A well-known leader once said that every citizen is entitled to a house and a milch cow. Fulfilling that was defined as socialism. This vision has almost come true in Mirge village in Dolakha district. Here every household has a latrine and the villagers are engaged in a campaign to build biogas plants. We don't know what the situation in the village was 40 years ago when the politician promised all villagers a home and a cow. But today no one in the village is homeless, and we know this because they are talking about building not homes, but a latrine in every home. We understand that every home in Mirge also has cows, because without cows to produce dung, there would have been no talk of biogas. BP Koirala's dream of some 40 or 45 years ago has come true, if only in this village. In other words, Mirge has achieved socialism.

Does that give one a sense of how long it can take for the dreams we dream today to come true? We can easily assume that the people of the village might now be dreaming of roads, telephones, hospitals, drinking water and schools. The younger generation may even be dreaming of computers and colour televisions. At least 40 years ago we had a leader who had a vision of giving "one home and a cow" to every family. Today we don't even have someone who will dare say something like "the Internet in every home"-even if it just for the sake of saying something. Whatever the motivation, whether BP's slogan or whether the desire came from the villagers themselves, Mirge has set an example by building toilets and biogas plants. We need similar campaigns in other parts of Nepal. Maybe that would happen if Mirge village were Kathmandu and Singha Darbar, the VDC office.