Nepe wrote: "Believe or not, this is one of many things I have in my mind for new Nepal. De-casteification of surnames is one of many minor but significant social reforms I think about Nepal." Interesting. In the course of my travels across Nepal, I came across these two things. I don't know whether these are just one-off sort of anecdotes I happen to run into, or whether these are indications of something general that's been going on. 1) Dalits from Western Nepal (Kanchanpur, Kailali) etc migrate to other parts of Nepal to work and to take up residencies. When they do that, they simply change their surnames, and start afresh; and therefore the reduce the social costs associated with being, well, Dalit. 2) Dalit females (especially around the tourist belts of Pokhara) marry foreigners, and leave the country -- thereby escaping the whole dalit/non-dalit issue. On another note, in one corner of Bangladesh last year (the place name is Mymensingh), I came across a group of Nepali-Bangladeshis, the eldest of whom have been in there since 1944. Since these were Nepalis (bahuns, chetris, newars, and tamang) who were married to other Bangladeshi-Nepalis. I asked them how they managed to find their life-partners. A young one, in his 20s, replied, "Oh, except for those paani-nachalnay jaat ko manche (some of whom live in deep Dhaka), we feel free to marry any other Nepalis we wish" I mean, think about this: The man is a second third-generation Bangladeshi Nepali who's never been to Nepal. He himself is of mixed Nepali heritage. Yet in the middle of nowhere in Bangladesh, he is adamant -- a la a pure Upadhyay brahmin -- about not touching, let alone, marrying Dalits at all. Of course, that great Nepali reformer -- Pundit Narayan Pokharel who allowed Daliits into his public poooj-paath and was therefore controversial -- was killed by radical Dalits last year. oohi ashu