­Toothache – in fifth symphony

 

 

Devendra Gautam

A delirious mind is stuck in the intersection of time and space, as if it were a sapien caught in the midst of a ceaseless traffic that does not wait even for the god of death.

Even as an overwhelmed cop tries to bring some semblance of order on the road at Sanobharyang, Nagarjun municipality, amid a cloud of emissions and dust, vehicles rush past, several of them with images of different deities and prayers wishing for divine protection for us all from harm — on and off the road.

I have a close shave but what worth an ‘ordinary’ life is in this land of the free and the home of the brave?

Nearby, a stream flows carrying mud and filth. It has been flowing for ages, with no authority having the ingenuity to harness the waters to build a micro-hydro, irrigation facilities or just a plain and simple mini water supply project. Downstream, a small temple dedicated to Vishwakarma, the chief engineer cum architect of the deities, stands with ironic majesty amid other soaring structures, old and new.

Apparently, even Vishwakarma the Great cannot instill a bit of imagination and innovation in a great people as they keep searching beyond their homesteads for opportunities befitting them.

Veering off is no good thing as it can lead to accidents, so I return to the road — again.

As if these deities of ours were not already having a hard time managing, perhaps from their invisible realm light years afar from our planet, a world that is never at rest with itself and the great beyond, including their own Nepal…

As for an officer busy regulating traffic, he too is a sapien and sapiens, as we all know, can make mistakes.

Had some great sapiens not made some great mistakes, including two great wars and numerous conflicts, the rest of us would not be where we are — between a rock and a hard place. If they commit some more, who knows if Stone Age won’t come to us?

What if these celestial beings take their eyes off the world?

A thinking mind can raise no-n/ nonsense counter-questions: What is the proof that the celestial beings indeed exist? What clinching evidence is there suggesting that they are watching over the world — and beyond — from their comfy realms? If they existed and had great powers, would they not have been able to avert at least some of the tragedies that fell on this god-fearing nation, leave alone the world?

Alas, a delirious mind cannot answer such serious questions as all it seeks is immediate relief.

Intelligent people ask the right questions at the right time to the right people — the powers that be, helping solve problems, building trust and gaining clear insights in the process.

Ah the powers that be…

They are quite busy these days and do not have time for foolish questions. They never had. 

From a short period of splendid isolation to a flurry of engagements... From the centre of political powers to a centre of divine power on the lap of the Himalayas and locations beyond, amid an intensifying race for global supremacy between three great powers...

Is our political leadership in its holiday retreat in its newfound Camp David or in some serious diplomatic exercise or both?

Quite noteworthy is a strain of diplomacy that has become an in-thing for us these days…

Amid an unsettling chorus, a warm welcome to a top gun from the next-door neighbour and thundering slogans of youths demanding that the government allow their recruitment into a foreign army, in keeping with a decades-old practice... No appeal from a government of Young Turks to the protesters to serve Nepal and the Nepalis with promises of suitable opportunities.

Then comes border talks amid a confusing statement from the Foreign Minister to the sovereign Parliament regarding the possession of the original copies of the Treaty of Sugauli (1816) and the Nepal-India Treaty of Peace and Friendship (1950)...

You see, we are patriots of a different kind…

The goings-on are too much to process for a humble observer grappling with a toothache, trying hard to not fall under the scalpel, aided too little by Victorian to modern remedies to Yog — not to mention an arsenal of music from home and beyond.

The ache persists and so do our questions:

Where are we heading, as a nation brought almost to her knees as a result of sustained, large-scale violence that needs an ecosystem beyond borders to sustain? From a tunnel of darkness to a deeper, darker tunnel of darkness? Where will this journey end?

Will a political leadership that maintains a deafening silence most of the time bother to clarify?

PS: The sketch is AI-generated.