Greenhouse Gas Mitigation and Climate Change Adaptation: Some Policy Alternatives for Nepal

As published in ADR Commercial Law Journal Nepal, July 2013

Greenhouse Gas Mitigation and Climate Change Adaptation:  Some Policy Alternatives for Nepal

Ambika Prasad Adhikari, Dr. Des., AICP[1]

Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA

Introduction

Many scientists consider climate change to be the most important environmental issue of this century.  Although some controversy lingers about the extent of anthropogenic contribution to global warming, most scientists and experts agree that due to the increased greenhouse gases (GHG)[2] in the atmosphere, earth’s average temperature is gradually rising and the ensuing climate change is causing significant and mostly negative impact on the environment and human population. Various studies show that average global temperatures have already risen by 0.8 degree Celsius over the pre-industrial levels. Scientists estimate that at this rate, the average temperatures are likely to rise by at least about 2 degree Celsius by the end of the century. It is widely believed that a rise of more than 2 degree Celsius in the average global temperature can bring serious adverse impacts to the global ecosystem and human welfare [3].

The nations of the world publicly and seriously acknowledged the threat of climate change in 1992, when 165 countries signed the United Nation Convention of Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Rio de Janeiro. Subsequently, during the third Conference of the Parties (COP) of the UNFCCC in 1997 in Kyoto, Japan, the Kyoto Protocol was signed.  The Kyoto Protocol formalized greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation responsibilities for countries in concrete terms, by which most industrialized countries agreed that by 2012, their GHG emissions will be reduced by at least 5 percent below 1990 levels.

According to the UNFCCC official documents, “the Protocol entered into force on 16 February 2005 in accordance with Article 23, … after the date on which not less than 55 Parties to the UNFCCC, incorporating Parties included in Annex I which accounted in total for at least 55 % of the total carbon dioxide emissions for 1990 of the Parties included in Annex I, have deposited their instruments of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession.”[4]

Nepal signed the UNFCCC in 1992 and the Kyoto Protocol in 1997 and has ratified both.  Nepal has taken its obligations seriously, and has been a reliable partner of the international community in finding ways to combat climate change and its impacts.

At the last Conference of Parties (COP) held in Doha, Qatar in November-December 2012, the Kyoto Protocol was not scrapped, but was given a lifeline until 2020. However, Kyoto has been weakened by the withdrawal from the agreement by some key nations including Canada, Japan and Russia, thus diluting its influence. The international community has not been able to establish a firm successor to Kyoto, as they have not been able to agree on any specific targets for reducing the GHG.

Although Nepal is an extremely insignificant emitter of global carbon – releasing less than 0.01 percent of global emissions - it is burdened by a disproportionately high degree of vulnerability to the adverse effects of climate change.  Nepal’s exposures include the possibilities of increased GLOF (Glacial Lake Outburst Floods) phenomenon, the melting of snow-peaked mountains, decrease in agricultural production, increase in vector-borne diseases, loss of important bio-diversity assets, and change in the hydrological cycles and the resulting precipitation effects.  Given her limited financial resources and weak institutional capacity, the changing climate will likely reduce Nepal’s gross domestic product (GDP), increase the society’s disease burden, create environmental problems and cause additional human deaths.

This paper summarizes some potential impacts of climate change for Nepal, and recommends public policy alternatives for adaptation measures to counter the effects of climate change.

GHG Emissions and Carbon Sequestration in Nepal

Several gases contribute to the accentuation of the greenhouse effect in the atmosphere.  Globally, these gases are mostly released from energy generation plants, and manufacturing, transportation, and other industrial activities as well as from land use changes and certain agricultural practices. The Kyoto Protocol regulates the emission of six major global warming gases which were listed earlier, and they are the major anthropogenic contributors to the greenhouse effect leading to climate change.

