Movie '2012' does injustice to Nepal
By Anil Pandey
RECENTLY I SAW the movie "2012" at the Alameda theater with my family because I have heard so much about it. I wanted to
see it as now we are talking about global warming and its adverse effects on the Earth. It is a good movie.
If global warming continues as it is doing now, whether any calendar has forecast or not, we definitely should be
prepared for the day like what is depicted in the movie, sooner or later. Because of the rapidly changing environment,
ecologists have warned us about it from time to time. We have been witnessing the meltdown of ice in the North Pole,
Antarctica and the third pole, the Himalayas.
The movie is based on the Mayan calendar. In fact, not only the Mayan calendar but Hindu religious scriptures tell the
same story about the end of the world.
In Sanskrit, the world "Pralaya" means the same thing — "end of the world."
"Pralaya" will take place when the development reaches its peak in this world.
When everything is valued in terms of monetary gains, when humanitarian feelings will be overridden by the material
value, then the world's ending will be inevitable.
The movie also warns that we should not harm, but love, Mother Nature. We have to grab the movie's message, not just
watch for more than two hours and say "It was a nice, entertaining movie, but scary too."
As responsible citizens of the world we have to think and act about the ecological
problems that we already face.
Development ultimately brings destruction — for example, the excess production of CO2 by developed countries creates the
greenhouse effect and the consequence the world is suffering now.
I am proud to be born in a Third World country, Nepal, where we are not polluting the planet as others do. We still live
in a natural, simple way. That's why Nepal is described as part of heaven in Hindu's religious scriptures. Ask anyone
who has been to Nepal.
They will agree it has the most beautiful natural assets in the world.
In the movie "2012," the highest part of the world which will not be destroyed is in Nepal and Tibet. But the director
of the movie did not mention Nepal — the country where Mt. Everest stands. Just for the record, Nepal has eight of the
10 highest peaks in the world.
Nepal politically has remained independent, though it is located between two giant nations: Communist China and the
largest democratic nation, India.
But Nepal has been independent since it became a nation nearly 250 years ago. We have our own calendar "Bikram Sambat,"
which is now running on 2066th year, so we have already passed our 2012 a long time back.
It is a country where two religions, Hinduism and Buddhism, live in harmony, where followers of both religions go to the
same temple for praying.
Nepal is a country of diversity in nature and culture. Naturally I, as an American Nepali, get upset when someone
forgets to mention my great nation as in this movie, "2012."
How a famous director like Roland Emmerich can forget to mention Nepal is hard to believe.
My daughter Monsoon, a 10th-grade student at Alameda High, asked me the same question. I am hoping to get an answer from
someone in authority.
ENDS