The Mountains of Bern

By: Bikal Dhungel 

The first day I saw you

The day I fell in love with

Never before Id understood

That love in first sight indeed happens

The feelings Id never had before

The cheerfulness my heart felt that day

Because of your beauty and calmness

That healed all my wounds from the past

Right away I thought I belong to you

And decided with whom to spend life with

My connection with you was already indivisible

Because you were so beautiful and so charming

I could sit down forever and watch you

And smell the air you sent towards me

Pinching cold and fresh, yet lovely air

Surrounded by it, all by your touch

The green grasses at your bottom

And those white clouds on the top

The sunlight that hit you

And the air that covered you

I never found no reason to love you

To sit infront and smell you and smile

To see you as long as I can

And to appreciate you for what you are

   … … … …

These mountains of Bern

These friends of mine

These giant stones made of love

These holy objects of nature

They were all made for me

Because I see the beauty in them

I will always love it and cherish in my heart

As long as I can behold

Mountains of Bern … …

Its been some time since I left you

you have no idea how much you are missing

just remember always, if my heart is still beating

it is beating for you, my heart is beating for you

Born to Play

By: Bikal Dhungel 

Humans are born to play. Since the recorded history, they have played in some form or other. In ancient Greece, sport used to be a religious ceremony. This is a reason why the Olympia is located just next to the temple of Zeus. In all cultures and empires, games were played. Some thrived and took modern forms, some simply disappeared. Some were only played by higher class, some were played by everybody. This culture still exists today. Golf for example is called a sport of the rich because of its expensive equipments and a large sized land called Golf course. Fidel Castro, a communist leader of Cuba let all golf courses bulldozed because he thought it is a sport of rich capitalists and doesn’t suit in a communist country, even though there are records that he played Golf with Che Guevara. 

Already before the age of Globalization, the merchants and even colonizers brought their sports to newly conquered countries. For example it was the British who brought football to Brazil and most of South America. British also brought Cricket to India and West Indies. How the indians started to play  Cricket learning from British was fantastically displayed in a bollywood film called “ Lagaan “ that was nominated for Academy Award. 

Today its even hard to say how many games are played in an Olympic game. Many are added frequently. Additionally, there are Winter Olympics, Youth Games, Paralympics, Championships in individual sports, regional games etc. Sport has been turned to giant global business and sportsmen and women are earning highest salaries among all sectors. Christiano Ronaldo was transferred for 90 Million Euros from Manchester United to Real Madrid in 2009. Michael Jordan earned more money from advertising NIKE than all the NIKE factory workers in Malaysia combined. Womens however still earn much less than their male counterparts. Once upon a time Brazilian women footballers earned 35 $/day and didn’t even have good shoes while men earned millions. History books also tell that the military dictators banned them from playing football. Once they won the World Cup, wage bargaining took place and today, the wages are not that bad in comparison to the past. Even in American Basketball, women earn around 60,000 dollars per year today while Lebron James earns 20 Million a year. Unfortunately, female athlets are also judged by their looks than how they perform. How good their breasts look like or how they look in bikini determines their success to a large extent. 

Sports is also largely politicised. It started from 1936 Berlin Olympics when Hitler used the Olympics to spread his Nazi propaganda and to prove the superiority of Aryan race. He strongly hold his view until his arrogance was destroyed by a black athlete from the US called Jesse Owens who won 4 Gold Medals and hailed a hero in Berlin. Named after him, there is a street called ‘Jesse Owens Alle’ next to Olympic Stadium in Berlin and few schools are named ‘Jesse Owens Schule’. Along with political propaganda, Nationalism is linked with sports as well. In 1970 FIFA world cup qualifying game between El Salvador and Honduras, violence erupted and later Salvadorian Army launched attack against Honduras. This was later called ‘a Football War’. However, there were other reasons behind the war as well. In the height of Yugoslavian war, when Red Star Belgrade went to play in Zagreb, Croatia they chanted “Death to Croatia, long live the Serbs”. Due to war between Argentina and the UK, matches between these two countries are more political. The football match played in June 22, 1986 in the quarter final of World Cup, Diego Maradona scored the legendary ‘Hand of God’ goal and Argentina won the game with 2-1. In 2002 world cup, England won against Argentina with a penalty kick scored by David Beckham and the English called the victory ‘Foot of God’. 

There are other issues in Football like Hooliganism, Racism etc. Samuel Eto left the game while playing after being called Monkey. Especially, players with dark skins are often facing racial abuses. Also fans are frequently attacked. During 2006 World Cup in Germany, there were parts of former East Germany where few games were held, declared as ‘No Go’ for fans with dark skin colour. Luckily no incident happened. The German people gave their best part to show that they are in fact a multi-cultural, tolerant and friendly country that houses the second largest number of immigrants in the world after the United States. Recently a Greek athlete had to withdraw from participating in London Olympics after making racist remarks. This was against the spirit of Olympics. 

