New decade's resolutions: Loan payment to settling down

Kathmandu, Apr. 21: Nepalis welcomed the New Year 2080 last Friday, and with it, also rang in the new Bikram Sambat decade of the 2080s. Many online seemed to take the occasion to be a significant one, marking not just a change of calendars but the beginning of a new chapter in their lives. This was reflected in the greetings they shared, wishes they exchanged and resolutions they framed – New Decade's resolutions.

"Baisakh 1, 2080 was not only a day to make promises for the next 365 days but for the next 10 years," said Sumitra Agrawal. "It was a time to reflect on the decade that was and the decade that will be."

The 25-year-old businesswoman told The Rising Nepal that her resolution for the 2080s was to pay back the loan she took from her friends to start her trinket shop in Kathmandu. 

"I started this decade in debt but I will not end it that way," she shared her determination. Agrawal was not comfortable disclosing how much money she needed to repay. Similarly, Jay Pradhan's New Decade pledge was to rebuild his ancestral home in Bhimad, Tanahun.

"It was where I was born, where I grew up and where I got married," Pradhan, 39, who presently lives in the capital, shared. "But it collapsed in the 2015 earthquake." He informed that he wanted to reconstruct the house and move back to Tanahun before 2090. "It's not easy and it requires quite a lot of money. But I have a plan I hope to execute over the next 10 years."

Meanwhile, Gaurav Kharel, who is 26 years old, hoped to settle down and start a family over the 2080 decennium. He works with his father in the real estate sector and said that he would like to get married and have kids soon. "Not for another year or two, but soon," he said.

Kharel, a big believer in astrology, said that his birth chart also showed 2080 to 2089 as an ideal time to tie the nuptial knot. "Let's see how things proceed," he let out a slight smile.

Rekha Gurung though said that she had a very basic and mainstream decade resolution – to lose weight. "I want to lose weight and get in ideal shape," the 33-year-old said. 

For this, she planned to intensify her workouts, walk more and eat healthier and measure her progress at the end of every Nepali year.

Acknowledging that losing weight and exercising more was something people promised for a year, not a decade, the 33-year-old said. "10 years is better than one after all." She shared that this was also an excuse to get her husband to exercise with her.