Get Up Stand Up

She didn't even have to blow the whistle. She was standing right in front of me and that also on the footpath. I pretended to have realized that I accidentally happened to roll the wheels up in the footpath. In fact I had intentionally tried to skip the traffic jam at Thapathali. "Peti ma ta chalaunu bhayena ni bhai", was what she said when she bought my license at the cost of a chit. "You be at Thapathali station within 24 hours" was her instruction and she left before I could open my mouth.

It was the second time that week that I was invited to a traffic-police station. Earlier, I had forgotten to carry the bill-book (blue book is what everyone calls it) with me. I cannot forget how rudely he had talked to me while producing a chit and taken my license.

The next day when I went to fetch my license back, I was appalled by the tone of the traffic police (it was another one though). He was treating me as if I was a customer trying to buy something from him. He explained to me what happens if we don't carry the bill book and to my surprise he compared it to be as severe as hit and run. He said the fine for not carrying the license is 200 bucks. I went to my wallet when he further said that he would charge only 150. I was happy to get a discount of 50 rupees. When I shared the incident with a friend later, he asked me whether I asked for a bill. I said I didn't and he laughed at me and said that, the amount went to the pocket of the officer and did not reach the government's account.

How could I forget his words as I had to pay for the second time in three days. I went to Thapathali to fetch my license again. There was a lady in the counter. She didn't offer me a discount this time and I paid 200 bucks. I waited for a while but she didn't seem to produce the bill. I asked for it, and then she said she was producing one - in a harsh tone.

In both the places I saw that there were more than 100 licenses that were seized for one reason or the other. They charge at least 200 bucks for each license meaning that they collect a revenue of Rs. 20,000 every day, Rs. 600,000 every month and Rs. 7,200,000 every year from a single traffic police station. I have no idea how many stations are there in Kathmandu valley. Let's say roughly that there are 20 such stations. This gives a total revenue of Rs. 144,000,000 inside Kathmandu Valley alone every year. Now let us assume that I overvalued the amount and got it wrong by 44 million rupees which leaves us with an acceptable amount of Rs. 100,000,000 i.e. one billion Nepali rupees in a year.

Now the question arises, where does the money go? We have the poorest traffic system in Kathmandu. It takes an hour to travel ten kilometers which means our average driving speed is 10 kilometers per hour (if we are lucky). The traffic lights that seem to be the most important part of the street are not functional almost every time. I will know that the traffic lights at Thapathali is not working from as far as Maitighar because of the jam and I promise that I have never failed in my anticipation. Talking about the roads, they're not only bumby but so dusty that you have to have brilliant vision to see 10 meters ahead.

The greatest fear is that the amount goes into the pockets of the high position holders if not in the pockets of the lower level ones. We have a tendency of not bothering about the money as we pay. We the people should keep track of where do the taxes, fines and the revenue goes and how well it is being utilized. We have not been able to inquire about our own money let alone the donations received from other countries. I don't think we are destined to be as poor as we are. We are made poor by our own leaders.

Let's unite for ourselves, let's unite for everyone.

Helpless

I had to reach home early to attend a party. My schedule was perfectly alright until I drove a kilometer away from the office to find a blockade on the road. One of the political groups had called banda out of nowhere distorting the traffic of the valley. I could not buy it. Do we even know what citizen’s right is? I immediately demanded for the reason. “It is a protest against the government’s incompliance with the law” someone blurted. Isn’t it ironic that a protest against somebody’s incompliance with the law itself is violating the law? In Nepal, it is crime to call banda that disrupts the free movement of traffic. I immediately turned to one of the armed police who was there to provide security to people and asked “Don’t you know these people are criminals and they deserve to be behind the bars by now?” “We have no orders as such” was the answer and I had nothing to speak. I doubt if the police himself recognized them as criminals.

By then I found that I was the only one in the middle of the road as all other vehicles had made their way back. I was amused how easily we Nepalese people can accept anything. One of the protestors came to me and urged me to leave threatening that the consequence wouldn’t be their fault. The armed police was listening to what he said as I gave him a look. I had nothing to do but shake my head in disapproval and make my way back.

Banda has not been as frequent in Kathmandu valley recently as it used to be in the past. Life expected to be normal in the absence of banda in the valley is even more turbulent. The government is trying its best to make things as normal as possible inside the valley however worse the situation is outside (because all the embassies, diplomats, and the eyes of international bodies are focused in Kathmandu valley). But we are finding it more and more difficult to live whatsoever. Regardless of the frequency of banda inside the valley, the chaos in the valley is the result of banda itself. Terai remains banda throughout the year as the demand of one group when fulfilled, demands of thousands other appear. Halt in transportation in Terai, the gateway of supplies in the valley necessarily means that the valley is no better than a banda throughout the year.

Now who is to blame? We are not living in the governmentlessness for the first time. We have experienced everything in the past and for the matter of fact, we have fought against it. We have lost thousands of lives while fighting against the failed system. But what have we achieved? We threw away one failure to accept the other. The fault is ours. We learn whatever is taught to us. We were taught by our great leaders to call banda to have a say. We were taught to vandalize properties, kill people, pick guns, and many more in order to get into power. And when in power, we were taught corruption, irresponsibility, bribery and so on.

In order to change the system, we should change ourselves. We should learn that however difficult the path is, we should take the right one. We should learn that banda and vandalism is not the last resort. We should learn that we should first stop ourselves from breaking the law before expecting others not to.

FB mania

I wouldn’t have remembered his face let alone his name. Seven years after leaving school I met him in a very professional setting. We were not closest of friends in school, in fact, we hardly talked to each other and I’d rather say we did not even notice each other’s presence. I wouldn’t have ever recognized him even after introduction and so would be the case with him hadn’t it been for Facebook. We never chatted over facebook and I hardly browsed through his photo album. But the mere existence as friends on facebook made us recognize each other.

Similar situation occurred in another occasion when I happened to pass by a famous writer on the street. I recognized him because I knew him, but I could hardly explain his strange look towards me. I could figure out easily that even I looked familiar to him. I could only decipher the mystery behind his look after a long time when I again saw him on the facebook. We were friends and again my mere existence on the list of his friends on the facebook was the reason behind his strange look.

In both the occasions, there was a common thing and it was the mere existence. We don’t see much familiar faces very often. We meet so many people but what is the chance that the people we meet are our acquaintances? Over the years I had not seen faces of those who once used to be a part of my daily life. I had forgotten most of those I didn’t have conversation with that often. Having added most of the familiar names on facebook I got to find them again reminiscing time and knowing where they are and what are they up to. On the other side, I have often found the faces very unfamiliar despite the familiarity of the names. Sometimes their comments on my wall assure me that they really are someone I know.

It has been almost a year since I had an account on FB and it is still as sticky as it was. With my interest on it, I have seen it grow in terms of popularity. Not only friends but it is a place for everyone to get connected. Every other website wants its recognition in FB.

It has become a part of life. Anything as effective as FB can bring sea of changes.