Most GHG emissions in Nepal result from the activities related to transportation, manufacturing, agriculture and land use change.  The massive deforestation that the country witnessed from the 60’s to the 90’s released a large amount of carbon into the atmosphere.  However, lately, Nepal has been able to reduce the rate of deforestation, and in fact, in some cases actually increase the area of forest cover, thanks largely to the successful and innovative community forestry program, and aggressive efforts by Nepal government to protect and conserve forested areas. According to a joint ADB and ICIMOD report, between 1996 and 2000, Nepal’s forest cover increased from 6.2 million hectares to 6.8 million hectares[5].  This replenished forest area has provided additional carbon sink for sequestering a significant amount of carbon which otherwise would have been emitted to the atmosphere.

  

Potential Impacts of Climate Change in Nepal

The impacts of climate change on the environment, infrastructure, agriculture and society manifest gradually, similar to the long-term impacts of population growth on the environment.  Further, the impacts of climate change on the environment can remain indiscernible for several years.  Their effects become cumulatively exacerbated over time.  Because of this subtle and often unnoticed effect, arresting climate change is a challenge for cash-strapped governments, which have difficulties in justifying it as a priority.  Consequently, the Nepali government is unable to formulate effective policies to control GHG emissions and to adapt to the effects of climate change.  In a poor country like Nepal, the gradual and long-term adverse impacts fail to grab urgent attention when immediate problems including security, health, education, water supply, and localized pollution are highly visible and demand immediate action. The not-so-obvious and gradual impacts of climate change, although severe in the long term, fail to compete with the everyday spectacular problems of underdevelopment.  This is ironic, as the poor countries, including Nepal, are more vulnerable and susceptible to the negative impacts of climate change compared to more developed economies, and importantly have weaker institutional and managerial capacity and lack adequate financial resources to organize effective adaptation programs.

Climate change will adversely affect several sectors in Nepal.  Nepal being a primarily agricultural society, its farmers will more immediately feel the adverse impacts on agriculture, such as, in land productivity and crop yields.  A potential change in the hydrological cycle, for example, an early or late rain fall season, changes in the irrigation pattern and water supply and the changes in pollination and fertilization seasons, and natural biological cycle, can adversely affect the routine agricultural practices that farmers have perfected over the centuries. 

Another area of concern where climate change is likely to negatively affect Nepal is public health through various processes.  Other negative impacts include more frequent flooding, change in weather patterns, and increase in the intensity and frequency of landslides and storms.

GHG Mitigating Strategies and Public Policies

Nepal’s total carbon dioxide emission is estimated to be around 3.2 million metric tons (2006)[6], which is about 0.01 percent of the global emissions.  Although the Kyoto Protocol does not require Nepal, as a developing country, to reduce its GHG emission, and Nepal’s share of the global emission of the GHG is extremely small, any emission reduction will be a good symbolic gesture to show that Nepal cares about global warming. 

Given the globally insignificant GHG emission in Nepal, its emission reduction programs will remain as mainly “feel good” policies. However, Nepal can effectively contribute towards sequestration of atmospheric carbon by drastically accelerating afforestation efforts, optimizing land use policies and improving agricultural practices.  The Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD), a UN supported program being undertaken by the Ministry of Forest in Nepal, in consort with multiple donors, is an encouraging example of reducing emissions. REDD programs work by providing incentives to local residents for the value they put in live forest that stores carbon, which would otherwise be released if the forest is cut, burnt or allowed to decay.

Overall, the most critical policy consideration for Nepal will be in the areas of mitigation, and adaptation to the adverse effects that are likely to occur as the global climate changes.

As a signatory of the Kyoto Protocol, Nepal can earn carbon credits through the clean development mechanism (CDM)[7] window, till the Protocol is in effect.  It can sell them as Certified Emission Reduction units (CER’s)[8] to the countries who cannot meet their own carbon reduction levels.  Nepal is in an excellent position to provide certified carbon credits to companies from Annex I countries, by promoting clean energy projects that reduce the baseline carbon emission.  The Verified Emission Reduction[9] units can also be sold in the global market to offset the incremental cost of enhancing the projects.  The resources saved and generated through these programs could be effectively utilized for adaptation programs. Even a post-Kyoto climate change regime is expected to include some programs by which carbon credits by poorer countries will be compensated financially by richer countries.

