गोर्खे
Introduction
Gorkhe (गोर्खे) is a story by Bakhat Bahadur Thapa (बखतबहादुर थापा), a Nepali writer famous for weaving computer science and technology into entertaining, knowledge-filled fiction. In this story, a computer virus scan is dramatized as a heroic wrestling match between a home-made Nepali antivirus, Gorkhe, and a gang of computer viruses.
Summary
Peshal is a computer technician who earns his living by writing software programs and repairing broken computers. Wanting to achieve something of his own in science and technology, he creates an antivirus program and names it Gorkhe. One day Satpal requests him to come and fix his computer, which has become almost unusable. After a routine check-up, Peshal announces that the machine is riddled with viruses, takes out the CD of his own antivirus, and installs Gorkhe.
Within five minutes Gorkhe sets to work, and appears in the dialog box as a magnificently fearsome figure with horns on his head, grinding teeth, a terrifying face and a dress of tree bark. Scanning the computer, he discovers five kinds of viruses. Among them is the notorious Brontok virus, which hides the computer's real folders and floods it with duplicate files until it can no longer work at all. Gorkhe repairs the infected files he can save and advises the technician to delete the files and folders beyond repair.
The scan becomes a battle told like a wrestling epic. Gorkhe leaps up to stamp on one virus's mouth, gets his foot bitten, and knocks the virus senseless with an elbow to the head, terrifying the next virus into surrender. He traps another by blowing enchanted ash around it and pinning it inside the ash circle, the way tantric healers bind evil spirits. But against the mighty boot sector virus Gorkhe begins to lose, and he requests the technician to update him. Once the update completes, Gorkhe scans again, sweeps every virus from the machine, gives a thumbs-up sign of "good luck", and takes his leave. Peshal restarts and rechecks the computer, finds it working perfectly, and hands it back to Satpal.
Theme
The story teaches modern computer knowledge (viruses, antivirus software, scanning and updating) in a playful Nepali idiom. It also carries a wider suggestion: just as computers need antivirus protection, people need healthy habits, good company and positive thinking to keep the "viruses" of bad conduct out of their own lives, and the pride that Nepali talent too can build its own technology.
Main Characters
Peshal: a skilled, innovative computer technician who creates the Gorkhe antivirus.
Gorkhe: the antivirus hero: a horned, bark-clad warrior who battles the viruses inside the
computer.
Satpal: the owner of the virus-infected computer.