After weeks of watching episodes of TV Blog centered on business and development in the eastern region of the country, there is finally one that offers more human touches. This week’s episode comprises stories that are more personal and thus enrapture the audience right from the start.[break]
Jagat Aryal, 71, retired as the Principal of Bhanu Smriti High School some ten years back, and decided that he had had enough of living for himself and would now start living for others. He decided to run an old-age home for senior people who had nobody to take care of them.
“I’m also getting old and so I just decided to take care of others like me and bring those who have no one to look after them together at one place,” says Aryal, adding that he’s happy that he’s finally being able to help at least some people.
Aryal started by asking everybody he met for Rs 5 so that he could buy some land with the collected amount. Some gave him the cash while others commented that he would just run away with the money.
Even then, Aryal wasn’t dissuaded from his goal. He registered his old-age home so people would take his work seriously. Now, around 800 people give him one Rupee every single day and many others contribute by sending rice, sugar and other essentials.
Now there are around 50 people living in the Birateshwor old-age home in Biratnagar out of whom 25 are women, and Aryal makes sure they have enough to eat and are taken care of properly.
Aryal is a fit man and still cycles whenever he has to commute. Once the CDO berated him for riding on a cycle in the scorching heat, saying it would just cost him Rs 30 to commute on a rickshaw. Aryal’s response was that Rs 30 would fetch two kilos of potatoes for the residents at his shelter.
That’s how dedicated Aryal is to serving the people who now have made his shelter their home, and says that God gives him strength to carry on.
Another touching story like that of Aryal’s is the one of the flood victims. Around one in the afternoon on August 18, 2008, Nepal saw one of the biggest floods in its history. Around 25,000 people were displaced and around 6,000 bighas of land turned into sandy riverbanks.
Rehman Ansari, a local, talks about how the dirt and dust after the flood killed even more people. Sabdul Safi, another local, adds that they had nowhere to go and had to resettle on the same location.
“We fear there will be another flood and we’ll have to suffer more,” says Safi and asks, “But where can we go since all our land is here?”
Watching these personal stories fill you with a sense of wonder and astonishment at the way people live their lives without any complaints, and you can’t help feeling a little privileged with the protected and sheltered life you lead in the capital and are left a bit abashed about still having something or the other to complain about.
Nepali – A TV Blog airs on Avenues TV every Saturday at 8:30 am and on Sundays at 9:30 pm. The series, hosted by Yubakar and directed by Tsering Choden, will also be available on YouTube <youtube.com/user/nepalitvblog>
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