Whether you are a citizen of a developed nation or one like Nepal, repatriation after spending significant amount of time abroad as a professional comes with its own woes, I am sure. While some of the woes are likely shared by many — or even all — returnees regardless of the country, I am also sure many woes are specific to a country because of the particular or peculiar professional and general culture and peculiar traits of the society and people.
Repatriation to Nepal comes with a host of woes. I know because I have faced many of them in the years I have been here since 2013! Sources and kind of woes a Nepali suffers from upon repatriation varies from one person to another, of course, for a number of reasons, some very obvious others not so obvious.
The level to which Nepali people and society are closed and inward-looking can come as a shock to many returning from professional experiences in a developed nation, for example.
The kind of society and the kind of people we are — influenced as heavily as we are by the foundation of our social system and structure, that most corrupt caste system — the number and of level of repatriation woes a Nepali faces upon their return depends also on the caste one belongs to, which many either don’t seem to be aware of or, if they are, they are in denial of. About that alone could be a whole blog post.
What I want to share in this blog post however, is a reproduction of a discovery shared — on Twitter — by a recent returnee and many of the responses agreeing with and/or affirming it. The returnee is a female and appears to me to be a young adult.
So fed up is she that she says “I was better off struggling abroad.”
Living and working here for most of the last 8 years following about 25 years in 9 countries abroad — pretty much my entire adult life until I returned — I concur. And I am NOT one of a handful of geniuses who has “discovered” this. Many others, not surprisingly, have as well.
Here are the tweets that agree with her and/or affirm her sentiment.
The following user feels that his decision to return to Nepal “to study high school […] to know more abt my country[,] [t]urned out to be the worst decision of my life.”
The following user says “Except for a few, the rest do not value your worth.” I wholeheartedly agree with that.
User below points out how one needs to know “the art of ass licking” or rather ass kissing.
User says, returning “after working abroad for 20 yrs-unfortunately nobody wanted me or what I had to give.”
The returnee responds to the above tweet saying, “I wanted to grow within this sphere because I wanted to learn more but there’s no space for people like me. Period.”
More users who agree with her.
Returnee responds to above tweet adding, “because the culture itself is so f*cked up.”
iamNibedan hits the nail in the head responding to the returnee’s tweet above: “Many responsible people […] concerned for their immediate monetary & non monetary benefits only.”
More users agreeing with the returnee’s sentiments.
Here, in response to another user, the returnee says “I give up, Aalok. The effort – it’s not worth it.” That’s also the conclusion I have also come to.
A user tells the returnee, “Last thing you should do tho is give up.” In response she writes, “I came back […] [n]ot to be ranting on my social on a Saturday morning that this culture isn’t right.”
A few more.
Another user who believes “It’s not worth returning[.]”
Even I got on the bandwagon…as it were! On September 1, I had made this tweet.
I read this somewhere
— Dorje Gurung, ScD (h.c.) (@Dorje_sDooing) September 1, 2021
& after about 8 yrs
in #Nepal,
I concur.
“If you are in a place that —
&/or among a people who —
don’t #value #WhoYouAre or
what you are offering,
then you are wasting
your time.”
When came across the tweet by the returnee, I added this to the above tweet.
Another person echoing a similar sentiment.
— Dorje Gurung, ScD (h.c.) (@Dorje_sDooing) September 4, 2021
(original tweet: https://t.co/qrR5c5Su6J)
At least a few responses in the thread express the same sentiment. #Nepal #Kathmandu #LifeInNepal #LivingInNepal #WorkingInNepal pic.twitter.com/UlziOxMVVN
The returnee responded to the tweet above saying how, “It took me a lot of courage last night to tweet that.” She added, “They want managers and experts without any effort of grooming them and it takes a of effort for an individual to explore and grow[.] Where’s career counseling? They say they need better candidate and they don’t respect.”
I responded saying how “The concepts of providing GUIDANCE to or MENTORING the young (whether students or off-springs or young adult professional working under you) do NOT seem to exist in #Nepal.” I added, “Our culture (whether educational, social, professional, political etc.) is all about DIRECTING & ORDERING.”
The concepts of providing GUIDANCE
— Dorje Gurung, ScD (h.c.) (@Dorje_sDooing) September 4, 2021
to or MENTORING the young (whether
students or off-springs or young adult
professional working under you) do
NOT seem to exist in #Nepal.
Our culture (whether educational,
social, professional, political etc.) is all
about DIRECTING & ORDERING.
I added two more tweets to the above.
Having said all that, good on you
— Dorje Gurung, ScD (h.c.) (@Dorje_sDooing) September 4, 2021
for tweeting that. We need more
& more Nepalis to voice uncomfortable
truths abt our society. Until & unless
abt 25% of us do so, the myriads of
our stigmas & taboo subjects, for eg.,
will remain stigmas & taboo & we’ll
never overcome them! pic.twitter.com/HedNZ8rTrJ
She responded by saying “People really need to start saying NO. I’ve said NO so many times in the last 2 weeks and I still don’t think I can go on like this. This is ridiculous.”
To which I responded, “I hear you. I really do.”
I hear you.
— Dorje Gurung, ScD (h.c.) (@Dorje_sDooing) September 4, 2021
I really do.
Having shared all that, I must also add that we don’t have a dearth of people in Nepal who think and believe that change is taking place in Nepal. My sense is that those who truly believe that ACTUAL and TANGIBLE change is taking place at a pace worth labeling as such either are benefiting from the highly corrupt and exploitative systems and structures, or are completely aware the crippling and debilitating systemic issues the country is suffering from but are in complete denial, or are just completely ignorant of the issues.
I tell such people that many — if NOT most — of the changes taking place in Nepal has been for the worse. Even in this story of the highly successful entrepreneur Biswas Dhakal through hard work and dogged perseverance, it’s clear that he is supremely aware of the kind of environment he is working in and has an exit strategy. His success story, by the way — yeah, BY THE WAY — is an exception! Reading between the lines, Dhakal essentially said, “F*ck the country when I get a really good price for my product and can retire at a beach resort somewhere!”
Can you blame him?! If you know Nepal you couldn’t or wouldn’t, but do you? And he is a Khas-arya man, a hill so-called high caste Hindu man!
I have come to the conclusion that, unless you are a Khas-arya man like him, or wealthy and connected, returning to Nepal for any emotional, “noble,” or idealistic reason, abandoning a decent professional life abroad in a developed nation, is NOT worth it. The highly corrupt culture, systems, practices, and attitudes, directly or indirectly founded on the caste system, will make sure of that.
What do you think?
I definitely see your point. Time to leave again?