Since 2006, Nepal has successfully utilized carbon reduction credits through CDM mechanism by utilizing the credits created by the bio-gas support projects.  This is an excellent example of the potential financial gains Nepal can achieve while developing clean technology for domestic use. Nepal has participated in several other projects related to CDM mechanism.

Among the clean energy alternatives, Nepal has done well on micro- and mini-hydro projects, and has built considerable domestic capacity to design, build and operate such plants. Thanks to the many pioneers in the micro- and mini-hydro arena, Nepal is recognized as a potential provider of technology and training programs to the countries, where the micro- and mini-hydro development is still in its infancy. In addition, Nepal has significant potential in generating clean energy from solar and wind power. Due to the remoteness of the many villages in Nepal, stand-alone solar photovoltaic and off-grid mini and small wind power have a great potential of providing energy while avoiding carbon emissions.

Some Possible Adaptation Policies

The Kyoto Protocol proposes that all countries develop adaptation programs.  It requires[10]:

“Formulate, implement, publish and regularly update national and, where appropriate, regional programs containing measures to mitigate climate change and measures to facilitate adequate adaptation to climate change.”

Because the GHG’s linger in the atmosphere for hundreds of years, even if the world begins to drastically reduce its carbon emission now, the atmospheric carbon concentration will continue to increase[11].  Consequently, an amplified climate change is inevitable, and adaptation measures become imperative to safeguard societies from the many negative effects.  Many locations in Nepal are particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change.  These areas include the high altitude settlements, downstream agricultural lands, villages immediately below glacial lakes and settlements near lakes and rivers.  To safeguard against drastic climate impacts, government and other national institutions must establish adaptation measures and develop a hierarchy of adaptation approaches.

The natural system is largely reactive to the environmental changes induced by climate change.  By contrast, human adaptation system can be anticipatory, where several policies can be formulated in advance, and with minimum or even nil net social costs (see figure II).  The so called “no regrets policies” can be incorporated into the menu of adaptive measures the government can formulate.  Such policies can include removal of subsidies in energy production and manufacturing[12], deregulating transportation and electricity markets and investing in research and technology innovation. If these policies are implemented, the net investment cost on climate-related technologies can become zero if the medical, social, and environmental benefits of the changes are accounted for.  Similarly, the “precautionary principle”[13] also recommends the adoption of certain policies even if the actual climatic impacts remain uncertain. As Nepal has poor and scant data related to climate change, policies based on precautionary principles are well suited.

Type of adaptation to climate change
	Anticipatory	Reactive
Natural Systems		·        Change in length of growing season ·        Change in ecosystem composition ·        Wetland mitigation
Human system-private	·        Purchase insurance ·        Construction of home in stilts ·        Redesign of oil rigs	·        Change in farm practices ·        Change in insurance premiums ·        Purchase air conditioning
Human system-public	·        Early warning system ·        New building codes, design standards ·        Incentives to relocation	·        Compensatory payments, subsidies ·        Enforcement of building codes ·        Beach nourishment

Fig II. Types of Adaptation to Climate Change

Source: IPCC, 2001, Presentation Graphics

Human health is likely to be adversely impacted by climate change primarily because of the increase in vector borne diseases. Adaptation policies must attempt to protect human health, eco-systems and the various economic systems in the country. 

Nepal’s fragile eco-system can suffer significant damage due to the added impacts of climate change in addition to the existing environmental stressors. Climate change can negatively affect the economic system due to loss in agricultural productivity, damage to physical infrastructure and cost of relocation for people. Public policies must include building public health capacities in a decentralized manner, creating a public awareness system to educate people of the possible epidemics, and establishing research and other activities to address such public health problems.

