These actions in our history have helped much to shape Nepal of today:

1. The culture of building temples all over Nepal ( Traders and artisans of the Malla era deserve respect for innovating and then immortalizing our distinct Nepali architecture). Kathmandu must have been one of the most beautiful cities of the world 3 centuries ago.

2. Unification of modern state of Nepal in the 18th Century by Prithivi Narayan Shah and his younger son, Bahadur Shah. We are a nation called ‘Nepal’ because of their  brute determination.

3. Signing of Sugauli Treaty with the powerful ‘sun never sets’ British Empire (Bhimsen Thapa and fellow military and civilian leaders actions perhaps saved Nepal from dissolving into the British Empire). Sadly it also bought in the autocratic Rana regime.

4. People’s revolutions that ended the Rana rule in 1953, the absolute monarchy in 1990 and the monarchy itself in 2008. (Nepali citizens dared to remove dictatorship in 3 phases).

5. Nepali soldiers in international peace building United Nations forces and in World Wars 1 and 2 as Gurkhas: (Their exemplary services have presented one consistent positive image of Nepal worldwide for one whole century) but also brought a side-effect: a long culture of “leaving the nation to work” that haunts us today.

6. Community forests and large parts of Nepal allocated as National park 1960 onwards (This has silently protected South Asia’s water table for a billion plus people, quietly delaying the ever-looming water crisis for the time-being).

7. Madhesh Andolan in 2008 was a result of frustrations from the ruling aristocracy of Kathmandu’s oppression of the Terai plains and many of its natives. (This established a precedence where dignity along with fair prosperity has become a prerequisite for united, prosperous Nepal) which sadly is unrealized today.

8. Rejection of communal forces in Nepal in Constituent Assembly 2 in 2014: (Nepali citizens have time and again proved that united we rise, divided we WILL fall).

9. Sanduk Ruit’s eye surgery technique literally opened eyes of hundreds of thousands of people worldwide (He has become a positive example of one Nepali rising onto become a model global citizen and set a benchmark on what must a Nepali do if s/he wants to shine globally).

10. From early 1990’s,  millions of Nepali migrant workers left Nepal to transform Arab and east Asian countries from nomadic countries to developed countries within a single generation. (By contributing 30% of the total economy [at 2016] at the cost of their dreams, dignity, family, health and many with their own lives, they have been silently helping Nepal survive the continuous looting and pillaging of our country by syndicates of rulers in the name of democracy).

This is my personal view. I respect any disagreements and urge you to add your own lists in the comments below.