Enfield owners wanted women riders, too!

“When I first rode the Bullet a year back, I knew that I wanted that bike,” says Siru Riviera, 20, an avid Royal Enfield rider.

Riviera will be one of the first two Nepali female riders participating in the 3rd Enfield Rendezvous and Poker Run 2011 from April 13 to 15. Joining her will be Angela Limbu, 26, from Dharan.


“Since the last two years of Enfield Rendezvous and Poker Run, we’ve seen the number of interested riders increasing.

Last year, we had a Dutch woman, Monique, as the first female rider to participate in the event. And this year, we’re very happy to see Nepali female riders participating,” says Rabi Thapa, CEO of Sacred Summit, who has been the backbone of the event, along with Australian friend Stewart Mclean since it started in April 2009.

The Enfield Rendezvous and Poker Run is a non-competitive annual motorcycle riding event organized in different countries on the Harley Davidson Motorcycles and Classic Bikes to bring motorcycle riders together for a day’s ride through the countryside.



The Poker Run also involves finishing up with the best hand of poker cards dealt at five different stops. However, Thapa emphasizes that the event is a fun ride with time limitation and not aimed at gambling.

The winner of the poker hand is awarded a trophy and special prize. Chhedup Bomzon has won the coveted trophy for the last two consecutive years in Nepal.

Apart from this, the “Hard Luck Award” is presented to the motorcycle that has the most breakdowns. This year, there will be an additional prize for the best supporting/enthusiastic female Enfield rider.

The registration fee is Rs 3,500 per person, which covers lodging, food and mechanical support in case of breakdown.

This year’s destination is Pokhara for a two-nights/three-days trip. There will be riders from at least nine nationalities and the organizers believe that the event will also promote Nepal Tourism Year 2011.

The riders will be taking stationeries donated by Millennium Press to Shree Chaitansheel Bal Bikas home at Mazumtar. Apart from this, they will also offer a day ride to 20 orphan kids of Metlang Home in Pokhara.

For registration and more information, visit www.enfieldpokerrun.com or email at pokerrun@sacredsummits.com

Marxist ethics

Marxism is an economic and social system based upon the political and economic theories of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Marxism is the system of socialism of which the dominant feature is public ownership of the means of production, distribution, and exchange.

Marxist ethics proceeds out of Marxist theology, philosophy, economics, and history. According to George Brenkert, from the Marxist point of view, the society should be based on the motto "from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs" which stems the idea of equality, which will bring together all people, who thus work together for the benefit of the society to which they all belong. Ethics are the primal cause of the proletarian revolution, and serve as the guiding force in the realization of a communist society. Howard Selsam has explained that Marxists ethics determines what is right or wrong by what is best for this evolution. If the bourgeois class hinders either biological or social evolution of the classless society, even nature dictates the removal of that class.

When pursuing Marxist ethics, revolution is the most efficient means for creating a society without class distinctions. According to Marxists, revolution is unavoidable and it is the only way to overthrow the bourgeoisie and lift up the proletariat. They perceive this forcible overthrow as morally right. It is right because it destroys hindrances to a communist society. By Marx’s definition, our social and economic status is always changing according to the laws of the dialectic, so our ideas about morality must also be in a state of continual change. It is biological and social evolution that determines morality.

Many critics claim that Marxism deals very little with the ethics and some state ethics in Marxism are non-existent. They describe Marxist ethics as “each act is considered ethically good if it assists the flow of history toward a communist end. Killing, raping, stealing, and lying are not outside the boundaries of communist morality if they help produce the classless communist society.”

Marxists retort the claims of critics by positioning the class struggle to be not peaceful just as the struggle for survival in nature is not peaceful. According to Marxists, nature accumulates the good and disposes of the bad and they go with ‘survival of the fittest’. And the ‘fit’ is defined by them are the contributors of foundation of communist society and the ‘unfit’ are the members of social institutions used by the exploiting class to suppress the exploited class such as Church. Marxists judge the results, not the methods.

In the perspective of Marxist ethics, media should not be owned by the bourgeoisie but there should be equal ownership of all class of people. When the media is owned by the bourgeoisie, they can disseminate the information that is in convenience to them and thus the proletariats can be easily exploited by the exploiting class. When the media ownership is equal, only then, the content of the media can serve in the favor of the general public and not only the elites.

Works cited

Definition, Marx. "Marxist Ethics." Worldviews - AllAboutWorldview.org. Web. 10 June 2010. .

Somerville, John. "Marxist Ethics, Determinism, and Freedom." JSTOR. International Phenomenological Society, Sept. 1967. Web. 06 June 2010.

"What Is Marxism." Philosophy - AllAboutPhilosophy.org. Web. 06 June 2010. .

Hodges, Donald C. "Marxist Ethics And Ethical Theory." Socialist Register, Vol 1. Web. 04 June 2010. .

Miller, Richard W. "Capitalism and Marxism : A Companion to Applied Ethics : Blackwell Reference Online." Blackwell Reference Online. Web. 12 July 2010. .

