...ripples of my heart...

Mystery

2013-07-19T15:07:00.000-07:00

The world is a mystery and more mysterious fellow humans

One comes and another goes like the fireball of cannons

Where did they come from and where shall they go

Whether the time comes faster or slow,

But the reality is that, one day everybody has to go!!!

Look, right in front of you, what did you see?

I just saw a beautiful shape of cloud and a herd of birds at flee

Gazed for a while and closed my eyes, the visibility went limitless

The universe inside me is unbound by time and space

Opened the lids of my eyes, no bird and the sky was hollow

Everything has a ‘come’ and must have a ‘go’, faster or slow!!!

Think for a while, generations have gone, and generations to come

You must have a long list of genealogy, but not sure who is yet to come

Your subjectivity is created out of your genealogy and history

But, a great wonder is, why human subjectivity is still a mystery!!!

Seven billion peoples, and thoughts and feelings of same amount

Great hierarchy in lifestyles and problems of various types, beyond count

In some part of the world, great problem of overeating and obesity

But somewhere, even greater is the neglect of famine and poverty

This is the rule of ‘global capitalism’, a great ideological mystery!!!

Limitless wealth and limitless power can’t buy your immortality

Whether you are a tycoon or a dweller of slum, lifecycle follows same modality

Amidst burgeoning capitalism, many people are shouting for a ‘neutrality’

Is tycoon’s achievement a result of his hard-work or corporate frugality

Lost between capitalism and socialism, a scholastic mystery!!!

Ideological Colonialism: Ideological Apparatuses, Subjectification and Cultural Hegemony

2012-10-14T01:36:00.001-07:00

Friend: “If Nepal had been a colony of Britain, Nepal would have progressed like India” [facebook status of one of my friends]

Me: “If there had been an option to dislike I would have disliked your status” [my comment on his status]

Friend: “People say that but I would be happy if anyone convinces me” [his response on my comment]

These were the lines I copied from a conversation between my friend and me on a facebook status. The conversation, though very short, has again struck my mind. Even though the statement of my friend is hypothetical it makes more sense when we compared the economic status of India and Nepal. Needless to mention India was under British rule from 1757 to 1947 but Nepal was [is] never ruled by any foreign forces officially. Some people in Nepalese academic diaspora argue that the prosperity [in terms of economic growth] India has gained since last 30 years is because of the infrastructure developed by the British. However, in the case of Nepal, it has gone worst. Nepal and India share a lot in terms of culture, tradition and religion. Rituals are performed in the same manner in both of the countries, especially Hindu rituals. People look similar, behave in a similar manner, watch similar movies, and listen to similar music, and so on. But a question remains, why India is taking unprecedented economic momentum while Nepal has remained too sluggish? Answer of this question may be many and too long, but I would like to explore the only hypothesis that my friend made and I guess some Nepalese share the same feelings. It is open secret from the fact 'why his status written last year still striking my mind' is that sometimes this Nepali diaspora also includes me and I happen to think: 'had Nepal been ruled by British it would have been richer like India today'.

The time I am trying to write on this, my mind is appealing me to analyse the assumption behind this statement in a deeper level. There are at least two pre-assumptions behind the statement above: firstly it assumes that India is a rich country today, and secondly Nepal is poor and has to be like India to be rich. Moreover in the shadow of these two pre-assumptions there is a third assumption hidden but powerful that is ‘becoming rich is gaining economic growth no matter what happens to the common people’. All these three assumptions lead me to think about the statement a bit critically, which engenders another question, a bit more critical and a bit more philosophical one: is the statement as such the product of the ‘colonisation of mind?’ I mean even though Nepal was not colonised officially the thought and perception of the people are colonised and under this colonial mindset the colonised people would think that what colonisers did was the right and the only best thing to do. During the British rule in India Nepalese were also colonised ideologically, moreover, colonialism was spreading in such a speed that the whole world was colonised by European colonisers. They colonised not only lands and forests, languages and cultures but also the very ontology of the people around the world. As a product of such and such colonial practices my friend any many others in Nepal think that what British did in India had a very positive consequences in the present day India. I will discuss a little more lately but now here I would like to explore more on ‘ideological colonialism’ or the ‘colonialism of mind’ in the light of three concepts: Ideological State Apparatus, Subjectification and Cultural Hegemony, each of them introduced by three philosophers Althusser, Foucault and Gramsci.

Louis Althusser and Ideological State Apparatuses

Luis Althusser, a French Marxist philosopher, claims that ruling class or the government of a nation state strengthens the environment for safe ruling through ideology. As a Marxist his argument echoes the division of society into the rulers and the ruled and how the former exploits the latter for its benefit. Marx’s gave an extensive theory of ‘state apparatus’ (which Althusser claims as repressive state apparatuses) in which state or the ruling class controls over the ordinary citizens or the proletariat through government, administration, army, police, the courts and prison known as state apparatuses. Marx’s argument, according to Althusser, is limited to how oppressors oppress the oppressed through repressive mechanisms with the control of army, police and moreover with the control over resources and capital. Marx thesis lacks the explanation of ideological state apparatuses which Althusser thinks more powerful than anything else. The ideological state apparatuses (ISA) includes religious institutions such as church; the educational institutions such as schools; the family ISA; the legal ISA such as court; the political ISA such as political parties; the trade union ISA; the Communication ISA such as media; and the cultural ISA such as arts and sports. Among these ISAs, Althusser claims that, the education state apparatuses, especially the schools are most powerful ones. He argues:

“It takes children from every class at infant-school age, and then for years, the years in which the child is most ‘vulnerable’, squeezed between the Family State Apparatus and the Educational State Apparatus, it drums into them, whether it uses new or old methods, a certain amount of ‘know-how’ wrapped in the ruling ideology or simply the ruling ideology in its pure state. Somewhere around the age of sixteen, a huge mass of children are ejected ‘into production’: these are the workers or small peasants” (Althusser,1970)

Now the question here is – was the assumption we make that colonisers did something good to their colonies that is why India has made some progresses than Nepal? Perhaps analysis of other newly independent nations’ past and present would yield more convincing results on the colonial legacy and the present status of the formerly colonised nations. Here I am controlling myself to the analysis of the two nations India and Nepal only so that I can make some sense of my issue: Ideological Colonialism.

If we agree with Althusser’s argument then we can deduct something interesting. Let me elaborate on this. The education system of Nepal overlaps with the education system of India. One of the professors, while I was studying Masters of Philosophy in Kathmandu University, had argued that educational reforms in Nepal were a ditto copy of Indian education system. As Indian education system – I mean the policy and practices of school education – was reproduced with the direct intervention of British education system, the educational reform was the re-reproduction of British ideology and the ideology that is of ruling class to continue their rules. He had argued that the slogan of Panchayat system – one nation (i.e. the greater Nepal) and one language (i.e. Nepali) – was borrowed from the British ideology that wanted to kill diversity by the process of homogenisation. Why students started to like Nepali in language not only from the children speaking it as a mother tongue but all whose parents spoke different ethnic language in ‘un-unified’ Nepal? The answer, if we believe in Althusser, is simple. The ideological state apparatus, especially the educational state apparatus shaped the very ontology and epistemology of young minds.

I am not going to re-theorise or reproduce but would like to make a proposal on the thesis of Althusser in the context of colonisation. If we have to see ideological state apparatuses and colonial poison to indoctrinate the young minds, I would propose for a slight change in the terminology: from Ideological State Apparatuses (ISA) to the Ideological Colonial Apparatuses (ICA). A justification for this nomenclatural shift, I argue, is that when colonialism spread at the global level, there was almost no intervention from the state, at least in the case of some Least Developed Countries including Nepal, where still the governments and their policy and practice are influenced by powerful nations and supranational organisations. My argument here is that the government became only the medium to transfer colonial ideologies to Nepalese people. In fact, the state had no ideology, if they had any, had lost somewhere because of their struggle to continue their regime with the support of colonial rulers both at the time of Ranas and Panchayat and the present regime (how present Nepal has been ideological colony is I think an important issue which I will write sometime later).

Taking Althusser’s ISA and my proposal as Ideological Colonial Apparatuses (ICA) into account, let’s go back to the facebook status of my friend. Now the problem seems a little more palpable at least for me. Now I can make a plausible guess that the assumption behind colonial legacy in the positive sense and taking today’s India as a rich country is a fine product of colonisation of mind or ideological colonisation. First, colonisers never intended to make India a rich country, what they wanted was to make it a colony through subjugation and Subjectification (will be discussed in the next section), what they wanted was to continue to outsource raw materials leaving Indian peasants desperate into hunger and famine. If anybody argues British colonisation in India as a good practice that would nothing more than a product of colonised mind set.

Second, it is only a fallacy that today’s India is a rich country. After some countries of Africa (the former European colonies), India holds a largest number of poor people in the world. Yes, India has gained unprecedented economic growth, but it doesn't necessarily mean that India has grown as a rich country. The word 'rich' gives much wider connotation. My appeal is not to limit the meaning of some of the words rich and development into a cunning strategy of modernisation – the economic growth. Perhaps, it is seen on the television screen that some of the Indian people fashioned like the people of the Western countries, talk in English like Westerners and produced commodities that hold the tag ‘Made in India’. Almost all commodities produced with 'Made in India' tag are the product of multinational corporations which we believe that they were really Indian production In the neoliberal framework the shareholders of multinational corporations, not necessarily of India origin, are making more money out of the money accumulated through the means that hampered normal peoples' prosperity either directly or indirectly. Not understanding all these activities we are making a false assumption that India is rich and developed country. And now I conclude this section that the assumptions of these types are the product of ideological colonialism which we should understand by understanding the very nature of Subjectification.

Michel Foucault and Subjectification

When Foucault comes in my mind I make an image of lexemes such as governance, or governmetality, power or power relations, subjugation and so on. Foucault (1926-1984) was one of the influential theorists whose writings emerged as a powerful tool for understanding the social phenomenon, especially through the introduction of some rather abstract concept like power or governmetality. He wrote a lot and spoke a lot. One of his concepts is ‘Subjectification’ which I am going to explore with reference to ‘ideological colonialism’.

The word Subjectification overlaps somehow with the concept of interpellation that was introduced by Althusser. From Althusser's writing, interpellation can be understood as the process by which ideological state apparatuses make people accept the domination from state as rational activities for their benefit. For example, shaping the minds of children according to the interest and objective of the state or the ruling class is interpellation process. In the similar way the concepts of Subjectification as the process of making people perceive what they are as they are. Under the influence of state ideologies ordinary people create their own self by themselves but they don’t know that the very self they construct is the product of dominant ideology.

According to Foucault, “there are two meanings of the word subject: subject to someone else by control and dependence; and subject tied to his own identity by a conscience or self-knowledge” (Foucault, 1982, p. 781). The word Subjectification comes from the second meaning of the word subject. Perhaps, the distinction between these two meaning of the subject makes Subjectification different from interpellation. Influenced by Marx, Althusser claimed that control and dependence are secured by ideological state apparatuses but he didn't tell that such control and dependence are created by the proletariat themselves who are unaware of bourgeoisie ideologies that frame their thought subconsciously through ideological state apparatuses. The new dimension added by Foucault – in earlier version of Marxist State Apparatus and Althusser’s contribution (by differentiating ideological state apparatuses and repressive state apparatuses) – is that oppressed people create their self but do not understand that the very self is an outcome of subjugation from the ruling ideology and submit themselves for the benefit of dominant class and their ideology.

Going back to my issue – whether the assumption we have been making was an outcome of ideological colonialism – I would like to discuss whether such assumption was an outcome of Subjectification. It leads to a new question: do some of the people, who praise colonialism as a good intervention for the development of, let’s say India in a literal sense, colonised nations, think their assumptions as right ones? The theory of Subjectification allows us to say “yes they do” because the people of colonised nations are unable to break the mental boundary created by colonial ideologies. They are unable to explain the reality as the fishes are unable to define the earth. They construct their epistemology on the ontology created by colonial ideologies. Foucault claims, now the agenda is how to break this boundary for liberating us from such Subjectification so as to create a new subjectivity – the process of de-Subjectification – that goes beyond ideological colonialism and allows all the fishes to define how the mountains and hills look like.

Antonio Gramsci and Cultural Hegemony

Perhaps there are very few people today who have not heard the name of Benito Mussolini – a dictator and the protagonist of notorious political theory - fascism. He ruled Italy from 1922 to 1943. In one of the prisons under his control was a very radical intellectual young man writing most of the times whose writings are now famous in the name of ‘the prison notebooks’. This highly original thinker was Antonio Gramsci. From his thesis a new form of adult education emerged in the name of radical adult education that appeal for the revolutionary role of educators, politicians, and civil society members of modern society. From his immense concepts and ideas, I would like to draw one of the prominent concepts – cultural hegemony – to analyse ‘ideological colonialism’.

In simple dictionary terms, the word hegemony is defined as ‘the dominance or leadership of one social group or nation over others’. But for Gramsci there is something more. He claims that hegemony comprises of “spontaneous consent given by a great masses of the population to the general direction imposed on social life by the dominant fundamental group; this consent is historically caused by prestige which the dominant group enjoys because of its position and function in the world of production” (Coben, 1995).

A question comes in my mind from the above definition of hegemony – why great masses of people give consent to dominant group to rule over the former? Is it because of the interpellation as propounded by Althusser or Subjectification propounded by Foucault? The concept overlaps to a great extent however there is something more than what Althusser and Foucault have to say on this regard. The dominant group not only indoctrinate masses towards their ideology, they enjoy certain privilege historically established. Under the guise of this privilege or the prestige the dominant group make the masses work for them and live for them. As they control the means of production, the masses are compelled to give consent to rule over them. For maintaining this hegemony the dominant group exercises active ethical functions through state as the nation state is controlled by the dominant class. The oppressive rules become common sense for the common people who do not examine critically whether those were oppressive rules imposed on them for maintaining hegemony. Gramsci claims that “common sense is the seedbed of the dominant ideology as well as being the battle ground of the new ideology in elaboration” (Coben, 1995). Now there is no doubt for not-consenting the common sense.

Formation of more oppressive rules and acceptance of such rules as common sense becomes a kind of culture (I am using this notion of cultural hegemony in a very literal sense). Acculturated in such culture general masses are unable to differentiate what is right and what is wrong. The people indoctrinated in such system develop a kind of intellectual that accepts the dominant ideology as truths. Such truths are embedded in the mindset of working class people through traditional institutions such as administration, school, police and army.

