Gokarna: Let’s Share A Moment of Love
The 14 March 2018 was a day filled with joy and special moments. That morning, we, the scholars of the Bo M. Karlsson Foundation, eagerly awaited spending time with our very kind, supportive, loving and motherly natured Sonnia auntie and Shannan didi, and our special guest from Sweden, Mats. It was a debatable question whether they were our guests or we were theirs. But this question is a silly one—none of us were guests, because we are a family bound together, and we had warmly welcomed each other as such.
On this day a group of us were asked to go to the Gokarna Forest Resort, a beautiful and serene resort inside the protected and ancient Gokarna forest in the outskirts of Kathmandu, to spend quality time and to get to know each other better. At the very beginning we had an interview session with our loving Shannan didi as the interviewer. During this session we learned that our BMKF family has very different personalities and backgrounds, and yet each of us are working hard to turn our dreams into reality. Our Sonnia auntie was very pleased to hear how her daughters of Nepal are moving ahead with strong determination.
It was quite a disappointing moment when Shannan didi had to leave early to fly to Pokhara (beautiful city in Nepal), but before leaving she had a photo session with all of us, including Mats.
We waved goodbye to Shannan didi with our best wishes. Then, of course, the happy moments continued with pearls of laughter. I remember the moment when most of the scholars were busy taking photos of each other and were not interacting with the guests who had come across so many miles to be with us. So, Sonnia auntie requested that we all put down the phones and converse instead. Later, the lunch arrived at our table and we ate together. It was a very special moment to cherish. Mats was a very funny, supportive and instructive person. When I told him that I wish to someday become a diplomat, he suggested that I start learning many languages.
Finally, before leaving the resort, to make the day even more memorable and precious, Sonnia auntie took more photos and videos of us as we sang and danced to her favorite song “you are my Soniya”. She is certainly our sweet Sonnia auntie and we are all her daughters! We also performed a typical Nepalese dance to give Mats another taste of our culture. He seemed to enjoy it and asked many questions about the meaning.
The day ended too soon… but the truth is even though we are far from each other from a territorial aspect, we are very close in our hearts, sharing loads of love. We will wait for the next time to create another memory and to share the art of freedom (i.e. singing, dancing or portraying anything we love).