To all, However one defines democracy, it can only get better through a FREE and FRANK exchange of views -- no matter offensive/stupid/brilliant some of us find some other people's views. This was and is my bedrock philosophy, and in the spirit of that philosophy, I welcome these further thoughts and criticisms of ideas expressed and commented on above. So, thanks all for your postings. I have printed them, and will try to post my responses after reading them. Meantime, for some days, real deadline-ridden work beckons, not to mention a column I have finish writing by tonight! Ke garne? Too bad that Sajha does not give any of us a salary :-) So, keep the discussions flowing. I'll join later. By no means, the issues discussed here are dead. As for these personal attacks against me, I am NOT ruffled by them. Happens. That's life. One shrugs them off and moves on. The key is to have enough exciting things going on in one's REAL life so that Sajha remains -- as it should -- a minor part of one's life.. Still, my attitude is: Since I am NOT the sort to get into real street fights, Sajha remains the closest way I can gather some valuable rainbow of emotional experience to engage in some absolutely necessary bare-knuckled behaviour. [In Nepal, it's good to be nice, polite and civilized, of course; but sometimes the only way to get results out of certain SOBs is to stun them by giving them sharp elbows. So, you see, the virtual experiences gleaned from Sajha can help one do better work in other contexts in Nepal by keeping your reflexes sharp :-) ] More later. oohi ashu