Category: identity
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I Love You Too
I was sitting alone on a Sunday evening watching the Super Bowl. I know very little about football. I watch it once a year, just enough to follow conversations the next day at work. It is one of those American rituals that feels important even when you do not fully belong to it. The game…
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History Repeats, But This Time She Leads
From Pamphlets to TikTok: Nepal’s Movements Across Generations By Sanman Thapa | 9/15/2025 —***— Demonstrators gathered outside Nepal’s Parliament in Kathmandu on Monday. One organizer said events this week escalated out of their control. Prabin Ranabhat/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images I originally wrote this piece as an op-ed right after September 12, when The Guardian…
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A Photograph I Found in an Old Album
While looking through an old album, I found a photograph of my factory brothers in Kathmandu — a reminder that Labor Day is not just about rest, but about dignity, memory, and the unseen hands that shape our world.
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Labor, Loss, and Resilience: An Immigrant’s Journey You Haven’t Heard Before
We weren’t asking for higher wages or shorter hours. All we wanted was a small stove, some tea leaves, and a little sugar to make it through the night shift. But when dignity is denied in small ways, it chips away at your spirit. That’s when we realized—it was never just about tea. It was…
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Holding the Story in My Hands – Reflections from the LA Times Festival of Books
After months of pushing through the noise of marketing fatigue and self-publishing pressure, I found a moment of peace and purpose behind my book table at the LA Times Festival of Books. This post reflects on what it meant to share A Fight for a Cup of Chai with readers face-to-face—and why slow, authentic growth…
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Recurring Dreams of the Sky: A Memory and Meaning
by Sanman Thapa | 01/19/2025 | 10:45 pm -***- Some dreams vanish into the depths of memory, while others linger, returning when we least expect them—puzzling, persistent, and full of intrigue. I first had this dream around 1979, and it returned in 2020. What does it mean when a childhood dream resurfaces decades later? Is…
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Gardening – How I Found Salvation During the Pandemic
By Sanman Thapa | 09-23-2024 | 9:35 pm –***– Growing up on a farm in Nepal, my days began with the unapologetic crowing of roosters and were filled with hard labor, plowing fields and praying to the weather gods that this season, for once, would be kind. It was the kind of life that built…
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Redefining Fatherhood: My Journey as a Stay-At-Home Dad
By Sanman Thapa |9-14-2024|11:18 pm -***- Growing up, I always imagined myself in a career that would allow me to provide for my family—something steady, respectable, something that made sense. But in 2009, when my wife Kim and I welcomed our son, Aiden, life threw us a curveball. The 2008 financial crash had already shaken…
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Caught In the Middle
By Sanman Thapa | August 27, 2024| 12:10 pm We sat on the rooftop cafe in Kathmandu Durbar Square, the sun dipping low in the sky as we waited for our afternoon snack—steaming plates of MoMos. Below us, hundreds, if not thousands, of pigeons swarmed around the Kaal Bhairav Temple—Aiden’s favorite spot—where people scattered seeds across…
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A Father’s Tale of Resilience and the Toddler Who Became His Guide
A father and his energetic 2.5-year-old son, Aiden, enjoy their time at the park. Aiden’s innocent curiosity about his father’s missing hand becomes a catalyst for the father’s journey from denial to acceptance. Through Aiden’s persistent inquiries, the father finds healing and gratitude, marking a significant shift in his life.
Sanman Thapa 