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King For A Day: Massacre at the Palace
Only last year did it finally become possible for commoners to visit the Royal Palace, long the central nervous system for power in Nepal. Naranyiti, as it is known around here, still is the closest thing Kathmandu has to a skyscraper, its high tower looming above the tree line at the gates of Thamel, a custom made sight for tourists and locals alike.
Built in 1969, Naranyiti, according to Liebi, is visually little more than a 70’s disco palace, especially on the outside.
It’s easy to second-guess, but I think I would recommend to tourists to skip the palace. There is nothing you won’t catch in an average castle of similar size anywhere in Europe. You will see the photos of the Royal family lining the walls, the king with Mitterand here, the king with Hassan II. of Morocco there, supersized portraits, stuffed animals, ottomans, and various other excesses you would associate with a family that has too much money. Again, nothing you can’t see in the castle of some duke or lord.
The most pressing matter to tourists here, then, was where the massacre of 2001 occurred. In a sudden blood rush, the crown prince Dipendra wiped out almost the entire royal family after allegedly failing to gain the king’s blessing for his bride. The building behind the Palace where it actually happened was razed for unknown reasons, although they still accurately pinpointed the waypoints of the bloodbath. The prince grabbed a pistol and, pop, shot his old man, a couple of aunts and uncles, then his mother and brother before finally giving himself a bullet. Mercy.
It is amazing that people here would preserve such a site. If this indeed were a city teeming with wealth, it would be understandable. But here we are talking about a billion dollars worth of prime real estate, while the state makes a few hundred rupees here and there from admission, and the cost for maintenance must be enormous. Add that the Maoists literally buried the monarchy and you would think that this place would topple more quickly than a Saddam Hussein statue in Baghdad.
Sometimes, monarchies can be a fascinating thing for history to preserve, if only for the benefit of tourists. People find it rather boring, I’ve noticed, traveling a long way from home only to be reminded there is such a dull thing as democracy. Even military dictators are preferred, anything that distracts from the comfortable, but dull predictability of things back home. Those tourists would strongly disagree if they actually lived in those countries. Poverty and misery are a way of life here, and I have always noticed how uncomfortable immigrants were back in New York once they realized what freedoms they had. That’s why tourists rarely become residents here. Facing the every day conditions here can be a trial in itself.
And yet, ask people about the Palace here: students, professors, teachers, laborers, and taxi drivers. A Kathmandu without the Palace would be Moscow without the Red Square. Whether people are in favor of the monarchy or not, they feel the Palace still belongs there. Considering the alternatives, like the Pizza Hut and KFC around the corner from it, I think I’ll agree. I am equally certain people around here could care less about their form of government. The stipulation here is that it doesn’t interfere with our everyday lives. My boss back in Brooklyn used to say this about immigrants coming from developing countries: “People there don’t want democracy, they want food.”
Then again, it is not to say that democracy as such will last and the monarchy won’t make a comeback. I don’t like the monarchy’s chances here, but with the capriciousness of politics here, I wouldn’t take them off the board yet, either.
Built in 1969, Naranyiti, according to Liebi, is visually little more than a 70’s disco palace, especially on the outside.
It’s easy to second-guess, but I think I would recommend to tourists to skip the palace. There is nothing you won’t catch in an average castle of similar size anywhere in Europe. You will see the photos of the Royal family lining the walls, the king with Mitterand here, the king with Hassan II. of Morocco there, supersized portraits, stuffed animals, ottomans, and various other excesses you would associate with a family that has too much money. Again, nothing you can’t see in the castle of some duke or lord.
The most pressing matter to tourists here, then, was where the massacre of 2001 occurred. In a sudden blood rush, the crown prince Dipendra wiped out almost the entire royal family after allegedly failing to gain the king’s blessing for his bride. The building behind the Palace where it actually happened was razed for unknown reasons, although they still accurately pinpointed the waypoints of the bloodbath. The prince grabbed a pistol and, pop, shot his old man, a couple of aunts and uncles, then his mother and brother before finally giving himself a bullet. Mercy.
It is amazing that people here would preserve such a site. If this indeed were a city teeming with wealth, it would be understandable. But here we are talking about a billion dollars worth of prime real estate, while the state makes a few hundred rupees here and there from admission, and the cost for maintenance must be enormous. Add that the Maoists literally buried the monarchy and you would think that this place would topple more quickly than a Saddam Hussein statue in Baghdad.
Sometimes, monarchies can be a fascinating thing for history to preserve, if only for the benefit of tourists. People find it rather boring, I’ve noticed, traveling a long way from home only to be reminded there is such a dull thing as democracy. Even military dictators are preferred, anything that distracts from the comfortable, but dull predictability of things back home. Those tourists would strongly disagree if they actually lived in those countries. Poverty and misery are a way of life here, and I have always noticed how uncomfortable immigrants were back in New York once they realized what freedoms they had. That’s why tourists rarely become residents here. Facing the every day conditions here can be a trial in itself.
And yet, ask people about the Palace here: students, professors, teachers, laborers, and taxi drivers. A Kathmandu without the Palace would be Moscow without the Red Square. Whether people are in favor of the monarchy or not, they feel the Palace still belongs there. Considering the alternatives, like the Pizza Hut and KFC around the corner from it, I think I’ll agree. I am equally certain people around here could care less about their form of government. The stipulation here is that it doesn’t interfere with our everyday lives. My boss back in Brooklyn used to say this about immigrants coming from developing countries: “People there don’t want democracy, they want food.”
Then again, it is not to say that democracy as such will last and the monarchy won’t make a comeback. I don’t like the monarchy’s chances here, but with the capriciousness of politics here, I wouldn’t take them off the board yet, either.
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