Apropos of “Don’t frighten businesspersons” (THT, Page 12, Aug 24”), if the Nepali business people professed honesty, integrity and fair practice as the mainstay of their trade ethos, there was no need for them to be terrified or terrorised even if the government monitors spied on them for 24 x 7.

Why should they be scared if they do not cheat on VAT, do not under invoice their imports, do not overcharge their customers and treat them as pests or sell shoddy, adulterated, contaminated and dateexpired products.

As businesspeople they should give only the best products and at fair prices. They should be honest about the quality of the products that they sell. For example, when Lifan bikes first went on sale, its appearance drew a lot of attraction.

After a few months, people realised that it was a shoddy product at unnaturally high price for the time.

The price of a Lifan could have bought a ropani or two of land at Lamatar. Worse still, the sellers completely washed off their hands on the resulting problems once they pocketed the money.

The company’s response was nonexistent, their service centre derided the customers for being fools, spare parts were not available and the value of bikes turned to zero in a few years.

This contrasts sharply with the honesty of Chinese garment exporters.

For example, when China was opening up their export business a few years after Nepal, the Chinese exporters were reported to have assured their importers that their shirts would not survive one wear.

They also reportedly assured that the shirts will shrink and lose colour after one wash, but the price was only 50 cents! The rest, as they say, is history. Our Lifan guys should have said something similar.

They should have said that it was expensive for the time, it will hum and rattle after a few rides, there is no after-sales service, spares are nonexistent and will fetch a few hundred rupees at the most after a few years, but it has the stylish look of a Harley Davidson.

Does this make sense to our businesspeople? How can businesspeople ask for mercy when they sell psychedelic synthetic drugs as medicine?

Can they hope not to be terrorised or insulted?

Manohar Shrestha, Kathmandu

Not everything

This is in response to the editorial “Message from Rio”(THT, August 23, Page 8).

If proper sporting infrastructure gets established and the sports persons are provided with quality coaching and equipment, Nepal or any other nation can bag dozens of medals in the Olympics.

But can performing well in Olympics be everything? Maximum stress needs to be put on human development, peace, tolerance and democratic values. Sporting achievements can come later.

Yes, achievement in Olympics is merely symbolic in nature.

There lies no reason to go over the moon in delight if our country ranks high in the medal list.

Kajal Chaterjee, Kolkata