The Insane (PAGAL): the most powerful poem by Laxmi Psd. Devkota

Laxmi Prasad Devkota is undoubtedly the biggest poet of all time in Nepal. He has written lots of poems, essays and Mahakabyas. Among his many popular works, the MunaMadan and "PAGAL" were the most popular one.

He was once the education minister of Nepal, however he faced acute economic problems throughout his life. He sold lots of his works for the exchange of few sticks of cigarettes. His contemporary competitors once blamed him as he become mad and he was taken to the mental hospital of Rachhi, India. During this period, even he was a normal man, people forced him to go mental hospital, but that provided framework to write this popular poem entitled "Pagal Alias Insane" It was his powerful reply to those who asked him to prove his normalcy. Each and every words are so powerful, no one can forget it in his lifetime if once read it. Please enjoy it in English.


1.
Oh yes, friend! I'm crazy-
that's just the way I am.

2.
I see sounds,
I hear sights,
I taste smells,
I touch not heaven but things from the underworld,
things people do not believe exist,
whose shapes the world does not suspect.
Stones I see as flowers
lying water-smoothed by the water's edge,
rocks of tender forms
in the moonlight
when the heavenly sorceress smiles at me,
putting out leaves, softening, glistening,
throbbing, they rise up like mute maniacs,
like flowers, a kind of moon-bird's flowers.
I talk to them the way they talk to me,
a language, friend,
that can't be written or printed or spoken,
can't be understood, can't be heard.
Their language comes in ripples to the moonlit Ganges banks,
ripple by ripple-
oh yes, friend! I'm crazy-
that's just the way I am.

3.
You're clever, quick with words,
your exact equations are right forever and ever.
But in my arithmetic, take one from one-
and there's still one left.
You get along with five senses,
I with a sixth.
You have a brain, friend,
I have a heart.
A rose is just a rose to you-
to me it's Helen and Padmini.
You are forceful prose
I liquid verse.
When you freeze I melt,
When you're clear I get muddled
and then it works the other way around.
Your world is solid,
mine vapor,
yours coarse, mine subtle.
You think a stone reality;
harsh cruelty is real for you.
I try to catch a dream
,
the way you grasp the rounded truth of cold, sweet coin.
I have the sharpness of the thorn,
you of gold and diamonds.
You think the hills are mute-
I call them eloquent.
Oh yes, friend!
I'm free in my inebriation-
that's just the way I am.

4.
In the cold of the month of Magh
I sat
warming to the first white heat of the star.
the world called me drifty.
When they saw me staring blankly for seven days
after I came back from the burning ghats
they said I was a spook.
When I saw the first marks of the snows of time
in a beautiful woman's hair
I wept for three days.
When the Buddha touched my soul
they said I was raving.
They called me a lunatic because I danced
when I heard the first spring cuckoo.
One dead-quite moon night
breathless I leapt to my feet,
filled with the pain of destruction.
On that occasion the fools
put me in the stocks,
One day I sang with the storm-
the wise men
sent me off to Ranchi.
Realizing that same day I myself would die
I stretched out on my bed.
A friend came along and pinched me hard
and said, Hey, madman,
your flesh isn't dead yet!
For years these things went on.
I'm crazy, friend-
that's just the way I am.

5.
I called the Navab's wine blood,
the painted whore a corpse,
and the king a pauper.
I attacked Alexander with insults,
and denounced the so-called great souls.
The lowly I have raised on the bridge of praise
to the seventh heaven.
Your learned pandit is my great fool,
your heaven my hell,
your gold my iron,
friend! Your piety my sin.
Where you see yourself as brilliant
I find you a dolt.
Your rise, friend-my decline.
That's the way our values are mixed up,
friend!
Your whole world is a hair to me.
Oh yes, friend, I'm moonstruck through and through-
moonstruck!
That's just the way I am.

