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BANARAS

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�� !"#Koirala

Has grip on party and he isprime minister. His protégéand cousin, Sushil Koirala,holds the party organisation.Aloof, and perception that he isdictatorial, and has ruled partyand country longest with iffyresults.

DeubaHas sheltered Koirala refu-gees. Easy-going personality,has Bhattarai’s blessings,links to Kathmandu eliteNever worked in partyorganisation, may not be ableto control ambitious newallies, few new ideas.

�$� ��%$�&%$%'�Tourism was just coming out of thehijack fallout, now there is the threatof bandhs and a hotel strike smackin the middle of the peak touristseason. The strikes will crippletourism and the economy. If hotelsare shut down, there will be fewertourists in Basantapur, Bhaktapurand Pokhara; trinket-sellers and taxidrivers will suffer; farmers can’t sellto hotels; mountain flights will begrounded. Last year tourists broughtRs 12 billion to Nepal, if you add themultiplier, it is much more. This is

obviously the best way to cripple thecountry. Politicians who control theunions hold the answer............ p 15

!(�%��)% '&*The gatekeepers at Pashupatinathseem to have devised a unique testto tell if you’re a Hindu. Find out..........................................................p 4-5

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At 78, Girija Prasad Koirala, stillthinks he has the muscle to be the next president of the Nepali

Congress And he is telling his old friendand present foe, Krishna PrasadBhattarai: come-and-get-me-if-you-can.The other Congress 78-year-old, is notcontesting, so Koirala is now preparingfor a showdown with Bhattarai protégéSher Bahadur Deuba.

On Tuesday, Koirala put speculationto rest by announcing that he wascontesting the position of party presidentone more time. Control over the partycan be even more important than theprime ministership. Koirala says it isgoing to be “one man, two jobs”.

Deuba showed his nervousness at hisown press meet later the same day. Hesat surrounded by his trusted generals,who, we were told, had advised him todeclare his challenge. He did that inJanakpur on Wednesday.

Koirala and Deuba are now officiallyat war that will be more cut-throat thana national election. Now, the focus willbe on serious electioneering, which is alsotime for horse-trading. To increasingly-disgusted Nepalis, it does not matter if itis Koirala or Deuba who is leading thisfeckless party. And we all had high hopesabout the younger generation of leaders

being cleaner and more business-like.Sensing the disarray, the leftist

opposition has smelt blood, and iscashing in on the fuel price hike to launcha season of strikes that threatens tocripple tourism. In this melee, no oneseems to have time to address thiscountry’s urgent problems—not even totry and revive the stalled talks with theMaoists.

We’ll find out who’s boss in twomonths when the Nepali Congressholds its general convention inPokhara. But even then there may beno clues to why the Nepalis have tosuffer this endless Congresscockfight, and why the party cannotfunction as a cohesive politicalorganisation. OK, all political partiesfight. But what is serious here is thatevery time they clash, the dust chokesthe entire government machinery.

Now that Koirala is in the fray hewill have to also get down to seriouscampaigning. Signs of campaigning were

already evident as in the bizarre sightlast week when both the oppositionleft parties (against fuel prices) and theDeuba faction (haggling over thenitty-gritty of party membership) wereout picketing.

Congress insiders say both sides knowvery well that the fight over activemembership is immaterial since the 2,000memberships in question will not affectthe outcome in Pokhara, where onlydelegates chosen by over 107,000 willvote. The outline of a possible futureleadership will emerge after the 1,450delegates are picked.

The Deuba-Bhattarai camp isnow suggesting that the old electorallist be used. But the Koirala side saysthat list does not include newmemberships Koirala had approved.The numbers that are indeed crucialfor control of the party in the post-Koirala, post-Bhattarai Congress.

Then there was the resignation oftwo Deuba-Bhattarai supporters from the

party’s election committee stating thatthe other three in it voted down theirrequest to scan memberships. NarayanKhadka, a Bhattarai aide told us: “Thiswas wrong. Members had a right to seethe lists.”

We asked Congress spokesman,Narahari Acharya, if this was true. Hisreply: there was just no time to re-examine the memberships and it wouldbe done when the time came for thevote--even predicting that this would bethe most organised convention the partyhas had.

Sher Bahadur thinks he, a formerprime minister, should be next in lineof succession. Koirala and his supportershave got used to power, anddone nicely for themselves,and don’t want to let go.Koirala had no choice but tocontest himself because hehas not yet picked a successor. Thewinning side will have a full three years tobuild its own fiefdoms, till the nextgeneral elections in 2003. In the end it ismoney politics pure and simple: thechance to earn the money to buythemselves to power so they can earnmore money. The tragedy for Nepal isthat regardless of which side wins, it isalmost certain that the Congressinfighting will begin the day after. �

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Nepali Times is published by Himalmedia Pvt LtdMailing address: GPO Box 7251 Kathmandu NepalEditor: Kunda Dixit Desk editors: Deepak Thapa, Samuel [email protected], circulation and subscriptions: (01) 543333-7 Fax: (01) [email protected] www.nepalitimes.comPrinted at Jagadamba Press (01) 521393

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��he Maoists wanted to know thewhereabouts of their comrade,Dinesh Sharma, as a precondition to

talks. Dinesh was released. There was a bitof a drama that accompanied his freedom,but the Comrade is back underground and,for all intents and purposes, free. So what isthe problem, why are the Maoists sulking,why is Padma Ratna Tuladhar throwingtantrums?

For some murky and seeminglyintractable reason, serious talks (eveninformal) between the Maoists and thegovernment are unlikely to resume in ahurry. Both sides and their mediator willneed to lick their wounds and mend egosbruised by the antics of Comrade Sharmawho defected and then undefected himselfwithin a two-hour period on 4 November.

After the Dunai and Bhorletarmassacres of policemen in September,Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala stuckhis neck out to get the palace and armybrass to agree to partially deploy soldiers ininsurgency-affected districts. It could havebeen the distinct possibility of having tofight the army that made the Maoistleadership realise the importance of peacetalks. The government was also underpressure from public opinion to explorepeaceful means to end the five-year-oldconflict.

And that is the paradox: both sides wereunder pressure to talk, but they didn’t gainanything by talking. Enter: Padma RatnaTuladhar, Deputy Prime Minister andHome Minister Ram Chandra Poudel, andthe Maoist Kathmandu commander,Rabindra Shrestha. Date: 27 October. Afterthe tete-e-tete, there were smiles all around.Poudel thought it went well, Padma Ratnawas happy, and we have his word thatRabindra Shrestha was also enthusiastic.

The feeling everyone had was that allthis sounded too good to be true: theMaoists put forward such easy pre-conditions to stop shooting and starttalking. All they wanted was that thewhereabouts of Dinesh Sharma be madepublic (not even his release) along withseveral others of their comrades being heldby the government. The implication of this

demand was clear: the government would beforced to release them the moment itaccepted that they were under its custody.The second pre-condition was even simpler:the next round of official talks had to bewith a designated government representative.This was a clever ploy to fish in the troubledwaters of chronic infighting in the NepaliCongress, and the sting was an ultimatum tomeet the demands by 3 in the afternoon of 3November, or else.

On D-Day (‘D’ for drama here) it was acloak-and-dagger show right from the wordgo. Communication Minister Jai PrakashGupta personally called leading journalists

and assembled them in his office at SinghaDurbar. From there, they were herded intoa van and taken to the InternationalConvention Centre. A few minutes beforethe three o’clock deadline, the governmentpopped young Dinesh out of the hat alongwith this brother-in-law and comrade-in-arms, Dinanath Gautam.

With a rather nervous demeanour,Dinesh dutifully denounced the violentways of Maoism. He vowed to renouncearms, and adopt peaceful means inmobilising the masses for Marxist politics.Those present there said that althoughDinesh had shifty eyes, there was not a hintof coercion. No, I wasn’t tortured, he said.The government appeared to have scored apropaganda coup.

But, as we all know by now, within anhour and a half Dinesh sent a fax messageretracting every statement he had just madeand declared that he had made them underduress. Even for the intrigue-laden politicsof Kathmandu, this was dramatic stuff. Inone fell swoop, Dinesh had plastered eggson the faces of Jai Prakash Gupta, DeputyPrime Minister Poudel, mediator PadmaRatna and even his boss, Prachanda.

Rabindra Shrestha was so livid hewrote an op-ed article the very next day inKantipur charging the government withdouble-dealing, threatening Koirala withdire consequences. Prachanda followed itup with another fax declaring that thechances of talks were “nearly over”. Nearlyover also means almost open: and presum-ably he still hopes that the government willpick the ball. The lesson from the farce isthis: the Maoists and the government arenot serious about talks. It was a PRexercise to assuage war-weary Nepalis.

In a way, Dinesh Sharma’s left-rightacrobatics may turn out to be a blessing indisguise. Now that the government and theMaoists have succeeded in calling eachother’s bluff, they may finally realise thatsuch diversionary tactics can backfire.Another lesson: future talks will have to bein secret so that posturing will not derail it.But first, the government and the Maoistsmust be made to feel the public pressure forpeace once again. �

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�� In all our collective careers as observers of Nepali politics, we have notseen anything quite like it: a majority party, with everything going for it isbent on committing political hara-kiri. With brains gone intohibernation, senior leaders of the Nepali Congress are to busy fightingeach other to be bothered that talks with the Maoists are off, that thecountry’s tourism industry is teetering on the edge threatened by a two-day bandh and a hotel workers’ strike. The ruling party has become itsown worst enemy. With enemies like that the opposition lefties needn’tbother with their nation-wide shutdowns. If you feel a bit confusedabout exactly what these common sense-challenged clowns in theCongress are haggling about, don’t worry, so are we. Whatever it is, itcertainly isn’t about the country’s most-pressing problems.

In fact, instead of trying to get the Maoists to agree to more informaltalks maybe our master mediator Padma Ratna Tuladhar should getKP and GP to sit down and hammer out a truce! In the end, there isonly one conclusion: the Nepali Congress may be the most senilepolitical party in the country, but the mental age of its leaders hasn’tprogressed beyond single digits. And that is an insult to the children ofthis country. If this doddering duo can’t pull in their stooges, can’t theyat least agree to disagree and go their separate ways? Their quarrel isnot confined to the leadership of the party machinery anymore, it isdamaging the nation’s body politic. Do we have to suffer the agony oftolerating a ruling party that is incapable of governing its own dividedhouse, let alone a fractious country?

We’re getting pretty sick of writing editorials about this, but thetragedy is that the fighting is not about issues, but as usual aboutpersonalities. Those from the KP Camp can’t stand the smell ofKoiralas, who, we must admit, do give off a whiff. Well, with thecompany of sidekicks Bhattarai keeps around him these days—KhumBahadur Khadka, Bijay Gachhedar, Sharad Singh Bhandari—the odouris pretty overpowering at Bhaisepati, too. Let us remember that barelya year or so ago, all the stars of the Bhattarai camp were die-hardKoirala loyalists and they were hauling manure for him. These so-called Young Turks from both sides all have lean and hungry looks andthey’re all up to their necks in the stuff. Which doesn’t give us muchhope for the second-generation of leaders once the twoseptuagenarians are out of the picture. But at least younger leadershave sharper claws and deadly fangs, and after the dust has settled aclear victor will emerge.

�� The messy photo-finish of the US presidential election had the worldwatching the scores as if it was the Superbowl. For Nepal, it didn’treally matter who won. But for Planet Earth, a lot hung in the balance.The global environment is threatened as in no time in history byprosperity and poverty. Such is the economic might and the ecologicalfootprint of the most powerful nation on earth that who the president ofthe United States is has an impact on the future existence of theMaldives, and the health of Himalayan glaciers. Alarm bells are goingoff all over the world about a planetary climate crisis, and this is whenthe world’s biggest emitter of greenhouse gases needed a leader whocan start reversing its wanton and wasteful energy consumption. TheUnited States has only two percent of the world’s population but burnsup a quarter of its energy.

Everyone made fun of how there wasreally no difference between Al Gore andGeorge W Bush. They said both had thesame corporate sponsors. True. But thetwo differed on one key issue: what to doabout the global environment. Bush is anoil man, and has said he couldn’t careless. Gore is committed to an America thatburns less fuel because it makeseconomic sense. Why does America stilluse twice as much energy as Japan tomake the same can of Coke? Europeans,reacting to public opinion shaped by better media coverage, haveembarked on a committed drive to cut emissions. Unfortunately, theworld’s most-powerful nation has public opinion shaped by a mediathat is becoming more insular. Under-informed Americans are electingleaders whose actions will impact powerfully on the rest of the world,even on the very survival of the biosphere.

They’re not going to like it, but we’ll say it anyway: the world has toomuch at stake to let only Americans decide who becomes theirpresident.

by CK LAL ��%��&��

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Mediator Padma Ratna Tuladhar raising thered lantern.

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Your expose of the public issueof Oriental Hotel three monthsago (“Buyers beware” #15) wasinsightful. But the question thatcame to my mind as I wasreading the article was: so whatelse is new? The earlier publicissue of the Hyatt was the samestory: share offerings here arenot accompanied by transpar-ency or information to investors.In fact, the concept of providingadequate information to thepublic has never been an issuehere. If anything, Oriental Hotelprovided more information thannormal public offerings in Nepal.And the public was sodesperate to invest, that theywillingly allowed themselves tobe hoodwinked.

S SinghKathmandu

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I read your newspaper regularlywith interest and enthusiasm. Butit is sad though that you did notconsider giving a thought to thereal story behind the army courtmartial reprinted from JanaAastha (From the Nepali Press,#14). You seem to supportanything written against the armywithout any considerations ofyour own. It is indeed sad to seesuch a popular paper as yoursunthinkingly reprinting storiesfrom rags like Jana Aastha.

Ram Gopal Sharmavia Internet

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This is in response to “A state ofparanoia” (#12). After reading thecolumn, my deep question is: CKLal a dalal? Is he an agent?Wonder if he would be offended

by the question. If he is offended,then his prestige is brittle, andeven a simple question like thatwould break him. If he is notoffended, then it would presum-ably mean that he is a real dalal.Dalal or not,that is thequestion.

Som AryalArkansas, USA

Where is CK Lal?Have you droppedhim? Has hisbrilliantly crafted,non-conformistedge, and hard-hittinganalysis gottoo hot foryou tohandle? If

so, that would be a pity and anindication that we still don’t have afree press. Let’s just hope he’sjust on holiday and will be backafter the Dasain-Tihar break.

Janak PrasadVia Internet

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��After readingUnder My Hat

(#12) on the Thaiambassador being

the most powerfulman in Nepal because

he got the MaharajgunjRoad rebuilt, I must drawyour attention to the roadconnecting NewBaneswor to Battisputali.Bits of the middle were

asphalted, but the two ends arestill unpaved. Vehicles leavebehind a trail of dust, thusjeopardising the health of all andsundry. Will the Department ofRoads kindly explain what onearth prevents them from pavingthe remaining sections? Or shallwe ask the Thai ambassador tointervene again?

Shyamal K ShresthaKathmandu

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I haven’t yet read JonathanGregson’s book, but from yourreview (“Kingdoms in cloud-cuckooland”, #15) it is apparentthat Gregson exhibits the samepretentiousness of authors whohave not overgrown theOrientalist traditions of theiranthropologist forebears whiledealing with Third World

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he magnitude of thepopulation problem isfrequently exaggerated. That

roaring tradition goes back 200 years,when Thomas Robert Malthusdeclared that the world was overpopu-lated already and that the growth offood supply was losing the race withthe growth of population. However,as in Malthus’s time, food productionnow continues to grow significantlyfaster than world population, with thefastest expansion of food output perhead occurring in relatively poorcountries such as China and India.

But there is a danger of compla-cency here. The fact that populationgrowth is much slower than thegrowth of world output (of food andother commodities) often generatesundue placidity, reinforced by thefurther recognition that fertility ratesand population growth are falling as awhole and also in most regions of the

world.Thisreassuring

overallpicture hidesthe fact thatpopulationgrowth rates arefalling very fast insome regions andvery slowly—sometimes not atall—in others.It is, in fact,

extremely important toavoid complacency and to

understand that it raises other seriousissues not captured by the oldMalthusian perspective. One suchissue is the environment—global aswell as local. It is true that environ-mental adversities such as globalwarming are influenced by totalconsumption rather than the total size

of the population (poor peopleconsumemuch less

and pollute far less). But onehopes that in the future the poorernations of today will be rich as well,and the compound effect of a largerpopulation and increased consump-tion could be devastating for theglobal environment. There is also theimportant challenge of overcrowdingin a limited habitat. Children, too,have to be raised, not just food crops.

But perhaps the most immediateadversity caused by a high rate ofpopulation growth lies in the loss offreedom that women suffer when theyare shackled by persistent bearing andrearing of children. Global warming isa distant effect compared with whatpopulation explosion does to the livesand well being of mothers. Indeed, themost important—and perhaps themost neglected—aspect of thepopulation debate is the adverseimpact of high fertility imposed onwomen in societies where their voicesdon’t count for much. Given theconnection between over-frequent

childbirth and thepredicament of women,there are reasons toexpect that an in-crease of genderequity, particularlyin the decisionalpower of young women,would tend to lowerfertility rates. Sincewomen’s interests arevery badly served byhigh fertility ratesimposed on them, theycan be expected tocorrect this adversityif they have morepower.

Why, then, do women have littledecisional power in some societies,and how can that be remedied? Thereare various distinct influences to beconsidered here. (I discuss thisquestion more fully in my bookDevelopment as Freedom.) First, socialand economic handicaps contributegreatly to muffling women’s voices insociety and within the family. Second,the absence of knowledge or facilitiesof family planning can also be animportant source of helplessness.Third, there are cultural, evenreligious, factors that place youngwomen in a subservient position,making them accept the burden ofconstantly bearing and rearingchildren. These inequities may noteven have to be physically enforced,since women’s subservient role as wellas frequent childbearing may appear“natural” when these practices havebeen sanctified by a long history thatgenerates uncritical acceptance.Indeed, there is much evidence now,based on intercountry comparisons aswell as interregional contrasts within alarge country, that women’s em-powerment can have a very strongeffect in reducing the fertility rate.

India is a statistician’s paradisebecause of tremendous variationsamong its distinct regions. While thetotal fertility rate for India as a wholeis higher than the replacement level oftwo per couple, many districts in Indiahave below-replacement fertility ratesand substantially lower fertility ratesthan, for example, the United States,Britain and China. Fertility rates have

been falling in India,but the rate of de-cline has been ex-tremely uneven. Speedyfertility declines inthe states of Kerala,Tamil Nadu or HimachalPradesh can be closelylinked to the rapidenhancement of femaleeducation and empower-ment of young women.

