New Delhi to Surkhet a sweet move for Aanchal Dutt

Hi everyone. I'm Marty Logan. Thank you for listening to Nepal Now: On the Move. 

Let me know what you think of this episode, and if you have ideas for future guests. My email is nepalnowpod@gmail.com. I’ve done about 10 interviews to date for the show and I can see that it’s going to be much more difficult to find female guests than male ones, so please do send me tips about women who I might speak to. As a bit of a teaser, the people you’re going to hear from in future episodes have, for example: 

• Gone to study in Canada
• Migrated to work in Kuwait but had to return early and is now taking legal action against the people who sent them there
• Voluntarily left a rising career in Oman to return to Nepal to share the country’s cultural values with their child
• Worked for some months in the US, then some months in Nepal, and continues to go back and forth regularly.

The Covid-19 lockdown in New Delhi forced Aanchal Dutt to develop baking skills in order to satisfy her sweet tooth. Anxieties about her parents living hundreds of kilometres away in her hometown Surkhet, pushed her to give up life in the mega-city she had known from childhood to open a bakery in the small town once the restrictions had passed. 

Aanchal is one of a very small minority of Nepalis who are immigrating to the country instead of emigrating. But her/their story is important to hear if Nepal is to slow the now torrential flow of people leaving the country for what they hear are better opportunities abroad. 

Since I’ve been working on this revamped show, I’m quite sure that Aanchal is the only young Nepali I’ve met who hasn’t wanted to migrate and has actually returned here. The Cake House is now thriving, as a family affair, which I’m happy to say I witnessed when I was in Surkhet. (Btw, if you need a recommendation, the favourite sweet is cheesecake). Aanchal has also fallen in love with an alternative school that practises an holistic approach to learning, and is teaching English there. She says she understands why young people are leaving the country, but passionately urges them to return to help build a better Nepal.

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Music by audionautix.com.

Thank you to Himal Media in Patan Dhoka for the use of their studio.

Transcript

00:00:00 Aanchal 

Yes, I believe Nepal does not have good education opportunities and many young people are migrating for the purpose of education. 

00:00:09 Aanchal 

When you finish that education, when you get that experience, come back and whatever you learn. 

00:00:16 Aanchal 

Use it here. Execute it here. Show it here. Do it here. 

00:00:34 Marty 

Hi everyone. I'm Marty Logan. Thank you for choosing to listen to Nepal now on the move. 

00:00:41 Marty 

This is our second episode since we started focusing on migration to from and within Nepal today. We're speaking with the returnee. 

00:00:52 Marty 

Let me know what you think of this episode and if you have ideas for future guests. 

00:00:57 Marty 

My e-mail is nepalnowpod(at)gmail.com. 

00:01:02 Marty 

I've done about 10 interviews to date for the show, and I can see that it's going to be much more difficult to find female guests than male ones, so please do send me tips about women who I might speak to. 

00:01:16 Marty 

As a bit of a teaser, the people you're going to hear from in future episodes have, for example. 

00:01:22 Marty 

Gone to study in Canada. 

00:01:25 Marty 

Migrated to work in Kuwait but had to return early and are now taking legal action against the people who sent them there. 

00:01:34 Marty 

Voluntarily left a rising career in Oman to return to Nepal to share the country's cultural values with their child and. 

00:01:43 Marty 

Worked for some months in the US than someones in Nepal and now continues to go back and forth regularly. 

00:01:51 Marty 

The COVID-19 lockdown in New Delhi forced Aanchal Dutt to develop baking skills in order to satisfy her sweet tooth. 

00:02:00 Marty 

Anxieties about her parents living hundreds of kilometres away in her hometown Surkhet pushed her to give up life in the Mega city she had known from childhood to open a bakery in the small town. Once the restrictions had passed. Aanchal is one of a very small minority of Nepalese who are immigrating. 

00:02:21 Marty 

To the country instead of emigrating. 

00:02:24 Marty 

But her their story is important to hear. If Nepal is to slow the now torrential flow of people leaving the country. 

00:02:33 Marty 

For what they hear are better opportunities abroad. 

00:02:37 Marty 

Since I've been working on this revamp show, I'm quite sure that Aanchal is the only young Napoleon I've met who hasn't wanted to migrate and has actually returned here. 

00:02:49 Marty 

The cake house is now thriving as a family affair, which I'm happy to say I witnessed when I was. 

00:02:55 Marty 

In Surkhet. 

00:02:57 Marty 

By the way, if you need a recommendation, the favourite sweet there is cheesecake. 

00:03:03 Marty 

Ansel has also fallen in love with an alternative school that practises and holistic approach to learning, and she is teaching English. 

