Three Cups of Tea

I have heard that in Pakistan and Afghanistan people drink three cups of tea before any kind of business; first you are a stranger, the second become a friend, and the third you join in their family.

This same concept applies to my life as I remember Bishal Shrestha, a young lad whom I came to know as a cloud worker at the very beginning. I didn’t know him much and he also didn’t tell me much about himself because we were new to each other. I can say he was a shy kind of person. Every week when it was time to meet up for team meeting, I would give him a call. He would come attend the meeting and go. I must say he was a very hardworking person. Months passed by and he was starting to open up with me in the meetings get open with me in the meetings. He told me how fond he was of with new gadgets; he still loves to play with his gadgets.

As time passed by, one day I asked him something which I should have asked him at the very beginning. I questioned him, “Where do you live?”

To my astonishment, his answer was, “Palpa!”

I asked him again, “Well, where do you stay in Kathmandu?”

He answered, “I live in Palpa and I come to Kathmandu from Palpa to attend the weekly team meeting. I was afraid to tell you because I thought if you come to know about this, that will be the end of my job as a cloud worker.”

When I heard him say that,I was awestruck… Just to attend the weekly team meetings for couple of hours, this dedicated worker travelled from Palpa which is 325 kilometers to Kathmandu and it takes approximately 12 hours, every week with no excuses! This made me think how dedicated he was towards this job. I asked him, “Are you traveling this far because of the job or is there something else motivating you to travel to Kathmandu each week?”

He responded, “It’s not only the work I do as a cloud worker, but it’s the values and character lessons that CloudFactory has been providing. I find them very productive and useful in my life. I am very eager to carry out the community services in our community. I have never heard or learned about these things before and I would love to learn more in the days to come.”

Today, I can see him openly talking and making new friends day by day, always looking for opportunities ahead for himself and inspiring others who are needy.

Ever since this day, we have bonded even better. We started off as strangers and gradually became friends and he has now successfully been added as an active and energetic member in our Agile family.

We drank our three cups of tea here in Nepal… as they do in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Written by Chris Bhujel