In his excellent obituary of Robert K Merton ("Misunderestimating Merton", #135) , CK Lal has missed the fifth and most important of Merton's categories. Merton says that there are always reformers who try to change society through their efforts. I think we at the "university on the hill" belong to that category. But to which category do you belong Mr Lal? Aren't you one of those innovators that you pretend to despise?

"A sociologist",
Tribhuvan University

. Whoa.Mr Lal. Your brazen arrogance and almost maniacal hatred for all things American notwithstanding, this latest indulgence in pandering to your own snobbery is disgustingly pathetic and symptomatic of a disturbed mind (State of the State, #135). The obituary for the late Merton, forgotten and unknown genius that he was, should have been just that and we poor ignorant souls would probably have been grateful to have been educated about him and his works through your column. But no, you had to launch a cynical paean to your own fountain of knowledge by showing off five paragraphs on Merton, spewing your disdain at those poor hardworking Nepali immigrants spread all over the continental US by dismissing them as "dishwashers of Disneyland" and of course, poking fun at all and sundry within and without Nepal.

My grouse with Mr Lal is that more often than not, the message in your essays gets lost in the method of the telling. It is frequently abrasive and offensive in its tone, and at times exceedingly self-indulgent. For heaven's sake, get off that high horse sometimes and you'll find how easy it is for us to listen to what you have to say.

T Sherpa,
Seattle, USA

. It is good that Prem Chapagain (Letters, #136) realises the importance of madhesi representation in the national life of Nepal. He should also accept that the absence of madhesi girls in Tribhuvan University Campus is a symptom, not the cause of madhesi backwardness. The political economy of Nepal is not conducive for the development of the madhesi community in our country. It is the duty of the government to make sure that equal opportunity is not just available, but is utilised by all sections of Nepali society. That\'s why the government should support madrasas in the tarai so that those Muslims who do cannot afford to go to public schools can learn to read and write in their spare time.

Mohammad Arif,
Banke