Birateshwar Briddha Ashram, an old-age home founded by Aryal some four years ago, is now home to 35 elderly people abandoned by their own ´near and dear ones´. [break]
Aryal sets out of the old-age home every morning with a red bag on his shoulder. He meets well-off people and collects five rupees from each of them. He also spends all his pension money running the old-age home.
"My life´s sole purpose is to serve elderly people abandoned by their families," said Aryal.
In his four decades of teaching, Aryal witnessed the plight of many old people forced by their families to live in the open streets. Refusing to be a mere onlooker, he resolved to ´do something´. He realized his long-cherished dream of nursing the elderly after his own retirement.
Aryal aims to look after at least 100 elderly folks by next year. He has started upgrading his old-age home to meet the target. "I want to develop it as a model old-age home," he told myrepublica.com. Pleased by his selfless contributions, almost all government employees in Biratnagar have recently been providing him one rupee each every day.
"While some employees give one rupee every day, some give at the end of the year," he said. The Biratnagar branch of NIC Bank also provided Rs 150,000 to Aryal´s old-age home.
Elderly people who have been living in Aryal´s old-age home have found solace. After her husband disappeared, Chandra Kumari Karki of Salleri in Dhankuta was worried about her future. "I was worried that when I died nobody would come forward to own me," she said, adding, "but I have found a place where I can die with a feeling of assurance."
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