“I thought that this would just be some sort of training! But this training had so much to teach and I had so much to learn from.“

After spending five years in the law school studying the intricacies of the law, my parents' desire for me was to step into that marble foyer with perfectly drafted briefs and perfect ideas while wearing perfectly ironed shirts and smiling perfectly bright smiles and practicing law. I too had the same visions of perfection dancing in my head when I chose to study law - I would be providing legal services and defend the rights in disputes or when they've stepped afoul of the law. But after graduating, I found a path that is a lot more different from what I had visioned before. This deviating journey is the result of following my heart.

Never had I ever thought that I would take on the path which I could not envision during my entire student life so far. This journey started after I got selected among thousands of applicants who had applied for Teach For Nepal Fellowship. Never did I expected the 42 days training institution to be that intense.

I went to the Teach For Nepal training institute with so much dilemma and less expectation. I thought that this would just be some sort of training! But this training taught me so much and I learned a lot in the 42 days than I ever did in the last five years. Law school taught me to defend what is right and what is wrong but the Fellowship training taught me how to differentiate between right and wrong. It gave me the perspective of the ground reality of our nation. I was learning so much in the institute, I decided not to attend my bar council examination and instead focus on learning more from the training team of Teach For Nepal.

The training enlightened me on the ground reality of what rural Nepali society actually looks like and how it actually works. I got to experience the reality up close after I was placed in the community where I will be working for the next two years of my life. I learned a lot during the 42 days of intense training and it has not only helped me in my professional development but also in my personal growth.

In law school, I gained a lot of theoretical knowledge based on the principles and actual laws. In the last three months of my Fellowship journey, I have been able to transfer the theoretical knowledge to practice. I have learned a lot and I am still in the process of learning more, the process of growing up as a better individual contributing in the society in this deviating journey from a law school graduate to a teacher at a local school in rural parts of Nepal. I have experienced a lot of highs and lows in the last three months and know that the journey ahead will be a rollercoaster ride but I can feel the blowing wind of change in me and my country.