Lost People
Apr. 19th, 2005 11:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
naomikritzerAre you one of the following people?
Sharada Adhikari
Pradip Adhikari
Puskar Adhikari
Prolad Adhikari (or Proulad Adhikari, I'm not sure how it's usually spelled)
Promod Adhikari
Urmila Adhikari (I think that was her last name, as well)
all of Dapcha, Nepal,
Nirmala Shrestha of Kathmandu, Nepal who I stayed with in 1993...
Please e-mail me. naomi.kritzer at alumni.carleton.edu.
I studied in Nepal in 1993; all of these people called me Namrata (my Nepali name) and probably would never, ever Google my real name. However, they might Google themselves, if they happened to get access to the Internet at some point. If they do, and find this page, I really hope they will get in touch with me.
Sharada, I would particularly love to hear from (or about) you.
Sharada was 15 years old when I stayed with her family in then-rural Dapcha. She initially told me that she hoped to become a teacher, but later confided that what she really wanted to do was write novels. She had written a seventy-page novel at that point, and what I would really like to note here is that she lived on a farm with no electricity; her family did own flashlights, but batteries were expensive, and mostly after dark her family burned candles and small wicked lamps for light.
When I Googled her name the other day I turned up a Sharada Adhikari who had published some children's books. I would love to believe that's her. There are so many problems inherent in Googling for a Nepali person, though -- not only is most of the country still off the grid (never mind the Internet), your last name is basically your ethnic group or caste. There are a lot of Adhikaris in Nepal. (This problem is even worse with my other host sister, Nirmala Shrestha. Shrestha is the last name used by most of the Newari ethnic group, which is the most populous group in the Kathmandu Valley.)
Unfortunately, yes, I lost touch with all these people after I left Nepal. Mail service was unreliable even in 1993. (It was not helped by the fact that Nepal did not have street addresses. Imagine trying to send mail to Molly Irish of Minneapolis, Near the River, and you kind of get the picture.) I can't imagine that the ongoing insurgency and general instability of the last ten years have made things better.
Since I'm creating a Google hit list of people I'd like to hear from again, here are some others.
Anastasia Plakhina, my old pen pal, of Moscow, Russia (USSR at the time) and later of Germany -- I would love to hear what you're up to.
Lisa Yarish and Jennifer Berven of Madison, Wisconsin -- old grade school friends -- I'd love to hear how you're doing.
Julie Thayer of Houston, Texas was my best buddy when I was three years old. I would love to know what you're doing these days.
Sharada Adhikari
Pradip Adhikari
Puskar Adhikari
Prolad Adhikari (or Proulad Adhikari, I'm not sure how it's usually spelled)
Promod Adhikari
Urmila Adhikari (I think that was her last name, as well)
all of Dapcha, Nepal,
Nirmala Shrestha of Kathmandu, Nepal who I stayed with in 1993...
Please e-mail me. naomi.kritzer at alumni.carleton.edu.
I studied in Nepal in 1993; all of these people called me Namrata (my Nepali name) and probably would never, ever Google my real name. However, they might Google themselves, if they happened to get access to the Internet at some point. If they do, and find this page, I really hope they will get in touch with me.
Sharada, I would particularly love to hear from (or about) you.
Sharada was 15 years old when I stayed with her family in then-rural Dapcha. She initially told me that she hoped to become a teacher, but later confided that what she really wanted to do was write novels. She had written a seventy-page novel at that point, and what I would really like to note here is that she lived on a farm with no electricity; her family did own flashlights, but batteries were expensive, and mostly after dark her family burned candles and small wicked lamps for light.
When I Googled her name the other day I turned up a Sharada Adhikari who had published some children's books. I would love to believe that's her. There are so many problems inherent in Googling for a Nepali person, though -- not only is most of the country still off the grid (never mind the Internet), your last name is basically your ethnic group or caste. There are a lot of Adhikaris in Nepal. (This problem is even worse with my other host sister, Nirmala Shrestha. Shrestha is the last name used by most of the Newari ethnic group, which is the most populous group in the Kathmandu Valley.)
Unfortunately, yes, I lost touch with all these people after I left Nepal. Mail service was unreliable even in 1993. (It was not helped by the fact that Nepal did not have street addresses. Imagine trying to send mail to Molly Irish of Minneapolis, Near the River, and you kind of get the picture.) I can't imagine that the ongoing insurgency and general instability of the last ten years have made things better.
Since I'm creating a Google hit list of people I'd like to hear from again, here are some others.
Anastasia Plakhina, my old pen pal, of Moscow, Russia (USSR at the time) and later of Germany -- I would love to hear what you're up to.
Lisa Yarish and Jennifer Berven of Madison, Wisconsin -- old grade school friends -- I'd love to hear how you're doing.
Julie Thayer of Houston, Texas was my best buddy when I was three years old. I would love to know what you're doing these days.
Anastasia
Date: 2005-05-14 08:13 pm (UTC)Anastasia
Date: 2007-02-10 12:09 am (UTC)I think you were looking for me:)
Anastasia
(School Nr. 79 in Moscow) (well, that time:)
me4sunny@rambler.ru