KATHMANDU, Oct 6: A septuagenarian man who lost his wife and siblings has been unwaveringly serving the Nepal Police, keeping them in tidy uniform.
Seventy-seven-year-old Bhim Bahadur Nepali from Sindhupalchowk came to Kathmandu twelve years ago and started working for the Nepal police as a tailor.He currently resides in Basundhara Chowki and makes uniforms for the police personnel of the police post.
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“As a kid, I believed that ghosts, tigers and snakes were the scariest things that could threaten my life in the village. But when I turned twelve, I faced a greater danger: famine. My family could not even afford flour and water. For three months each year, we survived on nothing but salt water,” he recalls. But no matter how hungry Bhim Bahaur was, he never stole from others. Instead, he started earning a little money by selling salt in Kathmandu.
The journey from Sindhupalchowk to Kathmandu, while carrying loads of salt on his back, took seven days.
Bhim Bahadur has lost both his wife and two siblings. “My wife and I got married when we were sixteen. A few years before I came to Kathmandu, I lost her to a disease which made her whole body swell. I borrowed Rs 250,000 for her treatment. In the end, she passed away and I went into debt,” he said. He continued sewing for some years until he could finally pay back the loan.
Bhim Bahadur currently lives in a small tin shed which is the size of a room. It is where he sleeps, cooks and makes the uniforms. Due to lack of storage space, his belongings are packed into neat little bags. “The police are right here so no one dares to steal any of these bags,” he says. He earns around Rs 200 per day and he sends a large proportion back home to pay for is grandchildren’s education. One of his three sons has been working abroad for the last ten months.
When asked what he wishes for now, Bhim Bahadur says, “I want to die a peaceful death. I hope for a death with no diseases and pain.”