In Nepal, agriculture is the most important sector to be protected against the uncertainties due to climate change.  Government can consider several policy options to mitigate climatic impacts on agriculture.  Such policies can include crop insurance, changing of crop patterns, and providing irrigation facilities.  Public policy should also support furthering research on how crops can resist changes in hydrological cycle and increase in ambient temperature and temporal shift in growing season.

Nepal should also build on the age-old farming practices that the indigenous farmers have perfected over time.  The indigenous practices provide resilience and fall back mechanisms to cope with the changing weather cycle.  Many organizations and institutions in Nepal and in the South Asian region have been conducting serious research on indigenous farming practices and their benefit over a fully mechanized farming.  A hybrid system that selects the best and most suitable aspects of modern mechanized farming and the indigenous technology of farming will work best in Nepal.  More research and experiments are necessary in this field.

Conclusions

Although only an insignificant releaser of global GHG, Nepal must continue to play a responsible role in the global efforts to arrest the emission of such gases.  Nepal will benefit from the Kyoto Protocol and is likely to have beneficial opportunities even in a post-Kyoto climate regime.  It should actively participate in international programs that encourage carbon sequestration and gaining emission credits such as Kyoto’s CDM mechanism, UN-REDD and several multilateral carbon credit-for-cash programs, so that it can garner economic benefits while supporting the objectives of the protocol. The resources and opportunities thus generated can sustain several climate adaptation programs in Nepal.

Nepal must consider several useful policy options that provide the country with cost effective means of producing clean energy.  Expansion of the already strong mini- and micro-hydro power generation, and promotion of solar and wind energy will greatly help Nepal in its efforts to provide clean energy to the scattered population while abating carbon emissions. Further, it must build environmentally sound infrastructure projects.  Nepal must enhance its afforestation and reforestation programs to increase the carbon sink capacity so that it can earn additional certified carbon credits for potential sales to global bidders.

Research on indigenous farming system and integrating them to the modern agricultural practices will be useful for developing appropriate adaptation mechanism for Nepali agriculture. It is also imperative for Nepal to invest resources in education and information dissemination related to the GHG, climate change and related mitigation and adaptation techniques and programs.  As a highly vulnerable, largely mountainous, and primarily an agrarian society, Nepal must be proactive in enhancing its institutional and social capacity to deal with the gradual threat emanating from climate change.

References:

1. ADB,  ICIMOD and Government of Nepal (2006), Environmental Assessment of Nepal
2. Adger, W. N et al, 2007: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability. Contribution of Working Group II to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, in M.L. Parry, et al, Eds., Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, 717-743.
3. Agrawala S, and V. Rasamurthi, et al, (2003), Development and Climate Change in Nepal: Focus on Water Resources and Hydropower, OECD.
4. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPPC), 2001, Working Group II: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability
5. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPPC), 2007, Fourth Assessment Synthesis Report
6. Munasinghe, M., and R. Swart, (2005), Primer on Climate Change and Sustainable Development, Cambridge University Press.
7. Scheraga, J, and A. Grambsch, (1998), Risk, Opportunities and Adaptation to Climate Change, Climate Research, December 10, 1998
8. UNEP and WMC, (2002), Mountain Watch
9. UNFCCC (1992), United National Climate Change Framework Convention text.
10. UNFCCC (1997), Kyoto Protocol text.
11. World Bank (2010), World Development Report: Development and Climate Change.

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[1] The author is Sr. Sustainability Scientist, and Faculty Associate at Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA. Contact e-mail: Ambika.adhikari@asu.edu

[2] Greenhouse gases (GHGs): These are released because of human activity and are responsible for global warming and ultimately for climate change. The six gases listed in Annex A of the Kyoto Protocol are carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), and nitrous oxide (N20), and, hydro fluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs), and sulfur hexafluoride (SF6).

[3] World Bank (2010), World Development Report: Development and Climate Change.

[4] UNFCCC Website, http://unfccc.int/kyoto_protocol/status_of_ratification/items/2613.php, accessed on October 09, 2012.

