CK Lal's transition from political analyst to economic guru is understandable ('Minding business', State of the State, #319). Making sense of the political situation in the country is frustrating to say the least-like trying to solve a jigsaw puzzle with pieces from another set, eh Mr Lal? With all his analyses and predictions going haywire, what could he do but resort to quoting economic facts and figures that he can always blame on someone else, should they turn out to be incorrect.

Still, this is much better than having him dish out political lectures in a dal-bhat-tarkari/ tarkari-bhat-dal/ bhat-dal-tarkari fashion, endlessly extolling the virtues of democracy, how it should be practiced, what it is all about, and so on and so forth.

P Subodh,
Lagankhel

. Readers are as ready to consume problem-centric news as the media is to provide it. Still, I was surprised that CK Lal's prescriptions for how to counter brain drain ('The enigma of excellence', State of the State, #321) were criticised in your letters column ('CK-speak', #322). People who can read and understand a good English-language newspaper should surely be able to envision a bright future of the country, or at least not get in the way of those who do. Should we keep on being no more than a source of cheap labour for developed countries, as SN Singh suggests? CK Lal is right to be concerned about brain drain, especially during such a tying transition.

A Poudel,
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