Booking reading seem to be obvious form of learning. Book Reading sounds very scholarly and intelligent. Something people give the impression that book reading is the only noble way of learning, rest are just hoax. That is not true. One can start with reading a book but one must go beyond books to be successful in life.
But there are thousand other art of learning to live a successful life. When we see two persons, one coming from a movie theater, and another coming from a library, our nature hunch would be to think that, the one coming from the library is more intelligent than one coming from the movie theater. But do you really think so? These two persons could in fact learning the same thing, lets say one was reading the book on Da Vinci code and another was watching the movie. One would easily say oh a movie would never be like a book. But is it really true?
Learning has various forms such as swimming, dancing, dating, arguing, exercising, cooking, singing, fighting and etc that might at times prove to be more important form of learning than marely reading and writting.
This draft concept of Social Marketing Campaign for Peace (SMCP) has been submitted by SMD to The Asia Foundation Nepal, in respond to our recent discussion with Mr. George Verughese, Deputy Country Director. Social Marketing is the planning and implementation of social development programs design to bring about social or cultural or political changes using concept from commercial marketing. Continue reading →
This programme was initiated with a view of to identify and address some of the key issues faced in the field of managementand institutionaldevelopment by NGOs in Nepal and to identifyappropriate consulting techniques and management programmesthat could help improvetheir performance. Continue reading →
Selecting and retaining a right candidate for CEO/s have really been a challenge in Nepal or anywhere else in the world. As a consultant I have been giving some thoughts on it which I have documented and which I am sharing with you. I know the write up needs further refinement, but what I have here is first hand thoughts copied from my mind.
“Sorry, you are a for profit company. We can not award you any project. ”
(Even if you are more competent and you offered a lower price; this does not
matter to us). Continue reading →
Whether we realize it or not, we mentally see the flash of everything we are about to experience, or about to happen to us. Although it may look to us that things are happening to us, in fact we are making them happen through our imagination. To be more accurate, we ourselves manifest the very event that happens to us. This is the highest technical fact of life.On the day-to-day basis, the visualization happens so fast and spontaneous that we hardly notice it.So, not being aware that we are the one who actually create the events around us, we think that the God which is assumedly separate from us made it happen. Contrary to our belief, there is no absolute reality, but only relative reality which looks absolute because many think it is absolute. All the time, we are the one who manifests our own “reality” without even being aware that we are responsible for it. Most of the time, we are cutting and pasting realities from the past, passed on to us by our parents, family and society. Continue reading →
Some of the most visible changes observed in Nepal since the last decade are the growing availability and use of new communication technologies (such as cellular computers, phones, email, internet, WiFi), fashion (traditional clothing are being replaced by jeans and shorts), Coke, Pepsi and beer and etc. They are available even in the remote districts where vital and basic needs are yet to reach. Similarly, other examples of changes are the increased accessibility and consumption of imported fruits and vegetables, behavioral growing number of vehicles on the road, increasing popularity and growth of private hospitals, departmental stores within the metropolitan areas, and private banking services. English medium schools, which were exclusive to the higher class until the last few decades, are now accessible even to the lower middle class due to increased availability of commercial private schools in the country.
