🇳🇵Nirmal Budhathoki - An example of determination over adversity

_{September 10, 2024}

Top Weekly Highlights
🇳🇵 Nepal Tira: How KP Oli lost 70,000 followers in a week
🌍 Sansar Ma Nepali: ‘Pooja, Sir’ premiers in Venice Film Festival
🔵 The Big Story: Nirmal Budhathoki - An example of determination over adversity
🗽 Immigration Roundup: DV numbers, Canada visitor work permits

Nepal Tira

Weekly Briefing: What You Need To Know

👎 Unfollow Garaun Campaign: Balen supporters started an ‘unfollow campaign’ against PM KP Oli, after KP Oli supporters allegedly mass-reported and took down this Facebook post written by the Kathmandu Mayor. The post, now restored by Facebook, accused UML lawmaker Rekha Sharma of using child labor. On Tuesday, PM Oli had 662,000 followers, but within 36 hours, he lost 73,000. As of Monday, the follower count stands at 599,000.

🤡 Masked Sugar Daddy? In a story straight out of a horror film, a 33-year old from Budhanilkantha was apparently arrested for allegedly kidnapping and torturing two teenagers with an electric rod. According to Sidhakura, who released the sensational video, the accused was known to show up at Kathmandu night clubs and flash his money. The video goes on to explain how the victims were lured to the accused house, and how they were physically tortured and burnt.

[Please note that no other major news outlets have covered this news. Sidhakura also has an ongoing case in the Supreme Court for allegedly creating fake audio recordings of chairpersons from Kantipur and Annapurna Media. It might be a simple case of creating hysteria for views on YouTube. However, I wanted to mention this news as its getting super-viral in the Nepali diaspora.]

🤑 10% VAT Refund for electronic payments: The Inland Revenue Department (IRD) will refund 10% of VAT paid electronically at bars, restaurants and hotels. Only taxpayers who have registered for VAT and issue electronic invoices approved by the IRD can use this tax waiver. IRD also instructed vendors who received the electronic payments to automatically refund the 10% to the customer’s bank account.

⛔️ Ettikkai Neta bhetna napaune: In a welcome move, Police HQ sent out a circular warning officers not to meet political figures and power brokers without prior approval from official authorities. The notice became necessary after several incidents where police officers used ‘power’ for transfers and promotions. Police who fail to notify will fail ‘maximum disciplinary action’.

💵 Safa (but not naya) note: In a bid to manage costs, Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) will not print new notes for this Dashain. Instead, they will ‘clean’ existing notes and make those available to the public. On average, NRB spends USD 9.6 million annually to print new notes. As per a former NRB governor, “around 15-20% of new notes are useless within 4 months”.

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Sansar Ma Nepali

🎥 Pooja at Venice Film Festival: Deepak Rauniyar’s latest crime drama, ‘Pooja, Sir’ premiered at the Venice International Film Festival. The film, a crime story that takes place during the 2015 protests in Terai, was released despite numerous setbacks. While preparing to film, Asha Magrati, the lead actor and Rauniyar’s wife, was diagnosed with three different types of cancer. Fortunately, with help from friends and community, they managed to overcome this setback and complete the project.

🛂 Mobile Embassy Conducted: The Nepali Embassy in Lisbon concluded a mobile documentation camp that helped 2,400 Nepalis receive attested documents. Nepal Embassies around the world regularly conduct Mobile Embassy camps that help Nepalis renew passports and attest documents, without having to travel to the Embassy itself. In early August, the French Embassy (which currently oversees Portugal), conducted a passport renewal camp for 3,800 Nepalis. The Nepali embassies in United States and Canada have also recently conducted their own camps across various cities.

👋 If you or someone you know want to know when the next mobile camp takes place, remember that we’ll let you know! Just forward this email and ask them to sign up!

🎖️Eye for an Eye: Dr. Bidya Prasad Pant, an eye surgeon who has performed over 200,000 eye surgeries, is receiving this year’s Boberg-Ans Award from the Danish Ophthalmological Society. Pant, who once did a whopping 312 eye surgeries in a single day, works with Australia’s DAK Foundation to conduct free eye-surgeries in Myanmar and Nepal. Since 2014, Pant and his team have done jointly done over 300,000 operations just in Myanmar.

😍 Kasto Safa ra Chittikka: The World Health Organization (WHO) has named Dhulikhel as Nepal’s first ‘Healthy City’. India’s Pune City Banda is the first healthy city in Asia. WHO has a set criteria to judge whether a city is ‘healthy’, taking policy reforms, access to healthcare, environmental improvement and other factors into consideration.

Know any stories/news about Nepalis abroad? Reply to feature them!

The Big Story

Nirmal Budhathoki: An example of Determination over Adversity

The Hope

In the fall of 2007, Nirmal Budhathoki stood among the crowds in Times Square of New York City, just another face in a city of millions. It was his first day in the United States, and he was full of the wide-eyed enthusiasm that only a newcomer to New York can understand.

He couldn't have imagined that, fifteen years later, that same ordinary face would be on the billboard screens above, looking back.

But how do you go from anonymity to influence?

