I think I’m going to Katmandu,

that’s really, really where I’m going to.

If I ever get out of here,

that’s what I’m gonna do.

K-K-K-K-K-Katmandu,

I think that’s where I’m going to.

If I ever get out of here,

“I’m going to Katmandu.”

— “Katmandu” by Bob Seger

Kul (pronounced “cool”) Bhushan Karanjeet is … well … a cool guy.

He’s 28 years old, lives at Key Apartments in west Austin and has a good job at the Hormel Institute.

And, he has a girlfriend.

Ordinary things in life, but valued dearly by the man, who is a stranger in a land that can be very strange to newcomers.

He is an immigrant to the United States from Nepal, and both America and Karanjeet have made good impressions on each other.

“So far for me it’s all been good,” he said. “I would tell my friends over there they have good schools over here. Definitely there is lots of opportunity to learn over here.

“I don’t believe we only learn in school. We learn from people around us too,” he said.

“That’s what I try to do now,” he said. “I try to meet new people and try to do more things while trying to see what life has to offer me.”

This is Karanjeet’s first trip away from his home country.

He is a long way — a very long way, to be sure — from the idyllic place of literature and the Bob Seger song.

Top of world

Officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, the landlocked country in South Asia is bordered by China and India on the south, east and west.

The Himalaya mountain range runs across Nepal’s northern and western parts, and eight of the world’s 10 highest mountains, including the highest, Mount Everest, are within its territory.

Nepal is a multi-cultural, multi-linguistic, multi-religious country.

The capital, Kathmandu, is the largest city in the country.

Political turmoil with Maoist rebels has created bloodshed in the nation in recent years as they attempt to form a coalition government.

The main religion of Nepal is Hinduism.

Cancer research

Karanjeet graduated from Minnesota State University, Mankato, in the spring. His parents came to see their son graduate and stayed with him for 2 1/2 months when he moved to Austin.

Karanjeet earned a degree in bio-chemistry and accepted a job at the Hormel Institute in Austin.

His father is retired from his work with the Nepalese blood bank and his mother is a homemaker. He has an older sister and a younger sister.

He is the only member of his family living outside Nepal at the present time.

The Karanjeet family lives in the city of Bhaktapur, a medieval city lying along an important trade route in the Kathmandu Valley.

Karanjeet has been in the United States for four years and speaks fluent English.

“In school back home we were taught English,” he said, “but we were used to British English, that had a thick accent, so when I came to the United States the first time we had a different pronunciation of the language.”

Speaking and understanding English was an asset to the immigrant.

He works as a research scientist intern in Dr. Peter Ruvolo’s section at Hormel Institute, doing cancer research.

“For a bio-chemist, it is very challenging and worthwhile work,” he said.

Because of the political turmoil and stagnant economic situation in Nepal, Karanjeet has no plans to return to his homeland soon.

Besides, he likes it here.

‘Welcoming’

“When I came to America, I found it very welcoming,” he said. “When I was at Mankato, we have lots of international students; almost 800 and Nepalese students make up a majority of them.”

Before coming to America, Karanjeet, who lived in one of the world’s poorest nations, dreamed of coming to the land of opportunity.

“Everyone would say that America is the land of opportunity and I knew that they had good schools, good people and more people with good values who were hard-working people,” he said.

His adjustment to the new nation was made easier by Patti Christensen, who lives near the Key Apartments complex where Karanjeet lives.

Christensen remembers when she first met Karanjeet’s family this summer and then the man himself.

“I saw her walking in the neighborhood,” recalled Christensen. “It wasn’t just me, but it was everybody in the neighborhood. We have a great neighborhood with some great people in it.”

“Every day, his mother would walk with him to his car in the Key Apartments parking lot when he would go to work and then she would wait there with her husband when he would come home at noon for lunch,” she said.

Christensen decided to take Italian ice sticks to the woman and man waiting in the hot mid-day sun for their son. When she did, Mrs. Karanjeet gave her a lamp shade in return.

From those innocent gestures, a friendship was formed.

“When my mom was here, she used to take walks around the neighborhood,” said Karanjeet. “One day, she met Patti Christensen and they became friends.

“Although my mom doesn’t speak English at all, somehow they managed to communicate with each other and became very good friends,” he said.

Then, the entire Ninth Avenue Northwest neighborhood became friends with the Nepalese family: Caucasians, Hispanics, African-Americans, everyone.

Karanjeet and his parents talked about their families, culture and religion, as well as day-to-day life in Nepal with their new friends in Austin.

A walk by Karanjeets and Christensen in the early evening became a parade with the neighborhood children following on their bicycles.

Residents stopped them along the way.

Everyone, it seemed, wanted to know about the new faces, according to Christensen. “It wasn’t just me,” insisted the woman, “It was everybody. We’ve got a great neighborhood and they all liked Kul and his parents.”

Going home

After 2 1/2 months, Karanjeet’s parents prepared to leave Austin and return to Nepal.

On their final day together, Christensen and the couple exchanged hugs. Mrs. Karanjeet gave Christensen a shawl — the same one she wore in family photos.

When Karanjeet waved good-bye to his parents and was left standing alone in the parking lot where the friendship began, Christensen comforted him with hugs and advice. “I told him to start grieving and then go on,” she said.

And now, the young man who makes such an impression on people wherever he goes, is alone again.

His Hindu religion is important to Karanjeet, but finding a place to worship is difficult.

“I found a small Hindu temple in Rochester but when I went there it wasn’t open,” he said. “Then, I found a big Hindu temple in Maplewood and went there. It’s about a two-hour drive each way and I try to go there once a month.”

Another adjustment is diet, because the Hindu culture doesn’t eat beef and the American menu is full of it everywhere.

There is also the 12-hour time difference: Nepal is ahead of Central Standard Time in Austin.

“I have to get used to it when I call my parents,” he said. “I say ‘Good morning, Mom’ and she says ‘Good evening, Son’ when we talk on the phone,” Karanjeet said.

He lives a Spartan lifestyle. No television, because he cannot afford one. Computer, of course, with Internet access to communicate via e-mail with his family in Nepal.

“I call them every week,” he added.

An aquarium with fish to feed and a keyboard set, which he is teaching himself to play.

Work at the Institute, supper and then a run from the west side of Austin around East Side Lake in the east. Slower, sleep and start the day all over again.

Having a friend helps a lot.

“Over here I am the only one,” he said. “My whole family is over there. All my relatives and friends from childhood. They have their jobs and their lives in Nepal.”

So, he is alone in the land of opportunity, adjusting to it quickly because of his positive attitude and because of Christensen, the neighbor, who became a friend with Italian ice sticks and a smile.