And there came a time when I bade farewell to television. The more I watched the more traumatized I got, so I began to think. It was unbearable to see the suffering and pain. I tried doing whatever I could. Compared to what some of my friends did—some of whom have flown all the way back from US and Australia to help the needy—I feel I was constrained. Nonetheless, the trip to Sankhu, and then Bhaktapur followed by joining hands with Armed Police Force in excavating the idol from the debris of fallen Kalmochan Temple opposite Blue Star Complex or distributing drinking water to people camped in the Tundikhel—I did a bit. But I feel sorry that I was unable to reach out to places like Piskar or Dhuskun of Sindhupalchowk.However, the reason I am sharing what I was able to do is that every time I did something, I felt like sharing that with friends around the world. Truth be told, I did my high schooling from such a place that served as a gateway to the US. It was and still is a good school. Then I went for my further studies in India and majority of my friends too left for the US;for it was the time Indian software industry had taken off and we all were fresh Computer Science graduates, the hotcakes! To summarize, most of my closest friends are now in US. So what about it?
Well, it was sickening to hear the grand orator of Nepali politics who can give NarendraModi a run for his moneyhad issues with people like me posting our pictures on various social media.KPOli the great seemed to feel that whatever we were doing was to fill our Facebook pages. How I wish healso matched Modi when it comes to making use of social medium!
Compared to you, I do not have access to much information regarding how the relief work is being carried out. What I do know is that had it not been for people like my friends and their friends and all the youth who could not hold themselves back and sit in the comfort of their homes watching monuments and humans falling right before their eyeson TV, relief work would not have been possible. They rushed to places. They had no choppers;they used their private vehicles.Every day as I take time to scroll Facebook, I feel a rush of blood, for I believe that is the only selfless serviceI have seen happen. Volunteerism exemplified!
I am not sure what your problem is with us posting our pictures while distributing sacks of rice or drinking water but, as mentioned, I had my friends donate their hard-earned money and I need to tell and show them how their hard earned money is being used.
We all, as a nation, have come to term with the fact that no matter how much we harp about impending earthquake that could strike any day, month, or year, we are clueless when disaster hits. Today we might be singing praises, and quite rightly, about how our security forces have been helping the needy to the extent that we do not want any relief teams anymore. I still stand firm on my conviction that had we acted promptly we could have saved many lives.
And during this time, it was quite a surprise to see that we had something like National Disaster Relief Framework(NDRF).You can Google it: it has everything on who, where and what to do what with hourly breakdowns. It has everything starting from what is to be done in the firsthour after the occurrence of such disaster, to what is to be done in the following days and months. What was not surprising was that many a regime may have gone by but the 'action plans' never got implemented.
First, we killed ourselves with bullets and now are getting killed for no fault of our own. I am beginning to wonder. Are we getting killed or are wekilling ourselves? And as if the geography here was not dangerous enough, we borrowed places in Middle East to die. As far as I remember, when I first heard of Nepal Army being finally deployed to crush the Maoists, many had breathed a sigh of relief. What followed is something we all know.
The point I am trying to make here might seem 'outrageous'. Whatis the guarantee that if we do not help and heal the aching hearts on time, there would not emerge another 'Prachanda'? This time he would be leading the troop of victims with AK-47s or pressure cooker bombs and attack the establishment just to ensure that they get food and shelter. If one can motivate people to fight against the state to ensure that they get 'treated equally on all fronts', I am sure it won't need much convincing to get them to fight one more time, for now the stomachs are empty and there is no shelter. So far, the focus is on immediate relief but we for sure are racing against time.
I wish someone explainedto me the rationale behind cutting the salary of government officials—and that includes the same force that we are praising for their relentless service—and giving it to PM's Fund. Don't they have families? If we are calling this a national disaster, wouldn't their families be expecting at least regular income? Or cutting a portion of salaries of government worker isn't a big deal, for no public servant solely relies on salary alone? If at all there is time in the life of country when the morale of such people needs to be boosted, it's now.
Imagine yourself as a lone policeman patrolling the streets and alleys on foot at night when your own house has been damaged. Also, you taking a leave is out of the question and perhaps most important of all, portion of your hard-earned money is 'robbed' by the state!
hiteshkarki@gmail.com
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