Birbahadur spent his fifth sleepless night in the tent. Early morning he peeped his head out of the tent and felt the drizzling rain over his shrunken face. Down below he could see the huge lake formed by the blockade of Madi river due to the huge landslide that occurred five days ago.The cruel landslide had not only washed away his home and his plot of land but also had cruelly snatched away his soulmate Bhunti. The local Red Cross Committee had been kind enough to provide him a tent and few kilograms of “dalmoth Chiyura”.
During the afternoon he could notice a crowd of people approaching towards his tent.Since they were neatly dressed he assumed that they must have arrived from the city.With some hope and some fear in his mind he welcomed the crowd with his old tradition “Salam Sahib”. A person from the crowd introduced himself as CDO of the district. Birbahdur had never heard of CDO and could not understand what it meant. The CDO inquired Birbahadur about his loss and the problems he was currently facing and finally handed him a cheque of Rs 2000 and said “this is all we can do from the government side”.Birbahadur silently accepted the cheque from the CDO and kept it inside his torn “Eastacoat”.
In the evening Birbahadur met Devi Sir, a local primary school teacher.He showed the cheque to Devi sir and asked him what to do with it. Devi sir told him that the cheque amounted to Rs 2000 cash and it could be cashed from bank located in New Road Pokhara.
Inside the tent Birbahadur calculated his rough expenditure for his Pokhara travel, Rs 100 Bus fare to Pokhara , Rs 120 for the dinner, Rs 35 for the “Kodo ko jhol” he had been dreaming since a long time, Rs 300 as lodge expenses and Rs 100 as bus fare back to his village. Finally he thought about his medical expenses to treat his bruises he had suffered while trying to save his Bhunti and thought that he would return empty handed from Pokhara even if he cashed the Cheque. With so much pain anger and frustration Birbahadur rolled the cheque to make a ball and swallowed the ball into his mouth.
The next morning villagers found Birbahadur dead in front of his tent.
Last edited: 28-Jan-11 02:40 AM
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