Significance of Media Research

Among the four methods of knowing, research uses the scientific method of investigation. The other three methods; tenacity, authority and intuition differ from the method of science because it is verifiable, objective, empirical, systematic, cumulative and logical. Some scholars also take it as the valid way of attaining knowledge because of its two basic characteristics:

· It is an objective state of human mind.

· It follows a systematic procedure.

Media research is the part of communication research which does the scientific study of mass communication processes including how people interact with mass media as an individual or in a group, media contents and the activities of media professionals and media owners. Media scholars have defined the three approaches under mass media research, they are; people or behavior oriented research, media oriented research and artifact oriented research. Mass media research further provides exploration, examination and application in the field of mass media. There isn’t any area in Mass media that doesn’t conduct or use research. Research is the only area in mass media that relates it to everything. Every time we raise a “who, what, when, where, why, how questions we have developed an investigative question. For example why do people choose to watch one television program over another, how internet affected readership of newspapers, what type of articles are most popular in magazines, when is the best time to broadcast a youth related program. Research helps provide answer to these questions.

Research is an integral part of mass media because it results in better and accurate reporting, also evaluating and examining past and present to make better decisions for future.

Development in Development Journalism

Development can be seen in two ways; Infrastructural development like constructions of road, health post, electricity, etc and Freedom, which is related with human rights protection, human development, economic development, etc. Development must be talked of in concrete and measurable terms. And Development journalism should focus on the needs of the poor, the deprived, the marginalized and emphasis their effective participation in development planning. Development is about ‘highlighting what people are doing to help transform their lives. It is seen as humanity’s common objective and a means to eradicate poverty and protect the environment.

At the talk program in Martin Chautari on “Development Journalism: Necessity and Challenges”, Laxman Dutta Pant gave in depth analysis over the situation of Development Communication in Nepal. He mentioned that Nepal still lacks in the professionalism of journalist as a whole. Journalism has become a hobby rather than job. He added people from other profession can join journalism and this is creating some sort of snag for Journalism to grow as a profession. Journalism practice isn’t applied, because we can’t criticize. They can’t criticize in the next level of the issue because they aren’t prepared for that. The task of Journalism is to decrease issues by enforcing better solutions, but the same issues have been only reported and not investigated resulting to its repetition. Though we have an educated mass, they aren’t well informed. Press council doesn’t self check the violation of the rules and ethics by journalist or media, but prefer for the public to bring in complains to act. As a tool for social justice, development journalism can be very valuable. By speaking for those who cannot, a development journalist can inform the rest of the world about important issues within developing nations. Looking at the strengths and weaknesses of a country may also help identify ways in which the nation can be helped. This style of development journalism is a tool for empowerment.

When development journalism is used as a propaganda tool, however, it can become very dangerous. Many citizens are taught that the news is a reliable and useful source of information. For example, within a developing nation which has a corrupt government, journalistic exposes of the government are extremely important for reform. If journalists are not allowed to write about what is actually going on, the citizens are not well served. Several international press organizations release reviews every year which look at the freedom of press in individual nations in an attempt to bring freedom of the press to all countries for this very reason.

The New Discoveries

When we entered the Singha Durbar with the permission of the security guards at the gates, we were tired of standing and annoyed by the delaying of the Radio Nepal Staff to receive us. When I looked around I got a glimpse of our Journalism course supervisor Nirmala Mani Adhikary also getting restless waiting at the gates. Finally we were allowed to enter the core government office area and start our educational tour. For many of my colleagues it was the first time entering Singha Durbar and a chance to discover the huge palaces and smooth roads. Inside the Radio Nepal Mr. Gandharva Khadka guided us to various studios and also the huge library Radio Nepal posseses.

But it was interesting for most of us to see our Nepali Literature Lecturer Mr. Ram Chandra Poudel who also accompanied us to the trip, trying his hands on Harmonium. There we found out about the love of our teacher towards music. While all the students were hanging around the piano and waiting for their chance to press the black and white keys of the expensive music instrument, Ram Chandra Sir was mesmerizing the sweet melody of the sound the Harmonium was producing with the help of his fingers.

And when we reached the library section, we met a woman with a very familiar face but we didn’t know that she was the popular folk singer Mira Rana until Nirmala Sir introduced her. I had of course heard her name and listened to her songs but I could not figure out when she was there in front of me. Later in the studio room too, we were encountered by another folk singer Tika Bhandari but we again failed to recognize him. Though they were working in the field of mass media, they are not as popular as foreign celebrities. This describes the content and strength of Nepali media. We could have readily recognized Paris Hilton or Hrithik Roshan but not our native celebrities.

Therefore, I guess we discovered the music interest of our lecturer and the not-so-popular among the young generation celebrities of Nepal on our trip to Radio Nepal.

