From all corners of the world, reports are pouring in of Nepalis who have made it big and got major breaks. About time. Nepalis are now award-winning international authors, dot.com entrepreneurs, they have done double PhDs in the mating habits of the Greater Himalayan Red-nosed Langur, and Nepalis like Kirtiman Lama have become the first to jog up to the summit of Mt Everest Alpine Style in shorts, without oxygen, and without a stun gun.

And here is some news just in: a Nepali has shattered all previous world records for the number of khukuris ever carried by an airline passenger in his carry-on luggage. It is indeed a matter of great national pride that a Nepali will now go into the Guinness Book of World Records in the category "Number of Knives Taken Undetected Through Security Check" by beating the previous record holder by eight knives and a pepper spray. Yet another indication that when it comes to brandishing the khukuri and setting new thresholds of achievement with the Knational Knife, Knepalis are right up there with the best the world has to offer.

We don't know what motivated the heavily armed dude to muster the courage to go through with his feat, but given the terror that our Gurkha forebears have struck in the hearts of the enemy by waving khukuris around in the world's wars, we know that this brave young man was just carrying on a glorious tradition of valour and gallantry. But like all humble, modest and self-effacing Nepalis who tend to downplay their own achievements, our man told American network TV that he was carrying the knives to protect himself against the al-Qaeda. After all, Shitall Niwas had issued a travel advisory to all Nepalis planning to visit the Chicago area only last week to restrict all non-essential travel. He was just being careful, that's all.

What has gone completely unnoticed in all this hullabaloo is that in Nepal, a khukuri is part of our national dress. We don't think twice about sticking cold steel into our patuka in the morning before heading off to our ten-to-five jagir at Charkhal Adda. But America is different: there it is every man for himself or herself. One knife is not enough. Overwhelming force is the only deterrence against mugging on the mean streets.

By allowing himself to get caught, Subash has also become the first Nepali after Girija Prasad Koirala to make an extended appearance on CNN, and raise the country's national profile in the international arena. All this free publicity can only be good for our tourism and pashmina industries which, as we know, are both going through a somewhat sleepy period. It has been calculated that if we had to pay for all the air time Nepal got after the O'Hare episode, it would have run into $9 million, almost the exact cost of a brand new Super Puma.

Difficult as it is for us these days to make it to prime time news, Nepalis have found ingenious ways to hit headlines despite saturation coverage of Afghanistan. (Network News Editor: "Look at this coming in the ticker, another Nepali caught trying to take two pressure cookers past security. We'll lead with that, drop the capture of bin Laden to second main.")

Now, everyone worldwide who thought Nepal was just another banana kingdom knows that it is one with a great martial tradition. No one messes around with us. And it is also a country where a major world record is shattered every day. Kirtiman has done it again: first person to climb Everest without breathing.