Meet these two elderly citizens from Lal Gadh!

Gone are the days when debates on national politics remained the sole preserve of Kathmandu based pseudo or real politicians.

Gone are the days when national matters needed Kathmandu's interventions for arriving at a solution. Likewise, gone are the days when the Kathmandu's intellectual's thought that they will continue to be considered supra-intellectuals for all time to come in the nation.

The fact is that Kathmandu concentrated politics and its appropriate debate apparently has shifted to districts and villages wherein informed and sensible citizens do now dare to criss-cross the national matters in details and at times surprisingly push solutions to the national issues.

It is not that the people in the districts and villages were all fools as is being considered still by the Kathmandu's political sector. They are definitely not fools. My own personal experience has been that the people out in the villages and districts were more pragmatic in their analyses than their counterparts back in the capital district. The fact is that the people in the Terai plains have understood the country's problems, they equally were in knowledge as to which sector brought these calamities in the present day Nepal and finally the people there also possess the exact medicines for the prevention of the current malaise that have gripped the nation of late.

I have reasons to claim so. In the recent months I got an opportunity to travel to Terai plains several times. During each travel to Terai, I met people from different sectors and have shared their ideas regarding the present state of the country. What I have found is that unlike the Kathmandu's corrupt political sector, they were calm, sensible, and pragmatic in their ways of thinking and in taking the issues in question in its right perspective.

In the process, during my fresh return from Biratnagar at the fag end of the last month, I wished to talk to some Nepali citizens in Lal Gadh-a small village close to Dhalkebar which itself is a crossing point to enter either Janakpur or to go ahead towards Lahan, and finally to Kakarbhitta. The small town is in the Dhanusha district.

Meet these two gentlemen from Lal Gadh. Both were Brahmins. And perhaps belonged to the same age group. They jointly maintain that it was the mis-handling of the system by the leaders that brought the nation to the edge of the brink. But then they both possess different political ideologies which I would prefer not to tell you for obvious reasons.

The person in the left is Mr. Bishnu Prasad Gajurel and the person on the right is Mr. Gokul Prasad Niraula.

It was around 4 PM that I wished to have a cup of tea at Lal Gadh and suddenly I could meet these two informed citizenry of the said small town. By any standard they could be considered as most valuable asset of the nation much more than Nepal's present day corrupt and chameleon leaders.

One says that it was the congress' misrule that caused irreparable damage to the nation. The other rejects. The former says that the communists too could not be absolved from the allegation. According to him, the communists too have contributed equally, like the congress if any, in giving a very bad shape to the nation and its system now in force.

The discussion continues for well over half an hour. I interrupt in the meantime and ask what could be the solution to the present day Maoists insurgency? The military suppression or the initiation of a meaningful dialogue?

They both differ though in their political affiliations, but yet jointly say that "dialogue" and dialogue could be the best and a suitable prescription for this ailment.

While we were discussing about the necessity of the dialogue process, suddenly both pose me a surprising question: "Have you heard that King Gyanendra will take over the charge of the country immediately after the completion of the rituals of the first death anniversary of late King Birendra? He will apparently wait for no longer for obvious reasons. This rumor is gaining currency in the districts of the region. Have you heard about it?

I said yes! This sort of rumor is in Kathmandu but then it has not yet taken the form of a panic.

This meant that people in the districts now openly talk of such high political matters.

Both opined that the Nepalese leaders gave a very bad name to the system.

Both indirectly preferred a minimum role of the King but then remained cautious in their feeling about King's taking the charge of the nation.

"After all what is the guarantee that the King could control the situation and restore normalcy after taking the charge of the country? It would be good and appropriate for the King to utilize his powers stipulated in the 1990 constitution. If he does so, the people will take it in a different light. Let those act who created these problems. Why the King? Why he should take the pains?

In the meantime, I saw my wife taking a short nap, which indirectly was a sort of hint to me that I pack up the whole debate and proceed towards Hetaunda where I was supposed to break my journey that evening. My wife understands politics but then she wishes to keep a comfortable distance for her own unexplainable reasons.

With their due permission, I took a photograph wherein they both were facing each other suggesting that they differed politically on certain matters but yet hinted me that both wished a happy-landing of the present day national problems as it were a common problem to all of us. And this they did by sitting in the same level of the concrete structure.

I think that my talks with them were a rewarding experience for me.

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