Pushpa Basnet: A wake up call

Pushpa Basnet winning CNN Hero of the Year is a symbolic example that we don’t have to give up on the urban youth. It’s a realization that the ones born with silver spoons are also a part of the New Nepal, envisaged oh so gallantly a little more than a decade ago.

With the array of political transformation going on, where politicians are answering the media, the young cadres are waving black flags and donors are busy distributing their share of money, the role of the urban youth seems to be minimalized if not ignored.

It is as if the ones born with a silver spoon should be left to wining and dining at fancy parties and prepping up to become the next elite. This band of English-speaking people, they either settle down in the United States, come back open a chain of hotels and try and stay as far away as possible from the political scenario.

Hero in every sense of the word!

“The urban youth is so not interested in politics”, I heard one day.

“Well, make it interesting,” I thought to myself.

 The society seems to think that the urban youth is a species of kids who enjoy watching shows in English and drink too much coffee.

Everyday, I sit beside my dad who is engrossed in political talk shows. I try and make sense of it. Then I ask myself- what is there for me in this?”

We are a selfish species and we work on rewards basis.  The government needs to understand that the urban youth is much more pampered and exposed to a lot more information. They are much more difficult to woo.

We are living in the generation that talks freely about sex among them and organizes victory party for the American President Barack Obama. It has become so difficult for this part of the society to fit in because honestly, we don’t know where we belong. We might have less passion for politics than the cadres who devotedly follow their party leaders, but the urban youth should be made equally responsible towards what goes on in the country.

The urban youth eludes dynamism. In the last one year, that I returned, I have met such brilliant people my age, belonging to the same generation. They are a bundle of energy, in one way or the other shaping our society.  This pool of talent and enthusiasm, if contained could turn out to become the hugest asset of Nepal.

Pushpa’s victory is a symbolic one. It is as if this force from above is telling the Nepali youth to carry on. Born in a well-to-do family, she was born with a silver spoon and turned it into a golden opportunity for the whole country. 

This alchemy is one of the best lessons Nepal can learn.  Pushpa Basnet is a wake up call to all the urban youth who think that the “New” Nepal is still old for them.

The outer world, pictures Nepal as a poor country. Our girls are sold and our men move to foreign countries. Western countries come to our aid.

But seeing Pushpa out there, smiling and crying as she accepted the award and then spoke to Anderson Cooper about what it means to her, was the best thing that happened to Nepal in 2012.

Inspiring a generation of potential Heroes, in one-way or the other she symbolizes the untapped potential of the Urban Youth.

She represents the youth of Kathmandu, the youth, which everybody seems to have given up on.

This I think is the greatest victory.