Fever runs
throughout my core
and
weakens my assurance,
forging into my conviction
all the more.

Deceit haunts me
with your mask,
for
I stare deeper
into my faith, my keeper,
my false rational.

But I dare to stand firm
against the odds
next to the truth.
Or do I?

of your hair

lying in my pillow

were the evidences

of your presence

in my territory.

I picked up those strands

and let them fly

out of my window

to the thin air

and

bid you farewell.

lying in my drawer

A pair of your jeans

with faded color

A hand-made

birthday card

in my name

A colorful candle

on the stand

waiting for the flame

The bookmarking

chocolate wrap

The stickers

in my book of scrap

They are all here

They are all safe

But, it’s you

That I’ve lost.

You give me

And it’s not sure

What perspective

I take.

But it does not matter

Unless I have one

Or

Unless I have you.

Monsoon just walked away,

Rain dripped all over me.

Like a memory of

A long forgotten dream,

Appearing suddenly like a torrent.

Like a traces of

Handicapped plans,

Assembling a complicated design.

Moreover,

Like a lost happiness

Making a way to you

Like a déjà vu.

When monsoon just walked away

Rain dripped all over me.

what if

We could vacuum clean

our minds.

Letting the machine

suck out

All the stacked

Old, unnecessary thoughts.

Random, useless thoughts.

Just thinking.

And oh,

one more thought

to

Vacuum clean!

If my phone forgets

That it does not possess me

Or

That I forget

I own the phone

For

My phone quietly smirks

At its ability to chase away my peace

For

My phone commands me constantly

With that chaotic ringing

For

I have no choice

But to surrender to its wishes

For

I have started to exist

Through my phone number

So

Before my phone forgets

That it does not possess me

And

Before I forget

I own the phone,

I switch it off.

After the ‘my name is….., I am from…, I’d like to…’ session which is usually called introduction, our teacher for Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) got into the basics which I would like to call ‘warm-up session’. The name of the course may let you think that I am a student of some Business management course but on the contrary, I am a student of Bachelors in Media Studies since last three years. And thus this only fact makes this whole experience of this one class with Dr. Pradeep Bhattarai more strange and interesting.

When you are studying new courses every semester with a new teacher (as professional of the same subject), you get used to the awkwardness of the first class. But when I try to see it through the lens of those teachers I wonder how they must have felt. Seeing a bunch of unknown faces looking super curious at you and not only you do not know them, you don’t have any idea of their aptitude as a teacher. Moreover after those entire introductions, you feel it might take weeks to remember only their names. (Oh random thoughts again, I usually do this when the class gets utterly boring, or when I want to suppose it’s boring!)

So Dr. Bhattarai was telling us about marketing, he started it with his own marketing. If you ask me he did pretty well, not because I got to know about his credentials but I started to feel a little more comfortable in the class. And when I was just easing up, he came up with this litmus test thing to check our propensity. TEST???? WHAT! ‘This is the first class’, I told myself, ‘the awkward feeling, remember?’

According to him, we are on the constant marketing of ourselves. When he was saying this I thought about all the times I introduced myself to people and tried to be impressive. And I thought of the Maquail Litmus test I had just finished, oh how poor marketing of myself in the first class of marketing! But I again started feeling relaxed when Dr. Bhattarai went on to tell us about the anecdotes related to his life. It was a warm-up class anyway, I thought.

Marketing communication wasn’t something I would prefer if options were available. I guess its same with most of my friends. But studying Media Studies for three years in Kathmandu University, you learn to accept new things with a perfect open mind. But it was interesting to sit in the class with Dr. Bhattarai and see him marketing for things like love and fashion. ‘Eco-friendly’ is his word for the fashion for girls that require minimal clothing, probably could  be a marketing strategy for a clothing line. The search for suitors for marriage is also a marketing plan according to him; the degree to your success to win the heart of the one you are interested in also depends upon how well you market yourself. When we are marketing ourselves, we are also marketing our culture, the culture in which we are brought into and that culture speaks a lot about us, the person we are.

