Campaigning for the constituent assembly elections is well and truly underway. Since the polls will essentially be a referendum on the monarchy, Girija Prasad Koirala is in favour of 'ceremonial monarchy' and Pushpa Kamal Dahal insists the interim constitution abolish it altogether.
What these two astute Brahmin men are gambling on is that they have gauged public opinion rightly. Koirala figures there is still support for some form of monarchy, although not for an absolute one. Dahal hopes that by the time the polls come around in 2007 his party can convince or coerce the electorate to go republican.
Ultimately it is King Gyanendra's unpopularity and his son's notorious reputation that help the republican cause more than anything Dahal says or does. And how the royal family conducts itself in the coming year will determine the way people vote.
If it were only about the monarchy, this would be fairly straightforward. But the military's allegiance to the palace and Koirala's appeasement of the army have complicated things. To be sure, as long as the Maoists are still armed it is logical for the government to use the army as a deterrent to ensure stability, and we understand there is tacit support for this from the international community.
But the appointment of hardline general Rukmangat Katuwal as chief of army staff, delays in pushing army reform, and inadequate changes to the Army Act arouse suspicion that the prime minister is a bit too beholden to the brass.
Future reforms must address the need to open court martials to the public through media, allow appeals to the Supreme Court for all decisions by military courts, civilian jurisdiction for violations of civil law, and oversight by the Auditor General of all military spending.
Reforms in the military are not intended to weaken or demoralise the rank and file, but to make sure that the Nepal Army is a professional, modern, depoliticised force that is finally freed from its feudal straitjacket.
Happiness
By all accounts, Mitralal 'Balak' Adhikari was a renaissance man. A teacher, journalist, political activist and poet. What made this UML cadre take his own life by jumping off the Dharara on Monday? What comes first: hope or happiness?
According to the first 'World Atlas of Happiness' we are the 119th happiest place in the world. And yet, there is an epidemic of suicides sweeping the land. Others are leaving the country, and those who stay have misery writ large on their faces.
But there is contentment on the faces of bank defaulters, soldiers charged with human rights violations and Maoists who have brutal deeds on their conscience.
How do you find happiness in this confusion? Bertrand Russell in The Conquest of Happiness unravels the causes of sadness and misery: a melancholic temperament, unnecessarily competitive spirit, boredom and excitement, fatigue, envy, self-loathing, persecution mania, and fear of public opinion. Russell thinks zest, affection, family, work, impersonal interests, and resignation together produce 'The Happy Man'.
Russell's conclusions are strikingly similar to those of ancient Hindu texts and Buddhist philosophy: happiness lies in '.the ability to swim with the stream of life'. You only tire yourself by trying to push the river to the sea, it will reach there anyway because that's its destiny. Go with the flow, say the sages, for that's our destiny too.
