Nepal, Aug. 24 -- I prefer to describe the caste system in modern-day Nepal (and, of course, India) with the metaphor of the sewage system. Much of it is subterranean, invisible in public, but operative all the same. And it greatly influences every person, every home, every community and every government.

Whatever one may think of the incumbent government, sociologically speaking, there's been a significant paradigm shift. I don't just mean the generational change. After decades, a young Madheshi man from the lower stratum of society rules the country. In a long while, we haven't had a leader who doesn't wear a janai, a sacred thread.

An inglorious festival

It's an irony, however, that the same executive head seems intent on promoting ...