{"id":7214,"date":"2016-01-12T12:38:43","date_gmt":"2016-01-12T06:53:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dorjegurung.com\/blog\/?p=7214"},"modified":"2026-03-13T22:06:22","modified_gmt":"2026-03-13T22:06:22","slug":"queueing-up-in-kathmandu-never-worked-so-well-never","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dorjegurung.com\/blog\/2016\/01\/queueing-up-in-kathmandu-never-worked-so-well-never\/","title":{"rendered":"Queueing Up in Kathmandu Never Worked (So) Well&#8230;Never"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/dorjegurung.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/duck-sculpture-in-boston-park-01-feat-image.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-7246 noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"634\" src=\"https:\/\/dorjegurung.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/duck-sculpture-in-boston-park-01-feat-image.jpg\" alt=\"duck sculpture in boston park 01-feat image\" class=\"wp-image-7246\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.dorjegurung.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/duck-sculpture-in-boston-park-01-feat-image.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/www.dorjegurung.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/duck-sculpture-in-boston-park-01-feat-image-300x159.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.dorjegurung.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/duck-sculpture-in-boston-park-01-feat-image-1024x541.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.dorjegurung.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/duck-sculpture-in-boston-park-01-feat-image-768x406.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Queueing up in Kathmandu never worked as well as they do in the videos below\u2026never\u2026really!<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The following is a video of LPG cylinder queue&nbsp;outside an outlet in the city. It was&nbsp;posted&nbsp;on YouTube on November 5. It doesn&#8217;t say when it was taken though. The queue is loooooooong and really well organised!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"Nepal Fuel Crisis | LPG Cylinders Lined Up Outside Gas Store in Kathmandu\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ui_dISTYIR4?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The following video of motorcycle queue for petrol (gas) is by my <a href=\"https:\/\/dorjegurung.com\/blog\/tag\/pete-pattisson\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">mate Pete Pattisson<\/a>, a fellow <a href=\"https:\/\/dorjegurung.com\/blog\/2015\/11\/help-launch-nepals-first-collaborative-school\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">educator<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/profile\/pete-pattisson\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">journalist<\/a> for <em>The Guardian<\/em>. The original video, published on November 6, is&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/global-development\/video\/2015\/nov\/06\/nepal-fuel-crisis-motorbike-tailback-video\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">here<\/a>. This queue is also&nbsp;looooooong and&nbsp;very orderly!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(I wonder if so many motorbikes being off the streets have reduced&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/dorjegurung.com\/blog\/2014\/09\/use-your-head-protect-your-head\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">road-accident death rates<\/a>&nbsp;in Kathmandu.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The following video of taxis queueing up is also by my mate Pete and published on the same day as the one above. This one is loooooong too!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(<em>The Guardian<\/em> article where both the videos are embedded &#8212; the motorcycle one half-way down the article &#8212; can be found <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/global-development\/2015\/nov\/06\/nepal-government-humanitarian-crisis-india-border-blockade-deputy-prime-minister-kamal-thapa\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">here<\/a>.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I must add that I don&#8217;t know if things are still the same&#8230;both the need to queue for fuel and their level of organisation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But the queues were something to behold, weren&#8217;t they?!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Firstly, because Kathmanduites&nbsp;aren&#8217;t known for their ability or inclination to queue up.&nbsp;I don&#8217;t remember seeing such orderly and organised queues&nbsp;for anything in the city&#8230;ever. Just visit any establishment or office or joint where queues would help everyone and you&#8217;ll understand &#8212; Nepalese can&#8217;t and don&#8217;t queue up!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But I think I have found a solution!&nbsp;While those with &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/dorjegurung.com\/blog\/tag\/source-force\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">source-force<\/a>&#8221; (money and\/or connection) either have others queue up on their behalf or get what they need through their connections, with the rest, require them have a thing stand in the queue in their stead, like their shoes! I have seen that somewhere, though I can&#8217;t remember where!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Secondly, because drivers on the move on the streets of Kathmandu&nbsp;show next to no patience! Chaos rules the streets of Kathmandu!&nbsp;When on the move, the Mr. Hydes to these Dr. Jekylls take over control of their vehicles!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>How else do you explain the practice of drivers letting <a href=\"https:\/\/dorjegurung.com\/blog\/2015\/04\/the-best-i-have-heard-so-far\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">their horns rip<\/a> when in a traffic jam as if horns&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/dorjegurung.com\/blog\/2014\/07\/in-a-hurry-to-be-late\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">cleared traffic<\/a>?! How else do you explain the evolution of <a href=\"https:\/\/dorjegurung.com\/blog\/2014\/12\/horn-rules\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">a million-and-one use of a horn<\/a>?!&nbsp;<span class=\"s1\">How else do you explain&nbsp;the&nbsp;&#8220;I got to get there <a href=\"https:\/\/dorjegurung.com\/blog\/2014\/07\/in-a-hurry-to-be-late\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">NOW, RIGHT THIS MINUTE<\/a>!&#8221; attitude and behavior?!<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(And, while I am on the subject, how do you explain the very cavalier attitudes of&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/dorjegurung.com\/blog\/2014\/09\/use-your-head-protect-your-head\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">motorcyclists<\/a>&nbsp;and authorities such as the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/dorjegurung.com\/blog\/2014\/09\/close-encounter-of-the-unnerving-and-sobering-kind\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">the police<\/a>?!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Maybe the explanation lies in our (Hindu) cultural&nbsp;belief in <a href=\"https:\/\/books.google.com\/books\/about\/Fatalism_and_Development.html?id=JzFROpFVYRAC\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">fatalism<\/a>!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Having said that, for&nbsp;those in the video, queueing up as they did, didn&#8217;t seem to have worked that well! &nbsp;You heard how, after lining up for three days, the taxis got just t<\/span>en liters (two and a half gallon) of petrol (gas)! So you see, whichever way you look at it, queueing up never works (so) well in Kathmandu&#8230;never! \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But, as we in Nepal&nbsp;don&#8217;t tire of&nbsp;saying, &#8220;<em>Ke garne<\/em>?! <em>Yestai ho<\/em>!&#8221; (&#8220;What to do?! Such is life!&#8221;)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What do you say? What do you think?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If queueing up worked (so) well in Kathmandu and in the rest of the country, we, both as a people and country, could get somewhere&#8230;me thinks!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":7246,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Queueing Up in Kathmandu Never Worked (So) Well...Never","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[163],"tags":[200,153,154],"class_list":["post-7214","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-leisure-musings","tag-culture","tag-nepal-traffic","tag-nepalese-culture"],"blocksy_meta":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.dorjegurung.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/duck-sculpture-in-boston-park-01-feat-image.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2Jbro-1Sm","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dorjegurung.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7214","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dorjegurung.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dorjegurung.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dorjegurung.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dorjegurung.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7214"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.dorjegurung.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7214\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29839,"href":"https:\/\/www.dorjegurung.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7214\/revisions\/29839"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dorjegurung.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7246"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dorjegurung.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7214"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dorjegurung.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7214"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dorjegurung.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7214"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}