00:03:13 Marty 

She says she understands why young people are leaving the country, but passionately urges them to return to help build a better Nepal. Please listen now to our chat. 

00:03:27 Marty 

Answer that welcome to Nepal now on the. 

00:03:30 Marty 

Move. Thank you. 

00:03:32 Marty 

Nice to see you here in Kathmandu. 

00:03:34 Aanchal 

Nice to see you too, Maddy. 

00:03:36 Marty 

We first met in Surkhet. 

00:03:37 Aanchal 

Yeah, it was great. 

00:03:39 Marty 

Thank you very much for coming. I know you're really busy here in Kathmandu, so I appreciate you taking the time. 

00:03:45 Marty 

Today I want to talk a little bit. We want to talk about your life story, your short life story. So far you're quite young still and now I know you're very busy. You have a business that you operate and you also have a job that you do every day. So we're certainly going to talk about those two things. But first, if you can just give me. 

00:04:07 Marty 

A quick overview of. 

00:04:09 Marty 

Your earlier life, where you were born, grew up, went to school, that kind of. 

00:04:13 Aanchal 

Thing. So I was born and brought up in Delhi and I finished my education there. Like I finished my masters there and after doing my masters I decided to come back to my hometown. That is Surkhet. 

00:04:28 Marty 

OK. 

00:04:29 Marty 

That was very fast. That was a very. 

00:04:30 Aanchal 

Yeah. 

00:04:31 Marty 

Headline description. 

00:04:31 Aanchal 

Like I'm I'm so I'm so like tired of saying these things again and again again. So like I'm shutting down. 

00:04:37 Aanchal 

This is it. 

00:04:38 Marty 

I know the feeling. I get a lot of questions about my life and what I'm doing here as well. OK, great. So you grew up in Delhi. Yeah. So you're, you're Nepali growing up in Delhi. Is that how you describe it? 

00:04:52 Aanchal 

It yeah, probably. 

00:04:54 Marty 

OK. And then you did high school and College in Delhi or OK and finished college and then decided, OK. 

00:04:59 Aanchal 

Yes, in Delhi. 

00:05:03 Aanchal 

I finished my masters there, OK, and then I decided to come back to my. 

00:05:07 Aanchal 

Hometown, OK. 

00:05:09 Marty 

There's more questions to come. So what did you study? What did you do? 

00:05:13 Aanchal 

Your masters in I did my masters in. 

00:05:14 Marty 

Social work. And then you had you thought long and hard about whether you would come back to Nepal or stay in Delhi or was it just an automatic kind of journey for? 

00:05:26 Aanchal 

I always used to think that once I was retired. 

00:05:30 Aanchal 

Then I'll go back to Nepal. You know, I'll enjoy looking at the mountains. I'll enjoy the balcony view with the tea and cookies. I'll probably have my bakery somewhere near the hills, and I'll just feed little kids. I'll do that. 

00:05:44 Aanchal 

Old sweet grandmother, so I used to plan like that. But after COVID I I realised that life is too short to wait for the retirement. So yeah, it was during COVID times when I was away from my family because my parents were in Nepal and I was in Delhi and. 

00:06:05 Aanchal 

Daily has a lot of facilities. 

00:06:08 Aanchal 

You say education. You say hospitals, so I was not worried about myself during COVID, but I was extremely worried about my parents because they were in Nepal and Nepal doesn't have a lot of good, you know, not not everywhere. Kathmandu has good hospital facilities, but when you look at the other parts of Nepal. 

00:06:28 Aanchal 

Don't have it. So I was constantly worried. I was always worried that every night I would, I would go to my bed thinking. 

00:06:36 Aanchal 

Will I wake up listening to my parents? Hello or not? The next morning. So I was like, I cannot wait for my retirement. The moment this whole COVID thing got over, I told my family that I want to move back to Nepal. I want to come to Nepal. I have this Masters degree now. I'll get a job anywhere. I was pretty confident about that. 

00:06:58 Aanchal 

Uh, but then? 

00:07:01 Aanchal 

During COVID times I was also I was someone who never entered kitchen in my life. 

00:07:09 Aanchal 

You know, it was. It was my brother or it was my mother who were, who were they were so interested about cooking and all of those things. I was. I was never interested in all of that. But during COVID times. 

00:07:21 Aanchal 

I was always craving for sweet items. I could not get it anywhere, so I would always first. Initially I would watch YouTube and I would try to make it by myself. Sometimes it was amazing, like I would. I could not believe myself and sometimes it was even hard to cut a cake. 

00:07:39 Aanchal 

With a knife. 

00:07:42 Aanchal 

So after that I decided that OK, I should get some training. I should get some extra skill. 

