Ranked 8th in the world in the 100km race, Nepal’s Sunmaya Budha is taking long strides in the international trail running circuit. In March, the 24-year old from Jumla was at the <a href="https://itra.run/Races/RaceResults/Wenling.Golden.Coast.Trail.70KM/2024/91759">Wenling 70km in China</a>, a trail race on paper but with a route that was about 70% road. On her first time, she set a record for the course, beating the number two ranked female trail runner in the world. It was a 70km road race all on a road surface, something Budha is less used to, since almost all of her training is on trails. Budha hit a roadblock at 30km, when her leg started cramping up, but she fought through it. Soon after winning Wenling, she traveled with her manager to Spain to race a 75k at the Transvulcania La Palma Island 2024. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/change-on-a-himalayan-scale">Change on a Himalayan scale</a>, Kunda Dixit&nbsp; Budha was apprehensive about her chances, because she was coming back from an injury and the field was strong. In a pre-race interview, she thought she could not even finish in the top ten. She ended up third. Now, she is eying the world trail running championship in France in September. &nbsp;Sunmaya started running while in Grade 7 in Jumla, and did well at school tournaments. She came to Kathmandu to take part in 3 and 5Ks. “My very first race was 1,600m, and I came in second only because I had no clue that the finish line was a little further than where we had started from,” she recalls, laughing. The next year, she won the race. “There was no tv, no internet in my village. The only way to get any kind of news or information was the radio,” remembers Budha of her childhood. Her parents (pictured below) were not educated and initially did not understand this passion for running, insisting instead on an arranged marriage for her.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240808100852_f9969d45346d1c6ef2dbc074fc2a3ae5c8c7f0279e30197146e645ef9d1b9cc2.png" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20240808100852_f9969d45346d1c6ef2dbc074fc2a3ae5c8c7f0279e30197146e645ef9d1b9cc2" data-rendition-name="original" width="1492" height="1118" loading="lazy" alt="Sunmaya Budha family NT"> <figcaption>Sunmaya back home in Jumla in t-shirt with her family.</figcaption> </figure>  “They weren’t too persistent about marriage, but were a little concerned with how thin I was getting from all the training,” she says, “they let me know that they could not support me financially.” She moved to Khalanga and started training at the Karnali Sports Club under <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=3102">Hari Bahadur Rokaya</a> who was Nepal’s Olympic marathoner in 1988 and 1992, and the fastest in the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/been-there-not-done-that">Everest Marathaon</a>. Throughout it all, her parents thought she was in school. Budha benefited from Rokaya’s mentorship as she could train for free and he took her to races. “My parents only figured out I was running when they heard that I came third in a national-level race in Dharan,” recalls Budha. She won a cash prize of Rs15,000. Budha kept improving and was invited to her first trail race, a 12km course organised by British trail runner Richard Bull, who co-founded trailrunningnepal.org. In July 2021, Sunmaya was signed to Asian Pacific Athlete’s The North Face Adventure Team and she had professional management, coaching, financial support, and equipment.&nbsp; Budha’s first win came in December 2021, when she won the Doi Inthanon UTMB &nbsp;in Thailand, finishing ahead of other renowned Nepali female trail runner <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/mira-rai-racing-to-help-other-runners">Mira Rai</a>. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/mira-rai-racing-to-help-other-runners">Celebrating the Himalayan Outdoors</a> Sunmaya has since left the team and signed with Kailas, a Chinese company that produces climbing and trail running gear. “Sponsorship is vital because it is enough for me to live, eat and train. And I can get all the equipment, shoes, clothes that I need from them, as long as I only wear their clothes during races” says Budha. In Hong Kong, Budha heard about Andy DuBois, an Australian trail running coach that she wanted to work with. She messaged him on Facebook, and after DuBois grilled her meticulously about her previous training, nutrition, and coaching, took her on. DuBois is still Budha’s coach, and meets with her once a week online to check in and give weekly training plans for times and distances to run.&nbsp; Read also:<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/trail-running-trail-blazer"> Trail-running trail blazer</a>, Sanghamitra Subba “Three days a week I do speed work and two days I run uphills. On Wednesdays I do a long run, and one day a week I’m at the track doing many sets of 200s, 400s, 800s,” details Budha. “Full body strength training is very important for athletes too, I hit the weights about four times a week.” Sunmaya currently lives a nomadic running lifestyle, living and training wherever the next race is, although she is often in Kathmandu or Hong Kong. She stresses the importance of being flexible and mobile, as trail running can lead to a stiff, locked up, injured athlete very easily because of the amount of stress on the body, especially on a downhill. “Every trail runner is a serial ankle sprainer,” says Budha, who loves yoga and follows the Olympics avidly. She keeps her diet organic, avoiding ‘bazar’ foods. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/struggles-successes-of-south-asian-women-athletes">Struggles, successes of South Asian women athletes</a> The International Trail Running Association (ITRA) recently released a statement with a commitment to making trail running a part of the Brisbane Olympics and Paralympics in 2032. There is a chance that Budha will get to participate in<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/how-to-win-nepal-s-first-olympic-medal"> future Olympics</a>.&nbsp; What Budha likes most about trail running is that it puts her in nature, where the focus is always on how the route will change next, allowing her to remain completely in the present. She likes Europe the best. “The landscape there seems like it was built for trail running,” she says.&nbsp; Budha was also impressed by the development of the sport when she raced in China. She contrasts that with Nepal where she says the few races we have are not promoted well.&nbsp; “Nepalis just don’t want to pay to run in a race,” she adds. Budha is not very optimistic, nor does she expect support from her government. She says, “Of course it would be nice to have them care, but at the end of the day what can I tell them? You have to take control of your own life.”&nbsp;

Vishad Raj Onta

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Run, Sunmaya, run

In 2016, the Generation Amazing Foundation, which aims to improve the lives of a million people from disadvantaged communities globally through access to sport, built a new football pitch in Pokhara. In coordination with the local Adarsha Youth Club (AYC) young enthusiasts got to play football for the first time in their lives, attend training sessions and compete in mini-tournaments. They also got sports equipment including balls, gloves, and jerseys, and conducted training sessions.&nbsp; The facility included a small futsal area, separate changing rooms for boys and girls, and a stand for spectators. Similar pitches were built in Makwanpur and Kailali as well. Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/multimedia/food-vs-football">Food vs football</a>, Swapnil KC  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230623130628_78c22eb438612d072c3d08b96e56e4df7d4f14930021a5ed666318be9d0fc847.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20230623130628_78c22eb438612d072c3d08b96e56e4df7d4f14930021a5ed666318be9d0fc847" data-rendition-name="original" width="480" height="640" loading="lazy" alt="Scoring a better future for Nepal's soccer girls NT"> <figcaption>A player from Kaski's Siddhivinayak Boarding School receives a football trophy.</figcaption> </figure>  The Generation Amazing (GA) project by 2022 World Cup hosts Qatar provides young Nepali girls access to football was halted due to cost issues is being re-launched in Kaski.&nbsp; "Our club has been in touch with schoolgirls who were trained under the GA football pitch program,” says Padam Gurung of the AYC. “They are now interested in getting more training. I want to make sure that we will continue the girls’football training in the coming days.” Even while young Nepali women and girls have traditionally faced barriers to taking part in sports, female athletes, in particular female footballers, have made notable achievements on the national and regional stages.&nbsp; Read also:<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/news/football-for-a-better-world"> Football for a better world</a>  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230623130636_9c59dd20d6c397c6b1e7e1a654f28a927db64e5cb28c03785a23260d07629538.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="20230623130636_9c59dd20d6c397c6b1e7e1a654f28a927db64e5cb28c03785a23260d07629538" data-rendition-name="original" width="640" height="427" loading="lazy" alt="Scoring a better future for Nepal's soccer girls NT"> <figcaption>Training session at the footbal pitch built by Generation Amazing in Pokhara.</figcaption> </figure>  The Nepal Women’s football team made it to the finals of SAFF in 2010, 2012, 2014, 2019 and 2022. It also made it to the finals of the South Asian Games, and the team has moved up 22 places in the FIFA ranking since 2010. Kathmandu’s Dasarath Stadium was filled to capacity during the 2022 SAFF Women's Championship final between Nepal and Bangladesh. As it stands, the local community has welcomed the opportunity for girls in the area to be able to play football in Pokhara once again. One of them is Ajit Ojha, a former youth ambassador and computer teacher, who got involved with the AYC and Generation Amazing during a Disaster Risk Reduction training following the 2015 Nepal earthquake. Ojha was part of the project for two years from 2018-2019 and also introduced a program for the local deaf school so the pupils would be able to play football as well. In 2019, he went to Qatar as part of a delegation of Nepali ambassadors to attend the Generation Amazing festival. His sister Smriti also took part in the training.