Usually we (consultants, donors, executives, I/NGOs, country representatives etc) focus on budget, plans, strategies, goals, reports, research or evaluation, other technicalities and tangibles while dealing with project/s. But in the process, we miss the very ingredient that actually makes a project successful. It is called enthusiasm, (and or energy of person). It is mental, spiritual and intangible in nature. But it is fundamental to success, and determines whether a project is going to be successful or not. It is invisible. But you can sense “enthusiasm” when you talk to people or when you go to visit an organisation.Continue reading →
The unemployment, lack of the dignity of labor and gender imbalance are the three angles of a triangle that has been neutralizing Nepal’s overall development. Though these issues seem isolated, they are deeply interrelated and interdependent, each affecting other. Among the above three issues, the “lack of dignity of labor” is central to other two problems namely unemployment and gender Imbalance. Ironically, we have not even begun to recognize their correlation. If we can increase the dignity, respect for labors, we will automatically address the other two issues to a considerable level. Continue reading →
We are excellent in faking things up in terms of expressing our true desires, identity and feelings for our relationship with fellow human beings. We are best at even faking up ourselves to be something that we are not. Continue reading →
We, the Nepalese, have a unique a lifestyle, and attitude towards life. For example, so-called upper middle and high-class people build houses, which cost millions of rupees. These houses are so well-furnished and decorated that some of them are better than most houses in the western world. Yet, such highly furnished houses lack very basic needs such as proper heating or cooling system for winter or summer seasons. When I am fortunate enough to be invited by some of my rich friends and relatives, I have to be ready to tolerate either the intolerable chill or heat inside their drawing rooms. Continue reading →
Nepal’s political parties and leaders appear incapable of solving our national problems. More than that, they have not even begun to identify the issues and problems to be addressed. The characteristics of effective leadership, clear vision, creativity, innovation and ethical behaviour; seem to be absent. Continue reading →
Last weekend, my wife, two sons and I were driving around Kathmandu valley. Suddenly my younger son wanted to pee. We knew there were no public toilets on any street/roads of Kathmandu, so the only viable and sensible option for us was to drive back home all way from Lalitpur – which is more than 20 kilometers away from home – just for that purpose. We had to cancel all other plans for that day. We know that many of our acquaintances will laugh at us about our uptightness. They would say we could have stopped the car anywhere near a bush, a tree or a wall and pee there (which I jokingly suggested to my son, but he did not agree). I even lectured him about the need to be more adventurous in using open toilets on field trips or treks outside Kathmandu. However, he was resolute, and did not budge from the original plan to go home. We do this when any one of us feel like going to the toilet when we are driving. We return home just for that purpose. Continue reading →
Why has commercialisation suddenly become a bad word? We hear politicians bemoan “commercialised education”. NGOs are insulted if they are called commercial, “we are a non-profit social organisation”, they say. And international development agencies refuse contracts to for-profit organisations. Even commercial sex workers now want to be called “female sex workers”. Continue reading →
In Nepal, democracy is being interpreted and used by most political parties from narrow perspective and for their short-term party benefits. The only one person that really honored the constitution and the spirit of democracy was King Birendra. So this is the only paradigm which has unquestioned national consensus. Even the CPN (Maoist) have endorsed this through various statements published in various Newspapers. Continue reading →
There may be many reasons for Nepal’s slow progress. But the main one is our fear of success itself.
Politicians fear that national problems may soon be solved.If that happens they will lose their power to manipulate. Whether it is the Maoists or the five-party alliance, all fear that a resolution of the crisis will mean they will have to share power. The Maoists would lose their reason for being if the country prospered and if everyone got a good education. Even ‘progressive’ communists do not want things to go well because that would mean their ideology is inferior. For those who thrive on poverty, prosperity is undesirable. Like bacteria, they thrive on decay. Continue reading →
In the evening, after a tired day in the office, when you go back home and prepare this, you will feel heavenly, to enjoy this Italian food. Customarily people use white wine with sea food but yet we prefer Red Wine due to its vibrant color and also it is said to be better for the heart.
This takes less than 30 minutes cook. Vermicelli pasta boiled in water. Served with Shrimp Alfredo sauce.
Hey, what you guys are doing in the kitchen? That’s the women’s business. Go and study; do anything else, for god’s shake. That was the grooming we were brought up with. If, by any chance, there were no women in the house, it would be a domestic assistant who would do the cooking, but not the guys in the house, who be not even allowed to think about cooking, let alone do it. The guys eat whatever food we were served, without the faintest idea of the ingredients they were made of, or how they were cooked. It would not be Continue reading →
Poverty has been one of the root causes of political, social and economic instability in Nepal. Nepal has been committed millions of dollars of foreign aid for addressing poverty to be channeled through several I/NGOs for implementing community-based programs. Government has established a Poverty Alleviation Fund to coordinate various activities. Continue reading →
“As an ordinary citizen, I take full responsibility for Nepal’s corruption, poverty and failed development. I was born in a middle class familyand had a comfortable life. I was never taught to think, but to do well in the exam. My parents taught me to be practical in Nepalese way, to do whatever it needs to make myself more privileged than others, even on the cost of loosing moral values. Traditionally, I inherited my house and property from my parents, and married a woman whom my parents decided to be good for me in terms of the benefit that she would bring to the family. Continue reading →
One of the many reasons for Developonia’s failed economy is the public’s reckless spending habit. Developonians spend recklessly because they do not value money. They do not value money because they neverearned it themselves. It has always been the other’s money that every Developonians spent, either inherited from ancestors, or stolen from the public fund. It is rare, if not impossible, to meet any person in Developonia who has achieved a high level of affluence through true hard work and honest business. This has created a mass conviction that people cannot become rich without adopting either one or both of these two options: inheriting parental property or earning by corrupt means. People do not believe in the third option of becoming affluent by honest and independent means. But it is the third option that we need to focus on and widely promoted in Developonia if she is ever to achieve some level of affluence in the future.