Indeed, as a numberof studies demon-strate, the two prin-cipal variables thatexplain the bulk ofthe interdistrictvariations in fertil-ity rates in India arefemale literacy andfemale employmentopportunity. Theseachievements not onlyenhance women’s voicein family decisions,they also have otherfavourable socialeffects. For example,female literacy has astrong impact inreducing child mortal-ity rates, which alsocontributes, indi-rectly, to reducingfertility (since thedesire for a largefamily is often re-lated to insuringsupport in one’s oldage). The states inIndia with high fer-tility (for example,Uttar Pradesh, Bihar,Rajasthan) are pre-cisely those that givefew economic andeducational opportuni-ties to young women.

It is also interesting in this contextto note that while China’s sharpfertility decline is often attributed tocoercive policies, one could haveexpected a roughly similar declinebecause of China’s excellent achieve-ments in raising female education andemployment. The contrast betweenChina and India is a useful one toexamine, since both countries have

much gender-basedinequality and persis-tent male preferencein the treatment ofchildren. As a whole,China has done farmore than India togive women educationaland economic opportu-nities. However, thereare parts of India(which is much morediverse than China)that have done morethan China in thisrespect. Kerala, forexample—a sizeableIndian state withabout 30 millionpeople—has a higherrate of female lit-eracy than everyprovince of China.Kerala’s rate ofexpansion of femaleliteracy has also beenfaster than China’s.Correspondingly,Kerala has experienceda substantially fasterdecline in fertilityrates. Also, thanks tothe process of fertil-ity decline beingfreely chosen withoutany coercion, theinfant mortality ratehas continued to fallfast in Kerala whileit has not in China.The female infant-mortality rate now inChina is, in fact,more than twice thatin Kerala.

Variations within India also bringout the important fact that evencultural and religious influences onfertility can beswayed. For example,it has been arguedthat Muslim popula-tions tend to have ahigher fertility rate.Insofar as there isany truth to this, thelinkage seems tooperate in an indirectway, through various

correlates of genderinequality. Signifi-cance is sometimesattached to the factthat Pakistan has amuch higher fertilityrate than India(around five, incontrast to three),but that divergencecorresponds closely tothe difference betweenthe two countries interms of women’sempowerment.

Also, the Muslim population inIndia is itself very large—around 120million—the third-largest among allcountries in the world. As it happens,the most successful state in India inreducing fertility, Kerala, also has thehighest percentage of Muslims amongall states, with the exception ofKashmir. In general, the fertility ratesof Indian Muslims are much closer tothose of other communities in thesame region in India, including theHindus, than to Muslims in Pakistan.Insofar as there are intercommunitycontrasts in fertility within India, theytoo relate to such social and economicvariables as education, employmentand property rights.

It is also significant thatBangladesh, with a predominantlyMuslim population, has had a sharpreduction in fertility rates, which canbe associated with the gains thatBangladeshi women have recentlymade through the expansion of family-planning opportunities, greaterinvolvement of women in economicactivities (through microcreditprogrammes) and much activismagainst the prevailing pattern of genderdisparity. The bottom line, then, isthis: While cultural and religiousinfluences on fertility rates cannot beignored, they are neither immutablenor independent of the social andeconomic factors through which thecultural connections work.

There are many influences thatoperate on fertility rates, and it wouldbe a mistake to look for one “magicvariable” that would work uniformlywell in reducing high fertility rates.What is needed instead is a unifiedapproach that places different variableswithin a general framework of familydecisions on fertil-ity. The advantage ofbringing gender equity and women’sempowerment to centre stage is thatthey provide a broad perspective thatcan accommodate many of the majorinfluences on fertility decisions. Theexpansion of family planning mayappear to be just a demographicintervention, but the real opportunityto practice family planning can also beseen in the broader light of enhancingthe decisional freedom of families ingeneral and of vulnerable women inparticular.

It is important to bring together,under a unified framework ofunderstanding, the diverse influenceson fertility reduction that have beenidentified in the empirical andstatistical research. A variety ofinstitutions have constructive roles inthis crucial social transformation,including family-planning centres,elementary schools, land-reformfacilities, microcredit organisationsand free newspapers and other mediafor unrestrained public discussion.These institutions have their

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subjects. Making fun of theattire, accents, or food habits of“natives” has always exposedthis genre of Western-centricworldviews.

A Nepali journalist going toBritain and observing that Britishjudges looked like “lost rams ona cliff” would be the classicantidote to this. The problemwith parachutists is that theynever stay around long enoughto understand the nuances oflocal life, and show sensitivitytowards the subject.

They are in fact no differentthan early explorers who wrotedisparagingly about forest-dwelling savages who walkedaround naked, as if wearingtrousers and ties would havemade them ‘civilised’.

Dr E Ehrlichvia Internet

�� 10 - 16 NOVEMBER 2000 ��

��

he two stories in “Paradise? Lost?” printed inthis space (#14) about change in the Khumbuare certainly emotive, but the implied direct

causality between the introduction of the water pump,and the resulting devastated landscape may be a bitstretched. The two scenarios paint a contrasting picturebetween the serene idyllic rural life of a village prior todevelopment and the raw crude consequences ofcreeping urbanisation and materialism after develop-ment.

Of course, one has to ask whether the perception ofthis change, as observed by the Doigs and Hillarys ofthis world, is one that is shared by the villagers of thatregion. Many people would gladly give up a good viewof the mountains in return for eliminating the dailydrudgery of fetching water several kilometres away.Perhaps, however, this is missing the point. Lurking inthere, I suspect, is disenchantment with developmentand our collective inability to mitigate the changes thatinevitably result.

The question you pose to all of us in the world ofINGOs, NGOs, and indeed government is, “Will theflapping of our butterfly-like wings bring a breath offresh air, or another billion-dollar typhoon”. I wish Ihad a clever answer to this question. There are plenty ofexamples of disasters but at the same time many havealso benefitted from progress brought about bytechnology and its constructive application. I would,however, agree that our ability to create technologieshas, for the most part, far outstripped our capacity touse them in a fulfilling way. Technologically we can get

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to the moon but emotionally we are still rooting aroundin caves. This does not bode well for our characters inyour Khumbu story. We may have learnt how to installand prime the pumps of progress but we have not yetlearned how to harness these changes to make ushappier.

So, where should we intervene? Should we just stopflapping our wings and hope that somewhere in thatpantheon of gods, one of them will bestow enough graceon the situation to make us happy? Not likely! Your twostories point out that in spite of our ability to create andstimulate change we are incredibly inept at managingchange.

Where do we start? My simple answer is: Education.Not the 2+2=4 type of education, this is just more change forits own sake. What is needed is rather education on how tomanage change. This is essential because, as you say in theGita, change is the only constant thing in our lives. Somemay try to avoid it, some may try to deny it, and some mayeven try to go back to the way things were before changeshappened. Why do our public education institutions notteach us how to play with change, how to use it creatively,how to harness diversity and how to forestall needlessconflict? If we continue to ignore change, and furthermoreare unable to handle it we do so at our own peril, and riskturning many more Edens into hell on earth. Herein lies thechallenge of our modern leadership.

Jim TomeckoTeam Leader

GTZ Private Sector Promotion ProjectKathmandu

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ashupati is one of theholiest Hindu shrines inthe subcontinent, and

houses Nepal’s patron deity. Astern sign at the gate, enforcedby a policeman bearing a stick,warns all non-Hindus that theycannot enter. But two recentincidents have begged thequestions:

• Who is Hindu enoughto enter the temple?

• Who decides who is aHindu and who is not?At present, any

brown-skinned Caucasoid,even if he is a Muslimfrom Aligarh, can easilyslip in. A Syrian Christianfrom Kerala can get inwithout problems. But aHare Krishna devotee fromItaly with a shaven head andsaffron dhoti, cannot enterthe temple. Tall, fair Nepaliswith goatees have sometimesbeen stopped. It seems the onlycriteria that the gatekeepers ofPashupati have to judge Hinduor non-Hindu is the colour ofthe skin and the length of the

nose. While this arbitraryreligious apartheid goes on at thegate, tourists with digital camerascan be seen video-filmingcremations on the banks of theBagmati: turning the private lastrites of Nepali families intocultural entertainment. Onedevout Nepali Hindu, who doesnot want to be named, told us:

“Where does dharma end andsacrilege begin?”

Last week, for the secondtime in a month, Hindu pilgrimsfrom Bali were denied entry intoPashupati. Not only was thegroup of 41 turned back, but theysuffered humiliation and unbear-

able discrimination at the gate.Security personnel deployed atthe temple gate blocked the way,declaring that the ‘Hindu’ statuson their travelling documents wasinsufficient proof of their faith.Bali is the predominantly-Hinduisland east of Java and thepilgrims were in Nepal as part of a

tour of holyHindu sites inIndia where theyhad no problemsenteringtemples. TheIndonesianswere here forthree days on aplanned trip topray atPashupatinath,and do somesightseeing.

After they were not allowed in,the Indonesians sat on the asphaltoutside the gate and finished theirprayers (see picture).

Bishwesh Shrestha, the Nepalitour operator who was handlingthe pilgrims’ group, is livid. Hetold us: “After this incident atPashupati, they cancelled all their

planned activities and left thecountry without ever stepping outof their hotel for the rest of thetime that they were here.”

In September, another groupof 11 Indonesian Hindus weredenied entrance to the temple bythe office of the Mul Bhatta, theSouth Indian chief priest atPashupati, with the explanationthat one has to be born either inNepal or India to be able toenter. The office of the MulBhatta refused to recognise theendorsement of the World HinduFederation (WHF) thatrecommended entrance to theIndonesians.

Having faced the problemearlier, Shrestha this timerequested permission from thePashupati Development Trust(PDT). The PDT declined toprovide it in writing, assuring himthat the Indonesians would have“no problem” entering thetemple. “The incident would nothave happened, if the touroperator had informed us aboutthe problem with the security,”PDT treasurer Shankar RajPathak said.

The PDT office was closed on29 October, the day the 41Indonesians were denied entrance,as it was both a Sunday and theday of Bhai Tika. But Pathaksought to assure us that suchincidents would not occur again ifHindus “from abroad” request anentrance to the shrine of their

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The small PDT unit and thepolice at the main gate are notgiven the authority to determinewho enters the temple. But,according to the police officer onduty on 29 October, his unit hadearlier that day received strictorders from the office of the MulBhatta that the Indonesians werenot to be allowed in. “We wereonly carrying out an order fromthe Mul Bhatta that was deliveredto us by a junior bhatta. We haveno authority to determine ifanyone is to be allowed in ornot,” the policeman said.

When approached, the MulBhatta’s office refused comment.However, the Kathmandu liaisonofficer for the Rangoon-basedIndonesian embassy that isaccredited to Nepal, Shiva SharanRajbhandari, believes the touroperator is at fault. “If thepilgrims had informed theirembassy in Rangoon, I wouldhave known of their tour and Icould have taken them toPashupati, as I have done manytimes earlier,” he said.

He may have a point therebut the fact remains that theIndonesian Hindus were notallowed into Pashupati. And allbecause the Mul Bhatta decreed itso. There are one billion Hindusin the world, and the WorldHindu Federation has amembership of 57 countries, withIndonesia having an advisorystatus with the present executivebody of the WHF. Hinduismpredates both Buddhism andIslam in Indonesia, having beentaken to the archipelago by

settlers from the east coast ofIndia 2,000 years ago. They laterruled the Hindu Sri VijayaMaritime Empire that stretchedfrom Sumatra to the edge of thePacific Ocean.

Most observers, including thePDT itself, blame the all-powerful and conservative MulBhatta for being the mainobstacle. Says PDT member-secretary and industrialist, BasantKumar Chaudhary: “After theestablishment of the PDT, theMul Bhatta is no longer the

ommunists and socialistsfrom 19 countries and 28organisations met in

Kathmandu 5-10 November in apost-Soviet Union soul searchingexercise that began in Pyongyangin 1992. The goal was to shareexperiences and try to devise waysto take carry socialism forward.

Luminaries at the openingincluded Sukomal Sen, represent-ing the Communist Party of India(Marxist); Yu Honhuan, chief ofthe research division of theInternational Department of theCommunist Party of China; BettyF. Carlsson, leader of the Danish

communists; D. Raja, member ofthe national council of Commu-nist Party of India; and MadhavKumar Nepal, general secretary ofCommunist Party of Nepal(Unified Marxist-Leninist).

Conference convenor, PradipNepal, explained what themeeting was all about: to unifysocialists the world over, to pulldown the walls built by capital-ism and “to achieveglobalisationin the real sense—of the people,by the people”. At the well-attended opening, keyed off bythe singing of the “TheInternationale” and amidst flag-

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��"�$+��$%!�!��$$��Bhutan is once again delaying on what seemed like someprogress in the refugee repatriation talks. Nepali foreignministry sources say the talks have effectively come to a“standstill” since Bhutan has not been acting on a compro-mise verification formula suggested by the United NationsHigh Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). In late May,Bhutan had agreed to name a verification team that was tovisit the Bhutanese refugee camps in eastern Nepal “verysoon.” But Thimpu has so far been ignoring Nepali re-quests to get on with it. The UN compromise formulasuggested that both sides use a family as a unit of verifica-tion, and that the family should include all unmarriedmembers under the age 25. Bhutan has insisted onindividual verification, while Nepal has maintained that it bedone on a family basis.

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,��%��-��!��!The government has unveiled an integrated developmentfund of Rs 190 million to be used to fund developmentactivities in five mid-western districts where the Maoistinsurgency is most intense. The development “package”—with contributions from the Finance Ministry, the PrimeMinister’s relief fund, the budgets of local governance unitsand the MPs’ fund—became effective on 4 November.

Rukum district is to get about Rs 38.8 million, Rolpa Rs40 million, Jajarkot Rs 42 million, Kalikot Rs 35.5 millionand Salyan Rs 35.8 million, according to Deputy PrimeMinister Ram Chandra Poudel. The money from the Fund isto be used on prioritised programmes that benefit thelargest number of people, and spending would be moni-tored by all-party committees at both the central and locallevels.

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��.��!�$��%��The United Nations Special Rapporteur on Violence AgainstWomen, Radhika Coomaraswamy, has said that theproposed SAARC document on trafficking in girls andwomen needs to be re-examined once more before itbecomes official. “The declaration fails to differentiatetrafficking from prostitution, concentrating singularly ontrafficking of girls and women for commercial sexualexploitation,” she said. The aspects of trafficking that havebeen left out include crimes such as smuggling children towork in sweatshops and even as seasonal labourers. TheKathmandu-based South Asian Association for RegionalCooperation (SAARC) has been working on the documentfor approval by the seven member-states, before it issigned in Kathmandu in a few months. Coomaraswamysaid that the document also needed regimes to protect therights of women and children and was critical of someNepali government measures, which restrict the mobility ofwomen in the name of fighting girl trafficking.

waving uniformed cadres, GeneralSecretary Nepal denounced forcesbacked by the “imperialistforces”—the World Bank,International Monetary Fund andthe World Trade Organisation.

Another highlight was a six-page speech by Nepal whichtraced the history of the Nepalicommunists, and after ameandering analysis of nationaland global developments came tothe conclusion that “the validityof Marxism and Leninism has notdiminished at all”. He alsoexplained the rationale behindUML’s adoption of parliamentary

politics as a method of classstruggle. According to him,Nepal’s communists, unlike theircomrades elsewhere, have a largemass following which was madepossible by the party’s adoptionof the home-grown people’smulti-party democracy (PMPD).He explained that PMPD had astrategy against possibleisolationism—a policy ofcompensating co-operativelandowners for the smootherimplementation of revolutionaryland reforms.

“Different countries havedifferent objective conditions andhave different roads to socialism,”said China’s Yu. India’s Rajaagreed, extolling “undaunted”Cuba’s stand against US imperial-ism, and the achievements of“victorious Vietnam” led by Ho

Chi Minh. Raja said: “There’s noalternative to socialism, noalternative to Marxism…socialismnever fails.” �

�� !�/�!The Kathmandu-based International Centre for IntegratedMountain Development (ICIMOD) has cut eight seniorposts citing budgetary constraints. Eight senior staffpositions, including those held by Indian and Nepaliofficials and divisional heads are affected.

The research institute specialising in the Himalaya andHindu Kush regions has been in Kathmandu for the pastfor 15 years. ICIMOD’s international board, which met lastweek, decided not to renew the contracts of the staffersbecause of a $400,000 hole

in the budget caused by the devaluation of the Euro vis-à-vis the US dollar. According to insiders, making itsdecision the board declared that ICIMOD is “not a long-term employment agency”. Some board members weresaid to be unhappy with the decision, and maintained thatthe termination should have been done with greaterparticipation and transparency. Others welcomed thedecision, and told us “the clearing of deadwood was longoverdue”.

Among those whose contracts have not been renewedare: Indians Anup Bhatia, Tej Pratap, NS Jodha, NepalisPradeep Man Tulachan, Pitamber Sharma and Suresh RajChalise, and Canadian-Pakistani Shahid Akhtar. All ofthem are reported to be very unhappy with the manner inwhich the board terminated their services.

In an internal letter to ICIMOD staff, Director GeneralGabriel Campbell explained that there were two reasonsfor the staff cuts—budgetary, and ICIMOD’s philosophy thatthe organisation should build regional capacity. Theorganisation has long been criticised for being top-heavyand spending too much on staff salaries and overheads.“There is just no way to balance the budget, it was eitherthis or letting off 50 Nepali staff,” Campbell told us. �

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authority to decide on Pashupatiaffairs. All bona fide Hindus,regardless of their nationality,should be allowed to enter thetemple. The Indonesians wereregretfully denied their rights toworship at the shrine. I havealready sent a personal apology forwhat happened.”

Travel documents attested bythe World Hindu Federation andPashupati Development Trustproving the Hindu status ofpilgrims should be enough toallow pilgrims in, but the temple’s

traditions are unbending aboutallowing non-Nepali and non-Indian pilgrims. SociologistSudhindra Sharma says the MulBhatta is just a priest, and he isexceeding his authority bygiving himself the power todefine who is Hindu and who isnot. In Nepal it should be thepremier Hindu institutions likethe Hindu monarch whoshould have the jurisdiction,says Sharma, adding: “At a timewhen Hinduism should beopening its doors wide, we arebeing parochial and myopic bynot letting genuine Hindus in.”

The temple authorities areeven more rigid and unsympa-thetic to those who haveconverted to Hinduism fromother religions. They say one isborn a Hindu, and that thesashtras do not recogniseconversion. As a Pashupatibhatta puts it: “Anyone canfollow the Hindu dharma butcannot become a Hindu unlesshe is born one.”

President of WHF NepalNational Unit, Narayan PrasadPokhrel, says conversions intoHinduism should be encour-aged, but converts should passreligious tests to attain anyhigher status in the religion.He says: “Not every convertedHindu can be allowed toworship at Pashupati, or madea priest.” But that still does notsolve the problem of what happensto the next batch of Hindu pilgrimsfrom Indonesia, Mauritius, SouthAfrica or Trinidad.��

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When talks reach a deadlock, the only way forward is to talk some more.—Padma Ratna Tuladhar, in Nepal Samacharpatra, 8 November.

