The Accidental Fellow !
I jumped out of bed, opened my laptop, searched Daayitwa, and the Public Policy Fellowship 2026 application was staring at me. An hour of struggle, and I submitted the form. Right after 4 days of applying, I got a confirmation email after two rounds of interview. In big bold letters it read: offer you an acceptance to DNPPF 2026 with MoF. It seems I accidentally became a fellow!
Suman Kumar,7th July,2026,
22 May 2026, BP Store Kirtipur, 2 PM: Umesh Ji and I were having intense discussions at the tea shop on the government, world order, geopolitics, even the USA-Iran conflict! It felt like we were about to have a ceasefire agreement over a kadak kaalo chiya on a boiling mid-day of May. Of course, we didn’t stop any wars, and our self proclaimed theories never made it into any government policies. Life of unemployed graduate in Nepal, right?
We changed the discussion topic, after a long shrug: “What are we doing even after completing graduation?” we ordered second round of chai. Umesh ji casually mentioned he had applied for a fellowship and got accepted. It was something to keep him busy for next three months. In our conversation, a name popped up multiple times: Daayitwa. I’d heard it before but knew nothing concrete. I shared about enrolling in M.Phil. myself.
By then our tea arrived. We sipped and took some Seto Jinis. Concluded the overall discussion with “estai ho”, shook hands, waved bye and parted our ways with smile.
That midnight, I was recalling our ministerial level discussion, which I usually do. The one thing that constantly came into my mind was Daayitwa. I jumped out of bed, opened my laptop, searched Daayitwa, and the Public Policy Fellowship 2026 application was staring at me. An hour of struggle, and I submitted the form. Right after 4 days of applying, I got a confirmation email after two rounds of interview. In big bold letters it read: offer you an acceptance to DNPPF 2026 with MoF. It seems I accidentally became a fellow!