No sooner had we finally proved to the world that we are the most democratic nation on earth by not allowing parliament to function for one whole month, comes word from New Delhi this week that the Indian Lok Sabha has decided to give us strong competition by paralysing its own House. Copycats. Can't they think of anything original? Although we have a head start here, this is not a time to be complacent, we should not underestimate this challenge from the world's biggest functioning anarchy with which we have an open border. We have to be vigilant, and not let our bodyguards down.

Are we or are we not serious about not allowing this country to be governed? The answer I am hoping to hear is "no", and ipso facto we cannot sit idly by and let the Indians steal our modus operandi. We must throw our hats in the ring and doubly redouble our efforts to gird up our lions, roll up our sleeves, leave not one stone upsidedown to kill two birds in the bush which, as we all know, are worth more than one in the hand. There are those who think a stitch in time saves nine and they are hatching a conspiracy to declare parliament an essential service, to them we can only say: "Look before you leapfrog."

And to stay ahead of the competition to be declared the most free-style country in the Himalaya-Hindu Kush region, we must think of new ways to make our vibrant democracy vibrate even more vigorously. And at this juncture, we must take note of the commendable efforts put in by ungovernmental organisations like the Gagangauda branch of Reiyukai Nepal which, according to an RSS report printed in The Rising Nepal on 19 March, held the first-ever All-Nepal Jokes Competition this week in Pokhara on the occasion of the 56th Auspicious Birthday of His Majesty the King. Twenty-seven jokers from all over our landlocked Himalayan kingdom took part in this important event which, RSS reports, was presided over by the Central President of Reiyukai Nepal, who told participants, and I quote: "The 21st Century is the age of Joint Efforts."

But, seriously, even though the news report does not give away the punchline of the winning candidates, we have some delayed reports trickling in from Pokhara that the winning wisecrack in the chicken category was awarded to: "Q: Why did the chicken cross the road? A: To show his girlfriend he had guts." Nyahahahahahaha. Coming a close second in the revolving door round was: "Q: What happened to the couple who met in a revolving door? A: They are still going around together." Harharharharhar. And last but not least, adjudged the best shark joke was: "Q: Why don't sharks eat lawyers? A: Out of professional courtesy." Heeheeheehee.

What the Pokhara meet showed was that as long as our humorous kingdom still takes jokers seriously, as long as we have not lost our capacity to laugh at others, and as long as we keep holding the Annual All-Nepal Joke Tournament to keep our wits about us, our democracy will keep vibrating and we can keep our pledge to have Jokes for All by the year 2020.