Talking With Suresh!

Aloha and Namaste!

Glad to learn that you are my dialogue partner, I just got other e-mails that someone has been allocated, and that is YOU!!!. However, not yet received the details about how the project goes, don't worry I will try my best and hope to learn form you (Reciprocity) too.

Well, I am SURESH, my surname is 'Tamang', has a long history coming from a Tibeto origin ( I will probably tell you later). I am a doctoral student at UH/School of Social Work. I am here with my wife 'Ekta' and a 8 yesrs old daughter 'Menjam', hope they will also see you sometime.

I live nearby University, my home no is 808-955-8754 and Cell is 808-675-8019, I check e-mails frequently, so you can write as much as you like. Alternately, you can use tamang@hawaii.edu as well.

Good day and hope to talk more and proceed!!

Suresh

oh I am sorry i spelt your name inocorrectly. The paper given to me had the name spelt with two Es. sorry!

I belive for this project we are supposed to discuss mainly about your culture and more specificlly a poem/proverb, a piece of artwork, and a piece of literature from your home country. I am also interested to learn more about your background and what Nepal is really like. Also when did you first come to Hawaii? Do you enjoy it? How differnt is it from Nepal?

I would also love to meet your family and I am very excited to be doing this project with you!

Have a great day,

-Ariana

Hi Ariana,

Good evening!

No worries about typo.

Well, I have proposed two provisional area that you might be interested, let me know if you are, oteherwise we will talk againg.

Nepal is sandwiched between two giants, India and China, therefore influenced from both sides. It's a small but very beautiful country in the Himalaya. We are completely land-locked, so different from Hawaii, thus we have no seas, but have lots of river systems. The economy is based on subsistance agriculture, but the second major industry is tourism. Currently, we are in a political transition, running with an interium constitution, after a decade-long internal civil war. People are nice (I hope), who come from both Indian and Tibetan origin. Basically, I represent one of the Tibeto-burmese sub-group, whose ancestors came from the North. I am Buddhist, so practice almost identical Tibetan Buddhist culture and rituals, while half of the population is Hindu in the country.

Could you please tell me your background a little bit, if I have to guess your surname seems either Japanese or Thai (!?!).

Good night, looking forward to talking to you soon.

RGDs

Suresh

Hello Suresh,

Nepal sounds like a very interesting country! I think it's cool that hawaii shares the similarity of being such a small region, but it's also very different from the Nepal, being that it's a landlocked country, which is very different compared our island in the midst of an ocean! Tourism as a main form of economy also sounds like a trait they have in common, which means Nepal must be very beautiful as well. Also, what is it like being of Buddhist religion and practicing here in Hawaii?
My own background consists of mainly Japanese decent, thus the surname of Tsuchiya. But my from my father's side i am Japanese, Okinawan, and Korean. While from my mother's side i am English, German, Irish, and Cherokee (Native American). I have lived in Hawaii all my life, but i am very much interested in traveling the world and learning about different cultures and countries.
Also, if you would like, we can communicate via things like facebook, aim, skype, ichat, or the phone if you would like. But email is good too.

Nice talking to you!
-Ariana

Aloha, Ohaio-Gozai mas, again,

Great to learn your multi-ethnic background, very interesting, may be it is common in Hawaii. What ever the origin and background is, we all are human ultimately, and I think we have to respect all equally.However, I am Buddhist by birth, represent one of the hill indeginous groups, follow mostly Tibetan Buddhism, though, there are some modifications and simplifications in practice.

You are now getting closer to Nepal I guess. Its a tiny, but multi-ethnic (60 plus ehtnic /indeginous groups) and multi-religious country. The majority of the population consists of Buddhist and Hindus (40%) plus, followed by small proportion (less than 10%) of Christian, Muslim and others....

So far, tourism is concerned, being a country in the Himalaya, we do hiking, trekking, mountaineering (expidetions), white water rafting (rapid), jungle walk, drive or riding elephant to watch wild animals, mountain flights and paragliding, ...........bio-diversity related trips ..and so on ...and also importantly the cultural and other event-specific.

You can visit, http://www.welcomenepal.com/brand/index.asp

Communicating via e-mail is the best for me, however I am in the facebook, equally using skipe and messengers (yahoo/msn), but never used i-chat yet. I have no problem using phone specially in important and urgent cases.

Finally, now is it the time, that we need to decide on "what peice of literature or art you will based all of our dialouge, not in a general country and toruism information.

We can talk about it and start specific exploratin........

Good day! Have nice weekend.

Hello Suresh!

sorry my computer has been down for the past couple days but anyways...
i was wondering what symbol and proverb you wanted to discuss from Nepal. It can be anything you want that you feel best represents Nepal. I decided that the proverb that best represents hawaii to me is:
`Ike aku, `ike mai, kôkua aku kôkua mai;
pela iho la ka nohana `ohana.
which translates to:
Recognize others, be recognized, help others, be helped; such is a family relationship.
I thought this was a good symbolism of hawaii because it shows that family is important and here in the islands, we are all ohana (family) so we need to keep cherish these relations as an island chain.
I am excited to hear what you think best represents your home country =)

-Ariana

Aloha! Ari

No worries, I was also sligtly busy last few days. I have already thought of two short proverbs that certainly represents Nepal in some ways. "Char Jat Chhatis Barna ko Fulbari', that translates to 'A patch motlayed with multicolored tints' (since Nepal is a tiny but a country of multi-culture, multi-ethnic groups and multi-religion).

