FONNJ  Member /Family Introduction Section
 

Born of Mr. Gopal Singh Gurung, who served in the Gurkha Rifles in India, I was mostly educated in Assam, India. After having completed my Master’s in English Literature, our family migrated to Nepal in 1996 where I met Sharmila, my wife, who also lived intermittently in Nagpur, India, and Nepal as her father worked in Nagpur.

Though I had my education in India, I began my career as an academician in Nepal. I worked as a Lecturer of English at Pokhara University, where I taught English, Business Communication and Managerial Communication. I also worked at Prithwi Narayan Campus where I taught Poetry and Non-Western Studies to the M.A. students. In addition, besides teaching Technical Communication, I also administered and managed Pokhara Engineering College as the program coordinator from 1999 till 2003. In 2003 I came to Drew University in order to pursue Ph.D. studies in English. Currently, I am working on my dissertation on diaspora theory and Willa Cather. It is my deep felt interest in Willa Cather and my personal attempt to locate experience of home in dislocated spaces that have provided me with the impetus to bring Diaspora Theory to bear on the works of Willa Cather as part of my dissertation work.

As for Sharmila, having completed her Bachelor’s in Commerce, she moved to Nepal. In Nepal, she worked as an accountant in Little Step Boarding School, Pokhara, and also ran a self-employment training agency. After moving to the US, she has been the pillar around whom the sanity and stability of the family depends. 

Surekha and Pratik, our daughter and son respectively, have been a joy to have with us, and more so because we were only able to have them join us after two years of separation. At present, they go to Central Avenue School in Madison. Surekha is not only doing well in school but she is also a very promising cellist. In addition to being in the school and all-city orchestra, she is also a cellist in the Junior Strings, an ensemble of the New Jersey Youth Symphony. As for Pratik, he is doing great in school and is a proud member of the Madison cub scouts.  

He has been in New Jersey since 1987 working at the Raritan Valley Community College.  He is currently director of the Governmental Relations at the College. He lives in Branchburg, New Jersey with his wife Ellen, Daughter Tara and Son Anil. He has been involved with many Nepalese and American organizations for a long time.  In 2000, he was selected to be New Jersey Leadership Fellow- a year long leadership program.

He is the past President of the America-Nepal Society, Nepalese American Council and Nepa Pasa Puncha.  He is also editor of the Nepa Pasa Puncha's Dabuu magazine for the past 9 years.  Now he is the President of Friends of Nepal - New Jersey.

My wife Sevanti and I came to US as Fulbright scholars nearly forty years ago. We were at West Virginia University in Morgantown. Eventually Sevanti decided to stay at home and raise the kids while I continued my schooling and finished my Ph.D. degree in Genetics.

Money was very tight in those days, as being on a J-1 visa we were not allowed to work on campus. Later on, we worked as Nepali Language instructors and went to Hawaii to join the Peace Corps Training program there. For the first time we made some good money and we could afford to raise our standard of living little better.

While I was pursuing my education and training, the Nepalese government bureaucrats in Kathmandu played their usual mischief through pettiness and jealousy and refused to renew my passport. I officially became an out-of status (illegal) alien. The immigration officer assigned to our case was however, very understanding of our situation and I must say generous as well. He let us know that as long as I continued with my studies and promised to stay out of trouble (that was the time of anti-Viet Nam war demonstrations on university campuses across the country), he would not pursue my case.

At the end of my studies and post-doctoral training here, I returned to Nepal only to find out that the Nepalese government had no job for me. This made no sense, as the government had insisted previously that because of my government job I had to return to the country. Once again, I took refuge with the Peace Corps Office where I started to teach Nepali to foreigners in Kathmandu. Later through my connection with our very good friend Steve Yeaton at Peace Corps office, I returned to Davis California to participate in the Peace Corps Language training program.

After many negotiations and applications that included support and sponsorship from a US Senator, I was granted an immigration visa. Since neither I nor my family was not privileged with any fame or fortune, Nepalese government bureaucrats continued their pettiness and refused to issue me a passport to travel abroad. Our much-cherished dream of an immigration visa evaporated and my visa number expired. Eventually, the Minister of Agriculture at that time became sympathetic to my circumstances and finally ordered that my resignation from my non-existing government post be accepted. My resignation was accepted with a lot of publicity i.e., it was announced in the Gorkhapatra not with any commendation but to announce that I was relieved from the government post as 'an incompetent'; this news deeply hurt my father much more than me. Now finally freed of Nepalese government's twisted tentacles and through the unwavering support of my friend Steve at Peace Corps, I finally managed to receive my immigration visa this time for good. Within days, we left Nepal to pursue our American dream.

The Peace Corps has played a critical role in my life. I want to acknowledge the assistance I received from my friend Steve, without whose support at that critical juncture, my life quite possibly would have been very different today. We returned to U.S. and gain a foothold in the country. I started to re-build my career but there were still many challenges from the Nepalese government. I had lost a lot of time and opportunities so I had to start from the bottom again. Luckily, through the assistance of many friends and mentors, my career began to take shape again. My first break came when I got a post-doc position at the Pharmacology Department at WVU. Then I moved on to Lederle Laboratories of American Cyanamid Co. (later became American Home Products and now Wyeth Labs). Now I am with Pfizer, Inc. as head of Toxicology in the Consumer Division and responsible for safety evaluation of all products. It is a wonderful company; the job is challenging and gives a lot of satisfaction. I am also very much involved in a discovery program that I have charted more or less on my own. The looks and feel that one gets sometimes in discovery that you just may be standing on the threshold of new breakthroughs is incredibly inspiring.

My journey in the US has been a journey with many difficulties. With persistence and patience, I survived. I am very thankful for the opportunities that this country has provided, as I do not think it would have been possible to overcome these hurdles and survive in any other country.