The Environmental Degradation of Kathmandu 1 Losing Shangri-La?By Nanda R. Shrestha I sit beside the dark Beneath the mire Cold grey dusty day The morning lake Drinks up the sky Katmandu I’ll soon be seeing you And your strange bewildering time Will hold me down. — Cat Stevens, 1970 View of Kathmandu Valley. From http://www.catmando.com/kathmndu.htm y most accounts, Kathmandu is a medieval Westerners imagined. Not only did Hilton introduce city nestled between two main rivers called the word “Shangri-La” into the English lexicon, he Bagmati and Bishnumati. Also known as also popularized a vision of utopia, an imaginative Kantipur,B it is the largest of the three major cities in cultural landscape superimposed on the actual the Kathmandu valley, the other two being Patan geography of Tibet, thus elevating it to the zenith of (Lalitpur) and Bhadgaon (Bhaktapur). Kathmandu sacredness, a world where the axis mundi connected is the capital and cultural hearth of Nepal, a country heaven and earth, where time was frozen and space invariably viewed by Westerners as a Shangri-La, unbounded, where brutal forces of nature and an alluring piece of imaginative geography. Imagi- treacherous antiquity turned into a scene of serene native geography is more than a mental map with beauty and youth, where realities were invented its own distorted lines and vexed contours. It is through imaginations and then authenticated more than a cultural landscape with definable char- through regurgitated travel accounts and postcards, acteristics that are produced and reproduced poems, and letters to the dear ones back home. through a series of interactions between people and Immensely popular in both Britain and the United their physical environment. It is a distinct creation States, Hilton’s novel was made into a movie of what Bishop calls “cultural fantasy-making”— in 1937, thus mobilizing for public (mass) a place filled with fantasies, a place of mythical consumption the captivating vision of utopia that proportions.2 It is, in other words, a cultural sanctu- Shangri-La exuded.4 ary imagined to be sacred no matter how “strange” Sacred places are, however, paradoxical. They and “bewildering” it may be. But Kathmandu is engender a sense of both fear and fantasy, terror and choking, today, on the exhaust of its own modern tranquility. They are places of awe and worship as march: environmental pollution. So severe is the they possess what I call “raw beauty” that defies problem of pollution that it not only poses a serious depth as well as simple description. Once their para- threat to the very tourist industry that sustains its dox is resolved through the production of imagina- march of modernity, but also to public health. tive geography, the fear and darkness of such places yield to hope and healing, thus releasing a stream of Inventing Shangri-La fantasies. They become a Shangri-La—“a place of Tibet, of course, was the ultimate Shangri-La until loss, of self discovery, of transcendence, of ennui.”5 its political demise in the late 1950s. James Hilton’s It was in this tradition of producing imagina- Lost Horizon left little doubt about it.3 In the novel, tive geographies, places of mythical proportions, he discovered Tibet, not the one that is rugged and that the Shangri-La of Nepal was carved out. It is unforgiving, that Tibetans lived and knew as an plausible to argue that Nepal was produced as a integral part of their daily reality, but the Tibet that place of mystical beauty to fill the void left by the 11 American Peace Corps volunteers arrived year after year, followed by waves of Western hippies who came in search of hashish and hiatus from their stale suburban lifestyles. In the sanctuary of the Nepali Shangri-La, they found both. Along came Cat Stevens, who took the city’s imaginative geography to a newer height in his famous song, “Katmandu,” and the city, where time was still and bewildering, was eager to hold him down. A couple of years later, Bob Seger traced Stevens’s Shangri-La pilgrimage. In a tone similar to Stevens’s, his song “Katmandu” also projected the city as a place of spiritual healing and reprieve from the mire of American materialism. To count- less Westerners, Kathmandu was the place of self- discovery and self-recovery, where one found the meaning and balance of life as well as the path to eternal wisdom. It is precisely this image of Tibet and Nepal that even The Wall Street Journal has masterfully exploited in a recent ad to promote Downtown Kathmandu. From http://www.lonelyplanet.com/dest/ind/graphics/map-kat.htm itself as a source of another type of balance and eternal wisdom: business wisdom.8 loss of Tibet’s Shangri-La or to satisfy what Bishop calls Western “erotic, imagining compulsion.” KATHMANDU When Tibet was annexed by China in 1959, A