&nbsp; “Football training must have female players, and my sister took part. The girls from the city started playing football for the first time,” says Ojha. “I want to see the ground full of children, with girls from the communities." Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/migrating-to-play-football">Migrating to play football</a>  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230623130636_1b190654e06faecc3efeb2ca6efdef03bc45c27686ed1d19895986ae0abf0ad5.jpg" data-media-id="editor_5" data-image-id="20230623130636_1b190654e06faecc3efeb2ca6efdef03bc45c27686ed1d19895986ae0abf0ad5" data-rendition-name="original" width="640" height="360" loading="lazy" alt="Scoring a better future for Nepal's soccer girls NT"> <figcaption>Ajit Ojha with Generation Amazing players.</figcaption> </figure>  Ojha is particularly proud of how the training programmes and the competitions that gave locals a chance to be involved in football have brought discipline to his friends’ lives and changed them for the better.&nbsp; “At the time my friends were badly affected by smoking and alcoholism, but those small tournaments made them trust sport. The training kept them away from the alcohol and the cigarettes,” he explains. “They attended regular training sessions, played lots of tournaments and even won some.” Ojha is delighted by the club’s decision to let girls back in to use the facilities at Bhandardhik. He says, "I can truly say whenever I see a jersey with GA’s name printed on it, I can feel the change it has brought. It has been emotional for the youth in my community.” Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/female-foeticide-to-football">Female foeticide to football</a>, Srijana Singh Thakuri Anthony Harwood is a former foreign editor of the Daily Mail.

Scoring a better future for Nepal's soccer girls

<img width="1614" height="874" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110151120/636d08a59c7e80680e0a602cjpeg.jpg" alt=""/>With the Tokyo Olympics underway and Indian women winning medals, South Asia’s female athletes have been talking about the struggles they face at home and in society to take up sports as a profession.From Afghanistan to Nepal and Sri Lanka, women athletes in a webinar this week shared experiences of harassment, discouragement and lack of support, as well as inspiring stories of solidarity and success.“War has taken away everything from us,” said Khalida Popal, former captain of the Afghanistan Women’s National Football Team. “Someone had to take a step. I was harassed, criticised and attacked but didn’t give up. My fight was not just for myself. It was for my sisters and for all other women in my country.”The interaction of South Asian athletes ‘Women in Sports: Challenges and Wins’ was organised by the <a href="https://southasiapeace.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">South Asia Peace Action Network (Sapan)</a> and South Asia Women in Media (SAWM) on 25 July and came up with ideas for collaboration, including a book project and an association of South Asian women athletes. “South Asia is like our home,” Popal said. “Our pain is the same. What is missing is unity.” <figure><img width="652" height="516" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110151120/636d08a89c7e80680e0a602djpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption>Khalida Popal, former captain of the Afghanistan Women’s National Football Team.</figcaption></figure>Payoshni Mitra, a prominent activist advocating athletes’ rights and director of the Geneva-based Centre for Sport and Human Rights athletes, anchored the discussion and said that in a region where even access to education can be a challenge for girls, training for sports is even harder.Squash champion Noorena Shams, the first-ever international female athlete from Pakistan’s north-western region grew up in a conflict zone. “I can still hear the bombs,” she said, “I expected to die at any moment, and never thought I would play squash, especially at this level. I used to disguise myself as a boy to play cricket in Peshawar.”Shams adds that it is not about the trophy, or who wins medals. “We have to do it together, be there for each other,” she said.Bangladeshi basketball player Ashreen Mridha said that the responsibility for getting girls into sports was not with just the federations and sports bodies but also with friends, families, uncles, aunts and brothers, who all need to step up. “Gender inequality is not just a women’s problem to solve,” she said.The captain of Bangladesh’s cricket team, Ruhmana Ahmed, said female athletes faced greater challenges in fund-raising. Sana Mir, former captain of the Pakistan women’s cricket team, agreed:“Women must prove themselves in order to get funds, while men are financially supported even if they don’t win.” Even when women athletes outperform men in terms of medals, as in India, they still don’t get the same share of the limelight or funding. Participants also spoke about the importance of breaking gender stereotypes. Olympian