- Long Walk To Freedom, Nelson Mandela [break]
I have read a lot of biographies like that, of Bill Clinton and Mahatma Gandhi, but I was touched the most by Nelson Mandela’s life story. Mandela is one of the greatest moral and political leaders of our time and his contributions to fight against racial oppression in the South African movement are highly praiseworthy and inspiring.
Mandela was imprisoned for 27 years and he struggled a lot for the freedom of his countrymen. The lines mentioned above highlight a particular incident when Mandela was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize and he had to accept it jointly with Klerk in 1993. He was faced with a dilemma of whether or not he should accept the prize along with him since he had fought against Klerk who was the seventh and the last State President of apartheid-era South Africa.
(DIPESH SHRESTHA)
But Mandela thought that when it came to nation building, nothing should be in the way where he might face a situation where he had to work with the same enemy tomorrow and even become his partner. So in this way, he always put his nation as his priority.
Like the name of the book suggests, South Africa has a long history to freedom. When there was invasion of the British, the local people were suppressed a lot. Mandela struggled along with his people and found a peaceful way to deal with things.
I find these lines relevant to our country because we have been witnessing differences in opinion among the political parties. The book teaches that if your enemy is ready to accept his faults and work together, then you should be able to accept that.
So I think this book is a must read for all political leaders as they can learn a lot from Mandela. When it comes to nation building, one should fight against differences and work in commonality.
About Sharma
By profession, Sharma is a teacher who worked from 1975 to 1999 as Associate Professor of Chemistry at Tribhuvan University. After his self-retirement in 2000 from TU, he worked as a social activist in Nawalparasi and traveled to other rural areas for social work. He is also affiliated with the CPN (UML) and in that context traveled to villages in support of social transformation.
“If you just stay in Kathmandu, you won’t get the whole scenario or the picture, so I worked at the grassroots level during that time. When you travel to such places, you realize more about how issues of the villagers are not addressed,” says Sharma.
Sharma was born and brought up in Baglung and he came to Kathmandu in 1966. He did his high school from Benares, India, and came back to Kathmandu for further studies. He has been active in the education sector by researching and advocating the needs of better education policies.
“Our education sector has been highly politicized. No matter how much conflict is in the country, education shouldn’t be touched. But it isn’t the case in our country, so we need better reforms,” says Sharma and adds, “We also need to make our education more skilled-based.”
Sharma’s bookshelf
From Third World to First
by Lee Kuan Yew
In this memoir, Yew describes about his accomplishments of Singapore’s rapid transformation after he became prime minister in 1959. There are many inspiring things to learn from this book, and one of the issues that has been addressed is that of Rule of Law. The book shows how Singapore, which was a Third World country before the 1960s, picked up in terms of development. Yew was a benevolent dictator, democrat, selfless autocrat and many even say that he was even an autocrat. There are many things that that he talks about, like how work culture should be like and why discipline is necessary to achieve something.
Madan Bhandari Sankalit Rachanaharu
This book talks about social transformation and culture and how education should be like. It also brings out the issue of women’s empowerment, how health policy should be like, and how there should be proper finance management in the country. Madan Bhandari was elected General Secretary of UML and he believed that we needed support of the people in order to rule in a peaceful way. This book is really inspiring.
Das Capital
by Karl Marx
This book is about relationship between labor and value, the role of money, and the conflict between the classes. It talks about the labor class and brings about the issue of surplus value. Labor class works hard in an industry whereas the investment is done by the industrialists. One of the arguments that Marx brings about is how surplus value should be shared with the laborers. This book is a page turner and gives you different perspectives.
Ancient Nepal
by Dilli Raman Regmi
The book talks about who are the natural habitants of Nepal and addresses important issues of its origin. It talks about how the country got its name and also about Nepal’s ancient history. I think it is very important to read a book like this because we know about our history, how it was formed as our identity. The writer himself says that he wrote the book on the basis of the existing evidences and it is not sufficient enough to address all the issues. But nevertheless, it is an interesting read, to say the least.
Jiwan Kada Ki Phool
by Jhamak Ghimire
If you are committed and driven in life, then nothing is impossible. If you spend your time wailing about your shortcomings and your weaknesses, then you won’t be able to move forward. These are the things that one can learn by reading this inspiring book. The book shows the struggle of the writer since her childhood days and her life story is stirring. I want to read this book once again and I highly recommend it to everyone.
As told to Nistha Rayamajhi
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