Dear Gyane, I am sure you will be quite surprised when you trip over this unsolicited missive, its dog-eared carrier peeking cheeky under a weighty pile of brown-nosed felicitations, invitations, and exhortations awaiting the attention of an ebony letter opener. As you lean forward, inexplicably piqued, and draw that insolent triangle out into an envelope postmarked London, an advisor may step forward nervously and attempt to distract you from what is so obviously a slip-up. I trust you will wave him away irritably and take the time to cup an ear to a far-flung yet most concerned subject, albeit one who believes the concept of royalty to be as antiquated and irrelevant as papyrus scrolls, quills, and Remington typewriters. Forgive me thus when I address you in so cavalier a manner. But what of it? It may be overly familiar, but surely less so than being dragged out of bed in blackest night to end up broken and bled to death in the forests you grew up in. This is no irrelevant irreverency. Things have gotten so bad I think we can dispense with such niceties as protocol. Even if you did believe as a cosseted stripling at Eton that Nehru was below you. For what I am about to say I could only say to a friend in all honesty, in the hope of common redemption. How could you relate to me if I were a hole in the ground? So, Gyane, please don?t take it amiss. I mean no disrespect. Besides, for heaven?s sake, isn?t it about time we all came to terms with the myth of the God-King? You may never think of me as an equal. Old habits, I know. But we?re all the same anyhow. We all eat, shit, sleep and one day, stop. I?ve been told you smoke your cigarettes like a true bhumiputra, fisted fingers funnelling death. And royal mortality has proven to be somewhat more sharply defined than the average, wouldn?t you say? I don?t mean to be insensitive. We were all deeply shocked by what happened four years ago. The mass mundans were clear indication of national trauma. Though why all those men ? those who volunteered to flag their grief ? held your brother in such affection is beyond me. He was, at best, a benevolent fool. But you knew this already. Undoubtedly it hurt you to be the bereaved and the accused. But there was no one else for the masses to blame, given the unsatisfactorily explained events of June 1, 2001. Where, indeed, was the Royal Nepalese Army when you actually needed them? - http://samudaya.org/articles/archives/2005/05/a_letter_to_gya.php#c1637