Democracy Day

Today is democracy day in Nepal. It has a rather ironic ring to it for me. It was on this day in 2005 that the then King Gyanendra took over the country, stating that the government had done nothing to quell the Maoist insurgency. The day is actually to celebrate the fact that former autocratic rulers of Nepal were replaced by the equally dictatorial monarchy. Democracy never appeared in Nepal until last year's elections - and to be honest, it still feels if it is a long way from settling here.

The fun of democracy day is that it's a holiday - so my office is shut... However, people who have to work for themselves to make money are still out on the street - selling, repairing, begging.

A game that I've been playing with a friend walking around Patan is called dead or alive. The game is fairly simple - you have to decide whether something is dead or alive, state the fact and then, if brave enough, prove it. Pigeons are fairly simple to tell, as if they are dead they normally have a tyre track across their body. Humans too are fairly easy. Most are just sleeping - you can see their chests moving up and down. Those on fire at Pashupatinath are dead. Dogs are the most difficult and present a game as dangerous as Russian roulette. They look fairly dead most of the time, even though they might only be sleeping. To prove you are correct though requires skill, a will of iron and a big stick. The Russian roulette part of the game is that you never quite know if the dog has rabies. So, when it bites you for waking it up prematurely, a trip to the doctor is needed fairly rapidly (or should that be rabidly...).

A couple of weeks ago on the TV, Prachandra - Nepal's former terrorist leader turned Prime Minister - was bemoaning the lack of forward movement his Maoist led government had made in improving the 'New Nepal'. He, of course, took little responsibility on his own shoulders, but instead placed the blame firmly on the feudalists and royalist forces that are trying to prevent the revolution. At the end of his speech he declared that several new policies would be in place by the end of that week - including the crippling dowry system, where parents must give extortionately large amounts for their daughter to marry to the boys family. However, none of these have happened. Just last week I heard of a wedding cancelled as the boys family demanded so much gold and money from the girl that her family just couldn't afford it. So much for the 'New Nepal'...

Another interesting article about this here.

Some other rather odd things that have been happening here in Nepal for the last couple of weeks is that 2 people have been killed by Rhinos charging in Chitwan - the national park we visited in November. The people who died were all locals, but still, shows that this really is wild life.

Anyway, I'm off to sharpen my stick and top up my rabies vaccination.

SAM