Parmeshwar Devkota

As Greek poet Archilochus has written: The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one great thing. The present-day politicians of Nepal may know many tactics of climbing to the greasy poles of power. But, the commoners who are at the mercy of Nepali leaders, know only one thing -- politics plays a crucial role in the contemporary society. If it becomes unstable, even the seasonal beauty gives no pleasure to them.
They know that the spring season has started. As the sun enters into spring equinox, the warming up of the northern hemisphere begins. Nowadays, the sun is shining directly over our head. Days and nights are becoming equal. This season is considered as the king of all seasons. That is why the chirping of sparrows, buzzing of bees and dancing of pigeons have increased significantly. One of my neighbours was saying that he had heard sweet sound of a skylark in the nearby jungle.
The yellow raspberry and Nepal barberry have started giving fresh shoots, small leaves and flowers. As the flowers are sprouting bigger and bigger, bees, bumble bees, black-bees and even butterflies are seen roaming around the flowers and sucking nectars of fruits. With the start of spring season, herbs have begun producing sprouts in the jungle to satiate the hunger of wild animals as deer, bear and porcupine and pet animals as goats, sheep and cows alike.
With the start of this season, some enthusiastic youths of the community are learnt to have planned for a long journey while others are busy planning for an overnight trek. Similarly, some schools and other institutions are either planning or thinking of organising a picnic.
But, there are many enlightened citizens who are neither feeling warmth of the sun nor are participating in such programmes. Instead, they are pondering over the present-day murky politics. They contemplate as to what sort of ruling alliance will be formed. Whether or not the new dispensation will be able to deal with the pertinent problems of Nepali people? They fear if they fail to form an appropriate alliance, the country may plunge into turmoil as seen in Afghanistan and Syria which were once the sovereign and prosperous countries in the past.
A powerful nation during the Ottoman Empire, Syria was peaceful and stable nation. Similarly, Afghanistan had long and prosperous past. Hindu and Buddhist leaders had delivered stability and prosperity there in the ancient times. Sakuni, a cynical and tactical character of Hindu epic Mahabharat, might have come from Kandahar of Afghanistan.
In the modern times, modernisation, relations with neighbours and formulation of the new constitution were major achievements the country made. But when the interest of superpowers clashed, the country faced conflict and is ruined. This is what happened in Syria.
The commoners are afraid of a similar fate here if the leaders let the foreign forces interfere in our internal affairs. This is a reason they are not feeling comfortable even in the spring sunshine.