A Citizens Letter to the New Prime Minister

Congratulation Dr. Bhattarai, to you and your family! We wish you all the best for the future. May you be a better leader than we hope, and are hitherto accustomed to.

I have no doubt that you shall find your term in office challenging and awfully frustrating. You now bear responsibility for a politically fragmented country that has lost trust in its leaders and has been robbed of optimism. These are times when grand decisions must be made with urgency and wisdom. A balance many consider impossible.

Having irreparably cast off the shadows of 240 years of apathy we find ourselves ill prepared to face what we were promised would be a better future. Years of wasted opportunity and petty squabbling have undermined the aspirations with which we poured onto the streets in April 2006. And while the political future of the present Constituent Assembly members will be determined in time, the future of the nation and all its citizens is under threat.

While we recognize that the tangles of the political system ensure that you will not govern us alone, you alone will be held responsible for the accomplishments of your administration. The moral obligation of the CA is the completion of the peace process and ensuring we have a constitution within the prescribed time. Anything less will be deemed a failure. Is that fair? I don't know. I wish it were different, but it isn't.

You, being an educated man, carry additional burden of expectations. We, as a people, keep telling ourselves that our politicians are fools because they are uneducated, and if only we were to have an educated person leading us, we could overcome the perils of these testing times. As of right now, you’ve become a symbol of what an educated Nepali can offer this wronged nation, and if you disappoint there is much to grieve over. Have no illusion, we will hold you to a higher standard than we have held your predecessors.

We hope you remember –what many forget –that you are a public servant. Through you were voted in by the few elected members, we the people legitimize you and your office. Your priorities are to represent the nation and its interest. The interests of you party, your friends, and yourself are and must be subservient. Keep in mind that the country suffers each day under the brutal incompetence of the system you now have the reins of. How best to ease that pain is up to you?

Also know this: regardless of how you govern us in the next few months, and what its consequences are, the resilience of the Nepali people will ensure we survive this political hurricane. We have endured much and are thick skinned to political belittlement. But when our patience runs out, it will give way to an anger that has shaped the course of our history time and again. When the dust settles we will hold each of you accountable for wasting our time, resources, and hopes. I only pray we act more responsible than you and your colleagues.

We don’t expect great things from you. We only hope you do your duty.
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and the Lucky winner is...

Nepali politics reminds me of a sport, but I can’t seem to remember which one.

Cricket? Nah, that’s requires integrity. How about Football? Nope, it requires team work.
Perhaps Tennis? No. Chess? Close but not quite.

Common on, you know the game. It’s based solely on individual push and shove. No team work involved. No scope for corporation. No give and take. Its requires very little skill and excellent timing.

Anything? Any idea? More hint? Okay.

Winning the game always gets you a handsome prize; which the winner flaunts in the face of the prize giver like an annoying child teasing its parents. Also, in all their impudence, the winner uses the prize to seduce other players into playing more games. More games mean more opportunities to win.

And the dance carries on. Push and shove till there is a winner. The winner gets a prize. The possibility of winning that prize lures people to carry on playing the game. All is dandy except for the person giving away the prizes. Every time there is a new winner grand spoils are doled out to the victor. Ever wondered where the money comes from?

I swear the name of the game is on the tip of my tongue. What is it?

Polo? no. no. no. Elephant polo? you’re just being silly now.

"Mother father swear"* it’s almost there. Yes.

Eureka! Eureka! Yes, I remember.

It reminds of musical chairs. That’s it. A selfish dance round chairs where the sole purpose is to eliminate the other players –by hook or crook –till there is only one winner. And the winner is rewarded handsomely by the prize giver –that’s us, the general public.

Except this is worse. Nepali politics is nonstop game of musical chairs that’s fixed. If you let me win this time, I’ll let you win the next time and in the end we all are winner. I apologize if I said Nepali politicians can’t cooperate? Thick as thieves the lot of them!

Like any fixed game there needs to be a show of competition to avoid suspicion. 5 point agreement, 2 point agreement, 7 point agreement followed by months of disagreements on the agreements already agreed to be agreed upon. He says this, shouts at that all the while confounding us till we stop caring. Yet, like fools, we give out Pajeroes and clear the roads for the prime minister. And the dance goes on.

If we move to stop the game they scare us witless with threats of incomplete peace processes and standing armies. And so the dance goes on.



* mother father swear- in desi lingo that is the most serious oath of honor one can possibly take.

Freaky Love Song of an Geek.

------------------------------------------------
I am addicted to you.
As if you were the never ending seduction of Facebook.
you open more windows into my soul
than Google has pages.

ages to come will copy and paste
our story in their lives and blogs
to unclog poetry-less hearts
reciting mantras in our praise,
Saying “these were love, real lover, true lover.
They skyped their amour through tentacle of time and space”.
Yes, we are lover, real lovers, true lover.
Indeed we have routed
through the precarious web of 1G, and 2G, and 3G, and 4G
In my nights and your days
And your nights and my days.

