Returning to Nepal in 2013 after spending most of the preceding twenty-five years abroad felt less like a homecoming and more like a collision. I arrived fresh from a traumatic ordeal\u2014eleven nights and twelve days in police custody in Doha, Qatar\u2014only to sink back into a country I had successfully “escaped” as a teenager. I was returning after a years-long bout of depression, one of the causes of which I am pretty sure were two traumatic experiences as a child growing up in the country. I was returning to a country where I had already endured other deep personal struggles growing up, the reason for the “escape.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Back in a country filled with unresolved personal issues, I struggled immensely. My nature as a “bleeding heart”<\/a> did not help. However, as time passed, I discovered a painful truth: Nepali society is a harrowing place to suffer from social, emotional, or intellectual ailments. It isn’t just the stigma<\/a>; the poor quality of both formal and informal education ensures that the population does not learn how to provide support for and help people suffering from such ailments. In fact, the general\u2014and arguably more “harmless”\u2014approach many take is to simply not acknowledge or to avoid such individuals entirely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n My “bleeding heart” was subjected to a daily double betrayal. On one hand, I witnessed the complete and utter neglect by the State and those in positions of power and influence. On the other, I was struck by the chilling apathy of average Nepalis toward the plight of their fellow citizens, both at home and abroad. Finding that I could lean on no one, I had to help myself. While raging and crying in private remained a regular feature of my life in Nepal for years\u2014until around 2020<\/a> to be precise\u2014in public, I took steps to try to heal and cope.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One of the things I did was to adopt a specific coping mechanism: I forced myself to see the absurdity of things in Nepal, to try to see the funny side of things, and to try to laugh. While my first few satirical blog posts<\/a> might not have been a deliberate attempt at that, a couple of series I started on Twitter\/X were definitely deliberate. What began as a way to laugh through the pain quickly turned into a vital project of record-keeping. I needed to document exactly how shockingly and staggeringly patriarchal, sexist, and misogynistic Nepali society is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I started the first series in August 2016. It poked fun at the rampant sexism in the country using the theme song from the American sitcom Two and a Half Men<\/em>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n "Men men men men, manly men men men!The Double Betrayal<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Coping as Documentation<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Men men men men, manly men men men!" #Nepal<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/358I34T3NR<\/a><\/p>— Dorje Gurung, ScD (h.c.) (@Dorje_sDooing) August 2, 2016<\/a><\/blockquote>