My dear Commandant, Not a critic you say?the above prose would beg to differ. Perhaps, you ought to give a session or two in outstanding prose to Mr. Upadhyay :-) I said it before and I will say it again, I have nothing but respect for Mr. Upadhyay seeing that he is the sole writer of Nepali origin to have reached the world stage and deserves the respect and adulation of Nepalese and lovers of fiction irrespective of their nationality. However, judging from his first book "Arresting God in Kathmandu" the characters in his books I think, could certainly use more definition. Personally, I don't believe that hoping for more definition in characters is an indiciation of "dogged obedience to old elitist views". Personally for me, purely from the standpoint of a lover of literature, well developed characters add to the beauty of the prose and the imagery that the author creates. Mr. Upadhyay is no doubt a talented writer because he does a marvellous job of capturing the essense of the streets and alleys of Kathmandu and also kudos to him for having the fortitude to bring up the issue of sexual relations in modern day Nepal, but, again, I hope that his latest installment, which I have not had the pleasure of reading yet, has the defined characters and fluidity of prose which make a great book. In saying the above, I am not comparing him to the likes of Hemingway and Milton. Sadly, writers from the subcontinent (possibly with the exception of Rushdie and V.S. Naipaul and now, Arundhuti Roy) have never been given accolades to the extent that Hemingway and Milton enjoyed...perhaps, Mr. Upadhyay will in time reach the echelons of these writers.