Their sounds will survive forever

For the last three years, Gautam Sapkota has been after birds and only birds. He follows the birds in national parks, forests, nearby gardens and central zoo in Kathmandu, and spends his time imitating their ways - the way the birds communicate with each other in different situations. And it's really hard to believe - within a span of three years, he has been able to mimic 151 different types of birds!

"I know the birds won't be here forever, they are being killed and getting extinct due to loss of habitat and human encroachment," he says. "Although I won't be able to save them, I will preserve their voices."

Although there are so many exotic birds, crows are Gautam's best friends. He can communicate with the crows more efficiently. He opines that these birds use only few basic words to communicate like "come", "go", "run - there's danger", "let's gather - one of us is in danger" and few other words. It was his long study and experience that allowed him to call a conference of crows during the auspicious festival Kag Tihar (The first day of Hindu festival - Deepawali, when people worship crow, the messenger of the God of death, Yama). Hundreds of crows came responding to his calls at the Open Theatre in Kathmandu. "They are my friends, and they come to me when I call them," says Gautam. "They know that their friend needs their help and flock to me."

Once hounded by media, he has been surviving on the presentations that he holds everyday in different schools. Till date he has visited more than 6,500 schools in 45 districts of Nepal, interacting, entertaining and education the kids about birds, their habitat, their ways of life and their calls.

When asked on how he was inspired to take up this hobby, he says, "When I was a little kid, I wondered how people imitated animals." "When I grew up, I realized that I could mimic a lot different sounds, so I started my journey and the beautiful birds became my friends."

Besides birds, he can imitate any other animal. However, following and studying the monkeys of Swayambhunath stupa and Pashupatinath temple in Kathmandu, he has learnt the monkey sounds too. He can initiate a brawl between two and more monkeys. And if you really pester him, he can arrange a gang fight among the monkeys and ask all the monkeys to attack you at once.

You will never get bored by his bird calls. However, to entertain the students apart from the monotonous bird sounds he has compiled songs in different bird voices. An album of popular Nepali folk songs remixed in the voice of different birds (particularly heron's voice) is on the offing.

Although born in a not so known Gadhi village of Makwanpur district in central Nepal, he is aspiring to record his feat in the Guiness Book of World Records. He is in correspondence with the officials and they are positive on recording this extraordinary feat.

A bus story

Two years back I was in a DTC (Delhi Transport Corporation) bus heading towards Connaught Place (CP) with a friend of mine. Mistakenly, we had occupied the row of seats meant for ladies (with ‘mahila’ – meaning lady written above the seats). As the bus stopped by a station, two young ladies got on the bus. My friend sitting next to me offered them his seat as they were standing near us. To my amazement, one of them, who looked quite confident, said a no-no to his offer and told him that they believed in equality and not in reservation. Instantly, a sense of respect rose inside me for that lady, who said no to the male chauvinism. I started thinking – yes, the new generation has arrived and now each and every girl will challenge the boy of her age. They will replace and rout the male hegemony.

As we neared the next stop, few fat ladies embarked the bus. With more people getting inside, they were standing next to us. This time, neither of us offered them the seats. To my horror, one of them raised the hell there. We were tagged being insensitive and all other passengers started to yell at us for not respecting the ladies. They again and again uttered the word ‘reservation’ and ‘meant for a woman’. Immediately, we sprang out of the seats and stood clinching the rod attached to the bus roof. We were looking down with mortification. I thought – how insensitive the women could be, they talk about equality and in the meantime say all these nasty things and take the benefit of being a woman. I had the feeling, nothing has changed at all. I could see the two young ladies smiling mischievously at us.

These days whenever, I get on a local transport, I always try to take a seat which has no ‘mahila’ written above it. The ghost of the fat lady in the DTC bus hounds me all the time, I travel in buses. There are times when I see young and old ladies clinging to the rod attached to the bus roof while the insensitive men are sitting nonchalantly on the seats meant for ladies. They don’t even leave the seats for old women and ladies carrying children. At such times, I remember the fat lady and feel like telling the standing women to raise their voice and take the seats meant for them. Then again, I think of the young lady, who said no to male ego and pull myself back. I then feel that, yes, we all are equal and even the girls should stand tall along with the boys.

