{"id":11192,"date":"2017-03-10T16:06:00","date_gmt":"2017-03-10T10:21:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dorjegurung.com\/blog\/?p=11192"},"modified":"2023-05-29T08:10:38","modified_gmt":"2023-05-29T02:25:38","slug":"sole-survivor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dorjegurung.com\/blog\/2017\/03\/sole-survivor\/","title":{"rendered":"Sole Survivor"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Once upon a time, a very long long time ago, \ud83d\ude00  when I was teaching at a school that had been set up — and owned — by an oil company, a dear friend, jokingly, accused me of “selling my soul to oil!” I promised to “buy” it back — by returning to Nepal, at some point, and working in the education of the next generation of Nepalese children from low socio-economic backgrounds, as per one of my childhood dreams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have been back in Nepal for almost four years now trying to do just that, but, in the process, I seem to have lost…my soles! \ud83d\ude41<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pictured above are the really really comfortable Italian leather shoes I bought sometime in August 2011 in Doha, Qatar. They served me well, really well, for the time I worked at Qatar Academy<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They had been perfectly fine when I had packed them away<\/a> — in late April 2013 — preparing to return to Nepal when, following an incident in the cafeteria<\/a>, my second year at the school had come to a premature end two months earlier. (I would end up spending 12 days in jail<\/a> before I could return home.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And going by the photo above, taken yesterday morning, you wouldn’t be faulted for thinking that they could still be serving me well….almost six years since I first slid my feet into them!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They are not! \ud83d\ude41<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In \u201cThe Waiting Place\u2026\u201d[\u2026] \u201cNo! That\u2019s Not for [me]!\u201d<\/a>, I mention how the roads in Kathmandu are sometimes a source of amusement! Well, they are under construction ALL the time! Sure, some may NOT find that amusing, but, if you read Never End Piss And Love<\/a>, you’ll understand why I<\/em> find that amusing!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What’s more, Kathmandu roads are a real hazard. For one, the dust they kick up is a hazard to the lungs, they also reduce visibility and are an eye sore. For another, the perpetually under-construction roads are also a hazard for the drivers and are hard on vehicles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Forget d mountains, visibility is so bad even d Pink Palace is almost invisible from Durbar Marg roundabout. #KathmanduDustBowl<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/1tLairQ5S3<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014 Dorje Gurung (@Dorje_sDooing) March 1, 2017<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n