The king's helicopter arrives in Nepal's second city to the relief of thousands of supporters who have been waiting for hours in a dust-choked football stadium.
"Long live the King!" blare the loudspeakers to the cheers of the crowd. The monarch takes his seat under a statue of a holy seven-headed serpent and waves to his subjects.
More than 15,000 people have packed the stadium in Pokhara to honor King Gyanendra with a day of pageantry. Hundreds file past the royal stand in colorful traditional costumes in a show of respect.
Look a little deeper, though, and the reception masks a growing distrust for the king in a country that has traditionally revered its monarchs as living gods.
Many Nepalis say this tall, severe man in his daura-suruwal tight pants and knee-length shirt is the reason their country is in crisis.
He has frozen democracy and a brutal Maoist revolt grows steadily bloodier after failed peace talks. The war has scared off tourists and the economy of one of the world's poorest countries is faltering.
"This monarchy has become a burden on the nation," says Madhav Kumar Nepal, head of the Communist Unified Marxist-Leninist (UML) party and the leader of an alliance of opposition parties.
"His image has eroded, his credibility is down. The king is himself creating the situation where people in large numbers are being critical of the institution of the monarchy. This time, they are talking about the republican alternative," he says.
Gyanendra has never been as popular as his brother and predecessor, King Birendra, who was massacred along with several other royals by the then crown prince in 2001. Some Nepalis remain suspicious over Gyanendra's rise after the bloodbath in the royal palace in Kathmandu.
He was in Pokhara, about 200km west of the capital, on the night most of those at a royal family dinner were gunned down.
FAILING POPULARITY
Gyanendra's standing is steadily falling and unprecedented public criticism is growing over his sacking of the elected prime minister in 2002 and his failure to make any progress in ending a Maoist revolt that has killed more than 9,250 people since 1996.
"His thinking everything can be solved by guns is part of the problem," says Shyam Shrestha, editor of the Nepali weekly Mulyankan. "(And) it may happen any time -- that the king ends democracy."
Gyanendra's performance has some Nepalis talking about what would once have been blasphemy: turning the world's only Hindu kingdom into a republic.
Madhav Kumar Nepal says his UML has not yet considered dropping its support for the constitutional monarchy in favor of a republic. But the party leadership faces mounting pressure from the rank-and-file to do so.
Across the nation, there is growing disillusionment.
"The king is abandoning the democratic way and embracing a dictatorship," says Ananta Nath Sharma, 69, a retired teacher in Nagdanda Kaski village, just outside Pokhara.
Gyanendra hopes to hold polls delayed since late 2002 by mid-April next year -- but only if it is safe to do so.
Many doubt elections can ever be held until the Maoists are brought back to the negotiating table, something most say rests in the king's hands.
A constitutional monarch by title, Gyanendra, who people close to the palace say considered his brother weak, now effectively has full control of the government and the country until an election can be held and a new government formed.
RSS