Simon Dhungana is currently serving his two year term as president of the Association of the Nepalese in the Americas, the ANA. Most people know ANA for the annual convention it puts together the July 4 weekend. It just might be the largest Nepali organization in America.
Simon dai was a few years senior to me at high school. And so we have a personal friendship going back long years. These past few weeks we have been in conversation on the topic of how to best organize the Nepalis in the Americas. I will not talk about everything we have talked about, but I think it is okay to touch upon some topics that have been publicly talked also by others. And there are some topics I will bring up that I hope to bring up with Simon dai himself in some of our future talks.
Nepali Diaspora: Rethink Time?
Superior Management Skills
I have great confidence in his management skills. I think you will see evidence of that at the convention in Boston. When the convention runs smoothly, it feels like it is so easy to put one together. Most people are not aware of the months of work that goes into putting together one.
Not only has he been doing a good job with all that the ANA has traditionally done, he has also been breaking new ground. Just a few days back the ANA opened up its offices in Kathmandu. There seems to be this telemedicine initiative that is in the works. He has put together an impressive national team.
Nepalis In America
There are 300 million people in America. There are perhaps 150,000 Nepalis in America. That is one small crowd. But we have our needs. Those needs have to be met. There is the need to bond. There is the need to serve the community. There is the need to give back to the country of origin.
My Personal Involvement
Showing up for a Nepali event in America as a Madhesi is like being a Madhesi in the Nepal Army, or being a Madhesi student at Budhanilkantha School. (The Word Madisey: Madisey Bhanne Shabda) Usually there are one or two in a room if that. You could argue Upendra Mahato, a Madhesi, served as the founding president of the NRNA - Non Resident Nepali Association - for years. Simon Dhungana himself succeeded a Madhesi - Naveen Dutta - as the ANA President. I myself was the only Nepali in America to have worked full time for Nepal's democracy movement a few years back. There were many, many part timers who did great work, but I was the only full timer. So it is not like I have been passive. But my involvement has been political and digital. My digital democracy organization Hamro Nepal has been my vehicle. Other than that I have not joined any organization. I am strong on Madhesi rights, and I am the person who introduced ANTA - Association of the Nepali Teraian in America - into New York City, but I never joined ANTA.
My organization Hamro Nepal is completely digital, but it is not a diaspora organization. It has members also in Nepal. It is a global organization. It has been a perfect vehicle for the political work I have done for Nepal so far, and will be for some more work I hope to do. It suits my needs. Yesterday I saw its Google Groups page had had almost 5,000 visitors in four days. That is not counting the people who access that mailing list entirely through email.
The digital nature of the organization also means I can stay camped in New York City. Like I said to Ratan Jha back in 2006, ANTA is social, cultural, I am political, I wish you all the best, but I can't join.
Nepalis In America, Madhesis In Nepal
When I think about Nepalis in America, I think about political issues like immigrant rights. But Nepalis are not exactly Beer Gorkhalis on that topic. They are largely missing in action. I find myself instead claiming my South Asian identity in New York City. I am half Indian anyway.
Reshma Saujani Courts South Asian Voters in Upper East Side Congressional Race (I have been quoted.)
Work At Hand
When we had dictatorship in Nepal, I worked full time for democracy. I did not work just for the Madhesi. Then I worked for the Madhesi movement. The lack of Pahadi moral support was noticeable. Equality has not yet been achieved for the Madhesi in Nepal, and I will continue my work, but for that work my digital ways are the best. It makes more sense to pick up the phone to talk to someone like Jay Prakash Gupta than to even hobnob with the few Madhesis in New York City who are better at having mastered the ways to happy being the Token Madhesi in the room than to being the Madhesi who questions why he - and it is almost always a he - is the only Madhesi in the room.
More importantly, I have moved on. Internet access is the voting right for this 21st century. And that is not a Nepal or Madhesh level thing. That is a Global South level thing. It is about the Blac identity, Blac as in Black, Latino, Asian Coalition. That is what my tech entrepreneurship is about. I might have to take a detour and work a job for about a year or so, and then relaunch my startup. (Union Square Ventures Job Opening: I Am Applying) I was done raising round one money and then most of my investors walked away last February reacting to the worst economy in 70 years.
Not Too Impressed
I have not been too impressed with the Pahadis in America. I was the only full timer Nepali for democracy in Nepal, but I was not asked to address even one democracy gathering in New York City of that time period. One event that was co-organized by my organization and I was to be the speaker, the Pahadi emcee managed to get my name off the list and tactfully introduced the final speaker and himself left the premises. The Madhesi movement in Nepal was met with outright hostility by some of the Pahadi democracy activists in New York. The anti-Madhesi prejudice is well and alive.
Most Nepalis working odd jobs in New York City have Indian bosses. There are some genuine workplace issues that have to be addressed. But we also lack the political consciousness to embrace the South Asian identity to empower ourselves.
Events
I go to Nepali events I go to. I go to Madhesi events I go to. I am friends with people I am friends with. But my digital organization (Hamro Nepal) is the only organization I see me involved with. I went to the ANA Convention in DC in 2002 because I was in DC that summer. I went to the ANA Convention in New Jersey in 2006 because it was nearby and I really wanted to meet Upendra Mahato in person, which I did. I might go to Boston for a day, if only because Simon dai and I have been in conversation. But my constant desire is to want to see 35 Madhesis in a room of 100 Nepalis, either in Nepal or in America. That will not be brought about by anything I might do in America. It will be done through political work in Nepal. Hello Nepal, America calling.
Madhesi Self Hate
To me it feels like I dropped out of high school in 1989 and I dropped out of college in 1997.