6.
I see the blind man as the people's guide,
the ascetic in his cave a deserter;
those who act in the theater of lies
I see as dark buffoons.
Those who fail I find successful,
and progress only backsliding.
am I squint-eyed,
Or just crazy?
Friend, I'm crazy.
Look at the withered tongues of shameless leaders,
The dance of the whores
At breaking the backbone on the people's rights.
When the sparrow-headed newsprint spreads its black lies
In a web of falsehood
To challenge Reason-the hero in myself-
My cheeks turn red, friend,
red as molten coal.
When simple people drink dark poison with their ears
Thinking it nectar-
and right before my eyes, friend! -
then every hair on my body stands up stiff
as the Gorgon's serpent hair-
every hair on me maddened!
When I see the tiger daring to eat the deer, friend,
or the big fish the little,
then into my rotten bones there comes
the terrible strength of the soul of Dadhichi
and tries to speak, friend,
like the stormy day crashing down from heaven with the lightning.
When man regards a man
as not a man, friend,
then my teeth grind together, all thirty-two,
top and bottom jaws,
like the teeth if Bhimasena.
And then
red with rage my eyeballs rool
round and round, with one sweep
like a lashing flame
taking in this inhuman human world.
My organs leap out of theirs frames-
uproar! Uproar!
my breathing becomes a storm,
my face distorted, my brain on fire, friend!
with a fire like those that burn beneath the sea,
like the fire that devours the forests,
frenzied, friend!
as one who would swallow the wide world raw.
Oh yes, my friend,
the beautiful chakora am I,
destroyer of the ugly,
both tender and cruel,
the bird that steals the heaven's fire,
child of the tempest,
spew of the insane volcano,
terror incarnate.
Oh yes, friend,
my brain is whirling, whirling-
that's just the way I am.

Published on 1953 AD Read more...

Ultrapoor's voices.... Leasehold Forestry in Doti, Nepal

I have once worked as the Forester at Doti district of Nepal and I tried to resolve the conflicts between ultra poor people and the members of CFUGs. The CFUGs people donot want to support the hand over of leasehold forests to the poor people rather they want to keep it as Community Forest. The lively dialogue between the people inspired us to work further! I hope that you will enjoy the video clip.

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Good bye to MAHAT Family

Mr. and Mrs. Mahat
There are many persons in the world, who should be remmembered for their efforts to make other people happy. These kinds of people become happy to create happiness to others. They forget their difficulties to make others life easy. They donot count about the loss of their times and benefits to make others time fruitful. They used to be satisfied to satisfy others needs.
Eventhough these kinds of people are very limited in the world, still exists. Among these kinds of people, Mr. Jeetendra and Mrs. Bhagawati Mahat are. Mr. Jeetendra and his wife Bhagawati were always became happier to give others. In time of needs, they were omnipresent to help others. If anyone ask for the any kind of help, they tried to help others nomatter when they were asked to help. For them, day and night, off and on duty hour, they went to supports. There are not any nepalese family in the Goettingen, Germany who have not been supported by them at the time of need. I am one of them. I got their support with or without asking many times. For all these we are very grateful to him and his family.

Mr. Jeetendra Mahat has successfully completed his M.Sc. in Tropical and International Forestry (TIF) from world renowned Georg-August University Goettingen. He has completed master degree with specialisation on Soil Carbon. For his master thesis, he was supervised by world class professors like Edzo Veldkamp and Dirk Hölscher. I am very sure that he has enjoyed and benefited alot by their excellencies in the subject matters. It is sure that his study will certainly benefit the Department of Forests in particular and nepalese people in general to fulfill the inavailablity of highly qualified man power in this field of soil carbon.
Mr. Mahat was very sobre personality. The persons who once come in his contact used to become highly impressed by his honest, dedicated and helpful personalities.
Mrs. Bhagawati Mahat, the better half of Jeetendra, was very much helpful to others. She was popular among not only Nepalese communities but also many international students families. Despite of language problems, she used to communicate even with non English speakers and used to organise gatherings and invite them for dinner and launches. With her tireless efforts, many foreigners have very good impressions about rich and friendly nepalese culture. Thanks alot for them for their efforts.

