Her day begins at six reading out the horoscope for her program that airs from Radio Fulbari. “This is now the easiest part of my job,” she states, adding, “My career in radio began with it.”
Anu, now 21, has spent four years at the studio. “It began with the training The Reiyukai Nepal provided,” she informs. Back then she was a regular school girl who loved reading and talking. Whenever a teacher asked someone to volunteer reading out lessons, Anu would be the first one to raise hand. Her classmates, surprisingly, loved her
narration.
“My friends liked my voice so much that they used to tell me that I should take up singing classes,” she says, smiling. She was in her tenth grade when she participated in the two-month training provided by Reiyukai. After she earned the certificate she applied to the radio station. By a stroke of luck, she was allotted the early hour program; the same she continues to host till date.
Few others recruited along with her eventually left for the capital city either to continue their education or to look for a career in other fields thinking that RJing could not fetch enough to pay the bills. “This is a small town that is yet to see development and most parents still think only doctors, engineers or government officers have a career,” she elaborates.
So how did she deal with this predicament? “I have been lucky in this respect as my parents have always been supportive. May be it´s because they are, unlike many, educated,” she answers confidently.
Today Anu conducts 13 programs a week, facilitates trainings to interns and also manages to record commercials. The ads she creates are based on her own concepts and writings. Since she does not recall struggling during the transition period, she believes she learnt to multitask gradually and things happened slowly but steadily.
The immense amount of workload she shoulders is owing to the fact that not many show interest in staying back in Gualariya. Anu, however, plans to stay and never leave her hometown. “I have to build this station and make it as popular as Hits FM and other radio stations in Kathmandu,” she says, adding, “If there is a well paying job with equal exposure, youngsters here might not leave for Kathmandu.”
Apart from her office, Anu enjoys her college pursuing journalism. She is of the belief that journalism is more of practice and less theory. But she does read books related to the subject, that is, if she ever gets one! In-between her hectic schedule, she makes sure that she marks her participation in all the trainings NGO´s provide.
Today, Anu enjoys a reputation that none of her friends have. The best moments, she says, are those when people come to her seeking solutions to their health problems. “I conduct this program Ghar Aangan, dealing with maternal health, in cooperation with BBC, and many people come to me with questions,” she smiles. She answers these questions with the help of local doctors.
Apart from social work, her job, she says, gives her an opportunity to meet celebrities. She proudly says that she has met Prashana Shakya, Megh Lama, Dhiraj Rai and Nalina Chitrakar among others. “I hear that in Kathmandu, people like only Indian and Hollywood actors,” she says. “For those of us here, we hardly listen to English music. Radio stations here hardly play them.”
It is quite evident that this enthusiast, despite the shortcomings of her small town, loves it and enjoys her job and life there. For this young satisfied producer, her job, in her own words, is “interesting and challenging, and if not well-paying, quite fulfilling.”
*Corrected
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