Many Nepalis go to America. They settle down there. They work hard to get their Green Cards and their US Citizenship cards. They then BECOME Americans -- in the eyes of the US law and in terms of being accorded all the privileges and the rights and the freedom from discrimination that US citizenship grants. Sure, some of those Nepalis may choose to be hyphenated Americans . . . as in Nepali-Americans, and that's fine. The point is: Regardless of their national origins, or regardless of whether they are are from Arghakhachi or Syangja, they become Americans. They do NOT have to prove themselves to be Anericans again and again and again! BUT Many of Nepal's well-known Marwaris have been living in Nepal for at least two, if not more, generations. These Marwaris speak Nepali, Newari and many other Nepal-specific languages fluently (along with Hindi and other languages). These Nepali Marwaris HOLD Nepali citizenships. They RUN Nepali businesses, and hire Nepali workers. They PAY taxes to the Nepal government. They just look different . . . maybe darker than many hill-Nepalis . . . as in, they look, well Marwari-like. Maybe that's why many of our more-patriotic-than-thou Nepali brothers and sisters NEVER consider these Nepali Marwaris to be pukka Nepali citizens. Like Hindu fundamentalists do to Muslims in India, such more-patriotic-than-thou Nepalis always put these Nepali citizens of Marwari descent under a cloud of suspicion for no reason. The big question: Who IS a Nepali indeed, when the country we call Nepal itself is -- for the lack of a better phrase -- a mongrel nation: a confluence of various ethnic groups from all over the Central Asia . . . from present-day Afganistan to present-day Burma, from present-day Mangolia to present-day South India. The point of all this? Better to celeberate Nepal's ethnic diversity for what it is, and to make sure that all ethnic groups (Nepali Marwaris included) do have valid political mechanisms to air their grievances in a non-military manner in the New Nepal than to continue to divide Nepalis into various camps by raising doubts about other groups' Nepali credentials and their loyalties to Nepal. Let the Nepali Marwaris have their representations. Let other ethnic groups too have their representations! oohi "a hill bahun with recent ancestors from present-day palpa/lamjung" ashu