KATHMANDU, MARCH 5
Twin brothers, Subin Timalsina (20) and Subodh Timalsina (20), cast their first vote for change in Mahalakshmi Municipality-1, Lalitpur Constituency-2.
In an interview with The Himalayan Times, they stated that while they do not expect much from Nepali leaders, there are some basic areas where they can improve, such as education and digitisation. "However, the irony is as such we are grappling for our basic fulfilment," they told.
The twin Timalsina brothers are nearing the end of their BSc.CSIT studies at Tribhuvan University, where they claim the system operates at two speeds. Even though CSIT has recently become more regular, other programmes, such as BCA, continue to experience significant delays: some of their own classmates are stuck a full semester behind because exams were postponed during the elections, and results that were promised within 90 days frequently take six or seven months.
They lamented that their curriculum is severely out of date, particularly in AI, where they are required to study machines from the 1990s that they have never seen, and that course revisions only occur once every few decades.
They also claimed that obtaining official documents can take an entire day. "The government doesn't care," they claimed, and while they continue to hope that new leaders will improve the system, they worry that if nothing changes, it will become the 'same old story'.
Unlike many of their peers, the twins have decided not to study abroad. If that had been their intention, they would have left immediately after Grade XII. They chose to stay in Nepal. Speaking of Gen Z protests, they had hoped to participate in the protests against corruption and a proposed social media ban. On the day they planned to go with their college friends, they had a terminal exam that ended at 1:00pm; by then, a curfew had been imposed, and security forces had opened fire on protesters around 12:30pm, so they went home.
Soon after, news broke that someone had been killed in a shooting in their neighbourhood, and their family forbade them from going for the protest. They stated, "If not for the exam and the violence, they would have gone as a group."
When asked about leadership, the brothers argued that leaders must first enter office and demonstrate their worth through work, but after his work in Kathmandu, they see Mayor Balendra (Balen) Shah as someone who has at least begun to deliver.
They mentioned 'his efforts to improve garbage management and introduce an organised parking system in the city', adding with some frustration that many Nepalis oppose such systems and 'lack civic sense', wanting the country to become like Switzerland without changing their own behaviour.