Dear Dharahara, We will rise again!
5th May 2015
A 7.9 richter massive scale earthquake hit my country on 25th April 2015. The central part of Nepal including the capital has been devastated. This nightmare has cost us 8000+ lives and the numbers keep on increasing.It has also cost us our infrastructures, our homes and our heritage. 5 of the UNESCO world heritage sites of Kathmandu valley are ruins, leaving a vacuum in their place and in our hearts. It eats up my heart to see it empty, what had always been there, which we had always taken for granted. Our ancient Durbars that have witnessed the different eras; the various dynasties; many rulers; their conspiracies and untold stories have collapsed. Our temples that have housed our millions of deities; heard trillions of prayers; answered many’s wishes and provided solace to all have crumbled; completely devastated and in ruins. Our deities are homeless like their many believers.
And our Dharahara has collapsed too. With the first seismic waves, hitting Kathmandu valley, it crumbled into pieces and 
collapsed to the ground, taking many lives with it. A hundred stories, turned to dust as it fell,. I have been seeing the photos of our fallen Dharahara ever since the second day of the earthquake in national dailies and social media hundreds of times, and it appalls me every time. It has become a symbol of this earthquake, even though other UNESCO listed heritage sites have also faced similar or more destruction. It is not a World Heritage Site, neither is it so tall , nor it has a unique architecture as such. It is a white tower, 9 stored, significantly tall in yesteryears but these years it stayed cosily amidst other high-rise building and was definitely not our “Qutub-minar” like Indian Media has been asserting. Still, when it opened a few years back for public to climb, it did attract a lot of kathmandu-ties and Nepalese from outside valley. One had to climb it at least once in their lifetime, so we all thought. And so on a packed saturday, when the earthquake hit, it fell with around 400 people in and around the tower. Continue reading
already big trucks and vehicles carrying and distributing food and medicines to the locals there. More like looting and hoarding by the locals out of desperation. The relief materials still had no tents, only some packaged foods and medicines. Our volunteer group had no affiliation as such to any organization and we had collected a few bucks on our own and bought little relief. We were on bikes and had another volunteer’s car where we had kept few noodles and Chiura (beaten rice). Sensing that Bhotechaur has received aids and will continue to do so, because of the motorable roads, we decided to go ahead. The roads were mostly dirt roads, and we had to park car, when we couldnot take it further in the narrow trail. After around an hour from Bhotechaur, we reached Patigaun VDC of Sindhupalchowk. Not a single house was untouched by the earthquake there. Houses were toppled down, looked more like rubble. The standing ones also bore the cracks and scars of the nightmare. 
kritysh 