ANU SHRESTHA: BREAKING THE SHACKLES OF ORTHODOXY

Anu Shrestha has had a chequered life but all those tough times even made her much stronger and more confident in her life.  

This is Anu Shrestha's journey from an unknown village girl to one of the pioneer rafters and kayakers of Nepal

By LB THAPA

The actual situation of Nepali women in a male-chauvinistic society is much deplorable and pathetic. Most women living in urban areas are considered better off than those women who are living in far-flung rural areas of the country, but the real mindset of the people against them has not changed much. This is what at least I have learned from the talk with Anu Shrestha.

 

Let’s know more about Anu Shrestha and her crusade against orthodoxy. Her life is more like an open book where every page is tinged with life, hope, and despair. So without further ado, let’s start what Anu Shrestha wants to share with us in her own words.

 

First, I want to greet the readers of this blog at home and abroad. Because I’m well aware of the readership of this blog who are from different parts of the world. I’m glad to have this opportunity to share my experience through this platform. Thank you Read 2b Happy.  

 

My name is Anu Shrestha and I’m from Goldhunga village. Very recently, my village has been included in Tarkeswor municipality. Though my village lies within the Kathmandu district, it is quite far from the meddling crowd of the city. 

 

I don’t ashamed of saying that I belong to a poor family. Life was always difficult in a large family of 10 members. Almost all the people who lived in my village were those of the Newari community. At home, we always used the Newari language to communicate with each other. As a result, I could not communicate in the Nepali language for a long time. I began learning the Nepali language only after joining the school.

 

Early on, extreme penury coaxed me into finding employment when I was just on the threshold of my teenage. I happened to join Royal Beach Camp, a reputed rafting company based in Kathmandu. I was working as a cleaner but I had to do all kinds of work there. I would also go with the rafting teams and cook food for them including cleaning dishes and keeping things in order.

 

However, the overall environment of Royal Beach Camp was excellent. Especially the owner of the Royal Beach Camp was a thorough gentleman. He did not mind if I joined rafting or kayaking teams and practiced with them in the water. In the beginning, I took all this as fun but later my interest grew and I took rafting and kayaking seriously.

 

One day I was so surprised when the senior rafters at the Royal Beach Camp advised me to take up rafting and kayaking seriously. Those senior rafters’ beliefs gave me enough strength to take up rafting and kayaking rather professionally.

 

Around that time, there was a Raft Rodeo Competition to be held. Along with boys, some girls also participated in the competition. It was such a nice coincidence that during the competition I met Sita Thapa, Sushmita Sunawar, and a few others. Sita and Sushmita were the seniors but I was until then not more than a beginner. We became very good friends and now we are working as a team for the development of rafting and kayaking among girls.  

 

I faintly remember but I think I had left Royal Beach Camp in 2009 and in the same year, I joined Ultimate Decent. I was well received in Ultimate Decent where I worked as an assistant rafting guide---at least I was promoted from a cleaner to a rafting guide---I was satisfied and more than happy.

 

While I was still working with the Ultimate Decent in 2010, I gave birth to my baby girl, Shreya. Though everything was going well, I had to resign from the job and stay with the baby at home. But growing family expenditures did put enough pressure on me to find a job. However, my baby was merely a tiny toddler and she desperately needed the company of her mother.

 

In the meantime, when the owner of the Ultimate Decent came to know that I was looking for employment, they immediately called me, and this way my second stint began at the Ultimate Decent.

 

I never received full-fledged support from my family in general and from society in particular. When a young girl spends nights outside and on top of, she has to work with boys then forget about people even your own family members cast aspersion on your character.

 

Even my husband could not understand my situation but he listened to the people instead. As a result, our marriage fell apart and I had to raise the baby alone. Literarily speaking I was left alone with my baby and there was no one to commiserate with me on my miserable condition. You can imagine my condition at that time.

 

Looking at the face of my baby, I had cried for days but soon I realized that this is a cruel world. I cannot wait for any miracle to happen in my life. I decided to face every challenge of my life head-on.

 

I threw all my energy into my profession. I would go with the rafting teams to all the famous rivers of the country and assist new rafters to learn the trade. When I was assisting the juniors, at the same time I was also developing my skills with perfection.

 

When my daughter was growing, at the same time, I was also climbing the ladder of success as a successful rafter and kayaker.

 

A golden moment came in my life when I successfully qualified to get a rafting judge license. This way I became the first Nepali woman-rafting judge in the country. Later I got yet another opportunity to visit Germany. But due to the earthquake in Nepal in 2015, I had to return home before completing the course in Germany.

 

Next time I received another opportunity to travel abroad when Inka Gurung invited me to visit Sweden. I spent three months in Sweden where I learned and taught my rafting and kayaking skills to young Swedish boys and girls.

 

There was a major breakthrough in my life when I was invited by Minakami a private Japanese rafting company. They wanted my professional services. Now I have developed a very good relationship with different rafting companies in Japan, which regularly call me for my services.

 

In the beginning, I had difficulty communicating with them because my boss did not know English and I could not speak Japanese. This created a big problem, as we were unable to communicate with each other. After having understood the importance of the Japanese language for the development of my professional career, I took the Japanese language seriously, and very soon, I became skilled in this language.

 

Quite interestingly enough when the tourism season is off in Nepal, it is a prime tourism season in Japan. In Japan, mostly I take amateur rafters to the rivers, but sometimes I do also take skilled ones. We mostly go to the Yasino River. This is the best river for rafting and kayaking in Japan. We do also take young boys and girls to Tonegaba Rivers for rafting and kayaking.

 

Now we are working very hard to encourage young girls to take rafting and kayaking as a profession. If they are physically well-built and have a passion for adventurous life then they cannot have a better profession than rafting. A career in rafting can bring financial stability in their lives and most importantly job satisfaction.

 

In fact, there is no such institution in the country so far where young girls are trained to become professional rafters. This is what now we want to do. We are five senior girls who have already started coaching the basics of rafting and kayaking to the young girls.

 

Right now when I’m speaking with you we are busy giving the basic rafting and kayaking training to four girls here in Pokhara. We have already spent one month but we still need a few more days to complete our practice.

 

Actually, after the completion of this training session, we want to prepare a women’s rafting team. Similarly, men are also practicing hard. From this competition, a national team will be made to participate in an international rafting competition.

 

Now I am already 35 and four of my senior colleagues are aging as well. Hence, we will not be able to continue our job as rafters and kayakers for a long time. Thus, in a situation like this, we want to divert our energy and experience to prepare young girls to help them take up rafting and kayaking as their professions.

also read: Rising against the gushing water

also read: A girl with a will of steel 

This was Anu Shrestha’s story. I hope you liked reading about the journey of her life that actually began from a village, as an ordinary village girl to now she is one of the pioneer rafters in Nepal. 

Your comment will encourage us. So please make your comment. We appreciate every single comment from our valued readers. Moreover, if you want to contact Anu Shrestha then her mobile number is 9841081386.   

LB Thapa is a Pokhara-based freelance writer and author.

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