Syanjali,

Your point is well taken. But practically speaking, we are too poor as a nation to afford to be good as individuals. If you are speaking the truth and acting like Maharaj Harischandra or Ramachandra, you will be called sojo and be seen as a fool and everyone will take advantage of you. Unless you are chaalu, you will not going to get very far in our poor nation.

I have friends in Kathmandu who have graduate degrees like MBAs and such from decent schools. But because they don't have the right connections, they have to either accept low paying jobs as teachers or stay home twiddling their thumbs...blaming the politicians. So instead of doing that many  by hook or crook become corrupt and rape the nation all they can by any means possible. Time and again in Nepal, we see that these are the people getting ahead. These are the people that we end up respecting in Kathmandu. And these are the people that we point our children to and say, "Oo tyo uncle jasto huna parchha, hai?"

So in many ways, Jyoti Basu seems too idealistic when you apply his philosophy in Nepal. If getting an education is not enough to live an honest life (because you need connections to get opportunities), then where is the question of being honest at all? What I am saying is that what I see in Nepali culture is that it is not possible to be honest and a good person living in Nepal if you don't have power, money and social connections.

Do you disagree?