funny that the "american" teachers were the ones who called themselves nepali more than the nepali students. i remember our Fathers whose sang shree man gambhir with so much pride in assemblies and they had more love for nepal than us.

you write very well in English. maybe next time you should write in Nepali.

This is such a cheap article.The writer denigrate his own language while glorifies English a foriegn language. Most of the student who goes to STX and STM are rich kids who found English and English culture superior to Nepali and its culture. These kids are very arrogant and abnoxious sometime. They often redicule the hardworking students from outside their circle. And I dont blame these kids who even after growing in a western world doesnt change their snobbis attitude and write such irrelevant article. I dont blame these spoiled brat because even great leaders like Nehru once thought making English a national language. But he later found it very impractical and dropped the idea. You dont have to be real fluent in english to achive high ( take example of Dr Upendra Devkota)or make your children (In US )� speak pure american accent english. Any child grown up in US can do that irrespective of thier parent's educational or social status.

Actually� country where people take great pride in thier own language are� the fastest growing economy in the world today. lets take the example of China, Korea and Japan. They teach English as a second� language� but they dont denigrate their language.� Toyota� Boss dint know how to speak english when he appeared in US congress. He had a translator. This is true with most of the korean, chinese and Japanese. Beside they (� elites like STXians STMians)� dont overstay or apply for green card in US and be happy that their children speak English fluently. They take the knowlegdge from US and produce world class consumer goods. They even outbeat the inventer.� Sony's founder came to US and took some chips and transistor to make walkman that he thought would capitalize on the music lover hippis in the 60s. Look where is Sony today. Think big... achieve big......just speaking other's language fluently aint greatest thing on the earth. I assume if these STXians and STMians took great pride in Nepali culture and language and explore it today we would have different Nepal. Its thier flashyness that creates many frustations in Nepal.

So please be mature and think before you write such D grade article. the editor let this article published because he/she may have thought that majority of readers are people like this writer

just one more example came to my mind after i sent my earlier comment. Take the example of Boby Jinal the Louisana governor. His parent were barely educated. However they were hardworking people who took immense pride in their culture and language whose influence produced the child who is next aspiring candidate to become a president of US. His achievement ( being governor) is already enough to tell Arrogant Nepalese that just English is not everything.

I enjoyed reading the article, but I like the comments more. And I agree with mags, and Niraj and some others. I hope Ranjan writes next time about the Nepali youth of 2010 and not of 1992 and what they think about Nepal and Nepali.

Bauji Uncle

Some personal parallels:-

Three languages were 'hip' during my childhood:- Nepali, English, and Hindi. I gobbled up the Panchatantra in English and Hindi while reading 'lagu kathas' (really short stories) and hip 'nibandas' (essays) in Mahendramala (The one about gurus (teachers) in 6th grade was the shiznit) Saral Nepali Shrinkala ('K nepal sano cha?" by Devkota in 9th grade! dang!), and these cool student magazines that used to publish on and off for a few months in the mid and late nineties. I unfortunately do not remember the names. I don't know if any readers here remember but someone used to write about the crazy adventures of one 'bhyaguta' (frog) in Nepal.

In my teens Read 'Mother' (duh!) and 'Animal Farm' along with 'Lajja' in Hindi, and Oh man! Nibandas by Shankar Lamichhane. Oh Oh! Bhupi's poems! Devastating critiqes of Nepali society! Oh! And the hugely entertaining novels by Alexandre Dumas in abridged Indian publications. Those things were the shit. And R.L. Stevenson! R.K. Narayan! Harivansh Rai Bacchan! Pushkin! Tolstoy! Chekov! Parijaat! The guy that wrote 'Chyatieka Anuhaar'!

I am now  in the United States and college keeps me from reading Nepali and Hindi texts but i find time for news in these languages online.

So, my point is that  school policy, distance, social status etc. may prove as obstacles to learning but really the responsibility of learning is all up to you. I once got thrashed by this teacher from Darjeeling for daring to argue with him over the 'conversations in English only except Nepali class' policy of my school (located at Old Baneswhor). That didn't really stop me. I kept talking in Nepali in school! Ha! Suck it Mr. Gurung (no offense to other Gurungs) Also, all languages are cool. Yiddish is number one though.

