Here are my nominees: 1. Khagendra Sangraula - His spoken Nepali is hypnotically lush, lyrical and enchanting. I have never heard anyone else speak in such magnificently beautiful Nepali bhasa.I disagree with much of what Sangraula says and writes (too leftist for my taste!), but I adore the way he makes words dance and prance so effortelessly off his tongue. 2. Gopal Siwakoti Chintan - A debater who makes you think hard even when you disagree with the content of his arguments. Very logical, very persuasive, very driven -- it's always stimulating to argue back and forth with him. Whenever I am unsure about a postion on an issue, I try to take an anti-Chintan position just to see how far Chintan will push me on that issue . . . This way, I quickly get the benefit of seeing multiple sides of the issue :-) 3. Pratyoush Onta - One of the clearest thinkers I have ever met in my life. A true academic, Pratyoush thinks in terms of frameworks, and places contexts, events and personalities within frameworks so that his analyses come out not as one-off pieces but as a part of a larger historical narration. I have learnt an immense amount from from his writings, books and ideas. It's always a pleasure to spend time doing guff-suff with him. 4. Kanak Mani Dixit - Kanak is uber-connector, the ultimate global-local Nepali professional. If he were in venture capital/private equity industry, he'd be a one-man Kleiner Perkins firm! Kanak comes up with one idea a minute, and is able to COMMUNICATE many of his ideas to persuade a diverse groups of people to do interesting things. Kathmandu is now South Asia's documentary-film capital, thanks to Kanak's efforts. Kathmandu is also a becoming a leading center for spinal injury treatment, thanks to Kanak's enthusiasm (he almost broke his back in 2002). Nepal has a thriving children's books publication, thanks to Kanak's taking a lead to publish children's books. And the list goes on and on. From Bangladesh to Sri Lanka to the corners of Pakistan (to talk only about South Asia), people who matter know him and only him as one Nepali that they must know! Now, that's influence. A master communicator, indeed. 5. Deepak Gyawali - Love him or hate him, agree with him or disagree with him, Deepak has a knack for convincingly explaining complex/complicated ideas in simple, crystal-clear language. A coffee with Deepak -- increasingly at random airport terminals -- always boosts my IQ by a few points, even when I do not necessarily agree with him on all issues. Always a pleasure to see how his mind plays with ideas and concepts. There are many other Nepalis who I consider to be master communicators -- hence good orators -- maybe I'll write about them some other time. oohi ashu