Ezi was honored to be selected at his school, NMH, to give the opening benediction for the school assembly this past Monday on Martin Luther King day. I think Ezi captured the spirit, if not the cadence, of MLK's voice, aspirations and persuasion. I only wish I'd been a church mouse in the NMH chapel so that I could have heard my son deliver his remarks, with MLK's, to the assembly. No doubt, I would have been touched, as I am when I read these honest words from the heart & soul of a sixteen year old discovering his American roots... KDL
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Let Us Be Silent
Two score and six years ago, my brother and my sisters, One Man stood in front of a nation, One Man stood in front of a world, One Man stood in front of an institution and made his voice echo from the cityscape of Washington D.C. to the ears of the American people, made his voice ring from the hills of America to the mountains of the world, made his voice heard from the steps of Lincoln Memorial to the halls of the White House — that institution was the institution of injustice, the injustice of segregation — that man was Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. who stood and said to the world, “I have a dream!”
Today, my friends, we celebrate this man—for life works in mysterious ways and five years after his famous march on Washington Martin Luther King was assassinated. Hatred is a curious thing for at times its power to destroy seems to be so much greater than love’s power to create. At times its power to gnaw and bite at goodness seems to be stronger than love’s power to heal and mend, but don’t let it fool you for it is love that carried Dr. King to the steps of Lincoln Memorial, not hatred, it is love that brought Abraham Lincoln to declare the Emancipation Proclamation, not hatred, it is love that kept generations of slaves strong and united, not hatred, and it is love that brings us here together on this day, not hatred.
Sadly hate is an epidemic that seems to be intent on destroying as much as it can and even today we are surrounded by hatred. Not a day passes where someone is not a target of hatred—whether it is because of the color of their skin, their beliefs, their sexual orientation, or their nationality, hatred is an enemy which we fight every day; and often times this hatred comes from preconceived notions. But we, just as Dr. King, have a chance to make a change in the way we live our lives because if there was ever anyone who showed the world that one man could make a difference it was Dr. King.
In the large spectrum of the world each of us as individuals has only the power to control ourselves and for that reason I implore each of us to, in the spirit of Dr. King, be ‘the change you see in the world.’
I am not here to tell everyone what they should do, I neither know nor deserve to tell people what they should do, I merely wish to commemorate a hero of mine, Dr. King for showing all of us that a single grain of rice can tip the scale.
As we prepare to usher in Barack Obama to the White House tomorrow I ask us all to think back to twenty-six years ago when another man ushered in a time of change for the world — the symbolism is extraordinary. This isn’t about being black or white; this is about celebrating our diversity, recognizing it and together with our hands clasped tightly together making this world a better place. This week, as we commemorate the legacy of this man, I ask you all to immerse yourself in the events that have been prepared and begin our path to creating a better future.
To quote Martin Luther King Jr.,
“Let freedom ring. And when this happens, and when we allow freedom to ring — when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children — black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics—will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual: "Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!”
Let us be silent.
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Sunday, January 18, 2009
The New Year News from Kathmandu
The new year has whisked by so effortlessly that I never sent e-cards to our loved ones & dear friends... Alas, this blogette will have to serve as that essential thread which maintains our humanity this year.
Although I should find a way to post some photos, as well, since I'd love to share some of those, as well - especially as the kids have grown (and grown and grown...).
For the latest new year news: Ezi went snowboarding for the first time last w/end after a tough first week back at school (with pre-calc and ap biology, it should be demanding...). He's seems to love his daytime escape from campus life and the freedom on the wintry Berkshires on Wednesdays & Saturdays -- although he says it's a bit embarrassing when seven year olds leap over you on the slopes asking if you're ok after you've fallen down...
While Josh, after spending all of six days in the States a week ago, got on a jet again last Sunday to fly back to Asia, Hong Kong this time, to lead his school for a model United Nations. Oy, such a jet-setter! He just called computer to computer on Skype and seems to have had a great time for the first time exploring a global city on his own sans his parents. The experience sounds like it's just deepened his current interest in an international business career.
Then, Ms. Leah had her second art class today w/ her friends, Arya and Choyang, with Neera, a lovely Nepali woman artist and gallery owner. She'll take a class a week for 2.5 hours for ten weeks. When I told her it was for ten weeks, she said, 'only ten??' with this long look like she hadn't gotten enough porridge. After all, this is a girl who has said that she wants to be an 'artist' since she was five years old!
Me, I'm enjoying my latest UN work supporting work on the new Nepali constitution as the Sr. Consultant/Advisor on the civil society outreach for submissions to the Constituent Assembly. UNDP extended my contract through March, but they may need me longer, given the scale and complexity of the work...; we'll see...