The children John and Angila Mahats were also very wonderful children. John has the mixture of all the talency and extraordinary characteristics. He is very talented boy, mastering in "Drawings", "Dancing" and intermixing abilities. Angila was also very nice child, who enjoys to play with other nepalese children.

For all the genuity and supports that they bestowed to GöNeS and us, they will be missed alot in Goettingen, Germany. We all are very thankful to them and would like to extend our best wishes for their successful journey and better future.

Mahat family will return motherland (Nepal) tomorrow early morning. After reaching the country, he will rejoin the government service and serve the Department of Forests with acquired new skills and knowledge. We wish him all the success for his career. Hoped that you have enjoyed the life in Goettingen and Germany and will certainly come here again for your further study, Ph.D. in short time.

Have a very nice, pleasant, safe and happy journey!

Bhagawati Mahat with Angila
Master of all: John Mahat
Angila Mahat

Dancing performance by John Mahat Read more...

Interview with SUJATA Jost

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Ho ra Baburam.....?

I like this song irrespective of party politics. People have lots of expectation from Dr. Baburam Bhattarai, former minister of Finance. He has worked a lot for the sake of country. His capacity, talency and honesty are the praiseworthy. Sometimes, he seems to be very proud and impractical but people have a lots of faith on his hard work and honesty. Even those people who are against Maoist, Prachanda and Hisila Yami (his wife and maoist leader), like him and favors his activities.

This song indirectly praise him however it is to be made for other political leaders also who work for the sake of people! Read more...

FERI TYO DIN Kahile AAULA..... Tihar 2006 in Goettingen, Germany

Tihar Celebration in Goettingen, 2006. "Feri tyo din samjhana chahanna...." a popular song by Sugam Pokharel, reminds me the beautiful times in the past at Goettingen, Germany. Lots of friends with whom I shared beautiful moments are now in the USA, Nepal and other parts of the world. We remember you all and wish you all the best.
This year also we celebrated Tihar festival in similar way but little earlier due to busy schedules of all of us, but I couldnot upload photos in this blog as I lost my camera in Tropentag however some of our friends will certainly post it sometimes later.
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President OBAMA wishes HAPPY DEEWALI

We are pleased to here Deewali message from President Obama, however he was wrongly informed about the reason of celebrating DEEWALI. In his speech, he was mentioning that it is celebrated in the occasion of return of lord Ram from Exile, which is not true! He mixed DEEWALI with Dashain, however his intention to extend best wishes is praiseworthy! Read more...

Adolf Hitler and Concentration Camps in Germany

.....................................................................................By Hem Raj Bist (Goettingen, Germany)

A person creates history, other records and millions read it. The history may be constructive, destructive or amalgamation of both. I have some knowledge regarding the devastation made by A. Hitler to Germany ; revealed me his manifold miscreant deeds rather than his socalled ontribution when I got chance to visit one of the Nazi concentration camps i.e. Buchenwald Concentration Camp during my Deutsche language course in September 2009.

The extent of pathetic brutal deeds perpetrated by him and his followers reveals there which in general is beyond one’s imagination. The visit made me really depressed for many days. As a human being, one even cannot think such brutal treatment even to hostile animals or enemies in general.

Nepal is probably among the most volatile and unstable nations politically, socially and in recent days ethnically. It seems noteworthy to note here that Nepali people are politically very active at least in theoretical aspects. They can put forward several plans and mechanisms of nation building but almost nil is brought in practice in virtual ground. A. Hitler is most frequently taken as example among politically active people in Nepal. This short paper tries to describe very briefly about his life, activities and about the concentration camp visited recently.

Adolf Hitler was born on April 20th 1889 in Austria in a town named Braunau-am-Inn near to the Austro-German border. His father Alois worked as a customs officer on the border crossing. Adolf attended school from the age of six. His performance in the school was poor and left study soon with an ambition to become an artist. Alois Hitler had died when Adolf was thirteen and Klara Hitler (his mother) brought up him. Between the ages of sixteen and nineteen, young Adolf neither worked to earn his keep, nor formally studied, but had gained an interest in politics and history. During this time he unsuccessfully applied for admission to the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts. 

