NEST Chautari
A gathering place. A resting place. A home away from home.
What Is a Chautari?
In Nepal, along the roads that wind through hills and mountains, there are places called Chautari.
A Chautari is a resting place, usually a raised stone platform beneath a large tree: a pipal, a banyan, a peepal. Travellers would stop there to rest their loads, drink water, share news, and talk to strangers who became, for that moment, neighbours and companions.
A Chautari was never owned by one person. It was not for one gender, one professional group, or one geographic region. It belonged to everyone who passed by. You could arrive tired, confused, or carrying something heavy, and find a place to sit, a person to listen, and a direction to follow when you were ready.
This is what NEST hopes to be for the Nepali community in Thunder Bay.
NEST as Our Chautari
When you leave Nepal and make your home in a new city, the journey does not end at the airport. The heavier part often begins later, when the paperwork is done, the bags are unpacked, and you realize that the life you built back home now has to be rebuilt here, piece by piece.
NEST is our community's NEST Chautari in Thunder Bay. Come here to pause. Come here to ask a question. Come here to offer something you know to someone who needs it. Come here to celebrate, to remember, and to be reminded that you are not alone in this journey.
Whether you arrived last month or twenty years ago, you are welcome at this Chautari.
Carrying Our Homeland with Dignity
We do not leave Nepal behind when we come to Thunder Bay. We bring our language with us. We bring our hospitality, atithi devo bhava, the guest is as honoured as a god. We bring our festivals, our music, our food, our stories, and the deep bonds of family and community that Nepali culture has always held close.
NEST honours all of this. At the same time, we are learning to live well in Thunder Bay, the rhythms of a Canadian winter, the systems of this province, the opportunities available here. This is not about forgetting. This is about becoming rooted in a new place without losing your roots in the old one.
How the Chautari Works
The Chautari has no opening hours. It is always here.
If You Are New to Thunder Bay
Visit the New to Thunder Bay page for useful starting points and official resource links. Reach out to the community through our contact form.
If You Have Been Here a While
Think about what you wish someone had told you when you first arrived. That knowledge belongs to this community. Consider sharing it. Consider volunteering.
If You Want to Connect
Events, gatherings, picnics, and cultural celebrations bring us together in person. Follow @tbaynepali on Instagram for the latest.
If You Want to Give Back
The Chautari grows stronger when more people contribute to it. Membership, volunteering, sponsorship, and donations all help this community thrive.
Under the tree, everyone is equal.
The person who has been here longest holds out a hand to the person who just arrived. The newcomer who asked for directions last year gives directions this year. Knowledge is shared. Burdens are lightened. Celebrations are louder together.
We are all in this together. We always have been.The spirit of NEST
There is always a place for you here.
Come and sit at the Chautari. Ask a question, share what you know, or simply belong.
