Over the top

By Richa Neupane

A Cindrella story of one road’s journey from dust to pitch.

The Bagmati River Photo: Richa Neupane

I go to work through a route that winds along the foul-smelling Bagmati River, synonymous with Kathmandu’s trash bin. The road was constructed by the locals a few years back on a low budget. It is about ten meters wide dotted with potholes and stray cows. And its road-sides are dusty and filled with squatters. Yet, this road despite the foul smell and all that is more bearable than the sluggishness of the main route infested with perpetual traffic jams. Besides, even on the main route, one is bound to get stuck on top of the Bagmati bridge for at least ten minutes.

This alternate road seems to save everyone’s day. Even that of the Prime Minister!

The other day, for the third time this month, instead of bothering to clear up the little congested main road so that his ride can be smooth, the PM followed our route on the way to his Party’s office. A very good idea and a thoughtful one at that! Travelers back at the main road could at least continue their pace without attending to the signals of the security parading around him.

Maintenance in full swing, while the passers-by look on. Photo: Richa Neupane

What is appallingly apparent though is that now that the PM has begun to use this road, lo and behold, it is being renovated! Its narrow stretches are being widened. The dusty road-side is being cleaned. The wandering cows are being chased away. And the potholes are being covered. Perhaps the municipal people do not want these potholes to jolt the glasses off the PM’s nose while he peruses the budget proposal. Well, while they are at it, they might as well get rid of the squatters and clean up the river.

This is how ‘development’ occurs in my country. If I want a road, I have to wait for a VIP to want it first. If I want a constant flow of running water or 24 hours of electricity, I have to live where the dignitaries do. The only problem, I, like many, cannot afford to live near them. And what about the rural villages where the (nominal) state aid vanishes before it reaches them? They better start praying that (at the least) the next member of the Parliament is from their own.

“Nepal has experienced dramatic change in the past few decades, the pace of which exceeds that of any other time in its history. Indeed, the changes that have occurred between the 1950s and the present may exceed those of the preceding five centuries,” Scott Faiia writes in the Photo feature of our February issue where he compared his photographs of Kathmandu today from the pictures he had taken over the years. (If you haven’t had a chance to check them out, you can see the set here. There’s also an album at our Facebook fanpage.) It’s a point  that’s forcefully illustrated by recent events. Scott has emailed us with an update of a pair of pictures we ran. In the piece he wrote,  in reference to a building in Boudhanath, that despite the structural fidelity, “[t]he addiction of signboards and new shops has markedly changed the building’s character.”  Now, however, that facade may be visited with more drastic changes:

I was out at Boudha over Losar and walked by the building that was included in the photo essay of the February issue of Himal South Asia. The photos in the article were twenty one years apart but the physical structure of the building had not changed. I was quite shocked to see that the building was no longer there. Unfortunately it has been destroyed and a new modern concrete structure is under construction. We will have to wait to see what the exterior of the new building will look like. Hopefully it will blend harmoniously with the environment there.

I will be checking with the local community to see if they are aware how the new building was designed. I will also check with UNESCO to see if there are any regulations for construction at this World Heritage site.

1988

2009

2010

Scott would appreciate any updates of this building or any other buildings in the area. If you have any pictures comparing the past and present environs of the Boudhanath, post them on our Facebook fanpage (http://www.facebook.com/himal.southasian) or send us a mail to our web editor at alstond@himalmag.com. Scott will also keep us updated as he investigates further.

Our colonial brothers, who are similar to the colonels of our invincible and invisible army, have assisted us greatly in the sustainable development of our country and have firmly laid the foundations for our long awaited revolution.

The regular periodicity of bandhs organized by Mado dai’s party is a product of attending workshops and seminars under the supervision and guidance of our colonial brothers for many years. In their great generosity of providing funding for workshops and conferences, they have provided an army of incompetent plebs  to impart the knowledge of organization and event management to our illiterate milita. This is a boon in disguise. Our milita have now become incompetent, semi-literate and donor driven. But my fellow countrymen! They know how to organize and plan.

The schedule of events leading up to the formation of a New Year Party clearly shows a great deal of skill in organization and planning. Such an intricate plan must have been preceded by a visioning exercise and followed by a well defined division of labor. I salute Mao and our fellow revolutionaries of the red flag and white star.They have shown what a Nepali political party can organize if given the proper incentives.

It is also a great way to end the year and get rid of some older calenders.

- Kailo Dada, the strangely thoughtful one in the Nepali Dada Party

The Nepali Dada Party is proud to announce that it successfully conducted its first Carbon Free Day campaign across the nation! Copenhagen – you city of degenerate carbon based carbon emitting global warming creating bipeds! The revolution is neigh! The plants shall rise and consume you. Beware, for we are nature’s wrath!

The Party also takes extreme pride in announcing the successful torching and burning of a few carbon producing vehicles. While there was some carbon produced in the destruction of these vile things, the total net benefits compared to the life time of these vehicles justifies our action. The party also assures that some of the humans invovled in violating the Free Carbon Day were reminded of their eminent Carbon based lives.

We will continue to protest until, man and woman, as one, shed their clothes and give up their shoes, once again entering the garden of Eden that is now popularly known as Kailali. God wants you back eve, he has forgiven us in his grand grace. Once the Nepali Dada party enters Eden, we shall truly bring the revolution to its conclusion – God shall become one with man or face the guillotine.

C for D from NDP!

- Kancho Dada, Communications and PR Manager of the Nepali Dada Party

Kathmandu is half way between Delhi and Calcutta, and less than half way between Delhi and Dhaka. On this track, the Himalaya is seen as a faraway line of snow mountains. It is when you fly into Kathmandu or Paro airports that you dip into the mountains themselves, and the individual peaks loom large.

A distinctive change to flying in and out of Kathmandu is about to occur now that India and Nepal have agreed to a new air passage to New Delhi and beyond. The old flight path took you east and south from Kathmandu Valley, over Lucknow, where the plane takes a 40 degree right hand turn. If you have a right hand seat, then you can see the capital of Avadh spread out below the wings, Hazratganj, the stadium, the Gomti river, and Mahanagar across it.

This view is about to be history. The westbound aircraft out of Kathmandu are now set to shun Lucknow, and follow Nepali territory all the way to the western border river of Mahakali, thereafter to turn southward to Delhi or continue on to Pakistan, the Gulf and Europe.

While I will miss the view of Lucknow, I am looking forward to the new sights on the Kathmandu-Westbound leg. The peaks of Gorkha Himal, Annapurna and Dhaulagiri are old friends, visible on the current route. With the new flight path, I look forward to spotting the two peaks of the far west of Nepal, Api and Sapial, and a closer acquaintance with the Garhwal, Kumaon and Himachal Himalaya.

Peering over the Himalayan rimland while flying at 30+ thousand feet along the Western Nepal Tarai, I wonder if the Changtang plains of the Tibetan plateau will be visible. And whether, amidst the Changtang, one can see Mount Kailash. I sincerely hope so.

-Kanak Mani Dixit