Do hashtag trends really work?

To understand hashtag trends, let's understand hashtags first. Hashtag is usually introduced by the number sign or a hash symbol (#), is a type of metadata used in social media platforms like facebook, instagram, twitter and other media services. It is a user generated tagging that helps to find messages with specific theme or content easily. Its the users who creates and use hashtag by placing a hash symbol in front of a word or a phrase which is written without a space.Same hashtag is used by someone else to share views on the topic. There have been a practice of using hashtags to bring people for discussion under same topic, issue and get it in attention of the people to whom it is targeted for. 

Hashtag trends have recently picked up in Nepal too. With more people locked up in home and cannot move freely outside due to ongoing pandemic, social media platforms have been the main show ground for protests, raising concerns and voices. Whether to support someone, to speak agains someone or to ask for justice, hashtags are widely used these days. 

Understanding whether the hashtag works or not can be a topic of debate but it certainly puts a pressure on the government or the targeted body to take action. With the world shifting to online, it cannot be ignored that there are people on the internet who care about what happens around them. For a situation like we are facing these days because of COVID, it should be taken more seriously as hashtags are the most safest and convenient way of raising voice and concerns.  

For a developing country like nepal, hashtags trends seem to be less significant but it should be the government willing understand the seriousness and to embrace the changing society. Hashtags have made easier for people living abroad to support on the cause happening in their home country. people being more busy with work and life, no one should be forced to come to street to raise concerns.  It should be heard before matters get serious. Demonstration on streets may be comparatively powerful but hashtag trends shows people care and raise voices without being on streets. They care about the things that are affecting the society. These trends may not cause a lot of damage to attract attention, but it is the concerned authority that need to remain alert. 

Personality and Social media

Like our fingerprints, our personality is also unique. Though one can argue that we can deduce someone’s personality by observing behaviour which can be true to some extent. However, there hasn’t been any technology developed or any research been done to understand a human as a whole. Since we can fake behaviour, even unknowingly, an in-depth personality cannot be deduced by observing behaviour pattern. There are much more things going inside a human brain which are significantly important and are difficult to be mapped.

 

Social media and internet are elements of revolution of this century. The access to information and the connection we have been able to achieve are astonishing. With this revolution, we have dragged some negative behaviours along with it and these behaviours are certain to be a social media culture of future if no actions are taken today. We see these actions of sharing news, views and ideas as a granted elements on internet but it’s clear that we are not able to understand the seriousness of these actions.

 

How can sharing news and views be bad? If you see as a whole, well it’s a good action and maybe finding a bad consequence is not that easy. However, if we look deep into it, this small act can be a bad culture for future. An example can be, A person shares a post about a dog getting beaten by a person, badly injuring the dog and with a caption stating “humans are cruel. Let’s fight for cruelty “.  It is a good message that is being passed on but wait, has the action of person sharing the post have changed? No. The person sharing the post throws water on dogs on the middle of night for barking in front of his home in the middle of winter. The same person throws away his leftover when the dog outside roams the community to find food for its puppies. The man doesn’t care if the stray dog population in his community is increasing and actually he hasn’t ever thought about dogs this much, but he is not heisting to share human cruelty on the poor animal. Well the post is heartbreaking, which is understandable but are you changing the attitude of yourself towards these things. It is not just about animal cruelty, there are a lot of things where we show our soft part but, have we realised that the social media culture may be making us a hypocrite?

 

 

So, where does this personality things come into play? It is right there every time. We are sensitive to lot of things that happen around. In fact, if you scroll thought your Facebook newsfeed all day you will find thousands of things you get embarrassed about and thousands of things that you will be happy about. It depends on your sensitive personality that you might even share a few things in your timeline. This is what needs to be focused on. There are people who give opinions and just aren’t the part of your life and there are people who are genuine in giving constructive feedback on your action. Whatsoever you are the person who make primary decision for yourself. This article can raise a question within you but its again up to you to decide what the best for you is. Writing posts, sharing ideas are not bad, but the significance content matters. It is equally important to ensure that the quality of the things you share aligns with your values.