Cocktail for achieving success through improved communication
ww.chowk.com/articles/5464
Communication is not always what we say, or do, but it is also what or who we are
What is being successful and what relation it has with your ability to communicate?There is no such as thing as absolute success. Everyone needs to define his or her own definition and indicator of success.For a student appearing an examination, success could be passing that examination with high marks. For a romantic young man, success may be successfully dating with women he likes. For a corporate Chief Executive officer, the success could be making effective presentation on his project to fetch funding from the donors. For a spiritual leaders success may be attainment of enlightenment. For artist and celebrities, success is become popular. For some people, being successful means having a happy family. The dictionary has rightly defined success as an event that accomplishes its intended purpose. While
Few years back, I conducted a session on social marketing approach to create good governance for an INGO. This session was quite off-track for me as I was supposed to have specialized in social marketing of health services and products. But it turned out to be quite engaging and eye opening, as the participants said to me. Next day, hearing about this session, one of my relatives, who was in training business came to my house. He wanted to know what book I read and used in designing this session to be so successful. Continue reading →
Nepalese travelers experience many hassles during international travel, right from their own homeland. This write up tries to discuss few general ones. Foremost problems the Nepalese travelers face is in getting visa, which is like winning a lottery. Nepalese travelers need to work harder to demonstrate their eligibility.
Nepal falls under the categories of countries that are asked to submit a very elaborate list of supporting documents including bank balances, income statements and assets. Nepalese are also generally barred from applying for visa on line. Nepal has not yet been able to issue internationally recognized machine-readable passport to its citizens, which itself has been a source of grief for Nepalese travelers. Nepalese passport holders often have to go through unnecessary scrutiny, long waiting and questionings at airports. They are ‘profiled’ at various points during travel for reasons not usually obvious to naïve travelers. The reason for it could also have been past precedents or suspected illegal migration, or sheer ignorance of people behind counters or anything.
Nepal is going through a fatal state of denial of possible economic crises in the near future. Contrary to the false assurance given by the concern authorities in Nepal, it’s hard not to foresee the effect of global economic crisis on Nepalese economy in a most disastrous way due to their continuous denial and consequent lack of strategy and planning to cope with it. Continue reading →
Conventionally, learning has always been typically seen as copying, imitating, repeating, reusing, and recollecting that finally leads to adaptation and conditioning. Commonly, learning has been synonymous to answering, not to questioning, to memorizing, not to exploring, to adapting, not to abandoning, to thinking, not to un-thinking, to doing, and not to undoing, and to accumulating, not to spending. In a way, learning needs to be redefined to suit the needs of the post-modern world.This doctrine of learning has conditioned Continue reading →
I try to avoid using clichés in my write ups. But here in this case, I won’t, to make myself understood: “When in Rome, do as the Romans do”(however disgusting it may be to you, to complete the cryptic implication) That is the exact phenomenon everyone in Nepal seem to follow or go through, to avoid adversity. In fact, that makes sense with another cliché: hul mul ma jyan jogaunu (“save yourself in the crowd”). So we all are doing, following and subscribing to ideas, practice, and belief we may not really believe for the fear of being alienated. It is inherent in our national nature to seek mass approval for anything we think or do. We clearly need a psychological revolution to empower people. Continue reading →
Throughout our life, we have been trained and conditioned to answer questions, be it in the exams, during job interviews, or while engaged in normal conversation. If given a choice between asking questions and giving answers, people would naturally choose to answer rather than question. In no point of time are we trained to ‘ask correct questions’ the way we are trained in ‘giving correct answers.’ We were judged not by Continue reading →
When I asked Google Search to define the word ‘evaluation’, it came up with several definitions, mostly to indicate that it is a systematic positive process to seek value in something. In the original noble purpose, meaning, sense and spirit, Evaluation is the systematic determination of merit, worth, and significance of Continue reading →
I wish people stopped inviting ministers and other high officials to inaugurate development programs and campaigns. It’s high time we realized that it hardly helps any program deliver any better results.
I also wish those Ministers and high officials refused such invitations with a realization that they are merely Continue reading →