swimmer Nisha Millet from India, her little twin daughters by her side during the webinar, urged women to get back into the game even after leaving competitive sport to contribute to raising the next generation of sportswomen through coaching, mentoring and promoting.Other athletes who spoke at the event included Ayesha Mansukhani, athlete and sports investor, from India, Caryll Tozer, activist and former netball player from Sri Lanka, Bangladeshi cricketer Champa Chakma, Mabia Akhter Shimanto, an award-winning weight-lifting champion from Bangladesh, Indian coach and cricketer Roopa Nagraj, and Preety Baral a national tennis player from Nepal.Besides the issues of leadership, funding, discrimination and fighting stereotypes common to women athletes around the region, there were concerns about the objectification of women and sexual harassment, which deserve more attention.Differently-abled athletes face an even more difficult struggle. “No one wanted to sponsor a blind runner,” said partially blind athlete Gulshan Naaz from the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.Participants at the webinar proposed working on a book project as well as setting up a South Asian women athletes’ association to promote female athletes in the region.<a href="http://www.southasiapeace.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">SouthAsiaPeace</a>

Struggles, successes of South Asian women athletes

‘One early morning, we heard the ambassador’s wife cry out, “Ram, Ram, Ram!” A disaster has befallen Nepal!” She had heard on the radio that a fire had consumed Singha Durbar." This is not about the arson attack on 9 September 2025, but the one on 8 July, 1973. It started in the South Wing of the then single-largest building in all of Nepal. It took two days to bring the blaze under control, requiring the use of explosives to demolish one wing to protect the imposing western facade. As Bhekh Bahadur Thapa recalls in the English translation of his memoir A Life in Public Service: Nepal from Autocracy to Democracy, he was then on leave from the Nepal government serving with the IDRC in Ottawa.&nbsp; He had already served as Nepal’s Finance Secretary at age 25, went on to be Finance Minister and Governor of Nepal Rastra Bank. He was already younger than some of the GenZ ministers in Nepal’s present RSP government. Thapa, now 89, was at the launch of the book in February which was attended by former diplomats and bureaucrats. After speeches by panelists, there was a question from the audience about how Thapa had managed to be the diplomat he was, managing Nepal’s international relations on the world stage.&nbsp; Writer and journalist Akhilesh Upadhyay, who was moderating the panel, responded by going into the section of the book where we see Thapa as an ambassador to the US, playing tennis with White House officials, cultivating a network of contacts to project the identity and welfare of Nepal, and making it possible for a state visit by King Birendra to Ronald Reagan’s America. The book is full of anecdotes that suggest Thapa was a clever and strategic diplomat, always calm and unruffled, easily making friends in high places with his maturity and engaging sense of humour. Thapa’s memoir is heavy on details about Nepal’s administrative history during the years he was active in public service, serving as minister and ambassador under three kings: Mahendra, Birendra and Gyanendra, and alongside five prime ministers.&nbsp; Aside from an insider look on how certain treaties, development deals and research projects in Nepal came into fruition, Thapa goes into great detail about his personal and professional relationships with the kings, ministers, ambassadors, foreign leaders and politicians.&nbsp; As a reader, one is struck by the level of detail around the events that unfolded in Nepal over the years during Thapa’s tenure. Was Thapa recording a journal over the years of the events and the conversations that transpired, or were they committed to his phenomenal memory? Either way, the reader gets a glimpse of Nepal’s recent history from the early days of the Panchayat, through the People’s Movement and the democracy period, the Maoist insurgency, Royal Palace massacre of 2001, and Gyanendra’s coup of 2005.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2026041204048_125dc8ae300a1e33124f394abe724d42727f83e067b0201d2008b58d60c459a4.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="2026041204048_125dc8ae300a1e33124f394abe724d42727f83e067b0201d2008b58d60c459a4" data-rendition-name="original" width="1584" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="How to win friends and influence nations NT"> </figure>  Not enough is said about the political parties of the time whose presence led to the way Nepal’s multiparty democracy came to be shaped. The book keeps its focus on the administration and the key figures around it, mostly those in the Panchayat era. Towards the second half of the book, we do start to hear about political parties, but not in great depth. Another figure whose presence in the book is conspicuously less prominent is that of his wife, Rita Thapa — the person who seems to have rescued him every time financial quandary or family care became a challenge. Yet, we do not see her as a full person. Perhaps because of the personal tragedies in his life, the children are also barely mentioned.