Turning points in life

Reflection of one’s life is an important tool to gauge one’s own place and destination. I can identify certain points in my life that changed the course to get to the point I am today.

1. Before I was even 6 months old, I had a bout of double-pneumonia. In the just settled area of the inner-Terai there were no medical facilities. A “compounder”(a junior healthcare provider) who checked me gave his verdict: it was all up to the higher one, he had no remedy to offer. Followers of Ruth Montgomery would accept that at this juncture a “walk-in soul” inhabited my body. I believe there was no reason for me to survive, otherwise.

2. In 1973 I won a national scholarship to attend an elite school in Kathmandu after coming first in the district level entrance exam. I remember being posed questions in math that I had never heard of before. They were later found to be binomial math. Apparently I did well.

3. In 1980, I was on the top 10 in the national School Leaving Certificate (SLC) exam, first ever for someone from my Makwanpur district. It gave me a mini celebraity status in my community in that people liked being seen in my company and took pride in telling they knew me personally. But that created an expectation that would propel my future path. “You have to get out of here, you’ve no future in Nepal,” people would tell me.

4. In 1988, I was still in Nepal. I had not done well in the science campus after I had excelled in school. It was a different culture. Most of my peers had gone abroad to study. I had completed my two-year stint at Civil Engineering College. I got hired at Sindhupalchok-Dolkha Landslide Project (SDLP) a Swiss emergency relief project designed to help the victims of flood and landslide from the previous monsoon. Stationed in a remote area called Budepa (3:30 hours walk from the nearest road head). I was a site supervisor for constructing a suspended bridge. Many children would come to ask for work since their parents had been neglecting them. Nearest school was about an hour walk for them. At that time I felt that to change things in Nepal, it has to be done at the policy level from the top. In order to achieve that one had to get a higher degree. My resolve to do that took me to Lincoln School as a first step in understanding if I could handle the US education. I felt I was more than able to.

5. My most significant turning point came in 2004. I call it my moment of epiphany or providence. I had made it all way into the doctoral program in Arizona State University when I got married in 2001. Things had gone horribly wrong—mental illness played a big part in it. But I agreed for a divorce in 2004. Needless to say, I was stranded in a strange city with all the odds stacked against me, barely a friend, and practically homeless. During on one of my morning prayer sessions walking around the lake in front of the city hall of Rapid City, I stood facing the rising sun and watched the glorious reflection in the lake. There the moment occurred.

6. I had been volunteering for Stephanie Herseth’s Congressional campaign and had met some good people. After my divorce was finalized I decided to return to Arizona as an out-of-state volunteer for Kerry-Edwards campaign. That move brought me in contact with fine people like families of Harriet MacCracken and Ed Stump whose compassion and help brought me back to Angelo State University to complete my second Master’s degree (Communication).

7. I found Nepal Education Support Trust (NEST). I used to search the Internet for developments in my home town trying to find people or organization who I could help make difference. Through NEST I have now become affiliated with people around the world who believe in making a difference through interpersonal efforts.

8. I came across the Neale Donald Walsch book. More turning points remain, for sure. And I will be there to reflect on my life in constant search of grandest vision, purest thoughts, and truest joy.