MIDWAY: Holier than thou

The National Sports Council is looking for a new national game. As a Nepali citizen, I feel it my responsibility to offer my modest suggestion. It’s called ‘Leg Pulling’. Sounds familiar? I guess, most of us are adept at playing it.

Even in these uncertain times, we are so obsessed that we wish we could play it with all the vigour we can muster. The rules of the game are quite simple. Rule 1: Be interested in everyone else’s business, except yours. Rule 2: Don’t lose any opportunity to blame others. Rule 3: Follow rules 1 and 2 strictly.

The team would have 6 players. The first would inadvertently be a politician. If s/he happens to be from the ruling party, s/he must have the knack of blaming the former governments for everything that goes awry. And if s/he is in the opposition, s/he should be consumed with the belief that the ruling government is good for nothing.

The second one would be a bureaucrat. If lower in the positions, s/he should yawn on his/her table all day long, doing almost nothing, and if a high official, should be expert at flattering the seniors. The third player would be a teacher. Any teacher who indulges more in politics than his profession, agitating for a permanent position sans competitive procedure and later blame the government for the poor outcome.

Students are next in line. Well, we definitely wouldn’t be short of this clan of players. Students who do everything else except studying are highly eligible. The fifth player would be a social worker.

One who devours as much aid from as many organisations as possible and use it for personal luxury, and then accuse counterparts of ‘misuse’ of aid unlike their holier-than-thou selves, of course.

Last but not the least, the soul of the team — a media person. Well, the yardstick here is simple too. One who presents news on a very subjective basis is eligible for this share of the team.

Finally, the extras would be the general public, who themselves do not perform any duty that they should for the community, and instead blame the government and the above mentioned players for not performing their duties properly. Will anybody want to join the game?