| Biruwa |
Posted
on 23-Sep-02 10:58 AM
Following is the Indian's views on Maoist as printed in The Times of India.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Maoists out for a duck
JUGULAR VEIN / JUG SURAIYA
[ SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2002 12:01:46 AM ]
From toothpaste to tank-proof roads, Chinese products have long been high-profile features of Nepal’s landscape. But of late, two brands from Beijing dominate the rest.
The first are the Maoist insurgents, who have killed over a hundred security personnel and virtually taken over wide swathes of territory.
Having itself phased out Maoism years ago, Beijing has cannily exported it to the Himalayan kingdom, via a little help from comrades in North Bengal, Assam and Bihar.
In Kathmandu, everyone talks about the Maoists. And the more they talk, the less they seem to know what they’re talking about. Starting with prime minister Deuba who, when I was there, seemed to hold a contrary view from his own home minister as to whether or not emergency ought to be extended.
The Maoists themselves speak in several voices on various issues. Like whether they should join the political mainstream and participate in the elections scheduled for November.
And if so, under what conditions. Their prior laying down of arms? Giving up the demand for an elected constituent assembly which would decide if Nepal remains a constitutional monarchy or becomes a republic?
Are the Maoists and the Palace working in synergy to precipitate a constitutional crisis to discredit parliamentary democracy and have it yield to the old panchayat raj, or a red revolution, whichever comes out top? People who never gave a penny for Mao’s thoughts have suddenly become experts on guerrilla tactics.
Then there is talk about military strategy. Or lack of it. How come the Gurkhas — supposedly the most fearsome combat troops in the world — can’t take out a bunch of ragtag civilians, mainly ex-school teachers and their brainwashed ex-students, who use women and children as human shields to storm security outposts? There are reports in the press about recce helicopters turning tail and haring for base because of ‘adverse weather conditions’ and ‘disturbance caused by insurgent activity’. Hullo. I thought the purpose of the choppers precisely was to locate ‘disturbance caused by insurgent activity’, not to get the hell out of there the moment you saw signs of any. But then, what would I know about such things? Probably thought Sun Tsu was Jackie Chan’s body double.
In Kathmandu, the army’s main role seems to be to patrol the nighttime streets, stopping cars and sticking assault rifles into the startled faces of the few foreign tourists who’ve ventured to come to Nepal in these troubled times. Heck, the brochures did say it was a thrill-a-minute country. While I was there, Kathmandu was spared a direct Maoist attack. Though there was the stray case of an unexploded bomb found in a crowded part of town.
The biggest blast in Kathmandu was a totally different bombshell from Beijing — the Beijing Roast Duck Restaurant. The first eatery in Nepal to serve genuine Peking — or Beijing, to be politically correct if culinarily crass — roast duck.
This is how the place billed itself: ‘Beijing First Roast Duck was found in 1885, named Bian Yi Fang Roast Duck Restaurant. It is famous for its skills to roast the Beijing duck in their special way called roasted and it is also well known today. Our restaurant is managed with honor by chefs from the Bian Yi Fang Beijing roasted duck restaurant that has 146 years’ history. Welcome you, our respected guests to come to our restaurant and enjoy our famous Beijing roasted duck and other traditional Chinese cuisines.’
There you are. Straight from the duck’s mouth. Dished out by people who obviously know how to wok the talk. However, there were sceptics. The food’s horrible and the place is all painted red — makes you feel like you’re in mainland China, said Rakesh and Shalini.
I suggested that the point in going to a Chinese restaurant, particularly one called the Beijing Roast Duck Restaurant, was that you wanted to feel you were in China. But Rakesh and Shalini are born-again libertarians and adhere firmly to the libertarian credo that you can have any opinion you like — provided it agrees with theirs.
Gautam ‘G2’ Rana — who’d taken time off from putting the finishing touches to the handsome coffee-table history of the Ranas he’s working on to eat in Beijing Duck — said: The food’s exquisite, dears, but the place smells of pee. I thought that was better than the place smelling exquisite and the food tasting of the other thing, but G2 had ambled off to make the Ranas history.
Deepak, the young man in the Yak and Yeti hotel, told us that in Beijing Duck they did it the authentic way: blowing up the duck like a football bladder before cooking it to get the all-important crackling right. Pee? Football bladders? Rakesh and Shalini blanched libertarianally but sportingly agreed to accompany Bunny and me to the place, along with Dubby, Lalit, and his wife, Anahita.
The Beijing duck turned out to be a treat, though Bunny felt the crackling could have been more crackly. But the paper-thin rice pancakes smeared with plum jam which you wrapped the slivers of duck in were scrumptious. And after the meal, they served us, as tradition demands, a soup made from the duck bones.
In all, well worth a repeat Long March to the North. But the next day Dubby was stricken with a Beijing boojie which had him making the Long March to the loo. Repeatedly. We told him it was over-eating. He insisted it was a below-the-belt terrorist attack. I guess that’s the trouble with Beijing products: No sooner have you finished a Chinese meal than you feel you have to have some Mao.
Disclaimer by Biruwa: I may not endorse the above views. In other words, "I didn't write it"
|
