‘The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence’

20^th May 2010, It was my third day in a hostel at Melbourne. I was sharing a dorm with three Irish Fellas. All of them were gone for work that day. I was lying on a bed, reading a guide book of Australia and planning for next destination. There was a knock on the door followed by its opening sound.

“Hello, my name is Jane, I am Canadian, I just arrived from Perth,” A Lady around 17-19 years of age standing by the door with her backpack said. She had a small funny looking musical instrument at the side of her huge bag that made me think that she was backpacking for quite long.

 “Hello, my name is ….… Kancha, I’m from Nepal,” I said.

“Nepal!!!” she was surprised to hear that.

“Yes, from Nepal.”

 “Wow beautiful country! One of my friends was there, she said that Nepal is truly amazing country and has lots of adventure. People who wear Metal band’s t-shirt really listen metal music, is that true?”

“Yes,” I replied.

She dropped her backpack and started searching for something in the bag. She took out a t-shirt with a Namaste sign on it and said “my friend brought this for me from Nepal.”

 “Wow that’s really cool,” I replied.

 “She said that this is the sign for greeting people, is that right?”

 “Yes”

 “I like it’s meaning the most that says I salute the God in you.”

I paused for a while, smile and shook my head back and forth. I realized how I just took things as they were; I never tried to find meaning on them. Today I knew meaning of  Namaste from a stranger who hardly knew where Nepal is. ‘I salute the God in you’ that really sounded nice.

“Is that a guitar?” I asked pointing to that funny looking Instrument.

 “Yes, I have a special name for it, it’s a backpacker’s guitar because it’s easy to carry and fit in my backpack.”

  “Which bunk is vacant?”

  “This one” I said showing the bunk bellow my bed.

She throws her stuffs on the floor and jumped on the bed.

 “Hey what are you doing?” she asked waking from the bed.

 “I’m reading a book”.

 “Well, I can see that, I mean what topic are you reading?”

 I smiled and said “about Tasmania.”

 “Cool!”

  “What are you doing tonight?” she asked.

 “Nothing”

 “That’s cool, I don’t have any plans either may be we should hangout together.”

 'Ok' was my reflex.

 “I’m going for a quick shower by that time you get ready”.

 “Ok,” I said.

She was gone for shower. I started getting strange feeling. We had just talked for few minutes but still I felt like we were friends since long. I got down to the floor from my bed. The floor was full of mesh, bags, clothes, shoes, shocks everywhere. I took out my pair of shoe from underneath the bed and tried hard to find my socks on the floor but just got one. I had to took my new socks out of the backpack.

“Hey are you ready?”                                                                                     

I turned my head to the voice that was her.

“That was quick, and you look beautiful,” I didn’t hesitate for the compliment. 

“Thank you and are you ready?” She asked me again.

 “Yes, almost”

 After wearing my shoes, I asked “Where to?”

“I don’t know I’m new here.”

 “I’m hungry, let’s get into some restaurants,” I said.

“Restaurants are boring and expensive, let’s buy something to eat at convenient store and we’ll sit and eat in the waterfront.”

 “Brilliant.”

 I noticed she was of my kind. We bought some sandwiches, fries and soda and walked to the waterfront.

The waterfront was beautiful and quiet. There was not much flow of people. We chose a nice and quiet place from where beautiful view of water and the Melbourne could be seen. 

“What were you doing in Perth?” I asked while trying to open the lid of the soda.

 “I was there for apple picking, as the season was over, I came Melbourne to find some job.”

'Wow, she was traveling and working together. I wished I could do that too.'

“Where are you planning to go after Australia?” I asked her before taking the bite of a sandwich.

“First I need to find a job here, make some money and then I’ll travel Asia, I’ll start from Laos.”

I paused and thought, ‘This is Life; I want to live this life. We Nepalese are missing this beauty of life, work for a while, save some money and explore the world. We cannot travel like them even if we have money because we have responsibilities toward our family and we need to save for the future.’ I was Jealous of her freedom. That was how I wanted to live my life.

As I was thinking on my own, “What do you do?” she asked.

 “I’m a student, I finished my Bachelor’s degree, worked for few years and as I was preparing for my Master, I thought of a taking a vacation and explore round the world, so I’m here.”

“Are you working here?” she asked.

“No I’m not; I’m in tourist visa without work permission.”

 “So who will pay for your traveling?”

 “My parents”

“What?” She was surprised to hear that. “You are lucky to have such blessing Parents.”

She was more surprised when she heard that my parents were paying my tuition fee for college and I was living with them.

“You are studying, you are traveling and your parents are paying for your study and your travel and in the mean time you don’t have to worry about living while you are back in your country. I am so Jealous of your life, I wish I could do that too,” She said.

So that was win-win situation. I remembered the popular saying ‘The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.’

“Do all the parents pay tuitions fee for college and university in Nepal?” she asked.

“So far I’ve seen in the capital city and in my hometown, it’s true for all average Nepalese citizens if they want to study.”

“Wow, that’s really nice.”

 “Where are your Parents?” I asked.

“When I left them they were in Vancouver, since then I’m not in contact with them.”

Now I realized the fact that we average Nepalese might be among few blissful families in the world where single person’s earning can hold the expense of whole family and still keep them happy. I also realized the fact that why our responsibilities toward parents had increased.

It was getting dark; the sun was rushing to say goodnight and dipping down the horizon. The wind was whistling in the shore, I looked at her; her hairs were floating with the zephyr. Her elegant smell was making the environment fresh.  I could see the innocence on her face and could realize that she was naïve to this strange world and not sure whether she was well prepared to face it or not but she was already onto it. She might be almost ten years younger than me but still smart enough to earn, plan and live on her own.

  “May be we should return back to hostel, it’s getting cold and dark,” She said.

“Ok.”