We would have been celebrating 94th birthday of Prof Dor Bahadur Bista on Magh 4 (January 18) if he had not gone missing in 1995. He is known to many as someone who critiqued the prevailing socio-cultural norms and values of Nepali society as enshrined in the value system that was defined by the religious Pundits. He called it “fatalism”. He is also known to some others as a person who talked about caste-ethnic differences so as to ‘disturb’ the tranquility that was supposed to be prevailing in socio-cultural and economic relations and interactions among the hierarchically arranged formation—Brahman, Chhetriya, Vaisya and Sudra people in Nepal.

Political economy and interdependence refer to bonding relationships where parties mutually rely on each other, adapting to better management of harmony, togetherness and autonomy. This requires letting go co-dependence, ego and extreme independence. However, socio-cultural environmental norms teach us to be strong, never to be weak or reveal weaknesses to others or depend on others. Growing up in such a socio-cultural setting might keep us disconnected from developments and trends occurring elsewhere.