 

It is us who make things worse and its us who make things better as well. News, views and ideas are to be shared if they are worth sharing but sharing is not enough. Sharing something doesn’t just mean you have done your part, its you who too needs to take some action on your level. It’s you, your personality that needs to show changes and that can be in your own way. Fake personality will not work all the time and definitely you will be in a loss in the long run.

What will THEY think!

“What will they think?” Have you ever asked this question to yourself? 

If yes then welcome to the team, we have something in common.

Even if its a "No", welcome, its important to understand it for you as well.

 

“What will they think?” is a significant question if you are constantly asking yourself while you do things that other will eventually see or analyse. It’s also a question which makes people like me step back while trying to change.  Change in a sense like " coming out of comfort zone, speaking up, being noticed, changing clothing style, thinking different and so on". But asking this question time and again makes the question more powerful obstacle for your step towards change if you are not able to answer them yourself. It has that ability to develop fear for those who do not get right motivation and direction. Eventually a short and simple question becomes complex and a factor in life that holds back creativity, expression and emotion of a person.

 

Well, if the question is self damaging,

Should I avoid asking it to myself?

The answer is “No”. While writing this piece of opinion, I realised that if I stop asking this question to myself, it means I am avoiding something that gives answer and directs me to be a better person. To put it more concisely and clearly, thinking about my action and its consequence on others is always important. Undoubtedly, no matter what you do, people are going to have their own opinion on your action, while at times, opinion matters. In those situations, positive opinions should be taken as motivation and the negative opinions should be taken as lesson if needed.

 

Now putting things into perspective, questing oneself for actions that you do for is correct. I do it all the time. Even after something has happened, I question myself if I did right thing. If things are reversible, I change my decision to go for a change of action. But sometimes, I regret. I regret for stepping back. When I think deeply, it feels like I am holding up my true self. Just assuming what other will think, I get scared to reveal my actual beliefs. In contrast to that, asking same question makes me realise that I am making mistakes. Maybe the state of mind also determines what is good and what is not at situations but actively seeking answers for questions within yourself is necessary. It helps to build a positive environment within which you can satisfy yourself.

 

After all, its important to understand that having feelings and letting the feelings take over yourself means restraining yourself to command yourself. You cannot reach a destination until you start to move. If we have command on self, opinion of others should not restrict on having a life we desire. Positive motivation is always carrying you forward. 

Better life

Words from saint 

“Drink water from the spring where horses drink. The horse will never drink bad water.

Lay your bed where the cat sleeps.

Eat the fruit that has been touched by a worm.

Boldly pick the mushroom on which the insects sit.

Plant the tree where the mole digs.

Build your house where the snake sits to warm itself.

Dig your fountain where the birds hide from heat.

Go to sleep and wake up at the same time with the birds – you will reap all of the days golden grains.

Eat more green – you will have strong legs and a resistant heart, like the beings of the forest.

Swim often and you will feel on earth like the fish in the water.

Look at the sky as often as possible and your thoughts will become light and clear.

Be quiet a lot, speak little – and silence will come in your heart, and your spirit will be calm and full of peace.”

-Saint Seraphim of Sarov

Starting a new BUSINESS?

Business in simple terms means an operation where people work together to make and sell product or service. The business can earn profit for the product or service that it provides or produces. There are many types of business that you might want to start. If you want to start on your own, you can start a sole trader or you can partner with other person to start a business. It can be manufacturing or merchandising business or anything of  your concept. There are wide range of things you can do but what signals that you are ready to start?

For a starter its a challenge and get themselves bombarded with questions like what business should I start?, how should I start? But here is a guide. Your business stands on your idea. Everyone has their own way of thinking and your idea might sound outstanding but before moving ahead, market research is really important. Asking yourself these questions to start a business is must: Is my business idea viable? Is there any competition in the market? What kind of business structure should I adopt? Do I know what I am getting into? Am I ready to handle situations?