Jhutti – The Rice Stalk Artistry

The month of November bears a special significance for Terai dwellers in Nepal. Usually regarded as the month of harvest it brings with it loads of joy to all. The fields, villages and streets are all filled with the aroma of freshly cut paddy. The granaries are generally full with newly harvested rice and the aroma of new rice wafts away from every kitchen in the villages.

The children await the harvest with much eagerness. After school hours or taking turns to herd the cattle and goats they glean rice from fields. Scouring the fields they search the rice stalks missed by the reapers. The collected rice is bartered with the petty sellers offering local delicacies (jilebi, kachari, and sweets). The rice is often sold in shops and the sum is saved to spend in the melas (village fetes) and haats (make-shift markets).

Meanwhile the farmers prepare jhuttis – artistic form of rice stalk sheaf weaving. Especially, the Tharus prepare jhuttis for each variety of rice they harvest. The jhuttis are hung high on the meh (the bamboo pole to which the oxen are tethered while threshing rice).

Art inspired by nature, for love of nature
Jhuttis are of different shapes and sizes. They are inspired by the nature and the things around like, kauwa tholi – the crow’s beak, patiya – the mat, kakahi – the comb, jhunjhuna – the baby’s toy, bena – the fan, bakhari – the granary, maur – the turban a bridegroom wears in Terai.

The belief is that – after the rice is harvested, there remains nothing for the birds to peck at. Hence, the tradition started, with keeping a jhutti of each species of rice harvested. The jhuttis thus, hung provided food for the birds. It shows the love for nature and conservation among the Tharus.

“Our ancestors loved and worshipped the nature,” says Chandra Kishore Kalyan, President of Tharu Welfare Society, Siraha. “They weaved jhuttis so that the birds didn’t die of hunger after harvest.”

Reviving the age-old culture
With the introduction of machines, the farmers are leaving behind the tradition. Even the traditional rice threshing is becoming obsolete. Now the farmers resort to using machines for the purpose. The joy and celebration of rice threshing using oxen, hanging jhuttis on the bamboo pole is becoming rarer.

To revive the age-old tradition, Barchhawar Community Development Forum organized a ‘Jhutti Competition’ last year. The competition attracted interest from local people with one hundred and fifty entries and brought out the Tharu culture in the national media. The organizers opine that the competition has not only informed the young generation about their culture but also reawakened their love towards the dying tradition. The forum will give continuity to it in the days to come.

Traditional healing
The Tharus believe that the jhutti rice is a cure for nausea. Nathar Tharu of Sishwani village, Siraha in east Nepal has a collection of 20-25 years old rice. He provides the rice for free to the people suffering from nausea.

Month of creativity
The month of November is special to Tharu women. It’s the time to show their creativity. They weave the jhuttis in their leisure time and the young girls learn the trick while herding the goats and cattle. Playing with the rice sheaf they come up with the beautiful shapes and size.

Teach Me Tenderly

The Elephant Training Workshop at the Elephant Breeding Centre at Khorsor, Chitwan, brought forth a new advancement in elephant training combining Nepali mahouts’ vast experience and long tradition in working with elephants, and the foreign experts’ expertise in the scientific knowledge on best ways to promote learning in animals.

The sun was about to set. Although the day was coming to an end, the ticket selling counter at the Elephant Breeding Centre, Khorsor was packed with visitors. Crossing the counter, to me the sight of the huge stable was astounding – giant elephants were tethered to wooden posts with iron shackles. The mammoth animals looked helpless and pitiable. Even older baby elephants were tethered in similar fashion. As I neared the iron bar, a cute baby elephant lunged towards me. It crossed the fence and chased me. Immediately another elephant calf, a little older than the one chasing me, came to take back the younger elephant. However, it got hold of the orange I was carrying and ran back to the stable along with its brother (on asking the mahouts I came to know about their relationship). Nearing its mother, it threw the orange on the ground and peeled it with its foot and ate the contents inside. They are such an intelligent creature!

