HARDER TO REBUILD: A strategic bridge at Sarai Naka in Kapilbastu that the Maoists tried to blow up three times is finally being repaired. Traffic has to make a 3km detour while the bridge is made safe again.
(KUNDA DIXIT)

On the first anniversary of the April Uprising, there is cynicism inside the Ring Road. In most other parts of the country there is hope for the future.

Many people from Jhapa to Kanchanpur that we spoke to in the past week count their blessings: the end to fighting, the dramatic achievements of the past year from the ceasefire to the interim government, mainstreaming of the Maoists, being able to travel along the highways without checkpoints, the night buses running again, police posts being re-established, and a general feeling that things are returning to normal.

But the expected peace dividend is conspicuously missing. The people expected the government to be efficient about service delivery, about fast-tracking showcase projects like the Sindhuli Highway or the Hetauda shortcut to the tarai, about quick decisions on hydropower. But all they got were fuel shortages, power cuts, and a business-as-usual attitude. Only the army seems to have its wits about itself and has rushed the completion of the Karnali Highway to Jumla.

The eight parties now need to focus on development, the economy. These things do not have to wait for elections, and ignoring them creates conditions not just for anarchy and lawlessness, but for another, far messier revolution.

Nepalis in the districts seem to have a totally different set of priorities than the leaders of the eight parties. They don't understand why everyone is getting so worked up about postponement of the constituent assembly election. If the country is not ready for it, postpone till after Dasain, what's the fuss about dates, they say.

There is similar apathy about the king, most people are neither die-hard republicans nor die-hard monarchists. In fact, there is a what-do-you-expect attitude about Kathmandu's self-obsession with the trappings of power.

Making the same mistakes over and over again still has its consequences. The political choices are still there, it's about choosing the correct fork on the road. And that can be left to the people at election time.

How about listening to the people, instead of whipping them into a frenzy over every small thing? It's not enough anymore to say the right things, you have to do the right things. Nepalis across Nepal see through your self-righteous grandstanding. You can't fool all the people all the time.