&nbsp; The book is therefore less personal and more technical. Throughout, we learn about Thapa’s thinking as he navigated the world of diplomacy to win him the trust of those who mattered. There are tips here for a new generation of Nepali officials and diplomats about how much commitment and focus is needed to be good at one’s job and serve the national interest. This book adds to tomes that have been written on Nepal’s fragile relationship with India. ‘India has always wished for Nepal to remain dependent on it,’ writes Thapa, who served as Nepal’s ambassador to India and later in the Eminent Persons Group &nbsp;on Indo-Nepal relations that has been allowed to languish. The book has several insights into the Indo-Nepal trysts with diplomacy and agency.&nbsp; China’s role is also recorded, viewed through conversations during a visit to Beijing, but all that was before Nepal’s neighbour to the north emerged as a world economic and military power. The book also has such sudden instances of quirkiness and humour. For instance, we see a young Thapa in America explaining to a government official why he would like to return to Nepal instead of settling down in the US. “Because, Nepal is beautiful,” he said. The text is immaculate and does not read much like a translation, credit for which clearly goes to the team that put the edition together: translator Prawin Adhikari, &nbsp;Anagha Neelakanthan and Bhekh Thapa’s daughter, Manjushree. As Nepal enters a new era of governance and diplomacy, A Life in Public Service: Nepal from Autocracy to Democracy should be essential reading for students of political science, economics and foreign affairs who can gain a fresh perspective on the country’s trajectory.&nbsp; There are dozens of forgotten state secrets recorded in the book, but the reader must also remember this is a story told from one person’s perspective and there may be others.&nbsp; So, what really made Thapa the diplomat he was? I met him in 2004 at the Kantipur TV studio when he was serving as king Gyanendra’s foreign minister. He was there for a studio interview, and I was just done with my English newscast.&nbsp; He surprised me at the door: “Pratibha! I’ve been reading your articles in The Kathmandu Post. You must keep writing.” I thanked him, glad to have been noticed for my work by a stranger. That was perhaps one of the things that set Thapa apart — he excelled at staying close to those in power, while also noticing those who were not.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20260412040412_213e706136a038ec9f5e2b8c6d7f7c1e9ceed9479e22fe2884872ad7bd20955f.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20260412040412_213e706136a038ec9f5e2b8c6d7f7c1e9ceed9479e22fe2884872ad7bd20955f" data-rendition-name="original" width="1136" height="702" loading="lazy" alt="Book details"> </figure>

How to win friends and influence nations

This is the 91st episode of Diaspora Diaries, a Nepali Times series in collaboration with Migration Lab providing a platform to share experiences of living, working and studying abroad. I have still not come to terms with the reality that my daughter Ruby Thakur is now the Deputy Speaker of Nepal’s Parliament. Sometimes, when I am walking, the thought hits me, and I cannot believe it.&nbsp; Things changed for my daughter in a very short time. I had dreamt that the best my daughter could achieve was a good engineering job. Fate had bigger plans for her. She is no longer just my daughter, she is the nation’s daughter. Nepal’s daughter.&nbsp; My children’s education was always my foremost priority. That is the main reason I went overseas for employment. I realised the value of education while working in Saudi Arabia. In my office, colleagues with good education earn $8,000 per month working on computers. Those with low education toil outdoors in the heat for much lower wages. A good education or skills can change everything. I am in Nepal on vacation and will soon return to my job. Ruby is all set now. But I still have to take care of my other children's education. As the eldest son, I myself never got a chance to prioritise my own education. I dropped out in Grade 7 because I had to take care of my ageing parents and younger siblings. I have done all kinds of jobs. I worked in a landlord’s field for a share of the harvest. Even now my wife and I farm for the land owner and have to give away half of what we grow.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20260413120444_051b61e01a5189af538aa1e011acd3e2b38d5f42825116b2afd325d93d0c519b.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="20260413120444_051b61e01a5189af538aa1e011acd3e2b38d5f42825116b2afd325d93d0c519b" data-rendition-name="original" width="4032" height="2268" loading="lazy" alt="DD"> <figcaption>Sogarath Thakur during a break in Nepal with wife tending to his farm.</figcaption> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20260413120448_8a1c3ac3fd559026bc6f981cc8dc82cb8ad09a3a4f55fb9f6f7fd5f49c3d5571.