Journey Beyond Boundaries: Inspiration, Change and Democracy - From Himalaya to the World is the memoir and reflection of Kamal Rijal, Ph.D., an engineer, policy advisor, and political thinker who has spent five decades navigating the intersections of development, democracy, and global change.
From childhood under mango trees in Bardiya to policy tables at the United Nations in New York, this book tells a journey across boundaries of place, politics, and profession. It captures the struggles of Nepal's democratic movements, the paradoxes of development, and the urgent call for climate justice in the Himalaya.
Through personal anecdotes, professional milestones, and bold reflections, Rijal links ancient wisdom with modern challenges, urging youth to claim their role as architects of the future. This is not just one person's story - it is an invitation to reimagine justice, hope, and democracy in the 21st century.
Key Themes:
Student activism and Nepal's democratic awakening
The paradox of development and corruption in South Asia
Regional cooperation across the Hindu Kush-Himalaya
Global energy and climate debates from ICIMOD to UNDP
Youth-o-cracy (Yuba-tantra): a toolkit for change
Vision 2050: from ashrams to algorithms
Ultimately, this is more than just a memoir. It is a call to action: to move beyond despair, beyond inequality, and beyond boundaries.
Yet this is not only a personal narrative. The book interrogates the systems that shaped those years. It asks why poverty is still diagnosed with numbers but never cured; why corruption has become a system rather than a scandal; why democracy is practiced as patronage rather than principle. Each chapter pairs reflection with concrete proposals: reforming party democracy, reclaiming governance from brokers, and reimagining youth as the engine of change.
The later chapters widen further: climate justice, the Himalaya as the water towers of Asia, the paradox of global inequality, and the call for a Vision 2050 that connects ashrams to algorithms. The Toolkit for Change translates these reflections into practical pillars that students and activists can use in their own struggles.
Journey Beyond Boundaries is not a story of one life alone. It is a mirror for Nepal, a voice for the Global South, and an invitation to youth everywhere. It ends not with answers but with a Jyoti-Punja - a cluster of light - passed forward, so that others may carry the journey beyond where one life could reach. Journey beyond boundaries is more than a memoir; it is a Jyoti-Punja- "a call for hope, transformation, and justice."
