Why My Certificate Says 2081 and the Envelope Says 2024 — Epoche A2
Dear Priya, You asked why my school certificate is dated 2081 when the envelope it came in says 2024. Both dates are right. Nepal keeps two calendars, and official papers use ours. The one you know is the Gregorian calendar, the one the whole world uses for flights and email. The one on my certificate is Bikram Sambat, and Nepal uses it for government papers, newspapers and school records. It runs about fifty-seven years ahead of yours. So while your year turned to 2024, mine had already turned to 2081. There is a second difference, and it confuses people more than the number. Your year begins on 1 January, in the middle of winter. Ours begins in the middle of April, when the weather is turning. So the two years do not line up neatly: one Bikram Sambat year sits across two of yours, and a date near April can belong to either. This is why the office wrote both. The certificate is a Nepali document, so it carries a Nepali date; the envelope had to cross a border, so it carries yours. Do not think of it as one true date and one translation. It is one day, written in two systems, and both of them can find it. Write soon, Sunita