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Manish Neupane

Our Love affair with India...

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The whole discussion about scraping country's status as the Hindu Kingdom (formally known), seem to have started after one of the Indian MPs, voiced his concern in Indian parliament. Then started the rallies in Birgung and so on.

Since childhood I always disliked India. I attended high school in India and was furious to find out that some people in India think Nepal as one of the Indian states. We always felt that we were suppressed by India and the Indian authority.

But let’s think about it for a minute. No matter how much we hate India, can we really live without India? India plays a vital part in economic, social, political, religious and various other aspects of our lives.

We have so many ties with India, the more we hate India, the more dependent we become.

Every evening we get glued to our television sets to watch Indian TV series, we blast out loud Indian songs from our car stereos; we queue up hours to watch Indian films in the cinema. Although we want to distance ourselves from India, we seem to embrace its social life wholeheartedly.

From a poor farmer to a high flying businessman or politician, we all seem to accept India more than we want to. Parents want their sons and daughters to be educated in India, filmmakers seem to imitate (influence as they call it) Indian films.

From cars, bikes to toothpaste and shampoos, our love to India and Indian products is clearly evident in our cities and now in villages (If any left) as well. Even the maoist seem to be in Love with the great Indian nation. I wonder... Maoist.. like India??? How is that possible? Aren’t they the ones who said that Indian films should be banned in Nepal? Aren’t they the ones who torched Indian Vehicles? Well of course they were the very people who did all that. But to my amusement, I saw the picture of one of the maoist regional leader riding an Indian made motorbike with a personalised number plate. As for my personal views, Maiost in Nepal get more assistance from their Indian counterparts (Indian maoist) than anybody else.

It was interesting to read about Marich Maan in one of the earlier posts? Although I was very small at the time, people say that he stood his grounds, challenged the Indian authorities, man with real guts. Result?? My mother including many others in our neighborhood had to queue up for hours to get the kerosene to cook our dinner. All the petrol stations were closed, due to shortage; Nepal was running out of rice. Those were the few things that I was aware of at the time. I'm sure our daily lives were hit by Marich Maan's decision in many other ways, let alone the economy of the country. So was it a good decision? Well it was bold one for sure, but was it wise and in the interest of the country? Well, if we put our egos aside, It looked like pretty stupid decision to me. Its more like me saying katti(I wont speak to you anymore) to my brother for stealing my marbles(guccha).

So, it looks like our very survival depends on India. Unlike China, Nepal is not a self sustainable country. We cannot grow enough rice and feed the entire population.

From a restaurant worker in Gorakhpur to singer and actress in Bollywood, India have always welcomed us in their land. There are more Nepali working in India than anywhere else in the world. In fact there are more Nepali in India than there are Indians in Nepal. Well lets not aruge that khali sishi, fruit sellers are Indians. Well they are not; most of them come from southern Nepal (Terai). I wonder why India hasn’t closed its borders for us. Well we don’t need visa to go to India.. We may choose to go to India in the morning for a cup of tea and return to Nepal for lunch or we choose to go and work in India, we are free to do so? So why don’t us Nepali need visa to visit India.. Well Pakistani do. Surely there can’t be labour shortage in India.

Whatever it may be, I think India trusts us, and wants to accept us as a family. More like younger brother or sister. India has always supported us and protected us. Our politician took refuse in India when they were kicked out of the country during rana times.

So it looks like there is no escape from India. Well some might argue that there is China, the new emerging giant in the world economy. But think about it for a minute. Does china really care about Nepal? It has its eyes set upon the developed countries like America and UK to build its political and economic ties with. Besides, China has hardly done anything for Nepal other than few trolley buses and military tanks presented to our Late King Birendra. China comes nowhere near India when it comes to providing help and support to Nepal.

It won’t be a good idea to build close relations with china, since Tibet is long struggling to be independent from China and there are speculations that China is planning to attach Taiwan. Now the question is if China sees economic prospects in Nepal............, well I'll leave this to you to use your imaginations, sky is the limit.

