Nepal is home to Mount Everest and 25-year-old Krishna Dhungana, a Texas Tech University graduate student studying civil engineering. The landlocked country is located between India and China and is known for Lumbini, the birthplace of Buddha and the Buddhist religion.
Krishna Dhungana shows his school spirit for Texas Tech while he wears a traditional dacka from Nepal. The hat is called a dacka because of the fabric and is typically handmade. Photo by Anibal Galindo
Dhungana said each of his parents has a master’s degree, and they encouraged his pursuit of higher education. He said they suggested he apply to a university in the United States due to Nepal’s political unrest and recent overthrow of the monarchy. So Dhungana came to the U.S. in 2007.
“It was a right time, right place,” he said, “and everything fell into the right places, and I got here.”
As a young boy, Dhungana had the opportunity to study English in school, so the transition to the U.S. was easier.
Farmers in Nepal plant their crops in terraces cut out in the hills. Photo from inspirational-images.com
“In the world, like everything is in English,” he said, “all those big news channels, like newspapers. A lot of things are in English, and it helps a lot. A lot of popular movies are in English, and I think that helps people a lot to understand English a little better besides school.”
Dhungana said his interest in civil engineering was greatly influenced by the valley and hills where he grew up.
“Now there’s a hill,” he said, “and so a bunch of these people did something – now there’s a road. That kind of thing was fascinating. As a kid, ‘Wow, that’s interesting; it must be nice to be one of them who made things like that happen.’”
Nepal’s flag is the world’s only non-rectangular flag. Photo from the OneSeed Expedition website.
With a smile spreading across his face, Dhungana told another story of his childhood. In a premiere English newspaper for Nepal called The Kathmandu Post, there was a Sunday section in which the stories and poems of elementary and high school students were published. Dhungana’s father explained the children were paid for their work and suggested to his son that he should submit his poems.
His father helped him, and a seven-line poem Dhungana wrote about time – “For the Bee, Time is Honey” – was published in the newspaper. As a young boy, he said he was excited for the 100 rupees, today’s equivalence of one U.S. dollar, he was paid.
He continued to write poetry and saved the money he earned from his submissions. A girl named Pragya, who was in the fourth grade while he was in the fifth grade, gave him a valentine heart with “I love you” spelled out in seeds. With the money he saved from his poems, he took Pragya to lunch for Valentine’s Day.
“My dad had this amazing way of inspiring me,” he said, “or, like, making me push my limit, like finding things in me which I never thought I would be able to do.”
Dhungana said his parents have been to the base camp at the foot of Mount Everest, the world’s tallest mountain. Photo courtesy of REI Adventures.
Dhungana said his father works for the government and his mother is an activist. He said his dad would ask him to go to social awareness meetings with them and take photographs when he was young.
The meetings were boring for him as a child, but he was willing to go because he was able to use a fancy camera. Later, he said, his dad revealed he did not only want his son to take pictures.
“He wanted me to see big people talking big things in front of me,” he said.
Dhungana said the involvement of his parents and awareness from these meetings motivates him to be involved wherever he is.
As an undergraduate student, he was president of theTexas Tech student chapter of the Texas Society of Professional Engineers president, co-captain of the American Society of Civil Engineers steel bridge design team on campus, member of the engineering honor society, Tau Beta Pi, the civil engineering honor society, Chi Epsilon, Engineers Without Borders, and Tech Student Democrats.
Dhungana, first runner-up Mr. Texas Tech International 2014, stands with Posha Gharti Thapa, Miss Texas Tech International 2014. Photo courtesy of the Nepal Students’ Assocation Facebook.
He also said he was named first runner-up Mr. Texas Tech International for 2014, is involved in the Graduate Student Advisory Council, is running for graduate senator for the Student Government Association, and hopes to hold a position in a political office for the U.S. one day.
“I’m really passionate about making a difference,” he said. “I’m really passionate about people in general. I love people – everybody. And, it’s not because – Lubbock has played a huge role – but it’s in all of those meetings, everything that accumulated. I still have a big dream.”
Looking at his cowboy boots and adjusting a traditional Nepalese hat called a dacka, he said he loves America’s southern culture. He enjoys beer, country music, and the friendliness of Texas people.
About Nicole Molter
