Date Line The Telegraph - Weekly (Nepal)

D A T E L I N E

Niraj Aryal

Le diner de cons

A few years back watching a French movie while I was in France as a student and now watching the same movie back in Nepal on TV5 very recently, forced me to write, whatever I could understand about the greatest comedy (for me) I ever watched.

If the readers would not get bored I am writing few things what I could grasp while watching the movie for the second time.

Pierre Brochant and some of his friends used to invite few idiots every Wednesday.

Small, fat, young, big… the idea was to find one rare pearl, most peculiar of all the specimens and exact. Mr. Brochant was looking for some one like François Pignon, working as a Tax-Officer in the Ministry of Finance who was also interested in making Marquette from piece of woods. Thus, Mr. Brochant finally found one rare pearl.

Now talking of Nepal, if some one wish to find one cons it will not take long to find a con but will find many cons within seconds. Attention! These cons are very indigenous to Nepal.

These could be well exported all over the world. After the failure of exporting Carpets and Pashmina, now would be worth trying to export these rare pearls.

What are these rare pearls then?

Seminars

Attending various development seminars, these days have become very frequent for me. Listening to what I normally don’t want to listen and to see what I don’t want to see is becoming a daily routine. However, I have to listen and write, this is my job after all.

Experts or cons

We have all sorts of experts (pearls) here in Nepal. Democracy experts, Development experts, and Conflict resolution expert and demonstration experts, corruption experts, human rights experts and what not what not. But the reality suggests something else. Are these experts all Cons! Sorry Pearls!

Save me!

In each and every forum these very cons are always ready to express their views and ideas, they give damn about if the listeners want to listen to them or not. God almighty save listeners like me!

All cons!

May be the financers, national and international both, are also cons. One can ask, why they invite these cons? The government officials, ministers, politicians, journalists, academicians, are all cons of the highest order!

One Minister holding four portfolios, going to five seminars a day giving lectures everywhere. Is it those listening to him are the greatest of all cons? Isn’t the media that reports the ministerial boring lectures on NTV and Radio Nepal a distinguished Con?. For me the number one Con in Nepal are the media men who give prominence to non-news.

The organizers, the listeners and the financiers all are Cons. Last but not the least, the topics now being discussed in the country too constitute Cons.

In the midst of all the cons everywhere around, how can I, the writer, be an exception to the rule. I am too a con!