I personally would attest to the numbers reported by www.samudaya.org -- there probably were about 500 people at the rally, as originally targeted byt he organizers. I am very proud of all the New Yorkers who showed remarkable enthusiasm and support for the rally -- NY contributed with 2 large buses, 3 large vans, and numerous people car pooling in their private cars. It was truly unfortunate that we had to return some people due to the lack of space in transport vehicles. However, numbers do little to credit or discredit the real mission of the rally. Wheteher only 3 would have showed up, or one thousand overwhelmed the park in front of the White House, the true desires and aspirations of the people -- the yearning to be free -- would not have been withered and should not be underestimated. The rally, if nothing, was a huge success in terms of letting the voices of democracy be heard, and to show solidarity with all those who are struggling for our undenibale (political and social) rights and privileges. Yes, I personally too had few problems with the rally -- no one should have expected everything to go right at every event. Some of the speeches were rather long and boring, and were laden with dubious claims by the speakers. In a truly and typical Nepali way, the program dragged on and on without much regard to the crowd's exausted enthusiasm. But these few inadequacies are the areas that should be looked into by future organizers of such events, and they do very little to call the rally a failure. For one thing, the success in the critical areas (as mentioned above) surely overwhelm few negative aspects of the rally. There were a handful (about 4-5) of royalists at the rally too, holding pro-king banners on the side. As proponents of democracy, I hope all the participants at the rally and other believers of democracy would take tremendous pride in the fact that we welcomed them with open arms, without any sort of harrassment or rediclule. Afterall, they too are Nepalis with valid opinions, and in a democratic framework, there must be rooms to accomodate differences, healthy debates and arguments aside. As Sarahana of www.samudaya.org (a brilliant young lady with remarkable zeal for promoting political/democratic awareness among the younger generations whom, along with Zubein, another similarly enthusiattic and smart young man, I had the privilege of enteracting with for the first time at the rally) have so poignantly pointed out at her website, "One would only hope that they have appreciated and enjoyed the right to dissent and that they would continue to use?and eventually learn to love and realize the significance of?such freedom." I really could not have said it better! I hope the struggle will continue with relentless efforts by every individual who believes in OURSLEVES in whatever way they can. The rally in Washington DC on May 15th was only a small part of the process. The struggle for democarcy and freedom is eternal and hard, and the process must continue even after we achieve victory some day. We must ensure that freedom is NEVER EVER endangered for many, many more generations to come, even after we would have ceased to need to be free. Congratulations and best wishes to the ornanizers and the participants alike.