The Nepalese Legacy in Short Stories

By Danny Teller

Danny Teller is a UK national, and he was born in 1964. For most of his intrepid and industrious childhood, he lived in the UK before immigrating to Israel in the mid-1980s. In 2002 or nearly twenty years later, he left Israel and moved to America for a short and relaxing time. He subsequently moved from America to spend nearly six months teaching English in a small but very remote village in the southern part of Nepal between 2002 and 2003.

By the spring of 2003, Danny decided to return to the UK, where he spent the next few years working in a new career for two large retail companies in Central London. In some of his free time, he projected considerable amounts of efforts in creative writing, online blogs, publishing and improving his overall knowledge of IT. During this time, he also made numerous but mainly pleasurable trips to the African, Asian, American, and European Continents respectively.

Moreover, in recent times, such as in 2009, Danny has made another affluent move to the Peoples Democratic Republic of China. He is currently residing with his long-term companion Yvonne Wu, who, ever since the summer of 2014, became his Chinese wife. Danny is also the author of two other e-books, one of which was coauthored by Yvonne.

The Eternity of Being a Global Explorer is only available as an e-book which was published in 2013; Full of Jewish Promise and Spiritual adventures, which was available in e-book format as well as in hard copy, was published in later part of 2015 or the early part of 2016.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Partridge Publishing Singapore
• Release date: Jan 18, 2017
• ISBN: 9781482882452

Danny Teller

It sums up a great deal of relevant information about the many awesome challenges of relocation from one country to another. I knew what to expect from previous adventures. Thus, becoming a professional teacher has allowed me to project on my true talents to help educate the world’s most populous nation.

Book preview

Copyright © 2017 Danny Teller. All rights reserved.

ISBN

978-1-4828-8246-9 (sc)

978-1-4828-8245-2 (e)

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

www.partridgepublishing.com/singapore

01/18/2017

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Contents

Acknowledgements

Synopsis

Chapter 1:   A Shower of Flowers in Nepal (2003)

Chapter 2:   Celebrating My First Nepalese Wedding (2003)

Chapter 3:   Hospitality and Travel Nepalese Style (2005)

Chapter 4:   My Very Good Friend Kedar Nath Baral (2003)

Chapter 5:   Travesty (2002)

Chapter 6:   It’s Time for a Wedding with Chills, Thrills, and Spills (2002)

Chapter 7:   Fortune Telling of Mixed Fortunes

Chapter 8:   Hangman (November 2002)

Chapter 9:   My Very First Day at School (November 2002)

Chapter 10:   Induction and Presentation (February and March 2003)

Chapter 11:   Lumbini (2003)

Chapter 12:   In the Limelight and Full of Nepalese Passion

Chapter 13:   Working from the Bottom of My Heart and Then Saying Goodbye (2005)

Chapter 14:   A Cold Shower in Nepal (2002–03)

Chapter 15:   Sugar Cane in Nepal (January 2003)

Chapter 16:   The Thunder and Lightning Was Simply Awesome (2003)

Chapter 17:   Calamity at My School

Chapter 18:   Companion (2005)

Chapter 19:   One Taste of Dahl Bhat (Rice and Lentils) Simply Wasn’t Enough, So It Was Time for Another Helping

Chapter 20:   From the Delight in the Himalayas, Welcome to the Jinhu Hot Springs

Conclusion

About the Author

Acknowledgements

Normally I would make a long list of people, organizations, and developments that were responsible for helping or inspiring me to write this and other books. It’s fitting that God should be the first one because without Him (or Her) I would never have been given the breath of life. Naturally I am very grateful for this. But few people have guided me more than Yvonne Wu since I arrived in China in 2009.

The other honor comes from Singapore-based Partridge Publishing for making this publication possible at a reasonable cost. Most self-publishing companies charge high sums of money to authors, especially if they are not well known. Some authors wish to be recognized as celebrities, and others do it for leisure. I would simply love to be recognized and respected by society for trying to make the world a better place to live in for all concerned – so help me God.

