Professor Keshav Lall Maharjan, Doctor of Agricultural Economics and Chief, Division of Educational Dev. & Cultural and Regional Studies, Graduate School for International Development and Cooperation (IDEC) from the  Hiroshima University, Japan was with us last week when in Sikkim to attend the 9th International Conference on Climate Change and Sustainability in the Mountain Areas: Scope and Challenges for Regional Cooperation and Integrationheld on 8 - 9 November 2011  under aegis of the Sikkim University in the Chintan Bhavan in the capital.

He presented a paper on the Climate Variables and their Effects in Farming and Vulnerabilities and Adaptive Capacities in Nepal and also chaired on the concluding day a session on the Opportunities and Potentials of Regional Cooperation (Abstract -Read More)

Dr. Keshav Lall Maharjan is in Japan for last 32 years and is also an Adviser to the newly constituted World Newah Organization.

Ranjana lipi fascinates me not simply because it is my wife’s name but for its uniqueness as an alphabet also known as Lun aakh (Golden script) that finds people working to make it more popular. Not to preach but to practise, I suggest my friends and organizations working for the common cause to use the lipi widely as masthead for their website, visiting card, invitation card, logo, monogram, motif, banner, festoon, etc. wherever and whenever possible for the sake of the Newar identity worldwide. It may not be exaggerating much if I say here that its use, I feel, help reach the message to the target group fast at once!

Last week while at Rhenock for Dashain, we received a call from Kalimpong. It was Rabison Shakya from Kathmandu who wanted to visit us when in Gangtok. Welcoming his visit, I told him also to meet Yogbir Shakya as well while there to know more of the place, people and activities in the region.

To thank the Government for honouring the Newar language as one of the official languages of Sikkim in 1995, what my father advised resulted in the form and shape of a handbook Newa: Varna, Lipi Ra Bhasha Parichaya - a compilation to throw light on and showcase our rich and vast language, culture and tradition besides the scripts - more than one and only Ranjana lipi. Here we have our language long lost with many of our rituals on the verge of extinction, it was a right step at right moment to make our people aware of what we possess that needs to be preserved, safeguarded and promoted at right earnest before it is too late. This was the need of the hour to uphold the dignity of the Newar identity. Not even two generations past, it is sad that we have forgotten our forefathers - without whose foresight and vision, we would not be here in Sikkim what it is today!

Visitors here come to see how the Newars in Sikkim are faring and our attempt is to bring them to familiarize ourselves with their work that contribute to keep the Newar identity distinct worldwide!

We invite readers to share their views too as feedback to our efforts.