The honeymoon period is over. It is at this point that marriages start going rocky. But for the royal regime, relations with the outside world are actually getting easier.

New Delhi set the tone by deciding to resume military supplies that had remained "under review" since February First. Christina Rocca added credence to the softening international stance simply by arriving here via New Delhi. As if the meaning of her private meetings with government officials wasn't abundantly clear, she publicly asked political parties to make common cause with the king to fight Maoists. Perhaps King Gyanendra's allusion in his interview to Time magazine ("It's fair to say that those who should have known [what I was planning] knew, and those who should not, simply did not.") was intentional, and his initial disappointment at the severity of international reaction was quite genuine.

The Maoists contributed to the 100-day celebrations by self-inflicting spectacular defeats in suicidal attacks on Monday night at some of the best-guarded army bases along the East-West Highway.

That the Americans would go soft was predictable. From the Shah to Marcos to Musharraf, the Americans don't really care as long as strongmen are friendly. Ambassador James Moriarty had dropped ample hint of an American rethink on the royal takeover in his recent talk to the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. .

The Indian U-turn was more surprising and seems to have shocked the parties. In what amounts to a sharp rebuke to Girija Prasad Koirala, New Delhi decided to re-open the military pipeline barely a day after the leader of the seven party alliance made a public plea to Nepal's international friends not to do so in an interview to the BBC Hindi service.

The Indian defence establishment seems mighty miffed at Girijababu. They have risked alienating the Nepali people just to get even with political leaders they don't like. Other reasons being offered by the Indo-American alliance to resume arms supplies lack credibility. Despite the lifting of the state of emergency, the security situation did not warrant a policy swing on this scale. Especially because democracy is in limbo.

Outside the bubble of Kathmandu Valley, violence is intensifying. The International Crisis Group reports 655 people, many of them civilians, were killed in the last three months. It's a tragedy of our times that statues of past rulers are guarded day and night by armed soldiers in the capital while unprotected citizens across the country are left to fend for themselves.

The national economy is hurting from the fall of remittances from India, the country from which we import all our essential items. To make matters worse, tourist arrivals from India fell by 33 percent compared to last year. The effects of the royal takeover on institutions of governance have been even more devastating. The process of state building begun after 1990 stands derailed.

The establishment of a competent police force, an efficient civil service, an independent judiciary, the rule of law, and a professional and disciplined military under legitimate civilian control are some of the fundamental features of a functional state. The state gains legitimacy when it is not formed by force, but by consent of the people expressed through democratic process.

A legitimate state is forced to be accountable by a vibrant civil society and free press.

Admittedly, the political parties didn't set a particularly shiny record in promoting these values. But the direct rule of the palace since 4 October 2002 has uprooted the shoots of democracy. We now have to re-inventing the wheel of democracy all over again.