End of innocence
The baby elephants amuse the visitors at the stable with their playfulness and mischief. However, as they grow older they are taught to behave properly. On reaching two years of age, the elephants are trained to obey the mahout’s commands.

Initially the young elephant is separated from its mother for few days. It cries and laments in agony of separation and becomes desperate. Two men each on two elephants with the fifth man on the distressed calf go for long rides – the calf is made to run, go up, come down, jump and do all sort of activities as commanded by the rider.

“When the calf is tired and desperate, then the real training starts with the mahout teaching the jumbo language with the help of bamboo sticks hurting on the back of the ears and shoulders,” says Vikram Mahato who has been training elephants for the past 34 years. “In the process, the baby elephant gets angry and tries to throw away the rider. Sometimes the trainer gets hurt, ends up with broken neck and fractured limbs.”

The trainee elephant is tethered in between the two other elephants with the help of strong rope while it learns to respond to the basic commands of moving forwards, backwards, to the left and right, sitting, standing, stopping and grabbing.

After two weeks the elephant learns to be ridden by the trainer without the assistance of other elephants.

Teaching with reward and appreciation
Contrary to the traditional painful training, three young elephants from Khorsor received some basic training through Positive Learning Method, and all three proceeded quickly in their learning. The young elephants were Saraswati Kali and Kush Prasad, who were habituated to calmly accept a mahout sitting on them and to respond correctly to the signals for forward, backward, stop, turn etc. A younger, as yet unnamed calf of one year of age was not ridden yet, but was habituated to calmly accept handling and to understand the same signals that will later on be used when riding.

The Elephant Training Workshop at the Elephant Breeding Centre at Khorsor, Chitwan on 11 to 14 December 2007 was carried out under the guidance of Dr. Andrew McLean from Australia, who is an internationally highly recognized expert in the science of animal training, Tuikku Kaimio from Finland, who also conducted the previous year’s workshop, and scientist Marc Pierard from Belgium, who led the foreign team.

The Positive Learning Method promotes elephants’ willingness to cooperate with people. It is a combination of two scientific approaches in animal training –positive reinforcement (rewarding the elephant for correct actions) and pressure release (guiding the elephant with as little force as possible and releasing the pressure immediately when the elephant performs the correct action).

“As soon as the elephant performs the right action, it should be rewarded with kuchis – food packages for elephants,” says Dr. Andrew McLean. “The elephant is then sure about what it performed.”

In this training method, the trainer avoids inflicting any pain or fear to the elephant. Training elephants in this way makes the training sessions a pleasant experience for both the trainers and the elephant. The other benefits are fast learning – in this way, elephants learn the tasks faster than with any other training method – as well as increased reliability and safety of elephants at work. “Elephants trained this way will have less behaviour problem and will be more obedient,” says Marc Pierard.

Waiting for results
According to Dr. Kamal Gairhe, the top expert in elephant veterinary medicine in Nepal, the positive learning method can’t be compared with the traditional method of training.

“We have the results of traditional training method at hand but we still need to wait for the positive learning method’s results and its effectiveness,” says Dr. Gairhe.

However, Tuikku Kaimio is confident about the success of the scientific training.
“They (mahouts) have already applied some of the techniques that we taught during last year’s training,” says Tuikku. “If they use their traditional methods combined with scientific knowledge, we will be glad, because they are the experts of elephant training.”

The officers think that the new method is more humane than the traditional training and it will avoid the risks of mahouts being killed by elephants. “When an elephant gets insane, it searches the mahout who had treated it badly and tortured during the training,” says Gangaram Singh, Project Manager, Terai Arc Landscape Program. “In the past there have been several incidents when the mad and angry elephant killed the mahout ruthlessly.”

