We are crazy about football‚ politics‚ going abroad‚ strikes ...

HIMALAYAN NEWS SERVICE

n Nepalis are passionate about celebrating festivals. As Nepal is a religious country, there are lots of festivals celebrated here. Each festival has its own significance, belief and symbolic meaning whether it is social or religious. It provides excitement, refreshment, identity and existence to people. We warmly and heartily respect and give equal priority to all festivals.

People from different castes, cultures and traditions live in Nepal. Each of them has different festivals.

Being a traditionally Hindu country, we worship more than 1,000 gods and goddesses and festivals are generally linked with them. The reasons for being passionate about festivals are attachment and bonding, cooperation and mutual aid, direct reciprocity, conflict reduction and peacemaking, community concern and caring about what others think about us. So, of the various things, Nepalis are generally passionate about festivals.

— Pratibha Pandey, Gongabu, Kathmandu

n What describes Nepalis’ passion the best? To me the definition of passion in Nepali context is diversified. Sports have always been a passion for us. Football and cricket makes it to the list of Nepalis’ passion. Looking at the beautiful ladies, I notice a remarkable craze for shopping and donning fashionable clothes and accessories. Gadgets and gizmos also make it to this list. Everyone wants the latest model launched in the international arena. The craze for flying overseas also can’t be overlooked. However, social networking sites overtake all the other passions and make it to the top of this list. It is exceptionally popular among all age groups. From school children to the oldest members of the family, all have accounts in these social sites nowadays.

Summing this list, Nepalis are passionate about enjoying life of a spendthrift earning for every possible luxury in the world.

— Nitisha Mudbhari

n I will undoubtedly go for football as Nepalis’ passion. Playing football covers different physical exercises. I have heard that a gentleman used to coach his community level football team in Croatia. He said the players of high altitude have higher level of stamina compared to those who are from lower altitude.

The statement surprised me. Since then I became more interested in football. I concluded that Nepal, a country of high altitude, would have highest opportunity with football. However, this is the time of cricket as the cricket team is doing better by winning the world level cricket competitions. But winning and playing games are two different things. I am sure the majority of population in the country is with football.

— Arjun Prasad Tiwari

n Nepalis are backward in sectors like sports, film industry, technology, new gadgets and many more as compared to the other nations. Likewise, political instability and poverty are the main curse for Nepalis. Political leaders of our country are crazy about power and chair. Politicians lure the meek by their sweet words. People of our country are interested in being involved in unnecessary strikes et cetera. It is a matter of shame that we Nepalis are passionate about nothing.

However, Nepalis are passionate about handicraft along with painting, sculpture and architecture.

The statues of different gods, goddesses and martyrs are erected in the country. We Nepalis are crazy to welcome our guests. People are fond of pottery, artistic carving, bamboo work and climbing mountains. They are crazy about novels, poems and the literature.

— Pawan Ram Lamichhane, Lekhnath-1, Bhandardhik

Kaski

n Talking about Nepalis, we are passionate about many things; some may be passionate about teasing the opposite sex, for some it may be flirting, some may be exploring new things and many more.

People are crazy about media and are passionate to be in this field like television, radio or print media. I see most of the people of different age groups having their own interest which they are crazy about.

— Moin Uddin, Ghattekulo, Kathmandu

n Nepalis’ craziness cannot be defined in terms of a few options because we live in two different worlds. Some youth are crazy about mig33, facebook and surfing the internet while some are crazy about bunking classes and taking part in political rallies. Many Nepalis are crazy to tune into FM radio, going to a party and waiting in long queues. Meat might be another passion of an average Nepali.

— Anonymous

n Nepalis are crazy about football. From our young days to our matured age, it’s all about football. A team comes by in our life and we hold onto it throughout. Only then we will be able to define what football really is. We then realise the meaning of existence, and start feeling every tiny moments of this game. Football then becomes not just a matter of life and death, but much more than that.

Nepalis are crazy and ardent football fans when it comes to supporting our respective teams. More and more affluent among the fans devise innovative ways of showing their fervent and loyal support for their teams. During the football season we can hear many fans buzzing around the streets of the Valley about this game, about the teams they adore.

Football is the common thing among the Nepalis. It binds people from different religions, geography, political ideologies and cultures together. Nepalis are crazy about football and love to come, chant and celebrate together at the altar of football.

— Saujanya Kafle

n Mountain climbing in Nepal instantly became a passionate adventure for Nepalis. Attempts to climb mountains started from the early years of the 20th century but no one had been able to claim triumph over Mt Everest until 1953, when Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgey set their foot on the summit.

Soon after the mountaineering desire grew among Nepalis. Climbing mountain in Nepal is one of the popular activities among adventure lovers. Climbing the world’s highest mountain has made this country an ideal destination.

— Anamika Sharma,

Basundhara, Kathmandu

n Nepalis are definitely crazy about meat and momo. I returned to my homeland after completing my graduation from India after staying there for 18 long years. It was my first day at office and my colleague told me to go out for lunch. We reached the place and it was time to order food. I ordered my usual food — vegetable sandwich and she tells me to try buff momo, which we did. The next day we went out with some other colleagues, I was fine with whatever they ordered. And again it was momo — chicken, buff, c-momo and other momos. I think I still haven’t tasted other types.

If there is some event at office, there definitely will be momo. If you go out for a birthday treat, again momo is the best option. Basically ‘let’s order something’ means ‘let’s order momo’.

