| ashu |
Posted
on 02-Mar-04 06:54 PM
BBC's Daniel Lak recently left Kathmandu for Miami. He published this diary-entry in India's OUTLOOK weekly (1 March 2004).
Lak writes that he's "not optimistic for Nepal, not in the short-term", and declares that Thamel's Himalayan Java is "Asia’s greatest cafe".
Enjoy,
oohi
ashu
ktm,nepal
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Doomsday Farewell
It's an immensely sad time to be leaving Nepal. For the first time in more than a decade of working abroad for the bbc, I leave a country in worse shape than I found it in. Now, I won't take the blame for that but things have worsened considerably on my watch. When I got to Kathmandu in August 2000, Nepal was still a democracy.
A squabbling, fractious, corrupt democracy but a place nonetheless where citizens got to vote. Not now. For the moment, Nepal is a place where the king, the army and the royally handpicked try to run things and once proud political parties seem content to hold daily demonstrations and disparage the powers that be.
For most of my first year in Nepal, the country had a royal family and the king was a popular man. No longer. The infamous Royal Massacre of June 2001 robbed Nepal of a beloved king and most of his family. A man already none too popular, then Prince, now King Gyanendra, came to the throne amid tragedy and outrage and few beyond the royal sycophants would say that he has gained in public stature. Not that the King ought to shoulder all the blame.
Nepal's politicians haven't done much for the place in my time and its Maoists have been singularly horrible—ravaging the populace, killing anyone who got in their way, forcing the security forces into a war they didn't want and smashing the infrastructure of local governments. I'm not optimistic for Nepal, not in the short-term. But time heals all wounds.
Going Bananas, Raw Or Ripe
By the time Outlook readers cast their eyes on this page, I shall be on the far side of the world from Kathmandu in every sense. Miami, Florida—my new posting for the bbc—is at sea level, not high in the Himalayas. My neighbours will be wealthy and will pay their taxes, unlike their counterparts in Nepal. The air will be cleaner, thanks to frequent sea breezes and better automobiles.
The beggars will have all of their limbs and the seafood will be superb. But there’s much that Miami has in common with Kathmandu. Both are multi-ethnic melting pots with plenty of migrants enlivening things and antagonising the locals. In Miami, it’s the Cubans bugging the Anglos; those roles are played in Kathmandu by caste Hindus from the hills and indigenous Newars respectively. Both cities have a thriving restaurant scene and dangerously tempting night life.
Exotic, stunning and drop-dead gorgeous are the sexist terms in both places for the general standard of female appearance. And, of course, both countries are only vaguely democratic. Nepal has its constitution more or less suspended. And Florida? Remember the last US elections and the mess that was Florida. As a Nepali friend observed acidly: "You’re moving from one banana republic to another."
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| ashu |
Posted
on 02-Mar-04 06:55 PM
Natives Not Allowed
One thing I do admire about the US, and India for that matter, is that foreign interference is simply not allowed. It’s as if someone hung a sign on the door of both countries saying "We’re all right Jack, mind your own business". Nepal, by contrast, is a playground for those who don’t mind their own business. India messes with Nepal on any number of levels.
The US urges the Royal Nepal Army to abuse human rights. Britain gets sniffy, as only Britain can, using aid money and Gurkha recruitment as levers to influence local policy. Europe demands its pound of flesh, despite a shrinking aid budget. Christian missionaries—despite being illegal—are given free rein. It’s only got worse since democracy was suspended a year-and-a-half ago. The message is clear: bring back the vote, even the discredited political parties. At least, it keeps the foreigners at bay.
Hobodom For Women's Lib
Paradoxically, as the situation worsens in Nepal, the situation for the Indian tourists seems to be making a bit of a comeback. In the posh Hyatt Regency Hotel and the corridors of the venerable Yak and Yeti, families from Gujarat, Punjab and West Bengal marvel at the bargains on offer.
The kids contemplate the swimming pool. Dad keeps an eye on the casino where the chips are denominated in Indian rupees. Left out of all of this, though, is Mom. She used to come to shop in the electronics shops of New Road. Or to seek out cut-rate Chinese or Thai silk in purpose-built bazaars where everyone speaks a dozen languages. Now, she can get all that and more in India. Presumably, she doesn’t like gambling and it’s too cold to swim much of the time. My suggestion to improve Nepali tourism from India: do something for the women!
Close Of The Ahhhhhh Era
Ending on a positive note, let me tell you what I’ll always treasure about my time in Nepal and woe betide any Outlook reader who spots an Orientalist cliche in the following list. Let’s start with the subcontinent’s best selection of restaurants with the interesting exception of...sorry...Indian food. And India, you may have your Barista but I humbly (okay not so humbly) propose Himalayan Java as Asia’s greatest cafe. But what I shall miss most of all is the view at sunset from the terrace of the Summit Hotel in Patan.
First the snowy mountain silhouettes dance along the ridges of the Kathmandu valley, then turn peach, orange and mauve. Just before nightfall, they seem to hover over the landscape as a band of darkness envelops the lower foothills. That’s what’s known as "ahhhhhh" time at the summit’s terrace bar—that exhalation of breath followed shortly thereafter by the clink of ice in glass as one drains one’s gin and tonic and wanders off somewhere for dinner. Not even a sea level sunset can compete.
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(The writer’s diaries and journalism will continue from the US.)
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