Bhaktapur's Juju Dhau

There may not be anyone who does not know about Bhaktapur’s Juju Dhau.  After tasting this special yogurt, I can bet that you were completely smitten by it.  Juju dhau literally means ‘King of Yogurt’. In Bhaktapur, you can find numerous yogurt shops one after another. So wherever you go around Bhaktapur do not forget to taste this delicious yogurt.

Many people have tasted it but may not know how it is made and also have desire to know. Laxmi Keshari Dumaru, one of the dahi makers of Bhaktapur who run this business more than 15 years support in this dahi making journey. According to her, the vital element for preparing dahi is milk and Juju dhau is made up of buffalo’s milk not cow’s milk. It is because buffalo’s milk adds more taste and texture to yogurt.  The process begins with boiling of the milk with the sugar until it gets thick. Boiling process takes half an hour to one hour.Then, the milk is mixed with culture which is known as dahi ko bue in Nepali and poured into clay pot called maato ko kataaro. After that, it is placed in a warm area; on the bed of paddy husks which is known as bhus. If it is not placed above husk it won’t be still and impeccable. So in order to make it tasty and perfect it husks should be used. Then it is covered with another kataaro on the top and wrapped in several thick cotton blankets to maintain a warm temperature while the yogurts set.  Then it is left for 3 to 4 hours in summer and 5 to 6 hours in winter to be set.  After that you will get a perfect Juju dhau and it is ready to go to the market.

Juju dhau is prepared in clay pots. As Shyam Krishna Dumaru says, this is mainly because those clay pots have pores from which the liquids of the yogurt slowly evaporate and make it delicious, creamy and yummy.

Rajesh Shrestha who runs Khwopa Juju Dhau says happily, ‘It’s been 9 or 10 years I have been running this business but till now response is positive from the customer, they say it is good and tasty.  He added that the business just doubled in summer than in winter because of hot temperature. So the business is going well overall.

Now and then the price of Juju dhau has been drastically different. According to Laxmi Keshari Dumaru, the clay pot used to cost only Rs. 2.5 but now it costs Rs. 10. Similarly milk also used to cost RS. 25-30 per liter now it is Rs.52. That is why the curd used to cost Rs.60 but due to price hike in every material, it increased up to Rs.130.

Most of the shopkeepers have the same views when they were asked about profit and loss. They all faces the same problem while making the yogurt like when sometime the problem such as premature curdles in milk results the whole product into a waste. So according to them this determines their profit and loss.

Juju dhau has its importance in many ceremonies such as weddings, feasts, and people also use it to give sogan.  It is said that if you keep dahi at the two sides of the door before starting a new journey, it will brings good luck to your life. Therefore dahi add joys and colors to any celebration. So why to wait grab it!

MY AMA'S LANG

When I was a child, I always thought about ‘the three black’ parts of my Ama’s (mother) body. I thought it was some kind of permanent patches. But later on with the age I came to know that these patches are called Lang(tattoo), an ancient art form. After knowing that, I saw there an art. From then, the tattoo attracted me to write about it, about my ama’s lang. I want to thank my ama for inspiring me to write about it.

"I made the tattoos because it makes me beautiful", is the first thing she expressed to me when I asked about her tattoo. She added that when she was young and got married, she wore Hakku Patasi, which has the combination of red and black color along with white Khasto and with those, the tattoo made her look sensational. She giggled and said,” As the young girls wear lipstick to look stunning now, at that time we made tattoo just because we wanted to become gorgeous like heroine.” Even then and now the concept of looking beautiful is always there for girls only the way to look beautiful is different. 

Like my ama, many other amas and abuas(father) have lang. Everybody including my mother has the same answer that they all made tattoo only because their friends made it too. My mother has three tattoos, one at her left wrist and one each on her legs. For me the single tattoo means "ahhh its hurt" and my mother has three. I can only imagine how much it must have hurt.

On her left wrist, she has a tattoo of Lord Krishna playing flute and on her legs, there are the tattoo of ‘Tiki Jhya’ (a window which has a lot of holes as a space) and a snake. The Lord Krishna is so beautiful. I can see his flute, his jewelers, his cloth, the beautiful peacock wings but little bit kind of blur as the skin of my mother has been so loose because of her age. Similar is the case of another tattoo as well. A type of wrinkles is there so I hardly can see the perfect lines of Tiki Jhya and snake even though it is attractive today as well. I wish I would have seen it in her young age. At the age of 14 she made the tattoo of Lord Krishna and the Tiki Jhya at the age of 15 and she added snake on two legs at the age of 20. I was shocked when she told me the age and more shocking part was that she was already married to my father. Then suddenly a flashback of that age appears to me, I was still playing, studying with my friends and family. But, my mom!!?

