Arjun Acharya describes himself as a simple teenager who’s rummaging around to make a change and transform the face of Karnali, the place he has utmost respect for. A passionate poet himself, Acharya is working relentlessly to revive the suppressed poetic scenario of Karnali through multiple organizations and literary events.
16 years old student high school student Acharya is the founder of Karnali poetry band which is a literary event which he and his team organize every month in American corner of Surkhet. Through this event he addresses socio-economic and cultural issues of Karnali. Likewise, along with his team, he performs musical poems in streets of surkhet with an aim to make people aware about different social issues of poverty, environment, chaupadi and so on every month. He is also the secretary of Divine Youth Club through which he conducts various programs.
He started writing poetry since he was only 13 years old and has participated in multiple poetry competition. From being Champion of Regional poetry slam to being one of the finalists of QC National poetry slam, Arjun Acharya has covered various pressing issues of his community in his poems.
“My biggest inspirations are the hurdles that I’ve faced in my journey. There are some people who try to suppress our voices and are neglectant of our situations in our community. This further motivates me to raise my voice and write poetry” said Acharya when asked about his inspirations. He also thinks some people try to discredit his ideas because he is just 16 years old which is why he always looks for platform where young voices can be heard. “Our team also has problems financing our literary events. We had to save our pocket money for weeks to conduct a good event, “ said Acharya. He hopes to conduct big regional events but marks financial incapability as one of the biggest hurdles.
He considers Navaraj Parajuli as one of his favourite poets of all time and aspires to be like him. “Along with Navaraj Parajuli, there are many local poets in my community who have left me astounded with their poetry” said Acharya gleefully. He also respects and adores other infamous writers of Karnali like Buddhisagar.
Glocal Teen Hero and his future plans
Arjun first heard about the platform of GTH through the facebook group ‘Youths of Karnali’ which he himself formed with an aim to spread awareness about youth opportunities. He feels platforms like this can help teenagers like dreams like him achieve their goals and work for their cause.
Acharya describes himself as a man with ambitious dreams. His dreams are more inclined towards bringing social changes and helping people of Karnali. He wants to bring socio economic changes in people’s lives and hopes to uplift their living standards. He also has utmost respect for nepali literature and wants to keep on pursuing poetry throughout his life. He also wants international audience to hear his poetry.
Arjun Acharya was selected among the 20 brightest young entrepreneurs, innovators and game changers below the age of 20 in Nepal, for the year 2019. This annual list is the ultimate honor roll of young game changers reshaping Nepal for the better. The platform seeks to encourage the youth to share their initiation, creativity, and enthusiasm which will then motivate them and more of the other youths in the nation to develop an entrepreneurial thinking.
