Arjun Poudel
Boston, July 30, 2023
After having a round of sel roti, fish and curry, some sixty members of the Nepalese community turned their faces toward the program’s MC, who had just blown into the mic and introduced himself. These community members had gathered at 465 Mt Auburn St in Watertown, some 15 kilometres west of Downown Boston. They had come together to fete Dr. Bina Darai, a 50-year-old local resident of Watertown. Only a few weeks earlier, Bina had been awarded a doctorate degree in Nursing Practice by the University of Massachusetts in Boston. When the MC announced this fact to the audience, there followed several minutes of intense applause for Bina.
Bina’s doctorate was not just another doctorate by one more member of the Nepali community. It was in fact a “giant leap,” to borrow a phrase used by Neil Armstron after he landed on the moon. In earning the doctorate that followed her Bachelor’s and a Master’s degrees, Bina might have acquired just one more degree in a line of many degrees.. She has also achieved the rare feat of becoming the first woman doctorate degree holder from the Darai community. This must be one of the proudest moments in the history of the Darai people and will, no doubt, inspire many others to follow her footprints.
Dr. Bina Darai’s life remains no less exemplary for Nepal’s entire young population. One may easily stereotype her as just another youth who, after being educated at the expenses of Nepal and Nepalis, quietly escaped to a developed country that is flush with money and opportunities. There may as well be people who accuse her of being an opportunist and even of betraying Nepal Aama. The fact, however, is the exact opposite of this opinion, Dr. Bina Darai spent more than ten of her life’s most youthful years in the service of Nepal Army from 1996 to 2006. Owing to the Maoist War, needless to say, that decade remained one of the most challenging and difficult periods in the several hundred years of Nepal Army’s history. In a word, Bina wholeheartedly served the country’s security forces at a time many service members were deserting it so that they could avoid being deployed to the battlefield.
Dr. Bina Darai was born in Chitwan as the eldest daughter of Buddhiram and Bimala Darai. After completing her schooling from her hometown in Chitwan, she went on to join the Institute of Medicine, Maharajganj, to study for a nursing degree. In the 1990s, her admission to IOM was in itself a rare feat for a girl from the severely marginalized community of Darais, who have traditionally inhabited Tanahu, Chitwan, Palpa etc. Her subsequent journey to the very top of the Mt. Everest of nursing education has certainly done Nepal Aama proud.
