Royal ghosting

Monarchy apparently is one of the most interesting phenomenon, concept, and/or system—choose what you may. I never fancied one family having all the riches and luxuries. My father once worked as engineer in Royal Palace. His job, as he told us, was to ensure all mechanical stuff were functional, with special focus on air conditioners. As he used to say, he found his way into rooms where even high profile officials were barred. He certainly fancied the kings and queens and everything that happened inside the huge walls of the palace guarded by a whole battalion of army. The seed of greatness of our monarchs was perhaps subconsciously implanted in my young brain back then.

As fate would have it, I was admitted to a school specifically meant for the blue bloods. In ten years, as ironic as it may sound now, I happened to be a member of the club whose president was in line to become the future king of Nepal. Ironic because the club that he led was 'Shooting' club! Yes, we had those air rifles and he taught us how to take aim and shoot. I also had an opportunity to interact with the then princess's husband, perhaps the only eye-witness who knows what happened on that fateful night in 2001.

I still vividly remember the very first sight of the prince, walking with school bag through the corridors that lead from science block to math block and not believing my eyes. He wore the same dress, carried the same bag and seemed to have no one in awe of him except me! Honestly, my immediate interest shifted in knowing what and where he would eat.

Blame it on the time, but my friends thought kings and queens ate 'gold' rice. So much for my proximity to the blue bloods.

In the meantime, for some reason, I had this idea that Royals here were 'gone' once and for all. I was thus beginning to follow Harry and William. Then, in popped Kate Middleton. In between, there were stories of Bhumibol; both the red and yellow shirts paused to wish for the well-being of their beloved king. A little earlier, the Spanish Team, having won the 2010 world cup, was granted an audience by with Spanish Royals. The reverence they had for their royals was there to be seen on TV. Interestingly, they all seem to be loved and revered.I still cannot fathom in what capacity our Ex-King addresses the nation on key days and why that continues to get the kind of coverage it gets. Here I refer to the recent 'address to nation' on Democracy Day. For some reason, for the first time, it got me thinking: what exactly is his current 'status'? Is he a commoner like you and I who have to worry about where our next cylinder of gas is going to come from? Certainly not! I know I cannot overlook my sense of pragmatism. We all know, king or no king, he has all the riches.

We know our prime minister owns nothing more than a mobile handset; we know he is an absolute commoner, for there is no obligation for him to disclose his 'wealth'. Contradict this with the king's recent address to countrymen, where he asked the parties to fulfill the promises and implement agreements made while he decided to relinquish his throne. By the evening, at least in social media, there was a lot of buzz. In the next twenty four hours, there were political bigwigs countering him, saying that no such deal was ever struck.

Fine, it's not about whether there was a deal; what left me baffled instead was why there was such strong reaction to what a 'commoner' had to say. That's 'defy logic' number one. He goes to places, in remote and not so remote parts of the country, and interestingly, as one of my colleagues tells me, it's always to perform some puja. His religious allegiance at times could give inferiority complex to the most seasoned devotees. Still, like you and I, he has every right to do so but the 'defy logic' number two is the kind of state support he gets, often in the guise of security arrangement. The access to Pashupati gets halted, albeit briefly, so that he can perform puja.

When he walked out of Narayanhiti palace for last time, the first question that struck me was: where will he stay? Where would he eat and sleep? My hunch was some hotel. Come the festive season of Dashain, he continues to perform festive rituals, making people stand in long queues so that they could get royal 'tikas' on their foreheads. Once again, no qualms if people still see god's reincarnation in former monarch. It's the place from where he puts tikas on commoners which is a bit odd. If I am not mistaken, he still enjoys the privilege of residing in one of the palaces, even if it is not centrally located. And he has his dashain tika from the luxury of another palace built in a posh area.

Let's for the sake of simplicity leave everything aside and assume that for the betterment of nation he decided to forego what he had legitimately inherited. All the 'roads' lead to a 'destination' that suggests he has been allowed access to certain benefit. If so, we are all fine. It's just that I do now feel the need to know what kind of privileges he was promised. It's ironic that moment he mentions something, people pipe up saying he is exceeding his limits. And yet no one dares take any action. Nothing makes the case more curious than when someone like Madhav Nepal, the once applicant for prime minister, comes out to say "No agreement whatsoever!"

Will we ever get to know what was cooking back then? How I wish for an autobiography from the ex-King, to put to rest all our doubts. Or is he still on a lookout for some light at the end of tunnel?

hiteshkarki@gmail.com

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