डाकुहरु (looters) are taking turns looting and pillaging a village. The village is getting sucked high and dry repeatedly. A serious fight has broken out between these gangs of looters over the issue of who gets to loot the most and for how long this season!

Meanwhile, villagers are on their knees, pleading to the looters to leave their starving village alone. But No! The looters brush them aside with their “who are you to even plead?” mentality. They are busy negotiating hard on “भाग बन्डा” i.e who gets what amount of the spoils. The helpless villagers are left muttering yet quiet, frustrated yet with fear, undignified yet divided and praying to the 330 million gods and goddesses to come rescue them at once!

The movie cuts into another scene where gangs of looters are locked in intense negotiations with each other on how to divide the loot. They never seem to be able to agree until the very last moment… Even the villagers,their eternal victims, are urging them to agree on SOMETHING.  There is an message stamped in each of their faces. “यस्तै हो के गर्ने Yestai ho. ke garne”

Scene changes again.
Lo! A decision has been made. The gangs of looters have finally come to some sort of (soon to be broken) agreement! They jointly come out and read this statement before the village.
“We have decided to let this village live but on ONE condition only. That is we Gang A, B, and C be allowed to rule the village in turn, unconditionally and with impunity, for one more year. (Otherwise we will violently fight with each other to wrest control of the village and make this into a war zone with murder and mayhem).

The villagers look frantically at each other’s helpless faces,then at their children’s faces, and agree right there and then with the looters demands! “Better slavery than this possible lingering chaos and possible scenes of murder.”

Sighs of relief is heard everywhere, some are even clapping at this discovery! Some are seen thanking their looters for saving the village from “a certain possible” disaster! A large quiet majority sit mute, maybe out of fear or hopelessness or just loss of dignity with “ke garne”  के गर्ने ? on their mouths.

The Final Climatic scene: One gang of Looters are ruling the village again while another gang in the background are soon scheming for their downfall so that THEY can rule instead. A close-up shot of lines of villagers faces that show a bewildered look of “Will I survive another year?”

THE END. (This Film repeats again…and again…and again in a cinema hall near you.) The audience loves the movie.”what a moving tragedy-comedy”, some one shouts! Claps are heard across the hall ! A hit in the making definitely !

Wait ! Doesn’t this scenario sound like our Nepal now?

Yes, It certainly does! And if so, wouldn’t we all like to change the ending of this movie?
Wait, are you saying, you can’t ? that we 27 million Nepali’s can’t change our fates?
Look, one person is more than enough capable of changing the environment around her. If Gautam Buddha showed us right here in Nepal, 2500 years ago, what are you waiting for ? If Mahatma Gandhi and Mother Teressa have shown us this in neighboring India, what are you waiting for in Nepal? If Deng Xiaoping in China showed how to bring millions of Chinese from abject poverty to prosperity, then there you go, what are you waiting for! If they can do it, we sure can do it!

Right now, we are all afraid, frustrated and it seems our dignity is fading, day by day. But the day we decide to face our fears, we start winning, each one of us.

Start today! Worried on how to get started ? Here are some possible ways to help you to start your own creative initiatives to do it in your own ways)

• You are unique. Experiment with your own way! We are all capable of leading in our own circles. So lead the way in your own way one step at a time!

• Don’t be afraid to take sides but stay true to your own views. If your views change over time, this is fine. It is just natural. Just don’t stay under any obligations that contradict your morals! You are here to lead your community, not to follow it.

• Practice convincing your views to your friends and near circle. If you can’t convince your group, you cannot convince the mob that is out there. This is the hardest hurdle ! Start a group based on your views on say Facebook, to test your ideas out. Experiment now!

• Write, Write, Write  (first an anonymous comment in a local news paper or blogs, then a small opinion, an analysis, then write a comprehensive article proposing your solutions to problems. No one was born a writer or a problem solver. Your pen influences more people than you could ever imagine.

• All students and researchers out there, do pointed research on the community around you. For example, how do your local authorities respond to citizen complaints? (Do a survey). research on where the money of your local club is spent. Publish them on the Internet so that everyone in the world notices sooner or later. (Even the Nepali media is hungry for materials like this). Aim big, start small.

• Start a group or a club in a cause you belief in। If you are worried about your generation’s future, open or join an group who cares about the future. Similarly for clean politics? clean neighborhood? clean environment? clean minds ? Find like-minded people around you and build a platform.

• Take a stand. Be pro-active (not passive). Any change begins very small! Build it one person at a time. (Mass following will come in time, have patience, be persistent). In time you will have built a platform for others to come together for change.

• And If you want to follow, follow only your conscience!

So what will you start today towards changing the ending of our movie?

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This article appeared in Myrepublica daily March 30