Wine or Nepal ??

Ask a wine lover for a choice, the highest probability is for a French wine. With a naughty smile his/her mischievous thought would be: who would prove oneself an idiot by not choosing French wine. To answer why I know France, one of the reasons would obviously be French wine, also the reason why I aim to visit France. It’s an undoubted fact that French wine is an incentive for France in many sectors, primarily for its recognition. Coming back to our country, is there something we can stand with as France stands with wine? Proclaiming us to be culturally diversified, there must be things like these that can be our recognition, and obviously, there are plenty of these kind, but are hidden or are in the verge of getting hidden.

Bhaktapur’s “Juju Dhau” is a highly famous form of curd, which carries a long history of recognition. Even today, people have a different impression for it. After all, it is said that that the Malla kings during their dynasty used to have it as an inevitable part of their meals, and used to regard it as a good- luck before wars. It is best known for its reputation as a royalty dish, and so is called Juju Dhau: the royal curd, and also for its preparation. It is purely made up of buffalo milk; is prepared with a standard of quality- never compromising it, and is served in an earthen cup- a unique Nepali tradition. How would it be if we were famous as the country of the royal curd!

Palpa stands with the famous “Dhaka”. It is a very famous hand woven cloth of Nepal, which has its origin in Tansen, better known as Palpa. This cloth is used to make the national dress of Nepal. The Nepali males dress up with the Palpali Topi, made up of this cloth. The women shine their beauty with the “Palpali Cholo”, also made up of this cloth. The unique cap is available only in Nepal and so is considered as one of the factors of national identity. How would it be to see people all round the world spending for the “Dhaka” with an eager interest to fit in world famous costume and visit Nepal to see the origin of such world famous cloth!

In the decades of 90’s Nepal was one of the major exporters of the famous Nepali carpet to a major part of the Europe and USA. About 32 million sq. meters of carpet was exported to different countries in 1993 alone. Had the carpet industry been sustained till present date with same focus and pride, one can assume that Nepal would have already stood as the country that gives carpets to be placed in British palace, American house of parliament and Rome’s Catholics. To sustain the quality and compete by holding a brand is never hard if proper governmental policies and diplomacies are introduced, but ends us up again regretting our fate.

The bravery of Nepalese has always been praised, and thus one of the reasons of this bravery- the Bhojpuri Khukuri also used to be raised with dignity. There used to be a time when this Khukuri was in its peak, but has started fading because of lack of international market approach, and thus limited in trade with the few tourists.

This all sums up how Nepal, basically because of its cultural diversity can stand with a lot of things like the French wine and the Swiss watch. Every single Nepali community holds things of this kind, the only problem being lack of exposure and market approach. I wish to see these things sanding as Nepalese identities.

Author: Prabin Bashyal, https://www.facebook.com/prabin.basyal