Can you imagine she with her friends literally walked from Bhaktapur to Singhadurbar to make that tattoo? I am genuinely amazed after knowing that. From this, you can see that there are a lot of changes and differences from that time to now. It is not a joke to walk that far. Now if someone asks you to walk, surely you will hesitate. But when you look at my mom’s time it seems nothing to them to walk that far. They made it look so easy.

 My mother's name is Krishna Maya and I thought this was the reason for the tattoo of Lord Krishna but it is not so because I have seen many people’s tattoo of my mother’s age with that particular tattoo. Then I came to realize that it was not the name but it was a fashion of the time.

In present context, people pay thousands for a single tattoo so I asked my mother about the then price. She said when she made the Krishna, it costs only 25 paisa, the Tiki Jhay costs 4 rupees and when she added the snake it costs 75 paisa. So all together it costs 5 rupees. Now you think that 5 rupees is not that big amount but for my mother in that period, it was a lot. She did not have that much money. She got the money by planting rice for 3 days in someone else’s field only to make tattoo. By working 3 days there she got 9 rupees as her salary. And only then her dream of getting a tattoo was fulfilled. As interest is boundless, my mother has also the interest of making tattoo and she made it by working hard and saving money. This proves that if there is an interest, people think of different ways to fulfill it and they can finally get success. I also learned that if there is a will you can easily find the way and sort it out.

Making tattoo has great importance in Newari culture. They say that if you make tattoo, when you die, you can sell that tattoo and live safely in heaven. So many people make it thinking of this and my mother is also one of them.

The motive of making tattoo is different between now and then. There used to be cultural and religious perspective. It’s a tradition and has its own story behind. Now it is modernized and more focused into fashion. It has become the platform to create and display the art. People are accepting it as the profession as well. The concept of tattoo has changed with the space of time. People were more focused into the faces of god and goddess and other religious factor. Now you can see various form of art over there. Similarly the perception over tattoo has been changed. People used to take as a tradition and now it is taken as rebellious.

Where people is taking it as a rebellious in some country like Nepal and other countries where there is a majority of religious people, my perception over it, is completely different. In my views, it is more than just tattoo. For me it is the way to show the story behind making that particular tattoo. As for example the world famous footballer David Beckham makes the tattoo with the name of his wife Victoria, to show his love toward her and the importance of her in his life. Many people make the sign of their zodiac sign. You can make whatever u like in your own body. It is not bad at all. So I have an optimist view regarding making tattoo. I like it and maybe in the future I will have one. 

MIMAMSA ETHICS

Mimamsa Ethics

 The word “mimamsa” means the “desire to think”, or more colloquially, “how to think through or interpret the things.” As it is the proper way of interpretation of Vedic text, it is also called Purva Mimamsa. It is also known by Dharma Mimamsa because it is an inquiry to Dharma established by Vedas.  Similarly it is also Karma Mimamsa as it describes the importance of sacrificial activities in attaining the pure Dharma as the good. So overall this demonstrates that “mimamsa” means “Investigation, inquiry or discussion.”

The earliest work of the system, the Mimamsa-sutra of Jaimini (c. 4th century BC), was followed by the writings of a long line of interpreters and teachers, notably Kumarila Bhatta and Prabhakara Mishra (8th century). Kumarila is credited with using Mimamsa to defeat Buddhism in India; Prabhakara was a realist who believed that sense perceptions were true.

It is probably the earliest of the six orthodox systems (darsahans) of Hindu philosophy. Its aim is to give rules for the interpretation of the Vedas and to provide a philosophical justification for the observance of Vedic ritual. . Mimamsa is fundamental to Vedanta and has deeply influenced Hindu law. Hindu jurisprudence reformulated the Mimamsa theology by staking a claim that what is good for the individual must be “de-centered” in favor of what is good for the social system of castes and life stages.

Mimamsa explain how the human can achieve the magnificent power produced by a correctly performed sacrificial ritual but not through the action of gods.  The result of the sacrifice usually comes after the death of the person performing the ritual.

In this ethics there are ‘Bidhi’ and ‘Nisedh’ which means ‘command’ and ‘prohibition’ respectively. With this Bidhi and Nisedh people are injected to do something within the code of conduct.

