RBaral, The answer to your question is: YES. [This leads to my other question that has puzzeld me for the longest time: WHY is it that the children and the grandchildren (whom one meets socially and casually in the US, UK and other countries) of Panchayati stalwarts are unfailingly courteous, nice and likable people, and that they are always on their best behaviours when they are around other Nepalis? Is that their 'charm offensive'? I mean, is it that the more charming and more likable they appear to be, the more difficult it is to bring up their family's political history to dislike them? I don't know the answers. [One glaring exception here is Manjushree Thapa, of course, who -- right or wrong, however you look at it -- speaks her mind in her own way, distancing herself from her family's PRESUMED political sympathies.] Still, talking to most of these panchayati children, you'd never guess the loot and the misuse of power that went on for 30 years on their fathers'/grandfathers' watch . . . behind that veneer of polish, sophistication and easy, back-slapping bonhomie. Then again, to their credit, some of these kids have imbibed the Western ethos of success, and they are now busy re-inventing themselves as upwardly mobile professionals with . . . no links to their family's Panchayati past. Then again, hey, Nepal aama ko santaan thari thari kaa . . . ******************************** Further achievements of the new government: 13: In a further show of how Nepal practices democracy, the government has restricted some high-profile lawyers from traveling abroad (to India). 14. The ambassador-designates since Feb 1 have all been -- in an unprecedented move -- drawn from the ranks of the army. oohi ashu