Tuesday, September 13, 2005

Mahabharat Or Soap Opera


Wish Me Luck

I have received quite a few emails in response to this post.

"Good luck. Those will be some adventurous meetings. I would be curious to learn of your discussions."

"....it's a good idea to converse with these people. lets see how they respond to ur proposed constitution. hope u'll post it on ur blog, and then we can read it."

"This is simply great. Good luck to you."

"I can go with you if you like. I can be there for support or whatever."

"Nice to know that you have some time these days to interact with them. Frankly speaking - you're the most transparent, uptodate individual - with this rate - you'll be able to represent us in the near future. I fully support you, you don't need good luck - they all need. Don't under-estimate the support you're going to get- if you don't deviate from your dignity. Don't stoop but give the people who need due respect. Teach them what you see with your un-biased mindset, un-disturbed eye-sight. Some tips: 1. Take some of your buddies with you. 2. Please record every details what they speak-out and vibes 3. These are all of our pieces in the game that we are going to win. Good luck in winning - it's the matter of time."

"Good luck."

"My Best Luck is and always will be with you!! "

So I feel the need to make a blog entry about my first not so auspicious foray into the matter.

They all are here for some conference, and today was the big day, 8 AM to 8 PM. I got to the hotel early around 9 PM. I called from the lobby every now and then but, for the next two hours and a half, I got to see much of that part of the city. I walked around while waiting.

Finally I got through to Bharat Mohanji. I gave him a hard copy of the document. He was on the committee that drafted the 1990 constitution. But then he is already a democrat. The big prize would be face time with Shaha.

Adhikari told me he will give me his feedback within a day. I told him there was no hurry. Besides, I am taking him around town anyways.

I also intend to get a bunch of UML phone numbers from Adhikari.

I got Chand's number.

I called him up from the lobby.

"Namaste Mr. Prime Minister. My name is Paramendra Bhagat. I am a Nepali in New york. By the way, I know your son Binod Chand. I was wondering if I could please see you for about 10 minutes."

"Now?"

"Yes. I am inside your hotel." I was one floor above his.

"I was about to go to bed."

"That is fine. I know you had a long day. I look forward to seeing you in the morning then."

From the lobby I tried to get through to Sharad Chandra Shaha. The first two times the machine told me "the guest was on the phone." The next two times the phone was not picked. It was close to 11:30 PM.

I had left two voice mails for Shaha, one early in the day, and another when I first got to the hotel. He was supposedly inquiring about me during the day. I hope he is not avoiding me. I am just looking for some informal chit chat. I totally understand he has a boss who is above the law. I just intend to seek some basic feedback, I understand I might not be able to do serious business with him.

Or maybe we can exchange phone numbers. For when he is in Kathmandu.

To be honest with you, I started out from my residence thinking there is this major Mahabharat style political battle in the offing, the two armies are at the ready, and I am on this peace mission. The Mahabharat might still happen, but at least I will have participated in some dramatic peace efforts.

The actual experience of waiting for them to get back to the hotel after a long day, and then trying to get through to them on the phone it felt more like I was part of some unfolding soap opera.

I should probably keep my hopes low. Not much might come out of the effort. But I should give it a shot nevertheless.

It is like you go out into space in your space ship, and there are all these asteroids you see. They are very much alive. But they are going to move at their own tempo. You and your space ship do not matter a whole lot to them. It is a colony of asteroids.

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