Reflections on Inequality
Inheriting My Father’s Dream
Have you read Munshi Premchand’s story Kafan? If not, you should. In some ways, Premchand reminds me of Dostoevsky - both go deep down inside the human mind and show us who we truly are behind our masks. Kafan is a gut-wrenching experience—one that shakes you to your core by revealing the stark reality of those who have absolutely nothing.
It often feels as though we live in parallel worlds. On one side, there is a world of the impoverished. And there is another world of the people who have enough. And the world of the have-nots remains entirely invisible to the other.
I witnessed this firsthand recently while walking through Vancouver’s Chinatown. The streets were dirty, deserted and neglected, filled with people in tatters who looked like aliens to me. If you have spent time walking along the Granville Island seawall—enjoying the beautiful views, the vibrant rhododendrons, and the joggers along the shore—it is hard to believe that such a different reality exists just a few miles away. Yes, hard to believe, but it is there.
On my long flight from Vancouver to Hong Kong, I watched a Korean film called People and Meat. It explored a similar theme, focusing on elderly citizens who collect cardboard boxes to survive. Unable to afford but full of desire to eat some meat, they resort to scamming restaurants for the chance to eat meat.
As I write this, I remembered something I wrote down in my notebook long ago. I forgot which story it came from exactly.
The creepy-crawlies come again,
With all the misery and all the pain,
Miseries without number,
To tear the heart asunder!
Woe’s me, woe’s me!
Whither shall we flee?
All of this makes me question: are there truly “rich countries,” or are there simply rich people in countries, which are labeled as “rich”? I think it’s the latter.
Today, May 26, I honor my father on his birthday. It is always a sad moment for me to remember him. But at the same time, always a feeling of great pride. I wrote another post remembering him.
He was a true patriot of Nepal — a great thinker who dedicated his entire life to the cause of the impoverished and driven by a dream of a prosperous Nepal. In a world filled with greed, he was a rare kind who willingly sacrificed his own comfort to fight for the marginalized. Yet, that is exactly who my father was - a rate kind.
I owe it to him for the clarity of mind I have today. Like him, I dream of a Nepal, a country that is prosperous for all and not just a few rich; and where there are no more characters like in Premchand’s Kafan.
I owe the clarity of mind I have today to him. Like him, I dream of a Nepal that is prosperous for everyone, not just the privileged few—a country with no more characters found in Premchand’s Kafan.
Vancouver. Chinatown. May, 2026.