Surya Shahi Chamunda, Dailekh
“Although I didn’t have the luxury of having any textbooks until class 7, I was very good at studies. I used to borrow books from my friends and write the whole book on my exercise copy. No one was there to guide me but I used to stand first in examinations, while those having textbooks used to be ranked behind me. People used to comment that I was granted a boon by goddess Saraswati. I would concentrate when the teacher was teaching and revise it in my head when the lecture was over. Although people won’t really see me studying, I used to keep up with it before bed and even while playing with colleagues. I was so focused that I knew the exact contents of each and every page.
The zeal to learn stems from the folk tales from our holy texts and inspirational biography of people like Mahatma Gandhi, Albert Einstein and so on. Moreover, my dad used to ask me to become a man of virtue. I still remember dad advising me to brighten the name of the country; if at least be, do good for the community but never to defame my father’s name. To support my studies, he also went to India for work. My dad’s struggle inspired me to do good for society. Even my teachers would encourage me every time and then.
When I was 14 years old, I was nominated as a district committee member of the Nepal Revolutionary Students’ Union. And then I was exposed to national and international politics, philosophy and literature. That inspired me to study further and get acquainted with economics, sociology, journalism, history, geography. Our party had designed a curriculum for studying various literature. I have learnt around 200 biographies of renowned personalities around the globe. Although I really didn’t have an opportunity to join any university, the hunger for seeking knowledge made me read the coursebook of intermediate, bachelor and masters level. Since every field is interrelated and is not absolute to itself, I kept exploring various disciplines. Although I wasn’t a master of one, I had become a jack of all trades. The more knowledge I gathered, the simpler I became. I realized that as a person attains a height in gathering knowledge, he will discover his weakness and abandon arrogance. Therefore, I don’t consider myself a wise scholar, rather a disciplined pupil and I’m proud of that. I started my teaching career at 16. Eventually, I became a district committee member of the Teachers’ Association and then worked in various ranks and files of the Nepal Communist Party and its committees. Leaving the permanent job of teaching and other business, I came into full-time politics in 1996. In 1997, I fought in the local election and won the race for Ward member defeating someone senior to me from another party. Although there was no local election for 21 years, I never lost my patience. Eventually, I became mayor in the local election of 2017. Despite being a full-time politician, my family runs various enterprises. I don’t really need to make illegitimate earnings.Many of our politicians forget their attitude of sacrifice as they come into power, be it congress or communists. This earth belongs to every being and every creature should be respected. In the name of development, we are destroying them. We could have created employment by using the ecological diversity from the Chure hills to the Himalayas. People talk about green roads without understanding the true meaning. Such road networks should contribute towards the income of the people and it shouldn’t affect the birds and animals. It’s ridiculous to construct such structures while damaging the environment and still calling it a green road. People talk about human food security. However, as long as the plants and animals aren’t fed, it can’t be achieved as we get our food from them. We talk about the periphery but forget its core. You know, the monkeys and porcupines are creating troubles in our agrarian community. Had they got food in the jungle, they wouldn’t have bothered to come into our settlement. We couldn’t link forests with food security and employment. We should recreate our ancient history of recreating forest covers that would benefit both wilds and humans in every ward. It isn’t something that is impossible. Not just forests, water resources also need to be protected. There’s a description of the Pisces incarnation of lord Bishnu in our holy text. It is said that fishes hold the earth into one piece. If there’s no fish, no being would exist as it is food to many creatures. Fish is an indicator of the purity of ecology as it doesn’t live in polluted water. The ecology gets out of balance if the aquatic animals vanish. But some people don’t understand this. They poison and bomb for the nascent benefit. In order to stop this ecological crisis, we formulated the Aquatic Animal Conservation Act. There’s a set of rules guiding the fishing practice in the act, such as prohibiting fishing in the breeding season and conserving its food and shelter. It is directly related to human food security as well. We are glad that Paani Project supported us in formulating this act. It’s a matter of pride that we are the first local level to formulate such an act to conserve aquatic biodiversity.…………………….There has been a lot of urbanisation and I don’t understand how people talk about smart cities. However, more than smart, what we need is a peaceful city. The cities of the future should consider the balance between humans, plants and animals. There should be enough water required for the populations and other living beings. And not to forget about the security-based on modern technology. Wherever you see, there’s greenery and peace. That’s what I call a peaceful city. It isn’t impossible. We can have three of such cities in the plains, hills and the mountains. I’ve started to work in that direction to a certain extent. There’s an ongoing eco-friendly road construction project that can contribute to the income of people. Moreover, there used to be a naked hill near us. We are reforesting the area planting fruit trees, linking it with employment. If not massive, someone has to start at least on a small scale.Plants and animals also have leadership attributes; they also make communities. We are humans; we are from all walks of life with diverse values and interests. While some people are attracted by short-term benefits, some are impressed by long-term visions. We as a leader should address both. I’ve considered short, mid and long term arrangements at my local level. With respect to aquatic conservation, we are promoting vegetable and livestock farming for the short run, as they need something to address their immediate nutrition needs. For the mid-term, we are promoting fruit farming which will gradually decrease the pressure on fish and rivers. In the long run, we are preserving water resources and aquatic biodiversity. As per my understanding of life, it is a balance of everything. There’s a balance in the solar system. The day it gets out of balance, there will be another big bang. Our planet earth is also in a state of equilibrium. The day when the equilibrium of earth gets deviated, we will all die. Our life is also in equilibrium. We get ill when the equilibrium is disturbed. We are happy when everything is in balance as nothing comes to impose on us. Balance in our food and our thoughts will make us happy.”
(Surya Shahi, Chamunda, Dailekh)
