Nepalis are dotted all over the world and each individual has their own unique story. I’ve been fortunate enough to meet several Thai Nepalis here in Thailand and what a pleasure it has been. Even though some have never visited Nepal, they still strongly hold onto their Nepali values by celebrating Dashain & Tihar and speaking Nepali on a daily basis. I came to learn that in Thailand there are several groups of Nepalis, Burmese Nepalis from Burma, Thai Nepalis who have been living here for years (up to 3+ generations) and the recent batch of Nepalis from Nepal who have come to seek employment and education. I also had the wonderful privilege to meet Daeng Limbu, president of Thai Nepali Samaj in Phuket and also Mr Rai (Yadav Rai) and Taraman Rai. Even though our meet was brief, the memories shall remain and the conversations that we exchanged shall be remembered.
Below are photos of the TEEJ Event that took place in Phuket Patong Hotel on September 7 . The annual TEEJ celebration is always a wonderful occasion and an opportunity for the hundreds of Nepali women to come and celebrate their culture and meet one another. Apologies in advance for having only a few photos but better than nothing right?
And to everyone reading this, enjoy Teej.
PS. I shared the photo and caption below on my Facebook public page few weeks ago!
I am so grateful for everything that has happened through my blog and my online presence… And thank you to everyone who has viewed and shared by links/videos. I owe my popularity to you.
Here I am with Phanuphong Limbuprasertkul, also known by many as DAENG Dai. Dai is also the current president of Thai Nepali Association in Phuket. I never expected to meet Thai Nepalis during my trip but to meet several people here and to find out that they knew me was pretty overwhelming. Dai had a wonderful story, his great grandfather moved to Thailand a long time back but they never stopped speaking Nepali and celebrating Dashain/Tihar. Apart from his work in bringing together the Thai Nepalis and Burmese Nepalis of Phuket, dai is also investigating his Limbu heritage and is on a continuous journey to find out how his family moved to Thailand.
I urge parents and youngsters to communicate in Nepali especially in the UK. I have spent majority of my life abroad; it was only during my two-year stay in Nepal at the age of 12 that I felt it was a necessity for me to be 110% in Nepali. I wanted to wipe out that feeling of being a foreigner in my own country and also to avoid embarrassing situations such as when a cousin would say “talai yo padhnu audaina hai”. I am on that journey, and learning each day.
As we move “forward” we’ll automatically pick up English language and various things that come with ‘modern lifestyle’ but let us not break the link between moving forward and ‘backward’. Lets continue to let our minds wonder about how we have come to be… how our great grandparents lived and from what group we came from. It’s not ”cool” to not know or say ”malai Nepali audaina” and follow it up with a laugh…
PS. Kudos to the Thai Nepalis and Burmese Nepalis who have preserved our language and culture for so long.
if u really wanna know the roots of your grandparents. it wud be wise to start by not declaring teej as a complete nepali festival. although it is celeberated in nepal it is community specific. teej is a festival celebrated by the hindu khas community of nepal and not necessarily celebrated by all nepali. especailly during present period of of identity revival and the ongoing movement of political, cultural, equality. to make things easier i wud like to explain by stating the fact that nepal is multicultural and diverse community based nation. each community has its distinct culture…however there is monopoly, dominance of one minor particular caste brhamn , khas over majority of the community of nepal. the khas culture example dashain, teej, laxmi puja , rakhsa bandhan belonging to 20 percent of nepalese has dominated and marginalised the rest of the community;s culture formally through the constitution of nepal and practices. it is a period of constituitonal change and revival of the much dominated and marginalised culture at the moment. as such it is out most necessary to recognise every communitys culture unlike the mainstream outdated and and biased media which is on an ongoing process of losing its credibility which it rightfully deserves. i do not want to say teej is not a national festival but as long as the other communites festivals are not nationalised and in par with khas festivals..we are being nothing but biased unkowingly or unkowingly.
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