Emerging out of the morning fog at Tripureswor one morning this week was an elephant in full regalia with mahout and pachuwa in attendance. Hoisted on three sides of a howdah atop the pachyderm were larger-than-life pictures of Crown Prince Paras. The elephant was leading a parade of Nepali athletes and sports people to wish His Royal Highness happy birthday.

We welcome public displays of affection and respect towards our royal family. Despite the tragedy of 2001 and the current triangular confrontation between the king and the political parties and the Maoists, Nepal's monarchy and royal family is still a valuable symbol of our national unity, nationhood and their role is embedded in our culture and traditions. The political parties currently confronting the king seem to have lost track of who their real enemy is.

This public support for monarchy may be hidden, but it is genuine and spontaneous. It doesn't have to be whipped up. In fact, it is counterproductive to try to whip it up. A rent-a-crowd rally doesn't help the monarchy in these trying times when it is under attack from politicians flirting with republicanism and Maoists fighting for it.

Genuine supporters of the monarchy are nervous about these sterile rallies that lend an artificial flavour to a sensibility that is already wholesome and heartfelt. If there is a royal PR problem, this is not the way to address it. And we have it on good authority that it is making even hardline monarchists squirm.

Once again, there is a strong sense of d?j? vu. At least during the Panchayat years we knew what was what-these days every time you listen to state radio or television the treacly tributes and fanatic flattery from people who are more royal than the king make it all sound like a parody of Panchayat times.

But times have changed. The Nepali people are much more sophisticated, and see right through the rhetoric. You should hear what is being said in the tea shops as people watch the television coverage of the preparations in Biratnagar. The sycophants who masterminded these events may think that they are drumming up support for the king, but they are achieving the opposite. The monarch needs to meet the people more often and more closely, but this is not the way to organise it, or cover it in the media. Sycophancy only helps the enemies of monarchy. It is a tragedy of our times that something as self-evident as this even needs to be said.