Every body with a good command over a language does not necessarily write sensibly, as is evident in the write-up by a certain Mr Ranjan Adiga.

How did the editorial borad of the Nepali Times, which I hold in such high esteem, let this one slip off? The article suggests as if St Xavier's was the only school around in 92.

Mr Adiga, every school in Nepal did not boast of an American teacher. We sure had a very high-profile teacher in our school who steadfastly taught us the grammatical rules and some great poetry, but we never looked down upon our Nepali teachers, neither did we treat Nepali with any utter disregard.

We studied and grasped the essence of 'Yaatri' by Devkota as much as 'Lucy' by William Wordsworth that was taught to us at our school. Looking down upon Nepali was your fault Mr Adiga and please do not believe that every other Nepali echoes the same thing. There are people who are even well-educated with a better command of English than you do and they still regard Nepali with the respect it deserves.

And whose fault is it if your children do not speak in Nepali? From parents who think like the way you do, what can we expect from children who get molded in any which way they are made into. It is not their fault at all. For a change, try reading Muna Madan, perhaps you shall appreciate Nepali language a little more.

I am a proud nepali woman who spent her last 12 years studying in St. Mary's and is working no where else but in Nepal and plans to do that in the future as well. I cannot comprehend what the writer is trying to say...there was no need to include the jesuits educational system...hats off to the number of years they have devoted to help the children learn and compete in this globalised world... Please take note that i am a hindu and in my 12 years in st.mary's i have never ever been pressurised to follow the western culture, its religion or its language. Its a PERSONAL CHOICE and i hope the writer understands that....

and this is especially to serial number 14. Raj, who has given his thoughts on xavierian and marian people to be rich and arrogant bunch of people...Raj you are heavily mistaken....if only you knew!!!

Prasanna

Yes, indeed nepali subject in the school is always been hatred one for everybody. In school, everyone hate studying nepali bur beina nepali we should be proud of this language as well as the country no mateer where the country is heading towards nowa days but we the new generations should think about it. Nowadays everyone including me wants to reside abroad thinking the future of our as well as our childrens. no matter where we reside Nepali should be our first language...

I am not sure what the problem is here and how it is STX centric. Isn't it finally up to you where you want to focus your interest? or are you simply trying to say, you were a teenager who missed out on Nepali because he got lured into a more fascinating world of English? Are you just trying to blame someone else for something you didn't try or are you blaming the Nepali teachers for not trying as hard as the English ones? either way, it seems like rants to me.

1) Given, I don't have much experience outside of schools in the valley, but I have studied in a school before STX, and taught english in one after STX. In my school before STX, the engish teacher, who was not 'a white American volunteer' or something racially biased like that, alternated between reading out an english novel and teaching english every other class period. In STX, the 'white American volunteer' gave my class a spelling list in english, and used to take a quiz on 10 words each morning...what was so fun or hip about that?...I even recall the 'white American volunteers' coming into class with a guitar, wearing dhaka topis and covering Deep Shrestha songs.

2) I found my nepali classes as interesting, be it Kalo Gufa, or Senior Khanal sir's reminiscing how things were during his times, or heck, even Biswojeet sir's malaysia tales...given, Nepali was a bit harder to learn (for me) since it is a more intricate language (the 'raswas' and 'dirgas' always got me)...but never the less, the Nepali teachers had their own ways and they were equally good.

Be it Engish or Nepali, it is just a genuine intent of teaching english thats all...it's not as hyped as some of you (including the author) intend to make it...it's not an intention to move students away from Nepali..it's just an intention to teach english the best way they knew how to.

So, from my point of view, the issue here is non-residents missing Nepali for themselves (and their kids), more than it being an STX issue at all. I myself am settled in the US, and am currently reading Narayan Wagle's palpasa cafe.