A week ago, we had 240 folks attend briefing sessions on UNDP's new small grant program for the historically marginalized communities (Dalit, Madhesi and Indigenous, mostly). However, we were only expecting 40-50 NGOs to attend, so we had to do the powerpoint and Q&A presentation three times in a row to a SRO room! The Project isn't offering huge money for these local NGO federations or associations -- but it's quite valuable for a specific and time-bound purpose, i.e. creating recommendations and submissions for the drafting of the new constitution.
Just as we were leaving the office on Friday, couriers were carting in over 150 proposals that had come in from around the country for these grants. It'll be hard to select among them, but, even after all these years, it was a thrill to see the response that we had to his opportunity to more actively participate in the future of Nepal by so many local communities from around the country.
En challah, if all goes well, the donors will provide even more civil society outreach resources in the coming months, so we can reach disadvantaged communities around the country for them to provide submissions to the MPs and Constituent Assembly now starting to draft a new constitution.
Fun schtuff, although one always wonders how much impact one's work will have -- but it feels good to give these often sidelined and disadvantaged communities a 'voice' in the expanding Nepali political life of the oft-promised 'New Nepal'.
While Shaku is touring Nepal for the first time as a political activist trying to wake up her compatriots who have been sleeping for a hundred years of solitude... She's totally enjoying her time among the Tharu and other groups in Nepal with whom she is aligning and spreading the good news of a civl rights movement for the people of this challenged land. It's really exciting to see how much she is growing and stimulated by this new vocation.
Oh, yes, we also now only have eight hours a day of electricity b/c the political elite and government snoozed through the 20th century and, oops!, forgot that if you don't build new hydro projects, then the growth in demand will some day catch up and overpass your supply. Such is the state of modern Nepal. So, alas, we'll rest in darkness even longer in the years to come.
Ahh, the romance in the developing world... ;-)
Although, personally, I've been rather overwhelmed by getting out Joshua's financial aid forms this month. The first were due by January 15th with the others swarming in by February 1st. Without our 2008 tax returns complete, it means going through the serious tax math to estimate responses. As a guy who had depended on the kindness of my father (and his accountant...) for decades, this is a seriously mature and demanding avocation.
Fortunately, I spent 3 days in November at M&D's doing the CSS format already (based on 2007 returns), but I still needed to do the FAFSA with our 2008 information, plus redo the CSS with the 2008 figures. That has been this weekend's major occupation which I finished, to my delight, this morning and sent off both Joshua's CSS and FAFSA forms to his colleges.
Now, like the rest of you with college-bound kids, we wait patiently to see the results come March/April... God bless the child, as Billie Holiday sang...
Now, at least on the weekend mornings, I can go back and meander in the garden dreaming of new delights while waiting for three dozen types of bamboo grow again in the spring, imaging what our botanical backyard will look like in another 2-3 years...
Ahh, nature, the solace of our human world...
Although I should find a way to post some photos, as well, since I'd love to share some of those, as well - especially as the kids have grown (and grown and grown...).
For the latest new year news: Ezi went snowboarding for the first time last w/end after a tough first week back at school (with pre-calc and ap biology, it should be demanding...). He's seems to love his daytime escape from campus life and the freedom on the wintry Berkshires on Wednesdays & Saturdays -- although he says it's a bit embarrassing when seven year olds leap over you on the slopes asking if you're ok after you've fallen down...
While Josh, after spending all of six days in the States a week ago, got on a jet again last Sunday to fly back to Asia, Hong Kong this time, to lead his school for a model United Nations. Oy, such a jet-setter! He just called computer to computer on Skype and seems to have had a great time for the first time exploring a global city on his own sans his parents. The experience sounds like it's just deepened his current interest in an international business career.
Then, Ms. Leah had her second art class today w/ her friends, Arya and Choyang, with Neera, a lovely Nepali woman artist and gallery owner. She'll take a class a week for 2.5 hours for ten weeks. When I told her it was for ten weeks, she said, 'only ten??' with this long look like she hadn't gotten enough porridge. After all, this is a girl who has said that she wants to be an 'artist' since she was five years old!
Me, I'm enjoying my latest UN work supporting work on the new Nepali constitution as the Sr. Consultant/Advisor on the civil society outreach for submissions to the Constituent Assembly. UNDP extended my contract through March, but they may need me longer, given the scale and complexity of the work...; we'll see...
A week ago, we had 240 folks attend briefing sessions on UNDP's new small grant program for the historically marginalized communities (Dalit, Madhesi and Indigenous, mostly). However, we were only expecting 40-50 NGOs to attend, so we had to do the powerpoint and Q&A presentation three times in a row to a SRO room! The Project isn't offering huge money for these local NGO federations or associations -- but it's quite valuable for a specific and time-bound purpose, i.e. creating recommendations and submissions for the drafting of the new constitution.
