Unicorns of Nepal!

Today was a busy day. Please do not get the idea of a busy schedule with hectic time frames. The idea of me all over the place doing a thing or other scares me.  Back to my point, it was busy because I had to pay bills for the water company that supplied water to my house today. If it’s any indication to what I am about to write, the whole trip to the K.U.K.L. (Kathmandu Upateyka KhanePani Limited) was not pleasant. I know this has been overstated fact that government offices here in Nepal are as inefficient as my study schedule but then again here we are talking about it again.

I was at the billing counter, a trip 15 minutes from home. The road as it has been for months has been a picturesque form of a war zone  My cousin described it the other day; he told me it reminds him of the “Call Of Duty” franchise war simulation. I have to agree with him. The dust, the destruction and the traffic, all pile up to everyone’s frustration. I would say a revolution is on the way but then again if I said that I would quote one of Nepal’s political leaders and trust me I don’t want to be political. But anyhow with these thoughts rambling in my head I reached the supposed destination.

There I was irritated by my short trip and totally confused about the procedure of bill payment. So, I decided to go to the help desk as labeled in the office. The office of the whole corporation lay beside a large water container that was big enough to hold a supermarket. The help desk lady asked me for my consumer identification card and she advised me to go to Counter No.3 to pay my bills. Then just like a law abiding citizen (unlike Gerrard Butler) I got in line for my turn in Counter No.3.

A lot happened when I was in the line. A bee flew past me without stinging me, government  employees finished gulping their tea in his office without even offering to the normal folk, an entire episode of HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER aired on TV, Obama finished his second term as the president of USA and the apocalypse finally  happened in 21^st December  2050 A.D. There were only 2 people in front of me and the lady behind the counter took more than 20 minutes to finish their deal. It seemed like an eternity when I finally reached the counter and when I gave her my consumer card she informed me I was in the wrong counter. I was to go to the Counter No.1. I was misinformed by the help desk. Well, 20 minutes down the drain.

I got in even a longer line this time but magically this person at this specific counter was more efficient than the others. He completed the job in over 30 seconds per consumer and neatly I was there under 3 minutes. He wasn't much for chitchat. He took my car, appropriate fees, bill was issued and I was off. What an efficient employee and he didn't even use a computer. He did all of the work manually. I was impressed. A government controlled corporation with an efficient officer is hard to find these days in Nepal. They exist, are large in numbers but simply hard to find just like unicorns.

I hope such unicorns do exist in the road reconstruction offices as well because this road rampage or road kill (waiting to use that one for a long time) is unbearable. The broken houses, the dust all need to be settled very fast. It is hard for us common folk who rarely have a day without a dust induced asthma and bronchitis. If it is hard for the unicorns to do alone call on the Dragons (private contractors) for help. Just an opinion!

Getting High

It’s not weed. It’s not cocaine and it’s not marijuana either. This is a different kind of high. I might say it’s better than sex but I lack experience in that certain area of topic. It is the high of rising above all rejections, problems, insecurities and coming out on top. My friend Prayag says it’s indescribable and I agree. We cannot describe something that pure and jolly.

This came up when we were discussing our college admissions the other day. Prayag as informed speaker as he is was telling me about a student from Nepal who got accepted to Dartmouth last year. He said and I quote “An acceptance into Dartmouth made it all worth it. All the rejections, the deferrals, the denial and the humiliation all seemed so petty at that moment. That made it all worth it. His meteoric rise from the ashes of denial will be the reason he will be remembered.  If he was accepted in other colleges it wouldn't have been the same but he wasn't and that made it all fruitful.”

As always I nodded with agreement and it got me thinking about it. What kind of feeling could he have felt at the time? Is anything equivalent to that? I don’t think so. All that hard work and pressure surely paid off when he got into an Ivy League school. He got his ultimate high then but what about us? What about the other people here on earth? When will we experience such a high? Well, for now we are still searching.

I for one am thinking that that kind of high will come to me in the short future. I have a hunch about it. It may be similar to the guy above. Since, I am applying to college this year maybe I will get into an Ivy school too. (heheh!) But seriously speaking about the stats of college application to American colleges from Nepal: it’s troubling. Some people get into Ivy’s while some have trouble getting into Community colleges. My school is the Nepal’s top school if we count the number of students studying A-Levels i.e. 200. The disappointing news is only 10% of total students in my batch are applying to US colleges. Only 20 of us out of 200, certainly we are pretty shaken up by admission stats.

The average applicant from Nepal stands with a 3.5 GPA and asks for a financial aid package worth around 2 crores if we quote another friend of mine Pradeep. If that is not an indicator to low success rates of college applications than what is? If we go to SAT scores and ACT scores we are in a better place as it seems we score a tad higher than average Americans. We are especially better at mathematics as students usually cross 650 out of 800. We have more catching up to do with Critical Reading and Writing Sections though.

All this said and done even if we have stellar applications there are only few institutions that provide reasonable financial aid to us Nepalese and our choices narrow down. Consequently the lists of colleges in Nepalese college application are same. At this stage only the best candidates get the prize and it suits the Nepalese model i.e. let the better man win.

Well, all of this came up since its college app season and I have been neck deep in it. Piled with supplements and what not and best of all SATs and TOEFLs. As I said, earlier college application might be my ultimate high. I hope yours might be better.

Until you get that ultimate high, Happy hunting!

Cold

Every morning is different; waking up with different feelings but the constant reminder of bone chilling sensation that scares me every day. Why is it so hard to be warm inside and out when the sun shine with its greatest might and day begins with the sweet chirp of birds finding their ways to feed the young ones in the nest right below the tallest branch of the tree in front of my window? The answer is a distant mystery that eludes me every day with a constant reminder that I am in the cold and I need warmth.

This cold feeling it does not seem to leave me. While I cover my bare body with layers of clothes for a futile act of creating warmth in me but my soul and mind is naked and shivering encountering the full wrath of the cold. I have no clothes to cover them but with everyday passing the cold gets bitter and bitter and bitter.

It is as if the cold is a manifestation of my actions in the past; as if I left a refrigerator open in the past and put the temperature to maximum in its settings.  I should be comfortable with the cold by now but every day it seems harder to fight the cold because the refrigerator has immense functions to offer. The chilling winds of my past regrets strip away the warmth inside me and make me a shell of a man I used to be.

There used to be warmth and eternal sunshine and I sunbathed with my emotions. The warm interactions; the loving eyes were all I found but as actions committed to feelings the warmth gave way to bitter cold and an eternal winter that left me with sorrow and despair. These eyes that gave me warmth now show me the chilling stare that makes this winter even harder.

Those eyes were magnificent at first gazing me with utmost beauty and compassion. They represented hope. A symbol for the warmth that my soul possessed but as the eyes came swiftly they went away swiftly as well. The swift nature of those eyes took way all the warmth like an endothermic reaction of hearts of some sort and crashed the ship that held this body together.

No man could witness the decrease in heat or even sense the cold or the warmth but only they could see the obvious; someone leaving the very man who was the sole provider of positivity and compassion. This act gave way to remorse, hatred and the all eternal bitter cold that seems to  continue into infinity and beyond.