Rishi Bhandari
B.Tech Biotechnology, Asian Institute of Management and Technology, Kathmandu
Rishi was born in the western mountains of Nepal, moved to the southern plains and raised in the central mountains. He currently lives in Nepal, spending most of his time traveling to mountains and villages.
From early childhood, Rishi grew up at a sustainable community in the southern hills of Kathmandu. Here, he lived with more than 100 people sharing the same food, sharing work, tending plants and animals together, learning from each other, singing together and meditating together. He also learned about the Hindu culture and its expression in daily life.
Rishi’s voyage as an educator started at the age of 13. He recalls taking a year off from school to help his younger schoolmates in their learning. This had a profound effect on him. Since then, he has been exploring the value of education that happens outside the classroom. Over the past decade and a half he has been involved with educational institutions both as a student and a mentor. Over the years he went to India, South Korea, Australia, and New Zealand to take part in the alternative education conferences as a participant/speaker. He also worked for short stints as a cultural show host, data analyzer for vaccine management programs in India, translator, and enumerator for anti-trafficking project in Nepal.
Having known Dragons since 2014, Rishi helped several Dragons groups coordinate their activities in his community. He felt a resonance with the unique vision of travel and learning that Dragons presented. He started working as a full-time Instructor for Dragons since 2016 and has led semesters, summers, and adult courses, as well as worked as support instructor for the Princeton Bridge Year program in India and Senegal. He is also a certified Wilderness First Responder.
Rishi finds incredible joy sharing about Nepali culture and helping people understand and immerse in it to bring out wonderful experiences.
He calls poetry his love as sharing perspectives and stories through poetry is one of his favorite things. He finds poetry as a wonderful tool to help people navigate the heart and the mind and enjoys facilitating poetry sharing sessions.
He is also a competitive table tennis player, an avid soccer fan, and loves to run, hike, rock climb, mountain bike and other spontaneous adventures. He enjoys blissing out to Indian classical music, Sufi poetry, and qawalis.