| Biswo |
Posted
on 26-Jul-01 01:59 AM
In 1950s, Willium Golding wrote a book "Lord of the flies",
which was also later adapted to two movies of the same name.
The novel is one of the most interesting novels of our time,
because it shows the path society will take if it has to live
in crisis, and anarchy.
As the news from Chitwan trickles in, I gradually find the
horrendous truth of anarchy of the night in even villages like
Ratna Nagar which are accessible to the police and other security
apparatus of the state. In the night, those villages are now
guarded by the Maoists. They have killed the dissenters, and
bombed a portico of one factory in Tandi. Tandi in the night is
guarded by hired people of local chamber of commerce(mercenary?).
Of course, police brutality used to be more severe (in Panchayat,
and even two years ago, when I found that a 17-years old girl
from Ratna Nagar was detained for days during general election
because she was Maoist supporter) than latest Maoist lunatism,
but for us,the only thing that matters is whether civility wins
or not.And now, civility is brutalised by Maoists also.
In lord of the flies,Ralph the civil lad advocates for peace
and civility.But, due to the lack of food and any other
excitements,other boys in his camp,who were stranded in an island,
gradually leave him and join the rival splinter faction whose
chief promises them food.As the story progresses,his last loyal
pro-peace friend is killed by the now pro-hunter splinter group.
It is very easy to wonder about those people who are fighting
for Prachandas if we are living in the cornucopea of Boston or
Kathmandu. If we don't have Momo kings and money, if all shops
and hotels are removed, if we don't have any money to buy any
food and if we are desparate all the time, isn't it natural for
us to follow (and fight for) the truculent leader who promises
lands and foods once the fighting is over? In the more than
five thousands years of humanity, our progenitors did the same,
and it is naturally that our contemporaries still do the same
thing.
Hope this peace talk things will succeed.
Since the novel was very popular in Nepal also, I hope people
remember the cover, in which the head of boar is speared and
left as sacrifice for the invisible monster. In the novel,
the head decays and more flies sorround the head as the hunters
become more decadent, and devoid of morality. Sometimes, I
visualise the same head of boar, decaying gradually, in Rolpa
and Kathmandu rightnow.
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