THE GLOBAL AND THE LOCAL

5 December, 2010-Kathmandu Post Kao San Road is Bangkok’s Thamel. And like Thamel, you can find street side stalls that sell colorful cotton clothes, handicrafts, and carved wooden souvenirs. But what you may not expect to find there are Nepali vendors. As we walk past one vendor selling small phone accessories and electronic goods, the cheap radio lures me back with a familiar tune from Bollywood. I look at the man and ask: Are you Nepali? He nods and answers: Yes, I am. Shyam, the vendor, tells me he’s Nepali from Burma. His family went there 60 years ago. He’s never been to Nepal, but he speaks Nepali fluently with a slight accent. He says some of his family members still live in Nepal, and his parents go back and forth every once in a while. Why did you leave Burma, I ask. And he gives me an answer that sounds strikingly familiar. “There was conflict. The Army and the Maoists started to fight each other. The Maoists wanted to recruit us. So we fled.” I say: “That sounds just l...