But racism is declining in Football. The FIFA and Olympic Committee are dedicated to end such acts and not to tolerate any offense. People are banned from entering stadiums if they do so. Multi-Culturalism in sports is wanted today. Lots of multi-cultural teams have been successful. The French football team of 1998 World Cup that largely consisted of children of immigrants won the World Cup for the first time for France. It changed the way people looked towards immigrants. Both Zinedin Zidane and Lilian Thuram campaigned and are still campaigning today for more tolerance and minority rights. Not to forget, we didn’t simply come to this stage today. Minorities had to fight a long way to participate in nationals teams. No black guy was allowed to play in US national baseball league for a long time. Jackie Robinson was the first black player to play major baseball game. Even Jews were not allowed on Golf Clubs till late sixties in America. The story of Mohammed Ali originally named Casius Clay gives us the good picture how segregation still existed in sport. Racism might stay for a long time to come but it would be good if sports remain free of anger, envy, hatred, crime etc. 

Sport has a capacity to bring cultures, religions and countries together. Countries competing with each other in a friendly way also boost the relationship between them and it can even help their economy grow, for example by tourism. Lots of Europeans travel to other countries to watch Champions League hence boosting the tourism sector. Sport is also linked with other sectors like Health. Lots of sporty people in a country means lots of healthy people. It would reduce their costs of Health Care and disease. Then hospitals will be less crowded, there will be fewer burdens on national health care services and the society profits as a whole. We are born to play and we should play. The government can also help in starting this incentive. 

In 1950s, Mao Zedong showed the Chinese people how to play Table Tennis. This reached  every corners of China. He declared that table tennis is going to be Chinese national sports. It spread so rapidly that everybody started to play this game. This is why China is so successful in Table Tennis today. There are some interesting reasons behind why some countries are successful in some sports. Like the Kenyans and Ethiopians or East Africans in general win most of the Marathon races. Some people claim that, because they had to go to school far away, or go to get water, they are used to running long distances, which makes them naturally fit for these kinds of sports. Similarly there are other interesting facts about Brazilian success in football. Same thing is valid for US Basketball team, which always consists of renowned superstars. The United States Basketball team ‘Dream Team’ has won the gold medal in almost all the Olympic Games. In 1992 Barcelona Olympics, the ‘Dream Team’ consisted with star players like Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Scottie Pippen, Larry Bird etc. Before playing with Angola, the Angolan team went to take autographs from the US players. The US won the game very easily. 

Finally, many sportsmen and women have ended doing something good for the society, by being brand ambassadors or helping directly to a charity etc. Tiger Woods, despite damaging his public image by sex scandals, is donating handsome amounts in charities like in Earl D Woods Scholorship Funds or in Tiger Wood Learning Center. Lance Armstrong pledged 5 million dollars for cancer research. David Beckham, Lionel Messi, Serena Williams etc are UNICEF Brand Ambassadors. Michael Schumacher, 7 times Formula One champion from Hürth (Cologne) Germany donated 10 Million dollars for the Tsunami victims in Asia. Either the earnings from sports are too much or justifiable is another issue but many athlets are doing good for societal causes.  

Athlets also end up sometimes being a politician or entering other sectors like Modelling or Film Industry. David Beckham is a live example. Teenagers who couldn’t see his magic in football recognize him as a model than as a footballer. Michael Jordan was told to run for Democratic Party candidate in the US but he rejected by saying ‘Republicans buy tennis shoes too’. He was loyal to his sponsor NIKE and taking a side in politics might cause the people from other party not buying NIKE products or his ‘fly jordan’ shoes. But Lebron James was very active in campaigning for the election of Barack Obama. 

Sport has a power to enrich our society. It brings talented people on the world stage that gives us entertainment. Unfortunately, there are billions of people who cannot unpack their talents due to their circumstances like poverty. Poverty prohibits people to discover their talents. One live example is India. India, despite its large population which stands at 1.15 billion today or 1150 millions, wins less than 1 Olympic Medal per game while Denmark, with only 4.5 million people has won 179 medals or roughly 7 medals per game. This issue is not only valid for sports. Due to poverty, our world is not capable of fully utilizing the potential talents people have. May be there is an idea to cure HIV AIDS in somebody’s mind. May be somebody has an idea to make a car that runs fully with saltwater. May be there is somebody who has a power to unite people in a unique way and create international peace and friendship. Unless all the people in the world are not given chances to discover their talents, not only in sports, in all fields, we will be wasting these talents. 

