Shadib, my Nepali tutor, says “they wear the jeans, they wear the mini skirts and give their parents big headache, isn’t it?” (He probably didn’t say “isn’t it” in this case, but he certainly always does. It is this or that, eesn’t it.). “One day a young guy has one lady, and another day, another lady. Big problem!” He says this after I finish telling him Americans are and were generally OK about Prezzy Slick Willy’s BJ. He sees his culture eroding, even though he’s not sure what erode means. Further, he doesn’t understand our concept of divorce. “The man has one small problem, the wife has one small problem, so they divorce. It should not be that way!” He understands, as Nepali’s traditionally have, one wife FOR-EVVV-ERRRR.
Indo, maro Nepali a-ma ho, expresses many of the same sentiments. Family is HUGE in Nepali culture, unbelievably huge. Everyone is a cousin, brother, sister. Daughters are not to move out until they are married, and certainly not to live with a dude before marriage, even if they are just friends (and CERTAINLY no hanky panky before marriage). After she praises the American government for commanding the people righteously and keeping them happy, she talks about not liking our culture. She blames our lack of culture and tradition on “Too much freedom.” That is why there is “so much sexual attraction, so many babies.” She’s probably right, sexual attraction is terrible, and so……sexual.
Anuj, Indu’s husband, expands on these ways of thinking from a political plane. Him and his family lived in Canada for a year, so he has experience with western ways of thinking and politics. I, being an extremely poor political theorist, am not sure of the exact political theory, but he speaks of the need for discipline in Nepal, and only then, after the development of the country can the freedoms take root. He shuns the political environment all together; “democracy” is not for Nepal he says. His little secret is: power to the king, and moreover, a centralized government. In a country seemingly lacking laws, he feels the politicians, and specifically democracy, are plundering the country into more chaos. He feels democracy is just whipping the youth and the uneducated into a political frenzy. This mania distracts Nepal from the one thing Nepal needs most: Development. He praises the democracy in the US because the two parties hold control over the country. It’s orderly, it’s clean, but in Nepal there are more parties than the newspapers can even report on. As I am starting to see it is perpetual political chaos.
He says all Nepali’s should go to school or work from 8-5:30 every day and try to emulate China, South Korea, or Taiwan’s explosion into the world economy. Anuj blames the politicians for the lack of work and development. Supposedly, these politicians sold some major Nepalese industries to India for short-term profit, making any of their promises for economic development empty. India’s influence over Nepal is immense, and it is something I do not quite understand yet. India does not support the Maoists, so, they support the monarchy; namely the Hindi monarchy, implicitly of course! Which means relations with Nepal will stay very close, and their border with China will stay even further away. Even more, EVERYTHING imported into Nepal comes from India (well, not everything: China trucks their fair share over the Himalayas). Petrol, kerosene, food; name it and it is most likely Indian. Nepal’s prime minister (Anuj prefixes this title with “so-called”) is a born Indian and I see his last name, Koirala, in many different sections of the newspaper. His daughter is in finances, another Koirala heads some other governmental position, etc; basically, the ties between the countries are strong, and they are very complicated!
Honestly, I hope my western ideal of a functioning democracy proves Anuj wrong. I want the people to vote, create their constitution, and only then start to develop an economically sound, functioning country. As to the amount of “sexual attraction” floating around the streets, I will conclude with a quote from an ancient philosopher (well, the 90’s):
“Street dreams are made of these…
who am I to disagree
everybody’s looking for something”
-Nas
