Nepal, July 12 -- his is the 97th 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.

I was born in Morang in a simple family. My father was in the Police. Life was not easy.

School was just 10 minutes walk away. In Grade 3, my parents switched me to an English language school, but I was put in UKG where my classmates were much younger. I already knew basic Nepali and how to add and subtract by then.

I wanted to enroll in the Indian Army. What else could I do? I had good stamina and worked out quite hard to prepare for the Indian Army recruitment in Dharan, but I could not get in. I was too thin.

I tried once more in ...