There was a time when I thought Nepal was poor, but not that poor. The ionic book, Why Nations Fail by Daron Acemoglu and James A Robinson, helped me set aside my false beliefs. The book was an insight on how we fit the bill, having all the characteristics of a failed state. By the time I was done with the book I was feeling illuminated, but sad, especially to see Nepal listed alongside what I thought were the poorest countries in the world.Why we fail, and continue to spiral down, is a question that cries for an answer. By the look of things, the answer is not easy. Or you are confused because there are way too many reasons. The moment we get into discussion of Nepal bouncing back, we are prompt to point fingers at the political establishment. Where do we—the poor, pitiful, victims of brazenly corrupt political leaders, but otherwise self-proclaimed peace-loving, intelligent and hard-working Samaritans—stand in this country's downfall?
Once again we do not have to dwell on it much for we know what's coming. Almost instantly we are told that we get what we choose. Politicians at the end of the day are one of us. Branded 'fiercely-tolerant', especially after the current blockade, we readily fall back in our cocoon. There is a sense of resignation. We are happy blaming them because we don't want to shoulder the great burden. I believe it's about time we raised our hands and admitted that we are equally responsible.
I recently attended a conference in Kathmandu. Nepali delegates wore a grim look on their faces. Although no one would say it loud, the reason was not difficult to guess. It was the venue. The conference was scheduled for one of the neighboring countries but got shifted to Nepal at the last minute, depriving people of a getaway. In Nepal, we do not have holidays but conferences. To add to the misery of Nepali delegates, this conference was on Saturday.
For me this conference was special. I was not attending it as a mere participant but was also presenting a paper. Let us say it was a conglomeration of erudite elite sans any representation of the political class. However, I could sense how everyone present was contributing to the country's failure.
The conference kicked off with the customary ritual of lighting the ceremonial lamp and welcoming main guests. Two beautiful ladies did their part by offering the chief guest a candle on a beautiful tray. With that ritual over, the MC requested the chief guest to make his speech. That was the moment of reckoning. The chief guest went on as if there was no tomorrow. He certainly was in a mood and he talked about everything under the sun. The audience roundly applauded.
As if taking a cue from his speech, the MC called next person seated on the dais. He politely reminded the speaker to make his speech short and, if possible, sweet. What followed was a free fall. Speaker after speaker, came, spoke and left with total disregard of time. As if things were not bad, each one of them said pretty much the same thing.
As I was observing this sequence of events, I was reminded of one such event that had taken place at a hospital meeting room in a distant place from Kathmandu. The setting was entirely different but the proceedings strikingly similar. It was a similar event held in Dhankuta District Hospital a couple of years back where I was with a group of American doctors. The mission went off well, much to the satisfaction of both the service recipients and the organizers.It is the beginning that is still fresh.
The fact that it was a district-level event and more importantly, the first of its kind in the area, was all the more reason for us to try to take the locals into confidence. We were trying to stress that this was 'their event' and making it successful was everyone's responsibility. Since this was the meeting between two sets of parties, Nepalis and Americans, I had to play the role of interpreter.
Each person present was asked to stick to the two-minute time limit right at the start. It was apparent that the Nepali chief guest had been in Nepal earlier and knew the carefree side of life. The formal session of the meeting was officially declared open with the late arrival of the chief guest who was caught up in some other important meeting.
Anyway, as I was assigned the task of interpreting what each speaker had said for the benefit of the American guest, I was trying my best to ensure nothing got lost in translation. After the first speaker spoke, I tried stopping him after two minutes as I needed time to translate. To my surprise, he almost took off like an air-plane, super fast, before glancing at me to say it was my turn. All he had done in his two minutes was mention names of everyone in the room. However, when it was my turn to translate that part of the speech, I was left with no option but to condense everything into two words, 'dear all'.
The meeting, despite our effort to minimize time taken by each presenter, did go for a couple of hours. We felt hijacked.
We Nepalis cannot get to point. We have mastered the art of total disregard of time. We can go around beating around the bush for hours.
The focus always has been on punctuality. I think there is a larger malaise. We need to break free from those conventions where godly monarchs wasted hell a lot of time exchanging pleasantries. As true servants, we wasted hours on 'rituals'. Sadly, when monarchs left we failed to leave that culture behind. This culture has now infiltrated every walk of life. We have to learn, somehow, to get to the point.
hiteshkarki@gmail.com
Related story
‘Sister’ who saved the court from ‘angry’ Gen Z ‘brothers’ prom...
