No doubt Nepal is one of the most beautiful mountainous countries in the world but billions of People from the globe still don’t know Nepal’s political and geographical situation. Some of them are in confusion that whether it is an independent nation or a part of some country. I think it is unfortunate that Nepal is still facing the crisis of identify even in this 21st century of globalization.
When I sometime use Yahoo or some other Messengers and chat with unknown friends from different countries, naturally they ask me my ASL (age, sex and location) first. As I answer Nepal for L, most of them react, with a question, Nepal as a part of India. Few of them sometime think Nepal lies in the Tibet.
What might be other bad hurt than that reaction for a real nationalist (Nepali)? Yeah, it really pinches me however I also don’t know the location of every country of 194. Nepal is a landlocked country of South Asia and situated in between 2 giants India and China with an area of 147,181 sq km. So Nepal is 21 and 65 times smaller than India and China respectively.
In the context of two giants, King Prithvi Narayan Shah (1723-1775), who unified Nepal and saved it from the outer enemies, said that Nepal was a yam between two stones but former rebel supremo Prachanda, in a recent program answered that saying that Nepal was dynamite and it could also burst.
Raja Ram Giri, president of Friends of Britain and Nepal, still feels sad as he recalls those moments of United Kingdom because some of its citizens assumed Nepal as an Indian state during his visit of that land. “It is very bad for us to hear Nepal as an Indian part” Said Giri. Some seven years ago, renowned Bollywood actress Madhuri Dixit had apologized over her controversial comments when she had said, standing in Nepali land, the Nepal was once a part of India. Nepal never was a part of any other country and has never been ruled by others in its history so it is always sovereign country.
Though Anglo-Nepalese War (1814-1816) was fought between Nepal and British East India Company, Nepal became able to save its sovereignty however some parts were lost. Anyway Banke, Bardiya, Kailai and Kanchanpur districts were returned back during the Jang Bahadur Rana. Bhimsen, Balbhadra, Amar Singh and Bhakti Thapa played a vital role to save Nepal against East India Company however the Treaty of Sugauli was signed in 1816. Talking about relation between two countries, there is still no visa system between India and Nepal so people from both countries have been working and traveling to each other land for years.
We Nepali have in some occasion been happening to hear that the Buddha birthplace and Mount Everest (8,848 m) lies in India. In such conditions Nepali present their agitating behaviors and extreme nationalism. But it is crystal clear that Nepal is a land of Mount Everest and lord Buddha however there are too many things that introduce Nepal to the world.
When I wished to check the popularity of Nepal in the Internet, I found 98,300,000 results for Nepal as I Googled it but found 115,000,000 results for Sri Lanka that is 2.24 times smaller in area than the Nepal. I think the economy and the sports are two most important phenomenons for the identity of every country. Sri Lanka holds more than seven percent of GDP growth rate while Nepal is only around two. Talking about sports Sri Lanka is very forward in cricket but the Nepal’s rank is very low in most of the games.
By Rup Narayan Dhakal
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