Just as we were leaving the office on Friday, couriers were carting in over 150 proposals that had come in from around the country for these grants. It'll be hard to select among them, but, even after all these years, it was a thrill to see the response that we had to his opportunity to more actively participate in the future of Nepal by so many local communities from around the country.
En challah, if all goes well, the donors will provide even more civil society outreach resources in the coming months, so we can reach disadvantaged communities around the country for them to provide submissions to the MPs and Constituent Assembly now starting to draft a new constitution.
Fun schtuff, although one always wonders how much impact one's work will have -- but it feels good to give these often sidelined and disadvantaged communities a 'voice' in the expanding Nepali political life of the oft-promised 'New Nepal'.
While Shaku is touring Nepal for the first time as a political activist trying to wake up her compatriots who have been sleeping for a hundred years of solitude... She's totally enjoying her time among the Tharu and other groups in Nepal with whom she is aligning and spreading the good news of a civl rights movement for the people of this challenged land. It's really exciting to see how much she is growing and stimulated by this new vocation.
Oh, yes, we also now only have eight hours a day of electricity b/c the political elite and government snoozed through the 20th century and, oops!, forgot that if you don't build new hydro projects, then the growth in demand will some day catch up and overpass your supply. Such is the state of modern Nepal. So, alas, we'll rest in darkness even longer in the years to come.
Ahh, the romance in the developing world... ;-)
Although, personally, I've been rather overwhelmed by getting out Joshua's financial aid forms this month. The first were due by January 15th with the others swarming in by February 1st. Without our 2008 tax returns complete, it means going through the serious tax math to estimate responses. As a guy who had depended on the kindness of my father (and his accountant...) for decades, this is a seriously mature and demanding avocation.
Fortunately, I spent 3 days in November at M&D's doing the CSS format already (based on 2007 returns), but I still needed to do the FAFSA with our 2008 information, plus redo the CSS with the 2008 figures. That has been this weekend's major occupation which I finished, to my delight, this morning and sent off both Joshua's CSS and FAFSA forms to his colleges.
Now, like the rest of you with college-bound kids, we wait patiently to see the results come March/April... God bless the child, as Billie Holiday sang...
Now, at least on the weekend mornings, I can go back and meander in the garden dreaming of new delights while waiting for three dozen types of bamboo grow again in the spring, imaging what our botanical backyard will look like in another 2-3 years...
Ahh, nature, the solace of our human world...
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Hallelujah
ahh, happiest of fag ends of the year to all!
although i sometimes wonder what we celebrate on these final wintry december days?
being done w/ the tarnished emotions and experiences of the past year or thankful for the eternal hopes for next year.
with war and death in gaza, afghanistan, sudan, and the (occasionally) democratic republic of congo, it seems a sorry end to 2008, alas.
not to mention kathmandu's recent 14 hours of load-shedding (meaning no electricity) as a xmas gift from the politicians to the enduring people of nepal.
but, enough of that! why quibble with the realities of the world when there is so much beauty below & between. the sun shines on those we love and the stars sparkle at night, right immanuel?
actually, we are blessed (baruch barack) with our boyz here at home with us for these holidays. as we bump into their large bodies and larger souls, shaku and i are amazed at our own creations and gifts. they stroll these rooms and incline on the couches with an ease and comfort that can only make these longing parents proud.
this morning josh & i worked on his college applications. through his brief essays i find new aspects of my oldest son, his joys and his ambitions. i enjoy editing these brief glimpses into his world, thoughts and aspirations. he's become a fine writer and i can see how he stretches himself to find a way to be of service to this struggling world.
now, this afternoon,i just came in from working in the garden for a few hours, cutting down a deceased peach tree (om mani padma hung!), watering the citrus trees and admiring our handiwork of the past four years in our half-acre of orchard over on the western side of our compound (we go through a gate to get there...).
ms. leah, the dogs, gumbi, lapsi and pancakes acorn chasey, and i were out there w/ tek-dai, our man friday, who was burning new green compost and digging up old compost.
it's been a cool, cloudy day as i trundled around in my ersatz bangkok crocs, my toucan gap boxers and a warm fleece jacket scott bought in phnom penh and brought here on the millennium new year when he came with the whole family long before we moved up on our hillside.
such is my casual home attire for the wintry afternoons in kathmandu. a bit of a sartorial mish-mash that keeps me warm while enjoying the weak sunlight that still shimmers over the himalaya even in the depth of 'winter'.
as i listen to jeff buckley sing 'hallelujah' with the darkness settling in around us. the lights go off in 20 minutes for the next six hours. yet before they go off, it's such a joy to listen to the beauty of the human voice. this song 'hallelujah' happens to be on the english top xmas songs this year by two different artists.
if you find either the jeff buckley or leonard cohen (he wrote it) version, you'll find a sacred sound to carry us into the new year.
