Happy to see this thread being revived after it was pushed all the way to third page. Isolated Freak, I was also glad to notice that you finally understand the difference between the "emic" and "etic" perspective and a few other anthropological jargons you tend to use so naively here in this forum; I guess your Ashu Dai's little lecture to you on the ABC of book publishing business (re: Lynn's book getting second edition) did in fact help toned down your usual denial and arrogance. I see Lynn's book, which you once despised openly so much right here in this forum, has now made to your reading list. Now, let's get beyond what you know of anthropology (or some other disciplines for that matter) besides some excerpts posted on the internet and a few introductory level books, so that we can only focus on the topic of this thread. First, give me your definition of culture, and then I will answer your ?why ?you people? so culturally insensitive? kinda statement. I am asking this because such populism statements can be seductive, but a culturally sensitive reader (or anthropologist) has to look beyond the rhetoric to understand what a person meant to say, and what and what does not constitute a culture. If you say bowing down to the King, Queen or Paras LIKE THE WAY SHIVA did is indeed a common culture of contemporary Nepal, you have a bigger problem to fry: you will need a couple of more lectures like the one Ashu gave you before. I would rather leave it for your anthropology reading. Second, as one can see, what Shiva did in fact took everyone there by surprise or at least they (e.g., Queen, Lokman S. Karki, Tanka Dhakal) look kinda awkward?but hey that?s my reading, you are free to interpret differently. My reading is that Shiva is just mimicking an emerging fashion of bowing down to the feet that I see in Hindi Musical Contests like Saregam and Antakchcheri. Bowing down in such a way to your own life-long mentor/guru is a gurukul tradition, but to mimic the similar style in a contest (e.g., musical contest, awards) and the setting where power relations do make a difference toward your upward mobility, is nothing more than a cheap strategy; my point is it takes awhile to be considered as a culture. Hence, Shiva?s bowing down should be considered in a slightly different realm than KHOKRO RASTRABAADI (raaajabaadi) tradition that the MAKARTANTRA raaj is trying to promote. Now that the absolute monarchy and cronies like Sharad Chandra Shah are back in the business, I would not be surprised if Sharad Chandra?s notorious ?HANUMAN STYLE? bowing (boy those were their days and now d?j? vu all over again) is being set a standard like the way he instructed within the National Sports Council. So, I am looking forward to days when you and even in-between people like Ashutosh start mimicking the same HANUMAN style bowing. Good luck! Just don?t coerce other Nepali in the name of ?culture.?