So, from the first class I derived that Integrated Marketing Communication is not only for business purposes, it can get way personal. Everyone and everything has a name in this world but Marketing Communications helps you make your name a brand, a brand that sells, of course that must include the best qualities in you. This little understanding of Integrated Marketing Communications, marketed by Dr. Bhattarai is compelling me to get into it deeply; I wouldn’t lose this opportunity now, even if I had other options.

The first type, the nerds are obsessed with books. They are continuously thinking about the study matters and have a tight schedule for recreation. They are sensitive with the marks in the exams and are possessive with their books and notes even to the extent to being mean. They stress a lot on assignments and grades. Not all but usually many of the nerds are easily teacher’s pet. They prepare each day in the college for one reason, that is, their future. The second type, however think otherwise about their life in the college.

The second types are the rebels. The rebels are dissatisfied with most of the things including textbooks, teachers or administration. Though other might also have the same disappointment, rebels take the charge to fight without any delay. They are often seen debating with the teacher and are frequently kicked out of the class. Rebels are however good at last minute preparations with remarkable cramming abilities. On the other hand, such pressures do not exist for the next type of college students.

The final types are the happy-go-lucky types, for whom classes are not less than fun. They take everything easy and slowly with enough time in their schedule for their interests and hobbies. They do not panic in any way and are content with whatever they have. Even the intelligent happy-go-luckys are not good with grades because of their laid back attitude. And with the same attitude they fall prey to teachers’ fury.

In conclusion, there are different types of people and the nature they posses have good and bad things alike. It is necessary that we acknowledge the aptitude of others and have an open mind to discover good things no matter in which of the above category we fall into. The above category however is not without errors but it is true that every classroom has above mentioned three groups. And at the end of this essay, I am thinking, which category I fall into?

Well, i do not have any control over the editorial team of Republica, therefore, i was helpless but here i will utilize my space, my blog and here i will present you my original commentary. It goes like this:

Letter to the editor

It was a pleasure to read about Parijat in ‘the women nepali creators series’ by CK Lal. The articles by CK Lal have always instigated deep thoughts in me and he is one of the favorite writers I would like to read though his vocabulary is quite tricky to comprehend in a first read. The true essence in the writings of CK Lal, I think, is the presence of the current affairs regardless of what he is writing about. Yesterday’s article “Parijat: the legend lives on” also had an interesting start about the poem recitals at the residences of top leaders of major political parties organized by Parijat Memorial Centre to press for timely promulgation of the statue.

CK Lal, a contemporary thinker, a person with such strong, revolutionary stance has been seen on the streets during Jana-andolan II with an utter enthusiasm. In the text, where he has doubted the verse reading sessions as ‘meek’, as an audience to those sessions, to me, the metaphors of the poets were no more less than a bang in the ears of the leaders. Parijat, known for her radical beliefs would have never thought the protest anything near to ‘meek’ and because CK Lal himself is sentient I hope he will shortly find the way to join these protests.

Secondly, the writer has referred Parijat as an epitome of revolutionary nihilism to her “progressive” acolytes, which isn’t true in accordance with my talks with then members of Ralfali movement Ninu Chapagain and Rayan. Rather they believed in Parijat because of her capability to escape from her earlier thoughts to progressive ones. Her novels are the witness of such variation of thoughts in her, from ‘Sirish ko Phool’ to ‘Anido Pahad Sangai’. And it is very doubtful that ‘Mahattanhin’ is her second most popular novel as the writer has quoted in the text.

And finally, a small correction with the facts. Parijat has nine published novels, not ten and along with other published works, her three autobiographies, ‘Euta Chitramaya Suruwat’,  ‘Dhupi, Salla ra Laligurasko Fedma’ and “Adhhayan ra Sangharsa’ has also been published which the writer missed to mention.

If you are curious about the article I have commented for, please follow the link http://www.myrepublica.com/portal/index.php?action=news_details&news_id=17521