Incomplete Love

It was a computer class and all I could do was just look at her straight beautiful hair. My mind was out of class, just in her imagination. Her eyes, her looks and her beautiful glowing face which was just “wow!”. Her eyes were very hypnotizing just like the flowing river, her hair was as long as that of Rapunzel’s and she got a body just like Miss World, I loved her.

I was not able to concentrate on my studies and I was just mesmerized by her face just like any princess. I used to be lost in her beauty, her dress which was similar to others but she was different, she was very special to me. I always imagined my and her’s love story. As the day went by my love, emotions, and care for her were growing. I was so into her and used to get lost for which the teachers used to scold me. Despite the scoldings, my love for her was increasing. The days become happier to me when I saw her face. Every time she went far from me, I used to be very sad and my soul would be unhappy. She brightened my heart.

Picture Source: Vector Stock

When she flirted with other boys, I felt extremely jealous. When someone touched her my mind would be out of my control. Some times she also used to throw me her killer smile which was awesome.

Days went by and we used to talk, walk, eat, read-write and sit together. She started opening up with me. I had no idea, what was happening to me. It became too much and I shared with a teacher who I had a very friendly bond with. She said, “It’s a normal thing which can happen  to any girl.” 

“Oh! but why is my interest and love is growing day by day towards her?”I asked her.

“You are a lesbian.” 

I was in shock. She explained fully and clearly about what being a lesbian is like. “Feeling of love and care towards her, it’s a sign of being in love.” I felt like I fell from a tall building.

We used to chat all day and night. We asked each other about our day despite meeting in school every day. She used to bring chocolates for me and in return, I used to give her gifts.

Sometimes I remember my teacher's saying and I used to talk to myself, “Am I having wrong feelings for her, aren't I a normal girl?" but again I used to think love is love. After all, I can't control my feelings.

Picture Source: New Now Next

One day, while chatting like always, she confessed her feelings towards me. It turned out that she loved me too. I was in shock. I also confessed my love to her. And it was her turn to be in shock. It was the best day of my life. We became more close to the day.

We both went and shared our feelings with the teacher. Our teacher had a positive impact on us. We were happy that our teacher accepted our love. She said, " I accept you guys but I cannot take the decision which your parents would take. But I am very happy for you people. But I suggest you share this with your parents.”

My face used to brighten up just looking at her smile. She also used to be very excited to meet me.

Time passed, we were together for 3 years now. To celebrate our 3 years of togetherness we were decorating it with candles, flowers, balloons as well as red roses. That was our date. We celebrated the day just by talking and being together.

We spent a lot of time talking together. We both wanted to get married so we decided to confess our love to our parents.

After a few days, I asked my parents to take out some time for me. "Please listen to me carefully as this subject matter is very important."

"Yes dear, you can share anything with us," said my parents. 

Picture Source: The Advocate

"I am attracted to someone." 

"Please make it clear, love," my mother said.

"We have been together for almost 3 years now. We love each other very much and care for each other. I have never been this happy before. I want to spend my whole life with the love of my life. So today I want to talk to about my marriage." I confessed everything. 

"We want to meet your love, so let's fix a meeting with him and then we'll talk about your marriage. Is that okay?"

"Him!? What are you saying? I am in love with a girl. All these things I said are for a girl, not a boy." I said.

My parents got shocked. "Huh!!! What rubbish are you talking about? Have you gone mad? How did you take this step?" my parents started scolding me. 

" Please let's discuss this in quite," I tried to calm my parents. “It's normal and it's not our fault. I cannot control my feelings. It is not a disease to act in such a way. We are attracted to each other and love each other very much. Please understand us!" 

"It's a shame for you, us and our prestige. Never in a million years can we accept this. What will the others say?" My parents said. Then I was sent to my room. I could think of any better idea. My parents didn't support me.

After some time, everyone knew about us. Everything went back to normal and thought I could marry my love until one day I got to know that my marriage was fixed with a guy. At last, I had to marry the guy against my feelings.

