There is a common thread in the lives of all the characters in the collection of stories; they are all enduring difficult lives, and this difficulty is not of their own making. From the introduction to each story, the author makes it clear that the environment in which they have found themselves is almost unconquerable, not just physically, but mentally and emotionally as well. The grandeur and sheer expanse of the natural world of Nepal represents the expansive obstacles that the nation puts in the way of each of its citizens whose only hope of a better life is to leave.
However, just leaving is not enough, not if they don't go very far. For example, the refugee girl believes that merely leaving Nepal will suddenly improve her life and its potential, but she finds that Bhutan, where she has fled, is really no different to the land from which she has come. The entire Nepalese diaspora is difficult. In order to flee hardship one must really flee, not just wander a little way over the border and consider the job done.
It's clear from the narrative that life might be difficult for all, but for women it is exponentially harder. In this, at least, Nepal is no different from the rest of the world. Women in Nepal and its neighbors may well have dreams of a better life but it takes the blessing of a Nepalese man in order for them not just to achieve this but to be permitted to have such a dream in the first place.
There is also a clash of generations in the stories that is another common thread running through the lives of each of the characters. This is particularly true in the title story, as a father and daughter struggle to understand each other, and the daughter does not comprehend what her father's identity as a gurkha means to him, or why he tends to complain a lot about it. There is an element of failure of the younger generation to really study the past of their forbears, rather than looking at it and dismissing it. This, too, is something that seems to be a common thread that weaves the different characters together.
