Sunita Dangol, ‘What’s next?’
She Could’ve Just Taken the Photo, She Chose to See Me Instead
Aditi Silwal
aditesilwal@gmail.com
I’d always assumed politicians were loud, detached, their promises never meant for people like me.
So when I joined recent ‘legal awareness training’ at Ward No. 16, Kathmandu, I expected nothing. Just another leader ticking a box. Just another lecture wasting everyone’s time.
Then Sunita Dangol walked in and everything shifted.
She wasn’t a public figure making an appearance. She was present. No loud and long speech. Just a woman who understood exactly where she stood, and why it mattered.
She didn’t talk at us, she talked with us. And trust me that changes everything.
One creates silence. The other, space.
She wasn’t performing leadership. She was living it. The kind that pulls you in, makes you feel like you’re part of something, not just watching from the sidelines.
I’d seen her before, of course. Election season had plastered her name across my feed: Sunita Dangol. Young. Smart. Calm. I actually didn’t follow politics. Still don’t. But something about her stuck. Maybe because she didn’t fit the mold. Maybe because she felt… familiar.
In person, though? She was different.
Some people don’t need to shout to leave a mark.
Their presence does the talking.
She wasn’t creating a moment.
She was the moment.
And maybe that’s what leadership should be: unscripted and real. Someone who stands beside you, not above you.
We only exchanged a few words. Before the photo, she asked if it was my holiday.
“Just finished my +2 boards,”I said, still foggy, unsure of what came next.
She smiled. “What’s next?”
Casual. But it hit like a challenge.
Not because I lacked plans but because no one had ever asked like they truly cared to hear the answer.
Suddenly, I wasn’t just another face in the crowd.
I mattered. My voice mattered. My dreams weren’t meant for somewhere else they belonged here, now.
Later, I scrolled through her social media, hungry to understand. One line of her stayed with me:
“We don’t have to leave to become something. Sometimes, we grow where we’re planted.”
Proof.
Because she stayed.
No running from the country’s chaos, no chasing glory elsewhere.
She stayed and she’s building something here. Quietly. Powerfully.
The training ended. But something in me didn’t.
I left craving more not certificates, but chances. To learn. To contribute. To build.
Now I know: staying isn’t settling.
It’s sowing. And created a spark in me to not leave my country like her .
And maybe one day, I’ll see myself in another girl hesitant but hopeful and ask her, “What’s next?”
Not as small talk.
But as a spark.
Just like she did for me !
…
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