There is a statue of Bhimeshwor in Charikot, Dolakha. The statue is unique in that it can excrete bodily fluids. Sweat, at least. The statue sweats in anticipation of some impending doom – mostly some misfortune to be visited upon the royal family but not limited to it. Last time it sweated was during the April Uprising. Before that, it was the royal massacre.
Over the weekend, the statue perspired again. Something is up around the corner.
I am not superstitious. But to any loyal observer of royal matters, King Gyanendra is. I am sure he is sweating. The 1.5 million signatures against him should have been enough to make him sweat. And now this whole sweating deity to deal with. I wouldn’t want to be in his shoes right now, even if they are expensive imports made out of the most exquisite leather.
King Gyanendra is Knight Grand Cordon of the Most Exalted Order of the White Elephant. With a title like that, you would imagine there were very few things he would be sweating about. Least of all, the statues of his ancestors being smashed up all over the country.
Our politicians are sweating too – sweating about Constituent Assembly dates, party unifications, demonstrations by indigenous and madhesi groups. Hell, if I were to complete the list, I would be sweating too.
With all the sweating going on, one would think the Melamchi project wouldn’t matter much. Collect the sweat, and distill!
My kudos to Hisila Yami, though, for standing up to the man. We all know donors (particularly agenda based donors such as the World Bank, ADB, IMF) impose unfair conditions on developing countries. Severn Trent was one such condition. At least a review of the tenders is a must. Sure enough, we will need donors. But after all, this is money we will have to repay, and it should be our choice to choose who will best spend our money in the best interests of the people.
As far as ministries go, the Maoists are doing a good job of standing up to the man. Matrika Yadav challenged Girija’s dictatorial behavior wouldn’t be tolerated silently. And Yadav’s (and YCL’s) work in busting the sandalwood smuggling rings are laudable. He promises more exposures, up to the highest levels, soon.
That’s sure to make plenty of people sweat!
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5 comments:
i've been sweating for the last fucking decade. nothing's changed.
सातदोबाटो is right. it is only may. so one more. getting addicted to this blog...hmmm, attachment - must forsake, must forsake.
i do not agree with sachet's position, for the most part. like i said earlier, beggars can't be choosers. adb has a right to attach conditions to the loans it makes out - it is upto us, the beggars, to evaluate whether the money is worth the attached conditions.
yes, adb probably is (some un/known) agenda-driven. but their decision and methodology makes great business sense, in this case. here is this poor country with a poorer track record of paying back debt, embarking on this ambitious, never-tried-before "development" project. in econ 101 parlance, it looks more like a consumption project than an investment project. nobody in the market's going to touch the project with a twelve-foot pole, or pause to consider the poor country's plight. now, if i have to make a loan out to them, the only way i would do that is if i can attach conditions. management conditions, benchmark conditions, all sorts of conditions.
fundamentally, i am taking greater-than-average risk (poor chance of repayment) for less-than-market returns (lower than market interest rates). now, why in hell's name would i do that if i do not get to attach conditions that i think will mitigate the risk (of default).
at this point, i am not clear if "ST" or a generic "management contractor" was the condition attached by adb. there is a big difference between the two, and although one could possibly be thought of as more evil/corrupt, both are completely and utterly rational. those conditions aren't "nice", some might even consider them "usurious", but they are rational nonetheless. especially so if the condition is just a generic "management contractor."
now, one could criticize the adb for funding projects without considering the likely impact on different groups of people in the project-country. one could also criticize the adb for funding projects that are really outrageous in terms of non-usefulness and waste, and still expect donee countries to be able to fulfill their obligations. one could argue against the "politically ulterior" motives of adb. one could rail against their willingness to indulge in babylonion projects (honestly, isn't melamchi one?), while ignoring more fundamental issues around the country. i believe these are all valid criticisms. i believe these are faults that warrant non-involvement with a flawed institutions. and that was why i was happy. non-involvement. but no, now we are supplicating at the adb altar, praying for them to reconsider their decision to pull out. even His Goliness Prachanda is begging the adb to continue support for the project. i see no sense in this. this is not rejecting the adb. it is just making a grandiose political stance, and then repenting like a fucking amateur, which we-as-a-nation are, through and through and through.
i think a lot of people have this notion that bodies like the adb are supposed to be "altruistic" somehow. and people criticize the adb for not being "altruistic", i guess. but that is a totally convoluted, and conceited, position. especially for a country like us who have contributed exactly zilch to the funds to be loaned out. we know how to take from the silo, but not put anything in, how can we expect these bodies to be anything other than political, predatory, vehicles of the countries who pay it's bills? sure, it would be "nice" if they were altuistic, but the fact of the matter is they are under no moral obligation to be altruistic.
it's identity, and nature, notwithstanding, i stick to my argument that the adb had a right to make those demands, to attach those conditions. now, that does not preclude us from deciding against the whole proposal (if negotiations fail). we had every right to refuse the adb's proposal and not go ahead with melamchi. we did not do that.
there was a regime change and then the conditions imposed were deemed too "bad". fair enough, let's abrogate the contract, and swallow our spit, withdraw our words and not be part of adb's clientele anymore. that would take us to "square one." but what is this nonsense about altering the conditions, and still wanting the money?
in the end it's like saying i want to keep smoking but i don't want it to increase the chances of my getting cancer. it's like drinking poison, and not wanting to die. that's just what this melamchi saga is - wishful thinking.
i shall wait for the day when the maobaadi expose the murderers in their own ranks, looters and thieves in their own ranks, along with the other evils in the country. it is just so difficult to take actions by the likes of YCL seriously. i mean, i just don't know if they are just playing fucking mind games with me.
that and the fact that -
if one of them dies, it's a martyr
if anyone else dies, it's collateral damage, necessary sacrifice, justified transition.
and here's more maobaadi bashing -
i didn't like their actions, but believed their rhetoric, was at least swayed by it. that was then, they were the rebels. and i like railing against the government.
now, i just cannot breathe without criticizing the maobaadi because they are the fucking government. they are not fighting the man anymore, they ARE the man. and i still like railing against the government.
Maobadis are in the government that's true. but i wouldn't say that they ARE the man. the other power centers are stictly aligned against the maoists. Besides Maobadi's agenda is not to run the three minor ministries however they want but to change the larger picture, i.e. work towards republicanism, reduce feudalism etc. and therefore the so the so called revolution continues.
i'm tired of defending the fuckers though.
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