My Engineer, Marine, and Doctor
Lalitpur, Central Nepal
Genius Event 2018 contribution
It’s great running an alternative school. My mom started
Nirmal School more than 30 years ago and I am glad to keep the candle burning.
I thank Sippora, my wife, also for being a part of this life project.
I was 20 when I started working here. I had the
opportunity to work with different types of young people. Some could not speak
Nepali even because they came from far flung districts like Mustang and Manang.
The cultures were very different. Some from the mountains and long lost
traditions, some from the plains far away in the Terai.
But consistently, what was there was the brilliance, the
heart to do something new, the will to follow their own truths. I meet these
diverse young people who have passed out of my school and I hear and interact
with these young people, some of whom sing so beautifully, some of them who are
so shy but so bright.
Shiva from Gorkha district lived with his family in one
room. He finished school, went to the US and joined the US marines. He did best
in cadet training and received a medal from the US Vice President. He fought in
Afganisthan to protect the innocent and the women and the children there. He
has kept the name of the brave Gurkhas alive and shining.
Young Khatri from Godavari used to walk 45 minutes to the
bus stop to come to my school. He did so well and went on to become an
electronic engineer. He helped take the world to his village: he has opened his
own company and provides wireless internet services to the community there. I
too come from that village and my 92 year old father and my mother use his
services to stay in touch with me and my brothers.
Young miss Lekhak is in Australia today. She innovates in
the science field. Her sister who also graduated from my school is a professor
of nursing in the US. Their father was a Hindu priest and mother a housewife.
They have done their parents and my school proud. All the four children of the
family grew up with me. I remember their childhood and growing so vividly.
Bikram came from the indigenous nomadic tribe of the
Chepangs. He was the first person from his village to pass the School Leaving
Certificate. I feel so humbled that people from such far off places trusted my
school and brought their young to grow up with me, my wife, and my team. Things
were so hard for Bikram and he was almost on the street by the time they
approached me. We were proud to support him. Now he is a culinary arts expert
in the tourist valley of Pokhara, maintaining quality and training chefs who
serve visitors from all over the world.
Some of my students are now doctors, some are teachers,
some are farmers, some are vets, one owns two restaurants in Spain. I am so
pleased that I have been able to engage my students in programs with Spiny
Babbler over the past 25 years. Nirmal School was a part of the Genius Event in
2016, in 2017 and now in 2018. This is a great platform provided by Spiny
Babbler and 92Y of New York.
15 kids are submitting their voices and videos to the
2018 Genius Event. Sumi’s song is already up and its so beautiful, on Facebook,
she has already had more than 1500 views. She is entering the Nepal Idol
competition where I think she will do well. Thank you Spiny Babbler and 92Y for
encouraging her to create! Best of luck to you!
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