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THIS PAGE CONTAINS MATERIAL SELECTED FROM THE NEPALI-LANGUAGE PRESS.

Talks...Talks...TalksHimalaya Times, 5 November

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�� !The Himalaya Times, 4 November

(Excerpts from the interview given to the press by CPN-Maoist central committee member, Dinesh Sharma,before his release.)

Q. Where and when were both of you [i.e. him and Dinanath Gautam] arrested?A. I was arrested on 18 Mangsir 2056 at the Dhunge Dhara bus stop between Banasthaliand Swoyambhu. My friend was arrested on 25 Srawan 2056 on a road in Dallu.Q. Where were you kept?A. In police custody in Kathmandu.Q. What were your positions in the Maoist party?A. I am a central committee member and Gautam was an ordinary member.Q. Where are you from?A. Both of us are from Kavre district. My house is in Majikheda VDC and his is inPokhrichowhi VDC.Q. You all have different names. Are these your actual names or do you have different ones inthe party?A. These are our actual names. Party matters are a different thing.Q. Your party had set a deadline for your release. You say that you have given up violence.Have you really left the party?A. For a party carrying out a people’s war setting deadlines is no big deal. We have leftthe party. There is no question of going underground now.Q. Why this political change in you?A. A political reason is one of them. Events, happenings and changes, national andinternational, and how we relate to them and move ahead are others.Q. After leaving the party, do you believe that you can work independently?A. More important than that, after we decide on a peaceful political agenda and afterhaving open discussions maybe we can come together.Q. When you were a central committee member, what would the reaction of the party havebeen towards a step like this?A. I cannot say for certain. I was in police custody for 11 months and have not been ableto understand their thinking. Therefore I cannot make anything of their call for adialogue.Q. Surely you haven’t reached this decision under the carrot-or-stick policy of the government?A. No. We reached this decision on our own. We felt that an open and free dialogue wasthe political need of the time.Q. When you were a central committee member, did you ever push for an open politicalenvironment?A. At that time we did not.Q. What is your programme from tomorrow?A. We are free. We are going to talk between ourselves and then decide.Q. Has the government really released you?A. If not, how do you think we are here? They have released us.Q. Have you really been released or has this been staged only for us?A. The government has the intention of releasing us.Q. Have you got the papers for your release?A. Nothing like that has happened. We had discussions in police custody and they toldus that we were being released.Q. How many others are being released?A. We don’t know.Q. Were discussions held at the prime ministerial or ministerial level before your release?A. We informed the police about our decision to leave the party and on that basis wewere released.Q. Where are you going from here?A. To meet our friends in Kathmandu.Q. Do you feel safe after your release?A. Security depends on the circumstances.Q. You have taken this step without informing the party. How is the party going to react?A. Not the same as before.Q. What type of politics are you going to get into now?A. We haven’t thought of that. After we go out, we will hold discussions and only thencan we decide.Q. Do you think that the massacres you committed earlier happened on the spur of the moment?A. No, they were political. Now we are sure that was wrong.Q. Is this due to differences with the party?A. No. This is the result of a new thinking that occurred to us only 15 or 20 days ago.Q. You are being released today. Where shall we meet tomorrow?A. Don’t know where, but it will be an ordinary place.

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��CPN (Maoist) Kathmandu commander,Rabindra Shrestha, in Kantipur, 5November

The drama that took place when ComradeDinesh Sharma was released was a farce. Hewas tortured and kept in solitaryconfinement for 11 months. Thegovernment, in order to fulfil its narrow

goals, put him under tremendous pressureand made him state that he had changed hisbeliefs and line of thinking.

In the process, the government violatedthe Constitution. Clause 5 of Article 14 ofthe Constitution states that, “Any personwho has been arrested will be allowed toconsult any lawyer of his choice and actaccording to that.” Recent events show thatthis too was not followed. When our partyhad stated that the minimum ground workfor dialogue be prepared, we did not wantthat only these two be released. We wantall our arrested members to be presented tothe public. They should all be released andstate terrorism stopped. Instead, thegovernment is using force to coerce ourcolleagues into making statements to itsbenefit. This is cheating, injustice andcriminal.

Comrade Sharma was presented to thepublic, but why not Comrades DandapaniNeupane and Matrika Yadav? Why aren’tComrades Ishwori Dahal, Chitranarayan,Rajendra Dahal, Milan Nepali, NavinGautam, Ajablal and Bikash Sharmabrought out in the open too? Is it becausethey refused to change their beliefs? Or havethey already been killed by the government?

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��Deshanter, 5 November

Respected Chairman,On the eve of the 10th party convention,the central committee has dissolved some ofthe elected district committees andnominated members who toe their line tothe now vacant positions. This raisesquestions and is against the democraticprinciples of the party. Since then, partymembers and followers have raisedquestions expressing concern over whetherthe elections are going to be free and fair.

We, in our many central committeemeetings, had agreed to tackle theseproblems once and for all and hold free andfair elections. But every time we come to anagreement, that agreement is immediatelybroken. Breaking agreements seems to bethe new trend in the party. This is a matterof grave concern for the party. In the lastcommittee meeting, we had come to anunderstanding agreement and agreed towork on it, but it seems that nothing thatwas mentioned was carried out and theagreement has been broken. HarinathBastola was asked by the party to study andsolve the problems concerning the party

voters lists. He has now resigned andaccording to his resignation letter it seemsthat a lot of irregularities and malpracticeare taking place in publishing the voters’lists against the decisions taken by the party.

Similarly, it was agreed that the electioncommittee would work in consensus, butagain we find that this was not done andBimalendra Nidhi and Gyan Bahadur Karkihave had to resign from the electioncommittee. Party leaders like Deuba, KhumBahadur, Wagle and Gachhedar have held

the present leadership responsible for thecrisis and have stated that this has led togenuine and hardworking party membersbeing sidelined. They have mentioned thisin a statement released by them. Thepresident should take notice of thisstatement, understand it and take correctiveaction and see to it that the party is notharmed in any way. I humbly want topetition the president and state that theresponsibility of holding the 10th partyconvention in a free and fair manner lieswith you. I would also request the presidentto remain neutral and hold the 10th partyconvention in Pokhara as agreed uponearlier and then only move to the electionsto be held for the VDC, district, towns andregional bodies. If the party elections arenot perceived to be free and fair, then noparty worker is going to accept thoseresults. In fact party workers are not goingto accept the results of any election even ifirregularities or malpractice take place inany one election. As a founding member ofthe party, I too, have to fulfill my duties.There is still time for the president, in theinterests of the party, democracy and thecountry, to rectify and solve all problems inthe party, honestly and with justice, and toget the party together and move ahead. Indoing this everyone’s future lies secure. Ifthe president so wishes, I am prepared tomeet him anywhere.

Krishna Prasad BhattaraiFormer PresidentNepali Congress

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�(�)Space Time Dainik, 5 November

Irregularities to the tune of Rs 160 millionhave been detected in the leasing of aBoeing 767 from Lauda Air for 18 months.Political figures, businessmen, governmentemployees and higher officials of RNAC areall party to this deal.

According to RNAC sources, Lauda Airwill be providing a 12-year-old jet, at therate of $3,500 per flying hour on a ‘wetlease’. This was done without calling for anytenders. Taking other “hidden costs” intoconsideration, the cost of leasing the jet isactually going to shoot up to $3,900 perflying hour.

According to the agreement signed, aminimum of five sets of Austrian pilots aregoing to be hired and this will mean anadditional expenditure of $350 per flyinghour. In addition to this RNAC will have to

provide these pilots board and lodging at afour-star hotel.

RNAC had earlier leased a Boeing 757from China South-West Airlines and inthat agreement all costs—the cost ofleasing and hiring pilots—were bundledtogether. In the present agreement withLauda Air, these two have been presentedseparately. Additionally, the cost ofspares, landing and takeoff fees, groundservices and other expenditure are notmentioned in the agreement, indicatingthat RNAC will probably be paying for allthese. This is going to increase the leasecost drastically.

It is reported that certain people aregoing to earn a commission of up to $400per flying hour. For a period of 18 monthsthis works out to Rs 160 million. Of the$400 per hour, half is expected to go to apolitical fund, $100 to the Lauda Air agentin Nepal and some businessmen, $50 tohigh officials in RNAC and the remaining$50 to middlemen who helped clinchthe deal.

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*��+��!Chhalphal, 5 November

(Excerpts from an interview with HarinathBastola, Nepali Congress member who recentlyresigned from the party’s ‘active membershipverification committee’.)

Q. Does this mean, to get leadership in theirhands, irregularities and malpractice havetaken place?A. We have been forced to state thatirregularities and malpractice have takenplace. If, without going into the details,voters’ lists are published, thenirregularities have taken place. Irregularitieshave mainly taken in the lists fromKathmandu and Solu. The committeesending the voters lists must have ameeting. Without calling for a meeting andwithout letting members know, voters listswere sent on the sly. This proves thatirregularities have taken place.

Q. Party workers allege that old and honestworkers have been sidelined and new andcrooked people have been made members. Doyou agree with that?A. New and crooked people are now activein the party. Smugglers, the Mafia andcorrupt people are now prominent in theparty. Not only that, people who have gotKoirala’s support and who wear the cloakof democracy are now prominent in theparty. This is the reason why the Congressis turning into a dictatorial party. Thecontroversy started because honest and oldparty members are being sidelined and newmembers are being inducted into the party.This is against the central leadershipdirective which had stated that newmembers should not be inducted. Thisshows that these new members are allpowerful. If the directives of the centre arenot followed, then where are the oldmembers going to look for justice?

Q. How has this controversy affected the unityof the party?A. This has brought about grave problemsfor party unity. It has shaken the partyunity, and to solve this we have draggedKishunji into this. This is the outcome.Because of our own problems, the countryis in a bad state. We have raised our voicestating that this should not happen again.We are not going to forget about it, till weare successful.

Q What will you do if something like aGodavari Agreement takes place between theleaders?A. The situation is now different. None ofthe past agreements were followed upon.Kishunji himself has said that he will neveragain believe Koirala. If he himself does notbelieve Koirala, then the question of anagreement does not arise.

Dinesh Sharma

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he old social order has notchanged much in thevillage of Melauli. Nearly

a third of the inhabitants of thishamlet, which lies some 40 kmsouth of the headquarters ofBaitadi district in Nepal’snorthwestern extremity, remain“untouchable”. The Dalits, asthey now call themselves, do notshare space with the “uppercastes”; they don’t sit or eattogether. The upper castessprinkle water over themselves inan act of “purification” beforeentering their home if a Dalittouches them—even by mistake.Dalits cannot enter the homes ofthe upper castes. Neither can theyuse the wells, taps and otherwater sources that are reserved forthe high-caste people.

To this day, people in thisarea do not even sell milk in themarkets, fearing that a Dalitmight consume the milk. Somepeople actually stopped sellingmilk to restaurants that beganserving tea to the Dalits. Al-though Dalits are now served at afew eateries, they are still hurt bythe treatment they receive. “Thehigher castes pay the sameamount of money as us. But whilethey eat and move away, we aremade to sit and eat outside indishes kept apart for us. Mosthumiliating is that we have towash the dishes after we havefinished eating. Restaurants are abusiness, and they ought to hirepeople to wash dishes,” saysIshwori Dayal of Melauli.

In theory, the country’s lawshave guaranteed all Nepalis equalrights since 1962, but the realityis a different story altogether.Bhani Lohar complains, “Since weare cut off from the mainstream,we remain weak and poor. Evennow, when we participate at

village meetings or attendtrainings, we sit with upper castepeople. But as soon as refresh-ments are served, some of themslowly move outdoors to eat.This attitude hurts us. Whatfurther insult can anyone sufferthan this?”

Although all the Dalits here

are Hindus, they are not allowedentry into temples. Arjun Dayal, arecent graduate of the SchoolLeaving Certificate examination,says, “We are forbidden to enterplaces of worship. Since wecannot enter the temples, we keepsmall pictures of deities in ourhouses and worship them.”

Dalits are not allowed toparticipate in any religiousfunction, and since they are notallowed to recite mantras, theirmarriages too are performedwithout the attendant recitationfrom the scriptures. Neither arethey allowed access to books andother learning material, sincebooks represent Saraswati, thegoddess of learning. This is borneout by the literacy levels of theDalits—of 100 children of school-going age in Melauli only 23attend school, and most of the

youth and elders are illiterate.If matters were not bad

enough, even among the Dalitsthere exists a stratified peckingorder. A Lohar will not eatsomething that has been touchedby a Damai, who in turn will noteat anything touched by a Rana. ASarki still considers a Bhard anuntouchable. But this system isundergoing changes faster thanthe larger upper caste-dalit divideis narrowing. As Madan Damaiputs it, “Change for the bettercan come only if we try and attackthe very root of this problem.

Nothing will change if we only tryto remove the system practised bythe upper castes, but continue tofollow it ourselves.”

As a step towards that Dalitshave begun organising themselveswith assistance from externalagencies. The Jai Durga SocialOrganisation, which elected

Madan Ram Damai as itschairman and Rukuwa Dayal asdirector, has initiated a boycottof restaurants where Dalits arediscriminated against. IshworiLohar, a member of Jai Durga,says, “We want to put up postersin every restaurant stating thatDalits will not have to sit outsideand eat, nor wash the dishes, willbe able to eat openly in themarketplace and will not bediscriminated against.”

The socially fractured groupsamong them have begun interact-ing with each other. They havealso realised that there will be noimprovement in their statuswithout education and havestarted community literacyprogrammes. They also conductregular community meetings.Being organised has helped thembecome more aware of theirsituation and also of the worldoutside. Lohar says that earlierthey could not even carry on aconversation properly, but nowthey are capable of doing thatwith confidence.

Members of Jai Durga haveconstructed village roads, built ahouse to hold meetings, andbecause they were denied entry totemples, even built their owntemple during Shiva Ratri lastyear. “Now even upper castepeople come and worship at thistemple,” says Arjun Dayal.

The condition of women inthe Dalit communities is evenworse due to the double

marginalisation they face. Dalitwomen are now following theexample of their men and areslowly asserting themselves. ShovaDayal was a timid woman whenshe began attending communitymeetings, but within a period offour months, she was electedmember of the Aawaj De SamajSewa Yuba Club. Similarly, Dalitwomen affiliated to otherorganisations in Melauli haveconstructed their own officebuildings, are helping their men intheir work and are also engaged inemployment schemes that willultimately give them greatereconomic independence.

The focus of most of theiractivities has been to secureeconomic independence. Sincethey hardly own any agriculturalland, they have had to rely on theupper castes for everything—forloans, for food, to lease land or towork in their fields. But now theDalits have pooled together theirsavings and are offering loans tomembers without collateral.Other income generationactivities like animal husbandry,poultry rearing and small retailbusiness, have helped themimprove their financial status.

Jai Durga’s chairman, MadanRam, sums it up: “Earlier whenDalits used to go to a gathering,upper castes never made an effort

��

!��"�!��#� by PREM SINGH NAYAK AND RUPA JOSHI

to tell us anything. We remainedunaware of programmes that weresupposedly being conducted forour benefit. Now that we areorganised and self sufficient, we

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The village of Melauli (above); membersof the Jai Durga Social Organisation at aweekly meeting (right); and SunaDamai with her poultry.

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don’t need the upper castes. Wecan take care of ourselves.”��

(Adapted from Himal Khabar-patrika, 17 September-1 October)

ALL PHOTOS PREM SINGH NAYAK

�� 10 - 16 NOVEMBER 2000 ��

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[email protected]

6 months 1 year

SAARC countries US$25 US$48

Other countries US$40 US$75

��

The average rate of 91 days T. Bill rate remained almostunchanged at 5.2702 pct compared to 5.2805 pct in theprevious week. However, with the gradual return of thefunds withdrawn during the festivals, the market liquidityis expected to improve in the coming weeks which will putsome pressure on the 91 days T. Bill rate. Expectedrange for coming weeks 5.15 to 5.35.

AG/USD CURRENT * WK/AGO %CHG

OIL(Barrel ) 33.10 32.60 + 1.53

GOLD(Ounce) 264.65 265.85 - 0.45

GOLD ( NPR *) 7050 7055 - 0.07

EUR 0.8636 0.8507 + 1.52

GBP 1.4299 1.4637 + 2.31

JPY 107.26 108.60 + 1.23

CHF 1.7637 1.7936 + 1.67

AUD 0.5261 0.5255 + 0.11

INR 46.65 46.62 - 0.06*Currency bid prices at 1.30 p.m. on 07/11 - Source Reuters

CURRENCY UPDATE

NEPALI RUPEE CURRENT% PREVIOUS%

Call Money Avg. 5.20 5.25

84 Days t/bill 5.02 5.03

91 Days t/bill 5.27 5.28

365 Days t/bill 6.18 6.16

Repo rate 5.77 5.78

INTEREST RATE UPDATE

USD EUR GBP JPY CHF

LENDING 9.50 6.25 6.00 1.50 5.13

LIBOR (1M) 6.62 4.94 6.05 0.33 3.26

FOREIGN CURRENCY : Interest rates

BANK RATES(DEPO/LENDING) Mkt Hi/Lo Mkt Avg

S/A NPR 6.0/3.5 5.23

F/D 1 YR 7.5/6.0 6.73

OVERDRAFT 15.5/12.5 13.54

TERM LOAN 14.5/13.0 13.37

IMPORT LN 13.0/10.5 11.52

EXPORT LN 13.0/10.0 10.63

MISC LOAN 17.5/13.5 15.03

Currencies : The euro soared after a second day ofintervention by the European Central Bank (ECB) on Monday,but quickly tumbled off its peaks, hurt by weak euro zoneeconomic data and growing concern about the bank’s action.Europe’s central bank intervened on Friday and then again onMonday, citing concern about the global and domesticrepercussions, sending the euro sharply higher against majorcurrencies. The dollar meanwhile recovered from Friday’s six-week lows against the yen around 106.75 yen, which dealersattributed to a spike in euro/yen in the wake of intervention.

INDIAN RUPEE OUTLOOK : The Indian currency reboundedto 46.56 against the dollar as sentiment on the rupee hasimproved slightly on reports of good collections through anoverseas deposit offering by the State Bank of India (SBI).SBI’s India Millennium Deposit Scheme, which opened onOctober 21 and closed on Monday, has raised more than $4.5billion. The foreign exchange market is unlikely to receivedirect inflows from the scheme, but the country’s foreignexchange reserve will be boosted and analysts expect this torelieve some pressure on the rupee. The rupee closed at46.62 on Monday.

Oil : Oil prices moved back above $33 on Tuesday withexport disruptions in Nigeria.

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��The central bank reports that the National Urban Consumer Price Index (NUCPI) declined ona point-to-point scale in mid-September compared to mid-September 1999, mainly due tothe decline in the prices of food and beverages. The NUCPI, which indicates nationalinflation rates, rose by only 0.3 percent compared to a corresponding rise of 5.6 percent ayear ago, the Nepal Rastra Bank stated in its economic report for the second month of thefiscal year. The numbers, however, have not taken into account the increase in fuel prices inearly October, which is likely to give the overall index a push.

