An orphan from Nepal is now the youngest member of a French municipality and managing director of a college in France.

If outlook is anything to go by, Laxman (Raphael Boyer) has nothing so extraordinary about him, except perhaps for his extremely gentle smile. But if you take a look at his r?sum? you could see a well-integrated, compelling image emerging out of it.

With a Masters in Public Law and Political Science from Paris University, this 27-year-old born in Nepal is the youngest member of a French municipality and the managing director of a college in France.

His journey to this height began around 27 years ago, when Robert Rieffel Boyer, a French medical doctor and philanthropist, took him from a foster home in Kathmandu, Nepal, to his country. Laxman was only three months old at that time.

Growing up as an adopted child in France, he often encountered an overwhelming identity crisis. However, thanks to the Boyer family, he has very little to complain about.

“The way they brought him up is par excellence,” explained Mahen Shakya, a close friend of Boyer family. “I was taken aback by their love. It’s very difficult to imagine if he was at all an adopted child.”

While adopting Laxman, the Boyers had also assumed responsibility of another child, Ram (now Jeremie), who has now become a musician. Prior to that the Boyer family had adopted a girl from the same foster home in Nepal, who has turned out to be an advocate.

Perhaps, as a reward for their compassion, God also gifted them with their own child.

When asked if he missed anything of Nepal while growing up in France, Laxman, during his recent visit to Nepal, answered: “Since I was too young when I left Nepal, I don’t remember anything so well as to miss it. Oh, yes, but sometimes I wonder if my biological father looks like me at all?”

Although the memories of Nepal were not etched in his mind when he left his birth place, his unexplainable bond with Nepal was never broken.

“I always wanted to come to Nepal,” beamed Raphael, who has adopted his Nepali name “Laxman” as the second name in his French citizenship. “But since I was yet to be self-dependent, I couldn’t come before.”

Raphael, who is pretty much an epicurean in tastes, loves tandoori chicken the best of all Nepali foods. “Well, I just love spicy foods,” he confessed with the same gentle smile.

While speaking about his hobbies, he plainly confided politics to be his first love.

“I love everything about politics,” he said while explaining how he admires the French President Nicholas Sarkozy, except for his show-off nature. “It’s the bad face of the president. For me, the President of the French Republic has to be presidential.”

In the near future, he also plans to do something for Nepali orphans. “I’m not sure about what exactly yet. However, I would like to open a good orphanage here. And that’s just a beginning, I’ll try to contribute my best.” (By BHUSHITA VASISTHA In Kathmandu/ The Kathmandu Post/ AsiaNews)