Nepal Breakdown (devotional, political & personal)

Woman passed out at Pashupatinath. At the annual Teej festival in Nepal, women fast all day long in honor of the Gods who, in return, will bestow them with a happy marriage. On this day, thousands of women are waiting in long queues outside the temple to offer their prayers. But in the baking sun, and on an empty stomach, it was too much for this young lady, leaving the premises feet first.

© Morten Svenningsen

I mentioned before that things were starting to thaw up on the political front here. But with the recent developments, things are actually starting to get quite hot. Yesterday, the Maoists decided to quit the government, thereby throwing the future of Nepal into great uncertainty. They’ve announced new “people's movement” and “people's action”, no new “people's war” though. And they haven’t left the SPA-M alliance, the parliament or the cantonments either. Their list of demands, 22 points, most prominently calls for the immediate declaration of a republic and a change in the electoral system (proportional in stead of first-past-the-post). So where did that come from all of a sudden?

Well, it’s actually some of the old demands that they conceded last year in the peace negotiations. They’ve pulled them out of the hat again now, for what can only reasonably be interpreted as fear of the constituent assembly election scheduled in two months.

So either they’ve just recently come to the conclusion that kidnapping, torture and warfare haven’t won them that many voters (surprise, surprise) or they’ve just been playing tactical games all along, never intending to settle for a 'bourgeoisie democracy'.

Or is it just hard bargaining, bluffing with a four-flush?

Either way, it is a blow in the face of all Nepali optimists who believed the major hurdle was passed with the signing of the different treaties last year. Paper’s not gonna do it alone. The actual implementation of the various agreements is still proving much more difficult.

On a personal note, I’ve been rather stretched out lately, but I now seem to have straightened things out. And it’s not the same thing! My main computer went belly-up on me, but it’s now back in full swing with a fresh re-format and re-install. And with the monsoon easing its grip, it looks like the ever-accumulating maintenance work and oppressive weather is over. I’ve also decided to try and do my work a bit more scheduled, a plain 8 hours a day in stead of the manic-depressive cycles of enthusiastic working around the clock, followed by periods of what feels like waking through a dessert, banging my head against a wall (oh yeah, there are lots of walls in the dessert!). That’ll work for a while, but in the long run it just drives me towards a burnout and a breakdown. I, of all people, should know that.

Oh, yeah. My 300 first Alamy photo’s finally made it through to the online-status this Monday!