KATHMANDU, OCTOBER 31

" A reimagined city life in Kathmandu"! How does that sound? Given the all-pervading chaos in the capital, a deluge of sarcasms may reverberate: risible, implausible, crazy, puerile...

However, we, humans, seem to be inclined to 'reimagine', perennially, our dwellings and surroundings, and our lives therein. That's one reason why we sometimes seek to dwell on a tree, in a cave, under rock shelters, in a bivouac or in a house boat - woolgatherers wish to settle down on the moon and the mars, too! Migrations, for example, are just a corollary of that "reimagined locality", where the proverbial grass is presumably greener.

"Reimagining" is an ongoing process. Hence, we chose, and still choose to move from caves to huts, from huts to houses, then to palaces and castles. We can notice animals and insects too 'reimagining', in a way, their habitat.

Cows may push away bare branches before lying comfortably on the reimagined bedding.

Birds keep adding or removing strings and straws, twigs and leaves while building their nests: that's indeed a reimagined nest life.

One typically reimagines their own habitat only. If someone living in Olanchunggola opines how Dhangadhi should be, it may not make much sense.

She may be better off reimagining her own village: a running tap nearby, a better school and a healthcare centre in her village, a metalled road or, at least, a dirt track enabling her to sell products from her kitchen garden that would otherwise go rotten.

Now, let's revert to a 'reimagined city life' in Kathmandu, armed with a popular list of modest aspirations.

Imagine just two lines of tramways - one connecting Budhanilakantha and Bungamati, another connecting Sanga and Swayambhunath: these "rails" will provide a magic bullet to deal with the capital's traffic congestion. Imagine few vehicle-free/smoke-free streets and parks - preferably, lined with Kathmandu's jacaranda trees – where elders and the sick - including politicians - can walk, sip coffee and pore over a happier chapter of life; where children can frolic and break into peals of laughter, and where the youths can jog.

Some more add-ons: improve sidewalks where walkers are not clogged or spill into the streets - for instance, walk from Chabahil Chowk towards Boudhanath, on the right sidewalk and it's a real traumatic ordeal.

Ensure horn-free traffic with more draconian laws - years on, not all seem to cotton on that it's uncivil and a punishable act to honk horns in Kathmandu.

Granted that this concise list of simple aspirations may mirror a lunatic woolgatherer's wishful thoughts, but it by no means amounts to asking for the moon.

A version of this article appears in the print on November 1, 2022 of The Himalayan Times.