Coming back to our topic, sport is essential. As I already mentioned above, sports should be free of hate. We should also genuinely debate about the limits of sports that put human lives in danger and practice the cruelty towards animals. Extreme sports that threaten human lives to a higher extent should be banned. Sports that display cruelty towards animals like Spanish Bull Fighting also does not belong to a civilized society. Other sports like hunting or killing innocent creatures should be banned as well. 

Finally, the advantage of playing, and being healthy is immeasurable. Sports keep us healthy and at the same time entertain us which is again good for our health. We humans are born to play, so let’s play.

Potato

By: Bikal Dhungel 

Facebook is booming. People like every kind of pictures. Recently, I saw a picture of potato in my facebook wall where somebody had written, “Let’s see how many likes this potato gets”. People like every stupid picture about everything. It disturbed somebody and he posted a picture of potato to get liked. I didn’t like that. I didn’t like the idea of undermining the importance of potato. Those who think that potatoes are simply an unimportant object that should be the last one remaining, to get likes in facebook, havent done enough homework about the role potato played in human civilization. 

Potatoes are amazing and I love it. The UN Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) reports that worldwide 324 million tonnes of potatoes are produced every year, this means roughly 33 kg per person per year. We not only eat it directly but have potatoes as other type of food like potato chips, mashed potato with yogurt or milk, pancakes potatoes and potatoes cooked in different ways like boiled, baked etc. A variety of potato gained more popularity when Prince William married Catherine Middleton. It was revealed that both of them used to eat Fish and Chips (potatoes) during university years in St. Andrews, Scotland. Many people went to that spot to try the same dish. 

Potato was first found in the Americas and the European colonizers brought it to Europe. Historically, potato played an important role to save human lives. During the famines where other crops fell due to bad weather, potato helped humans to survive because of its adaptiveness with bad weather and it also provided several times more calories than grains. In time of famine, it was a good alternative for other foods. The cultivation of potatoes throughout Europe grew in higher rate. Economic historians claim that potato promoted economic development of Great Britain during the Industrial Revolution. It was a cheap source of calories and in time of urbanisation during industrialisation, it was a good option as potato was easier to cultivate. One could even do it in the backyard. As there was enough potato or enough food, economic historians further claim that potato accelerated population growth. In other parts of the world, when population grew, the food supply was secured by the cultivation of potatoes. In times of war, many German leaders frequently told the people to cultivate potatoes. This became a popular culture and still today, potato is a vital part of German meal. It is unofficially regarded as a national dish. Some stereotypes also used this as an abusive word to the Germans. If you have a German friend, never tell him/her a potato.

However, potato also caused some big problems. Some countries in Europe were very dependent on it for example Ireland. Ireland was very dependent on Potato. When a disease called potato blight broke out, almost one million Irish people died. A large number immigrated to the United States and United Kingdom, a reason why the Irish make one of the largest immigrant groups in the United States. J. F Kennedy, Bill Clinton, George W Bush and even Barack Obama have Irish roots. During the famine, Ireland’s population decreased by one quarter. This event is called ‘The Great Famine’ in Ireland and ‘The Potato Famine’ in the rest of the world. 

Whatsoever, potatoes have saved millions of lives in other parts of the world. It has enriched mankind. It has helped in human economic growth and continues to do so. It also gives pleasure to us as variety of foods that we consume everyday. 

Today potatoes are consumed all over the world. China, India, Russia, United States and Germany are largest producers. The year 2008 was regarded as ‘International Year of the Potato’ by the FAO. The Swiss Post also brought out the post stamps with potatoes. In Germany there are two potato museums, one in Munich called 'Das Kartoffel Museum' and another called ' Deutsches Kartoffelmuseum' in Fussgoenheim in the state of Rheinland-Palatinate. Not only in Germany, there are other potato museums in the United States, Canada, Belgium, Denmark and Singapore.

In our world where over 1 billion people live in extreme poverty, potatoes can help a lot or are already helping to reduce hunger and starvation. In places where it has not reached yet, good policies should be implemented to bring potatoes to every hungry man’s plate. It has a large role to play to fulfill the Millenium Development Goals. Potato is important to us, it has made our life better hence it deserves respect.

So, if you get a picture of a potato in your facebook wall, give a like because potato is important and not less important.

Want To Build A Good Nation? Spend On Children

By: Bikal Dhungel

‘Child shows a man as morning shows the day’. However, ‘morning shows the day’ isnt true about most parts of Europe. They say, never believe in 3 Ws, Work, Weather and Wife. It can change or run away anytime. 

