Navigating the future: Through gushing rivers and waterlogged streets

What do the rivers tell you? 

While observing the gushing waters of the Vishnumati from the bridge and the river banks at the Balaju Chowk with a number of other curious peoples the other day, the rivers' message to humanity seemed, including those with houses and properties close by, to be loud and clear: Don't ever mess with us. Interfere with the ways of the Nature at your own peril. 

Yours truly could surely have spent some more time over the bridge, but to his own peril. With such a huge amount of water flowing beneath, he got a dizzying feeling, it seemed to him as if the world around him was spinning and the ground beneath getting swamped. Aware of the inherent danger, yours truly headed home, only to find streets turning into gushing rivers, pedestrians and motorists trying hard to wade through them on the shallow waters of Dhungedhara. 

Ironically, Mother Nature seemed to have realised our political leadership's vision of running vessels on our rivers! If we had such vessels, we could surely have navigated through the swirling waters! 

Of course, the state, too busy in helping our leaders amass huge wealth in compensation for their struggle for political change, for their sacrifice, for their years spent in jail, cannot provide us these vessels. 

On a more serious note befitting the huge, irreparable loss of life and properties in the recent spate of landslides and floods, due mainly to environment-unfriendly development activities in the Hills and India's act of blocking the natural course of rivers by building structures at many places along the no-man's-land in blatant violation of international practices and the principle of good neighbourliness, may yours truly ask: Can the state at least provide training to the people on ways to remain safe during natural disasters? Can it train security personnel and equip them well so that they can at least minimise the loss of lives and properties?

Boat rides can wait, further taming of the wild rivers like the Saptakoshi, Gandaki, Karnali and the Mahakali can wait, hush-hush talks on the design to localise the destructive power of the Saptakoshi in the Eastern Region of Nepal and channeling its waters for irrigation in Bihar and augmenting water required for the operation of India's river linking project can wait, but emergency response to natural disasters cannot. 

Selling of the country down the river through similar acts of high treason like the Koshi Treaty, the Gandak Agreement and the Mahakali Treaty Agreement can wait, but the demand for compensation for huge losses, mainly the weakening of national sovereignty and loss of water sovereignty, cannot. 

Does this government have the guts to raise these issues during the visit of India's Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar to Nepal? Or will it be able to raise them during the upcoming Nepal visit of India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi? 

Will it be forthright in saying that Nepal's rivers are simply incapable of providing water for roughly two-billion peoples across the border and it is wrong to see surplus water flowing in our rivers and any ambitious project to tame these rivers will be disastrous for a quake-prone Nepal?

Will it be able to say loud and clear that Nepal will not be able to welcome a sea of disaster-displaced humanity searching for dry lands?  

The recent secret visit of India's top sleuth and not-so-transparent visits of Nepal PM and CPN Co-chair thereafter indicate that something's cooking. 

What is it? Top leadership of the ruling party won't tell, the main opposition doesn't have the courage to do so, the media and lawmakers won't probably write/talk about it, especially after attending a grand feast of late at Lainchaur, and yours truly has no way of knowing. 

All he can do is read into the recent events and say that the tidings are not good.