I promise to Explore
my way to you.
and if I fail I will follow
the trail lit ablaze by the burning fox
and it will guide me through the
tempting hoax of having won things I don’t want
cause all I want is you
I want to slide my fingers through the touch screen of your face
I realize your body has more apps than my soul has space
so I’ll save you
little by little in my lungs, and toes and knees.
And if I crash
Your one tweet can bring back my wits.
and in the off chance jealously hacks into my system and deletes you,
remember you are the password to my soul
and the secret answer too.

Its time to get ready for Christmas?

With Friends Like These Who Needs Enemies.

“Also, with the dream America everyone carries round in his head, America the Beautiful, Langston Hughes’s country that never existed but needed to exist –with that, like everyone else, I was thoroughly in love. But ask the rest of the world what America meant and with one voice the rest of the world answered back. Might, it means Might. A power so great that it shapes our daily lives even though it barely knows we exist, it couldn’t point to us on a map. America is no finger-snapping bopster. It’s a fist.”

- Salman Rushdie, The Ground Beneath her Feet

We react differently to the news of death. Were rejoice when the baddy vanquished, cry when heroes die, swear revenge when innocent are killed. But, let’s face it, if the killing or death -even of the innocent- happens in a far off land to people with names we can’t pronounce we don’t give two hoots. We read about it, think about how horrible it is and move on. Ignorance is bliss, the pleasures of apathy and so on and so forth.

"They call it "bug splat", the splotch of blood, bones, and viscera that marks the site of a successful drone strike. To those manning the consoles in Nevada, it signifies "suspected militants" who have just been "neutralised"; to those on the ground, in most cases, it represents a family that has been shattered, a home destroyed." writes Muhammad Idrees Ahmad in his article Fighting Back against the CIA drone war. Imagine the helplessness, the anger, the need for vengeance when a drone attacks a village. Its amazing that someone sitting in Nevada can destroy a village near Rawalpindi, but what is even more mind blowing is: that someone in tribal Pakistan will never know who destroyed his house. This videogamization of war has real consequences.

More than anything else drone attacks have been an major issue for the Pakistanis. It kills innocent civilians, it is extra judicial in nature, it violates Pakistan’s national sovereignty and a whole range of complains that help feed the national paranoia and conspiracy theories already abundant in Pakistan. Drone attacks are not worth it. For those who view the world through the bifocality of cost benefit analysis let just say the cost outweigh the benefits.

This aggressiveness has become the public face of America. The face that the common man with common problem in Pakistan sees. When the mighty American “fist” swings it's their jaws that receive the blow. No wonder the American image is this bad. No one sees the aid money -most of it is lost in the many pockets in line between Washington and Islamabad, and then between Islamabad and the provinces. The US troop withdrawal has begun. Fear is abound in Pakistan that has inherited a war and millions of displaced and desperate people. And while it’s easy for America to pack their bags and check out it’s the Pakistanis that have to live in the mess.

And this time it’s different from the 1990’s. The geopolitical reality of the region has changed. The last time a superpower power left Afghanistan, Pakistan helped the Taliban fill the vacuum and bring stability, at what ever the cost, to the region. But after 10 years of war, and 60 years of political mismanagement and corruption Pakistans economy is hanging by the branch. Anytime the international partners and aid agencies pull the rug, Pakistan will have a real trouble in its hand. The war has left Pakistan broke, unstable and weak; nation building in Afghanistan has failed and with America itching to get on the plane back home Pakistani have been left to wonder was it really worth it? For them USA is the double faced one. The friend that acts like a foe, a friend that disrespects its national sovereignty. An ally.. ya right!!

No one knows if OBL was hidden by Pakistan or it was an intelligence failure; whatever it was its messed up the US-Pakistan relation. And if people are serious about mending the relationship, using drones that kill civilians is not the wisest way to go.

Darshan Rauniyar Goes to Washington.

Darshan Rauniyar declares his run for the U.S. Congress and the Nepali diaspora in America is abuzz with pride. We shower him with praise and call him the “Nepali Gaurav”, the pride of Nepal, and beckon every Nepali from coast to coast to support him. A Nepali in Congress, what a sight that would be!

But before you get catch the “lets help Darshan because he’s from Nepal” flu, take a step back, hold your horses if you may, and think about what you are doing and what the stakes are.

There is nothing wrong in expressing solidarity with people you share commonalities with. It is only natural to feel affinity towards someone who has beaten the odds, especially if he is the first of a kind. And Darshan has indeed broken grounds for the future generation of the Nepali diaspora. But in our nationalistic frenzy we must remind ourselves that he deserves our support not merely because he is a Nepali but also because he has his own ideas and positions on issues that Americans think are important.

