind includes those people who judge your each activity, give a harsh response, create rumor to the public and ultimately try to copy your styles but fail.

We live in the society which is ruled by the second kind of people. These people are so powerful that many dreams die every second and the stereotype is formed. The society desires profession like doctors, lawyers and engineers out of the common people. Poets, musicians, artists and businessmen are the people who went against the stereotype, didn’t listen to the people who tried to drag them backwards and won. They have set the example for those who are scared of doing what their heart really wants.

If you know you have chosen the right track, you should not be scared of the mass that tries to distract you. Sometimes the people, who are really close to us, like our parents, want us to forget something that we are good at. They want us to be accepted by the society. But this is wrong. Their minds are narrow. Even they are scared of the society. Everyone is not good at same thing, but everyone is good at something. We should realize that our dreams require our support at first. If we do not support our dreams, no one else shall. But if we stay focused on what we want to achieve someday, then we might be able to break the stereotype and challenge everyone.

There are many people who are tired of trying to be accepted by the society. But our society is brutal. It has set some false barriers among us. There is nothing wrong in doing what the heart wants as long as it doesn’t affect someone. It is also one of the reasons behind many suicide cases. The people who are sick of not being able to be perfect in the society ultimately kill their dreams and sometimes themselves as well.

These people who support the stereotype are unpaid employees. Their task is to drag every creative mind down to the bottom, to their level. They are not good at anything besides this. But you, yes you, you are a good human being. I know you have a creative mind. You are really special. You need to love yourself; only after that your family and friends matter. You can achieve your life goals if you concentrate on your work rather than worrying what people might talk about you. After all, your ultimate goal in life is to be happy, right? You can be happy only when you can be the real you and not the one that society wants you to be. So, please do not listen to the people out there. They lack knowledge. They shall judge you no matter what.

Aleena Rayamajhi

7/1/2018

HOME

What is home? It is the place where you can be the real you. No drama at all. Home is where your family is. The home is incomplete without family. Family is a bunch of happiness. Happiness is home. Happiness is coming back to home after long time. You come to home to heal yourself from all the pain and trouble you face in your struggling life. Home is heaven on earth. You cannot be finer somewhere else. It has to be home; your favorite place to chill and relax and heal.

Everybody loves being at home. But not true. You only realize the importance of something when it is snatched right away from your hand. The ones who have stayed away from home for long time realize how important a home is and how important is the family. Home is heaven for the people who have been working or studying abroad or away in a crowded city. They know the importance of the warmth of the home that keeps them away from cold. Home is never small. It is always big enough to cover your soul tightly around its arms. Home is a mother and yes mother is the heart of the home. She is the angel who makes home the heaven. Don’t forget the other members. Everybody is equally important but I’ll always give a point more to mother of course. Mother is the binder, a mediator and the Queen Bee.

Home is a really pleasant place to be at. When you come back to home after long time at your vacations you realize how safe you are. You can have a tight sleep and you don’t have to worry about robbers because you know your dad will protect you. You never forget to take your medicines in time because everybody’s job is to remind you that. Your head is always covered with woolen cap and your toes with socks during winter because your mum irritates you until you put them on. Your pets go crazy when you play with them, they have missed you a lot it seems. You always wake up and find a surprise breakfast that your dad brings you after he returns from morning walk. You never go to bed without drinking hot cup of milk and if it is my mum, there is a pinch of Beshaar in it so that I’m away from cold. Your sister always hands you some money that she saves from job or dad. You always get to eat the big piece of food because you are not going to stay at home for long this week. You will be packed with different varieties of food for months when your time has come to leave the home again. Your pets leave you to door with that crying face and a question of “when you are going to return back..?”
I really love being at home. I always wanted to be away from family when I was small. To be honest, I wanted to experience time away from home and family. I’m already away now. I’m away for four years and my second year is running. I’m not that far. I’m only 1.5 hours far if traveled in a bus. But since I get to meet my family like once in a month and sometimes even late, I feel I’m really far from them. But it is okay. I love visiting them once in a month. I spend all my time with mother and pets. I wait all day for my sister to come back from her job so that we can talk all night until we’re asleep. I love helping dad with his work and buy grocery stuffs with him. Whenever I go home these days, I make sure, nobody is unhappy there. I help mum with cooking and prepare Tiffin for my sister. I don’t act cool but responsible. I appreciate all the little things that they confess me. I’m not all the time with my family but when I’m with them I make sure I make them happy. I think I have changed with time. Even my mum says I’m not me. But I’m better me.

You should always try to make people around you happy and when the people are your family, it is a plus point. Family comes first because the entire world can stand against you but at the end it is only your family who will still be there, at your side, even if you are wrong. It is not your friend who raised you or who was there at night next to you during your SLC finals, it is your mum. It is not your boy friend who paid your school and plus two bills, it is your dad. It is not your relatives who took you to hospital at midnight when you suffered from pneumonia, it is your family. So why to give priority to others? Friends and relatives are second person, first person is family. When you understand your love and respect for your family, you are sure to be successful and happy forever.

*Aleena Rayamajhi
1/26/2016
11:16 PM

Positive Earthquake Consequences

We all know about the recent earthquake in Nepal. It was really dangerous as it took lives of many people and animals. It swept away the buildings, monuments, historical sites of different parts of Nepal such as Gorkha, Bagmati, Lalitpur, Bhaktapur, Sindhupalchowk and many more. Being a Nepali citizen myself and also one of the victims of this dreadful earthquake I’m not here to express sorrow. I’m here just to share the positive side of this earthquake.

