A father's sacrifice for his son’s dream

Most mornings, Laldev Mandal walks over to a road intersection in Kathmandu which is called लेबर चोक where daily wage workers like him wait on the sidewalk to be hired. There is not much work to go around, and Laldev often returns home empty handed to hope for better luck the following day.

But for the past week, the 52-year-old had not been at the roadside looking for day work. He was busy preparing for the departure of his son Anil to Japan to study computer engineering.

Laldev is from a village in Saptari in Nepal’s Tarai plains, and has been a daily wage labourer in Kathmandu for the past 25 years. With his meagre earnings he paid for his son’s education so he will have a bright future. That investment appears to have paid off.

After Anil flew out this week, Laldev has been staying home to keep track of his son’s journey from Kathmandu to Osaka.

With pride in his voice, he tells us: “I don’t have a smartphone so have not been able to connect with my son directly. But his friends have been sending me updates. Anil had told me in advance that it would be a while before he got a sim card in Japan to call me on my mobile. From tomorrow, I will start looking for work again.”

Laldev’s sense of happiness is palpable. He feels he had a big role in making it possible for Anil to be where he is today.

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“Even when he was still in school back in Saptari, Anil wanted to study computer engineering abroad,” recalls Laldev, who visited many labour recruitment agencies before finding out that it was educational consultancies that made student migration possible.”

Anil Mandal is now in quarantine in Osaka, and told us over the phone this week, “It helped that my father went to school, so he always prioritised our education. I saw how he despite being educated was not able to get a proper job which in Nepal depends on power, networks and money. We had none of that. That is why I was determined to find opportunities abroad.”

Studying in Japan also provides a chance to earn on the side to support the family. At first, Anil’s father had advised him to go to South Korea where the salaries are higher under the Employment Permit System (EPS). But Anil wanted to study, and Japan was the better option.

“EPS in Korea was only for work whereas Japan provided opportunities for studies as well which is what I was more interested in. Earnings are my second priority. Countries like Australia and the USA were a lot more expensive,” he added. “The more I explored what Japan had to offer, the more I got attracted to it.”

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But for the Mandal family, Japan, too, was going to be unaffordable. Laldev had to  borrow over Rs1.1 million from three money lenders from his village at 36% interest. “It is high, but still better than borrowing from a bank because it is less complicated, collateral-free and has a more flexible repayment schedule.”

This is the single biggest investment that the Mandal family has ever made. Even building his house in Saptari had cost him only one-third of this amount.  But Laldev believes it is well worth it and there is a high rate of return on the investment.

“I have seen my son put in the effort, now he has the right platform that will open more doors for him with hard work,” says Laldev. “He taught himself Japanese from the internet because his tuition classes got canceled midway during Covid-19. For hours, I would see him recite words that sounded strange to my ears.”

Whenever he had some time free, Anil would join his father at the intersection waiting for day work to supplement the family income. Laldev’s colleagues at work were impressed with his son’s honesty and capacity for hard work.

Even as Laldev boasts about his son’s strong work ethics, Anil in turn credits his father for his lifelong focus on securing his future.

Said Anil: “I came to Kathmandu with my sister with the money I earned working in construction in my village for a few weeks. In Kathmandu, I saw how my father was struggling to make ends meet with his daily earnings so I joined him whenever I could. My father had taught me not to be ashamed of doing any kind of work, unless it is bad work. I was never ashamed of doing menial labour, although I always saw it as a transitional phase which I hoped would not be my destiny.”

His day work was to carry sacks of sand on his back to the seventh floor of a high rise bank building that was being constructed in New Baneswor. Anil recalls: “It was the kind of struggle I don’t wish upon anyone. I learnt a lot watching my father work hard, and how despite struggling as a daily wage earner, his vision and dreams for us was larger than life.”

There were times when Lal Dev had also considered emigrating, visiting recruiting agencies in Kathmandu to try his luck. He was turned down because he was more than 35 years old. He remembers, “They wanted younger men for first timers. So I gave up and still have not made my passport.”

Before going to Kathmandu airport to see his son off this week, the only previous time Laldev had visited the airport was when he was working on a construction project there.

Anil said it is still uncommon for students from their Saptari village to travel to countries like Japan, most are used to going to Gulf, Malaysia or India. He is only the second person from the consultancy travelling to Japan in the past decade from the Tarai. There are even people from Anil’s village with undergraduate degrees who are doing back-breaking work in the Gulf and Malaysia.

Back home in Saptari, the Mandal household is empty. When Laldev lost his wife to an accident, the local panchayat demanded that the driver, in addition to paying for her medical fees, also compensate the family with Rs350,000. He built the house with that money and from his savings in Kathmandu, while his children grew up in the village.

“In many ways, the community helped raise my children so the neighbours are also very proud of Anil’s achievements,” says Laldev.

Anil was in Grade 9 when his mother died, and he assured his grieving father then that he would take care of his siblings and the household while he worked in Kathmandu.

“He used to send us money but managing household chores was not easy,” Anil recalled. “Especially as I had a young sister to take care of. I always had to borrow money from friends or buy food on credit. I had to often study under a street light. We somehow managed but it wasn’t easy.”

Laldev does not want to sell his house in Saptari, that is where he intends to live when he retires. As he walks around Kathmandu, he sees many buildings which he helped build over the decades. He says: “I am not as strong as I used to be. I could work for 2-3 months straight, now I often need to take days off.”

Even then, with his son now in Japan he is not worried about the future and not being able to work. It was an emotional moment for Laldev to see his son off at the airport this week, and he regrets not having even a farewell garland for Anil in the rush.

From Osaka, Anil said: “I did not get to say proper goodbyes at the airport. It was only after my bags were checked in and I had a moment to myself that it hit me that I was actually leaving my family and friends behind. Even now, in Japan, I cannot believe someone like me, a simple boy from a poor background has made it to Japan to study. It took my father and my community to get me here, and I will forever remain indebted and will make everyone proud.”

Diaspora Diaries is a regular column in Nepali Times providing a platform for Nepalis to share their experiences of living, working, studying abroad. Authentic and original entries can be sent to [email protected] with ‘Diaspora Diaries in the subject line.