Nepalese Culture and Its concept on Punctuality.

Nepal a common land for people of different ethnic backgrounds which consists of various tribes and ones possessing traditions live in. We have Sherpa in Himalayan region, Bramin, Chettri, Limbu, Newar and other groups live in mountain regions and Tharu and Madhesi living in the Terai region. We also possess tribe called raute the only tribe who still live in forests and consider themselves the conservationist of those forests. They are found the far western regions and mid western regions of Nepal. This wide collection of people from all the tribes has made Nepal the richest nation on the basis of culture and tradition. Nepal has just declared itself as a secular nation which was a Hindu nation before. This has given equal opportunity to the entire ethnic group to celebrate their major festivals as like the Hindus celebrated Dashain in past days. Most of the major festivals from different tribe get the national holiday so they can be recognized in national level. So, Nepal is indeed the collection of various ethnic groups with their own culture and tradition.

Being on time is the best way of showing the courtesy to anyone. If one can value time he can conquer anything in his life. The Americans and the Europeans are successful today because they are able to manage their time and work accordingly. So if time is that important then what about Nepal, are we an underdeveloped because we could not understand the importance of it? The answer can vary person to person depending upon the peoples’ individual perspective. But this question needs to be given the high importance right now because soon we are going to be ended up between the most developed nations of the world India and China. So we should be atleast be able to take the advantage of their development. If being on time or punctual can solve can sort out few of the problems then one should learn to do so.

Are Nepalese not punctual? Don’t they value their time? This may be the major question that may arise in mind of many. The answer can be both yes and no.

Nepalese truly believe in the superstitions and the time plays a vital role during major occasions such as festivals and pujas. In Nepalese culture the priest (pandit) usually fix some auspicious time for the conduction of the rituals and Nepalese get on their toes to maintain the timing. The best example can be the Dashain that many people celebrate. In Dashain the main priest in Kathmandu decides the auspicious time to put on the tika looking after the various astrological issues. The people all over the Nepal and even outside the Nepal try to follow the time because it is the best time allocated to perform the ritual. This is the best example when all the Nepalese try their best to be on time. Most people prepare for this day from well ahead.

Nepal is an agricultural country with nearly sixty percentages of people working on the agricultural land. Even though living in the twenty-first century Nepal is not being able to adopt the technological advantages in the field of agriculture. But though using the manual process such as cultivating with hand than the machines, ploughing with oxes rather than using the tractors. The farmers are able to cultivate their lands on time. The results of the farming can be got on the process of harvesting. We are able to produce in bulk amount and good quality that even the developed nations get their supply of coffee, tea and other agricultural materials from Nepal.  This has aided a lot in generation of revenues from exports. 

On the other hand, Nepalese are not punctual in many sectors.

Last year, I was in the Chief District Office to prepare my passport. It takes me one hour to reach the office from my hometown. When I reached the office it was near to the lunch time but I could not find the fellow officer who could help me with my task. So I asked a person who worked in the office itself where the guy was. I was shocked to hear that the guy always used to come late i.e. nearly two hours than his office time. I regretted that I was too early than him. But once he arrived I did my job and turned towards the account department to pay my bills and on reaching the counter I was amazed to see the guys inside the counter sitting idle and not paying attention towards the customers even after their lunch break. Finally I got my job done waiting for four hours and the tasks were signing the paper and paying the bills. But the story does not end here. The passport which I should have got within a month was received by me after three months until then I had already postponed my SAT test and TOEFL test. So, the governmental agencies are the most non-punctual groups in Nepal. They have impact on all the sectors of the country as most of the major services are controlled by governmental sector.

