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Speaking at the event, Subedi praised Shah’s writing as a lively portrayal of characters from all over the world, which are in turn inspired by his many trips abroad during his Nepal Police days. Bhuinkhaat is a compilation of eight stories.

“Mahesh Bikram is one writer who makes me jealous,” Nayan Raj Pandey, another renowned author, said at the event. “His writings envision an inclusive society that is also diverse. From stories of Mad­hes to those related to the country’s political developments, Bhuinkhaat has it all.”

Author Shah, a retired police officer, is also an established name in Nepali literature. “For an author, the release of one of his creations is a cause of great celebration,” he said at the event. “My parents have always been my biggest inspiration and I would like to thank especially my father for encouraging me to write from an early age. He used to correct the letters I wrote to him when I was abroad.”

Before Bhuinkhaat, Shah had released “Satahaa”, “Sipahiki Swasni”, “Chapamaar ko Cho­ro”, “African Amigo”, “Jackson Height” and “Kathmanduma Com­rade”. APEX BUREAU  

It comes as a shock that wom­en can be depressed when one would assume the new mother is joyous. As a mother of a one-year-old I have experienced my share of postpartum blues. The crippling mood swings I felt were so confusing and complicated, I thought some­thing was terribly wrong with me. I kept it all to myself as I feared being judged. All because no one had dis­cussed or warned me about it.

When I later met my high-school girlfriends for dinner, it was a refreshing break for me. My daugh­ter was nine months old and I had not discussed what I had gone through with anyone. I was the last one to have a baby in this group so I gathered the courage to open up. To my surprise each one of them had the same experience! One of them, whose child is almost eight years old, said she couldn’t imagine having another baby: she had been trauma­tized by her postpartum experience.

According to the American Psy­chological Association, 80 percent of women get ‘postpartum blues’ and 10-20 percent new mothers are affected by postpartum depression. Some women experience minor adjustment issues, and others experience a grave and debilitating mood disorder. It is usually detected between 2-6 weeks postpartum and can last up to two years.

Becoming a mother is an identity shift and one of the most significant physical and psychological changes for a woman. Considering that 80 percent new mothers have postpar­tum blues, it's surprising how little we talk about it. It is common to discuss morning sickness and chang­ing bodies, exhaustion, the benefits of nursing or bottle feeding and the dilemma of returning to work. And yet we can be strangely mute about the dramatic and often overwhelm­ing changes in our inner self.

In a society like ours where mental health is spoken about in hushed tones, new mothers are affected more than ever. They are confused, and scared of being judged for not being good mothers. Their fear of being labeled a ‘non-perfect’ mother creates the silence. We fail to under­stand that just as the baby develops physically in utero and after birth so a mother is reborn psychologically in months preceding the birth of her child.

Maternal mental health has been largely unexplored in the medical community. A woman’s identity transition is completely ignored and the whole focus is on how the baby turns out, and its subsequent development. Sadly new mothers feel lonely and struggle with this transition. What no one tells them is that the transition to motherhood is not instant, easy, glamorous or graceful. It is exhausting and chal­lenging. But it’s also important to understand what you are going through is normal.

Greater understanding of the psy­chology of postpartum women helps promote healthier parenting. The childbirth education should include the postpartum period as well as newborn and infant care. Health­care professionals should educate couples about postpartum disor­ders and symptoms such as postpar­tum blues, postpartum depression, obsessive compulsive disorder, pan­ic disorder, etc. Partners and family members should also be made aware of the signs and symptoms. Help and support in any form will help the new mothers feel better.

The veil of the stigma associat­ed with postpartum disorders will slowly lift as more women find their voice. We need to empower new mothers by educating them in their prenatal and postnatal phases. For a child doesn’t so much need a perfect mother as much as a happy mother.

BY Dr MINANI GURUNG

The author is a medical doctor  

Kathmandu: The Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) has thus far taken action against 84 people for littering. KMC fined these people and collect­ed Rs 237,350 in penalty. Chief of the operations section of KMC’s Environment Manage­ment Division, Meen Bahadur Thapa, informed that 84 people have been booked, the majority of them from Putalisadak, Bag Bazaar, New Road and Jamal areas. The penalty for litter­ing ranges from Rs 500 to Rs 100,000. KMC has been man­aging 800 metric tons of solid waste a day. RSS  

Pokhara: Minister for Youth and Sports Jagat Bishwakar­ma has said a well-equipped international standard stadium would soon be built in Pokhara. Speaking at a press conference organized by the Nepal Sports Journalists Forum, Kaski, he also pointed out the possibility of linking tourism of the lake city with sports.

