R Baral, Yes, Opus Dei indeed. In Kathmandu, refreshingly, I see a lot of forums -- Martin Chautari, Yala Maya Kendra, activist Basanta Ranjitkar's pro-democracy discussion forums, etc -- attended by both PhD specialists as well as by interested rank beginners. Such open forums are to be encouraged all the more all over. **** Chef, What weed are you smoking, yaar, in between shifts? There are no personal vendettas here, just a relentlessly -- hopefully -- clear position on the notion of democracy as discussed and practiced by ANY self-selected group of like-minded elites in any form is pretty much akin to Tulsi Giri's cabinet, however repugnant that might sound to some people. This is a FUNDAMENTAL difference of opinion here that needs to recorded at the risk of offending some people whose idea of democracy is some sanitized-by-force discussions. Unfortunately or fortunately, democracy IS for the riff-raff, for the hoi-polloi, for the huddled masses and for the unwashed folks. Let's be clear about that. In any society, that society's elites do NOT need democracy as such; oftenh, they see democracy as an inconvenience to be done away with, though they need its polish to pass themselves off as democrats. But it's those who say all the outrageous things and drive us nuts . . . the mavericks, the eccentrics, the outliers who break NO law yet wield no political power as such. . . it's them who really need democracy and its protections to say what they want with NO fear of retaliation of any kind through someone's arbitrary use of power. On a larger note, is this NOT what people are fighting for in Nepal? If so, how difficult is it to practice it in small scale in some discussion forum, where the barriers to entry are created by the self-selected members themselves? After all, a society that cannot tolerate its weak and its extreme characters who break no law can NEVER be a democratic one. oohi ashu