The lone sunflower reminds him of the dream he once had of getting into floriculture after retirement from active service. That dream has to wait until his son completes his education and finds a job. It seems to be such a long journey at this point of time.
Five years later, a college lad wanted to escape the heat of the Madhesh Uprising. He too took a bus to Kathmandu but had to change vehicles several times between Biratnagar and Kathmandu before reaching his destination after two days and three nights. His father had sold the most productive piece of land in the village to send the eldest son to almost mythical ‘Arab’ lands. The boy struggled for a few days in the capital city of his country for required papers and then landed in Dubai. He was one of the lucky few—the Indian owner of an eatery chain learnt about his qualifications and felicity with computers. Within a few months, he was made the counter clerk. His job is to enter orders and issue coupons to customers.
The work of a clerk in a fast food joint is not as easy as it sounds. It is a backbreaking stand-up performance of eight hours in a row. He merely sips water rather than drinking to his heart’s content because he cannot afford to go to the loo to relieve himself too often. Then there are the strange ways of the newly rich that come to the eatery. Some customers are difficult to handle. They bark orders, sometimes refuse to accept that they had ordered what they had ordered and then try to bluff that they had paid while they had not even opened their purse. He takes it all with a sigh and says that his job is a lot better than being a manservant, construction worker or a handler of camels deep in the desert. The pay is reasonable, and he wants his younger brothers to remain in school back in the village.
These two members of the Nepali Workers Abroad (NWAs) fraternity came across each other at the office of a remittance agency. Since then, they have maintained contact on a regular basis. The young man comes for a plate of noodles to the Chinese eatery. The former soldier travels to the Indian outlet whenever he wants to eat samosas. The most striking aspect of their meeting is the language of their conversation. The Chaudhary talks to Thapa in Nepali and is answered back in chaste Maithili. Unlike such duo-lingual conversations in Nepal, there is no hint of supplication in the tone of the young man, nor does the older allow domination to seep into his voice. They look like brothers. The Chaudhary boy has aged beyond his 25 years. The soldier is still fit and carries his four decades of working experience, which should make him at least 50, rather lightly.
However, they banter and joke like friends of the same age group. To a visitor from Kathmandu, the diverse duo is an example of bonds of fraternity developing between people working under harsh conditions in an inhospitable environment. Tragic stories of NWAs can be heartrending, but tales of survival create faith in an individual’s ability of making the best of whatever circumstances destiny bestows upon a person.
Just as Thapa and Chaudhary have developed ways of adjusting to the efficient economy and surly society of Sharjah, Nepalis of working age left back in Nepal would have to devise innovative ways of coping with the continuing stagnation in national economy and hyperactive cultural activism of newly empowered social groups.
Politics offer little hope for 2011; the year will probably deepen the crisis of confidence, and the legitimacy of the political class will further erode. With a dysfunctional state, rapacious businesses, domineering neighbors and shortsighted professionals running the show in Kathmandu, it is somewhat difficult to keep faith and believe that the ‘system’ will somehow correct itself.
Keeping hope, however, is a necessary requirement to ensure survival. Evolution of syncretic culture can create an environment for accommodative politics. Therein perhaps exists ground for some optimism.
At the Trimurti Chowk in Biratnagar, three litterateurs of the past stand together on a single pedestal. Bhanubhakta looks longingly towards the north, perhaps wondering why nobody took his work beyond the Himalaya and everyone was content with preaching to the converted in the country, creating unnecessary backlash against Parbate kura in Nepal. Vidyapati gazes towards the rising sun, hoping that his progenies will pick up the threads of linguistic renaissance from where he left them seven hundred years ago and help in reviving the fortunes of Maithili. At first glance, it is not clear why the sculptor made Mahananda Sapkato looks towards the west.
The encounter of the two NWAs in Sharjah clears the confusion—accommodation between cultures is born out of shared difficulties. Since confrontation carries the risk of mutually assured destruction, antagonists are forced to develop methods of living with each other.
In the hostile geopolitical environment of South Asia, Nepalis have to make do with whatever cultural, political and economic resources they have at their disposal. Ideal conditions do not fall from the skies; they would have to be created from rocks and mud being wasted in throwing at each other to release frustrations.
Like every New Year, CE 2011 too will have challenges in store for Nepali society and polity. Together we will have to transform them into opportunities of advancement.
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