After you choose what business you are about to start, you need to see if you are ready. Know your market, the consumers you are serving and the location you are about to start your business. If you are starting it online, make sure you have a plan to attract traffic to your business. If you are planning to invest heavily at the start, its important to make sure that people(target market) know what is going to come to their plate. It is like securing your investment as when you start to give off products, consumers are prepared to for its consumption. Throwing something by surprise to your consumer doesn't always prove to be successful and as a starter, being on the safe side is the best idea. 

When you are certain about idea, location and consumers a proper business structure is necessary. It can be sole trader, Partnership or other business type according to your initial investment. Having a business structure, it will be easy to develop a business plan. Set a goal and establish objectives for your business. Having those helps you to develop business tactics and strategies that will ultimately help to fulfil business objectives and achieve the business goal. After all these processes, register your business and research on legal requirements according for your business. Record keeping and accounting should be managed and finally insure the business.

Business can be short term or long term. You might want to build an empire out of your business and make it your life or you can reach a certain point, sell you business and move on. It depends on the business structure you choose, how easy or difficult these process can be. A successful business faces challenges, have endurance and is always prepared. To be able to start a new business you need to be ready rather than walking into the dark tunnel without knowing where it will lead you. 

Caste System, Quota and Nepal

https://i-sight.com/resources/discrimination-in-the-workplace-guide/ 

It is an undeniable fact that influenced by Hindu caste system, Nepal has a complex social structure of different class of people which in past gave power to certain influential group only. There are four principle castes: Brahmin, Chhetri, Baise and Sudra. Sudra, the caste that was also considered the "untouchable" class in the time in past is still facing hard time in rural part of Nepal after so much of change. Different rules and regulations are established by the government to ensure the discrimination doesn't happen like before and the people who lagged behind in social context uplift their lifestyle. To ensure the lower class people gain economic stability and establish better social status, Nepal government ensures reservations "Quotas" in different civil service posts, Police, Army and other various institutions. In addition there are laws and many non-governmental organisation that are there to protect the underprivileged group. 

Caste system is a deep rooted problem in Nepalese society. After the constitution of Nepal 2015 was drafted,  there are various laws that discourages discrimination, encourages participation for minority groups and secures various other essential rights. However, lack of government effort to flow correct information around and the old mentality of society of unequal treatment of people have turned to be a bigger challenge. Illiteracy, ineffective local governing bodies and influence of certain "high" class people causes the people of so called lower class to face problems. Various incidents relating caste discrimination surfaces in media platforms time and again showing ineffectiveness of government in controlling these issues. Contradicting to that, small incidents that involve people of such caste but actually have nothing to do with discrimination gets highly politicised, pushing back societal reforms and establishing a firm identity of the caste system.

As an initiative to uplift social status of the people, certain percent of civil service posts are allocated to minorities which is also known as " Reservation Quotas".  In Nepal, 45% of all civil service posts are allocated for inclusive ( Reservation) and other 55% is allocated for open competition. 45% of the reservation quotas is converted into 100 percent and distributed according to given reservation clusters.Within that, 9% of post are allocated for "Dalit", people who are considered "untouchable". As educated people like us can distinct that it is a myth that passed-on in the society that these people should not be touched and later on it became a norm. It has been a challenge to make old generation people aware that such things should not exists and at some level, those who are the victims are not able to accept the change themselves. 

In contrast to positive efforts, the constitution of 2015 and the government have established various institutions like "dalit aayog" and "dalit uthan kendra", that always will identify the underprivileged as minority group "Dalit". It is like reminding the community of their real status though they get various support. If  Nepal government really want minorities uplift their life style, get ahead in society, the main thing needed is literacy. Its old norms and values that are holding the society back in accepting everyone to be equal. Reservation works only when the system is fair but in a corrupt government like of Nepal, reservation  gets exploited. Countable people and educated society might help the community to uplift their status but when it comes to getting social benefit, people in power will use it as a weapon to gather a mass around them. It is taken as a political advantage and a means to gather vote.

