Symposium At Columbia

My Proposal To The Saturday Symposium At Columbia
Anand Bist, Troublemaker

I was so excited I could hardly sleep the night before. I dozed off for a few hours during the wee hours of morning. I was the first person to show after Niraula and Son. I showed up half an hour early. Sometimes they do construction work during the weekends, so I made time for train delays, but there were none.

Dr. Tara Niraula is one of those establishment figures on the Nepali scene in the city. Plus he speaks with the perfection of those who host cultural programs, announcing song and dance sequences. Dr. Niraula teased me that he was telling someone the evening before that I might be the first to show.

The setting was great. The format was excellent. It was not like you go sit and all these brainiacs try to fill up your empty brains. It was interactive. There were moderators, and some of us volunteered to provide slave labor to write ideas down on the white board as they got read out. But mostly everyone participated, literally everyone, not just the lound and vocal ones. There were specific topics. And you had a folder, and pieces of paper. For each topic you were given 10 minutes to write down all your ideas. All got collected. Then the moderator read them out and the ideas got written down on the road for all to see. Then discussions would ensue for about 40 minutes.

This format made it possible for it to be an all day event and still worth it.

And there was classy New York pizza for lunch. Breakfast was available. Tea, coffee, bakery products. Sweet stuff.

Dignitaries like Shyam Karki and Murari Sharma showed up. Also a bunch of the professorial class, like Shiva Gautam who teaches at Harvard. Names I had encountered online I was meeting in person.

"Now I need to meet that other celebrity diplomat, Kul Chandra Gautam," I teased Murariji at the end, on our way out.

Shyam Karki came to the US before Microsoft got founded. He is one of those establishment Nepalis on the national scene going international. He is a pleasant person. He was in Rochester for a long time, now in Baltimore. He knows Congressman Walsh (Write A Thank You Email To Congressman Walsh). Walsh speaks Nepali, has done a Peace Corps stint in Nepal, and has a soft spot in his heart for Nepal.

Shyamji praised my handwriting during the topic he moderated. Neki aur poochh poochh.

I took a ton of pictures. More importantly I was on assignment by Samudaya to record the entire event on audio which I did. All that will be online soon. So I am not going to talk too much about the substance of the discussions. Get your own taste of it on audio.

It was a pleasant and productive day.

I got to meet a movie star, Sudhanshu Joshi. How often does that happen? He has this Rajesh Hamal air about him. He got his training in New York. He makes movies both in Nepal and in the US.

There were hard core republicans like Anil Shahi, Sanjaya Parajuli and Deepak Khadka, but there was also a lot of sentiment for a ceremonial monarchy. Me? I am staunchly republican after the king wasted the ceasefire. My point being you can not offer a ceremonial monarchy to a king who clearly wishes an activist role for himself.

I told a few people I was Laloo Ka Aadmi. "All you say here gets reported to Laloo!"

Many good ideas came out. But at the end of the day you are only offering moral support to the democracy movement in Nepal. I am sorry the crowd did not come strongly for providing logistical support to the movement. The day was not designed to end with that conclusion either. But I think a lot of the shift will take place in follow-up emails and phone calls. Lets' put it this way: the work is being done. Money is being raised, projects are being implemented. Details are being discussed on a need to know basis.

Sometimes you do have to think though. Do we do these events for ourselves? As in, is this bonding for us? Or is this for the movement in Nepal? It has to be both with the emphasis on the movement. This movement in Nepal is a once in a lifetime opportunity. We have to extend logistical support. Moral support is already there.

I collected some names and email addresses.

The timing of the event was great. Just when the movement is really taking off.

The best part was being able to meet all the people. Some of the best audio I might have recorded was during the informal breaks. Towards the end of the day Samudaya itself became a minor controversial topic. All that went on record.

Did I tell you, there were many people who had come from far away places like Boston and Baltimore and beyond? Yes.