Nepal once again finds itself in the midst of political turmoil. The breath of fresh air to the landlocked country when it abolished monarchy and became a federal republic, now looks to have gone stale. The coalition of political parties, with the Maoists leading the way, seems to be disintegrating, saddling the populace with an all too familiar sense of uncertainty. Thus, the time perhaps was never better for probably Nepal’s most well-known entrepreneur to title his autobiography, Paradise In Our Backyard: A Blueprint for Nepal.
Karna Sakya is familiar to those who do business with the tourism industry in Nepal and those formulating policies on sustainable tourism internationally. Sakya is the founder of the Kathmandu Guest House, which is the first stop on Lonely Planet’s guide to Nepal but more crucially during his time serving the Forest Department, he earmarked the boundaries of Nepal’s first national park, Chitwan, which was a royal hunting preserve. It was the framework for establishing the other national parks that dot the country today and lent itself favourably to making Nepal a huge eco-tourism draw.
When anyone writes a book to analyse problems plaguing one’s country and offer solutions, it requires a degree of credibility. Sakya cleverly uses the story of his own life as a marker for Nepalis to pull themselves out of the current quagmire. Though privileged to be born into a clan which was well-off by Nepali standards, Sakya chose the bureaucracy in the form of the forest service, instead of his father’s jewellery business. He credits his choice to being always fascinated by the natural beauty of Nepal. His curiosity led him to learn more about nature, often working with researchers, and came to India to study at the Forest Research Institute, Dehradun.
Though stifled by bureaucracy, he managed against the indifference of his superiors to get the royal hunting preserve of Chitwan designated as a national park. That was followed by protecting zones such as Annapurna and the fragile high-altitude habitats (for humans and wildlife) of Dolpo and Mustang. He went further against the grain when he termed the hippie crowd thronging Nepal back then as short-lived. He notes about the movement wryly that “having failed to achieve ‘peace of mind’ through meditation and yoga, they take refuge in marijuana.”
Sakya though, finally gave up his fight against the bureaucracy out of sheer frustration of having to take the system head on everytime and then hit upon the idea of starting Kathmandu Guest House, from his own home, as an affordable joint for those seeking “adventure and intellectual stimulation”. But this did not end his involvement with framing Nepal’s tourism policy. He went on to head the tourism board and coordinating ‘Visit Nepal Year 1998’, the country’s first official tourism promotion.
His time in the bureaucracy and the posts afterward, put Sakya bang in the middle of Nepal’s powerbrokers. Through his eyes one can analyse the monarchy, which he pays tribute to, especially King Mahendra, who built the vital east-west and north-south highway corridors and King Birendra for always listening to people’s opinion and driving his own car without a posse of security. He is silent though on King Gyanendra, the monarch who was stripped of everything by the Maoists, and stays clear of the slaying of King Birendra and his family by Prince Dipendra, by only expressing his shock and numbness.
In the politics, one can observe a transition from a constitutional monarchy to a federal republic, with the politicians themselves getting mixed reviews. Former Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala gets Sakya’s thanks for realising his dream of a full-fledged cancer hospital in Nepal. It was a dream inspired by the tragedy of losing his wife and eldest daughter painfully to cancer in a span of two months. Apart from that Koirala and others that preceded and followed him get flak for not looking beyond their own singular ambitions.
Sakya takes a pragmatic view of the situation in Nepal. He says economic disparity is not alien to developed countries but what sets them apart is the commitment to provide for their citizens basic needs — bijli, sadak, paani. You can see a lot of India’s own entrepreneurs such as N R Narayana Murthy in Sakya when he says a country must be built on an individual’s integrity and hard work. He is a champion of private and free enterprise, bound by neutral government regulation. Though stating he has no political ambitions, he sets a list of what he would do if he was voted into the Prime Minister’s office.
Sakya can appear idealistic and his views not original, but he cannot be ignored. He quite blithely points out it would be daydreaming to expect a messiah such as Mahatma Gandhi to lead Nepal out of darkness. Nepal needs a collective effort, he asserts, to avoid becoming a failed state. One must hope his nightmare — that one day only Indra, the king of gods, and Kuber, god of wealth, can save Nepal — does not come true.
PARADISE IN OUR BACKYARD
A BLUEPRINT FOR NEPAL
Karna Sakya
Penguin
233 pages; Rs 275
