Dear Granddaughter,

I don’t know where you exist right now in this mysterious universe. Your grandparents, as humans, are living in a corner of a terrestrial planet called Earth along with your father. Earth is politically divided. That division has given birth to too many countries, along with Nepal. Human beings have made different calendars to make life easier by counting the day, week, month, and year. Today is Wednesday and I am writing this letter from the small town of Waltham, Massachusetts, United States of America. The United States is one of 195 countries that have divided the earth.

This is a pandemic time. And humans on earth are suffering from a small virus called COVID-19. We are losing some of our relatives and friends. They are dying alone in the hospital. They are taking their last breath without their loved ones even seeing them.

Your grandparents moved here from Nepal along with your father while the earth was suffering from the pandemic. Your grandma and I believe that only education can change people’s lives in our lifetime. That’s why we brought your father here with us. That is the reason your father has been going to school in the USA. That is the reason your father loves books and the library. That is the reason your father is fluent in different languages in different parts of the world.

Honey,

Yes, Homo sapiens on earth have different nationalities, different languages, and different gods. At the core of nature, a human being is a human being. Not only the humans of the East but also those of the West are all taking the same breath. You may be proud of your caste. You may be reluctant to have a love affair, marry a so-called lower caste person. You have to be aware of it from the beginning. There is no difference between being born into this caste and that caste, this religion and that religion, this country and that country. It is just a superficial, human-made division. And naturally, we are all humans. But we can not avoid context. That’s why you should be careful about freedom. That’s why you should be sensible about happiness. And you should be conscious of both the dark and bright sides of life.

Today I want to share one of my own experiences—the human mind doesn’t always get what it wants; what it doesn’t want always happens. But you don’t have to worry too much. The door of your grandparents’ house will always be open for you.

When I write to you in a small room in Waltham, I am remembering a man who wore a simple turtleneck t-shirt. I don’t know what caste Steve Jobs belonged to. I just know his work and contribution to the world as a business magnate and silent philanthropist. He was a co-founder of Apple, Pixar, and NeXT. He was a god to my generation who were interested in computers and technology. His personality was as high as Mt. Everest for his perfect and genuine contribution to technology and innovation.

Speaking at the Stanford University commencement in 2005, he said, “Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.’ It has been ten years since he passed away. And I want to repeat that to you now.

Stay Hungry! Stay Foolish!!

Waltham, Massachusetts, USA, 31 March 2021

(Originally published in the Waltham Public Library’s publication WINDOW TO OUR WORLD, June 2021)