Klara Hitler died from cancer when Adolf was nineteen and from then onwards he had no relatives willing or able to support him. So, in 1909, he moved to Vienna in the hope of somehow earning a living. Within a year he was living in homeless shelters and eating at charity soup-kitchens. He had declined to take regular employment and took occasional menial jobs and sold some of his paintings or advertising posters whenever he could to provide sustenance. In 1913, Adolf Hitler, still a penniless vagrant, moved to Munich in southern Germany.

At the outbreak of the First World War, in 1914, he volunteered for service in the German army. Hitler was a soldier that fought alongside everyone else but at the end of world war I Hitler floated from shelter to shelter and this is when Hitler gained his prejudice towards Jews and his interest in politics. The day of the announcement of the armistice in 1918, Hitler was in hospital recovering from temporary blindness caused by a British gas attack. In December 1918 he returned to his regiment back in Munich. 

Between December 1918 and March 1919 Hitler worked at a prisoner-of-war camp at Traunstein before returning again to Munich. Shortly after his return he witnessed a takeover bid by local Communists who seized power before being ousted by the army. After he gave evidence at an investigation into the takeover he was asked to become part of a local army organization which was responsible for persuading returning soldiers not to turn to communism or pacifism. During his training for this task and during his subsequent duties he was able to hone his oratory skills. As part of his duties he was also asked to spy on certain local political groups.

Due to his oratory skill and impressive speech, the founder of German Workers Party, Anion Drexler, was so impressed by Hitler's tirade that he asked him to join their organization. Hitler, after some thought, finally agreed to join the committee and became their seventh official in September 1919.

Given responsibility for publicity and propaganda, Hitler first succeeded in attracting over a hundred people to couples of meetings where he delivered his speeches to a large audience. This campaign was a great success. The name of the party was itself changed to the National Socialist German Workers Party (or Nazi for short) in 1920. Afterwards, he was regular main speaker at party events, attracting large crowds for each meeting. During the summer of 1920 Hitler chose the swastika as the Nazi party emblem. Finally, A. Hitler became the formal leader of the party with dictatorial powers. The Nazi party was fostered to greatest extent by the versatile efforts of the Hitler.

The politics of Germany at that time was mostly volatile and it was running round the Hitler’s activities. Despite couples of losses in elections at the beginning by Nazi, and consequently Hitler’s inability to win the central power, the Nazis become the largest party in 1932 and in 1933 he was appointed as a Chancellor in a coalition government. Furthermore, he became the president after his success of political plots in the next year.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 Suppression of Non Nazis:      

After this, the real suppression to opponents inside and outside Germany from Hitler and his party started. Hitler had proclaimed a law stating that the Nazi Party was to be the only political party allowed in Germany. The Nazification of Germany was underway. All non-Nazi organizations were disbanded, including political parties and trade unions. The individual German states were stripped of any autonomous powers they might have had and Nazi officials were installed as state governors.         

Hitler believed Jews were inferior and threatened Germany's great existence. He believed that Germany lost WWI because of the Jews and blamed them for Germany’s economic trouble. Therefore, Jewish population was increasingly persecuted and ostracized from society. Jews were no longer considered to be German citizens and therefore no longer had any legal rights. Jews were no longer allowed to hold public office, not allowed to work in the civil-service, the media, farming, teaching, the stock exchange and eventually barred from practicing law or medicine. Hostility towards Jews from other Germans was encouraged and even shops began to deny entry to Jews. The Jews and other opponents were forced to labor in concentration camps to death and there was not any option. The severe brutality and insanity of Hitler regime was apparent in many concentration camps established for this purpose. One of the major concentration camps of that period was Buchenwald.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       Buchenwald concentration camp:   It was a Nazi concentration camp established on the Ettersberg near Weimer in 1937, and one of the largest and first camps on German soil. In German language, Buchen stands for beech (tree species) and Wald for forest which reveals that there was a beech forest and still there is beech forest around some parts of the camp. Buchenwald was built as a punishment camp for political opponents of the Nazis. Hitler's aim was to place all Jews into concentrated areas camps to segregate them from the German public and eventually kill them all.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              Causes of Death in the Camp:    

