John, It's been really long time coming this one! Cracking write-up as always. "a term frequently used by a Bama redneck who finds hard to pronounce "Iraqis")?"" Iraqis = Eye-raaque! :-) "Unawareness is everywhere, be it Nepal or Nauru or United States" True - this is universal. I once met a middle-aged lady at a birthday bash thrown by a colleague of mine. On being told her where I came from 'originally', she was ecstatic and said with a rather serious tone, 'Oh but you don't look like an Italian, dear, do you!', much to the amusement of those around the two of us! 'No, I don't, sorry' I told her, 'Because I grew up eating rice, didn't I? Not pasta, spaghetti or pizzas with mozzarella!' :-) And before she could hurl at me with yet another of her snide comments on my hormonal deficiency(!), I gently shooed her out of the confusion the name had obviously created, by explaining to her that it took several hours by air from Naples to get there - Nepal! :-) You make some pretty valid points in your article on our habit of looking at all things Western, through a rose tinted glass, while remaining oblivious to the ground reality. Access to MTV, Hollywood would have a lot to answer for it - the rapid proliferation of big international media houses also adds to it. Hmm I might as well fill in the application form for DV lottery visa, and hey, I might be living next door to you, John. All things being eqaul - you will never know! :-) It's been good 'seeing' you again after a long whack of time. Welcome back. My X-mas greetings to you and your family - have a good one. Carpe diem