Having said these from Gramsci, let’s go back to the assumption we have been making – the assumption that colonialism had something positive outcome for the nations who are on the process of establishing sovereignty and gaining economic growth. Now my agenda in question: does ideological colonialism is an outcome of cultural hegemony? Looking through the Gramscian lens, the answer would be “yes”. Because of cultural hegemony we take some of the colonial oppressive rules as common sense. For example British colonisers of India created two classes among the colonised people. The first group of people were local feudal who had the control over resources and because of their inherited cultural capital could put control over peasants and other working class people. Gradually the new generation of colonial victims started to accept feudal lords as high caste/class people and gave consent to rule over them. Through feudal lords British rulers secured cultural hegemony. As a closed neighbour and a kind of colony of decolonised India, Nepalese also take some of the oppressive rules as common sense. The particular facebook status of my friend may be or may not be an example of the product of cultural hegemony, whether he has a different thought now, or whether my analysis of this type gives new thoughts to those who have similar kind of assumption is not a prime concern. Definitely there are examples in Nepalese society where Western ideologies still functioning as common sense. My synthesis here is how ideological colonialism is operational in the present day world, especially in the Global South.

Conclusion

The question whether India is gaining economic progress in comparison to Nepal in the recent decades is a very complex question. There could be both internal and external causes behind the relative progression and regression of certain countries. I took this issue to explore on the issue of ‘ideological colonialism’ rather than answering the question itself. I don’t have the answer and I argue that nobody can give an absolute answer. I am contented to some extent through this writing that some small issue makes great difference when we see them from different theoretical lenses. However, I am sure for one thing – ideological colonialism is not a myth and an issue just for the sake of debate. It’s a historical fact and many people in the world today are the victim of this. Nations got independence. Few people have got the opportunity to be presidents, and prime ministers of those independent nations but for general people nothing has changed. They are oppressed even today; just the form of oppression has changed somehow. A thesis that emerges from this writing is: interpellation and Subjectification of rulers and the ruled through cultural hegemony. It brings two concluding remarks. First, the rulers of so called independent nation states – the subjects of the rule – are acting as though they are the ultimate rulers of the independent nations but they never know how their ruling ideology is framed. And secondly, the ruled – the citizens of independent nations – are trying to gain their lost rights and freedom but while doing so they have never attempted to know what their real rights and freedoms are. That is why there are a lot of tensions in the third world country including ‘never colonised!!!’ nation Nepal.

References

Althusser, L. (1994). Ideology and ideological state apparatuses (Notes towards an investigation). In Lenin and philosophy and other essays (B. Brewster, Trans.). Retrieved from http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/althusser/1970/ideology.htm (Original work published 1970)
Foucault, M. (1982). The subject and power. Critical Inquiry, 8(4), 777-795. Retrieved fromhttp://www.jstor.org/stable/1343197
Coben, D. (1995). Revisiting Gramsci [Electronic version]. Studies in the Education of Adults,27(1), 36-51

Nepal's Participation in Rio+20

2012-06-18T16:39:00.001-07:00

Today is not the time when the earth was created about 14 billion years ago, this is not the time when plants and animals started to flourish, this is also not the time when human hoards fought to control their territories. Those were the moments either the nature itself continued to make the earth favourable for survival or the species were not conscious enough to observe what is going on in their mother earth. Today is the time humans should correct their mistakes otherwise the earth is going to be inhabitable putting every earthling at risk. Humans committed several mistakes in the name of getting civilised, industrialized, and more competitive. Who gained what and who lost what has been a serious political issue. But attempts are being made to correct those mistakes.

Perhaps the first attempt was made at global level through the initiative of United Nations in 1972 at Stockholm, in Sweden to protect human environment, where many developed, developing and least developed countries including small Himalayan country Nepal made commitments to reduce the consumption of resources that deteriorates the earth environment. Mistakes were realised and with very optimistic goals heads of different nations signed agreements. After 20 years in 1992 at Rio Brazil, UN organised another conference with huge participation of 172 nations. The name of this famous conference is Earth Summit 1992. 'The UN sought to help Governments rethink economic development and find ways to halt the destruction of irreplaceable natural resources and pollution of the planet' (Ref). In this conference, perhaps for the first time the mistakes were made more clear. The industrialized nations were pointed out and asked for bearing the brunt of environmental destruction. With a great misfortune, by that time scientists have found that the effect of environmental destruction, especially the climate change would be more for developing and least developed nations rather than the industrialized ones. For example, some of the island countries are being affected because of the rising sea level and mountainous countries like Nepal are being affected because of the decreasing amount of snow on the Himalayas. The countries were divided on the line that who made mistakes and who are affected more. It was also committed that 0.7% of total Gross Domestic Product of the industrial nations to be given to developing and least developed nations as a compensation for affecting their lives and their society without committing the mistakes. But by the time Rio +20 is going to take place in 2012 the commitments have not been fulfilled.

What is Rio +20

Rio 20 is a UN conference on sustainable development. It can also be defined as a historical opportunity to define pathways to safer, more equitable, cleaner, greener and more prosperous world for all. Once again 'world leaders, along with thousands of participants from governments, the private sector, NGOs and other groups, are meeting to decide how to reduce poverty, advance social equity and ensure environmental protection on an ever more crowded planet to get to the future humans need and want' (Ref). The priority areas are promotion of decent jobs, clean energy and sustainable development to reduce poverty. This summit has a greater significance to developing countries and basically the least developed countries than other industrialized nations. The conference is being organized June 20-22 at Rio after several meeting, consultations and preparations at national, regional and international level.

The Rio +20 conference has double pronged focus: reducing the poverty and tackling with the climate change. How does the measures to reduce poverty correlates with the measures taken for tackling with climate change or the global warming is a genuine issues needing more discussions, commitments and translating those commitments into practice. The number of people living in extreme poverty that is unable to eat full stomach and live in a shelter that protects from wind and rain is increasing. The congregation of those people is burgeoning in the rural villages of the least developed countries. In 48 countries of this type the problem in Africa and South Asia is more pervasive and these are the countries that face global warming more. Those countries that have agriculture as major source of GDP are facing problems because of the changing pattern of weather basically the rain that has started to fall unusually and untimely. Agriculture and domestic products have been so fragile and people have less motivation towards their work from domestic products. Young people are out of the country leaving their elders and youngsters desperately at home. These illustrations show that there is a close link between burgeoning poverty and global warming. As the global warming increases so happens to the poverty. Now global warming is a topic of discussion of developed nations but the problem of least developed countries. Had the former realised it as a problem perhaps their commitments would have been materialized. The US, China, Germany and other industrialized and neo-industrialised countries have just discussed and giving cautions to the developing nations but not doing anything significant, at least they have not truly realised their mistakes.

Nepal's participation

Nepal is a small Himalayan country in South Asian. A large portion of Nepal's (147,181 sq km) area have been covered by the snow. The snow provides not only natural beauty but also a source of living by providing cool environment and source of water who live below the mountains. Nepal has been making an active participation to world conferences such as the conferences organized by the UN. It has been a signatory of many international agreements and and commitments. As the issues of Rio +20 - poverty, global warming, and sustainable development - are intractably related to the issues of Nepal, it's genuine participation is a key to the success of this UN Conference.

1992 Earth Summit had a significant impact in Nepal. One of the successful projects of Nepal is Community Forestry. Forest resources have been an integral means of survival in Nepal. 77.7% of fuel consumption in Nepal comes from firewood that is from the forest. Similarly it has great value to promote agriculture and for growing domestic animals. Now what to do and expect in this conference.

Nepal is an active member of the Least Developed Countries (LDCs). It is going to be the head of LDC in 2013 where all the issues I discussed above becomes the issues of not only Nepal but also the issues of all LDCs where Nepal is going to give a leadership. Does Nepal have that capacity to lead those countries? Like other LDCs Nepal also depends on foreign direct investments. A large amount of its fiscal budgets is covered by the donations and loans from indusrialised nations and the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. The world is clearly divided into two classes: the have's and the havenot's. Nepal's future will be in trouble if international community stop providing financial support. But the problem is Nepal as a leader of LDC should be able to speak against the tyranny the developed nations are doing so far, especially for the destruction of the global environment - the global warming. The havenot's will never have their share preserved until and unless they can fight against the tyrants. Other LDCs who are participating in the Rio +20 conference are certainly expecting something bold from their prospective leader.

By the time prime minister Baburam Bhattarai of Nepal heading towards the Rio conference a lot of things going on in Nepal. Political leaders are hated at the worst level for the first time because of their inability to give constitution. Their leadership have been a matter of defamation and hatred. Deteriorated from the civil war, and indulging into uncertainty about the future course, Nepal is now a failed state reeling into anarchy. Anything may happen any time in Nepal and there is nobody to take the responsibility for that. Yet the leaders have not realised their mistakes, rather complaining each other. The dramatic ceasefire from the revolting Maoist and the advancement made after people’s revolution has been a complete failure.

Moreover, the largest political party has split into two one leading by a warmonger. The splited faction still want to revolt but doesn't know against who. There is no objective definition of who are their real enemies if there are any. Dr. Bhattarai have been a puppet of Prachanda. It sounds for me that these leaders including the top leaders of other major political parties do not know what is the right track. They seem to be contended as though no development is needed further so they need to compete for the posts. No leaders seem to be cooperating and giving constructive suggestions. Just complaining, blaming and backbiting...just to prove their austerity which they have already lost and is irrecoverable.

I wonder, what the delegates of Nepal are thinking to speak in such conference. What the head of the delegation would speak with the world and what commitment would they make. The world is different and problems are many. Nepal has many problems and it will not come out of the vicious cycle of poverty unless the internal problems are solved first. Why the leaders of Nepal do not understand the facts? Everything is clear...making government, changing it, having the position of minister is not a major thing. Perhaps there are no leaders who have not been in position since last 20 years. Still they are blaming other and telling that they can do if they get the position. It is the world and the simplicity you can prove that counts not the what position you held and you would like to hold. Now is the war against poverty not against what you have been blaming for. Nepal was not looted by anybody and will not be looted in the future. We will be languishing in such limbo until and unless we can realise this fact and help each other to push this country up. Hope the Nepali delegates of Rio +20 conferences have an opportunity to unlock their politically jaded mind and think about the problems widely and find right solutions of the right problems.

Composed at
EDST Lab
University of British Columbia
BC, Canada

Least Developed Countries

2012-06-15T13:08:00.001-07:00

Recent (2011) data from World Bank reveal that among 6.7 billion people living in the world, 5.5 billion (82%) live in developing countries. It means that only about 20% of the people live in developed countries. Another figure shows that about 80% of the world resources are held by developed countries. Comparing the use of resources and the number of people, the result is surprising. 80% resources for 20% people and 20% resources for 80% people.

Those living in developing countries (the 20%) are not homogeneous economically. Actually the gap between rich and poor is significantly higher than we normally assume. For example, Indian billionaires hold 31% of the national GDP and there are 50-70 billionaires in India. It means that the largest democracy (India) in the world has such scary figure where about 31% of national resources are held by only 53 richest people (June 2012). In other poor economies too the gap between poor people and rich people is increasing. The economy is a significant determiner of ones health, education, and social capital. The figures show that now the problem is not only gap between developed and developing countries but also between rich and poor people. Perhaps, the number of poor people in rich countries is decreasing, we can not be sure that similar changes happening in poor countries. Actually, the so called economic boom in newly developed countries such as India and China doesn't necessarily prove that the condition of its people has improved. A country can become rich leaving millions of people in poverty. Even though this is a very crucial issue, I am not going to discuss further in this posting. The purpose of this post is to highlight some of the facts on the Least Developed Countries.

Looking through the lens of development economics, we can find three types of countries in the world today. They are developed countries, developing countries and the least developed countries or LDCs. Obviously first category is clear as it holds the advanced industrial nations. Normally they are the members of G8 (that includes France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada and Russia) or the member of Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development or OECD (that includes 34 developed countries of the world). The list of the second types of countries is not so clear. They are also called the countries in economic transition or transition countries. Mostly they are represented by Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, including some oil producing countries. The first four accelerating economies are also called BRIC taking the initials of these four countries.

The third category, which is also my focus here is the Least Developed Countries. They are also called the third world countries but the terms is not used these days because of its derogatory sense and the term "third world" doesn't have exact connotation with the discussion I am going to do here. In 1971 United Nations made a decision to categorise the poorest countries of the world in the category of Leas Developed Countries. Since then LDC has been a popular acronym among development activists and donor agencies. These are the countries categorised in terms of Human Development Index. They are the countries with lowest level of national literacy, fragile and poor economy, poor health facility and basically the number of people living in extreme poverty that is living in 1.25 dollar a day.

There are 48 LDCs in the world today. The majority of LDCs are in Africa. The Least Developed Countries Report 2011 shows that there are 33 in Africa, 14 in Asia and 1 in South America. These 48 countries are:

Afghanistan	Madagascar
Angola	Malawi
Bangladesh	Mali
Benin	Mauritania
Bhutan	Mozambique
Burkina Faso	Myanmar
Burundi	Nepal
Cambodia	Niger
Central African Republic	Rwanda
Chad	Samoa
Comoros	Sao Tome and Principe
Congo	Senegal
Djibouti	Sierra Leone
Equatorial Guinea	Solomon Islands
Eritrea	Somalia
Ethiopia	Sudan
Gambia	Timor-Leste
Guinea	Togo
Guinea-Bissau	Tuvalu
Haiti	Uganda
Kiribati	Tanzania
Lao	Vanuatu
Lesotho	Yemen
Liberia	Zambia

Poverty is the major problem in all these countries. Now 36% of the people living in extreme poverty that is less that 1.25 dollar per day (and 78% living in 2 dollar per day) live in the LDCs. The LDCs share 12% of the world population but their contribution to the global Gross Domestic Product remains below 0.9% which is considerably lower than what it was in 1970s. Something to notice here today is that United States alone contribute about 22% of world GDP. Let's analyse the figure once again, 22% by one country and 1% by 48 countries. And this figure is not going to alter. The United Nations for Population Fund predicts that by 2050 the world population will reach 9 billion and 1.67 billion (about 18%) people will be living in LDCs.

