Doing the "basics"!

      They say it is about doing the basics right. That has been quite a story for me as well: doing the basics right.  I always took rigorous curriculum, good subject combination and performed to my optimum and this, thus, did not have questions about security of my educational career. As every career opened that way, I have spent my high without a definite educational aim. I did not know what I wanted to be, and the uncertainty still persists.

        My gap year is a result of the uncertainty that loomed over what I really wanted to be and where did I want to see myself.  I did not know if I was applying abroad until I finished my A levels. Had the majority of my friends not applied USA, I probably would have followed their path. This again comes to doing the basics right, this time in a belief that what my friends did was for something better that what opportunity was on offer in Nepal.  Many people join A levels only to apply for USA, but I did not have faintest of idea for what particular reason did I read A levels.  My father suggested me to read A levels because he wanted me to have different educational experience from what he had when he did his I.SC. Neither my father nor me what prospects did A levels have to offer in reality.

     Even though I planned to apply to US Colleges, I was not sure what definite major I was to choose and what kind of colleges I was to apply. I prepared and gave SAT and TOFEL, very frivolously the latter, as these standardized tests were the prerequisite for applying to US; doing basics alright! Thus began the rigorous work of searching the US colleges for me.  Because I needed large amount of financial aid, options for applying dropped very sharply as not every US College provides adequate financial aid to international students like us.  The list of colleges narrowed as the process went along and I ended up applying some seventeen "everyone applying" colleges. Since every candidate like me needed an aid and since the number of students like me was large, the application pool that my application belonged to happened to be very competitive.  

As a result, the basic things that I had been doing all the time did not work out well in college Application. The kind of US colleges I was applying to needed more than basics if I was to become a part of any big news.  I ended up being rejected by nine colleges with three waitlist turned rejections and five acceptances.  Of the five colleges that accepted me, only a second tier university in USA and a good college in Germany provided decent financial aid. The financial aid the latter provided is not as good as the aid that first one provided, but the cost is still manageable.

     I do not know whether attending the college in USA that provided good aid is better a decision than attending the university in Germany. I do not know what the "basics" is this time. Whatever it is, I think this time I need to show some defiance against the basics regarding my college and major.

मेरा कामरेडको देश

शिशिर यामको स्पर्ससंगै  सुस्ताएकी सेती थिचोलेर

भावाना को आन्तरंगामा आशाको दियो बोकेर

 म आईपुगे कामरेड 

म आईपुगे कामरेड सीङ दरबारमा

आनगिन्ति सवारीले भरिएका लामा फाट जस्ता सडकमा

म आल्मलिए, हो म आल्मलिए कामरेड

मुस्कुराई रहेका प्रजोलित गगन चुम्बी भवनहरुले

म  सल्बलिए, हो म सल्बलिए कामरेड

साचै साचै आनौठो भएछ हजुरको देश

खैर म आएपुगे कामरेड

जहाँ हजुर को  देश नया   बिहानी  को पाईला  समाउदैछ

उता मेरो देश लपमस्त निन्द्रामा रमाउदैछ

हजुर बफे दिनर खादा मेरो देश भोक मारी मा झाँगिएको छ

कथ्यनरिदो जाडोमा पनि सरम लाग्दो नांगिएको छ

आभाब र उपेकछया ले मेरो देश नराम्री उदांगिएको छ

खैर म आएपुगे कामरेड

मैले सुनेको हजुरकै लागि मोबाईल  सेवा बदाईदैछ अरे

मुस्ताङका लागि भवनहरु धलाईदैछ अरे

उपचारका लागि बाहिये बिमान मागाईदैछ  अरे

अनि शिछयाका लागि ठुला ठुला भवनहरु ठदाईदैछ अरे

तर कामरेड

 मेरा देश बसीले न त मोबाईल देखका छन् 

न त लामा फाट जस्ता सडक देखेका छन् 

न त लोबै लाग्दा अस्पताल देखेका छन्      

 अनि सायदै कुनै डाक्टर भेटेका छन्

हो मेरो देश हजुर को भन्दा धेरै भिन्न छ

हजुरको देश विकासमा होमिदा  मेरो देश पिछदिएर खिन्न छ

साचै मेरो देश रासटका लागि रादो भएको  छ

अनि भ्रस्टका लागि मागी खाने भादो भएको छ   

यस्तै यस्तै छ मेरो देश

खैर म आएपुगे कामरेड

तर मैले आशा मारेको छैन कामरेड

कुनै दिन शिशिर र शरद को उडासिनता बिर्सेर

मेरो देश बसन्त मा प्रबेस गर्ने छ

अनि नलेखिएका पताहरु सोर्निम क्रान्ति ले भर्नेछ

तब त्यो दिन  मेरो देश हजुरको जस्तै बन्ने छ

यस्तै यस्तै बन्ने छ मेरो देश

Because I wanted that way

I knew all the hotels would be closed by 12.30 am; I knew no bus would leave for Lumbini at mid night.  I knew how the highway road would be like in a summer night of Terai. And I knew I was acting rather insane.  

I started from dang at 8 P.M. in a bus that headed for Kathmandu. By a simple calculation, I would have reached Kathmandu at around 9 AM the next day. But, my plans were different, something that a person in sane state of mind would not have ever planned. I got off from bus in transformational hub- Butwal -at 11.45 pm. Some hotel- people approached me asking if I was interested in living in hotel for that night. I, however, denied the offer and got along. I caught the bus, which later turned out to be the last one for that day, from Butwal for Bhairahawa, the entry point for Lumbini.

The junction

I completed the formality of searching the hotels in Bhairahawa, just to make sure that observing people, there were not many though, did not think me as a vagrant person. However, I knew for sure that all the hotels would be closed in that time of the night in Bhairahawa, for Bhairahawa, unlike Butwal, was dormant place in night.  THE NIGHT then started in exact way I wanted it to be for me.

There were two policemen on their duty at the Bhairahawa junction, the junction for the ways leading to Lumbini-Taulihawa, Sunauli and  Butwal. I did not talk much to them. They were pretty much engaged in lecherous talks of their own. I hovered around for some time, under the impression that I would not be harmed by any other creatures as I was near some policeman. How long would I loiter around though? Loitering around would not last for all night; I needed to something durable to pass the whole night. For the fact that I felt sleepy and I had no other options, I thus decided to sleep in a street, the kind of experience I was longing to witness.

A dump site was nearby, so was the drainage canal. I tried to sleep with my bag as a pillow, but the the buzzing sound of mosquito intervened my intention to sleep. I nevertheless managed to sleep for half an hour, before I could no longer stand the exasperating sound of mosquito.

Clock had just ticked 1 am. I then started to look for hotels, this time in desperation more than in a formality. I then began to realize, but rather momentarily, that   I had chosen the wrong way to spend the night. I was left with no options, but to wait for the first bus that would leave for Lumbini. From the information I got, the first bus leaving for Lumbini would arrive at around 5 am.

 I would fall asleep, but not longer than 15 minutes. This cycle continued until 3 am. However, I felt sleepy and dizzy as the dawn was at sight. At around 4 am, I could not stand being at the Bhairahawa junction anymore. So, I headed towards the road leading to Lumbini.  At the time I had started my journey, I could see some people in their morning walk. I walked 4 km towards Lumbini, before I finally got into a bus heading towards Taulihawa through Lumbini. I luckily got the seat and slept in my bus seat. I was so sleep deprived that I reached up to Taulihawa without noticing that Lumbini, my ultimate destination for this all, had passed some 21 km back.

And this all happened, because I wanted these things to be the way they happened.