Student Profile: Ajay Sharma

Ajay is a devious little joker. His name is pronounced “Ah-zay,” but he will forever be “A.J.” to me. Some of his favorite things to do are play football, chess, and to rapidly move his eyebrows up and down while looking at me with a smile that either says “hey friend, what's up?” or, “I wouldn’t eat the lentils tonight if I were you...” I don't know which.

Ajay, waiting to play the winner (likely Dipesh--sorry, Rachel) 

Ajay probably makes me laugh more than anyone else here in Nepal. He is a very funny guy. You could call him a class clown, but he is exceedingly clever as well. He is strategic in everything he does, and is one of the best chess players at the school. However, nine times out of ten he will use his sneaky skills to avoid doing a question set, rather than to use his powers of logic to actually solve the problems I have set before him.

Unlike my other interview victims, I barely had to ask Ajay any questions to get him talking. He wanted to talk. He wanted to talk a lot. I will do my best transcribing our conversation, but he said a lot of words and concentrated more on what to say than how to say it in correct English. Here’s the cheeky chatterbox named Ajay Sharma.

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Me: Introduce yourself. Tell me about your family, where you live, how old you are, things like that.

Ajay: My name is Ajay Sharma, I live in Teku, near Kalimati in Kathmandu. From Teku I went to school everyday. At first, I don’t want to go to school, so I used to hide my things everywhere. My mother came and said, “Lets go to school,” and I said I don’t want to go to school and she said, “OK, lets go to factory” (where my father works) and I say, “OK! Lets go!” And we go and in middle, she change my place and take me to the school.

My brother, he teach me a lot of games. At first he teach me basketball, but I don’t play too much. My brother’s name is Raj Kishor Sharma, and my middle brother’s name is Jay Kishor Sharma. He is now reading about that engineering, like with computers, computer software, Photoshop, things like that. And my big brother, Raj Kishor Sharma, he is learning to be doctor. After two years he will be completely doctor.

At my house, my house has three floors, and to make money, my dad is giving to that, what do we say…

Me: Rent?

Ajay: Yes. He will rent the rooms to many people and one room we have... My father is telling to my brother, that, “If you finish your course in computers, you can go in our home and you can learn more about computers also, and you can open there a small shop.

Me: That would be cool.

Ajay: And my father’s name is Dinesh Prashad Sharma. His industry is a recycle company. Like if things is wasted, make it like, uh, small chips and send to another place and other companies will make it like into something else like that.

Me: Cool.

Ajay: And my mother is a housewife. Her name is Kishna Sharma. She is also help to my father in work. Sometime at the holiday, our three brothers we also go and help them with what we can.

"You lookin' at me?"

Me: So, umm… Holidays, what’s your favorite holiday?

Ajay: My favorite holiday is three years ago, that Dashain, on that time I don’t know how to fly a kite, and that time I take a kite and run away in the road and I tear my kite. And my brother was on vacation at that time because he was not [taking] the SLC at that time. Now he’s got to pass the SLC, he’s not interested too much, so nowadays I only fly the kite when I get the chance to, in Dashain. But when he gives me money to buy a kite and sometimes he also flies with me kite.

 

Me: Cool—

Ajay: --But nowadays he is, in Dashain time, in Delhi where he is learning, so he cannot fly the kite.

Me: Are you Hindu?

Ajay: Yes.

Me: Is your religion important to you?

Ajay: As everybody has their religion, it is important, same as I need to follow my religion. My father, he believes in god so I also need to believe. It doesn’t mean that if he believe then I also believe…they worship to god, so I also worship to god with them by sitting together.

Me: …Who is your best friend?

Ajay: My best friend is Yagya. When I was living in Kumudini, at Kumudini High School, he was also living with me at that time. When he came there the first year, I don’t know him too much nicely, but when we changed our level of class, we became nice friends and our relationship was being very nice; sharing food with each other, having fun, and when he have a holiday like Dashain time, we went to each other’s home. And we go to someplace like Swayambunath, and one day we have gone to Swayambunath top and there was a tree with that food, uhh, like, red color, once? [puts fingers together showing size]

Ajay and Yagya (and Bibek in the back)

Me: Like a lychee?

Ajay: Yes... like a lychee. And we find it and we eat also. And with me, was my uncle’s son also. When I go anywhere I take him with me also because I don’t like to go alone anywhere. When I went to my uncle's home, I stop and I buy cheese, I always buy cheese when I come because my [cousin] likes cheese and I also like cheese.

Me: Can you tell me about a time you got in trouble? Tell me about the time you got in the most trouble. Either at home, or at school--

Ajay: --At school? At the school in Kumudini, I am very weak in Nepali subject, and one day she said, “Whoever doesn’t complete this homework I will make come here, and open their t-shirt (in front of girls), and do their homework.

Me: Oh no, like tear your shirt open in front of the class?

Ajay: Yeah. That was my worst punishment. And one more thing about Kumudini, Sita Ma’am was there and she was strict and there was kids with big hair like [brushes imaginary luscious hair]. And if a bigger student, like 8 or 9 class, if they make their pants too long, like down to here, she cut their pants also. And if their hairstyle gets too long also, she [mimes scissors over his hair].

Me: I’ve asked everyone this question, I really want to hear what you have to say. If you could say something, one thing, and the whole world could listen, what would you say?

Ajay: [spreads his arms wide and quietly yells,] “I love her!!!”

Bizen teaching Ajay how to ballroom dance and
maybe get someone to fall in love with him
someday so he can scream a name to the world

Me: [laughing] You love who?

Ajay: Somebody...

Me: Oh, oh, you haven’t found this person yet, but that’s what you’ll yell? You need to find her, man! You have to fall in love with somebody before you can yell their name to the world. Ok, never mind, that’s sweet... Can you teach my friends two things about Nepal?

Ajay: About roads?

Me: About anything, anything you want. You know what, just share two things about Nepal for my friends.

Ajay: People should know about how much the population increase and they are making everywhere house. If this school area was everywhere, with our trees, and more trees everywhere, then it would be nice. And some roads are very small, and they are not nice. Some roads are very big, but they are very dangerous. If they want to make the road complete, it needs traffic signals, zebra crossings…

Me: I want to know about your village in the Terai, before you moved to Kathmandu, what was that like?

Ajay: That was like, everywhere the road was up, down, up, down and there was no development like here. There was a nice environment, like from here to about there [points way beyond, out the window], there was farming land. But there is no facility like a shop… If you wanted to buy something like meat, like that, you need to travel for ten, twenty kilometer non-stop with cycle. And the road is very trouble.

Me: Ask my friends one question.

Ajay: My advice? To don’t come to Nepal.

Me: Don’t? Everyone else has said to come here.

Ajay: My advice to don’t come. If you come also, don’t leave too much from our place, because our environment here [at the school] is nice, but outside is very dirty.

Me: Is there anything else you want to say?

Ajay: One more thing about that school… [a 5 minute story including a fight at his old school, Asoke’s son Richard playing guitar nicely and whistling nicely, and the change in management of his old school, and an old teacher who employed a particularly cruel punishment to get kids to do their homework]

Me: Whoa! Well now I know why you guys never listen to me, I’m not nearly that scary. Ok Ajay, want to say goodbye?

Ajay: For today this much also: have a nice day, bye-bye, see you another... time.