00:07:47 Aanchal 

So I joined, I joined the baking classes for like a year. 

00:07:51 Aanchal 

And I was like, OK, maybe I should start a bakery right now. Maybe I should just go to Nepal and open a bakery right away. So initially, my father was like, what am I going to tell to everyone that my daughter has a Masters degree and now she's making cakes? 

00:08:11 Aanchal 

You want me to go to people and tell Dad and I was like, I don't know, you were responsible for that. I'm just gonna do my thing. My brother was very supportive. He was always supportive of business ideas. 

00:08:24 Aanchal 

I had this confidence that the worst that can happen is the business is going to fail and I'll have to pay back all the loans. But when this idea came up, I was only 25, so I was like I'm I'm just 25, I can do a lot of hard work even if the business fails, I can get a job anywhere because I do have a masters degree. 

00:08:46 Aanchal 

We do have some experience. I can get a job anywhere, so why not give this a chance? And even if it fails because I'll know after a year or so that the business is not doing good because of that masters degree. I had that confidence that even if the business fails. 

00:09:02 Aanchal 

I've got my education, I can go anywhere I can get a good shop and from that amount from my salary I can pay back the loan. 

00:09:09 Aanchal 

The business is doing great now. 

00:09:11 Aanchal 

I'm very happy with that and also I'm I'm teaching. I'm teaching in this school called Kopila Valley School. 

00:09:18 Aanchal 

The vision of the school is every child is safe, educated and loved, and one day I, a teacher, a teacher from that school, she came to my bakery and she said, I want you to come to our school and meet our children. Then I was like, I would love that because I've heard a lot about that school. And when I visited the school for the first time. 

00:09:39 Aanchal 

It was, it was love at first. 

00:09:40 Aanchal 

It for me, maybe I should, maybe I should just do something for these kids. That's the first thought that came in my head, and after a few months, I got an opportunity. Like I got a chance to join that school and I said yes. In the blink of an eye. 

00:09:56 Aanchal 

Now that's a long introduction that you were. 

00:09:58 Aanchal 

Looking. 

00:09:58 Marty 

For that, that is it. Thank you. But that's incredible. There's lots of very interesting things there. So, OK, the baking bug. So you you needed some sweet, a sweet fix during COVID. You started baking and some of it was good enough to really get you thinking about. 

00:10:12 

Yes. 

00:10:13 Aanchal 

Yeah. 

00:10:17 Marty 

How do I bake? Maybe I open a bakery. 

00:10:20 Marty 

So then you went back and it sounds like things went very quickly from idea to return to getting your loan, finding a place and setting up your bakery.. 

00:10:31 Aanchal 

Yeah, yeah. 

00:10:33 Marty 

And then while you were doing all of that, you also learned about the school, visited the school, and suddenly you now have a second major work thing happening in your life. 

00:10:39 Aanchal 

Right. 

00:10:45 Aanchal 

Yeah. 

00:10:46 Marty 

That's a lot. So tell me first about the bakery. Once you got beyond the fairy tale, part of it, did it go as you imagine? Like, did you find a place that you had thought of and did it kind of play out the way you thought it would, or what's it like today? How did you get there? 

00:11:04 Aanchal 

There. So when I was in India. 

00:11:06 Aanchal 

Uh. 

00:11:08 Aanchal 

Right near my home there was this small shop whenever I would visit the shop. 

00:11:14 Aanchal 

 I would see three young ladies doing something in this big bowl. Someone was melting the chocolate. Someone was putting it so they were all planning to open a bakery. Or maybe something like that. Initially they were just doing it online, but because I was right opposite to them, they wouldn't mind even if I was at that store, I didn't know them. 

00:11:34 Aanchal 

But they were sweet enough to let me in, and they were just three really young girls and I was like, wow, their their, their parents are letting them to do this so. 

00:11:46 Aanchal 

I was a bit inspired by those young ladies, but right after a few months that shop it closed down and then I got like I was. I was feeling very sad for them that maybe or they couldn't do it. I loved their enthusiasm. I I loved how they were just starting something. They were not following the usual. 

00:12:06 Aanchal 

Track of after bachelors I do my masters and then I get a job of nine to five. They were starting something else. 

00:12:14 Aanchal 

But then one day I was going to the main market with my brother. 

00:12:18 Aanchal 

And we saw this big shop and the young ladies were right there and I was like, Oh my God, from that tiny shop they have come here. And then after a few months, I went to another market and they had their brunch right there as well. And that inspired me like anything. And I'm like, wow. 

00:12:38 Aanchal 

I have heard a lot about so many inspiring people in my life via Internet or via newspapers or from my books. But I think for the young generation it is very, very important to actually see it from your own eyes. I decided that. 

