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Lord of the road
JAN 04 - Looking at the spontaneous turnout on the
road one fails to make sense whether it is winter or summer. Kathmandu is usually known for fewer people on the street at this time of the year, but surprisingly it is not so this year around. In what reminds one of a hosiery item audio-visual advert, the impression is the city is witnessing summer right in the middle of winter.
While the bad news, of course, is there are too many people who are trying to scuttle the movement, the good news for democracy buff here is the winter frost has failed to deter increasing number of students from hitting the road. More the merrier could never be deemed as relevant as contemporaneously. Take heart, democracy should not take long in the coming.
The instance of more and more joining the pro-democracy demonstrations once again underscores the fact that weather cannot have any impact on political demonstrations. It is also true that no rulers have ever given thought to the idea of calling it a day until the irreparable loss has been incurred on both the sides. It’s more now than ever before.
Picking up the wisdom to the effect that it is not advisable to confront with the people has become much akin to an instance of a new set of people trying to reinvent the wheel refusing to believe that someone has already invented it. This, incidentally, is something which cannot be expected to serve any purpose, with all the likelihood of old order giving way to the new becoming all the more evident day by day.
Sadly enough, demonstrations and agitation are never pleasant affairs by any standard, though. There is a pain involved in taking to the street and picking up brickbats and hurling them at the people one has come around to love to hate. Consider, for instance, the reports of students vandalising cars, which had nothing to do with regression at all. But it is an act of venting angst.
At the most, they could be said to be ferrying those who are actors in regression. But they can also drive saints and students alike with same speed and comfort. Talking about the pitfalls of the movement and risk entailed, while some narrowly escape sure-fire death, others scrape through back from hell. Also imagine the bother of launching the demonstrations in the first place, while one is already bothered with the bread and butter concern.
It must be said here that a large number of students have parents back in the villages and struggling all the while. Money generated out of a goat here and a chicken there is meant for the son who is helplessly goaded into taking part in demonstrations at the end of every decade in what is assuredly the clockwork precision now. They arrive here with stars in their eyes, but find the life to be a different ball game altogether.
One wonders over the affairs of the state which unfold in this otherwise beautiful valley. Go back to the Malla times and what you learn is they were weak kings with powerful ministers calling the shots. Oftentimes, they were deposed at the drop of a hat. Anecdotal evidence suggests they stood chances of being deposed while they just brushed their teeth. But it was highly ridiculous to hear about the dismissal of an elected Prime Minister in the twenty-first century.
Of course, politics of the yore used to be full of conspiracy but some nations have seen less of it as the world came out of the dark and middle ages to the subsequent phase. What is true in our case is we are still being guided by insidious forces something which rules out conformity with outside world. Hence it is not painful that the political process has not taken right road; what is painful is it never is going to until someone takes up the task of making the correction with finality.
Consider for a while how vile the world would now be had there been only pessimistic people around. In fact, there would be nothing less and more than anarchy. However, it is also true that there would not be any vile people around to go by
the same logic. Since the world is approximation of good and bad, here are students charging at the extra-constitutional forces.
If there is something which a man or student for that matter loves beside himself, it is the rights. Rights here would mean winning back rights enshrined in the jewel of the constitution that was drawn up and enforced in 1990. This explains why the demonstrators are keeping the pot boiling on the street.
Meanwhile, thanks to the dazzle of television channels, what students are doing is beamed right into the drawing room. In fact, this was a far cry in 1990, with vernacular press reporting it at its own speed. Of course, the reports still appear highly vetted for the stage of the movement, though.
But what is missing in the voice-over or bytes is being generously compensated by the visuals not vetted at all. The glimpses of irate students pumping the air and ground and security personnel chasing them on the road is having its own impact on the housewives, too.
Of course, those who belong to the ultra right could still be expected to curse them but message to the effect that the students have taken up the challenge is spreading fast enough. This should be enough to burn the ears of those who have let the nation come to this crossroads.
The funny part, of course, is the political parties have been found depending on students and their leaders since the latter have lost their bearings following the royal intervention. But here are youth and student issuing a call for “more” not satisfied with what he had before it was taken away. It appears that “more” is no longer linked with having more and more of a certain cold drink but has got to do with political pluralism.
Since the good work is in progress, it is likely that the denizens of the city would find their daily life thrown out of gear for as many days as the students take to right the wrong. Discomfort could include injuries from stray brickbats, huge traffic congestion, vandalised vehicles or a lost family member. Bear with the students since they who are personification of the lord of the road are at work for you. Those of you who are not aware of the issues involved, take care.Posted on: 2004-01-05 05:13
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