Image: The NYT
Bhanu Lama
Kathmandu, Nepal
+977 9801690969
June 10th 2025
Dear sir/madam, or maybe a ghost:
I’m writing to apply for the grandly titled job of Senior Assistant Manager of Strategic Synergies at Himalayan Innovations Pvt. Ltd., a job title so fancy it sounds like a new mountain peak or a sci-fi movie.
Before you toss this letter in with the dozens of others promising to “help build Nepal’s bright future” (we’ve all read those, right?), let me say I’m a bit different. I have a Master’s in Public Policy from Tribhuvan University, which means I’m good at reading government-speak and writing reports that are long, confusing and probably only understood by me.
I once worked as Deputy Coordinator of Urban Water Efficiency at Kathmandu EcoSolutions (not quite as legendary as it sounds). There I learned how to get through government red tape so tangled that even the toughest adventurers would give up and take a yak instead. I also got plenty of practice dealing with Kathmandu’s electricity board, a group so famously slow that negotiating with them requires the patience of a mountain guide leading climbers up Everest.
You might ask, with all this, why am I still hunting for a job? Well, Nepali employers have a special talent for disappearing when you need them most. They don’t only ignore emails, they make a full vanishing act look easy. Getting a reply to a cover letter in Kathmandu is rarer than receiving unsolicited… well, you know, a “head” and even that strangely happens more often. Sometimes, I wonder if hiring managers are actually ghosts, ready to collect resumes but nowhere to be found when it’s time to respond.
If your “Dear sir/madam” reply still sits in someone’s inbox like an old photo, here’s a gentle reminder: we live in 2025. But Nepali HR departments seem stuck in the past, where ignoring applicants is the norm and sending even a quick “no thanks” is too much effort. It’s like waiting for the internet during a power outage, mostly disappointing.
Now about Himalayan Innovations’ exciting goal to “leverage disruptive technologies to reshape Nepal’s development landscape”. That sounds like something out of a blockbuster or a motivational speech. I’m ready to bring my special skills: mastering Microsoft Office (including the mysterious “Track Changes” feature), juggling projects while stuck in Kathmandu’s traffic jams and a sense of humour that might stop your next meeting from being totally dull.
I know you’re looking for more than just skills: you want synergy, that magical mix of talent and ideas. I offer calm in the face of bureaucracy so confusing it feels like a Kafka novel, built from years of dealing with Nepali government chaos.
If this letter makes it to a real person (not one of your well-hidden office ghosts), I’d love to talk about how my mix of experience, patience and dry wit could help Himalayan Innovations. If you don’t reply, well, I’ll just add it to the long list of Nepali job applications that disappeared into the void.
Thanks for your time, or whatever form it took.
Yours, still hopeful and still waiting,
Bhanu Lama ■