00:12:58 Aanchal 

When I go back to my hometown, I want the kids. 

00:13:04 Aanchal 

To be inspired or to be motivated, or to actually see it. 

00:13:08 Aanchal 

Because I do believe in this chord by Mahatma Gandhi where he said be the change you wish to see in the world, you know I have seen a lot of younger generation always complaining about we don't have this in Nepal. We don't have this in Kathmandu. We don't have this in Surkhet, Surkhet is such a small. 

00:13:26 Aanchal 

Town. 

00:13:27 Aanchal 

They are always complaining. 

00:13:28 Aanchal 

Complaining, complaining and I'm like. 

00:13:31 Aanchal 

We can do something about it if if if I want to see young businesswoman, maybe I should start by being one. And yes, I I wanted my. I have my sisters back there. First I wanted them to see that this is possible. This is doable. My sisters have seen me. 

00:13:51 Aanchal 

Working hard from morning 5:00 to like to late, late night and now I a lot of college girls, they come to my shop and they ask me about how I started it and I have also seen them doing. 

00:14:08 Aanchal 

Small like they have shared their small business ideas with me and they're like we want to do this. We want to do that. I'm always pushing them. Go, go, go, go, go. You're. You can do it. It's it's the people who can make it better in some ways or the other. That's what I strongly. 

00:14:22 Marty 

Believe in. I've been to your bakery. Yeah, it's very nice. It's in a great location. You know, I really like that. 

00:14:29 Marty 

Area and and it's fairly visible as well I think. So you probably get a lot of, yeah walk in traffic and people curious to check out a bakery because I don't think there are. 

00:14:40 Marty 

That many bakeries. 

00:14:42 Marty 

In Surkhet, right? So you said earlier that the business is going well. Does that mean that is it only you, do you have people working for you or how do you run it on? 

00:14:51 

So it's. 

00:14:52 Marty 

A day-to-day. 

00:14:54 Aanchal 

It's a it's more like a family business, you can say because me and my sister-in-law, we both learned baking together. And when I started the business, my sister-in-law got pregnant and she was on rest for like a few months. 

00:15:10 Aanchal 

And then my brother, he really helped me a lot. My younger brother, my elder brother, who was in Delhi, he was always very supportive. My younger brother was always there with me whenever I needed him. So my family was very supportive of that. So it's now it has become more like a family business. 

00:15:30 Marty 

That's really interesting. I was speaking to someone I was interviewing and they had worked in the Gulf, a Gulf country, for more than a dozen years, or about a dozen years. 

00:15:44 Marty 

In retail kind of operation and so did very well and kind of started at a low level and moved up into management, had a really good career going and in 20 or before 2020, before COVID hit, he and his family decided they want to come. They wanted to come back to Nepal. 

00:16:03 Marty 

And so they came back, and one of the first things he did was start a small business. 

00:16:08 

Mm-hmm. 

00:16:09 Marty 

And very quickly, within some months, he gave it up. And the reason he gave it up was. 

00:16:17 Marty 

Kind of the red tape, all of the forms you have to fill out and offices. You need to go to and you know to get a business established. But I get the feeling listening to you that this is very much for you. You're very happy about being your own boss and and investing in your own business. 

00:16:36 Marty 

And it's going well. 

00:16:39 Aanchal 

Uh, the thing that you mentioned about all those red tapes and other things? 

00:16:47 Aanchal 

To support women and to encourage women, the Nepal government, they have this. 

00:16:53 Aanchal 

Loan called Women Empowerment Loan, where they provide somewhere around 15,00,000. 

00:16:59 Aanchal 

To a woman or to a girl who wants to start a business. It's for, especially for the business purpose. So I got to know about it. 

00:17:08 Aanchal 

Is. 

00:17:09 Aanchal 

I had just finished my masters and I did not have a lot of money and like I said, my father did not want me to do business initially because he wanted me to have a good job because I had a masters degree and he was like you can get a job anywhere. Initially he was not happy with the idea of me moving back to Nepal so early. He wanted me to get a lot of experience. 

00:17:30 Aanchal 

In Delhi. But I wanted to come back to Nepal. 

00:17:35 Aanchal 

And Nepal has this loan. Like I said, this woman empowerment loan my brother told me about that. And like, I was like, we need to go for it. Let's have that because I did not want to ask any money from my parents, from my family. I had a few savings and I used that. So for that, whenever you have to start a business. 

00:17:55 Aanchal 

You need to show like I bought one machine. 