On the trade front there has been a decline in the export of readymade garments, carpetsand silver jewellery, while export of tanned hide, niger seeds and pulses is picking up.Exports during the second month of the fiscal year grew faster than imports, leading to a 10.2percent drop in the trade deficit of Rs 8.54 billion.

The bank said the balance of payments (BoP) position, based on figures up to mid-July2000 was a favourable Rs 14.28 billion, while the current account reported a deficit of Rs5.62 billion—due mainly to a decline in service income and a huge trade deficit.

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�� !!!Global Exposition and Management Services is organising Nepal’s second auto show 22-26November, which, organisers say, will showcase the latest models from about 50 companiesin the business. Organisers say they expect 75,000 visitors to visit the five-day exposition.The Nepal Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) and the Federation of the NepaleseChambers of Commerce and Industry are backing the event. In addition to motor vehicles,the event will also display vehicle accessories and safety equipment and financingschemes.

Among the top names that will be participating in the show are Tata, Maruti, Nissan,Mahindra & Mahindra, Daihatsu, Suzuki, Daewoo, Toyota, TVS-Suzuki, Hero Honda, Escorts,Tempo Trax, Kawasaki, Mazda, Hyundai, Fiat, Kymco and Sanyang.

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� �"�"��#��$%��$��The Nepal Sri Lanka Merchant Bank (NSLMB) is increasing its paid-up capital to Rs 100million, a move that is to be soon followed by a public issue to raise Rs 40 million. Thebank—with a paid up capital of Rs 45 million—reported a Rs 18.8 million profit in 1999/00.Its assets include deposits of Rs 360 million and loans amounting to Rs 320 million.

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��Basket Traders, authorised distributors of Khushi Ram Behari Lal of India has begunmarketing five brands of its Basmati rice in Nepal. The company is among India’s largestexporters of Basmati rice and some of its brands—Doon, India Gate, Bemisal, Nur Jahanand Lotus—are exported to 20 countries. Nepali imported rice worth Rs 2.7 billion from Indiain 1999/2000, which is a 43.6 percent increase over 1998/1999.

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��$��$The Nepal Electricity Authority has entered into a partnership valued roughly at an annual$100,000 with two utilities from the United States, Tacoma Power and Wisconsin Electric.The overall focus of the partnership is to find ways to improve NEA’s efficiency by reducingdistribution losses, improving management and co-operation with Independent PowerProducers and tariff restructuring. The USAID-supported partnership could later also result intechnology transfer, and even possible investment in hydropower generation—somethinghinted at by the US president early this year during his visit to India and Bangladesh.

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��

he auction for a privatemobile phone licence on 1November was hailed as an

unusually clean process, butquestions are being asked aboutwhether the winner of the bidused a loophole in the auctionprocess to get away with thelicense.

The Nepal Telecommunica-tion Authority (NTA) was praisedby all bidders for its transparencyin pulling off what is perhapsNepal’s most transparent licensingauction ever. “I am envious, thisis a totally open and honestprocess. I wish we had auctionslike this,” said one foreign bidder.However, the euphoria was short-lived as it became apparent thatthe winning bidder could havebeen gambling on opting out after

ten years without paying the Rs24.1 billion licence renewal fee.

Nepal’s Khetan Group andIndia’s Modi Telestra Ltd outbidfive other business consortiums byoffering to pay a total of Rs 9.08billion ($122.6 million) as licencefees, royalty and the discountedrenewal charges (Rs 20 billion inten years). The licence fee was Rs210 million and royalty Rs 3.9billion. The unusually high third-round offer by Khetan andModi—in the three-stage auctionprocess—caught other bidders onthe wrong foot. It was almostnine times the winning bids inboth Round One, quoted byTurkey’s Rumelli (Rs 1.32billion), and Round Two winnersIndia’s United Telecom (Rs 1.34billion).

“The licence renewal charge

offered by Khetan and Modi (foryears 11-15) does not makebusiness sense,” said a source in aconsortium that lost the bid.“They have managed to use aloophole to their advantage. Idon’t think it is possible to paythe high renewal fees.” Theunderstanding is that renewal isoptional, and comes 10 yearsdown the road. It apparently onlyoccurred to Khetan and partnersthat there would be little to loseby quoting high now, and keepingopen the option of quitting afterten years.

But that is not what the NTAthinks. “I cannot imagine aninvestor quitting after putting inso much money and time in aproject,” Bhup Raj Pandey, NTCchairman told us. He dismissesconcerns, and maintains that

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there will be laws to take care ofcontingencies. “We have acted ingood faith and expect businessesto do the same.”

And that is precisely thequestion, are the parties acting ingood faith? When we put it toRajendra Khetan of the winningteam, he said: “Ten years is too faraway even to think about it rightnow. We’re optimistic we’ll runthis business as a propercommercial venture. But we alsohave to remember there are many

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uncertainties ahead, such as newlaws and policies.”

The Khetans and Modi will nowhave to incorporate a joint ventureand meet certain licensingrequirements before actually gettingtheir permits. One is the need tosubmit a detailed business plan. Thegroup says it plans to sell 75,000cell phones in 10 years.

The question then is: Canbusinesses the size of Khetan andModi afford to default onrenewal of licence withouttarnishing their image? Thewinning bidder now has to pay30 percent of the quotedlicence fee before actuallygetting a licence. Theremainder has to be paid notlater than the third year oflicensing, while the royalty ispayable every year.

Six companies were short-listedfor the financial bidding, whichincluded joint ventures betweenNepali and Indian, Singaporean andTurkish companies. The Nepali

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partners are required to own at least20 percent of the equity in the newcompany to be set up to run theservice. �

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�� 10 - 16 NOVEMBER 2000��

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��IN BANARAS

f Calcutta used to be Nepal’scommercial connection to Indiaduring the 20th century, then

Banaras was our spiritual link. Noother city in India has closer historicaland cultural ties to Nepal than thisholy city on the banks of Ganges.During the middle of the monsoon,the river is brown and swollen, andflows swiftly past the temples andghats. These are waters so holy thatone dip will cleanse your soul, and soprecious that pilgrims take it in tinybottles to their homes and keep theholy water to sprinkle on specialoccasions.

I was back in Banaras, contem-plating a river that is the cradle of thenorth Indian civilisation and one thatis a spiritual umbilical for nearly 800million Hindus from India, Nepal andbeyond. Having stayed there 40 yearsago, I am familiar with this crowded,frenzied town. But this visit wasn’t apilgrimage, it was a trip to re-knowthe city and research a new guidebookfor an Indian publisher.

Lord Buddha, born in Lumbini inwhat is now Nepal, chose Sarnath onthe outskirts of Banaras to preach hisfirst sermon. Sarnath is a sereneenclave of Buddhist shrines, monaster-ies and archaeological sites.

Kashi, as Banaras is also known,has close historical links with the kingsof Nepal. King Prithvi Narayan Shah,visited the city before he embarked onhis conquests of Himalayanprincipalities to amalgamate them intothe nation of Nepal. Ranjit Malla, thedefeated king of Bhaktapur went toKashi to spend the last days of his life.In fact, Kashibas, became a sort oftradition for dispossessed monarchs, orexiled Nepali leaders to be banished toBanaras so they could not createmischief back home. King RanaBahadur Shah spent four years inBanaras in the beginning of thenineteenth century. The infamousqueen Rajyalakshmi was exiled hereafter the Kot massacre andBhandarkal episodes in 1847, whichsaw the emergence of Jang Bahadurand the Rana dynasty. PoetBhanubhakta studied in Banaras.Another Nepali poet, MotiramBhatta, spent much of his short lifehere and went on to play asignificant role in developing theNepali language, inspired perhapsby what Bharatendu Harischandra,a native of Banaras did for theHindi language, at the end of thenineteenth century. Such renownedNepali Sanskrit scholars as Hemraj,Somnath, Kulchandra Gautam and

Padma Prasad Bhattarai all studiedin Banaras.

The city also played an importantrole as a base for Nepal’s fledglingdemocratically-minded leaders.Nepal’s first elected prime minister,BP Koirala, was born here and wasactually named after the city’spresiding deity, Bisweshwar. BP spentmany years of his life in the cityincluding his years in exile in the1970s after his release from prison inNepal. Veteran Nepali communists,like Man Mohan Adhikari and MadanBhandari lived here, either during theircollege days and/or in exile. TheBanaras Hindu University was wheremany Nepalis of the day studied, andthe city also was for many years themajor centre for books published inthe Nepali language.

Interestingly, all the water fromNepal flows down to the Ganga. Butat Banaras, not a drop of it is fromNepal. All the major rivers from theNepal Himalaya—Mahakali, Karnali,Gandaki, Bagmati and Kosi, meet upwith the Ganges downstream fromBanaras. Yet, the city has remainedsacred for the Hindus of Nepal as theyhave for Hindus elsewhere. Banaras’famous cremation ghats are listed inUNESCO’s World Heritage Sites (asare seven sites in Kathmandu Valley).Almost all of the ghats wereconstructed in the 17th and 18thcenturies by princely families fromwhat are now the states ofMaharashtra and Rajasthan in India.There is one named after a Nepaliqueen called Lalita Ghat, which alsohas the familiar silhouette of a Nepalipagoda-style temple dedicated toShiva, complete with erotic eaves.What is striking is that despite thematerialism and consumerism that issweeping India, the numbers of thedevout from all over India and beyondwho come to Banaras to take theirholy dip have not diminished.

At the famous VishwanathTemple—one of the twelve jyotirlingasof Shiva demolished by Moghulemperor Aurangzeb in 1669 and re-constructed by Rani Ahilya Bai ofIndore a century later, is a mosquethat Aurangazeb built. Ever since thedemolition of a similar mosque inAyodhya, communal tensions haverisen and this mosque now has a posseof policemen guarding it. Even thoughBanaras is a holy city for Hindus, aquarter of its population is made up ofMuslims who are concentrated intheir own neighbourhoods. Banaras isindeed a cosmopolitan city, an Indianmelting pot where Bengalis,Maharashtrians, Punjabis and southIndians live in their traditionalquarters. Dudh Binayak is the localitywhere Nepalis have congregated topermanently settle down, or to rentrooms from where they commute tothe university.

The narrow alleys and by-lanesare fascinating to explore on foot orrickshaw, if you can negotiate the bulls

and cows that seem to feel very muchat home on the streets. In a lanenamed Chaukhamba is the house ofthe famous Hindi poet Bharatendu,the “Moon of India”. Nearby,adjoining the city’s red light districtstands the shop where the famousHindi poet Jaya Shankar Prasadwrote his masterpiece Kamayani.Then there is the village of Lamahi,home of Prem Chand, perhaps thegreatest novelists in Hindi and Urdu.At Tulsi Ghat is the house whereTulsi Das lived in the sixteenthcentury and composed his famousepic Ram Charit Manas.

No visit to Banaras is completewithout a meeting with Bir BhadraMishra, the environmentalist andteacher who launched the “Clean theGanges Campaign”. Mishra isactually professor of Civil Engineeringat Banaras Hindu University and alsochief priest of the famous SankatMochan temple. His can-do attitudehas helped clean up the Ganga, and

the professor-priest has been given thecoveted Magsaysay award and evenfeatured in Time magazine earlier thisyear as one of the seven environmentalheroes of the planet.

Everyone talks about how it is asacrilege that the holiest river in Indiashould also be one of its most polluted.Mishra thought there was enough talk,and decided to do something about it.The Ganga-Jamuna drains one of themost densely populated regions of theworld, flowing past large cities likeNew Delhi and Allahabad, whereuntreated urban sewage and industrialwastes are dumped into the river.Perhaps the only stretch of river wherethe pollution levels are still “accept-able” for taking a holy dip is at thesouthernmost stretch of the ghats,before sewage from the city enters theriver.

Times are changing, Nepal’sBanaras connection is being overshad-owed by our links to bigger centres inIndia like New Delhi, Bombay and

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even Bangalore. Banaras’ importanceas a hotbed for Nepali politicians hasalso diminished. And elderly Nepalisdon’t head down to Banaras forKashibaas anymore, preferring theNepal tarai where malaria has beeneradicated and where there is nowelectricity and good transportation.

And Kathmandu has also changed, it isno longer a Himalayan boondock incomparison to Banaras. But there arenow new air links between Banarasand Kath-mandu with daily flights byIndian Airlines and Necon Air. It maybe premature to say goodbye yet tothe Kathmandu-Kashi Connection. �

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The Nepali temple at the ghats along the Ganga (top); the priest of the temple(below, left); and tourists observing pilgrims (left).

�� 10 - 16 NOVEMBER 2000��

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n the canopied silence ofthe Shivapuri forest’s

ashram for Vipassanameditation north of Kathmandu,85 disciples sit cross-legged, eyesclosed and minds shut off. It is amixed group—men and women innearly equal numbers, bothNepalis and Westerners from allwalks of life. When they emergefrom the 10-day retreat, many ofthem will have learnt about theart of living free from anger,greed, ignorance and negativethoughts. This is where your soulgets a spring cleaning, and themind is renewed.

It used to be that youngrefugees fleeing the materialismand consumerism of the Westflocked to Kathmandu forspiritual cleansing. Butsurprisingly, the ills of modernliving and stressful lifestyles seemsto be pushing an increasingnumber of Nepalis to meditationas well. “I have changed so muchfrom the past. I have becomecalm, patient, and full of innerhappiness,” says Kishor BhaiPradhan, a sadhak (disciple) ofVipassana meditation since 1989.“It’s all about mental purificationthrough total silence so you arefree of fear, anger and jealousy. ”

Amdo Lama of anothermeditation centre, the Seto Gompain Kathmandu, has been teachingmeditation and says it helps cut theflow of negative thoughts cominginto the mind. “Evil and wisdomboth reside in our minds. Whenthoughts are calmed down throughmeditation then we can feel apositive aura rising that will helpspread love, peace and harmony,”says the monk. However, the guruwarns against taking shortcuts.Meditation is a life-long exercise it willnot give immediate gratification.“Many want this blissful state fast,which is very wrong. Meditation hasto be done every day, slowly but

continuously,” he adds. The idea is tointegrate the body, speech and mindlike the wheels of a well-oiledmachine.

Swami Ananda Mastana is a guruof the Osho Rajneesh school ofmediation. He also warns againstshortcuts: “You have to make it apart of your life. It’s not like aspirinthat one takes to relieve pain inminutes. It’s an effort from withinyourself for which you might berewarded with inner peace andcompassion.”

In the silent alleys north ofBaudhanath stupa, Frenchphotographer Raphaele walks aboutwith a beatific smile. She almost hasa halo around her head, such is theimmense positive drive she carriesabout. “We have to avoid being aslave to our thoughts. We have tofind a way to liberate ourselves andmeditation is the only way,” she sayswith the conviction of a trueconvert.

It’s not just Europeans andNorth Americans who are coming toKathmandu to find peace. VeraLucia is from Brazil, and she hasbeen working in Kathmandu helpingneedy children. She calls herself a“holistic therapist and peaceeducator” and says meditation is justa fancy word which teaches you tobe aware of living. “Meditation doesnot require much effort once you feelthat you really want to do it,” saysVera in that soothing, relaxed andalmost hypnotic voice that istherapeutic just to listen to. “Youcan watch your mind while youcook, while you ride a tempo, whileyou walk and while you just sit backand listen to music.” Vera uses a lotof meditation in her healingtherapies, and says it is also good tocalm the mind.

Nepalis are joining meditationcentres in increasing numbers,rediscovering the calming techniquesthat our culture gave to the Westand which have now come back afull circle. There are now meditationfarms and spiritual rejuvenationcentres popping up on the hillssurrounding Kathmandu Valley, inPokhara and even in Chitwan. But

by far the most popular is the NepalVipassana Kendra started byindustrialist Mani Harsha Jyoti in1992 under the guidance of guruSatyanarayan Goenka, who nowappears on the Indian Zee TVchannel every Monday at 8:15.Mani Harsha’s son, Roop Jyotinow oversees the centre andrecalls how his father’s deathconvinced him of the importantbenefits of meditation. “As humanbeings, we grow old, we fall ill, wedie. That is certain. My fatherhad lung cancer, and he faced

death calmly, till the lastmoment of his lifehe was at peacewith himself.”Roop himself hastaken the

meditation courseand now regularly

practises dhyan. “This is theart of living, the art of dying, itteaches you that if you havenegativity in you, you are boundto be miserable.”

Although the practice ofdhamma was initiatied by theBuddha, the Vippasana centre doesnot have traditional religiousrituals. In fact, Catholic nuns,Muslims, Hindus, all come herefor courses. A group of nuns fromPatna who had just done a coursesaid: “The meditation helped usbecome better Christians.”

Meditation can also havemedical benefits, since even modernmedicine has now discovered thelink between mind and body. ButRoop warns against taking ameditation course with theexpectation that a physical ailmentwill be cured. “Meditationstrenghthens you spiritually, anymedical benefit is a side-effect.”

Most importantly, meditationhelps people find a clear direction inlife. You don’t have to give uptrying to get rich, or doing politics.“If you are making money,meditation just makes you askyourself, what is it all for?”

The Vipassana Centre warnspeople not to try meditation bythemselves. Says Roop: “It can bedangerous. Mediation is like a deepsurgery of the mind to take the pusout. That is why you need a guide.”

The enthusiasm among Nepaliscan be gauged at the reservationdesk in the basement of the JyotiBhawan at Kantipath where youngand old, Nepalis and foreignersalike, queue up for their confirma-tion slips for the forthcoming ten-day Vipassana meditation retreatwhich is conducted twice a month.Neer Kumar Chettri sits behind thedesk and cautions youngsters intheir 20s as he writes out the slips:“If you think you cannot remainsilent and follow the teachers forthe next 10 days, you’d better pullout now.” The Centre prefersmiddle-aged people since youngerapprentices tend to take morehandling.

The Centre is now alsoconducting meditation for inmatesat the Nakkhu Jail, learning fromthe great success by the Magsaysay

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Award-winner Kiran Bedi at NewDelhi’s Tihar jail, where die-hardconvicts, terrorists and murderswent through Vipassana. The twice-monthly courses are now getting upto 60 foreigners and 200 Nepalis forthe course at Shivapuri. Participantshave to cut all ties to family, workand community.

They cannot take their mobiles,cannot receive phone calls, it is aprocess of diving off the deep end todiscover your soul. People ask

Roop: how can I find ten days to goand do nothing? What I tell themis: “If a doctor says you are sick andneed to spend ten days in hospital,would you do it? It is the samething. Here it is your mind thatneeds healing, and it could very wellbe the biggest change in your life.”

The Vippasana Centre (phone:223968) is all run by volunteers,and there is no fee. It runs on

donations given by people who takethe course. Some give Rs 100, othersgive Rs 10,000. “If they benefitted,they hope others will also benefit,and they donate money. So far, ithas been enough to run it.”

