Kathmandu :

We were the first couple to pass SLC together, and I was the second batch of women to give SLC in Nepal along with Sadhana and Sahana Pradhan, and Bhuwan Rana Singh.

There should not be any negativity in life as it harms you before it harms others. And social

service is not done for others but for yourself. It is a way to purify your heart and soul.

Compassion and determination gleam from her kind yet fiery eyes. Words are not enough to describe her contribution to the country and society. And in a soft but strong voice Angur Baba Joshi talks about life and the values and principles that define her as a person.

Angur Baba Joshi needs no introduction. An educationist, social worker, a former Member of Parliament, tourism entrepreneur... the titles that sit on her head are many, and even at the age of 76, Joshi says she still has much to do.

She is the epitome of what a person is capable of doing if only she has the passion.

Another daughter

Born in August 1932 to Deep Kumari and Pitambar Prasad Pant, Joshi was her parents’ second daughter of five children.

“It is said my grandmother was not very happy at my birth as my parents already had a daughter, and second daughter in a family in those days was not good news,” she remembers.

Then she got a baby brother and remembers people teasing her saying “father will love the eldest and mother will love the youngest, and you in the middle will not be loved”.

However, Joshi was her father’s pet and much pampered by him.

Learning at home

Though educating girls was almost rare back then, Joshi was taught at home along with her brothers. While in Kathmandu they were not allowed to go outside the house to play, but Joshi has fond memories of going to Bhairahawa with her father.

“While in Bhairahawa we used to run around and it used to be so much fun,” she reminiscences.

Her father used to carry homeopathy medicine for treatment of villagers. “Once we met this Tharu lady who had an infection on her breast. As a paraya (third) male was not allowed to touch her, I did the dressing following my father’s instructions. I think that was when my social service began,” she says.

Making history

Those were the days of early marriages, and Joshi was married at the age of 11 to Prof Dr Bal Ram Joshi, who was just 12 then. Joshi gives credit to her loving and progressive mother-in-law who treated her like a daughter and encouraged her to study. Thus, along with her husband she cleared her SLC in 1948.

“We were the first couple to pass SLC together, and I was the second batch of women to give SLC in Nepal along with Sadhana and Sahana Pradhan, and Bhuwan Rana Singh,” says Joshi with pride.

As they were young, Joshi recalls the “childish” plans that she and her husband used to have. “We wanted to become like Madam Curie and her husband, and take science in our

Intermediate.”

But their plan could not materialise as Joshi was refused admission in Tri Chandra College because she was a girl. “I cried the whole night, and ended up doing IA from home,” she says.

Becoming a mum

Their first child, son Kiran Raj, was born while she was doing her IA, and shares an interesting story about it.

“My parents were worried that I was not having any children. My mother-in-law got her son married at a very young age for grandchildren and my parents were thinking of asking her to get my husband married to someone else if I could not bear any child.”

Joshi has three children one son and two daughters Jyoti Sherchan and Prabha Rizal.

Education and after

Soon Joshi left for Benaras with her husband and younger brother to pursue her Bachelors in Political Science. She is the first woman in Nepal to do LLB and Masters, and also the first to go abroad for higher education.

She went to Oxford for higher studies with her husband on a British Council scholarship programme.

“When I came back, my children were grown up and my youngest daughter did not even recognise me properly,” she reveals. “The government assigned me as the principal of the Padma Kanya College (PK) and I served as one for 18 years.”

She was there “from choosing the land for the building till the gajur was put on the roof.”

“I cherish each and every moment I spent there,” she says.

Opening new doors

As the principal of PK she introduced subjects that she herself was deprived from studying like Science, dance and music.

As a career woman in a male dominated society, she recalls facing a lot of problem. “I was once a member of a committee, and when I spoke I heard one of the male colleagues saying, ‘Why is she speaking so much being a woman? What’s wrong with her?’. I was shocked. If he had commented on my points of view, I would have take it. But this kind of discrimination was filthy.”

Spiritual self

But Joshi was not the one to wallow in self pity. Spiritually very strong, she believes in values of life. “Spirituality is the essence of all religions,” she says.

She believes that intelligence is not enough; being wise is equally important.

She has always followed her principles and has never stepped back from the values that guide her.

Hailing from a very religious family that believed in helping minors, Joshi got involved in social work when she was chosen chairperson at the Nepal Mahila Sangathan, Kathmandu in 1962. She was soon helping women and children by educating and training them.

And she says quite proudly, “All these years I have never seen a woman who has asked for money, but they are more eager to learn and work.”

Concrete dreams

Apart from education and social service, Joshi contribution in the tourism sector is huge with an interesting story.

When she was in London, she had trouble telling people where Nepal was. She promised herself that she would do something to get Nepal the recognition it deserves, and she felt development of the tourism sector was the best way to do so.

She got involved in Tara Gaon and her dreams were given shape as the Hyatt Regency.

Her life today

Angur Baba Joshi is a strong, very strong person. She has battled two cancers, and survived to tell her story. An operation for cancer left her partially paralysed in the face, but she takes no notice of it.

“I don’t have problem with it. It does not stop me from eating and talking, so I did not opt for plastic surgery. If others have problem with it, then it’s their problem,” she says.

Today she spends time writing and reading books by Bal Krishna Sama, Lekh Nath Poudel, her guru Khaptad Baba and others.

Her husband is no more, and going through the photographs of those happy days with him, she talks about his dedication towards work and family, and his support that made her what she is today.

Angur Baba Joshi’s journey has not been an easy one. She faced discrimination because she was a female but as all great people she is thankful to all those who tried to discourage and discriminate against her as she believes they are the ones who gave her power to stand up and move forward.

She says she never got promotions because of her principles, but today she is proud to say she can hold her head high in society.

As a woman of today, she says, “There should not be any negativity in life as it harms you before it harms others. And social service is not done for others but for yourself. It is a way to purify your heart and soul.”