“I walked barefoot until the age of 21. One day father sat me by his side and asked me, ‘Son, would you like to wear shoes?’ I silently nodded my head but my happiness knew no bounds. I was getting a new pair of shoes, something that I had never worn in my life. I wondered what I had done to please my father for him to buy me shoes. We went to the market and he bought me shoes which I wore immediately. On our way back I happily showed off my new shoes to all my friends in the neighborhood. Sometime in the afternoon, father called me again and said that we were going to Banepa to meet a girl that I was going to marry. I could not believe what he was saying. I did not know what to say to father. If he had decided I was going to get married then there was no arguing or questioning his decision. I felt a lot of pressure but I finally understood why he had bought me those shoes. When we reached the girl’s house, she brought us tea and my father asked me in front of all those people. He said, ‘Do you like her or no?’ How could I say ‘no’ in front of all those people, I knew my father would lose face and his prestige because of a disobedient son, so I just nodded my head. The next year we were married. For 5 years, I and my wife would not talk to each other in front of my father. There was a lot of respect and also a lot of fear. We would talk and laugh in the absence of my father but never in front of him. You see, he had the face of a lion. It was only after our first child was born that I and my wife started talking openly. Such were the times, babu. Now times are changing and so are the stories.”

Purna Bhakta Konga, Panauti 7, Kavre