Nepal, July 3 -- This is the 96th episode of Diaspora Diaries, a Nepali Times series in collaboration with Migration Lab providing a platform to share experiences of living, working and studying abroad.

Growing up in Gulmi, I always wanted to enroll in the British Army. But I never made it. The natural fallback was the Indian Army.

My father was a migrant in India, as was my grandfather. We were four brothers and a sister, and remittances helped with our education and growth. Back then, 'galla' recruiters would come to villages looking for strong, young men to enroll in training centres.

I was selected in the physical tests at the British Army recruitment centre in Butwal, but I did not make it at the next stage in Pokhara. The British...