Nepal, Feb. 22 -- I don't know if it's just me or not but the Democracy Day celebrations this past Tuesday were a little underwhelming to say the least. It was more a perfunctory exercise than an actual commemoration of our democratic journey and the sacrifices made by many to get us to where we are today. There was the usual coterie of ministers, the hierarchy of the police, army and the bureaucracy and various other 'dignitaries' listening (or not, perhaps) to the same old platitudes given by the Prime Minister and the President.

You would think that after all the struggles from the repression of the Rana regime to the uncertainty of the Panchayat era, the tribulations of the civil war and the prolonged peace, constitution drafting and...