Dassain, a Hindu festival, is recognized and celebrated by many in Nepal as the biggest and most important national festival. As per the historian Bhagiraj Ingnam the festival has a dark history -- a history of past regimes wielding it as a tool to subjugate and control the indigenous population. As such, to many the festival is actually a symbol of oppression and suppression.
One of the many legacies of the long casteist history of the country is the major structural issues Nepal continues to face. Evidences abound! But I keep coming across hill so-called High caste Hindus who can't see or refuse to see the evidences for what they are.
This is about one such man, a professor at a medical college no less!
Religion does not have a monopoly over morality or ethics. In other words, you don't have to be religious or even be associated with a religion to be a moral or ethical person.
Many societies exist in the world which are considerably less religious than Nepal but, as far as I am concerned, are considerably more moral and ethical.
Given how money has been the driving force behind what a majority do in Nepal and given how little people with power and influence value other people's lives, even during calamitous times -- such the aftermath of the 2015 earthquakes and the unprecedented coronavirus pandemic--we in Nepal must education children about empathy at home and school and raise them to be compassionate human beings.
Of course, there are at least a few different ways of doing that.
The caste system has corrupted the minds of Nepalis. Here is an example of how it has corrupted the minds of the Hill so-called High Caste Hindus.
Blinded as they are by structural privilege and their sense of entitlement their social group has enjoyed for generations, they demonstrate subtle internalized casteism stemming from their unconscious sense of superiority.
We don't have a dearth of Nepalis who frequently make the mistake of interpreting what someone else is saying, writing, and/or doing from only where they stand -- culturally, economically, socially, experientially, emotionally, intellectually etc. -- and, in the process, miss a lot of where the person is coming from and also the value in their message and/or their act.
This is an example of that from twitter.