Do our countrymen residing abroad also see our life in the same way as we see it? A bird’s eye view from a distance sometimes helps us to understand issues better. The political deadlock, deteriorating living conditions or the worsening economy sometimes look clearer if one evaluates them from the perspective of Nepalis residing abroad.
On a recent trip to Singapore, I got a chance to meet a few school friends settled there for a while. Rather than catching up on the past 20 years since we left school, they were eager to get a first-hand information on issues back home. The agony I saw on their faces was too obvious when they told me about their colleagues cracking jokes about 16 rounds of unfruitful prime ministerial elections. The same news, however, fades out in no time here at home where we would rather candidly talk about the recently-held election in the US.
Every time one detours along the Bishnumati or Baghmati Corridor Road to escape the traffic in Kathmandu, one would not notice anything unusual than a brief moment of breeze with bad odor. However, the images that got imprinted on those elites when they last visited Kathmandu carry a few more details. The slaughtering ”shades” producing meat products for half the valley sits on a mountain of garbage along the bank of these rivers which stinks really bad. Add to it scavengers hounding around the fresh meat. The river carries more of sewage than water with its banks littered with rubbish rather than covered by sand.
Do our countrymen residing abroad also see our life in the same way as we see it?
I started empathizing with them as I strolled along the bank of a river in Clarke Quay in Singapore; I could understand what they had dreamt about—rejuvenating the lost glory of the river system in the valley. The photo archives hardly about three decades old, hanging on the walls on the N Boat Quay, looked quite similar to the bank we used to stroll as a teenager about 20 years ago. In the past two decades, time has brought sea changes to both the places – everything in a good way in Clarke Quay and everything in a bad way along our heritage banks here. Restaurants ranging from Hooters to Mugal Mahal, Coriander Leaf to Mulligan Iris Pub resembling the ambience of Thamel float smartly and neatly with relaxed tourists rowing their boats up and down the river. The more I spent time there roaming around, the more I got convinced we could do the same back home in Nepal. We are down but not out was what I started believing.
Every time I go abroad via Tribhuvan International Airport, I feel disheartened. My recent trip to India last time was the worst one with five hours of delay due to poor visibility. There was no public addressing system functioning. There were no updates on revised schedule in any of the display monitors either. The only source of information was word of mouth; the words that used to come from a helpless security personnel. With dozens of flights backlogged, the hall at the gates that could hardly take a couple of hundred passengers had already over a thousand of them. Most of them standing for hours had hardly urinals to use and just a single water dispenser to quench their thirst. There was nobody to coordinate the traveler’s movement between the departure lounge and departure gate, which were hardly a few hundred feet apart. The air conditioning and ventilation system were there but the officials stationed there had no authority to run it. The amazing part of this ordeal was most of us were relaxed; no matter it be by gossiping about the current politics or cracking the “badam” right in the middle of lounge.
“Down but not out yet”! This is what we all need to believe. Love for the nation that matures only when we are abroad would do us no good. Let us perceive the concern we see from the distance and put our act together optimistically to make our dream come true.
rajan_pradhan2001@yahoo.com
I started empathizing with them as I strolled along the bank of a river in Clarke Quay in Singapore; I could understand what they had dreamt about—rejuvenating the lost glory of the river system in the valley. The photo archives hardly about three decades old, hanging on the walls on the N Boat Quay, looked quite similar to the bank we used to stroll as a teenager about 20 years ago. In the past two decades, time has brought sea changes to both the places – everything in a good way in Clarke Quay and everything in a bad way along our heritage banks here. Restaurants ranging from Hooters to Mugal Mahal, Coriander Leaf to Mulligan Iris Pub resembling the ambience of Thamel float smartly and neatly with relaxed tourists rowing their boats up and down the river. The more I spent time there roaming around, the more I got convinced we could do the same back home in Nepal. We are down but not out was what I started believing.
Every time I go abroad via Tribhuvan International Airport, I feel disheartened. My recent trip to India last time was the worst one with five hours of delay due to poor visibility. There was no public addressing system functioning. There were no updates on revised schedule in any of the display monitors either. The only source of information was word of mouth; the words that used to come from a helpless security personnel. With dozens of flights backlogged, the hall at the gates that could hardly take a couple of hundred passengers had already over a thousand of them. Most of them standing for hours had hardly urinals to use and just a single water dispenser to quench their thirst. There was nobody to coordinate the traveler’s movement between the departure lounge and departure gate, which were hardly a few hundred feet apart. The air conditioning and ventilation system were there but the officials stationed there had no authority to run it. The amazing part of this ordeal was most of us were relaxed; no matter it be by gossiping about the current politics or cracking the “badam” right in the middle of lounge.
“Down but not out yet”! This is what we all need to believe. Love for the nation that matures only when we are abroad would do us no good. Let us perceive the concern we see from the distance and put our act together optimistically to make our dream come true.
rajan_pradhan2001@yahoo.com
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