Foreigners and natives alike have been mesmerized by Kathmandu’s unmystical mystic, asymmetrically symmetric, gleefully gloomy, and chaotically organized composure

By Shiva Gautam

Senior leaders of political parties including the prime minister and Maoists reach an understanding, but the junior leaders cry foul. When these junior leaders and Maoists reach an understanding, the prime minister tells the media that he is unaware of it. “It is a chaos out there in Kathmandu,” someone retorted when I asked his views on the current political situation in Nepal.

Kathmandu always has been an exotic and chaotic place woven seamlessly by opposites and contrasts. Foreigners and natives alike have been mesmerized by its unmystical mystic, asymmetrically symmetric, gleefully gloomy, and chaotically organized composure.

“When you enter Kathmandu,” said an American Chief Executive Officer (CEO), “and look out of your airplane’s window below, the chaos of Kathmandu jumps at you and takes your breath away…I love Kathmandu for its chaos.”

“We drive on the right side of the road in America, they drive on the left side of the road in the United Kingdom, but they drive on both sides of the road in Kathmandu” wrote an American traveler.

Poet Bhanubhakta fell in love with Kathmandu the moment he laid his eyes on it and wrote a beautiful poem. Much later in our own times, poet Bhupi Sherchan wrote that Kathmandu is a place where people created by gods and gods created by people live side by side in harmony. It is said that at one point there were more gods (statutes, idols) than people in Kathmandu.

Mathematical theory describes chaos as a process that looks random but is not really random (like a pattern of absence of a pattern). There is high degree of non-randomness beneath what seems to be absolutely random (and chaotic) driving in Kathmandu, otherwise we would have seen a lot more road hazards than we usually see. Let’s see if the US drivers can maintain the same ratio of mortality while driving on both sides of their streets.

During the early 1980’s Nepal saw its first referendum as the butterfly effect of execution of Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Buttto. The ‘butterfly effect’, associated with chaos theory, is a phenomenon according to which a flap of a butterfly’s wings at one part of the globe may spawn a powerful thunderstorm in the other part.
Political chaos is simply another aspect of chaotic Kathmandu. Bhupi’s now famous political satirical phrase that Nepal is a country noises of only, which is a title of one his poems, says it well (noise is sometimes used as a synonym for chaos).

Nepal’s history is full of political chaos and aberrant phenomenon. I just want to jot down only few recent episodes.

During the early 1980’s Nepal saw its first referendum as the butterfly effect of execution of Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Buttto. The ‘butterfly effect’, associated with chaos theory, is a phenomenon according to which a flap of a butterfly’s wings at one part of the globe may spawn a powerful thunderstorm in the other part.

In 1990 Nepal adopted multi-party democracy. Some people believed that democracy was the result of a chaos and noise, and they accused late King Birendra giving up so easily. But who knows what the ‘butterfly effect’ would have been if it were left to flap its wings. Some of the same disgruntled people in 2006 experienced first hand and realized how powerful the butterfly effect could be, and also saw that things that seem random are not necessarily random.

When Maoists started their people’s war, Kathmandu shrugged it off as a noise, a small chaos, and an aberrant phenomenon in a remote part of the country. Governments around that time ignored it completely, and governments that came later continued to ignore and dealt with it only in random ways, ‘dealing a random phenomenon randomly should do it’ might have been their logic. But only a few saw a well organized pattern underneath this chaos, and now we have witnessed the butterfly effect spawn a tornado, which turned Nepali politics upside down.

Parties and Maoists came up with exactly the same 12-point declaration but there were no joint signatures; they signed it separately. So it is a common document, and at the same time not a common document. The foreign dignitaries must have been surprised- they need to lean a Nepali word ‘Kaaite’ system. (The Kaaite system may appear as an errant logic to those who are not used to it, but it is a non-random well establish phenomenon in Nepali context).

After the reinstatement of the parliament, there were lots of chaotic events, which may feed to the butterfly effect if not recognized and dealt on time.

Party leaders say they want to do way with monarchy, but keep amending rules regarding monarchy. The parties fought so hard to reinstate the parliament only to fight again for its immediate dissolution.

The army in clear and yet subtle way defies government’s important decisions, and also says it supports the government. The army, perhaps, wants to exhibit how powerful it is, not realizing that the same actions may be weakening it. The butterfly has flapped its wings.

Of course, the army is not in an easy position. If a push comes to shove situation is created by an insensitive maneuvering, then it is likely that a part of army – or most of it -may come out of barrack (at the king’s behest) and we may see another round of more devastating and bloody civil war. I am told that Maoist army, now confident that they have the rural area, is stationed outside Katmandu valley in temporary barracks. After all its chaos in Kathmandu, and butterflies are flapping their wings.

Although this government is criticized for not taking stern actions against Nepal Army, but may be the government is trying to keep the butterfly’s wings apart.

Like always, there are so many signs of chaos in Kathmandu these days. They say history repeats itself, and there is no lack of chaotic moments in Kathmandu’s history.

Different people who have recently visited Kathmandu tell me different things. One friend told me that many ministers and leaders have succumbed to their old habits (whatever that may be), but few are still sincere. Another friend told me that the government seems mostly engaged in less important things. This is a pattern seemed during the last days of Rana regime, Penchant regime and several democratic governments in the 1990s, and the royal regime before April uprising (Jana Andolan II). He questioned ” Are we seeing the last days of democracy and beginning of Maoists’ regime in Nepal?” Yet another friend reported that Maoist have not changed that much either.

However, the gist of all negativities contained in the above conversations is invariably the same: that everyone is optimistic about the future of Nepal. Of course, negatives canceling each other to yield positive is no surprise in mathematics and linguistics. Such optimism should perhaps be named as seeing the light at the beginning of the tunnel. The chaos is at work here too, it seems.

So many butterflies are flapping their wings. Hopefully, they will cancel each other out before they brew a dark future.

There are lots of other chaotic places in the world, but none is as comical, vivacious, upbeat, and hopeful as Kathmandu.

Kathmandu remains cute, cuddly and chaotic as usual, and you have got to love it.

(The author is a faculty at Harvard University and can be reached at [email protected])

(Editor’s Note: Nepalis, wherever they live, as well as friends of Nepal around the globe are requested to contribute their views/opinions/recollections etc. on issues concerning present day Nepal to the Guest Column of Nepalnews. Length of the article should not be more than 1,000 words and may be edited for the purpose of clarity and space. Relevant photos as well as photo of the author may also be sent along with the article. Please send your write-ups to [email protected])