[5] Environmental Assessment of Nepal, ADB, ICIMOD and Government of Nepal (2006).http://www.adb.org/media/Articles/2006/10001-Nepal-environment/

[6] Source: World Bank data on Trading Economic.  Accessed on March 25, 2011. http://www.tradingeconomics.com/nepal/co2-emissions-kt-wb-data.html

[7] Clean Development Mechanism (CDM): It is provided by Article 12 of the Kyoto Protocol, and is meant to financially help developing countries towards sustainable development. CDM permits industrialized countries to finance projects in developing countries, which can receive credits for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

[8] Certified Emission Reductions (CERs): A unit of greenhouse gas emission reductions issued pursuant to the Clean Development Mechanism of the Kyoto Protocol, and measured in metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent.

[9] Verified Emission Reductions (VERs): A unit of greenhouse gas emission reductions that has been verified by an independent auditor, but that has not yet undergone the procedures of verification, certification and issuance of CERs (in the case of the CDM) or Equivalent Reduction Units (EURs) in the case of Joint implementation) under the Kyoto Protocol.

[10] Kyoto Protocol, protocol text. Article 10 (b).

[11] The CO2 concentration in the atmosphere in November 2012 is estimated to be 392.2  parts per million by volume (ppmv) (http://co2now.org/). Many studies predict that the CO2 concentration is likely to reach 500 ppmv by as early as 2030.

[12] This is a somewhat tricky area. For several forms of clean energy, such as solar and wind, an initial governmental subsidy may be advisable, and in fact needed, to help these programs compete in the market with a view of making them self-sustaining after a short period.

[13] “The precautionary principle says that the lack of full scientific certainty should not be used as an excuse to postpone action when there is a threat of serious or irreversible damage.” UNFCC 1992

Raising Children in North America

Raising Children in North America

Dr. Ambika Prasad Adhikari*

 “Telling a teenager the facts of life is like giving a fish a bath.”- Anonymous

Parenting is perhaps the hardest job on earth.   Someone once captured the parent’s mixed emotions in this statement: “Raising kids is part picnic and part guerilla warfare!!”  For the first generation Nepali immigrants (and many other immigrants) in North America it is even more challenging.  Trying to balance the two cultures – Nepali and Western, is a daunting task - a virtual impossibility, as one often gets pulled in opposite directions.  Sandwiched between two conflicting demands of instilling traditional Nepali values while allowing the sense of western independence, parents can quickly despair. In the midst of confusion and difficulties, only optimism and hope and the intermittent joy of watching kids grow keeps the parents functioning and remaining sane.

In the western culture where there is a book on every subject, theories and advice about raising kids are plenty.  When you read a book about the art of rearing kids, you can theorize and feel like a professional until you actually try to do it yourself.  No wonder, John Wilmot realized this long ago and said - “Before I got married I had six theories about bringing up children; now I have six children, and no theories”. 

Many immigrants’ own ideas and theories were also turned upside down in the process of raising children in North America.  Most are still working on this task, and do not know if they have totally succeeded, so even the views of the peers should be taken with a grain of salt.  Further, I do not claim to know much on this topic, as it is an individual learning process, very often from one’s own kids.  This article is only to share my views and experiences on this topic, and so read and follow at your own risk!

Without the benefits of having elders help you, raising infants in North America is quite intimidating.  The frequent fevers, crying, colic behavior and other erratic responses by the infants can make even the Yoga practitioners nervous. For a society so much dependant on operation manual, even here, kids do not come with users manual! We only learn by doing. 

