Writing
Foreward - Insight into Nepal: A selection of articles about Nepal's past, present, and future written by Pramod Dhakal, PhD, Nov 2008
Pramod and his son, Prashanta, moved to Ottawa, Canada in 1999. I should know, because Prashanta and I became very good friends in high school, thanks in no small part to our grade 10 science class – a series of dissections and a misunderstanding between us and our teacher involving a beaker of acid and a bit of dirt. The first time I met Pramod was in the spring of 2000 at an open house at Prashanta's and my high school. Like everyone else, I was astonished at how similar her and his son looked. Had I known then how involved I would become in the Dhakal family, how involved I would become in Pramod's interests and endeavours, I might have been tempted to say "no" to repeated dinner invitations (the all-famous "eat and go"). However, had I, the countless hours I've spent with him going over and listening to speeches, editing articles, brainstorming ideas, improving streams of ideas, photographing at events, creating logos and diagrams, conceptualizing, and transforming intangible ideas into tangible explanations and projects might have been wasted on temporary and forgettable endeavours that serve no purpose other than to waste time.
Through all of our collaborations, I have met many wonderful people who have accomplished so much in their life, like Meagan McGrath, the first Canadian woman to climb each of the contents' highest peaks, and Hisila Yami, a Nepali politician on the front lines of reshaping her country. I have learned a great deal, and I've found ways to utilise my knowledge and expertise, express my creativity and ideas and put them to constructive use. For these opportunities, and knowing everything that I have done, from designing the CFFN logo to managing CFFN's radio content, is working to help Nepal realise its environmental, political, economic, and human potentials (albeit in a microscopic way compared to what Pramod and CFFN is doing), I would not trade all those hours for anything.
I consider Prashanta to be the brother I never had growing up and I have come to see Susma as the little sister I have always wanted. In that same spirit, Pramod has become the Bua that I never had. Despite his tireless efforts and tight commitments to work, CFFN, his family, and his community, he still finds the time to stir my thoughts, to engage and challenge me, to praise and criticize me, and to inspire me to do more - and to feed me the occasional plate of daal-bhat. I think if everyone had a figure like that, if every institution had an organization to deliver those qualities (rice and lentils notwithstanding), if every population challenged their government in the same way, this world and the humans, animals, and plants living on it would be richer, safer, more diverse, and far more prosperous than what we see today.
It is my hope that through this book, my birthday gift to Pramod, I turn the tables. I hope that Pramod will re-read his writings and become inspired to delve deeper into their subjects, and to find new ones. I hope that he will tame his wild thoughts and unite them under their fundamental truths. I hope that you the reader will discover something new, that you will agree or disagree with the messages and themes in this book and develop and share your own thoughts and opinions. The road to fair representation is arduous for the individual, but overcoming the obstacles becomes easier as more and more people work together to overcome the adversity. It's only through seeing all facets and hearing all voices that we can truly build a home, a village, a nation, and a planet that represents everyone under its roof and within its boundaries, borders, and atmosphere.
Benjamin Wood