Nepal: the Rising Sun in the Himalayas

Just back from Nepal. The Himalayan Kingdom turned the latest laboratory of pluralist democracy born out of a bloody movement.

Task was to train 32 journalists, seniors and freshers, to launch the first set of two business dailies in Nepal: Dainik Arthik Abhiyan in Nepali and Nepal Bizline in English.

Great learning, sharing, fun and serious work for ten hours a day for ten days, a whopping 100 hours session!

From whatever little I could manage to go around and see the city and meet the people, it is clear that the nation is a good case-study to understand the strength and fallacies of democracy, of economic dependence, of painful but luring westernization, et al.

Every major news channel and entertainment program of Indian media has some clone there, local version. There are some good shows too, though! India bashing is a favourite pastime with many, but the dependence at every level on the Big Brother next door cannot be just wished away.

The king once lived on the compensation of the Britishers for taking away a part of the Terai region. A section of the elite lives on the pension of the British army. Another section does loads of currency hawala business around.

The last government budget was of Nepalese Rs.650 billion (Indian Rs.100= Nepalese Rs.160), whereas there are more than 400 banks, savings funds, investment funds, non-banking companies, and insurance companies! Quite a disproportionate one!

A favourite pastime is politicking through the papers and in every corner of the streets! Argumentative Indian of Amartya Sen can now have a new avatar in the form of Politicking Nepali! Good in a sense....strong opinions and awareness leading to some action on the streets as well. But bad in a way as well.....loss of time, energy, nation-building compromised.

Three years are over, the nation still continues with the process of making the Constitution of the nascent republic by its Constituent Assembly!

The Maoists combatants are not there in the jungles, but they are there unarmed in barracks. It is a situation of being there and not there at the same time! Divisions are there in every major political force....

A group of strong entrepreneurs are rising, embarking upon courageous path of creating wealth and employment. An army of fly-by-night operators and quick-fix agents also emerging fast!

A large group of youth are romantically idealist and expect things to happen fast, specially after they have seen the monarchy bite the dust.....at least for now!

From Koirala of Congress, to Prachanda of Maoists, to Madhav Nepal of Communists: all got a chance in recent past....

But none has been able to become a Statesman, in a nation from which the world can learn about democractic movement that embraces the extremists and the centrists alike!

A nation of great possibilities.....

A nation of queer idiosyncracies....

A people of hard work and enterprise and deep faith in religion and culture.....

A people who collectively lack a unified vision and way to move ahead.....

The contradiction was so ably demonstrated by the duality of aarati and burning pyre together close to Pashupati mandir, the co-existence of milk and honey drenched Shiva and stench and filth of the Ganges next door!

While the richest and the most educated youth are leaving the nation for greener pastures, one may look forward to the middle class socially rooted but enterprising youth to come to lead the nation next....