In mimamsa ethics essentially everything is determined by character (dharma) or lack of it through the law of karma or action with its consequences. Thus dharma or karma supports the universe. If it is ethically right, it produces enjoyment; if it is wrong, then suffering is experienced. This force (shakti) of dharma or karma is extraordinary and unseen. The universe, being eternal, is not created by this force, but it is shaped by it.

Mimamsa gives the importance to “theory of Karma” which states that good actions result good and evil produces evil result. So it solely depends on what and how you perform. So in journalism also the sense of “karmayogya” plays a pivotal role as journalist need to play fair game, to be moral, ethical and give justice to the people. That is why if the journalistic code of ethics if based on Mimamsa philosophy, it seems not only coherent but also practical.

So mimamsa ethics can be applied in the field of journalism or any media profession. In present context where there is being kidnapped or murdered of media professionals, in this case if everybody understood the Mimamsa ethics and apply it, it would have been diminished.

Another instance can be the use of the language or the word in media field also determines the ethical value of media. The journalist or the reporter can use the word like “dristibihin” for blind or “differently able people” for physically impaired persons so that it would be more ethical.

It emphasis on deontological ethics, that expresses duty. In reporting and editing Karma is fulfilled. Every Karma of a journalist is a Dharma. So Dharma in journalistic field is doing all Karma in perfect way.

Therefore through Mimasa Ethics, it can be determined the ethical value of media through dhrama and karma.

REFRENCES:

Adhikary, N.M. “Mimamsa-Philosophy and Mass Media Ethics” BODHI An Interdisciplinary Journal. Dhulikhel: Department of Languages and Mass Communication, 2007.

Ethics of Hindu philosophy by Sanderson Beck Retrieved on 6 May, 2012 from http://www.san.beck.org/EC11-Hindu.html

Hermeneutics and ethics - University Publishing Online Retrieved on 6 May, 2012 from http://books.google.com.np/

Mimamsa Ethics- Media Studies Academic Blog Retrieved on 6 May, 2012 from http://visitskc.wordpress.com/2010/06/18/mimamsa-ethics/

MORE THAN A PIC.....

One photo speak thousand words. While seeing this picture in surface, it is just a picture of an old woman crying. But in fact when we observe and analyze it deeply we can understand her emotions. So more than the text, the picture itself drag my attention toward it. This picture reflects the detachment of a mother with her dear son who was killed in the Maoist attack in 2062 B.S. in Dadhikot, Bhaktapur and who has been her support in her old age. It depicts not only the sorrow, pain and grief of sub-inspector Hari Wagle Sharma's mother but also the thousands and thousands mother who has lost their children in Maoist attack. The moment during the funeral of own son for a mother is always breathe taking. So we can imagine ourselves that how painful that moment was for his mother. All the dream and hope of that old mother has passed away and shattered into pieces with last breathe of her son. The crying and painful face of his mother clearly ask the question that who will be her support till her death. Every single drop of tear that roll down from his mother eyes bring tear to my eyes itself. So I feel this particular photo is touching.

ASSIGNMENT

Q. Discuss the significance of research in the field of mass media research with special reference to characteristic and objectives of research.

Research is a systematic and organized effort to investigate a specific problem that needs a solution. It has its significance in the field of mass media research. Mass media is an essential part of everyday life. It plays an important role in disseminating information. Thus it is crucial for democracy. Our world has now become a global village and this would not have been a possibility without mass media. Mass media research is like any other research only it is done in the context of mass media. Mass media is helpful in understanding the process and effects of mass communication and to learn how mass communication influence individuals and society. So research has a vital role in the field of mass media research in order to know the impact of mass media over the society.

Mass media research falls under the mass communication research of communication research which is studied under social science research. Mass media research adopts scientific method. It is systematic, objective and empirical. It is cumulative, replicable, logical and purposive. Thus it is reliable source to gather data regarding mass media and its developments. Mass media research does a scientific study of mass communication media and how people interpret it as individual and as a member of society and the research helps in this by searching the differences of people to disseminate different forms of content.

Research helps in mass media research to answer some crucial questions like how to increase readership of newspaper, what do the audience prefer, when is the best time to broadcast a certain program, what sort of meaning are the audience making from the media messages and so on. This helps the media operators make better decisions. Big money is involved in the media industry so research is required to study the audience and the current trend In order to ensure the investments made. Moreover the media contents have to profound impact on the audience. Thus those research give us an idea on what to keep and what not on TV, newspaper etc.

Research is used in media every day in the form of opinion polls, audience surveys, growth projections or status reports and so on. It is used for advertisement, public relations, content productions and evaluation.