In terms of literacy, the adult literacy of LDCs is only 59.6%. It means that about 60 people in every 100 people can read and write. Because of global movement such as Education for All, Millennium Development Goals and Universal Primary Education the enrolment rate at primary level has reached about 85%, however the enrolment rate of secondary is only 32 percent. It shows that out of 100 only 85 go to primary school and only 32 secondary school age children reach to the secondary level. Looking at the rate of participation at tertiary level, we can claim that there is no progress at all. Only 5.6% people enrol in higher education. There is no data how many of them graduate and how many of them get job after their graduation.

Looking at the trend of Nepal, we can say that now the problem has been shifted to educated unemployed rather than uneducated unemployed. Even those 5.6%, probably the exceptional and brilliant people are not employed, then how can we imagine a better society? Same is the condition for all 48 Least Developed Countries of the World. On top of all problems there is also a burgeoning problem of brain drain. These are the reason why the number of LDCs is increasing and poverty is accelerating in the world.

Problems are many and questions are even more. What are the solution to all those problems? Can education and qualifications solve these problems? Is investment in education justifiable in those countries? Does human capital formation help to alleviate the extreme poverty those countries enduring since past? How to reduce inequality? Are we educating the citizens of those countries in the right way? What has education done since past about 100 years? Was there not a right type of education or was education inadequate? These are the questions that need to be addressed. This is the time to work together for finding the solution of the problems these countries facing. People may think that the developed and developing countries could provide a panacea as they have been doing as donor agencies. The history of international development assistance shows that no country can achieve sustainable development from donations of rich countries and even from the assistance of World Bank and International Monetary Fund. The individual LDCs should unite and explore the solutions of their common problems.

Defining reality through social constructivism

2012-06-07T10:42:00.000-07:00

Reality is a contested issue. What people call a reality seems mere assumption when we try to generalise that in another context. If a reality is not true in all circumstances then we can't claim that as a reality. What was true in the past must be true at present and in future. What is true in Canada must be true in Nepal. Yes some of the assumptions are true such as "we drink water when we are thirsty" but how much thirsty one gets and how much water she needs for saturation is not the same. A question I would like to discuss here is how the 'reality' is defined? The definition of reality is also contested. I would like to be more specific on 'how reality is constructed' rather than defined because I am convinced at least for today is that reality is constructed not predetermined. Reality is fluid, dynamic and contextual. People in a particular social setting construct a reality, probably true for all the members at least for that particular situation.

To illustrate the concept, let me take an issue: 'development'. A serious question here would be 'what is development?'. Having more money, roads, vehicles, schools, hospitals, employment opportunities are the present assumption of development. We have called some western countries as developed ones because they were able to manage those facilities before the some of the Asian and African countries had achieved. Based on this definition of development we made categorization among the countries of the world hence some countries became developed, some became developing and some became least developed ones. To be developed in the same fashion as western countries, the developing countries also constructed roads, developed school systems, set up industries and so on. For doing so developed countries became donors and the others became receivers. The number of least developed countries remained the same because the developed countries remained always ahead in advancing those attributes of development. Are the countries in the global south not getting progress? It is definitely not, as far as I believe now, a lot of progresses have been done. For example people's level of thought has changed, people have different world views to view the world and so forth. Then where the problem is. The answer may not be easy and the answers may be many. But an inference I could easily make is the problem in defining the term development. The attributes given to 'development' was a socially constructed reality and the construction of that reality took place in the western world or the global north. The assumptions of accepting the definition of western reality as universal reality was the major problem. All countries and all societies are different. They have their own features and own ways of progression. One of the solutions could be disregard of western definition of development and accept that reality is socially constructed and value the reality that is constructed at individual social context. Nepal can never be Canada no matter how good the schools are, how good the roads are and how industrial the former wants to be. And we should never assume that Nepal is not developed and Canada is developed. Let's decide what counts good for Nepal and take its progression on its own way.

Reality changes on daily basis. Let me find an example to show how it changes. Before coming to Canada, I used to believe that Canada is a western country. Eurocentric beliefs, westernization, modernisation and other similar terms have some negative connotations in the discussion we used to have when I was in Nepal. I was assuming that those criticisms were not applicable in Canada because it is a western country and it believes on westernization, modernisation and all other ontologies based on western thoughts and beliefs. I was also thinking that I may put myself in a difficult situation because of my critical mind set towards those phenomena. But after I came to Canada and started to debate and discuss among scholars, mostly from western world I started hearing same argument we used to make in Nepal. We used to blame European colonisers for the oppression and hardships many developing countries are facing these days. We used to go against Eurocentric beliefs. My utter surprise now is that almost all of my colleagues are talking the same. Two days ago in an interuniversity research seminar a researcher who was Canadian by citizen and looked like an European by skin blamed colonization and appealed for the decolonization of scholarly research. My question was 'where is the WEST in this earth?' what are western countries, and actually what is westernisation? Now my reality of westernisation and westernism has changed. People in Canada are talking the same thing, they are blaming colonisation and westernisation.

The changing trend of my personal reality - probably it is my radical constructivist standpoint - has engendered another assumption and the assumption is that Canada was a colony and here are people suffering from Europeanisation. The issue of Indigenous or First Nations people is so pervasive. Yes this is the time for revitalisation of those values that were suppressed by the British and French colonisers in the past. Yes it is also the time for decolonisation of scholarly activities because we can't understand the reality following the epistemology developed by the western scholars or the colonisers themselves. But in terms of my definition of westernisation and the the question I raised in the seminar, I am wondering how those assumption would be dealt when I go to Europe and ask among the British scholars. Actually, I would like to ask them, we have assumed that 'you are, if not at least, your ancestors were, Europeans, they were colonisers, and the world was universalise on what you thought was true. You defined the word development and asked the world to be developed on the way you wanted to be but do you think this assumption is true? If you think these assumptions are wrong then tell me again where is the WEST and who are westerners, who are colonisers? See how my reality of westernisation and westernism has changed since I came to Canada. I am anticipating that when I go to Britain and have discussion with the British scholar my assumption of westernisation would change.

I may change this post in the future, but for now I would like to conclude that reality is socially and contextually constructed issue, it goes on changing as we find ourselves in changed context and circumstances.

'Concept Mapping' as a mixed method research

2012-06-06T16:00:00.000-07:00

Concept mapping is a mixed method research method that allows the quantitative analysis of qualitative data. This method is popular in program evaluation, however, it has been used in the field of social sciences as it allows to explore an area of research in a more organised way. According to Trochim (1989), there are five steps that a researcher follows while following concept mapping as a method for social science research. First, a specific questions is posed to a number of participants and responses are collected. Second, responses are edited for clarity and redundant responses are removed. Third, responses are returned to participants and are asked to group them together into concepts. Fourth, the groupings made by participants are analysed using multidimensional scaling and cluster analysis procedures. Finally, the groupings made by the participants are combined and most significant clusters are selected for the final concept map. The decisions are made on the basis of statistical and conceptual fit.
It seems like a mixed method research not because it follows some traditional statistical tools such as t test and z test. But because of its inherent quality of being positivist rather than following the principle of construction of new knowledge subjectively. As the researcher counts the concepts repeated and and grouped it looks like a quantitative one. It is a mixed method because it is quantitative in process but qualitative in content. (I will change this post when i will have more information on concept mapping as a research method)

Some of my articles

2012-03-09T13:14:00.008-08:00

Click here for more
1. Completing a Graduate Degree: A Case of a Female Student
Abstract: This paper was written as an assignment for one of my courses while pursuing a graduate degree in the Department of Education Studies at the University of British Columbia (UBC), Canada. I have made an attempt to explore perceptions and experiences of a female graduate student on four different aspects of her family and academic life. The four aspects that emerged as the themes while analysing interview transcript are: personal and family life; gender differences; funding and scholarship; and the role of supervisor. The paper also presents how the interview was conducted, how the data were generated and how analysis was done. At the end of the paper I have presented my reflections. This short and single-participant semi-structured interview research concludes with three basic findings as major impeding factors for a successful completion of a graduate programme, especially by a female student. The three findings are: female graduate students still face many challenges--as systemic barriers--that are more severe than their male counterparts face; financial problem is still a strong impeding factor that associate with all other major and minor barriers for the completion of a graduate degree; and finally, the relationship between a graduate student and her/his supervisor and the latter's expertise in the area of student's research interest is one of the significant factors for the successful completion of a graduate programme. Read the article

2. Lifelong Learning in Nepal: Contexts and Prospects
Abstract: Learning is a lifelong process. Many countries in the world, basically the European and Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries, have adopted it as an important vehicle for human development. They have also made it a policy agenda for meeting the human capital need for twenty first century for economic prosperity. However, the concept of lifelong learning is still new in many developing countries including Nepal. With UNESCO's efforts some policy documents have made some provisions to enhance non-formal education in Nepal; however, no specific provision has been made so far to enhance informal learning despite the fact that that has been proved as one of the vital constituents of lifelong learning. This article discusses some of the fundamental concepts attached with lifelong learning and also sheds some lights on the prospects of lifelong learning in developing countries, with particular focus on the Nepalese contexts. Read the article
3. Promoting Lifelong Learning in Multilingual Context: A Case from Nepal
Abstract: Nepal is a multilingual country with low adult literacy rate (about 57% in 2008). Through different policy documents and motivation from some of the transnational organizations such as UNESCO, Nepal is on the process of adopting lifelong learning perspective as a major educational policy. In this context the article raises two issues: how to preserve and promote linguistic diversity and how to provide lifelong learning opportunities in such multilingual context. For addressing these issues, the article argues that multilingual lifelong learning policy--in all three modes of learning: formal, non-formal and informal--could be a suitable educational policy for Nepal. Read the article
4. Recognition, Accreditation and Validation of Non-Formal and Informal Learning: Prospects for Lifelong Learning in Nepal
Abstract: This study was an exploration on the various issues related to recognition, accreditation and validation of non-formal and informal learning to open up avenues for lifelong learning and continuing education in Nepal. The perceptions, experiences, and opinions of Nepalese Development Activists, Educational Administrators, Policy Actors and University Professors became the major part of this research. Some of the reviews of the good practices in the field of validation of non-formal and informal learning and development of National Qualifications Framework at international level; and the progresses Nepal has made so far in this field were also equally incorporated in the study. It was a two-phased Sequential Mixed Method study in which Survey and Phenomenology representing positivist and constructivist paradigms were used sequentially to draw the findings. The quantitative part of the research dealt with the three themes of the research. The first theme was "providing options for learners to learn through formal, non-formal and informal modes of learning equally"; the second theme was "bringing parity among the three modes of learning" and the third theme was "developing a National Qualifications Framework" to recognize, accredit, and validate non-formal and informal learning to enhance lifelong learning in Nepal. During the analysis of qualitative part of the research eight different themes generated. They were making people free to acquire knowledge; making the three forms of learning equal; recognition, accreditation, and certification of non-formal and informal learning; recognition, accreditation and certification of indigenous knowledge; assessing non-formal and informal learning; adaptability and employability of non-formal and informal learners; developing a National Qualifications Framework; and enhancing lifelong learning. These themes either directly or indirectly are related to validation of non-formal and informal learning to create an environment conducive for lifelong learning in Nepal. From the analysis of both quantitative and qualitative data it was found that the Educational Stakeholders were positive and enthusiastic towards enhancing lifelong learning by recognizing, accrediting and validating non-formal and informal learning in Nepal. They opined almost in a similar spirit that the three forms of learning should get equal focus to make one's learning a lifelong endeavor. They had a consensus on developing a mechanism to assess non-formal and informal learning outcomes including indigenous knowledge and skills. They also claimed that non-formal and informal learners are equally employable and adaptable as formal degree holders if the formers were provided with an environment conducive for fostering their knowledge, skills and competencies. Above all, from the triangulation of qualitative results with quantitative data and review of literatures it was found that if a mechanism for recognizing, accrediting and validating non-formal and informal learning is developed on the basis of a National Qualifications Framework, then the goal of enhancing lifelong learning could be achieved. Read all

5. Looking Mother Tongue Instruction through Different Perspectives

Abstract: Mother Tongue Instruction has been a debatable issue since long. There may be two options in the medium of instruction: either to teach especially primary and preprimary schoolchildren in their own mother tongue or continue using second or foreign language as the medium of instruction. Both of the approaches bear some pros and cons. This article tries to explore the perplexing debate in brief by analyzing the concept through different perspectives namely psycholinguistic, sociolinguistic, political, cultural, gender, and pedagogical. It also gives a glimpse of the progresses made in Nepal to cater mother tongue instruction. Read the article

6. Evaluation of ELT Program of Kathmandu University

Abstract: Kathmandu University is one of the leading universities in Nepal. There are different faculties and programs under it. One of schools, namely, School of Education is committed to produce quality academic workforce as per the demanding need of the nation in the field of teaching and learning. It runs English Language Teaching (ELT) Program as an innovative and didactic program with its separate department and faculty members. This report presents a comprehensive summary of the Evaluation of the ELT program. The evaluation was done with particular reference to 2007 February batch according to CIPP (Context, Input, Process, and Product) Evaluation Model. The study concludes that the ELT program has partially achieved its objectives but it is likely that it would take some steps quickly if the implementation phase is made more contemporaneous. Read the article

Allegory of Cave

2011-09-28T23:25:00.000-07:00

Composition of research report

Normally, a research report consists of 12 parts: title, acknowledgement, table of contents, abstract, introduction, literature review, research methods, results, discussion, conclusion, appendices and references. All of them are familiar to me but from today’s reading I have found simple but crucial information – we shouldn’t include all the results we get. To make our research more succinct and to the point we should preset and discuss only those findings that relate to our research question(s).

Allegory of parable of cave

Lee Gunderson, my professor teaching research methodology in education, started his lesson with ‘parable of cave’ of Plato. I had heard but didn’t know what it exactly signifies. It was taken from the 7^th volume of Plato’s ‘The Republic’. It talks about the reality and how it is perceived by people. The reality is illusive and we can never know it because we have being changed with some constraints. Perhaps this video will make the things clear

Reality and knowledge

The professor tries to direct the class to the understanding of metaphysics, epistemology and logical positivism. Metaphysics is the study of the fundamental nature of all reality and epistemology is the study of the nature of knowledge. I couldn’t say right now the difference between the knowledge and the reality, however, just a plausible guess of my mind. Reality is a relative concept. What is real today may not be so tomorrow and it depends on the perspectives we use to see the things. Something that we take for granted as real, may be wrong for someone who has a different or better perspective to see it. Like in the allegory of cave the prisoner have taken for granted that the world is the shadow moving on the wall in front of them but for the one who went outside he found another reality and that was something more convincing.

