Tihar is over, Thank God, literally. But the home minister of Nepal does not cease to amaze and amuse. A few weeks ago, he decided that cyber cafes were the devil, since one could access bad websites, and I am not even speaking about porn. But websites about Bollywood, websites about political points of view from other nations, and websites about music, so cyber cafes were forced to shut down, or only operate limited hours with heavy filters. Well, then the people revolted and there was a few strikes. So, the home minister recalled that law.

Then, the next issue to combat was bars and dance halls, since those are also apparently derived from the devil. All bars and restaurants were forced to shut down at 11 o’clock. This again, was short lived as the people revolted and there were even more strikes. This time, the people who worked at the dance bars and restaurants burned a few cars for good measure. That drove the message home. So the new law was revoked by the home minister when he finally realized that he was affecting an entire population of the economy, not to mention the only with-out strings cash cow there is in Nepal- tourism.

One would think that there would be some sort of checks and balances with this fellow. I don’t know, maybe a vote from the parliament whose sole purpose for being is to represent their constituents, but nope. No vote. No discussion. No debate. Just one strange man, with even stranger ideas, and apparently a whole heck of a lot of power.

One would think he would tire of people taking to the streets and burning cars, but, the wise old sage of a home minister struck again. This time, he thought he had a really excellent plan! Why not turn the idyllic resort town of Pokhara, (which situated on the base of the amazing Annapurna range of the Himalaya’s, and the starting point for many treks) into a red light free sex zone! Yes! That will solve the nations problems and make everyone happy!

Nope. Not quite. The people got mad again, and rightfully so. This is a very chase society, where even kissing scenes are edited from movies played at the Cinemas. Women wearing shorts and short sleeve shirts are terribly taboo, so how could this fellow possibly, in his wildest dreams think that this was an ok proposal?

This week, he came up with two new plans that will be sure to incite riots of monumental proportions. First one, AWAY WITH THE STREET VENORS! Those villainous scabs, attempting to make a living selling their wares, clothing and food stuffs on street corners need to be done away with! Who will feed their families now that their meager earnings will be diminished? PASSSHHH?!?!? Who cares?!?!!? The streets need to be cleansed of their presence, never mind the trash, the street kids sniffing glue, the homeless begging on the sidewalks with their malnourished babies clinging to them in clouds of exhaust from the cars passing by. The street vendors are, apparently, the real problem.

Next, he is doing away with alcohol sales, except at designated sites. Want to make someone in South Asia angry? Take away their alcohol. This is not because this area is filled with alcoholics, although there certainly are, but this is because there is an entire culture based around alcohol. It is used in everything from business lunches to religious holidays. People make and consume something called “chang” and “raksi”, which is a home brew, and offer it with pride to any guest who enters their home. And home minister brilliant is also proposing to criminalize “raksi” and “chang”.  This is going to make little grandmas hardened criminals in one blow! I get the feeling more than cars are going to burn when this law takes effect on the 16^th of November. I will get off my soap box now, open a beer while I still can, and wish all of you a Happy Halloween!

It is quite interesting to view the election process from overseas, as it resembles nothing of the election process one views while being stateside. Like many Americans, I am sure, I am glued to the TV trying to listen to as many pundits as possible about the impending election.  But here, I get to see a whole plethora of stuff I would never get to see from the comfort of my living room in Colorado. Point in case, I got to watch debates from Doha, Qatar where two Americans representing each side, sit in between an angry British mediator, with a Kuwaiti vying for McCain and an Egyptian vying for Obama fighting over who is the best candidate for the world. They took questions from the audience, most of which were about weather or not the candidates would be concerned with their respective regions.  There were very thoughtful questions posed from people who hailed from such places as Somalia, Lebanon, Syria, Iran and Dubai, which spoke to the gravity of the position we have as Americans in the world.

We may watch with fascination, or even irreverent interest when other nations partake in their election process, but we usually realize as Americans;  no matter who is elected in another country, they may have a slight impact on our trade, or foreign affairs policy, but they do not have a direct impact on our day to day life. People who live around the world cannot say the same. They wait with baited breath, and high expectations as to who will be the next American president because it will impact the very nature of their being and the security of their region. That is a lot of power for one country. But it is something to be admired, respected and maybe even feared. If, at the very least, it should be realized that although we forget from time to time that a place called Sri Lanka, Singapore or even Nepal, not for one moment does anyone in these places forget that there is a United States.

Most everyone I know here has invited me to an “election party”, whether they are Democrat or Republican, or even those who have no idea what “Democrat” or “Republican” is, like many Nepali people. (Never try explaining the electoral college to anyone, in anyplace here in Nepal, ever. Trust me.)The first reason for a party is the obvious; it is a reason to have a party. But the second is that people are hoping that their candidate will bring about the change they want to see in the world.

Living here, I have met people from all over the world; I have spoken with and dined with people from Israel, Iran and Germany all at the same table. And the first question they have all asked me is who I am voting for and what is my view on foreign affairs.  Whoa. I am but a simple person, with ideas and hopes for all of my fellow mankind. My beliefs may be more idealistic than others, but no less, my ideals are that of freedom, no matter our national origin.  But no less, I think it is an important aspect for all Americans to realize that the vote we may or may not cast due to long lines and inconvenience truly impacts not only America, but those throughout the world. As a side note, I want to commend the American Embassy in Nepal for their help and clarification on the absentee voting process.

Voting is something we take for granted; because we are free…But so many of the world, including where I CURRENTLY AM is not free, it is but a gift from our intelligent, foreseeing, and gifted forefathers, that no matter who we may cast a vote for on November 4^th, we can agree our forefathers had the best of intentions and the well being of future Americans at mind when they drafted the Constitution.

So remember this fellow Americans, we are damn lucky, not only for the nation that we were born in, but for the ability to realize that we can vote, and our vote makes an does impact.