During the earthquake, eighty four year old Dhan Maya Bajracharya was on the fourth floor, doing the dishes and eighty six year old Divya Raj Bajracharya was in the same floor with her. They stayed in the same floor, terrified, and only descended from there after the earthquake subsided. It was a challenge, of course. “I couldn’t climb down the stairs,” she says. Her legs aren’t as strong as they used to be and whenever she has to move, she takes small, hesitant steps.
The rest of the afternoon was spent on the courtyard that their house surrounded. It wasn’t that theirs was the only house that was cracked during the earthquake. The surrounding houses, too, suffered numerous cracks and their inhabitants were too afraid to stay inside. Like many people, their neighbors also opted to stay in the camp along with most of the people in the locality. After the quake, their children came to take them and even the neighbors have tried to convince them to leave the house, at least until things settle down. But they have been adamant about staying in the house. “My wife is too weak to move anywhere and she can’t walk properly,” says Divya Raj offering a feeble excuse.
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The crack is what one would see from outside the house. Inside, while talking to Dhan Maya, I heard a couple of bricks fall. But she was comfortable sitting in the dark on her bed that her husband had shifted from their room in third floor after the quake. The quilt, blankets, pillows, and various items including their clothing had been randomly stacked near the door, which almost blocked the way. She asked me not to worry, and though it was a bit dangerous to go up, the ‘chelli was safe’.
The roof had caved in on Saturday. Divya Raj waited until things calmed down a bit and after that he didn’t wait for anyone but risked a trip to the terrace to throw all the debris out. The bricks, mud, and debris from there have now been piled neatly outside their house. There was no talk of fearlessness, but of necessity. “The upper part of the house collapsed and all of the debris was up there. If I had not cleared the debris away, the house would have collapsed under the weight for sure. So I had to go up there. There was no other option,” he says.
The gut-wrenching tremors scared their tenants, Maya and Saraswati, away and it has been lonely ever since. In this scenario, the responsibility of caring for his sick wife falls solely on Divya Raj. They were married when he was eight and she was six and over the years, they have gone through a lot together. As Dhan Maya was frequently sick, Divya Raj has learned to take care of her. From cooking, washing clothes to doing the dishes, he looks after her and tends to all her needs.
Now that the house could collapse around them any minute, they recall the last earthquake and tell me that all will be well. “This house is over a hundred years old. It resisted the earthquake in ’90 (1934),”
they say.
Their son, daughter, grandchildren, and even their grandchildren come and try to convince them to move. But they simply refuse to budge. They can’t leave the house just yet. “We are better off here than anywhere else,” Divya Raj says.
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