The Mourning Wife

Published13 June 2016

Reading Time 2 mins

Author Stories of Nepal

Location Nepal

“One day a man came running and told me that my husband had fallen off the suspension bridge. That suspension bridge was supposed to have been fixed many months ago - there were wooden planks that had come off and many nails were missing. But I don’t know where all the money that had come from the foreigners had gone. We never saw a paisa. But that’s another story. So one day a man came running and told me that my husband had fallen off the bridge. I ran to the bridge but there was no trace of him. Something in me told me that he was still alive and he would come back. But I also dreaded the worse. Something bad could have happened and with that thought I shuddered. My children surrounded me and started crying and I started wailing and my neighbours joined. Who would look after us? Who would look after the children? We had nothing. But the next day, I saw my husband returning from a distance, limping. I cried with happiness. He told me that he was trapped in a landslide and had to make his way out, removing the rubble all night. And we both have different memories of the same event, but that day I learnt the biggest thing in this world is to live, to be able to survive against all odds.” (Mitra Rai, Gadi, Pathibhara 4, Sankhuwasabha) ‪#‎StriveStruggleThrive‬

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