Nepal: A Country Of Contrasts

It is a day of mixed feelings for me. Early this morning I got alarm emails from Nepal and the UK concerning the student protests in Kathmandu over the alleged Young Communist League (YCL) murder/assassination of two youths in a remote district. As stoic Nepalese, we have come to terms with the fact that these events are a regular occurrence in Nepal. However, we currently have clients there and their safety is our prime concern. Events such as these always bring the same emotions of hopelessness, sadness, and frustration knowing the potential Nepal has, and how we are effectively throwing it all down a drain.

Student protests usually extend around campuses in Kathmandu - red circles / image by Raj Gyawali

I later read about Subina Shrestha and Dawa Steven Sherpa and my heart lightened up. Subina is a good friend who was a finalist just last week for the prestigious Rory Peck Award for her outstanding journalism in the Irrawady Delta of Myanmar. She was the first journalist to reach the area, posing as a buddhist pilgrim from Nepal.

Dawa Steven Sherpa, a fellow entrepreneur in Nepal, is making us all proud of his innovative conservationist skills, in the world arena. He is only 24, has reached three 8000+ m peaks, Mt. Everest twice, and is a beacon of light for conservation efforts in mountaineering.  He is winning awards left, right and center.

Nepal proves to me more and more regularly just how bad the country is at providing a good environment for its citizens, and how vast the differences are amongst the population in terms of education, thinking, and the understanding of priorities. The students on the streets today are proud and fierce, but I believe that their thinking is a bit clouded – the result of brainwashing with political motives dictated by politicians with ulterior motives.  They go on disrupting lives, businesses, and education in the name of change without realising that they are in fact compromising their own ingenuity, creativity and potential.

When will Nepal realise that all we have to do is sit tight, create a stable country, a stable political environment and sit tight. Fortunately we are sandwiched between China and India, they will carry us through!