 No matter how much aware we have been, how far ahead we have come or how much we try, its those minorities who decides their fate. EDUCATION is MUST.

COVID-19 and Nepal

Nepal had a big plan in 2020. The stage was set, the performers were ready, arrangements were being made and the audiences had started getting invitation to attend the programme. Honourable Minister of Culture, Tourism and civil aviation, Yogesh Bhattarai was already preparing for the opening speech, in-fact he already had delivered some pre programme preparation. Disaster stroke. A virus, that started to spread in Wuhan in China, according the sources,  crippled the viability of the programme and later it got cancelled. All the efforts that was made for "VISIT NEPAL 2020" had officially been unproductive due to an unforeseen and unprecedented situation of COVID-19.

The first reported case of COVID-19 in Nepal was on 15th of February, in a student who returned from china. As per the sources, now on 21st of may, there are 453 cases of COVID-19 in Nepal out of which 49 have recovered. The government of Nepal imposed lockdown on the 24th of March restricting any kind of unnecessary movements within country and stopped international travel. At that time there were only 2 cases of coronavirus in Nepal. Though the lockdown had been imposed, thousands of people who had employment in India returned home, they brought corona virus with them. Even Indian nationals who had travelled to Nepal before lockdown had been infected by COVID-19 and are also  considered as possible sources for community transmission. The rate of infection is increasing and the number of death because of the virus also have started rising. Currently there are 3 people reported deaths because of the virus but if the health system is not upgraded, the death and infected number of people is likely to rise. Nepal still is in a lockdown situation.

The communist government is criticised for its ineffectiveness in making lockdown realistic. Though receiving thousands of virus testing kits, the government have not been able to effectively increase testing ratio in high alert areas. Low testing ratio and longer lockdown is severely affecting mental state of every individual and the economy but the government seem unconcerned to the fact.  Longer lockdown is emptying everyones pock and especially lower class people who need to work everyday to eat are severely affected. The government have not shown effective measures to tackle the situation while leaders of communist party are flaunting on effectiveness of the relief they are giving to the public. The goal has been made clear that the government will not let anyone die of hunger and will not let anyone suffer but where they have failed as a state is that no realistic objective and tactics are put in place. Small and medium scale business are considered as a backbone of an economy but the government have not presented any plans to support them. The government has failed at many places but a silver lining is that it is still not too late. The virus crisis is bringing in thousands of migrant workforce home and it is an opportunity to make a use of that workforce. The lockdown is being extended and may even get extended further but its the responsibility of the state to ensure that when the virus will pass, plans are put in place for a safe landing.

A Beginner : Photography

Following Photography

People spend their time in different ways. Some like to dance, sing, engage in sports, some start gaming , go fishing, read books and many more activities around to get engaged.


Photography is one, among all those activities. It can be a hobby, a passion or  profession. Photography is an art, its an art of story telling. Like a story having different genre, photography also have its own type.


Here, I am giving my opinion on photography. For me, photography is a hobby. When i'm free and I see something fascinating, I take my camera out and start capturing moments.


Being amateur photographer and sometimes capturing magnificent image gives chills. Thats the best part of photography I adore.

Best photographers need to build patience. If you want to capture a perfect moment, you need to wait for the time and so being alert is important as well.
Colour composition and lighting setting affect image quality and so it also needs to be taken care of.

I clicked these photos last month when I was staying at home during coronavirus lockdown. Though the images are not perfect, this greatly satisfies me.


I used my iPhone to capture these images  and after i saw the results, it really proved that the camera is worth the price I paid for the phone.


