Kathmandu, 27 Jul: On Friday, the 2nd of Shrawan (mid-July), after finishing her household chores as usual, Parbati Karki of Bangerpipal, Dhading, was preparing to head to the fields when it suddenly started raining heavily. She decided to leave her mobile phone at home — after all, who would call her while working in the fields? Her husband, working abroad, and her son, studying in Kathmandu in the +2 level, usually called in the mornings or evenings, so she didn’t feel the need to carry the phone with her.
When she returned home after completing her work, she noticed several missed calls from an unfamiliar number. As she continued with household tasks, her phone rang again. This time, she answered. The call was from the central office of Ncell in Kathmandu. The caller started verifying her identity, asking questions about her name, address, and family. She answered all the questions.
The Ncell representative then asked her to come to the Ncell headquarters on Monday. Curious, Karki asked why. “You’ve won a gift, but we can’t reveal the details over the phone. Please come to Kathmandu,” they replied. Karki said she would try to come later. But they insisted that it was a good prize and urged her to contact the Ncell office in Kathmandu on Monday itself.
“After receiving the prize call, I told my in-laws, my husband abroad, and my son studying in Kathmandu,” Parbati Karki recalled. “At first, no one believed I had actually won anything. They thought it might be a scam call trying to deceive me.” But when her brother-in-law in Kathmandu got involved and said it could really be a good prize, her hopes started to rise. He asked, “Can you come to Kathmandu just once?” That’s when she began to think the prize might actually be real.
Putting aside her usual fieldwork, she gathered her identification documents and boarded a bus to Kathmandu on Sunday. The next morning, she reached Ncell’s Lainchaur office accompanied by her son and brother-in-law. “Even when I arrived at the Ncell office, I still had no idea what kind of prize I had won,” she said after receiving Ncell’s bumper prize that Friday. “Only after they verified all my documents did they inform me that I had won one crore rupees (10 million). At first, I couldn’t even process how that was possible.”
Her connection with Ncell dates back nearly eight years. “It’s the SIM card I bought about seven or eight years ago from the local market in Arughat. I used to regularly buy Ncell’s ’99 rupees pack’,” she explained. “Today, that same pack has brought me a prize of one crore rupees. I’m so happy—it feels like my days of financial struggle are finally over.”
Parvati’s life has been marked by hardship and struggle. She remembers vividly the days when she and her husband worked hard to build a better life. While he toiled abroad, she managed the household and worked as a female community volunteer in her village for almost 15 years.
Still, she feels life hasn’t turned out the way she hoped. “Sometimes it felt like no matter how hard I worked, nothing ever came of it. I never lacked effort, but the results never matched my expectations. Still, I kept going,” she said. The most tragic moment came during the 2015 earthquake when their newly constructed home, ready to be moved into, was destroyed. Worse still, she lost her one-month, two-day-old youngest son in the disaster.
Now, she lives in a small house in Bangerpipal, Ganga Jamuna Rural Municipality–6, having moved there via Salyantar from Dhadingbesi. Besides the money her husband sends from abroad, she has no other income source. She receives a small stipend for her volunteer work and grows maize, millet, rice, and seasonal vegetables.
Parvati stopped going to school after failing grade 9 in her village. A year later, at age 23, she got married. A few years later, her son was born. Financial hardship pushed her husband to seek work abroad, while she took on the responsibility of managing everything at home.
Her husband braved the intense heat of the Gulf to earn money and send it back. But life abroad wasn’t easy either. While in Kuwait, he once collapsed unconscious in the bathroom. Luckily, his coworkers found him and rushed him to the hospital in time. Despite working abroad for years, progress was slow, and Parvati eventually suggested he return and work in Nepal.
“I knew how hard he was working, even when sick. So when he came back to Nepal, I didn’t want him to go abroad again. We took loans and started a shop in Kathmandu,” she recalled. But fate was unkind there too. The shop, opened with a big investment, collapsed under debt within a few months.
When the business failed, going abroad again became the only option. The shop, started with 900,000 rupees in loans, sold for less than 60,000. With mounting debt and poor health, her husband left for Bahrain about two years ago. But things didn’t go well there either. Burdened with debt, he couldn’t leave the job. So, he’s still in Bahrain. “He said he would return after two years. That will be this Bhadra (August/September). He hopes to get leave then,” she said.
In Bahrain, he developed a new illness—an allergy. Sometimes his body swells; sometimes the allergic reaction causes great discomfort. Still, he works and manages to send home around 15,000 to 20,000 rupees a month—barely enough to cover the loan interest, according to Parvati.
After winning the one crore prize from Ncell, 2.5 million rupees went to taxes. The remaining amount has now been deposited into her bank account. For Parvati, it’s a life-changing sum. She believes it will make life easier.
Her first priority is to pay off the mountain of debt. She is happy just thinking that she no longer has to carry that burden. “I used to wonder when we’d ever be free from this debt and live in peace. Now, with this prize money, my first task is to clear the loans. I no longer need to exhaust a sick body just to repay debt,” she said.
After repaying the debt, she plans to start a small business in Nepal together with her husband. “We now understand that if we use this money wisely, our future can be secure. That’s why we plan to keep him in Nepal and work together,” she added. Their son is still studying in the +2 level, which also requires a significant financial commitment. She plans to use the remaining money to support his education.
