Recently, influential lawmaker of Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP), Amresh Kumar Singh, blatantly accused from the podium of the House of Representatives (HoR) that the chief advisor of Prime Minister (PM) Balendra Shah had secretly met Indian PM Narendra Modi's chief security advisor in a New Delhi hotel. No official response has been issued by the PM Office and/or the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) on this sensitive issue. The secretive and individual handling of sensitive national issues by politicians wielding statutory power is not a new phenomenon in Nepal. In the last week of October 2020, during the COVID-19 lockdown, the then PM KP Sharma Oli secretly received Samanta Goel, the then chief of the Indian intelligence agency, at his official residence in the wee hours of midnight. The details regarding the agenda and the participants of the meeting were never disclosed. However, the consequences suggest that PM Oli, once a staunch critic of India's conduct, had somewhat softened his position towards India after that meeting. This covert demeanor of PM Oli was widely criticised and is considered as one of the factors that contributed to his political downfall. The above-mentioned incident involving Kumar Byanjankar, chief advisor of PM Shah, seems to be a mere continuation of Nepal's immature and individual-centered foreign policy. These two similar incidents reflect Nepal's weak diplomatic conduct, which appears to fluctuate with the individual occupying the highest administrative office rather than being guided by institutional consistency. In fact, these two are just representative examples reflecting how Nepal's diplomacy had mostly been leader-centric and not nation-centric over the last decades. The fact that diplomacy should be a permanent fixture of a country's foreign policy – not a variable that shifts with changes in leadership – seems to be blatantly ignored by our leadership. Immediately after assuming office, PM Shah signalled through his actions that he intended to rewrite the long-standing script of Nepalese diplomacy by meeting en masse with ambassadors and heads of diplomatic missions from various countries based in Nepal. According to media reports, he had declined to meet foreign diplomats and a representative of the Indian PM alone, citing a lack of protocol equivalence. Although this was arguably an undiplomatic act, many praised it as a bold diplomatic decision by the prime minister. Yet, diplomacy dictates that a country's PM should meet and engage with foreign diplomats based on the national interest and the country's diplomatic needs – not on personal preferences or protocol considerations alone. Amid the initial political euphoria, the government's reputation is gradually declining. PM Shah appears to be ignoring the realities on the ground while basking in the praise of his supporters – the very people who had grown frustrated with the poor governance of the traditional political parties. Nevertheless, a large section of the people remains hopeful that PM Shah and his government will ultimately deliver on their promises. However, the five months of the government do not seem promising. Even in the realm of diplomacy, the government appears to be struggling to find its footing. PM Balendra Shah is an accidental politician. Hence, neither has he sufficient political sense nor have his advisors political and diplomatic maturity. PM Shah's secretariat contains mostly of his old-time buddies from various professional fields who are blatantly ruling the nation on will. Various incidents show that his team is least concerned about persistent rules and regulations and seems to stamp its authority in everyday statutory activities. The government should abhor tinkering with diplomacy and, instead, work towards reviving our diplomatic demeanor. To achieve this, the PM should appoint renowned scholars of diplomacy to his advisory team and seek their informed counsel. In addition, Nepal should maintain a non-alliance policy and, at the same time, should adopt a small-state realism approach. This approach views international politics through the lens of material vulnerability, survival, and power constraints. Furthermore, small-state realm focuses on how nations with limited military and economic capabilities navigate an anarchic global system with a core strategic framework including balancing, band wagoning, and neutrality. To embrace the realities of small-state diplomacy, the government should pursue a balanced foreign policy. The PM and other senior diplomats should engage themselves with foreign representatives based on their countries' contributions to Nepal's overall development and national interests, rather than allowing diplomatic relations to be shaped by personal preferences or political considerations. Hence, drafting a balanced diplomatic policy should be one of the priorities of the government. Diplomacy is not a matter of personal ego; it is a vital pillar that holds a nation's relations with other countries. Hence, PM Shah and his government should realise that we should maintain balanced diplomatic relationship with other countries, especially our immediate neighbours, India and China. Given Nepal's special historical, cultural, and geographical ties with India, as well as the shared roots of the two countries' peoples, Nepal should approach its relationship with India differently from its relations with other countries. However, this special relationship must be based on mutual respect, equality, and a balanced consideration of both countries' interests. Hence, rather than relying on personal and covert dealings with the Indian establishment, PM Shah and his team should engage with the Indian government through open, transparent, and institutional diplomatic channels. Otherwise, the erosion of diplomatic professionalism will sooner or later become a contributing factor to the government's decline. Joshi is a senior scientist and independent opinion maker based in Germany