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20260413120448_8a1c3ac3fd559026bc6f981cc8dc82cb8ad09a3a4f55fb9f6f7fd5f49c3d5571" data-rendition-name="original" width="4032" height="2268" loading="lazy" alt="DD"> </figure>  Then I worked as a barber, my family’s line of occupation. I went door to door cutting people’s hair and later worked in a relative’s saloon. Hairstyles were simple back then, and I got to keep half the fee. I also worked in a brick factory where I was paid weekly. &nbsp; I married when I was 16, and my wife was a year younger. As my family and responsibilities grew, I had to migrate leaving behind my three children including Ruby who was just three months old.&nbsp; I went to Qatar where I continued working as a barber. It was a large saloon and the standards for cleanliness and professionalism were higher. I had to hand over 70% of my daily earnings to the employer. I had to rely on my colleague to translate what the customer wanted. But I slowly became fluent in Arabic. I used to jot down words in Nepali and Arabic and memorise them. In Qatar, customers even came at night for haircuts, and people stayed up late. I would work till 3AM.&nbsp; Communicating with my family was one-way. I would go to Bismillah and ask someone to type out questions to my family about their whereabouts, how the harvest was that season. I would offer very little information about my life in Qatar because it was not easy. What was the point of getting them all worried? What could they do? I never received a letter in return, so throughout my time in Qatar, I never knew how my family was faring. When I appeared in the village after five years without any advance notice, it was a bittersweet reunion, and I had no gifts. I still remember how unfamiliar my village felt when I came home after so many years. I had to ask for directions. When I came home, Ruby was already in school. I had left her in my wife’s arms five years prior. I missed her growing up, and did not even see her pictures. My wife had to introduce her to me as her father. But it took just 15 minutes for her to warm up to me.&nbsp; The Arabic skills I had picked up in Qatar came in handy when I remigrated two years later to Saudi Arabia. I worked as a labourer in the desert heat, but once my company found out I spoke Arabic, I was hired for an indoor job as an office boy. The struggle in Qatar had paid off. I worked in an air conditioned office serving tea or coffee, doing bank runs or getting documents signed and photocopied. I have worked in the same company for the past 20 years, sending money home.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20260413120448_f083fa873a6d77b19c8b0bdde623415c643a151fb550c57ff4e52b3c2431355f.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20260413120448_f083fa873a6d77b19c8b0bdde623415c643a151fb550c57ff4e52b3c2431355f" data-rendition-name="original" width="5712" height="3213" loading="lazy" alt="DD"> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20260413120452_5ccd9a01ee05ce26b71381725108215d0f0d3806508b0cb482aabcfea09bbaef.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="20260413120452_5ccd9a01ee05ce26b71381725108215d0f0d3806508b0cb482aabcfea09bbaef" data-rendition-name="original" width="4032" height="3024" loading="lazy" alt="DD"> </figure>  My wife is not just my children’s guardian, but also mine throughout the two decades I was away. I trust her with all my earnings, and she manages our household finances well. She makes sure that the children’s school fees and other expenses are paid on time. These days, with video calls, things have become much easier for me to stay in touch with home.&nbsp; When Ruby told me she wanted to do an engineering diploma, I was happy. Later, her friends inspired her to join politics so she started getting involved with Shram Sanskriti Party. I first found out she got the proportional representation nomination through social media while on my work duty in Saudi Arabia. I was so excited, but even more so when she was elected Deputy Speaker. I was back home in Dhanusha on my vacation at the time.&nbsp; We are overjoyed and waiting for her to come back to the village for a visit when she gets a chance so we can celebrate properly with everyone. I plan to go back to Saudi Arabia as originally planned, I have a good job and will work for maybe five more years. Ruby has taken 75% of the load off my back. She can help take care of her siblings.&nbsp; I sleep at 8PM every day and wake up at 5AM to exercise before my day in Saudi Arabia begins – I have stuck to the same routine for the last two decades and it has worked well for me and my health. I have a good rapport with my boss who is an Egyptian. My requests to resign have often been met with counter-offers to stay on. My honesty and hard work have won me the company's trust. I will go back and resume working as I have, despite my daughter’s huge achievements. I am still a farmer’s son, a simple man who has to fulfil his family responsibilities. My colleagues in Saudi Arabia are aware that Ruby is Deputy Speaker in Nepal’s Parliament, they are all happy for me and have congratulated me. This time, when I go back, I have promised them that I will throw a bakhri party to celebrate my daughter’s achievement.

