Most of the local participants arrived late, and left as soon as the lunch was over. I gathered the impression that their real motive behind attending the conference was to “bunk work” but still get paid and have a good lunch at a three star hotel. I wonder how these people who call themselves part of the civil society of Nepal would ever bring positive development in any field with such attitude.

To add to the comical scene, when the local participants were asked questions on their presentations, they almost always forwarded the question to somebody else from their team as if they had no idea about what they just presented. And if somebody ever attempted to answer, the first thing they did was blame the government for everything. If the government is to blame for everything then, I wonder, what is the purpose/ meaning of their existence.

Their greed for the research grant was so obvious on their faces that I felt embarrassed on their behalf. I can still imagine the face of the guy from some research organisation, like a dog drooling in front of a meat shop, when “funding” was being discussed. I consider he was “brave” to be able to point out and make a big deal out of a trivial grammar mistake when the floor was opened for comments on presentation made by another country.

Sad thing is they didn’t realise they were missing such a good opportunity to learn from the success and failures of others and build up their network, while they were busy making irrelevant comments on what others were trying to say and focussing on what won’t work, what we can’t do.