So like all good citizens of Nepal, who think they can do no wrong or get away easily after a few wrong doings, I argued with the policeman giving him reasons aplenty why I thought he should let me go. But like all police men he did not agree. Thus coming to my point. Why can’t the police arrest those creating havoc around town? Shooting people and robbing houses as soon as darkness falls? Instead of arresting citizens like me those that abide by most rules while breaking a few harmless ones? Why don’t they go after burglars instead? I am sure there are plenty around where I live. The only reason we park cars within our view is to make sure an alien guy doesn’t go for a joy ride in it, or the iPod I got for my birthday last year is still inside the car when I get back after a few minutes.
Is it just me or does everyone seem to think that the police, almost always show up at a crime scene after the criminals have long fled via Thankot to their summer houses? The police today spend most of their resources fabricating stories to look good in front of the press rather than doing actual work. Last month, I watched with awe while the police in Pokhara, tried to nab speeding drivers using a sophisticated infra-red camera. Does any one have an idea about the speed limits in Pokhara? Again, the only reason why people in Pokhara probably drive faster than most of us here could be attributed to the fact that they have money hidden inside their pillows at home, more money than the people in Kathmandu. That should explain the speed factor.
Small wonder then that people are actually beginning to take the law into their own hands. My neighbor recently woke up from an afternoon siesta to find a burglar in his bedroom. Instead of raising an alarm, like a good citizen of the country, he got a khukuri, which he had stashed under his bed for emergency times like these and used the weapon to beat the burglar to a pulp. Within a short time, his elder brother too joined him with a weapon of his own. Friends say the poor brothers had been driven to despair by an endless stream of burglaries and the fact that none were being arrested. Dipendra Dai informed me that the burglar was actually relieved when the police van finally arrived to take him away.
This is where I’d like to focus on the theory of one’s right to self protection. Most certainly, if I owed a gun, I’d shoot anyone who broke into my house. I’d then bury them in my garden, at the back of the house and carry on with my life as though nothing had happened. A cousin and I once discussed a scenario where we would catch a burglar trying to break into our house; we would chain him up and invite other victims to deal with him. And I mean it, my cousin has a tattoo. No one wants to mess with a guy who has a tattoo. But of course, this would be against the law. For you can’t condone vigilantes in a civilized society. If you let people shoot intruders, in no time the burglars will gear up to meet the threat. Then you’ll have to arm the police so they’re able to arrest these criminals. Maybe even the traffic police will have to be armed, mostly as a precautionary measure but compulsorily during weekends and on public holidays when criminals and other like-minded people love to get drunk. Good news being that maybe, just maybe, all the WWII rifles that were last used to fire shots 66 years ago will finally be replaced by a weapon that will actually fire a bullet with enough power to go and hit someone hard. But should that happen, with the corruption factor remaining the same, guns would then be readily available around the bus park areas in no time and everyone would own a gun. Then people would be shooting each other during traffic jams and little ego clashes would turn into a firefight what with the meaningless rage every single driver on the streets of Kathmandu seems to possess these days. Then the streets would be dangerous to walk on, or drive in.
Gosh, it would just be like America.
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