25th April was the biggest nightmare for the Nepalese people, a nightmare that shakes the heart every now and then. It’s kind of making people weaker and weaker day by day. Sometimes, I try to look back to life before the earthquake and then I smile and think, ‘What a beautiful day it used to be with the warmth of the sun and the calmness of fresh air’. But then I wake up from that sweet dream and again I start to taste the bitterness of life that we are facing now.
It’s been almost more than 9 months but there are still those delicate parts in the heart of us, and the whole Nepalese people. It was a great and wonderful thing that we were the lucky ones to survive but there are still some people out there thinking they should have died too because there’s no one to look after them and life has been worse. There are mothers praying for their lost child, hoping they rest in peace. And there are also other mothers who pray to die soon so they could see their beloved ones who are up there in the sky.
It’s still hard to believe that in a blink of an eye, everything changed. The normalness was vanished and it feels like the word ‘normal’ won’t come back again because of the major aftershocks and trauma. Most importantly the Nepalese constitution, which came into action in September 20, 2015, brought major crisis and changes again in the life of the Nepalese people. The shutdown from the Indian government leaves Nepal in the worst position. Life became miserable and a number of people are in depression and stress. And there are no medicines to treat those stressful feelings and thinkings. With the lack of gas and electricity, people are forced to cook rice and the food items in wood fires and it costs a lot to buy the wood as well. And we know too that many people are jobless because of the destruction done by the earthquake. The country itself was in a giving up position and then came the new constitution, which made the situation even worse.
There were times of happiness as well when we didn’t feel the aftershocks. People wanted to live like before. They wanted to work hard for their living. They hoped that it would be all right and the smiles were back on their charming faces but the aftershocks took place again and the feeling of fear arose. The reflection is still not positive and normal. People are still scared and because of the shutdown from India, life is still hard and there is a lot of pressure as well. We do hope we could overcome this obstacle and move forward. We hope we can rise again and at least breathe a fresh air.
Abou
t Sabitri
Sabitri has finished studies in counselling and was working for Mitrataa Foundation.