Many Nepali luminaries havetaken the courses, including theGovernor of Nepal Rastra BankDipendra Purush Dhakal, leftistleader Mohan Bikram Adhikari,senior army generals, politicians andcivil servants. Some have even

returned to conduct courses for thejunior batches. Even King Birendravisited the Centre whenSatyanarayan Goenka came toconduct courses last year.

Another well-known retreat isOsho Tapoban in the Nagarjunforest which holds regular medita-tion camps and other special coursesthat sometimes last for weeks.“Osho’s meditation has been

criticised for being vulgar by thosewho haven’t understood it. In fact,it’s as powerful as any other. It’senlivening, it uses a lot of music,chanting and encourages openness inthe expression of thoughts andemotions. One might findtechniques like the dynamicmeditation quite absurd, but onceyou master it, the positive vibes startcoming your way,” says SwamiAnanda.

There are a number of Buddhistmeditation centres in town startingfrom the Himalayan BuddhistMeditation Centre where mandalateachings through meditation andaudiovisual presentations areconducted regularly. The otherpopular spots are the KopanMonastery, Pharping Monastery,the Red Shechen Gompa and theWhite Ka-ning Shedrup-lingGompa in Baudha where therimpoches themselves conductclasses.

Spiritualism is clearly back ina big way, and Kathmandu isbecoming a sort of world hub forthe disenchanted, burnt-out,stressed and troubled masses. Anincreasing number of people fromNorth America, Europe,Australia and even Japan arecoming to Nepal, specifically formeditation. It is just a bit ironicthat Nepal’s tourism industry iscashing in on the very activitywhich preaches that money isn’teverything. �

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olumn inches devoted toMeg Ryan’s split withhusband Dennis Quaid

often included the delicious detailthat they had squabbled, in veryspiritually suspect style, over whichof them had rights to their guru.The lady in question, one GurumayiChidvilasananda, dispenses Siddhayoga from her ashram in upstateNew York, and a bitter custodybattle was only averted at theeleventh hour, when Ryan andQuaid decided to get back together.Other celebrity worshippers musthave exhaled serenely; knowing thatno further bad karma wouldsurround their Chosen One.

The likes of Isabella Rossellini,Diana Ross, Lisa Kudrow and Lulu,(the British 1960s pop singer) allmake regular pilgrimages to receiveofficial blessings from the forty-something leader, a procedurewhich involves being tapped on thehead with a wand of peacockfeathers. It is rumoured that someof her servants hold her in suchobeisance that they anointthemselves with her dirty bathwater. It’ll come as no surprise thento learn that although gurustraditionally frown upon worldlygoods, Gurumayi’s ashram isapparently worth a cool $21million.

The rise of the career guru reallybegan in earnest back in 1967 whenThe Beatles pledged their faith inthe Hindu swami, MaharishiMahesh Yogi, the man whointroduced TranscendentalMeditation to the West. Duringthat period, a rival guru alsoattracted famous disciples, a sackedIvy League psychology professornamed Richard Alpert, who went toIndia and returned as Ram Dass,servant of God.

These days, laying claim to aguru is an instant signifier of power,wealth and status. For somepeculiar reason, entrusting acomplete stranger with thewellbeing of one’s mind, body andspirit is not only accepted assensible behaviour, it is positivelyessential if you want to get ahead.In some cases, it’s a guilt thing.

Whereas once the goal was to berich and successful, now it is only allright to brag about those achieve-ments if we also appear to bespiritually evolved human beings aswell.

Once a guru gets a celebrityendorsement, the rest of us are rightbehind buying the books or thebeauty regime. Right now, spiritual-ity is omnipresent and seriously chic.Donna Karan gave out DeepakChopra cassettes instead ofprogrammes at a catwalk show,while ex-supermodel ChristyTurlington was so inspired by heryoga teacher that she has launchedSundari, a skincare range based onEastern philosophy. And who canforget how, a few years ago, theDalai Lama edited a special editionof that deeply spiritual journal, ParisVogue?

So it is that the world suddenlyseems to be swarming with deities toaddress every conceivable dilemma;from how do I wash my face (with

your saliva, suggests DeepakChopra, ayurvedic spiritual maestroand adviser to the likes of DemiMoore), to how do I survive mid-life

pregnancy (ask Bharti Vyas, thespiritual beauty guru who helpedprepare Cherie Blair for baby Leo)?

“Right now there is a tendencyto turn to gurus because organisedreligion is increasingly not meetingpeople’s needs,” says the Rev DrGeoff Scobie, who has researchedthe psychology of belief systems atGlasgow University, Scotland.

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“Maybe they feel that the level ofcommitment demanded byconventional religion is too high,yet they’ve got to do something tofill the spiritual void. This is wherethe guru comes in. You pay them,they tell you something deep andincomprehensible, and you feelyou’ve had your money’s worth.But while people may believe thatthis equals commitment, it doesn’t.You can’t buy spiritualdevelopment; money is nosubstitute for faith, time and love.It’s a quick fix.”

Psychologist Oliver James,author of Britain on the Couch,believes there are other reasonspeople are going to gurus. “Human

beings have always put their faith inauthority figures to help them workout what to do. Generally, we allwant certainty. But in the past 50years, we’ve moved from a collectiv-ist society to an individualistsociety. Our identity is no longerdetermined on the basis of familyposition or social role.”

“It’s no longer so clear who theauthority figures are, which is whywe’re seeking consolation in self-appointed gurus, be they involved inalternative medicine, herbalism,psychotherapy or religion,” says James.He believes followers would be betteroff spending their money on therapy.“Shrinks are the opposite of gurus—they’re going to be your disciple.”

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His scepticism seems wellplaced. A few years back, two ofGurumayi’s most ardent followersgave their baby the middle name ofMayi to bestow spiritual wellbeing

on their family. Alas, even theblessing of a top guru could not saveMelanie Griffith and Don Johnsonfrom getting divorced for the secondtime. � (Observer)

Yahoo. Frenzied and free Rajneesh devotees

Did Mahesh contribute to this bliss?

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he United Nations wants to dofor e-commerce what the webhas done for information:

create a global standard that will allowanyone and everyone to join in. If itsucceeds, it should boost e-businesseverywhere—especially between smallcompanies, and in the Third World.

Through UN CEFACT the UNhas been the major force behind theEdifact (Electronic data interchangefor administration, commerce andtransport) standard. But while UNEdifact has been successful, it has nottaken over in the American market—many US companies still use theirown X12 standard—and it has beentoo expensive for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Klaus-Dieter Naujok, chairman of UNCEFACT, is keen to redress this witha new standard called ebXML.

On a visit to London last weekNaujok, from San Francisco, wasaccompanied by Ray Walker, Britain’se-trade guru, DTI (Department ofTrade and Industry) advisor, and chairof the UN CEFACT steering group.They had contrasting styles—Naujokjokey and outgoing, Walker morequietly-spoken—but the samemessage, and the tendency to finishone another’s points that comes fromworking in tandem.

“We did something for the bigcompanies with Edifact, and that goeson. But it’s vitally important that weget the SMEs involved, and that’smuch more appreciated in thedeveloping countries than it is here. Bygetting interoperability, you’ll be ableto do business with anyone anywherein the world at any time,” they said.“It’s trade facilitation, basically.” Thiswas important for countries such asBulgaria, Iran and Pakistan, “whichhave been a bit out of the mainstream.It’s a huge step forward in openingthose markets up and enabling thosecountries to participate in worldtrade,” added Walker.

The UN’s initiative is based onXML, the eXtensible MarkupLanguage backed by Tim Berners-Lee’s World Wide Web Consortium(W3C). When Berners-Lee inventedthe web, the aim was to provide asimple way of sharing texts andpictures across many different types ofcomputers: HTML (HyperTextMarkup Language) did that. Nowcompanies need to move structureddata around—the kind stored inspreadsheets, databases, and accountspackages. XML does that.

For real electronic trading, thedata also has to be identified andpresented so that a machine can readit, and process it. This is not the sameas, for example, phoning in a purchaseorder, or putting the details in anemail message. That may be e-commerce, but it usually depends onhaving a person to accept andprobably retype the data at the otherend. In an electronic trading system, acomputer could place a purchaseorder with the supplier’s computer(perhaps when prompted by a stockcontrol system) and make thepayment without a person beinginvolved at either end. That is alreadypossible using Edifact, but it is usedmainly by large companies acrossdedicated networks or Vans (value-added network services). With XML,small companies will be able to do

their electronic trading cheaply “overthe Internet in a secure way. That’sthe most important part,” saidNaujok.

XML, which first emerged in1996, is rapidly becoming animportant open standard. Its leadingbackers include three major rivals,IBM, Microsoft, and SunMicrosystems. Indeed, Microsoft isbasing its whole future strategy, calledNet, on XML. But the problem withXML, quipped Ray Walker, “is thatit’s extensible. There are three or fourhundred different purchase orders outthere in XML format. Businessesdon’t want that: they want one way ofgoing forward.” So for globalelectronic trading, businesses must notonly use a common language, theymust also standardise their data setsand interfaces to provideinteroperability. If ebXML takes off,there could be a single XML standardfor business, instead of hundreds.

Traditionally, big businesses wroteor customised their own software tohandle what they perceived as theirunique business needs. Wal-Mart(store chain) would neither know norcare about how Marks & Spencergenerated purchase orders. That iswhy the UN project is using businessprocesses as building blocks, ratherthan terminology, which vary betweenfirms. “It’s a big thing for Wal-Mart touse the same data set as M&S [Marks

and Spencer], but we shoulddistinguish between the internalimplementation and what it takes toexchange information. At that levelthere is more commonality thanpeople like to admit.”

Obviously not every company canbe involved with defining ebXML, butUN CEFACT is working inpartnership with Oasis, theOrganisation for the Advancement ofStructured Information Standards,and numerous Industry bodies.These include Acord, for theinsurance industry, the AutomotiveIndustry Action Group (AIAG),footwear manufacturers in theConfederation European de laChaussure (CEC), the OpenHealthcare Group, and the OpenTravel Alliance. Last month, membersof the Global Commercial Initiative(GCI) adopted ebXML, andmembership includes 40 leadingmanufacturers and eight tradeorganisations representing a grand totalof 850,000 companies. Peter Jordan, aGCI board director and Europeansystems director for Kraft Foods, said:“It is clear to us that ebXML will soonbecome the standard for all globaltrade.”

All the draft specifications havenow been drawn up, and should befinalised at meetings in Tokyo nextmonth, in Vancouver, Canada, inFebruary, and in Vienna, Austria, in

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May 2001. Naujok thinks off-the-shelfebXML software could be available bythe beginning of 2002, if not earlier.Walker expects prices to start ataround $150.

Companies that intend to tradewith other companies over the web, orhave already started tradingelectronically, can start asking theirsoftware suppliers about their plans toadd ebXML compatibility. EspeciallyMicrosoft, which has so far remainedstrangely silent about the wholeaffair. ��(The Guardian)

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��IN JERUSALEM

hen Yossi Beilin, theIsraeli Justice Minister,launched negotiations

with the Palestinians, he had thebacking of a large section of Israelipublic opinion. Today he has littleinfluence over the decisions PrimeMinister Ehud Barak takes. “TheJews are against Oslo; it is dead,”says Dr Israel Shahak, a well-knownmaverick political commentator,referring to the so-called OsloAccords designed to achieve peacebetween the Arabs and Israel. Forthe vast majority of Israelis haverallied once again behind thehardline right-wing ‘national camp’and the army. And public opinion isexpected to stay that way for sometime.

In many ways, the presentpolitical atmosphere in Israel can becompared to the mood of 1967,when Israel fought a war with its

Arab neighbours. “Israelis are unitedbecause they feel threatened byMuslims—not just Arabs. There is areligious dimension now,” Shahaksays.

The result of an opinion poll ofmembers of the secular leftistMeretz party backs up the view.Ninety per cent want the party tojoin a “national emergencygovernment” which would includereligious parties and Meretz’s archenemy, Ariel Sharon, leader of theright-wing Likud and the man whosparked off the current uprisingwith a provocative visit to the AlAqsa mosque in Jerusalem. Bycomparison, public opinion wasdivided during the first few monthsof the Intifada in 1987.

There are some immediatepolitical implications. AlthoughBarak has taken a tougher stanceagainst this Intifada than the Likudgovernment adopted against the

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first one in 1987, he would lose ifelections were to be held now. Apoll taken last week revealed thatSharon would win 41 per cent ofthe vote while Barak would get 31per cent. Although Barak’s approvalrating has been dropping over thepast few months, this was the firstpoll that gave Sharon a clearadvantage.

Ordinary Israelis believe that itwas Barak’s “concessionaryattitude” towards the Palestinians,rather than his refusal to implementthe Oslo Accords, that broughtabout the Intifada. In the opinion ofthe Israeli right, Barak encouragedthe Palestinians to demand morethan Israel is prepared to ‘give’—that is, the return of the land Israeloccupied in 1967. Clearly, Israelishave reverted to the clichéd notionthat “the Arabs only understandforce”. While 140 Palestinians havebeen killed and more than 3,000wounded since the uprising began,eight Israelis have died. Sharon andthe right wing have ably exploitedthe ‘siege mentality’ cultivated bythe Israeli politico-militaryestablishment.

Although Israel is the regionalsuper-power and the Israeli armyhas far greater firepower than anycombination of Arab armed forces,ordinary Israelis consider them-selves to be under continual siege.Israeli fears have been heightenedduring this Intifada by the rising ofthe oppressed and underprivilegedPalestinian citizens of Israel.Consequently, Israelis see them-selves as being besieged on fourfronts now: in Gaza, the WestBank, the Arab-inhabited areaswithin the country and by theLebanese Hizbollah, an enemy theyrespect on the northern border.

The Israeli ‘peace camp’ is indisarray, but its stalwarts are notintimidated by the rise of therightist ‘national camp’. Duringprevious conflicts, Israeli leftistsand liberals were silenced oncethe guns began to sound. Today,opponents of Barak’s policies

continue to speak publicly andcomment in the press, althoughthey receive short shrift ontelevision, the main medium fornews.

The main vehicle for theexpression of moderate and leftwing opinion is the quality daily,Haaretz, read by about six per centof the Israeli public. Peacecampaigners writing in Haaretzexpress views that are viewed asheresy by the mass of Israelis. Forexample, veteran peace activist, UriAvnery, laid the blame for thepresent crisis on the Israeli side. Hereminded his readers that the peacecamp had been warning the publicand the government that therewould be a conflagration if Israelfailed to seriously pursue the peaceprocess. “We have a partner for ajust peace in the PalestinianAuthority. We do not have apartner for a peace that is dictatedby Israeli colonialism.”

Shulamit Aloni, a human rightsactivist and founder of the Meretzparty, is even sharper in hercriticism of Israel. “There wouldhave been no unrest,” she says, ifSharon, guarded by more than1,000 troops and police, “had notgone into the mosque compound on28 September. Our insensitivity andarrogance and the assumption thatjustice is on the side of the strong, isthe cause of what happe-ned. ThePalestinians are demeaned andpersecuted, and their rage is just.”

However, the so-called‘national consensus’ in Israel istemporary. The Palestinian risingwill, ultimately, sharpen thefundamental divisions in Israelisociety, widening the gulf betweensecular and religious, Westernerand Easterner, rich and poor,hawk and dove. � (Gemini News)

Veteran reporter Michael Jansenhas covered the Middle East foryears. Her books include TheUnited States and the Pale-stinian People, The Battle ofBeirut and Dissonance in Zion.

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poem published in several Latin American newspapers last weekand said to be a farewell ode by Colombia’s ailing Nobel laureateGabriel Garcia Marquez turned out to be the work of a little-known ventriloquist. The poem titled “La Marioneta”—“The

Puppet”—appeared under Garcia Marquez’s name in the Peruvian daily LaRepublica. Mexico City dailies reproduced it the next day and it was read onlocal radio stations. “Gabriel Garcia Marquez sings a song to life,” read aheadline in Mexico City’s La Cronica, which published the poem superim-posed on a photo of the novelist on its front page.

“My God, if I had a bit of life I would not let one instant go by withouttelling the people I love that I love them,” read the sentimental poem thatwas also widely circulated on the Internet (reproduced alongside). But likethe speech supposed to have been delivered by American novelist KurtVonnegut in 1997, urging graduates at the Massachusetts Institute ofTechnology (MIT) to use sunscreen, the author of “La Marioneta” turnedout not nearly as famous as advertised.

“I’m feeling the disappointment of someone who has written somethingand is not getting credit,” ventriloquist Johnny Welch told Mexico’sInfoRed radio. Welch, who has worked for 15 years as a ventriloquist inMexico and other parts of Latin America, said he wrote the poem for hispuppet sidekick “Mofles”. Across Latin America, the poem moved readers

“If for an instant God were to forget that I am a rag doll and gifted mewith a piece of life, possibly I wouldn’t say all that I think, but rather I wouldthink of all that I say. I would value things, not for their worth but for whatthey mean. I would sleep little, dream more, understanding that for eachminute we close our eyes we lose sixty seconds of light. I would walk whenothers hold back, I would wake when others sleep. I would listen when otherstalk, and how I would enjoy a good chocolate ice cream! If God were to giveme a piece of life, I would dress simply, throw myself face first into the sun,baring not only my body but also my soul. My God, if I had a heart, I wouldwrite my hate on ice, and wait for the sun to show. Over the stars I wouldpaint with a Van Gogh dream a Benedetti poem, and a Serrat song would bethe serenade I’d offer to the moon. With my tears I would water roses, to feelthe pain of their thorns, and the red kiss of their petals...

My god, if I had a piece of life... I wouldn’t let a single day pass withouttelling the people I love that I love them. I would convince each woman andeach man that they are my favourites, and I would live in love with love. Iwould show men how very wrong they are to think that they cease to be inlove when they grow old, not knowing that they grow old when they cease tobe in love! To a child I shall give wings, but I shall let him learn to fly on hisown. I would teach the old that death does not come with old age, but withforgetting. So much have I learned from you, oh men... I have learned thateveryone wants to live on the peak of the mountain, without knowing thatreal happiness is in how it is scaled. I have learned that when a newbornchild squeezes for the first time with his tiny fist his father’s finger, he has himtrapped forever. I have learned that a man has the right to look down onanother only when he has to help the other get to his feet. From you I havelearned so many things, but in truth they won’t be of much use, for when Ikeep them within this suitcase, unhappily shall I be dying.” �

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to tears. When theyheard that it was hoax,they said it was goodenough to have beenwritten by the master.

Garcia Marquezwon the Nobel prize forliterature in 1982. Hisseminal work, 100 Yearsof Solitude, has beentranslated into 36languages and soldmillions of copiesworldwide. In anOctober 1999 interviewwith New Yorkermagazine, the 73-year-old author acknowledged having been treated forlymphatic cancer in the summer of 1999 in Los Angeles. Rumors of hisfailing health have surfaced several times in Latin America in recent months.Garcia Marquez has not commented publicly on the apocryphal poem, butseveral close associates denied he had anything to do with it. �

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t the time of going to press, the US elections are looking like anyother Third World election: delays and recounting. Thedifferences between the candidates may not be much, but it

will matter for developing countries which of them, Vice President AlGore or Texas Governor George W. Bush, becomes the next USpresident.

