Okay, yesterday the government in Nepal raised the price of petro Rs 4, only two weeks after dropping the price by Rs 3. They had dropped the price in reaction to student protests about a previous price hike. Reading about this in
The Himalayan Times yesterday I was equal parts amused and saddened to read successive paragraphs that went something like this -
Student leaders were told about the price hike and have agreed not to protest. Student leaders were not told about the price hike and are now planning massive protests. This is how Nepal "works", and this is how the government works. The govt already loses money each year on the import of kerosene, diesel, and petro. Raising and lowering the price of these essentials is not going to fix the deficit, as it is in the billions of rupees. Clearly, I am not an economist, but I do like to read economists in order to try to understand the world better, because let's face it- if there's a problem somewhere, just follow the money trail and you will almost always find the answer. (the other answer is religion, but let's not go there right now)
I recently read an interesting piece about how modern style dams, built by foreigners and with foreign aid, actually do more harm than good, but older Nepali style water systems somehow work better. The reason is that in order to maintain the older systems, farmers down stream needed help from the farmers up stream in order to maintain the equipment. In return, the farmers downstream would basically subsidize the upstream farmers for their efforts. With modern equipment, there was no need to maintain it, and so the subsidies stopped and the upstream farmers gained nothing. It's a fairly simple case of modern technology upsetting what was a decent balance between towns.
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| Maoist combatants |
After winning
The Peoples War, the Maoists basically control the government in Nepal. Sure, there is the NPC, and some other factions, but the prime minister and nearly 2/3 of the government is from the Maoist camp. Here is how they operate. A big part writing the constitution (which was supposed to be completed about 6 months ago, but is nowhere close) deals with integration of the Maoist army into the Nepali army, and payouts to those who chose to retire. Basically, the Maoists wanted to be integrated at their current rank, while the Nepali army wanted them to pass certain tests in order to assure that rank. Well, this didn't sit well with the Maoists, as many of them are uneducated, or at least not to the standard that would allow them to become Captain or Generals. So there were a lot of
bandhs, and eventually a payment system was worked out and integration details were "agreed" upon. (in quotes because nothing is ever really agreed upon, as you will see) As the settlement checks started to come in, former fighters, many of the retirees were women, lined up to accept payment. But there was a hitch - the Maoists in charge of the army were demanding 50% of the payment as payment for negotiating the deal. This didn't sit well with the combatants, and they organized their own bandhs in order to protest this bit of robbery. In fact, they stopped lining up for their checks altogether, and basically refused to retire. I
think this is where we stand today.
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| Smoked that drive |
What in the world does this have to do with golf, with your hero, and with this blog? After negotiating the Faldo Series contract, which as the President of HYGA put it "would be one million times bigger than anything that has ever happened to golf in Nepal", it is sitting at Gokarna Forest Resort, stalled and waiting for one simple signature. I am not exactly sure why it hasn't been signed, but I have some ideas. The first is that it wasn't their idea. I think they would feel slighted because they didn't come up with it. Despite the fact that they would get international recognition, would make money from souvenir sales and lodging, and would push golf forward in a gigantic way, ego is somehow an issue here. The second issue is that everyone in Nepal is an expert. It doesn't matter if you are a dentist, or a laborer - your ideas and thoughts must be heard heard relating to golf. And there is no shortage of people who believe they are experts, and they form committees, and these committees sit around and argue and talk and eventually do nothing.
Maybe this thing will happen, maybe all the work I have put in to getting it done will amount to something. I want this to happen, not for me, but for the kids here, and for the golf pros in this country. They are some of my best friends, and this would be huge for them as well. They deserve some recognition of what they have done for golf in Nepal, and this is a chance at that.
Not to be a downer, but I am constantly reminded of what Leonard Cohen once said when being identified as a pessimist, "
A pessimist is someone who is waiting for it to rain. I am already soaked to the bone."
