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| Diary |
Magazine | 02 Mar 2009 |
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| Kathmandu Diary by Daniel Lak |
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With local politics in advanced entropy, with endless power cuts, unbearably dirty streets, frequent riots, demonstrations and chakka jams, you’d think this was no time to visit Nepal. The current chaos in the erstwhile kingdom has the tourism ministry in a bit of a tizzy. How to convince fussy foreigners, and the all-important Indian visitor, to risk a few days in crazy Kathmandu? To my mind, those tourism mavens just aren’t thinking creatively. There’s much to draw visitors these days. I mean, 33 years after the death of Chairman Mao Zedong, who would have dreamt he’d be inspiring a new breed of governing revolutionary in the Himalayas. Not even the Great Helmsman himself, I dare say. So brave traveller, see Maoism while you may. Or at least check out its cuddly, bourgeois democratic cousin, which is what Nepal’s ruling comrades are calling their time in power. See the Young Communist League, this country’s version of the dreaded Red Guards, directing traffic and helping old ladies across the street. The cultural revolution can wait. Lefties of the world, unite: come visit Nepal. You have nothing to lose but your money. Communism is, after all, an international movement. And there are few places on the planet today where people take it seriously anymore. Nepal is one of them, and it’s time to reach out to recalcitrant Marxists, Trotskyites, Leninists and all other true believers and get them to Kathmandu. An old Nepal tourism slogan promised visitors "Mount Everest and more". How about a variation: "Mao and more"?
Rants and Raves
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Then there’s that load-shedding. It’s at 16 hours a day, and set to rise. Sixteen hours! Basically, that means two four-hour blocks of bijli that serve only to underline the eight- and ten-hour tranches of darkness. It’s hell on rechargeable batteries. My laptop and mobile phone are in open revolt, refusing to work when I need them unless they’re assured of a steady diet of their favourite voltage, which these days can only be found across the border in India. Or next to a friend’s belching generator. But even here, amid the gloom, a glimmer of hope. These days, when darkness descends on Kathmandu, it plummets with a deep wallop, and sticks to the place like glue. Baby, it’s dark outside. This past weekend’s full moon blazed like a nuclear blast, and the stars stippled a night sky that hadn’t had this much fun showing off in decades. Lying on the roof of a friend’s house one evening, I gazed skyward in wonder. No annoying calls on my flat mobile, no need to check e-mail, and a tableau of the heavens as bright as I’d ever seen. Enjoy it while it lasts. Some killjoy is probably repairing the power lines even as I write. Come to Nepal and see the sky as it was meant to be.
Rants and Raves
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If You Meet The Buddha...
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As India’s sniffier classes seethe over Slumdog Millionaire, the film critics of Nepal have earthier business. Keep your discussions of poverty porn and exploiting Dharavi to yourself. Up here, we reserve our ire for more serious cinematic transgressions. Like the non-existent Hrithik Roshan comments about stupidity in the then-kingdom in 2000. And now, when Imperialist Bollywood lays claim to a leading cultural icon, the Lord Buddha himself. Never mind that the offending movie, Chandni Chowk to China, was largely trash with a few funny sight-gags to relieve the silliness. We took umbrage at a few lines in the opening scenes, lines that our vigilant censors had cut even before the kung-fu masala flick hit our movie halls. Seems you Indians—or at least Akshay Kumar, he who spoke the fated words—think Buddha was born in India. India? I ask you. It was well worth the riot that ensued, and the subsequent national ban on the film. Some of us wondered if the official diplomatic request from Nepal’s ministry of foreign affairs to impose bans in Canada, the United States and India weren’t a bit too much. One thing I didn’t see in TV pictures following the Buddha controversy were any Buddhists breaking heads. I did a quick survey of devotees, monks and rimpoches to see if they too were offended and most giggled behind their hands and walked away embarrassed. "He was born where he was born," one said to me, "and that’s all that matters." Amen, as the Christians might say, perhaps at the risk of starting a small riot.
Rants and Raves
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You have to give the Maoists one thing. They get technology. Nepal’s finance minister, Dr Baburam Bhattarai, even has his own Facebook page. Those who befriend the minister can see "photos of Baburam (54)", view "videos of Baburam (2)" and savour some of the most sycophantic profile page comments I’ve ever seen. Amazingly, the revolutionary Facebooker has nearly 5,000 friends, including me. That’s nearly twice as many as India’s current finance guru and prime minister, Manmohan Singh. Not that anyone’s counting. Now if only mantriji could develop his tax rolls with the same attention to detail....
Rants and Raves
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