Nepal has undergone the pangs of a rebirthing and is still reeling from the injuries of the decade old war, which has Gott sei Dank, come to an end.

Nepalese metaphors: Satis Shroff writes political poetry: about the war in Nepal, the sad fate of the Nepalese people, the emergence of neo-fascism in Germany. His bicultural perspective makes his poems rich, full of awe and at the same time heartbreakingly sad. In writing ‘home,’ he not only returns to his country of origin time and again, he also carries the fate of his people to readers in the West, and his task of writing is a very important one in political terms. His true gift is to invent Nepalese metaphors and make them accessible to the West through his poetry. (Sandra Sigel, poetess, Germany).***** HOPE IN THE SHADOW OF THE HIMALAYAS (Satis Shroff)Hush, an unholy alliance made the rounds,The political parties and the Maoists are united.They rattle their sabres no more,Under Vishnu’s bed of serpents.Narad brings us good news.We don’t have to shiver together in angst.There is hope in the Himalayas.Hope of a separation of powers,Hope of free elections,Hope of fair trials before impartial tribunals,Hope of amnesty.We’ll do what Nepalese normally do:Wait and drink Ilam tea,And watch the scenario unfurl,In the shadow of the Himalayas.Glossary:Narad: A heavenly messenger mentioned in the Rig-veda, he was a great Rishi, chief of the heavenly musicians who invented the lute. Vishnu: The second God of the Hindu-triad, preserver and restorer, the supreme being from whom all things emanate. _____________________ Not in Nepal (Satis Shroff)Nepalis look out of their ornate windows,In the west, east, north and south NepalAnd think:How long will this krieg go on?How much do we have to suffer?How many money-lenders, businessmen, civil servants,Policemen and gurkhas do the Maobadis want to killOr be killed?How many men, women, boys and girls have to be mortally injuredTill Kal Bhairab is pacified by the Sleeping Vishnu?How many towns and villages in the seventy five districtsDo the Maobadis want to free from capitalism?When the missionaries close their schools,Must the Hindus and Buddhists shut their temples and shrines?Shall atheism be the order of the day?Not in Nepal.The religion is too much with us,Within us.*****A THOUSAND DEATHS (Satis Shroff)It breaks my heart, as I hear over the radio:Nepal’s not safe for visitors.Visitors who leave their money behind,In the pockets of travel agencies, rug dealers,Currency and drug dealers,And hordes of ill-paid honest Sherpas And Tamang and other ethnic porters.Sweat beads trickling from their sun-burnt faces,In the dizzy heights of the Dolpo, Annapurna rangesAnd the Khumbu glaciers.Eking out a living and facing the treacherousIcy crevasses, snow-outs, precipicesAnd a thousand deaths.No roads, no schools,Beyond the beaten trekking pathsLive the poorer families of Nepal.Sans drinking water,Sans hospitals,Where aids and children’s work prevail.*****Development and Destruction (Satis Shroff)My Nepal, what has become of you?Your features have changed with time.The innocent face of the KumariHas changed to the blood-thirsty countenanceOf Kal Bhairab,From development to destruction,From bikas to binas.You’re no longer the sameThere’s insurrection and turmoilAgainst the government and the police.Your sons and daughters are at war,With the Gurkhas again.Maobadis with revolutionary flair,With ideologies from across the Tibetan Plateau and Peru.Ideologies that have been discredited elsewhere,Flourish in the Himalayas.Demanding a revolutionary-taxFrom tourists and NepaleseWith brazen, bloody attacksFighting for their own rightsAnd the rights of the bewildered common man.Well-trained government troops at the ordersOf politicians safe in Kathmandu.Leaders who despise talks and compromises,Flex their tongues and muscles,And let the imported automatic salves speak their deaths.Ill-armed guerrillas against well-armed Royal GurkhasIn the foothills of the Himalayas.******Child Soldiers (Satis Shroff)Nepali children have no chance, But to take sidesTo take to arms not knowing the reasonAgainst whom and why.The child-soldier gets orders from grown-upsAnd the hapless souls open fire.Hukum is order, The child-soldier cannot reason why.Shedding precious human blood,For causes they both hold high.Ach, this massacre in the shadow of the Himalayas.*****Time Stands Still in Nepal (Satis Shroff)Globalisation has changed the world fast,In Nepal time stands still.The blind beggar at the New Road gate sings:Lata ko desh ma, gaddha tantheri.In a land where the tongue-tied live,The deaf desire to rule.Oh my Nepal, quo vadis?The only way to peace and harmony isBy laying aside the arms.Can Nepal afford to be the bastion Of a movement and a governmentThat rides rough-shod over the livesAnd rights of fellow Nepalis?Can’t we learn from the lessons of Afghanistan, Romania,Poland, East Germany and Iraq?The Maobadis will be given a chance at the polls,Like all other democratic parties.For the Maobadis are Bahuns and Chettris,Be they Prachanda or Baburam Bhattrai,Leaders who’d prefer a republican ruleTo monarchy in Nepal.