'maybe there's a god above but all i've learned from love is... a cold and broken hallelujah...'
sometimes, dear friends, that's enough.
although i sometimes wonder what we celebrate on these final wintry december days?
being done w/ the tarnished emotions and experiences of the past year or thankful for the eternal hopes for next year.
with war and death in gaza, afghanistan, sudan, and the (occasionally) democratic republic of congo, it seems a sorry end to 2008, alas.
not to mention kathmandu's recent 14 hours of load-shedding (meaning no electricity) as a xmas gift from the politicians to the enduring people of nepal.
but, enough of that! why quibble with the realities of the world when there is so much beauty below & between. the sun shines on those we love and the stars sparkle at night, right immanuel?
actually, we are blessed (baruch barack) with our boyz here at home with us for these holidays. as we bump into their large bodies and larger souls, shaku and i are amazed at our own creations and gifts. they stroll these rooms and incline on the couches with an ease and comfort that can only make these longing parents proud.
this morning josh & i worked on his college applications. through his brief essays i find new aspects of my oldest son, his joys and his ambitions. i enjoy editing these brief glimpses into his world, thoughts and aspirations. he's become a fine writer and i can see how he stretches himself to find a way to be of service to this struggling world.
now, this afternoon,i just came in from working in the garden for a few hours, cutting down a deceased peach tree (om mani padma hung!), watering the citrus trees and admiring our handiwork of the past four years in our half-acre of orchard over on the western side of our compound (we go through a gate to get there...).
ms. leah, the dogs, gumbi, lapsi and pancakes acorn chasey, and i were out there w/ tek-dai, our man friday, who was burning new green compost and digging up old compost.
it's been a cool, cloudy day as i trundled around in my ersatz bangkok crocs, my toucan gap boxers and a warm fleece jacket scott bought in phnom penh and brought here on the millennium new year when he came with the whole family long before we moved up on our hillside.
such is my casual home attire for the wintry afternoons in kathmandu. a bit of a sartorial mish-mash that keeps me warm while enjoying the weak sunlight that still shimmers over the himalaya even in the depth of 'winter'.
as i listen to jeff buckley sing 'hallelujah' with the darkness settling in around us. the lights go off in 20 minutes for the next six hours. yet before they go off, it's such a joy to listen to the beauty of the human voice. this song 'hallelujah' happens to be on the english top xmas songs this year by two different artists.
if you find either the jeff buckley or leonard cohen (he wrote it) version, you'll find a sacred sound to carry us into the new year.
'maybe there's a god above but all i've learned from love is... a cold and broken hallelujah...'
sometimes, dear friends, that's enough.
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Pinteresque or Simply Lifesque?
"The speech we hear is an indication of that which we don't hear," Pinter once said.
"It is a necessary avoidance or mocking smoke screen which keeps the other in its true place. When true silence falls we are left with echo but are nearer nakedness. One way of looking at speech is to say that it is a constant stratagem to cover nakedness."
"How can you write a happy play? Drama is about conflict and degrees of perturbation, disarray. I've never been able to write a happy play, but I've been able to enjoy a happy life."
Harold Pinter
Playwright
1930-2008
"It is a necessary avoidance or mocking smoke screen which keeps the other in its true place. When true silence falls we are left with echo but are nearer nakedness. One way of looking at speech is to say that it is a constant stratagem to cover nakedness."
"How can you write a happy play? Drama is about conflict and degrees of perturbation, disarray. I've never been able to write a happy play, but I've been able to enjoy a happy life."
Harold Pinter
Playwright
1930-2008
Friday, December 26, 2008
Desperately Seeking Joshua and Ezra
well, i can safely say that our personal hostage crisis has now ended after 72 hours. our two big boyz have been freed by united airlines and sent on klm around the world to come home to kathmandu after six months away.
josh and ez had been stuck in boston since friday when they arrived at logan airport to find that they didn't actually have their paper tickets and that the flight left 50 minutes early. ouch!
as a result, we were in airline reservation crisis mode over the weekend.
yet all had seemed so promising... i called the boys on my cell friday night (their friday morning) to just check that all systems were set to go. they were at the airport with an hour to spare, so i put down my permanent parental guard (that something would go wrong...), and headed off w/ ms. leah to meet shaku, utpal & caroline for dinner.
alas, the problems began soon after when i got a text message from my sister saying that the boyz had missed their flight!! i was reduced to monosyllabic terminology for the next couple of hours. quelle drag!
immediately i got the boys on the phone at the airport, but they were having no luck with the united folks finding their reservations in the computer system and, even so, it was already too late. the flight had departed for san francisco and beyond. they were grounded in a snow storm in boston...
