Here's Peter Karthak's response via Email. ****************** Sajha.com is quite erratic in registering and slow in loading up. It also has difficulties for logging my replies to the Sajhedar friends; so I haven't been able to register in it as yet. But I've read all the "inferences" and "ramblings" of the readers. I think the respondents are mostly Nepalis of Nepal who love to get busy in what I call "cognitive dissonance" - the diplomacy of debates and love for arguments, the art of splitting hairs which are already thin anyway. One says that Yakhas are Rai this and Rai that. Well, in Badamtam, they were distinctly Yakhas and that was that! Another raises the point of Bahuns and Chettris being absent from Badamtam and has his own "inferences" on that, raising the questions of Jats and Janajatis etc etc. Well, the "tall tea tales" series is still continuing in the Sunday edition of The Kathmandu Post; it will conclude after four more insertions. Only then, readers can reach their conclusion. Most of my reactions to Sajha members are provided by Manjushree Thapa in her weekly article of yesterday (Nov 15) entitled "Writer's work" in The Kathmandu Post (she writes every week for the paper now). She distinguishes between journalists and their objectivity and fiction writers and their subjectivity. Manju and I are both and I know what she means. In my articles, I'm a reporter and I write matter of factly and hence without my personal comments or speculations. These are the business of readers, and that's what I see in the Sajha members as a "provoked" lot in dissecting my sentences and trying to find their preferred mysteries and meanings in them. It's a rather futile undertaking in my humble opinion - one can't deconstruct unnecessarily and unwantedly. But this letter to you can be posted in the website as my response because I'm having problems unlocking the chat or reply boxes of Sajha.com. I also wish the website were more simplified and functional and devoid of the excessive color displays and highfaluting slogans and propagandist nationalism. I'm glad to know that my novel "EveryPlace: EveryPerson" is generating much interests among the Sajha readers. This coincides with the fact that I sent a copy of the novel to an interested lady publisher in Bangalore for Indian/worldwide imprint because publishing in Kathmandu alone isn't enough for marketing and promoting my novel. By the way, there's a new novel called "Fragile Mountains" by Madan Kumar (MK) Limbu who works with the Gurkha children in Brunei, teaching them computers. I'm glad to say I helped with my own bit in having the novel published by my own publisher, Vajra Books. We at The Kathmandu Post reviewed the novel last Sunday. Sajha members may help by reading it; it has many strands of the chronic problems in Nepal - Bahun/Chettri/Newar/Adibasi/Janjati conundrum, Maoism, feudalism and oh God, what not! A moveable feast of topics and opinionated inferences and speculations for Sajha.com membes. Once again, I thank you for connecting with me and for introducing me to Sajha. More later when you revert to me at your own convenient time. Most affectionately Peter J. Karthak