Articles
Op-Ed: Developing Nepal, One iPod at a Time
The *iPod may be Nepal’s best and last hope for a better future. Its history parallels many of Nepal’s recent developments and offers a fresh, new prospect unlike anything in the past.
In less than a decade since its launch, the iPod has unleashed an unprecedented multimedia revolution transforming the way people around the world store information, listen to music and look at photos. Similarly, in less than two decades since its launch, Nepal’s Maoist movement has galvanized unprecedented economic, social and cultural changes within the country.
Why is it then that while Apple, the makers of the iPod, now sits comfortably with cash reserves of a cool $46 billion, the Maoists even with the largest number of seats in the Constituent Assembly fail to get their leader elected as prime minister after four rounds of voting?
The answer is simple—the Maoists failed to use the iPod.
The iPod is a modern digital marvel that can fit nicely in the palm of your hand. No Maoist was ever likely to fit nicely into anyone’s palm, no matter how big the hand. You can stick photos, music, books, audio and data into an iPod, carry it in your back pocket and switch it on and off at will. No Maoist was ever willing to be carried in anyone’s back pocket, let alone be switched on and off at will.
Instead of arming themselves with guns, the Maoists should have armed themselves with iPods.
The compelling parallels between the Maoist and the iPod revolutions, therefore, makes it clear that the best way to develop Nepal is to give every Nepali a brand new iPod.But in Nepal’s charged atmosphere, any proposal for development will immediately draw criticism. This one should be no different.
The first (and the most organized critics) will be the donor community and international well-wishers. White papers will churn, experts will jet in and in a star-studded development forum, this community will state its objections:“The proposed Personal iPod Distribution Program (PIDP) will distort the priorities established in the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) and undermine the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF). In the last Nepal Development Forum (NDF), the Donor Community (DC) and International Well-wishers (DCIW) committed to supporting the Sectoral Programmatic Approach (SPA)…” and so on and so forth, listing a dizzying array of impressive abbreviations, which most Nepalese will never have heard about before or understand why such impressive abbreviations are relevant to their existence in the first place.
Politicians are likely to be the other formidable bloc at the objection party. It is hard at this stage to summarize what the common themes of their objections might be because of the chaos and lack of consensus that will no doubt prevail in their discourse. But one could expect that their criticism might range from objections such as how the shape or color of the iPod politically disadvantages some group over another, or how the iPod violates this point agreement or that point agreement, to how the iPod would allow regressive forces of the state to be even more regressive.
All of these objections will no doubt appear well thought out and thoroughly reasoned. But there is a simple common sense way to see if the iPod proposal makes sense, based on an approach rarely used in development planning. Ask the Nepali people whether they would like to receive a brand new iPod free of cost. Those objecting may be very much surprised to hear what the people have to say.
In an environment where politicians have opted to polarize communities and people against each other for a vision of Nepal that they themselves don’t really understand; where the international community has decided to label us as a failed state for the abdication of responsibility by our governments; where aid agencies relentlessly continue assessing our broken institutions, broken polity, broken banks, broken social structures, broken lamp posts and broken everything else (just like a broken record); where the long continued morass and accumulated negativity has defeated every Nepali into believing that nothing is possible…in such a desolate environment, the iPod is our only and last hope for a better future.The iPod can’t fix all our wrongs. It can’t make us better people. It can’t correct our failures with marginalized communities, inequality and social exclusion, or overlook our willingness to allow large segments of Nepal to be deprived of economic opportunities without even a pang of remorse to our collective conscience. Nope, the iPod cannot fix all that.
But it can do more.
It can inspire us to a modern dream. It can help us in our search for a modern Nepali psyche that offers forgiveness rather than retribution, celebrates plurality rather than polarization and allows us to shed our historical inhibitions so that we can look at the world in a whole new way. Giving every Nepali a brand new iPod is gifting every Nepali the self-belief that no matter what everybody has said, no matter all those who have failed us, our simple minded ingenuity can help build a modern Nepal.
Clearly it is time for Nepal’s iPod revolution.
And, even if the iPod can’t do all of that for us, well, there’s always the last option of using it for what it was originally designed for anyway. Stick on your headset, lose yourself in the rhythm of your beat and shut out the buffoonery emanating from constitution hall.
*The iPod is a portable media player designed and marketed by Apple and launched on October 23, 2001. As of June 2010, the product line-up includes the hard drive-based iPod Classic, the touchscreen iPod Touch, the video-capable iPod Nano and the compact iPod Shuffle.
Photography by Rishi Amatya
( Aug 23rd 2010, 01:12 AM ) says:
lure the communists away with the consumer goods?
A good read.
( Aug 29th 2010, 05:10 PM ) says:
Stupidest thing I read all week.
So, these days some idiot blabbers in English and people call it a good read? Not surprised. Typical Nepali writer and commenter.
( Aug 31st 2010, 03:23 AM ) says:
i will have to agree with Wootman.
" Giving every Nepali a brand new iPod is gifting every Nepali the self-belief that no matter what everybody has said, no matter all those who have failed us, our simple minded ingenuity can help build a modern Nepal." Seriously how does all this even make sense.
Its a nicely written article without any point whatsoever.
( Sep 2nd 2010, 06:19 AM ) says:
vent breeding a mediocre society.
( Sep 9th 2010, 09:46 PM ) says:
And this stuff gets published, really?
Editors, buckle up.
( Sep 24th 2010, 09:10 PM ) says:
I agree with wootman and slok. Your style is good but hey! find some substance. This is crap and phuleeezzzzeeeee whoever called it "awesome use of metaphor"... seriously? You studied literature??
( Oct 20th 2010, 05:57 PM ) says:
Yeah, the style's oookay, but as already said, CONTENT CONTENT CONTENT! Reads like a backup-idea that was stretched beyond its purview.
( Oct 28th 2010, 06:32 PM ) says:
I thought I was going to read about how iPod was being used In Nepal in education. Like an audio book guide or video guide with already stored info.
But this article has no substance. But maybe we should all look into how we can make these media players to actually work in Nepal's education sector in the rural area. I think a media player with fm player would be a great idea and you have reading of chapters from books already distributed before. But the stuff should be cheap and crank charge.
( Nov 5th 2010, 07:30 PM ) says:
Just because someone can write well in English, does not make a good article. Where's the content? It's good try but does not make sense.
( Nov 6th 2010, 02:20 PM ) says:
So i read this article a few times. I went away and had a think about it. I debated leaving a comment. The main reason I didn't leave one earlier was I saw all of the rude and critical comments people left above and that really annoyed me because i noticed most people didn't leave contact information where we could critique their perfect articles. I think it is cowardly to criticize someone work anonymously.
And so to the writer of this article, your style is pretty good. i enjoyed reading it and I hope you are not put off writing by the rude cowards above. The article has an issue or two but it got me thinking and as a writer isn't that what we strive to do? I think the potential of the ipod has been largely untapped in most countries, not just Nepal. This article has me thinking the political party which does figure out how to harness the ipod, mobile and social networking will be unstoppable.
So i left a link... i expect that i am going to receive plenty of insults about my own writing style but i'm ok with that.
( Nov 7th 2010, 10:17 AM ) says:
I like what amanda says. so true. different, i like that. most stories like this are so boring. made it fun!
( Jan 17th 2011, 08:03 AM ) says:
Bullshit piece. Analogy is nice but giving every Nepali an ipod would not solve any problems. What are you thinking, my friend?
ramro lekh..awesome use of metaphor!