The word knowledge, in my understanding has related but a bit different semantics. It is something that we know or understand. Even though the reality is the same, the understanding we make over it may differ from person to person. So knowledge is related to epistemology and reality is with metaphysics, nonetheless both of them are the branches of philosophy.

Logical positivism

Auguste Comte was the first philosopher to propound the concept of positivism. He claimed that theory must be based on observed facts. Several branches of research developed after the induction of positivism or logical positivism. The studies on plants and animals started to be called naturalistic research. Similarly lepidopterists (for the people involved in Insect that in the adult state has four wings more or less covered with tiny scales), botanists, and biologists emerged as researchers. Some of them studied the physical world and their field were geography or astronomy. The areas of research involved in the study of human beings were known as ethnography, anthropology, and epidemiology.

Anthropological researches sometimes have been the subject of ethical discussion. For example the study in Ishi – the only found living man from Yahi tribe. The following video will give more information on Ishi and his life after he was found.

Case studies, patient interviews, experiment and quasi-experiment, survey, conceptual analysis (the analysis of the concepts found in literature), action research, historical research (though some people say it is not a research as it lack facts...the facts of histories are just the interpretations of historians), feminist research are some of the examples of research methods/designs.

The best statistics teachers: Prof. Gunderson

I found the way Prof. Gunderson teaches is so fascinating, to the point and simply the best. He has been the first teacher to provide the basic concept of statistics to me. I have been trying to learn some of the fundamental concepts of research statistics, basically after starting to do my MPhil thesis from Kathmandu University. I have read few books and few pages on the web and have also used SPSS package as a tool for analysing the quantitative data of my research. I still don’t have confidence on the statistical operations that I carried out two years ago.

As a matter of fact, Gunderson became the first guru today to make me clear the basic concept of ‘statistical significance’. He made me a reporter of Vancouver Sun and asked to write a report on a woman who can guess rightly whether tea or milk was put on the tea. I went to the women and asked her to make her guess on 1^st cup – she got right. The chance was ½ , again I asked to go for another cup and she made it right the chance or probability became ¼ that means there is 25% chance that she made it correct by accident. He asked, “Kapil, now are you going to write the report?” I said “no” because I couldn’t take that risk. It could be only chance. Let me give a next trial – the third one. Wow! With my utter surprise the women guessed that rightly. I went on asking her to make guesses and she got all right and I came to a certain point that I had less than 5% chance that her right guess was just an accident. As a social science researcher I decided to take that risk. Now I know that that as the statistical significance at 5%level which is acceptable. In another words I am 95% sure that the guessing expertise of the woman was 95% sure and decided to report to the Vancouver Sun. In the field of medical science the significance level is generally taken at 1% level because the risk factor may bring devastating consequence if that comes to be true. This applies to the normal distribution data.

He also gave the basic concept behind mean and variance. Mean is average value and the number that we get by subtracting the mean from the data is residual error whose summation has to come to zero. In statistics minus (-) numbers are often not kept so to eliminate them the residual errors are squared and the summation of squared numbers when divided by the number of items (N) taken into consideration gives the Variance or standard deviation. Hat off Prof. Gunderson, you made the things clear for me.

Heading towards the setting sun!!!

2011-05-19T22:28:00.001-07:00

On the way of getting the end she is lost in the horizon

There are ways to go but without destination

She is dragging her workless body to ups and downs

There is no chance to find the end

Just she is heading towards the setting sun

There is nobody to give company to her journey

The journey that nobody has traveled yet

She doesn’t know who and what is leading her

To the horizon without conclusion

Just she is heading towards the setting sun

Under the asylum of black and white clouds

She is lost, as she never knows where she is

Trying to find the real man inside her

She is traveling the journey of her own

So she is heading towards the setting sun

She doesn’t know who she is and what she has done

She wants to go where nobody has gone

She wants to be what nobody has been

But still she has not figured out who she is

Just she is heading towards the setting sun

How far she should go and how long does it take

Did she travel the difficult and tough parts?

Or is it still far to be reached?

She doesn’t know whether she should stop or go on

Just she is heading towards the setting sun

Is she dreaming or is this the reality?

What role is she playing?

How long does her acting take place?

Is she the audience or the actress acting on?

Or just she is heading towards the setting sun

Feels there is no easy part to travel

She has never found a place to rest

Neither anyone came to give a pal

Can almighty god bless her to born again?

Just she is heading towards the setting sun

Budhathum

2010-11-08T10:07:00.000-08:00

Where is Budhathum?
Somewhere among 170 billion galaxies … somewhere in the Milky Way Galaxy … somewhere in the Solar System … somewhere in the Earth … somewhere in Asia continent …somewhere in South Asia … somewhere in Nepal… somewhere in Dhading district there is a small village … people call it Budhathum.

I don’t know where was Budhathum when the Big Bang occurred about 13.7 billion years ago … I don’t where was it when Pangaea separated into continents about 250 million years ago … I don’t know where was it when a big asteroid struck the earth about 65 million years ago killing dinosaurs and 70% of earthlings …I don’t know where was it when human beings separated from primate chimpanzees about 4.1 million years ago … I don’t know where was it at the time of Manu and Adam …and I don’t know who was the first person that first walked on the land of Budhathum and when he/she settled … as every small place in this vast and complex universe Budhathum has a long history shrouded in the mysteries – unraveling of which will be interesting but is impossible due to the limit of human mind… … … . I have tried to describe the present day Budhathum i.e. the Budhathum of my time with some of the empirical evidences so far available.

There are 75 districts in Nepal. Among them Dhading is a hilly district that lies in the Central Development Region of Nepal. Budhathum is one of the 50 Village Development Committees (VDCs) of Dhading. It is about 15 miles far from its headquarters Dhading Besi and about 39 miles from Capital City Kathmandu.
Budhathum borders with Mulpani to the East, Phulkharka to the North, and Baseri to the South. To the Western edge of it Budhi Gandaki River flows, which is the boarder river that separates not only Gorkha and Dhading Districts, Bagmati and Gandaki Zones but also Central and Western Development Regions of Nepal. Budhathum is one of the extreme parts of Central Development Region.

Geography
Budhathum is a slope land surrounded by hills and hillocks. The hills of Murchok, Mulpani, Thumi, Khatri Swanra (of Gorkha district) surround it and it seems that it has been hidden inside the hills. There are many places in Budhathum each having unique settlements in terms of culture, language, tradition and festivals. Some of the important settlements are Jagarboat (my exact birthplace), Pithe, Galane, Budhathum Besi, Ambate, Banskharka, Bhorle, Dadagaun, Dandaghar, Kalimati, etc. Budhathum is divided in 9 administrative divisions known as Wards. Each ward is separated by small streams and rivulets. There are some important streams such as Manpang Khola, Khahare Khola, Narkate Khola, Budhi Khola, Andheri Khola, etc.

Transportation
Though Dhading seems to be at the center of Nepal, the village Budhathum is far from the imagination of ordinary people who have not gone there. Though the distance is not so long, because of uneven land topography the trek to Budhathum becomes really exhaustive. Few years back people could hardly reach to this place from Dhading Besi. But now, a graveled serpentine road links it with the district headquarters and it has become easier for everyone to reach there within a single day. Every day 1-2 buses reach Budhathum these days. However, as the road becomes muddy and the streams do not allow vehicles to move during rainy months, you have to walk on foot from Dhading Besi that takes 7 to 9 hours.
During non-rainy seasons (November to May) commodities are carried by trucks which are owned by local villagers of Budhathum these days. But when the stocks run out and the legacy of traditional vehicles mules and even porters are responsible of carrying goods. There is no ambulance facility yet. Cycles, motor cycles and cars are rare sightings.

Demography
According to the official website of District Development Committee, Dhading (http://www.ddcdhading.gov.np/) the total population of Budhathum is 10, 390 with 5119 females and 5271 males. The number of household is 1747. It seems that there is a high birth rate when we compare the data with the data of Census 2001.

According to Census Report 2001 total population of Budhathum was 4575. There were Chhetri (1446), Gurung (1101), Newar (662), Brahmin-Hill (488), Sarki (315), Magar (255), Kami (166), Damai (117), Thakuri (17), and others (8). Majority of the people speak Nepali (4182) as their mother tongue including Sarkis. Some of the other languages include Ghale (156), Newar (129), Magar (72), and Tamang (20). The number of people following Hindu religion is 3841 which is followed by Boudha (722) and Islam (4). Sarkis claim that they follow Hindu religion but the rituals they perform are different from Brahmins and Chhetries.

Language and culture

Almost all of the people of Budhathum speak Nepali as mother tongue. There are a large number of people of Gurung and Newar culture, but their languages have almost disappeared for the young generation. It is a sad story as the diversity in culture and other symbolisms are reflected through diversity in language.
The Nepali language spoken in Budhathum is almost similar to the standard variety of Nepali language except some local terminologies. People great with “Namaste” and ask “how are you” in local tone to greet anyone in the village. There is less caste discrimination and the gap between rich and poor is also reduced to a heavy extent in recent days.

Dashain, Tihar, Maghe Sankranti, etc. are important festivals. There are important places such as Kot (the temple of goddess Kali), Budhathum Kulain (the major god of Adhikari clan of Budhathum), Besare Devi (the goddess) etc. are the places in which local festivals are celebrated which are known as jatra in local jargon.
People were simple dress. Among adults daura and suruwal are still popular where as youths and children prefer fashionable cloths but they are not completely westernized as every traditional eye can observe it.

Socioeconomic status
Most of the people of Budhathum are farmers. There are irrigable fields in every part of the village where farmers are found working for planting seasonal crops. During the time of planting and harvesting crops the farmlands look really beautiful.
The people in the village used to be very poor, even unable to feed their children, but these days there is no such condition. The remittances from foreign countries have helped them to ameliorate their economic condition very much. There is no official data; however it can be guessed that the next occupation after agriculture is the job in Nepal Army and Nepal Police followed by teaching and foreign employment.

In the past the economy of Budhathum was held by few Chhetries and Brahmins, but now dalits have become equally prosperous with their involvement in different jobs and purchase of land for agriculture. There is no caste, religious and even notable political conflicts in the village.

Education
In comparison to other VDCs of Nepal Budhathum has a good educational status. Almost 95% of the children attend school and there are more than hundred graduates in the village pursuing different jobs in and out of the country. There are schools in each Ward and all these schools are led by Shree Badri Vishal Higher Secondary School that was established in 2029 BS. It provides Higher Secondary (+2) courses in Education and Commerce streams besides regular classes from Grade One to Ten.

Lakuwa: My Birthplace
In the middle of Budhathum there is a small beautiful village called Lakuwa. The word 'Lakuwa' comes from Nepali word 'Lukuwa' that means 'hidden itself'. Lakuwa is hidden inside beautiful green hills. To the western part of Lakuwa you can see a hill of Gorkha District. It is covered by snow during winter. It is called the hill of Thumi. To the eastern part of Lakuwa there are small hills of Mulpani and Ganga Jamuna. To the northern part there lies Danda Gaun of Baseri VDC.

Nearby my village there is a forest. Few years ago it was going to be barren but now we can see Sal trees growing faster to cover the whole forest area. It is protected by the community of Budhathum. To the west part of my village there is green pastureland. Almost all people have small piece of farmland where they grow rice, maize, mustard, wheat etc.

In the middle of Budhathum VDC there is a Secondary School. The name of this school is Shree Badri Vishal Secondary School. The teachers are friendly and co-operative. The school runs class 11 and 12 with the initiative of local people these days.

A health center is set up to the western part of the village. In the middle of thin community forest the white buildings of the health center attracts everybody's attention. People get health facilities from this health center.
To the northern part of Lakuwa village there is temple of goddess Kali. Which people called Kot. People worship Kali during Dashain. People in my village are theist. They believe that goddess Kali has a great faith on them.

People have generated hydro-electricity from the water of Manapang Stream. Besides this people of my village involve in various developmental activities such as irrigation, clean drinking water, etc. I feel proud of my village.

Tihar in Nepal

2010-11-07T07:50:00.000-08:00

Remembering Tihar from foreign land...
Tihar is one of the two great festivals in Nepal. Though Dashain is taken as the greatest one, Tihar brings a lot of happiness and solidarity among brothers and sisters. Another reason, perhaps the most effective one these days, that helps Tihar to outsmart Dashain is that it is the festival of only vegetarian items. A typical Nepali family does not make any animal slaughter like in Dashain. The special food item typical to Tihar is a type of circular bread knows as cell roti.
Instead of killing animal, during Tihar many animals are worshiped. Actually this is the festival of animals too. There are five days known as yam panchak (which I will discuss later) five different animals including brothers are worshiped. That is why this festival is getting more and more popularity among the increasing number of populace who are opting vegetarian diet leaving their habit of eating meat. Above all Tihar has the following features worth mentioning here.

Tihar is also known as Laxmi Pooja. Laxmi symbolizes for money or the economy. Economy is the first factor that determines many factors related to socioeconomic and other related aspects of a family. There is no doubt that ancient Harappa civilization and subsequent Hindu philosophy was aware of this fact. In every civilization of the world every aspect of social life relates with a deity and economy is the no exception. Tihar is the festival of goddess Laxmi who provides wealth to her devotees. People worship her and ask for prosperity of their family on the third day of Tihar.

Tihar is the festival of brothers and sisters. It keeps an endless bond between the two siblings sharing same blood. Sisters, normally, depart from their beloved brothers when they are married as they belong to the family of their laws after that. Tihar brings these sisters in a warmly kinship with their brothers. On the fifth day of Tihar, brothers receive garland, tika and gifts from sisters. The garland is the symbol of bonds that their parents had arranged then giving births one after another.
Tihar is the festival of singing and dancing. Two typical songs with their unique melody, unique lyric, and unique tune are sung among Nepalese youths during Tihar. They are known as bhailo and deusi in Nepal. Bhailo is especially of girls and deusi is of their boy counterparts. Bhailo song is sung before the fifth day i.e. bhai tika by girls. They visit every household, especially, during the night and sing the song if praise and give lots of blessings and receive some bread, money and fruits from the house owners. On the other hand, the boys of the village gather, make a team and start playing deusi. They also sing songs but a repeated phrase ‘deusi re’ is drilled after every clause of blessing uttered by the leader of the team. The celebration of deusi lasts for more than a week visiting every nearby village. These days, the occasion is utilized for collecting money for a social and communal development such as setting up a school or hospital.

