It was just two weeks ago, but it feels like ages have passed. It is like that with bad things: you don't want to remember. And in this Kingdom of Amnesia, we are especially good at pushing aside memories, and not learning lessons. So it seems now like a bad dream-those two days of sudden violence. As swiftly as it flared, the flames died: a paral ko aago, like a haystack in flames. All that remains today is the scorched asphalt at the Baneswor crossing, the shattered Bata sign in Mangal Bazaar, the crumpled Gupta Bhojanalaya in New Road. What is also left is the bereavement of families whose children were killed, the scars in the psyche of those on Kathmandu streets who were mistaken for being from somewhere else. And for the others, there is the frightening spectre of what we are capable of doing and how little it takes to get us to do it.
So, two weeks later we are back to where we started. Our leaders in the ruling party are still snarling at each other, and the fight is about distributing the power to plunder. No one has any illusions about it anymore: this has never been an ideological battle over the best and quickest path to development and social justice-it is a Darwinian struggle involving the political survival of the least scrupulous. The problem is that one faction has monopolised the spoils of power, and the other one wants a piece of the action. Do they stop to think that pretty soon the coffers will be empty and there will be nothing left to fight about?
The Congress' Kumbha Mela in Pokhara this weekend promises some pyrotechnics, but nothing major-just another boring bout between Girija Koirala and the mentors of Sher Bahadur Deuba. No one expects a real resolution of the crisis of leadership and governance in this country post-Pokhara. And even though the Prime Minister, who is also party supremo, seems to have got his electoral sums right and will probably keep both posts, this is unlikely to do anything to placate the Deuba squad. Koirala sits on two chairs, and the rebels will continue trying to pull both chairs from under him.
So nothing has really changed, except this feeling of free fall. The government is getting ready to arm a paramilitary force, and international arms dealers are circling like vultures. The ruling party had better sort out its power struggle for this country's sake, if not their own. Just look at the alternative. Trapped by the irreversible slogans of their own revolution, the ultra-left is inviting a crisis that could one day even cost us our independence. Those on the far right are set on a course of democratic reversal. And what does the government do? It plays petty games by blocking news and current affairs on FM, forgetting that rumours like the ones that fanned the flames last month can only be countered by open, transparent and responsible media.
Scapegoating selected media, and blaming the messenger is not going to mask the incompetence of a government that demanded an apology from a foreign actor for something he never said. Banning news on FM is the kind of decision we have come to expect from officials so insecure that they are afraid of their own shadow.
Waiting for spring
All right, this was a bad winter. The only thing to break the monotony of haze and frost was the fierce heat of burning rubber on the streets. And to top it all, you couldn't buy kerosene when the price was hiked, and again you couldn't buy it when the price was slashed. Then we found out it was because all the kerosene was being used to dilute our diesel. Then came the gas shortage. Subsidised kitchen gas powers three-wheelers, which the government in its infinite wisdom has allowed to roam our streets so we can embark on the search for cylinders to cook our meals with. So don't blame us for slipping into cynical mode, it is getting harder and harder to keep this upper lip stiff, and the chin up. One consolation is that things have to bottom out, and it will get better once it gets worse.
But at least the sun has begun its return to our hemisphere and someday soon we will start feeling our homes, offices and blood getting warmer. The birds will return, the bees will buzz and the streets will be leafy again. And maybe the tourists will be back. This cruel winter must draw to a close, and then spring can't be far behind.
