A house for Mr Dahal

Mohun Biswas is a haunted man. Haunted by the inauspicious birth prophesies.  By the thoughts of having to spend his entire life in his wife’s house. And, as he struggles to assert his independence, by the premonition that he might never have a home of his own, his ultimate dream.  Like the eponymous protagonist of VS Naipaul’s breakthrough 1961 novel A House for Mr Biswas, hundreds of thousands of Nepali youth dream of building a house. The hundreds of thousands who have either had to abort their foreign dreams in the face of various constraints or are so immersed in Nepali culture and tradition that they never considered leaving the country for good. Traditionally, owning a house represented the ultimate middle-class family dream. Life in rented apartments is indeed hard. In a city like Kathmandu, whenever someone is looking for a house to stay in, among their top queries is whether the prospective contender has adequate water supply. It is for this reason that getting an apartment in the VIP settings of Baluwatar is considered a coup as opposed to having to put up in crammed quarters in the bone-dry Dillibazzar.  (Of course, the privilege of sharing the prime minister’s neighborhood comes at a steep price.)



After water, another top concern is lighting: Does the sun enter the rooms, vital to live through the bitterly cold winter months? Then, the roads: Is there a motor-road leading up to the house, big enough to adjust your Pulsar if not that dreamed Nano? But perhaps the most distressing part about living in rented apartments is that time and again you are cruelly reminded that the house belongs to the landlords, a proviso which comes with its attendant dos and don’ts: You have to think a hundred times before you hammer in a nail for that calendar. God forbid you waste even a drop of water lest the overlords upstairs shut off even the trickle. And if they want you out, you have to start searching for an alternative immediately, no easy task in the bustling metropolis.  



The families making do in dank and dark two-room lodgings (kitchen, pantry and bedroom included) must have watched with some interest as Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal moved, kith and kin in tow,  into his new house in Lazimpath, replete with every kind of amenity available. Plenty must be wondering about the communist credentials of ‘the leader of the proletariats’ shifting to over Rs 100,000-a-month, 15-room behemoth of a building. Come on, it’s not of his choice, but absolute necessity, that has forced him into the expensive switch, some might chime. Rest assured, we understand the comrade’s compulsions. Much like Mr Biswas, Mr Dahal too pines for a permanent home, doesn’t he now? Sushil Koirala for one apparently doesn’t mind him looking around in Doti jungles.

Related story

PM Dahal to take vote of confidence on March 22