“He has bought the television set for fifteen thousand rupees, and the camera for three thousand to make this year´s Tihar truly memorable,” said Bijaya´s sister-in-law Laxmi. “But his plans were abruptly ruined by a landslide that demolished his house, killed him and his family members, leaving only his 12-year-old son alive.”
The landslide struck the Bhul household in Garkhakot, Mastamandu-1, on October 6 killing six people including Bijaya, his parents, wife and children, apart from a niece who was in the house to watch TV when disaster struck. Dil Bahadur, 12, the only survivor of the Bhul family, now faces an uncertain future.
The landslide also flattened a neighboring house belonging to Dambar Bahadur Bhul, killing five more.
Bijaya had worked hard to gather money for making the purchase. As agricultural produce from pieces of land owned by his family barely sufficed to feed the family, he took errands from others to gather money.
“Villagers used to gather at the house to watch television at all times, except during load-shedding,” said Thaggu Devi, another sister-in-law of Bijaya. “He had made preparations to make the Tihar joyous for the entire village. But he didn´t live to see Tihar,” she said.
The entire village skipped Tihar festivities this year to mourn the death of Bijaya.
“We couldn´t even consider celebrating Tihar after the death of a man who made every villager happy by bringing television and camera to the village,” said Ram Bahadur Bhul, a villager.
According to villagers, a landslide has not struck the village for a long time. “But this landslide struck the houses that were the sturdiest and believed to have been built at the safest locations,” said Dhan Singh Bhul, a local.
This has injected a fear among survivors that their houses might also come under landslide.
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