The nation’s daughter

Nepalis are insured but not covered

This week, discourse in Nepal’s public sphere has been dominated by numbers and net worth of ministers in the new government following their asset-disclosures.
The inventories revealed the considerable wealth of a majority of the new ministers. This unleashed a deluge of comments and opinion — mostly on social media.
Many considered that Nepal just replaced the old rich with a new rich and that nothing has changed.&nbsp;
Others see it as anti-RSP hysteria. Wealth accumulated when the leaders were private citizens should not be the business of the public, that their financial security will make them less inclined to corruption.
The argument is: plutocrats are less likely to be kleptocrats.
For most Nepalis who voted for the RSP, this has been a new reality check. Most had taken to the streets in September in large part due to outrage over the wealth gap between ordinary Nepalis and those who benefitted from and flaunted wealth and privilege gained through corruption, nepotism, and political connections.&nbsp;
Nepalis saw the nation’s new elected officials as a reflection of themselves — identifying with their youth, their social and professional backgrounds, their disillusionment with the entrenched power structure, their shared struggle. Nepal’s leaders finally seemed approachable and accessible.&nbsp;
The fact that most Cabinet members are well-off, in particular the fact that many of them have generational wealth— even though it might be honestly earned— has made them significantly less relatable to most Nepalis now.
This has also served as another reminder that the political hierarchy is still largely dominated by the privileged class.
Home Minister Sudan Gurung's defensive statement on social media which read, in part, ‘It is not your fault if you are born poor, but it is your fault if you die poor’ (a quote by Bill Gates) did not help.&nbsp;
Gurung later deleted this statement. It drew criticism because it framed poverty as a lack of initiative. This was reductive and unfair to the millions of Nepalis who work their entire lives, often venturing far from home in search for better opportunities. Many faced with unemployment and lack of capital, savings do not have the cushion of inherited wealth to fall back on.&nbsp;
This also serves is a reminder that Nepal does not just need competent leadership, it also needs empathetic leaders.
In any case, perhaps, the depth of scrutiny into how the ministers earned their wealth outside of politics might be unwarranted at this early point in many of their careers.&nbsp;
But on the issue of politico-administrative patronage, cronyism, and nepotism on which the RSP built its institutional and electoral platform, the leadership must be answerable to the public.&nbsp;
CONFLICT OF INTEREST
Last week, Prime Minister Balendra Shah relieved Labour Minister Dipak Sah of his portfolio after the RSP found him to have misused his position to ensure his wife’s appointment to the Health Insurance Board, an action for which Health Minister Nisha Mehta was also given an official warning.&nbsp;
But do the same rules apply to other leaders? The newly-appointed Attorney General Narayan Kandel was previously legal counsel to Rabi Lamichhane, and will now have to prosecute Laichhane’s pending cases, representing a clear conflict of interest.&nbsp;
Lamichhane himself has become a member of the State Affairs and Good Governance Committee, which oversees the very law enforcement agencies that are tasked with looking into his cases.&nbsp;
An analysis on Ukaalo this week also exposed how newly-elected RSP lawmakers, many of them influential business owners with direct stakes in the business, finance, tourism, and infrastructure sectors— now sit in Parliamentary Committees that would directly benefit their interests.&nbsp;
Meanwhile, after criticism of its directive that official notices be published or broadcast only on state-run media— police this week arrested a content creator for posting a derogatory video of political leaders including the Prime Minister. &nbsp;
This is the same rule-by-fear tactic thin-skinned leaders of the past have employed to restrict freedom of expression. A Prime Minister who previously publicly criticised the arrest of another rapper over his lyrics as ‘the police having nothing better to do’, who in his own music did not mince his words or shy away from epithets, and who was generous with expletives to lambast legacy parties and neighbouring nations on social media, cannot now countenance similar rhetoric by ordinary citizens.&nbsp;
The Prime Minister is yet to address Parliament let alone the nation. His reputation as a doer-not-a-talker, leader of mystery will only pacify the public for so long.&nbsp;
All this to prove that digital platforms are double-edged swords: the same network that propelled some to power also has the power to speak truth to it.&nbsp;