This thread definitely reminds me of a Nepali ukhan that I heard from one of the respondents during my fieldwork "झींगाको प्‍वाँख उखेल्दा आन्‍द्राभुडी छरपष्‍ट" भने जस्‍तै यहाँ त रडाको पो मच्‍च्‍िएको रहेछ बा । Tyo pwakh ukhelne lai thaha hunu parne ho akhir jhinga ko ke po hunchha ra... Tyesai chhodi dya bhaye, ke po garthyo ra, yeha tyeha jahan mitho guliyo milthyo tyehiko rachchyan ma bholthyo, bekar ma... Nepeko euta saano annecdotal comment le yetti sahro tauko dukhai ta nahunu parne ho? Maybe I am wrong. Well, this is NOT the first time that Ashutosh had to be so defensive of his 'in-between' position. Ashutosh, nothing personal, but would you care to listen to a humble suggestion? If you are the man of your words, be honest with yourself, if not with others. Try NOT be redundant in your stance. As a student of economics, you are proud to claim that you are not interested in ?NORMATIVE? issue when it comes to the issues related to the King; however, on the other had, you "as a private citizen" never fail to PREACH the "rights" and "wrongs" to political parties, civil societies, journalists, doctors, lawyers,.....you name it. But hey, it's you, who loves to slice, shape, selectively present facts, data or whatever it is in your preaching to others. Huna ta haamra tira bhanchha ni "धोबीको कुकुर न घरको न घाटको" (I am using it figuratively, hai pheri..) I, for one, have NO problem whatsoever with your 'soft corner' toward the King; your PERSONAL choice to resign to ?HEAR NO EVIL, SAY NO EVIL, SEE NO EVIL? of the Narayanhiti palace speaks for itself. If you do not wanna be NORMATIVE, practice first what you preach to others. That's all. Going back to the thread, I think I would be rather interested to know 'why and how does Nepali Times manage to sustain under the same settings when the NATION fail?' It's gotta be more than just 'differences in opinion.'