with no great options, they retreated back where they had started at 5 am that morning to my brother bruce's home in newton. although, unfortunately, bruce and family were going away for the w/end, so josh & ez decided to go to their kathmandu friends sashi & jigme's apartment to regroup.
while back in k'du, not seeing other otions, with my sister claudia's help in philadelphia, we'd booked them on a gulf flight over europe to come on sunday -- but shaku said we might as well try to get the united tixs rebooked and save alot of $$$.
so, we spent much of the w/end trying to get them on a united flight on the 23rd (tuesday) which, to be honest, on friday & saturday seemed an eternity away. but, for a half a dozen reasons, by monday proved impossible.
so, in search of a united reissue, ezi trudged through the snow and sleet of a winter new england storm on both saturday and sunday. he literally spent 5-6 hours/day at logan airport waiting in 1.5 hour lines trying to get the tixs reissued, it wasn't happening. i would get up 2 or 3 times at night to speak to ezi while he waited in line or was speaking to the united staff. but for some reason (or none...), what we were being told in k'du by our travel agent was not squaring with the united agent's computer.
it was all one giant (and expensive...) glitch.
finally, on monday morning when shaku & i went to the travel agent on durbar marg, one quick look at the reservation and i suddenly realized that they were trying to book the boys on a flight on the 23rd when the tix actually expired on the 22nd. they were doing their best, but had missed the fact that the six month tix expired on the 22nd.
so, even with the best efforts and time passing, i gave up and gave in.
'ok, ok, ok, get me the quickest, cheapest flight as directly as possible to get my sons here ASAP.' all i could say was, 'i want my sons here with us'. it was the holidays. shakun's birthday was on the 25th.
not to mention that they only had two weeks vacation and they had been working so hard at school since august. they deserved their vacation here with us in kathmandu. they desperately wanted to be home and we desperately wanted them with us.
ezi at 16 had been doing an adult's work (and so compassionately) at the airport, while josh was assiduously filling out his college applications back in the apartment. when i told ez on sunday that he may have to go back early on monday to try one last time, he said, 'dad, i don't mind, as long as it's useful this time...' what a guy!
so, finally, when we realized that the missing united tix was more confused than we knew earlier, we punted. within a minute, we wrote a check to get the boys back on klm/gulf ASAP.
i just wanted josh & ez to wake up on monday morning knowing that they would, at last, be leaving boston and coming home.
and home they are!!!
they came in on wednesday afternoon, tired, beat, exhausted but thrilled to be back in nepal.
their mother and father are simply in parental heaven with the sound of their voices filling our home, once again.
joy!
whoever created family was truly a wise and compassionate soul...
being together again is the best xmas/hanukah gift we could imagine.
joy!
josh and ez had been stuck in boston since friday when they arrived at logan airport to find that they didn't actually have their paper tickets and that the flight left 50 minutes early. ouch!
as a result, we were in airline reservation crisis mode over the weekend.
yet all had seemed so promising... i called the boys on my cell friday night (their friday morning) to just check that all systems were set to go. they were at the airport with an hour to spare, so i put down my permanent parental guard (that something would go wrong...), and headed off w/ ms. leah to meet shaku, utpal & caroline for dinner.
alas, the problems began soon after when i got a text message from my sister saying that the boyz had missed their flight!! i was reduced to monosyllabic terminology for the next couple of hours. quelle drag!
immediately i got the boys on the phone at the airport, but they were having no luck with the united folks finding their reservations in the computer system and, even so, it was already too late. the flight had departed for san francisco and beyond. they were grounded in a snow storm in boston...
with no great options, they retreated back where they had started at 5 am that morning to my brother bruce's home in newton. although, unfortunately, bruce and family were going away for the w/end, so josh & ez decided to go to their kathmandu friends sashi & jigme's apartment to regroup.
while back in k'du, not seeing other otions, with my sister claudia's help in philadelphia, we'd booked them on a gulf flight over europe to come on sunday -- but shaku said we might as well try to get the united tixs rebooked and save alot of $$$.
so, we spent much of the w/end trying to get them on a united flight on the 23rd (tuesday) which, to be honest, on friday & saturday seemed an eternity away. but, for a half a dozen reasons, by monday proved impossible.
so, in search of a united reissue, ezi trudged through the snow and sleet of a winter new england storm on both saturday and sunday. he literally spent 5-6 hours/day at logan airport waiting in 1.5 hour lines trying to get the tixs reissued, it wasn't happening. i would get up 2 or 3 times at night to speak to ezi while he waited in line or was speaking to the united staff. but for some reason (or none...), what we were being told in k'du by our travel agent was not squaring with the united agent's computer.
it was all one giant (and expensive...) glitch.
finally, on monday morning when shaku & i went to the travel agent on durbar marg, one quick look at the reservation and i suddenly realized that they were trying to book the boys on a flight on the 23rd when the tix actually expired on the 22nd. they were doing their best, but had missed the fact that the six month tix expired on the 22nd.
so, even with the best efforts and time passing, i gave up and gave in.
