“Her father had passed away at an early age and her mother abandoned her when she was 3 years old. I was also single handedly raised by my mother. When I started teaching in school, every morning, I had to go past the house where she was living. That is when I first noticed her. She had a peculiar and shy way of smiling at me. Her plight was however disheartening. She lived in a cowshed, no place for a human to live. Sometimes, I would stop and ask her if she needed any help. As we started talking and got to know each other, I would finish work and come back to her. Sometimes I would help her with her work at the house and with the animals and sometimes we would sit together and talk about our lives, of painful memories and of lost family. We gradually became close. I told her that I would not go around and meet other women. I promised her I would marry her and eventually we got married. And all these years of living together, enduring life’s struggles and working for our children, our relationship has flourished. There is no difference in opinion between us. Sometimes I look at her while she is busy doing her thing, and I feel like I am the luckiest married man.” (Shree Maan Gurung with his wife, Bahundanda, Lamjung)