The last three years of secondary school (9, 10 and 11th grades) in Kathmandu, I was finally part of a clique after not having been part of one since 4th grade. (The reason for not being part of one, I think, had to do with an incident in that grade.) We were five classmates. We did a lot of things together and spent a lot of time together both in and outside school.
One curious thing that I discovered about the rest of them was that no one was interested in marriage. No one expressed any desire to get married, to have children and to start a family…except me! Whenever we would have conversations about our future plans and goals and when the subject of family and children would come up, I was the only one expressing a strong desire, when in my twenties, to find someone and have a house full of children with her.
One of the others was so against marriage that we even nicknamed him “Brahmachari” (The Bachelor).
Fast forward to today, every single one of the other four is married with children — one even has a son at college doing his undergraduate studies — except yours truly!
Life eh!
Another thing I remember about our “gang,” as we used to call cliques in Nepal, was that we were all interested in going abroad for studies, notably the US. Every single one of us made it though at different times.
And along with that desire, I also remember the conversations we used to have about our country and what needed to be done, by who etc. Many of the conversations about that centered on the need for “desh bhaktas” (patriots) like us to return to Nepal after our education abroad.
Three including myself had grand plans to do just that, notably to return to “serve the country.” Following completion of our studies in the US, while I went off and had an international teaching career, they have all had careers and have settled down in the US itself. Only after much later that one of the three ended up returning to the country, namely yours truly.
Incidentally, in retelling this story my intention is NOT to pass judgement, nor to cast aspersions, on the life choices of any of my friends, nor to show that I have distinguished myself etc. I share the stories for what they demonstrate about life. I am certain none of those four (still) close Nepali buddies of mine would take that in any other way.
Life eh!!
What do you think?
