The Rickshaw Ride: Fun, Fear & Reality

I have always been very excited and glad whenever I get a chance to travel outside valley (which I don’t get mostly). This year, going to Eastern Nepal was a very magnificent experience trying many things which were left undone until. One of the fun things I tried this time was a “Rickshaw Ride”. Indeed, Kathmandu does have the rickshaws in the Thamel area but I had never gone for it. But in the places like Dharan and Biratnagar, Rickshaws and cycles were the most reliable and normally used means of transport. Everywhere you get to see is the cycles and Rickshaws; these have been so eye-catching in the east. 

One beautiful morning, with a friend of mine, I made a Rickshaw ride across different places of Biratnagar. The Rickshaw driver charged us 100 rupees while, he took us around different places in Biratnagar. I was truly not feeling okay to have a rickshaw ride for the first time, even though I always wanted to go for it. The seats were not so wide but for 2 people it was an easy sit. They used some slippery type of things as seat covers. For me, I was truly scared when the rickshaw driver started to paddle the cycle. I was sitting holding the ends of rickshaw so that I didn’t fall down.

 Slowly we left the properly black topped main road and we came in the narrow lanes of biratnagar with potholes.  Until the rickshaw was moving on the pleasant street, it was truly fun, but as soon as we reached to the unmanaged roads, I started getting nervous. To stay away from getting scared, I started talking with the rickshaw driver. The rickshaw driver was in his late 60’s. He didn’t tell us the name but said he lived nearby with his wife. It had been 15 long years that he had been working as a rickshaw driver. He told us it required a lot of strength, energy and power to be a rickshaw driver. While he was saying that I could see the muscles in his legs strong enough. A complete legs exercise. He told us that they need to concentrate a lot while paddling since it may get topsy-turvy.  When he told that, I felt like, why are we riding a rickshaw?  He started to open up slowly about his family matters. He said, he had 2 sons and he brought them up through his hard work, but once they got married, the sons left him and his wife to themselves. In other to live, he became the rickshaw driver. In the age, when he has to be taken care by his children and resting back home, he is working his best to earn something for his wife. I remembered a line “Sons remain sons until they get wife, but a Daughter remains daughter all her life”. Indeed we end up our ride hearing a sad story of an old man who worked as a rickshaw driver, but still the ride will be cherished all my life. Had fun, had a new experience and looking forward for the ride again J  

Cheers :) 

Youth, Unemployment, Foreign Service, Tricks and The Myth of Sisyphus

Youths or youngsters are regarded as the most influential group in any nation.  They are the ones who will lead the nation in future.  The young generation is educated, they are talented, and they have ideas, ways to work out in better way. They have the spirit to change the traditional ways of thinking and bring out the perception.

But, are they given chances? Are they able to get jobs in Nepal? Is the government able to provide fruitful job for the youths?  Some people might have got the job as per their qualification and wish but most of the people are jobless. The youth are hence enjoying Migration process today..

Migration is not a new term for Nepalese; Nepalese youth has been migrating from one country to another either for studies or for Foreign Service or employment.  Most of the Nepalese are jobless and the opportunities in the outer world becomes the pulling for most of the people to go abroad and work.  International migration for employment is basically done in Gulf countries, Malaysia and some other south East Asian countries.

A huge number of Nepalese youth are going abroad in search of fruitful opportunities.  Indeed, travelling across the country for employment is not a new thing for people in Nepal since in the past, youths used to do the same work as Nepalese youth were recruited to the British armed forces as a British-Gurkha regiment.  Going to India for work is also not a new thing for the Nepalese citizen.

Indeed, Nepalese have been facing a lot of problem during the foreign employment but this has emerged as a business these days. When they are making their flight from here most of the people might not even know which place of that country they are going, what type of work they will be doing and who will come to receive them in the airport. In our daily day to day life we hear numerous problems about the Nepalese facing in the foreign countries, most of them are even working in a vulnerable condition. The female are even facing sexual and physical abuse too. The massacre of 12 Nepalese workers in Iraq on August 2004 is one example of Nepalese which can never be faded in the mind of Nepalese.

“It’s difficult to sustain in others country and work”; frequent line we hear when someone is going abroad or planning to go abroad but, have we ever think about the tricks used by those recruitment agencies within Nepal itself?

Recruitment business or Overseas / Manpower business in today’s context of Nepal has been the easiest and most money making business. In a way it’s a legal form of “human trafficking”. People in this sector are enjoying the easiest way to earn money by selling human slaves around the world. In Nepal, there is huge number of people engaged in this business. Manpower agencies in Nepal are almost unfair in their dealings with the workers and their professionalism is questionable. Even though foreign employments Acts and provision are made by the government of Nepal but, the agencies seem interested in earning a thick sum of money only, cheating them directly or indirectly.

The youth are firstly changed the work as per their reliability by the people of the agencies n Nepal ignoring if that person will be able to do that work or not. The guy who is not able to speak Nepali properly, his documents, bio-data’s are sent with school level passed certificates. And, the certificates where do they get from? That’s easy, they make themselves...

In the case of Saudi, the pictures in the passports are changed easily ignoring the fact what the condition of that person will be in future if caught in airport or abroad. When the visa is received from any country, if any candidates do not want to go as per his choice done earlier, the person is charged with a huge amount of money by the recruitment office in the name of penalty. For overseas, they make a fake death certificate of an alive person and send it. Making a death certificate of a person who is still alive, isn’t that sick?

Moreover, making duplicate tickets for money collection has become an old trick. In the name of visa charge and other charges they collect a huge sum of money just being self-conscious. In the name of labor department and other expenses they are made to pay a lot of money. Sometimes the workers are sent back to Nepal and jailed in the Immigration in Nepal. They send the people and if they are not received in the airport of the country they are working within 24 hours, the police send them back and are kept in the immigration as a criminal.

If they reach to the destined country also, are they satisfied? They work day and night just to upgrade the lifestyle of their family. But, nothing goes as they expect. Some might have done a very good but are they able to be satisfied and earn as they are told in Nepal?

The earnings are looted by people out there itself and lifestyle indeed is very high abroad, so saving becomes very low. They try, work hard but the life remains same. The family back here keeps on hoping for the good and betterment, the youth abroad spend their glorious age of life under other people being a slave.