There is much more to Darshan than him being a Nepali. His stance on the economy, immigration reform, women rights, education and American foreign policy are noteworthy. And that is more important than the venue of this birthplace. Dr. King once said he wants his kids to “live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character,” so be it with Darshan. It’s only fair. I say question the content of his character. Question him about where he stands on the important issues of the day, issues that matter to the Nepali community as much as they matter to any other community in America.

I have talked to Darshan and I believe he has answers, and he is willing to give them provided we ask (lets be real, he is in politics after all. And limiting him solely as the “First Nepali to run for Congress” would hurt his chances more than help it.

But if you are looking for Nepal specific reasons to rally behind his cause I hope these help: his presence in the Congress can contribute considerably to better U.S-Nepal relations. His closeness with the old country can only benefit it. Plus, he will be understanding to the problems facing the Nepali American diaspora, and Nepal in general. His presence in Congress ensures we have a voice in the House -a luxury we haven’t had thus far.

However, let us be clear in our expectations. Darshan is not a running to be the Representative of Nepal to the U.S Congress; he is an American concerned about the people of the 1st Congressional District in Washington State who so happens to be Nepali. And as such his first responsibility is towards the people of the United States, and the people of this district. They are his constituency and expecting anything else is shallow on our parts.

The biggest help we can give Darshan right now is to educate ourselves about him, spread the word and raise funds.

Having a voice in Congress does not come cheap. It takes a proper campaign to get to Congress and a proper campaign needs money.

So go to his website. Read about him. Decided whether you agree or disagree with the issues he plans to raise, and the position he plans to take; if you do then support him. It’s only the American (and Nepali) thing to do!

In defense of the Nepali government?!?

I apologize for starting on a defensive note. But any accusations of my surrender of integrity, or financial enrichment arising from this blog post is a purely fictional i.e. I have not been paid to write what I have written.

Having said that, let’s get on with the question at hand: Do we blame the Government (Nepali) more than necessary? And by Government I don’t mean this government or any governments prior to this one. I mean the institution of Government.

Reading the newspaper today, I wasn't a least bit surprised to find at least 3 different groups threatening agitation against the Government if its demands were not fulfilled–their words not mine. And this is not new; three groups threating agitation within hours of each other is simply a snapshot of larger problem.

The already rotting political (dis)order in Nepal is challenged day in and day out by groups that “demand” and “threaten”. No one wants to sit down and debate what these demands are, what the consequences of these demands might be, and why the government should fulfill them. For example, yesterday the Private and Boarding Schools' Association of Nepal(PABSON) handed out a 20-day ultimatum to the government to fulfil its five-point demand to scrap the 1% education tax, saying the “one percent education service tax has only added economic burden to the parents' woes and maintained that it was against the government commitment to free education.” O wait a minute now, let’s think about that for a moment. So PABSON does not want private schools, to pay a 1 % tax because of the "government’s commitment to free education". O really, but what about the often humongous fees PABSON schools charges its students? Where will that money go?

Further, “PABSON has also demanded its representation in every committee formed by the Ministry of Education (MoE), Department of Education, District Education Offices and other government bodies.” lol. Why on earth would the government agree to a set up in which PABSON can hold the education system hostage when it feels like? I pick on PABSON because it was recently in the news, but a host of organizations have been known to do the same. Anti-Government agitation always gets the people excited, doesn't it?

Our distrust of the government is often legitimate. But just because the Government is "the Government" does not make it wrong in everything it does. Let’s look at the Government’s actions on a case by case bases rather than passing a sweeping judgment on its incompetence.

The fear of reasonable dialogue falling on deaf ears has such a grip on everyone that the only option left is “demand” and “threaten”. And while this interest group menaces the government for this, another group is pestering the government for an opposite that.

And what is the government limited by political will, resources and priorities. Should the government be addressing the needs of the Christian community threatening agitation if government does not grant them land, or should it be concerned about the Chinese, or the threats of Madhesi parties blocking the budget, or should it be concerned about locals disrupting hydropower plant development, or the problem with army integration, or the concerns of the indigenous people, or working out the constitution?

Is it true that Nepal politician’s lacks accountability? Yes. Is it true that governance in Nepal is weak? Yes. Is it true that our politicians suffer from the acute lack of competence? yes, most of them ( lets give them the benefit of doubt). Is it true that the bureaucracy is laden with dead weight and red tapism? Yes. Is it true that we elected our representatives? Yes. Is it true that we need to change the way our Government works? Yes. Yes. Yes. But is senseless demand making and threats the only real way forward?

The major failure of the Nepali civil society, judicial system and the Government is the failure to create space for dialogue. A national obsession of a zero-sum game has taken over us. An either or mentality. In these years of crisis there is an tacit fear that if things do not before the constitution is written, it is all over! The golden opportunity to turn the tide will forever be missed. Are these fears legitimate? Only the future will tell. But by acting on these fears through a tactic that destroys the present we ensure that the future is bleak.