Shree Panch/ Nagarjun Diaries

Subtitle: To live, sometimes you have to survive.

Episode I:

(Flashback)

Dark...Solemn..tragic...blues version of 'shree man gambheer' playing in the background. Reminds me of the chill that runs down my body every time I hear The Godfather Waltz. I was there, sulking...sobbing inside, k garnu parampara ra kartavya ko zanjeer maa bandhieko thien..while I was watching outside...thick smokes from a cremation pyre smoldering into the sky. Only few mournful faces. Even those next to the pyre, their face expressionless...staring into the flames. No tears.

"k bho Raja kina tolai bakseko ?" a female voice suddenly interjects.--back to present: Gyanendra is on a rocking chair in front of the fire. He is now seventy two. We are in 2077 BS. His face is bloated,he is wearing his reading glasses, a thick book sitting on his lap. The room is poorly lit. Gyanendra is almost silhoutted against the fire so his features are obscured. He turns to the direction where the voice came from and then goes back to his reading...

New Scene:

"I believe in New Nepal, the republic Nepal. It made me who I am today". Suddenly we are watching in close view, Hari Bhakta Maharjan, a man of fifty dressed in a black suit, on the verge of great emotion.

"I raised my daughter with republican values; I gave her freedom, but taught her never to dishonor her family. She found a boy friend. She went to the movies with him, stayed out late. Two months ago he took her for a drive, with another boyfriend. They made her drink whiskey and then they tried to take advantage of her. She resisted; she kept her honor. So they beat her like an animal. When I went to the hospital her nose was broken, her jaw was shattered and held together by stitches, and she could not even weep because of the pain"

Hari Bhakta Maharjan can barely speak; he is weeping now.

"I went to the police like a good citizen. These two boys were arrested and brought to trial. The peoples' court sentenced them to three years in prison, and suspended the sentence. Suspended sentence! They went free that very day. I stood in the courtroom like a fool and those bastards, they smiled at me. Then I said to my wife, for justice, we must go to Nagarjuna Durbar."

The camera now zooms out and away from Hari Bhakta. We see Gyanendra's office in Nagarjuna Durbar. The blinds are closed and so the room is dark and with patterned shadows. We are watching Hari Bhakta over the shoulder of Gyanendra. Rajan Khadka sits near a small table, examining some paperwork, and Paras stands impatiently by the window, sipping from a glass of wine. We can hear music and laughter and voices of many people outside.

Gyanendra: "Hari, we know each other for years, but this is the first time you come to me for help. I don't remember the last time you invited me to your house for coffee...even though our wives are friends..."

Hari Bhakta: "What do you want of me ? I'll give you anything you want, but do what I ask!"

Gyanendra: "And what is that Maharjan ?"

Hari Bhakta Maharjan whispers into Gyanendra's ear.

Gyanendra: No. You ask for too much.

Hari: I ask for justice. pahile bhanthe nyaya napae Gorkha janu, aba manche haru bhanchan nyaya napae Nagarjun jaanu...

Gyanendra: Jana Adalat le nyaya di sakyo timi lai.

Hari: An eye for an eye !

Gyanendra: But your daughter is still alive.

Hari: Then make them suffer as she suffers. How much shall I pay you.

Both Rajan and Paras react.

Gyanendra: You never think to protect yourself with real friends. You think it's enough to be a republican. All right, the YCL and the police protects you, there is peoples' court, so you don't need a friend like me. But now you come to me and say Shree Panch, you must give me justice. And you don't ask in respect or friendship; instead you come to my house on the day my granddaughter is to be married and you ask me to do murder...for money.

Hari: Naya Nepal has been good to me...

Gyanendra: Then take justice from the peoples' court. But if you come to me with your friendship, your loyalty, then your enemies become my enemies, and then, believe me, they would fear you...

Slowly, Hari Bhakta bows his head and murmurs, "shree panch...".

Gyanendra: Good. From me you'll get justice....and some day, and that day may never come, I would like to call upon you to do me a service in return...

Scene fades...