Dear Nepali brothers and sisters,
By now you all must have been fully aware of the intimate video of Namrata Shrestha and DJ Tantrik that leaked out on Sept 20, 2009.
When a news like this breaks out, curiousity grips every mind. One wonders if it is really true, and what is really in it, or how bad was it. One gets the urge to see it to believe it. No wonder then that the name is googled over and over again, the video itself did spread like a wildfire.
Needless to say, the video was pretty shocking. The act itself was not that shocking, but the context - an aspiring Nepali actress who had just made a big name and received recognitions for her role in movie "Sano Sansar" was videotaped with a married man. How stupid was that? How wrong was that? Why did they do it, and then film it? How must DJ Tantik's wife have felt? All these questions and many more probably jumped to everyone's minds and I guess we all have to come to our own conclusions.
But one question that really stuck with me for a long time is - Is she going to be ok during and after all this?
Having spent to teenage years in Nepal before heading to the US, I have a pretty good understanding of what dignity means in a Nepali society, and how it is so vastly different from that in western countries. Yes Nepali models have been pretty bold lately in photographing to sexual poses, and yes Nepali movies have been creating suggestive scenes for actresses in them for a long time but our society has not come to a point where a person's character and social standing is not severely shattered due to even slight negative sexual innuendoes. Shame is a word that has gone out of dictionary in the west, but it still holds a special meaning in our society. And my god, this is as bad as it could get for Namrata.
But she did it to herself, you might say. She is no angel but a vain home wrecker and she should take full responsibility for her actions, you might add. And I agree with you, this is bad. But, having her dignity sprawled over the world is not a punishment she deserved. There are many people who make poor decisions, wrong decisions, senseless decisions, but do they really deserve to be utterly humiliated like this? And even if you think this was a right response, think about it in the context of Nepali society. What if it was someone you knew or was someone you cared about? After all, she is also someone's daughter and someone's sister. How would they be feeling right now?
With that in mind, my dear fellow countrymen, I have a humble request. In the name of the nepali pan that binds us, and for the respect we have for our values and culture, lets stop spreading this mud any more. Lets stop shaming a Nepali sister in front of the entire world. She made a mistake and has learnt a really hard lesson. Lets do the right thing on our part. Lets stop posting this video on the internet and take down the ones out there already. Its probably a lost battle by now but at least lets walk on the right path. Lets spare her of any more misery.
After all, as 1974 AD pointed out: "Yo man ta mero, Nepali ho!"
