Personal reflections about the podcast:
"All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than other animals" wrote the pigs, after amending their constitution that had formerly established that every animal was on par with every other creature. Such were the lies, betrayals and false promises of the Russian Revolution that George Orwell exposed in his unforgettable "Animal Farm", which is still banned in most communist nations. Orwell had based the novel's swinish characters of the swines on the lives of Trotsky, Lenin and Stalin: all three of whom were pivotal in establishing the USSR.
I didn't particularly care about the Russian history but after I found out that the man who carved the almost unforgettable line "It was love at first sight, at last sight, at ever and ever sight.", had to flee Russia (and also become an heir to millions only to lose it overnight after the communism had confiscated all his property), I wanted to know about this land that is neither Asian nor European- a sandwich of a kind.
Since Ganesh Shah was someone who had spent a good chunk of his educational career at USSR, I thought it would be apt to talk to him about the matter. He is someone who met Valentina Tereshkova- the woman whom the world revered as she singly, daringly spent close to four days in space orbiting the Earth close to 28 times, and now has become a batty octogenarian supporting the invasion of Ukraine; someone who studied in the USSR in its more glorious days, conversing in delectable Russian.
One of my favorite Russian words is "oupast"- which means "falling in love" whilst also meaning "to be at a loss" or "to understand nothing". It is such a beautiful language, and hilarious too because if you want to tell someone in Russian that they ought not be messing things up, you use the Russian expression "ne cui hui v chai", which literally translates as "don’t stir the tea with your penis".
So I can only imagine how good the podcast might have been if I had known the Russian language. Nonetheless, I got to talk to this gem of a person who has been an environment minister already, in my beloved Nepali language. And the effort that this man puts in to still be updated with whatever is happening in the world of "environment" is commendable. Perhaps this is why he is referred to as someone "tech savvy" in his Wikipedia page- a distinction that I wish I had too!!
About the Guest:
Ganesh Shah is one of the foremost figures of the movement of communism in Nepal. He studied in the former USSR at a time when the space race between the US and the USSR was unfolding. Although he went to the USSR after the death of Yuri Gagarin, he still fondly remembers the space program in the communist haven of that time. After graduating in engineering from Peoples' Friendship University of Russia, he came to Nepal and was involved in politics of Nepal and also held the position of Environmental Minister of Nepal under the stewardship of Mr. Pushpa Kamal Dahal aka Prachanda. Mr. Shah is regarded to be one of the few politicians of Nepal who is active on social media, especially LinkedIn and promotes the wonderful initiatives of the environmental work done by young people in the country,
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