As it so happened, directly underneath my window, a small group branched off and grabbed a police motorcycle from the sidewalk. The policeman was alone and defenceless, and could only manage to blow his whistle in weak protest. The group dragged the bike to the middle of the road. After stomping on it they lit it on fire whilst rejoicing at the horrific sight of the fireball of government property. The entire street was in uproar, and whistling and clapping thundered up to the sixth floor window. “Down with the King” and “Democracy” were the intense chants recognizable amidst the thunder. As I watched from above, the street below me become a chaotic forum of cars, trucks, motorcycles, tuktuks, cows and people trying to somehow escape the madness they were creating. I looked at the Himalayas in the distance and felt so lost.

Nepal, the Forbidden Kingdom, has been hidden away for centuries in the magical Himalayan Mountains. It is truly a different world. Living in this country is something that I can never completely describe. It is one of those countries you can only grasp once you have smelt it. The smog of Kathmandu, the crisp teasing air coming off the peak of Mt. Everest, the musty cow dung that penetrates the streets and the sweet smell of Nepali tea brewing from every house and shop are scents that discovery channel can never convey. To me, Nepal is perfect in its every imperfection, but unfortunately it is falling apart.

Nepal is being marred by the never-ending political problems harassing the entire country. What I saw that day was something that happens every single day somewhere in the country. Recently, King Gyanendra of Nepal has been under extreme pressure from students and academics who are furious with the decision he made two years ago to dissolve parliament. It doesn’t help the king’s popularity that most Nepalis believe he was behind the gruesome massacre of his brother, King Birendra, and the entire royal family in 2001. The people of Nepal want democracy and they are not going to stop demonstrating until they get it. However, they seem to forget that Nepal did in fact have democracy for 14 years and it simply did not work. The government was unable to full fill its promise and obligation to hold elections. As a consequence, Gyanendra brought the parliament out of power, prompting students to complete uproar. Violent demonstrations erupt every day, resulting in burning police cars and hundreds of arrests. The king has now banned demonstrating, which only spurs the demonstrators to continue. To make the situation worse, the five political parties engaging in the demonstrations cannot come to an agreement between themselves on a proposal for King Gyanendra.

This is not even close to the worst of Nepal’s worries. The mountains are in turmoil. Maoist rebels want a communist regime and will do whatever it takes to reach that goal. They hide in the mountains killing with no mercy; chopping their opponents’ body parts off until they bleed to death or die of shock. They have killed thousands of innocent people and attacked countless army and police posts, resulting in a staggering number of deaths. The sad part is that the insurgents are mainly young boys between 13 and 20 years old from isolated mountain villages. They have either been forced to join the rebels (quickly convinced by the Maoist slogan: Do or Die) or have been falsely attracted to a cause that they do not comprehend. This is a battle that has been going on for eight years and now the Maoists are strongly influencing eight out of the 14 districts of Nepal. The situation seems hopeless. The government has chosen to solve the problem by killing Maoists. The Maoists are simply returning the favour. Peace seems impossible in the face of these killings, but no one will back down. The Maoists are now officially regarded as terrorists by the Americans and are a vital threat.

But Nepali people are otherwise a peaceful folk. The Hindus and Buddhists live side by side in complete tolerance of each other and even worship at the same temples. When their different religions can live in harmony, why can their politics not? Nepal is in desperate need of help.

I watched the demonstrators disappear around the corner and ten minutes later the sound of sirens filled the air. The police and army had arrived, but just a tad too late. The 50-year-old fire truck came panting 20 minutes later. I watched with humorous curiosity their frantic efforts at trying to stomp out the motorcycle fireball. It made me laugh—only in Nepal. As Rita and Sumitra pulled me back to the “Table of Terror”, I thought to myself that the pain I felt as hairs were ripped from my body was nothing compared to the Kalam I feel deep in my soul when I see such magic falling quickly to the deadly fate of civil war.