Bush is more leery of the current role of the International MonetaryFund (IMF) and the World Bank. This may lead his administration to pushfor a scaling down of the institutions’ roles in developing countries,especially if he obtains a Republican majority in both houses of Con-gress. “The Bank and IMF have increasingly become unpopular, it istaxpayers who finance these organisations, but activists hope they willhave more powers to clip theinstitutions’ influence, especiallyunder a Republican administration,”says Robert Naiman of the Centre forEconomic and Policy Research(CEPR). The 2001 foreign-aid billfreed $435 million to pay for USobligations under the IMF and WorldBank’s Heavily Indebted PoorCountries Initiative (HIPC). Congressalso increased funding for HIV/AIDSprevention programmes to about$300 million, a 50 percent rise. Bushhas said that the IMF must not beviewed “as a way to say to world bankers, ‘If you make a bad loan, we’llbail you out.’ It needs to be available for emergency situations”.

Gore has been less clear on how his administration will relate to theBretton Woods institutions, but it appears he will continue the currentrelationship. He said during one of the presidential debates, however,that he would look at curbing corruption in the agencies. Gore says hewill seek greater efforts, through the Bank and the other multilateraldevelopment banks, to provide adequate social safety nets for econo-mies facing turmoil. Gore also supports calls by the Group of Sevenindustrialised nations for stronger IMF efforts to contain financial crises.The vice president has come out in support of the Asian Growth andRecovery Initiative, a multilateral initiative involving the World Bank andAsian Development Bank to promote financial restructuring in the region.

But how the developing world will fare during the next US presi-dency does not depend only on who occupies the White House,according to Barry Bosworth of the influential Washington think-tank theBrookings Institute. What matters most for developing countries iswhether the president has a Republican or Democratic Congress, hesays. “Perhaps the worst-case scenario for developing countries wouldbe Gore as president, with a Democratic majority in Congress,” saysBosworth. A Gore/Democrat administration would likely have toaccommodate its powerful trade union constituency and the green lobby,analysts say. Gore has said in trade he will push for “standards to endchild labour, to prevent the exploitation of workers and the poisoning ofthe environment”. This could lead to less favourable trading arrange-ments for a number of major emerging economies that rely on cheaplabour and use under-age workers to compete in the global market.

Bush too would be under pressure to accommodate conservativeRepublicans some of whom welcomed the Meltzer Commission’srecommendation for a reduced role for the Bretton Woods institutions.The Commission said the Bank should pull out of developing countriesand abdicate its role to regional banks such as the Asian DevelopmentBank. It noted that the failure rate of Bank projects was 65-70 percent inthe poorest countries and concluded that the institutions were notefficiently executing their roles. �

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��IN DHAKA

aught between pressurefrom Western oil compa-nies backed by the US

government, to export part of itshuge natural gas reserves, anddomestic political opposition tothis, the government of Bangladeshis finding it hard to satisfy both.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’sadministration has till December tomake up its mind when a team ofAmerican experts is due to submitthe findings of its survey of thenatural gas reserves in the country.Political observers expect thegovernment to permit the export ofnatural gas if the survey reveals thatBangladesh’s gas reserves can last for

�� 10 - 16 NOVEMBER 2000 ��

country has been divided into 23blocks for exploration of gas and oil.Nine blocks have been leased toforeign oil companies, seven of thesebeing US-based. Major US oilcompanies are bidding for theremaining blocks.

Donor nations, Western oilcompanies and multilateral lenderslike the World Bank and the AsianDevelopment Bank are advisingexport of the surplus gas to India.They argue that Bangladesh has farmore than it can use and sale of thenatural gas will not only generatevaluable foreign exchange, butattract large amounts of foreigninvestment.

But opposition political leaders,a section of geologists, andacademics in the country, cautionthat a decision should not be takenin haste. The prime minister insiststhat gas exports will be allowed onlyafter ascertaining the extent of thereserves and after meeting nationaldemand. “(Natural) gas is ournational resource. We have topreserve it for at least 50 years forposterity,” Hasina told reporters inDhaka on her return from a four-day official visit to the US lateOctober. However, she added: “Wewill think about its diverse usewhen the quantum of its reserve isdetermined after an on-going surveyby the United States geologicalsurvey team.”

Though the main oppositionparty is totally opposed to export ofthe gas at once, its top leaders saythey are not against this if it isproven that there are sufficientreserves. During a September

meeting with visiting British HomeSecretary Jack Straw, oppositionchief Zia told him that her partywould not object to gas exports ifthe present and future domesticdemand is taken care of, and itproves profitable to the nation.Gas-based industries would have tobe set up in the country, before thenatural resource can be exported,she told the British official.

Hasina too favours natural gas-based industrial development inBangladesh by setting up powergeneration plants, fertiliser factoriesand petrochemical industries.However, John C. Holzman, formerUS ambassador to Bangladesh, wholobbied hard to persuade thecountry’s leaders to permit gasexports, argues that domestic usealone will not bring economic gains.Holzman told a seminar in Dhakathat without any prospect of gasexports, foreign oil companies wouldlose interest in Bangladesh, becauselocal consumption alone could notensure quick return for their “high-risk investment”. “Gas in the groundis not wealth. It is only a potentialasset,” he said. The country couldearn at least $450 million annually byexporting three trillion cubic feet(tcf) of gas over the next 20 years, headded.

According to junior energyminister Rafiqul Islam, Bangladeshhas about 10 tcf of recoverablenatural gas reserves. Of this, threetrillion cubic feet has already beenutilised. The present gas reservescould meet national demand till theyear 2015, he said. However, thepresident of the American Chamberof Commerce in Bangladesh, ForestE. Cookson claims that newdiscoveries would boost the reservesto 50 tcf. “With this level of reserve,there is sufficient basis for limitedexport to India,” he says. “You don’tneed 50 years of reserves to go forexport.”��(IPS)

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at least 50 years.Some econo-

mists have advisedthe government torely not only on theUS survey, but toinvite experts fromother nations to

make doubly sure.Meanwhile, the UnitedStates has stepped updiplomatic pressure onBangladesh to permitexport of the surplusgas. US deputy assistantsecretary for interna-tional affairs in theDepartment of Energy,Calvin Humphrey,visited Dhaka twice inOctober when he metthe prime minister and

main opposition leader Khaleda Zia.Humphrey told reporters that

Bangladesh should take a decisionimmediately if the country wants tobe in a position to profit from thegas export in the next five to sevenyears. He added that buyers likeneighbouring India would not waitfor Bangladesh to take a decisionand was already negotiating dealswith other nations to meet theirenergy needs.

In recent years, the issue ofexport of Bangladesh’s natural gasreserves, variously estimated atbetween 10 and 50 trillion cubicfeet, has stirred a major politicalcontroversy, with opposition partiesaccusing the government ofbuckling under foreign pressure.The US has a big stake inBangladeshi natural gas. The

C

yoti Basu should have been Prime Minister of India. JyotiBasu could have been Prime Minister of India. Unusually,opportunity came to his door twice. On the first occasion

his comrades stopped him; on the second an alleged allybetrayed him. If Jyoti Basu had become Prime Minister on eitheroccasion, he would have changed history.

This is not an exercise in adulation, although if any contempo-rary politician deserved it, then it is only Jyoti Basu. This isrecognition of fact. The first opportunity came after the collapseof the Deve Gowda Government in 1997. The BJP and its alliesdid not have the numbers to form a majority Government, and theCongress had neither the numbers nor the moral and psychologi-cal authority. The dreams of that uncertain cause called the ThirdFront survived; the only question now was getting the right manto lead. Fringe politicians once again began to float on hope, butthere was only one leader whose name brooked no disputewhen it was suggested. That of Jyoti Basu.

In an astonishing display of masochism, a self-importantmajority within the CPI(M) Politburo stopped Jyoti Basu from takingthe oath of office. Apparently this would have interfered withsome revolution they had been planning for six or sevendecades. I have too much respect for the political maturity of theCPI(M) to call this stupidity, but in the history of political suicidethis will merit a very long and detailed chapter. Jyoti Basu, beingthe calm personality he is, accepted his party’s decision without ademur.

T h e strangest thing about thisdecision was that the CPI(M) shouldh a v e rejected the idea that apol i t ical party can use power toe x p a n d its base. After all, theparty had in Bengal done thisv e r y same thing brilliantlya l l through the secondhalf of the Sixties and from 1977onwards. The CPI(M) was not the most important compo-nent of the United Front that replaced the Congress in Bengal in1967. Yet, within a few years the Bangla Congress had becomeirrelevant and the communists under Basu had become the pre-eminent opposition to the Congress.

It was preposterous of the politburo to conclude that JyotiBasu as Prime Minister would actually hurt the party in Bengal.The consequences of that decision three years ago have notbeen fully realised. The communists could pay a very heavyprice—as heavy as the price the Congress is paying for havingdenied Jyoti Basu the chance to become Prime Minister of India in1999.

Once again, Jyoti Basu did nothing to either create or furtherthat chance; it flew into his lap because it really had nowhereelse to go. It came about after Jayalalitha withdrew from theVajpayee Government forcing a confidence vote in the LokSabha, which the Prime Minister famously lost, by a single vote.He received 271 votes when he needed 272: a number thatwould soon become famous in both Hindi and Italian.

The Congress sought to become the successor Governmentwith Sonia Gandhi as candidate for Prime Minister, a situation soheavy with irony it could barely walk. The merits of the reserva-tions about Sonia Gandhi can be argued elsewhere, but manyparties found it deeply unacceptable that a person of Italianorigin, still green in her understanding of India’s polity, politics andpeople, should be made PM. The one group that wanted the BJPout so anxiously that they were ready to vote her in, was theLeft. Sonia Gandhi herself revealed levels of ambition that shehad effectively disguised—she made her own elevation to powera non-negotiable condition of Congress participation in govern-ment.

At this point, someone began to speak some sense. The onlyperson who could lead and sustain a non-BJP Government wasJyoti Basu. He was perfectly acceptable to everyone—exceptfor Sonia Gandhi. Basu had no problems about Sonia Gandhiwhen she had her chance. When the time came to reciprocate,Sonia Gandhi actually went on television to sabotage hischances. He looked imperturbable while Sonia Gandhi wieldedthe knife. Sonia Gandhi hurt Jyoti Basu, true; but the person shereally destroyed was herself. In the elections the BJP showedher precisely how popular she was.

Appreciate the scenario if Jyoti Basu had become PrimeMinister of India then. Kargil had already started; it would havebeen discovered under his watch. The BJP’s negligence wouldhave crushed its reputation, Jyoti Basu would have won the warfor India, and been in power till today. Instead, he heads towardsretirement. Within a short while, one of the greatest Indians of ourtimes, and perhaps the finest politician of the post-Nehru age, willvoluntarily leave the office from which he could not be defeated.

This itself is unusual, Indian politicians retire only once, whenGod intervenes. Jyoti Basu does not wait for God, or being anatheist, for nature to take the decision out of his will. Power didnot come to him for long decades of his political life. When hebecame a communist, and then remained one (unlike many of hisleftish contemporaries) he knew that public life demanded servicewhether it offered power or not. He did not enter politics merelyfor power, so it is easy for him to relinquish.�� (The Asian Age)

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- Sandeep Kohli, Pizza Hut

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�� IN NEW DELHI

here was a time when popular American fast food global companiestook pride in the strict uniformity of fare served at their outletsaround the world. But when McDonald’s added the ‘McKebab

Burger’ and the vegetarian ‘McAloo Tikki Burger’ to its menu in India, itwas a sure sign that Indian tastes were asserting themselves.

It also showed the growing clout of India’s huge consumer class,estimated by some to be about 200 million people. If McDonald’scould pander to Japanese and Israeli palates with ‘teriyaki’ burgersand kosher meat, it was only a question of time before the globalfood giant was forced to cater to Indian taste buds. Likewise,it was Indian consumers who scored where anti-globalisation activists could not against Kentucky FriedChicken (KFC). The unbending KFC, whichshrugged off violent attacks on its outlets byradical anti-globalisation protestors some yearsago when foreign fast food chains were firstallowed to open in India, finally folded upbecause Indian patrons rejected its blandofferings suited to Western tastes. PizzaHut and Domino’s, that quickly stepped into fill up the space vacated by KFC, arescoring because their pizzas use a variety oftoppings customised to Indian palates.

New Delhi housewife Tara, whoregularly orders home-delivered food—afast-growing phenomenon in India’s bigcities—says pizzas are popular becausethey are closer to the staple north Indian,wheat flour-based ‘roti’ and ‘naan’.“Pizzas are here to stay and grow,” says Pizza Hut chief Sandeep Kohli(above), quoting statistics that Indians now gobble up 50,000 pizzas a day,compared to a mere 10,000 just two years ago. The pizza market in India isestimated to be growing by a steady 40 percent annually. The pizza chainruns exclusively vegetarian outlets for strict Hindus. It even offers a ‘JainPizza’ for orthodox members of the Jain religious sect who cannot eat rootsand bulbs growing below the ground, like onions, potatoes and garlic.

Coca Cola, which bought out the locally popular Thums Up because itstood in the way of the ‘all-American drink’, finally decided that it was moreprofitable to keep the Indian brand name going. Coca-Cola itself is bottled

with slight variations in flavour to take care of regional preferences on thevast sub-continent. “We realised that India is not a homogenous countrybut is actually made up of many smaller ‘countries’ and so we even havedifferent marketing strategies for different regions,” said Apurvi Seth,Marketing Manager for Coca-Cola in India.

It also did not take long for theglobal entertainment and informationindustry eyeing the huge Indian market,to realise the need to be sensitive toIndian and even regional tastes. Forthose who despaired at the assault onIndian culture and values by that mostvisible phenomenon of globalisation—satellite television—a new crop ofchannels in the vernacular languagesmust be reassuring. Channels likeDiscovery and National Geographichave now switched from simply dubbingprogrammes in the Hindi language to acompletely Indian content.

The trend of finding the global inthe local is working with literature aswell, as evident in the internationalsuccess of Indians writing in the Englishlanguage. Arundhati Roy’s closedescriptions of small town snobberyand politics in India’s southern KeralaState in God of Small Things earned herthe prestigious British Booker Prize.Salman Rushdie brought the highly

esoteric world of post-colonial Bombay to Western readers with Midnight’sChildren. Both Roy and Rushdie, as well as other contemporary Indianwriters in English, liberally sprinkle their works with the vernacular andextensive use of Indian idiom.

Indian usage has been creeping into the English language since thedays of the colonial British Raj, which even produced Hobson Jobson, anextensive glossary of Indian words and terms for the then colonialrulers. But globalisation has revived the process. The millenniumedition of Webster’s New College Dictionary has a whole new lot ofIndian words. � (IPS)

J

�� 10 - 16 NOVEMBER 2000 ��

�� by DANIEL LAK

long time ago, my mother boughtme a poster with my astrologicalsign at the top. The text read

“Capricorn: You are a lazy, practicallyworthless individual who has to be forcedto undertake any activity more strenuousthan sleeping. You must avoid standingstill for too long or a dog might mistakeyou a for a tree and...” You get the drift.But before waves of sympathetic readersstart commiserating with me about acruel parent, let me explain.

My mother was giving me something

that emphasised her feelings aboutastrology. She didn’t like it and shepassed that dislike on to me. It drives mecrazy when I’m told, “You’re a typicalCapricorn/Leo/Gemini, whatever”. Myresponse was to point to the poster.What astrologer, with his thoughts onthe wad of cash he was about to be paidfor his predictions, would tell me that Iwas a lazy sod, and that it was because ofthe stars? No one has ever been able toexplain to me how celestial objectsbillions if not trillions of kilometres away

��I know, I know. That’s more or less

what happens. I can hear the astrologerstelling me that as I write. But it isn’ttrue. Gravity doesn’t influence personal-ity, destiny or politics. Nor do the otherforces that physicists believe shape theuniverse—all measurable and ponderedover by men and women of immenseintellect. There is a certain hauntingmysticism to theoretical physics. The lategreat Carl Sagan used to talk about thefundamental harmony of the universe andits component parts—matter and energy.Sagan was demonised by the religiousright in the United States for appearingto question the existence of God, butwhat he was actually saying was that theuniverse was perfect. It could not havecome about in any other form, and thatwas something to marvel at.

Such lofty science can seem cold,distant and irrelevant to daily life. Buttheoretical physics is almost like religion.It tries to explain why things are the waythey are. And it is necessarily democratic,

One long party in Ladakh

influence hairless mammals on aninsignificant watery planet near the edgeof the Milky Way?

A friend with an astrological bentonce suggested to me that gravity wassomehow behind the phenomenon. Ithink not. If gravity shaped our person-alities, our own Earth must surely be thebiggest influence on us. The moon, thesun and the other planets of solar systemwould make us happy, sad and indifferentby turns. We’d each have multiplepersonalities that chopped and changedas Venus passed by, and the moon was inthe seventh house (what does that mean?Are there “houses” in space?). WhenJupiter and Mars are lined up, we’d allcrave cheeseburgers or go to war with anearby country. Think of the greatexcuses we’d have. “I’d love to come andsee you but, Neptune is pulling metowards the pub.” “Honest officer, I onlydrove my car into the road sign becauseof the influence of Mercury and sevenlarge asteroids.”

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open to constantdebate, revision andchange. There is nodogma. Physicistsadmit that they aresimply human beingswith theories thatcould be wildly offbase. Astrologers, by contrast, predictevents and give personality profiles thatdepend on what they perceive to beposition of stars and planets. Some are sofar away that they may have blown upmillions of years ago and the light fromthe explosion has yet to reach the Earth.The astrologer still gets paid, whether ornot the star exists. It’s all the same tohim.

Yes, yes, it is just a (largely) harmlesspastime that most people don’t takeparticularly seriously. But don’texpect me to take an interest in myfate as ordained by the stars. I’m justtoo lazy to care. And watching out fordogs. �

�

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��

t’s taken decades, but Nepal’stourism has finally outgrown itsimage of being an appendage to

the India circuit. Kathmandu hasemerged as a regional tourist hub forvisitors going on to Bhutan, Tibet andeven India. The average number ofdays a tourist stays in Nepal hasincreased dramatically. Newinternational airlines have startedservices, others have increased theirfrequencies.

Just when Nepal had recoveredfrom the hijack crisis, we are in theprocess of shooting ourselves in thefoot once more with a two-daynational shutdown and a paralysinghotel strike called by unions (see box).This time we can’t blame the Indians.The strikes are symptoms of largerproblems of this country’smalgovernance and a failure of

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leadership. Tourism contributes 20percent to Nepal’s total foreignexchange earnings, and has a multipliereffect employing 700,000 people.Tourism is a fragile industry, sensitiveto even a hint of turmoil.