'ok, ok, ok, get me the quickest, cheapest flight as directly as possible to get my sons here ASAP.' all i could say was, 'i want my sons here with us'. it was the holidays. shakun's birthday was on the 25th.
not to mention that they only had two weeks vacation and they had been working so hard at school since august. they deserved their vacation here with us in kathmandu. they desperately wanted to be home and we desperately wanted them with us.
ezi at 16 had been doing an adult's work (and so compassionately) at the airport, while josh was assiduously filling out his college applications back in the apartment. when i told ez on sunday that he may have to go back early on monday to try one last time, he said, 'dad, i don't mind, as long as it's useful this time...' what a guy!
so, finally, when we realized that the missing united tix was more confused than we knew earlier, we punted. within a minute, we wrote a check to get the boys back on klm/gulf ASAP.
i just wanted josh & ez to wake up on monday morning knowing that they would, at last, be leaving boston and coming home.
and home they are!!!
they came in on wednesday afternoon, tired, beat, exhausted but thrilled to be back in nepal.
their mother and father are simply in parental heaven with the sound of their voices filling our home, once again.
joy!
whoever created family was truly a wise and compassionate soul...
being together again is the best xmas/hanukah gift we could imagine.
joy!
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Darkness, Darkness, My Old Friend...
Ten hours a day of load shedding from today
In what is certain to cripple normal life and industrial activities, the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has announced a fresh calendar of load shedding deciding to cut power by ten hours everyday.
From the 45 hours a week load shedding, there will be 63 hours of load shedding every week – ten hours a day for six days and three hours a day for one day in a week.
The fresh routine has come a few days after the 70 MW Middle Marsyangdi project was inaugurated.
Due to the onset of dry winter season, the water level in snow-fed rivers have sharply come down leading to severe cutdown in generation capacity of most of the run-of-the-river type projects.
The country currently has 619 Mw of installed capacity, but in winter only 400 Mw can be generated while the peak demand reaches 750 Mw.
On Wednesday, the cabinet had declared national power emergency situation and decided to explore building thermal plants to tide over the load shedding woes.
nepalnews.com sd Dec 18 08
In what is certain to cripple normal life and industrial activities, the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has announced a fresh calendar of load shedding deciding to cut power by ten hours everyday.
From the 45 hours a week load shedding, there will be 63 hours of load shedding every week – ten hours a day for six days and three hours a day for one day in a week.
The fresh routine has come a few days after the 70 MW Middle Marsyangdi project was inaugurated.
Due to the onset of dry winter season, the water level in snow-fed rivers have sharply come down leading to severe cutdown in generation capacity of most of the run-of-the-river type projects.
The country currently has 619 Mw of installed capacity, but in winter only 400 Mw can be generated while the peak demand reaches 750 Mw.
On Wednesday, the cabinet had declared national power emergency situation and decided to explore building thermal plants to tide over the load shedding woes.
nepalnews.com sd Dec 18 08
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Elegy for Jerry Sternin, 1938-2008
‘If there is no one beside you when your soul embarks,
I will follow you into the dark.’
‘Death Cab for Cuties’
I've been in this space w/ Jerry the past few days. I hear his voice and see him lying alone in Boston. I don't want to believe that the end has come. It's beyond my comprehension right now. I want to have been there with him, Monique and Sam. It feels strange to be so distant when Jerry has already begun his journey between worlds. I can't believe that the end has come so suddenly.
Yet, I must be thankful as my time with him this year, while visiting Josh & Ez, gave us more time than we'd had for years… more time with Jerry’s affectionate, irrepressible humor, his irreverence, his wisdom, kindness and worldly self-assurance.
At least, before going to the beyond, I'm so glad that Jerry saw Josh & Ezra as young men, since he had known them as such small boys. In fact, he may have cooked his last magnificent meal for our family in mid-August, the night before Shakun and Leah returned to Nepal; as that night that it was apparent that something was seriously wrong w/ his health and lungs.
A week later, I took Ezi & his Nepali friend, Suraj, out to White Pond on Suraj’s first day in America to see the beauty of the place and go swimming. I was surprised to find Jerry home, alone, weakened, actually gasping for breath while Monique was out buying him antibiotics.
That day, as the struggled for breath, Jerry knew there was something seriously wrong. He told me that there were only three times in his life when he hadn't had an appetite: when he left college, when he left Nepal and that late summer day when he was gasping for air. This time, although he wasn’t leaving anywhere he loved, he'd lost his appetite. He was afraid. He felt already that he couldn't control this illness, it kept coming for him, taking away his breath, filling his lungs with fluid, tiring him and never leaving him.
