February 23, the sixth anniversary of the day Maoists declared "People's War" in Nepal, is a day whose approach has been marked by much bloodshed. In one of their biggest attacks yet, the Maoist "Red Army" killed 132 people in Achham district in western Nepal on February 16. The victims included 55 Royal Nepal Army (RNA) troops, 77 policemen and the chief district officer of the remote region. The Maoists have followed that up with another attack in Dhimuwa, 200 km from Kathmandu, in which a police officer was killed. The violence further weakens Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba's anyway tenuous hold on power.

Deuba had become prime minister with a promise to find a negotiated settlement to the insurgency. However, the talks he began ended abruptly when the Maoists abandoned them unilaterally and resumed attacks. The Deuba Government imposed internal emergency on November 26, 2001. The RNA was brought in for the first time in anti-insurgency operations. Since then more than 2,500 rebels have died in the military operation. Many of them, critics say, were innocent villagers whose links with the Maoists were not established.

The protracted and rising violence has eroded Deuba's support. When he imposed Emergency, the move found support in all quarters of the political spectrum in Nepal. Delhi too backed Deuba then. Now that is changing. The main opposition party, the CPN (UML), has already called for Deuba's resignation. Within his Nepali Congress too, dissidents owing allegiance to G.P. Koirala-whom Deuba replaced as prime minister-have begun a silent campaign for his ouster.

-Farzand Ahmed

NRI Bridget

British Asian theatre has produced its own Bridget Jones to challenge the myth that all Asian girls are sari-clad, domestic and submissive. Dolly Dhingra's play Unsuitable Girls, now on in London, is about Chumpa Chamelli, a working-class smart aleck who is an ambitious wannabe journalist. She is 28 and her mother is getting panic attacks about Chumpa getting too old for marriage.

Chumpa tries to "keep her cool" as she desperately searches for a husband to appease her mother who she mistakenly believes is seriously ill. Her wedding is planned and relatives are arriving from India. Only one thing is missing, a groom. Director Kelly Thairai says the play "hopefully challenges existing notions and celebrates who we are".

Unsuitable Girls is entertaining with its bhangra and club dances. It is experimental theatre combined with Bollywood masala.

-Ishara Bhasi

ISKCON BANKRUPTCY
Praying for a Saviour

Twelve of the nearly 50 Hare Krishna temples in the United States will file for bankruptcy protection this month because of a $400 million (Rs 1,900 crore) lawsuit alleging child abuse at Hare Krishna boarding schools filed by 91 former students. The gurukulas, where the students say they were sexually, physically and emotionally abused, are located in southern California, west Virginia and the state of Washington. All of them have been converted into day schools now.

Speaking from the Maryland headquarters of iskcon, spokesman Anuttama Dasa said that the incidents pertained to the 1970s and filing for bankruptcy was part of the plans to ensure that the temples survive. "This is something that all corporates in the US do. Take K-Mart for instance," he says, referring to the store chain. The suit, filed in the Texas state court, seeks damages from 30 people and 18 Krishna-related corporations. All the temples are incorporated separately. The Hare Krishna movement has about 75,000 members in the US.

-Anil Padmanabhan