THE A-Z OF NEPAL - Part 4

A few years ago I spent some time doing voluntary work (building a school) in rural Nepal.

It was far and away the best experience of my life. The warmth and the friendliness of the people despite everything they have to put up with is something I will never forget.

When I got home I wrote a 6000 word A-Z of Nepal for the volunteers the next year so they would have a bit more of an idea when they arrived.

This was all 4 years ago so some of the information is out of date. Nevertheless, I am going to serialise it here.

Here is the fourth part, M to O

(First part, A - C, Second part, D - G, Third part, H - L)

M

M is for Maoists – I heard a million conflicting stories about the Maoists. From what I can gather, they used to be quite popular but their popularity decreased hugely over time.

From what I was told (and some of this may be wrong) they were originally the Communist party of Nepal. After the transformation into “the Maoists” about 7 years ago they became more radical and set about exposing corrupt officials. This gained them a lot of popularity with the average Nepali in a very short space of time. They became more extreme shortly after this initial phase of operation and started taking the law into their own hands and actually assassinating the corrupt officials. This did no harm to their popularity either.

That they have managed to make themselves extremely unpopular is a most spectacular own goal. As the dispute became more bitter and the bodies on either side started to pile up the Maoists set about arming themselves with weapons bought on the black market in India and Pakistan. Since then it has been almost open warfare in certain areas of Nepal (particularly in the west of the country where the Maoists have their strongholds). Even in the early phase of the war their popularity held up well. That is not to say that most Nepalis were actively in favour of the Maoists it was just that they didn’t particularly like the government and the King.

In the recent [NB - I wrote this in 2003] phase of the conflict (since the peace talks failed in August 2003) there have been many killed (according to the Sunday Times over 200 in one week). The Maoists have ruined their previous popularity by imposing themselves on villages and demanding money/food/shelter (some people in the villages call them “rice-killers”). Many village communities are strong enough to refuse to give them money (some aren’t) but most give them food. However, what this means is that as there are informants on either side in most villages the people are in a tricky position. The Maoists threaten them with violence for food and money and then the army come and accuse them of being Maoists and arrest them (particularly adolescents – see Y for Youth).

In short, the Maoists will continue to be a major player in Nepal for some time yet. They are too well equipped, organised and entrenched in the west to be swept aside – even by the ultra-aggressive tactics the Royal Nepal Army now uses.

They are everywhere and they are nowhere.

M is also for MOMO – a sort of ravioli. Delicious and spicy served in three varieties, chicken, buff (buffalo) or vegetable.

 

There are usually three varieties, chicken, veg or buff (buffalo). Momos should carry a health warning – they are fearfully addictive. They are fantastic.

 

 

M is also for Monsoon – running from late June to early or mid September (it changes slightly from year to year) the monsoon has different phases. Some days there will only be a light shower and no more. Other days the streets can be flooded within one hour. At other times it can rain incessantly for days on end. If you don’t mind the rain then monsoon season can be the best time to go to Nepal because most of the tourists will not have arrived yet. However, there is a down side to this – landslides are at their worst in the monsoon season and there are many deaths each year (see W for World Bank and L for Landslides).

M is for Music – if you happen to be travelling by local transport (buses only – the mountainous topography means that there are no trains to speak of in Nepal) then its and idea to take a cassette with you (not a CD). The bus drivers will put it on.

N

N is for NGOs – there are many of these in Nepal as there is a lot of work to be done. Some NGOs unfortunately (as in many other countries) are not quite on the level but most are, just be careful whom you choose to donate your services to.

O

O is for Opportunity (or lack of) – aside from the tourist trade and the industries that support it there really isn’t that much work to be had. The mountainous topography of the nation means that heavy industry simply isn’t practical as the extra costs in transporting materials would far outweigh the savings made from cheap labour. Farming has the same problem because the difficulties in transporting any extra produce make any sort of profit very difficult to achieve.