Reading Pashupati Shumshere JB Rana's interview ("I will work to bridge the gap between the king and parties", #125) reminded me of Prof Northcote Parkinson's dilemma in selecting a suitable prime minister for the Republic of Ruritania in his book "Inlaws and Oulaws". Mr Rana meets all the criteria for premiership: great-grandson of Sri 3 Chandra, grandson of Mohan ("the last of the Mohicans") and son-in-law of the Scindias (the role models for the transition from princely state to potential head of state), Oxford educated, etc.

Field Marshal Kaiser too had the same ambition of Lord Curzon, one of them was to become the prime minister of England. He brought a Rolls Royce on his way back from London after his tenure as ambassador in the Court of St James. He hung it from the ceiling of his garage covered with a mosquito net at Kaiser Mahal. But after 2007 BS, he moved around Kathmandu in a Mahindra and Mahindra jeep.

When Queen Elizabeth II visited Nepal in 1961, she was inadvertently escorted in a Mercedes Benz. To avoid another faux pas when Pandit Nehru came visiting, the Field Marshal offered his Rolls. When the car was taken to the Palace for a rehearsal, Kaiser's driver drove the Rolls, while he followed in his jeep. The car was later sold to an Englishman and was shipped back where it came from.

Kaiser himself was conferred the title of Field Marshal though he never actually participated in any battle. The reason for recapping all this trivia is to remind Pashupati, the "Nati General", that history is making a full circle and the analogy should be quite clear to him.

Sushil Kumar,
by email