A few months ago Bev and I were lounging on the grass outside a government building in Kathmandu waiting for some civil servants, who were in the midst of an interminable tea break, to sign some of Alisha's adoption paperwork. The young Nepali lad who was with us (as staff at Alisha's source orphanage) said to us "The problem with my people is that we are lazy". We of course vigorously rejected his comment politely and vigorously. You only have to see Nepali women labouring in the fields while their menfolk expend equal amounts of energy playing cards to realise the invalidity of his generalisation. Seriously though, I think there is actually an extremely strong innate work ethic in the Nepali people and those who are living abroad reap rich rewards from their industry. The problem is the bizarre domestic culture of holiday taking that is forced upon the nation by others, a culture that drains initiative and cripples industry and risks condemning Nepal to remain an economic backwater and its people impecunious. It is a growing problem, especially now that the more inclusive "New Nepal" recognises many more public holidays in deference to minority cultures and religions. This development flagged up in a typically insightful article in the Nepali Times in April this year.
Tomorrow the new national Constituent Assembly will meet for the first time and is expected to pass a resolution that will turn Nepal into a Republic. No longer will tourist brochures be able to trumpet Nepal as being "the world's only Hindu kingdom". Hopefully the king will have the good sense to capitulate and leave the royal palace with dignity; the plan is that the palace will thereafter become a national museum but heaven alone knows what that is going to exhibit. I have nothing personal against the king but I am pleased as a republican to see the Nepalese head of state becoming a president. For dynasties hold no monopoly over good genes (even if as in this particular royal family there has been a historical claim to be an incarnation of a deity) and I feel it must always be the preserve of the people to elect the national leader.
The interim government just yesterday called a three day public holiday to recognise this auspicious occasion.
