I attended a program run by Khagendra Sangraula and other assorted Leftist buddhijibis this afternoon at the Royal Nepal Academy. The program was billed as an "interaction program against beauty contests." While listening to speeches after speeches (there were copious references to Marx and Chomsky), it suddenly dawned on me the "birodh" here is NOT of beauty contests per se, but of that old scourge -- capitalism (or poonjibaad). Our Leftist buddhibis sounded miffed that all these sundaris have crossed the line to join the capitalist pigs, with none staying behind to join them . . . Speakers after speakers told the audience how capitalistic multinationals exploit these young women . . . by making them trade their so-called beauty to sell beer and other products, and how such transactions are harming "a country like Nepal." Of course, NONE provided any evidence of such harm. The important part was to ASSERT these "truths" and hope that the audience would lap them up. Never mind that these women -- for the Miss Nepal Contest -- have to be all over the age of 18, hence, one presumes are capable of deciding for themselves and that they WILLINGLY -- with eyes wide open -- choose to take part in this sort of Miss Nepal contests, hoping -- in most cases -- for a boost in their careers . . . I am no fan of beauty contests. (In fact, in a publication under a pen name, I satirised the one I attended last May) see -http://www.nepalitimes.com/issue199/nepalipan.htm. But after listening to Leftist intellectuals such as Ninu Chapagain, Mrs. Surya Thapa, Mr. Ramesh Sharma, Hari Roka and others [Disclosure: Some of them happen to be my good friends], I found the whole program quite interesting in the sense that the Nepali Left appears to be so intellectually bankrupt these days that it is incapable of recycling even the well-worn arguments of activists elsewhere. The language they used this afternoon could not have been any different than the one used by, say, Hindu fundamentalists guarding "the purity" of their culture. I came back toi the office, feeling sorry NOT for the beauty contest participants, but for these protesters whose protest is BOTH seasonal and devoid of any intellectual consistency/clarity. Then again, as American journalist H.L Mencken once said of such nose-crinkling puritanism: "It's the haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy." oohi ashu