My Experience with Hoba, My Grandfather – The Late Am Bahadur Chetry

This essay is to honour my grandfather, Late Am Bahadur Chetry. He was born on the 1st of December 1952 in the remote village of Gulmi, Chandrakot, Nepal. He grew up in a family of 7. His dad was in the army and his mother was a housewife. Hoba lost his dad at the age of 7 and then the whole family moved to Assam, India. Since then, he stayed in India and settled there. As you know he had a lot of work experience, all this experience gave him wisdom that he shared with his people. I was my granddad's most beloved person, and he shared a lot of stories and his lessons from life with me. His teachings are a blessing for me and they have influenced my life positively. In this essay I will share a few stories and values that he taught me.

My granddad always taught me to be honest. He told me that lying will spare you for that moment, but it will bring you trouble later, whereas if you tell the truth, you might get scolded now, but you won't face any consequences later. Obviously, one cannot always tell the truth because there might be greater consequences, but they should try to speak the truth wherever possible. When I was 7, I was an active child and kept running around and fidgeting with things. One day, Baba had gone outside the house for some work, and I was with my Hoba at home. Hoba and I were sitting on the balcony and he was telling me what I did when I was young. Since he was talking about that, I had to show him how I had grown and how strong I had become. To prove my strength, I grabbed the plant that Baba had recently bought, grabbed its stem and tried lifting it. I successfully lifted the plant, and I was ecstatic. I thought, Why not lift it higher, so I gave it my all to lift it. While I kept trying, the stem got weaker and weaker and then it finally snapped. After it snapped, I had the stem in my hand and a broken pot near my feet. After I broke the pot, I immediately tried fixing it by putting everything in place. I was unsuccessful. I was sure that I was going to get scolded by Baba, so I walked to Hoba and sat on his lap, because I knew that he would save me from Baba's scolding. I asked him what to do, because I thought he might tell me an excuse I could tell Baba. To my surprise he told me to just tell the truth. I was shocked and told him that if I told the truth I would just get scolded. He told me that if I told the truth, I would have done the right thing . Even if Baba knew that and scolded me, , he would protect me and said in Nepali, ''Tero bau mero mathi bolnu sakdena'', which means “your dad can't speak over me”

As our conversation was going on, my dad suddenly walked in. As soon as I saw him, I hid behind Hoba's arms. When he entered, he saw the mess and was furious. Of course, he knew who did it but he still asked for confirmation from me. I was too scared to say anything so I just hugged Hoba. Hoba kept insisting that I tell the truth, but I was too scared. This kept going on for a while but then Hoba broke the chain and told Baba that I had to say something. After he said that, I had to go to Baba, and in a faint voice I said in Nepali “Baba moile garako” which means, “Baba I did it”. I was ready to run to Hoba, but instead of giving me a lecture, my dad just said that it was okay and told me not to repeat it again. After he said that, I could finally breathe. At that age of 7, I always had to be in the spotlight, so I told Baba that I was about to make an excuse but then I listened to Hoba's advice and told the truth. When I told Baba that, he hugged me and said that I had done the right thing.Now let me share a few personal traits about Hoba. He had an insane amount of commitment, whenever he was given a task or a responsibility, he would always put forth his best effort. Hoba had taken the responsibility to build a house for Baba in the city of Bengaluru and he successfully built one. He had taken all the responsibility for bringing labourers, getting the materials, getting carpenters, electricians and only the funding was done by Baba. He had done all of this in a city that he was not very familiar with, and there was also a difference in the accent and the way he spoke. Hoba’s hindi had a lot of Assamese and Nepali words in it,for example he used, “Mati’’, which means soil in English and “Mato” in Nepali. Despite all these challenges he still managed to build the house. This explains the amount of dedication he had for work.

Likewise, Hoba was both passionately involved with grand projects and devoted to smaller work, demonstrating commitment to every aspect of the work. I remember the time when I had to make all the 3-dimensional shapes using paper, I didn’t have any hot glue or super glue with me, all I had was some Fevikol (glue) which was not sticky enough to hold the paper upright. I was also unsure about the measurements required and ended up cutting random pieces of paper without any clear plan. Hoba saw my confused face and thought of helping. He asked me to sit on the scooter, and once I was settled, he took me to the stationery shop. There, we picked up all the materials we needed for our shapes. After gathering everything, we headed back home. When we reached home, he immediately put all the materials on the table and started planning. He told me to sit and learn from him. I watched for about 15 minutes, but soon I started to feel bored. Hoba noticed my expression and told me that I could go outside and play while he finished the work. I stepped outside and ended up playing for about an hour and a half before returning. When I reached home, I didn’t see Hoba, but I saw all the shapes on the table perfectly aligned, I felt happy because I didn’t have to do my homework anymore, and I could relax and watch cartoons on TV instead. The next morning, I showed the shapes Hoba made to the class and my teachers. They were impressed by the quality of the shapes and because of that I got a really good grade on the project. The shapes were built so well that the teachers decided to use them as models in the lessons, using the shapes to explain related concepts. This showed how much effort he put into the task. Hoba really cared about both the big projects and the little tasks. He found joy in every detail, always ready to step up and help. His passion showed that every job, no matter how small, truly matters.