Blog posts about my experiences at Qatar Academy, before, during, and after my twelve-day incarceration in a Doha jail in May 2013 for allegedly insulting Islam.
Two of the many questions I had when contemplating returning to Nepal: "Will Nepal have me?" and "Am I even for Nepal?"
Having lived in as many countries outside as I had, I felt I could be accepted by any place and people. But will I be accepted in Nepal and by the Nepalis?
What one does in life must be for oneself...not in a selfish way, of course. That is, the justification for and the drive behind one's most important decisions, actions, and values must be intrinsic.
In Feb. 2013, I turned down a, international teaching job offer to follow through with my plans to return to Nepal for good, after more than two decades abroad. I had many reasons for doing so. One was to see if Nepal was still my home, and, if not, if I could make it my home.
Music stirs you, in ways and for reasons one might not even understand. It had been stirring me since my traumatic, despair-filled days in Doha jail, except I didn't know why. Thanks to a welcome address given by a musician, describing how and why music does stirs you deeply, I do now.
Following a traffic accident, when the other party, unable to get their way, though they were at fault, lodged a "case" against me with the police. When I was told that, I was scared. I didn't know that the trauma of incarceration in Qatar had also engendered another feeling: fear of police cases and the the police.
A few heart-warming messages from Qatar Academy and a very surprising communication from the student whose father got me fired from my job and incarcerated.