*****GUNS INSTEAD OF BOOKS (Satis Shroff)My academic friends have changes sides,From Mandalay to CongressFrom Congress to the Maobadis.The students from Dolpo and Silgadi.Dolpo, unforgettable through Peter MathiessenIn his quest for his inner self,And his friend George Schaller’s searchFor the snow leopard.The students wrote Marxist verses and acquired volumesFrom the embassies in Kathmandu:Kim Il Sung’s writings, Mao’s red booklet,Marx’s Das Kapital and Lenin’s works,And defended socialist ideasAt His Majesty’s Central Hostel in Tahachal.I see their earnest faces, with guns in their arms,Instead of books,Boisterous and ready To fight to the endFor a cause they cherish In their frustrated and fiery hearts.But aren’t these sons of NepalMisguided and blinded,By the seemingly victories of socialism?Even Gorbachov pleaded for Peristroika,And Putin admires capitalist Germany, Its culture and commerce.Look at the old Soviet Union, And other East Bloc nations.They have all swapped sides And are EU and Nato members.About the Author: Satis Shroff has written over a period of three decades, what the Germans would call a “Landesumschau,” for his readers with impressions from Freiburg, Venice, Rottweil, Prague, Paris, London, Frankfurt, Basel and Grindelwald. Satis Shroff has worked with The Rising Nepal (Gorkhapatra Sansthan), where he wrote a weekly Science Spot and editorials and commentaries on Nepal’s development, health, wildlife, politics and culture. He also wrote weekly commentaries for Radio Nepal. He has studied Zoology & Geology in Kathmandu, Medicine & Social Science in Freiburg, and Creative Writing under Prof. Bruce Dobler (Pittsburgh University) and Writers Bureau (Manchester). Satis Shroff sees his future as a writer and poet. He was awarded the German Academic Prize. Satis Shroff’s bicultural perspective makes his prose and poems rich, full of awe, and at the same time heartbreakingly sad. In writing ‘home,’ he not only returns to his country of origin time and again, he also carries the fate of his people to readers in the West, and his task of writing is a very important one in political terms. His true gift is to invent Nepalese metaphors and make them accessible to the West through his prose and poetry. Satis Shroff writes in German & English. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------THE NEPALESE REALITY (Satis Shroff, Freiburg)All the king’s horses And all the king’s menCould not put Nepal together again.Nepalese men and womenLook out of their ornate windows,In west, east, north and south NepalAnd think:A decade long war between the Maoists and RoyalistsHas come to an endWe have suffered so much.So many innocent men, women, boys and girlsHave been slain by bullets,From both sides.Kal Bhairab seems to be pacified,For Vishnu has crept to his bed of serpents.He peers at the unfurling scenario:A new interim government,A new constitution,More amendments.He hisses with a sulk:‘What can they do better than I?’ When aristocrats, chauvinists, egoists and phallocrats Were in power,The underprivileged castes and tribes,Women and children,Went always with empty hands. A new revolution and democracy is in the land,But have the people changed their minds?Or are they still conscious of their caste, birth and tribe?Of their earlier prejudices, hatred and malice Towards the dalits, the have-nots? Our fervent prayers have been heard.The people are rejoicing in the streets of Kathmandu.May there be ‘everlasting’ peace again in Nepal,Though ‘everlasting peace’ has become inflationary.Rejoice and take reality as it is.We have no choice,But to lay our hopes on the fragile signaturesOf two protagonists,In the Shadow of the Himalayas.About the Author: Satis Shroff has written over a period of three decades, what the Germans would call a “Landesumschau,” for his readers with impressions from Freiburg, Venice, Rottweil, Prague, Paris, London, Frankfurt, Basel and Grindelwald. Satis Shroff has worked with The Rising Nepal (Gorkhapatra Sansthan), where he wrote a weekly Science Spot and editorials and commentaries on Nepal’s development, health, wildlife, politics and culture. He also wrote weekly commentaries for Radio Nepal. He has studied Zoology & Geology in Kathmandu, Medicine & Social Science in Freiburg, and Creative Writing under Prof. Bruce Dobler (MFA, Iowa University) and Writers Bureau (Manchester). Satis Shroff sees his future as a writer and poet. He was awarded the German Academic Prize. Satis Shroff’s bicultural perspective makes his prose and poems rich, full of awe, and at the same time heartbreakingly sad. In writing ‘home,’ he not only returns to his country of origin time and again, he also carries the fate of his people to readers in the West, and his task of writing is a very important one in political terms. His true gift is to invent Nepalese metaphors and make them accessible to the West through his prose and poetry. Satis Shroff writes in German & English.