And it doesn’t stop here, this law-bypassing exclusivity, the violators who drive at large – the “entrepreneur” son of a business tycoon who thinks he can Jamal from Ratna Park at 100 km per hour in his Range Rover madness, reckless bikers who have just entered their puberty and think they have the “need-for-speed” kewlness, educated members of civil society who j-walk, drunk diplomats who swerve from left to right and right to left on the Thapathali bridge post-Mokshya trip and even the drunk-induced gasti of the metropolitan police’s night patrol versus the mapasay (the slang police use to describe drunk-driving) Friday night freewheelers.
I wonder where ‘their’ confidence comes from.
Stressed as it is, the situation of the capital’s commoners is worsened by this exclusiveness a community of people are allowed to enjoy in this supposedly metropolitan capital of a New Nepal, the manifesto of which otherwise is to assure equal rights for all and guarantee the rule of the law. But “guarantee” is a term our blind authorities have never been able to come to terms with, be it ensuring the services for which we pay taxed fees or keeping up with their hypocritical oath which fetched them their chairs in the first place.
I wonder where all the starry-starry decorated traffic personnel disappear to on normal days and reappear on sawari days.
Take for another instance, the newly built six-lane (what lane?) highway in the Koteshwar junction. The wider well-built roads towards Jadibuti offer a picturesque driving experience with the majestic hills towering over you on a clear day, but the road rage is nevertheless the same. And although the planners have clearly outlined the lanes to be taken for specific routes, for commuters they have become more of an avenue to quench one’s drift madness at the cost of another’s spine-chilling fear, or even in some cases, near-death experiences. And even death! (RIP, Kathmandu Commuters!)
These violators who masquerade wild on the streets as if they own it are a threat to our society. They are not just risking their lives at the cost of the lives of us commoners but are also portrayals of the foundations of impunity in our country, where the verdict cannot even call its shot in the streets, forget booking people on the grounds of human rights. When there are people who think (act) like they are above the law, what unfolds in the streets of Kathmandu is a yardstick to measure civic sense and rule of the law.
I wonder if democracy wouldn’t be a joke, if not for them.
I wonder if the rule-of-law rhetoric wouldn’t be a joke, if not for them.
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