00:18:00 Aanchal 

And I showed them the venue where I'll be doing the place my shop. This is the place and I bought one machine. I kept it there and I was like, OK, I had money this much. Now I need more money from you. So the bank people, they would come and they would see. And when they are convinced that yes, this person is actually going to start a business. 

00:18:21 Aanchal 

And then they provide you that that much amount 15,00,000. And yeah, I started my business like that and and it was it wasn't so hectic for me it was it was pretty smooth. 

00:18:34 Marty 

I don't want to forget this. Last time I was there and we we had a chat. 

00:18:39 Marty 

You told me about a group of people who had become possibly your some of your best customers, and I was very surprised to hear this. Do you want to tell that? 

00:18:46 

Uh-huh. 

00:18:50 Aanchal 

Can you? Can you just give me more? Can you tell me more about that? 

00:18:54 Marty 

There's a prison or more than one prison in Sir. 

00:18:57 Aanchal 

Cat. Yeah. Yeah, there. 

00:18:59 Marty 

Is and there are also customers. 

00:19:02 Aanchal 

Never mind. 

00:19:03 Aanchal 

OK, they're my best customers. I would say that so, so once we also do delivery and there was there was this day when I get a call and they asked me to deliver an 8 LB cake. 

00:19:07 Marty 

That's what's. 

00:19:21 Marty 

8 lbs yeah, I didn't even know you made 8 lbs. 

00:19:22 Aanchal 

Yeah, yeah. So they asked me to deliver an 8 lb cake in. 

00:19:30 Aanchal 

A prison. 

00:19:32 Aanchal 

And I had to reconfirm the address again because. 

00:19:36 Aanchal 

A I had no idea where the prison was. BI was shocked because he said prison. 

00:19:43 Aanchal 

But I didn't want to sound so rude and I was like, OK, can you please tell me the address again? And I was asking about the nearby localities that's there nearby shop that's there and. 

00:19:53 Aanchal 

He was like, yes, I need it there. And then he was asking about all the other props as well, like a hat or something and. 

00:20:02 Aanchal 

After again when he placed that order, I got another call from another person and. 

00:20:12 Aanchal 

He said that I need another 2 LB cake and he mentioned the same name. So. 

00:20:20 Aanchal 

That was a bit surprising. 

00:20:22 Aanchal 

For me, I wanted to go there personally to deliver that order because I had never seen a person before. I mean not from inside. I was not allowed to go inside, but there were. There were guards there at the gate and they would ask you to taste the cake yourself first. 

00:20:42 Marty 

No. 

00:20:42 Aanchal 

Because they want to make sure that you haven't mixed anything inside. 

00:20:47 Aanchal 

And then it goes inside for everyone who are there. Yeah. 

00:20:49 Marty 

Really. So they do that every time you go or only that? 

00:20:53 Aanchal 

Not only not only me when? Yeah, with every delivery. You need to taste it yourself 1st and then only it goes inside. 

00:20:54 Marty 

But every delivery they would do that. 

00:21:02 Aanchal 

And I pretty much like that idea, to be honest. Like they care about the prisoners. 

00:21:06 Aanchal 

Or, and that the people. 

00:21:08 Marty 

Wow. So now how often do you make cakes for that prison or? I don't know if there's more than one. 

00:21:16 Aanchal 

We get, uh, we get like. 

00:21:20 Aanchal 

Six to seven orders in AM. 

00:21:22 Aanchal 

From from that, that one prison. 

00:21:25 Marty 

And these are prisoners who are like ordering cakes for their friends, right? 

00:21:30 Aanchal 

I think sometimes sometimes it's the prisoners who probably take who probably request the guards. 

00:21:31 Marty 

Birthday, like a birthday or. 

00:21:40 Aanchal 

To order for them because it's a bit rude to ask, are you a prisoner or are you? 

00:21:46 Aanchal 

Are you the police? 

00:21:47 Aanchal 

So I don't really ask that, but I think it's sometimes it's the gods as well because they do ask me to mention the post of this particular man, and sometimes it's the Superintendent, sometimes it's the Commissioner. So. 

00:22:01 Aanchal 

When when we see that post, we get to know that, OK, it's for this, but sometimes it's for the other people who are also working as a kitchen staff. And sometimes I think it's, it's the prisoners as well sometimes. 

00:22:14 Marty 

That. Yeah, that's the the astonishing thing about that is obviously when you think of prisoners you think of. 

00:22:21 Marty 

Tough people harden people, not people with a soft side. And obviously that's a cliche. And of course people have different sides, no matter where they’re living and what they've done, but still, you wouldn't think of like these guys sitting around a table singing Happy Birthday to one another. 

00:22:41 Aanchal 

I think the main purpose of keeping a person in a prison. 

00:22:47 Aanchal 

Is. 

