Hope amidst indifference

As I sip my Sri Lankan tea and take a quick bite of crisp lakhamari, my daughter walks in with her white bareeze shalwar kameez in one hand and my meticulously ironed tangail cotton sari in the other. "Mamu," she says, "we've got tickets for Khuda Key Liye at Satyam Theatre in Nehru Place!" Great! We drive down the busy streets of New Delhi listening to Geeta Dutt, Ghulam Ali and Narayan Gopal from yesteryears on my iPod, and get increasingly excited at the thought of watching a Pakistani movie in a Delhi theatre – the same movie that received a standing ovation at the recent Goa Film Festival.

Come to think of it, my life has been so interwoven with the colourful threads of Southasia that, at times, I forget whether I belong just to Nepal, my native country, or to Southasia itself! Having lived in Pakistan for four years, in India for 14 years and having travelled to all of the SAARC member states on work innumerable times has given me the pleasure of understanding the joy of celebrating Diwali and Holi in Delhi, Chaand Raat in Islamabad, Eid in Dhaka, Poya in Colombo and of course, Maghe Sankranti and Dasain in Kathmandu. The rich traditions, the vast canvas of cultural heritage that has been passed on through the generations, the ancient Indus Valley civilisation, the vibrant classical music and dance, the colorful tapestry of festivals and the interconnectivity of people living in the region – these are all fascinating facets of Southasia. In fact, new reality shows such as "Junoon Kucch Kar Dikhana Hai" and regional episodes of "Sa Re Ga Ma Pa" are actively crossing national boundaries, enabling increased harmony across the region.