Synopsis

Drawing conclusions about my adventures in this world can often be an arduous task due to the number that I have had since 1980. It’s often difficult to know where to begin telling my fantastic tale about my three stimulating trips to Nepal. I never experienced a dull moment because I found a temporary but hospitable home with the most charming of people.

Between 2002 and 2012, I made three journeys to this mysterious country in Central Asia. During two of them, I made a conscientious effort to write a series of short stories that depicted exactly what I did and how and when I did it.

To say that it was an exhilarating experience would be a gross understatement because I had the time of my industrious life, considering all the unforeseen and underlying circumstances that came about only partially because I was a foreigner from the West with pale white skin.

Let me put it even more plainly: I was so different from the rest that from the moment I stepped off the plane in 2002 (and again in 2005), it felt as if I entered into another world where the people, land, religion, culture, and hospitality were second to none, and everywhere I went, it felt as if a red carpet had been put under my feet to prevent me from getting dirty or wet.

In this book I attempt to draw meaningful conclusions regarding my happiness and try to describe the progress I made and the reasons why it was so much fun from beginning to end.

Another important issue is that I hardly ever stopped being happy and smiling. Unfortunately, I came from a dysfunctional background. It’s hard for me to keep a smile for even five minutes. So imagine how I felt in an atmosphere of constant tranquillity.

During my stay in the village, I also felt safe and secure twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. Nothing was ever stolen from my private room, even when I left out money or my passport without a lock and key to protect them.

You will soon learn that I had much to write about despite often having the barest necessities to survive on. I wasn’t completely cut off from the rest of the world. On the contrary, I had everything I could possibly want for what I needed to do. But my reduced circumstances helped to calm me down and find genuine peace. Being treated well by anyone in this world can enable you to become mature and humble. But one of the most important aspects of living in the village was that I discovered in myself some hidden qualities that were waiting to be used.

In my many travels in the world I also found peace, loving harmony, and tranquillity. Finding these things depends on what you are looking for because we are all so different in mind, body, and spirit.

Furthermore, I learned that what you expect you don’t receive, and what you receive you don’t expect. That just about sums up most of my feelings in a nutshell. What suits one person may not satisfy someone else.

Before finishing this introduction, I want to mention a Nepalese way of greeting guests that sticks in my mind. They would say, ‘Dear travelers, you are more than welcome to come to our country as guests, but you must leave as loyal and everlasting friends.’ That just captures my conclusions regarding Nepal and the people who lived there when I was there.

The time has arrived for you to sit in a comfortable chair, take a deep breath, and delve into the world of Central Asia. I sincerely hope that you never stop smiling while reading this book.

This book is dedicated to those people I have truly loved. Not the least of these is my beloved and cherished Chinese wife, Yvonne Wu. Without her help and guidance in China, I would never have created the strong personality and stability that I have achieved so far.

—Danny Teller

Chapter 1

A Shower of Flowers in Nepal (2003)

Visit from October 2002 to April 2003, also February and March 2005

This is just one of the many examples of Nepalese hospitality, the way I was treated.

In April 2003, I completed a successful and enjoyable teaching program in the southern part of Nepal. All the teachers of my school invited me back to the main staffroom for a farewell send-off. My program had been extended by the education system due to the popularity of my teaching and guidance.

Having contributed tremendously to the Jana Pradepan English boarding school in Patihani, Chitwan, I was now recognized as a local hero. This area was considered to be remote by Nepali standards. However, this place was close compared to many other parts well off the beaten track in Nepal, where I heard there was no power supply at all.

My school had been the ideal place for me to teach, but it was time for the teachers to say farewell. About eighteen teachers had graced me during my classes and treated me like a king. The children were not present this afternoon, and it took some effort for all the staff to attend because this was during a brief summer break. We gathered around inside the staffroom so the speeches could be made. The men were better at speaking than the women because of their level of English.

However, what English the women knew they used. Following an experience in a school of extraordinary calibre, it was time for my speech in my own little space. It lasted but a few minutes, but I didn’t speak in Nepali