Who is Saurav? (and Maila Baje)
I’m intrigued by two interesting and mysterious characters of the Nepali intellectual sphere. Though he still writes informative blog-posts, Maila Baje has chosen to keep himself secret for too long to be interesting anymore. Someday he’ll stop writing and someone will die at around the same time- and maybe we’ll know who he is. There has been some guesswork about his identity on Nepal-related blogs like here and here. Because the former army chief is known to have used a pseudonym (Ajay P Nath) to write in The Rising Nepal and elsewhere before, my wild guess is that Maila Baje is Rookmangud Katawal.
The other character, who is not as mysterious as Maila Baje regarding his identity is a columnist called Saurav. He writes with just this name (no last name) in the Kantipur daily. I noticed him first sometime in 2009 or 2010. Though I was bored by the first piece I read, I wondered who this well-learned person was. Since then I’ve read only a few pieces written by him, highly impressed by some, uninterested by others. Someone I knew happened to know his identity and, and I was impressed of what I heard from him. Today I read something interesting by him after long, a piece debating the origins of Nepal’s so-called indigenous races and the Khas people.
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Sisir, and 3 others are discussing. 
downtoearth 3:59 am on July 19, 2011 Permalink |
Thanks for the post on Saurav. As an admirer and an avid reader of his articles, I really enjoyed knowing more about the author. His works should go out to the larger public and the author himself must add more credibility to his many reasonable claims by some more rigorous research. I would like to believe many of his claims, mostly because they seem to stem from good intentions and love for this country and its people and because they strive to reinforce the idea of an integrative Nepali society. But arguments are better than intentions any day and I would like to believe Saurav on that basis more. There is no reason why only the works of proper academics should be taken authoritatively. Saurav seems to have enough knowledge to go out and indulge on some first hand research (does not necessarily mean field based), publish (in a journal or if in newspapers then at least in a way that mimics a research article with proper and adequate references) and back up his claims better. His arguments are already extensive coming from different fields of knowledge from botany to etymology. A little work can put him at par with any leading anthropologist provided he follows the research ethic of finding out first and concluding second.
Nepaleeidiot 4:49 am on July 19, 2011 Permalink |
ushaft 7:13 am on July 19, 2011 Permalink |
Thanks @downtoearth and @Nepaleeidiot : yes, the points of the article were shocking in many regards but I think that’s how a true thinker should be like. He should be able to shake your beliefs over and over till people unlearn all their learned biases and can think over clearly again. I wish he does something in this regard, something like @downtoearth has suggested.
Rebuttal 9:45 pm on July 19, 2011 Permalink |
As far as his latest article on Kantipur is concerned, he offers some valid points regarding Scandinavian aid behavior in Nepal in relation to secularism. This however is not his first article on the issue. I talked to a PhD at University of Oslo for more clarification; I was then convinced of the parochial nature of aid. Later I managed to go through some research papers by Swedish and Danish graduates on similar issue which evidently put me in Shourav’s camp. Shourav is the only person in Nepal I have found who bears immense knowledge on the subject. Unfortunately, there are very few who understand him or think he is right. Myth and misinformation has overruled the facts, not only in Nepal, but in the world academia itself.
ushaft 10:05 pm on July 19, 2011 Permalink |
@Rebuttal, Would be nice if you could share your readings with us. I am interested to expand my understanding of the subject. Also I’d be interested to know relevant portions of your observations, studies or conversations
Sisir 7:46 am on June 11, 2012 Permalink |
Saurav is amazing .. His basket of knowledge is beyond most so called intellectuals who does not even have 10% of Saurav’s .. Thanks for some information you provided. looking forward ..
``` 9:55 am on August 17, 2012 Permalink |
The last two links – Gyanendra interview and whatever is the last one – are not woking. Could you please repost the links ? And thanks for the thread.
ushaft 6:33 pm on August 26, 2012 Permalink |
Unfortunately, the two webpages seem to have gone offline now. Could not find other copies online, sorry