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    Rejection By The King Of Nepal Was Not the End Of The Road

    When Kul Gautam got a royal "no" for his passport request, he decided to do something special with his life. He tells of his journey from a tiny village to the upper ranks of the U.N. in a new memoir.
    by Melody Schreiber Sep 21, 2018 6 minutes
    At 69, Kul Gautam has written his life story and won an award from the Peace Corps (which is fitting, since a volunteer was one of his early English teachers).

    Kul Chandra Gautam was born in a rural village with no electricity or running water, no doctors and schools. The nearest town with a market was a five-day walk away.

    He left home at age 7 to study — and study he did. He was one of the first people in the world to learn English from a Peace Corps volunteer, and his outstanding grades eventually won him a full scholarship to Dartmouth.

    But getting there wasn't easy.

    For two years, Gautam petitioned the Nepali government for a passport so he could attend the U.S. university. But back in the 1960s, passports were given only to people of privilege — not poor villagers. His passport request went all the way up to the king, only to be denied.

    It was then Gautam vowed to do something special with his life.

    "That moment came because of the injustice of not being able to get a passport,"

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