I have survived

Published10 June 2019

Reading Time 2 mins

Author Stories of Nepal

Location Nepal

"I do not know how to fish. The women here do not go fishing. It is what men do. But I do know how to row a boat. I usually take the boat to collect grass from the pasture across the flood plain of the Koshi. Recently I had made one of those trips. After collecting quite a heavy load of grass, I was returning home, slowly, for I am not a fast rower. And I also know the load of the grass makes the boat unstable. Suddenly and without my knowledge, a current pulled me towards one of the flood gates of the Koshi Barrage. It happened so fast that I could not do anything. I panicked and my eye filled with the faces of my girls and my husband for what I thought was going to be the last time. I remember it was the iron of Gate 55 that the boat hit. It broke in two. The current sucked me down under the gate. I do not remember what happened after that. When I opened my eyes I was lying on a sand deposit in the middle of the river. There were cuts all over my body. And water was pouring out of my nostrils. I could have been dead, there is water everywhere and nowhere to escape. After the incident I have a fear of dying and I do not go to the water. I do not row the boat. I just stay at home. I am feeding the animals hay. No green grass for them anymore, unless someone from the family collects it. I am just happy that I have survived, for my three daughters. For my husband, who has left home for Punjab to find work. So that all of us can have a happy life. I have survived, for all of them."

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