Lokman, I have had opporutnities aplenty to interact with Nepalis from Nepal too in the past few months. Some have been high profile members of the Nepali intelligentsia, others have been low-level commuinty leaders, yet others were ordinary Nepalis. I am fully aware of the fact that there are many Nepalis who think like YOU do; but there are many others who share MY sentiments too, ditto. So, I am not quite sure if my call for democracy in Nepal is altogether "alien" or "foreign" or "not in touch with ground realities" like you have said. Having said that, it goes without saying that some of the things that I write may be somewhat off the mark sometimes. Here, what would be appreciated would be SPECIFIC EXAMPLES as to why I am so, rather than merely saying something along the lines of, "Well, you are wrong because you don't live here." Your rightful presumptions backed with specific examples would contribute to my limited knowledge of ground reality in Nepal too. I also feel somewhat uneasy with the thought that you -- an anonymous poster in Sajha -- may or may not be living/working in Nepal yourself. You could be accusing others of not living/working in Nepal just for the sake of an argument. As far as the notion of culture goes, I have written it elsewhere in Kurakani too before, but let me reiterate it here: THE FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES OF DEMOCRACY ARE ACULTURAL -- THEY ARE UNIVERSAL AND TRANSCEND ANY CULTURAL BARRIERS. HUMANS, REGARDLESS OF WHICH CULTURE THEY BELONG TO, ARE INNATELY FREEDOM-YEARNING, AND THEY ARE AT THEIR BEST WHEN THEY ARE FREE. ANY FORM OF REPRESSION OF SUCH FREEDOM AMOUNTS TO INHIBITION TO INDIVUDUAL PROGRESS, THEREBY SERVES AS A GREAT OBSTACLE TO PROSPERITY OF THE SOCIETY AS A WHOLE. Yes, from time to time governments may have to resort to extreme measures to deal with extreme situations. But these measures should be limited to a VERY short period, and must have specific road map to achieve specific goal(s). In the case of Gyanendra Shah, I have every reason to believe that he neither has a specific plan, nor does he have the intention to make it temporary. But that is a whole different story. I shall delve into this further on my response to DODHARE. I too was -- and I still am --strongly opposed to US invasion of Iraq int he name of spreading democracy. First of all, there is noo doubt in my minf that I believe Mr. Bush and his cronies have ulterior motives in Iraq. Secondly, in the name of democracy, they have resorted to blanket imposition of western values and norms into Iraqi lives, which will only further destablize the Iraqi society in the long run. The point here is this: There is a subtle but very important distinction between DEMOCRATIZATION and WESTERNIZATION and CAPITALIZATION. When I call for DEMOCRACY in Nepal, I am NOT calling for WESTERNIZATION of our society. Finally, Lokman, when Gyanendra and his BHAARDARS use text-book style autocratic techniques to squash the most basic, text-book theories of democracy, yes, I am compelled to defend the latter by relentlessly reiterating same basic, text-book ideas of democracy. दोधारे-जी, तपाईंले केही बढो समसामयिक तथा प्रासङ्गिक कुराहरु उठाउनु भएको छ। समयको अभावले चाहेर पनि म अहिले वहस गर्न असमर्थ छु। मौका पाएको बेला फेरि जरुर हाजिर हुने छु।