As II was saying last week, before being distracted by melanin-challenged Monica, we hope that the Mayor and Minister keep going at each other\'s throats so that Kathmandu\'s garbage problem is never resolved. The fact of the matter is, we just can\'t live without it anymore. Sniff addiction-must have the odour in order to live.

Not to put too fine a point on it, garbage today has become a vibrant symbol of our nation\'s young democracy in action. It is a showcase of our hard-won freedoms. It is an emblem of our sovereignty, territorial integrity and our worth as a nation. The fact that we throw away so much must mean we have a lot more where it came from, all that can only help the GNP.

No matter what anyone says, we love our country, compost and all. After all, this is the land of brave Bal Bhadra, the nation of Sagarmatha, of the nine-coloured Danphe, the Great One-Horned Asiatic Rhinoceros. This is where Buddha and Sita were born, this is the land from where Arniko taught the Chinese how to build pagodas. So, no nation should underestimate us. We are prepared to bear any hardship, and will leave no stone overturned to safeguard our right to dump trash wherever we want within Nepal\'s sovereign territory.

The question now arises, how far does our territory go? Prime Minister Girija has promised to get Kalapani back for us, and hopefully we will also get back bits of submerged Terai. But what about our air space? How come no one is worried about air space?

Littoral nations can claim up to 200 km of ocean as their economic zone. But being landlocked, Nepal can\'t lay claim to any sea. (Unless, of course, we occupy one of the islands in the Ganges delta since it is technically Nepali soil, and that will make 200 km of the Bay of Bengal ours.) But how far above Nepal does Nepal go? How many feet above Mt Everest is it still Nepal? Where does Nepal end and outer space begin? This point needs clarification, and we should be prepared to go to the International Court of Justice at The Hague to establish our sovereign right over air space.

Luckily, the special ramp that was brought in for Indian Airlines to frisk passengers at Kathmandu airport answers this question. In hand-to-hand combat with the Indians on security procedures, our battle-hardened negotiators fought for every inch of Nepali air space.

Finally they agreed that the ramp should be 40 inches above the tarmac. So, it is now official: Nepali air space is 40 inches above ground level. And we would guard these 40 inches tooth and nail if only we had an air force.

Extrapolated all over Nepal, this expands our national territory by at least 540 cubic miles. Rejoice, Nepal has just got bigger!