Tihar is also the festival of lights. There is a special evening on the day of Laxmi Pooja. The cleaned and decorated house illuminates with hundreds of lights. The lights are holy and calm. A kind of small pot known as pyala (oil lamp) which is made up of china clay is used to illume the house. Some amount of mustard oil is poured into the pyala and it is ignited with the help of a small piece of holy thread. People, normally, do not sleep, neither do they close doors and windows throughout the night because Laxmi needs these opening to get inside. The whole village seems like a sky full of twinkling starts.

Tihar is also the festival of games. Even some of the illegal games such as cards and gambling are made free during Tihar. In a typical Nepali house it is simply a family game that involves pleasures and enjoyment. Money counts nothing – it is just for fun. Brothers including father, uncle even grandfather sit in together and play cards – the items of games that make fun such as dahar mara.

The five days of Tihar are special for five animals including brothers:

Kag Tihar (the Tihar of crows): It is the first day of Tihar when crow the messenger Yam god – the god of death – is worshiped. Food, roti, flower etc. are given to the crow before eating them by the family members themselves. It seems that the crows come hovering over the house and take the food on top of nearby tree and eat happily.
Kukur Tihar (the Tihar of dogs): This is the second day of yam panchak when dogs – the security of every household is worshiped with a garland on their neck, tika on their forehead and sweet foods on their tongue. They seem to be so happy. It feels early in the morning, because of their activities of roaming around, as if they know this day.
Gai Tihar (the Tihar of cows): Cows are worshipped as the symbol of goddess Laxmi herself. With ablution of whole body the senior family members worship cows followed by all junior members. They are given special granulated grain food called dau. They look so happy and beautiful with garland, tika and decorated stamp on their back.
Goru Tihar (the Tihar of oxen): On the fourth day of Tihar the most contributive animal of human civilization, the genesis of agricultural invention is worshiped with full respect. Actually the oxen are the animals that are used for cultivating lands that yields subsistence to almost 80 percent of Nepali people.
Bhai tika (the Tihar of brothers): This day needs not much description here. Sisters put tika and garland and give delicious food items to their beloved brothers. This is the most important and the last day of Tihar.

Notes on Indigenous Knowledge (IK)

2010-07-10T06:47:00.000-07:00

What is IK?

- Knowledge passed down from generations and internalized by the communities through a process of socialization
- Part of their lifestyles
- What is suitable Indigenous knowledge or indigenous education: education is the transmission of values and the accumulated knowledge of a society whereas knowledge is state of knowing or understanding gained or retained through experience or study
- Over many generations IPs have developed a holistic knowledge of their lands, natural resources and environment, which has been recorded within oral traditions
- IK refers to detailed and complex systems of knowledge the IPs have gathered and developed of their natural environment, including plant and animal ecology, climate and other local conditions and resource management
- IK is key element of the social capital of the poor and constitutes their main asset in their efforts to gain control of their lives. It is an integral part of the culture and history of a local community
- IK is not confined to IPs alone – all communities have developed their own body of knowledge over generations
- IK systems are dynamic: new knowledge is continuously added. Such systems do innovate form within and also will internalize use and adapt external knowledge to suit the local situation
- IK systems are cumulative, representing generations of experiences, careful observations, and trial and error experiments
- Biodiversity and indigenous nationalities are indeed very much interconnected and sociocultural diversity is characterized by diversity in caste, ethnicity, language and religion, culture and region

Use of IK

- Disaster management – human practices that evolved over centuries i.e. IKs have been tested by time and proven to be sustainable and effective in both reducing disasters and avoiding unavoidable hazards
- Promote sustainable development
- To solve global environmental, social and economic problems in the forms of increased poverty, human induced climate change, depletion of natural resources, spread of infectious diseases, violation of human rights
- Developing IK as career. Some of the careers can be – trapping, hunting, fishing, guiding, skinning, wood-making, herbal medicine, wild-rice harvesting, etc.

Western Knowledge System (WKS) and Indigenous Knowledge System (IKS)

- Amalgamation of WKS and IKS can bring a paradigm shift in education – indigenous scholars have discovered that IK is far more than the binary opposite of western knowledge. IK fills the ethical and knowledge gaps in Eurocentric education, research and scholarship
- The authorization approach of most education systems imposed on IPs didn’t take into considerations the importance of the traditional and cultural values these societies. Rather, the educational system emphasized assimilation of indigenous peoples into the national mold. Most indigenous children failed to adapt these systems and, as a result, indigenous communities have very high illiteracy rates and poor educational qualifications
- Although there are apparent attractions in meaningful dialogue between western science and IK, in reality there remains tensions

Incorporating IK in formal education system

- There is a need for new lines of communication between WKS and IKS for valuing indigenous knowledge in formal education system, examining governments’ efforts to indigenize curricula
- We need to explore the academic performance of indigenous children at their school and compare it with non-indigenous counterparts
- Teacher must understand the unique background knowledge of indigenous students in order to best help them meet the learning needs
- The best way of teaching is helping students know how to apply what they already know to novel learning opportunities
- According to Ignas (……) curriculum design should be based on

a. Community based research
b. Understanding of students (what they know already
c. Unique situation of indigenous communities

- Many course books and its contents are ethnocentric, Eurocentric and sexist which are harmful for indigenous children in building their confidence and self-respect
- The western knowledge has been documented and has become easy to include in curricula. If we have to do so to IK then we must identify and document them. It needs more research
- The new paradigm in education emphasize the localism and globalism, making the enshrinement of indigenous and traditional knowledge in national curricula – an ideal situation from which to begin developing the necessary social, cultural and educational capital necessary for indigenous, rural and local peoples to become the participants in the global community
- The education system of developing countries like Nepal has been unsuccessful because curricula are designed for a mainstream and largely urban populace. It has limited utility for remote rural communities. This tendency has ensued rampant unemployment.

Fusion of IK and western science

- Western science and IK are represented as two different, competing knowledge systems, characterized by binary divide, a divide arguable evolving out of the epistemological foundations of the two knowledge systems.
- Education and knowledge existed in the form of IK and skills before the intrusion of WKS into our educational practices
- Sustainable development can be achieved by integrating the two
- Education is the most elementary and important tool for the revival and application of IK. Education can establish linkage between IK and modern technology, and also bring about the connections with local context and knowledge
- A solution to soothe the conflict between Eurocentric knowledge and indigenous knowledge is to recognize the existence of different knowledge systems, different world views, and sciences and aims at making a contribution to education with multicultural face
- The two knowledge systems may in fact be closer than the dichotomy implies. The critical difference between IK and scientific knowledge lies in their relationship to power that it is not the holder of IK who exercise the power to marginalize
- Knowledge is too vast and exalted a subject to be compartmentalized into watertight chambers with names like indigenous or scientific. Nor are the terms indigenous and scientific mutually exclusive
- We need to explore traditional native knowledge and western science, then we should find common grounds between them – neither we can neglect western epistemology, nor can we leave indigenous knowledge in the same stage
- Keeping all three options of learning (formal, non-formal and informal) open, we need to make a fusion between western science and indigenous knowledge. Challenges are many, but it is the only option we can take for sustainable development and proliferation of all forms of knowledge and skills so far neglected due to a hegemonic and colonial influence western world

Valuing/promoting Indigenous Knowledge

- “When a knowledgeable old person dies, a whole library disappears” – An old African proverb
- IK has an advantage over western science in the context of poor communities, in that information is tested in the context of survival and the means of existence

Practices

- Hybridization of WKS and IKS has been taking place in some forms: a farmer uses both natural and chemical fertilizers
- In recent years IK has been the subject of congresses, conferences, meetings, as well as countless papers, articles and reports
- Traditional economies are the basis of indigenous and tribal people’s economic survival. IK is supporting rural economy through the expertise of farmers in animal breeding
- Longing for genuineness, Eurocentric scholars are now struggling to respect IK
- The interests of outsiders in the IK have emerged in tandem with the politicization of indigenous groups and the indigenous-rights movement. Many IPs are demanding that their rights to be heard in development decisions
- Development efforts that ignore local circumstances, local technologies, and local system of knowledge have wasted enormous amount of time and resources

Prospects

- Indigenous students need the opportunities to explore and study how their culture constructs its own knowledge
- We need to learn from local communities to enrich the development process
- If IK is leveraged with modern technologies, it certainly help to enhance development activities
- IK is very much driven by the pragmatic, utilitarian and everyday demands of life
- In IK development there exist a real danger of over-valorizing and over-romanticizing indigenous knowledge in practice
- The IK is an autumn seed (covered with Eurocentric snow) and when spring comes it will emerge to nourish nations, languages, heritages and communities. The autumn seed lies within the mind of and spirit of every child, it lies inherent and latent. The autumn seed requires only a nourishing educational system and direct experience with the good road to unfold its ancient wisdom and teaching
- The countries like Nepal, where majority of the people live in rural areas, acquiring IK of how to navigate and survive on the land, and how to use local resources to feed, clothe, and provide one’s family, may be much greater relevance for the context in which many indigenous groups continue to live today

Why IK deteriorated

- The authorization approach of most education systems imposed on IPs didn’t take into considerations the importance of the traditional and cultural values these societies. Rather, the educational system emphasized assimilation of indigenous peoples into the national mold. Most indigenous children failed to adapt these systems and, as a result, indigenous communities have very high illiteracy rates and poor educational qualifications
- Indigenous youths are often forced to leave their traditional communities and move to urban areas to pursue employment or education opportunities. Young people who wish to learn and engage in traditional careers frequently leave school at early age. This detachment is not only the economic obligation of supporting their family but also the overemphasis on Eurocentric education and neglect to the indigenous knowledge possessed by these youths
- IK is often undervalued relative to western scientific knowledge, both by nonlocal project managers and local communities themselves
- WKS caused IPs to be viewed as backward and passive recipients and IK became invisible to Eurocentric knowledge in latter’s theory and global science
- Erosion in IK has occurred due to rapid population growth, growth of international markets, educational systems, environmental degradation, and development pressures related to rapid modernization and cultural homogenization
- More and more knowledge are being lost as a result of disruption of traditional channels or oral communication. Neither children nor adults spend as much time in their communities anymore. It is harder for older generations to transmit their knowledge to young people
- In the past, outsiders (for example, social, physical, and agricultural scientists, biologists, colonial powers) ignored IK, depicting it as primitive, simple, static, and “not knowledge”. This historic neglect has contributed to the decline of IK systems
- Eurocentric thinkers dismissed IK in the same way they dismissed any sociopolitical cultural life they didn’t understand; they found it to be unsystematic and incapable of meeting the productivity needs of the modern world (Battiste, 2002, p. 5)
- Besides western science that is formal education, the colonial language as the medium of instruction has further hastened the decline of indigenous language, culture and knowledge itself
- ILO (2005) found that IPs were generally not involved, their priorities were generally not involved, not reflected and the PRSPs were therefore not likely to solve the poverty situation of IPs.

Globalization, industrialization and IK

- Industrial countries should bear the brunt of climate change impacts where the indigenous peoples will share their knowledge on bio-diversity and land management to develop national mitigation strategies
- The globalization process facilitated by the western/global education system, is systematically universalizing the world knowledge system and weeding out all other forms of knowledge systems, institutions and resources that are not western in origin
- The balanced education system will incorporate both indigenous and Eurocentric knowledge – this should be reflected in world education systems. It will be a harbinger for creating a balanced globalization
- IPs represents about 5% of the world population, but over 15% of the poor.

Gender and IK

- In indigenous communities, women have taken on the great responsibility of transmitting traditional knowledge, skill and intangible heritage from one generation to the next, however, when foreign values are introduced, this conception is severely affected or even destroyed. As a result there is negative impact on the relationship between men and women
- Male to male and female to female transfer of generational indigenous knowledge is one of the practical phenomenon in some parts of the world
- Through their daily works, rural women have accumulated intimate knowledge of their ecosystem, including the management of pests, the conservation of soil and the development of plant and animal genetic resources
- Women farmers are largely responsible for the selection, implementation and adaptation of plant varieties. In many regions, women are also responsible for the management of small livestock, including their reproduction. Women often have highly specialized knowledge of wild plants used for food, fodder and medicine than men.

IK in Nepal

- At the time of contact with European colonizers the Nepalese had achieved true civilization: they (Nepalese) didn’t abuse earth, they promoted communal responsibility, they practiced equality in gender relations, and they respected individual freedom
- We need to resurrect Nepalese indigenous epistemology
- In a ‘food for work’ program in Nepal, IK has been a more effective agent of development than modern technology (WB, n. d.)
- Indigenous peoples (or Janajatis as they are known in Nepal) make up at least 36.31% of the population and comprise of 59 officially recognized distinct groups with their own languages, cultures and belief systems
- GON initiatives: protection and development of IPs (Interim Constitution); National Committee for Development of Nationalities (1997); Formation of National Foundation for the Development of Indigenous Nationalities (2003); social inclusion, participation of IPs in decision making, special programs for IPs, positive discrimination or reservation in education, employment, etc.; proportional representation in development; socially exclusive economic framework, etc. (Three Year Interim Plan).
- Although the modern development indicators show that Nepal is one of the poorest countries in the world, it is very rich in bio and sociocultural diversity

Some questions

- What legal provisions should be made to enhance indigenous knowledge to ensure sustainable development?
- What are international practices to promote indigenous knowledge in order to avail them for reducing some pertinent global problems?
- What are the challenges in incorporating indigenous knowledge in environmental education and science education?
- How to develop traditional occupations as careers?
- Should we commercialize IK?
- What type of Nepalese traditional knowledge should be taught or included in the curricula?
- How to leverage technology for promotion of IK in the digital age?
- How recognize the knowledge and skill of IPs?
- How to harness indigenous environmental knowledge?
- What should be the role of education to preserve and maintain the knowledge of IPs and local communities?
- Should we pursue international legal measures to extend intellectual property rights to cover IK or to treat it as a public good?
- How to enhance IK research in higher education in Nepal?
- How effective are the contributions of INGOs such as ILO, UNESCO, WB, etc. to preserve and promote IKs?
- Have the member countries been following ILO Convention No. 169 that deals with the rights indigenous and tribal peoples?
- How much intervention is acceptable in the idyllic IKs?
- Have IPs participated in the development of MDG strategies? What is lacking in MDG strategies?