As if news of the Maoistinsurgency beamed all over the worldby the international media wasn’t badenough, Nepali tour operators nowhave to grapple with cancellations, lostbookings and irreparable damage tothe country’s reputation caused by thebandh and the hotel strike. “It’s aNepali problem, Nepalis have to solveit,” says Stan Armington, of MallaTreks and author of the Lonely Planetguidebooks on Nepal. “The politics ofbandhs and strikes is only an outwardmanifestation of the mess the countryis in.”

The unprecedented two-daybandh has been called by nine leftist

parties on 16-17 November to protestthe recent fuel price hike. But evenmore worrisome is the threatenedstrike by hotel workers, it has thepotential to wreck the tourismindustry and the economy. Said oneexasperated hotelier: “We are facing atotal collapse, and the negotiations aregoing nowhere.” It is all in the handsof the political leaders who control theUnions.

The strikes will happen smack inthe middle of a major gathering offoreign dignitaries (including Britain’sPrince Philip) and more than 700 bignames in the global environmentalconservation movement attending theannual meeting of the World WildlifeFund. This is a meeting that has usedKathmandu as a venue to showcaseNepal’s conservation efforts over thepast four decades that have showndramatic results in saving endangeredanimals and habitats. The WWFevent will also put the spotlight onBhaktapur with a gathering of religiousheads and representatives on 15November.

The mayor of Bhaktapur, RameshSuwal, is looking forward to the event.Ironically, the Nepal Workers’ andPeasants’ Party that Suwal representsis part of the nine-party alliancebehind the bandh call. But when weasked Suwal whether such shutdownswould hurt tourism prospects, he gaveus the party line: “It is up to theparties to think about and considerthe effect. I am fully in support of theirdecision.”

There are reports of franticbehind-the-scenes negotiations withthe group of nine to either postponethe two-day strike or cut it down toone day. Whatever the decision, thedamage has already been done. Therehas also been a flurry of cancellationsfor arrivals because of the threatenedhotel strike. Negotiations aredeadlocked, and appear to bepolitically-motivated. Said a HotelAssociation of Nepal (HAN) source:“In any negotiations, there should be

give and take, the Unions are just notprepared to listen.”

A thoroughly disgusted BishnuPrasai, proprietor of Natraj Travels,says: “These bandhs are going to ruinour business, ruin our people and ruinour country. A single-day bandh costsus up to four lakhs, and now likeBangladesh they are talking of two-daybandhs. This is crazy.” Others, likePadam Ghaley of Mandala Treks havelearnt to live with strikes. “Sometimeswe take the risk. Tourists arriving haveto be received anyway, so we get extrapeople to get our clients safely to thehotels in thelagadas (push carts) orrickshaws.” Unless he has adventurousclients who don’t mind beginningtheir Nepal trek right at the airport,there are a lot of frayed tempers and itcan get quite embarrassing, saysPadam.

More than the direct economicloss, it is the long-lasting negativeimpression of the nation on incomingtourists that is worrying. Touristsarrive at the airport, are hassled bytouts and beggars, and find themselvesherded to “Tourist Only” vans witharmed guards and kept under hotel-arrest for the rest of their stay. The so-called tourist vans were givenconspicuous green plates and weresupposed to be immune from attacksduring bandhs, but no one is willing totake the risk of having thewindows smashed.

The resident manager of EverestHotel, Raju Shah, says tourists visitingNepal at this time of the year areusually “culture” tourists who don’ttrek, but want to go sightseeing at thedurbar squares or take mountainflights. “Their main purpose of visitingNepal is defeated because they can’tleave the hotel,” says Raju.

But if there is anyone inKathmandu who just can’t get enoughbandhs, they are the rickshaw pullerswho are allowed to pedal around.“This is the day I can earn more than Iearn in two months,” says BhimBahadur, who shuttles passengers in

The Nepal Independent Hotel Workers’ Union is threateningto go on strike from 19 November onwards unless the HotelAssociation Nepal (HAN) adds an extra ten percent servicecharge on all bills—later to be passed on to them. Havingstaged motorcycle rallies, workers are planning to wearblack bands to work to put pressure on hotel-owners thisweek.

HAN says the service charge would bring the total tax to22 percent: 10 percent VAT+ 2 percent Tourism Service Fee+ 10 percent the proposed service charge. They could passthis cost on to their clients, but say they cannot cope withescalating demands in future. HAN has turned to thegovernment, which is presently acting as the mediator. “Thegovernment has taken the initiative to solve this problem,and is doing its best,” says Shankar Koirala, Joint Secretaryat the Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation. But topgovernment leaders are distracted by infighting within theruling party, and with the stalled talks with the Maoists. HANhas written a strongly-worded letter to the prime minister,warning him that unless the government mediation goesinto high gear, the country’s economy could collapse. If thestrike threat is not resolved, the result would be disastrousfor the country’s tourism industry during its peak season.Charter airlines have already stopped flights, and othersmay follow suit. The strike could in fact be much moredevastating than the bandhs. Already, tour operators andtrekking agents have sent out warnings to their clients thatthey cannot guarantee hotel rooms after 19 November; andthey expect many tourists to cancel their trips.

The strike threat has obviously been timed for the peakseason to maximise their bargaining power. Hotel workersdisagree that the compulsory service charge will do irrepa-rable damage to the tourism industry. “We are ready to signa written document saying that in case this service chargeshows any undesirable effect, we shall withdraw thedemand,” said Bishnu Lamsal, Secretary of the HotelWorkers’ Union.

Samir Khanna, General Manager of the Hotel de l’Annapurna says there is already a tipping system, and thisis the way hotel guests mark their appreciation of service. “Ifthere is a service charge, tourists will have to tip hotelemployees irrespective of what they think of the service,” hesaid. It is the employees in the food and beverage depart-ment that get tipped. The extra service charge means thateven those employees who never come in direct contactwith guests will be receiving the service charge. .

HAN has asked the Union not to have a 19 Novemberdeadline since negotiations could be protracted. But Unionofficials said the deadline was non-negotiatble. �

�� (�

his rickshaw between the airport andThamel on bandh days, earningabout Rs 5,000 in about five toand fro trips.

Many Kathmandu residents alsofind the traffic-less streets ideal totake walks, or go on bicycle tours

along the pollution-free streets tothe valley’s historic towns. After all,Kathmandu was never meant to be acar town, so this forced pedestriani-sation is actually a boon—or wouldhave been if, like Bangladesh, Nepaldid not have a tourism industry. �

MIN B

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�� 10 - 16 NOVEMBER 2000 ��

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Kathmandu, NepalTel: 488100

COME TO THE ALL NEW EVEREST. WE LOOK AFTER YOU BETTER

When cricket wasintroduced in Nepal in1928 it was a contest

between two Rana generals—GenBrahma SJB Rana of Babar Mahaland Gen Nara SJB Rana ofJawalakhel. Each patronised a teamthat played one another regularly.There was nothing spectacularabout the games they played thenexcept that, in 1934, Brahmabecame the first Nepali to score acentury.

But perhaps the foremost fatherfigure of Nepali cricket was GenMadan SJB Rana. Madan’s is aninteresting story. After not being

allowed to play for the BabarMahal cricket team, the cricket-crazy youngster went to Calcuttaand trained under the then famouscoach, Kartik Bose. After a coupleof seasons, Madan found himself inthe playing eleven of the SportingUnion club. Madan’s offsidestrokeplay was exemplary—he waseven compared to the legendaryLala Amarnath of India.

After his stint at Calcutta,Madan began actively promotingcricket in Kathmandu. He hiredcoaches from Calcutta, with thelikes of S. Banerji and TaraBhattarcharya coming to

Kathmandu in the late 1930s tocoach his team, and helping inlaying the turf at his Sri Durbarestate at Pulchowk. By 1935,Madan had his own cricket team,the Sri Durbar Eleven.

After his death in 1950, his wifedonated a shield to a cricketcompetition and thus was born theMadan Memorial Shield. By 1952,there were two tournaments inKathmandu. One was the BishnuTrophy that was played on a leaguebasis, and the other was theknockout Madan Memorial Shield.The generals’ teams had by thenvanished with the end of the Ranaregime, but two new teams hadcome up—the Cricket Associationof Nepal Team and KathmanduKhel Mandal. These two, alongwith a team from the IndianEmbassy, battled it out for thehonours in the early days.

Two more tournaments werestarted by 1960, and about the sametime B division tournaments alsobegan. But it was only after 1980 thatcricket finally spread across thecountry with the establishment of theJai Trophy. Designed after the RanjiTrophy in India, Jai Trophy is the onlynational level cricket tournament inNepal and every year 12 zonal teamscompete to become the nationalchampion. But perhaps the mostimportant factor in making the gamepopular in Nepal was the introductionof satellite television in the early 90swhich brought world-class cricketdirectly into Nepali homes.

By far, the most important eventfor Nepali cricket was its beinggranted associate membership ofInternational Cricket Council (ICC)in 1996. This recognition from ICCnot only put Nepal on the cricketingmap but also helped get much neededfinancial assistance from the ICC.From 1997 onward, Nepal hasbeen receiving £40,000 annuallyfrom ICC.

Now, the ACCDevelopment Commit-tee has identified Nepal,along with Malaysia,UAE and Singapore, asthe four ‘fast track’countries. With theobjective to upgrade twomore nations to one-day

status in 2005 and Test statusin 2010, the fast track system hasbeen designed to achieve this incountries that have the potential forrapid growth in terms of interest,participation and performance incricket. The countries also getspecial financial assistance from theACC.

So far, the Cricket Associationof Nepal (CAN) has done remark-ably well despite limited supportfrom the National Sports Counciland the very little sponsorshipmoney available for the sport. Butcricket in Nepal has all been aboutone-day limited-overs cricket.Three-dayers and the regular firstclass matches have yet to beintroduced, although plans are onto redesign domestic cricket toinclude two-dayers to begin with.

There is only one pitch ofinternational standard in thecountry and the infrastructure isminimal. But it is more than madeup by the enthusiasm of Nepal’scricket administrators. Buoyed byBangladesh’s rather amazing successthey believe Nepal too can achieveODI status. As things look, there isreason for optimism, and ifeverything goes Nepal’s way,Nepal and UAE could well be thenext two teams from Asia to playone-dayers. �

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��

or years, Nepalicricketers have watchedinternational cricket at Sharjah

and dreamt of playing there some day.Their dream has finally come true. Thestage is set for the 3rd Asian CricketCouncil trophy to take place in thecapital of the United Arab Emirates15-24 November. This particular ACCtourney is special because the twofinalists will qualify for the next AsiaCup, involving Sri Lanka, Pakistan,India and Bangladesh. And the hope isNepal will be one of them.

The ACC Trophy is also specialfor Nepali cricketers since it is the onlyinternational event in which cricketingbabes like Nepal can take part. (Onlythose countries with full membershipof the International Cricket Council/ICC are allowed to play one-dayinternationals/ODI. Nepal is still onlyan associate member of the ICC.) Agood performance at this eight-nation tournament would takeNepali cricket to new heights. Forafter all, it was through the ACCtourney that Bangladesh gotinternational recognition, and

ultimately achieved the much-coveted Test status.

The national cricket team hasbeen participating in the ACCTrophy for the last five years, butthe performance so far has beennothing to write home about. Eventhe semi-finals have eluded them,and it has always the batting thatlet them down. Coach Arun Aryalsays that Nepali batsmen don’thave the temperament. “Since we

don’t play enough tournaments, ourboys struggle when playing at thehighest level,” says the formernational player.

The Nepali team now has theservices of former Pakistani all-rounder Haroon Rashid, who as thecountry’s chief cricket coachworked with the under-19 team forthe World Cup earlier this year.Rashid is confident that his team isgoing to make it to the ACC final.

“There is not much differenceamong Nepal, UAE, Malaysia andHong Kong. But UAE will have anedge over the others playing ontheir home ground,” says he.

In the bowling department, theselectors have chosen three spinnersand two pacemen. “Since the pitchat Sharjah is a flat one, we thoughtit would be better to have morespinners,” says Rashid. The bowlingis going to be spearheaded by 19-year-old left-arm fast bowlerMehoob Alam. The team also hasseven specialist batsmen and twowicket-keepers, but there are nogenuine all-rounders. Opener KiranAgrawal will be expected to providea good start since he has it in him toplay the anchorman. Providingsupport will be DipendraChoudhary and Paras Lohani, bothof whom have been among the runsof late. �

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�� Vladimir Kramnik of Russia ended Gary Kasparov’s 15year reign as world chess champion with an 8.5 to 6.5victory in a 15 match Brain Games world championshipstaged in London. Kasparov, 37, has dominated the gamelike no other since winning his first world title in 1985. 25year old Kramnik won the 2nd and 10th games while theother games were drawn. For the first time in his career,Kasparov looked out of form and showed little of hisfamous fighting spirit

Earlier in 1995, Kasparov successfully defended histitle against Viswanathan Anand after losing early games.At that time, Kramnik was Kasparov’s second (advisor).Kramnik came into the limelight after he became worldjunior champion. In 1986, he was one of Kasparov’spupils in Moscow.

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�� !�� When Sven-Goran Eriksson of Sweden arrives to takecharge of the Englishsoccer team, he will bemaking history. For the firsttime in their soccer history,England will have a foreigncoach.

After the dramaticresignation of KevinKeegan, the EnglishFootball Associationdecided to hire a foreigncoach to regain the status ofEurope’s foremost soccercountry. The last few yearshave been disastrous forEngland as they failed tomake any impact on the world soccer scene.

But for Eriksson, it won’t be an easy task. Some keyplayers may retire when Eriksson joins next July. The mostobvious problem the stylish Swede will face is the no-passport-no-passion card that will naively and unfairly bethrown at him if England struggle even for a game or two.

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� �"�� #��#��$��The Khetan Group emerged as victors in the finals of thesecond Soaltee Super Six cricket tournament beating theSurya Tobacco team by 41 runs. Batting first, KhetanGroup scored 63 without losing any wickets with openersMonir Shrestha and Sandeep Shrestha scoring 22 and 29not out respectively.

The asking rate of more than 21 runs an over provedtoo much for the STC batsmen as they only managed 22runs losing five wickets. Inspired by Hong Kong’s supersixes tourney of the mid-nineties, this tourney was startedlast year. Altogether 16 teams from different corporatehouses took part this time.

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%�" ��"�� "�%��" ��&�'#�The ongoing battle between the Geeta Rana and GaneshThapa led ANFA factions regarding the legitimacy of theirrespective organisations is far from over. Early this week,Ganesh Thapa in a press conference showed a letter fromthe FIFA and AFC, which recognized his organisation asthe official one. The battle took a new turn this week, whenboth the ANFA factions announced their intention to holdthe Birthday Cup Football Tournament.

The Ganesh Thapa led ANFA has announced that thetournament will kick off from Dec 16 while the other ANFAhas plans to start from Nov 23. All the ‘A’ division teamsfrom the country along with Mahendra Police Club,Tribhuwan Club and teams from Eastern and Westernregion, and from Bangladesh, Sikkim, Darjeeling andBhutan will participate, says the press release of theGeeta Rana led ANFA. Meanwhile, ANFA led by Thapa hasannounced that they will give away the ‘Rupak Best PlayerAward’ on Dec 30.

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1. Look, for the seer (4)5. Tata and Freddy Mercury

were (5)10. Wields a lawn tool (4)11. Early Everest climber (5)12. So long, Norway (4)13. Mrs Fawlty Towers (5)14. Little vine, sketch at book

opening (8)16. Provoke to fury (6)17. Keep up the rear, perhaps (3)20. The original Miss Saigon (3)21. Passed unwritten (6)23. Less fat (8)25. Resting on this (5)27. Trimmed torso of bull (4)

Terms and conditions1 The contest is open to everyone, except employees of Himalmedia Pvt Ltd and Infocom Pvt

Ltd.2 In case of more than one correct entry, the winner will be decided by lucky draw.3 Entries have to reach Himalmedia, by 5 pm,

7 Nov, Tuesday.4 The winner will be announced in the coming issue.5 The prize has to be collected from Himalmedia within a week of the announcement. Please

come with an ID.

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To send in your entries, please fill in the details below and fax to 977-1-521013, or email to [email protected]. Entries can be dropped off atHimalmedia Pvt Ltd, Patan Dhoka, Lalitpur.

28. Relent, concerning Annperhaps (5)

29. Cart track scars on Trial runs (4)30. Risks cutting many a platinum (5)31. Cream of Latin Essence (4)

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1. Push with the muck raking tool (6)2. Theo brings soluble dye with Greek

angle (6)3. Snaky, aquatic plants on stream

bed (3, 7)4. Swedish money drops Abruptly (5)5. Monica comes in through the back

door (7)6. Approach the editor, you had it (4)7. Showing tendency to reorder (10)

8. Sylvester, the artful dodger (3)9. Sick from the oil spill (3)15. Conceited bunch (7)18. Warns the stealer (6)19. Morose gypsy loses head inturning (6)22. Indefinite article stages entry (5)24. Quirky trait in kick-boxer (4)25. …ones go to heaven (3)26. Then, in Nepali…(3)

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Out of 12 entries, the luckywinners are Silvie Walraven& Celia Alldridge

�� 10 - 16 NOVEMBER 2000��

Fri Sat Sun Mon Tue

22-09 23-09 24-08 25-07 24-07

A westerly disturbance, the first of the post-monsoon season, is making anapproach riding the jet stream. By Friday it should be over central Nepal,resulting in high-altitude cloud cover, chances of rain, and the first snows ofthe season down to 12,500 ft in western Nepal. The system will also bringtemperatures down and set off thicker morning fog. The disturbance itself willquickly pass, and bright afternoon sunshine will be back by midweek nextweek. Small patches of local clouds lifted by daytime heating will continue toappear. Contrary to popular belief, much of the thick daytime haze seen overthe mid-hills has nothing to do with inversion-driven valley smog, but withsouthwesterly winds carrying in dust-laden air from the Ganga plains.

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immickry in art is not a newthing. Even renowned artistslike MF Hussain resort to

publicity stunts. Why then can’tNepali artists resort to somesubterfuge? Especially since the levelof artistic and aesthetic appreciationamong Nepalis is low, a littlegimmick here or there is alwaysdesirable for this helps draw peopleto art.

Kiran Manandhar is the onewho brought gimmickry into Nepaliart, the most well-known one beinghis action painting—painting whileothers are writing and recitingpoems. But I for one, have tendedto look upon such attempts withsuspicion for the simple reason thatthis often turns out to be nothingbut a ruse to lifts one’s own art intothe highbrow category. It wastherefore with a fair amount ofcaution, if not scepticism, that Iwent through the ongoing exhibi-tion of Ramesh Khanal’s paintings,Arupan. In the end, my suspicionsseem confirmed.

