shiv, talking of connections. well, perhaps just like every other nepali, i've got my relatives split over the maoists/king divide. generally, the richer, with lucrative government jobs and such are on the side of the king, and the poorer, less fortunate favor the maoists (or the so called '7 parties'). that's the reality. check it for yourself. i have an uncle who's a long-time officer in the security forces and was deployed in a "class A maoists-affected-area" until recently. my folks prayed for his well-being every day until his appointment was over. he's a nice and honest man. i met him last time i was in nepal and learned from him how things were going in the remote nepali villages. he feels strongly against the maoists, and that's his job. i have another uncle (tho distantly-related), who i've never met, in the maoists ranks. he was an outstanding civil engineer, who, upon graduating with a B.E. "1st class 1st", chose to be a teacher in a remote village, and after a few years joined the maoists movement. last thing i heard about him was that he's become an in-charge of something somewhere in the jungle. his wife and kids are still in the village, living, my mother told me, "a very harsh life". i could give several more examples, but this pattern is going to repeat. there are people i know and care about on both sides of war, and if you are honest, it is probably no different for you, either. we have a civil war going on in the country and i don't feel it condemned to say that some of my relatives are so called 'maoists' and are fighting for a republic. This divide is a serious problem in our, like most others' too, largely extended family. We need to find a fair solution without killing off either side. I couldn't care less about the king or Chairman Prachanda. I just don't want any more of my relatives from either side hurt. But that's the extent of my connections. So I don't support either side. I want it my own way... I try hard to read the facts and to make informed remarks--whether they're in line with or against either side of the war... so just because I don't agree with you, you can't call me names. I check my facts and know what I am talking about. So if you got a problem with it, then shut the fk up. I don't even like you, anyway...