Secondly, you can go with "The Light of Asia" that is Lord Buddha, who was born in Nepal and the brith place of Buddha is enlisted by UNESCO in the World Heritage Sites.

You can decide to go with either one of them.

Suresh

hello Suresh!
Long time no talk! I hope that you are doing well =)
Anyways, we have been discussing our dialouge projects in class and my teacher found our communication very interesting. She was also very curious on your symbol of Buddha and asked me to ask about what your views on Buddha, and/or your religion are. Thanks so much for communicating with me and being my partner!
-sincerely,
Ariana

Aloha Ari,

Sorry, it was preety busy week, and even the week end. Glad that you already have taken off for the 'dialouge projhect journey'. Well, if you and your teacher are exited about the symbol of Buddha and to explore more about Nepalese culture, socieity and literature, I am more than happy to help.

I already told that I am Buddhist coming form the Tibeto-burmese ancestry, however Hindu people has a significant proportion in the country. And, fortunaterly, there is no conflict among the different religious groups in nepal yet, except some politically colored issue. Buddha symbolizes for 'Nepal' since he was born there, but also for 'peace, concentration and mindfullness'. Buddhist people believe in 'Good Karma', the good work and rebirth'. He is known as 'Light of Asia' and there are many countries (about 40?) in the world where Buddhisim is practiced. You can probably explore more about the socieities, culture (including religion) and festivals, people's life and literatures ..........I am not sure what will be your limit though..

I can recommend some of the following;

1. Book- People of Nepal- by Dor B. Bista (1987)

2. Book- Nepalese Festivals: with some articles enfquiring into Nepalese art, religion and culture by Dbhruba K. Deep

3. Article- Anthropolgy and Sociology in Nepal: Cultures, socieityes, Ecology and Development, Center for Nepalese and Asian Studies

You can also you any travel guides (Lonley planet are best! I guess) and the some websites such as www.welcomenepal.com

I will try to find some books if they are available in the UH library and let you know.

Enjoy your journey and let me know anytime if you want some more ideas. Good luck!

Suresh

Hi Ari,

I think UHM has a bunch of books, I just fond a list, find the attached..if you don't have any access, let me help you get it and lend. Can you go through the list and pick some of them that looks interesting or.........ANY Random.

Take care.

Suresh

Hello again Suresh!

I just want to thank you again for all your efforts made to communicate with me, even though i know you have a very busy and demanding scheduale. I also really love your recomdendations on book choices! i will be sure to check those out and learn more about Nepal. Do you by any chance know of any good fiction novels that i could read that has something to do with Nepal? I would love to read some fiction as well thats why. If you think of anything let me know.

I also want to thank you for all your information on Buddha. The whole Buddhist culture is very interesting and I like to see how it intertwines with Nepal. Speaking of culture, we have been having discussions on the roles of women in differnt countries. I read an article about how there are some instances on under privelged women in Nepal. You don't need to respond, but i was wondering if you have any opinions on women's roles in Nepal society.

Also as a parralel to the symbol of Buddha you gave me, i would like to share with you the symbol of Maui, one of the Ancient Hawaiian gods. Although I do not follow the beliefs of Maui followings, I still think that it is a significant figure in Hawaiian culture. The Hawaiians and people in Hawaii in general look to Maui for guidence for stregnth and courage.

Thanks again for communicating =)

-Ariana

Good morning! Ari
Hope you are exploring more and enjoying the journey!

I hope there are some, but I can not think any fictions written in English that has something to do with Nepal readily available here in Hawaii now. I found many (older publications) books about Nepal's culture, religion and festivals in the UH library, which are fine but so many has to update with the recent changes.

If you are talking about womens situation, in general they were absolutely under privilaged and still many of them are descriminated in many ways (specially in Hindus), where as there are some indeginous groups in the upper hills (northen side) of the country where women play the primary role at home and business as well. Nepalese society is so complex, influenced from both sides north and south; different religious orientations, different level of education and other socio-economic factors.

Keep e-mailing me and let me know if I can do anything more for you.

Good luck and have a nice week.

Suresh

Hi Ari,

How you doing? hope you are exited and exploring more if there is anything I can do at this point, let me know....keep going and enjoy.

Good day!

Suresh

Hi Suresh,

i just got back from my spring break and i hope yours went great as well. I am currently reading a book called "arresting god in Kathmandu" and it is written by a Neapalese author. Thanks for all your help and have a great day.

-Ariana

Good morning!

I hope you are enjoying and exploring more on the theme, I have an exam tonight then I will probably be able to talk to you if you like to. Keep me updating and let me help if you need any.

Suresh