Paradoxical Shangri-La its borders were effectively closed; its As noted above, Kathmandu was a medieval city spirituality and levitating power were with a quaint look. Similar to the tradition of suddenly grounded. “By comparison National Geographic that routinely presented with its fullness in the past, Tibet as a non-Westerners as closely blended into nature with place was left vacant of spiritual signifi- bare breasts, or as exotic and colorful with smiles cance to Westerners—except, that is, for fixed on their faces, Westerners configured even a few devotees.”6 After all, Nepal was native residents and their lifestyles into the vast vista the closest “thing” to Tibet, both geo- of their imaginative geography of Kathmandu. Like graphically and spiritually. Moreover, other imaginative geographies, Kathmandu was a freshly emerging from the darkness of paradox, however, made of juxtaposing pictures— Rana autocracy in 1951, Nepal vaulted one immersed in the daily reality and experience of into the world of modernity, ready to its residents, and another invented in the fantasy- welcome Westerners and Western values filled imagination of Westerners. with open arms.7 Nowhere was this Although chained to its past and deeply shroud- imaginative geography played out more ed in its medieval veil, the city was restless in its lusciously than in its gravitational cen- quest for a modern future. It radiated an aura of ter: Kathmandu. To many, Kathmandu charm and challenge, mysticism and mystery, with was Nepal imbued with mysticism, few barriers imposed against outsiders to penetrate where Western cultural fantasy-making its mystical depth and explore its mystery. Kath- could readily be superimposed on its mandu was a city where its timeless past was vividly PHOTO BY NANDA R. SHRESTHA R. NANDA BY PHOTO actual geography to produce a sacred stored in its shapeless present, where its ubiquitous A Kathmandu Valley landscape, a place of loss and self-discovery and ancient temples, packed houses, and narrow streets woman wearing a typical self-recovery. The rapid unfolding of events after with countless shops and crowded conditions Newari (Jyapu) sari and 1950 further solidified its Shangri-La image. For formed the core of its live cultural curios and bewil- carrying a child instance, Sir Edmund Hillary and his Sherpa guide, dering beauty: an instant museum. Space was tight on her back. Tenzing Norge, conquered Mt. Everest in 1953. as if it was distanceless, yet getting around the city This not only paved the path for the rapid growth of was no easy chore. The city looked chaotic and dis- Western mountain expeditions to Nepal, but also orderly and difficult to navigate, yet Westerners laid the foundation of its modern tourist industry. found it uniquely titillating as they could freely Even the illusory image of Yeti proved to be fasci- romance with its pristine qualities. For some, a jour- nating and mystical enough to arouse Western ney to the city was like traveling back in time to “imagining compulsion.” Then, starting in 1962, medieval days, whereas it was, for others, a fantasy 12 EDUCATION ABOUT ASIA Volume 3, Number 1 Spring 1998 land, an escape into profound simplicity and eternal gone awry, a fact that any visitor happiness, unencumbered by technological can verify. Tourists are now being advances and onslaughts. So there was room for vir- advised to carry and wear a mask tually every Western tourist to quench whatever to avoid inhaling potentially dan- craving s/he had. gerous air pollutants. The air is The story has taken a new twist today. thick and dirty. Lost in the ongo- “Hippies” are long gone, but other Western tourists ing debate over its physical pollu- continue to come: over 136,000 in 1990.9 The tion, however, is its filthy past. tourist industry has matured.10 The city is a lot Lack of sewage system facilities more glittery than one could ever imagine only a in the face of dense housing has couple of decades ago. The past seems to be fading historically defined its urban envi- fast, and the future is fuzzy. Yet the city remains a ronment. What is different between the pollution of PHOTO BY NANDA R. SHRESTHA paradox. For instance, glaringly juxtaposed against the past and the present condition is essentially a Kathmandu Valley its countless ancient temples are its fancy hotels matter of its nature and degree. women wearing with modern amenities, including four casinos all typical Newari dress managed by Richard Tuttle, an American casino PHYSICAL POLLUTION on their way to king of Nepal. While the temples paint for Western- Past and Present a temple. ers a testimonial picture of Kathmandu’s past It is difficult to gain a good understanding of Kath- artistic glory, modern hotels offer them great com- mandu’s present pollution in isolation from its past.