ok...I understood tidbits...

Thats a lot, you know, since I would not have understood a bit of what I myself wrote. :p

but now my question is, what exactly is yahoo's official client doing that gaim cannot, yet? ( if you have explained this earlier please point me to the post ).

Yahoo!'s official is doing black magic one can say. (Just joking.) One just needs to key in the proxy IP and port and it simply works. Works, you know! No tweaking nothing.

Can we reproduce what yahoo's doing by using free tools?

I do not know any such free tool. At this point you might like to read http://mm.glug-bom.org/pipermail/linuxers/Week-of-Mon-20060807/053186.html Just the 3rd, 4th and 5th paragraphs would be enough.

Generally, firewalls dont block ssl connections

Is it so? I have limited knowledge, but I remember seeing the Webmin interface, where the admin just clicked and opened all 'SSL_Ports' and 'Safe_Ports'. I asked him to give me the configuration file, but he somehow managed to give me the wrong one. Should I get it again ?

so i think u can setup an SSL tunnel into an outside ( unfirewalled proxy ) PC and then connect to the yahoo service.

Yes I think thats a possible solution.

Thanks, Debarshi