Nepal, Dec. 27 -- "Two lakhs and your job will be done."

We overheard a bureaucrat casually say this to a single mother in a government office. Corruption is a given in Nepali society.

From Social Studies books in school to conversations at dinners, it was always understood that a key reason why our country fails time and again is the kleptocracy.

Seeing it play out in front of our eyes was disconcerting. The woman pleaded that she did not have that kind of money.

If it is so normal for people to need social or economic capital to get the simplest things done, what happens to those who have neither? Corruption is not just stealing money, it steals time, agency, it steals dreams, robs citizens of their rights, it steals their future. ...