— Anonymous

n Nepal, is a country of diverse cultures, interest and preference but something that makes Nepalis alike is our mutual interests, for instance, our craze for football and obsession for momo. These are the two very possible things that Nepalis are fond of.

Momo in Nepal is more like the national food. People have indefatigable hunger for this very dish. Nepalis are often criticised for we only have dal bhat or momo, but this is the way we are and this is not because we don’t have variation in food, it’s simply because of the craze for the dish.

Football probably is another aspect that Nepalis are crazy about, especially youth. I am a teenager and I cannot refute the charm of football.

Some love to play the game and some like me, due to lack of good field; watch matches, talk about it with friends and boast about supporting clubs. The real craze can be observed during events like Euro Cup, World Cup and SAARC games. The entire nation goes crazy. Watching games in a projector is simply enthralling.

— Anonymous

n In this modern era, people of different countries are excited about different things and activities. In Nepal’s context, I think, Nepalis are crazy about mobile phones, facebook and politics.

Obviously, mobile phone users are extremely fascinated with its usage be it at any age. They chat, send SMS, take photos, watch films and enjoy listening to songs and music on their sets. Likewise, facebook users are also passionate about this site. You can see many exchanging ideas, updating status, messaging et cetera on facebook.

Another passion for Nepalis is — politics. They try to become members of Parliament. They try to use power within a particular group or organisation. There are many examples such as politicisation in education, unemployment poverty, especially rural population has become increasingly politicised in recent years.

To put in a nutshell, Nepalis are attracted by mobile phones that we use purposefully or unnecessarily. Facebook users use facebook for a purpose or aimlessly. We are enthusiastic about politics knowingly or unknowingly.

— Padam Bahadur Chhetri, Baksila-04, Khotang

n Mostly, people are fond of games. They forget everything when a match starts. There are national games, too. But nowadays, we don’t care about national games. We give importance to other games instead of dandibiyo and kabbadi. Even in schools students are trained for football, volleyball, badminton et cetera. Thus, in my opinion Nepalis are passionate about imitating others. We are forgetting our culture and tradition. We are just practicing what others are doing.

— Agrim Poudel, Masbar, Pokhara-7

n I think Nepalis are crazy about three things — cricket, football and politics. But Nepal does not seem to be developed in any of the said sectors. Most of the people in Nepal are crazy about cricket (especially the people of Tarai region) and football (especially the people of hill and mountain regions). They forget everything when the World Cups of cricket and football take place. They leave whatever they are doing and sit in front of a television set to watch the the matches. These activities of Nepalis demonstrate that they are crazy about cricket and football.

Apart from sports Nepalis are also crazy about politics. We can observe big-big strikes in our country even for a simple problem. Politics has become a dirty game in our country that only hinders the development of our country. The one and the only reason for this is the egotistical or selfish thoughts of Nepali politicians.

— Sushant Gupta,

Kalaiya-13, Bara

n Nepalis are music lovers. For instance many political parties, kings, prime ministers have ruled Nepal for exploitation and Nepalis have protested this through different forms of music, which is also known as the voice of the voiceless, acts and plays. More so, many youngsters as well as senior citizens are involved in playing music, singing, rapping for pleasure.

— Anonymous

n I think politics is Nepalis’ passion. Every person in our country is aware about the political activities. From the tea shops to the five star hotels, people gather and talk about politics.

In a family there is at least one member who is engaged in politics. Besides, employment, business, education and the future of the country depend on the political engagement. From students to guardians, everyone is affected by politics.

— Anonymous

n I think Nepalis are passionate (crazy) about Kollywood songs because there are many awesome singers in the country like the recent example of Kamal Khatri.

There are also very good singers who sing lok geet, adhunik geet or pop songs and so on. Youngsters are just crazy about Nepali music videos as well.

— Anonymous

n Nepalis are crazy about the game of politics. The political game played by our renowned leaders is most popular in Nepal. To support, celebrate and praise their game, many times we go on the streets by announcing Nepal bandh.

— Deependra Khadka,

Kapan, Kathmandu

n Nepalis are crazy to go abroad. So, everyone thinks — we cannot do anything being in Nepal. Students are crazy about foreign degrees and certificates. The political leaders frequently visit foreign countries unnecessarily by spending our national property. And players who go abroad to represent Nepal escape from there, instead of doing their job. This is very shameful. I don’t mean going abroad to learn or visit is bad; but we need to return to our country and use the skills that we have learned in abroad to develop Nepal.

— Keshav Prajapati,

Bhaktapur

n Undoubtedly, Nepalis are fanatic about sports like football, cricket, wrestling and many others. The spectacular performance by Nepali cricket team and a spectacular display by women football team has increased the passion towards the game. We see the youth are always talking about the games, are glued to the TV watching various matches. Moreover, we see the surging flow of the status, comments and likes on the facebook pages...

The warm reception to the cricket team by Nepalis shows the passion towards the game. Apart from all this, we can’t deny the passion of Nepalis towards Hindi movies, songs, serials, Korean fashion and temptation to adopt western culture.

— Gupta Chhetri,

Devi’s Falls, Pokhara

n We Nepalis are really passionate about eating rice, pulse and vegetables in our meal everyday and it is true and even evident when we are travelling abroad. It has become our habit, so it is very difficult for us to get rid of this.

— Pratik Shrestha,

Buddhanagar, Baneshwor