'Friendly, Frank, and Of Course, Damn Rich'

What impression do the Nepalese have of Americans? "They tend to think of Americans as a friendly, outgoing people, easy to get along with, open and frank--and of course, damn rich." The future development of Nepal is heavily dependent upon America's riches, at present to the tune of an annual $11 million from the U.S. Agency for International Development alone. Since 1951, the United States has provided Nepal with well over $2 billion, but Shah remains highly critical of the uses that money has been put toward--in particular, of what he considers idealistic attempts to transform native institutions into prototypes of American ones. "Why should we give up our traditions to come up to some criteria which you have set for us?" he complains. "It is industrialized nations who are setting these criteria--$1000 per capita income, T.V. sets, cars, If we were to define the criteria of your development, we would use different indexes: pollution, ecological hazards, abortion, debts, extramarital sex."

The Western conception of democracy is particularly unsuited to present-day Nepal, he adds. "We want an egalitarian system, but we want it within the framework of our value system." The Western value system, preoccupied with materialism and status symbols, is not the kind of democracy Nepal needs. "Democracy is not a Campbell's soup mass-produced by Westminster Abbey and Capitol Hill," he asserts. "That is a completely perverted social attitude." Attempts to reform the monarchy are equally misplaced. "So Nepal is a hereditary monarchy. America is an elected one."