Mass media research on what type of content the audience want and what type of content is necessary for the audience is required for better production of programs. Mass media research with audience survey and opinion polls is helpful in understanding the consumption pattern of the audience; content analysis is useful for evaluation and assessment. The research helps in mass media helps us better understand the problem within the society. It is done for better contents, to attract more audience, to better represent the society and to avoid bias.

The main objectives of research are:

1. Generate new knowledge i.e. uncovering facts or phenomenon or establishing new relationship of various variables.

2. Improving understanding i.e. helping to explain situation or shed light on misunderstood phenomenon or concepts.

3. Application testing, i.e. trying out concepts and approaches in the real world to see If they work.

4. Comparing best practices, i.e. gathering information about successful of subjects in different circumstances and looking for explanation of their successes.

5. Helping with decision making i.e. generating information, concepts, framework and approaches that help executives or planners make better and more effective decisions.

These objectives of research also assist in mass media research in order to learn about the audience, the content to be broadcasted, published and other planning as well.

ASSIGNMENT

Q. Why is science considered more trustworthy method of knowing than tenacity, authority and intuition?

We know things in a number of different ways. As a result of our curious mind we are always in search of answers to unanswered questions. There are various methods of knowing. Among them the four widely accepted ways of knowing are:

a. Tenacity: In tenacity, people believe something is true because it has always been true and is commonly known to be true. People have faith just because of their tradition. Tenacity is unacceptable because it doesn’t permit any questioning. It is not verifiable.

b. Authority: Incase of authority, if a well-respected or authoritative source says that something is so and then it must be so. Authority is a subjective choice. Because of the subjectivity attached with authority we cannot be sure whether it is true.

c. Intuition: Intuition also known as prior method is based on the notion that people reach the truth because their natural inclination will be to do so. It agrees with reason and not necessarily with experience or rather experiments.

d. Science: No single path to discovery exists in science and no one clear out description can be given that accounts for all the ways in which scientific truth is pursued. Scientific method is objective and also its accepting is tested.

Besides, science all the other three methods of knowing are based only on observation which may be inaccurate. There is no touchstone against which its accuracy can be checked. However, science is the systematic study of anything that can be examined, tested and verified. Science develops through objective analysis, instead of through personal belief. Science seeks the systematic organization of information about the world and in doing so, discovers new relationships among natural phenomenon. It endeavors to explain why phenomena occur and how they are related.

The term ‘science’ is almost synonyms to ‘valid knowledge’. It is considered as the most trustworthy among the 4 ways of knowing due to the following characteristics:

a. Verifiable: The knowledge derived from science can be verified. Only when the work is verified and replicated through experiments will it be accepted as a scientific truth.

b. Objective: Science observes the things as they are without setting particular worldview affect the result or observation. The result of an experiment does not depend on the person conducting it.

c. Empirical: Empiricism is the central concept of science since science is the study of things that can be tested by sense and something which can convince. There should be certain proof which testifies the accuracy of knowledge.

d. Systematic: Science is defined as a systematic study. There are various steps for conducting a scientific study. Although the procedures to be adopted in a scientific investigation may differ according to the nature of investigation, type of phenomenon under investigation and the investigator himself or herself basic steps are the same.

e. Cumulative: Scientific studies are continuous. There is no end to it. Knowledge gained from previous studies are accumulated which helps in conducting new studies. Scientific study does not include only limited knowledge of self but of others and past result. Thus, scientific knowledge helps growing in a refined way.

f. Logical: Science does not mean merely following one’s belief and views. It is a system of reasoning. Inductive and deductive reasoning are used in scientific method.

Due to its characteristic, science is less to prone to errors. That is why people believe in science. Also, it is a state of objective human mind and follows a systematic procedure. In science, beliefs do not influence the truth. Scientific studies are conducted in such a manner that one’s thoughts and views have no effect over the result. The conclusion of the study shall be the same regardless of the researcher. The knowledge gained from experiment is not accepted as true until it is tested and opens to public inspection. In scientific method, there is no place for personal belief, perceptions, biases, values and emotions. It is a systematic study which involves a series of objective analysis. The truth is found only at the end which is purely objective. Hence, science is the most trustworthy among the four ways of knowing.

You Bliss Me!!!

Thinking of you

makes me happy...

Missing you

bring smile on my face...

Remembering of you

makes me fresh...

Talking about you

makes me believe on myself and my love...

Listening you

i can hear my heartbeat inside you...

Feeling you

brings a heavenly moment...

If you are really here with me

in front me

i will be complete.