Climate Change

Planning to come back home for my summer vacation, I couldn’t have been happier at the thought of escaping Delhi heat and reaching Kathmandu. Frankly, I was quite taken aback when I landed at the Tribhuwan International Airport. The temperature, although quite low compared to Delhi’s scorching 40 degree Celsius, was rather very hot and humid; quite unlike the old Kathmandu. ‘Must have been a hottest  day of the year’ I told myself. The worst, however, was yet to come. Although the rain was a big relief on some days, I finally realized that the much talked about climate change and global warming had started to take its toll on our capital city.


Expensive Iron Gate

Congratulations!!!’ my mom’s voice on the phone woke me up one fine day. A couple of congratulations later, I enquired as to what the buzz was all about. The SLC results were out. For the students of today, the SLC result isn’t simply a ‘passing the iron-gate’. No, it’s not also about ‘the beginning of a new future’ (and all the tall talks). It has become a merry-making festival of a kind! With laddoos in their hands and wide grins on their faces, fresh graduates aren’t simply excited about starting a new future, they’re even more excited on getting ‘dakshinas’ from their relatives. I wondered if the ten years of hard work put in by students can be compared and compensated by a monetary reward. Instead of awarding them money, why not gift them practical and valuable lessons of life which might help them in their future? Just when I was thinking this, one of the neighborhood boys entered my house with laddoo in his hand. My philosophical thinking went to drain at once as I decided to pop one of those in my mouth.

Mushrooming Colleges

Talking about SLC, I couldn’t help but notice new colleges mushrooming in Kathmandu. What’s even weird are the names of the colleges. One of the colleges I sighted had the name of an English Premiere League club and even shared a similar logo. Another one referred to itself as a state college! I thought, how could colleges which did not even know the meaning of a term such as ‘state college’ impart quality education? It’s sad that commercialization of education has led to such a sorry state.  Colleges have becoming more of a profit-making business rather than education imparting institute. What will the future of students studying in these colleges be like? The main culprit I see is the government, which has been randomly granting licenses to new colleges. If the same trend follows, I wonder what the quality of education will be in our country in a matter of years.


Malls

No, it isn’t only the colleges that are mushrooming in Kathmandu. It’s also the shopping malls. Yes, huge and glittery malls are  opening every new month and getting quite popular among the people here. It’s a good sign and is even good for the country’s economy. What’s even better is that Kathmandu people have finally got places to hang out and let themselves loose! One only wishes they survive the struggling economy which many economists fear is on the verge of a collapse.