Making rounds of the Foreign Ministry with fellow reporter Devendra Bhattarai on Tuesday was quite an experience. As a reporter covering diplomacy for Kantipur, Devendra knows every nook and cranny of the ministry that is housed in one of the famous Rana durbars- Shital Niwas. Man, the staff are terrified because of their leader, Minister Ramesh Nath Pandey. I don’t want to go into details, but my impression was that Minister Pandey controls almost everything in the ministry— even a small decision needs his approval.
The ministry has banned, on verbal orders from the minister, issuing travel documents to any Bhutanese willing to go outside Nepal. “Don’t issue travel documents to any Bhutanese without my knowledge and order,” Minister Pandey told officials at the ministry according to a ‘terrified’ official. The ministry was issuing travel documents to Bhutanese refugees for the last 15 years.
By the way, why was I in the Foreign Ministry? To get a passport, and I have one now. (Yes, Minister Pandey doesn’t know that!) Now that I have a passport, I can go anywhere in the world, given that they grant me visas. I mean just for short trips because I am in no mood to leave the country for a long period in these interesting times. When you are experiencing history in the making, why would you go abroad to feel like a non-actor in these exciting developments?
Okay, let me talk about some monetary things related to the passport. Spending Rs. five thousand for the passport that will be valid for the next 10 years means I will be paying more than a rupee a day to the foreign ministry. BTW, I got the passport yesterday from the foreign ministry, thus avoiding my visit to Ramechhap (or Bhaktapur) district.
When I was in the consular section of the ministry on Wednesday waiting to collect the passport, an unexpected person came into the room. Binod Bhattarai, my journalism teacher at RR College and former news chief at Kantipur TV, was there to renew his passport. We talked about various issues, mostly related to journalism because that was the common ground between us, while a helpful official worked out our passports.
Mr. Krishu Kshetri introduced us to Mr. Sharad Poudel, considered to have the best handwriting in the Foreign Ministry. He was more than ready to fill in the details on our passports. “I think I know you,” said Sharad suddenly, looking at Binod. “Don’t you recognize me?” My teacher tried hard to recall memories but it was apparently difficult for him to recognize the man. “We studied together in college in I. Sc.,” Sharad said. “I recognized you from this photo (he was holding Binod Bhattarai’s photo in the old passport.) You were a talented student. I know you.” Now, Mr. Bhattarai seemed to be remembering those good old days. As they became nostalgic and started talking about how they spent time at Patan Multiple Campus, I moved my chair a few inches back so that they could see each other. That was interesting to hear two old pals talking about the past.
Okay, I woke up at 7 this morning. I had to select some photos for a photo essay. More importantly, I had to be near the phone because Rajish Aryal from SBS Radio, Australia’s Nepali Service, was going to call me from Sydney at 9 am. While talking with him for about 25 minutes, I spoke about the Nepali blogging movement and its importance in the Nepali media industry. He said that the interview would be aired on the radio sometime next week. That an Australian radio airs programs in Nepali was news to me.
Dinesh Wagle on Nepali Society 