Phudorjee Lama's referral to the graduates of Budhanilkantha School as the cream of the society in "A nation's call" (#121) is not justified. Lama deserves credit for being specific in explaining circumstances that most students who are abroad for studies face. However, being a product of Budhanilkantha School myself, I fail to see why we, or products of any other schools in Kathmandu for that matter, should be called the "cream of our society". What have we done that makes them different from some MaBi in Dadheldhura? Does sponsoring a few economically poor students from supposedly remote areas of Nepal through a Nationwide Scholarship Program for their education make us the cream of our society? Or, can we claim to be the best and the brightest by simply counting the heads of Budhanilkantha products in Ivy League and first tier colleges in the US? True, Budhanilkantha School stands out from the rest of the schools in the country in that it provides scholarships to bright but needy students from all over the country. However, how much return the country gets from that investment remains a mystery.

And unless we prove that we have given back enough, we should let society judge our contribution and not do that ourselves.

Name withheld on request