Scars that won’t let you forget
Know your inner self
“I still remember…it was the time of the Maoist insurgency. I was on my way to Kalikot from India with my friends. The army opened fire and two gunshots hit my leg. Four of my friends were killed on the spot. I reached a local hospital after walking for three days with bleeding body. I had an identity card of a businessman that was made in India. Seeing that, the army took me to Nepalgunj in a helicopter for treatment. But my wound was big and could not be treated there. So I was taken to Army Hospital in Chhauni, Kathmandu. I was in the hospital for two months. I still have these scattered grains in my legs from the gunshots,” said Dharmaraj Rokaya, 44-year-old porter from Kalikot, western Nepal. “When I got home I had a radio, which I had bought with money I earned in India. I used to listen to the BBC news and spread it to people around. They used to call me BBC broadcaster,” he added. “The money that I earned in India finished over time. I have two sons and a daughter. As I had to support my family, I had to earn. So I came to Kathmandu.”