Well China may not do all that, we may become very good neighbors, but my mom for sure wont fancy watching Chinese TV series every evening, or would she? IF we cut ourselves from India and build close ties with China what are we going to do with all those Indian/Nepali(ones with the dual passport) businessmen in our country, who seem to be holding the economic backbone of our country?

From whichever angle we view it, there seem to be no escape from India. So what do we do now? India comes across as a bully at times. Our politicians seem to gift everything to India, from water to electricity to trades and everything, you name it....

Nepali products are stripped off the shelves and replaced with Indian ones. Where the hell did EVEREST toothpaste go and go-go washing powder? Colgate/Close up seem to have overtaken the market. Government doesn’t seem to care about the local businessman. I'm not ruling out the possibility that some of the local businesses might have been unsuccessful due to the wrong or weak business strategies, but when i see all these Indian products in the market being launched everyday, I seem to wonder. Has the government provided any real incentives for the local businesses?

India is one of the two emerging economic giants in today’s world. Consider ourselves lucky, we are right in the middle of them both. At least we can say we live next to the two biggest emerging economies in the world. Well if India is developing so rapidly every single day and is ought to become an economic superpower, then we surely should get a slice of that pie. After all we have such close relations with India, more like sisters. I'm not being selfish but I think we should be included in this economic change that this region is going through lately. So would India help her younger sister? Surely she is not scared of her younger sister getting ahead of her.

So how can we get economic help from India? How can we taste that sweet looking pie called economic boom. Well the answer to that is simple. We need to solve our internal differences. If my stomach is upset and I go out and eat pizza, it would get worst.

What is the solution then? I wonder. Current politicians seem to be hopeless. They had their chances. They seem to be going around in circles, with no real hope whatsoever. They seem to be leading us nowhere. Then there are maoist, who want to isolate us from the rest of the world. They speak with their guns, and they don’t seem to have any fixed aim is to what they are trying to achieve. Its a shame that one of the brightest scholars in our country have ruined and divided the entire nation.

"Into Baburam Bhattrai's Mind", is the book I'm waiting to read, if someone is writing it. What was he thinking? Was he aware of the likely results of his actions? Anyways, maoist running the country? No way. King? Well he had his chances and he blew it more than anyone else. Paras? Whoever says so better be having a laugh... so who then?

Well, from what I see, we need a DYNAMIC leader in our country. A leader who can think out of the box and aims to hit the global arena. One who is not only capable of solving the internal differences but the one with a wider vision of peace, stability and prosperity. One who has the ability to build close relations with India and others and yet be able to stand his/her own ground when necessary. One who is willing to listen to the people. One who can build the platform for local and foreign (Nepalese in foreign countries) businessmen, scholars to practice their knowledge and skills in Nepal.

One who is willing to move away from the street politics and use his/her power to construct the country rather than demolish it. One who is inspirational, one who can be trusted. One with the passion, energy and enthusiasm to make the difference and provide hope to the nation.

We are waiting. Future is bright.

 

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Thanks a lot for your views on current scenario of Nepal and future prospectives in terms of relationship with India. I do agree with ur all points, but as you mentioned we lack a dynamic leader in the country. We want someone who has broad vision, excellent ideas and love to the nation. The political leaders who are now on chair to move our nation are the same who did this economic and political turmoil. Our country will never improve unless we choose a right leader.

 

Thanks a for sharing your views. By the way, can you mention who in the current political scenario will be the best fit for our country?

 

 

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Thanks a lot for your views on current scenario of Nepal and future prospectives in terms of relationship with India. I do agree with ur all points, but as you mentioned we lack a dynamic leader in the country
J bhannus..... PRACHANDA le desh lai head gare INDIA daraudaina... baru NEPAL , INDIA ra CHINA ... ECONOMIC POWERS BANCHAN.. acc to my analysis...

 

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Thanks a lot for your views on current scenario of Nepal and future prospectives in terms of relationship with India. I do agree with ur all points, but as you mentioned we lack a dynamic leader in the country
J bhannus..... PRACHANDA le desh lai head gare INDIA daraudaina... baru NEPAL , INDIA ra CHINA ... ECONOMIC POWERS BANCHAN.. acc to my analysis...

Whoever, we need a dedicated leader, not those who were/are on power/right-opposition.

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