Politics

The idea appeared completely crazy. But the turn of the events in past 24 hours have dictated us to accept a  new reality. We are now citizens of a country run by the chief justice of the supreme court. Our politicians have decided to give up the government. Bureaucrats are going to give us the election apparently. Some thoughts stand out in these dizzying turn of events, for those of us who until now thought that the talk about having CJ run the government for elections was a sham: 

1. Our politicians are a big risk takers (whether they calculate risks is an entirely different matter). 

2. Only the craziest of the ideas can bring our politicians together. 

3. We have lived in autocracy for a few months now, ruled by a few oligarchs (leaders of select few political parties), devoid of local level politics for several years; now we are going to be ruled by bureaucrats for a change. 

4. How is the politics going to look now? Power is now with the CJ. So what are our political parties going to fight for? Maybe because all of them are powerless, they will all concentrate on making good arguments, on winning arguments. Or maybe this is just a wishful thinking. Maybe they will feel the void and start attacking the CJ-led  government. 

5. The success of this government means that we will have an election that will give us an assembly that can start discussion on making a constitution (sounds familiar?). 

6. The failure of this government = no election (better not to imagine, but all too possible). 

7. Maybe crazy solutions work for our crazy politics. 

We hope so. 

A Story of Fire

Abhi Subedi has written a play "अग्नी को कथा " translated, "A Story of Fire" that plays at Aarohan Theater. It is apparently inspired by the inferno borne of his students' ire that lit his library and Department of English into flames. ".....this got me thinking," he said, talking about how "A Story of Fire" came into being. 

We were reminded of Professor Subedi's library and Department of English a few days ago. For us, it was shattered glasses that epitomized the pyre. 

Ours is a much distressing situation. A young woman in her very first pregnancy lost her life by the turn of events that probably took just a few seconds to start. She was having a Cesarean section to have her baby delivered. But she developed a rare reaction to the anesthetic agent. Who develops this rare reaction to this agent is unpredictable. Despite best efforts of the doctors involved, she died in a few days. It is chilling, how a young woman who might have been dreaming about holding her baby in her arms, maybe seeing the baby grow, maybe having more babies,....vanished along with her dreams. It is terrifying to imagine how the father, mother, husband, brother, sister of the woman might have felt learning that their daughter, wife, sister was there no more. 

As soon as the reaction happened a huge commotion started in the hospital. My colleagues describe there being more than a hundred angry people in the corridors of the hospital. Police was called in. They came in trucks with sticks and guns. They camped out at ICU. The hospital was like a war zone. When she died a few days later, the ire burst out, with young men using their helmets to smash the glasses that caught their sight. Some of these glasses were just next to sick patients, the arm swung into air throwing out shards of glasses, the rage numbing the senses as to be oblivious to another being's distressful predicament. Police apparently intervened, a bit later according to my colleagues, charging these young men with boots and batons. Eighteen were arrested per the rumors. 

1. What a distress
2. What a response

I can not reason out  an unexplainable, unpredictable response to a medication that is used routinely. At the same time, I can not reason out the violence borne in the setting of this distress. The violence achieved nothing, perhaps more distress to those taken to the jail, beaten with batons, those working in terror at the hospital. Had we tried instead to talk out  things, would that have helped? I don't know. Perhaps that is why Professor Subedi resorted to ".... this got me thinking" when flames engulfed his library and his department. I do not know. 

Universal Health Coverage

There are news of the government developing health insurance schemes for "universal health coverage". While the news is exciting, what has come out is not very reassuring in terms of ensuring "univeral health coverage." And at the same time, for those of us who work at the public sector, it is a far cry in need of much homework. Either we have been denied the grand efficiency of our government that has been hidden from us so far, or this is just a big talk, time will probably tell. But I had sent a response to an editorial published in Republica regarding the universal health coverage. They published it in the print form (I disagree with "perhaps health insurance would not even be necessary" inserted by the editor; please see the link above for my original comment). Here it is the published form: 

Prayer Calls

At specific times and intervals, I surmise, loud voice emanates from loud speakers from the  mosque. It is rather musical; it does not bother me. I have heard male voices only, I guess the priest (if that is who sings these out) is always male. I do not know what the rules are for these prayer rituals. 

But it is clear, this voice, this sound, holds supreme in the public life of this city and perhaps nation. It is meant to be loud; audible to the citizens of this city, louder than the cacophony of this densely populated land. 

Do the citizens of this city value this sound? Or are they just used to it? Do they demand it? Is there any one who is bothered by it and wants it go away? These are some of the questions that come to mind. 

What of those people who are not religious? Or what of those people whose identity is not primarily religious? 

What is it like living in a daily dominance of religion? Even if it is a religion you are born to and ascribe to?