Few thoughts on the “modernization” of Kathmandu

There is a sudden growth of “Western” style buildings in Kathmandu. A mushrooming of three to four storey houses with glass as their main façade. Everywhere the eyes meet the dreadful sight of ugly, stunted skyscrapers. A pitiful attempt to “modernize” the city of ancient temples. This sudden conversion of our city is analogous to many of the changes we seem to have made to our life styles.

Due to a sense of Western Universalism, we have come to unquestionably accept anything that the western nations do to be the standard by which we measure ourselves. Their art, their buildings, their food, their music, their history, their language is deemed modern, while our heritage, our art, our language, our dress is backward and orthodox. We need to stop equating modernity and Westernization. This dichotomy between Westernization and modernity is a very powerful idea. The west doesn’t have, nor does it claim to have, a monopoly over the definition of progress. Progress and science are not western concepts; they are universal. We can take the most modern of ideas and use it to fit into those aspects of our culture that are good, but which need to adjust to the change in environment. We need to realize that we can preserve our heritage through modernity. At the same time we can also use the modern ideas to challenge those assumptions in our society that we have for granted. I would rather eliminate the nonsense of “my” culture with the borrowed sense from others, but it is also true that I would keep the sense of my culture over the nonsense that I am blindly borrowing from other.

This reckless growth of ugly “modern” building in Kathmandu is a result of a deeply infested mentality of inferior complexity. We can have the tallest and the most modern of building while still preserving the architecture of our past. One of the few intellectually designed and aesthetically pleasing buildings in the city is the Dwarika Hotel. The Dawrika’s is an example of how traditional architecture can be “adapted to the needs of the modern world”. The Dwarika should be hailed as the symbol of the modern nepali. A Nepali that salute the finest in its culture while always flexible to progress and adaptation with time.