Beginning of a new era
Next day I attended the workshop on management of health of elephants. In this workshop, knowledge about handling of elephants at work in order to further promote reliability and safety of elephants, about various possibilities in the design of equipment, about ways to promote elephant health, and about elephants’ role in conservation, was shared. While the participants discussed the issues, I could see a group of baby elephants busy playing football on a ground nearby – of course they were being ridden by young mahouts.

The elephants seemed to follow each and every command of the mahouts and were trying to kick the ball past the goal post. I was amazed to see the camaraderie between the elephants and the riders. The sun was again about to set but the sight looked like beginning of a new era. People were gathered to see the elephants play and practise for the upcoming elephant football match. They were clapping and at a distance Tuikku looked more than satisfied.

The combination of Nepali mahouts’ vast experience and long tradition in working with elephants, and the foreign experts’ expertise in the scientific knowledge on best ways to promote learning in animals is a new advancement in elephant training. She is confident that it will attract positive international interest and Nepal will be an example to the countries around the world.


End Notes:

Jumbo language
The mahouts use vocal commands along with pressure to train the young elephants.
“Agat” – move forwards
“Chhau” – move backwards
“Sut” – sleep
“Mail” – stand
“Baith” – sit
“Emhar” – turn
“Leh” – grab

Three men in a job
To handle an elephant three men are employed – Phanet, Mahout, and Pachhuwa. Phanet is the main handler of elephant. He takes proper care of the elephant and keeps it in hygienic condition and drives the elephant during formal occasions. Mahout cleans the hattisar, cooks the food and cleans the utensils. He also assists in feeding and bathing the elephant. Pachhuwa collects fodder and assists the Phanet in keeping the elephant in hygienic condition. He also assists the Phanet by standing on the back of elephant on special occasions.

Colour communicates

Whenever Maoist supremo Prachanda faces media or attends any public gathering, he wears a grey shining shirt. So does Baburam Bhattarai. The colour grey has been synonymous with the Maoist emblem since the Maoists signed the peace accord in November 2006.

During Civil Society gatherings the man in yellow shirt – Krishna Pahadi, is obvious among the mass. Such is the impact of colour – it distinguishes you from the rest.

Prachanda or Krishna Pahadi didn’t go to Ivy League management schools where they teach the basics of branding giving the learner an edge over others attending similar courses in similar management schools around the world. However, they have the knowledge of power branding.

Colour is the lowest rung in the ladder of branding. Even a painter has a fair idea that the colour of the walls in a hospital should be green and the colour blue depicts peace, calm, cool and serenity.

What should be your logo’s colours
The choice of colour determines the Brand Personality. If you want to get noticed in the crowd of brands then a distinct colour and distinct personality is a must.

Should your logo be red or white? Should you follow the theme colour everywhere – in all modes of communication? Or should you let the creativity run like a stallion?

It obviously building brand when you follow the same colour everywhere. It does bring multiplier effect. You can imagine the same colour displayed everywhere – be it your business card, newsletter, envelope, annual report, letterhead, and if possible the look of your office, advertisement displayed on the billboards, and if possible all in your organization wear the same dress.

That’s too much I guess. You need use of corporate colours to a certain level but not to the level when the colours block your vision and creativity. So, it all depends upon the Corporate Communications guy in your organization to build and cope with the branding matters.


What the colours say (collected from internet)
Black is the color of authority and power. It is popular in fashion and people like to ride black cars and black bikes. In the meantime protesters tie black arm bands and show black flags to raise their voice.

Brides wear white to symbolize innocence and purity. Doctors and nurses wear white to imply sterility. Widows are advised to wear white outfits and the person mourning the death of a near one wears white.

Red is the colour of love, the colour of passion and anger. A red light in the street irritates us meanwhile a red car allures us. Red is often used in restaurant decorating schemes because it is an appetite stimulant.

While the girls and children love to wear the pink, sports teams sometimes paint the locker rooms used by opposing teams bright pink so their opponents will lose energy.