If you think small children are hard to look after, adolescents and teenagers are even more difficult to handle.   I used to tell my senior parenting colleagues how much I would be relieved once children could be more independent.  They advised me that “the problems never end, they only change”.  I also learnt from O’Rourke that “children are growing up when they stop asking you where they came from and refuse to tell you where they're going.”  Tell me about it, I know – and I have been there.  My friend coached his child about the virtue of schooling and hard work, but the kid had his own theories and worked hard at video games and chats!  Talking to the kids about your thinking can end up in an argument.  Teenagers seem to know everything!  I learnt it the hard way what Charles Wadsworth had said long ago: “by the time a man realizes that maybe his father was right, he usually has a son who thinks he's wrong.”  If you try to gain sympathy by telling that you had a hard childhood in Nepal you will get a response something like this “you decided to bring us here, so don’t’ blame anything on us or make us feel guilty – also who wants to hear your old pitiable story one thousand times!”

We like to believe that we can steer kids to occupations, professions and studies, but it is only our hope. God gives them their own life, and we think that we can control at least some of it – there lies the fallacy and ensuing frustrations.  We can’t let go, like the bears and birds and other animals!!  Only if we could accept, “once they fly, they are gone”, life would be easier.

The first generation Nepali immigrant parents grew up in Nepali culture with some fundamental rules:  respect for parents and elders, responsibility to others and family and being tame and disciplined.  No questions asked of parents and elders.  From the shores of North America, where questioning the authority and asserting personal independence are the ultimate values, those simple truisms of Nepal in our times look like facts from a make believe world.  North American Culture is fed by fast foods, phones, video games, TV and cars!! In this environment, kids always do something that you do not want done.  Monta Crane must have been talking about kids in North America when he said: “there are three ways to get something done: do it yourself, hire someone, or forbid your kids to do it.”

Raising kids, in my opinion, is a more complicated project than your Ph. D. project or starting your own business in a foreign land!  But the good news is, everyone survives and passes in these tasks!  All parents and especially the new immigrants need tons of patience and resourcefulness and ability to laugh at themselves.  A let go attitude is very helpful – in fact, it is the best guarded secret!  Follow what Mel Lazarus advised: “The secret of dealing successfully with a child is not to be its parent.” Whenever you are frustrated always detach yourself and remember that the task is eventually doable, and, in fact, we all survive and do well. The Nepali culture teaches us that children are of great help in our old age and will take care of us when we become incapacitated.  In fact, in North America too, it is true with a small twist.  Lionel Kauffman said “Children are a great comfort in your old age--and they help you reach it faster, too”.

For many outsiders, the North American parents are a laughing stock.  The Duke of Windsor once said: “The thing that impresses me most about Americans is the way parents obey their children.”  When under pressure, use calming devices on yourself, you need it the most – the kids are fine as they are – we are the one under stress! We are all children inside our mind and heart. After all, like Dr. Seuss advised, “Adults are obsolete children.”  So relax, and change that diaper, yield that phone and TV remote or hand that car key to your teenager.

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End

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*  Dr. Adhikari is a Faculty Associate at Arizona State University, USA and a parent. A version of this article was published in Nepalipost.com in 2004.

From Okhaldhunga to Oklahoma - Ram Prasad's journey from Nepal to the US

From Okhaldhunga to Oklahoma

Dr. Ambika Prasad Adhikari*

The setting in Nepal

The fifties were interesting times internationally and for Nepal too.  Many nations, including neighboring India had just become free from the clutches of Colonialism.  Following the Second World War, many countries of the world had begun nation building process and were gearing up towards development.  In Nepal, democracy was instituted for the first time in her history.  Extraordinary personalities in all fields, such as, B. P. Koirala and Laxmi Prasad Devkota had begun to lead Nepal towards modernity in politics and literature. Many pioneering events had just taken place in the country of just 10 million people.  For example, Radio Nepal had been launched, and the aviation era had dawned in mountainous Nepal.  Nepal was negotiating with India to construct its first highway ever – the Tribhuvan Highway – linking the nation’s capital with the India border, a gateway of the outside world to exotic Nepal. 

Innocent early life in Nepal

This cohort of people born in the fifties essentially constitutes the present day mainstream leaders and professionals in Nepal, and runs the country.  Belonging to this cohort, Ram Prasad was born in Okhladhunga, a far away hill of Nepal a place even by Nepali standards, which is still waiting for modern development to reach.   Ram Prasad’s parents were farmers, belonging to a family that had lived in the same village for ten generations. 

