--By Madan Lamsal

 

If I propose to make frog the national animal of new Nepal, I am sure, you will happily agree and also congratulate me for this brilliant idea. Nepal’s every bit of life has been touched by the benevolent frog and its various qualities. One of our revolutionary finance minister a few year ago declared that Nepal’s economy should now grow not in a reptiles’ dragging but in leap-frogging pace. Leap-frogging indeed is a right simile for Nepal. No Nepali believes in being rich taking a long route walk. Inspired by the frog, everybody wants to leap- frog from penury to instant prosperity. We never get tired of emphasizing that Nepal is an agrarian economy. The plantation season begins with the beacons of twaar-twaar-twaar of the frogs in the banks of the river and main fields. For many, frogs provide for a barbequed lunch or snack at the middle of the hard day’s work in the field.

 

If you think of less relevance of iconic frog in the civilized life, you are wrong. The fortunate ones who have got employment must have fine qualities of a frog -- to jump a queue, to jump enter into influential leader’s living rooms jumping off the high fences and learn to find some excuses to jump across the process of meritocracy.

 

If you happen to meet a frog-mouthed personality in the busy city, you can be sure that he must be a high-ranking official in bureaucracy, bank or NGO. If not, he must be a seasoned politician whose skin is gradually transforming into that of rhino from that of a frog. These are the key people for the very existence and functionality of the country. 

 

You might ask, how would you recognize these frog-mouthed ones in crowded cities? It is pretty simple. Bring along a dead frog with you and begin to compare the looks of people with it. Protruding eyes, lumped eyelids as the result of over drinking, large potbellies, twisted legs and habit of jumping the queues anywhere possible, be that temple or service station. The growth rate of the country may be low, but these frog-mouthed talents can make it sound great with their hoarse voice. The bank CEOs can ensure great profits regardless of the fact that only twenty percent people have access to the banking services. (How much profit will they earn if every citizen has a bank account in the country?)

 

If you meet a proper frog-mouthed politician, he must be a youth leader of the party as he is aged just 65 years or so.  You can argue that frog mouthed ones are spared by nature from entering into the old age. 

 

There are other great qualities of the frog we have emulated. The best among them is to live life free of all worries in any degree of precariousness. You must have seen a frog that is being swallowed by a snake that still wants to catch a spider, not being concerned that it will die in next few seconds. The country has long hours of load-shedding, we Nepalis don’t worry. There is no sign of new constitution being written, we rather worry about American visa. We don’t have enough supply of petrol, but it doesn’t stop us from buying a car. We prefer big LED to mount on our living room wall, without counting hours we actually have power supply.

 

Also, you have heard the fable of Nepali frogs exported to the USA in an open basket and all of them reached intact, not even a single one jumping out from the basket as each of them had learnt the leg-pulling skills from our politicians. It is no wonder, our politicians and decision makers also have learnt many skills from the frogs, as mentioned above. Since, Nepalis and frogs have developed such a cordial bond, only suitable thing is to call Nepal a frog country and declare frog as the national animal.