| Biswo |
Posted
on 12-Oct-01 04:46 PM
After reading a story by Namita in Suskera recently, I just remembered about the
fogs. Fogs of Kathmandu. They pervade the streets of Kathmandu in the morning,
and it is difficult to see the jogglers pouring in those streets in the wee hours. But
slowly as the sun rises, the fogs are dispelled, and we can see the clear Himalayan
range in the north. Kathmandu is uniquely beautiful even with her shortcomings. It
was more beautiful before. When Prithvi Naryan Shaha, a young prince from
Gorkha, was returning from his Sasurali in Makawanpur, he saw the extreme
beauty of KTM from a southern mountain and thought "I wish I were the ruler of
these kingdoms."
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Those same fogs have beclouded the judgement of a lot of Kathmanduites, it
seems. According to a book by Sardar Bhim Bahadur Pandey (I forgot the name,
but is a famous book), rumour around KTM circa second world war was :"Hitler was
originally from Bhaktapur. His name was Hita Lal. That name was changed later
when he reached to Germany." People even glorified the evil. Frustration with
British might have been one cause. But it was a pure rumour-mongering.No doubt.
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The inexplicability of other incidents are also amazing. I remember Saddam Hussain
T-Shirts of 1990. A small nation like Kuwait, Nepal had no reason to cheer the
devillish annexation. It is same case in Bin Laden. The people arrested were three
Hindu Nepali businessmen. The only reason they were selling those T shirts were
because of confusion. They didn't know what was good and what was bad. Or may
be they were also like those bunch of Lilamani type communists who see no bad in
everybody who opposes USA.
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Kathmandu looks like a lackluster place when one descends from plane. People
doesn't have the same shining in the eyes, as we see in West. People rarely
seem happy. The workers trudging along the path of Kathmandu, the sardine-
crowded buses, the disgruntled mass of student and those small time businessmen
who sell things for sustainance in a naglo in the footpath.
It is not always the same case though. There is at least one instance when I saw
everybody cheering up in Kathmandu. When I saw solidarity among us. There was
a time when I saw young boys of Kathmandu carrying national flag and crying
loudly the paeans in the roads.
It was in the SAARC game of Kathmandu. When Nepal beat Bhutan by half a dozen
goals. And then in semifinal, when Nepal again beat her opponent.(Maldives?)
Thanks football. Never saw such moment in Nepal before, otherwise.
Game of Football was nominated for the Nobel peace prize this time. It lost to
worthier opponent: UN missions around the world and the secretary general, Kofi
Annan. Next time, may be football will win this coveted accolade.
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