No one falls in love by choice, it is by chance....
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Love happens when you least expect it and under the most unusual of circumstances. This is exactly what happened to me a few years ago. It wasn’t love at first sight. Within a few months of knowing, all I wanted to do was run away from it. I am glad I didn’t and gave love a chance.
Nepal, which was never more than a tiny neighbouring country for me, became a life enriching experience. An experience, which taught me far more than all my years in my own country, could ever have. My journey of self discovery and falling in love began with a humble email one May afternoon in 2008. An email from I Volunteers, promising a life changing experience that overseas volunteering can provide. Throughout the entire selection process, all the selected volunteers were told that “very rarely does anyone go to any other country than an African one”. It was therefore anti-climatic for me when I was told that I’d be going across the border to Nepal. VSO was all about overseas volunteering and across the border definitely did not classify as overseas. Nepal was not the place I wanted to go. If only I had known better at that point of time.
I arrived in Nepal in November 2008 and after two months of intensive In Country Training shifted my base from Kathmandu to Pokhara. The brief that was given to me about my placement stated that I would have to work with a Community Based Organization called Community Support Group (CSG) as Programme Development Advisor and strengthen the aspect of programme delivery and implementation. What the brief omitted to state was how breathtakingly beautiful the city of Pokhara was. Additionally as a VSO volunteer, I would be expected to have solutions to everything which needs attention in the organization (and here I thought I was a mere mortal, not a fairy with a magic wand).
Like in any relationship, the first few months were the toughest. As someone who had never even made a cup of tea in her life, here I was struggling with making lunch and dinner for myself. From house hunting, to grocery shopping, from cooking to fetching water from the nearby water tank and also concentrating on the organization, everything was new and alien. The term “adjustment” took a totally different meaning. I wanted to pack my bags and go back to Delhi. It was during such times that I had to ‘unlearn’ to learn.
With my increased familiarity with the country and my placement, I started enjoying my stay in every way and did not realize when I fell in love with everything Nepali. Nepal became my shoulder to cry on when I lost my best friend and confidant, it became the witness of my happiness when my younger niece was born. It manifested itself as a friend, parent and a lover to me. Nepal was everything I wanted in life. My stay in Nepal was all about pushing my envelop. It was about entering into a land unknown, undertaking the adventure that is offered only once in a life time.
When I left Nepal three years back, I left a piece of my soul behind and have never been whole again. However, there is a smile on my lips that refuses go away every time I think of it. I may not be in Nepal but I carry Nepal in my heart, wherever I go. Isn’t love all about loving someone even though they are not physically present with you? My love affair with Nepal, therefore, continues and would continue till I I breath my last.
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