Category: KUROOSH- Interlocking cultures and languages

Well! The answer is simple. ‘No’.

I came to the Netherlands as an accompanying partner. My husband got a job at the TU/e and we decided to move here. What we had planned was, he will be working and I will be pursuing my higher education. Little did we know that the Dutch education system is different from the Nepali education system.

So with my 3 years of Bachelor’s degree and 2 years of Master’s degree, I couldn’t apply for Research Master’s, let alone PhD. In addition, my knowledge has been more general and broad rather than specific. No specialization was yet done. Took me a year to really accept that I need to think something else. Perhaps doing a Master. That still is one of the goals.

After this realization, I started looking for jobs. Masters in English Literature and Culture wasn’t going to help find a job in Eindhoven. In fact, very hard to get one in the Netherlands. Unless you have years and years of experience, native English and C1 level Dutch proficiency. I would think of giving a try until I come to the third requirement. Well! Broaden your job search. That’s what I did.

However, during all these exploration, I always gave a thought over Get in Touch Program. A program for international spouses which I was part of since I came to Eindhoven. As days went by so was GiT becoming more and more important to me. It is my family, my second family. so I used to think, “even if I get a job or study, I wouldn’t want to compromise Thursday’s GiT meetups. I would like to be a part of it and keep meeting my old and new friends”.

One day, one of my brother-in-laws, suggested me to do some projects regarding Get in Touch since I was so invested in this program. And since I like to write, I thought of bringing my writing and Get in Touch in the same page. Well! in the same website in this case. So with Carola (founder of GiT) and Ed Heerschaap (Coordinator Living In, Holland Expat Center), I documented the the journey of GiT (Journey of Get In Touch).

It was during those days when Carola asked me about carrying on GiT in the future. It was overwhelming. I knew it was going to be quite a challenge. It was during those conversations I knew that if I want to carry GiT on, I will need to register my company.

So, that’s the first time ever when the idea of having my own company entered my mind.

Kuroosh aims at interlocking people, culture and language. Through English as the common language, Kuroosh caters various services like Get in Touch Program (socio-cultural), Proofreading, Editing, Translating (Nepali- English & vice versa), and English Conversation Meetups, and Crochet workshops, products.

“Kuroosh” is a Nepali term for “crochet hook”. It was the art of crocheting, interlocking loops and creating a wonderful piece, that led me in choosing Kuroosh as the name of my company.

Crochet has a significant place in my life. My mom introduced the term Kuroosh when I was just a kid. She was an avid crocheter and a knitter. But a day came when she had to stop continuing her passion. After that, Kuroosh was lost among us. No one among her five kids had any serious interest in it.

One afternoon four years ago, I just felt the need to learn that skill from her. Maybe I could continue her passion through me. So, I asked her to teach me. It was an emotional request for her which she happily accepted. When that day ended, my hands were familiar with the coordination between yarn and hook. A happy and proud moment for both of us. But how serious I was regarding crochet was visible only after I came to the Netherlands a month after that crochet session. It has been four years now that I have been crocheting. It has become an integral part of my new life here.

Kuroosh thus connects me with my mom, my country and at the same time with my new life in Eindhoven. It weaves these lives together in a colorful productive way.

In 2018, when Carola Eijsenring asked me if I would like to take over the Get in Touch Program in the future, she caught me by surprise. I didn’t know how to react. But I knew, it was an honor to be offered such an amazing program. Get in Touch had been one of the most important parts of my life since my journey in Eindhoven that ‘no’ wasn’t going to be the answer. It was, however, going to be challenging because I never thought I would be running a program by myself.

So, I accepted Carola’s offer and started my journey under her guidance. 2019 was almost over and I was thinking of a name for my company. Many names were crossed out. By then, my husband already had suggested about “Kuroosh”. I love crocheting and “Kuroosh” means crochet hook in Nepali. But I wasn’t sure how well it will work in the international society.

One day Carola dropped by my house with a Birthday gift for me. She asked me if I had picked a name already. I told her a few of them. And then I also told her what my husband has suggested. Carola immediately liked it. She encouraged me to go with that name because it is meaningful in what my plans are.

With the beginning of 2020, I finally registered my company ‘Kuroosh’.