It is the year 2060 when I was studying at 11. I am not good at reading but I was interested in reading. So she rented a room from the village to live in the city to study.
But where everything was as expected, the fees of private colleges are expensive. There were still 3 siblings in the house. The only source of income was education and farming. So I decided that what I really needed to do was learn how to do it right.
I knew him there, but there was no one to talk to. One day I met a sister from the village and talked to her. He also told me to go and I followed him.
He was working to raise money in a cooperative. When I met him, he was about to quit his job. Then he said, ‘Come on, I’ll introduce you to everyone in the market. I will show you where I have opened the account and you can explain in detail how to open the account yourself. ‘
This was the beginning of my part-time study. Readings were held from 10 to 3 o’clock. Then I would walk from shop to shop, from house to house, walking around the small market. I would come to the room exhausted. I never cooked food.
Housewife Aunty was very funny. Sometimes he would feed them. Having played such a long role, now let’s move on to the main thing. It is a matter of one day, I forgot the date of the day exactly. It was Friday and the oranges had just started to hit the market.
I had also been given a bicycle by the cooperative. I went to the market to collect. There was a statue of Mahendra in Lahan Chowk, there was a vegetable market on the south side at that time. Fruit shops were lined up.
Right in the square I met a friend next to my house. He is a Madhesi. He looked good, friendly and helpful. The house was also close to his and mine and the educated are also with us. But he failed the 10th class test. After that, he did not study, what kind of work he used to do in his childhood.
He said, ‘Not going home? Walk. ‘
But I said, ‘I don’t know today, my work is not done.’ If one day was missed, customers would not consider two days’ money at once. So I told her, ‘I’m not going. If you go, don’t take the oranges home. My brothers and sisters will eat them.’
Saying this, I was trying to weigh one and a half kg of oranges, a bike came and stopped at our side. Two men in plain clothes grabbed my friend’s hand and said, ‘That’s it!’
I was stunned. Who are you And why hold it? ‘ By the time I said that, the friend was already crying. But I did not understand anything.
“We are the army and it is the Maoists. How did you recognize it?”
Now I am under interrogation. My heart had stopped working, my legs began to twitch, I began to speak, but I still spoke with courage. ‘This is not a Maoist. I have studied with him, he is near our house, if he is a Maoist, I should listen to him. ‘ I insisted that this could not happen.
“What are you doing?”
“I study, sir, I am a student.”
“How much do you study?”
’11’ was my straightforward answer.
“Which campus?”
‘At Everest College.’
‘Do you have a card? Let’s see. ‘
Thank God I had the card and showed it. And I said, ‘Sir, this is not a Maoist, leave it at that.’
But where was he going to take my word for it? He was ordered to shoot as soon as he heard the word Maoist. Why did he listen to me in such a situation?
Zapp placed him in the middle of the bike and ordered me to come to the camp too. I also got there cycling at their bike speed. What do I see when I get there, oh my God! Among the army men around is a friend who is blindfolded and has his hands tied behind his back.
He is crying and saying, ‘Sir, leave me alone, I am not a Maoist.’
The situation was such that I still can’t explain it. While watching the movie, I could not watch the fight scene, I was standing in such a place that I thought today is my last day. They will not leave me today, but I was daring to say, ‘Sir, he is not a Maoist.’
Major Saheb was sitting with a gun in his hand. Major Saheb approached me and asked, ‘Do you know Ramita (name change)?’
‘Who’s Karki?’ I answered immediately.
He said, ‘Yes, that’s it.’
I said, ‘We study together.’
“Go and get him.”
‘Even though we studied together, he didn’t have a good conversation, but I saw his house. Somehow the sister I mentioned above was close to her sister-in-law’s house and Ramita’s house.
I took his bicycle to his house so quickly, called him and said ‘please walk with me’ and put him on my bicycle and took him there. When he reached there, his face was also black. Major Saheb asked Ramita, ‘Does he study with you?’
He replied, ‘You study with us.’
I took a deep breath. Major Ji again went to my friend who was blindfolded as a Maoist and had both hands tied behind his back. He opened his blindfold and said, ‘Let’s go.’
