“From early childhood, my true love was for the boats. I started working in a hotel from the early age of 10 as father didn’t have money to send me to school. Tourists would come in an go and as a child I would wonder about their fair skin and towering height and the language they spoke. And I said, ‘Namaste’ and ‘Thank you’. Amused, they would give me tips. Every time I got, I would hang out with them. Sometimes they would take me boating and I would ask to paddle. I knew that one day I would own a boat. Back then that was my only dream, a child’s dream. After many years and struggles, I became a cook and saved enough money to buy a boat. I would rent the boat to the King when his family came to Ratna Mandir. And he too would give me tips. And boating became my life. Today I own 8 boats that I rent out. And sometimes, I sit here, smoke and think of my childhood, those tourists, and all the boats I have.” (Govinda Bahadur Bhujel, Baidam. Pokhara)