Ram’s elders were adept in the farming activities, like tilling land, chopping trees, shepherding cows, hiking through the forests and picking fruits.  Awed by their outdoor skills, he followed their footsteps and learnt the ways of survival in the hinterlands.  Life close to the land and nature is the best.  Henry Ford once said “chop your own wood, it will warm you twice”; it was exactly the practice in the hills.  In retrospect, living in the midst of concrete jungle, and winding highways in Nepal or in America, Ram often finds solace in the thoughts of those days.

Ram did not go to grade school then, as his parents’ taught him the three R’s at home.  In those days, there was no climbing up of a long ladder of schooling, as the kids grill through today.  There was no need to start at Nursery then move on to lower KG and Upper KG before embarking on even Grade one – to Ram, this process looks like Ph. D. already.  Most of his classmates started at whatever grade they wanted to, like third, fourth, fifth or even sixth! 

Sweet life in Kathmandu

After a couple of decades of leisurely education, household chores, and moving around to make a living within Nepal, Ram finally got an opportunity for higher education in Kathmandu.  Wow, that was quite an achievement, and life felt good for Ram!  Kathmandu provided the best of both worlds, a sophisticated urban life in the midst of mountainous landscapes!  The hot Momos in the cold Kathmandu weather tasted sumptuous, and people were friendly. Ram fully indulged in it, as much as he could afford.

After graduating, Ram became a teacher.  Bachelor life with a monthly salary of Rs. 500 tasted great, and he enjoyed parties almost every evening with Khukuri Rum and buff barbeque!  The corner restaurants and bars of Kathmandu streets catered well even to his income. In retrospect with one single bill to pay for a room, life was practically stress free, with no need for Yoga classes or psychiatric counseling! In fact, with his salary he was already a middle class Kathmanduite!

Craving to go to a “foreign” land

Within a few years, though, the lure of going abroad prevailed on Ram.  America was the preferred destination. It was a romantic thought, half way around globe, a rich and developed country beckoning the poor Nepali!  Ram’s image of the US was created by some films in USIS, the colorful pictures in the “Free World (Swatantra Bishwa)” magazine, and stories from people who had visited the “Promised Land”.  In 1969 when the USIS in Kathmandu exhibited the pictures of Neil Armstrong walking on the moon, US became the ultimate destination to many Nepalis.  Ram fantasized of working in NASA and help send people to the moon.  Further, America was a land of big corporation like GM, Fords and Coca-Cola, where people earned untold amounts.  Some people even believed that money grew on trees in America!

Slowly the “land of milk and honey” became an irresistible destination, and Ram had to mobilize all his intellectual might to realize the dream.  A graduate of local Nepali school, he ventured the hardship of TOEFL, GRE and filled out miles of forms in order to make the trip to the US.  The only way for ordinary Nepalis to come to the US then was on government scholarship.  The common place sight of Nepalis visiting the US these days for a week’s vacation, or to observe the birth of their grandchildren was unthinkable then.  Only royalties and perhaps the top hundred elites of Nepal could visit the US or Europe on their own.  For mortal Nepalis like Ram it was impossible to come here privately, and scholarship remained the only salvation.

Finally in America

After preparing for almost a year, Ram Prasad finally landed at a dazzling International Airport in America.  Before the school actually started, Ram got busy with tours of super market, trips to fast food restaurants and orientation parties where alcohol flowed like water in the river, and there were mountains of food.  Life tasted sweet and smelled fresh!  The journey to a new world for a poor Nepali thus begun, and it will take Ram through many memorable experiences, both sweet and sour.

