"We are coming back from the Tamakoshi. The water current was unlike anything we have seen before. So how would we catch fish? Maybe we will tomorrow if the river doesn't go mad. This is how we ‘time pass’. We need to have enough data to watch Youtube but we have run out. No sign of money for the next few days. And now no fish. We will have to figure something out soon."
(Gaurishankar NP8, Dolakha)
#TheFutureIWant
SON X UN
"I and my sisters went to school maybe for a few days in a month. The teachers would ask why we were not in school. “We do not have money for books and paper”, we would reply. To be true to reality, it was my mother's suffering that led us to discontinue school. For me, spending time in the classroom had become unbearable. "What is she doing? Is she tired or hurt? Is her back hurting? Is she crying? Did father steal something again? Did he raise his hands or his voice again? Did she eat?” I felt that I should not be in the classroom but with my mother.
"Sometimes, I wish I could stay in school. It is because at home, Father is mostly intoxicated and he finds many reasons to fight with Mother. So it gets loud here.
But school is quiet and I like quiet. I can play. I can read books. I can talk to my sirs and madams. They are good people with good hearts. I can also look at the trees and the birds. I wish home was quiet too. At night, I pray for all the girls in the world. I pray that their father and mother love each other. I pray that all the girls in the world have a quiet home.”
"Everyone shows sympathy. But it is my own heart that will have to endure. Everyone will have a few good words for these children, maybe they will hand them a packet of biscuit but I and their father will have to feed and nurture them so that they can become what we could not. A lot of money was spent during my pregnancy for their birth was through an operation.
"I am a blacksmith. I mold and beat iron into kuto, kodaalo, haseeya and bancharo. People who are smart have shops that display and sell these tools in Charikot. They have taken this cottage labor into market commerce for profit. And people like us have been left behind. I do not have the money to buy iron to mass-produce nor do I have money to open a shop. And because the farming tools that I make are completely handmade, I cannot compete with the prices of the tools sold in these shops. Also, people want everything here and now. They throw money and they want it now.
"I am happy that this lockdown has brought me home. It has taught me the importance of family. There is work in the fields these days. Recently I was busy sowing seeds. And now it is time for all of us in my family to work in the fields harvesting rice. Before the virus, I was in Kathmandu busy with my college and life in the city. But even in Kathmandu, I am a simple guy. Maybe because I was raised in a family where you have to get your hands dirty to meet life's needs, I understand the value of money.
“My grandfather performs shamanic rituals at home to treat people in the community. He has been doing it for a long time. He has gained trust in the community due to his knowledge. Many people come to our house to visit him. However, it has become a thing of concern for me, especially during times like this. So I have placed masks and sanitisers in his room hoping that it will somehow prevent the virus from getting into my ailing grandfather and the rest of us in the family.
“Thinking about the future can be menacing to a youth who is born into an age in which all one hears is the countdown to the end of the climate as we know it. Along with this, hatred, violence, and passivity are normalised, ignorance is sought and decay is the new proper. If one tends to think of the future as a projection of their current reality, how can one preserve their will to shape their own future, or to live at all?
"When I was a young boy, I used to have feminine traits. The seniors in my community would call me a Mauga. In my community, Mauga is used as a derogatory term to belittle and humiliate someone from the LGBTQ+ community. I was loved dearly in my family. Maybe that was the reason I never felt the need to react and retaliate to the cruelty of outsiders. However, I wanted my femininity to go away. When I completed my grade 5 and left home for boarding school, I started losing my femininity. I attributed this change to the company of the boys in the hostel.
“I do not remember Father working. He was unwell most of the time due to which mother had to manage the household herself. It was difficult for her to take care of the family. Father would take out loans from our neighbours. I think he saw no hope in the future. I also saw my mother’s troubles and it pained my heart. It also made me mature fast. I became older than my age and I took care of the household and my siblings while mother went to earn wages.
"She did not know about the solar system. And there was this interactive thing online which I showed her and she was blown away. It made me think. And soon it made me realise that the things that I take for granted do not come easy for all. I realised my privilege. My family has given me enough exposure to the world. We travel to 4 destinations every year. They respect everything I do. They let me be. They have sent me to the best schools and made sure that I have access to everything for my future. But the stories she has told of her village and her life are very different from mine.