00:22:48 Aanchal 

To help that person become a better person. 

00:22:51 Aanchal 

And I think. 

00:22:53 Aanchal 

The. 

00:22:55 Aanchal 

Police and the other people of that prison prison of that particular prison are doing a pretty good job because of the amount of cakes order that I'm. 

00:23:04 Aanchal 

Getting. 

00:23:07 Aanchal 

They're doing a pretty good job having them this soft kind, you know, that kind of person. So yeah, but. 

00:23:14 Marty 

Recently. 

00:23:15 Aanchal 

I never imagined that it would be something like that. Like you said, I would always imagine a prisoner being this tough guy, this ******** guy. 

00:23:23 Aanchal 

Who is bad and all the things that we see in movies. 

00:23:27 Aanchal 

But it's not like that maybe. 

00:23:29 Marty 

Apparently not, unless there's, like, you know, three or four office staff who are getting really big bellies just from eating all those cakes. I guess you'll never know unless you go inside. 

00:23:30 

Yeah. 

00:23:37 Aanchal 

Yeah. 

00:23:40 Marty 

So tell me briefly a little bit about Kopila Valley School, because that's now become a completely other part of your life.  

00:23:49 Marty 

OK. 

00:23:51 Aanchal 

When I was in Delhi, I did hear about this school called Kopila Valley School. As the founder of the school got the CNN Hero Award and when I was reading the news and reading about her. 

00:24:06 Aanchal 

I got to know that she has opened this huge school in Surkhet, but I never got the chance to visit that school. But once I shifted permanently. 

00:24:18 Aanchal 

I got to know the people I got to meet, the people who were working in that school and one day the founder herself. She visited my bakery and I always wanted to meet her. 

00:24:32 Aanchal 

And when I met her, it was, it was beautiful, just to see her and how she was showing the love to all the kids. She came along with a 10K. 

00:24:43 Aanchal 

It's from the children home and they were they were all just enjoying. I was just constantly looking at her and we got to know about each other. That day we introduced, she introduced herself, even though she didn't have to. And I introduced myself and she has already heard a lot about me from other people. 

00:25:03 Aanchal 

And later, after a few months, I got this opportunity to be. 

00:25:10 Aanchal 

The English teacher in that school and I said yes, I am free early in the morning, so probably I can start from part time. 

00:25:21 Aanchal 

It's it's not a normal school where children just go and they pay their fees. A lot of kids there are orphan. 

00:25:29 Aanchal 

A lot of the kids come from the disadvantaged section of the society. 

00:25:34 Aanchal 

The education, the food, everything is free there till grade 12 and there are different school. There are different programmes in that school like Health and Wellness programme is there where we are also taking care of our own kids. We are also taking care of the family. 

00:25:54 Aanchal 

Of the kids who need counselling. 

00:25:57 Aanchal 

Or who need some regular assistance with that. That's this programme called Sustainability programme, you know where? 

00:26:06 Aanchal 

We are integrating sustainability with the curriculum. 

00:26:10 Aanchal 

That's provided by the government, for example, last year there was this whole from grade 3 to grade eight. I think they, like children, were taken to vegetable farms. 

00:26:23 Aanchal 

They were taken to cow farms. They were taken to different different places, so place based learning is there. 

00:26:31 Aanchal 

Then we integrated it with the curriculum that's there. 

00:26:35 Aanchal 

With Nets, with English, with science, with social whatever they saw there, how is it related with the things that we are reading in the books? So that was super amazing. 

00:26:47 Marty 

It sounds very all-encompassing and very kind of holistic. It sounds like a relative learning tool as well. Yeah. OK. 

00:26:54 Aanchal 

Yeah. 

00:26:57 Marty 

And in terms of you personally, so now as I was saying, you have two big additional responsibilities in your life. You have the business, which you explained to your family is really helping out with, but it's still also your responsibility. Now you have this job as a responsibility and you're here in Kathmandu. 

00:27:17 Marty 

With that job as well, with a couple of students, how has it been juggling those two with you have a little bit of time for your personal life, I'm sure. How has it been keeping everything going? 

00:27:31 

Ohh. 

00:27:33 Aanchal 

So someone told me. 

00:27:35 Aanchal 

When you love. 

00:27:37 Aanchal 

What you do then it's not a job. 

00:27:42 Aanchal 

Someone told me this many years ago and I think that's that's 100% true. 

00:27:48 Aanchal 

Like my cousins and my other friends, they keep complaining about what about your personal life? 

00:27:55 Aanchal 

There's no personal life. You don't have a personal life. And I'm like, what is a personal life? What is this life that you're talking about? Because I I love my bakery. 