With that, I breathed a sigh of relief. And I asked one of the two men from the square, ‘Isn’t your house in Malhan? How many times have I seen you at our school? Didn’t you study with our sisters? ‘
‘What is your sister’s name? I immediately answered the question and said my sister’s name and said, ‘She is my granddaughter.’
“What should we do, Baini, that’s our job,” he said. But I was so angry inside that what can I say! It was as if the search of those armies, which had come in 2-3 vehicles, was over.
Everyone was getting into the car. At the same time, I said, ‘Major Saheb, capture and kill the Maoists, but don’t hurt innocent people like us.’
Major Saheb himself sat in the car. He ordered the other armies in the same barracks, “Boy, keep an eye on him. He’s talking a lot.”
They went too, we went out too. I thanked Ramita. He really became an angel for me that day. I didn’t know what their relationship was and I never wanted to know. But he also had a hand in saving us that day.
She left, we also went our own way and on the way I asked her friend, ‘How do you know that you are not a Maoist?’
He said, ‘Yes, my brother was there but he has surrendered. This brother-in-law knew everything, but he is still making fun of me. ‘
I was surprised, I couldn’t say anything. And I asked, ‘Are you going home now?’
‘I don’t know! Now I will go to the room. ‘He went on his way, I went on my way. I couldn’t even ride a bicycle, so I headed for the room. I gave all the details to the housewife aunty. I don’t feel like eating anything, I try to sleep, I don’t feel sleepy.
Blindfolded and blindfolded, only the friend with both hands tied dances. That incident did not allow me to laugh for a long time and did not allow me to live in peace. Then I started having scary diseases.
Frightened even by a small squeaky sound, the legs almost start to cut. The army camp was on the way back and forth. I had to walk that path. As soon as I saw the army, I was scared. As soon as I reached the barracks, I started to support myself and my bicycle.
My fear had crossed the line. As soon as I crossed the army barracks, I rode my bicycle so hard that I would go to my destination and breathe at once. It was Saturday. I went to buy something from the room. Coming back, I saw two armies coming after me.
Again my heart stopped working. I entered the house. I could not go inside and take a deep breath, they just came to my room. ‘Aren’t you Ramita’s friend? Come see you, won’t you have some tea? ‘
I went out with milk. Where to go now, what to do! Oops! I was in a lot of trouble, I brought milk. They were looking at my books, looking at my luggage, there was a small bag next to it showing the bag and asked ‘what’s in it?’
I put the bag in front of them to see if there were any clothes. They had tea and they started walking. As they were walking, I said, ‘Brother, I am here to study. I work in a cooperative so that I can pay for the same tuition. Don’t stress me out. I don’t know anything about this Maoism or Saoism. ‘
As soon as I said that, they thought ‘Sari Baini’.
After that they never came but my fear never diminished. One day while I was collecting, my brother asked me, ‘Are you a Maoist?’
I laughed. “Why the laughter?” The brother asked again.
“Brother, what kind of Maoists have you seen walking freely in the current situation?”
He also laughed and I went on my way. That one incident also made me very weak. I was so weak mentally that I would fall on the road. People would pick him up and take him to the hospital.
I would be scared, but I could not tell anyone. Thinking that I could not live alone, I reminded Mommy and Dad, and I kept my siblings there to study.
I knew my pain even if I didn’t look like it on the outside. On someone’s advice I went to Biratnagar, Dr. Sherchankoma who was a psychiatrist. I brought him all the details. He gave you a month’s worth of medicine and said, ‘Come back after eating this much.
At that time, I had no knowledge of medicine or disease. I am Dr. Rumors about Sherchanko spread in the village society. Then the rumor spread that Flanagan’s daughter was mentally ill.
I still remember that day. I can’t forget that black day even if I want to. This ‘ism’ that ruined the lives of many had almost ruined my life as well. That scene of a blindfolded person standing in front of me still dances in my eyes.
Even today, it is very fresh in my mind. How many were killed by this argument? Some were killed alive and some were tortured to death. I survived, but I would die every day after that because that fear was something I could not even imagine.
I am a 16-year-old girl who has just moved from the village to the city. Such people were surrounded by the army like this, how long did I stay in their sight, the army brothers followed me to my room under the pretext of tea and also searched my room.
Sometimes I wonder where that friend is nowadays, what he is doing and whether he remembers that day or not.
