Columns

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA – Shameful Racist Take on Crisis in Nepal

Press Trust of India’s (PTI), a non-profit cooperative that caters to some of the largest publications in South Asia has done a great disservice to their readers, especially the people of Nepal. Their recent article on the ongoing upheaval in Nepal is nothing, other than a glaring example of racism that reduces a profound political crisis unfolding in an ancient nation, to a sordid sideshow in Kolkata’s Sonagachi red-light district.

Titled “Upheaval in Nepal triggers anxiety in Asia’s largest red-light district Sonagachi in Kolkata,” PTI takes a sensationalist approach. This article does nothing other than perpetuating harmful stereotypes about Nepalese women.

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il dolce far niente

That’s what we did, we hung around in Chorwasta all day long, doing nothing, watch life happen. I recently realized, the Italians have philosophy and phrase for this – “Il dolce far niente – the sweetness of doing nothing.”

It could mean anything, from looking at time fly by, drinking a cup of tea, “season herdai – looking at people of opposite sex” or simply guffing. When you are devoting your time on do-nothing leisure activities, one is supposed to be experiencing “il dolce far niente.”