"I am not proud of Everest"

“Tell me something about your country, Umang,” said one of my friends from Iraq.

“My country Nepal is the country of Lord Buddha and Mt. Everest, the highest peak in the world.”

I did not prepare for this answer. It came out spontaneously. I wanted to tell him some more things realted to Nepal that would make me feel proud , I had to think for a while to recall them though. After about a pause of  few seconds, I added, “My country Nepal is the second richest country in water resources  and yes it’s the country of lakes and mountains.”

“What’s the per capita income of your country?”

This was something he should not have asked. I would not have answered it for any price if he belonged to somewhere from Europe or America . Luckily he was from Iraq , I answered, “$ 1400 ” without feeling much shame.

He also asked me about the number of Universities in my country. I answered in subdued voice, “Only 5….hmmmm actually few are under construction…”  Perhaps he noticed how uncomfortable I was in answering all those questions. May be,  to make me feel  better , he said, “My country has only 2.” I indeed felt better. I was really happy to know something somewhere was  worse than ours.

To make the lousy situation of his country look reasonable, he explained how the development in Iraq froze during the rule of Saddam Hussein. More than 80% of the budget used to  get spent on  weapons and bombs. He also recalled the moment when  he was forced  to join army during war time, a month after receiving his Engineering certificates. But now the situation was different. Iraq was rejuvenating after the fall of Saddam. Things were changing . He was  in great ecstasy about the change as like we Nepalese were 5 years back after the fall of Kingship. However, every change does not guarantee progress. Who else knows it better than us. Only after this conversation, I realized how pathetic our country’s situation was. We haven’t been involved in war since long ago. We have reasonably  long history of democracy. We choose our leader by ourselves. Still we lie at bottom 20 out of 181 countries according to World bank GDP estimate. Nevertheless, we always have 2  reasons to be proud of, Buddha and Everest. Hundred of years back, when America was filled with nomadic people and Australia used to be land of English slaves, our forefathers used to have 2 reasons to be proud of, Buddha and Everest. Hundred of years have passed away , America  has now found reasons to be proud of Neil Armstrong , Abraham Lincoln, Edison , Bill Gates , Larry Page and the list goes on. We still are pretty much satisfied to be proud of same 2 things. In near future, America might gain privilege of exploring Mars. Meanwhile, we Nepalese  will continue to be proud of same Buddha and same Everest. Why can’t we be proud of something new? Why can’t our country create leaders like Roosevelt? Why can’t we have people like Bill Gates? Why can’t we think like Edison?

I am thankful to god that he has blessed our country with the highest peak.  But, what have we done to own it? We did not win it in a battle. We did not create it. We did not bring it from outside. It’s a gift of nature to us. How can we be proud of gifts? I can be thankful about it but I can’t be proud of it. Why do we keep on gassing about  same Everest time and again? May be because, we don’t have any other reasons to be proud of. It’s because we want to cover up our nations failure beneath the shadow of Everest.

We have a privilege of being part of earliest civilization that dates back to period of Janak (mentioned in Ramayana) and Birat (mentioned in Mahabharat). 700 years back when USA  had not even been  discovered, we used to have palaces made up of gold and  silver. 200 years back , our brave ancestors did not allow British force to set foot in our nation. We do have such a great history. In today’s date, can we imagine our Nepalese troop resisting British force for even a single day? The truth hurts.

What actually went wrong for us? Where lies the flaw? Well, I think , flaw lies in our attitude. We get satisfied too easily. We live in the glory of past. We don’t adjust ourselves with the pace of time. Today, in the era of Science and Technology , we are happy with the tag of ‘Brave Gorkhalis’ bequeathed to us by our ancestors. It's not the era of  bravery, it's is the era of  intelligence. When are we going to realize that?

We need to first change ourselves in order to change our country. Let’s not be proud of the highest peak. Let’s build a skyscraper taller than Everest. Let’s not be proud of same old Buddha. Let’s create people like Bill Gates and Steve Jobs. Let’s  give our future generations some authentic reasons to be proud of.