SHAKTIKHOR, Oct 17: Kalu Chepang is over 70. Or so is his guess. According to him, the birth date in his citizenship is not accurate and so he doesn't know his exact age. Life has always been an ordeal for him, he says, and that is going to be same as long as he lives, he believes.
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Festivals like Dashain or Tihar do not give him different feel either as not every Dashain promises him meat. As usual, starvation is part of life, says Kalu.
"We depend on what the jungle offers us. Sometimes we also collect corn from the field, but that lasts no more than three months in a year. We pass many days without enough food and even Dashain gives us no respite sometimes," said Kalu.His son Jeet Bahadur is grown up enough to search for employment. Jeet Bahadur often sets for Manang for job. But the journey not always pays off.
"When fortunate, son comes back home with some money. We can even manage to buy meat for Dashain. But that's not the case every time," Kalu explained.
Despite number of NGOs as well as the government claiming time and again to have worked for the marginalized Chepangs, their situation has not changed much. According to them, no land of their own land is the root cause of the problem.
"We do not own land. So, even though we work in fields, we get little return," Kalu lamented. His son Jeet Bahadur added that Dashain comes as curse for many Chepangs as they go on seeking debt, which costs too much for them to pay off.
Chapangs are fond of pork and beef. But their evergreen favorite dish is Dhido. "If we have meat along with Dhido, we feel lucky during Dashain, or else many do only with Dhido," Jeet Bahadur said.
Jeet Bahadur's is one of the Chepang families to shift to former rebel's cantonment in Shaktikhor from nearby village after the great earthquake on April 25. Currently, there are around 60 houses of Chepangs in Shaktikhor and the arrival of Dashain has quite worried them.
Whether it is just jungle food and Dhido or even meat, they are going to get for Dashain, is what bothers them these days. Birmaya Chepang is making every effort to collect needed amount of oil, salt and other essentials to make the Dashain grand. On Friday, she was knitting bamboo made furniture to earn some money for the festival. "Let's see, whether these would help me earn some money," she said.
Meanwhile, Narayan Chepang stated that he has a family of seven and he is trying his best to manage to get enough quantity of meat to celebrate the grand festival. "I am in need of some landlords who would offer me Rs 2,000-Rs 4,000 for this Dashain," he said. But Narayan is not sure whether he would come across such generous hands.
According to the displaced Chepangs, this year's Dashain is not going to be any better if not worse as the challenge to get meat is remains. National census 2011 puts the number of Chepangs in Chitwan district at 32,000.