Intellectual Property Rights (IPR)

- IPRs are mechanisms to protect individual and industrial inventions and are usually in effect for a specified period. Legal rights prevent others from copying, selling or importing a product without authorization. In essence there are six forms of IPRs: patents, plant breeding rights, copyright, trademark, industrial design, and trade secrets. Among them, patents and plant-breeders’ are most relevant to IKS.
- Some scholar’s argue that for IPs, life is a common property which can’t be owned, commercialized and monopolized by individuals…Accordingly, the patenting of any life forms and processes is unacceptable to indigenous peoples
- We reaffirms that imperialism is perpetuated through IPR systems, science and modern technology to control and exploit the lands, territories and resources of IPs – CS Canada, (1996a) as cited in Grenier (1998)

Brainstorming Indigenous Knowledge

2010-06-30T07:29:00.000-07:00

Indigenous people have right to live in their own state of origin, if they want
They have vast treasure of knowledge that could be used to combat some of the global problems such as global warming, the effect of global economic crisis in developing nations, sustainable development, pollution, disaster, diseases, etc.
Indigenous people are found in all parts of the world. In cities the knowledge has been overshadowed and in villages such knowledges have become passive due to the lack of preservation, promotion and recognition.
All modern knowledge and skill might have come from indigenous epistemology, it needs more rigorous researches to find the link. It will certainly promote indigenous knowledge and provides an impetus to the indigenous people further advance their knowledge and skill
One of the best means of achieving Millennium Development Goals is promoting indigenous knowledge
Indigenous knowledge and skills can be included in school and college curriculum. It will make learning more meaningful and productive. The world divided into two strata: developed and developing will end as both of them will be advancing in their own ways.
One of the issues related to the promotion of indigenous knowledge is supporting indigenous knowledge with technology. It will create a kind of fusion between western and eastern epistemology, ending the long standing notion of knowledge producer and knowledge receiver. Technological promotion in indigenous knowledge will enable eastern world as a knowledge producer.
All developing countries including Nepal should develop indigenous education as one of the subjects in school and university curricula.

some words

2010-06-20T02:51:00.000-07:00

Wangle - finagle; achieve something by means of trickery or devious method
Wean - to stop nursing milk to baby
Welt - mark from the beating
Welter - a large and confusing amount of something "a welter of information"
Whiff - puff or gust of air, scent
Whinny - neigh like a horse
Whittle - to cut small bits of wood/clothes to create design
Whorl - ring of leaves around stem
Wily - cunning or artful
Wince - shrink back, flinch
Bullion - a mass of precious metal
Pantry - a small storeroom for storing foods or wines
Prosthesis - an artificial part of the body
Protracted - relatively long in duration
Hourglass - a sandglass than runs for sixty minutes
Francophone - someone who speaks French, especially as their first language
Precarious - not secure; beset with difficulties
Leech - carnivorous or bloodsucking aquatic or terristrial worms typically having a sucker at each end
Stalk - walk
Traverse - travel across or pass over
Citadel - a stronghold into which people could go for shelter during battle "bastion"
Hallmark - distinctive characterstic or attitude trademark, a mark on an article of trade to indicate its origi and authenticity
Booty - goods or money obtained illegally
Syncretism - the union (or attempted fusion) of different systems of thought or belief, especially in religion or philosophy
Numismatics - the collection and study of money, especially coins
Foray - a sudden short attack
Foothold - an area in hostile territory that has been captured and is held awaiting further troops and supplies
Intrigue - a crafty and involved plot to achieve sinister end
Mutiny - open rebellion against constituted authority
Affront - a deliberately offensive act or sth producing the effect of deliberate disrespect
Stupendous - so great in size, for extent as to elicit awe

Words Starting with "T - Z"

2010-06-09T02:12:00.001-07:00

sTangential – going off topic; digressing; diverging; tangential writing
Tawdry - showy but without taste or elegance; flashy; gaudy; garish; meretricious
Tensile (A) – capable of extension
Torpor – apathy; profound lack of energy or activity; lethargy
Treacly (A) – overly sweet; saccharine; schmaltzy
Trenchant (A) - Having keenness and forcefulness and penetration in thought, expression, or intellect; trenchant criticism
Tribunals (N) – an assembly including one or more judges to conduct judicial business; courts
Turgid – swollen; bloated; inflated; esoteric writing
Unction (N) - the act of pouring oil on somebody’s head or another part of their body as part of an important religious ceremony; behavior or speech that is not sincere and that expresses too much praise or admiration of somebody
Unfettered – not bound by shackles and chains
Unperturbed (A) – not perturbed; not anxious or worried
Vacuous – empty, inane, lacking in ideas, stupid; vacuous lectures of Prof. Sharma made the class monotonous.
Vagary – whim, caprice
Vagrant – homeless wanderer
Vainglorious – boastful, excessively conceited, narcissist, bigheaded, feeling self-importance
Valor – bravery
Vanguard – forerunners, advance forces; front group; leading edge; the front part of an army
Vapid (A) – lacking taste or flavor or tang; insipid; bland
Vehement - marked by extreme intensity, inclined to react violently
Veil – to obscure, conceal
Veneer – coating consisting of a thin layer of wood; “veneer blackboard”
Vicissitude (N) – a variation in circumstances or fortune at different times in your life or in the development of something; fluctuations; immutabilities
Voyeur (N) – tom peeper
Waffle (V) – to write or speak in a vague manner; to be unable to decide between things
Waggish (adj) – funny, clever and not serious; mischievous in sports; frolicsome; “waggish remarks
Wan (A) – having a pale or sickly color; pallid; the wan face of my mother revealed that father was sick
Wangle (V) - to get something that you or another person wants by persuading somebody or by a clever plan: She had wangled an invitation to the opening night. I’ll try to wangle some money out of my parents. We should be able to wangle it so that you can start tomorrow. He managed to wangle his way onto the course. He had wangled her a seat on the plane; wiggle out; fake
Warble (V) – sing; babble; I woke up with the bird that was warbling at my window
Wastrel (N) – profligate; a lazy person who spends their time and/or money in a careless and stupid way
Waylay (V) - to stop somebody who is going somewhere, especially in order to talk to them or attack them; I got waylaid on my way here.
Wean (V) – accustom a baby not to nurse; give up a cherished activity; He decided he would wean himself away from eating junk food and stick to fruits and vegetables
Welter (V) – wallow; “When Hector killed thousands of troops in the battle field the Greeks weltered to get help from Achilles”; - N – turmoil
Wheedle (V) – cajole; coax; deceive by flattery
Whelp (N) – a young wolf or lion
Whet (V) – sharpen; stimulate; “The odors from the kitchen are whetting my appetite, I will be ravenous (extremely hungry) by the time the meal is served”
Whiff (N) – puff or gust of air, scent, etc.
Whinny (V) – neigh like a horse
Wily (A) – cunning; artful
Wince (V) – shrink back; flinch; cringe
Wispy (A) – thin and weak; a wispy little fellow with thin hands and legs; lacking clarity; barely discernible
Wistful (A) – vaguely longing; sadly pensive
Zany – comical in foolish or slapstick way

Words Starting With "S"

2010-06-09T02:11:00.001-07:00

Sabotage – deliberate destruction
Sacrilegious (A) – desecrating; profane
Sacrosanct (A) – most sacred; very holy; inviolable
Sagacious (A) – perceptive; shrewd; having insight; clever
Sage (N) – person celebrated for wisdom
Salacious (A) – lascivious; lustful; lecherous; randy;
Sallow (A) – yellowish; sickly in color; “We were disturbed by her sallow complexion due to jaundice"
Salutary (A) – tending to improve; beneficial; wholesome; “The punishment has salutary effect on the body, as he became a model student”
Salvage – to save, to rescue from destruction or harm
Sanctimonious (A) – showing that one feels morally better than other people; displaying ostentatious or hypocritical devoutness; “You don’t have to be so sanctimonious to prove that you are devout”
Sanctity (N) – holiness
Sanctum (N) – holy place
Sanguinary (A) – with much bloodshed; sanguinary battle
Sanguine (A) – cheerful, hopeful, optimistic; having a red complexion; “Let us not be too sanguine about the outcome, something could go wrong”
Sap (N) – liquid in a plant that carries food to all parts
Sap (V) – gradually weaken by taking away strength or vitality; diminish; undermine; “The element kryptonite had an unhealthy effect on superman; it sapped his strength”
Sardonic (A) – disdainful; sarcastic; cynical; mocking; scornful; a sardonic smile
Sate (V) – satisfy to the full; cloy; when hunger sated, the lion dozed
Saturnine (A) – gloomy; “Do not be misled by his saturnine countenance, he is not gloomy as he looks
Satyr (N) – half-human, half-bestial being in the court of Dionysus; portrayed as wanton and cunning; man with very strong sexual desire; “He was like a satyr in his lustful conduct”
Savant (N) – scholar; sage; “Our faculty includes many world famous savants”
Savory (V) – enjoy the taste or flavor of something; have a distinctive flavor of something
Scabbard (N) – case for a sword; sheath; “The drill master told the recruit to wipe the flood from his sword before slipping it back into the scabbard”
Scad (N) – plethora; a great quantity; I have a scad of clothes.
Scalpel (N) – surgical knife
Scanty (A) – meager; insufficient; “Thinking his helping of food was scanty, Oliver Twist asked for more”
Scapegoat (N) – someone who bears the blame for others
Scepter [N] - a decorated rod carried by a king or queen at ceremonies as a symbol of their power
Schematic (A) – relating to an outline or diagram; using a system of symbols
Schism (N) – division or split; strong disagreement, especially in religious organization over doctrine, in which one group stops recognizing the authority of others
Scintilla (N) – ‘not a scintilla of something’ means not the slightest amount of something; shred; least bit; “You have not produced a scintilla of evidence to support your argument
Scintillate (V) – give off sparks; sparkle; diamonds scintillating in the candlelight
Scoff (V) – gibe; mock; ridicule; “He scoffed at dentist until he had his first toothache”; speak contemptuously; eat greedily
Score (N) - A written form of a musical composition; parts for different instruments appear on separate staves on large pages
Scotch (V) – stop (especially a rumor etc.) being believed; thwart; stamp out; impede; hinder; “Ganesh tried to scotch the rumor that he had been lecherous towards his girl students”
Scourge (N) – lash; whip; severe punishment; whip for flogging people; person or thing that causes suffering; “The new boss was the scourge of the inefficient”
Scruple (N) – feeling that prevents one from doing or allowing something that one thinks may be wrong; “Have you no scruples about buying a stolen goods”; hesitation; also V
Scuffle (V) – struggle confusedly; scuffle between police and demonstrators
Scurrilous – very rude and damaging one’s reputation; offensive; indecent
Scurrilous (A) – obscene; indecent; abusive and insulting; “Your scurrilous remarks are especially offensive because they are untrue”
Scurry (V) – run with short quick step; move briskly
Scurvy (A) – contemptible; worthless; mean; despicable; “That was a scurvy trick to play on an old lady”
Scuttle (V) – sink; “The sailor decided to scuttle their vessel rather than surrender it to the enemy”
Seamy [A] – unattractive; sordid; unwholesome; the seamy side of life is crime and corruption
Sear [V] – char; burn; brand; “Accidentally brushing against the hot grill, she seared her hand badly”
Seasoned [V] – experienced
Secession [N] – withdrawal from a membership of an organization; “The secession of the southern states provided Lincoln with his first inauguration”
Sect [N] – separate religious body
Sedate [A] – composed; grave; calm and dignified (behavior of a person); “The parents were worried because they felt their son was too quiet and sedate”
Sedentary [A] – done sitting down; typing is a sedentary job
Sedulous – carefully organized; diligent; painstaking; laborious
Serendipity – the act of making fortunate discovery
Sermon (N) – an address of a religious nature usually delivered during a church service
Severance – payment that an employee receives upon leaving a job as compensation for the loss of employment
Sieve (N) - a tool for separating solids from liquids or larger solids from smaller solids, made of a wire or plastic net attached to a ring. The liquid or small pieces pass through the net but the larger pieces do not.
Skimp – to try to spend less time and money on something that is really needed
Spangle (N) - a small piece of shiny metal or plastic used to decorate clothes; also V; Laxmi wanted to spangle her sari.
Spangle (V) - to cover or to decorate something with small pieces of something shiny; a small piece of shiny metal or plastic used to decorate clothes (N); sequin
Specter (N) - something unpleasant that people are afraid might happen in the future; ghost
Squad (N) – a small unit of army
Steak (N) - A slice of meat cut from the fleshy part of an animal or large fish
Stentorian – extremely loud and powerful
Stultify (adj) – to make you feel very bored and make unable to think new ideas; “His ideas stultified the students’ creativity”
Subaltern – inferior in rank or status
Sublime (A) – exalted, grand or awesome quality; worthy of adoration or reverence
Subprime – collapsing banks and tumbling stock market
Succor (V) – to help somebody who is suffering or having problem
Sumptuous (A) – costly; lavish; luxurious to food or perhaps a room or the furnishings therein; “The king won the affections of his court by hosting sumptuous feasts (banquets)
Supine (adj) – lying on the back or face upward
Suppliant – asking earnestly and submissively; entreating; beseech
Surpass (V) – to go beyond in anything good or bad; to excel; to exceed
Surreptitious – clandestine
Swipe – to strike with swiping blow

Words Starting With "R"

