Putalisadak, my regular bypass junction. I go there with or without work. Last week I was there with some work, an early morning assignment had got me there. I was occupied with the work for some hours and soon was hungry. So to satisfy my rumbling stomach I stepped into a nearby restaurant, As I pushed open the door I could see about half a dozen youngsters in the corner. Clad in school uniform, lighted Surya lights in their hands. I seated myself on a nearby table and waited for the waiter to appear. I was so hungry that I ordered two dishes. It took quite a while for the dish to arrive. In the meantime to distract myself from the rumbling in my stomach I started looking around the restaurant. I looked at the decor, the color, chairs, everything yet my food was nowhere on sight. The smoke coming out of the youngster’s cigarette now caught my attention. They had managed to create quite a smoky atmosphere. Closer inspection revealed that they were five of them, three gals and two guys. They looked liked like +2 students.
The sight of students bunking class smoking had me wondering how our youngsters had started smoking freely, when aware of the fact that smoking is injurious to health and yet giving a damn to it.
The waiter brought my food. I was glad to see the food at last. I greedily ducked into it. Just then the door opened and I saw to people entering it. They sat beside my table and ordered two bottles of beer. Their order had me turn my head around in surprise to look at them. For it was not even 10:30 in the morning and to my horror, one of the guy was non other then Nepal’s one time number one pop singer Nabin K. Bhattarai.
I know its non-of my business what he does. Yet I couldn’t help feeling disappointed after finding out that this star singer of the nation was not what I had dreamed him to be. Yeah I know I was not minding by business but still drinking beer when its time to drink tea/coffee had me poking my nose in others private affair. I quickly defended myself saying Nabin is now a public figure and hence has to be cautious how he acts in public.
I was so shocked that I shared my experience with many of my friends and guess what? Some have been seeing him regularly drinking beer at the same place, and some people have seen him even earlier (9am) at Nanglo bakery doing the same.
I was left with a bitter feeling and lots of questions as to why a creative person like him spent his morning drinking beer.
The question bothered me so much that I had to set aside some time to answer them. Here are some answers some were interesting and some funny.
Maybe wants to be unique, maybe it helps him sing better, maybe he is worried about his age, maybe beer will help him grow his hair, or maybe the grandest reason for drinking; tragedy. Or maybe he drinks to come up with better composition. Or it could also be because his recent album “Smirti Re-loaded” is doing well in the market and is celebrating its success. But that was unlikely because even if his album is doing well in the market he can’t get his royalty easily. I have heard about Music.com’s Owner and how even renowned artists have a tough time getting royalty of their albums. What else could be the reason? My guess keeps on going longer and longer.
What can we learn from our celebrities? What will the next generation of upcoming singers learn from him and what about his fans? Where those youngsters back at the restaurant a victim of negative influence from celebrities like him? What do they think of him if they find out of his drinking habit? In other countries celebrities are not allowed to drink in public but here they drink beer in the morning instead of Tea. Being a music lover and a great fan of Nepali music I feel compelled to give a small suggestion to Nabin. Managing one’s success is twice as tougher as reaching the apex.
– Zekid