The student life was exciting with a mixture of parties and studies.  Those days, many in his class in the hinterland university could not believe that a persons from a place as exotic as Nepal could actually be in their midst in flesh and bone!  School was very demanding, and Ram wondered what he could have become if he worked like that in Nepal. After much hard work, Ram graduated from college and began to think of the next step. For a while Ram thought of returning to Nepal, but why should he after investing so much time and work in the US.  His family and friends told him he would be a fool to go back. Also, what was there in Nepal to return to?

A US salary man’s life

Ram graduated, took up a job, got married to a Nepali woman and settled in the American way of life, and began to muddle through the harsh reality of life in the US.  He enjoyed all the American luxuries, a suburban home, two cars, dozens of credit cards, and a two weeks vacation each year!

Slowly, he found the work to be relentlessly hard, and at home too it was drudge, with no help except for the machines. The never ending streams of bills, credit, and exposure to every day violence in the city have taken their toll on Ram’s peaceful temperament.  He is now a bit more tense, irritated, and at times even frustrated with trying to balance finances and family.  Ram takes comfort in the fact that for many Nepalis his life in America still is perceived like a dream come true.  But Ram is well educated, and has worked hard to establish himself, so a simple existence is not satisfying enough for him.  With similar credentials, his friends back home run the country, and what has Ram achieved in life, except perhaps, a materially more comfortable life in America? In fact, even financially his counterparts in Nepal seem better off. Ram now compares his earlier imagination with the facts of life in the USA, and sometimes wonders how his life would have been if he had returned to Nepal after graduation.  He feels that it certainly would have been more meaningful and fulfilling.

Life in America:  Mixed feelings

Ram often visits Nepal, and is astounded by the wealth, and fame of many of his colleagues, who stuck with Nepal.  Some came abroad, but did return either own their own will, or because they could not manage jobs and visas in the West.  In those days, Ram, appeared like a winner, but that victory seems to be sliding away slowly. His colleagues in Nepal lagged behind in the early years, but caught up later.  Ram with his excellent education, and ability to work hard, would have been in the same place as his colleagues in Nepal, but that is only a hypothetical thought now.

When he thinks of how relaxed his young days were in the Nepali hills, life in Nepal does not appear to be too bad at all.  The popular belief that all problems will end once you reach the shores of the US, have been turned upside down. Ram can not go back to Nepal, it is too late.  His kids are here, his life is here. Not that the kids respect him much or listen to him, but they are Americans and will be foreigners in Nepal.  His wife likes it here, away from demanding in-laws and relatives, and a safe distance from the daily tasks of looking for water and daily necessities of life.  Further Ram is getting older, and he has begun to experience all the rich men’s diseases: diabetes, blood pressure, stress, heart condition, arthritis and allergies.  He is scared to be back in a place where the medical system is unreliable.  He lived all his productive life in America, who is going to give him respect in Nepal, or how can he find a useful and gainful role in Nepal?  What has he given back to Nepal? He has contemplated about doing some business in Nepal, but he is reluctant to face competition from his colleagues in Nepal who have already established themselves.

Ram has slowly resigned himself to the life of a Non Resident Nepal (NRN) in America and has come to terms with the implication of his earlier decision. There are many things, sometimes just beliefs, to justify that life is better in the US compared to Nepal. For example, in the US there is clean water, unadulterated food, functioning phones, electricity; and the whole system works here.  Further, life in the US is stable and predictable – apart from ubiquitous crimes, whereas Nepal seems mired in never ending violence, mismanagement and corruption.  Ram takes consolation from this contrast. Although he would have been a VIP in Nepal, in the foreign land he is just another struggling immigrant.  In his imagination, life in America is not as fulfilling to him, as it would have been in Nepal.  But the reality is who cares for Ram in Nepal; if he returns he will just be a retired “Lahure”?    Any novelty value he has will quickly fade away in a few weeks.

Ram finally accepts the reality, and even believes that life is not too bad in the USA.  He does not have many options anyway.  Unlike in the Hindi movies, you can not be in two places at once, and you only get one shot at life!

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* Dr. Ambika Adhikari is affiliated with Arizona State University, USA. Note:  Ram Prasad is a fictional character.