Disappointing Kathmandu Valley

When we walk in streets of Kathmandu, the first thing one realizes is that the population of Kathmandu has been doubled in just few years of time. The pollution has already gained its saturation. Everywhere one goes, there are lots of cars, here lots of means huge number of private car, public transportation, motorbikes, bicycles so on and so forth. The beauty that used to lie within the working system of the city has been slowly vanished.

I remember when, sky used to be blue all the time and we can see thousands of stars and I'm counting them lying on the roof of our house. Now, the climate has changed so drastically, now, we can just see a moon and merely few stars.

Kathmandu, one of the best cities to live in this world, if one thinks of natural resources, weather, topography, and beauty. There isn’t anything natural haven’t given here, it is the blessed land. Man found it and they ruined it all. Every man made things have become an ugly, unchangeable structure.

When we cross every river within Kathmandu, it’s all grey, stingy and has become a prick in an eye. Every moment, when I think of Kathmandu, how it used to be and how it has turned now, the disappointment increases. My memories don’t give me the perfect picture of Kathmandu, but it does give a state of Kathmandu which was transformable. It did transformed, it transformed to a dark and ugly object, though it had numerous possibilities and opportunities.

I remember the TV series of Maha Jodi, in early 90’s, they have made lot effort to create awareness about the pollution. They are the most striking and influential celebrities of all time. As a kid I was thinking, people must be doing to improve the situations old if they haven’t they would be, as they clearly demonstrated its adverse effect. But seems like Nepalese people, cannot be awaked from their own act, “the act of sleeping”. The thing always goes around my head is where does the morals goes, when people gains power. If the moral doesn’t work the money can’t help.

The shameless government and the outcome of its carelessness have been and will be paid by lots of lives. It cannot be one side of the coin only, there is always another side, and of course they are the people. They are in silence of great agony, not to act on anything. Indeed they would stay calm, after 10 years of civil war; they just have time to live without terror and fear. Who cares how is the environment is? What’s going on, or how far it will pursue, they are now happy, no gun fires, no blood in road, and no bomb attacks.

Even the ray of sunlight wasn’t that fast, when I think of westernization in Kathmandu. Westernization and its hollowness, not a single moral or philosophy has been taken, just SWAG. The hippie’s era; what Nepalese learn, how to smoke grass, how to cultivate more cocaine and hash and how to smuggle. For general people, it was so cool, as hippies don’t have anything to do, besides relax and smoke grass. May be opening Kathmandu for Tourist for hippies didn’t have a good impact on illiterate Nepalese back those days.

It’s understandable, that can be one side but what is on is first westernization and now globalization. First they grab on the outlook of western community without understanding the morals and philosophies or even can say single positive aspect, and now globalized but still lack the essential cord.

The environment has become a major issue in Kathmandu, but political parties are blind, there are small numbers of NGO’s and INGO’s trying to uplift the chaotic Kathmandu but neither government seems interested nor people are supportive (supportive does mean with actions here). There are lots of people working for it, and their contribution worth more than a politician I would say, but it is not enough, we need all Nepalese to work on it.

It is already too late, as we can already see the impacts in weather and climatic changes due to exponentially growing pollution. We are running out of time, sooner the day might be there when we can’t do anything. Happily living also implies to live in pollution free and clean weather, clean city and to breathe fresh air.

Nepalese just can complain of everything but unable to act and resolve. I remember once, one of pal was telling me not to talk bad things of my country to outside world. It won’t make Nepalese proud by telling lies. We shouldn’t be ashamed of what we have now, if we are not ashamed of what we did, or didn’t to make it like this. We need to talk about every bad aspect to everyone; it should be talked till everyone hears it and become aware of it so they are readily acted on it.

I was doing my bachelor thesis, as being an architect, I could have thought about millions of things for my thesis, but I didn’t wanted to daydream much and tried to solve the problem in Kathmandu, the building design shouldn’t solely a monumental creation, it should serve city and need. The major disputes of garbage disposal was the hype problem of Kathmandu valley, that time and still, so I proposed a recycling center near valley. It’s not the thesis I want talk about. For this thesis, I went to several times Kathmandu municipality, got every data’s and correctly, even have predicted future garbage production for 20 years and based on these designed, one recycling factory. I did this specific recycling factory project, one and only to make people aware. I submitted one of the book with all detailed work to the municipality and the guy whom I gave the work, was surprised and asked me, did you do this alone. And I said yes, and then he said I will keep this in library. I just didn't do this all the researches and proposal to keep this book inside the library. I wanted them to see and propose a plan for garbage recycling which has become an unmanageable problem since 2-3 decades. 

I was very disappointed by the way they treated one of the essential project that need to be implemented. But I still try hard to make people aware of things and try to solve the problems. And I contacted one of reputed architecture magazine. I requested him to publish one article about the recycling factory, and its working system in Kathmandu which also includes the detailed program and also how this factory can gain profit within few years. With these kind of detail information, it might have been eyed by a business elites who would like to initiate this project of garbage management. But to add more on to my disappointment, the editor was willing to publish only pure architectural works. The message behind the work just stays there, never reached any authorized people. Editor thought my project of garbage management was just a thesis, and I just want to publish it, but never seen the underlying problems Kathmandu has about it.

Even one can try hard to do something, the city of Kathmandu will always disappoints those people and this is leading the city to chaos in future. It would be hard to face our future generations very soon. We do not have any answers for them, because we lack morals.