‘Child shows a man’ is however everywhere true. Childhood directs most of us in which direction we go in the future. The way we were raised, friends we had, the environment we grew up, the culture we saw and the teachers who taught us determines how our future looks like.  Teachers and parents role is the most important. Many researches show that the children of Doctors are likely to be a doctor as well, the children of Business men or industrialist have high tendency to continue with the profession their parents had and the same for other professions. High numbers of youths from an academic family are also most likely to be an academic, which means that they’re most likely to get a university degree. There are fewer number of university students whose parents haven’t been to the University. This culture has changed recently in developed world as everybody, nomatter which status they have, have an access to higher education. The European Union has free education system that allows all students to enter the University if they fulfill the requirements irrespective of their income. However, Germany and Norway are among the few countries that provide free education for all, regardless their nationality. This has given a chance for everybody to rise to middle or higher class. Good education policy that gives everybody an equal opportunity is the best justice system. 

Let us talk directly about the situation of children in so called developing countries. It is a scandal that governments and its people are complaining about their poor economic situation but doing less to build the future of children. Future of country lies on the future on children. This includes not only the spendings on education, but also on Vocational Trainings, Sports, Healthcare etc. Only spending more also won’t help because it should be efficient and intelligent. UNDP’s Human Development Indicators figure shows that Sudan spends over 25% of its GDP on education, which is the highest and Cuba and Djibouti spend respectively 13.6 and 8.4%. All three are among the poorest countries of the world. Despite higher education budget, situations arent getting better.  Developed Countries’ don’t even make the top ten among the big spenders on education. It is Denmark which is on 16^th place spending 7.8% of its GDP for education that comes first among rich world. Finland, which tops the best schooling system in the world lies at 39^th place with 5.9%. The US lies on 55^th place and Germany on 95^th. So, ‘how much’ spending is of less relevance, ‘how to’ is what matters. 

Schools should be made like a home where there should be somebody to care the children other than educational stuffs. A psychologist is desperately necessary in schools to monitor the mental situations. Childrens are vulnerable. Their minds are prone to negative feelings. Mobbings, conflicts in family, conflicts with friends or someone they love can leave a permanent dove on their mind. There should be initiatives that prevent such happenings but also professional treatments so that it cannot have a long lasting effect on childrens mind. It is not only a loss for the child and his family if a child choose a wrong path, it is also a loss for the economy. Everybody can contribute something but if he/she arent given a chance to use their full potential, we might loose something that could have changed many things for better. 

I won’t go in details about how to create a better child. There are many pedagogic methods and instruments to intervene in order to bring the best out of a child. These scientific techniques are being used in many countries.There are many examples and true facts how a good childhood could have avoided some of the disasters we faced in the history of humans. There are some people who have changed the world for better because they were raised to do better. There are some who had tragic childhood who turned out to be the most terrible men in the world. 

Most of the mass murderers we know had a difficult childhood. Saddham Hussein’s father died when his mother was pregnant. Though she tried to commit a suicide, she was stopped by a Jewish family. She gave Saddham to her brother who was a military officer. Saddham grew up in his shadows and killed a person in the age of 10. Raised in a military atmosphere, he showed no reservations to take lives. The same characteristics remained until he was the most powerful man in country who then killed hundreds of thousands of people through chemical weapons. Adolf Hitler had a complicated childhood and youth years. His dreams werent fulfilled what he initially wanted to become. Once he took power, the ingredients of hate that he slowely gained throughout child and adulthood, he misused it to execute one of the most terrible act in history. Joseph Stalin was physically abused by his father who was an alcoholic. He along with his mother suffered a lot during those years. This had an enormous impact in his character. Stalin killed millions of people directly and indirectly. 

So, these example shows that a complicated childhood can have a huge impact in our life. Hence, it is necessary to take the issues of children seriously. Other than investing in their education, we should make sure that they grow up in an atmosphere of love and compassion. We should monitor the social network website they use and what do they see in TV or listen in the Radio. In developed countries, there are already limited TV shows for children till a certain age. Parents are strict about what children see and what they are doing. In developing world it is still a big issue. Childrens arent barred from inappropriate actions. A child that has seen people shooting each other with a pistol also wants to have a pistol as a toy. As an adult, he’ll have no reservations killing people. This leads to a catastrophe. 

Children are our future, future of our culture and society and they will lead the world of tomorrow. It is time to decide in what kind of world we want our children to live tomorrow. If we don’t want them to live in a world of wars, conflicts, violence, hate and even genocides, it is time to cultivate love, respect and compassion in them. I want to end this article by some lines of Tibetan Wisdom

If children are criticized
they learn to condemn it.
When children are attacked,
they learn to fight it.
When a children are ridiculed,
they learn to be shy.
When children are ashamed
they learn to feel guilty.
If children are understood and tolerated,
they learn to be patient.
If children are encouraged,
they learn to trust themselves.
If children are praised,
they learn to appreciate themselves.
If children are treated fairly,
they learn to be just.
If children live salvaged,
they learn to trust.
When children are recognized,
they learn it, to like themselves.
If children are accepted in friendship
it is believed
they learn to find love in the world.