Within a day or two Jerry was in Tufts Medical Center. I saw him next in his private room with tubes in his chest and sedated.
After I returned to Nepal, however, he seemed to recover and life seemed more promising. When I saw him in mid-October, returning for the boys' parents' w/end, I was happy to see him healthier, having dinner with friends and hopeful – or so I wanted to believe...
For Jerry has been one of my closest friends, spiritual guides and life gurus for the past 25 years. I have loved, respected and admired ‘Jersey’ like an older brother. He was always there for me, in ways large and small, since we met in the early 80s, through our annual Save the Children Asia directors’ conferences, adventures in Bangladesh, the Philippines, Vietnam, Bhutan and Nepal and well, well beyond those origins.
Even in his work or personal emails, Jerry was always playfully attentive, with double entendres, twists and turns, teasing and questioning in equal measure.
The other day Shakun remembered Jerry playing his recorder after our wedding ceremony in October 1988 in the garden of the Shangri-la Hotel in Kathmandu. The mellifluous sound still echoes in our fondest memories. I have so many such memories of our escapades together in Asia, meandering in markets, finding the odd and unusual, hunting antiques, good food or simply mere, joyful fun.
Now, at 70, Jerry has departed, going back to where we all have come from, into the empyrean, that space-less space in which we eternally exist beyond these all-too-human physical, emotional, psychological realms...
I feel so quiet, empty, emptied at the thought that I will not see him again, laugh with him again, hear his thoughts, ask his opinion, watch his attentive gaze. Jerry is gone. This is what I have read in the messages this week. That there is no way for me to be with him again, even when my life began to turn to regular visits through Boston to my sons' new world in western Massachusetts.
Is this the truth now?
I write because I don't know what to say. I’ve had this feeling in my heart, in my stomach, behind my eyes all week. I’ve heard Jerry's voice whispering to me at night as I lay in bed. What is he saying? I'm not sure. Is it important? I’ve heard his lips moving and seen his eyes staring, gently, toward me. Was this death that came across the seas to say goodbye? Was this the end we never expect nor wish to encounter? Does it come so soon when it is so unwanted. Tearing the fabric of our lives and the love that we cherish.
Must life be so unfair? Always coming for us, for our friends, for those we love, for those we never want to leave? This truth we never want to face.
How hard it must have been for Jerry to accept that he must go. He loved this world more than most. His Jewish soul knew how to play so exquisitely in this fleeting, suffering, inspired world. He taught so many of us the joy of that play: Sternin’s laws of motion -- full of beauty, compassion, irreverence and the essential ambience of food.
Our friend Jerry always seemed so aloof from fear, dancing in the face of uncertainties, observant of life’s mysteries and clever with its petty forms of power. Yet, by the end of the summer, he knew he was very sick, even though the doctors couldn't diagnosis it. Still he wasn't ready to leave. White Lake was so beautiful, their new home so charming, his walls of Asian art so comforting, Monique's love so palpable. Yet, as we looked out the windows, the trees were already losing their leaves and being blown away. Autumn was bearing down on Concord already, soon to be followed by the winter Jerry never enjoyed and always sought to escape. This year, there was no escape.
Now I write this elegy as winter has closed in on us. The g-ds of miracles chose not to allow Jerry more time among us in this world, this fleeting, effervescent, shadowy, ultimately disappearing world.
I can only imagine what Monique and Sam must have endured as they watched Jerry depart alone, far from his ebbing love and care. Yet they know better than we how much Jerry has protected them through the years in this chimerical world.
In this, the truth of his love will sustain them, always. Together they will stand even without that giant sequoia of a man to protect them.
For the power of his love, his joy, his inspiration will surely, wisely carry each of us further on these dank and dark waters.
Further on… into the elusive joy once again, then irrevocably, beyond even darkness itself.
Om shanti. Om shalom. Oh my g-d!
love you forever, Jerry,
your friends, Keith, Shakun, Joshua, Ezra and Ms. Leah
I will follow you into the dark.’
‘Death Cab for Cuties’
I've been in this space w/ Jerry the past few days. I hear his voice and see him lying alone in Boston. I don't want to believe that the end has come. It's beyond my comprehension right now. I want to have been there with him, Monique and Sam. It feels strange to be so distant when Jerry has already begun his journey between worlds. I can't believe that the end has come so suddenly.
Yet, I must be thankful as my time with him this year, while visiting Josh & Ez, gave us more time than we'd had for years… more time with Jerry’s affectionate, irrepressible humor, his irreverence, his wisdom, kindness and worldly self-assurance.
At least, before going to the beyond, I'm so glad that Jerry saw Josh & Ezra as young men, since he had known them as such small boys. In fact, he may have cooked his last magnificent meal for our family in mid-August, the night before Shakun and Leah returned to Nepal; as that night that it was apparent that something was seriously wrong w/ his health and lungs.
