Home: Bagdole, Lalipur, Bagmati
Education: B.B.A., Uniglobe College, Pokhara University, Nepal
My parents have worked very hard to provide me with the best education and basic luxuries of life in Kathmandu. I never had to worry about money for my studies and I scored good grades, too. But I remember not being supported while I played guitar, wrote songs, sang, got too involved in sports, and everything I did which they thought didn’t support my academics. I turned up to my teachers for a much needed pat on my shoulder when I achieved something outside my class, because as a kid they were someone I looked up to apart from my family and it was disheartening to find that teachers felt no different.
It may seem as any urban teen’s predicament towards life during in those awkward years, but things stayed the same during the early twenties as well. I was questioning every belief, values, norms and tradition but I had never been a rebel in my entire life, never swayed from the conventional image of a “good kid”. But when you are doing everything you can and you still can’t find happiness in their happiness because your joy resides somewhere else, you know you are that black sheep in the family.
I’m pretty much sure that during my undergrad years I learned much more from people and situations outside than within the four unappealingly painted walls of my classrooms. If only there was someone who could make the world understand that just because a kid doesn’t aspire to become a doctor or an engineer or a banker, doesn’t mean his entire life is doomed; and teachers have the capability to do that.
I did gain some professional experience in startups and worked as a volunteer in an interactive program called ‘Envisage with Sage’ and also with Om Adhyaya Retreat as the event partner. But I wanted to do more. That’s why I joined TFN. Despite all the skepticism from family, friends and the society, I know somewhere inside that there’s no room for error because it’s the path I’ve chosen. It’s the path which is harder than a regular 9-5 job but I’m up for it.
Through TFN, I can change a kid’s life. For once I would like to have that greatest power of being a teacher and making my kids feel like coming to school, talking to me and laughing with me, sharing stories about their triumph and failure, their aspiration and dreams. I want to teach them about dreams that don’t know any boundaries. I don’t know if I can change the system but I can certainly plant a seed of hope in the heart and mind of a kid and make him/her believe that the world will come around, you just have to do what makes you happy.