2010-06-09T02:10:00.001-07:00

Rapporteur – a recorder of meeting
Ratcheting – move by degrees in one direction
Raucous – wild, crazy and boisterous
Ravish – to transport with joy or delight; to delight to ecstasy; to seize or carry away by violence
Rebuff – rejection of friendly offer; they rebuffed her request for help
Rebuttal – the speech act of refuting by offering a contrary contention or argument
Recant (V) – take back; admit an error
Rectitude – honesty
Reel – walk as if unable to control one’s movement
Reel (V) – walk as if unable to control one’s movement
Refurbishing – making brighter and prettier
Relinquish (V) – give up
Reparations (N) - Compensation (given or received) for an insult or injury
Reprove (V) – to accuse; reprehend; express disapproval
Repugnant – offensive to the mind
Repulsion – a feeling of violent offence or disgust; repugnance; aversion;
Requiem – dirge, lament, threnody
Rescinded (V) – cancelled officially; annulled; countermanded; revoked
Resplendent – decorated elegantly and brightly; shinning with brilliance
Restive (A) - unable to stay still, or unwilling to be controlled, especially because you feel bored or not satisfied
Reticence (N) - The trait of being uncommunicative; not volunteering anything more than necessary; taciturnity; reserve
Revelry (N) – a noisy drinking party; merrymaking
Ribald (A) – humorously vulgar; bawdy; base; filthy; obscene; “a ribald person”
Rigmarole – a set of confused or meaningless statements; rambling; episodic; disconnected
Rigmarole (A) – episodic; rambling; disconnected speech; a long and complicated process, especially speech
Ruffian – an uncultured, aggressive, rude, noise, troublemaker
Ruminate – to think about something repeatedly

Words Starting With "P"

2010-06-09T02:09:00.002-07:00

Pallid – deficient in color; pale; become pale because of illness
Palpitate – beat rapidly; heart palpitated rapidly
Pandemic – affecting a majority of nation or the world
Passion – a strong feeling or emotion, cacoethes, mania, rage, warmth
Perdition (N) – punishment that lasts forever after death
Peregrination – travelling or wandering around; pilgrimage
Perfunctory – routinely done; done with disinterest; cursory; for formality only; ceremonial
Perjury (N) - Criminal offense of making false statements under oath
Pernicious (A) - having a very harmful effect on somebody or something, especially in a way that is gradual and not easily noticed; invidious or harmful
Perspicacity (N) – good judgment; acute understanding; able to understand something quickly and accurately; “a perspicacious remark”; discerning; shrewdness; astuteness
Pertinacious (A) – determined to achieve a particular aim despite difficulties; stubbornly unyielding
Perturbation (N) – an unhappy and worried mental state
Philistine (N) – anti-intellectual; a person deficient in liberal cultural refinement; a person indifferent to cultural values, intellectual pursuits, aesthetic refinement
Pilfer (A) – steal something with less value; filch
Piquant (A) - having a pleasantly strong or spicy taste
Pique (V) – hurt the pride or self-respect of somebody; offend; “he was piqued to discover that he hadn’t been invited”
Platitude – a thought or remark which is flat, dull, trite or weak; commonplace; banality
Pod (N) – outer cover of beans
Poignant – deeply and sometimes painfully moving; pungent; arousing effect
Ponder [V] – consider; ponder about/on/over something carefully for a period of time; these days I have started to ponder on new words to find whether their meaning can be inferred
Pontiff (N) – the head of Roman Catholic Church
Potpourri – a collection containing a variety of sorts of things; medley; miscellanea; pastiche; salmagundi
Preponderance – a great amount of something
Procure – to come into possession; to gain; to get; to acquire
Profligate – reckless; extravagant; wasteful; prodigal; dissolute; debauch
Promontory (N) – a natural elevation, especially a rocky one that juts out into the sea; foreland; headland
Propensity – bias, bent, tendency
Propinquity – nearness in location or time, relationship or character
Propinquity (N) – nearness in location or time, or relationship or character; proximity
Propitiate – to win the favor of; cause to become favorably inclined; appease
Propitious – favorable to; advantageous; auspicious
Protrude – to thrust forward; shoot forth; bulge outward; pop out; project; jut out
Prudent (A) – cautious; Capable of exercising sound judgment in practical matters; conscientious; judicious
Puissance [N] – a competition in showjumping to test a horse’s ability to jump high fences; great power of influence
Pungent – stinging; sharp in taste or smell; caustic
Purdah – a state of social isolation
Quisling – someone who collaborates with enemy; a traitor; treasons; “Never trust a quisling”
Quotidian (A) – found in ordinary course of events; commonplace

Words Starting With "O"

2010-06-09T02:09:00.000-07:00

Obdurate (A) – stubbornly persistent in wrongdoing; obstinate; contumacious
Obstinate [A] – stubborn; refusing to change your opinion
Obstreperous – recalcitrant; boisterously aggressive
Obtrude (V) – to thrust impertinently; to present without warrant or solicitation; to impose something unpleasant
Obtuse (A) – not having acute sensibility or perception; dull
Odious (A) – offensive; ugly; repulsive
Ophidian [N] – limbless scaly elongate reptile; some are venomous
Overhauling – making repair, renovations, adjustments
Overwrought – very worried and upset; excited in a nervous way; distraught

Words Starting With "M"

2010-06-09T02:08:00.001-07:00

Maladroit – not adroit, bungling, awkward, clumsy, loutish, oafish, boorish, gauche, ungainly
Maneuver (N) – a plan for attaining a particular goal; a deliberate coordinated movement requiring dexterity; a move to gain a tactical end; gambit – an opening maneuver
Matutinal [A] – pertaining to or occurring in the morning
Maudlin – overly sentimental and foolishly tearful
Maudlin – overly sentimental; foolishly tearful; bathetic; gushing; mawkish
Maverick – an unbranched ranch animal, nonconformist; rebel
Mealy-mouthed (A) - not willing or honest enough to speak in a direct or open way about what you really think
Meddling – unwarranted interference in somebody’s personal life or concerns; president Obama said that he didn’t want to be seen meddling in Iraq’s affairs
Mediocre – moderate to inferior in quality
Melanoma – the most dangerous type of skin cancer
Mendacious (A) – not telling the truth; fabricated; perjured; fraudulent; deceitful; dissembling; disingenuous
Minatory (A) – threatening or foreshadowing evil or tragic developments; menacing; ominous; sinister
Miscreant (N) – a person who has done something wrong or illegal; reprobate
Moat (N) - a deep wide channel that was dug around a castle, etc. and filled with water to make it more difficult for enemies to attack
Mortified – embarrassed, humiliated, chagrined, crucified
Muddled – confused
Mulct (N) – money extracted as penalty
Mundane – found in the ordinary course

Words Starting With "L"

2010-06-09T02:07:00.002-07:00

Labile (A) – readily undergoing change or breakdown
Lampoon – written work using satire to belittle or attack
Languid (A) – moving slowly in an elegant manner’ lacking spirit or liveliness; sluggish; languorous; relaxed; listless; indolent; lackadaisical; energetic (opposite)
Largesse (N) – succor; the act or quality of being generous with money; “to dispense largesse to the poor”
Launder – money laundering is to hide the origin of money obtained from illegal activities by putting it into legal business.
Ligneous (adj) – consisting of or containing lignin or xylem; ligneous (or woody) tissue
Litigations (N) – a legal proceeding in a court; a judicial contest to determine and enforce legal rights; judicial proceeding
Lustrous – shining particularly from reflected light; bright; glittering
Luxuriant (A) – marked by complexity and richness of detail; displaying luxury and furnishing gratification to the senses; produced or growing in extreme abundance; profuse

Words Starting With "I"

2010-06-09T02:07:00.000-07:00

Ignominy (N) – infamy; scandal; disgrace
Ignominy [N] – shame or humiliation; disgrace; the ignominy of defeat
Illation (N) – illation is the act of drawing of drawing conclusion; inference; my habile habit of illation has made me devoid of desultory conclusion
Imbecility (N) – weakness of mind; stupidity; imbecile is an adult with abnormally low intelligence; “I am amazed at the imbecility of the readers of these trashy magazine”
Imbecility [N] – stupidity; weakness of mind; imbecile means with low intelligence
Imbibe – receive into the mind and receive; drink in
Imbroglio [N] – complicated situation; entanglement
Imminent [N] – approaching; near at hand; impending; looming
Immunity (N) - The state of not being susceptible
Immure (V) – imprison; shut up in confinement; intern; incarcerate; detain; “He immured himself in a small room to work unperturbed”.
Impale (V) – pierce; transfix; stab; “He was impaled by the spear hurled by his adversary”
Impeccable (A) – faultless; free from mistakes; lawless; unblemished; indigent; irreproachable; imperfect (opposite)
Impecunious [A] – without money; poor; impoverished; indigent; destitute; insolvent
Impel [V] – force somebody to do something; impose; insist; compel; coerce; oblige; induce
Impenitent (A) – not sorry for or ashamed of one’s misdoing; not penitent or repentant; un-contrite; remorseless; unabashed
Imperative (A) – absolutely necessary
Imperial (A) – like an emperor; connected with an empire
Imperil (V) – jeopardize
Imperious (A) – domineering; haughty; proud and arrogant; expecting obedience
Impervious (A) – incapable of being injured, influenced or affected – pervious means permeable, receptive; impenetrable; incapable of being damaged or distressed
Impinge (V) – have an effect on something; influence; infringe; touch; collide with; “How could they be married without impinging on one another’s freedom?”
Impolitic (A) – not politic; unwise; imprudent; injudicious; reckless; foolhardy; “I think it is impolitic to raise this issue now because the public is too angry”
Imponderable (A) – weightless; of which the effect or importance can’t be measured or estimated; “I can’t evaluate the data in this study, the imponderable items are not so easily analyzed”
Import (N) – important goods, services; significance
Importunate (A) - asking for things many times in a way that is annoying; troublesome; allow me to be importunate but I must get raise; urging; demanding; ask persistently in annoying manner; “He tried to hide from his importunate creditors until his allowance arrived”
Importune [V] – pester; to ask for things many times in a way that is annoying; beleaguer; badger
Imprecation (N) – baleful; curse; malediction; anathema; an offensive word that is used to express extreme anger
Improvise [V] – to make or do something using whatever is available, usually because you do not have what you really need; a vocalist improvises songs when involved in idyllic reciprocation and a leader deliver improvised claptrap to jostle with his rivals
Imprudent [A] – not wise or sensible
Impudent – bold and sassy, marked by disregard for others; rude; impertinent; brazen; insolent; presumptuous; cheeky
Impugn [V] – to express doubt about whether something is right, honest, etc.; challenge
Impuissance [N] – powerlessness; feebleness
Impute – to attribute something bad to someone
Inadvertently [Adverb] – unintentionally; by oversight; carelessly
Inane [A] – silly; senseless; with no meaning; an inane remark; absurd; frivolous; crass; idiotic; stupid
Incandescent [A] – strikingly bright; shining with intense heat; giving on light when heated; glowing; radiant; luminous; luminescent; florescent; beaming; flaring; full of strong emotion
Incantation [N] – singing or chanting of magic spells; magical formula; invocation; spell; summons
Incarcerate [V] – imprison; intern; detain
Incendiary [A] – inflammatory; designed to cause fire; causing strong feeling or violence; combustible; flammable; arsonist (N); provocative; rabble-rousing
Incense [N] – a substance that produces pleasant smell when you burn it, used in religious ceremonies; V – to make somebody very angry; the decision incensed the work force; incensed (A)
Incessant [A] – not stopping; constant
Incipient [A] – beginning; in an early stage; “I will go to sleep early for I want to break an incipient cold”; embryonic; budding; inchoate
Incisive [A] – showing clear thought and good understanding of what is important and the ability to express this; “an incisive comments; and incisive performance; keen; perceptive; dull (opposite)
Inclement [A] – not pleasant weather; cold and wet weather; clement (opposite); intemperate; squally
Incognito – without being known; in disguise; without cognition; with your identity concealed
Incontinent [A] – not showing control over urination; the control of feelings, especially desires to have sex; celibate; the noun form is incontinence that means involuntary urination or defecation; our little daughters are still incontinent so my consort has no time to rest
Incontrovertible [A] – indisputable; that is true and cannot be disagreed with or denied; indubitable; unassailable
Incriminate [V] – suggest that someone is criminal; implicate; impeach; convict; exonerate (opposite); criminate; reprimand; censure
Incubus [N] – a male demon having belied intercourse with sleeping woman; nightmare – a situation resembling a terrifying dream; someone who depresses or worries others; succubus is the female spirit having intercourse with sleeping male
Incur [V] -
Indictment (N) – a formal document written for the prosecuting attorney charging a person with offense; an accusation of wrong doing
Indignant (A) - feeling or showing anger and surprise because you think that you have been treated unfairly; umbrageous
Ineffable (A) - too great or beautiful to describe in words
Ineluctable (A) – unable to avoid or evade
Inerrancy (N) – exemption from error; infallibility
Inert – very slow to act, sluggish, dull, inactive
Infidels (N) – persons who do not acknowledge your god; gentiles; heathens; pagans
Inflammatory (A) – intended to cause very strong feeling or anger; inflammatory remarks; incendiary; instigative; rabble-rousing; seditious; provocative; passion
Ingratiation (N) – bootlicking; truckling; cringing; fawning; toadyism
Inimical (A) – unfriendly; hostile; not chummy; inimical countries; inimical actions; hostile; opposed; adverse; acting against
Innocuous (A) – not intended to harm; harmless
Insinuate – imply in a subtle way
Insolent (A) – extremely rude and showing a lack of respect; an insolent child
Insouciance (N) – nonchalance; the state of not being worried about something
Intrepid – fearless, courageous, audacious, dauntless,
Inveigle – to persuade by flattery, entice, cajole, wheedle
Inveterate (A) – deeply seated; firmly established; inveterate liar; obsessive; ineradicable; entrenched; incorrigible

Words Starting With "H"