I have attempted to bethoroughly objective and detachedin my assessment of the works ofthe artist—I make no overtures tothe artist, or attempt to know from

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the artist of the process that led tothe creation. Often one can’t judgeor interpret—especially when itcomes to abstract or non-figurativepaintings. Yet I endeavour tocritique Khanal’s collection basedon BP Koirala’s stories that are onshow at the J Art Gallery at DurbarMarg.

As the title of this exhibitionitself suggests, all the paintings—most of them are miniaturepaintings—are abstract in form and,

I dare say, content. So no visibleform emerges from the melange ofpredominantly primary coloursrendered in swift and easy strokes.Or in the black that is splattered orallowed to flow over the paper.There is a certain similarity in theapplication of colours in almost allthe paintings, and below thetransparency of the colour nopreliminary sketches are visible. Itpoints to an artistic preference foraction paintings, characterised by

the direct application of colourwithout formal conceptualisation,an over formalistic approach.

But action painting entails aspontaneous use of strokes or of anyother colour application techniqueand generally precludes any thoughtor concept. So, if my reading isn’twrong: How could paintings donein the manner of action paintings bebased on stories of BP Koirala?Besides, most of Khanal’s paintingsare miniatures—unlike the largespaces that action painters prefer toplay on till the desired compositionis attained.

Since the paintings areputatively based on BP Koirala’sstories, the search is forcharacters, emotions, and themesof BP’s stories in these paintings.Do these paintings provide aglimpse into BP’s work? No.Forget the postscripts below thepainting, even the thematicaspects of BP’s stories are lost inthe abstraction.

This exhibition highlights theaberration so common in Nepaliabstract art. In the name ofabstraction, the unimaginable ispassed off as art. While the genredoes allow for looseinterpretation, the tendency ofour so-called art critics is to takewhat artists say at face value,together with the post-modernistdefinition of art, has contributed tothis aberration. These apart, anypainting has to show fondindulgence of the artist. Khanal’spaintings lack even thisindulgence—they appear to be justsome strokes delivered in a fewminutes. �

�� Basanti - Plaza IDhodhar - Plaza II, Bishwo Jyoti (221837), Goon Ga (520668)Choro - Plaza II (from Monday)Dhukdhuki - Radha (470090),Aago - Goon kha (520668), Ranjana (221191), Padma (522354),�� Mohabattein - Gopi (470090) from SundayKaho Na Pyar Hai - Krishna (470090)Mission Kashmir - Manakamana (225284), Gopi(470090), Krishna (470090) from Sunday, Tara (476092)Kurukshetra - Goon (Ka)Har Dil Jo Pyar Karega - Kumari (414932)Besharmee Ratein - Ashok��Citizen Kane. Orson Welles’ classic. Presented by thenewly-formed Kathmandu Film Archives, in associationwith the Godavari Alumni Association and MartinChautari. Venue, GAA hall, Thamel, 5:30 pm, Friday 10November. Fee not exceeding Rs 50.��Queen Margot (La Reine Margot) 1993. August1572 – France is torn apart in bitter religious wars. Marguetire, known asMargot, catholic sister of King Charles IX, is forced to marry the ProtestantHenri de Navarre in an effort to reconcile her native France. After thewedding, the infamous St. Bartholomew’s Day massacre takesplace.Thousands of Protestants are brutally murdered, but one of them, LaMole, is badly wounded and, in desperation, knocks on Margot’s door. Shetakes him in, and falls in love… with the enemy. Directed by PatriceChereau with Isabelle Adjani, Jean-Hugues Anglade and Daniel Auteuil. 5November, Sunday. 2:00 pm, Alliance Francaise auditorium, Thapathali.French with English subtitles. Entry Free. Next (12 September) - Cyrano de Bergerac.

�� Tribal Village Rugs and Flatweaves. This exhibition cum sale

features woven items from Iran, Turkey, the Caucasus, and CentralAsia, including rugs, kilims, cushion covers, bags and other small

woollen artifacts.These pieces were collected to study, so each one has been

researched and written up for the purchaser. The sale will beon from 10.00 am to 6.00 pm. Slide shows on the craft of

weaving and dyeing at 11.00 am and 3.00 pm. A fewrepresentative items will be discussed in detail about their

make. These shows will be at 12.00 noon and 4.00 pm.Entry free. Tea and coffee served all day. Organised bySue Vokes. Venue: Dipankar and Dharmakar Hall, The

Blue Star Hotel, Tripureshwor, Sunday 12 November.��Architect and Farmer. Exhibition of wood and stone carvings withdemonstration and a model of a temple to give insight to visitors on theinterior of a temple, accompanied by continued film projection in French,Nepali and English. Exhibition jointly presented by the Kavre IntegratedProject, the Alliance Francaise and the French Embassy. Aims at present-ing aspects of French cooperation in Nepal and work done by Nepali artists.14-23 November, Alliance Francaise, Thapathali.�� Musicians from Nepal and abroad perform on 11 November at KiratesworTemple, North of Pashupatinath. 4-8 pm. Free entrance, but a nominal feemay apply for guest performances. Kirateswor Sangeet Ashram. 492139��Fun Fair. The Royal Nepal Army Officers Wives Committee Open Fairon the occasion of HM Queen Aishwarya’s birthday. 7-12 November. Fun,food, and games including horserides, bingo and the like. 11:00 am to8:00 pm. Tundikhel ground (Shahid Gate). Entry Rs 5.��Dance and BalladsClassical Nepali Dances--Buddhist and Hindu--every Tuesday at The GreatPagoda. Also ‘Ballads and Dances of Old Tibet’ by Tshering Gurmey andTshering Paljor every Thursday, Naga Theatre. Hotel Vajra. Time: 7:00pm. Rs 400 per individual. 271545��Eating outBarbecue. Lavish barbecue nights for the season with a Thai theme inKathmandu. Venue: Shangri-La Hotel’s prize-winning Shambala Garden. Arelaxed and filling evening. Lazimpat, 7 minutes ride North from Thamel.412999

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5

�� 10 - 16 NOVEMBER 2000 ��

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he countryside is stilla few minutes outside

Kathmandu but imperil-led as the city races to expand. TheRing Road, only a few years old, hasencouraged a rash of new buildingsso that what is now a roller-coasterdrive through fields and hamletsabout the city shows signs ofbecoming a highway through busysuburbs.

A drive along the Chineseroad past Bhaktapur to Dolalghaton the river Sunkosi, or to theChinese frontier beyond, carriesone through some of the mostenchanting scenery I have everseen. Before it leaves the Valley,it climbs and dips and snakesthrough fields so luminouslyemerald in summer, so vividlymustard yellow in spring that thecolours almost hurt. Willowsweep beside meandering streamsacross which old bridges arch, andbottlebrush bleed.

Huts and hamlets glow whiteand ochre and terracotta red,draped in season with scarletchillies and green garlands ofdrying vegetables. Goldencorncobs are piled against trees orsprout like fungus below over-hanging eaves. There are gerani-ums and marigolds in tins onwindow ledges. In the hedgerowsare pink and white roses,bouquets of Lantana and wildflowers I cannot name. Above thisprofusion of loveliness themountains rise ridge upon ridge tomeet the snows and there are notwo hours of the day when theylook the same. Often they wearblossoms of clouds or aretruncated by brewing storms. Andthough one may have seen them athousand times, the great snowpeaks when bright with day orflushed with dawn or sunset arebreathtaking, humbling, unforget-table.

Hardly a village in the Valley iswithout a history of a hundredlegends. They sat across traderoutes, faced invaders, werecommissioned by kings or inspiredby gods. So Sanga owes itslegendary origins to the God BhimSen, who, when the Valley was alake, used to moor his boat wherethe village is now. Bhim Sen is thepatron saint of traders and so Sanga,straddling the trade route to Tibet,

built him a shrine. A Malla king ofBhaktapur, while out hunting, metand loved a girl of Pyangaon whobore him several children. To themin time he gave exclusive rights tomanufacture the bamboo measuringpots called hapa. To this dayPyangaon goes on making hapawhich are used throughout theValley.

For centuries Thankot hasguarded the trade route to Indiawhere it enters the Valley. Itsancient name is Shonitapur,which commemorates a battlefought between the son of Krishnaand the demon brother of alegendarily beautiful woman wholived here. Much was the bloodspilled and Shonitapur means theplace of blood. The Gurkha KingPrithvi Narayan Shah realising thestrategic importance of the villageposted a military garrison thereand changed its name toThankot—a place of garrison.The quiet beauty of Lubhuattracted a Malla queen sopowerfully that she abandonedher palace in Patan and settled inthe village. There she sold agolden dish to raise the moneynecessary to expand the village.Her endowment is remembered inthe name Lubhu which meansdish of gold. Royal passion ofanother kind gave the village ofSanagaon its popular name Thasi.The settlement was infamous forits destructive malaria: so muchso that political prisoners of theMalla era were sent there toperish. When a king once visitedSanagaon the inmates of thispenal colony begged him to settlethem elsewhere to which the kingsaid “Sisa thasi” which translatesmore or less, “I do not care if you dieor not”. The word Thasi stuck buthappily, the malaria disappeared.

I remember Sankhu on a richnorthern trade route as a handsomevillage of five houses and four gates.It is greatly changed but the story ofits origins remains. Above the villageon a wooded hillside and ap-proached by a long flight of stonestairs is a temple to Goddess BajraYogini. She once lived there andlegend has her inspiring the SaintManjusri to visit the holyKathmandu lake and drain thewater from the Valley. An early kingof the Valley humbly offered himself

to the goddess to sate her greathunger. She obligingly ate him andlater one of his sons built Sankhu inher honour which makes one

wonder whether he particularlyliked his forbear or not.

Self-sacrifice gave NamoBuddha, a beautiful spot actually

outside the Valley, its name; itseems that in the dawn of timethree princes were out huntingnear the spot when they hap-pened upon a tigress and her cubsthat were so starved they werenear death. The youngest princefed them his own flesh until hehimself died, an act of such gracethat the Buddha himselfrecognised the prince as aBodhisattava.

One of my favourite hamlets,distinguished by a small Ranapalace, is Nagarkot from where onecan see Everest and almost forever.Apart from being the retreat of anendearing Rana Prime Minister,Nagarkot has a connotation ofhappy indolence one cannot helpappreciating. It seems a ruler of

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�� Kathmandu once imported a largeforce of mercenaries from thePunjab for defence against theencroaching Gurkhas. He settledthem at Nagarkot where thesestaunch and valiant fighters soonsuccumbed to the local air, localwine and local beauty. So muchso that when the Gurkhas invadedand were at the city gates, theimported stalwarts were merrilyuseless. The years have reducedtheir shame and identity. Theynow pass as Nepalis but to thisday are known as Nagarkotis.

In this story lies the moral;those who taste of the delights ofthe Kathmandu Valley are foreverblissfully enslaved. �

(Excerpted with permission from My Kindof Kathmandu, HarperCollins, 1994)

�To get a clear view of Ganesh Himal thesedays, you have to go outside the city (above).Only then are the mountains as brilliant asDesmond Doig saw it in the 1970s in thismagnificient water colour (left).

!��%�&��' by DESMOND DOIG

10 - 16 NOVEMBER 2000��

Scary Dinner: Shangrila Hotel turned into a haunted house , complete with skeletons andskulls, for an invitees-only Halloween night on 3 November.

Keep walking: Johnnie Walker and Soaltee Crown Plaza launched the Black Label Club on3 November with a well-attended performance by leading Indian singers, Sharon Prabhakar,Gary Lawyer, Joes Alvares and their troupe which rendered Broadway musical hits.

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Save the world: Sixth graders from Lincoln School in Kathmandu after aperformance of “The Elegant Escalator”. Gandhi was played by Shrish who saidfrom the stage: “The world needs a leader like me who will give more than take.”

here’s a misconception that atrek has to be a long, hardjourney into a rugged and

remote Himalayan valley. Nothingcould be farther from the truth. Infact, there are excellent trails for shorttreks right on the Valley rim. Here isone which is off the main trails: theshort, sweet walk from Sanga toSankhu on the Valley’s eastern rim.

The hike starts from themediaeval Newari town of Sanga (30km east of Kathmandu where theChinese road leaves KathmanduValley and enters Banepa) and climbsnorth to Nagarkot before meanderingdown to Sankhu (14 km fromKathmandu) via Kartike Bhanjyang.Take a bus ride to Sanga fromKathmandu on one of the local busesbound to Banepa, or Dhulikhel.They depart every 15 minutesor so from the city bus terminalat Ratna Park.

Kathmandu slumbers inthe foggy depths of the valleybelow, while beyond and aboveis the entire range of the centraland eastern Himalaya: GauriShankar, Sisha Pangma, Langtang,Ganesh Himal and the Manaslufamily. In about an hour, you are atSanga, now famous for the DipendraPolice School. There are chiya pasals allalong the trail, but you may needtough guts to try out the local alutarkari or chiura for the hiker’sbreakfast. Carry sufficient safe drinkingwater, and although you may betempted to quench your thirst at themany springs along the trail we would

advise against it. You never know whohas done what upstream.

The trail from Sanga first leadsthrough the cobblestone streets of thevillage. It carries a whiff of what theNewari towns of the Valley probablywere like before the roads came. Atthe centre of the town is a little pondflanked by old Newari houses with

garlands of red chilli peppers hangingout of the windows to dry. Beside thepond is a small statue of Lord Ganesh,to whom you can pay your respects asyou strike off across the terraced fieldsof freshly harvested rice.

Keep asking the locals for theNagarkot ko bato. There aremany trails, and not all roads herelead to Nagarkot. But if yougenerally follow the one that isparallel to the ridgeline and goes

more or less north you’re ok.After an hour or so, you will passscattered Tamang settlements, wherethe children come out to sell fruits, orrhododendron flowers when they arein season. By now, you are nearing7,000 ft, the air is fresh, the viewsfantastic and the forests near thesummit of Nagarkot alive with

birdlife. With the winter rains in earlyJanuary, the snow will be ankle deepat this altitude.

The summit of Nagarkot hasan ugly steel view tower --someone’s idea of a touristattraction. The arrow showingMt Everest at the top is alwayspointing in the wrong direction.Besides, Everest is a tiny speckfrom here and usually obscured byclouds or haze by the time you

reach there. If you want to avoidNagarkot bazaar, walk along theridge to Changu Narayan, the mostancient temple complex inKathmandu. Or walk right throughNagarkot and the touts sellingpostcards, before plunging straightdown to Kartike Bhanjyang.

Sankhu is another two hours’

downhill, and this is a beautiful part ofthe trail. By late afternoon the paddyfields are bathed in the golden sun,small rivulets reflect light that ismomentarily blinding, the sceniclandscape with solitary dogs barkingout of nowhere. From Sankhu, youcan take the bus to Kathmandu. Ifyou want to be picked up there anddropped off at Sanga by a privatevehicle, call Dhakal Baje at KantipurVehicle Service - 258129, 241477. �

�� by SALIL SUBEDI��

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�� 10 - 16 NOVEMBER 2000��

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by Kunda Dixit

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m a y o s

ew people know thatNepal is a butterflyparadise. It is a

lepidopterist’s dream-come-true.The kingdom is a Moth Super-power.

Mahendra Singh Limbu is toomodest to say it himself, but he isone of the few Nepali authoritieson Nepali butterflies. “I wasinterested in the outdoors sinceearly childhood, but my schoolingfurthered this interest evenmore,” says Limbu, who has beenworking diligently since highschool graduation to be abutterfly expert. Mahendra

doesn’t have a fancy foreignuniversity degree, and he doesn’tneed it. He is a self-taughtlepidopterist, he has travelledextensively across Nepal in thepast ten years to collect

specimens for Toshirop Haruta’sMoths of Nepal, and the unpub-lished Butterflies of Nepal.

Toshiro Haruta of Japan whohelped found the JapanHeterocerists Society, wasconsidered to be one of theleading experts in the world onlepidopterology, the science ofbutterflies and moths. Fivevolumes of Moths of Nepalwere published between1992-98, the only books onthe nocturnal moths foundin Nepal. The second partof their venture, Butterflies ofNepal never made it to the

press—Haruta passed away inSeptember 1996.

Mahendra’s research stoppedfor a while, and Nepal’s 670species and subspecies of butter-flies lost the attention they had

received from the duo. Butterflycollection started out as aneconomic venture just like collec-ting a Picasso or a Rembrandt,but Mahendra says that todaythese beautiful and fragile insectsare indicators of the health of theenvironment. Mahe-ndra comesoriginally from the hills ofTaplejung district, but has beenliving in Godavari since the early1970s—mainly because Nepal’streasure house of butter-flies andbirds on Phulchoki is right in hisbackyard! Mahendra leads groupson bird and butterfly-watchingexpeditions as a nature guide. It isin these walks that Mahendra is inhis element. He says: “The forestof Phulchoki is a paradise notonly for butterflies, but also forbirds.” And also, it seems, forthose who admire them. �

��

Yellow Swallowtail (Papilio machaon)

�he cabal of nine left parties and another alliance offour left parties (that makes a total of 13 leftparties in Nepal—more communist parties per

head than any othercountry on earth) havecalled for a two-dayban on fossil fuels nextweek. All 13 partiesdeserve to be nominated collectively for the RightLivelihood Award, also known as the Alternative NobelPrize. No other political party in the planetary systemhas shown the gonads to take such a progressive step tocurb the emission of greenhouse gases as has theCommunist Party of Nepal (Marxist-Leninist-Stalinist-Titoist-Trotskyite-Liu Shaoqi-Chou Enlai-DengXiaoping-Kim Il Sung). By the way, what’s it with ourcomrades that their role models are either hirsuteunsmiling fellows from Central Europe, or follicular-challenged men from Manchuria?

Be that as it may, in the final analysis it is not whotheir mentors are, but what their actions amount to.And on this score our comrades have shown acommitment to the world environment that goes waybeyond petty national interests. In theInternational Panel on Climate Change inKyoto, the rich countries agreed to cut backgreenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels, butno country is going as far as Nepal is:banning fossil fuels altogether. Granted,this is still only a token two-day bandh,

but it is a bold and courageous move and at the rate weare going the bans could be extended to weeks, and thenmonths. In a few years’ time, the idea is to shut thiscountry down completely. Nothing will move, and wewon’t need to import anymore fuel from anywhere everagain.

The question now is, given our open border, howare we going to enforce this ban? Our 13 left parties

need to think up creative newways to sabotage the internalcombustion engine. Here aresome quick do-able things wecan implement immediately

to enforce a fossil fuel ban:• Turn sparkplugs into cigarette lighters• Adulterate petrol and diesel with “thirst-pee” mineralwater

• Stick corks into the exhaust pipes of all four-wheelers,including ox carts

• Turn petrol pumps into dairy outlets• Distribute easy-to-assemble kits to all Nepalis so theycan convert motorcycles into hair dryers

• Cannibalise Pajeros to make sofa sets and garbagepick-ups

• Turn micro-buses into solar-powered microwaveovensOnce we do that, the CPN (MLSTTLCDK) will be

better placed to build a socialist paradise in Shangrila. �

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