The 13th Book Fair

It had been an annual ritual for me to visit the Book exhibition that used to take place every year at Bhrikuti Mandap. But I thought that it was a double treat as this year I had to visit the fair not solely because of my interest but also as an assignment of a Media Project course. Before entering the hall, I had assumed that a flood of people would be pushing me and I have to peep through the shoulders of massive people around me. However, to my great surprise, the fair was not at all crowded. The stalls had very few numbers of buyers and I could move through the stalls with great ease finding all the books I wanted to buy without any pushing or pulling from the crowd. Talking about this situation of the book exhibition, one of the big stall, educational book house clarified that the organizers did not do enough homework for the exhibition, they have taken the popularity for granted, and they had not done sufficient advertising about the event. The stall owner even informed us that they have to think quite hard to put the stall next year. It was very frustrating remark for all the book lovers like me.

Well, one good thing about the lesser number of people was that I could roam around in educational section as well. I saw many projects of students of different colleges but the project that impressed me was "Electrical traditional cereals grinder" developed by the team of brothers Mahendra and Tanka Bhattarai studying Food technology at Golden Gate International College. They said that they developed the project with the help of their physics teachers. I wish them luck.

THE EFFECT OF VIOLENT TOYS ON CHILDREN’S BEHAVIOUR

Young children have difficulty separating facts from fantasy. Children learn through play, and they learn by example. It is through imaginative play that the child begins to learn some of the roles and behaviours of society. Learning to cooperate, negotiate, take turns and play by the rules are all important skills learned through play. The skill learning process through play and games is applied in Montessori kindergartens which have turned out to successful method of teaching all around the world.

But kindergartens are not always careful about their teaching schemes. They are not cautious on how ‘g’ for ‘goat’ and ‘g’ for ‘gun’ can aid on destruct the child’s psychology. However they are just the base for the child to enter into the violence fantasy. Television, videogames, music and film have become increasingly violent. Over 1000 studies attest to a casual connection between media violence and aggressive behavior in children. Most parents are aware about the effects on their children due to the violent television shows but many do not realize that war toys can have similar effects. Most experts say that children should not be allowed to play with guns or other toys that promote violence. There is the potential for many negative effects. These toys send the message that violence is acceptable and conflicts should be resolved by fighting.

In United States the top selling toy for boys was the Daisy air rifle in 1920. In 1950: the air rifle now has twin barrels and continues to be a best-seller. In 1970, the most popular toy on the market was army action figure. In 1980, a full generation later, still the number one toy for boys was realistic water guns. This figure shows that boys are more vulnerable to the behavioral effects due to the excessive use of the war toys. Also because the use of these toys is high by the male children, the toys tend to be of masculine dominance and represent sexiest stereotyping.

To have an understandable view over this issue, let us first discuss about the attributes of violent toys. Violent toys are those which:

teaches that violence is the best way to settle a dispute

propagates that violence is fun and "cool"

encourages hurting and killing

glamorizes war and combat

promotes male dominance and female passivity

provides negative depiction of ethnic groups

promote excessive materialism

fosters aggressive competition

lead to anti-social behavior

It may not be readily apparent, but the toys that a child plays with can have profound effects on them. Providing a child with toys that encourage learning in a healthy way can be a huge asset to a child's development. Toys help children model the world of adults, children who learn at home develop skills that they will use for the rest of their lives but our society has been teaching for generations that guns and violence are acceptable behavior.

War toys not only have negative impacts on child’s behaviour but they help in cultivating any negative ideas, even set up some beliefs on their minds that may not be suitable for them. Some experts argue that war toys are also used as a propaganda tool that portray one group as right and powerful whereas the enemies to be less powerful and wrong. It is parents’ guidance that is necessary to keep their children away from such toys that propagate violent sadistic behaviours in them as well as help them escape from the propaganda cavity.

Attitudes about violence as ‘entertainment’ have to be changed over time. As discussed earlier, boys show violent oriented behaviors in quite early age. They have seen to be greeting strangers with pointing two fingers as they were shooting the person. It is even seen that boys are more ahead in forming gangs and they readily have enemies to oppose them and engross themselves in violent activities.

Children should be provided with the toys that stimulate creativity and imaginative play, encourage sharing and cooperation, encourage children to build and create rather than to destroy, are free of racist and sexist stereotypes, nurture non-violent, conflict-resolving skills, promote learning of new skills and help children develop their own talents, are open-ended - look for toys with no predetermined 'right' or 'wrong', challenge children to think for themselves and to use their imagination.

Works Cited

1.Copperwiki. Violent Toys. Retrieved from http://www.copperwiki.org/index.php/Violent_Toys
2.New Brunswick Advisory Council of Women. Violent toys send violent messages. Retrieved from http://www.acswcccf.nb.ca/english/toys.asp
3.Toy Reviews and News. Violent toys and their effects. Retrieved from http://www.toy-tma.com/toy-news/toy-recalls-and-safety/violent-toys-and-their-effects/
4.Vineyar Designs. Effect of toys on children. Retrieved from http://www.vineyardesigns.com/moms/educational_toys/effects_toys_children.shtml