2010-06-09T02:06:00.000-07:00

Hackles [N] – hairs on back and neck, especially of a dog
Haggard [N] – gaunt; emaciated; wasted away; looking tired and unhappy, especially from worry or lack of sleep
Haggle (V) – wrangle over a price, terms of an agreement, etc.; chaffer
Hallowed [A] – blessed and consecrated; sanctified; bury your daughter in hallowed ground
Hap [N] – chance or luck; hapless means unfortunate
Harping [N] – talking repeatedly and tirelessly on a subject; carping is complaining in an annoying way; harp is a musical instrument whose strings are twanged repeatedly to produce sounds
Harrowing [A] – agonizing or distressing greatly; harrow is a plowing tool that corrodes ground before planting
Harry [V] – harass; pester; badger; hound; bully; hassle; torment; raid; “harried by reporters; “The Vikings harried the English coast”
Hazy (A) – filled or abounding with for or mist; obscure; confused
Headlong (Adv) - with the head first and the rest of the body following; without thinking carefully before doing; not cautious
Headstrong [A] – stubborn; willful; unyielding; impetuous; reckless; rash; obstinate; pigheaded; imprudent; docile (opposite)
Heckler [N] – one who harries is a hackler; a person who verbally harasses
Heed [V] – pay attention to advice; take notice of something; heedless – disregarding or inattentive; she drove on heedless of the warning that the road was dangerous
Heinous – hateful; atrocious
Heresy [N] – opinion contrary to popular belief; religion
Hermaphrodite [A] – of animal or plant having both male and female reproductive organs
Heterodox [A] – unorthodox; unconventional; heretical; profane; sacrilegious; dissenting; deviating; dissident
Hew [V] – chop or cut with an axe; fell; cleave; slash; he hewed his enemies with pieces
Hiatus [N] – gap; pause; space; lull; break between two vowels carrying together but not in the same syllable
Hieroglyph [N] – picture or symbol of an object, representing a word, syllable or sound, as used in ancient Egyptian and other writing; written symbol with a secret meaning
Hireling [N] – one who can be hired
Hirsute [A] – furry; shaggy; long-haired; hairy
Hoary [A] – white with age; the man was hoary and wrinkled when he was 70
Homespun [A] – domestic; clothes made at home; simple and unsophisticated; down-to-earth; ordinary
Homily [N] – long and boring talk from somebody on the correct way to behave, etc; lecture; sermon; oration; speech; preachment
Hortatory [A] – encouraging; exhortative
Hovel [N] - a house or room that is not fit to live in because it is dirty or in very bad condition; shack; shed; cell; slum; squat; fleabag; mansion (opposite)
Hubbub [N] – confused uproar; the loud sound made by a lot of people talking at the same time; a situation in which there is a lot of noise; excitement or activity; racket; hullabaloo; din; clamor; tumult
Hubris [N] – a very proud way of talking or behaving that offends people; arrogance; haughtiness
Hue [N] – color; hue and cry means outcry that means ‘shout’
Hummock [N] – a small hill; hillock; mound; knoll
Humus [N] – substance formed by decaying vegetable matters
Hypercritical [A] – tending to criticize a lot in a very unfair way; censorious; nitpicking; finicky; pedantic; fussy; lenient (opposite)
Hypochondriac [A] – person unduly worried about his or her health; valetudinarian
Hypocrite [N] – person who does hypocrisy; charlatan; fraud; phony; dissembler; double dealer; pretender; a hypocritical person is the one who pretends to be virtuous

Words Starting With "G"

2010-06-09T02:05:00.001-07:00

Gaffe (N) – social blunder; indiscreet act or remark; “He didn’t realize what gaffe he was doing”
Gall (N) – impudence
Galleon (N) – a large Spanish ship; large sailing ship
Gamut (N) – complete range of scale or something; “The whole gamut of human emotion from joy to despair.”
Garbled (A) – confused or misleading; jumbled or distorted; garbled message; “The injured man still go gorgy and could only give a garbled account of the accident.”
Gauche (A) – socially awkward or clumsy; coarse or uncouth; “I find him terribly gauche compared to the sophisticated young ladies in their elegant gowns.” awkward when dealing with people and often saying or doing the wrong thing: a gauche schoolgirl / manner
Gaunt (A) – lean and angular; made exceptionally thin by hunger and illness; haggard; "The gaunt face of Vietnamese”; barren; desolate; bare
Geniality (N) – cheerfulness, kindliness; sympathy; “This restaurant is famous and popular because of the geniality of the proprietor”.
Genteel (A) – well-bred; elegant; “Living in a genteel poverty” means trying to maintain the style of upper-class living, though too poor to do so”
Gentility (N) – having genteel manner; “Her family was proud of its gentility and elegance"
Gibberish (N) – meaningless sounds; unintelligent talk; nonsense; babbling; “Did you hear that foolish boy spouting gibberish about monsters from outer space?”
Gibe (V) – scoff; make fun of something; jeer at or mock somebody or something; “It’s easy enough for you to gibe at them, but could you do any better?”
Giddy (A) – not serious; a giddy girl; light-hearted; dizzy; “He felt that his giddy youth was past”
Gingerly (Adv.) – carefully; with great care and caution to avoid causing harm or making a noise; “To separate egg-whites, first crack the egg gingerly”
Glaze (N) – cover with thin and shiny surface; “The freezing rain glazed the streets and made driving hazardous”.
Glib (A) – fluent; facile; slick; speaking fluently and without hesitation, but not sincerely and trustworthily; “He became a glib speaker”.
Gloat (V) – express or feel selfish delight at one’s own success or good fortune or somebody else's failure; view malevolently; “AS you gloat over your ill-gotten wealth, do you think of the many victims you have defrauded”
Glower (V) – look in an angry or threatening way; scowl; “The angry boy glowered at his father”.
Glutinous (A) – sticky; viscous; a glutinous substance”
Goad (N) – pointed stick making animals move on; thing urging a person to action; “Motivated by the twin goad of punishment and reward he completed the work on time.”
Goad (V) – urge on; continually provoke or annoy
Gout (N) – pain in toe due to uric acid
Granulate – turn into grain
Grapple (V) – wrestle; “He grappled with the burglar and overpowered him”
Grate (V) – make a harsh noise; have an unpleasant effect; shred; “The screams of the quarrelling children grated on the nerves”.
Greenback – notes produced by central bank
Grimace (N) – scowl; frown; smirk; pout; sneer; contortions; a facial distortion to show feeling such as pain or disgust; “Even though he remained silent his grimace indicated his utter displeasure”
Grisly (A) – causing horror or terror; ghastly; gruesome; hideous; abhorrent; macabre; odious; horrendous; repulsive; grim; repugnant; repellent; “He shuddered at the grisly sight where Dracula was feeding his venomous blood to Mina”
Grotto (N) – cave, especially the one made artificially as garden shelter; cavern; underground chamber; hollow; pothole
Grouse (V) – complain; grumble; make fuss; whine; bleat; carp; cavil; “Students traditionally grouse about the abysmal quality of mystery meat and similar dormitory food”
Grovel (V) – crawl or creep on ground; remain prostrate; be obsequious; toady; fawn on; truckle; kowtow; abase one-self; ingratiate one-self; “Even though we have been defeated, we do not have to grovel before our conquerors”
Grudging (A) – unwilling; reluctant; stingy; half-hearted; resentful; “We received our grudging support from the mayor despite his earlier promises of aid”
Grueling (A) – exhausting; severe; wearing; debilitating; “the marathon is a grueling race”
Gruff (A) – rough-mannered; abrupt; brusque; laconic; surly; churlish; grumpy; crotchety; crabby; “Beneath his gruff exterior, he’s very kind-hearted”
Guffaw (N) – boisterous laughter
Gusto (N) – enjoyment; enthusiasm; appetite; glee; zest; fervor; verve
Guy (N) – rope or chain used to keep something steady or secured e.g. to hold a tent in place

Words Starting With "F"

2010-06-09T01:37:00.001-07:00

F
Fabricate (V) – to invent false information in order to trick people; “The evidence was totally fabricated means the evidence was mendacious”; to make or produce goods, equipment, etc. from various different materials; manufacture
Factotum [N] – a person employed to a wide variety of jobs; “Foray is the nature of being factotum, where factotum means an attempt to become involved in a different activity or profession
Fallible [A] – able to make mistakes or do wrong; infallible or inerrancy is the opposite of fallible; “All human beings are fallible”
Falter [V] – to become weaker or less effective; waver; “The economy shows no signs of faltering; her courage never faltered”; to speak in a way that shows that you are not confident
Fancier [N] – a person who has special interest in something, especially somebody who keeps or breeds birds, animals or plants; a pigeon fancier
Fancy [N] – notion; whim; inclination; “Martin took a fancy to pain his toenails purple”
Fatuous [A] – stupid; brainless; inane; foolish; silly; weak
Fealty (N) – loyalty; faithfulness
Febrile – indicating fever, or derived from it
Fell [A] – fell disease; very evil or violent
Feral [N] – not domestic; wild
Ferment [N] – agitation; commotion; political excitement or unrest
Fervent [A] – ardent; characterized by intense emotion; extremely hot; torrid; enthusiastic; passionate; “A fervent farewell speech”
Fester [V] – of a cut or wound become infected and filled with pus; rankle; produce irritation or resentment; “His insult festered in my mind”
Fetid (A) –stinking, especially from decay; four-smelling; malodorous; noisome; smelly; repugnant; ‘fetid street’
Fiat [N] – command; authorization; decree; “Although the bill abolishing the allowances are privileges of former princes was rejected by the upper house, it was put into effect by presidential fiat”
Fickle (A) – changeable or unstable in affection, interest or loyalty; capricious; arbitrary; mercurial; a fickle lover; Gita is too fickle to decide what career she wants to pursue, today she says astronaut, tomorrow she says mayor.
Figment [N] – invention; imaginary things; “Was he hearing real voices in the night, or were they just a figment or his imagination?”
Filigree [N] – fine ornamental work using gold, silver, or copper wire; “A filigree brooch or earring”
Finesse [N] – skill in dealing with people or situation clearly or tactfully; “His gregarious personality comes out of his finesse"
Finicky – overly particular in taste or standards
Fitful [A] – spasmodic; intermittent; “After several fitful attempts, he decided to postpone the start of the project until he felt more energetic”
Flaccid [A] – flabby; soft and weak; loose and limp; not firm; “Flaccid breasts”
Flail [V] – thresh grain by hand; strike or slap; toss about; wave or swing about wildly
Flair [N] – talent; a natural ability to do something well; “He has a flair for languages”
Flamboyant – showy, flashy, gaudy, ostentatious
Flaunt [V] – to show something you are proud to other people in order to impress them; “She openly flaunted her affair with the senator”; to behave in a confident and sexual way to attract attention
Flay [V] – to remove the skin from an animal or person, usually when they are dead; to hit or whip somebody very hard so that some of their skin comes off; to criticize somebody/yourself severely
Fleck [N] – a very small area of a particular color; “Her hair was dark with flecks of grey”; also [N]
Flimsy (A) – weak; feeble; limp
Flinch [V] – to make a sudden movement with your face or body as a result of pain fear or surprise; “He flinched at the sight of the blood”
Flit [V] – fly; dart lightly; pass swiftly by; “Butterflies flitted from flower to flower”
Florid [A] – a florid complexion of a person means a red complexion; a florid language means the language with too much detail; "If you got to Florida and get a sunburn, your complexion will look florid”
Flout [V] – defy law; to deliberately refuse to obey a rule or custom
Fop [N] – dandy; a man who is too interested in his clothes and the way he looks
Foible [N] – idiosyncrasy; weakness; a silly habit or a strange or weak aspect of a person’s character that is considered harmless by other people; “we have to tolerate each other’s little foibles”
Foist [V] – impose; to force somebody to accept somebody or something that they do not want; ‘The title of her novel was foisted on her by the publishers”
Foment – to instigate, stir up, stimulate
Foment [V] – incite for something wrong; to create trouble or violence or make it worse; “They accused him of fomenting political unrest”
Foolhardy [A] – reckless; taking unnecessary risks; “It would be foolhardy to sail in bad weather”; reckless means showing a lack of care about danger and possible results of your actions
Foraging (N) – the act of searching for food and provisions; scrounging
Foray [N] – an attempt to become involved in a different activity; a short sudden attack made by a group of soldiers; a short journey to find a particular thing or to visit a new place; expedition
Forbearance [N] – patience; the quality of being patient and sympathetic towards other people, especially when they have done something wrong
Forbears [N] – ancestors
Ford [N] – place where a river can be crossed on foot; an ox crossed Themes at Oxford
Foreboding [N] – premonition of evils; a strong feeling that something unpleasant is going to happen; foreboding of earthquake
Forestall [V] – prevent by taking action in advance; “by sitting up a prenuptial (relating to events before marriage – antenuptial or premarital) agreements the prospective bride and groom hoped to forestall any potential arguments about money”
Forgo [V] – give up; do without; the workers agreed to forgo a pay increase for the sake of greater security
Forlorn [A] – lonely and unhappy
Formidable [A] – inspiring fear or apprehension; difficult; awe-inspiring; awesome; a formidable task
Forswear [V] – give up; renounce; my mother couldn’t forswear smoking
Forte [N] – strong point or special talent; though I am the student of major English I have strong forte in math
Fortitude [N] – bravery; courage
Fortuitous [A] – accidental; happening by chance; a fortuitous meeting
Founder [V] – fail (a plan) completely; break down; the project foundered as a result of lack of finance
Fracas [N] – brawl; melee; a noisy quarrel; fight or disturbance; the police were called into break up the fracas; altercation; affray
Fractious [A] – irritable; disobedient; fractious children; fractious horses
Frail [A] – fragile; physically weak or delicate
Fraught [A] – fill with or charged with something; causing emotional distress; a situation fraught with danger
Fray [N] – fracas; brawl; melee; affray
Frenetic [A] – very excited; frenzied; frantic; frenetic activity; distraught with fear and violence
Fresco [N] – picture painted in water color on a wall or ceiling before the plaster is dry
Fret [V] – be annoyed or vexed; worry unnecessarily or excessively; to fret your poor grade is foolish, instead, decide to work harder in the future
Frigid [A] – very cold
Frivolous [A] – lacking in seriousness, foolish and lighthearted; silly; flippant; giddy; frolicsome; perky; merry; dizzy; trivial; vain
Frolic [N] - a lively or enjoyable activity that makes people forget their problems
Frond [N] – fern leaf; palm or banana leaf
Frosty (A) – devoid or warmth and cordiality; expressive of unfriendliness or disdain; covered with frost
Fructify [V] – bear fruits
Fry (N) – a young fish
Fugitive [N] – a fugitive criminal; a person who is running away
Fulminate [V] – to make loud, sudden noise; to send forth decrees with force or authority; protest strongly and loudly; denounce thunderously explode
Fulsome [A] – flattery; disgusting excessive; excessive and insincere
Furor [N] – frenzy and great excitement; general uproar or admiration or anger
Furtive [A] – stealthy; sneaky; done secretly and quietly so as not to be noticed