Kathmandu:

One chilly Saturday morning a couple of year ago, I met with my girlfriend of over seven years to go to go to the Manakama temple to get married secretly without consent from our families.

My girl friend was from the so-called lower caste so my family did not want me to marry her. They were forcing me to ditch the girl. I fought a long arduous battle, but could not win over their hearts. On the other hand, my girl’s family was also putting pressure on her to get married to a non-resident Nepali (NRN).

We had no other alternative but to elope, go far away from our homes and families and get married.

We embarked on the journey of a life together.

As the bus took us towards Manakamna, we held on to each other’s hands and talked about our future plans. We imagined that our life together would be blissful, free from all hassles. But my girlfriend was sad at the thought that we were getting married without any of our families being present. Every girl dreams of having a grand marriage, attended by families, friends, relatives and all near and dear ones. But ours was not to be so.

My girlfriend, now my wife, cried bitter tears.

It was obvious that once we married each other, there would not be any room for us in our families. So, we decided not to return to Kathmandu, but to go and settle in Pokhara. My wife’s maternal aunt was staying there all alone.

We accepted life as it came and we consoled each other and moved ahead.

My wife’s aunt was a great support to us as her story was similar to ours. She had suffered greatly in the hands of family members when she dared to marry someone from a lower caste. But she had buried the past and moved on.

We have a child who calls her Grandma and they are inseparable.

Today it does not matter whether my family accepts my wife or not, but till my last breath I will be fighting against discrimination based on caste and against racism.

I believe — if we all live under one sky and the blood surging in our veins is red, then one should not be judged based on colour and caste.