13th April was a big day for me. For the first time in my life, I was going to celebrate Nepali New Year. Navavarsha 2066 will always remain a sweet memory to me.

To celebrate the day, I had thought of bringing together Nepali families who reside in my neighborhood. I had been convincing and sharing the idea of having a potluck dinner.

On 13th morning I was so occupied with the preparation. Early in the morning I went to flower market with a friend and bought “sayeepatri” and other flowers. She helped in arranging the flowers. Later I visited families who were cooking, gave calls to remind others. My sister was visiting me on such a right timing. She helped me in purchasing and cooking. My flat mates helped me prepare Salad, Chicken curry and other arrangements. In my mind, I was thinking what if people don’t come and all the food that we are cooking goes on waste and on second thought I was thinking what if all the people that I met in last one month decide to come and I won’t have enough food to feed them. As the evening drew closer, I was growing tensed.

When another friend drove me to the hall with all the food that we had prepared, it was already the meeting time. My legs were shivering. While driving back, the friend driving prayed – that helped. When I reached home, most people were on their way to the hall. My friends were all dressed and ready to leave. I rushed to my room, picked up my saree and draped around as fast as I could. I had washed my hair during the day, didn’t have time to comb and as I was dressing up I couldn’t find my comb. So I just pulled back my messy hair and clipped it with a clutcher. My sister had insisted that I wear make up – the only thing that I could grab and apply was kajal.A friend was waiting for me so together we left for the venue.

When I entered the hall, most people had already arrived. There were some whom I had not expected but I was delighted to see them. Women clad in colorful saree, children playing and chirping around, Narayan Gopal singing away something about ‘my country’ – I felt so peaceful and perfect. I was all smiles.

We began the evening with brief introduction and went straight into songs and dance. I was happy to see most people free and enjoying themselves. After several rounds of songs and dance we served Sel roti, mula ko achaar, aloo dum, mo mo, chatni etc. The food and the conversation delighted me. It was quite comical to see people getting up from their seat quite satisfied and a bit stuffed.

We ended the meeting with cakes that a friend had baked. So this was my experience of celebrating Nepali New Year with Nepali friends. I made new friends. I sensed love, freshness and joy in the celebration. I am glad that it went well.

It was worth all the effort.