Written By: Ankita Ramtel (Katha Bunaun-VI)
Facilitators: Vinayshree Kothari, Garima Hissaria

Edited By: Diya Barun Shrestha

Ankita is a student from Himalaya Boarding School, Budhanilkantha. She wrote this story as a final story for Katha Bunaun Program organized by Canopy Nepal in association with Wide Open Vistas.

Vinayshree and Garima are the amazing tutor duo, who have successfully conducted sessions for all three programs- EIC, Katha Bunaun and Lekhaun in different schools of Kathmandu. Alongside, they are also undertaking their undergraduate degree in Ace Institute of Management.

Diya Barun Shrestha is an intern at Canopy Nepal and is a first year student at St. Xaviers College, Maitighar.

My Journey at Canopy Nepal- Urishna Shakya, Programs Director

Urishna Shakya facilitating CANSHIP scholars during orientation
Picture Source: CANSHIP Facebook Page

My journey in Canopy Nepal started at the end of 2015 after my internship ended at a local national daily. I was looking for a place where I could work directly at the grassroots level, and a series of conversations with Mohit and Saif led me to be a part of the team. It was a big decision for me, to be a part of an idea in the making, to be a part of a new organization I would be held responsible for. There were a lot of uncertainties, too many questions, few answers, a lot of what-ifs, but one thing that glued me with the team and the idea of ‘Canopy Nepal’ was our persistence and the goal of creating positive change in children’s lives.

Urishna presenting Certificate of Appreciation to CANSHIP SEE Graduate
Picture Source: CANSHIP Facebook Page

From overseeing Learners’ Hub program, one of our very first programs, at its infancy stage, to developing it into a full-fledged month-long after school sessions, from searching for the right schools and building relations with them, to building our core team, I got to be a part of it all. Like in the growth of a tree, the one person who had planted the seeds in the first place can be given the bigger credit for its existence, but its growth and sustenance depend on all those who have to water and look after it afterward throughout its life. In the same way, in every step of Canopy’s life, all the team members who have been involved have nurtured and shaped it the way it is today. I have been quite fortunate to have witnessed most parts of it, if not all. 

Urishna explaining about  programs of Canopy Nepal in Innovation in Education Fair
Picture Source: Canopy Nepal Facebook Page

Joining Canopy has been one of the most important turning points of my life. I got a great opportunity to explore the education sector, learning in-depth as well as at a macro-level about ways of doing development differently in Nepal. I got a much stronger and clearer understanding of self, and what I wanted to do in life. I also got better questions to ask about how we work in the ‘development’ sector and also about life, in general. In the process of nurturing Canopy, I have been doing exactly what I love, which is to lead a dedicated team and learning from and growing with them every day.  

For me, Canopy Nepal is much more than just a youth-led organization. We aim to hone it as a common platform with shared ownership and belongingness of all its team members. Rather than sticking to the four walls of a regular office structure and working culture, we strive to be as creative and innovative as possible. From limiting the office hours to only 5days/ week, to overseeing the emotional well-being of our team, we make sure that everyone enjoys coming to work and is learning and growing to their utmost capability.

Urishna and her lady colleagues celebrating Women's Day at Office
Picture Source: Canopy Nepal Facebook Page

At the end of the day, it is not just about completing the given tasks, it is the extra mile that we want to go, without having anyone else ask for it, the motivation we get from within to do so, like  finished/ unfinished portrait of an artist, it is not in the mechanics of it or in making it look perfect, but in the steady, long, tiring, fun-filled process, the way things fall in place for everyone who is a part of it, the working culture has to be a win-win for all. 

It is also about taking the baton forward, taking the leadership forward by shifting the power and responsibilities from one group of leaders to the other. It is exciting to see the young leaders who are taking Canopy’s baton forward and are creating more of themselves among the new generation in the schools, colleges, organizations and the communities they come across. 

Author: Urishna Shakya

Canopy Nepal, with a team of enthusiastic youths, is providing scholarships, interactive sessions and workshops to improve the education system, little by little. The solutions provided by the experts are always implemented in our programs in the ways that fit them the best.