The main way to kill people in the concentration camps was to gas them in the gas chambers. They could hold up to 2000 people at a time. However, this was not practiced here. A primary cause of the deaths in this camp was illness due to harsh camp conditions, with starvation - and its consequent illnesses. Many were killed through malnourished and suffering from disease. Camp prisoners worked primarily as forced labor in local armament factories They were forced to work in harsh conditions without sufficient foods literally "worked to death” i.e. extermination through labor. Inmates had only the choice between slave labor or inevitable execution. Many inmates died as a result of human experimentations or fell victim to arbitrary acts perpetrated by the guards. Other prisoners were simply murdered—the two primary methods of execution were shooting and hanging.       

  A Canadian airman’s recollection of his arrival at Buchenwald: As we got close to the camp and saw what was inside….a terrible, terrible fear and horror entered our hearts. We thought, what is this? Where are we going? Why are we here? And as you got closer to the camp and started to enter the camp and saw these human skeletons walking around-old men, young men, boys, just skin and bone, we thought, what are we getting into?                                                                                                                                                                                                                  The end of Hitler:

To sum up: Why Hitler was so? It’s really a difficult to find the solid solution. However, it is true that he had a determined sense of mission. He was very different from conventional politicians. He had promises of jobs to overcome the high rate of unemployment and promised to restore Germany's prestige. His policy was ‘Germany first', 'Germany for the Germans'. He seemed uncompromising hostility to Communism.

Hitler never killed anybody, except possibly one of his 'girl friends'. It was his 'teams' that did the killing. Many leaders were fainted when they saw mass killings, and were ill for some weeks afterwards. The main leaders never kill anybody themselves, they ordered others to do the dirty work!!! This is the historical trend.

There are controversial reports regarding cause of his death. One source explains that he fell at his command post in the Reich Chancery fighting to the last breath against Bolshevism and for Germany. The other source describes his last moment as: Adolf Hitler, and his wife Eva Braun, were just enjoying a beautiful day at their German summer house. There was a knock at the door, and Adolf went to answer it. He opened the door to a mysterious figure. Right as Adolf made eye-contact with the figure; he fell over and died in 1945. The figure went inside the house and raped Adolf's wife up the ass, so hard that she puked out blood. She died a slow and painful death. They got married one day before they died.     

Till this day, no one quite knows who the figure was. It will forever be a mystery of "who killed the Hitler?" Because of the brutalities and the very crimes associated with his name, it is not likely that Hitler’s reputation as the incarnation of evil will ever change.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Related Photographs:            Photo plate. #1: Forced laborers in Buchenwald : almost dead or waiting for killings   

Photo plate #2: An emaciated Buchenwald survivor drinking from a bowl following liberation.   

  Photo plate #3: Pathetic condition of Buchenwald inmates    

  Photo plate #4: US Senator Alben W. Barkley looks on after Buchenwald's liberation. Barkley later became Vice President of the United States.      

Photo plate #5: Listening horrible description from audio guide about the concentration camp site in Buchenwald. Pillars of one destroyed C. camp (block) are at the hind.    

Photo plate #6: Prisoners in the barracks at Buchenwald after liberation (Source: website)    

    Photo plate #7: Corpses stacked behind the crematorium in Buchenwald.(corpses look like insects killed by powerful insecticides!!???)  

 Photo plate #8: Corpse Cellar: Corpses were thrown down the chute into the cellar, where they were collected and dragged to the lift for transport to the cremation room. The hooks seen were for hanging innocent people.  (Photo: by Hem Raj)

Photo plate #9: Cremation Chambers: where inmates were partially burnt and piled away (Photo: by Hem Raj)   

 

    

Photo plate #10: U Photo #  Display shows shrunken head (SUKUTI...!) of prisoner     

Photo plate # 11 Shops allegedly made from human fat         Photo plate # 12 Survivors of the camp after liberation        

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