During the month of May, Binod and Franck, the continued supporters of NNSC had embarked on a gracious journey: The Everest Marathon. They carried out a fundraising campaign raising 1700 Euros for the home. Before the marathon, they interacted with the kids about their upcoming journey. “A marathon on Everest?” One of the kids asked with surprise. This was then followed by a number of questions which sounded more like the children’s awe at thinking that people they knew were going on a marathon around the highest peak of the world: “गाह्रो हुदैन?” [Isn’t it hard?] “EVEREST!?” Binod and Franck answered each of their questions with ease and a little bit of humor. After hundreds of conversations with the kids, when they asked if anyone would want to go for the Everest Marathon in the future, a blissful silence followed: they were motivated at the thought of it, but were unsure whether that is something they would be able to do. The kids who never really stop talking were completely silent because even the thought of it was petrifying, nevertheless, Dhurba murmured to himself: It sounds fun.
And well, maybe it was sheer luck or perhaps, a call of marathons itself, it so happened that the Suryabinayak Municipality organized practice running sessions of 1000 meters just after a week of Binod and Franck’s marathon. Many kids from NNSC participated in the run. Dhurba, who was in the lead by nearly 100 meters, seemed very confident. Before the run, Dhurba was calm and composed. The laps he took spoke of his dedication to the run. Once he was around 60 meters from the finish line, he looked back and saw that he was well ahead of everyone in the race. A feeling of immense pride took over him and he started celebrating. And in an astonishing (although not quite, but this is how Dhurba describes it) turn of events, a runner passed ahead of him and Dhurba lost to him by only 1 second. Dhurba didn’t have a look of disappointment even after this though, he seemed quite humorous about the whole situation. Wearing a silver medal smiling brightly at his win and also laughing about his decision to celebrate early only to fall back second, when asked about why he did so, he replied: When I saw that I was in the lead, मलाई त Everest Marathon पुगेको जस्तो भयो। [It felt like I reached the Everest Marathon.]
Dhurba became a clear example of the well-known phrase: participation matters. The talks by Binod and Franck had motivated him for something he himself didn’t know he wanted to do. But when he was on the running track, the fact that his feeling was analogous to him being in a marathon says how much of inspiration was actually instilled in him. Likewise, celebrating early perhaps also taught him a valuable lesson that in fact, the winner does take it all. But Dhurba’s response is also quite beautiful on its own: his smile at his untimed win and his smile after coming second were the same–it was of gratitude and simplicity. The winner did not take that away!