Peaceful, tranquil blue brings calmness, so it is often used in bedrooms. Fashion consultants recommend wearing blue to job interviews because it symbolizes loyalty. People are more productive in blue rooms and studies show weightlifters are able to handle heavier weights in blue gyms. While blue is one of the most popular colors it is one of the least appetizing. Blue food is rare in nature. When food dyed blue is served to study subjects, they lose appetite.

The most popular decorating color, green symbolizes nature. Hospitals often use green because it relaxes patients. Green is the colour of life and abundance - leaves, grass, plants – it’s all about growing, expanding, and living. So why don’t we give ferns instead of roses on Valentine’s Day?

While yellow is considered an optimistic color, people lose their tempers more often in yellow rooms, and babies will cry more.

Light brown implies genuineness. Men are more apt to say brown is one of their favorite colors.

So, have you decided your logo’s colours now?

Coming to choosing the right colours – actually there are no wrong colours. You just need to choose the right combination of Primary and Secondary colours. If possible you can choose a palette of colours that drive your organization’s brand personality. And then you can play with the magic wand.

The Art of Achieving God

It’s the fifth day of the ten day long festival of Hindus – Dashami. Fifteen young men clad in plain vests and towels wrapped around their waists are standing in a line, with closed eyes, bowed heads and hands clasped together to form ‘Namaste’ – greeting God and the spirits wandering in the air. Water droplets trickle down from their wet hair to their eyelids then to their lips. However, their concentration and devotion holds them from moving.

Five old men (gurus) are seated in front of these men performing ‘Puja’ – worship. A clay water pot filled with water is held on a mound of sand with freshly grown barley sprouts on it. The barley saplings will be picked on the tenth day to perform the concluding worship. The clay pot has a mango branch with freshly sprouted leaves. On top of the mango leaves is a husked coconut splashed with red vermillion. At the side of the clay pot is a piece of burning dung cake with pieces of pine wood on it and an array of oil lamps burning at their brightest. The room is filled with aroma, smoke, incense and chant of mantras.

Starting at a Young Age
The disciples are aged between 18 to 22 years of age. The learning starts at an early age, when the mind is fearless, innocent and empty for intake of vast ocean of knowledge. They are provided a set of mantras by the gurus. Then they keep on chanting the same set of mantras throughout the morning till spirits enter the young men’s bodies. They are the inviting mantras – to call different gods and goddesses to possess the person. Till the spirits enter the young men’s bodies, they keep on standing chanting the mantras.

Power of Possession
After much persuasion and chanting, the spirits enter their bodies. They start mumbling and jumping here and there with all their efforts as soon as the spirits enter their bodies. Then gurus on the front row ask them to take the tulsi (a medicinal plant) leaves and tell their names. After much cajoling and a show of might and prowess, the spirits reveal their names. In the meantime a huge mass of people gather to watch the sight and worship the gods and goddesses.

Ram Kumar has been possessed by Goddess Kali, an incarnation of Goddess Durga – the Goddess of power. He takes out his tongue in between his show of might and glory. Similarly, one of the disciples has been possessed by Hanuman – the monkey god who is loyal guard of Lord Ram. He jumps here and there and acts like a monkey, hangs here and there and shows the power of the monkey god. Kamal has been possessed by Aghouri – one who eats everything. He spits and then eats. He takes the tulsi leaves from the gurus, chews it and spits it in front of the gurus. He slurps the chewed leaves spit by him. And all the people gathered there are surprised when he spits back the whole tulsi leaf! Such is the power of possession.

I had a chance to interview some of them when they were resting after their morning worship which lasted till the noon. “I don’t feel any pain at all when I am possessed by the spirits,” says Ram Kumar. “Only after the spirit leaves my body I feel the pain caused by the might of the magical show that I put after the possession.”

“I don’t even eat meat and egg when I am not possessed by the spirit, but I eat everything as soon as the Aghouri gets inside me,” says Kamal. “I am myself surprised when people say that I can spit back the whole tulsi leaf that had been chewed to pieces by me.”

