So this B-grade Kollywood personality wanted permission to shoot the prime minister. And not with a camera. Because of that one remark he made, Mohan Niraula is suddenly a star.

Dhirendra Shah, youngest brother of the King, heard the outbursts. Discretion being the better part of velour, the ex-prince chose to keep mum. Perhaps it was his silence, rather than the words spoken by others, that was the real cause of the uproar that followed. It all ended with Dhirendra being once more persuaded to leave the country.

But you should have heard the Valley\'s bush-telegraph hum with the rumour that a Fiji-type coup was imminent. It was all very reminiscent of Panchayat times. In mobiles across the capital, names were being dropped about the composition of a new interim cabinet.

It is easy in Nepali to end a sentence with a "re". The "re" makes any unsubstantiated rumour, however outlandish, seem plausible.

Just so as not to lake any chances with rumours, our law-makers suddenly woke up. and in a show of unprecedented unity spoke in one voice against the common enemies of democracy and the constitution, The parliament did succeed in making a powerful point: you don\'t know what you have unlit you\'ve lost it-and that goes for democracy and freedom.

What this storm in a teacup showed is that eternal vigilance is the price of democracy. It is a necessity even when the threat appears to be as innocuous as the outburst of a celluloid persona; Mohan Niraula has been sighted in Putali Sadak, "re".