When Indian External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee and his Nepali counterpart, Prakash Chandra Lohani, put their signature on a treaty for the integrated development of the Mahakali river, which runs along Nepal´s western border, it seemed that two unexpected advances had taken place, one relating to Nepal´s domestic politics, and the other on resource sharing between two South Asians.
Firstly, there was the unbelievable unanimity among the major political parties in Nepal, those in the ruling coalition as well as the main communist opposition, that this was the right thing to do. It came as a welcome departure for a country where India-bashing on river projects has for decades been the feeding trough on which the political opposition has fattened, with the communists having been the best at it.
An agreement as far-reaching as this, dealing with the entire flow of the mighty Mahakali, was packaged and delivered within a few hours of negotiation. That the Left Opposition held a National Executive meeting the next day to "welcome" the accord rather than condemn it for populist mileage, must mean that political evolution since the dawn of democracy in 1990 has been much faster than one had been led to believe from the bellicosity of the national political scene just a few months before.
Secondly, with the Cauvery dispute still making the headlines from India´s south, and Narmada and Tehri questioned by outraged activists, it seemed a wonder that Nepal and India could, like responsible adults, agree on the joint development of a river to the benefit of both. When it seemed that you could not utter the words "high dam" without having all sorts of insults and projectiles hurled at you nationally and internationally, here was an agreement signed and delivered to build the highest rock-filled dam in the Himalaya, and the third-highest on earth.