Devendra Gautam

Let me start with the cliché: The worst is yet to come.

Last Tuesday, the government of Nepal announced another round of lockdown—this time it's called prohibitory orders—to control the COVID-19 pandemic.

The lockdown had just started. That afternoon, a raggedly old man with a heavy load of corn stacks approached me on a desolate road in our neighbourhood, with his face—and perhaps his whole body—running a sweat.

As the festive season starts in our country, a very serious humanitarian crisis stares us all in our faces. And as always, we the people and the state are ill-prepared to deal with it.

Diplomatic relations between Nepal and India have passed through quite a bumpy stretch in course of a year. Worryingly, the worst does not seem to be over, as yet.

It is timely to state the importance of the Zone of Peace proposal that King Birendra floated to the world during his coronation in 1975. That proposal was meant to ensure that Nepal does not become a victim of an unjust world order.

NCP should learn bitter lessons from the past, keep its house in order and focus on ending corruption and ensuring good governance.

The Limpiadhura dispute between Nepal and India seems to be deepening. Amid this scenario, a section of the Indian media is going berserk. Feeding this madness are some livid members of the Indian intelligentsia. Our own lot is also trying to catch up.

The government of Nepal recently endorsed a new political map of Nepal by including the Limpiadhura region. This move came days after the government of India inaugurated a road linking India to Tibet of China through Lipulek, which forms part of the Limpiadhura region.

I don’t clearly know where I am headed (I feel out of this world, but I am not drugged), but I am sure I will find my way, my destiny, my destination. One thing is clear, though: I am leaving this city at least temporarily because it reminds me of so many things. You see, loads of memories are not a...