05/05/2020
Written by my best friend Dinesh Tiwari( Dinakar)
A letter to Nepalis planning to return to Nepal for good.
Hello friends,
I write this to all of you, who are planning to come back to Nepal in the near future with a one way ticket.
The country is in shambles. Nothing is in order here, and day by day it is getting worse.
I cannot express in words how much I appreciate your determination, and how much Nepal will benefit with all the expertise you all can bring in.
I have decided to write to you all through this platform to share some insights that I have gained from my own experience after returning to Nepal. I hope that it will be of use in some way.
Please be kind, and thank you for your patience in advance.
So, here are the first FIVE points.
1. How to reconnect?
I was away from my land since I was 12, and I studied in India. Then I joined the National Defence Academy in Pune and then the Army. I left army after 12 years, as a Major and returned to Nepal.
I was in India, not really considered foreign. Also, there was hardly ever a gap of more than five months. And I was involved off and on in many activities in my home town. I had also started writing for papers in Nepal under a pen name. In fact, my real name is Dinesh Tiwari.
But still, I was lost when I came back. I tried to build on the small base that I had built through writing and depended heavily on some influential friends who helped me get sense of things.
So, the first tip is : you must have a well established support system - influential friends whom you can trust and depend on like an extended family.
And second: its the language. Keep the local touch alive. It helps a lot.
2. Do not underestimate the common Nepali man.
I have worked at all three levels in three different type of organisations.
Local, national or international.
Voluntary, corporate or military.
I made a mistake of under-estimating the capacity of the people I had to work with as well as the people who would try to create problems.
Most of the people I worked with, and who became my biggest strength over the years - although they lacked experience and exposure in the beginning - were all fast learners. Eventually, they all outlived my expectations.
But so did the trouble-makers. The level of efficient and professionally organised trouble making and obstacle creating the politically trained common people can do will throw you off balance if you come with a goodie goodie approach.
So, remember, the only one who is in for a shock here is YOU. Prepare yourself well. Be very very calculative in spending your trust.
3. Do not come to teach. Do not come to do good for the country. Come if you can fight it out for yourself.
Lets face it straight. No body likes being blamed.
Here, people who have struggled and faced difficulties for years are not going to take it from you that all that is wrong is their fault and all of a sudden you will change things overnight just because you have come back leaving your western country comfort.
No. They do not see that as a sacrifice. Now more so. They will simply say, you lost your job because of Corona.
Just face it. That is the way it is. Majority has dictatorial rights over narratives. That is the nature of human society.
So, if what people think about you and what you do affects you a lot, do not return.
If you can be thick-skinned enough and bull-headed enough, then you will stick it out.
4. Stick it out.
Yes. This is not an easy task. It has to be done not because it is easy but because it has to be done. If you believe this deeply, you will build internal mechanisms and external allaiances. And you will stick it out, with sound health but probably a bruised conscience.
But I have applied this - quitting is not conscientious, sticking out is, come what may.
5. Be financially strong before you plunge.
This is very very important. Do not depend on anyone's words of assurance on this. You have to have your own backing to stick it out.
Plans will surely not work as per plan. And people change in almost every crisis, big or small.
***
Thanks a lot friends. To keep it short, I just listed the insights.
We can talk more later with specific examples depending on the response.
See you soon in Nepal.
Cheers.
Dinkar