00:28:07 Aanchal 

When I started my bakery, I had this vision that. 

00:28:12 Aanchal 

Whenever I will employ whenever I will have a new employee, it has to be a woman. It has to be a girl. 

00:28:19 Aanchal 

Because I want the girls of Surkhet, I want the women of Surkhet to see that. 

00:28:27 Aanchal 

When we actually want to do something, it's doable. It's achievable with your hard work with your determination, with your confidence, it's achieveable. 

00:28:37 Aanchal 

So my first vision for my bakery was I do not want any male employee it's it's a delivery. A girl will do it. It's baking a cake. A girl will do it. It's anything girls can do anything. I just wanted them to see it and that that. 

00:28:57 Aanchal 

That was my vision. That is still my vision. I only have girl employees. Sometimes my brother does enter the kitchen and we kick him out. 

00:29:06 Marty 

Guys. 

00:29:08 Aanchal 

And I I love. I love that place. I love my bakery. I love being with the girls. I love seeing them growing and learning. And in my in Kopila Valley School as well. 

00:29:23 Aanchal 

Whenever I see the kids, whenever I see them, you know, trying to be better, even if they make a lot of mistakes, sometimes even if they fight no matter what they do. I just love being around them and. 

00:29:39 Aanchal 

It's like I don't need a break actually. 

00:29:43 Aanchal 

When I have a break, I get bored. 

00:29:46 Aanchal 

I do manage to take some time out for my family. 

00:29:50 Aanchal 

Whenever I have a two or three day off from school, I just spend my time with my with my family, with my little nephew. I take my parents out sometimes and yeah, that's that. 

00:30:03 Marty 

So how long has it been now since you left Delhi? 

00:30:08 Aanchal 

I came in. 

00:30:10 Aanchal 

March 2022. 

00:30:13 Aanchal 

It's 324 now. 

00:30:16 Marty 

Almost two years, yeah. 

00:30:18 Marty 

And I'm guessing you never thought seriously about. Maybe I should have stayed in. 

00:30:23 Aanchal 

Delhi. No, not even for a single day. 

00:30:28 Aanchal 

I. 

00:30:30 Aanchal 

Delhi is an amazing place. I've got great memories there. I've spent my whole childhood there. 

00:30:37 Aanchal 

It's the most comfortable place for me in the world. I can say that because I know it. I know, like I know where to go. I know, I know. Ohh, this is my place. This is that, but. 

00:30:49 Aanchal 

Also. 

00:30:51 Aanchal 

It has been two years in Surkhet and I can literally go anywhere and say. 

00:30:58 Aanchal 

She's my person or he is my person. You know that bonding, that attachment is there, even if we are not blood related, but people are always there for you. 

00:31:10 Aanchal 

Even though they don't know you. 

00:31:12 Aanchal 

Like even though they have just seen me in my bakery shop and they have never talked to me. But. 

00:31:18 Aanchal 

They know me like that and. 

00:31:21 Aanchal 

Even when I don't ask for any help, they will be there and I've seen that not only in Surkhet but like a few week ago I was in Rukum. 

00:31:33 Aanchal 

With my friends, we just wanted to explore Rukum. 

00:31:37 Aanchal 

And. 

00:31:38 Aanchal 

I am not the kind of person who loves to track or who loves to hike, but I'm still learning. I'm still learning to walk on those trails. I fall more than 10 times in an hour, but I'm still learning and there was there was this place where I was extremely tired and I was just sitting under a tree and then a couple. 

00:31:58 Aanchal 

Couple came out from their tiny house and they came to me and they said are you hungry? I was extremely hungry at that time and I was like I I mean, I did not say yes, I did not say no and they went inside. 

00:32:15 Aanchal 

They got me two chapatis. They got me this. 

00:32:19 Aanchal 

Pure honey that they got from their own beehive thing and they were like, please have it. And after that, my few friends, they also joined me and they they got all of it for all of us. 

00:32:32 Marty 

Wow. 

00:32:33 Aanchal 

So this is the beauty of Nepal. I think people are always there for you. 

00:32:38 Aanchal 

Like I I. 

00:32:41 Aanchal 

I can walk freely on the roads of Surkhet without fearing anything, without fearing about anything. But in Delhi it's a bit hard. 

00:32:53 Aanchal 

It's like someone is always looking at you. Someone is always someone always wants to grab you whenever you are in a bus or something. It's like you are surrounded by so many people. But how many people are there for you actually? 

00:33:11 Marty 

Many, many people come back to Nepal. Many obviously are leaving and they don't come back for a long time, but others will come back to try it, right? Like they'll come back. They want to set up a business or they want to get a job. They want to return to. 