People all over the world are aware of the earthquake in Nepal. All the social sites are filled with prayers for my country and my people. Our country is not a popular country; many people don’t know about it at some corner of the world. But due to this natural disaster people know that the country with Mount Everest is in danger and we need to help it. I know at such a disastrous moment I shouldn’t be cherishing my joys for something small but I can’t help myself not to cherish the joys I find these days. All the TV news is showing the consequences of earthquake all over my country, but they are missing the good side of this earthquake. They are just frightening people who are already scared as hell and more. We have discovered everything and we have challenged all the difficult problems but we still cannot predict earthquake. So there is no point in spreading rumors about earthquake. Let’s see the good side, aye? Remember all the youngsters who enjoyed late night parties, camp fire, and discos? Today they are at different villages at Sindhupalchowk and Gorkha. Yes, in order to distribute the goods the victims are in need of. Those youths who surf internet all day and night are spreading the news of earthquake and helping out everyone.They have realized that, it is not time to pray for Nepal but to work for it. There are many countries that are helping us with money and manpower. Humanity had come to an end and now again we have hopes for humanity. Due to this natural disaster, again people are uniting, their hearts are uniting. Today all the people are under the same roof, either they are Brahmins or Dalits, they are not hesitated to share the only roof that is left in the village because they both want to live. Today both the rich and the poor are feeding on same loaf of bread, because both of them have hungry stomachs. May be Mother Nature is playing trick; she wants all her children to be united again so she caused Earthquake. Many people lost their house, money, health and relatives, but they haven’t lost their dignity. Our Dharara has fallen, but we can build ten of such Dharara if our hopes are high. We are great Gorkhalis, we have never surrendered and we never will. Instead of being frightened, we should be brave. Everyone is sure to die someday, may be some die early and some die late. So why do we fear of our deaths? You might be thinking , “It is easy to say as you haven’t lost your child or your house”. But Madam, I’m just trying to lower the pain of the people who have lost somebody. Crying over something that’s gone is worthless. We should live for someone who is still there, still alive. We should do the best that we can. It is better to die while helping somebody than to die coward. So, why not just see the positive side of this beautiful earthquake. It came for a reason. We will build a new and better Nepal. We have gained a lot more power from this earthquake, earthquake left us with unity and much love. Thank you Earthquake.

Gadhimai – The Animal Cruelty Festival of Nepal

Gadhimai festival is a sacrificial ceremony that is held every 5 years at the Gadhimai Temple of Bariyarpur, in Bara District, Nepal. It is primarily celebrated by the Madheshi and Bihari people. The event involves the large scale sacrificial slaughter of animals including water buffaloes, pigs, goats, chickens, and pigeons – with the goal of pleasing Gadhimai, the goddess of power. It is estimated that 500,000 animals were sacrificed during the Gadhimai festival of 2009. Are you serious? Where are all the animal rights activists?

My blog is not for providing information about Gadhimai Festival. We can find several articles about it on web. I really found those articles depressing. The festival is for impressing goddess they say. And they also say the goddess favor peace and love. How can someone get peace by slaughtering animals? And I would like to add that the festival is actually not attended by Nepalese but 80% are the people from Indian states like Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. The rest 20% are Madhesi people of our country.

At this statement I find little joy, at least not Nepalese people are into this cruel crime because these are Indian people who are favoring the festival. Yes, I would call it a crime. But the arena is ours. The festival is celebrated at our place. How poor we could have been?

A month before the ritual in 2009, the Madheshi politicians realized there would be a “severe shortage” of goats for the ritual sacrifice, as well as for the consumption of goat meat during the festival. They began a radio campaign urging farmers to sell their animals. So Nepalese people have one benefit after all, i.e. they can sell their animals to those foreign devotees.

After the festival, the meat, bones and hides of the animals are sold to companies in India and Nepal. But this is illegal. Why do we allow foreign people to sacrifice animals in the birth place of Buddha, who introduced and encouraged peace to entire world? The entire world knows about this festival and they are building the concept that the Nepalese are cruel and stone-hearted.

I’ve so many questions unanswered. I want reasons and opinions. The festival has prompted numerous protests by animal rights activists and Nepalese Hindus from Hill region. Well done people. In 2009 activists made several attempts to stop the ritual, including Brigitte Bardot and Maneka Gandhi, who wrote to the Nepalese government asking them to stop the killings. A government official commented that they would not “interfere in the centuries-old tradition of the Madheshi people.”

Ram Bahadur Bomjon, claimed by some of his supporters to be the reincarnation of the Buddha, said that he would attempt to stop the sacrifice at the festival, preaching non-violence and offering a blessing at the place. I’m sure the festival will come to an end someday and the mothers after some years will tell their children, the bed time story about the horrifying Gadhimai Festival and how some brave warriors brought it to an end.

Actually, cutting a goat or a buffalo is same. Cutting 500 goats in Dashain or cutting 500,000 buffaloes in Gadhimai is similar after all. This is not just a major issue in Nepal. There are plenty of festivals worldwide where mass killing of animals either in the name of gods or food take place.

If we look into our neighboring country China, there is a festival celebrated annually in Yulin, Guangxi in June where people eat dog meat and lychees. More than 10,000 dogs were killed and consumed earlier which decreased to 1000 in 2015.

Why talk about festivals or ceremonies when the farm houses are killing millions of animals everyday just for the sake of food. There are several crimes committed by people by violating animals’ right.

If you feed on meat yourself, or sacrifice a goat during Dashain, and yet are against Gadhimai, you are a fool. A festival as deadly as Gadhimai can only be stopped when people are against any kind of animal cruelty.

Aleena Rayamajhi