Imperceptive Literates

As the last of the sunlight climbs out of the valleys, so the fear settles in for the hours of darkness. In one world, the people are struggling to keep themselves warm for the night and wondering whether they will wake up in the morning to see the face of the morrow. Yet, the people living in another world, not so far away, are busy preparing for a drinking binge that is to last the entire night- completely oblivious to what the morrow holds for them. Fear? What fear? While the inhabitants of the formerly depicted world writhe in fear with every gunshot that breaks the eerie silence of the cold night, the residents of the latter tap their feet to the latest rhythms in town. Surprisingly, both these worlds exist in one little country nestled in the majestic grandeur of the Himalayas- Nepal. Shockingly, these two worlds lead a simultaneous coexistence, barely a hundred miles adrift of one another. While one world consists of the rugged mountainous countryside that lies beyond the mountains surrounding the Kathmandu valley, the other refers to the bustling metropolis of Kathmandu itself.

Sadly enough, this is the way things currently stand in Nepal. While the Maoist insurgency has gnawed its way gradually to the hills to the west of Kathmandu and is threatening the very fabric of Nepalese society itself, the people living in Kathmandu live their lives without a worry in the world- completely oblivious to the hardship that those living in the rural areas are going through every day. While three quarters of a million Nepalese living in the valley have thirty thousand security personnel on guard to guarantee their safety, a mere fifty thousand seek to do the same for the other twenty four million citizens living in other parts of the kingdom. The social and economic disparity that exists between the two worlds is difficult to imagine. While most of the youth in Kathmandu hero-worship stars such as Eminem and try and impersonate them in any way they can, many people living in the “forgotten areas” of the country have not even seen a camera, let alone watching a film. The gulf between the two worlds is so wide that it is difficult to pen it down in words.

The absence of state governments in Nepal ensures that most of the money collected in the form of tax revenues goes into the development of Kathmandu- most of what remains goes into the coffers of the politicians, rather than the coffers of the state, where it legitimately belongs. The result is that while Kathmandu has developed at quite a decent pace over the last decade and a half, the rest of the country still yearns for basic amenities such as running water and supply of electricity. The sad part of the story is that most of the money that is spent on Kathmandu has been obtained from taxpayers living in industrial towns such as Biratnagar and Birgunj. Yet, development in towns such as these has virtually stagnated. So dependent is the capital on the rest of the country that even fruits and vegetables and meat have to be transported into the valley from nearby towns. The extent of Kathmandu’s dependence on the rest of the country for all its major supplies was illustrated when the Maoists blocked all roads into the valley- rising prices being the consequence.

Most of the youth in Kathmandu are literate, yet they are either completely ignorant of what happens beyond the hills that surround them, or worse, they are not bothered in the least bit. The youth’s obsession with the latest fads and their desire to be ‘cool’ and ‘trendy’ have driven them into an intellectual abyss. Despite their education, very few of them are learned. With this being the state of affairs, it is no wonder that eighty-somethings still occupy the top posts in Nepal’s administration.

The political problems aside, the government’s utter disregard for the rest of the nation besides Kathmandu, coupled with the intellectual void that characterizes a large proportion of the youth do not bode well for the nation’s future. Lack of economic development as a result of the government’s detachment with large parts of the country will only instigate more people to voice their discontent and further polarize an already fractured social structure that exists in Nepal today. Faced by the scale of the unrest sweeping the countryside, precious few bridges need to be built to help bring a divided nation together again. The two worlds need to be brought together as one. At this juncture though, fear and uncertainty loom in the air as each day rolls into the next, unfortunately hastening the pace of Nepal’s journey to becoming a failed state.