India, Aug. 29 -- The Gorkha soldier once served as one of the strongest human bridges between India and Nepal. Today, that bridge is narrower. Delhi's challenge is to forge a new generation of substantive ties with Nepal - strong enough to withstand and absorb the shocks of future political upheavals, border disputes or diplomatic disagreements.

India-Nepal relations have never been merely a matter of treaties, trade figures or diplomatic communiques. Geography made the two countries neighbours; history, culture and religion made them close, but for generations, one institution gave that relationship its most powerful human expression, ie, the Gorkha soldier in the Indian Army.

From Nepal's monarchy through successive phases of Nepali ...