One of my friends working in an INGO is always suited and with a tie around in his neck. However, it is the Nepali cap on his head which stands out. A couple of weeks ago, I was taking to him about how the topi added to his personality. Turns out, his attachment with his headgear is not just a matter of dressing elegantly.
Last November, my friend was to return to Nepal from the U.S. En route, he had to fly from Little Rock, Colorado to Los Angeles, California. He completed the journey safely but at his arrival in LA, he learned that he had swapped his air-ticket for a connecting flight with his friend’s. There was no one he knew of in LA; and he didn’t carry phone numbers of his friends.
My friend was getting restless. He was told he had to wait for another day to get a new ticket. My friend sat in a corner, dejected, helpless. There may be many Nepalis living in LA, but how could he find them? Luckily, a few guys from Chitwan were in the airport to see off one of their friends. Spotting one of their countrymen — thanks to my friend’s distinct topi — in apparent distress, they inquired about his problem. They then took him to their LA apartment where he stayed for three days. They also pitched in for his ticket.
What more, at bed time, they sang folk songs to help relieve his tension. “It felt as if I was in Nepal,” he says. With his engaging personality, my friend does not take time to make friends. After waiting three days waiting for ticket, the day came to fly. All the friends waved him goodbye with tearful eyes. “I too was emotional with their hospitality. It was then that I developed new love for my cap,” he says.
The more we are westernised, the more we tend to assimilate the cultures of others, all the while forgetting our own. Furthermore, it’s the habit of quite a few Nepalis to forget everything back home when they land in developed countries. There are some Nepalis living abroad who would not give a fellow Nepali second glance. Getting farther and farther away from their roots, their growing (and misplaced) megalomania will only bring them more suffering. Those who prosper are the ones who carry the pleasure of being Nepalis wherever they go. The hand of support the LA Nepalis extended to my friend in trouble should be a lesson to all other Nepalis. This is again not a call to reach out to people of the same colour and ethnicity, but to embrace the diverse Nepali culture wherever one goes.
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