By Col Prem Bahadur Thapa (Retd)
It wasn’t really surprising that besides the country-wide effort that went into resurrecting the magnificence of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya, the sacred stone used to sculpt Lord Rama and Janaki’s most sacred idols came from Kali Gandaki River in Nepal. That’s not the first nor the last of the lasting impressions of the two country’s cultural ties that transcend all manmade boundaries. Thus, its changing prospects can be both pleasant while also demanding thoughtful consideration because the former Himalayan Kingdom is now a Republic with more ambitions, drawing attention from other countries also.
In keeping with many established traditions between the two countries that have stood the test of time, one of our senior Army Commanders was on a periodic visit to the county recently in the capacity of ‘The Colonel of the Regiment: Gorkha Regiments in India’, to ensure well being of its serving/retired soldiers and their families who reside there … and the enthusiastic welcome he received from them would be an envy even to visiting heads of states. This is just one of its kind and the list of goodwill ambassadors from all walks of life is endless. A few updates on some recent impressions during a visit might sound interesting.
First things first … when one goes there today amidst the media driven hype on recent developments on ‘inter-relations’ in mind, the immediate impression is that the unpleasant items are made to appear larger ‘than the beast’. Not going too deep into it, a brief view nonetheless is that the public in the countryside appear to pay not much attention to such ‘daily doses’ but expect more deliberations than debates by both countries. It is, perhaps, driven more by China’s design to widen its own political agenda with money and muscle since Nepali Maoist Communists came to power. India figures prominently to not only safeguard its own interests but keep Nepal also from harm’s distance. But notwithstanding jostling for supremacy between the two big neighbours, an overall view is that they still feel more comfortable in dealing with India and that bodes well for both. Thus, a bit of patience and persuasion, rather than one-upmanship might pay more dividends (till their new found democratic enthusiasm becomes ripe with more experience).
And besides such ‘laissez-faire’ in the country’s affairs, the other visible impression is that they appear to be increasingly gaining from tourism than ever before. Visitors from our country alone are more than those from many other countries (and our best ambassadors, perhaps). Besides Kathmandu’s famed Pashupatinath Temple and such like holy places, plenty of other rural and historic sites elsewhere in the country are drawing equal enthusiasm these days. The country’s cultural mix, still mired in ancient ways of life, undoubtedly adds to that allure that the visitors seek. Saintly Babas with long hair and bare-footed from India are a common sight, happily idling in the outer courtyards of the famed temples or holding lofty discourses with devotees.
At the same time the most changing impression for many visitors is that ‘the country still looks poor but its people don’t seem to be that poor… in-fact many of them could be called “doing fairly well”! And the answer may be similar to our State of Kerala. It is rather common now that every family from rural and urban areas has a member (if not more) working in foreign lands and investing in their own rural opportunities like land development, agriculture, animal husbandry and village tourism that the visitors prefer nowadays in a big way. The government supports these countryside village programs by providing basic communication assistance by creating rudimentary motor-ways (literally everywhere and anywhere that one could see, though not much thereafter), leaving it to the locals to improve on it by and by. It seems to be working and it is not uncommon nowadays to hear them say, “Villages are turning more pleasant than the towns.”
And many of the older folk (and surprisingly not a few from the new generation, also), are rebounding towards a new found love for their ousted Monarchy. (One of the reasons could be that they may be tiring of their new found constitutional rulers’ total preoccupation and brazenly unmindful jostling for power leading to unstable governments time and again). The ousted King still draws many visitors to his humble dwelling in Kathmandu city, and the ancient Fort Palace in Gorkha near Pokhara township, from where his ancestors started their journey of conquest in the early 18th century, is visited by a larger crowd today. (How it develops further is anybody’s guess and maybe no more than a passing fancy … but who knows which side the camel will sit).
Not least of course is the much-discussed subject of recruitment of soldiers in our Army since introduction of the Agnipath scheme, because it has virtually come to a standstill out there. One had to contend that they were totally unprepared for it and still do not know the ‘how and why’. Understandably, their own soldiers’ rather uncertain future after a short service of four years was what caused them concern. Nevertheless (should a via-media not be found and both decide to go their ways), what many well meaning observers on this aspect of Indo-Nepal historic bonding feel is that, ‘we still need not lose in such a hurry… what took us so long to build and more trusted comrades-in-arms may be difficult to find, more so when unprovoked threats of larger magnitudes are sounding ever so closer to our homes’.