Acknowledging that sports can­not progress unless athletes can earn a living through their cho­sen profession, he also prom­ised a cricket ground. He high­lighted the recent success of the national cricket team, which has just earned the right to play international ODI cricket for the next four years. RSS

Lahan: Naya Shakti Party Nepal’s coordinator Baburam Bhattarai has warned that the country may see another conflict if the constitu­tion is not amended. Speaking at a press meet, Bhattarai said the Mad­hesi people were dissatisfied with the constitution, and their demand for amending it must be heard. He also accused the Madhes-based leaders of being opportunists, sug­gesting that they should respect people’s mandate for amending the constitution. RSS

On March 15, in arguably the country’s biggest sporting achievement till date, the Nepali men’s cricket team secured the One Day International status. The new status allows the team to play ODI cricket for the next four years. In this period, besides the ODIs, the men in blue-and-red will also get to play in the InterContinental Cup, a com­petitive four-day precursor to the five-day Test cricket.

On his triumphant return home, skipper Paras Khad­ka said Team Nepal’s next target is the ODI World Cup. With the players having done their bit, he added som­berly, the onus is now on the government to improve Nepali cricket.

He was right on the mark. The Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) was suspended by the International Cricket Council in 2016 due to excessive government interference. In its absence, domestic cricket has suffered and Nepal’s international participation been severely curtailed. Without the lifting of the ICC sanctions on CAN, it will be hard to build a robust domestic base, the only surefire way to do well in international cricket.

In the meantime Nepal can play ODIs even with the sanctions. Having secured the ODI status, Nepal gov­ernment can now directly negotiate with other Test- and ODI-playing countries for bilateral (or trilateral) games. During his recent Nepal visit, Pakistani Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi had hinted of ‘cricket diplomacy’ with Nepal. This is the perfect time to not only approach Pakistan, but also our other cricketing neighbors like India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

Perhaps the biggest signal of the seriousness to improve Nepali cricket would be for the new government to immediately resolve the old row over CAN leadership and appoint a new, non-polit­ical governing body consisting strictly of ex-cricket­ers. No more politicians or their henchmen running Nepali cricket, please. The paltry pays and perks of Nepali cricketers should also be raised. This in turn will prompt other youngsters to take up the game as a viable career option.

The next four years will be make-or-break period for Nepali cricket. If Nepal cannot capitalize on this rare opportunity, there is no shortage of countries that are keen to snatch Nepal’s ODI rights. If that is allowed to happen due to continued neglect and political interfer­ence, it would be a huge breach of trust of millions of Nepali cricket fans.

For the past 40 years, people belonging to the historically downtrodden Dalit community have been deprived of wor­ship rights at the Shiva-Parvati temple in Simraungad municipality of Bara district in the central plains. The local Chamar community has been denied the right to worship because non-Dalits of the area have prevented their entry into the shrine. “The temple was built four decades ago. Dalits have never been allowed in,” says Binod Mahara Chamar, a local resident. The tem­ple is located in Jhawani tol (neighborhood), which has 150 households. Of those, 10 to 12 belong to the Chamar community; the rest belong to Brahmins, Rajputs, Sahani, Teli and Nunia communities.

“Our forefathers helped build the temple as masons and laborers. But when it was built, we were denied entry on the grounds that we are from the ‘lower castes’,” rues Binod. He claims that non-Dalits have barred their entry because they think the presence of Dalits in the temple will defile it.

“We tried hard, but the non-Dalits were determined to keep us out,” says another local Binesh Mahara Chamar. “We are a tiny minority in this neighborhood, so we have little choice but to tolerate such injustice.”

A non-Dalit local leader of Jhawani tol denied such claims. “We haven’t prevented them from entering the temple. But if they worship in that temple, we won’t,” he says.

Another non-Dalit local Jayalal Sahani argued that Dalits are prevented from worshipping in the temple not because they are Dalits per se, but because they are dirty and come to the temple after consuming meat and alcohol. “We won’t stop them if are clean and sober,” says Sahani.

Gagandev Kushwaha, former chairman of Simraungad Village Development Committee (no longer an administrative unit after last year’s local restructuring), for his part says Dal­its have been deprived of their [worship] rights because they aren’t aware of their [civil] rights.

But Ramesh Kushwaha, chairman of Ward 7 (where Jhawani tol lies), pleads ignorance of the discriminatory practice. “I don’t know much about the happenings in the village. I’ll find out,” he says. “If indeed there’s discrimination, I’ll take the initiative to end it.”

 By Kranti Shah | Birgunj

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