Pire,

I read your  unsubstantiated "thought"  about me (way above on this thread), and I had had a chuckle.

I decided that you do have a great sense of humor.

Look, I am NOT sure whether I qualify as "a wealthy kid" or as "a member of the [financial] elite" in Nepal.

But thanks for the flattery! 

The sadly verifiable truth is that if I were indeed either, believe me, I would NOT be working full-time -- that too in Nepal, trying to earn a decently straightforward living by working six days a week by happily managing staff members who come from 40 different zillas of Nepal and from 8 different Nepali ethnic groups that follow at least four different religions!

In fact, it so happens that some of those colleagues -- hailing from zillas such as Bhojpur, Sindhu Palchowk, Saptari, Rautahat and Siraha -- put themselves in harm's way to protect and save this Kathmandu boy from the attackers on Sunday.

Surely, Pire, something larger than simple class prejudices is at work here, no?

Since you brought up my background in an unsubstantiated manner, let me tell you that I think of myself as a 'localite' -- in the sense that I am a member of that generation of Nepalis who are equally comfortable receiving -- to give you two examples that happened just today (Friday) -- a 'how are you? heard about the attack' phone call from a member of the Obama transition team (i.e. an old classmate) AND a similar call from a Tharu activist (an old colleague) with whom I worked for more than two years once, traversing  the hinterland of Dang, Bardiya, Banke, Kanchanpur and Kailali!

You see, say what you will about me, but please do understand that some of us Nepalis are very, very hard to pigeon-hole into nice little outdated and false "us versus them" categories!

The real world is a lot more complicated than the Sajha universe!

I say that because, you see, some years ago, some Sajha folks -- who shall remain nameless -- tried very, very hard to paint me as a "raja.baadi" on Sajha when all I dared to do was, in a manner of free inquiry, publicly question some of their thinking.

Later, those friends had no choice but to shut up when, in the real world, I became the CEO of the most republican media house in Kathmandu!

So, have faith. Have trust.

Because of our work, some of us Nepalis are quite capable of bridging the gap between Kailali and Cambridge by way of Kathmandu :-) And I say that in a straightforward manner, that is, quite matter-of-factly!

On a happier note, the two identified Himal attackers turned themselves in at a police station in Kathmandu today.

Have a great week-end.

oohi

ashu