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Gagan Thapa

Born in Kathmandu on 16 July 1976
Ancestral home Solukhumbu
Education Siddhartha Banasthali (SLC, 80 percent), ISc and BA in Sociology from Tri-Chandra College, dropped out of MA in Rural Development from Tribhuban University
Currently Studying Master's in Political Science from TU
As a student Not bad, I was among the selected 50 in school likely to top SLC
Plans PhD in Political Economy from Jawaharlal Nehru University, India but not before democracy is restructured in Nepal.
Sports Basketball, I was captain of the college team
Family Three brothers (engineers, a doctor), father (engineer), mother (homemaker)
Initially I thought I would end up as another doctor or engineer
In 1990 I got my first taste of political activism participating in street protests. Still in grade nine, I wasn't politically inclined. We did burn an effigy of the Panchayat era but it was all youthful vigour, not real political interest.
Has been member, secretary and president of Free Student Union; president of Kathmandu Nepal Student Union (NSU); vice-president, general secretary of NSU
Major political influences are Nelson Mandela and BP Koirala, they had vision and leadership qualities
In Hanuman Dhoka During my recent arrest (third time there out of six arrests), I read Nelson Mandela's Long Walk to Freedom.