Lufthansa Group organized Impact Week in Nepal in a collaboration with King’s College

An entrepreneurship and innovation-focused non-profit program called “Impact Week” was organized for the first time in Nepal.

Hosted by King’s College in Kathmandu in collaboration with Germany’s Lufthansa Group Airlines, the Impact Week was conducted in two phases. In the first phase, seven European experts coached 18 Nepalese academic professionals and 18 international professionals about the “design thinking” methodology.

Similarly, in the second phase, the trained Junior Coaches guided about 120 students and young professionals from diverse colleges and field of studies through a design thinking process over a course of 4 days Impact Week Challenge to solve pressing local and national level challenges.

On 14th November, during the closing ceremony of Impact Week Challenge, all 18 teams pitched their final prototype solutions to a jury panel of international and Nepalese executives. Three teams received Lufthansa Group Impact Awards worth 1.5 Lakhs, 1 Lakh & 75 Thousand respectively in the form of financial aid to support the teams with implementing their solutions. The closing ceremony had the honorary presence and keynotes from Hon. Gokarna Bista, Minister for Labour, Employment & Social Security, Hon. Bidya Sundar Shakya, Mayor of Kathmandu and Mrs. Andrea Pernkopf, Managing Director of Lufthansa Help Alliance, Germany.

Alongside the support of Lufthansa’s social arm - help alliance - and the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in Kathmandu, representatives from various European multinational companies had come together to bring this global event to Nepal.

The Impact Week in Nepal was organized by a team of volunteers from Lufthansa Systems including the lead organizers Aman Bhattarai and Tilo Hillmer, and the lead coach Danny Tobisch. They are experts in their respective fields with a rich background of participating in Impact Week programs around the world. 

The challenges addressed during the Impact Week were focused on six areas including, Agriculture, Tourism, Mobility, Arts & Culture, Health and Education. The six tracks will be mentored by the following local organizations respectively: Eco Himal Nepal, Nepal Tourism Board, Tootle, Kathmandu City Planning Commission, Hospital for Advanced Medicine & Surgery, and King’s College. 

The German Ambassador to Nepal, Roland Schäfer expressed his admiration for the changing outlook of Nepal in the global scenario, from a country known for its beautiful mountain-ranges to becoming a country working on finding innovative solutions to its problems, which encourages development based on ideation and technological advancements.

“Knowledge and skills are the most precious things that are needed to foster Nepal’s economic and social development. I am excited to welcome global innovation experts, my colleagues from the Lufthansa Group and their skills and methodologies to Kathmandu and hope to foster user-centric social innovation growth among Nepalese youths through this unique collaboration,”  

said Aman Bhattarai, Senior Consultant at zeroG – a Lufthansa Group company – and lead organizer of the Impact Week Kathmandu.

While Saroj Basnet, Vice-chairman, KMC City Planning Commission, added 

“We are proud to collaborate with the Lufthansa Group and King’s College on the Impact Week program and are confident that the event will enable youths to think in a more user-centric way while pursuing their innovation journey.”

Narayan Dhakal, Managing Director, Eco Himal Nepal, stated, “All the six tracks are of utmost importance for the socio-economic development of the country. We are inspired and look forward to a huge impact of this event.”

“This event based on design-thinking approach towards solving real problems posed by the organizations in Nepal, engages the young minds of Nepalese students and professionals in the process and is an initiative towards ideating innovative solutions to our problems in a collaborative manner,”  

says Executive Director of King’s College, Narottam Aryal.

Overall, the program facilitates participants to connect with like-minded people from Kathmandu valley and around the world, to learn from both the experts and each other, and to create a real impact for their community and country. It contributes towards promoting innovation and entrepreneurship in emerging economies as the basis for sustainable growth. 

With the help of the design thinking method, local students and young professionals are empowered to develop the business ideas of their own and solutions to solve problems in their local or wider community.

This German award-winning program was established in 2015 in Kenya and has been successfully held in various emerging economies across the world. This year’s locations include India, Jordan, Ghana and Nepal.