00:33:24 Marty 

Paul, but not all of them. And I would guess probably many of them don't have the same kind of positive experience that you had. 

00:33:34 Marty 

So I know it's very hard to speak generally, but what would you say to people who, let's say, they're they're thinking of coming back so that they could maybe be more prepared, have a better mindset. You must have had moments where things weren't going well. What advice would you give people who are thinking of coming back? 

00:33:54 Aanchal 

I do have a few cousins. 

00:33:56 Aanchal 

Who are planning to go to Australia? 

00:34:00 Aanchal 

One of my cousin,s he just left for UK. 

00:34:04 Aanchal 

And I have always been the one who's always saying, please don't go stay here. You can make it here. Please don't go. Stay here. You know, and I've got a few cousins who are still living abroad. And I keep telling them you need to come back. You cannot be there all the time. 

00:34:23 Aanchal 

Because if not us, then who will? 

00:34:27 Aanchal 

We have a lot of problems. That's the problem. 

00:34:32 Aanchal 

We don't have this. We don't have that. We need this. We need that. But how? 

00:34:36 Aanchal 

Or who or when? 

00:34:39 Aanchal 

We need to think about that, I think. 

00:34:43 Aanchal 

And I would always say if you are saying. 

00:34:47 Aanchal 

Like for example like I like I told you if if I was the one who would always complain about we don't have this in Surkhet. Like if we say we don't have kind speaking people in Surkhet. 

00:35:01 Aanchal 

Why don't you be the kind speaking person? Let's start with you. 

00:35:05 Aanchal 

Then maybe someone in your family will learn. Maybe your kids will learn. That's how we make it a better place. But it is a very slow process. 

00:35:16 Aanchal 

And if you think about Nepal, it's a very, very, very, very, very slow process. 

00:35:22 Aanchal 

But this generation wants everything very quickly. 

00:35:28 Aanchal 

Like I want an iPhone next month. Now an iPhone costs more than 2,00,000. You will not get a job right away after your masters even after your masters. 

00:35:39 Aanchal 

A2 Lane job anywhere in Nepal. 

00:35:42 Aanchal 

A few year sago. 

00:35:45 Aanchal 

I never thought that I'd be sitting here giving an interview about the whole, my whole success story or anything, even though not so successful right now. But. 

00:35:54 Aanchal 

Yes, I believe Nepal does not have good education opportunities and many young people are migrating for the purpose of education. 

00:36:04 Aanchal 

When you finish that education, when you get that experience, come back and whatever you learn. 

00:36:10 Aanchal 

Use it here. Execute it here. Show it here. Do it here. 

00:36:16 Aanchal 

You don't have to do it for 100 people. Do it for two people. 

00:36:21 Aanchal 

Start with that. 

00:36:23 Aanchal 

I do agree. Nepal does does have very, very limited job opportunities. 

00:36:29 Aanchal 

OK. 

00:36:30 Aanchal 

If you really wanna go out, go out learn. 

00:36:34 Aanchal 

Do savings come back and try it here. You will not get the exact same amount in dollars. 

00:36:42 Aanchal 

But maybe your kids. 

00:36:45 Aanchal 

Or maybe your grandkids will be proud of you because you created this world for them. 

00:36:52 Marty 

OK. Final question. Your dad was reluctant for you to come, and he was also reluctant for you to open a bakery instead of using using your education. How is he now? How does he feel about what you're doing? 

00:37:06 Aanchal 

So now, now he would bring his friends all the time and he would just proudly say that. 

00:37:13 Aanchal 

She's my daughter. She's doing this. She also teaches in Kopila Valley School. And then he would look at me and say don't take. 

00:37:20 Aanchal 

Any money from them? 

00:37:23 Aanchal 

Because they're my. 

00:37:23 Aanchal 

Friends and yeah, he's he's very proud. He's very proud of that and I'm happy that I'm. 

00:37:31 Aanchal 

Able to be that daughter. 

00:37:34 Marty 

Yeah, very good. Thank you very much for telling me this story. 

00:37:36 Aanchal 

Thank you, Mary, for having me. 

00:37:42 Marty 

Thank you once again to Aanchal Dutt for making time to talk to me during a busy trip to Kathmandu. Let us know what you thought of this episode and how you feel about the various changes we made to Nepal Now, from new music and opening to the people-centred approach, to the focus on migration. 

00:38:01 Mart 

We’re, (at)nepalnowpod on Instagram, LinkedIn and Facebook. 

00:38:07 Marty 

Next time we'll be talking to Bharat Adhikari, who returned from Oman, started a small business, then quickly gave it up. 

00:38:16 Marty 

I'll talk to you next time.