Storm in the Himalayas

India's neighbours have become victims of their own web of corruption, ethnic clashes and autocratic rule. For India, this is a time to refine regional diplomacy

- RAJEEV NARAYAN

"Tact is the ability to step on a man's toes without messing up the shine on his shoes." — Harry S Truman

Trip the veneer of make-believe sovereignty and look closer at Nepal. You will soon realize that this nation has not had true democracy for years. This hammer-truth also holds good for Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Pakistan. For every Indian, just being geographically surrounded by these four nations is cause for pride, if only because India is still among the fastest-growing economies globally. The fact that India has managed to pull this off while being multi-cultural, multi-caste and multi-religion makes the achievement all the more commendable.

The simple truth is that India's neighbours have fallen prey to their own woes of corruption, ethnic clashes or autocratic rule. Look at the latest to topple a government, Nepal, which was run by a Rana and then by a monarch, both of whom lacked the teeth or grey matter to clench on to the hopes, dreams and aspirations of the people. Rana was unceremoniously thrown out, making way for a King who didn't just make a hash of his kingdom and kingship, he made mincemeat of monarchy itself.

Today, even the dream of democracy in Nepal has taken a chai break. The Nepalese coup (the frequency could see it being compared to a 'rearrangement of democratic furniture') has once again plunged the Himalayan nation into a spiral of uncertainty. For a nation that has changed Prime Ministers more frequently than its cricket team changes captains, this latest overthrow comes not as a shock but as just another tumultuous chapter in its constipated identity crisis.

Jumping Without a Bungee