If you have urgency and you plan to use postal service of Nepal then you will be alone during your bad days or you will have to face the problem alone. The letter needs to be delivered within fifteen days in maximum but in Nepal it does not get to the receiver in months. I have a good experience that totally questions the punctuality of the postal service in Nepal. After my high school graduation, I applied to United States for my undergraduate level study. I applied to those using the internet facilities but most of the universities still use the post to deliver the decision to the applicants. But prior to the decision letter they send you the documents relating to the college so they can coax your attention to their college. This a major source of documents that helps you on college application process. But I just got the email indicating that they had sent documents on post but I never got them. After a month they finally gave the acceptance letter and sent the hard copy of it in my postal address. Then, finally after nearly a month or two, I got 15 different packages that were pending at the post office and all of them were for me which were sent nearly two and half months before. That day, I got the first letter sent by the college and my acceptance letter. It was the hilarious day but even then I criticized the regarding the punctuality and the irresponsibility of the postal service in Nepal.

Even the educational sectors are not free from the problems of being late. The culture of being late for class by students, late completion of chapters by teachers and many other problems brings the educational sector to road of degradation. In Nepal, most of the colleges who operate with the affiliation of many private and governmental organizations are not being able to complete their classes in the designated time. Some are not being able to complete the exams on time; some are not able to provide their students with the certificate of completion endangering the future of the potential students.

These are just few examples among the piles of cases.

If the ranking of the country is based on punctuality then Nepal is sure to come on the last hundreds. Nepal differ the Greenwich Time by five hours and forty five minutes but let’s add two hours to it. Then we get the so called “Nepali Time”. Nepali Time is the popular term usually used by the late comers or the organizers if the program gets delayed. Today majority of the people are being late, so what can be the major reasons for being late?

Firstly, Nepalese have a concept that hinders the people to come early on any programs. The concept is that only the free people come to the program early had he been busy he would surely be late. If you are early in any programs you are submerged with piles of questions that are very hazardous to reply as it may keep your reputation at stake. The question can be “Why you are early, are you jobless now? Didn’t you have anything to do at home that you come to programs this quick?” So the concept that Nepalese possess contributes a lot for being late in the programs.

Secondly, for the people who try to show off try to get late at the programs and leave early. One role it plays is that it shows how busy a person is and every one try to respect him. So to grab the attention of the people, they are late. This show off technique used also aid as the cause for not being punctual.

Third and the most crucial of all is the lacks of proper guidelines for making the people follow the rules and regulation regarding the office timing. But the main problem is that the government of Nepal lacks the appropriate by-laws which aid the laws to punish the wrong doers. The government itself is not being able to prepare laws for the nation. So, even this trend is followed by the governmental officers. So, lack of good law and duties aid in the extension of problem.

If we are having the non-punctuality as the major problem then we too are losing some crucial things with it. So what can these be?  

If we ask this question to ourselves then we may never find the answer to the question then we can never find the answer because we feel that we are never wrong. Everything we do is correct. Talking about the things we are missing. Let’s see what we will miss if someone other is not punctual. What if farmers miss their season for the cultivation of wheat? What are you going to feed upon? What if your mailman does not deliver the message in time about the employment you got as a manager in reputed organization? These questions may seem trivial to some but it is of high value to the person who misses the employment opportunity and the farmer as both miss the important opportunity to get good results. So, being non-punctual person you miss a good opportunity to develop one’s life as well may have negative impact on other people’s lives. You may be the nearest person to victory but your non punctuality habit may bring tears than the sheer happiness as opportunities don’t knock your door time and again.

Every problem has a solution. So how can we treat the problem of being late? 

If the government imposes the appropriate the rules for controlling the office time in governmental agencies then the most of the problem that we face at the development process get solved. As the governmental organizations are the places where major decision takes place so making them follow time and work accordingly improvises the national development too. Also, in addition that playing some role to change the perception of the Nepalese people can aid in solving the problem. For instance, isolating the person who comes late or dragging the person out of the spotlight can help the show off guys to come a bit quicker. Also conducting the program at the illustrated program and banning the entrance after the certain time can reduce problem of the late comers. So, these are some ways to make people come on time.

Nepalese culture terms punctuality to be a minor subject which does not play a crucial role in the lives of the people but it has undermined its value. It has not been able to understand how important it is for the process of survival and other daily processes. Its inability to understand the value of punctuality has made us limited to the few development process. So, Nepalese should understand the importance of time and work accordingly for the betterment of the nation.