A week later, I took Ezi & his Nepali friend, Suraj, out to White Pond on Suraj’s first day in America to see the beauty of the place and go swimming. I was surprised to find Jerry home, alone, weakened, actually gasping for breath while Monique was out buying him antibiotics.
That day, as the struggled for breath, Jerry knew there was something seriously wrong. He told me that there were only three times in his life when he hadn't had an appetite: when he left college, when he left Nepal and that late summer day when he was gasping for air. This time, although he wasn’t leaving anywhere he loved, he'd lost his appetite. He was afraid. He felt already that he couldn't control this illness, it kept coming for him, taking away his breath, filling his lungs with fluid, tiring him and never leaving him.
Within a day or two Jerry was in Tufts Medical Center. I saw him next in his private room with tubes in his chest and sedated.
After I returned to Nepal, however, he seemed to recover and life seemed more promising. When I saw him in mid-October, returning for the boys' parents' w/end, I was happy to see him healthier, having dinner with friends and hopeful – or so I wanted to believe...
For Jerry has been one of my closest friends, spiritual guides and life gurus for the past 25 years. I have loved, respected and admired ‘Jersey’ like an older brother. He was always there for me, in ways large and small, since we met in the early 80s, through our annual Save the Children Asia directors’ conferences, adventures in Bangladesh, the Philippines, Vietnam, Bhutan and Nepal and well, well beyond those origins.
Even in his work or personal emails, Jerry was always playfully attentive, with double entendres, twists and turns, teasing and questioning in equal measure.
The other day Shakun remembered Jerry playing his recorder after our wedding ceremony in October 1988 in the garden of the Shangri-la Hotel in Kathmandu. The mellifluous sound still echoes in our fondest memories. I have so many such memories of our escapades together in Asia, meandering in markets, finding the odd and unusual, hunting antiques, good food or simply mere, joyful fun.
Now, at 70, Jerry has departed, going back to where we all have come from, into the empyrean, that space-less space in which we eternally exist beyond these all-too-human physical, emotional, psychological realms...
I feel so quiet, empty, emptied at the thought that I will not see him again, laugh with him again, hear his thoughts, ask his opinion, watch his attentive gaze. Jerry is gone. This is what I have read in the messages this week. That there is no way for me to be with him again, even when my life began to turn to regular visits through Boston to my sons' new world in western Massachusetts.
Is this the truth now?
I write because I don't know what to say. I’ve had this feeling in my heart, in my stomach, behind my eyes all week. I’ve heard Jerry's voice whispering to me at night as I lay in bed. What is he saying? I'm not sure. Is it important? I’ve heard his lips moving and seen his eyes staring, gently, toward me. Was this death that came across the seas to say goodbye? Was this the end we never expect nor wish to encounter? Does it come so soon when it is so unwanted. Tearing the fabric of our lives and the love that we cherish.
Must life be so unfair? Always coming for us, for our friends, for those we love, for those we never want to leave? This truth we never want to face.
How hard it must have been for Jerry to accept that he must go. He loved this world more than most. His Jewish soul knew how to play so exquisitely in this fleeting, suffering, inspired world. He taught so many of us the joy of that play: Sternin’s laws of motion -- full of beauty, compassion, irreverence and the essential ambience of food.
Our friend Jerry always seemed so aloof from fear, dancing in the face of uncertainties, observant of life’s mysteries and clever with its petty forms of power. Yet, by the end of the summer, he knew he was very sick, even though the doctors couldn't diagnosis it. Still he wasn't ready to leave. White Lake was so beautiful, their new home so charming, his walls of Asian art so comforting, Monique's love so palpable. Yet, as we looked out the windows, the trees were already losing their leaves and being blown away. Autumn was bearing down on Concord already, soon to be followed by the winter Jerry never enjoyed and always sought to escape. This year, there was no escape.
Now I write this elegy as winter has closed in on us. The g-ds of miracles chose not to allow Jerry more time among us in this world, this fleeting, effervescent, shadowy, ultimately disappearing world.
I can only imagine what Monique and Sam must have endured as they watched Jerry depart alone, far from his ebbing love and care. Yet they know better than we how much Jerry has protected them through the years in this chimerical world.
In this, the truth of his love will sustain them, always. Together they will stand even without that giant sequoia of a man to protect them.
For the power of his love, his joy, his inspiration will surely, wisely carry each of us further on these dank and dark waters.
Further on… into the elusive joy once again, then irrevocably, beyond even darkness itself.
Om shanti. Om shalom. Oh my g-d!
love you forever, Jerry,
your friends, Keith, Shakun, Joshua, Ezra and Ms. Leah
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)