If you are looking something to photograph, the best idea is to look around yourself. Find something creative, maybe a pen or a small statue you have at home. It not always important that you get photograph of new things, animals or some event. Maybe something in your vicinity is waiting for you and your camera.

Yes, there are rules in photography. There are certain techniques that enhances the quality of your image. But for me, creativity comes first before rules. I am not a perfect photographer, I might never be able to do that but to stand out of the crowd you need to make your own rules. Basic understanding and basic rules are important, I agree but when you start engaging,  you'll learn more from your own experiences more than the explanations of others.


If you have camera then start capturing photos. You never know that the photo you capture might one day motivate you to be a professional photographer.

Perception

Perception : the ability to see, hear, or become aware of something through the senses.
Its a view by which you look at things, observe your surrounding. It is manipulative,meaning anybody can twist your perception for their own good. It is not easy to live a meaningful life  and its not even hard. If you know how your surrounding works then you are totally safe. This might confuse you but be aware that I too might be playing with your perception. 

Somebody tells you something bad and you may not find it bad at all because you think differently. A good action to other person can be completely bad from your view. There is no total agreement in everybody's thinking. If everybody agrees in same thing then why do we need discussion at all? why do we separate good and bad? if we are satisfied today, why do we need tomorrow?

Human in mars

The race for space settlement is not a new news and a topic of interest these days. Countries and their space agencies are constantly pushing themselves in the space race.
A rocket to mars or or a spaceship to mars is not new thing as NASA has already sent space vehicles for inspection of mars atmosphere and country like India have already sent space vehiclevć to orbit mars.

At present scenario, the test of heavy rocket engine by a privately owned space agency, SPACE X, has been a global hot topic. Space X recently sent a Tesla cart into space with its new heavy load rocket launcher, having twice the payload capacity of present space launching vehicles available a in the world. ‘Tesla car is now headed towards mars’ is what the CEO of Tesla company ‘Elon musk’ says.

The successful test is a milestone in space travel, and probably settlement outside earth. Experts argue that the resent test may make it easier for space agencies to work for building communities outside the home planet, earth, and its up to scientists and researchers to find right place for human settlement. ‘Mars’ planet that may  have the potential to support life will be unveiled within few decades and the recent test of the falcon heavy rocket might be crucial for the find.
Hopefully, life supporting environment will be found soon and we will have some planet to call second home in the near future.
BEST OF LUCK FOR A LL OF US ....

Disappointments in 2018

Things that will disappoint us in 2018

1. There will be no GAME OF THRONES
2. There will not be a complete solar eclipse visible from land.
3. There is no space exploration programme in 2018.
4. Trump will make more people turn on him.
5. Increasing value of electronic currency will crash.

Drive through in technology

Self driving truck

With rapid development of robotics in automobile industry, including self driving cars and racing cars, the world is now looking forward to self-driving trucks. It may not look like a big deal since self-driving vehicles are already  tested on road, however, trucks are more complex to handle and care on road.

Soon we'll be able to experience a huge truck, carrying tons of load alongside us on the road and without a visible human driver. Multiple companies are testing self driving trucks on road and are prepared to commercially produce the vehicle within next five years.

Among various companies, Tesla, the company able to build world's largest battery in south Australia within 100 days are onto this job. Elon Musk, head of Tesla, is confident that his self-driving truck will enter the market very soon and will perform no less than any human driven vehicles on the road. Tesla's vehicle is also announced to be road friendly, environment friendly and economy friendly though being rich in technology and advancement.

LIFE ? ........

                                            

What is life? What should you do and what things you need to avoid ?

Is struggle worth the outcomes? Is separation from loved ones worth it?

Does all these questions at once make any senses to you?

Neither to me but separately, they all do.

Life is a constant challenge, people say. What I say is, life cannot be defined. The one who define life does not live life to live the life. Agree or not but everything around us make senses and living up to your senses is life. Life is not an adventure or anything like the mixture of happiness and pain, it is simply a LIFE.