Search of a Kingfisher
Every morning and evening the same sight of chants of mantras and possession by spirits take place till the tenth day. During the ten days’ span, the disciples learn different mantras to cure different illnesses and techniques to deal with the evil spirits.

On the tenth day, the whole coterie starts early in the morning with the beating of mridanga – a drum and cymbals. They start from the place of worship and get to a nearby pond. The disciples possessed by spirits start splashing in the cool waters and the gurus perform the concluding puja.

Then the group sets of in search of a kingfisher which is regarded as the incarnation of Lord Shiva, the god who drank all the poison that erupted from the milking of ocean by gods and demons. Due to the poison his neck turned blue, so he got the name, Nilkantha – one with a blue neck. So has been the kingfisher named after its dark blue neck. Sighting a kingfisher on the tenth day of the festival is taken as an auspicious sign for the whole year. The young men and gurus enjoy and revel to their hearts after a glimpse of a kingfisher.

Making of Godmen
After the ten days’ learning, the young men will be in constant vigil of the gurus and they will be taken as assistants in the early errands to drive the evil spirits and curing illnesses. In the process they will learn the traditional medicinal knowledge. The gurus will reveal the secrets of herbs from the forests nearby. They will learn the drug administration as well. In the coming days they will learn more mantras to cure more illnesses. And they will devote more time in dedicating their lives for the betterment of the society. They will be respected everywhere they will go. They will have to sacrifice their personal lives and be ready to visit any ill person in the community even at the middle of the night. The process of being a godman is not so easy...

Bioscope, Bakal and Scattered Saffron

As the evening draws towards night, the sight in the western skies always haunts me. The big red ball of sun sinking slowly down the skyline turning the sky, clouds and ambience red brings back the vivid memories of my childhood. When I was a little kid, every item in the neigbourhood was a mystery for me and I searched reasons behind its existence.

Every morning, the bamboo twigs were my tooth brush and I used to gulp down the juices from chewing the twig. The height of bamboos always was a wonder to me and I used to think how the bamboos became so tall.

The daytime was bliss to me. With the hawkers coming in the village to sell the hard boiled red sweets and ice cream sticks. As I heard the tinkling of the small bells that they had, I used to run with a handful of rice from the barn and savor the taste of success – eating the sweets stealthily. I always imagined of installing a machine to manufacture those goodies at my backyard!

Another big crowdpuller was the bioscope man. At the time when there were no cinema halls and theatres, they were the entertainers in the villages. A two minutes trip with the bioscope man would take you around Delhi, Mumbai, Kathmandu, and London. To watch the magnificence of the cities through the binocular vision with the background singing of the bioscope man was the much coveted yearning I had in those days. I would wait weeks for the bioscope man with crumpled two rupee note hidden between the pages of my shabby notebook. I wondered how the bioscope man was able to get such big cities inside a little tinderbox!

As I returned from the village school and had my lunch, I used to wait for the man I adored – a man from Bakal – a village in the far north eastern reaches of the district. I thought Bakal was in another part of the world and this poor man took so many days to walk down to our village. His feet were torn to shreds with the walking. He usually brought the needles, sewing strings, ayurvedic medicines, rock salts and saffron. At the end of his deal with my grandmother, he always used to give me a lump of rock salt. That piece of rock used to be my special possession for the weeks to come – exchanging a pinch of it with other goodies from my friends used to be a real exchange for me.

As a little kid, sitting on my grandmother’s lap, I used to listen to the fairy tales and the stories of kings, gods and witches. The world of kings, gods and witches seemed real to me and the characters in the stories came live every night in my dreams.

When the man from Bakal didn’t turn up for few months I asked everyone about him. And to my despair, my grandmother turned to the evening sky and asked me why the colour of the sky was red. I was speechless when she said that the man had died on his journey and the saffron in his jute bag had scattered throughout the western skies.

To this day the red sky in the west brings back the memories of the bioscope, the man from Bakal and his scattered saffron in the western skies!