The Detour

At 24, Nirmal had earned his Bachelor of Engineering degree from NCIT in Kathmandu and arrived in the U.S. with plans to pursue his Master's at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, New York. Unknowingly, he had stepped into one of the worst economic crises of our time—the Great Recession of 2008. With companies downsizing and job prospects shrinking, Nirmal found himself at a crossroads familiar to many immigrants: a degree at hand but no job in sight.

But Nirmal wasn’t one to give up easily. Faced with limited options, he decided to pursue an unknown path that would change his life forever.

He decided to join the U.S. Army.

The Grind

The Army promised a pathway to U.S. citizenship—a golden ticket that many immigrants dream of—but it came with its own challenges. Military life was grueling, far removed from the world Nirmal knew. There were countless moments when quitting seemed easier. But Nirmal pressed on, drawing strength from his mentors and his mental fortitude. The Army became his unexpected classroom, teaching him resilience, discipline, and leadership skills that no textbook could provide.

By early 2014, Nirmal had completed five years of service. He stood at what he called a "tipping point." He could choose the familiar security of renewing his military contract or take a leap of faith into the civilian world, where no job was waiting.

His mind told him to stay safe, but his heart told him to take the risk.

The Payoff

After consulting his wife and getting her encouragement, Nirmal chose to take the risk.

It turned out to be the correct decision, as he landed a job with the US Navy a month later.

Nirmal's determination started to pay off as he slowly transitioned from military organizations to other industries. In 2019, he got a role as a Data Scientist in Wells Fargo. A year later, he joined Microsoft as a Data & Applied Scientist.

At Microsoft, he met a lot of great mentors who helped share his career. In turn, he has tried to do the same. Nirmal has also conducted 1000+ mentoring sessions, almost 700 of them offered for free. Later he decided to start collecting some service-fee on the topmate platform. But he is committing all the fees collected to help the women's education funding in Nepal. Nirmal recently partnered with ‘Code for Nepal’ and also sponsored his first scholar, Sandhya Baskota for her 10+2 in Don Bosco College.

The Network

Over the years, he has built up an impressive following of 46,000 followers on LinkedIn - the highest of any Nepali-origin profile on LinkedIn.*

Although he regularly offers advice for aspiring data scientists, those who want to book individual sessions with him can also do so. He offers various services, such as resume reviews, career chats, mock interviews, and so on. These services are paid, but if you prepare well in advance, it should be worth the time.**

From an unknown face in Times Square to a recognized mentor and leader, Nirmal Budhathoki's journey shows what’s possible when you embrace the unexpected.

His path is a reminder that sometimes, the detours take you exactly where you need to go.

🤿 Dive Deeper:
📌 30 Career Tips in Data Science from Nirmal [Free]
📅 Book a mentoring session with Nirmal
👤 Join 45,000+ people who follow Nirmal on LinkedIn

*: The second highest I found was Balen Shah at 38K, followed by Nirvana Chaudhary at 36K 
**: 400+ bookings, Top 0.1% of profiles on Top Mate, Top Rated of 2023

Worth a Watch

There’s a reason why Luke Korn’s video on Mt. Everest base camp has 3 million views on YouTube. His videos are story-telling masterpieces. And this one is no exception. Luke perfectly captures not just the beauty of the trek to base camp, but also the story of his guide, Phanden.

The video is actually more about Phanden than the trek. Almost all of the 4,000+ comments pay respect to this man who summited everest multiple times, but gave up because his family asked him to do so.

Definitely worth a watch.

Immigration & Visas

🇺🇸 Diversity Visa Updates: Applicants who were selected in the DV lottery in 2022 are currently receiving visas. Those who got selected in 2023 will get theirs from October 2024. 3,863 Nepalis were selected as the 2024 DV winners, making Nepal the third highest contributor to the DV program. The next lottery opening will be around October - November 2024.

🇺🇸 NAS urges Green Cards for STEM grads: The National Academy of Sciences released a report commissioned by the Defence Department, that recommends Congress create easy pathways to permanent residency for qualified STEM talent. For perspective, the United States share of the global STEM talent has reduced from 18% in 2013 to 15% in 2021.

🇨🇦 Visitors can’t apply for Work Permits: IRCC, the immigration authority of Canada, has ended a policy that allowed visitors to apply for a work permit while in Canada. The policy had been introduced in 2020 to help visitors who were unable to leave during the global pandemic. In recent days, Canada has become strict on immigration, and has significant increased visa denials.

🇨🇦 Gig workers to get minimum wage: Starting last week, gig workers who work through apps like Uber, DoorDash will be paid $20.88 an hour from the time they accent an assignment to the time it is completed. The $20.88 figure is 20 per cent higher than B.C.'s minimum wage of $17.40 an hour in order to address the gaps between gigs, the government says.

🇦🇺 Australian Universities: Last week, the Department of Education in Australia announced how many students can be enrolled per university. 15 institutions, including University of Sydney, saw their international cap reduced, while 23 institutions will be able to enrol more. The formula that decided the cap number has been criticized as ‘random’. Here’s the full list of university caps.

🇬🇧 Immigration Rules Update: On Monday, the new Labour government published an updated list of rules for visitors. In November 2024, the ETA scheme, currently applied only to a few middle-eastern countries, will open to all nationals (except Europeans) travelling to the UK who do not currently need a visa and will be a travel requirement from 8 January 2025. An ETA is a digital permission to travel to the UK.

Yo hafta lai etikai, aba next time bhetaula ✌️

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