La Chef, your point #f is flawed. "f) therefore, they must WANT to keep us out of the system " The system itself is alien to the Bhotes. You have to stop thinking Nepal as some easily accessible utopia where every race is seperated by imaginary lines. Not so. Every race is seperated by real lines, like geographic boundaries. The snow dwelling people from Jumla are not in contact with anyone but themselves. They are uneducated. Because of "oppression"? Or because they are an entirely different nation? Think about it. Nepal is not a flat plain. It is mountainous with isolated groups. The "system" was never meant for those isolated groups living in the fringes of "Nepal." They are autonomous people who live lives according to their OWN ways, not some system of Pahadi urbanites.