Don't blame your weakness or lack of interest in learning Nepali to good people and good teaching institutions with good intentions of teaching. You don't have to dissect everything in a negative way in the guise of 'critical analysis'. Show some respect to the school that has given you so much.

This 'hipness' and counter culture 'cool' stuff comes to all teenagers and is not limited to STX or the way it teaches...I personally picked more of this stuff hanging out with friends from in AND out of school during the teenage days.

And for the record, I never prided myself on reading any Nancy Drew series, but yes, I do pride myself in finishing off the list of books Father Zimmer spent time researching and putting together for us students, to cultivate a reading habit and upgrading our english vocabulary skills. Had I asked Khanal sir at the time for some good recommendations, he would surely have opened a treasure trove. But I sadly didn't and it's my loss, not a hip american volunteer's brainwasing skills.

When I was not a St. Xavier's student in the early 90s I cared about the English class just as much as any other. Maybe to me it was just another class that I had to take a test and pass. Or maybe I was exposed to the "white Americans" (just the way the writer used these words in his article, I would think that true Americans are always white…….if I didn't know any better) at a very early age due to my grandfather's employment at the United States Information Services (USIS) in a prestigious position. He didn't go to Xavier either. I can only wonder where he would've been in his career had he gone to the Xavier. All he got was a mere award by then US vice president Hubert Humphrey. It could also be that I didn't have it engrained in my brain that white people are superior to me. They are just another human being so it is not mandatory for me to admire and be bewildered by anything and everything they do.

I wish I was like the Xavierian elites who can easily recognize which language is hip and superior and only focus on learning that one superior language rather than as many languages as I can. I am confused though! Since it was the English class that was "hip" to you and your class mates, how come eighty percent of them ended up in a career that has nothing directly to do with the English language. I would've expected them to be a great writers or poets becoming New York Times' best selling authors.

Slave mentality always serves you well. I learned that from our neighbor's to the south. They liked their white owners so much that even after their independence from the British; they decided to keep English as their only official language for a while. They knew it was a "hip" thing to do. They wanted to be (and still do) "in the mix" so bad that regardless of how much Hollywood and any other "hoods" in the English speaking nations of the western world made fun of their accent, they pressed on to speak the superior language with bad grammars while squashing their native tongue. Those who couldn't speak English (while they could speak their mother tongue just fine) were inferior to the English speaking elite. Sometime I wonder why the French, Russians, Chinese, Japanese, Germans, Scandinavian countries, Italians and many others don't have to speak English in order to be elite. I always see Indian head of states giving speeches in English but I don't see Japanese prime minister or French president doing the same. Are they proud of their languages? Fools! Give up you language and creativity like our neighbor's in the south and you'll have bustling movie industry where you can easily remake Hollywood movies. Ditto!   

By the way you I hope that Mr. Adiga would tell me what "pure" American accent is? I have living in the United States for past 18 years and I have yet to find that pure accent. As much as you seem to admire America, I think you have not known all that you can learn from America and about America.

Pardon my bad English as I still can't speak and write pure "English" for the reason I may have just realized. I didn't go to Xavier. That is why I am baffled that I am in the same profession as 80% of STX 92.

P.S. I hope that the writer was trying to provoke a debate using a reverse psychology on how Nepalese devalue many different languages within the country in order to act superior.

BG

Mr. American Accent Adiga seems to take a pride on his English stuff and i think he is relutant to say himself a Nepali. That is a shame and the article is really cheap although he might have taken some time to write this. We have got Nepalese all around the world hopefully with a good english then what he has learnt with "Born in the USA"

Jai Nepal

Its true that Nepali wasn't as 'hip' as the English classes we had back in school, and for that I'm not sure if we should blame the volunteers, or infact credit them. For being able to make learning so interesting. But it is also true, from my own experience, that in school, you'd rather be better in English than in Nepali. Even the teachers preferred the students who spoke in English fluently. No denying that.

I am a Nepali, and mighty proud to be one too. But we really need to start growing up. Everyone is entitled to their own opinions and observations. We need to be less reactive, and more perspective.

This article seems to make us a bit uncomfortable.