Boy, it’s quite refreshing to hear some criticism finally. I completely respect your concerns and disappointments about the ending. Don’t get me wrong. I still prefer compliments though. The ending is the way it is because I wanted to leave it to your analysis. You have all the privilege to interpret the story to make it your own. That was the idea. I wanted to sum it up the way I felt restful with. My original ending was quite descriptive. I truncated more than two and a half pages out of that ending. Some of you would have liked that ending better, but to me, it felt like I was tutoring my readers. You have to understand that I have a lot of pride in you guys. nepalonmymind gets this story. He should become a critic. Seriously. Bhusan brings up two very intelligent points, but he should have answered the first question (below) on his own. 1) Why is Divye interested in the rug while being psychoanalyzed? Because she is Divyeswori Pandey; the daughter of Indu Pandey. The rug thing was deliberately inserted in the final chapter to further illustrate Divyeswori, and her priorities in life. 2) Bhusan says the red carpet line is not clever. Absolutely true. Actually it’s on the borderline of being dumb. But it’s a dialogue, not a narration. The author does not narrate it; the character says it. Divye is a nervous wreck in that Shrink’s office. Compelled by her instincts, she is subconsciously trying to please the shrink—by complimenting him about things that are not even worth complimenting. Having said that I realize that I should have added a line in the shrink’s response. I should have written this instead: “I don’t find my analogy to be clever by any stretch of imagination. I have no jurisdiction over those words, however. They’re all yours,” smiled the man. Thank you Bhusan. Addressing other questions: Ugly child: Is the ugly child a metaphor for how she thinks she should feel when she swindles people—ugly? Or the ugly child is Orangutan? How think you? Your interpretation is as good as mine. Remember, it’s your story too, I just happened to type it. Why Laxmi pooja reference? It could be ‘Gathey Mangal’ or ‘Dashain’ or ‘Naag Pooja’? Why Laxmi pooja? How say you? The answer is quite simple. Why Jimmy Carter reference? This is just a synthetic distraction to the story. Does not mean a thing to the plot. Just to throw you off. “Giving is losing” is where the actual story ends. I just felt like I’d be lecturing if I ended the story at “Giving is losing.” So I was just making a pointless commentary there at the end. The Jimmy Carter line’s sole purpose was to reduce the density of the ending. Why is the title named ‘Case 1273:Divyeswori Pandey’? Why not something like ‘Divyeswori Pandey’s chronicles?’ Just read nepalonmymind’s comment regarding this. He nailed it. A girl crying in her dream? Is it Divye herself or Radha in the next room who cries while Divye dreams? Again, your interpretation is as good as mine. “Inu stop it” … What do you think this means? The answer is in the first part of the story. Why does Divye limp in her dream? Is it a reference to the bullet she was hit with at the Dairy Queen? Or, another metaphor that she just can’t run away from what she knows about herself. Why would she use the word ‘capture’ while describing Laxmi Pooja? Align your own meaning to the ending. I am no smarter than you are. Trust me. I will buy a venti-size Caffe Mocha from the Starbucks to anyone who figures out why I used the number 1273. The answer is in the story, in two different places. No, it’s not her birthday.