Thank you Karuna Thapa for "The Exodus" (#123), which brings to light the awful situation of youth manpower running away from home. I think this is an aggregate result of the last 12 years of Nepali politics. This loss of our young is heartbreaking. In many hill villages, there are no young men left. Even the elderly and women are now leaving. And they are leaving for India where they are mistreated, abused and harassed by the Indian police. But even that is better than the uncertainties at home and being caught in the middle between the Maoists and the army.

No one benefits from the conflict in Nepal, only the Indians do.

Mohan Bhatta,
Kathmandu Engineering College

. In the same issue of Nepali Times (#123) there is an article on Nepalis leaving for India ("The Exodus") and the rock concert in Kathmandu ("1974 AD Rock Yatra"). These two simultaneous articles lead me to wonder about how surreal the two items were. It resembles Charles Dickens' The Tale of Two Cities. The first few chapters of the Nepali version of the Les Miserables has already been written in the blood, tears and the sweat. Are these signs of our own revolution? Liberte egalite and fraternite.

Subarna Bhattachan,
Kansas, USA